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The protection provided by two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines starts to wane within six months, new research suggests.
PA reports:
The Pfizer jab was 88% effective at preventing Covid-19 infection a month after the second dose.
But after five to six months, the protection decreased to 74%, suggesting protection fell 14 percentage points in four months, latest analysis from the Zoe Covid study indicates.
With the AstraZeneca vaccine, there was a protection against infection of 77% one month after the second dose.
After four to five months, protection decreased to 67%, suggesting protection fell by 10 percentage points over three months.
The study drew on more than 1.2 million test results and participants.
Professor Tim Spector, lead scientist on the Zoe Covid Study app, said: “In my opinion, a reasonable worst-case scenario could see protection below 50% for the elderly and healthcare workers by winter.
”If high levels of infection in the UK, driven by loosened social restrictions and a highly transmissible variant, this scenario could mean increased hospitalisations and deaths.
”We urgently need to make plans for vaccine boosters, and based on vaccine resources, decide if a strategy to vaccinate children is sensible if our aim is to reduce deaths and hospital admissions.”
We are closing the live blog now. Thank you for joining us.
Fears for New Zealand’s Pasifika community are growing, after the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, said this week that more than half of the country’s coronavirus cases were Pacific people who attended a church service in South Auckland.
The country is bracing for its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet as cases rise, the number of locations of interest balloons to more than 400 and the number of close contacts swells to more than 15,700 people.
New daily Coronavirus infections in Israel nearing record levels
New daily coronavirus infections in Israel are approaching record levels, despite the country’s largely successful vaccination campaign and the recent rollout of the world’s first widespread booster shot, reports AP.
The spread of the virus has been driven by a surge in the Delta variant even among the vaccinated.
The government recorded 9,831 new cases on Monday, the highest single-day figure since 18 January when 10,118 new cases were detected, Israel’s record for the pandemic.
It has sparked talk of possible new restrictions on gatherings during the Jewish High Holidays that begin in September.
Updated
The number of young adults who smoke in England rose by about a quarter in the first lockdown, research has suggested.
Nevertheless, the number of people who stopped smoking altogether increased, with the number across all age groups almost doubling during the first national lockdown when compared with the period immediately prior, researchers from University College London (UCL) and the University of Sheffield said.
Updated
Surgical patients who have recently had Covid-19 appear to have a higher risk of blood clots after their operation, a study suggests.
PA reports that researchers said increased surveillance of patients should be considered so they can get prompt treatment if needed.
A team of researchers, led by experts at the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery in Birmingham, examined data on patients who needed both emergency surgery and pre-planned surgery in October 2020 to see whether they went on to develop a venous thromboembolism (VTE) in the month after their operation.
Academics examined data on more than 128,000 patients from 1,630 hospitals across 115 countries.
Overall, 742 patients went on to develop a post-operative VTE - either a deep vein thrombosis, a pulmonary embolism or both.
Patients who were infected with the virus around the time of their operation were 50% more likely to have a VTE in the 30 days after their operation.
Those with a recent infection – within six weeks of their operation – had a 90% increased risk, according to the study published in the journal Anaesthesia.
Those who had a VTE around the time of their operation were also more likely to die in the 30 days after their operation compared with those who did not.
Updated
Brazil’s health ministry registered 30,872 new coronavirus cases and 894 additional Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, Reuters reports.
Updated
Mexico’s health ministry reported 18,262 new cases of Covid-19 and 940 more deaths on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country since the pandemic began to 3,249,878 and the death toll to 254,466.
Updated
Goldman Sachs Group Inc has told employees that from Tuesday anyone entering its offices in the United States must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The bank will also require that masks be worn in offices regardless of vaccination status from Wednesday, while fully vaccinated employees will receive weekly Covid-19 tests starting on 7 September, the memo said.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo.
Updated
Australia: Gap between Indigenous Covid vaccination rates and overall population widens in almost every state
Indigenous Covid vaccination rates have risen rapidly in the past month, but new data shows the gap is widening between First Nations people and overall vaccination rates in almost every state and territory.
In Western Australia, the Indigenous vaccination rate is just 8% for fully vaccinated people, which is more than three times smaller than the total vaccination rate for WA of 27%.
Updated
More than 1,000 people who attended the Latitude Festival in the UK last month have tested positive for coronavirus, PA reports.
The festival, which ran from 22 to 25 July, was part of the government’s Events Research Programme attended by around 40,000 people.
Festival-goers had to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test or be double vaccinated to gain access to the site at Henham Park in Suffolk.
Data released by Suffolk County Council reportedly shows 1,051 people tested positive for Covid in the days after the event.
It also shows that 619 people got infected at Latitude, while 432 would have been infectious at the time of the event.
Updated
Edinburgh fringe launches £7.5m emergency appeal after losing millions during pandemic
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has launched a £7.5m emergency appeal after it lost millions of pounds during the Covid pandemic.
The festival’s directors said the crisis had had a devastating impact on the event, which until last year was the world’s largest annual arts festival. It was entirely shut down in 2020 and this year has operated at a fifth of its normal size.
Updated
The new governor of New York has said she will immediately make masks mandatory for anyone entering schools, AP reports.
In an address after taking up her post today, Kathy Hochul added she would also be working to introduce a requirement that all school staff are either vaccinated or undergo weekly Covid-19 testing.
A back-to-school testing programme would be launched to make testing for students and staff more convenient, she added.
She also promised to get the state ready to distribute vaccine booster shots - when they became widely available - and reopen mass vaccination sites that had been closed.
Hochul said: “None of us wants a re-run of last year’s horrors with Covid-19. Therefore we will take proactive steps to prevent that from happening.”
Her announcements were tackling some of the problems that had been left unaddressed during Andrew Cuomo’s turbulent final months in office.
Updated
The United States has administered 363,915,792 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Tuesday morning, Reuters reports.
Those figures are up from the 363,267,789 vaccine doses the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said had gone into arms by 23 August out of 428,528,965 doses delivered.
It added that 202,041,893 people had received at least one dose while 171,367,657 people are now fully vaccinated (as of Tuesday).
Updated
Premier League clubs have united in defiance of Fifa and refused to release players for international duty in countries on the UK’s red list.
The escalating row over quarantine restrictions, and the lack of exemptions for players returning from red zone countries, led to Premier League clubs “reluctantly but unanimously” deciding to take action at a meeting on Tuesday. The Premier League, which has backed the clubs’ stance, has also registered its concern at Fifa’s decision to allow Conmebol teams to play three fixtures in the next two international breaks.
Updated
Growing numbers of US districts have stopped in-person learning at schools
More than 80 school districts or charter networks have closed or delayed in-person classes for at least one entire school in more than a dozen states because of an increase in Covid cases.
Other schools have sent home whole year groups or requested students to stay at home on a hybrid teaching system, Associated Press reports.
The setbacks are mostly in small, rural districts.
It has come as a blow to hopes for a full return to classrooms after two years of disrupted schooling because of the pandemic.
In Georgia in-person classes are on hold in more than 20 districts. With 40% of students in quarantine or isolation, last week the district shifted to online lessons until 13 September.
Meanwhile, around the country, some schools are starting the year later than planned.
However, epidemiologists say they still believe that in-person schooling can be conducted safely, highlighting the academic, social and emotional damage to students caused by the pandemic.
Updated
Bereaved families call for UK-wide Covid inquiry to start before end of the year
The UK government, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations must “show some leadership” and ensure that statutory coronavirus inquiries start before the year is out, campaigners have said.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice group is calling on the devolved nations to follow Scotland’s example after first minister Nicola Sturgeon said an independent inquiry would begin by the end of 2021.
Lobby Akinnola, a member of the campaign group, said those who had lost loved ones in Wales and Northern Ireland would be wondering why no inquiry had been announced for their countries, according to PA Media.
And he said that the UK-wide inquiry, which Boris Johnson has said will start next spring, must commence before the end of this year.
Akinnola’s father, Olufemi Akinnola, died with coronavirus in April 2020, aged 60.
The 30-year-old from Norwood, south-east London, said: “Today’s announcement will rightly leave bereaved families across the rest of the United Kingdom wondering why this has been announced for Scotland but not in the other devolved regions.
“It’s not just the prime minister kicking the UK-wide inquiry continually into the long grass, but the Welsh Assembly and Northern Irish executive who are yet to even commit to holding a statutory inquiry into their own handling of the pandemic.
“This simply isn’t good enough and it’s time for the UK government, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Irish executive to show some leadership and rise to the occasion and ensure statutory inquiries commence before the end of the year within the devolved administrations and for the UK.”
The group has told the government it should have core participant status in the forthcoming UK inquiry and that work must start immediately now restrictions have lifted.
Updated
Official statistics show Covid is claiming 100 lives a day on average across the UK.
But the figures tell only a fraction of the story.
Scientists and academics are looking at the profiles of those who are dying to see how they compare to previous waves.
The Greek government has announced that, as of next month, all indoor eateries, bars, clubs and entertainment venues will be off limits for citizens who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.
The blanket ban was among a slew of draconian measures unveiled by the health minister as the country – ensnared in a fourth wave of the pandemic – battles a steep rise in coronavirus cases and deaths.
Vaccine supply contract between Brazil and Pfizer leaked after adverse event indemnity row
The vaccine supply contract between Brazil and Pfizer has been made public. Reportedly, the price paid for some 100m jabs, at US$10 each, was 2.3 times lower than the rate the EU is estimated to have paid, and it comes after tough negotiating by the government of Jair Bolsonaro amid a row with Pfizer over its “abusive” demands to be shielded from lawsuits, including in the event of adverse vaccine effects.
The dispute led to a three-month delay in a deal being agreed, hampering the vaccine rollout in Brazil, after the pharmaceutical giant’s request for sovereign assets to be put up as a guarantee against any future legal costs from civil claims by citizens if they experienced harms after being inoculated was refused.
Brazil reportedly leaked the document on its health ministry website in violation of the confidentiality rules established in the contract.
Earlier this year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that one official who was present in an unnamed South American country’s negotiations described Pfizer’s demands as “high-level bullying” and said the government felt like it was being “held to ransom” in order to access life-saving vaccines.
Amid the dispute, the Brazilian ministry of health in January published a statement along with passages of the proposed contract:
The federal government/ministry of health informs that it did receive the letter from the CEO of Pfizer, as well as meeting several times with its representatives. However, despite all the media power promoted by the laboratory, the initial doses offered to Brazil would be another achievement in marketing, branding and growth for the vaccine producer, as is already happening in other countries. As for Brazil, it would cause frustration in all Brazilians, as we would have, with few doses, to choose, in a continental country with more than 212m inhabitants, who would be elected to receive the vaccine.
However, not only the frustration that the company Pfizer would cause to Brazilians, the unfair and abusive clauses that were established by the laboratory create a barrier to negotiation and purchase. As an example, we quote five excerpts from the pre-contract clauses, which have already been widely publicized by the press:
1) That Brazil renounces the sovereignty of its assets abroad for the benefit of Pfizer as a guarantee of payment, as well as establishing a guarantee fund with amounts deposited in an account abroad;
2) The removal of Brazilian jurisdiction and laws with the institution of an arbitration agreement under the laws of New York, in the United States;
3) That the first and second batches of vaccines have 500 thousand doses and the third one million, totaling 2 million in the first quarter, with the possibility of delay in delivery (a number considered insufficient by Brazil);
4) that if there is a delay in delivery, there is no penalty; and
5) That a liability waiver be signed for any possible side effects of the vaccine, exempting Pfizer from any civil liability for serious side effects arising from the use of the vaccine, indefinitely.
However, while I haven’t had the time to completely scour the contract which was agreed in March, there have seemingly been some concessions by Brazil – including that they will abide by New York laws in the event of any conflict. The contract also appears to provide Pfizer with indemnity:
In no event shall Pfizer be liable to purchaser for any direct damages except to the extent such direct damages were a result of a material breach of a representation or warranty by Pfizer under this Agreement that directly and solely caused the damage. In no instance shall Pfizer and its affiliates be liable to purchaser (whether arising in warranty, tort (including, without limitation, negligence), contract, strict liability or otherwise) for any liabilities of purchaser to any third party, including, without limitation, through contribution, indemnity, or for any claim for which purchaser would have to indemnify Pfizer if that claim were brought directly against Pfizer.
Prominent lawyer Juan Branco, who posted the contract on Twitter, told the Guardian:
Leaked by Brazilian state itself, as a result of a mistake and in violation of the confidentiality rules established witihin the contract, it was censored in Brazilian media after its initial publication and is now fully republished.
Aside from the renouncement of Brazil to its “sovereignty” - a classic arbitration clause - the most interesting element of this contract is perhaps the price at which 100m doses were purchased by Brazil in March 2021.
Brazil was only requested to provide with a US$200m advance, 60 days before the first deliveries. Those amounts put into question the capacity of the EU negotiators to defend the interests of its citizens.
Imperial College London evaluated the unitary production prize of a Pfizer vaccine to be lower than US$1. It is possible to infer that, including R&D and all other costs, the unitary prize is less than US$2. The legitimacy of the [massive] profit made by the laboratories should be questioned, and this debate can’t happen if the public and the citizens are kept out of the loop.
Updated
Five billion Covid vaccine doses administered worldwide – AFP
More than five billion anti-Covid jabs have been delivered globally, an AFP tally of official sources shows. While it took around 140 days to administer the 1bn shots, the third, fourth and fifth billions each took between 26 and 30 days, the data show.
Nearly 40% (1.96 billion) of the 5bn shots have been administered in China. India (589m) and the US (363m) make up the trio of countries that have given the most jabs.
AFP reports that per capita among countries with more than 1m people, the UAE is the leader. It has administered 179 doses per 100 inhabitants, meaning it has fully vaccinated nearly 75% of its population.
Uruguay follows with 154 per 100 inhabitants, Israel (149), Qatar (148), Singapore (147), Bahrain (144), Denmark (143), Chile (140), Canada (139), Portugal and Belgium (138 each), China (136), Spain (134), Ireland (133) and the UK (132).
Most of these countries have fully vaccinated between 65-70% of their populations. Some, like the UAE, Bahrain, Israel, Uruguay and Chile have started giving out booster shots in an attempt to prolong the protection of the fully vaccinated.
France, which will start giving booster shots from mid-September, is not far behind, with 126 doses injected per 100 people and 62% of the population completely vaccinated. It has bypassed the United States which has given 110 doses per 100 inhabitants, with 52% completely vaccinated.
Most poor countries have now started to vaccinate, mainly thanks to the Covax scheme, but the coverage remains very unequal.
Nigeria has recently approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine against Covid-19, the head of the country’s primary healthcare agency has said.
It has been allocated 7.7m doses of the vaccine through the Covax scheme aimed at providing vaccines to developing countries. Dr Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria’s national primary healthcare development agency, did not say when the Sinopharm doses would arrive or be administered.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with some 200m people, has vaccinated only a small fraction of them, largely due to lack of supply. So far, some 2m people, or 1% of the population, have received one dose of vaccine while fewer than 1m have received two.
The rollout of vaccines, which had been halted on July 9 because supplies had run out after a first phase, resumed on 16 August.
During the first phase, Nigeria used doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine received through Covax. It has since received supplies of Moderna’s vaccine donated by the US, which are being used for the second phase.
Johnson & Johnson shots purchased by Nigeria via an African Union scheme are also expected to be used.
Nigeria has recorded 187,588 cases of Covid-19 and 2,276 related deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to official data, although the figures could be higher given that only 2.7m samples have been tested.
An army of volunteers could be needed this winter to tackle rising staff shortages in care homes fuelled by the looming requirement for all care home workers to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus, providers have said.
As the health secretary, Sajid Javid, urged care workers to book their jabs in time to meet the 11 November deadline for all staff in registered care homes in England to be fully vaccinated, the Independent Care Group said operators could be forced to hand back contracts to councils or close care homes and relocate residents because of a staffing crisis, exacerbated by ongoing vaccine hesitancy among a minority of staff.
It is leading calls for retired nurses, doctors, carers, to be trained and DBS-checked to fill vacancies in case of a feared “winter meltdown” in staff numbers.
One in five workers on the books of a care worker agency in Sheffield are declining the vaccine, according to Nicola Richards, director of Palms Row Healthcare. She also reported an “alarming” drop in the number of workers signing up, with many put off by the “no jab, no job” policy. She has been unable to provide temporary staff to some clients in recent weeks.
Covid booster jabs may only be needed for 40% of at-risk group – study
Covid booster shots may only be needed for about 40% of immunosuppressed people, preliminary UK data suggests.
Researchers looked at immune responses after two shots of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in people with compromised immune systems, due to underlying disease or the medicines they are taking for their underlying disease.
Participants in the “Octave” study – led by the University of Glasgow – included those with cancer, end-stage kidney disease, and chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
The findings – which come from the first 600 immunocompromised participants recruited in the study – showed that about 60% of the participants mounted an antibody response similar to healthy people about four weeks after their second dose.
Updated
Overweight or obese adults should be screened for pre-diabetes and type-2 diabetes starting from aged 35, a US government-backed panel of experts in disease prevention has recommended, lowering the age by five years.
Reuters reports that the US Preventive Services Task Force’s new guidance follows a worsening in the nation’s diabetes crisis during the pandemic, with the US experiencing a 29% jump in diabetes deaths last year among people ages 25 to 44.
The recommendation, published in the medical journal JAMA, was based on data suggesting that type 2 diabetes risk increases significantly at age 35. Type 2 diabetes, by far the most common form of the metabolic disease associated with high blood sugar levels, is largely diet-related and develops over time.
The task force found evidence further established that lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise reduce progression of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes. People with diabetes, which often intersects with obesity, have been found to be at much greater risk of Covid.
It comes after two UK experts this month said the evidence linking obesity to the worst Covid-19 outcomes is “overwhelmingly clear” and should warrant aggressive obesity prevention and management efforts.
Jonathan Valabhji, national clinical director for obesity and diabetes at NHS England, suggested that pandemic restrictions are actually worsening obesity levels.
Lowering the age for type 2 diabetes screening “is a recognition that [it] has crept into young adulthood progressively, and in an important way,” said Edward Gregg of Imperial College London, co-author of an editorial published with the recommendation.
The task force, updating recommendations made in 2015, urged overweight or obese adults ages 35 to 70 get screened for high blood sugar levels.
In type 2 diabetes, the body either does not produce enough of the blood glucose-regulating hormone insulin or does not use it well. Diabetes complications can include heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease.
About one in three Americans has prediabetes - a higher-than-normal blood sugar level that increases their risk of type 2 diabetes, according to national data. Just over 10% of Americans have diabetes, and most of those have type 2 diabetes.
Italy reports 6,076 new cases and 60 deaths
Italy has reported 60 coronavirus-related deaths and 6,076 new infections.
Tuesday’s latest figures compared with 44 deaths reported the day before while Monday’s cases numbered 4,168.
Italy has registered 128,855 deaths linked to Covid since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.49m cases to date.
UK reports 30,838 new Covid infections and 174 deaths
In the UK, 30,838 people have tested positive for Covid in the last 24 hours.
A further 174 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus, according to the latest update to the government’s coronavirus dashboard on Tuesday.
Official figures showed another 46,401 people had their first dose of a Covid vaccine, with 131,283 getting their second jab.
The latest figures came amid a warning in Scotland about a sharp rise in new infections.
And there is concern among scientists that case rates will jump when millions of pupils return to school next week.
Updated
The US could have the Covid pandemic under control and achieve a return to “normality” by next spring, Dr Anthony Fauci said, if the “overwhelming majority” of the population is vaccinated.
The chief White House medical adviser was speaking to CNN on Monday night, after the federal Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer vaccine.
More than 400,000 people have been vaccinated in the US each day in August, with 171.1 million now fully protected.
A summary of today's developments so far
- US president Joe Biden is set to be briefed on an intelligence investigation into how Covid-19 began after he ordered a report on the competing origin theories. People familiar with intelligence reporting reportedly said there has been little corroboration over recent months that the virus had spread widely and naturally among wild animals, thus raising the spectre of a lab leak.
- Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon warned some Covid controls could be reimposed in the country after it recorded a record rise in new cases, which have doubled in the past week. Vaccinations had greatly lessened the effects of the virus but even so, she said, some controls could be needed again.
- Montana’s governor maintained vaccine mandates remain illegal in the state after yesterday’s Food and Drug Administration full approval of the Pfizer vaccine. A spokesperson said it did not invalidate Montana’s law, which also prohibits discrimination based on whether a person has been inoculated.
- Australian prime minister Scott Morrison rejected modelling that warned the country could face 25,000 deaths and 270,000 cases of long Covid if lockdowns and public health restrictions end once 80% of the adult population is vaccinated.
- Greece announced it would end free testing for unvaccinated people in an attempt to to boost inoculation rates. The new measures to coax people into getting vaccinated will also oblige unvaccinated people to test either once or twice a week, depending on their profession.
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Iran reported a record daily 709 Covid-related deaths as infections continue to rise in the country. The health ministry said there were also 40,623 new infections over the past 24 hours.
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British tourists face difficulties in proving their vaccine status in Europe following a delay in linking the NHS Covid pass to the EU’s system due to gaps in the British government’s application to Brussels.
Updated
Brunei has reported two coronavirus deaths today, the first fatalities from Covid-19 in the south-east Asian nation in more than a year as it battles a fresh outbreak.
AFP reports that an 85-year-old woman and a 69-year-old man, both Bruneians, died after contracting lung infections following their admission to a quarantine centre this month, the health ministry said.
It brings the total virus deaths in the sultanate on Borneo island to five since the start of the pandemic. The country, home to about 450,000 people, reported its last Covid-19 death in June last year.
Brunei introduced fresh curbs in August after seeing its first local infections for 15 months. Authorities have closed cinemas and places of worship, banned dining in at restaurants and barred people from leaving their homes except for essential reasons.
Another 110 new virus cases were recorded Tuesday, taking total infections to 1,983 since the beginning of the pandemic, AFP reports.
Updated
Fewer children in the UK are being immunised against deadly diseases because of “vaccination fatigue” due to the Covid jabs drive and GPs being busy, government advisers have warned.
The number of teenagers in England getting vaccinated against some cancers, meningitis, septicaemia and other fatal conditions fell by 20% after the first lockdown last year.
Updated
The New York Times interviews Alina Chan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Broad Institute in Massachusetts, who was caught in the crossfire over the row about Covid’s origins.
In May last year, she hypothesised in an unpublished paper that: “By the time the SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected in Wuhan in late 2019, it looked like it had already picked up the mutations it needed to be very good at spreading among humans.”
The article (paywall) goes on:
Dr. Chan’s story is a reflection of how deeply polarizing questions about the origins of the virus have become. The vast majority of scientists think it originated in bats, and was transmitted to humans through an intermediate host animal, though none has been identified.
Some of them believe that a lab accident, specifically at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, cannot be discounted and has not been adequately investigated. And a few think that the institute’s research, which involved harvesting bats and bat coronaviruses from the wild, may have played a role.
Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology said in early 2020 that they had found a virus in their database whose genome sequence was 96.2 percent similar to that of Sars-CoV-2, the new coronavirus.
But it was internet sleuths and scientists who discovered that the virus matched one harvested in a cave linked to a pneumonia outbreak in 2012 that killed three miners — and that the Wuhan lab’s genomic database of bat coronaviruses was taken offline in late 2019.
I’m happy @nytimes @NYTScience credited scientists, analysts and sleuths with uncovering the story of SARS2’s closest relatives @TheSeeker268 @Rossana38510044 @MonaRahalkar @franciscodeasis @babarlelephant and the WIV’s missing virus database @C_Small_ https://t.co/4FoyLD4rjw
— Alina Chan (@Ayjchan) August 24, 2021
Updated
Covid does not have 'earmarks' of intentional human creation, but may have leaked from lab, says NIH
The director of the US national institutes of health (NIH) has said Covid “does not have the earmarks of being created intentionally by humans”, but did not rule out a Wuhan lab leak.
Dr Francis Collins’ remarks yesterday came as before US president Joe Biden is set to be briefed on an intelligence investigation into how Covid-19 began after he ordered a report on the competing origin theories.
Reuters reports that people familiar with intelligence reporting have said that there has been little corroboration over recent months that the virus had spread widely and naturally amongst wild animals, thus raising further the spectre of a lab leak after the World Health Organization mission chief to Wuhan said a person collecting bat coronavirus samples from the field could have been patient zero.
Collins told CNBC:
The vast evidence from other perspectives says no, this was a naturally occurring virus. Not to say that it could not have been under study secretly at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and got out of there, we don’t know about that. But the virus itself does not have the earmarks of having been created intentionally by human work.
I think China basically refused to consider another WHO investigation and just said ‘nope not interested’. Wouldn’t it be good if they’d actually open up their lab books and let us know what they were actually doing there and find out more about those cases of people who got sick in November of 2019 about which we really don’t know enough.
Collins also commented on the increasingly acrimonious row between the medical advisor to the US president, Dr Anthony Fauci, and Republican senator Rand Paul who has highlighted that through a grant to non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, the NIH funded research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to study how bat viruses could infect humans.
The kind of gain-of-function research that’s under very careful scrutiny is when you take a pathogen for humans, and you do something with it that would enhance its virulence or its transmissibility. They were not studying a pathogen that was a pathogen for humans, these are bat viruses.
So by the strict definition, and this was look at exquisitely carefully by all the reviewers of that research in anticipation that this might come up, was that this did not meet the official description of what’s called gain-of-function research that requires oversight.
His remarks come after Fauci last month suggested it would have been “negligent” for NIH not to fund bat coronavirus research at the WIV and declined to commit not to collaborate with Chinese government scientists in the future, insisting that “we have always been careful” – despite leaked cables revealing serious concerns over conditions in the lab.
Fauci said it had been important to try to understand where Sars-CoV-1 originated, years before the current Sars-CoV-2 pandemic.
If you go back to when this research really started and look at the scientific rationale for it, it was a peer-reviewed proposal that was peer-reviewed and given a very high rating for the importance of why it should be done to be able to go and do a survey of what was going on among the bat population because everyone in the world was trying to figure out what the original source of the original Sars CoV-1 was — and in that context, the research was done.
It was very regulated. It was reviewed. It was given progress reports. It was published in the open literature. So, I think if you — if you look at the ultimate back rationale, why that was started, it was almost as if you didn’t pursue that research, you would be negligent because we were trying to find out how to prevent this from happening again.
Updated
As the number of recorded coronavirus infections in the UK rises again, we spoke to three people about their experiences of catching Covid despite having been fully vaccinated, and how it affected their daily lives.
France’s Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS) health watchdog has said it recommended a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot for those aged 65 and over and for those with existing medical conditions that could put at them serious harm from Covid.
Reuters reports that these Covid vaccine booster shots should be rolled out from the end of October onwards, it added
In China, booster shots should become available after the country vaccinates more people in an attempt to provide broader protection, a senior executive at a Sinopharm unit responsible for developing Covid-19 vaccines told state media.
While the World Health Organization has said current data does not indicate booster shots are needed, several countries have approved them amid growing evidence of waning vaccine protection over time, Reuters reports.
Zhang Yuntao, vice president at Sinopharm unit China National Biotec Group (CNBG), said that it is proper to make booster shots available in China after “all people who should be vaccinated are vaccinated,” according to an interview with the Global Times.
He said the priority for booster shots should be given to people older than 60 who showed weaker immune responses to vaccines compared with younger people in clinical trials.
Employees at restaurants and those working in aviation and delivery industries should also be prioritised, he said.
China has fully vaccinated around 55% of its population as of 12 August, using several locally developed shots including two-dose vaccines from Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech.
Iran has reported a record daily 709 Covid-related deaths as infections continue to rise in the country. The health ministry said there were also 40,623 new infections over the past 24 hours.
Authorities have imposed a two-week road travel ban between cities in the Islamic republic until 27 August, except for essential vehicles. Non-essential businesses and public offices were allowed to reopen on Sunday after a week of mandatory shutdown.
Reuters reports that observers have pointed to how only about 6.5m of the 83m population are fully inoculated, while officials have blamed US sanctions and delays in importing vaccines.
US measures, which target sectors including oil and financial activities, have deterred some foreign banks from processing financial transactions with Iran. Tehran says this has frequently disrupted efforts to import essential medicines and other humanitarian items.
Meanwhile, the former longtime military ruler of Myanmar, Than Shwe, and his wife have been released from hospital after both being successfully treated for Covid-19, a hospital official said.
The AP reports that 88-year-old and wife, Daw Kyaing Kyaing, were discharged from the Thaik Chaung military hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the press.
Than Shwe was hospitalised earlier this month, and his wife a short time later, and both were treated in a VIP section of the hospital under tight security.
The government has not yet officially commented on their cases, and independent media in Myanmar initially reported that their hospitalisation was a precautionary measure.
But the hospital official confirmed they had both tested positive for Covid-19, though both ended up exhibiting only mild symptoms. He said, for example, neither needed oxygen to help them breathe while they were being treated.
During his rule, Shwe led a feared junta that brutally crushed dissent and routinely jailed political opponents, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the face of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement.
He controlled a 400,000-strong military that turned its guns on myriad ethnic rebellions as well as on university students and Buddhist monks who launched an uprising in 2007.
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Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre, whose government was accused of killing tens of thousands of people, has died in a hospital in Senegal after reportedly contracting Covid.
The Associated Press reports that the 79-year-old, who became the first former head of state to be convicted of crimes against humanity by an African court after spending decades in luxurious exile in Senegal, died at a Dakar hospital earlier today, Jean Bertrand Bocande, director of the penitentiary administration, has confirmed.
The former dictator had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016 but ultimately served about five years in prison following his trial on charges linked to his time in power from 1982 to 1990.
During his reign, he had received hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and arms, as well as substantial support from the US and France, because he was seen as a “bulwark” against former Libya dictator Moammar Gadhafi, according to Human Rights Watch.
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Moving back to US news, a spokeswoman for Montana’s governor, Greg Gianforte, has maintained that vaccine mandates remain illegal in the state.
The New York Times reports that yesterday’s Food and Drug Administration full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine did not invalidate Montana’s law, which also prohibits discrimination based on whether a person has been inoculated.
Montana’s vaccine-mandate ban stipulates that “an individual may not be required to receive any vaccine whose use is allowed under an emergency use authorisation or any vaccine undergoing safety trials”.
At least two other states banned vaccine requirements by law or executive order. In Texas, governor Greg Abbott issued an order that took effect in July, which stated that “no governmental entity can compel any individual to receive a Covid-19 vaccine administered under an emergency use authorization”.
In Utah, where the Republican-led legislature in March barred government bodies from compelling Covid-19 vaccine shots that were authorised only for emergency use, a spokeswoman for the state health department told the NYT that the Pfizer jab should no longer be subject to the restrictions because it now had full approval.
However, experts have warned that the general authorisation was made behind closed doors based on six months worth of data from 12,000 people – making it an extremely unusual case for a mass use vaccine that could “set a precedent of lowered standards for future vaccine approvals”.
Therefore, states resistant to vaccine mandates may raise questions over the fast-tracking of the approval process and the circumventing of a number of usual prerequisites.
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UK nightclub vaccine passports: 'no final policy decision has yet been taken'
Despite the return of gigs and festivals, the UK live music industry is still full of uncertainty due to a lack of clarification from the government about vaccine passports and an events insurance scheme that’s been described by some major concert promoters as unfit for purpose.
In July, Boris Johnson said that by the end of September only those who have been double-vaccinated would be allowed entry to nightclubs and other venues “where large crowds gather”. However, people working in live music have not yet received confirmation of the plans. On Sunday, a letter leaked to the Telegraph written on behalf of health secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that “no final policy decision has yet been taken” on the issue.
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Nicola Sturgeon says some Covid controls could come back after record rise in cases
Nicola Sturgeon has warned some Covid controls could be reimposed in Scotland after the country recorded a record spike in new cases, which have doubled in the past week.
The first minister said 4,324 new cases were detected in Scotland in the last 24 hours – the highest daily figure on record, with nearly half of those occurring among under-25-year-olds.
Sturgeon said that a rise in cases had been expected after the country followed the rest of the UK by removing nearly all restrictions on travel, businesses, sports and socialising earlier this month.
The “exceptional” levels of vaccinations had greatly lessened the effects of the virus but even so, if that trajectory continued some controls could be needed again to suppress infections, Sturgeon said.
“This is yet another fragile and potentially pivotal moment in our journey through this pandemic,” she told a media briefing today.
Sturgeon said that rise in cases would mean more hospitalisations and more deaths, including those who have had both Covid vaccination doses.
Some Scottish hospitals have already cancelled non-essential operations to relieve pressure on wards, with accident and emergency patients experiencing long delays in being seen. “The situation in our NHS is incredibly difficult,” she told reporters.
There were 364 people in hospital today, an increase of eight overnight, and 43 people in intensive care, up two. Another 10 people with confirmed Covid infections had died in the last 24 hours, taking the total under that measure to 8,080 fatalities.
Sturgeon urged younger adults and teenagers to be vaccinated. While 80% of all Scotland’s over-18s (3.6 million people) had now had both doses, that figure declined sharply in under 40s. Only 41% of 18- to 29-year-olds have had both doses, with 71% having their first dose.
Sturgeon said it was vital people continued physical distancing and basic hygiene rules: continue using masks indoors; avoid shaking hands; meet outdoors wherever possible and keep indoor spaces well-ventilated.
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An athlete has tested positive for Covid-19 in the Paralympic village for the first time, it has been confirmed.
On the day the Games begin, officials said that nine other new cases had also been detected among people working at the Games outside the village and that the athlete, whose identity has not been revealed, had been moved to an isolation facility.
The Scottish government will hold its own public inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic by the end of the year, following pressure from relatives who lost loved ones to the virus.
The announcement came after the deputy first minister and cabinet secretary for Covid recovery, John Swinney, met representatives of the Scottish branch of the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice.
In April, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said she wanted a judge-led public inquiry into how Covid was handled to begin before the end of this year, telling BBC Scotland her preference was for an inquiry to be established on a UK-wide basis and take account of devolved decision-making, but adding she was prepared to go it alone.
In May, Boris Johnson committed to holding an independent public inquiry in spring 2022.
Sturgeon and former health minister Jeane Freeman have accepted that the way elderly people were discharged from hospital and into care homes in the early stages of the pandemic was a mistake.
Biden to be briefed on Covid origins intelligence report amid growing US-China tensions
US president Joe Biden is set to be briefed on an intelligence investigation into how Covid-19 began after he ordered a report on the competing origin theories.
Reuters reports that people familiar with intelligence reporting have said that there has been little corroboration over recent months that the virus had spread widely and naturally amongst wild animals, thus raising the spectre of a lab leak.
In May, Biden ordered aides to work to resolve disputes among intelligence agencies examining the possibility of a laboratory accident in China, as well as that the virus originated naturally with animals, such as bats or birds.
A 90-day intelligence review the president ordered is due later today, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, with the release of unclassified portions likely to take a few days longer.
One official told Reuters that the report would likely point to additional lines of inquiry that officials could pursue, including demands of China that are likely to further ratchet up tensions with Beijing at a time when the country’s ties with Washington are at their lowest point in decades.
It comes after China stymied earlier international efforts to gather key information on the ground, and US funding of risky research in Wuhan to make viruses more transmissible receives growing scrutiny.
The World Health Organization, in a joint report with Chinese officials, originally said a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” and not worthy of further investigation. But earlier this month the mission lead admitted the wording was grudgingly agreed with China and that a laboratory accident was plausible.
China has refused to give US researchers the kind of access to the Wuhan lab and officials there that American officials believe it would need to definitively try to determine the virus’ origins.
A report by Republican house representatives earlier this month revealed that in July 2019 the Wuhan lab requested a $1.5m overhaul of its hazardous waste treatment system, even though it was less than two years old.
The Times reports that it included requests for maintenance on “environmental air disinfection system” and “hazardous waste treatment system”. Its virus database was also mysteriously taken offline amid significantly growing activity at the lab in September, surveillance showed.
Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the house foreign affairs committee, said:
It is our belief the virus leaked sometime in late August or early September 2019. When they realised what happened, Chinese Communist party officials and scientists at the [Wuhan lab] began frantically covering up the leak, including taking their virus database offline in the middle of the night and requesting more than $1m for additional security.
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Greece has announced it will end free testing for unvaccinated people in an attempt to to boost inoculation rates.
Reuters reports that new measures to coax people into getting vaccinated will come into effect on 13 September, also obliging unvaccinated people to test either once or twice a week, depending on their profession.
The costs of the rapid test at €10 will be significant for many people in the country. Authorities said 6 million people in the country of 11 million had already received one or two doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
Free testing for vaccinated people would continue, said health minister Vassilis Kikilias said.
“These measures are not punitive,” he claimed. “They are our duty to all those who went through 18 months of the pandemic carefully, those who lost their shops, jobs, had to work from home to protect themselves.”
The country has recorded 13,422 Covid-related deaths since reporting its first outbreak in February 2020.
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In related news, the Australian federal government is paying a public relations firm $2.9m to help with its vaccine rollout for five months, including by copying vaccine data from its website and putting it in an email for journalists.
The health department has previously refused to say how much it was paying Cox Inall Change, a public relations company, for the simple task of attaching a pdf copy of its vaccine data to an email to media outlets every day.
Scott Morrison has rejected modelling that warns Australia could face 25,000 deaths and 270,000 cases of long Covid if lockdowns and public health restrictions end once 80% of the adult population is vaccinated.
Morrison told 3AW radio on Tuesday the modelling by researchers at three leading Australian universities was “not realistic” because public health measures would continue after lockdowns ended and vaccination rates would continue to climb.
A tense standoff in Slidell, Louisiana, over mask mandates is one of dozens that have unfolded at local school board meetings across the US in recent weeks as schools debate how to return to in-person instruction amid the resurgent threat of the Delta variant.
From Anchorage, Alaska, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, school board meetings have become the stage for the latest act in America’s culture wars over education, one with roots in the country’s deep racial and political divisions.
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British tourists face difficulties in proving their vaccine status in Europe following a delay in linking the NHS Covid pass to the EU’s system due to gaps in the British government’s application to Brussels.
An IT tie-up would ensure automatic recognition across the 27 member states of the information held on the NHS app, facilitating both international travel and access to hospitality where proof of vaccine status is required.
The UK government made an application to link up to the EU’s digital certificate on 28 July but the European Commission has held off on giving its approval as it has sought extra technical information from Whitehall, the Guardian understands.
While at least 19 EU countries, including major tourist destinations such as France and Spain, have unilaterally accepted the NHS app as proof of vaccine status, difficulties remain for some British travellers due to the lack of pan-EU recognition.
Summary
It’s been a joy as always but it’s time for me to hand over to my colleague Mattha Busby. Before I go, here’s a quick summary of the day’s events:
- People infected with the more transmissible Delta variant have a viral load 300 times higher than those with the original version of the Covid-19 virus, when symptoms are first observed, a South Korean study found.
- The 2020 Paralympic Games will kick off in Tokyo with the opening ceremony on Tuesday as Japan struggles with its worst Covid-19 outbreak so far, record daily cases and an overwhelmed medical system.
- Northern Ireland has the highest rate of Covid-19 infection in the UK, at 579.5 per 100,000 people, figures have shown. It is the highest infection rate in the region since 8 January.
- The newly elected Iranian government led by President Ebrahim Raisi is facing demands to broaden its sources of vaccines as the country becomes engulfed by its fifth and most deadly wave of Covid-19.
- US regulators have given full approval to the Pfizer vaccine in a decision likely to trigger a wave of formal vaccine requirements from government departments, businesses, schools and the military. Pfizer shares were up around 2.5% following the announcement.
- Deaths from Covid-19 are now averaging 100 a day across the UK, and there are warnings that case rates will jump again when millions of pupils return to schools next week. The country racked up more than 31,000 new cases on Monday.
- Almost 5,000 UK Covid-19 cases are linked to a music and surfing festival – Boardmasters – which took place in Cornwall this month.
- New South Wales recorded another 753 cases on Tuesday but the Australian state has passed 6m vaccinations and will announce some relaxation of the tight lockdown curbs this week for people who have received two doses.
- New Zealand is bracing for its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet as cases rose by a further 41 on Tuesday. The majority of people are Samoan and are linked to a cluster at a church.
- Vietnam has deployed soldiers to enforce a lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City, after authorities claimed enforcement of recent curbs has not been sufficiently strict – with people from today people from today generally prohibited from leaving their homes.
- The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that Covid-19 booster shots should be delayed as priority ought be given to raising vaccination rates in countries where only 2% of the population has been inoculated.
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In both weird and good news, llama antibodies could soon be playing a role in the global fight against Covid-19, if clinical trials being conducted by a Belgian biomedical start-up live up to their early promise.
Researchers from the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology in Ghent say antibodies extracted from a llama called Winter have blunted the virulence of coronavirus infections, including variants, in laboratory testing, Reuters reports.
The technology, which would supplement rather than replace vaccines by protecting people with weaker immune systems and treating infected people in hospital, is a potential “game-changer”, said Dominique Tersago, chief medical officer of VIB-UGent spin-off ExeVir.
Unusually small, llama antibodies are able to bind to specific part of the virus’s protein spike and “at the moment we’re not seeing mutations of a high frequency anywhere near where the binding site is,” she said.
The antibodies also showed “strong neutralisation activity” against the highly infectious Delta variant, she added.
Delta variant has viral load 300 times greater than original virus, South Korean study finds
People infected with the more transmissible Delta variant have a viral load 300 times higher than those with the original version of the Covid-19 virus, when symptoms are first observed, a South Korean study found.
But the amount gradually decreased over time – to 30 times in four days and more than 10 times in nine days – and it matched levels seen in other variants after 10 days, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Tuesday.
The higher load means the virus spreads far more easily from person to person, increasing infections and hospitalisations, a health ministry official, Lee Sang-won, told a news conference, as reported by Reuters.
But it doesn’t mean Delta is 300 times more infectious … we think its transmission rate is 1.6 times the Alpha variant, and about two times the original version of the virus.
The Delta variant of the novel coronavirus was first identified in India and the Alpha variant in the UK.
To avoid the spread of the Delta variant, now the dominant strain worldwide, the KDCA urged people to immediately get tested when developing Covid-19 symptoms and avoid in-person meetings.
The rapid spread of the Delta variant and low vaccination rates have caught much of Asia off-guard, especially in emerging markets, even as economies in Europe and North America reopen.
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Russia reported 18,833 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, including 1,105 in Moscow, which took the national tally to 6,785,374.
The Russian coronavirus taskforce said a further 794 deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 177,614.
Rosstat, the government statistics agency, keeps a separate count from the pandemic taskforce and says it has recorded about 315,000 deaths related to Covid-19 between last April and June this year.
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Paralympic Games kicks off despite record daily cases in Tokyo
The 2020 Paralympic Games will kick off in Tokyo with the opening ceremony on Tuesday as Japan struggles with its worst Covid-19 outbreak so far, record daily cases and an overwhelmed medical system.
The organisers admitted last week that the Paralympics will be held under “very difficult” circumstances as Japan’s health situation has worsened since the Olympic Games ended on 8 August and hospitals in the host city are filled to capacity.
The Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan government appealed on Monday to hospitals in the capital to accept more Covid-19 patients as increasing infections have made access to care increasingly difficult, according to Reuters.
“I’m a little concerned about holding the Paralympic Games. Still, I hope the athletes will do their best,” said 52-year-old office worker Chika Sasagawa.
While the number of athletes and officials travelling from abroad is less than a third of that during the Olympics, Japan reported more than 25,000 daily cases on three days last week, up from less than 15,000 when the Olympics ended earlier this month.
Organisers of the Paralympics, which will take place between 24 August and 5 September, have said they plan to implement the same Covid-19 protocols or “playbook” as the ones used during the Olympics.
Frequent testing and other restrictions, such as limiting the movement of athletes and officials, proved to be effective in minimising infection risks during the Games, they have added.
Like the Olympics, the Paralympics will also take place generally without spectators and organisers have asked the domestic Games officials to avoid eating out or drinking in groups.
Olympic organisers reported 404 Games-related infections. They carried out close to 600,000 screening tests with an infection rate of 0.02%.
Japan has extended Covid-19 emergency measures in the capital and other regions that will run through the Games.
About 88% of thousands of athletes and officials attending the Games have been vaccinated, the International Paralympic Committee spokesperson Craig Spence has said, though a number of local volunteers are yet to be fully vaccinated.
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Northern Ireland's infection rate highest in the UK
Northern Ireland has the highest rate of Covid-19 infection in the UK, at 579.5 per 100,000 people, figures have shown.
It is the highest infection rate in the region since 8 January.
The district of Fermanagh and Omagh has the highest rate of any local authority in the UK, with a total of 1,003.9 cases per 100,000 people recorded in the seven days to 18 August.
Nine further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 were reported in Northern Ireland on Monday, along with another 1,320 confirmed cases of the virus
Stormont health minister Robin Swann appeared to rule out another lockdown being agreed at the next meeting of the Stormont executive, or cabinet, in September.
He told the BBC:
I don’t think we are at that point yet about putting more restrictions back in.
The Executive meets again in the first week in September in regards to what’s still in place and what we’ll look at in regards to the next steps, and that’s where that decision will be made.
It came during an initiative to boost numbers of those vaccinated called the Big Jab Weekend.
Following the closure of the large-scale vaccination centre at the SSE Arena in Belfast, the next phase of the programme is set to focus on localised pop-up walk-in clinics, PA Media reports, both in high footfall locations and in areas where accessibility issues and other barriers may have affected take-up.
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In the Indian state of West Bengal, an order issued by the local government means people no longer have to book in advance for their vaccine, as the country anticipates a third wave of Covid-19 starting in September or October.
On Friday, India approved the world’s first DNA coronavirus vaccine, despite a lack of transparency around the jab’s long-term effectiveness from manufacturer Zydus Cadila
As the number of recorded coronavirus infections in the UK rises again, the Guardian spoke to three people about their experiences of catching Covid despite having been fully vaccinated, and how it affected their daily lives.
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This opinion piece on anti-vaxx athletes by Jonathan Liew is absolutely fascinating, about how he’s seen sportsmen be especially susceptible to misinformation and how not every person who falls for it fits the stereotype of a village idiot or a political extremist.
Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan has been posting entertaining videos from his hotel quarantine in Australia, including one minute of back-to-back Aussie slang.
Nearly 40% of 16- and 17-year-olds in Scotland have had one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, BBC News is reporting. Two weeks after the vaccine was rolled out to that age group, 44,000 16- and 17-year-olds have had one jab.
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This is a bit of light relief from Alyx Gorman in Australia, featuring readers’ terrible lockdown purchases.
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In case you missed it yesterday, here’s the footage of anti-vaccine protesters occupying the headquarters of ITV News and Channel 4 News in London.
After marching from King’s Cross station to ITN’s headquarters on Gray’s Inn Road, protesters were met by two uniformed police officers guarding the building’s revolving doors. However, they were immediately let in through an emergency exit, apparently by a supporter who was already inside the building.
Updated
Iranian government urged to accept western vaccines amid deadly Covid wave
The newly elected Iranian government led by President Ebrahim Raisi is facing demands to broaden its sources of vaccines as the country becomes engulfed by its fifth and most deadly wave of Covid-19.
The supply of vaccines is said to be close to exhausted in Isfahan and Tabriz, as well as provinces including Gilan, Khuzestan and Mazandaran.
Bahram Einollahi, the proposed minister of health in the Raisi administration, said he did not expect Iran to be fully vaccinated until next February, a slower timetable than once predicted by Raisi. He told the confirmation hearings in front of the Iranian parliament that this would require 120m doses of vaccine.
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Equities and oil prices rose again in Asia today, extending a global rally fuelled by renewed optimism over the recovery outlook after Washington gave full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine and an increase in US Covid infections appeared to be peaking.
Markets have enjoyed a strong start to the week, further helped by bargain-hunting following a recent sell-off caused by worries including the fast-spreading Delta variant and expectations the Fed will soon begin tapering financial support.
New York’s three main indexes shot higher on Monday – with the Nasdaq hitting a new record – as traders cheered news that the Food and Drug Administration had fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, which is expected to help push up vaccinations.
About 52% of the population has been double-jabbed but the rate has slowed owing to hesitancy among many people.
The FDA move “now paves the way for many companies and government agencies to enforce vaccine mandates”, said OANDA’s Edward Moya, adding that making them mandatory “could move the needle here in getting the US closer to herd immunity”.
Analysts said data suggesting that a recent spike in infections in the United States was tailing off was also lifting spirits as figures dropped in the original hotspots and new cases slowed in Florida and Louisiana.
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Max Rashbrooke makes a fabulous case here for the strict lockdown measures chosen by the “mysterious socialist hermit kingdom” of New Zealand. Twenty-six people in New Zealand have died of Covid-19, which is striking when compared with the UK’s 130,000.
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Samsung Group will invest 240tn won ($206bn) in the next three years to expand its footprint in biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics in the post-pandemic era, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said.
The jewel of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate said the investment through 2023 will help strengthen the group’s global standing in key industries such as chip-making, while allowing it to seek growth opportunities in new areas such as robotics and next-generation telecommunications, reports Reuters.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, said the group plans to solidify technology and market leadership through mergers and acquisitions. It did not provide a breakdown of the investment figures.
The firm did not say whether the latest investment figure includes the $17bn it was reportedly spending on a new US chip contract chip factory.
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Australian Covid vaccine study shows social restrictions and cash would slash hesitancy
A comprehensive study into overcoming vaccine hesitancy in Australia has found a large proportion of the undecided could be swayed with the use of financial incentives, with take-up almost 12 times more likely if a $500 payment is on offer.
But the findings, contained in a research paper from Community and Patient Preference Research (Cappre), also show the use of social restrictions for the unvaccinated – such as the inability to travel or attend major events – would be enough for many to change their minds without any need for financial incentives.
Updated
Cuba will supply large quantities of its home-grown Covid-19 vaccine, Abdala, to Vietnam and also transfer the production technology to the south-east Asian country by the end of the year, the Vietnamese health ministry said.
After successfully containing the disease for much of the pandemic, Vietnam has been struggling to control its worst outbreak to date, Reuters reports, with a spike in infections and deaths ramping up pressure on authorities to speed up vaccinations.
“Cuba will send a large number of Covid doses and a team to Vietnam to support technology transfer by the end of this year,” the health ministry said in a statement, without specifying the number of doses.
Cuba has said its three-shot Abdala vaccine was 92.28% effective against the coronavirus in last-stage clinical trials in June.
Vietnam has so far signed deals for recombinant DNA protein and mRNA vaccine technology transfer and is also in talk with the US company Pfizer about locating a vaccine plant in the country.
The country has secured more than 23m doses of Covid-19 vaccines and expects to receive at least 50m doses in the fourth quarter, the health ministry said.
Vietnam’s inoculation programme, which started in March, is still at an early stage with only 1.9% of the country’s 98 million people fully vaccinated – one of the lowest rates in the region.
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Almost 5,000 Covid-19 cases in the UK have been linked to the music and surfing festival Boardmasters, which took place in Cornwall this month.
Health officials said 4,700 people who have tested positive for coronavirus confirmed they had attended the festival in Newquay or had connections to it. About three-quarters of them are aged 16-21 and about 800 live in the county.
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At a factory in Sri Lanka’s Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia city, workers use staples and glue to assemble long cardboard boxes, which will be used as coffins for some of the country’s coronavirus victims.
The coffin is made out of recycled paper and costs a sixth of the cheapest wooden casket, according to 51-year old Priyantha Sahabandu, the local government official who came up with the idea.
As Sri Lanka’s death toll from Covid-19 surges, some people are opting for these cardboard coffins when they cremate their loved ones. The country recorded its highest daily death toll of 198 on Friday, with total fatalities reaching 7,560.
About 400 people die every day on average in Sri Lanka of various causes, including Covid-19, said Sahabandu, a member of the municipal council for Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, a city in Colombo district.
To make 400 coffins you have to cut some 250 to 300 trees. To prevent that environmental destruction I proposed this concept to the health committee of the council.
With the spread of the coronavirus, people found it difficult to pay for expensive wooden coffins.
Each coffin costs about 4,500 Sri Lankan rupees ($22.56), compared with 30,000 rupees for a cheap wooden coffin, Sahabandu said. It can hold up to 100 kilograms.
The coffins were initially used mostly for Covid-19 victims, but have become more popular among those concerned about the environment. Some 350 cardboard coffins have been delivered since early 2020, and the factory is working on another 150 ordered by the council.
“The majority of the people in the country support this. The issue today is supplying it. We are working on that,” Sahabandu said.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced a total lockdown on Friday for ten days to curb a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.
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Australia's Crood plan
There have been similar fun and games with cultural references in Australia where the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has likened the country’s Covid escape plan to the cartoon film The Croods.
Morrison, who is under pressure to find a way to lift the lengthy lockdowns affecting the most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, explained the exit strategy thus:
Now, it’s like that movie in The Croods – people wanted to stay in the cave … and that young girl, she wanted to go out and live again and deal with the challenges of living in a different world. Well, Covid is a new, different world, and we need to get out there and live in it. We can’t stay in the cave and we can get out of it safely. That’s what the plan does.
In the real world, NSW recorded another 753 cases on Tuesday but passed 6m vaccination doses to open up the prospect of some lifting of restrictions for people who have been doubled-jabbed. The state is in its ninth week of lockdown, while Victoria is under lockdown until the end of the month.
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New Zealand braced for worst outbreak
New Zealand is bracing for its worst outbreak of the virus after it added a further 41 cases, taking the total to 148 since it started spreading last week.
The majority of those infected are Samoan, and are linked to a sub-cluster who assembled at the Assembly of God church in Mangere, Auckland before the lockdown.
A nationwide, level 4 lockdown – the highest setting – has been extended until at least the end of the week, as the country battles to contain the outbreak of the Delta variant.
New Zealand has been mocked for going into hard lockdown over relatively few cases, but our columnist Max Rashbrooke explains why he’s happy to live in “Jacinda Ardern’s mysterious socialist hobbit kingdom”.
Updated
Bright sunshine and fast evaporation have been linked with falling rates of coronavirus, while cloudy skies and slow evaporation appear to aid the spread of the virus.
A study into whether seasons affect the spread of Covid – as happens with flu – has been published in the journal GeoHealth.
It reveals that there were two variables – ultraviolet levels and air-drying capacity – that consistently correlated with Covid-19 levels in all countries.
Read more on this here:
Israeli officials and scientists have reported seeing infections fall after people began receiving a third vaccine shot.
After one of the world’s most successful vaccine rollouts, Israel saw a sharp increase in cases fuelled by the fast-spreading Delta variant. It began a program to deliver a third shot at the end of July, starting with the over-60s.
On Thursday, it expanded eligibility to 40-year-olds and up whose second dose was given at least five months prior, saying the age may drop further.
In the past 10 days, the pandemic is abating among the first age group, more than a million of whom have received a third vaccine dose, according to Israeli health ministry data and scientists interviewed by Reuters.
The rate of disease spread among vaccinated people age 60 and over - known as the reproduction rate - began falling steadily around 13 August and has dipped below 1, indicating that each infected person is transmitting the virus to fewer than one other person. A reproduction rate of less than 1 means an outbreak is subsiding.
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Hawaii governor asks people to reduce travel
Hawaii’s governor has asked that visitors and residents reduce travel to the islands while the state struggles to control the spread of the Delta variant.
David Ige said on Monday local time that he wants to curtail travel to Hawaii through to the end of October.
“It is a risky time to be traveling right now,” he said.
He said restaurant capacity has been restricted by staff shortages and there was limited access to rental cars.
Ige stopped short of the kind of mandate he introduced last year, saying that he did not want a repeat of measures that shut down Hawaii’s tourism industry.
Welcome...
Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are and welcome to our rolling updates on the coronavirus pandemic.
Hawaii’s governor wants to curtail travel to the state until the end of October while the state struggles to control the Delta strain. David Ige said late on Monday: “It is a risky time to be traveling right now.”
And Israeli scientists say the country’s vaccine booster drive is driving down a resurgence of infections driven the fast-spreading Delta variant. Cases are already abating among over-60s, the first group to have the third shot, Reuters reports.
More on these stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments:
- US regulators have given full approval to the Pfizer vaccine in a decision likely to trigger a wave of formal vaccine requirements from government departments, businesses, schools and the military. Pfizer shares were up around 2.5% following the announcement.
- Deaths from Covid-19 are now averaging 100 a day across the UK, and there are warnings that case rates will jump again when millions of pupils return to schools next week. The country racked up more than 31,000 new cases on Monday.
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Almost 5,000 UK Covid-19 cases are linked to a music and surfing festival – Boardmasters – which took place in Cornwall this month.
- New South Wales recorded another 753 cases on Tuesday but the Australian state has passed 6m vaccinations and will announce some relaxation of the tight lockdown curbs this week for people who have received two doses.
- New Zealand is bracing for its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet as cases rose by another 41 on Tuesday. The majority of people are Samoan and are linked to a cluster at a church.
- Vietnam has deployed soldiers to enforce a lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City, after authorities claimed enforcement of recent curbs has not been sufficiently strict – with people from today people from today generally prohibited from leaving their homes.
- The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that Covid-19 booster shots should be delayed as priority ought be given to raising vaccination rates in countries where only 2% of the population has been inoculated.
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A Spanish court rejected a renewed request, following a prior denial last week, by the regional government of Catalonia to reimpose a virus curfew in Barcelona and dozens of other cities, arguing the measure was “disproportionate” as infections have fallen.
- Berlin nightclubs are set to reopen after a court repealed a blanket ban on dance events in closed rooms in the German capital, but only for the vaccinated or those who have recently recovered from Covid.
