The UK’s official COVID-19 daily death count could be scrapped following an investigation into Public Health England’s method of counting the toll, The Telegraph newspaper reported.

The conclusions of the investigation, which was ordered by Health Secretary Matt Hancock after it emerged officials were “exaggerating” virus deaths, are expected this week, the newspaper said.

One recommendation could be to move to a weekly official death toll instead, a government source told the Telegraph.

Britain paused its daily update of the death toll last month and the government ordered a review into how Public Health England reports coronavirus deaths, after academics said the daily figures may include people who died of other causes.

Academics in a blog post had warned that the way the government health agency calculated the figures was skewed as patients who tested positive for coronavirus, but are successfully treated, will still be counted as dying from the virus “even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later”.

England’s death figures vary substantially from day to day due to this reason, the academics had argued.

In contrast, the other parts of the United Kingdom do not follow the same approach. There is a cut-off threshold of 28 days in Scotland after a positive test, after which a patient is not automatically considered to have died from the virus.

Britain, one of the countries hardest hit by the virus, reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, its highest daily increase since June, taking the total number of cases past 310,000.

Source: REUTERS

Cameroon is using the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, to educate indigenous communities who have preserved their ways of life and their own cultures despite external influences to respect barrier measures so as not to be infected by COVID-19.

Pygmies, Mbororos and Kirdis sing in Yaounde to invite their peers to make sure COVID-19 does not get into their communities. Cameroon’s indigenous people are taking part in activities marking the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Populations.

Grace Bulami of the non-governmental organization Indigenous Rights is one of the organizers of the activities. She says it is imperative to stop the coronavirus from getting into their communities. She says certain traditional practices can favor fast transmission should a Pygmy, Mbororo or Kirdi be infected.

“They have this tendency to always want to hold hands and shake hands with each other and so we went out to sensitize them that it is dangerous for themselves and their loved ones to continue to shake hands because the pandemic spreads through that method. We try to sensitize on the importance of wearing face masks, washing their hands and social distancing,” she said.

A study carried out by Indigenous Rights, the Yaounde based Center for Environment and Development, and the Mbororo Cultural and Development Organization, MBOSCUDA, indicate that no indigenous person has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The first case of the coronavirus was reported in Cameroon on March 5. Since then more than 18,000 cases have been officially confirmed.

Jaji Manu Gidado, honorary president of MBOSCUDA says indigenous people have been free from the virus because they hardly mix with non-indigenous communities.

“They live in very difficult and isolated areas. Indigenous people live in ecosystems that provide them with a lot of traditional herbs that they use to prevent and even to cure minor illnesses,” said Gidado.

This year’s indigenous populations day was observed under the theme “COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience.” Angelica Bih Mundi Ambe, director of social protection in Cameroon’s ministry of social affairs says the government also used the opportunity to donate hand sanitizers, water basins, soap and face masks to indigenous people.  

“When we talk of resilience it means capacitating these people to fight COVID-19,” she said. “These people don’t have access to the information that we [non-indigenous people] have, the sanitary and barrier measures and so this year, emphasis is being laid on this COVID-19 to see how these people who are excluded can be mainstreamed and make the fight against COVID-19 a success.” 

Cameroons National Institute of statistics reports that the central African state with a population of 25 million people has 2 million indigenous people. Most of them live in places that are difficult to access for non-indigenous people.    Indigenous Peoples Day is celebrated around the world and marks the date of the inaugural session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at the United Nations in 1982.

Source: VOA

President Donald Trump says that the United States would have a vaccine for the coronavirus before Nov. 3 election, a claim not supported by his own White House health experts.

Speaking on the Geraldo Rivera radio program Thursday, Trump, when asked when a vaccine may be ready, said, “Sooner than the end of the year, could be much sooner.”

“Sooner than November 3?” he was asked.

“I think in some cases, yes possible before, but right around that time,” Trump said.

Later, the president also said at the White House that he was optimistic a vaccine would be ready around that date.

When asked about whether it would help him in the election, Trump said, “It wouldn’t hurt. But I’m doing it, not for the election; I want to save a lot of lives.”

However, on Wednesday, top US government infectious diseases official Dr. Anthony Fauci offered a more conservative view, saying that there is a possibility that one vaccine might work and be safe by year end.

Trump is seeking re-election to a second term as the US economic situation is getting worse due to the coronavirus pandemic. He has sought to reopen schools and pushed for things to get “back to normal” while more than 1,000 die per day on average because of the pandemic.

The disease has so far infected more than 5,032,000 and killed over 162,000 people across the United States.

Health Secretary Alex Azar denied Thursday that the push for a vaccine was political, but did not clarify whether he believed in the possibility of producing a vaccine before Election Day either.

Azar also said he would take a coronavirus vaccine if only authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration. “We’re going to run a transparent process,” he said on MSNBC. “The best thing we can do for vaccine hesitancy is ensure that the data is out there.”

Also on Thursday, the House Democrats introduced a bill that would necessitate a consultation between the FDA and a panel of experts so that a vaccine does not get rammed through too fast.

US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the bill sponsor, said, “it is even more important that quality is not sacrificed for speed in testing and evaluating any such vaccine.”

Source: Presstv

The number of coronavirus cases recorded worldwide passed the 18-million mark on Monday, with the World Health Organization warning that the effects of the pandemic “will be felt for decades to come”.

The virus that causes Covid-19 has killed more than 687,000 people since it first emerged in China late last year, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.

Fresh clusters have been reported in countries that had previously brought their outbreaks under control, forcing governments to reimpose lockdown measures despite worries over further economic fallout.

Australia’s Victoria state imposed fresh, sweeping restrictions on Sunday, including a curfew in Melbourne for the next six weeks, a ban on wedding gatherings, and an order that schools and universities go back online in the coming days.

“Anything short of this will see it drag on for months and months and months,” Victoria premier Daniel Andrews said of the outbreak.

Despite a lockdown, Melbourne has continued to report hundreds of new cases daily even as other states in Australia have reported zero or a small number.

Many other parts of the world are struggling with much bigger outbreaks.

Health authorities in South Africa, where a surge in cases had been expected after the gradual loosening of a strict lockdown, reported that infections exceeded the half-million mark.

The nation is by far the hardest-hit in Africa, accounting for more than half of diagnosed infections, although President Cyril Ramaphosa said the fatality rate is lower than the global average.

Latin America and the Caribbean passed another milestone on Sunday as fatalities in the region climbed to more than 200,000, with Brazil and Mexico accounting for nearly three-quarters.

Iran — battling the Middle East’s deadliest outbreak — reported its highest single-day infection count in nearly a month, warning that most of its provinces have been hit by a resurgence of the disease.

With infections and deaths still surging six months after it declared a global health emergency, the World Health Organization has warned of possible “response fatigue”.

“The WHO continues to assess the global risk level of COVID-19 to be very high,” the UN health agency said, adding that the effects of the pandemic “will be felt for decades to come.”

Europe case numbers creep up again

The deadly pandemic has spurred a race for a vaccine with several Chinese companies at the forefront, while Russia has set a target date of September to roll out its own prophylactic.

However, US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said it was unlikely the United States would use any vaccine developed in either nation.

As part of its “Operation Warp Speed”, the US government will pay pharmaceutical giants Sanofi and GSK up to $2.1 billion for the development of a Covid-19 vaccine, the two companies have said.

The US has now tallied more than 4.6 million cases and 154,793 deaths, while neighbouring Mexico has overtaken Britain to become the third-hardest-hit country in virus deaths — after Brazil and the US — with more than 46,600 fatal cases.

In Europe, where many countries had hoped their outbreaks had been brought under control, Norway recorded its first virus death in two weeks and Switzerland reported its case numbers had crept up again.

Despite the resurgence, Europe has seen demonstrations against coronavirus curbs.

Thousands protested in Berlin over the weekend urging “a day of freedom” from the restrictions, with some demonstrators dubbing the pandemic “the biggest conspiracy theory”.

The protests, in which many demonstrators failed to wear masks or respect social distancing rules, triggered calls for tougher penalties against those who violate curbs.

At least 45 police officers were injured and more than 130 people were arrested. 

The pandemic has also continued to cause mayhem in the travel, sports, cultural and tourism sectors, with more airlines announcing mass job cuts and major festivals and cultural events scaling back.

Latin America’s biggest airline, the Brazilian-Chilean group LATAM, said it would lay off at least 2,700 crew, and British Airways pilots overwhelmingly voted to accept a deal cutting wages by 20 percent, with 270 jobs lost.

Austria’s month-long Salzburg festival celebrates its 100th anniversary, but now with a reduced programme and strict safety measures, including masks for spectators until they are seated.

The 80,000 tickets for the event — down from the usual 230,000 — have been personalised to enable contact-tracing.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

The World Health Organization on Saturday warned the coronavirus pandemic was likely to be “lengthy” after its emergency committee met to evaluate the crisis six months after sounding the international alarm.

The committee “highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic”, the WHO said in a statement, and warned of the risk of “response fatigue” given the socio-economic pressures on countries.

The panel gathered Friday for the fourth time over the coronavirus crisis, half a year on from its January 30 declaration of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) — the WHO’s highest level of alarm.

“WHO continues to assess the global risk level of COVID-19 to be very high,” said its latest statement.

“The committee highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic, noting the importance of sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts.”

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 680,000 people and infected at least 17.6 million since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

Unsurprisingly, the panel, comprising 18 members and 12 advisers, unanimously agreed that the pandemic still constituted a PHEIC.

Crisis fatigue warning

Several countries around the world have imposed strict lockdowns in a bid to control the spread of the respiratory disease, plunging economies into sharp contraction.

The committee urged the WHO to provide nuanced, pragmatic guidance on COVID-19 reactions “to reduce the risk of response fatigue in the context of socio-economic pressures”.

The panel urged the WHO to support countries in preparing for the rollout of proven therapeutics and vaccines.

The committee also urged the agency to accelerate research into the remaining “critical unknowns” of the virus, such as the animal source and potential animal reservoirs.

It called for improved understanding of the epidemiology and severity of COVID-19, including its long-term health effects.

And the committee wanted more light shed on the dynamics of the virus, such as “modes of transmission, shedding, potential mutations; immunity and correlates of protection”.

The near six-hour gathering was hosted at the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, with some participants joining via video-link.

The committee will reconvene in three months’ time.

Effects ‘felt for decades’

Going into the meeting, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic’s effects would be long-lasting.

“It’s sobering to think that six months ago, when you recommended I declare a PHEIC, there were less than 100 cases and no deaths outside China,” he said Friday.

“The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come.”

The WHO has been sharply criticised for the length of time it took to declare an international emergency.

The United States, which accused the organisation of being too close to China, officially began its withdrawal from the organisation in July.

The agency has also been criticised for recommendations deemed late or contradictory, in particular on wearing masks, or the modes of transmission of the virus.

“Many scientific questions have been resolved; many remain to be answered,” Tedros said Friday.

“Most of the world’s people remain susceptible to this virus, even in areas that have experienced severe outbreaks.”

Source: AFP

The new coronavirus has so far infected more than 16.7 million people around the globe and claimed the lives of 660,593 people, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

According to the university, 16,747,268 people have been confirmed infected and 660,593 have died around the world.

The following are the latest updates of the coronavirus pandemic as provided by Reuters:

Russian institute launches human trial of Russia’s second COVID-19 vaccine

A Russian state virology institute has started human trials of the country’s second potential COVID-19 vaccine, injecting the first of five volunteers with a dose on July 27, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday.

The individual was feeling fine, the agency reported.

The next volunteer in the trial by the Vector virology institute in Siberia would receive an injection on July 30, RIA cited consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor as saying.

The trial is then expected to scale up to 100 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 60, the clinical trial’s register shows. Vector is working on six different potential COVID-19 vaccines, World Health Organization (WHO) records show.

More than 100 possible vaccines are being developed around the world to try to stop the coronavirus pandemic. At least four are in final Phase III human trials, according to WHO data — including three developed in China and another in Britain.

Brazil registers 40,816 cases, 921 deaths

Brazil recorded 40,816 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as well as 921 deaths from the disease, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Brazil has registered nearly 2.5 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 88,539, according to ministry data.

French Health Minister: We want to avoid another coronavirus lockdown

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday the battle against the COVID-19 virus would be long and urged people to comply with social distancing rules as authorities wanted to avoid another national lockdown.

“We are not facing a second wave, the epidemic is continuing… Some people do not respect the rules. We must not let down our guard,” Veran told LCI television.

“We do not want to resort to another lockdown, we are examining the situation on a case-by-case basis. The war is not over… People must understand that we are going to live with this virus for a fairly long time,” he added.

Italian PM Conte wins backing to extend COVID-19 emergency period

Italy’s upper house of parliament approved on Tuesday a request by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to extend until Oct. 15 a state of emergency, expanding his government’s powers as it tackles the coronavirus health crisis.

Opposition parties had objected, accusing Conte of trying to keep too much power in his own hands despite a dramatic fall in the rate of contagion.

Conte announced a six-month state of emergency on Jan. 31, when the first two cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Rome.

Italy has been one of the worst-affected countries in Europe, registering more than 35,000 deaths from around 246,500 cases.

However, new infections have fallen sharply over the past three months and Conte’s critics said he needed to involve parliament in key decisions.

Portugal’s popular Madeira makes masks compulsory in public

Wearing masks in public will be compulsory at all times on the popular Portuguese island of Madeira from Aug. 1, the local government announced on Tuesday, making it the first region in the country to adopt such a measure against COVID-19.

Madeira has reported 105 infections, with no new cases since Saturday.

The use of masks in closed spaces and public transport is already compulsory in Madeira but now those on the streets must wear masks too.

Portugal, which as a whole has reported 50,410 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,722 deaths, was initially hailed as a success story in its fight against the outbreak.

But a wave of outbreaks on the outskirts of Lisbon over the past two months forced the government to bring back some measures across affected areas. The government is expected to ease some of those measures on Wednesday.

Belgians adapt to compulsory face masks along North Sea coast

Local authorities in northern Belgium have decided to make masks mandatory outdoors at all times from July 25.

“It’s not very pleasant after all,” said Belgian tourist Nancy van Impe in the port city of Ostend. “We were just cycling without a face mask and then we thought: Oh, do we have to put it on when we cycle?”

Belgium was hit hard in Europe’s initial coronavirus wave, still holding the record for the most deaths per capita from COVID-19 in the world apart from the tiny northern Italian city state of San Marino. It has since largely curbed transmission through a lockdown that has slowly been lifted in recent months.

But a surge of infections in the past three weeks has raised concern of a second wave. Some tourists said they accepted that drastic measures needed to be taken.

Romania set to make protective masks mandatory outdoors

Romania’s government plans to introduce new measures to help contain a spike in coronavirus cases, including shortening working hours for outdoor pubs and restaurants and making the wearing of protective masks outside mandatory, officials said.

The number of coronavirus infections in Romania has exceeded 1,000 new cases each day for the last week, lifting confirmed cases to 47,053 since the pandemic reached the country in late February. Some 2,239 people have died.

Malta says 65 rescued migrants test positive for COVID-19

Sixty-five migrants who were in a group of 94 people rescued at sea and taken to Malta on Monday have tested positive for COVID-19, Malta’s health ministry said on Tuesday.

It was the single largest cluster of positive cases detected on the Mediterranean island since the first case came to light there on March 7.

The health ministry said 85 of the migrants had been tested so far, with nine awaiting an examination.

It gave no further information about their condition. The nationalities of those infected were not given, but their dinghy was believed to have set sail from Libya.

US Forces in Japan to announce coronavirus case numbers to reassure public

US Forces stationed in Japan will begin announcing coronavirus cases and provide lists of infections at bases in a move aimed at reassuring the Japanese amid growing concern over outbreaks among military personnel, US Forces Japan announced in a press release.

North Korea calls on foreigners to abide by coronavirus restrictions

Following the announcement that North Korea is investigating its first possible coronavirus case, authorities reminded foreigners living in Pyongyang to abide by anti-coronavirus measures, the Russian embassy there said on Wednesday.

North Korea’s foreign ministry circulated a notice on Tuesday telling foreigners not to leave the city, hold large meetings, and to wear masks, among other rules, the embassy said in a post on its Facebook page.

North Korea declared a state of emergency and introduced tougher curbs against the coronavirus, state media reported, after it locked down the town of Kaesong, on the border with the South, to tackle what could be its first publicly confirmed infection.

Hong Kong warns city on verge of large coronavirus outbreak

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has warned the city is on the brink of a large-scale outbreak of the coronavirus and urged people to stay indoors as much as possible as strict new measures to curb the disease’s spread take effect on Wednesday.

The new regulations ban gatherings of more than two people, close dining in restaurants and make the wearing of face masks mandatory in public places, including outdoors. These are the toughest measures introduced in the city since the outbreak.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong reported 106 new coronavirus cases, including 98 that were locally transmitted. Since late January, more than 2,880 people have been infected in the former British colony, 23 of whom have died.

Vietnam says every city, province now at risk of virus infection

Vietnam, virus-free for months, was bracing for another wave of COVID-19 infections on Wednesday after state media reported new cases in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands linked to a recent outbreak in the central city of Danang.

The government on Tuesday suspended all flights to and from Danang for 15 days. At least 30 cases of the novel coronavirus have been detected in or around the city.

Thanks to a centralized quarantine program and an aggressive contact-tracing system, Vietnam had managed to keep its coronavirus tally to just 446 cases, despite sharing a border with China.

With over 95 million people, Vietnam is the most populous country in the world to have recorded no deaths from the virus, and until now no locally transmitted infections had been reported for months.

Emergency teams battle Australia’s worst outbreak in aged care homes

Australia has sent defense and emergency medical teams, usually deployed to disaster zones, to aged care homes in the city of Melbourne to help contain the country’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus.

Another hotspot, in inner-city Sydney, forced a senior adviser to Prime Minister Scott Morrison into self-isolation, but the prime minister has been cleared to continue working.

Australia has reported far fewer coronavirus cases than many other countries, with nearly 15,600 confirmed infections and 176 deaths as of Wednesday.

Kazakhstan extends coronavirus lockdown until mid-August

Kazakhstan has extended its lockdown over the novel coronavirus for two more weeks until mid-August and the restrictions will then be eased gradually, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Wednesday.

(Source: Reuters)

Britain has advised against all but essential travel to Spain while Germany warned its citizens Tuesday to avoid the country’s worst-affected regions as Spain registers a new rise in coronavirus cases that further threatens to undermine its tourism-heavy economy.

Britain’s effective ban on travel to Spain following an upswing in coronavirus cases in that country’s northeast on Tuesday hammered home the lack of a comprehensive, continent-wide approach to suppressing the virus and giving hard-hit, tourism-reliant economies a chance to rebound.

The U.K. government’s recommendation against all but essential travel to the whole of Spain means that all travelers arriving in Britain from that country will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The move not only dashed British holidaymakers’ hopes for a getaway this summer, but also fanned renewed uncertainty within Europe’s tourism industry over how to plan ahead amid authorities’ responses to new COVID-19 outbreaks.

Indicative of this were decisions by holiday companies TUI UK and Jet2 to suspend flights to Spain, which is traditionally the most popular summer destination for British vacationers.

“The U.K. government must work closely with the travel industry as this level of uncertainty and confusion is damaging for business and disappointing for those looking forward to a well-deserved break,” TUI UK said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday defended the decision, saying it was his government’s duty to protect the U.K. from a fresh coronavirus spike.

“Let’s be absolutely clear about what’s happening in Europe, amongst some of our European friends. I’m afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic,” Johnson said.

“I’m afraid if we do see signs of a second wave in other countries, it is really our job, our duty, to act swiftly and decisively.”

Johnson added that there could be further changes to travel advice down the line affecting all of Europe.

The U.K. has the highest official coronavirus death toll in Europe with more than 45,000 deaths. One of the reasons cited for that is that many travelers brought the virus back during the February school break after skiing trips in France, Italy and Spain.

Professor Keith Neal, an epidemiologist at the University of Nottingham said it makes sense to advise against travel to Spain amid the summer holiday season.

“Some people have criticized the lack of notice but with cases rising any delay would only increase cases in the U.K,” Neal said.

But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the new recommendation “a mistake,” saying that the upsurge in new COVID-19 cases is only focused in the regions of Catalonia and Aragon and is much less severe than the number of cases reported in the U.K. itself.

Sanchez spoke as figures were released showing that his country wiped out more than a million jobs in the second quarter of this year.

Spain’s official statistics agency INE said on Tuesday that most of the 1.07 million lost jobs were in the service sector, with the worst-hit areas being Catalonia, Andalusia and Madrid.

Spain insists coronavirus ‘under control’ as travel restrictions hit tourism

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Ayala tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying that Madrid is trying to get the British government to concentrate on the scientific data since the outbreaks are contained in specific areas within Spain, while coronavirus infection rates on the country’s vacation islands are much lower than the U.K.

Spain is still in talks with the British government, “trying to find a solution which meets epidemiological criteria,” Ayala told a press conference in Athens during an official visit to Greece Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Madrid’s regional government on Tuesday made the use of face masks mandatory in all public areas and limited the number of people that can gather in one place as part of a drive to curb new coronavirus outbreaks.

Regional government head Isabel Díaz Ayuso said that no more than 10 people can be present at private gatherings, while nightlife venues must close their doors at 1 a.m. – early by Spanish standards.

Díaz Ayuso said an information campaign will focus on young people, who are largely blamed for spreading the coronavirus through their social life. She said young people “have it in their hands to reverse the trend.”

Britain’s travel advice comes on the heels of similar decisions by other European governments, including Norway, which ordered a 10-day quarantine for people returning from the entire Iberian peninsula, and France, which urged its citizens not to visit Catalonia.

German authorities didn’t follow the U.K.’s route on Spain but did advise against travel to Catalonia and two other Spanish regions in light of rising coronavirus infections.

A note posted by the foreign ministry on Tuesday advises against “nonessential tourist travel” to Catalonia, its western neighbor, Aragón, and Navarra in northern Spain. It cites a rise in infection figures and “local closures.”

Meanwhile, Germany’s national disease control center appealed to its own citizens to keep to distancing, hygiene and mask-wearing rules and halt an upturn in new coronavirus infections.

Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, said developments over the past two weeks are “really very worrying.”

Wieler pointed to studies indicating that people have become less concerned about COVID-19 and less accepting of virus control rules.

Asked whether Germany is seeing the beginning of a second coronavirus wave, Wieler replied: “We don’t know if this is the beginning of a second wave, but of course it could be. It would begin with rising figures … if we all keep to these rules, I am still optimistic that we can prevent this.”

(AP)

Cameroon has bowed to pressure from rights groups and ordered investigations into the management of the COVID-19 solidarity fund contributed to by civilians. The rights groups said most of the $40 million cash and material had been embezzled. An outcry was sparked after rights groups said 4,000 bags of rice donated to COVID-19 patients were illegally sold.

About two dozen people are this Monday morning at the Messassi government hospital in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde for consultations. Among them is 27-year- old Ernestine Sahmo who is visiting for her weekly diabetes control. Sahmo says she and other patients are surprised at the absence of COVID-19 prevention kits at the hospital.

 “Most of the time you go there and there is no water. You just find a bucket being placed there without any water in it and at times too you don’t even meet soap,” she said.

The hospital officials declined to comment on the absence of soap to wash hands. But the government of Cameroon said enough thermometers, soap, disinfectants, hand sanitizers, face masks, medicines and sufficient quantities of water were distributed all over the country.

 The government said it used money contributed to a COVID-19 solidarity fund to buy the COVID kits. Cameroon president Paul Biya contribited $ 1.8 million to the fund.

 Other contributions were received from civilians, companies, minister, lawmakers and senior sate functionaries.   

 Cameroon also received assistance to fight COVID-19 from foreign governments. The central African state said it received $226 million in emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund.

 Other people contributed food with a local company handing to the government huge quantities of rice.

 Apande Fadimatou of the NGO “Health fo All” says the government should give an account of how much it received and how much it spent. Fadimatou says some of the medicines the government claims it purchased have not been seen. She says she believes some money, food and nonfood items have been diverted.

She says she is surprised that even for the sake of governance and to respect Cameroon public management principles, an audit has not been conducted on the COVID-19 solidarity fund ordered by Cameroon president Paul Biya. She says the government should give the right information to civilians if it ordered the 4,000 bags of rice weighing 50 kilograms each and some COVID-19 protective materials donated by the people to be sold because it needed money to buy COVID-19 rapid test kits as some people claim.

Cameroon health minister Manaouda Malachie says neither the funds nor the goods had been diverted.

He says the ministry of health with the ministries of territorial administration, finance and trade made sure food items were distributed to all hospitals with COVID-19 patients. He says some food was given to Cameroon’s 10 regional governors to distribute to families and communities hardest hit by COVID-19.

Manaouda says face masks, hand sanitizers, soap and buckets were shared to civilians, and protective kits for hospital staff members distributed in hospitals. He says independent control teams and solicitors were invited to follow up the process and render accounts in case there is need. 

Manouda said the government had spent more than $40 million from the fund and from government contributions since March when the first case of COVID-19 was reported. He did not state how much has been contributed.

 Manouda said following requests by rights groups and civilians, Cameroon prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute has ordered an investigation into how the funds and material were used.

 In July, Human Rights Watch asked Cameroon to disburse funds to support health care facilities responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate any missing funds.

Source: VOA

Nations in Asia imposed new restrictions on Monday and an abrupt British quarantine on travellers from Spain threw Europe’s summer reopening into disarray, as the world confronted the prospect of a second wave of COVID-19 infections.

Surges were reported in a number of countries previously singled out as places where the virus was under control.

Australia recorded a record daily rise. Vietnam locked down the city of Danang, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of visitors. Mainland China confirmed the most new locally transmitted cases since early March. Papua New Guinea shut its borders.

Hong Kong banned gatherings of more than two people, closed down restaurant dining and introduced mandatory face masks in public places, including outdoors, fearing a possible third wave there.

Just weeks after European countries trumpeted the reopening of tourism, a surge in infections in Spain prompted Britain to order all travellers from there to quarantine for two weeks, torpedoing the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of people.

The World Health Organization said travel restrictions could not be the answer for the long term, and countries had to do more to halt the spread inside their borders by adopting proven strategies such as social distancing and the wearing of masks.

“It is going to be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders shut for the foreseeable future.

Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume,” WHO emergencies programme director Mike Ryan said.

“What is clear is pressure on the virus pushes the numbers down. Release that pressure and cases creep back up.”

Not like before

Officials in some of the European and Asian countries where the virus is again spreading say new outbreaks will not be as bad as the original waves that hit earlier this year, and can be contained with local measures rather than nationwide shutdowns.

But countries that have suffered extreme economic hardship from months of lockdowns are also determined not to let the virus get out of control again, even if that means reversing the path to reopening.

Europe has yet to lift bans on travellers from many countries, including the United States, where the average number of daily new infections has soared since mid-June and is now above 60,000.

Experts fear France faces second wave in September

Britain’s announcement of the return of quarantine for Spain was likely to torpedo the revival of airlines and tourism businesses across the continent, which had thought they had survived their biggest crisis in living memory.

Britain accounts for more than 20% of foreign visitors to Spain, where tourism represents 12% of the economy.

A British junior health minister said more European countries could end up on the “red list” if infections surge.

“If we see the rates going up, we would have to take action because we cannot take the risk of coronavirus being spread again across the UK,” Helen Whately told Sky News when asked if Germany or France might be next after Spain.

In China, which managed to squelch local transmission through firm lockdowns after the virus first emerged in the central city of Wuhan late last year, the new surge has been driven by fresh infections in the far western region of Xinjiang.

In the northeast, Liaoning province reported a fifth straight day of new infections and Jilin province reported two new cases, its first since late May.

Australian authorities who have imposed a six-week lockdown in parts of the southeastern state of Victoria said it could last longer after the country’s highest daily increase in infections.

“The tragedy of COVID-19 is that we know, with the number of new infections that we have seen today, that there will be many further deaths in the days ahead,” Australian Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd told reporters.

In Japan, the government said it would urge business leaders to ramp up anti-virus measures such as staggered shifts, and aimed to see rates of telecommuting return to levels achieved during an earlier state of emergency.

“At one point, commuter numbers were down by 70 to 80%, but now it’s only about 30%,” Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said late on Sunday. “We really don’t want to backtrack on this, so we have to explore new ways of working and keep telecommuting high.”

Vietnam is evacuating 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, from the central city of Danang after three residents tested positive at the weekend. Until Saturday, the country had reported no community infections since April.

North Korean state media reported on the weekend that the border town of Kaesong was in lockdown after a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned this month with symptoms of COVID-19. If confirmed, it would be the first case officially acknowledged by Pyongyang.

Papua New Guinea halted entry for travellers from Monday, except those arriving by air, as it tightens curbs against infections that have more than doubled over the past week.

(REUTERS)

The United States has doubled its investment — to nearly $1 billion — to expedite development of a potential COVID-19 vaccine by American firm Moderna, which on Monday begins the decisive final phase of clinical trials.

The government now plans to spend up to $472 million on top of the previously announced $483 million, the Moderna biotechnology company announced Sunday.

Moderna said the added investment was justified by its decision, in conjunction with the government, to “significantly” expand a Phase Three clinical trial of a candidate vaccine to include 30,000 participants.

In a small, initial trial, Moderna’s experimental vaccine produced coronavirus antibodies — which should help fend off the disease — in the bodies of all 45 participants.

In the expanded trial starting Monday, half the 30,000 participants will receive a 100-microgram dose of the vaccine, while the rest will be given a placebo.

The United States has suffered more than 146,000 coronavirus deaths, leading the world in that grim category, even as the number of new cases has continued to surge.

It has announced massive investments in a huge effort to expedite vaccine development and get millions of Americans vaccinated by early next year.

On Wednesday, the American-German BioNTech/Pfizer pharmaceutical alliance announced that the US government had committed $1.95 billion to procure 100 million doses of its eventual vaccine.

With laboratories around the world in a furious race to develop a first effective vaccine, Moderna seems to hold the lead as it enters a final round of clinical trials — a decisive step in determining whether a vaccine is both effective and safe.

Moderna, which has been working with US health authorities, said it expects to be able to produce 500 million doses a year — and potentially up to 1 billion — starting in 2021.

Chinese biotech firm Sinovac said July 6 that it, too, would begin a Phase Three clinical trial “this month,” in collaboration with Brazil’s Butantan biologic research center.

Also reporting encouraging early results have been a British project developed by Oxford University in partnership with the multinational AstraZenica laboratory, and a Chinese project, led by researchers from agencies including the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.

That effort is being financed by the CanSino biotechnology group, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

In all, nearly 200 candidate vaccines are in development, including 23 now in the clinical phase, being tested on humans.

Source: AFP