Thu 28 January 2021:
COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Last updated: January 28, 2021, 07:41 GMT
Coronavirus Cases:
101,458,805
Deaths:
2,184,712
Recovered:
73,351,625
Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
WHO says Covid ‘war’ can be won
Humanity is not losing the war against the Covid-19 pandemic and will eventually conquer the virus, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
AFP: As daily global deaths from the disease topped 18,000 for the first time and with new variants spreading rapidly around the globe, Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said the mutations did not imply defeat.
“Does it mean we’re losing this war? No,” she told a WHO live social media event.
“We are in the fight of our lives. We have to make sure that we’re not fighting each other; that we’re fighting the virus… the variants included.
“We can conquer this virus – and we will conquer this virus.”
Pakistan to launch COVID-19 vaccination programme next week
Pakistan is expected to launch its coronavirus vaccination campaign in the coming week, according to a government minister.
Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar added it is hoped that the campaign will begin with the vaccination of front-line health workers.
“The system for vaccination is in place. Hundreds of vaccination centres in the country will be administering covid (sic) vaccine. Inshallah the vaccination of front line health workers will start next week,” Umar tweeted on Wednesday.
Two vaccines for emergency use have been approved by Pakistan so far, one by China National Pharmaceutical Group (SinoPharm) and another by AstraZeneca.
Brazil’s Covid-19 response worst, New Zealand’s best – study
Brazil’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been ranked the world’s worst, while New Zealand topped the class, according to research published by a leading Australian think tank.
Sydney’s Lowy Institute assessed almost 100 countries on six criteria, including confirmed cases, deaths and testing metrics.
Aside from New Zealand – which has largely kept the virus at bay with border closures and “go early, go hard” lockdowns and testing regimes – Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda, Iceland, Australia, Latvia and Sri Lanka made the top 10 for their responses.
In bottom place at number 98 was Brazil, closely followed by Mexico, Colombia, Iran and the United States.
Mexico reports new daily record of almost 28,000 coronavirus cases
Regeneron works on UK, S.African Covid variants: company
Regeneron’s synthetic antibody treatment remains effective against the British and South African variants of the novel coronavirus, the US biotechnology company announced.
The therapy used on ex-president Donald Trump has had emergency approval since November for people with mild to moderate symptoms and a high risk of becoming seriously ill.
REGEN-COV – featuring potent neutralizing antibodies called imdevimab and casirivimab – remained effective against both variants, the company said in a statement, although casirivimab’s potency against the South African variant was “reduced.”
White House: ‘great concern’ over Covid origin ‘misinformation’ from China
The US wants a “robust and clear” international probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, has said.Speaking to reporters, she said it was “imperative we get to the bottom” of how the virus appeared and spread.
She highlighted “great concern” over “misinformation” from “some sources in China”.
The coronavirus has killed more than two million people and infected at least 100m since first being detected about a year ago in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
This month a team of experts from the World Health Organization arrived in Wuhan after repeated delays to investigate the virus’s origins.
First doses of COVID-19 vaccine to arrive South Africa on Monday
South Africa’s first batch of COVID-19 vaccines will arrive on Monday morning, but it will be at least 10 days before they are distributed countrywide.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the doses will be reserved for healthcare workers on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus.
Another batch of COVAX-supplied vaccines — sufficient to inoculate 10 percent of the population — are expected to be delivered in the second quarter of the year.
Mkhize said the government’s goal is still to vaccinate 67 percent of South Africans by the end of 2021.
Children’s mental health services in England ‘unable to meet demand’
Mental health services in England do not have the capacity to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on children, Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, has warned.
“Even before the Covid pandemic, we faced an epidemic of children’s mental health problems in England and a children’s mental health service that, though improving significantly, was still unable to provide the help hundreds of thousands of children required,” Longfield said. “It is widely accepted that lockdown and school closures have had a detrimental effect on the mental health of many children.”
An NHS Digital report published last year found that probable rates of mental disorders among children and young people has increased by almost half since 2017, with Covid and lockdown identified as aggravating factors.
New Zealand sets up extra Covid test centres
One man waiting in line in Orewa said he had moved 20 metres in 90 minutes but early queues appeared to ease by the middle of the day. Additional health staff have also been brought in from other regions.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff said the viability of major events coming up was now in doubt. The nation’s Waitangi events – the annual celebration of the treaty between Māori and Britain – are due to begin next week.
White House predicts 90,000 more deaths by March
The Biden administration launched its new level-with-America health briefings Wednesday with a projection that as many as 90,000 more in the US will die from the coronavirus in the next four weeks.
“I know this is not news we all want to hear, but this is something we must say so we are all aware,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “If we are united in action we can turn things around.”
Walensky said her agency’s latest forecast indicates the US will reach between 479,000 and 514,000 deaths by 20 February.
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