Covid-19 has infected more than 326M people and killed over 5.5M worldwide. Here are some of the latest coronavirus-related developments:
Sunday, January 16, 2022
COVAX delivers 1B doses to poor countries
The World Health Organization has said that a UN-backed programme shipping coronavirus vaccines to many poor countries has now delivered 1 billion doses, but that milestone “is only a reminder of the work that remains” after hoarding and stockpiling in rich countries.
A shipment of 1.1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Rwanda on Saturday included the billionth dose supplied via the COVAX programme, the UN health agency said Sunday.
WHO has long criticised unequal distribution of vaccines and called for manufacturers and other countries to prioritize COVAX. It said that, as of Thursday, 36 of its 194 member countries had vaccinated less than 10 percent of their population and 88 had vaccinated less than 40 percent.
The programme has made deliveries to 144 countries so far, “but the work that has gone into this milestone is only a reminder of the work that remains,” WHO said in a statement.
Beijing reports 1st local omicron case ahead of Olympics
Beijing has reported its first local omicron infection, according to state media, weeks before the Winter Olympic Games are due to start.
The infected person lives and works in the city’s northwestern district of Haidian and had no travel history outside of Beijing for the past two weeks. The individual experienced symptoms on Thursday and was tested on Friday for Covid-19, officials said in a news conference Saturday.
The news of the infection comes less than three weeks before the Winter Olympic Games’ opening ceremony on February 4, and around two weeks befor e the start of Lunar New Year celebrations in China.
So far, multiple cities in China have reported omicron infections, including Zhuhai and Zhongshan in southern Guangdong province as well as the city of Tianjin, which is 30 minutes from Beijing by high-speed rail.
India daily case count hits 8-month peak, 314 deaths
India has reported 271,202 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, its highest daily count in eight months, taking its total tally to 37.12 million, the federal health ministry said.
Deaths from COVID-19 rose by 314 to 486,066, the ministry said on Sunday.
Britain will no longer require tests for fully vaccinated travellers
Britain’s vaccinated travellers will be able to go on half-term holidays next month without taking Covid-19 tests on their return, The Times has reported.
Transport minister Grant Shapps is in favour of ending the testing system for the double-jabbed in time for the February break, the report said.
An announcement on the change in guidance would be made on January 26, the report added.
Omicron exposes inflexibility of Europe’s public hospitals
A World Health Organization official has warned last week of a “closing window of opportunity” for European countries to prevent their health care systems from being overwhelmed as the omicron variant produces near-vertical growth in coronavirus infections.
In France, Britain and Spain, nations with comparatively strong national health programmes, that window may already be closed.
The director of an intensive care unit at a hospital in Strasbourg is turning patients away. A surgeon at a London hospital describes a critical delay in a man’s cancer diagnosis.
Spain is seeing its determination to prevent a system collapse tested as omicron keeps medical personnel off work.
“There are a lot of patients we can’t admit, and it’s the non-Covid patients who are the collateral victims of all this,” said Dr. Julie Helms, who runs the ICU at Strasbourg University Hospital in far eastern France.
Two years into the pandemic, with the exceptionally contagious omicron impacting public services of various kinds, the variant’s effect on medical facilities has many reevaluating the resilience of public health systems that are considered essenti al to providing equal care.
The problem, experts say, is that few health systems built up enough flexibility to handle a crisis like the coronavirus before it emerged, while repeated infection spikes have kept the rest too preoccupied to implement changes during the long emergency.
Hospital admissions per capita right now are as high in France, Italy and Spain as they were last spring, when the three countries had lockdowns or other restrictive measures in place. England’s hospitalisation rate of people with Covid-19 for the week ending January 9 was slightly higher than it was in early February 2021, before most residents were vaccinated.
UK drops requiring tests for fully vaccinated people
Britain’s vaccinated travellers will be able to go on half-term holidays next month without taking Covid-19 tests on their return, The Times reported.
Transport minister Grant Shapps is in favour of ending the testing system for the double-jabbed in time for the February break, the report said.
An announcement on the change in guidance would be made on Jan. 26, the report said.
Covax delivers its billionth dose
The Covax scheme aimed at equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines hit a “key milestone” when it delivered its one billionth dose, one of its key backers said.
The Covax facility was set up in 2020 by the World Health Organization, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to ensure that poorer countries can access the vaccines needed to battle the pandemic.
“Covax has delivered its first billionth dose of Covid-19 vaccines to 144 countries & territories across the world,” Gavi chief executive Seth Berkley tweeted.
“It’s a key milestone in the largest and most rapid global vaccine rollout in history.”
Brazil registers 175 pandemic fatalities
Brazil had 48,520 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 175 deaths from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said.
The South American country has now registered 22,975,723 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 659,934, according to ministry data.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
COVAX delivers 1B doses to poorer countries – latest updates
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