COVID-19 UPDATE: SAUDI ARABIA ENDS ENTRY BAN, US SURPASSED 350,000 COVID-19 DEATHS

Sun 03 January 2021:

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed nearly 1.83 million lives in 191 countries and regions since last December.

Over 84.1 million cases have been reported worldwide, including more than 47.42 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University. The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of infections.

Saudi Arabia ends entry ban, keeps some virus restrictions 

Saudi Arabia said that entry to the kingdom by sea, land and air will be resumed starting on Sunday after a ban that lasted two weeks amid fears of a new coronavirus variant, the state news agency reported on Sunday.

A ministry of interior official said that some restrictions including asking people coming from countries where the new variant spread such as the UK, South Africa and any others, to stay at least 14 days out of these countries before entering the kingdom.

Brazil reports 15,827 new cases, 314 more deaths

Brazil recorded 15,827 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 314 deaths from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Brazil has registered more than 7.7 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began 10 months ago, while the official death toll has risen to 195,725, according to ministry data.

S.Africa Health workers demand vaccine rollout

The government’s vaccine procurement strategy has come under fire in recent days, News24 reported.

“We call on the Department of Health to act urgently, transparently and decisively now to obtain vaccines and to implement vaccination, so as to reduce death and illness, and bring the pandemic under control.”

So read a letter by Professor Heather Zar, a leading public sector paediatrician at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital, reported GroundUp.

More than 3 000 people had signed the petition by the time of publication of this article. Many are well-known doctors, nurses and researchers, including Professor Francois Venter, former head of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, the head of the department of medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital, Professor Lucille Blumberg of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and Professor Helen McShane of Oxford University.

Speaking to GroundUp, Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccinology at Wits University, criticised the health department’s vaccine procurement strategy.

He said the department had put all its eggs in one basket by only relying on COVAX and leaving bilateral negotiations with pharmaceutical companies too late.

US has now reported more than 350,000 Covid-19 deaths

US news star Larry King hospitalised

Veteran talk show host Larry King has been hospitalised with Covid-19, US media reported.

Citing a “source close to the family,” CNN reported that King, one of the network’s biggest stars, has been hospitalised for more than a week at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

King, 87, has Type 2 diabetes and has had a long history of medical issues, including several heart attacks, lung cancer and angina, a condition caused by reduced blood flow to the heart.

More than 1,000 fines issued as illegal rave party ends in French countryside

Five people have been arrested and more than 1,000 fines have been issued after an illegal New Year’s rave in the French countryside ended on Saturday, local authorities said.

More than 2,500 partygoers attended the illegal party in the region of Brittany in France, despite the government’s strict coronavirus restrictions and a national night-time curfew.

About 1,600 fines were issued as of Saturday following the rave, which started on Thursday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said via his official Twitter profile.

“We do not recommend mixing Covid-19 vaccines,” Public Health England chief says

Mixing Covid-19 vaccines is not recommended, Public Health England’s Head of Immunisations Dr. Mary Ramsay said Saturday, after government guidance was updated this week to say the interchangeability of Covid-19 vaccines was a “reasonable” option.

“We do not recommend mixing the Covid-19 vaccines – if your first dose is the Pfizer vaccine you should not be given the AstraZeneca vaccine for your second dose and vice versa,” Ramsay said in a statement.

“There may be extremely rare occasions where the same vaccine is not available, or where it is not known what vaccine the patient received. Every effort should be made to give them the same vaccine, but where this is not possible it is better to give a second dose of another vaccine than not at all,” she added.

Ramsay clarified the UK’s position on vaccine mixing after an update to the government’s vaccine playbook on Dec. 31. 

Victoria’s state of emergency extended