Africa’s confirmed Covid-19 cases surpass 2.64 mn

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Africa’s confirmed Covid-19 cases surpass 2.64 mn

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the African continent has increased to 2,644,112, according to health authorities.

In its latest update, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said that the death toll stood at 62,366 while a total of 2,212,975 people infected with the virus have recovered across the continent as of Sunday afternoon, reports Xinhua news agency.

The most affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia, figures from the Africa CDC showed.

South Africa currently has the most Covid-19 cases, which hit 994,911.

Morocco comes next with 430,562 confirmed cases, followed by Egypt with 131,315 and Tunisia with 130,230, according to the Africa CDC.

Nothing alarming in Rajinikanth’s test reports, says hospital

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Nothing alarming in Rajinikanth’s test reports, says hospital

There is nothing alarming in the test reports of superstar Rajinikanth, Apollo Hospital said on Sunday.

“All the investigations reports have come in and there is nothing alarming in the reports. The team of doctors will evaluate him this afternoon and make a decision on his discharge,” said the latest medical bulletin issued by the hospital.

The 70-year-old was admitted to the hospital on Friday with severe fluctuations in blood pressure.

The hospital, in its bulletin on Saturday evening, had described his condition as stable and stated that a decision on his discharge from the hospital will be taken on Sunday.

Rajinikanth’s daughter is with him in the hospital. Family and treating doctors have requested all well-wishers to avoid visiting the hospital.

The actor was shooting for the Tamil film ‘Annaatthe’ in Hyderabad for the last 10 days.

A couple of people on the film sets had tested positive for Covid-19. Rajinikanth was tested on December 22 for Covid and he was negative. Since then he isolated himself and was monitored closely.

Though he did not have any symptoms of Covid-19, his blood pressure showed severe fluctuations and needed further evaluation for which he was admitted to the hospital.

India records 18.7K new Covid cases, 279 deaths

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India records 18.7K new Covid cases, 279 deaths

India on Sunday recorded 18,732 fresh Covid-19 infections and 279 deaths in the last 24 hours taking the total number of cases to 1,01,87,850, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

As many as 97,61,538 people have recovered, with 21,430 recovering in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate stands at 95.82 percent. There are 2,78,690 active cases.

The fatality rate is 1.45 percent and the death toll so far has reached 1,47,622.

A total of 16,81,02,657 samples have been tested for Covid-19 till now. Of these, 9,43,368 samples were tested on Saturday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state to date with 19.16 lakh cases, including 49,189 deaths.

Over 70 percent of the daily new cases are being reported by 10 states and union territory — Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Delhi.

Back from UK 8 test Covid positive for Covid, 1 missing in UP

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Back from UK 8 test Covid positive for Covid, 1 missing in UP

With eight of the 609 UK returnees, who were tracked and tested in Uttar Pradesh, testing positive for Covid-19, the Yogi Adityanath government has pressed the panic button. Out of the eight positive patients, one has been reported missing.

Even though the strain of the virus is yet to be identified, the state government is not taking any chances.

State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to maintain an effective system of contact tracing and surveillance. He said that the arrangements of the Covid-19 hospitals should be up-to-date and senior doctors should take regular rounds of Covid-19 wards.

Adequate availability of medicines, medical equipment, and oxygen, including backup, should be ensured in Covid-19 hospitals and the testing work should be conducted with full capacity. He has further asked the nodal officers to visit districts and monitor the situation.

It may be recalled that the Centre had provided a list of 1,655 persons who had returned from or via the UK to the state.

“Of these, 1,087 have been tracked. 609 have been tested of whom eight were found to be positive,” said additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad.

He said that the samples of these persons had been sent for genome sequencing.

“It is not clear whether the old or the mutant strain caused Covid-19 in them. Therefore, their samples have been sent for genome sequencing. The report is expected soon,” he stated.

According to health sources, three of these patients are from Meerut while two each are from Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar districts. Those from Meerut had traveled to London and came back to India on December 14. The travel history of others has not been revealed.

One of the city residents with a travel history to the UK between December 9 and 22 is yet to be traced, even four days after the identification.

“One traveler could not be traced as his mobile phone is constantly switched off. The residential address given by him in documents reads Kathauta in Lucknow but the exact location is vague,” an officer said.

Sources confirmed that the samples had been sent to CSIR’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi.

Amit Mohan Prasad also said that seven of the eight positive persons were undergoing treatment in the state at the special international ward set up by the state health department while one was under treatment in New Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital.

Officials are worried over the lack of support from some of these returnees who have switched off their phones.

“Several districts have reported that the returnees have switched off their phones which is not good. The state government is getting them tested in their individual interest besides ensuring the well-being of everyone else. They must come forward and cooperate in the public interest,” said Navneet Sehgal, Additional Chief Secretary, information and public relations department.

Meanwhile, 1,102 new Covid cases took the state’s tally to 5,81,080 on Saturday. Of these, 5,56,912 have recovered while 8,293 have succumbed to the infection.

Health officials said that the state’s recovery rate had reached 95.8 percent.

Scrutiny by district health officers found that 22 travelers had given their permanent addresses in Lucknow but were found to be living in other districts of the state.

Scientists find novel compound as Covid triggers superbug threat

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Scientists find novel compound as Covid triggers superbug threat

A rising tide of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — if left unchecked, could kill an estimated 10 million people annually by 2050 — was a fact known in the pre-Corona era and the Covid-19 situation has now put millions at risk by increasing their resistance to the antibiotics, warn researchers.

To help address this alarming situation, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US have discovered a chemical compound that works with a host’s innate immune response to push past cellular barriers that help bacteria resist antibiotics.

“The Covid-19 situation is definitely putting us at risk for increasing resistance to antibiotics, so it’s more important now than ever that we come up with alternative treatments,” said Corrie Detweiler, a professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

In a paper published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, the authors said that the finding could lead to a new arsenal for fighting what could be the next big public health threat.

“If we don’t solve the problem of finding new antibiotics or somehow making old antibiotics work again, we are going to see sharply increasing deaths from bacterial infections we thought we had beaten decades ago,” said Detweiler.

Her lab developed a technique called ‘SAFIRE’ for screening for new small molecules that work differently than older drugs.

Of 14,400 candidates screened from a library of existing chemicals, ‘SAFIRE’ identified 70 that holds promise.

The new paper centers around “JD1,” which appears to be particularly effective at infiltrating what is known as “Gram-negative bacteria.”

With a tough exterior membrane that prevents antibiotics from accessing the cell, and another interior membrane providing a buffer, these bacteria (including Salmonella and E. coli) are inherently difficult to treat.

But unlike other drugs, JD1 takes advantage of the host’s initial immune assault on that outer bacterial membrane, then slips inside and goes after the inner membrane too.

“This is the first study to show that you can target a Gram-negative bacteria’s inner membrane by exploiting the innate immune response of the host,” Detweiler noted.

In laboratory and rodent experiments, JD1 reduced survival and spread of Gram-negative bacteria called Salmonella enterica by 95 percent.

By 2050, the authors noted, there could be more deaths from antibiotic resistance than from cancer.

“As our existing antibiotics adapt and work less, we risk essentially going back to a period 100 years ago, when even a minor infection could mean death,” said Detweiler.

The pandemic has shone even more light on the problem, as many patients die not from the virus itself but from hard-to-treat secondary bacterial infections.

Meanwhile, Detweiler and other scholars worry that heightened use of antibiotics to prevent or treat those secondary infections, while at times necessary, maybe exacerbating resistance.

Most antibiotics in use today were developed in the 1950s, and pharmaceutical companies have since scaled back on research in the field in favor of more profitable ventures.

Avoid ‘holiday heart syndrome’ on Christmas

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Avoid ‘holiday heart syndrome’ on Christmas

As millions celebrate Christmas, researchers have pointed out certain health hazards like the ‘holiday heart syndrome’ or even the pine needles in the tree, that can be avoided during the festivities.

The Christmas season is associated with preventable harms from cards, tree decorations, and presents, as well as overeating and overdrinking, so do the benefits of Christmas outweigh the harms?

In the Christmas issue of The British Medical Journal (BMJ), Robin Ferner and Jeffrey Aronson found some cautionary tales from the archives.

They found that Christmas cards can be a potential source of harm.

In 1876, a young man developed arsenic poisoning after painting festive cards with the highly toxic Scheele’s Green paint.

More recently, a woman amputated her fingertip while posting Christmas cards through the spring-loaded flap of a letterbox.

Injuries from falls while decking the house with Christmas lights are common — and a reminder not to get on ladders — they may tip when you are tipsy.

“Items swallowed unintentionally can also pose problems,” they wrote.

Excessive eating and drinking too much alcohol can not only increase waistlines but also trigger outbreaks of gastroenteritis and salmonella infection and cause heart complaints (holiday heart syndrome).

Bulbs from Christmas lights, sharp-pointed confetti stars, and Christmas tree-shaped decorations, have all found their way down toddlers’ throats and have had to be removed.

Christmas trees, too, can bring pain as well as pleasure.

“Pine needles can penetrate the lungs, causing breathing difficulties, and branches can poke you in the eye, causing a corneal abrasion. Burns from candles are also common,” the authors noted.

Christmas presents pose unforeseen dangers too, they added.

For example, a pet hamster spread lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, while Haitian bongo drums carried anthrax bacilli in their goatskin hides.

In 2002, researchers analyzed the cost-effectiveness of Christmas and concluded that “Christmas is not cost-effective.”

But cost-effectiveness is not everything, they said.

“Most of our sources are anecdotal, and we did not find strong evidence of widespread adverse effects. So we will leave you to decide whether the benefits of Christmas outweigh its harms”.

S. Korea signs Covid-19 vaccine purchase deals with Pfizer, Janssen

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S. Korea signs Covid-19 vaccine purchase deals with Pfizer, Janssen

South Korea has signed deals with Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen to purchase Covid-19 vaccines, with the goal of starting vaccinations in the second quarter of 2021, health authorities said on Thursday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the government will buy vaccines for 10 million people from Pfizer and six million from Janssen, which was up from its initial plan for four million people, Yonhap news agency reported.

It formally struck a purchase deal with AstraZeneca in late November and made an advance payment of $77.6 million in October to the World Health Organization’s global vaccine project, known as COVAX.

The government plans to sign contracts next month with Moderna and COVAX to secure vaccines for 10 million people from each, the KDCA said.

Vaccines by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna require two shots for immunization while Janssen’s vaccine requires one shot.

The government has set a goal of securing vaccines for 44 million people, enough to cover 88 percent of the nation’s population, but the purchase deals are expected to cover 46 million with increased supplies from Janssen.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine will be first shipped around February and March, followed by Janssen’s in the second quarter of 2021 and Pfizer’s in the third quarter, according to health officials.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun said the government plans to start the vaccine programme in the second quarter of next year, vowing to mobilize all resources to advance shipments of the vaccines for the goal.

“The government will pay thorough attention to make sure that the public can be vaccinated as soon as possible, without any anxiety, while carefully studying the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines administered (overseas),” the South Korean PM said during an interagency meeting on the Covid-19 pandemic response.

The contracts to buy the vaccines came amid growing calls for speeding up the vaccine programme to cope with a sharp hike in cases, which could overwhelm the nation’s medical system.

As soon as the vaccines are ready, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the country’s drug safety agency, will promptly grant emergency use approval to begin the vaccine program for the high-priority group first, health officials said.

Health authorities said they have been preparing ultra-cold freezers and other storage units to safely distribute vaccines depending on their requirements set by the drug makers.

“We are preparing the vaccinations to complete inoculation of high-priority groups before the next year’s flu season, which generally starts in November,” Yang Dong-gyo, a senior KDCA official, said in a briefing.

The vaccines will be first rolled out to groups vulnerable to the virus, such as elderly people, care home residents, and frontline health workers, then to the rest of the population in the order of risk, including those who are clinically vulnerable, Yang said.

South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases fell below 1,000 on Thursday, as the most stringent social distancing rules so far were in place ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays to contain the winter wave of the virus.

The total caseload reached 53,533 and the death toll stood at 756, according to the KDCA.

Human brains generate common code to mark others’ location

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Human brains generate common code to mark others’ location

For the first time, scientists have recorded how our brains navigate physical space and keep track of others’ locations, suggesting that our brains generate a common code to mark where other people are in relation to ourselves.

Researchers used a special backpack to wirelessly monitor the brain waves of epilepsy patients as each one walked around an empty room hunting for a hidden, two-foot spot.

In an article published in Nature, the scientists report that the waves flowed in a distinct pattern suggesting that each individual’s brain had mapped out the walls and other boundaries.

Interestingly, each participant’s brain waves flowed in a similar manner when they sat in the corner of the room and watched someone else walk around, suggesting these waves were also used to track other people’s movements.

“We were able to directly study for the first time how a person’s brain navigates an actual physical space that is shared with others,” said Nanthia Suthana, assistant professor of neurosurgery and psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The study was part of the US National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.

In this study, the team worked with a group of participants with drug-resistant epilepsy, 31-52 years old, whose brains have been surgically implanted with electrodes to control their seizures.

The electrodes reside in a memory center in the brain called the medial temporal lobe, which is also thought to control navigation, at least in rodents.

Over the past half-century, scientists, including three Nobel Prize winners, discovered that neurons in this lobe act like a global positioning system (GPS).

“Several pieces of indirect evidence support the medial temporal lobe’s role in how we navigate. But testing these ideas any further has been technically difficult,” said Matthias Stangl, a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA and the lead author of the article.

Dr. Suthana’s team plans to explore these ideas in greater depth.

In addition, the team has made the backpack available to other researchers who want to learn more about the brain and brain disorders.

574 new Covid cases push Telangana’s tally to 2.83 lakh

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574 new Covid cases push Telangana’s tally to 2.83 lakh

Telangana reported 574 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the state’s tally to 2,83,556, health officials said.

During the last 24 hours, two more persons succumbed to the virus, pushing the death toll to 1,524.

The fatality rate remained 53 percent against the national average of 1.4 percent.

According to the director of public health and family welfare, 44.96 percent of the deaths occurred due to Covid while 55.04 percent had comorbidities.

The state saw 384 recoveries during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative numbers to 2,75,217.

The recovery rate stands at 97.05 percent as against the national average of 95.7 percent.

The number of active cases in the state is now 6,815 including 4,487 who are in-home or institutional isolation.

During the last 24 hours, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) reported 109 new cases.

Rangareddy district saw the second-highest number of new cases at 48 followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (42), Warangal Urban (34), Karimnagar (30), Khammam (25), Nalgonda (22), and Bhadradri Kothagudem (22).

Of the 44,516 tests conducted during the last 24 hours, government-run laboratories accounted for 40,900 while the remaining 3,607 samples were tested in private labs.

Samples tested per million population ratio rose further to 1,77,622.

The daily testing target for the state is 5,600 per day as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark of 140 per million per day, officials said

Eighteen government-run laboratories, 56 private laboratories, and 1,076 Rapid Antigen test centers are conducting the tests in the state.

The data shows that 63.9 percent of those who tested positive so far were aged between 21-50 years. As many as 22.91 percent were aged above 51 years. The positive cases include 13.18 percent who were below 20 years.

Of the total cases, 60.44 percent were male, and 39.37 percent female.

Over 90 percent of beds in government-run and private hospitals treating Covid-19 in the state remained vacant.

Out of 8,559 beds available in 61 government hospitals treating Covid, 7,804 beds were vacant. A total of 755 people were undergoing treatment in these hospitals.

Similarly, in 219 private hospitals treating Covid-19, only 1,373 beds were occupied. Out of 7,869 beds, 6,496 were vacant.

India records 24K fresh Covid cases, 312 deaths

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India records 24K fresh Covid cases, 312 deaths

India on Thursday witnessed 24,712 fresh Covid-19 infections taking the total number of cases to 1,01,23,778, along with 312 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of fatalities to 1,46,756, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

In the last 24 hours, 29,791 people have recovered. Currently, there are 2,83,849 active cases.

The recovery rate stands at 95.75 percent while the fatality rate is 1.45 percent.

Till now, 96,93,173 have recovered. A total of 16,53,08,366 samples have been tested for Covid-19 till now. Of these, 10,39,645 samples were tested on Wednesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state to date. Over 70 percent of the daily new cases are being reported by 10 states and union territory — Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.

Over 75 percent of the deaths are being reported from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana.

A new strain of the Covid-19 virus has appeared in the UK. The mutant is said to be 70 percent more aggressive, according to reports. Flights and other forms of transport to and from the UK are being shut down.

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