PM confirms Israel under 5th Covid wave

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PM confirms Israel under 5th Covid wave

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that the country is under the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered by the new Omicron variant, adding that his cabinet was mulling new restrictions to stem the further spread of the virus.

“The fifth wave has begun,” Bennett told a televised press conference, adding that new restrictions are expected to be issued in the next few days, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Prime Minister urged people to work from home if possible and called on citizens to get vaccinated, especially for children.

“Do not leave children exposed and vulnerable,” he said, adding that child vaccination rates in rural areas are as low as 3-5 per cent.

Israel on Sunday banned travel to 10 more countries to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant.

The ban will take effect on Wednesday and will include the US, Canada, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Germany, Hungary, Morocco and Belgium.

All Israelis returning from the banned countries, including vaccinated and recovered ones, must enter quarantine for at least seven days.

Israel largely closed its international borders in the wake of the first report of the Omicron variant.

The current list of “red” countries already includes most of the African countries, eight European countries and the United Arab Emirates.

Also on Sunday, the Health Ministry announced 40 more Omicron cases, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Israel to 175.

Avoiding imposing lockdowns, the government has been focused on the vaccination campaign and the Green Pass scheme that allows entry for several public venues only to fully vaccinated people.

Israel rolled out a large-scale vaccination campaign, with more than 4.1 million of the country’s 9.3 million people having received the third booster shot.

Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, the country has recorded a total of 1,355,491 Covid cases and 8,232 deaths .

EU to supply 20mn additional vaccine doses to fight Omicron variant

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EU to supply 20mn additional vaccine doses to fight Omicron variant

The member states of the European Union (EU) will receive an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the first three months of next year to hasten the pace against the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the European Commission has said.

“The Commission has today agreed with BioNTech-Pfizer to accelerate the delivery of its mRNA vaccine to Member States, starting in a few weeks,” it has said in an announcement on Sunday.

Five million doses will be delivered in January, another five million in February and an extra ten million doses in March, Xinhua news agency reported.

These doses come on top of the already scheduled 195 million doses from BioNTech-Pfizer, bringing the total number of deliveries in Q1 to 215 million.

The announcement came after the European Commission announced on Thursday that Moderna had agreed to accelerate the delivery of its mRNA vaccine to EU countries.

“In view of the deteriorating epidemiological situation in the European Union over the past months, full vaccination and the roll-out of boosters remains one of the EU’s top health priorities,” said the executive arm of the EU.

Being the world’s Covid-19 epicenter for a second time, Europe is bracing for a new wave of the pandemic.

On December 16, 529 new Omicron cases were reported in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), contributing to an overall total of 3,158 cases caused by the variant, said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Delhi govt designates four new pvt hospitals for Omicron treatment

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Delhi govt designates four new pvt hospitals for Omicron treatment

The Delhi government has designated four new private hospitals as dedicated centres for treatment of new Covid variant Omicron.

Earlier, only Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital was designated for Omicron treatment.

The government has notified Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital, Max Saket, Fortis Vasant Kunj and Batra Hospital Tughlakabad for the treatment of Omicron on payment basis with immediate effect. With addition of these four private hospitals, now the new Covid variant Omicron will be treated in total five hospitals in Delhi.

“In order to augment the capacity of institutional isolation facility in the private
sector for Covid positive international passengers who have travelled from or transited through the countries classified as ‘at-risk’ as per the Centre’s guidelines, the authorities of Batra Hospital & Research Centre, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, Fortis Super Specialty Hospital, Vasant Kunj and Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital are hereby directed to establish separate units for such passengers on payment basis with immediate effect and to follow the SOPs issued by health ministry, government of India”, reads the order issued by Delhi Health department.

According to the circular, Max Smart Super Specialty Hospital, Saket, was directed to establish separate unit for COVID positive international passengers on December 1.

With 10 fresh cases of Omicron detected on Friday in Delhi, the city’s tally has gone up to 20. However, 10 people of these 20 have been discharged.

Reinfection risk with Omicron is 5.4 times greater than Delta: Study

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Reinfection risk with Omicron is 5.4 times greater than Delta: Study

Amid various studies claiming that Omicron causes only mild disease, a new study shows that there is “no evidence” that Omicron is less severe than the Delta variant of Covid-19.

The new study led by the UK’s Imperial College London showed that the risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant.

“This implies that the protection against reinfection by Omicron afforded by past infection may be as low as 19 per cent,” said the researchers.

In the yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, researchers estimated the growth and immune escape of the Omicron variant in England by using data from all PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in England between November 29 and December 11.

Overall, 196,463 people without S gene target failure (likely to be infected with another variant) and 11,329 cases with it (likely to be infected with Omicron) were included in the SGTF analysis, as well as 122,063 Delta and 1,846 Omicron cases in the genotype analysis.

The report looked at factors associated with testing positive for Omicron compared to non-Omicron (mostly Delta) cases.

The results suggest that the proportion of Omicron among all Covid cases was doubling every two days up to December 11, estimated from both S-gene Target Failure and genotype data.

Based on these results the researchers estimated that the reproduction number (R) of Omicron was above 3 over the period studied.

Further, in the pre-Omicron era, the UK study of Covid infection in healthcare workers estimated that prior infection afforded 85 per cent protection against a second Covid infection over six months.

The reinfection risk estimated in the current study suggests this protection hasA fallen to 19 per cent against an Omicron infection.

“The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection,” the researchers said, adding however, hospitalisation data remains very limited at this time.

The latest modelling also pointed out that the Omicron variant largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses.

“This study provides further evidence of the very substantial extent to which Omicron can evade prior immunity given by both infection or vaccination. This level of immune evasion means that Omicron poses a major, imminent threat to public health,” said Prof Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London.

The team found a significantly increased risk of developing a symptomatic Omicron case compared to Delta for those who were two or more weeks past their second vaccine dose, and two or more weeks past their booster dose (for AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines).

However, the vaccine effectiveness estimates against symptomatic Omicron infection after booster dose was between 55 per cent and 80 per cent, the researchers said.

Closing schools should be last resort in Omicron fight: Unicef

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Closing schools should be last resort in Omicron fight: Unicef

Closing of schools across the world should be the last resort in the fight against the fast-spreading Omicron Covid-19 variant, outgoing Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

“Nationwide school closures should be avoided whenever possible,” Xinhua news agency quoted Fore as saying in a statement on Friday.

“When Covid-19 community transmission increases and stringent public health measures become a necessity, schools must be the last places to close and the first to re-open.

“Another wave of widespread school closures would be disastrous for children… The evidence is clear: Prolonged, nationwide school closures; limited resources for students, teachers and parents; and lack of access to remote learning have wiped out decades of progress in education and rendered childhood unrecognizable,” the Unicef head added.

She said that beyond lost learning, children also lost school safety, daily in-person interactions with friends, access to healthcare and often their only nutritious meal of the day, adding that this generation of schoolchildren could collectively lose $17 trillion in potential lifetime earnings.

“We know that mitigation measures in schools are effective,” she said.

“We must use this knowledge to do everything we can to keep schools open. We must also increase investments in digital connectivity to make sure that no child is left behind.”

Fore, who will be relieved of the post as Unicef chief, said that next year could not be another year of disrupted learning.

“It needs to be the year that education, and the best interests of children, take precedence.”

Fore announced in July her intention to resign as Unicef Executive Director because of family health issues.

Catherine Russell, a senior White House official, has been appointed to succeed Fore by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Fore said she would remain in her post until a successor could take over.

Russell said she would start as Executive Director early next year.

Ireland announces new restrictive measures

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Ireland announces new restrictive measures

The Irish government has announced a number of new restrictive health measures in order to control the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 during the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.

According to a statement issued by the government, starting from December 20, all restaurants and bars, excluding takeaways and delivery services, must close at 8 p.m. and there should be no indoor events after 8 p.m. except wedding receptions, reports Xinhua news agency.

But the wedding receptions must not receive more than 100 guests, said the statement.

For the indoor events already scheduled, attendance should be limited to 50 percent of venue capacity or 1,000 people, whichever is lower, it added.

The new measures, which will last until January 30, 2022, also rule that attendance at outdoor events should be limited to 50 per cent of the venue capacity or 5,000 people, whichever is lower.

According to the new measures, close contacts of confirmed cases of Covid-19, who have received a booster shot at least one week ago, will have to restrict their movement for five days and take three antigen tests.

For those who have not received a booster shot, they must restrict movement for ten days with the number of Covid-19 tests required yet to be decided, said the statement.

As for international travel, all passengers arriving in Ireland are now advised to conduct antigen testing on a daily basis for five consecutive days commencing on the day of their arrival, said the statement, adding that the existing public health requirements for international travellers will remain unchanged.

Ireland now demands all passengers arriving from overseas to provide a proof of a negative result from an antigen test taken within 48 hours before their arrival or a PCR test taken within 72 hours before arrival, depending on their vaccination, recovery or unvaccinated status.

The Irish Department of Health on Friday reported an additional 3,628 confirmed cases of Covid-19, taking the overall total to 644,143.

“Approximately 35 per cent of reported cases are now due to the Omicron variant,” said the department.

The death toll stood at 5,835.

Novavax vax 90% effective at preventing Covid infections

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Novavax vax 90% effective at preventing Covid infections

Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine is 90 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19 illness, according to results from a Phase 3 clinical trial.

In addition to being highly effective in preventing Covid illness of any severity, the vaccine was 100 per cent effective in preventing moderate and severe disease that required hospitalisation, revealed the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

For the trial, the team from University of Maryland included nearly 30,000 adult volunteers at 113 clinical sites in the US and six sites in Mexico.

Approximately 20,000 participants received two doses of the vaccine spaced three weeks apart and 10,000 received placebos. The trial was conducted during the first few months of 2021, and tested only against Alpha variant, which was the predominant circulating strain.

Most side effects were mild to moderate and transient. Fever was very rare. The most common side effects in the vaccine recipients included pain and tenderness at the injection site, headache, muscle aches and fatigue that lasted a day on average. None of the recipients developed serious reactions like heart inflammation (myocarditis) or blood clots.

“Our study results indicate that this vaccine is highly efficacious and very safe. In addition, this vaccine has many attractive features,” said Karen Kotloff, Professor of Paediatrics at the varsity’s School of Medicine.

“It is made from a small piece of protein, like many currently licensed vaccines in the US and has convenient refrigerator storage requirements, so it will be an important addition to the Covid-19 vaccine portfolio, in the US and in countries where supply is lacking,” Kotloff added.

Novavax is also a partner of Pune-based Serum Institute of India. The vaccine NVX-CoV2373 is already being locally manufactured by the company under the brand name Covovax – its vaccine for children aged above 3 years. It will be launched in the next six months, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla has said.

Covavax is currently under trial and has shown excellent results down to the age of 3 years, Poonawalla said.

Global Covid caseload tops 272.8 mn

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Global Covid caseload tops 272.8 mn

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 272.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.33 million and vaccinations to over 8.58 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Friday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 272,860,151 and 5,335,758, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 8,588,471,010.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 50,511,161 and 803,633, according to the CSSE.

The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,718,602 infections and 476,478 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,201,221 infections and 617,271 deaths).

The other countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (11,161,236), Russia (9,955,308), Turkey (9,102,294), France (8,564,979), Germany (6,709,228), Iran (6,165,454), Spain (5,422,168), Argentina (5,376,642), Italy (5,308,180) and Colombia (5,101,466), the CSSE figures showed.

The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (297,188), Russia (288,240), Peru (201,992), the UK (147,395), Indonesia (143,979), Italy (135,301), Iran (130,946), Colombia (129,295), France (122,156), Argentina (116,874) and Germany (107,368).

Covid deaths in US under Biden equal as during Trump

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Covid deaths in US under Biden equal as during Trump

Even as the US recorded 800,000 Covid-19 deaths to date, analysis shows that the death toll of Americans under President Joe Biden equals that of during the regime of former president Donald Trump.

According to tghe Johns Hopkins University, the country continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 50,374,099 and 802,502 – double the 400,000 deaths recorded by January 19, Trump’s last full day in office.

The Trump administration’s response to Covid-19 was markedly haphazard and the disease was widespread by the time Biden was sworn in. However, Biden could also not deliver as promised. Despite life-saving vaccines – which first became available in the US in December 2020 – and a pledge to achieve “independence from the virus” by July 4, the country has struggled with vaccine hesitancy, and surges brought on by the more contagious and severe Delta variant.

September and October were especially brutal, with a combined 92,800 deaths deemed preventable.

“It would seem that Mr. Biden has done no better than Donald Trump in defeating Covid despite the benefit of vaccines, better therapies and more clinical experience,” the Wall Street Journal wrote in a recent editorial.

“More Americans have died of the virus in 2021 than in all of 2020,” it added.

Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that Biden has presided over about 353,000 deaths in a little over 10 months, compared to about 425,000 for Trump in his final 10-plus months. So there have still been fewer deaths under Biden than under Trump in a similar time period, the Washington Post reported.

But data from Johns Hopkins University showed that the 425,000 deaths during Trump’s 10-plus months accounted for nearly 20 per cent of all worldwide deaths.

On the other hand, after 10 months after Biden took over, the world saw 3.07 million, while the US accounted for less than 12 per cent of worldwide deaths – down from 19.9 per cent under Trump, the Post reported.

Meanwhile, several studies have shown that a better response to Covid-19 by states to prevent vaccine hesitancy could have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths in the US.

A recent analysis by US-based non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showed that about a fifth of 800,000 deaths in the country could have been prevented by the vaccines against the infectious disease, the Daily Mail reported.

With the emergence of the Omicron variant last month, which has now spread to 77 countries, experts believe the pandemic is far from over and loss of more lives from Covid can be expected.

As per the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Omicron is spreading at a rate not seen with any previous variant.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned against underestmating Omicron because of it causing “mild disease”.

“We’re concerned that people are dismissing Omicron as mild,” he said. “Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril.”

Ukraine extends quarantine measures until March

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Ukraine extends quarantine measures until March

Ukraine has extended its Covid-19 quarantine measures through the end of March next year instead of the end of December, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

Ukrainians must adhere to all imposed restrictions until 70 per cent of the population is vaccinated, Xinhua news agency quoted Shmyhal as saying on Wednesday.

Some 40 per cent of Ukrainian adults have been fully vaccinated against the virus so far.

Ukraine has recorded 3.57 million Covid-19 cases till date and 91,958 deaths.

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