Burkina Faso captain Bertrand Traore has deplored as “a scandal” coronavirus testing procedures at the Africa Cup of Nations after up to five players and coach Kamou Malo tested positive in the run-up to Sunday’s opener against hosts Cameroon.

The Aston Villa forward told a press conference in Yaounde on Saturday: “It’s a scandal, we cannot be deprived of first team players 24 hours before the match.”

Assistant coach Firmin Sanou, standing in for Malo, said: “We have four or five Covid cases, mainly first team players, we’re not going to name names.”

“It calls everything into question, but we have confidence in the players who will replace them,” continued Sanou, who hit out at the organisation with two different medical teams arriving to test the team.

“Yesterday morning (Friday) a medical team showed up at our hotel for tests, when we tried to understand who had sent them, the CAF (African Football Confederation) clearly told us that they hadn’t sent them so we refused to do the tests,” said Sanou.

“Another team arrived at 10 p.m., apparently the CAF team, we carried out the tests which informed us of 4 to 5 cases of Covid.

“I say 4 or 5 because they say that our first player tested did not carry out the test … ” he continued.

The Burkinabè delegation are disputing the fact that the tests were not PCR tests, which must be carried out 48 hours before the match, and have requested a second opinion.

Traore said: “The authorities must review the organisation. We cannot accept this decision. We can redo tests of our positive players.”

Source: AFP

The seriousness of a stagnant COVID-19 variant identified in France in November was downplayed by global health officials, who said they were still watching it closely on Tuesday.

The variant, nicknamed IHU after the research hospital it was discovered in, “probably” originated in Cameroon, scientists said last week. It was identified in 12 patients in the Southern Alps around the same time the highly transmissible Omicron variant was surging in South Africa, officials said.

The variant “has been on our radar,” Abdi Mahamud, a WHO incident manager on COVID, said at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. “That virus had a lot of chances to pick up.”

The news came as France saw its average daily caseload more than double in a week, with a record 271,686 COVID-19 cases recorded there Tuesday.

IHU’s patient zero had just returned from Africa when scientists at IHU Méditerranée Infection in Marseilles discovered he was infected with an atypical mutation of the virus. The vaccinated man “developed mild respiratory symptoms the day before diagnosis,” researchers wrote in their non-peer-reviewed article published in medRxiv.

Source: New York Post

The US, Britain, France and Australia have all announced record numbers of daily Covid-19 cases as the WHO warned Tuesday that Omicron’s dizzying spread increased the risk of newer, more dangerous variants emerging.

Britain breached 200,000 cases for the first time on Tuesday, Australia posted almost 50,000 and France registered more than 270,000, all three countries easily topping their previous records.

But dwarfing even those numbers was the 1,080,211 reported by the United States on Monday, a global record.

The country’s Monday figures are usually higher due to delays in weekend tallying – and were likely inflated further after a three-day New Year’s holiday weekend.

The rolling average over seven days – which experts see as more reliable – was 486,000 cases per day as of Monday evening, Johns Hopkins University said.

The heavily mutated Omicron variant, the most transmissible to date, accounted for around 59 percent of US cases near the end of last year.

Omicron’s rates of deaths and hospitalisations have been lower across the world, raising hopes the virus could be evolving into a relatively benign seasonal illness.

But the World Health Organization in Europe sounded an ominous note of caution on Tuesday, warning the soaring infection rates could have the opposite effect.

“The more Omicron spreads, the more it transmits and the more it replicates, the more likely it is to throw out a new variant,” WHO senior emergencies officer Catherine Smallwood told AFP in an interview.

“Now, Omicron is lethal, it can cause death… maybe a little bit less than Delta, but who’s to say what the next variant might throw out,” she added.

“Even in well-capacitated, sophisticated health systems there are real struggles that are happening at the moment.”

‘War footing’

Such a scenario was feared in Britain, where the government said Tuesday that hospitals have switched to “war footing” due to staff shortages.

After the UK hit a record 218,724 cases in 24-hours, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised action to plug staffing gaps in the worst-hit areas, including drafting medical volunteers backed by army support.

Johnson also defended his decision not to increase restrictions over Christmas in England – unlike in other parts of the UK – and ruled out another nationwide lockdown.

Australia, which had previously successfully suppressed infections for much of the pandemic, also smashed its previous caseload record with 47,738.

The surging infections have driven a rush on increasingly scarce self-administered rapid antigen kits and created hours-long queues at centres providing more reliable PCR tests.

“I think at this point we all know somebody who has either got Covid or we have got coworkers off work because they are quarantining or isolating,” Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Sonya Bennett said.

Cyprus also posted a new record of 5,457 cases on Tuesady and now has the highest infection rate per capita, according to AFP figures.

Wealthy nations have rushed to give their population third booster shots to counteract the rising cases, while many in poorer nations have not yet been able to receive a first.

Ahead of the pack, Israel began rolling out fourth doses last week. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday that a small Israeli study indicated that fourth coronavirus vaccinations increased antibodies “fivefold”.

More restrictions

In China, which has pursued a “zero Covid” approach, just three asymptomatic cases prompted 1.2 million people in the central city of Yuzhou to be confined to their homes.

Daily infections have hit a two-month high in the Philippines, which will expand restrictions in Manila from Wednesday to include more than 11 million people living near the capital.

Omicron is also fuelling surging cases in India, where authorities said the capital will lock down over the weekend.

The sprawling megacity’s new restrictions came the same day as its chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, announced he had been infected and was suffering “mild symptoms”.

Also testing positive on Tuesday were Sweden’s king and queen, as well as Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, none suffering serious symptoms.

Omicron has also sent the sports world – only just back on its feet after previous Covid restrictions – reeling, with many leagues forced to cancel or postpone games.

Tennis world number Novak Djokovic – who has repeatedly refused to confirm whether he has been vaccinated – said Tuesday that he was heading to the Australian Open after being granted a medical exemption.

Source: AFP

The risk posed by the Omicron variant is still “very high,” the World Health Organization said Wednesday, after Covid-19 case numbers shot up by 11 percent globally last week.

Omicron is behind rapid virus spikes in several countries, including those where it has already overtaken the previously-dominant Delta variant, the WHO said in its Covid-19 weekly epidemiological update.

“The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high,” the UN health agency said.

“Consistent evidence shows that the Omicron variant has a growth advantage over the Delta variant with a doubling time of two to three days and rapid increases in the incidence of cases is seen in a number of countries,” including Britain and the United States, where it has become the dominant variant.

“The rapid growth rate is likely to be a combination of both immune evasion and intrinsic increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant.”

However, the WHO highlighted the 29 percent decrease in the incidence of cases observed in South Africa, the country which first reported the variant to the WHO on November 24.

It said early data from Britain, South Africa and Denmark — which currently has the world’s highest rate of infection per person — suggested there was a reduced risk of hospitalization for Omicron compared to Delta.

However, further data was needed to understand Omicron’s severity in terms of clinical markers, including the use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation and death.

More data was also required on how the severity might be being impacted by previous Covid infection, or vaccination.

“It is also expected that corticosteroids and interleukin 6 receptor blockers will remain effective in the management of patients with severe disease,” the WHO said. “However, preliminary data suggest that monoclonal antibodies may be less able to neutralize the Omicron variant.”

Rise in cases

The WHO said that in the week ending Sunday, following a gradual increase since October, the global number of new cases rose by 11 percent compared to the previous week, while the number of new deaths dipped by four percent.

“This corresponds to just under five million new cases and over 44,000 new deaths,” the Geneva-based organization said.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States, Britain, France and Italy.

Source: AFP

The World Health Organization chief warned Wednesday that the rush in wealthy countries to roll out additional Covid-19 vaccine doses was deepening the global inequity in access to jabs and thereby prolonging the pandemic.

The UN health agency has long warned about the glaring inequity in access to Covid vaccines, which has left many vulnerable people in poorer nations without a single jab as richer countries roll out booster programmes.

“Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the Covid-19 pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

“No country can boost its way out of the pandemic,” Tedros added.

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunisation said Wednesday that at least 126 countries around the world have already issued recommendations on boosters or additional vaccine doses, and 120 had started implementing those programmes.

“No low-income country has yet introduced a booster vaccination programme,” it said in a statement.

Without ‘coordinated strategy’, world will ‘always be chasing’ Covid-19 variants

Health experts have long warned that failure to expand vaccinations globally would pave the way for more variants of the coronavirus to develop.

Tedros’s comments came as the Omicron variant’s lightning dash around the globe since it was first detected in South Africa last month has dampened hopes the worst of the pandemic is over.

The new variant is spreading at unprecedented speed and has already been detected in 106 countries, the WHO said.

Early data indicates that the heavily-mutated variant is not only more transmissible than previous strains, but could be better at dodging some vaccine protections, although additional doses appear to push protection levels higher.

Tedros said Wednesday that the existing vaccines continue to provide significant protection against severe disease from Omicron.

“It’s important to remember that the vast majority of hospitalisations and deaths are in unvaccinated people, not un-boosted people,” he said.

He also stressed that we all must take all necessary precautions to halt the spread of Covid as we head into the Christmas holiday.

“Boosters cannot be seen as a ticket to go ahead with planned celebrations,” he said.

Earlier this week, the WHO chief urged people to postpone holiday gatherings, warning that festivities would in many places lead to “increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths”.

“An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,” he added.

Source: REUTERS

The fast-spreading Omicron variant is now the dominant strain of Covid-19 in the United States, health authorities reported Monday, as the WHO called for greater efforts to ensure the pandemic ends next year.

The new variant has helped fuel record case surges, forcing a return to harsh restrictions in some countries. But in the United States, President Joe Biden does not plan on “locking the country down”, press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier in the day.

Omicron now accounts for 73.2 percent of new US cases over the past week ending Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. In some regions of the country – the Pacific Northwest, South and parts of the Midwest – it already comprises more than 90 percent of new infections.

With Biden set to deliver an address on Covid-19 Tuesday, the White House reported that a mid-level, fully vaccinated and boosted staff member had tested positive for Covid-19 after spending 30 minutes in proximity to the president three days prior. Biden has so far tested negative.

Early data suggests Omicron could be more infectious and possibly have higher resistance to vaccines, despite indications that it is not more severe than the Delta variant.

Since it was first reported in South Africa in November, Omicron has been identified in dozens of countries, dashing hopes that the worst of the pandemic is over.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for nations to redouble efforts to help end the pandemic, calling for new year events to be cancelled because it was better to “celebrate later than to celebrate now and grieve later.

“We have to focus now on ending this pandemic,” he said.

More restrictions

The European Union approved its fifth Covid-19 jab Monday – from US firm Novavax – with Europe already far ahead of other parts of the world with its rollout of vaccines and booster shots.

Authorisation of the jab, which uses a more conventional technology than other Covid vaccines, has raised hopes that people worried about getting vaccinated might now come forward.

The other vaccines approved in the bloc are from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, and the EU has already signed a deal to buy up to 200 million doses of the two-shot Novavax vaccine.

“At a time where the Omicron variant is rapidly spreading… I am particularly pleased with today’s authorisation of the Novavax vaccine,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

London on Monday announced it had cancelled a New Year’s Eve event in the central Trafalgar Square for 6,500 people.

Paris has already cancelled its new year celebrations, and Germany is expected to roll out tight restrictions on private parties and close nightclubs, according to a proposal seen by AFP.

“New Year’s Eve celebrations with a large number of people are unjustifiable in the current situation,” reads the draft document.

Morocco has announced a blanket ban on New Year’s Eve celebrations.

But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ruled out any further tightening of England’s coronavirus rules over Christmas, while pledging to keep the situation “under constant review.”

Queen Elizabeth II is nonetheless understood to have cancelled plans to spend Christmas at her Sandringham estate and will instead take “sensible precautions” and stay at Windsor Castle, according to British media.

The Netherlands has already imposed a Christmas lockdown, and von der Leyen has warned that the Omicron variant could be dominant in Europe by mid-January.

World Economic Forum postponed

As the pandemic gathers pace, weary populations are faced once again with new rounds of restrictions and cancellations of big events.

The World Economic Forum said it was postponing its annual January get-together of the world’s rich and powerful in the Swiss ski resort of Davos because of the new variant.

“Despite the meeting’s stringent health protocols, the transmissibility of Omicron and its impact on travel and mobility have made deferral necessary,” the WEF said Monday.

Israel’s health ministry recommended banning nationals from traveling to the United States, and added several European countries to its Covid “red list.”

The world of sport continues to be buffeted by the virus spread, with several English Premier League football teams recording outbreaks that forced games to be abandoned in recent days.

However, the Premier League said after a meeting on Monday it had rejected a plan to temporarily halt the season, saying: “It is the League’s collective intention to continue the current fixture schedule where safely possible.”

Tennis also continues to suffer major blows, with Spanish star Rafael Nadal the latest player to test positive, throwing his participation in next month’s Australian Open into doubt.

Source:  AFP