WHO warns of massive vaccine syringes shortfall – latest updates

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

WHO warns of massive syringe shortfall in 2022

The World Health Organization has warned there could be shortfall of up to two billion syringes in 2022, which threatens to hamper vaccine efforts globally is production does not improve.

The shortages are the result of Covid-19 vaccine campaigns, with billions more syringes than normal being used worldwide, badly denting global supplies.  

Lisa Hedman, the WHO's senior advisor on access to medicines and health products, said as the supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses increases, the supply of syringes needs to keep pace.

UK reports 262 Covid-19 deaths

Britain reported 262 new deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, up from 57 a day earlier, official data showed.

It also reported 33,117 new confirmed cases of the virus, up from 32,322 on Monday. 

Meanwhile, health workers in UK will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by April 1, health minister Sajid Javid said, making it a mandatory condition of employment for those on the frontline of the National Health Service.

"All those working in the NHS and social care will have to be vaccinated. We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS, protect colleagues in the NHS and of course protect the NHS itself," Javid told parliament.

Singapore reports 3,397 new cases

Singapore reported 3,397 new Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths.

The fatalities were aged between 58 and 95. All of them, except for an unvaccinated individual, had various underlying medical conditions. 

Ukraine hits another record for daily coronavirus deaths

Ukraine hit another record for daily coronavirus deaths amid a spike in infections fuelled by public reluctance to get a vaccine.

The Health Ministry reported 833 coronavirus deaths over the past day, surpassing the previous high of 793 over the weekend and bringing the country's total confirmed COVID-19 deaths to 73,390. The nation of 41 million people also registered 18,988 new daily infections in the last day.

Although four vaccines are available in Ukraine: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac. 

Only 18 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated.

Italy logs 68 more fatalities

Italy has reported 68 more coronavirus-related deaths against 32 the day before, the health ministry said. 

It reported 6,032 new infections, up from 4,197 a day earlier. 

With 4.82 million cases to date, Italy has registered 132,491 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged inFebruary last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain, and the ninth-highest in the world.

Bulgaria registers record number of daily deaths

Bulgaria has reported a record number of daily deaths as the European Union's least vaccinated country grapples with a fourth wave of the pandemic, official data showed.

New infections were 5,286, down from a peak in late October, while 334 people died of the virus, the highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic.

The Balkan country introduced a health pass entry to most indoor spaces last month in an effort to contain the spread of the infection and speed up vaccinations in the country, where only 30% of the adults are fully inoculated.

Over 250,000 people have taken at least one dose since the health pass was made mandatory on October 21, data showed.

Many Bulgarians remain vaccine sceptical amid entrenched mistrust in state institutions, misinformation and contradictory messages by politicians and experts ahead of a third parliamentary election this year on November 14.

Russia's active cases exceed 1 million

The active cases in Russia have exceeded the 1 million mark after 39,160 more infections were registered in the country over the past day.

Currently, the active cases stand at 1,004,844 while the total number of people exposed to the virus in Russia has mounted to 8.87 million, the coronavirus emergency task force said in a daily report.

In addition, Russia's single-day coronavirus death toll climbed to a new record as 1,211 people died of the disease in the last 24 hours, pushing the overall count to 249,215, it said.

Romania battles virus surge, vaccine misinformation

The morgue at Bucharest's University Emergency Hospital in Romania's capital has been struggling to cope with an additional number of bodies that need processing amid a rapid, deadly surge of Covid-19 cases which has all but crippled the country's ailing health care system.

Romania, a European Union nation of around 19 million, has fully vaccinated just 39 percent of adults compared to the 27-nation EU average of 75 percent.

Dutch hospitals urge new measures as cases near record

A group of hospitals in the southern Dutch province of Limburg have called for the government to take new measures to stem rising cases, saying they have no space or staff to handle more patients.

Infections in the Netherlands, as in other parts of Europe, are approaching all-time highs despite adult vaccination levels around 85 percent.

Covid-19 to cut global air passenger traffic by 4.6B in 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to cut the number of air passengers by 4.6 billion in 2021, the Airports Council International (ACI) World has revealed.

"Global passenger traffic in 2021 is expected to reach only half of what it was in 2019, totaling only 4.6 billion of the 9.2 billion passengers served two years ago," the ACI said in its 2021 World Airport Traffic Report (WATR).

The world's airports also saw a sharp decline in global aircraft movements in 2020, down by 39.5 percent to reach 62 million.

French health authority advises against Moderna jab for under 30s

France's public health authority have recommended people under 30 be given Pfizer's Comirnaty vaccine when available instead of Moderna Inc's Spikevax jab, which carried comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems.

The Haute Autorite de Sante cited "very rare" risks linked to Myocarditis, a heart disease, that had shown up in recent data on the Moderna vaccine and in a French study published the day before.

HAS does not have legal power to ban or licence drugs but acts as an advisor to the French health sector.

Thousands protest in New Zealand against vaccine mandates

New Zealand beefed up security measures at its parliament as thousands of people gathered to protest against vaccine mandates and government lockdowns.

All but two entrances to the parliament building, known as the Beehive, were closed off in the presence of unprecedented levels of police and security personnel, as mostly unmasked protesters marched through central Wellington and congregated outside parliament.

Australia's NSW says unvaccinated 16 times more likely to die from the virus

Unvaccinated people are 16 times more likely to end up in intensive care units or die from the virus, Australia's New South Wales state said in a report, with officials urging people to get inoculated as Australia begins to live with the virus.

The data from New South Wales (NSW) health department out late on Monday showed only 11 percent of people out of 412 who died from the Delta outbreak over four months through early October were fully vaccinated. The average age of those deaths was 82.

Strict vaccine mandate begins for Los Angeles businesses

Before feasting on pancakes, burgers and milkshakes inside the Fred 62 diner in Los Angeles, patrons must now fork over proof of their vaccines for a waiter's inspection under new city virus rules that are among the country's strictest.

The greasy spoon, famous for putting an LA spin on diner food, is one of thousands of businesses across the city where patrons were required to show proof of their vaccination status as the new measures aimed at slowing the spread of the

Brazil has 126 deaths

Brazil has had 5,638 new cases of the novel virus reported in the past 24 hours, and 126 deaths from the virus, the health ministry said.

The South American country has now registered 21,886,077 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 609,573, according to ministry data, in the world's third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest after the United States.

China reports 62 cases

China reported 62 new confirmed coronavirus cases compared with 89 a day earlier, its health authority said.

Of the new infections, 43 were locally transmitted cases, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, compared with 65 a day earlier.