Month: January 2021

India will roll out an ambitious nationwide vaccination drive against COVID-19 on Saturday, aiming to inoculate 300 million people, or nearly one quarter of the population, by July.   Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday that with the upcoming immunization drive, which would be the world’s largest such program, the country is entering into a “decisive phase” in the fight against the pandemic.   In the first phase, 30 million health care and frontline workers such as police personnel will be vaccinated. The vaccines will then be administered to about 270 million people above the age of 50 and younger people with serious health problems, according to the Health Ministry.   Modi underlined India’s two major advantages – the two vaccines that have been approved for emergency use are being…

U.S. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced Monday plans to boost production of its COVID-19 vaccine by 50% percent — 2 million doses — this year to meet the global demand.     BioNTech announced the increased supply as part of a presentation at a health care conference. The company said a new production site in Marburg, Germany, expected to become operational by the end of next month, will be able to make as many as 750 million doses per year. That means a total of six facilities will be producing the vaccine — three in Germany, and three operated by Pfizer in the United States.     The partners have already committed 1 billion doses for delivery. Last week, the European Union announced a deal for…

India will roll out an ambitious nationwide vaccination drive against COVID-19 on Saturday, aiming to inoculate 300 million people, or nearly one quarter of the population, by July.   Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday that with the upcoming immunization drive, which would be the world’s largest such program, the country is entering into a “decisive phase” in the fight against the pandemic.   In the first phase, 30 million health care and frontline workers such as police personnel will be vaccinated. The vaccines will then be administered to about 270 million people above the age of 50 and younger people with serious health problems, according to the Health Ministry.   Modi underlined India’s two major advantages – the two vaccines that have been approved for emergency use are being…

The World Health Organization is sending a team of international experts to China this week to investigate the origins of the coronavirus.It was not immediately clear, however, if the experts, scheduled to arrive Thursday, will be allowed to travel to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus originally emerged in late 2019.“It’s very important that as the WHO is in the lead in fighting the pandemic, that it also has a leading role in trying to look back at the roots of this pandemic so we can be better prepared for the next one,” United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said about the team’s travel to China.China’s announcement Monday about the WHO team’s imminent arrival came on the same day China announced 103 new COVID-19 cases, the country’s biggest…

Britain’s hospitals are on the brink of being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and the country’s National Health Service is facing its “worst crisis in living memory,” a senior government official warned Sunday.  The blunt warning from England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, came as members of the government’s main advisory panel, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, warned that nationwide lockdown measures introduced after Christmas were too lax and, being flouted too often by people meeting friends in parks and congregating at supermarkets.  They are urging the closure of nurseries and the end of “support bubbles” that allow for two households to mix. Ministers say they are not planning to tighten up the measures more but will start enforcing lockdown rules strictly and have ordered police to be forward-leaning and issue fines.…

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera says he is saddened by statistics showing a recent spike in coronavirus infections in the country. In a Sunday radio address, he announced he was starting a 21-day fast to seek divine intervention into the pandemic that is on the rise again. Health experts say the situation needs more than prayers. Malawi has recently seen a surge in coronavirus cases. Since Thursday, the country has been confirming more cases than ever recorded.   For example, on Saturday, Malawi recorded 381 cases with 12 deaths, the largest figure in a single day since it recorded its first three cases on April 2.   Chakwera noted the surge is largely because many people, including him, had ignored preventive measures.   FILE - Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera in Lilongwe, Malawi, June 28, 2020.“Many of…

Pope Francis says the decision to get the COVID vaccine is a matter of ethics.“It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others,” Francis said in an interview with Italian television station Canale 5.Vatican City is set to begin its a vaccine campaign this week, and Francis said he has already “booked” an appointment.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that there are 89.6 million global COVID cases. The U.S. has the most cases with more than 22 million, followed by India with more than 10 million and Brazil with over 8 million.Vietnamese will find it difficult, if not impossible, to return home this year for Lunar New Year celebrations because the Southeast…

The initial round of mass testing for the coronavirus has been completed in Shijiazhuang, a city of 11 million that was locked down Wednesday after 39 new cases of the virus surfaced, the city’s mayor said Saturday.Mayor Ma Yujun said at a news conference that a second round of testing would begin soon in the capital of Hebei province, which was sealed off as travel restrictions were imposed in the rest of the region of 76 million people that encircles Beijing.On Tuesday, Hebei authorities put the province into "wartime mode," enabling authorities to launch a collaborative campaign involving contact tracing and distribution of medical supplies.The aggressive approach taken by Chinese authorities is being adopted in other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, in sharp contrast to the more deliberate virus containment…

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday that there are nearly 90 million global COVID-19 cases.The United States has more cases than anyplace else with almost 22 million infections. India comes in second with about half the infections of the U.S. -- nearly 10.5 million cases.The U.S. reported more than 300,000 new COVID-19 cases Friday, a record-breaking number.With the virus surging in some U.S. states, President-elect Joe Biden says he believes in the rapid release of the COVID-19 vaccines so whoever wants it will have access to it. The second dose of the vaccine is given weeks later.Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said earlier this week he is hopeful that when Biden is in office, the U.S. will be able to deliver to the U.S. public “1 million…

The desperately awaited vaccination drive against the coronavirus in the U.S. is running into resistance from an unlikely quarter: Surprising numbers of health care workers who have seen firsthand the death and misery inflicted by COVID-19 are refusing shots.It is happening in nursing homes and, to a lesser degree, in hospitals, with employees expressing what experts say are unfounded fears of side effects from vaccines that were developed at record speed. More than three weeks into the campaign, some places are seeing as much as 80% of the staff holding back.“I don’t think anyone wants to be a guinea pig,” said Dr. Stephen Noble, a 42-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon in Portland, Oregon, who is postponing getting vaccinated. “At the end of the day, as a man of science, I just want…

A nightly gathering of thousands of birds called a “murmuration” has captured the attention of entertainment-starved people in Northern California. Matt Dibble has a look. Camera: Matt Dibble                   Producer: Matt Dibble ...

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team said Friday the incoming administration will more quickly release coronavirus vaccines once it assumes power on January 20.Biden’s office said it would limit the Trump administration’s practice of increasing inventories of vaccine doses to guarantee that people get the booster shot several weeks after the first inoculation.Expectations were high when the vaccines were approved last month, but the vaccination campaign got off to a sluggish start. Only 5.9 million of the 29.4 million available doses in the U.S. have been distributed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In this file photo, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci speaks during an unscheduled briefing after a Coronavirus Task Force meeting at the White House on April 5, 2020,…

A United Nations global survey reveals a world of unprecedented division, polarization and discord. The report, a year-long consultation to mark the U.N.’s 75th anniversary, surveyed more than 1.5 million people in 193 countries about their hopes, fears, and expectations for the future.The survey paints a picture of a generally fragmented world, but it also finds much of the world united in regard to post-COVID recovery priorities.Assistant Secretary-General Fabrizio Hochschild said most people surveyed are united in wanting much better access to affordable health care, education and access to water and sanitation.“And second, and related is the world seeks much greater solidarity, much greater solidarity with the hardest-hit communities, much greater solidarity with the hardest-hit places," Hochschild said.  "And, related to that, an economic model that it does not just boost inequalities,…

2020 has tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, the European Union's climate monitoring service said Friday, keeping Earth on a global warming fast track that could devastate large swathes of humanity.The six years since 2015 are the six warmest ever registered, as are 20 of the last 21, evidence of a persistent and deepening trend, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported."2020 stands out for its exceptional warmth," said C3S director Carlo Buontempo, of the Copernicus Climate Change Service."This is yet another reminder of the urgency of ambitious emissions reductions to prevent adverse climate impacts in the future."    ...

Health professionals and other scientists are concerned that the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday may also have been a COVID-19 superspreader event.The shouting mob that invaded the building was largely unmasked and not observing social distancing as they went through the halls of Congress and entered some lawmakers’ offices.Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told The New York Times that, “People yelling and screaming, chanting, exerting themselves — all of those things provide opportunity for the virus to spread, and this virus takes those opportunities.”John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said the virus killed a record 4,085 people in the U.S. on Thursday.Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told National Public Radio in an interview Thursday that he believes “things will get worse as we…

The number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first identified, could be around three times the official figure, according to a study by Chinese researchers based in the city.The paper, published by the PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases journal on Thursday, analyzed blood samples from more than 60,000 healthy individuals taken from locations across China from March to May 2020.It found that 1.68% of those from Wuhan contained antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, compared to 0.59% in surrounding Hubei province and 0.38% in the rest of China.With the city's total population at more than 10 million, the researchers estimated that as many as 168,000 Wuhan residents were infected with the virus, compared to the official number…

The World Health Organization warns the European region is probably in the most acute phase of COVID-19 transmission and drastic measures must be taken to control the spread of the pandemic.   More than 26 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the European region, including over 580,000 deaths.  The World Health Organization reports levels of transmission remain extremely high.  As a consequence, it notes countries and territories across the region are enacting full lockdown measures, affecting more than 230 million people. FILE - Medical personnel attend patients at Casalpalocco Covid 3 hospital in the outskirts of Rome, Jan. 1, 2021.WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge says the year ahead offers new opportunities and tools, such as vaccines for controlling the pandemic.  At the same time, he notes new…

A ray of hope emerged Thursday for the Rainbow Nation, which has seen a massive spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases, as South Africa’s health minister announced a large shipment of vaccines is coming this month.      Zweli Mkhize said the country will receive one million vaccine doses by the end of January, and another half million in February, both from the Serum Institute of India. The first doses, he says, will go to health workers.    Mkhize acknowledged that South Africa’s vaccine acquisition was delayed because the nation was unable to pay for vaccines that were still in development -- a barrier wealthier nations haven’t faced. But, he vowed, it will catch up. South Africa’s limited budget also led officials to choose the cheapest vaccine option, offered by AstraZeneca. …