In this file photo taken on July 3, 2020, the World Health Organization's Technical lead head COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove attends a press conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Geneva. (FABRICE COFFRINI / POOL / AFP)
CHICAGO / PARIS / KAMPALA – A drop in COVID-19 testing rates is likely contributing to a decline in reported cases even as deaths are rising, the World Health Organization's technical lead on COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove said on Wednesday.
The WHO earlier this week urged governments to improve vaccination rates and rapid testing as infections have risen from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, especially in east Europe
"The bigger concern right now, I think, is the still increasing number of deaths," Van Kerkhove said during a virtual panel discussion livestreamed on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
"In the last week alone, almost 75,000 people died reported to us and we know that that is an underestimate," she said.
The countries claiming that their transmission has dropped from two to six weeks ago have likely seen a drop in testing rates, said WHO's emergencies chief Mike Ryan.
The WHO earlier this week urged governments to improve vaccination rates and rapid testing as infections have risen from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, especially in east Europe.
Several countries have announced plans to relax COVID-19 restrictions in coming weeks if daily infection numbers kept falling.
Now is not the time for countries to change isolation requirements for people who test positive in rapid antigen or PCR tests, Ryan added.
Chief Executive Officer of BioNTech SE Ugur Sahin delivers a statement at the manufacturing site of German company BioNTech in Marburg, western Germany on Feb 16, 2022. (ANDRE PAIN / AFP)
BioNTech's co-founder and top executive said the vaccine maker has no plans to enforce its intellectual property rights should organizations in Africa strike out on their own to produce unauthorized versions of the company's shot.
The remarks come after the company, which developed the western world's most widely used COVID-19 shot with US drugmaker Pfizer, mapped out a plan to enable African countries to produce its Comirnaty-branded shot under BioNTech's supervision
"Our goal is not to keep others from using our technology. Our goal is rather to actively see to it that our technology is available on all continents as safely and as widely as possible," CEO Ugur Sahin told Reuters TV on Wednesday when asked whether he would pursue breaches of patents or patents pending in Africa.
The remarks come after the company, which developed the western world's most widely used COVID-19 shot with US drugmaker Pfizer, mapped out a plan to enable African countries to produce its Comirnaty-branded shot under BioNTech's supervision.
Sahin said the proprietary offshore production venture, dubbed Biontainer, was superior to hands-off data sharing because of the many pitfalls in quality maintenance.
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At an earlier news conference Sahin said that novel cancer therapies BioNTech is working on will in future be made available on the continent at affordable prices.
Sahin's pledge on property rights echoes a similar statement by Moderna, which in 2020 said it would not enforce patents related to COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.
Different efforts are afoot to ease Africa's reliance on vaccine imports amid heated debate over whether Western vaccine pioneers are doing enough to support that cause.
In this file photo taken on July 21, 2021, spectators wearing masks queue before they have their health pass checked as they enter the Grand Rex cinema in Paris, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
France
France further relaxed COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday, as announced by French Prime Minister Jean Castex in January.
Nightclubs may now re-open, and standing will once more be allowed in bars and at concerts. Eating and drinking will also be permitted at stadiums and in cinemas.
"With the virus still hitting hospitals, the end of the final restrictive measures does not mean the end of caution," French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said on Tuesday.
Mask-wearing on public transport, at work and in schools may be abandoned in mid-March along with the vaccine pass if the health situation permits, and "if the conditions in hospitals are back to normal," French Minister of Health Olivier Veran told France Info radio on Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, a booster dose is required within four months of receiving the second dose, in order for the vaccine pass to remain valid.
According to the French Ministry of Health, about four million people could lose their vaccine passes if they do not adhere to this rule.
The French Public Health Agency stated on Tuesday that 19.3 percent of the population is still unvaccinated.
An inspector appointed by the exhibitors, wearing a sign on her back reading "COVID-Check", walks through Christmas market on Roncalliplatz near the cathedral in Cologne, Germany on Nov 22, 2021. (OLIVER BERG / DPA VIA AP)
Germany
The German government on Wednesday approved the draft of the fourth COVID-19 tax relief act that would bundle economic and social measures to cushion the impact of the pandemic.
Rewarding the "special efforts of care workers during the pandemic," employees in the healthcare sector could be awarded a tax-free bonus of up to 3,000 euros ($3,400), the German government said.
Special tax rules on working from home would continue to apply, allowing taxpayers to claim five euros for each calendar day during which they work exclusively at home, up to a maximum of 600 euros, according to the government.
In order to secure the liquidity of businesses, German companies could offset their COVID-19-related losses against profits from previous years, according to the draft. Operating losses in 2022 and 2023 could be carried back two years by up to 10 million euros.
"With today's decrees, we are reaching out to the broad middle of society," said Minister of Finance Christian Lindner in a statement on Wednesday. "The law is a good contribution to leading our country out of the crisis."
A patient receives a dose of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19, in Aristotelous Square in the center of Thessaloniki on Dec 23 2021. (SAKIS MITROLIDIS / AFP)
Greece
Greece will lift some coronavirus restrictions on the hospitality sector after the recommendation of infectious disease experts as COVID-19 infections ease from recent highs, the country's health minister said on Wednesday.
The advisory committee of infectious disease experts, which convened on Wednesday, recommended the lifting of curbs barring standing customers at bars and night entertainment establishments and the raising of attendance at sports venues to 50 percent of capacity.
It also recommended that school excursions resume and lowered a work-from-home requirement in the public and private sectors to 20 percent.
"The recommendation is accepted by the government. The new measures will apply from Feb. 19," Health Minister Thanos Plevris said.
Health authorities reported 19,509 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and 82 related deaths, bringing the country's total number of infections since the first case was detected two years ago to 2.235 million and deaths to 25,001.
In this Dec 30, 2020 photo, a bottle of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on a table before being utilised in Topeka, USA. (PHOTO / AP)
Moderna
An Omicron-specific booster could be ready by August, the CEO of US biotech firm Moderna told Reuters, but the firm is still gathering clinical data to determine whether that vaccine would offer better protection than a new dose of the existing jab.
Last month Moderna began clinical trials for a booster dose specifically designed to target Omicron but initial results from studies in monkeys show the Omicron-specific shot may not offer stronger protection than a new dose of the existing vaccine. read more
Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said in an interview the company aimed to have a booster ready by August 2022, before next autumn when he said more vulnerable people may need it.
Moderna's vaccines use mRNA technology to provoke an immune response, similar to the shot developed by Pfizer/BioNTech.
A pharmacist reconstitutes the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as she fills syringes with the vaccine for the incoming public at the UMass Memorial Health Care COVID-19 Vaccination Center in the Mercantile Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 22, 2021. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP)
Pfizer
Delivery of Pfizer and BioNTech SE's vaccine to combat the Omicron COVID-19 variant was delayed by several weeks due to a slower-than expected data gathering process, BionTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin told Germany's Bild on Thursday.
Once the vaccine is ready, the company would assess whether it was still needed, Sahin said.
"If the wave ends, that does not mean it can't begin again," he told Bild in a video interview, adding that BioNTech was in a position to continue creating new vaccines as variants emerged if needed.
"I really don't see the situation as dramatic anymore," he said, referring to how the coronavirus would develop in future.
BioNTech had previously expected to launch the vaccine by end of March, but said in late January that this depended on how much clinical data regulators would require.
Uganda
Uganda on Wednesday announced that it has stopped the mandatory COVID-19 testing of travelers coming into the country.
The Ministry of Health in a statement issued here said the move which takes immediate effect follows a cabinet decision on Feb 14.
The ministry stressed in the statement, however, that the mandatory testing of 72 hours before boarding for both incoming and exiting travelers remains in effect.
The suspension is based on a decline in positive COVID-19 cases identified at the airport (the country's Entebbe International Airport), said the ministry, noting the other reason is the reduction in the global threat of new variants of concern and therefore reduced risk of importing new variants.
Uganda in October last year started mandatory COVID-19 testing for all incoming travelers in an effort to curb a further importation of the deadly Coronavirus variants into the country.
The Ministry of Health data suggested that tests done on Feb. 14 showed 63 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases out of 4,010 samples taken.
The country as of Feb 14 had registered 162,865 positive COVID-19 cases since the country registered the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020.
Dr Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the NIAID, gives and opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to COVID-19 and new emerging variants on Jan 11, 2022 at Capitol Hill in Washington DC.
(GREG NASH / POOL / AFP)
US
Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that it is time for the United States to start inching back towards normality, despite remaining risks from COVID-19.
In an interview with Reuters, Fauci said US states are facing tough choices in their efforts to balance the need to protect their citizens from infections and the growing fatigue with a pandemic that has dragged into its third year.
"There is no perfect solution to this," said Fauci, President Joe Biden's top medical adviser and a member of the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
Earlier on Wednesday, US health officials said they were preparing new COVID-19 guidance on many aspects of the virus response as the Omicron surge in cases declines.
That followed announcements by several states including New Jersey, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon that they were lifting mask mandates for schools or other public settings in the coming weeks.
"The fact that the world and the United States and particularly certain parts of the United States are just up to here with COVID-19 – they just really need to somehow get their life back," he said.
"You don't want to be reckless and throw everything aside, but you've got to start inching towards that."
Even with the positive trends, COVID-19 numbers remain high with some 2,200 Americans dying each day, most of them unvaccinated.
The current seven-day daily average of COVID-19 cases is about 147,000, a decrease of some 40 percent from the previous week, according to government data. Over the same period, hospital admissions fell about 28 percent to 9,500 per day.
