i_need_contribute
|
Country, |
Total |
New |
Total |
|
World |
242,309,900 |
+413,178 |
4,928,337 |
|
45,996,507 |
+71,809 |
748,652 |
|
|
34,108,323 |
+14,936 |
452,684 |
|
|
21,664,879 |
+12,969 |
603,902 |
|
|
8,541,192 |
+43,738 |
138,852 |
|
|
8,060,752 |
+33,740 |
225,325 |
|
|
7,714,379 |
+30,862 |
68,060 |
|
|
7,096,043 |
+5,934 |
117,355 |
|
|
5,809,967 |
+13,308 |
124,423 |
|
|
5,274,766 |
+1,303 |
115,737 |
|
|
4,990,767 |
+1,889 |
87,051 |
|
|
4,983,527 |
+952 |
126,910 |
|
|
4,722,188 |
+2,697 |
131,655 |
|
|
4,410,332 |
+10,543 |
95,588 |
|
|
4,236,287 |
+903 |
143,049 |
|
|
3,758,469 |
+1,413 |
284,477 |
|
|
2,945,056 |
+3,931 |
76,179 |
|
|
2,917,255 |
+452 |
88,674 |
|
|
2,731,735 |
+4,496 |
40,972 |
|
|
2,660,273 |
+15,579 |
61,348 |
|
|
2,401,866 |
+5,745 |
28,062 |
|
|
2,191,171 |
+775 |
199,928 |
|
|
2,054,960 |
+3,895 |
18,263 |
|
|
2,038,847 |
+1,835 |
22,810 |
|
|
1,802,934 |
+9,122 |
18,407 |
|
|
1,715,017 |
+232 |
18,121 |
|
|
1,712,269 |
+2,536 |
30,573 |
|
|
1,687,608 |
+2,198 |
28,603 |
|
|
1,672,998 |
+933 |
37,623 |
|
|
1,566,296 |
+469 |
27,785 |
|
|
1,486,264 |
+18,863 |
42,616 |
|
|
1,319,227 |
+1,112 |
8,023 |
|
|
1,289,033 |
+3,521 |
25,780 |
|
|
1,265,650 |
+603 |
28,300 |
|
|
1,080,929 |
+832 |
18,106 |
|
|
1,062,960 |
+7,664 |
9,214 |
|
|
942,779 |
+499 |
14,566 |
|
|
938,577 |
+1,768 |
8,101 |
|
|
919,533 |
+1,387 |
11,797 |
|
|
870,255 |
+3,034 |
21,344 |
|
|
844,801 |
+1,597 |
10,895 |
|
|
837,248 |
+859 |
30,418 |
|
|
806,517 |
+957 |
11,305 |
|
|
780,269 |
+2,590 |
11,196 |
|
|
738,812 |
+122 |
2,122 |
|
|
711,007 |
+54 |
25,103 |
|
|
700,959 |
+3,739 |
15,447 |
|
|
670,552 |
+5,739 |
9,546 |
|
|
634,669 |
+460 |
8,434 |
|
|
589,986 |
+1,724 |
14,436 |
|
|
575,856 |
+1,913 |
4,432 |
|
|
553,661 |
+708 |
6,880 |
|
|
550,555 |
+4,957 |
22,612 |
|
|
548,018 |
+49 |
8,767 |
|
|
532,766 |
+548 |
13,525 |
|
|
514,087 |
+356 |
32,937 |
|
|
507,134 |
+480 |
18,877 |
|
|
505,554 |
+2,102 |
6,793 |
|
|
490,008 |
+1,133 |
18,416 |
|
|
470,598 |
+203 |
7,297 |
|
|
460,582 |
+29 |
16,228 |
|
|
439,735 |
+1,797 |
12,864 |
|
|
429,974 |
+1,741 |
8,928 |
|
|
419,349 |
+674 |
4,331 |
|
|
419,087 |
+2,397 |
5,306 |
|
|
412,403 |
+32 |
2,458 |
|
|
395,223 |
+1,162 |
4,748 |
|
|
391,358 |
+191 |
6,069 |
|
|
372,920 |
+95 |
10,121 |
|
|
372,758 |
+2,408 |
5,500 |
|
|
370,159 |
+756 |
2,690 |
|
|
359,881 |
+386 |
6,258 |
|
|
351,224 |
+596 |
4,924 |
|
|
344,518 |
+1,073 |
2,689 |
|
|
340,839 |
+1,303 |
1,574 |
|
|
320,207 |
+868 |
18,058 |
|
|
319,614 |
+1,715 |
7,309 |
|
|
310,170 |
+1,669 |
4,645 |
|
|
284,237 |
+1,054 |
5,842 |
|
|
276,262 |
+74 |
1,392 |
|
|
252,199 |
+133 |
5,233 |
|
|
238,079 |
+83 |
608 |
|
|
209,549 |
+13 |
3,658 |
|
|
209,546 |
+159 |
2,838 |
|
|
205,453 |
+89 |
5,875 |
|
|
197,669 |
+472 |
6,978 |
|
|
197,504 |
+608 |
884 |
|
|
188,722 |
+1,853 |
2,920 |
|
|
181,654 |
+342 |
1,292 |
|
|
180,006 |
+93 |
2,638 |
|
|
178,804 |
+616 |
2,841 |
|
|
174,436 |
+1,102 |
1,435 |
|
|
120,987 |
+181 |
565 |
|
|
47,284 |
+288 |
1,040 |
|
|
15,746 |
+14 |
170 |
Retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/ZFATT7VD4JK7VCP7WMT2TJSXHE.jpg)
Cabins at a vaccination centre, temporarily set up in the Erika-Hess ice stadium to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic are seen in Berlin, Germany, January 14, 2021. Kay Nietfeld/Pool via REUTERS
Germany may miss its target to donate 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses this year due to conditions imposed by manufacturers and delivery shortfalls, a health ministry official said in a letter to Brussels seen by Reuters.
The 100 million doses account for half of the total promised by European Union member states to poorer countries this year, according to the European Commission.
But on Oct. 19, the foreign office said Germany had only donated just over 17% of that amount.
In a letter on Monday to the European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), health ministry state secretary Thomas Steffen said there were "ongoing bureaucratic, logistical and legal problems" imposed by vaccine makers on EU countries wanting to donate surplus shots.
They make "a quick response to international requests for help almost impossible," Steffen added.
The letter is the strongest sign yet of the tensions between governments and drugmakers over donations. The EU and rich countries whose most vulnerable citizens have largely already been vaccinated are under heavy pressure from the World Health Organization to help deliver more doses to poorer nations, many of which have inoculated only a fraction of their populations.
"With vaccine surpluses in many member states increasing at present, we will soon be facing a situation of global allocation emergency," Steffen wrote. "Some countries could be forced to waste large volumes of valuable vaccines urgently needed in other parts of the world."
Obstacles include minimum sales prices, onerous compensation payments required of the recipient countries and restrictions on distributing to international organisations, he said.
Changes in expected delivery volumes and expiration dates of vaccine doses also make planning more difficult, he added.
Steffen said AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) could together only deliver up to 50 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccines this year, meaning Germany would also have to donate Pfizer/BioNTech (22UAy.DE), (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) shots that are the mainstays of its vaccination drive.
In response, Johnson & Johnson said it would help countries with surplus doses to donate them to other countries, especially using the international COVAX facility, as long as the countries meet safety, legal, regulatory and logistical requirements.
The other manufacturers could not be immediately reached for comment.
EU countries have mostly promised to donate AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Many have restricted the use of these vaccines due to very rare cases of blood clotting.
Any shortfall in donations is likely to heighten the criticism of richer nations, which are rolling out boosters and inoculating teenagers considered a low-risk from COVID-19, while the pandemic rages elsewhere.
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-germany-may-miss-covid-19-vaccine-donation-goal-blames-manufacturers-2021-10-19/
Dutch tourists, who will spend a week long holiday in isolation in their tourist resort as part of an experiment, arrive at the Rhodes International Airport, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak on the island of Rhodes, Greece April 12, 2021. REUTERS/Louiza Vradi
New coronavirus infections in the Netherlands jumped 44% in the week through Tuesday, forcing several hospitals in the country to cut back on regular care to deal with a rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Infections reached their highest level since the end of July at 25,751, official data showed, rising for the third consecutive week following the easing of many social distancing measures in the Netherlands last month.
Some 48 COVID-19 deaths were recorded, twice as many as in the previous week.
Hospital admissions in the country of 17.5 million increased by one-fifth from a week earlier and are now back at the level of early September.
That has forced several hospitals to cancel regular care, by postponing planned operations or by limiting surgery to the most serious cases, mainly in regions where vaccination rates are low.
"Most of those in hospital with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated," the Dutch Institute for Public Health said on Tuesday. "At intensive care units this is the case for 4 out 5 patients."
According to government data, 83% of the Dutch adult population has been fully vaccinated.
The Dutch government eased most COVID-19 restrictions on Sept. 25 and introduced a "corona pass" showing proof of vaccination for visitors to bars, restaurants, clubs or cultural events.
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/dutch-coronavirus-cases-jump-44-hospitals-feel-strain-2021-10-19/
British health minister Sajid Javid said on Tuesday that the national COVID-19 vaccine booking service would be opened up to those aged 12 and 15 to ramp up the number of younger people receiving shots amid concern about a rise in cases.
"I think it is important for anyone who is invited as eligible for vaccine including young people that they do come forward and take up that offer," Javid told parliament.
The spread of the virus among children in England is fuelling a recent rise in cases nationally and causing concern among some scientists that vaccines are being rolled out in schools too slowly.
Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-open-up-covid-vaccine-booking-service-those-aged-12-15-2021-10-19/
A vaccination site in Whalan, Australia, last month.Credit...Dan Himbrechts/EPA, via Shutterstock
Australia has overcome a sluggish start to its Covid vaccination campaign, inoculating more people with at least one dose as a percentage of the population than the United States, according to government figures collated by the Our World in Data project.
The country has given at least one dose to 72 percent of its population as of Tuesday, compared with 66 percent in the United States. The two have fully inoculated about 57 percent of their people, according to the data. In Israel, one of the first nations to start vaccinating people in 2020, 63 percent have received two shots.
The success of Australia’s campaign has allowed thousands of children in Sydney to return to school and state governments to announce the relaxing of borders. Australia abandoned earlier plans to eliminate the virus and shifted to vaccinating as many people as possible. In the state of Victoria, where one of the world’s longest lockdowns is set to end on Thursday, close to 90 percent of the eligible population have now had one dose.
The rollout was a “great achievement,” Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said on Friday. It was also, he added, “allowing Australians to start reclaiming so many of the things that have been taken from them throughout this pandemic.”
When 80 percent of the eligible population is vaccinated nationwide, Mr. Morrison has said the country will begin to reopen its international borders, closed since March 2020, to the world.
By Jack Nicas
BRASÍLIA, Brazil — A Brazilian congressional panel is set to recommend that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with “crimes against humanity,” asserting that he intentionally let the coronavirus rip through the country and kill hundreds of thousands in a failed bid to achieve herd immunity and revive Latin America’s largest economy.
A report from the panel’s investigation, excerpts from which were viewed by The New York Times ahead of its scheduled release this week, also recommends criminal charges against 69 other people, including three of Mr. Bolsonaro’s sons and numerous current and former government officials.
The panel had initially recommended in the report that Mr. Bolsonaro be charged with mass homicide and genocide against Indigenous groups in the Amazon, where the virus decimated populations for months after hospitals there ran out of oxygen. But less than a day after The Times and several Brazilian news outlets reported on those plans, several senators said that the accusations had gone too far.
Late Tuesday, on the eve of the scheduled release of the report, the committee removed the recommended charges of homicide and genocide, said Renan Calheiros, the centrist Brazilian senator who was the lead author of the report, just after midnight on Wednesday local time.
It is at best uncertain whether the report from the 11-member panel — seven of them opponents of Mr. Bolsonaro — will lead to any actual criminal charges, given the political realities of the country.
By Carl Zimmer
A booster shot of Covid vaccine being prepared in Jackson, Ala., this month. Credit...Charity Rachelle for The New York Times
The Food and Drug Administration seems likely to allow Americans to switch vaccines when choosing a Covid-19 booster shot. That authorization, which could come this week, is the latest development in a long-running debate over whether a mix-and-match strategy helps protect people from the coronavirus.
Here are answers to some common questions about mixing and matching booster shots.
How is mix-and-match different?
Immunizations typically consist of two or more doses of the same vaccine. The Moderna vaccine, for example, is administered in two identical shots of mRNA, separated by four weeks.
A double dose can create much more protection against a disease than a single shot. The first dose causes the immune system’s B cells to make antibodies against a pathogen. Other immune cells, called T cells, develop the ability to recognize and kill infected cells.
The second shot amplifies that response. The B cells and T cells dedicated to fighting the virus multiply into much bigger numbers. They also develop more potent attackers against the enemy.
In recent years, some vaccine researchers have experimented with a switch from one vaccine to another for the second dose. This strategy is technically known as a heterologous prime-boost.
The pandemic spurred more research into this possibility.
How well do mix-and-match boosters work?
The studies of heterologous prime-boosts in Europe earlier this year suggested that mixed vaccines can still deliver good protection against Covid-19. In June, the National Institutes of Health started its own variation on these trials, looking at what happens when fully vaccinated people switch to a new vaccine for a booster.
Dr. Kirsten Lyke of the University of Maryland School of Medicine presented the first results of the trial at Friday’s F.D.A. meeting. The researchers recruited people who had gotten one of the three vaccines authorized in the United States, and then gave them one of the three vaccines as a booster. All told, they compared nine groups of 50 volunteers each.
Dr. Lyke and her colleagues found that switching boosters raised the level of coronavirus antibodies, no matter which combination people got. “Maybe these things are going to play well together,” she said in an interview. And switching to a new booster did not produce any notable side effects.
The results for people who initially received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine were particularly striking. Those receiving a Johnson & Johnson booster saw antibodies go up just fourfold. Switching to a Pfizer-BioNTech booster raised antibody levels by a factor of 35. A Moderna booster raised them 76-fold.
Dr. Lyke cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions from the results so far. The researchers hope that by next month they’ll know how well the different boosters increase T cells, not just antibodies. It’s possible that Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine will shine in those results.
“We’ll get a more rounded picture,” she said.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/10/19/world/covid-vaccine-boosters/heres-why-mix-and-match-covid-boosters-just-might-work
By Maria Varenikova
Gleb Garanich/Reuters
KYIV, Ukraine — The Ministry of Health in Ukraine, the country with the lowest rate of coronavirus vaccination in Europe, reported on Tuesday that 538 people had died of Covid-19 in the country over the previous 24 hours. It was the highest daily death toll since the beginning of the pandemic.
The country’s health officials are struggling with two interconnected and vexing problems: widespread vaccine skepticism, and illegal schemes selling fake Covid credentials that people use to get around restrictions intended to slow the virus’ spread, like a new rule taking effect Thursday that requires a vaccination certificate or negative test to board a train.
The problem of fraud is significant enough that President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed it at a meeting with government ministers and law enforcement officials this week.
The proliferation of fake vaccination certificates in a country that has struggled for years with corruption in many spheres of public life threatens to undermine Ukraine’s fight against the virus. A deputy minister of health, Maria Karchevych, said in a statementearlier this month that police officials suspect at least 15 Ukrainian hospitals of having issued fake certificates in exchange for payments.
Ukrainian news outlets have carried numerous reports about people not only obtaining false certificates, but also having them registered in an online government database, inflating the official vaccination figures.
It is unclear how many such fakes have been registered. But even if the figures are taken at face value, the country still has the lowest vaccination rate in Europe, with just 15 percent of its population fully inoculated.
The country’s health care system is under significant stress. Hospitals in Ukraine are currently 65 percent full; one region — Kherson in the south — ran out of free beds and had to transport patients to hospitals elsewhere. The mayor of Odessa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, said that hospitals there have struggled to find enough doctors.
Ukraine, with a population of some 44 million, has been reporting an average of 14,348 cases a day over the past week, but the country’s low testing rate means the actual number of new infections may be far higher.
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/18/uk-covid-cases-50000-in-one-day-no-10-challenging-winter
Just months after the Delta variant wrecked havoc across the world, a newly detected offshoot has been identified and is reportedly on the rise across England. Identified as as AY.4.2, the strain is “on an increasing trajectory”, according to a briefing from the UK Health Security Agency. With two mutations in its spike protein, the virus is more easily able to enter cells.
Meanwhile, ministers in the UK are being urged to implement sweeping “plan B” winter measures to curb the sharp rise in Covid infections or the efforts to tackle a backlog of 5 million patients could be derailed.
The head of the NHS Confederation gave the warning as the UK recorded 223 Covid deaths, its highest since March alongside one of the highest weekly rates of new reported cases in the world. Infections have been rising sharply since the start of October but the government is resisting introducing the extra restrictions set out in its winter plan such as masks, vaccine passports and advice to work from home.
· In the US, federal regulators are expected to authorise the mixing and matching of Covid booster doses this week. The upcoming announcement by the Food and Drug Administration is likely to come along with authorisation for boosters of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots.
· Ministers must urgently implement sweeping “plan B” winter measures or derail efforts to tackle the backlog of five million patients, the head of the NHS Confederation has warned as the UK recorded its highest daily Covid death toll since March.
· The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, should face murder charges for his role in the country’s “stratospheric” coronavirus death toll, a draft report from a senate inquiry into Brazil’s Covid crisis has recommended.
· New Zealand authorities search for a Covid-positive quarantine escapee.
· The US homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, who is vaccinated, tested positive for Covid on Tuesday morning, the Department of Homeland Security said.
· Without a Covid-19 vaccination, reinfection could occur every 16 months as immunity erodes over time, studies suggest. In England, people are increasingly reporting catching Sars-CoV-2 for a second or even third time.
· Covid vaccine appointments for children will be bookable from next week in England. The rollout of jabs has been extended for 12- to 15-year-olds, Downing Street confirmed.
· The South African drug regulator has rejected the Russian-madecoronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, citing some safety concerns the manufacturer wasn’t able to answer.
· The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine is 93% effective in preventing hospitalisation among 12- to 18-year-olds, according to research by the US government. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention study was conducted between June and September when Delta was the most dominant variant.
· Bath and North East Somerset has the highest Covid case rate in the UK and 86% of local authority areas have seen a week-on-week rise, according to a new analysis.
· The UK government has claimed it was “not complacent” about rising coronavirus cases but that it had no plans to bring in any contingency measures yet. A spokesman for the prime minister said the plans, set out in the autumn/winter strategy, would only be brought in if there was a “significant risk of the NHS being overwhelmed”.
· Bulgaria is to make Covid passes mandatory for entry to indoor restaurants, cinemas, gyms and shopping malls amid rising coronavirus infections.
· New Zealand faces obstacles in vaccinating Māori population.
Medicine
