People wait in a queue to receive a COVID-19 jab, at a temporary centre set up at Selhurst Park football stadium, in Croydon, south London on Feb 4, 2021. (PHOTO / AFP)
GENEVA / LONDON / MEXICO CITY / PARIS / MADRID / SAO PAULO / MOSCOW / BOGOTA / BERLIN / ADDIS ABABA / SANTIAGO / QUITO / OSLO / KIEV / MOGADISHU / BRUSSELS – The world faces around 4,000 variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, prompting a race to improve vaccines, Britain said on Thursday, as researchers began to explore mixing doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots in a world first.
Thousands of variants have been documented as the virus mutates, including the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants which appear to spread more swiftly than others.
British Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was very unlikely that the current vaccines would not work against the new variants.
“Its very unlikley that the current vaccine won’t be effective on the variants whether in Kent or other variants especially when it comes to severe illness and hospitalization,” Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky.
The United Kingdom has passed the peak of its latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said, as the country reached the milestone of vaccinating 10 million people, about 15 percent of the population.
Britain’s immunization program – the most successful so far in Europe – puts the country on track to provide shots to 15 million citizens and carers at greatest risk from the disease by Feb 15. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it will only be possible to begin easing the lockdown three weeks after that date, once those vaccinated have received the benefits of the immunization.
Johnson, who will publish a plan for relaxing the curbs on Feb 22, said there are “signs of hope” but warned the number of people with the disease is still “alarmingly high”. He said he’s “very hopeful” schools will re-open on March 8.
The Britsh government on Wednesday reported 19,202 new cases and another 1,322 deaths, bringing the tally to 3,871,825 and the toll to 109,335, official figures showed.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is preparing to announce further details of travel quarantine plans Thursday.
EU
European leaders have shown an openness to the use of COVID-19 vaccines developed by any supplier once they pass the European Union's (EU) tests.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that coronavirus vaccines from Russia and China could be approved for use in the EU if they "show all the data", AFP quoted the bloc's lawmakers as saying.
If Chinese producers "show all the data… then they could get… a conditional market authorization like the other ones," von der Leyen told EU lawmakers at a meeting.
A commission spokesman said Tuesday that one of the criteria for the EU contracts for vaccines was that producers had the capacity to produce them inside the bloc.
On the same day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said separately that every vaccine is welcome in the EU as the bloc is facing vaccine delivery difficulties.
In another development, the EU on Wednesday launched a US$6 million three-year project to support the World Health Organization (WHO) and Somalia to prevent further community spread of COVID-19.
Nicolas Berlanga Martinez, EU's ambassador to Somalia, said the project will also strengthen the health services delivery across the country as Somalia's health systems start recovering from the aftershock of the pandemic.
COVAX
COVAX, an initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) for equitable global access to the COVID-19 vaccines, said on Wednesday it has allocated a total of 337 million doses of vaccines for poorer countries so far and aimed to deliver these in the first half of 2021.
In an interim distribution forecast, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance Gavi and the WHO said the allocation would cover an average of 3.3 percent of the total population of the more than 140 countries taking part in the initial round of deliveries.
COVAX, however, warned of various caveats such as delays in the WHO's Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL), disruptions in supply chains and logistics bottlenecks.
COVAX has allocated millions of doses of AstraZeneca’s shots to African countries and aims for its first deliveries by the end of the month.
Nigeria, the most populous nation on the continent, stands to receive 16 million doses, while Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo are in line for 9 million and 7 million doses respectively, according to an interim distribution forecast published Wednesday. Other African countries will get a smaller number of vaccines.
South Africa, Cape Verde and Rwanda are expected to be among the first countries in Africa to get the vaccines from COVAX in the first deliveries.
ALSO READ: China to donate 10 million vaccine doses to COVAX
Global vaccine confidence
People’s willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is rising around the world and more than half of those questioned said they would take the shot if it were offered next week, an updated survey of global vaccine confidence found on Thursday.
But attitudes and confidence vary widely in the 15 countries covered in the survey, with France showing high levels of scepticism and some Asian countries showing declining trust in vaccines, while some European nations see rising confidence.
Overall, vaccine confidence is higher than in November, when the same survey – conducted in 15 countries and covering 13,500 people each time – found that only 40 percent would be willing to get vaccinated.
The survey, co-led by YouGov and Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), found that people in Britain were the most willing to have a COVID-19 vaccine, at 78 percent, followed by Denmark at 67 percent.
France had the highest proportion of respondents who said they would not take a vaccine, at 44 percent, but saw a doubling in the proportion who strongly agreed that they would take a vaccine, from 15 percent in November to 30 percent in January.
The survey is part of efforts by the WHO and other bodies to monitor health-related behaviour and attitudes during the pandemic.
Global tally
Coronavirus cases worldwide exceeded 104.4 million while the global death toll topped 2.26 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
More people are now vaccinated against COVID-19 than have been infected by the virus that has swept the globe over the past year, a milestone on the road to ending the pandemic, based on data reported on Wednesday.
A total of 104.9 million vaccine doses have been administered, according to University of Oxford-based Our World in Data and the latest data on Wednesday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Africa tally
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent reached 3,594,875 as of Wednesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said, adding that the death toll stood at 92,368.
Roche
Roche will double monthly production of PCR tests to detect active COVID-19 infections to 40 million in the first quarter and roughly 70 million by July, its diagnostics chief said on Thursday.
“We will see still a lot of testing, particularly in the first half of the year,” diagnostics chief Thomas Schinecker said on a call. “We’ll see how things develop in the second half of the year, currently it’s looking likely that testing will remain rather high for the remainder of 2021.”
Roche can also make 100 million rapid antigen tests monthly, but is now making only about half that via South Korean partner SD Biosensor, in part because it does not yet sell them in the United States. It can make up to 100 million antibody tests, too, to detect of somebody has had a past coronavirus infection or if they have an immune response to a vaccine, though demand is currently around 10-15 million monthly, Schinecker said.
A woman wearing a face mask walks past a wall mural depicting a syringe, in Cape Town, South Africa, Jan 21, 2021. (NARDUS ENGELBRECHT / AP)
Americas
There is concern over the discovery of three new variants of COVID-19 in 20 countries in the Americas region, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Wednesday.
These variants "are raising questions about a possible increase" in the transmissibility of the virus, said Carissa F. Etienne, director of PAHO, the regional arm of the World Health Organization.
Etienne warned of the rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths in Mexico, especially in states that are open to tourism.
She noted that new cases were also on the rise in Central America and the Caribbean.
In South America, "Colombia continues to report the highest incidence of cases, followed by Brazil, which continues to record exponential increases in both cases and deaths in the city of Manaus (capital of the state of Amazonas)," Etienne said.
In the past week, more than 1.8 million people in the Americas were reported to have contracted COVID-19 and more than 47,000 have died from the disease, Etienne said.
Georgia
Georgia on Thursday reported 583 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total to 260,480, according to the country's National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC).
Data from the NCDC showed that 671 more patients recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 251,748.
Belarus
Belarus reported 1,708 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking its total to 253,413, according to the country's health ministry.
So far, 1,755 people have died of the disease in the country, including nine over the past 24 hours, it said.
Zambia
Zambia on Thursday reported 1,514 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours as the second wave of the pandemic continues to take its toll on the southern African nation.
This has brought the cumulative cases to 59,003 since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year.
According to the Ministry of Health figures, the new cases were picked from 8,598 tests done in the last 24 hours.
The country also recorded eight new deaths during the same period, bringing the total deaths to 812 while 826 patients were discharged bringing the total recoveries to 51,305.
Netherlands
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands has hit 1 million.
While the country’s overall caseload has declined on a weekly basis since late last year, it extended its lockdown earlier in the week until March 2 as officials are concerned about an increase in cases with people infected by more contagious strains.
The death toll stands at 14,281.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga on Thursday thanked China for donating COVID-19 vaccine doses to Zimbabwe.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Monday that Zimbabwe will be among the first three African countries to receive the COVID-19 vaccines from China, alongside 11 other developing countries.
READ MORE: Portugal 'forever grateful' as Germany sends COVID-19 aid
Pfizer-AstraZeneca combination trial
Britain on Thursday launched a trial to assess the immune responses generated if doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca are combined in a two-shot schedule.
The British researchers behind the trial said data on vaccinating people with the two different types of coronavirus vaccines could help understanding of whether shots can be rolled out with greater flexibility around the world. Initial data on immune responses is expected to be generated around June.
The trial will examine the immune responses of an initial dose of Pfizer vaccine followed by a booster of AstraZeneca’s, as well as vice versa, with intervals of 4 and 12 weeks.
Recruitment for the study starts on Thursday, with over 800 participants expected to take part, the researchers said.
The trial will not assess the overall efficacy of the shot combinations, but researchers will measure antibody and T-cell responses, as well as monitor for any unexpected side effects.
Matthew Snape, an Oxford vaccinologist who is leading the trial, said initial results could inform vaccine deployment in the second half of the year.
People liine up outside a COVID-19 vaccination center at the 'Arena Treptow' in Berlin, Germany, Feb 1, 2021. (MICHAEL SOHN / AP)
Poland
Some 1.3 million people in Poland have so far received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 289,000 got a second jab, showed information on the government website Thursday.
The government aims to vaccinate 3 million Poles by the end of March. So far, over 94 percent of medical doctors and 80 percent of care home inhabitants have received at least one shot, government coordinator Michal Dworczyk said on Monday.
The country is also expected to distribute the AstraZeneca vaccine — which Poland has ordered 16 million doses so far — after the European Commission's fast-track approval procedure. All these doses are to be gradually received until the end of the second quarter.
Portugal
Portugal’s government said confinement measures are starting to take effect on the spread of the coronavirus, slowing infections after a dramatic surge in cases pushed hospital capacity to near breaking point.
Having been less affected than Spain and Italy during the first wave of the outbreak, it saw the situation deteriorate rapidly this year as the Covid-19 variant that emerged in the UK spread rapidly through the country. While the tally of daily infections has dropped since reaching a record last week, Portugal still has the world’s highest number of new coronavirus cases and deaths per million over seven days.
Germany
The risk of recurring COVID-19 lockdowns until the end of the vaccination program was feared by 58 percent of German citizens, according to a study published by the German R+V insurance group on Thursday.
Around half of German citizens, or 48 percent, were concerned about getting infected with the coronavirus or that their family and friends would get infected, according to the study. Compared to a special survey conducted in summer, this was an increase of 16 percentage points.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday the country was considering producting Russia's COVID-19 vaccine in Europe, after Russia inquired if there could be production capacities in Germany or Europe.
"We can also provide support for the production of a vaccine that is not yet or not at all approved in Europe," Spahn said during an online press conference.
Regulatory authorities would now need to consider how efficient and safe the Russian Sputnik V vaccine is, Spahn said. The process for approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has already been initiated.
On Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that every COVID-19 vaccine is welcome in the European Union (EU) as the bloc is facing vaccine delivery difficulties.
Despite the supply bottlenecks for vaccines in Europe, Spahn said he was confident that the goal of being able to offer every German citizen a vaccination by the end of the summer could still be achieved.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said Wednesday that more than two million people in Germany have received the first doses, and almost 680,000 people have received both the first and second doses.
RKI data on Thursday showed that Germany's confirmed cases had risen rose by 14,211 to 2,252,001, while the death toll went up by 786 to 59,742.
In another development, senior officials in Merkel’s ruling coalition on Wednesday night signed off on measures including increasing the amount of losses a company can write off against tax to as much as 20 million euros (US$24 million), as well as a child-benefit bonus and an extension to a lower sales-tax rate for restaurants.
Separately, a German veterinary clinic has trained sniffer dogs to detect the novel coronavirus in human saliva samples with 94 percent accuracy.
US
The US House of Representatives passed a budget Wednesday that helps clear the path for a fast-tracking of Biden’s US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan. The Senate plans to pass an identical version of the budget later this week.
President Joe Biden told House Democrats on the same day that while he was open to tightening the eligibility for his proposed US$1,400 stimulus checks, any move to cut the payments’ base amount would mean starting his presidency with a broken promise.
Biden said that lawmakers should act quickly on his plan, which also includes billions for vaccine development and distribution along with a minimum wage hike.
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it was moving to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines, freeing up more doses for states and beginning to distribute them to retail pharmacies next week.
The rush to vaccinate US residents was bogged down this week, as snow blanketed the Northeast and appointments for shots were missed or canceled.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had administered 33,878,254 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Wednesday morning and distributed 55,943,800 doses.
New COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations appear to be on a downward trajectory in the US as the Biden administration remains confident that it can hit its target of 100 million vaccines in 100 days, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said Wednesday.
According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, the US has so far reported over 26.5 million cases with more than 450,000 deaths.
Switzerland
Being famously wealthy, a model for efficiency and punctuality and having a big pharmaceuticals industry is no guarantee of success when it comes to the coronavirus vaccination drive.
The EU’s procurement saga has dominated headlines, but neighboring Switzerland is facing a similar predicament.
About 3.7 percent of the population has been inoculated, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker. That’s marginally more than the average for the 27-member EU, though a fraction of the UK on 15 percent. It’s also less than continental frontrunner Serbia, a country beyond the EU with a gross domestic product per capita that’s less than 10 percent of Switzerland’s.
“The government’s vaccination plan has failed,” said Marco Chiesa, head of the Swiss People’s Party, the nationalist group that has the most seats in parliament’s lower house. “We’re not used to such unreliability.”
Anne Levy, director-general of the Federal Office of Public Health, said on Tuesday that Switzerland just faces the same problems as the rest of the world. “We were very successful in the choosing and procurement of vaccines,” she said.
Officials say delivery shortfalls are due to be recouped in March. Interior Minister Alain Berset, whose department oversees vaccine procurement, said on Monday the country may miss its target of inoculating people over 75-year-old by the end of the month. All adults, though, would be vaccinated by the end of June, he said.
Government advisers reckon delays to vaccines cost as much as 110 million francs (US$122 million) for each day the economy can’t operate normally.
France
France reported 26,362 newly confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, up from 23,337 on Tuesday and just below the 2021 high of 26,916 set last Wednesday.
The total number of cases now stands at 3.25 million.
Despite ever-tighter government curbs on the movement of people in the last weeks, the spread of the virus is not slowing and the seven-day moving average of new cases – which evens out daily reporting irregularities – has been above 20,000 since Jan 23, from 13,274 on Dec 31.
The health ministry also reported 357 additional COVID-19 deaths in hospitals, from 404 on Tuesday, taking the total to 77,595.
Pressure on the hospital system eased slightly, with the number of COVID-19 patients down by 116 to 27,955 and the number of people in intensive care down by 3 to 3,277.
The COVID-19 situation in France remains fragile but a new national lockdown is not necessarily inevitable, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters on Wednesday.
Spain
Spain has detected its second known case of the South African coronavirus variant, officials said on Wednesday, although data suggested a third wave of contagion that has roiled the country since December was slowing.
The discovery of the case in the northeastern region of Catalonia came a day after the government restricted air travel with Brazil and South Africa to try to stop highly contagious new variants spreading into Spain.
A study by Barcelona’s Bellvitge Hospital showed the British variant accounts for 13 percent of infections in the south of the city, up from 4 percent a month ago. And authorities in Madrid said the variant was growing exponentially and would likely become the dominant strain across the region in a matter of weeks.
Still, the national 14-day incidence of the virus fell to 816 cases per 100,000 people on Wednesday from a peak of 900 cases a week ago, pointing to a stabilization in infection rates.
The health ministry reported 31,596 new cases, retreating from highs of more than 40,000 two weeks ago and pushing the overall tally to 2.88 million. The death toll rose by 565 to 60,370.
A technical committee will decide on Thursday whether to recommend the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine for over 65-year olds, Health Minister Carolina Darias told a news conference, adding that Spain would receive 1.8 million doses of the shot in Februrary.
Mexico
Mexico’s health ministry on Wednesday reported 12,153 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 1,707 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,886,245 cases and 161,240 deaths.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is in “excellent” health and is virtually free of COVID-19 symptoms, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Wednesday.
Lopez Obrador has been recovering from the virus since announcing on Jan 24 he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Moderna
Moderna offered to supply its coronavirus vaccine to South Africa, in what would be its first deal to sell shots to an African nation, a person familiar with the talks said.
Discussions have started, though no deal has been concluded, the person said. Business Day newspaper earlier reported that Moderna offered to sell South Africa 20 million doses, with the first arriving in May, citing a health activist from a group called the C19 People’s Coalition.
Brazil
Brazil registered on Wednesday 1,254 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 227,563.
Another 56,002 newly reported cases pushed the country's infection tally to 9,339,420, according to the health ministry.
The health ministry is negotiating the acquisition of 30 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine and India’s Covaxin vaccine, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) announced it was changing the procedure for approving vaccines for emergency use. From now on, it will no longer require that phase III trials be carried out in Brazil prior to emergency approval.
Health workers sped along the Amazon river this week to start vaccinating riverside communities, bringing hope to a region hard hit by COVID-19 and now facing a lethal surge driven by a new Brazilian variant of coronavirus.
In Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state with 2.1 million inhabitants, more than 5,500 have died, or 261 per 100,000, the highest rate in Brazil, according to Health Ministry data.
Denmark
Denmark will predominantly use AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for people under the age of 65, the Danish Health Authority said in a statement.
The doses are expected to arrive as early as next week, with the country preparing to vaccinate all eligible and willing residents by July 4.
An elderly man gets a shot of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech at a vaccination center set up at Bicentenario stadium in Santiago, Chile, Feb 3, 2021. (ESTEBAN FELIX / AP)
Chile
Chile, the Latin American country that has procured the most vaccines per capita, on Wednesday launched its mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19, inoculating people over 90 years old at over 1,400 vaccination centers across the country.
People lined up at state-run health centers and private clinics to receive the first dose of the Sinovac vaccine.
As the first doses were applied at a vaccination center in Futrono, a city in the southern region of Los Rios, President Sebastian Pinera described the campaign as a "tremendous challenge".
According to Pinera, vaccination is free and voluntary in the South American country.
The Chilean government aims to vaccinate 5 million people in the first quarter of this year and 15 million by mid-2021.
As of Wednesday, Chile has registered 736,645 cases and 18,576 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.
Russia
Russia reported 16,714 new COVID-19 cases across the country on Thursday, including 2,095 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,917,918 since the pandemic began.
Authorities confirmed 521 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 75,205.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday Russia would supply the rebel-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine with its Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 despite Kiev’s ban on using the Russian shots.
Colombia
Colombian President Ivan Duque announced on Wednesday that the country's National Food and Drug Surveillance Institute has authorized the emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech.
The approval was made following experts' evaluation of the vaccines, Duque said.
According to the Colombian government, the country will launch a mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 on Feb 20.
As of Wednesday, Colombia has registered 2,125,622 COVID-19 infections and 54,877 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia registered 547 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the nation's infection tally to 139,408, the Ministry of Health said Wednesday.
The death toll rose to 2,122 after six additional deaths were added, the ministry said.
Cuba
Cuba on Wednesday reported 893 new COVID-19 cases, raising its total caseload to 29,529, said the health ministry.
The ministry also reported two more deaths from the disease, taking the death toll to 220.
So far, 23,694 patients have recovered from the disease while 5,563 patients remain hospitalized, including 58 in intensive care units.
As the epidemic continues to spread, eight of Cuba's 15 provinces have declared a phase of limited community transmission.
Ecuador
Ecuador's Health Ministry on Wednesday reported 1,111 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 252,390.
The ministry also reported 31 more deaths from the disease, raising the death toll to 10,257. In addition, another 4,692 deaths are suspected of being COVID-19 related but not verified.
Currently, all 24 provinces are seeing community transmission of the virus, with Pichincha, the national epicenter of the pandemic and home to the capital Quito, having registered a total of 88,049 cases, or 34.9 percent of the country's caseload.
An accelerated rise in serious COVID-19 patients in Quito has overwhelmed hospitals, leaving dozens of people on a waiting list for intensive care unit beds, according to authorities.
Tunisia
The Tunisian health ministry on Wednesday reported 1,267 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 212,679.
The death toll from the virus rose by 87 to 6,980, the ministry said in a statement.
A woman leaves the first COVID-19 vaccination center in Belgium, Brussels, on Feb 2, 2020. (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
Latvia
Latvian parliament speaker Inara Murniece is self-isolating after coming into contact with a COVID-19 positive person, her spokesperson Dace Balode said Wednesday.
Balode said the speaker will remain in self-isolation for the next ten days, and she will continue to work from home.
Murniece will take a COVID-19 test before ending self-isolation, said Balode.
Latvia reported another 1,231 COVID-19 cases and 31 more deaths on Wednesday. In total, the country has confirmed 68,658 cases and 1,250 deaths.
Slovenia
Slovenia on Wednesday registered 1,560 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nation's tally to 170,101.
Deaths rose by 23 to 3,564.
The national COVID-19 tracker site Sledilnik showed that the country currently has 17,117 active cases. A total of 1,012 patients are treated in hospitals, of whom 165 are in intensive care.
Also on Wednesday, the Slovenian National Assembly passed the eighth economic stimulus package worth around 320 million euros (US$385 million) to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
Algeria
Algeria on Wednesday decided to relax lockdown measures in 19 provinces, including the capital Algiers, the official APS news agency reported.
From Wednesday, the nighttime curfew will start from 10 pm to 5 am.
Meanwhile, sports venues will be open to public and shops can remain open until 9 pm.
Algeria on Wednesday reported 275 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the North African country to 108,116.
The death toll rose to 2,900 after two more fatalities were added, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
This photo shows people wearing face masks walking on a street in Algiers, Algeria, on Feb 3, 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
Morocco
Morocco on Wednesday reported 774 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 473,047.
The death toll rose to 8,323 as 14 more fatalities were during the last 24 hours.
Albania
Albania's health ministry on Wednesday reported more 1,000 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily tally since the outbreak of the pandemic.
According to the ministry, a total of 3,849 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, of which 1,007 came back positive.
The new cases took the country's tally to 80,941 cases.
Deaths rose by six to 1,404 while the total recoveries increased by 581 to 48,958.
Norway
Norway will not offer the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 to individuals over the age of 65, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said on Thursday, making it the latest European country to restrict its use.
So far, some 135,000 individuals in Norway have received their first dose against the disease and some 35,000 have received their second shot, from vaccines made by Moderna and from a partnership between Pfizer and BioNTech, the agency said.
The FHI said there had been few participants above the age of 65 in the trial conducted by AstraZeneca, meaning there was a lack of documentation as to the effect of the vaccine on older age groups.
Ukraine
Three intensive care patients and a ward doctor died overnight in a fire a hospital treating coronavirus cases in Zaporizhzhya, southeastern Ukraine, the region’s governor said on Thursday.
Oleksander Starukh said the fire broke out on the first floor of the hospital where patients were on ventilators. He said eight other patients unit were evacuated.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said an oxygen leak could have caused the fire.
Ukraine has registered more 1.2 million coronavirus cases with 23,229 deaths.
Sweden
Sweden plans to roll out a “digital vaccination certificate” and has tasked three government agencies to develop the infrastructure to handle the relevant personal data.
The new certificate should be ready for use “before the summer,” Health Minister Lena Hallengren and Minister of Digitalization Anders Ygeman said at a press conference on Thursday.
The certificates will facilitate traveling and should follow international guidelines and standards, according to the government.
On Wednesday, the government announced that foreign citizens will have to provide a recent negative test for COVID-19 when entering Sweden starting from Saturday.
Sweden registered 4,310 new cases and 124 more deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 580,916 and the death toll to 11,939, according to the Public Health Agency.
Namibia
Namibia can expect to receive AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in the middle of or late February, subject to WHO's Emergency Use Listing (EUL), Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula said Wednesday.
Shangula made the remarks following a confirmation letter that was sent from the COVAX facility to Namibia on Tuesday.
According to the minister, Namibia will procure enough vaccines to immunize at least 60 percent of its population.
Shangula said that apart from the COVAX facility, Namibia is also in discussion with manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines in China, Russia, India, and the United States for an additional vaccine supply to cover the remaining 40 percent of the population.
South Africa
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor expressed concern that countries in the North have taken advantage of their financial muscle to buy large quantities of COVID-19 vaccines while poor countries in Africa struggle to gain access to the shots.
Pandor made the remarks on Wednesday while addressing the 38th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU).
She said it was important for countries in the South, particularly in Africa, to have access to COVID-19 vaccines quickly to contain the pandemic.
Kenya
Kenya's health ministry has set up robust measures in place to facilitate a seamless roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines by mid-February as the country hastens a return to normalcy, senior officials said.
Willis Akhwale, chairman of the COVID-19 taskforce for vaccine deployment and the vaccination process, said the country is fully prepared to inoculate its citizens against the virus.
He said that the ministry has ordered 24 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and expects the vaccines to start arriving in the second week of February.
About 20 percent of the Kenyan population will be inoculated when the first batch of vaccines arrive in the country, Akhwale said.
Kenya on Wednesday reported 150 new cases and three deaths, bringing the tally to 101,159 and the toll to 1,769.
Cyprus
Cyprus is tightening measures for incoming travelers, including a mandatory 72-hour self-quarantine and a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test within 72 hours after that, the health ministry announced in a press release on Wednesday.
The ministry said the measures will come into force on Saturday, and would apply to people arriving from low-risk categories A and B countries.
Category A countries include Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand.
Category B countries include European Union (EU) member states Germany, Greece and Finland, plus Iceland and Norway, which are Schengen members, and third countries China, Japan, South Korea and Rwanda.
Meanwhile, the ministry also announced that restrictions on sports events will be relaxed as of Monday, and theaters and cinemas will be allowed to reopen with no more than 50 people.
Austria
Austria’s Tyrol province, host to the Ischgl ski resort that became a superspreader venue in the pandemic’s early months, is seeing a surge in infections attributable to the variant that was first identified in South Africa.
The chief virologist at the Medical University of Innsbruck found that about a fifth of new infections were probably caused by the variant and are calling for the region’s borders to be closed. The Health Ministry is reviewing the situation.
Botswana
Botswana has approved an economic response plan that is targeted at addressing short-term working capital requirements for businesses, National Development Bank (NDB) relationship manager Kesego Mokgetse was quoted as saying Thursday.
Speaking during the Industry Support fund (ISF) presentation in Gaborone, Mokgetse said that the government has allocated NDB 600 million pula (about US$54.6 million) to lend out to businesses in agriculture, tourism and general industry that have faced COVID-19 pandemic effects.
The current novel coronavirus pandemic has severely disrupted businesses in Botswana, causing small businesses to shut down. Without customers and income, business owners struggled to pay their employees.
Botswana tourism has suffered loss of revenue, failure to service bank loans, failure to finance operation costs and rent payment. The ISF will help agriculture and tourism sectors with access to finance to ensure both their livelihoods and food security, said Mokgetse.
Zipline
Zipline Inc, a drone delivery service that specializes in medical supplies, said it plans to begin transporting Covid vaccines in the markets where it operates in April.
Zipline has been delivering medicine and supplies to rural clinics in Rwanda and Ghana since 2016 and, last year, began delivering personal protective equipment to hospitals and clinics in North Carolina. It plans to add operations in Nigeria later this year.
The company declined to specify its vaccine partner, but said it has built a system that can deliver ultra-low temperature medical supplies, including all leading vaccines.
