Medicine i_need_contribute
COVID-19 news update Feb/24
source:WorldTaditionalMedicineFrm 2021-02-24 [Medicine]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Country,
Other

Total
Cases

New
Cases

Total
Deaths

World

112,638,179

+371,324

2,495,418

USA

28,897,718

+71,054

514,996

India

11,029,326

+13,463

156,598

Brazil

10,260,621

+63,090

248,646

Russia

4,189,153

+11,823

84,047

UK

4,134,639

+8,489

121,305

France

3,629,891

+20,064

85,044

Spain

3,161,432

+7,461

68,079

Italy

2,832,162

+13,314

96,348

Turkey

2,655,633

+9,107

28,213

Germany

2,405,263

+5,763

69,214

Colombia

2,233,589

+3,926

59,118

Argentina

2,077,228

+7,477

51,510

Mexico

2,043,632

+2,252

180,536

Poland

1,648,962

+6,310

42,436

Iran

1,590,605

+8,330

59,663

South Africa

1,505,586

+998

49,413

Ukraine

1,311,844

+4,182

25,309

Indonesia

1,298,608

+9,775

35,014

Peru

1,293,497

+6,740

45,487

Czechia

1,168,680

+11,391

19,618

Netherlands

1,064,598

+3,797

15,343

Canada

852,269

+2,752

21,762

Chile

805,317

+2,308

20,151

Portugal

799,106

+1,032

16,086

Romania

784,711

+3,382

20,013

Israel

759,572

+4,574

5,634

Belgium

755,594

+1,121

21,923

Iraq

675,982

+4,181

13,311

Pakistan

573,384

+1,050

12,658

Philippines

564,863

+1,412

12,107

Switzerland

551,355

+1,131

9,930

Bangladesh

544,116

+399

8,374

Morocco

481,709

+446

8,574

Austria

448,371

+1,727

8,434

Serbia

442,853

+3,257

4,366

Japan

426,456

+859

7,529

Hungary

407,274

+1,628

14,450

Saudi Arabia

375,668

+335

6,470

UAE

375,535

+3,005

1,145

Jordan

372,417

+4,139

4,589

Lebanon

359,337

+2,723

4,446

Panama

337,805

+718

5,772

Slovakia

294,790

+1,998

6,671

Malaysia

288,229

+2,468

1,076

Belarus

280,428

+972

1,930

Ecuador

275,780

+812

15,567

Nepal

273,666

+110

2,065

Georgia

268,995

+493

3,457

Bolivia

243,176

+884

11,470

Bulgaria

240,391

+1,800

9,978

Croatia

240,360

+343

5,462

Dominican Republic

236,210

+328

3,057

Azerbaijan

233,424

+223

3,204

Tunisia

229,781

+844

7,843

Ireland

216,300

+557

4,181

Kazakhstan

208,809

+692

2,540

Denmark

208,556

+529

2,343

Costa Rica

203,097

+423

2,785

Lithuania

194,850

+499

3,190

Kuwait

186,004

+1,015

1,057

Slovenia

185,916

+903

3,792

Greece

182,783

+2,111

6,343

Egypt

179,407

+633

10,443

Moldova

178,540

+1,133

3,823

Palestine

176,377

+1,408

1,994

Guatemala

172,072

+783

6,315

Armenia

170,672

+166

3,171

Honduras

165,737

+642

4,024

Qatar

161,344

+455

257

Ethiopia

154,257

+716

2,305

Paraguay

153,790

+1,132

3,101

Nigeria

153,187

+571

1,874

Myanmar

141,783

+22

3,197

Oman

139,989

+297

1,557

Venezuela

136,986

+441

1,325

Libya

130,701

+489

2,125

Bahrain

119,205

+675

433

Algeria

112,279

+185

2,967

Kenya

104,500

+194

1,837

Albania

102,306

+1,021

1,696

North Macedonia

99,917

+509

3,085

China

89,852

+10

4,636

S. Korea

87,681

+357

1,573

Kyrgyzstan

86,001

+72

1,460

Latvia

82,462

+669

1,570

Uzbekistan

79,717

+36

622

Suriname

8,880

+11

170

Aruba

7,735

+43

71

Vietnam

2,401

+9

35

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

Greece calls for EU to adopt Covid vaccine passport

From CNN's Chris Liakos in London

 

 

A person holds a World Health Organization vaccination card and a French passport.

A person holds a World Health Organization vaccination card and a French passport. Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/Sipa/AP

Greece is calling for the European Union to adopt Covid-19 vaccine "passports" in order to open up tourism and allow for summer vacations.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the Minister of Tourism, Harry Theocharis, stressed that the introduction of the vaccination certificate should be a matter of immediate priority for the European Union.

"Looking at the reaction of some countries to the proposals of the Greek government regarding the vaccination certificate, there is a feeling of short-sightedness," he said. "And while there is much to be done to prepare for the opening up of tourism and the economy, nevertheless, many countries are focusing too much on the current situation. But we have to move much faster,” he said.

Theocharis said the EU needs to speed up decision making on protocols for the safe movement of European citizens from country to country.

“The European Union must adopt the vaccination certificate without delay. People need to know as soon as possible if they will be able to go on a summer vacation this year,” he urged.

Regarding the British government's ban on non-essential international travel, Theocharis said that, "I do not understand such warnings, given the progress that is being made in the UK with the vaccination rollout. I cannot understand why we are now taking steps backwards, even though we now have more and more effective tools in our 'arsenal' compared to last year -- and I mean vaccines and 'rapid tests'."

Currently, a digital certificate is issued to those Greek citizens who are vaccinated, but is not mandatory to travel to Greece. "Our goal is simply to relieve those who have acquired immunity from being re-tested for Covid-19 upon entering Greece," he said.

 

 

 

WHO reports sixth consecutive week of declining global coronavirus cases

From CNN Health’s Lauren Mascarenhas

 

 

A health worker administers a Covid-19 test in Naumburg, Germany, on February 3.

A health worker administers a Covid-19 test in Naumburg, Germany, on February 3. Ronny Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images

Global coronavirus cases fell by 11% in the week leading up to February 21, marking the sixth consecutive week of declining cases, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

WHO reported 2.4 million new cases and 66,000 new deaths that week, a 20% drop in deaths from the week before.

That brings the total to 110.7 million cases and more than 2.4 million deaths since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to WHO figures. The United States is currently reporting the highest number of new cases, followed by Brazil, France, Russia and India.

WHO noted that while many countries are reporting a decline in overall coronavirus cases, reports of Covid-19 variants are increasing.

WHO said the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK has now been found in 101 countries, while the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa has now been found in 51 countries. The less prevalent B.1.1.28.1 variant — first identified in Brazil and Japan — has now been found in 29 countries.

 

 

 

Coronavirus variant will likely drive a new wave of transmission come spring, some experts say

From CNN's Christina Maxouris, Holly Yan and Amir Vera

 

A new, more contagious variant of coronavirus first detected in the UK is likely to fuel a surge of cases in the spring, several experts predicted Tuesday.

The variant, called B.1.1.7, was suspected of causing renewed spread in Britain. It's been seen across much of the US -- with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating the variant makes up for more than 1,880 cases in 45 states.

The variant could "result in more of a wave" around April or May, said Trevor Bedford with the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

So how can the US prevent the suspected spring surge? Some experts said Tuesday the best way to get ahead of the surge is through vaccinations. 

Bedford, who has been closely following the rise of new coronavirus variants, predicted that vaccination and mitigation efforts, such as mask use and continued social distancing, will help prevent the virus from spreading further.

"I still do suspect that things will be brought under control in the summer, and there will be very little virus circulating," he said.

It's possible, however, that a new surge could begin in the fall, according to Bedford.

The race to vaccinate: More than 44.5 million people have received at least one dose of their two-dose vaccines, according to data Tuesday from the CDC. About 19.8 million have been fully vaccinated with both doses, the CDC said -- about 6% of the US population.

One dose of vaccine *might* be enough for some, NIH director says: It's possible a single dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine might be enough for those who have already been infected with coronavirus -- but it will take more research to show that, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins wrote in a blog post Tuesday.

 

Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-02-24-21/index.html

 

 

 

As virus cases decline across the U.S., the East Coast lags behind

 

Riding the subway in Manhattan on Monday. New York and New Jersey are adding cases at rates higher than every state except South Carolina.

Riding the subway in Manhattan on Monday. New York and New Jersey are adding cases at rates higher than every state except South Carolina.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are on the downswing in the United States and around the world, but hot spots along the East Coast have been sticking around longer compared to the rest of the country.

In the current wave of regional outbreaks, eight states that border the Atlantic Ocean have seen upticks in the past few months and only recently have started to level off or decline.

South Carolina leads the nation with the highest rate of new virus cases, followed by New York, New Jersey, Rhode IslandNorth CarolinaFloridaDelaware and Georgia.

It has become a familiar pattern across the country — cases go up in one region, and down in another — a sequence driven in some part by weather. A few months ago, the Upper Midwest, where it starts to get cold in the fall, was outpacing other regions in new infections. And before that, cases in the Sunbelt surged.

“It’s whack-a-mole,” said Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. “One part of the country sees a surge, and then another, and then it declines.”

In New York City on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he believed the city’s case numbers and positive test rates had not declined more dramatically because of population density, a legacy of poverty and a high number of New Yorkers without health care.

“There’s challenges for sure,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference. “But I feel very good about our ability to turn it around with intensive vaccination — if we can get supply.”

According to health data, the city’s seven-day average positive test rate was 7.3 percent on Sunday, the latest day for which data was available, down from a recent peak of 9.7 percent from Jan. 2-4. (New York State, which compiles testing data and calculates statistics differently from the city, most recently reported the city’s seven-day average at 4.49 percent, down from 6.4 percent on Jan. 4-7.)

New cases have declined to half their peak globally, largely because of steady improvements in some of the same places that endured devastating outbreaks this winter. The global decline has been driven by six countries, led by the United States, which still leads the world in the number of new cases a day, based on a seven-day average, followed by Brazil and France.

Public health experts in the worst-hit countries attribute the progress to some combination of increased adherence to social distancing and mask wearing, the seasonality of the virus and a buildup of natural immunity among groups with high rates of existing infection.

“It’s a great moment of optimism, but it’s also very fragile in a lot of ways,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “We see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s still a long tunnel.”

The emergence of new variants of the virus, however, has caused great concern, increasing the pressure to get people vaccinated as soon as possible. A variant first found in Britain is spreading rapidly in the United States, and it has been implicated in surges in Ireland, Portugal and Jordan. The variant first found in South Africa, which weakens the effectiveness of vaccines, has also surfaced in the United States.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/23/world/covid-19-coronavirus/as-virus-cases-decline-across-the-us-the-east-coast-lags-behind

 

 

 

Israel is donating vaccines to allies, while Palestinians wait

 

 

Palestinians take a selfie after receiving the coronavirus vaccine from an Israeli medical team at the Qalandia checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Palestinians take a selfie after receiving the coronavirus vaccine from an Israeli medical team at the Qalandia checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem on Tuesday.Credit...Oded Balilty/Associated Press

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government promised to send thousands of extra Covid-19 vaccines to friendly nations like the Czech Republic and Honduras, but critics have rekindled a debate about Israel’s responsibilities to vaccinate Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

On Tuesday, the governments of the Czech Republic and Honduras confirmed that Israel had promised them each 5,000 vaccine doses manufactured by Moderna. The Israeli news media reported that Hungary and Guatemala would be sent a similar number, but the Hungarian and Israeli governments declined to comment, while the Guatemalan government did not respond to a request for comment.

The donations are the latest example of a new expression of soft power: vaccine diplomacy, in which countries rich in vaccines seek to reward or sway those that have little access to them.

Jockeying for influence in Asia, China and India have donated thousands of vaccine doses to their neighbors. The United Arab Emirates has done the same for allies like Egypt. And last week, Israel even promised to buy tens of thousands of doses on behalf of the Syrian government, a longtime foe, in exchange for the return of an Israeli civilian detained in Syria.

The vaccines allocated on Tuesday were given without conditions, but they tacitly reward recent gestures from the receiving countries that implicitly accept Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians consider their capital.

Israel has given at least one shot of the two-dose, Pfizer-manufactured vaccine to just over half its own population of nine million — including to people living in Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories — making it the world leader in vaccine rollouts. That has left the Israeli government able to bolster its international relationships with its surplus supply of Moderna vaccines.

But the move has angered Palestinians because it suggests that Israel’s allies are of greater priority than the Palestinians living under Israeli control in the occupied territories, almost all of whom have yet to receive a vaccine.

Israel has pledged at least twice as many doses to faraway countries as it has so far promised to the nearly five million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/23/world/covid-19-coronavirus/israel-is-donating-vaccines-to-allies-while-palestinians-wait

 

 

 

Future vaccines depend on test subjects in short supply: monkeys

 

Rhesus macaques are the primary species of monkey that are bred at the Tulane University National Primate Research Center in Covington, La.

Rhesus macaques are the primary species of monkey that are bred at the Tulane University National Primate Research Center in Covington, La.Credit...Bryan Tarnowski for The New York Times

The world needs monkeys, whose DNA closely resembles that of humans, to develop Covid-19 vaccines. But a global shortage, resulting from the unexpected demand caused by the pandemic, has been exacerbated by a recent ban on the sale of wildlife from China, the leading supplier of the lab animals.

The latest shortage has revived talk about creating a strategic monkey reserve in the United States, an emergency stockpile similar to those maintained by the government for oil and grain.

As new variants of the coronavirus threaten to make the current batch of vaccines obsolete, scientists are racing to find new sources of monkeys, and the United States is reassessing its reliance on China, a rival with its own biotech ambitions.

The pandemic has underscored how much China controls the supply of lifesaving goods, including masks and drugs, that the United States needs in a crisis.

American scientists have searched private and government-funded facilities in Southeast Asia as well as Mauritius, a tiny island nation off southeast Africa, for stocks of their preferred test subjects, rhesus macaques and cynomolgus macaques, also known as long-tailed macaques.

But no country can make up for what China previously supplied. Before the pandemic, China provided over 60 percent of the 33,818 primates, mostly cynomolgus macaques, imported into the United States in 2019, according to analyst estimates based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The United States has about 22,000 lab monkeys — predominantly pink-faced rhesus macaques — at its seven primate centers. About 600 to 800 of those animals have been subject to coronavirus research since the pandemic began.

Scientists say monkeys are the ideal specimens for researching coronavirus vaccines before they are tested on humans. The primates share more than 90 percent of our DNA, and their similar biology means they can be tested with nasal swabs and have their lungs scanned. Scientists say it is almost impossible to find a substitute to test Covid-19 vaccines in, although drugs such as dexamethasone, the steroid that was used to treat former President Donald J. Trump, have been tested in hamsters.

The United States once relied on India to supply rhesus macaques. But in 1978, India halted its exports after Indian news outlets reported that the monkeys were being used in military testing in the United States. Pharmaceutical companies searched for an alternative, and eventually landed on China.

But the pandemic upset what had been a decades-long relationship between American scientists and Chinese suppliers.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/23/world/covid-19-coronavirus/future-vaccines-depend-on-test-subjects-in-short-supply-monkeys

 

 

 

Singapore says discussing vaccine certification with other countries

 

Singapore is discussing the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates with other countries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, calling it a necessary step towards resuming global travel, Reuters reports.

Singapore, a regional travel and tourism hub, has been rolling out its Covid-19 vaccination programme over the last two months. It has approved shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

 A group of men wearing masks sit on a bench in the financial district of Singapore, 16 February 2021. Photograph: Wallace Woon/EPA

Singapore’s economy, which recorded its worst recession in 2020 due to the pandemic, is staging an uneven recovery this year and a return of more business and tourism travel would be a boost for the city state.
Greece, Spain and Britain are among other nations looking into the idea of vaccine certificates or so-called vaccine passports in a bid to revive economies and travel.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/feb/24/coronavirus-live-news-who-says-global-deaths-down-20-since-last-week-cases-declining-for-six-straight-weeks?page=with:block-6035d2ee8f08614ccf104c60#block-6035d2ee8f08614ccf104c60b3

 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

· AstraZeneca to deliver less than half promised doses to EU in second quarter – reportAstraZeneca Plc has told the European Union it expects to deliver less than half the Covid vaccines it was contracted to supply in the second quarter, an EU official told Reuters on Tuesday. Contacted by Reuters, AstraZeneca did not deny what the official said, but a statement late in the day said the company was striving to increase productivity to deliver the promised 180 million doses.

· The World Health Organization said global deaths from coronavirus-related complications have declined by 20% in the last week, with cases dropping for the sixth consecutive week worldwide. Deaths have been falling for three consecutive weeks.

· Japan regions are pushing to a end state of emergency as virus infections fall. Regional authorities in Japan have urged that emergency pandemic measures be lifted before a scheduled date of 7 March, as new coronavirus cases trend lower, the economy minister said, adding that the government would consult experts before it agreed.

· An Australian doctor has been stood down after an 88 year-old man and a 94-year-old woman were each given four times the recommended dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

· One of New Zealand’s largest high schools has closed again after another student and t wo siblings tested positive for Covid. Health authorities have been trying to test and contact-trace all 1,500 students, but were unable to find and test a small number of pupils and their families.

· Thailand received its first 200,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, the country’s first batch of coronavirus vaccines, with inoculations set to begin in a few days.

· US to vote on Covid relief bill on Friday. The US House of Representatives will vote on Friday on legislation to provide $1.9 trillion in new coronavirus relief, Representative Steny Hoyer, the chamber’s No 2 Democrat, said.

· Singapore is discussing the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates with other countries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, calling it a necessary step towards resuming global travel.

· French ICU patients with Covid hit a 12-week high. The number of patients treated in intensive care units for Covid-19 in France has reached a 12-week peak of 3,435, as regional officials urge for a ban on public gatherings and consider a partial weekend lockdown.

· Ireland extended its lockdownIreland is to start reopening some schools next week but is extending other lockdown restrictions until April to prevent another explosion in Covid-19 cases.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/feb/24/coronavirus-live-news-who-says-global-deaths-down-20-since-last-week-cases-declining-for-six-straight-weeks?page=with:block-6035f4988f088c613add0eb3#block-6035f4988f088c613add0eb3