Day: January 13, 2021

WHO Emergencies Chief: Second Year of Coronavirus Pandemic Could Be Worse

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergencies chief warned Wednesday the second year of the coronavirus pandemic may be tougher than the first, at least in the first few months.During an online discussion with other WHO officials, Mike Ryan said given the transmission dynamics and other issues they have seen so far, 2021 is looking tougher, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.At least two variants of the virus, identified in Britain and South Africa, have shown to be more transmissible, if not more dangerous and raised concern in European countries.Patients are seen lying on hospital beds inside a temporary ward for possible COVID-19 coronavirus patients at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, Jan. 11, 2021.Ryan said it is important to learn from what has worked and not worked in every country to fight the virus in all aspects — science, public communication, governance and find the best combinations of all that learning. Ryan said at the end of last year, during the holiday period, there was a deceptive drop in reporting on the infection, creating an appearance of a lull in the pandemic. He said in the last week it picked up again, with 5 million cases added globally and 85,000 deaths.He said except for Southeast Asia, all regions of the world have shown increases in infections over the past week, with the Americas leading away, accounting for half of all cases globally and 45% of all deaths. Europe still accounts for one-third of new cases but showed a 10% drop from the previous week.WHO technical specialist Maria Van Kerkhove said she also expects the post-holiday surge in cases to make the situation much worse in some countries before it gets better. She said there are nations where the virus has been brought under control and the societies reopened. She urged those countries to do everything they can to maintain that situation.Van Kerkhove said the important thing to remember is that the world situation is much better than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. She said, “We know so much more than we knew a year ago. There is much to be proud of.” 

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Aid Groups Warn of COVID-19 Outbreak at Ethiopian Refugee Camp in Sudan

Aid workers this week confirmed several cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s camps for refugees who fled the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. The United Nations refugee agency and aid group Mercy Corps say an urgent intervention is needed to avoid a humanitarian disaster.Aid organizations reported four confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s Um Rakouba camp for Ethiopian refugees this week.  The camp houses 25,000 people who have arrived since November, living in very basic, overcrowded conditions that present an opportunity for the coronavirus to easily spread.FILE – Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, wait to receive aid at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Nov. 24, 2020.Mercy Corps is running a health clinic in the Um Rakouba camp and has treated nearly 5,000 refugees. The group’s regional director Sean Granville-Ross called for swift and decisive action to prevent further spread of the virus.“It’s a matter of great concern for all of us — the conditions of the camp, the vulnerability of the people, the population density which make social distancing very difficult,” said Granville-Ross. “And the lack of materials, PPE and equipment to enable us to really mange this outbreak and take care of people.”The four people confirmed to have COVID-19 have been quarantined, says UNHCR officer Guilia Raffaelli.“The confirmed positive cases undergo isolation and have contact tracing primary contacts pending their test results. Other activities are being stopped, like communications with communities and office relations centers, and more funding is needed in order to respond,” said Raffaelli.IRC Works With Sudanese Authorities to Expand Aid Delivery to Ethiopian Refugees Hundreds continue to flee Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region despite government assurances of safety back home Sudanese authorities received aid from UAE and other Arab countries to help the Ethiopian refugees in December. Health observers say more money is needed due to the increasing influx and the growing risk of COVID-19.Sudan has registered more than 23,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since late October, with more than 2,000 deaths.Meanwhile, Sudan’s government and aid organizations have finished preparations to move the refugees to a new camp west of Al-Qadarif. The government says the move will take refugees away from the tense border area and improve security.

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British Health Secretary Hopes Current Situation is Peak of Pandemic

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday he is hoping the nation’s current situation is the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as infection rates and hospitalizations are at or near record levels.
In televised interviews. Hancock said Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is facing intense pressure due to the high number of COVID-19 cases, treating 55 percent more people than during the first pandemic peak in April, with more than 30,000 patients across the country.
He said the government is considering many options to ease the strain on the NHS. Authorities have reopened temporary field facilities – known as “Nightingale Hospitals” in London and elsewhere and are even considering using hotels for patient overflow.  
The health secretary said if hotels were used it would only be “for step-down patients… who no longer need full hospital care.”
Britain on Monday launched an ambitious program to vaccinate 14 million people by the middle of next month. Hancock said that program is still on track to meet that goal, but as of now, it difficult to determine when enough people will be vaccinated to lift some of the COVID lockdown restrictions that are in place. He said they would remain “long as they are necessary.”
The government opened seven mass vaccination centers Monday as it moved into the most perilous moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, with exhausted medical staff reeling under the pressure of packed hospitals and increasing admissions.
Hancock said the single most important thing people can do to ensure the situation does not get worse is to stay home.  
Britain has so far had at least 3,180,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and more than 83,000 deaths the world’s fifth-highest official toll.

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China Posts Highest One-Day Increase in New COVID-19 Infections Since July 

China has recorded its highest daily increase of new coronavirus infections since last July after a recent cluster of cases in northern Hebei province. The National Health Commission reported 115 new cases on Tuesday, with 90 cases located in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing.  The commission also said 107 of the new cases were local transmissions — the highest daily jump since July 30.   Officials in Hebei province have ordered a lockdown of several cities, while authorities in northeastern Heilongjiang province, which posted 16 new cases, have declared an “emergency state” for the entire province and its 37 million residents.   Meanwhile, Brazilian researchers say a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech was shown to be just over 50% overall effective after large-scale human trials in that country, far below the 78% efficacy rate against mild-to-severe cases announced just last week.   Researchers said the most recent data included results from a group of participants who reported “very mild” cases of infection, which explains the huge discrepancy between the two figures.   FILE – A worker performs a quality check in the packaging facility of Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech, developing an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, during a government-organized media tour in Beijing, China, Sept. 24, 2020.The Sinovac vaccine has been approved for emergency use by Indonesia, where President Joko Widodo received the very first inoculation Wednesday.  The shot launched the Southeast Asian nation’s drive to vaccinate its 181 million citizens, who are spread out across the vast archipelago.  Indonesia has one of the region’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, having recorded 858,043 total infections, including 24,951 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Wednesday the government is expanding a state of emergency to seven other prefectures in central and western Japan to curb an escalating surge of new coronavirus cases.  The new decree, which  takes effect Thursday and remains in effect until February 7, will cover Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Tochigi.  People wearing face masks due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak walk in Nagoya, Japan, Jan. 13, 2021. (Kyodo via Reuters)Wednesday’s declaration comes more than a week after Prime Minister Suga issued an emergency declaration for Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.  Japan has recorded a total of 302,740 total infections, including over 4,000 deaths.   The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that international travelers will have to prove they have tested negative for COVID-19 before flying to the United States.   Under the new rules that will take effect on January 26, travelers will have to test negative within three days of their departure.   FILE – Travelers walk through O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Nov. 29, 2020.FILE – President Donald Trump, left, listens as Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 15, 2020, in Washington.Cable business channel CNBC reported Tuesday that Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief advisor to the Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s COVID-19 rapid vaccine development program, has resigned his post at the request of the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.   Sources say Slaoui will remain in the role for a month after Biden takes office on January 20 to help with the transition.   Slaoui’s resignation comes as the Trump administration is changing strategies in distributing the available vaccines, announcing Tuesday that it will release millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses it was holding back for use as second shots to inoculate Americans older than 65, as well as Americans with underlying health conditions.  The U.S. set another single-day record in coronavirus deaths Tuesday with 4,327, increasing the nation’s overall death toll to a world-leading 380,670 people.  The U.S. also leads in the overall number of COVID-19 infections with 22.8 million out of the world’s 91.5 million total cases, including 1.9 million deaths.  

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US Changes Vaccine Strategy, WHO Says Herd Immunity Will Not Be Achieved in 2021

The United States is changing vaccine strategies, releasing millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses it was holding back for use as second shots to inoculate Americans older than 65, as well as those with underlying health conditions. Appearing on a morning news show, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said, “The administration (of vaccines) in the states has been too narrowly focused.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks during a news conference on Operation Warp Speed and COVID-19 vaccine distribution, January 12, 2021, in Washington.”We now believe that our manufacturing is predictable enough that we can ensure second doses are available for people from ongoing production,” Azar told ABC’s Good Morning America. “So, everything is now available to our states and our health care providers.” He said the new strategy would not interfere with Americans waiting for a first dose. While COVID-19 cases continue to spike across the United States, many state leaders are showing reluctance to order further lockdowns.  Most notable is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open,” Cuomo said this week.  Governors in other states were expressing similar concerns, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization is warning that mass vaccinations against the novel coronavirus will not produce herd immunity this year.FILE – WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan attends a press conference organized by the Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents in Geneva, July 3, 2020. WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan told reporters Monday that it takes time to produce and administer enough doses of a vaccine to finally stop the spread of COVID-19. Swaminathan stressed the need for countries to continue observing mitigation efforts such as mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing.  In a related development, Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine should provide immunity for at least a year. According to Reuters news agency, the company said during the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Monday it was confident the messenger RNA technology it used was well-suited to deploy a vaccine based on the new variant of the coronavirus, which has emerged in a handful of countries.  Dr. Bruce Aylward, a WHO senior adviser, said Monday the agency is hoping to begin providing COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest countries in February but said “we cannot do that on our own.” He urged vaccine makers to prioritize deliveries to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX.  COVAX is an alliance of WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries.  In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more than 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Monday morning. That is less than one-third of the total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government. States, not the federal government, are responsible for administering the vaccines to their citizens. FILE – Nurses prepare a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to a health care worker at a coronavirus vaccine center in Poissy, France, January 8, 2021.The CDC also said Monday that at least 72 cases of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain have now been discovered across 10 U.S. states. California has the most with at least 32 cases, followed by 22 in Florida. The remainder are spread across Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.  The British variant is one of three that have emerged from the original coronavirus, with the third just recently detected in Japan in travelers from Brazil. The Brazilian variant is different from the British and South African variants, but the three share a common mutation.  Russia announced Tuesday it was extending a ban on flights to and from Britain until February 1. Flights were suspended starting December 22, 2020.  Earlier, Britain said it has vaccinated 2.3 million people. In Japan, officials said they are going ahead with planning for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which are scheduled to start July 23. There are more than 91 million global coronavirus infections, including over 1.9 million deaths. The United States leads the world in both categories with 22.7 million infections and nearly 380,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. India is second in total COVID-19 infections with more than 10.4 million cases. 

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