The global number of cases of the coronavirus-borne disease COVID-19 climbed above 81.4 million on Tuesday, and the World Health Organization said the pandemic isn’t necessarily the big one the world should be bracing for and urged people everywhere to learn from this crisis.
Speaking at the agency’s last press conference for 2020, Mike Ryan, WHO’s chief of emergency, said the coronavirus pandemic has been severe and has affected every corner of the planet.
“But this isn’t necessarily the big one,” he said. ‘This is a wake-up call. We are now learning how to do things better – science, logistics, education and governance, how to communicate better. But the planet is fragile. We live in an increasingly complex global society. These threats will continue. If there’s one thing we need to get out of this pandemic, with all the tragedy and loss, [it] is [that] we have to get our case in order. We must honor those we have lost by getting better at what we do every day. “
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the partnership between the private and public sectors that has led to the development of several vaccines in record time, which are now being rolled out around the world. That “is an incredible scientific achievement,” he said.
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The WHO is working closely with scientists to understand the new variants of COVID-19 that have emerged in the UK and South Africa and to evaluate whether they are spreading faster or making people sicker and have potential implications for testing, treatments and vaccines.
“In particular, we are working with scientists in the UK and South Africa who are conducting epidemiological and laboratory studies, which will guide the next steps,” he said.
Meanwhile, the WHO is working to make sure that the vaccines are made available to ‘people in need, everywhere’ and reminds people that even when vaccines are distributed, they must comply with public safety measures – frequent hand washing, social distancing and wear. a face mask in public.
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‘This [failure to meet vaccine targets in the U.S.] feels like a disappointment in so many ways, but unfortunately I’m not surprised that given the course of testing, tracing doesn’t exist at all and how we get caught off guard by this new [virus] variant due to our lack of genomic surveillance. ‘
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The US has so far vaccinated 2.1 million people and distributed more than 11 million doses of the two vaccines that have received emergency use authorization, one developed by Pfizer Inc. PFE,
with its German partner BioNTech SE BNTX,
and one developed by Moderna Inc. MRNA,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That’s well below the early predictions of “Operation Warp Speed,” the federal program set up to accelerate the development of treatments and vaccines against COVID-19, according to Kavita Patel, a family doctor and health policy expert at the Obama White House.
Patel’s clinic is one of the sites part of the District of Columbia vaccination strategy, she said in an interview on MSNBC.
“In October, we heard from Operation Warp Speed that we would have 100 million doses by the end of the year,” she said. ‘We thought that was unreasonable. Then the expectation dropped to 40 million and at the end of December to 20 million. We dosed 2.2 million, which is much less than the 20 million. ”
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Not meeting the vaccine targets “feels like a disappointment in many ways, but I’m not surprised, unfortunately, as the testing has gone, tracking doesn’t exist at all, and how we’re getting caught-guarding by this new one. [virus] variant because of our lack of genomic surveillance, ”she said.
According to a New York Times tracker, the US registered at least 188,934 new cases of COVID on Monday and at least 1,899 people died. In the past week, the US had an average of 183,124 cases per day.
The number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals rose to a record 121,235 on Monday, according to the COVID Tracking Project, surpassing the record of 120,151 on Dec. 24.
According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, the US remains the world leader in cases, 19.3 million, and fatalities, 334,967, or about a fifth of the global figures for each.
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In other news:
• Israel has now vaccinated more people against COVID-19 than has been infected with the virus since the outbreak began, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing data from Health Minister Yuli Edelstein. Just nine days after the country’s vaccination campaign, 495,000 Israelis were dosed, compared to 407,285 confirmed cases of the disease. Israel expects to vaccinate 150,000 people a day, allowing it to vaccinate 2.25 million people in a month and a half, or about a quarter of the entire population.
• The new COVID variant affecting the UK has likely been in Germany since November, according to health officials cited by the Guardian, following the death of a patient with that variant in the north of the country. The patient was an elderly man with underlying health problems, whose wife was also infected but survived. The couple is said to have contracted the virus from their daughter who traveled to the UK in mid-November.
• The shares of biotech company Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. fell 55% on Tuesday, after investors responded to the results of a phase 1/2 study of its vaccine candidate COVID-19, which one analyst said was disappointing. Arcturus ARCT from San Diego,
said late Monday that it had received approval from the Singapore Health Sciences Authority to proceed with a phase 2 study of its ARCT-021 vaccine candidate that will enroll up to 600 volunteers. The approval is based on data from the Phase 1/2 study showing that the vaccine produced neutralizing antibodies after a single dose, although at lower levels than competing vaccine candidates. Arcturus hopes his vaccine does not require a booster shot, making it easier to administer than two-dose vaccines. Raymond James said the data was “disappointing.” While this latest dataset does not completely affect the single-shot ARCT-021, which may protect against COVID-19 infection in Stage 3, the lack of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers is at or above levels seen in restorative sera diminish our confidence that ARCT-021 will be able to achieve competitive levels of vaccine effectiveness with a single dose, ”analysts led by Stephen Seedhouse wrote in a note to customers.
• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reintroduced a ban on the sale of alcohol and has ordered the closure of all bars as part of new restrictions to help the country fight a resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new variant, the Associated Press reported. Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all beaches and public swimming pools in the country’s infection hotspots, including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and several coastal areas. In addition, South Africa is extending its curfew by four hours, requiring all residents to be home from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., the president said. “Reckless behavior due to alcohol intoxication has contributed to increased transmission. Alcohol-related accidents and violence are putting pressure on our hospitals’ emergency services, ”Ramaphosa said in a nationwide speech.
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The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide rose above 81.4 million Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins, and the death toll is 1.77 million. At least 46 million people have recovered from COVID-19.
Brazil has the second highest death toll with 191,570 and is in third place with 7.5 million cases.
India ranks second worldwide with 10.2 million, and third in deaths with 148,153.
Mexico has the fourth highest death toll at 122,855 and the 13th highest number of cases at 1.4 million.
Italy has 72,370 fatalities, the highest number in Europe, and 2.0 million cases. The UK has 2.3 million cases, the most in Europe, and 71,217 deaths, the second highest in Europe and the sixth highest in the world.
China, where the virus was first discovered late last year, has had 95,773 confirmed cases and 4,777 deaths, according to official figures.