The United Kingdom has authorised use of a second COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first country to approve of an easy-to-handle shot that its developers hope will become the “vaccine for the world”.
The United States has found its first case of the COVID-19 variant that has been seen in the UK and is thought to be more transmissible. The case involves a man in his 20s who is in isolation southeast of Denver in Colorado, according to state health officials.
Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm said Phase III trials of its experimental vaccine have found the shot to be 79 percent effective against COVID-19.
Meanwhile in the Japanese capital Tokyo, the coronavirus situation is quite severe as the city’s Governor Yuriko Koike said it could potentially face an “explosion” of cases ahead of the New Year’s holiday.
Globally, nearly 82 million people have been diagnosed with the virus and 1,789,908 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the latest updates:
Portugal PM resumes public activities
Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa has tested negative for COVID-19 and will resume in-person public appearances from today, his cabinet said in a statement.
Costa had spent two weeks in self-isolation following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who had contracted the disease.
China urges workers to skip holiday travel
China is encouraging tens of millions of migrant workers not to travel home during February’s Lunar New Year holiday to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.
The measure from the National Health Commission (NHC) is not a direct travel ban but is still extraordinary because Lunar New Year is China’s most important traditional holiday and the only time of the year when many workers have the opportunity to travel home to see their families.
The NHC said it was encouraging provincial governments to persuade workers to follow the suggestion while taking into account their personal wishes. It also said workers who stay behind should be paid overtime and offered other opportunities to take vacation.
Ukraine signs contract for supply of China vaccine
Ukraine’s health minister secured 1.8 million doses of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, according to Ukraine’s presidential office.
The office said in a statement the vaccine was expected to arrive in the country in “the shortest possible time”.
Swiss gov’t sticks to current restrictions
The Swiss government decided against imposing further restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus amid faster-spreading variants which recently entered the country.
“The Federal Council has conducted a detailed analysis of the current epidemiological situation. This remains worrying due to the high level of infection and the appearance of two new virus variants in Switzerland,” the government said in a statement.
“However, the Federal Council has come to the conclusion that the measures taken on December 18…are appropriate and do not need to be tightened.”
Cases surge in Latin America amid vaccine roll out
Germany expects quick EU approval of Astrazeneca/Oxford shot
Germany expects the European Union to give quick approval to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and Astrazeneca, its top vaccines official said.
Klaus Cichutek, head of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, said that, thanks to the rolling EU review of the Astrazeneca vaccine’s effectiveness, it would be possible to take a quick decision once a formal application was submitted.
No such application had been received by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) by Wednesday morning, Cichutek told reporters, but a debate in its councils would follow as soon as it arrived.
Expert welcomes vaccine approval
Jeff Lazarus, head of the Health System research group at the Institute for Global Health in Barcelona, spoke to Al Jazeera over the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine following its approval by UK regulators. Here are some of his thoughts.
“This is fantastic news. The issue of storage is vital because many countries simply don’t have the refrigeration possibilities that we have in higher income countries. And the price is lower which will increase access and allow for scaling up much faster,” he said.
The AstraZeneca/Oxford shot can be kept at a normal fridge temperature, making it easer to store and distribute compared to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which requires deep-freezing equipment.
“Viruses mutate, we have already seen it … we have the new variant identified and there is likely to be further mutations,” he added, referring to the new COVID-19 strain first identified in the UK which has now been detected in other countries.
“So we need to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. And at the same time, which is going to be one of the main challenges, we need to continue carrying the pandemic measures: face masks, hand washing, no large gatherings to avoid other transmissions.”
Cases in Wuhan may be 10 times higher than reported: study
The number of cases in the Chinese city where the pathogen was first detected may have been 10 times higher than official figures suggest, according to a study by health authorities in Wuhan.
About 4.4 percent of the city’s 11 million residents had developed antibodies against the novel virus by April, read the report by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control (CDC).
That correlates to around 480,000 infections in Wuhan by April, nearly 10 times the official tally to date of 50,000 cases in the city.
The discrepancy revealed by the CDC’s data may “point to potential underreporting due to the chaos in late January and early February, when a large number of people were not tested or were not tested accurately for Covid-19,” Huang Yanzhong, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP news agency.
India races to find UK arrivals to halt new virus strain
Indian authorities were trying to track down tens of thousands of people who entered the country from Britain in recent weeks as cases of a new and fast-spreading coronavirus strain more than doubled in 24 hours.
They have launched efforts to locate around 33,000 people who flew to India in the last month from the UK after 20 people tested positive for the new, more virulent strain, up by 14 cases since Tuesday.
India also extended the ban on flights to and from Britain by a week to January 7.
“Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others,” the Indian health ministry said Tuesday, referring to those who flew between November 25 and December 23, when Delhi suspended air links with Britain.
It remains unclear how many arrivals from Britain it has traced so far.
Vaccines’ costs and differences
Here is a quick look at some of the differences between leading vaccines:
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was found to be 95 percent effective with no serious side effects. It costs about $20 dollars per shot and it requires two doses each person. It needs to be transported and stored in deep-freezing equipment.
The Moderna shot had 94 percent success in trials. It can be stored in a regular freezer, but it’s more expensive as it costs around $35 per shot and it requires two doses.
The AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine is on average 70 percent effective after one injection, but it should pass 90 percent after a second one. It can be stored in a normal freeze and it cost $3 per dose.
Russia’s Sputnik V costs less than $10 per shot, but it raised criticism as people were given the first dose before mass human trials. Health officials claim it is 91 percent effective after two shots.
Singapore begins vaccination campaign
One of Asia’s first inoculation programmes against the pandemic has started in Singapore where health care workers have been injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Among the first 30 staff members of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases to receive the shot, there were nurse Sarah Lim, 46, and infectious diseases doctor Kalisvar Marimuthu, 43.
“Vaccines have managed to bring pandemics down to their knees before. So I am hopeful that this vaccine will do the same,” Marimuthu said in recorded remarks provided by the health ministry.
Singapore expects to have enough vaccine doses – from various drug companies – for all its 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021.
Australia tightens restrictions for Sydney
Authorities restricted movement and tightened curbs on gatherings in its biggest city, Sydney, hoping to avoid a coronavirus “super spreader” event during New Year’s Eve celebrations after finding a new cluster of infections.
Household gatherings were limited to five people, while a maximum of 30 were allowed to gather in public. Residential care facilities were closed to visitors.
“We don’t want New Year’s Eve to be the cause of a super-spreader,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said as she announced the restrictions would take effect from midnight on Wednesday until further notice.
AstraZeneca/Oxford shot should be effective for new strain: CEO
The newly approved AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine should be effective against a rapidly spreading new variant of the disease.
“Our belief at this point is that this vaccine should be effective against the variant,” AstraZeneca’s Chief Executive Pascal Soriot told BBC radio.
Lockdown in England to be widened: Health Minister
As the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was approved, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that lockdown measures will be extended to curb the rapid growth of COVID-19 cases.
In an interview with BBC television, the minister also said that hundreds of thousands of doses of the shot are ready to be rolled out in the country starting from Monday.
Taiwan secures AstraZeneca vaccine
Taiwan has agreed to buy almost 20 million doses of vaccine, including 10 million from AstraZeneca Plc, just before the drug company shot was approved by UK regulators.
The news came as the government confirmed to have detected the first case of the new COVID-19 variant on the island.
Taiwan has kept the pandemic at bay thanks to early and effective prevention and strict quarantine of all arrivals, with imported cases accounting for almost all of its tally of 798 cases, including seven deaths.
The island’s Central Epidemic Command Centre said apart from AstraZeneca, it had agreed to buy 4.76 million doses from global vaccine programme COVAX, and was still in talks with another company it did not name.
Oxford/AstraZeneca shot: ‘Good news, but might not be enough’
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands comments on the news over the authorisation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
“It’s a huge step forward and it could not have come at a better time because the situation in the UK has been worsening significantly in the last few days,” Challands said reporting from London.
For two running days, a record number of people got infected in the UK due to a new faster-spreading COVID-19 strain. In the past 24 hours, over 53,300 new cases were registered, while over 41,300 new people tested positive the previous day.
The authorisation is also good news “because this injection is much easier to use, to transport and administer than the Pfizer/BioNTech which is the one that has been used until now,” said Challands.
However, the new COVID-19 variant has been spreading so widely and fast, Challands explained, that some medical experts are warning 2021 could be worse than 2020 in terms of hospitalisations and deaths.
“So there is a high likelihood that even with the vaccine being authorised for immediate roll out, there will need to be tougher measures taken when it comes to people’s life’” he added.
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine: High-risk group to be prioritised
Starting today the National Health Service “will prioritise giving the first dose of the vaccine to those in the most high-risk groups,” read a statement from the Department of Health and Social Care.
“With two vaccines now approved, we will be able to vaccinate a greater number of people who are at highest risk, protecting them from the disease and reducing mortality and hospitalization,” it added.
According to the statement, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) “has advised the priority should be to give as many people in at-risk groups their first dose, rather than providing the required two doses in as short a time as possible.”
It added: “Everyone will still receive their second dose and this will be within 12 weeks of their first. The second dose completes the course and is important for longer term protection.”
‘A moment of hope’
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news over the authorisation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab which paves the wave for mass vaccination.
“Brilliant to end 2020 with such a moment of hope,” Hancock said on Twitter. “The coronavirus vaccine is our way out of the pandemic – now we need to hold our nerve while we get through this together,” he added.
The “truly fantastic news” was greeted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as well who said it was a “triumph for British science”.
“We will now move to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible,” he added on Twitter.
AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID vaccine approved for use in UK
A coronavirus vaccine developed by drug firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University has been approved for use in Britain, the government announced on Wednesday, paving the way for a mass roll-out.
A government spokesman said it has accepted a recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) “to authorise Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use”, making Britain the first nation to approve the jab.
AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said “Today is an important day for millions of people in the UK who will get access to this new vaccine. It has been shown to be effective, well-tolerated, simple to administer and is supplied by AstraZeneca at no profit”.
Abu Dhabi approves remote learning for two weeks
Abu Dhabi has approved remote learning for schools in the United Arab Emirates for the first two weeks of the new term starting on January 3 to protect the health of students and staff, the Abu Dhabi media office said on Twitter.
China Sinopharm vaccine found to be 79 percent effective
Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm said Phase III trials of its experimental vaccine have found the shot to be 79 percent effective against COVID-19.
“Sinopharm CNBG Beijing’s inactivated coronavirus vaccine exhibits safety after vaccination … the protective effect of the vaccine against COVID-19 is 79.34%,” the Beijing Institute of Biological Products – a Sinopharm subsidiary – said in a statement.
Possible ‘explosion’ of cases in Tokyo: governor
The coronavirus situation in Tokyo is quite severe and the Japanese capital could potentially face an “explosion” of infections, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike warned ahead of the New Year holiday.
“Please emphasise life over fun,” she told a news conference, calling on people to stay at home as much as possible over the holiday, one of Japan’s longest, in which people hold parties, gather in their homes and return to their hometowns from the capital.
US detects first case of new variant in Colorado
The first reported US case of the COVID-19 variant that has been seen in the United Kingdom has been discovered in Colorado, Governor Jared Polis announced Tuesday.
The variant was found in a man in his 20s who is in isolation southeast of Denver and has not travelled around recently, state health officials said.
The Colorado State Laboratory confirmed the virus variant, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was notified.
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