The Africa and Nigerian Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week said a new variant of the coronavirus has emerged in Nigeria. The head of Nigeria’s CDC said it is studying the new strain, which is different from new strains discovered in Britain and South Africa.The variant strain was discovered in two patient samples collected on August 3 and October 9 in Nigeria’s Osun State.New strain is being studiedThe Nigeria CDC said it is studying the new strain. Director General Chikwe Ihekweazu said at a national COVID-19 briefing that it may be too early to determine if the new strain is deadlier or weaker than its parent virus.”What we’re now going to do is collect a selection of other viruses circulating in Nigeria now, so from the more recent cases and try and compare what we have now with what we have previously in Nigeria but also what is circulating abroad,” Ihekweazu said. “This is ongoing work.”Mutant strains of the coronavirus have appeared in Britain and South Africa in recent weeks but African health officials said the Nigerian variant is different from both.Nigeria is recording an escalation in coronavirus cases. Infections have increased by 52% from November to December.New restrictionsThis week, authorities imposed new restrictions on gatherings and warned citizens to avoid traveling during the yuletide season.Ihekweazu said there is a chance the new strain is responsible for the recent surge in cases.”We’ll be carrying out over the next few weeks to see whether we can explain some of the increased transmissions happening in Nigeria and to look at whether it is related to the virus,” Ihekweazu said.Nigeria is among many African countries trying to obtain and distribute coronavirus vaccines by the early part of next year.The Africa and Nigeria Centers for Disease Control said the new coronavirus strains will not affect vaccine deployment but experts worry that a continuously mutating virus could be difficult to control.Citizens urged to stay vigilantOlobayo Kunle is a pharmaceutical research expert at the Nigerian Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development.”Vaccines are designed based on a number of assumptions,” Kunle said. “They’re built around a known range of characteristics. If these characteristics keep changing, eventually we may get to a point where it falls out of the range for which that vaccine was developed.”The NCDC and other experts are hopeful the new variant is less infectious and deadly but for now authorities urge citizens to stay vigilant, especially during the holidays.
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Day: December 25, 2020
COVID-19 was the main protagonist of the film industry during 2020. This nefarious character dominated the saga of Hollywood’s struggles at the box office with moviegoers staying home and theater chains going bust. On the plus side, films focused on stories about minorities and gender equality, reflecting the diversity of moviegoing audiences. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.In South Korea 70% of the more than 1,200 new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half the country’s 52 million people live.In Japan, with 884 cases reported Friday nationwide, Tokyo had the largest number of infections.Indonesia reported its biggest daily rise in deaths, with 258 fatalities and 7,259 infections, bringing the country’s total numbers to 20,847 and 700,097, respectively.Mexico on Thursday became the first Latin American country to launch a COVID-19 vaccination initiative, offering hope to a nation that has lost more than 120,000 people to the pandemic.A 59-year-old head nurse at the intensive care unit at Mexico City’s Ruben Lenero hospital was the first to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in keeping with the country’s strategy to focus first on health care workers.“This is the best gift that I could have received in 2020,” Ramirez said after being inoculated in a ceremony broadcast by national media.Chile will immediately start inoculations of health care workers after receiving the first 10,000 doses of a 10 million-dose order of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine Thursday, officials said.Also Thursday, Costa Rica was preparing to vaccinate two senior citizens in a home near San Jose, while Argentina received about 300,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.The United States is about to complete its second week of vaccinations with about 1 million inoculations, mainly among health care workers and elderly residents of nursing homes. The numbers, however, are far short of the goal set by Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to mass produce millions of doses of vaccines, to inoculate 20 million Americans by the end of the year.U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui has warned that it would take longer to administer the doses.The Trump administration has reached a deal worth $2 billion to secure an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which would boost the nation’s supply to 200 million doses by mid-July.With surges throughout the U.S. leading to 327,000 COVID-19 deaths and 18.5 million coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, the speed with which immunizations can be administered becomes increasingly important.California became the first U.S. state Thursday to record 2 million coronavirus cases.Iran said it has U.S. approval to transfer funds to pay for coronavirus vaccines, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said Thursday.The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control gave permission for the transfer of $244 million to a Swiss bank to pay for initial imports of 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, the multiagency group set up to assure fair access to vaccines for all countries.U.S. authorities announced on Thursday that passengers arriving from Britain should test negative for COVID-19 before departure, after the discovery of a new and more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus.China on Thursday became the latest country to suspend all travel with Britain.
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COVID-19 was the main protagonist of the film industry during 2020. This nefarious character dominated the saga of Hollywood’s struggles at the box office with moviegoers staying home and theater chains going bust. On the plus side, films focused on stories about minorities and gender equality, reflecting the diversity of moviegoing audiences. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.In South Korea 70% of the more than 1,200 new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half the country’s 52 million people live.In Japan, with 884 cases reported Friday nationwide, Tokyo had the largest number of infections.Indonesia reported its biggest daily rise in deaths, with 258 fatalities and 7,259 infections, bringing the country’s total numbers to 20,847 and 700,097, respectively.Mexico on Thursday became the first Latin American country to launch a COVID-19 vaccination initiative, offering hope to a nation that has lost more than 120,000 people to the pandemic.A 59-year-old head nurse at the intensive care unit at Mexico City’s Ruben Lenero hospital was the first to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in keeping with the country’s strategy to focus first on health care workers.“This is the best gift that I could have received in 2020,” Ramirez said after being inoculated in a ceremony broadcast by national media.Chile will immediately start inoculations of health care workers after receiving the first 10,000 doses of a 10 million-dose order of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine Thursday, officials said.Also Thursday, Costa Rica was preparing to vaccinate two senior citizens in a home near San Jose, while Argentina received about 300,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.The United States is about to complete its second week of vaccinations with about 1 million inoculations, mainly among health care workers and elderly residents of nursing homes. The numbers, however, are far short of the goal set by Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to mass produce millions of doses of vaccines, to inoculate 20 million Americans by the end of the year.U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui has warned that it would take longer to administer the doses.The Trump administration has reached a deal worth $2 billion to secure an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which would boost the nation’s supply to 200 million doses by mid-July.With surges throughout the U.S. leading to 327,000 COVID-19 deaths and 18.5 million coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, the speed with which immunizations can be administered becomes increasingly important.California became the first U.S. state Thursday to record 2 million coronavirus cases.Iran said it has U.S. approval to transfer funds to pay for coronavirus vaccines, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said Thursday.The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control gave permission for the transfer of $244 million to a Swiss bank to pay for initial imports of 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, the multiagency group set up to assure fair access to vaccines for all countries.U.S. authorities announced on Thursday that passengers arriving from Britain should test negative for COVID-19 before departure, after the discovery of a new and more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus.China on Thursday became the latest country to suspend all travel with Britain.
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Nigerian authorities this week announced the country is officially seeing a second wave of the coronavirus after it recorded its highest daily number of COVID-19 infections Dec. 17. Authorities are imposing new restrictions on public gatherings and have warned those celebrating the Yuletide holiday to avoid parties, gatherings and Christmas caroling. But some Nigerians are finding ways to spread joy during the holiday season while still keeping a safe distance by organizing remote caroling and singing from their balconies. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
Camera: Emeka Gibson Producer: Rod James
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Among the celebrity philanthropists who donate extreme amounts of money to education and lifting others, Chuck Feeney’s name is not as well-known as Bloomberg, Gates or Buffett.Those billionaires — Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett — are highly recognizable names of great wealth, and their efforts are well-known.But Feeney, 89, has donated more than $8 billion in the past 38 years more quietly, espousing the slogan “Giving While Living” through his Men look at cosmetic products in a Duty Free store at the Fraport airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 14, 2012.Numerous educational programs have benefited from Atlantic Philanthropies, but none more than Cornell, where Feeney graduated from its vaunted hotel management program. Cornell has received $1 billion from Feeney’s generosity.“Physical markers of his giving are sprinkled around all corners of Cornell’s campus, funding everything from student scholarships to North and West Campus living facilities, hospitality research support, the Martin Y. Tang Welcome Center and athletics programs,” the university reported to the Cornell Daily Sun. Feeney’s giving was “transformative,” said Cornell President Martha Pollack, and “deserves the highest recognition we can give,” the Cornell Daily Sun reported.Feeney has been giving internationally, too.“While his generosity towards Ireland and Cornell University is well-known, his relationship with the people of Vietnam has flown relatively under the radar,” blogged John W. Conroy in 2017.In Vietnam, Feeney’s contributions rebuilt medical facilities, expanded libraries and increased educational opportunities.“Viet Nam was the right place at the right time with the right people,” wrote Lien Hoang in a book for Atlantic Philanthropies. “The energy and commitment to change, the unfair legacy of brutal conflict, and the possibilities to improve responses to fundamental human needs in health and education were all evident.” Feeney “has been the savior of our people and we will never forget that,” Conroy quoted Dr. Tran Ngoc Thanh, Da Nang Hospital director.In Cuba, AP awarded $5.8 million in November to Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC), “a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California that has worked to promote US-Cuba health collaboration and highlight Cuba’s public health contributions to global health equity and universal health,” according to its website.That brings AP’s total contribution to MEDICC to $16.7 million since 2002.Feeney is not alone, just less public, about his philanthropy.Last week, MacKenzie Scott, former wife of world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, donated $4.2 billion to groups helping the vulnerable, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scott last year signed a “giving pledge” to donate the bulk of her wealth to charity. In a round of donations early this year, Scott gave nearly $1.7 billion to groups devoted to race, gender and economic equality, as well as other social causes.She is among other donors who have signed the pledge, saying they intend to donate much of their wealth in their lifetimes. Issues include “poverty alleviation, refugee aid, disaster relief, global health, education, women and girls’ empowerment, medical research, criminal justice reform, environmental sustainability, and arts and culture,” according to the pledge website.Included are Canadian Marcel Arsenault whose foundation promotes good governance to prevent war; Sudanese-British Mo Ibrahim who is dedicated to good governance and leadership in Africa; Emirati billionaire Mohammed Bin Musallam Bin Ham Al-Ameri who is dedicated to helping the underprivileged; Chinese investment banker Dong Fangjun who helps drop-out students, among others, from impoverished families; entrepreneur You Zhonghui, the first Chinese woman to sign the pledge; Emiratis Badr Jafar and Razan al Mubarak, who promote good governance and transparency in the Gulf Region; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Indian entrepreneur and owner of biotech company Biocon Limited; and others.
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In a normal year, Christmas is a joyful time for Episcopalians on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (The Burnt Thigh Nation), which has seen as many as 30 new coronavirus cases in a day. The year 2020 has been anything but normal. “We’ve had to change everything,” said Mother Lauren Stanley, the presbyter (priest-in-charge) for the west half of the Rosebud Episcopal Mission. Normally, Stanley offers services at the Church of Jesus, a small white clapboard building dating to 1875, and in three other churches under her supervision. “We shut down all in-person worship in March and immediately created something called ‘Love in the Time of Coronavirus,’ hashtag ChurchOnTheGo, where people can do drive-up Communion,” she said. “Folks drive up in their cars and come to their window and say, ‘So, what would you like to pray for?’ And if there’s a whole family, then I ask them each individually, starting with grandparents, then the parents, and then the children. And I’ll put that all in one prayer. And then we’ll do the Lord’s Prayer together.” After that, she will hand them Communion. Normally, the sacrament consists of bread in the form of small, unleavened wafers, and wine sipped from a communal cup. Rosebud Episcopal Mission worshipper Sandra Wilcox receiving communal wine “on the go” before wine was removed from sacrament due to COVID. (Courtesy: Rev. Lauren Stanley)“But we had to give up wine in February and just give out the body of Christ,” said Stanley. She laughed, “Well, we’re Episcopalians, and we don’t like that. Then, one of my colleagues gave me an idea.” Mother Lauren Stanley gives communion during #ChurchOnTheGo services on the Rosebud. (Courtesy: Rev. Lauren Stanley) Fully gloved, Stanley said she lays the communal wafers on a large baking tray, then dips a pair of chopsticks into the wine and dots each wafer with a drop of what she admits is “really awful port.” “So, now I am giving them the body and blood,” she said. “When we started doing that, my people here were so overjoyed.” For those who do not have a car or are confined to home, Stanley conducts home visits, packing Communion wafers in plastic sandwich bags that she passes through front doors. Communion hosts (wafers) with drops of wine on them, prepared for distribution on Christmas Eve and Christmas for Episcopal worshipers. (Courtesy: Rev. Lauren Stanley)She also Church of Jesus, the home of the Rosebud Episcopal Mission, Rosebud S.D. (Courtesy: Rev. Lauren Stanley)Stanley tries to introduce humor into every aspect of worship during the pandemic, a time when spirits are low. During one segment of the Episcopalian service, worshippers formally exchange greetings of peace with words and gestures — a kiss on the cheek, a handshake or a hug. “I like to keep it light,” she said. “At first, it was like, ‘OK, we can fist bump.’ And then, it was like, ‘No, no, we’re going do elbow bumps.’ And this was a big joke with the elders — ‘Fine, we’re going to do aerial bombardments!’ ” She laughed again. “And now, we have a big joke about how to take Communion: ‘Do I pull the mask up or down?’ ” In October, coronavirus cases began to climb on the 5,180-square-kilometer reservation, as on neighboring reservations in North and South Dakota. The tribe reported 400 cases among its 33,000 citizens and more than a dozen COVID-19 deaths. The tribe instituted its second lockdown of the year and other safety measures. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the coronavirus. Episcopal Mission priest Lauren Stanley, seen here in full PPE as she transports patients to and from the Rosebud Reservation Indian Health Service hospital. (Courtesy: Rev. Lauren Stanley)A COVID Christmas This year, Rosebud’s Episcopalians will celebrate a very different kind of Christmas. Stanley is doing something she has never done before: Make a movie. “We are recording a service in bits and pieces,” she said. “The whole service with eight or nine hymns on it. The whole nine yards. Then, I’ll edit the pieces together on my 11-year-old Mac.” She chuckled, hoping the aging laptop is still up to the job. “And then, we will air it Christmas Eve morning,” she said. “And on Christmas Day until 3 o’clock, I will go and do the same thing — taking Communion to the community.” Normally on Christmas Eve, Stanley gives seven services in 14 hours. “Now, I’m going to be doing #ChurchOnTheGo at three different churches on Rosebud. And then, I’ll be going to people’s houses the rest of the time,” she said. The church has had to cancel activities for GLORY, an acronym for “God Loves Our Rosebud Youth,” Rosebud’s weekly program for children ages 5-15 that is funded in part by St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas. To make up for that, Stanley and the mission’s senior catechist, Erroll Geboe, drove 130 kilometers to the town of Pierre, South Dakota, where they used the donated funds to go on a shopping spree. “We had a blast and spent a boatload of money!” she said. “And every child in our program — 106 total — is getting a stocking stuffed with coloring books, crayons and pencils, a ton of candy. And, you know our children. When you are poor, candy is a real treat.” They purchased craft items and stuffed animals for all. “And I have grandmas who make scarves, hats and gloves. So, everybody gets a set of those. And I have some additional donated items to give the older kids,” said Stanley.A few days ago, youth volunteers helped Stanley and Geboe assemble the stockings, which by Wednesday had been delivered. By 5 o’clock on Christmas Day, after being up until 3 a.m. the night before, the celebrations will end. That is when Stanley said she will go home to a Christmas dinner of Yankee pot roast. She admits it will be an exhausting weekend — she is just now getting over her second case of COVID-19. But that is what it takes to keep her flock together when they are forced to be apart.
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As U.S. industries push for their workers to receive early access to COVID-19 vaccines, local health departments and pharmacies face the challenge of verifying the identity of essential workers to ensure no one cuts the line.The vaccination campaign under way is now focused on hospital staff and nursing homes, tightly controlled environments where verification is relatively simple. But beginning in January or February, Americans employed in a range of industries will be eligible for inoculation, provided they are essential front-line workers.The absence of a plan to verify vaccine candidates’ jobs and confusion over who qualifies as essential raise the risks of fraud and disorganization.Who decides which worker is essential?The criteria to qualify as an essential, front-line worker varies from state to state. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that roughly 30 million essential workers will be next in line for a shot. An additional 57 million essential workers will be vaccinated later.The lack of clear guidelines will significantly complicate the verification process as those workers seek shots.The United States has two authorized COVID-19 vaccines, one from Pfizer-BioNTech and another from Moderna. The vaccines are rolling out as hospitals reach peak capacity and deaths have exceeded 328,000.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in March published a list of essential U.S. workers during the pandemic.The list covers nearly 70% of the U.S. labor force and has provided little clarity to health officials trying to distribute initially limited doses of vaccines.Many states over the summer began developing their own priority lists, at times deferring to the importance of local industries. States generally have broad discretion when it comes to vaccine distribution.This has resulted in a patchwork of guidelines across the country, with companies complaining that their workers are considered essential in one state, but not in another.A panel of experts that advises the CDC on Sunday recommended that people 75 and older and workers including first responders, teachers, food and agriculture, manufacturing, U.S. Postal Service, public transit and grocery store workers should have the next priority for the vaccines.Some U.S. states have signaled they will nevertheless continue with the distribution plans they originally drafted.Michael Einhorn, the president of New York medical supply distributor Dealmed, criticized health officials’ decisions to prioritize essential workers for the next phase of the vaccine, rather than distributing it along age lines.”There will be people trying to cut the line and commit fraud to get a vaccine,” said Einhorn, whose company has been involved in flu shot distribution.How will eligibility be confirmed for essential workers?It is not clear yet how health departments and pharmacies will verify the identity of a significantly larger and more diverse group of people eligible for the next round of vaccines.Pharmacy operators CVS, Walgreens and Kroger each referred to state and local guidelines when asked how they would verify essential workers.”If the jurisdiction requests support from Walgreens, Walgreens will distribute a voucher or authorization form that the individual can use to schedule an appointment for a vaccination,” a Walgreens spokesperson said in a statement.CVS said it would share more information once it got closer to the next phase of vaccine distribution in the first quarter of 2021.Kroger in a statement said it would require customers to make an online appointment and use a screening tool to manage the verification process.”In some instances, the state will identify and verify the individuals before they are referred to us for vaccination,” a Kroger spokesperson said.States have not outlined how they will verify workers’ identities.A spokesperson for North Carolina’s health department on Thursday said the state would rely on self-attestation and the “hope that people will respect that the prioritization is in place.”Companies pushing to have their workers vaccinated are exploring different options.The Consumer Brands Association, which represents food, beverage, personal care and household product companies, and the Food Industry Association, representing food retailers, said they were developing template letters for employees to verify their essential worker status.”We understand states may have different designation standards, but (we are) working to provide our members with a resource to help reduce confusion,” a spokesperson for the Food Industry Association said in a statement.
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