Global health experts gathered on Thursday to tackle new coronavirus strains blamed for a fresh surge in infections as countries including Britain and France tightened restrictions to head off a further worsening of the pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee session came as their colleagues were seeking the origins of the virus on a long-delayed mission to the pandemic ground zero in Wuhan.

Almost two million of the more than 91 million people who have caught the disease have died, but the figures are widely believed to be an underestimate.

“When you first met almost a year ago, just 557 cases of the disease we now call Covid-19 had been reported to WHO,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his opening remarks to the emergency meeting.

Much of the planet is facing a second or third wave of infections, with populations chafing under painful and economically damaging restrictions.

Already hard-hit by a new variant at home, Britain announced Thursday it was banning all arrivals from South America, Panama, Cape Verde and Portugal.

The step was taken over fears of importing yet another new coronavirus variant in Brazil, where the northern Amazonas state announced a 7 pm to 6 am curfew.

The health system has been pushed to breaking point in the state capital Manaus.

New variants

The strain, known as E484K, was detected initially in South Africa and on subsequent variants in Brazil and Japan, and it has raised greater alarm among researchers over its possible impact on immunity.

Partly over fears of new variants, France said it would impose a daily nationwide curfew at 6 pm starting Saturday and remaining in force for at least two weeks.

Most of France had been under an 8 pm curfew, with some areas, especially in the hard-hit east, already under the stricter 6 pm limit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called for tougher restrictions to contain the country’s worsening coronavirus outbreak and pushed for crisis talks with regional leaders, sources from her party told AFP.

They quoted her as saying the virus could only be stopped with “significant additional measures”.

Lebanon meanwhile went into full lockdown with residents barred even from grocery shopping.

There was better news for those who have already had Covid-19, with a British study suggesting recovery can confer immunity for at least five months.

But the virus’s new strains were causing increasing worry and went under the WHO microscope in Geneva on Thursday after being logged in dozens of countries.

WHO’s emergency committee normally gathers every three months, but the meeting was brought forward by two weeks.

‘Very long journey’

In China, millions of people have been locked down again to try to tame a fresh outbreak that has now claimed the country’s first reported Covid-19 death in eight months.

The death comes as a 10-strong investigation team arrived in Wuhan, where the virus emerged in late 2019.

Mission leader Peter Ben Embarek said they would enter a two-week hotel quarantine before the probe begins in earnest.

It “could be a very long journey before we get a full understanding of what happened,” he cautioned.

Regardless of origins, scientists say large-scale vaccination is the only way out.

But while the rapid development of vaccines has raised hopes, 95 percent of doses so far administered were limited to only 10 countries, the WHO’s European branch said.

Progress on administering vaccines has often been slow, such as in the United States, where more than 4,000 people are dying every day and around 10 million have received a first shot.

Turkey launched a vaccination drive with China’s Sinovac jab on Thursday despite conflicting data abouts its efficacy, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan among those receiving the jab.

In Africa, where many countries have so far avoided the worst of the pandemic, governments were called on to take urgent steps to prepare for vaccine distribution.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis, aged 84, and his predecessor, former pope Benedict XVI, 93, have both received vaccines, the Vatican said Thursday.

However former world tennis number one Andy Murray’s participation in the Australian Open was thrown into doubt after it was revealed Thursday he had tested positive.

‘Bit of a worry’

Sport has provided some diversion for many trapped at home, but top-flight athletes were warned this week to lead by example.

English Premier League bosses warned clubs they could be sanctioned if players shake hands or hug after goals.

In India, hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims gathered by the Ganges river for the Kumbh Mela festival — trusting in faith rather than masks to protect them.

“The pandemic is a bit of a worry, but we are taking all precautions,” said organiser Siddharth Chakrapani.

“I’m sure Maa Ganga will take care of their safety,” he said, referring to the sacred river.

(AFP)

Britain is on course to have immunised its most vulnerable people against Covid-19 by mid-February and offering a shot to every adult by autumn, with some 2 million people having already received a first dose, its health secretary said on Sunday.

“Over the last week we’ve vaccinated more people than in the entirety of December, so we’re accelerating the roll-out,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC.

Britain is battling surging infections but is pinning its hopes on rapid immunisation to enable life to start returning to some degree of normality by the spring.

Hancock said around 2 million people had already received a first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We’ve now vaccinated around a third of all of the over 80s, so [we are making] very, very good progress,” he said.

For the government to meet its goal of vaccinating more than 14 million people by mid-February, comprising the over-70s, the clinically vulnerable – the elderly or with pre-existing conditions – and health and social-care workers, it needs to deliver 2 million shots a week.

The current rate is around 200,000 a day, Hancock said.

Seven mass vaccination centres will open this week, supplementing almost 1,000 doctors surgeries and hospitals offering shots. Hancock said every adult would be offered a vaccine by the autumn.

In a bid to speed up vaccinations, the British government has changed its vaccine guidelines to allow a second dose of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to be administered up to 12 weeks after the first, instead of three weeks as originally planned.

However, Pfizer scientists have warned governments not to be overly confident that one dose would offer enough protection in the long term, saying there is “no data” showing that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days.

Surging cases

A highly transmissible new variant of the virus is surging around Britain and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed a third national lockdown in England to try to stem the pandemic before the most vulnerable are immunised. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have imposed similar measures.

More than 80,000 people in Britain have died within 28 days of receiving a positive Covid-19 test, the fifth highest official death toll globally, and over 3 million people have tested positive.

England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on Sunday the national health service in parts of the country was facing “the most difficult situation anyone could remember”.

Hancock did not rule out a tougher lockdown, saying he would “not speculate” on further restrictions, although he added that the “vast majority” of people were complying with current rules.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and her husband Philip have received vaccinations against Covid-19, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday.

“The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have today received Covid-19 vaccinations,” the palace said in a statement. The Queen is 94 years old and Philip is 99.

A royal source said the vaccines were administered by a household doctor at the queen’s Windsor Castle residence, adding that she made the news public to counter any speculation.

(REUTERS)

Countries across the world tightened restrictions on their populations Saturday to fight a resurgence in the coronavirus, as the European Union offered to help drug companies expand vaccine production to improve distribution “bottlenecks”.

From local curfews to alcohol bans and complete lockdowns, governments are trying to tackle a surge in cases.

The coronavirus has killed more than 1.8 million people globally since emerging in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

But experts fear the worst is yet to come, predicting a sharp rise in infections and deaths after weeks of holiday gatherings.

French police booked hundreds of New Year revellers Saturday for flouting anti-Covid measures at an illegal rave.

In Bangkok, the city’s nightlife shut down following a ban on bars, nightclubs and restaurant alcohol sales, among a raft of restrictions aimed at curbing the kingdom’s rising virus toll.

Public schools in the Thai capital are to close for two weeks.

An outbreak last month at a seafood market has led to a resurgence of the virus in Thailand, with infections detected in 53 of the kingdom’s 77 provinces.

In Tokyo, the city’s governor on Saturday asked Japan’s government to declare a new state of emergency as the country battles a third wave, with record numbers of new cases.

And South Korea extended its anti-virus curbs until January 17 in the greater Seoul area, including a ban on gatherings of more than four people, which will be widened to cover the whole country.

Vaccine race

The soaring number of infections around the world means the race to vaccinate is set to dominate the coming year.

Delays in getting the vaccines in Europe were not the fault of the European Union, said the bloc’s health commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

“The bottleneck at the moment is not the volume of orders but the worldwide shortage of production capacity,” she said.

The bloc would help drug companies in their efforts to expand production, she added.

“The situation will improve step by step.”

India on Saturday staged nationwide drills to start one of the world’s biggest coronavirus vaccination programmes as its drug regulator prepared to approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot.

In the United States, the vaccination programme has been beset by logistical problems, while the world’s worst-hit country on Friday passed 20 million cases.

The US has seen a worrying surge in coronavirus infections in recent months and on Saturday saw its highest number yet recorded in one day, with more than 277,000.

In Russia, health minister Mikhail Murashko said more than 800,000 people had received the domestically produced Sputnik V vaccine and that 1.5 million doses had been distributed throughout the country of around 147 million.

The Kremlin has held back on imposing nationwide virus restrictions, instead placing its hopes on the mass vaccination drive to end the pandemic and save its struggling economy.

The French government, facing the threat of a new wave of Covid-19 infections, lengthened an overnight curfew by two hours in parts of the country to help combat the virus.

The curfew will start at 6:00 pm, rather than 8:00 pm in parts of France, mainly in the country’s east. Paris has, for now, been spared the additional restriction.

‘We had to party’

The new French restrictions came as police booked more than 1,200 revellers Saturday when an illegal rave in northwestern France finally ended after more than two days of partying that saw clashes with police.

Around 800 of them were booked for flouting anti-virus measures, and the regional health authority in Brittany noted a “high risk of the spread of Covid-19” at the event.

“We knew what we were risking… we had to party, for a year everything has been stuck,” said a 20-year-old waitress.

Spanish police broke up another gathering Saturday near Barcelona, where 300 people had been partying for more than 40 hours.

And footballers were also among those caught breaking the rules, with Tottenham’s Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso to be disciplined after a picture emerged of them attending a large party.

Norway, which has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, on Saturday began requiring Covid-19 tests upon arrival into the country, after finding five cases of a new coronavirus variant that first emerged in Britain.

Denmark discovered 86 cases of the new variant, which is believed to be more contagious, while Vietnam also detected the strain.

The tiny British enclave of Gibraltar, off Spain, went into a 14-day lockdown Saturday. Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the virus was spreading “more quickly than we can control it”.

Greece has extended until January 10 its strict two-month lockdown measures, ending an easing of restrictions over the holiday period.

In Lebanon, medics warned that hospitals are being overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, in the wake of end-of-year holidays.

But in Australia, the finishing touches were being put on a glitzy show at the Sydney Opera House Saturday, as the venue prepared to host an opera crowd for the first time since March following a virus hiatus.

Source: AFP

EU countries on Sunday embarked on a vaccination campaign to defeat the “nightmare” of Covid-19, with the first to be immunised expressing emotion after their jab and leaders hailing a milestone in the fight against the pandemic.

The vaccine is a glimmer of hope for a continent yearning for a return to normal from a pandemic that has killed 1.76 million people worldwide since emerging in China late last year and caused at least 80 million confirmed cases, according to an AFP tally.

But polls have shown many Europeans are unwilling to take the vaccine, which could impede its effectiveness in beating the virus, while it will take months for large chunks of the population to be immunised.

“It is with deep pride and a deep sense of responsibility that I got the vaccine today. A small gesture but a fundamental gesture for all of us,” said Claudia Alivernini, 29, an Italian nurse who was the first in her country to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab Sunday morning.

In Greece, the first in line was nurse Efstathia Kampissiouli who flashed a V-sign while being vaccinated and later told Ert TV it was “a great honour for me but also for those working on the front line.”

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed the campaign start as a “touching moment of unity and a European success story”, adding the process will “help to get our normal lives back gradually.”

Countries are however showing different strategies, with Italy focusing on health workers, France the elderly and in the Czech Republic, Greece and Slovakia political leaders at the front of the queue.

Things ‘might actually get worse’

But the introduction of the vaccine worldwide is far from the end of the crisis. In a bleak assessment, top US government scientist Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that “as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse”.

Israel on Sunday began a nationwide two-week lockdown—its third since the pandemic started—after a sharp rebound in the infection rate.

A new strain of the virus that emerged in Britain has already reached several other European countries as well as Japan, Canada and Jordan and intensified fears of more Covid-19 havoc to come.

The new strain—which experts believe is more contagious—prompted more than 50 countries to impose travel restrictions on the UK.

Echoing concerns from officials across the continent, Health Minister Olivier Veran said France has not ruled out imposing a third nationwide lockdown if coronavirus cases continue to rise after the holiday season.

He said it would become clear in the next months if the vaccine might not just stop people falling sick but also prevent the virus from being passed on.

“This would allow us to leave this nightmare quicker,” he said.

‘Felt nothing’

Some EU countries began vaccinating on Saturday, a day before the official start, with a 101-year-old woman in a care home becoming the first person in Germany to be inoculated and Hungary and Slovakia also handing out their first shots.

Araceli Rosario Hidalgo Sanchez, a 96-year-old living in a care home in central Spain became the first person in the country to be vaccinated on Sunday, in an event broadcast by national television. She said smilingly she felt “nothing” from the shot.

France began its campaign in care homes for the elderly in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, a low-income area hard hit by Covid-19, with a 78-year-old woman named Mauricette the first to receive the jab to applause from staff.

“We have a new weapon against the virus—the vaccine,” tweeted President Emmanuel Macron.

But a poll published in the Journal du Dimanche saying 56 percent of French people do not plan to take the jab.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven described the vaccine as a “ray of light in the darkness”. One of the first Swedes to get the vaccine, Stig Larsson, 89, said he “did not hesitate” about being inoculated.

‘Winning formula’

Britain, China, Russia, Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Serbia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia have already begun their vaccination campaigns.

Vaccines other than the Pfizer-BioNTech jab are also in the pipeline, and the United States, where over a million people have already been vaccinated, last week began jabs with the vaccine developed by US biotech firm Moderna.

Meanwhile the University of Oxford and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca have applied to the UK authorities for permission to roll out their Covid-19 vaccine, which chief executive Pascal Soriot described as a “winning formula”.

Source: AFP

Several European countries on Wednesday imposed tighter coronavirus restrictions ahead of Christmas, as the United States reported another record number of new infections.

Hopes for an end to the pandemic were boosted by positive assessments of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, but a study warned that at least a fifth of the world’s population in poorer nations may not have access to vaccines until 2022.

With the virus resurgent in Europe, Germany closed non-essential shops and schools, swathes of England came under tighter curbs, and the Netherlands extended its restrictions.

“It’s very good that we’re closing the shops, it’s for our health. We can’t wait for things to fall apart,” said shopper Jurgen in Berlin, where people were rushing to finish their Christmas purchases before the shutdown.

Germany had coped relatively well with the first wave in the spring, but it has struggled to contain a resurgence in recent months and its health minister said it wanted the European Union to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “before Christmas”.

Calls have been growing for the EU health regulator to speed up its vaccines decision process, with the bloc lagging behind a growing number of nations that have authorised the drug.

Britain has already started using it, but high infection numbers forced London on Wednesday to join large parts of central and northern England under tough, economically painful restrictions.

Pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality sites will close, apart from takeaways, as will theatres and other entertainment venues.

“The hospitality business needs this week, and it’s devastating. It is devastatingly awful,” said Lesley Lewis, owner of The French House, a London pub.

“But if this is what it takes to save lives, that’s what we have to do.”

The Netherlands, France and Turkey have also announced restrictions to be in force over the holiday season.

Upbeat Moderna assessment

Known worldwide infections are nearing 73 million, with more than 1.6 million deaths.

The United States remains the hardest-hit nation, setting a record for new daily infections on Tuesday with more than 248,000 cases.

The Washington National Cathedral rang its bells 300 times Tuesday in memory of the 300,000 people who have lost their lives to coronavirus in the United States.

The situation has become severe in California, where officials ordered thousands of extra body bags as Los Angeles was left with fewer than 100 available intensive care beds for a county of 10 million people.

The US has started using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an upbeat briefing about the Moderna candidate too, ahead of a meeting of experts on whether to grant it emergency approval.

The regulator also approved the country’s first rapid at-home coronavirus test for Covid-19, which is available over-the-counter and produces a result in around 20 minutes.

President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that he would be vaccinated in public.

Poorer nations left behind?

With wealthy nations reserving more than half of next year’s potential doses, there are fears the poorer parts of the world will be left behind.

Even if the drug makers all produce effective, safe vaccines and meet their maximum global manufacturing targets, a study published Wednesday by researchers from Johns Hopkins University warned that “at least a fifth of the world’s population would not have access” until 2022.

The World Health Organization has said it is in talks with Pfizer and Moderna about including their vaccines at affordable prices for poor countries.

The widespread deployment of vaccines is seen as crucial to reviving the global economy.

“I’ve been at home for the past eight months, there’s been no income coming in,” said Ashwin Pal, a dive operator in Fiji, where the lack of visitors has devastated the key tourism sector. “Life’s been pretty tough.”

Source: AFP