In this picture taken on Dec 6, 2021, a frontline worker from Health Environment and Climate Action Foundation (HECAF) shows stacks of poly bags with COVID-19 coronavirus medical waste kept to be sent for Bio-Medical waste treatment in Civil Hospital in Kathmandu. (PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)
OTTAWA / COPENHAGEN / HELSINKI / GENEVA / JOHANNESBURG – Discarded syringes, used test kits and old vaccine bottles from the COVID-19 pandemic have piled up to create tens of thousands of tons of medical waste, threatening human health and the environment, according to a World Health Organization report on Tuesday.
The material, a portion of which could be infectious since coronavirus can survive on surfaces, potentially exposes health workers to burns, needle-stick injuries and disease-causing germs.
The report estimates that some 8 billion vaccine doses administered globally have produced an additional 144,000 tons of waste in the form of glass vials, syringes, needles, and safety boxes
Communities close to poorly-managed landfills can also be affected through contaminated air from burning waste, poor water quality or disease-carrying pests, the report added.
The report called for reform and investment including through the reduction in the use of packaging that has caused a rush for plastic and the use of protective gear made from reusable and recyclable materials.
It estimates that some 87,000 tons of personal protective equipment (PPE), or the equivalent of the weight of several hundred blue whales, has been ordered via a UN portal up until Nov 2021 – most of which is thought to have ended up as waste.
The report also mentioned some 140 million test kits with a potential to generate 2,600 tons of mostly plastic trash and enough chemical waste to fill one-third of an Olympic swimming pool.
In addition, it estimated that some 8 billion vaccine doses administered globally have produced an additional 144,000 tons of waste in the form of glass vials, syringes, needles, and safety boxes.
The WHO report did not name specific examples of where the most egregious build-ups occurred but referred to challenges such as the limited official waste treatment and disposal in rural India as well as large volumes of fecal sludge from quarantine facilities in Madagascar.
Even before the pandemic, around a third of healthcare facilities were not equipped to handle existing waste loads, the WHO said. That was as high as 60 percent in poor countries, it said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference on the COVID-19 situation, Jan 5, 2022, in Ottawa, Canada. (DAVE CHAN / AFP)
Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday he has tested positive for COVID-19.
"I'm feeling fine – and I'll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines. Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted," he wrote on Twitter.
Last week, he said one of his children tested positive for the virus. He then began five days of self-isolation and worked from home.
Denmark
The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which has quickly taken over in Denmark, is more transmissible than the more common BA.1 and more able to infect vaccinated people, a Danish study has found.
The study, which analysed coronavirus infections in more than 8,500 Danish households between December and January, found that people infected with the BA.2 subvariant were roughly 33 percent more likely to infect others, compared to those infected with BA.1.
The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which has quickly taken over in Denmark, is more transmissible than the more common BA.1 and more able to infect vaccinated people, a Danish study has found
Worldwide, the "original" BA.1 subvariant accounts for more than 98 percent of Omicron cases, but its close cousin BA.2 has quickly become the dominant strain in Denmark, dethroning BA.1 in the second week of January.
"We conclude that Omicron BA.2 is inherently substantially more transmissible than BA.1, and that it also possesses immune-evasive properties that further reduce the protective effect of vaccination against infection," the study's researchers said.
ALSO READ: Denmark says Moderna vaccine remains available to under-18s
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was conducted by researchers at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Copenhagen University, Statistics Denmark and Technical University of Denmark.
"If you have been exposed to Omicron BA.2 in your household, you have 39 percent probability of being infected within seven days. If you instead had been exposed to BA.1, the probability is 29 percent," lead study author Frederik Plesner told Reuters.
That suggests BA.2 is around 33 percent more infectious than BA.1, he added.
BA.2 cases have also been registered in the United States, Britain, Sweden and Norway, but to a much lesser extent than in Denmark, where it accounts for roughly 82 percent of cases. read more
The study also showed that BA.2 was relatively better than BA.1 at infecting vaccinated and booster-vaccinated people, indicating greater "immune evasive properties" of the subvariant.
But vaccines still played an important role, the study underlined, since both booster-vaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals were less like to get infected and transmit either subvariants, compared to those not vaccinated.
Preliminary analysis by SSI has shown that there is no difference in the risk of hospitalization for BA.2 compared to BA.1.
The study also confirms preliminary analysis from England, which showed BA.2 appears to have a substantial growth advantage over the BA.1 type, according to Britain's UK Health Security Agency.
This file photo shows people wearing face masks walk in the city center in Helsinki on Jan 12, 2021, following snow fall. (ALESSANDRO RAMPAZZO / AFP)
Finland
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Monday that the country is working to lift all COVID-19-related restrictions in February.
Marin's announcement came at a meeting with the Finnish Association of Editors, just two days after Finland entered its third pandemic year.
"The restrictions should be lifted during February, as the tolerance of the citizens has been tested for a long time," she told Finnish daily Ilta-Samomat.
Marin said that her government will negotiate its strategy for easing pandemic measures on Wednesday.
However, Finnish health experts expressed concern.
"Some kind of restraint must be maintained here," said Mika Valtonen, executive physician at Turku University Clinic (TYKS).
Valtonen said that there are still 46 coronary patients in intensive care in Finland as of Monday, which is almost 20 percent of the entire intensive care capacity in Finland.
One of the factors underlying moves to ease restrictions is that many residents have not been adhering to them, he said, due in part to their lack of consistency.
Starting Tuesday, restrictions in restaurants in Finland will be eased, and gyms and swimming pools re-opened.
Border checks on passenger traffic between Finland and the European Union and Schengen countries will also end on Tuesday. However, restrictions on external border traffic will remain in place until Feb 14.
A patient receives a dose of the Johnson and Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, outside the Wonderpark Shopping Centre, in Pretoria, on Dec 8, 2021. (PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP)
South Africa
South Africa no longer requires those who test positive for COVID-19 without symptoms to isolate and has also reduced the isolation period for those with symptoms by three days, as the country exits its fourth wave of the coronavirus, a government statement said on Monday.
Following a special Cabinet meeting held earlier to decide on the amendments, the country made the changes based on the trajectory of the pandemic and levels of vaccination in the country, according to a press release issued by Mondli Gungubele, a minister in the presidency.
South Africa is currently at the lowest of its five-stage COVID alert levels.
"The rationale for these amendments is informed by the proportion of people with immunity to COVID-19 which has risen substantially, exceeding 60-80 percent in several sero-surveys" the statement said.
"The information gathered through the system used by the Department of Health has reported that South Africa has exited the fourth wave nationally."
Those who test positive with symptoms will now only isolate for seven days instead of 10 days, while contacts do not have to isolate unless they develop symptoms.
Cabinet also reviewed the resumption of schooling to full-time learning, deciding that primary, secondary and special schools will return to daily attendance. The regulatory provision for social distancing of 1 meter (3 ft) for learners in schools has also been removed, the statement read.
South Africa, with just over 3.6 million infections and 95,093 deaths, has been the worst-hit country in Africa during the pandemic on both counts, with the latest wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant.
On Monday data from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), showed 1,366 new COVID cases in the last 24-hours and 71 deaths, 14 of which occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours.
