WHO approves AstraZeneca jabs for variants and over-65s – latest updates

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

WHO OKs AstraZeneca jabs for variants, over-65s

The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine can be used for people aged over 65, and also where coronavirus variants of concern are circulating, WHO experts have said, soothing fears about the jab.

The World Health Organization's 15-member Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) issued interim recommendations for when and how to use the two-shot vaccine, which has yet to receive WHO emergency use authorisation.

French new cases lower than week ago

France has reported 25,387 new confirmed cases, up from 19,348 on Tuesday but slightly lower than last Wednesday's 26,362 as average daily increases continued slowing.

The Health Ministry also reported 296 new deaths in hospitals, from 436 on Tuesday.

Ukraine probes Covid vaccine procurement corruption

Ukraine has launched an investigation into the country's purchase of coronavirus vaccines, an anti-corruption prosecutor said, highlighting the country's struggle to end systemic graft.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has been criticised at home for failing to source Western-made vaccines, with a single dose yet to arrive in the ex-Soviet country.

US CDC study finds two masks are better than one

US government researchers have found that two masks are better than one in slowing coronavirus spread, but health officials stopped short of recommending that everyone double up.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday reported the results of a lab experiment that spaced two artificial heads 6 feet from each other and checked to see how many coronavirus-sized particles spewed by one were inhaled by the other.

The researchers found that wearing one mask — surgical or cloth — blocked around 40 percent of the particles coming toward the head that was breathing in.

PAHO: AstraZeneca emergency use could come this week

The World Health Organization may clear AstraZeneca's vaccine for emergency use as early as this week, a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) official has said.

"AstraZeneca's vaccine is under evaluation. We expect the authorization of emergency use to come out Friday or next Monday," said PAHO Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa during the group's weekly briefing.

China's Sinopharm and Sinovac shots may get pre-qualification or emergency use approval by early March, Barbosa added.

Turkey reports over 8,600 more infections

Turkey has reported 8,642 new cases, including 664 symptomatic patients, and 95 more fatalities.

The overall case count has now passed 2.55 million, with the death toll at 27,093, according to the Health Ministry.

Some 7,903 more patients won their battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries past 2.44 million.

Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the country will get 500,000-800,000 BioNTech vaccine doses, with number of doses reaching 4.5-5 million by end of March.

UK's reported cases rise, deaths decline

Britain has recorded a rise in the number of new daily cases, although there was a decrease in the reported death toll.

There were 13,013 people who tested positive for the virus in the latest daily total, up from 12,364 on Tuesday.

The number of new deaths within 28 days of a positive test fell to 1,001 from 1,052 on Tuesday. 

The government also said 13.058 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine up to Tuesday.

South Africa to give health workers J&J vaccine

South Africa has said it will start vaccinating frontline health workers next week with a shot that is still in testing — an unorthodox strategy announced after officials abandoned plans to use another vaccine that a small study suggests is only minimally effective against the variant dominant in the country.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said South Africa would switch to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and, at least for now, not use Oxford-AstraZeneca's — which has been heralded as one of the most promising for the developing world because it's cheaper and does not require freezer storage like some other leading vaccines.

Italy reports almost 13,000 new cases

Italy has reported 336 coronavirus-related deaths against 422 the day before, the Health Ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 12,956 from 10,630 the day before.

Some 310,994 tests were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 274,263, the Health Ministry said.

Italy has registered 92,338 deaths since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the sixth-highest in the world. 

The country has reported 2.67 million cases to date.

Japan to start vaccination despite syringe shortage

Japan will start vaccinations next week, its prime minister said, but it is scrambling to secure suitable syringes so doses won’t go to waste.
The country has reached deals with three major drug firms to buy enough vaccine doses for its population of 126 million.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is likely to become the first jab approved for use in Japan in the coming days, following domestic clinical trials required by the country’s health authorities.
But the syringes used in Japan are not able to utilise the sixth dose in Pfizer vials, the Guardian reported, and the country has secured 144 million doses based on the a six-dose calculation.
But it has not yet announced a detailed roll-out plan for the jabs, less than six months before the pandemic-postponed Olympics begin.

Some Gulf states see daily cases back up near 2020 highs

Several Gulf Arab states have seen daily cases climb back towards highs recorded last year, prompting authorities to reimpose restrictions on travel and gatherings as they roll out vaccination campaigns.

Bahrain registered 759 new daily infections, slightly above a record hit in September. It banned prayers at mosques for two weeks as of Thursday, state news agency BNA said. Daily infections had fallen below 200 late last year.

In Kuwait, daily cases rose above 1,000 for the first time since May after having fallen below 300 in December.

Saudi Arabia, where daily infections have risen to above 300 but are still far from highs near 4,000 reached last year, has indefinitely suspended entry for non-citizens from 20 countries with the exception of diplomats and health workers.

The United Arab Emirates, the region's tourism hub to which visitors flocked in December, has seen the biggest surge with daily infections tripling in around six weeks to a record 3,977 on February 3.

The numbers have since edged down but the UAE on Tuesday recorded 17 deaths linked to the virus, its highest daily figure since the outbreak began.

The UAE ranks among top countries globally, along with Bahrain, for most vaccine doses administered per population. 

Britain's Prince Charles and wife Camilla have first shots

Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have had their first doses of vaccine, ITV reported, citing his office Clarence House.

Charles, 72, joins his mother Queen Elizabeth, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip in being given their first dose of the vaccines which are being rolled out across Britain.

The prince tested positive for the coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic in March last year but said he was fortunate to have suffered only relatively mild symptoms and returned to good health.

So far Britain has delivered vaccine shots to about 13 million people and is on course to reach those in its top four priority groups, which includes all those over 70, by next week.

There were no details given as to when Charles and Camilla, 73, received the shot.

Russia's total number of cases crosses 4 million mark

The total number of cases in Russia crossed the 4 million mark after officials recorded 14,494 new cases.

That brought the total number of coronavirus infections in Russia since the start of the pandemic to 4,012,710.

The official death toll now stands at 78,134 after 536 people died in the past 24 hours.

EU not where it wants to be in vaccine fight – von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that the European Union was not where it wanted to be in the fight against the coronavirus.

"We were late with the approval. We were too optimistic on mass production. And perhaps we were also too certain that the orders would actually be delivered on time," she told the European Parliament in a debate on the bloc's vaccine strategy. 

German govt seeks to extend shutdown until March 14

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government wants to extend strict curbs to fight the pandemic until March 14, according to a draft text seen by AFP.

Despite a fall in infection numbers, new and more contagious coronavirus variants "are spreading especially quickly and require significant additional efforts", said the document, which still needs to be approved by the leaders of Germany's 16 states.

Merkel and the regional premiers are due to hold talks later on Wednesday.

Pfizer could directly deliver shot to S Africa vaccination points

Pfizer said it could deliver its vaccine, which requires ultra-cold temperatures for storage and distribution, directly to points of vaccination in South Africa.

South Africa is scrambling to secure supplies after the AstraZeneca vaccine it planned to use to kick off its immunisation campaign had greatly reduced efficacy against the virus variant now dominant in the country.

Pfizer said it had allocated vaccine doses to South Africa and was currently in discussions with the government.

Pfizer's vaccine needs to be stored and distributed at around -70 degrees Celsius, requiring countries importing it to have ultra-cold chain capabilities.

That is a potential impediment for countries including those in Africa with weak public health systems.

WHO mission member says 'don't rely' on US virus intelligence

A member of the WHO mission to China exploring the origins of the coronavirus pandemic took a swipe at US intelligence on the issue, after the State Department cast doubt on the transparency of their probe.

President Joe Biden "has to look tough on China", expert Peter Daszak said in a tweet as the mission ended, adding: "Please don't rely too much on US intel: increasingly disengaged under Trump & frankly wrong on many aspects."

Germany's confirmed cases rise by 8,072 - RKI

The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 8,072 to 2,299,996, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. 

The reported death toll rose by 813 to 62,969, the tally showed. 

Japan PM Suga says vaccinations to begin next week

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that the country would begin vaccinations from the middle of next week.

Suga was speaking at a meeting with officials of the government and the ruling party. Suga had earlier said the vaccinations would start in mid-February.

Australia's Victoria state considers N95 masks for quarantine hotels

The Australian state of Victoria is considering making N95 masks mandatory for quarantine hotels and will also ban nebuliser machines for inhaling medication at them, after a cluster of three cases was linked to a hotel.

The first case linked to an infected traveller in quarantine at the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport was a hotel worker with two more cases reported.

The hotel has been shut until further notice for cleaning and contact tracing.

The state's premier, Daniel Andrews, said nebulisers must be kept out of hotel quarantine rooms while quarantine commissioner, Emma Cassar, said a requirement for N95 masks, which offer greater protection than ordinary surgical masks, in quarantine hotels was being considered.

California surpasses New York as US state with most deaths

California surpassed New York as the US state with the most coronavirus deaths, a grim reminder of the pandemic's toll even as the vaccine rollout and a sharp drop in new cases buoyed hopes of life eventually returning to normal.

More than 45,000 people have died as of late Tuesday in California, the most populous of the 50 states and one of the hardest hit in recent months. New York, severely stricken in the early stages of pandemic last spring, has reported 44,693 lives lost, according to a Reuters tally.

California, home to some 40 million people, emerged as a main US epicenter of the pandemic during a year-end surge of infections and hospitalizations that swept much of the country, pushing many healthcare systems to their limits.

Thailand reports 157 new cases, 1 death

Thailand reported157 new coronavirus cases, taking its total infections to 23,903.

One additional death was reported, taking fatalities to 80 recorded overall, the coronavirus task-force said. Thailand's daily cases so far this week are among the lowest numbers reported since its latest and biggest outbreak emerged in mid-December.

Cambodia launches vaccinations with shots for PM's sons, ministers

Cambodia launched its coronavirus inoculation drive, using 600,000 vaccine doses donated by China, with the sons of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen and government ministers among the first recipients.

The Southeast Asian nation of about 16 million has managed to limit the spread of the disease, reporting just 478 infections and no deaths, although a rare cluster of cases emerged in November.

Hun Sen had vowed to take the first dose, but later said that at 68 he was above the age to get the vaccine, made by Sinopharm.

His sons and the justice and environment ministers were among the first to get it instead.

NZ to inoculate high-risk people first as vaccine gets full approval

New Zealand will first administer vaccines to quarantine personnel, front line health workers and airline staff, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said, as the government formally approved its use.

New Zealand's medicines regulator last week provisionally approved the use of the vaccine jointly developed by US drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Germany's BioNTech .

Authorities expect the Pfizer vaccine to arrive in the country by end-March but they had expressed concerns about export curbs.

Pressure has been mounting on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to start inoculations for the country's 5 million people soon even though New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus.

Brazil reports 1,350 more deaths

Brazil has recorded 51,486 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 1,350 deaths from Covid-19, the country's Health Ministry said.

Brazil has registered 9.6 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 233,520, according to ministry data released on Tuesday.

Mexico's death toll rises to 168,432

Mexico's health ministry has reported 1,701 new confirmed deaths from Covid-19, bringing the total to 168,432.

The government says the real number of infected people and the death toll in Mexico are both likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

China reports 14 new cases

China has reported 14 new Covid-19 cases on the mainland on Feb. 9, official data showed, unchanged from a day earlier, as the latest wave of the disease appears to have subsided ahead of the Lunar New Year break that begins on Thursday.

Venezuela to receive first doses of Sputnik V vaccine

Venezuela will receive the first 100,000 doses of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine from Russia next week, President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday.

People may need annual vaccine shots: J&J CEO

Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky has that people may need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 annually over the next several years, like seasonal flu shots.

"Unfortunately, as (the virus) spreads it can also mutate," he said in an interview with CNBC.

"Every time it mutates, it's almost like another click of the dial so to speak where we can see another variant, another mutation that can have an impact on its ability to fend off antibodies or to have a different kind of response not only to a therapeutic but also to a vaccine," he added.

Greek PM announces stricter lockdown

A stricter anti-coronavirus lockdown will be imposed in Greece, in particular in the Athens region, during which schools and non-essential shops will be closed, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.

The measures will start on Thursday and last until February 28, the premier said in a televised address on Tuesday.

He pointed to rising coronavirus infections, increasing numbers of hospitalisations in the Athens region and "the appearance of Covid variants which accelerate infections."

Kindergartens and primary and secondary schools that reopened just two weeks ago for the first time in two months will have to close again.

Churches and all shops except pharmacies, supermarkets, bakeries and petrol stations will also close, state TV ERT reported.