Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
The news posted last week for the coronavirus 2019-nCoV (aka SARS-CoV-2), which produces COVID-19 disease, has been surveyed and some important articles are summarized here. The articles are more or less organized with general virus news and anecdotes first, then stories from around the US, followed by an increased number of items from other countries around the globe. Economic news related to COVID-19 is found here.
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Summary:
It appears that new Covid cases and Covid deaths have stopped going down in the US; I say “appears” because it’s possible that the apparent uptick early this week might have been due to underreporting of cases last week, when there were widespread power outages in Texas and other states in the wake of an unprecedented cold wave. For the 7 days ending Saturday, reported new cases were only down 0.3% from the prior week, but down 28.6% from two weeks prior. Deaths attributed to Covid over the past 7 days were only 0.1% lower than the prior seven days, and again down 23.7% from two weeks ago. Covid hospitalizations fell by about 18% from the prior week for the 2nd week in a row.
Globally, this week’s new Covid cases were 6.9% higher than the prior week, but 3.3% lower than two weeks earlier; deaths attributed to Covid globally were 7.4% lower this week than the prior week, and 21.7% lower than two weeks ago.
Virus mutations continue to be the main threat we face for getting the virus under control, and it seems more are being discovered every day – probably because they’re now looking for them. The two most notable mutants that showed up in the news this week were in New York and California; the New York variant is said to be able to evade vaccinations, whereas one report indicated that the California mutation is 11 times more likely to be fatal. Since they’ve only shown up in the past week, it’s not clear if they’ll have an impact on their states or anywhere else yet. Florida continues to have the most significant outbreak of mutant virus cases, with around 2,000 cases of the UK virus and a small number of the Brazilian strain.
The chart below from WorldoMeter shows the daily number of new cases for the US, updated through 27 February.
According to Johns Hopkins (graph below), new cases globally are continuing to decline.
Also, Johns Hopkins has a graph for global deaths (below). The downturn in global deaths is now clearly in this graphic.
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Of course, Steven Hansen summarizes and links the latest news related to the pandemic every day, 7 days a week, plus displays over a dozen important graphics updated at least daily. The most recent article at the time this is published: 27 February 2021 Coronavirus Charts and News: Johnson and Johnson COVID Vaccine Recommended For Use By The FDA Advisory Panel For Adults 18 And Older.
This article leads the daily newsletter from Global Economic Intersection every day. Newsletter subscription is free.
Here are the rest of the articles for the past week reviewed and summarized:
Fauci: ‘Possible’ Americans will need to wear masks into 2022 –Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Sunday said that it was “possible” Americans could still be wearing masks to defend against the coronavirus in 2022, but predicted “a significant degree of normality.” “You know, I think it is possible that [continuing to wear masks is] the case. And, again, it really depends on what you mean by normality,” Fauci told host Dana Bash in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I mean, obviously, I think we’re going to have a significant degree of normality beyond what the terrible burden that all of us have been through over the last year, that, as we get into the fall and the winter, by the end of the year, I agree with the president completely that we will be approaching a degree of normality. It may or may not be precisely the way it was in November of 2019, but it’ll be much, much better than what we’re doing right now,” he added. On whether mask usage will continue in the year ahead, Fauci added, “it depends on the level of dynamics of virus that’s in the community. And that’s really important, because that gets back to something, again, that you said. If you see the level coming down really, really very low.” The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director added that the risk of transmission will “never be zero,” but could reach a “minimal threat that you will be exposed to someone who is infected.” A reduction to the baseline of months ago, he added, would be a “heck of a lot better than what it’s been” but it would be far better to “see it go way down.” “When it goes way down, and the overwhelming majority of the people in the population are vaccinated, then I would feel comfortable in saying, we need to pull back on the masks, we don’t need to have masks,” he added
A Quite Possibly Wonderful Summer –Families will gather. Restaurants will reopen. People will travel. The pandemic may feel like it’s behind us – even if it’s not. After months of soaring deaths and infections, COVID-19 cases across the United States are declining even more sharply than experts anticipated. This is expected to continue, and rates of serious illness and death will plummet even faster than cases, as high-risk populations are vaccinated. Even academics who have spent the pandemic delivering ominous warnings have shifted their tone to cautiously optimistic now that vaccination rates are exploding. Until very recently, Anthony Fauci had been citing August as the month by which the U.S. could vaccinate 70 to 80 percent of the population and reach herd immunity. Last week, he suddenly threw out May or early June as a window for when most Americans could have access to vaccines. Despite some concerns about new coronavirus variants, Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told me that he doesn’t see viral mutation as a reason to expect that most people couldn’t be well protected within that time frame. If all of this holds true, it would mean that many aspects of pre-pandemic life will return even before summer is upon us. Because case numbers guide local policies, much of the country could soon have reason to lift many or even most restrictions on distancing, gathering, and masking. Pre-pandemic norms could return to schools, churches, and restaurants. Sports, theater, and cultural events could resume. People could travel and dance indoors and hug grandparents, their own or others’. In most of the U.S., the summer could feel … “normal.” Pre-pandemic complaints about a crowded subway car or a mediocre sandwich could be replaced by the awe of simply riding a bus or sitting in a diner. People might go out of their way to talk with strangers, merely to gaze upon the long-forbidden, exposed mouth of a speaking human. In short, the summer could feel revelatory. The dramatic change in the trajectory and tenor of the news could give a sense that the pandemic is over. The energy of the moment could be an opportunity – or Americans could be dancing in the eye of a hurricane.
Johnson & Johnson ready to provide doses for 20M Americans by end of March –Johnson & Johnson said Monday that it plans to have enough doses of its vaccine for more than 20 million Americans by the end of March if its vaccine is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The vaccine is being eagerly awaited as the next in line to join the COVID-19 vaccines already in use from Pfizer and Moderna. An FDA advisory committee is meeting Friday to consider the application, and emergency authorization could come soon after. The company for the first time on Monday gave some specificity regarding the number of doses it will have immediately available. The vaccine, unlike those from Pfizer and Moderna, requires only one dose, so 20 million doses would completely vaccinate 20 million people. “Assuming necessary regulatory approvals relating to our manufacturing processes, our plan is to begin shipping immediately upon emergency use authorization, and deliver enough single-doses by the end of March to enable the vaccination of more than 20 million Americans,” Richard Nettles, vice president of U.S. medical affairs for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a part of Johnson & Johnson, said in prepared remarks for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The remarks were posted online by the committee ahead of Tuesday’s hearing with several vaccine manufacturers. The company also said it remains on pace to have 100 million doses by the end of the first half of the year. The doses from Johnson & Johnson, assuming FDA authorization, can help speed the vaccination program by adding to doses already available from Pfizer and Moderna, and needing just one dose can simplify the process. White House officials had previously said they were not expecting many Johnson & Johnson doses immediately. Separately, Pfizer is also ramping up its supply. John Young, the company’s chief business officer, said in testimony posted by the committee that the company will be able to increase production to 13 million doses per week by the middle of March, up from 4 to 5 million per week at the beginning of February. The company says it remains on track for 120 million doses by the end of March and 200 million doses by the end of May.
JNJ COVID Jab Is 72% Effective, On Track For Emergency Approval Saturday — Following a wave of trial results alternatively teasing, and questioning, the efficacy of the company’s vaccine – including the possibility that it might not be effective as a single-shot jab – new data from Johnson & Johnson purports to show the shot is surprisingly effective at preventing severe illness and reducing transmission in its current (single-dose) form.An analysis of the company’s trial data by the FDA was released on Wednesday, two days before an FDA committee is expected to meet to discuss the safety and efficacy of the JNJ vaccine. According to the NYT, the jab could be approved for emergency use as early as Saturday morning (following the committee’s meeting and a possible vote on Friday).The vaccine had a 72% overall efficacy rate in the US and 64% in South Africa, where a highly contagious variant emerged in the fall and is now driving most cases. Notably, the analysis showed the JNJ vaccine was seven percentage points more effective against the SA mutation than a prior dataset had suggested. The vaccine was also 86% effective against severe forms of COVID-19 in the US, and 82% against severe disease in South Africa. According to JNJ and the FDA, this means that a vaccinated person has a far lower risk of being hospitalized or dying from the virus.The news essentially confirms that Americans will be the first to benefit from a third COVID vaccine as the pace of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths continues to decline.
NYC plans for at-home shots of Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine – Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it will have 20 million of the country’s first COVID-19 single-dose vaccines available by the end of March – leading New York City to vow door-to-door service soon for shut-ins. “The big piece we want to get to is the literally in-home vaccination of folks who cannot leave their home – that really requires the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters. City Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said J&J’s testimony to a US House subcommittee on vaccine development earlier in the day suggests the Big Apple could start at-home vaccinations as early as next month. “We will be ready very rapidly to do door-to-door in-home vaccinations for in-bound seniors over the month,” he said at the mayoral briefing. “We hope in March if everything goes according to plan with the FDA and to do that based on the supply allocated by the federal government,” Chokshi said, referring to the federal approval that the J&J vaccine still needs. City officials have called the J&J shot – which applied for approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 4 – a game-changer because it only requires a single dose and is much easier to store than its competitors’ vaccines.
Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline start new COVID-19 vaccine study after failed trial — Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline have launched a new study of their coronavirus vaccine after a previous trial produced disappointing results.The drugmakers pushed back the rollout of their experimental COVID-19 shot in December because a study found it generated an “insufficient” immune response to the virus in people older than 50 years.The companies have now tweaked the vaccine’s formulation and plan to test three different dosages in the new Phase 2 study of 720 adults in the US, Honduras and Panama, according to a Monday news release.“We are confident that our vaccine candidate has strong potential and we are very encouraged by the latest preclinical data,” Thomas Triomphe, the head of Sanofi’s vaccine business, said in a statement. “This new Phase 2 study will enable us to identify the final vaccine formulation for adults of all ages.”If the study goes well, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline plan to launch a large-scale Phase 3 trial in the spring and seek regulatory approval in the second half of this year. The vaccine – which will be administered in two shots given three weeks apart in the Phase 2 study – would be made available in the final three months of 2021 if it’s approved, the European companies said.
Tracking COVID Vaccine Deaths and Adverse Events in the United States — In a posting from mid-January 2021, I started tracking the deaths and adverse effects linked to the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. On more-or-less a weekly basis, the National Vaccine Information Center releases the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System or VAERS data. In this posting, I will maintain a continuous update from each of the VAERS data releases so that you can see how the COVID-19 vaccines are impacting the health of those that have received either the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccines. Here is the link to the latest data release should you wish to review it for yourself. Let’s summarize the data over time showing the following adverse events; hospitalizations (green), deaths (red), life threatening events (blue), permanent disabilities (grey) and birth defects (yellow): It is important to keep in mind that all adverse events are not reported to the VAERS system and that previousresearch from 2010 shows that shows the following: “Adverse events from drugs and vaccines are common, but underreported. Although 25% of ambulatory patients experience an adverse drug event, less than 0.3% of all adverse drug events and 1-13% of serious events are reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Likewise, fewer than 1% of vaccine adverse events are reported. Low reporting rates preclude or slow the identification of “problem” drugs and vaccines that endanger public health.”
Debate heats up over vaccinating more people with just one dose —Debate is intensifying over the idea of accelerating the U.S. vaccination campaign by giving people just one dose instead of two for the time being. The approach, which has the backing of some prominent experts, could essentially double the country’s vaccine supply in the short term. It has also gained ground in recent days after new research on the effectiveness of receiving only one dose, with a second dose planned for a few months down the line when supply shortages ease. As a more infectious variant gains ground, and roughly 2,000 people die from the coronavirus each day, the clock is ticking to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible. But the White House, as well as a different group of experts, is pushing back on the one-dose strategy, saying it’s unproven and risks eroding public acceptance of the vaccines. Further, opponents argue, it could create a breeding ground for new variants or lower the effectiveness of vaccines against different strains. Still, supporters feel their hand is strengthened by the publication of an Israeli study last week in The Lancet medical journal that found the Pfizer vaccine was 85 percent effective 15-28 days after the first dose. Two Canadian researchers wrote in a letter to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine the same week that their analysis of Pfizer data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration finds the vaccine is 92.6 percent effective two weeks after one dose. “I think it’s gained ground,” said Robert Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco and a leading proponent of the strategy of delaying the second dose. “One of the issues was: How well does the first dose by itself work?” he said. “That question is being answered and the answer is: It works quite well.” There are leading experts on both sides of the debate. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, pushed back on the idea of delayed doses at a White House press briefing Friday, noting it is unclear how long protection from just one dose would last. He also warned that some variants of the virus, most notably one first found in South Africa, could diminish the effectiveness of vaccines, and that having a stronger immune response from two doses provides more of a cushion against any reduction.
People who wear glasses are less likely to catch COVID-19: study –People who wear glasses are two-to-three times less likely to get infected with COVID-19, a new study has found.Indian researchers studied 304 patients whose glasses-wearing habits were examined through a questionnaire and compared with existing studies of the general population, according to researchpublished in medRxiv, which is not peer-reviewed.“This present study showed that the risk of COVID was two to three times less in spectacles-wearing population than the population not using spectacles,” Amit Kumar Saxena said in the findings,the UK’s Mirror reported.“Protective role of the spectacles was found statistically significant, if those were used for (a) long period of the day,” he added. “Touching and rubbing of the eyes with contaminated hands may be a significant route of infection.”The researchers said people touch their face on average 23 times an hour and the eyes on average three times per hour.“Touching one’s nose and mouth is significantly reduced when wearing a face mask properly. But wearing a face mask does not protect the eyes,” the study said.“The nasolacrimal duct may be a route of virus transmission from conjunctival sac to the nasopharynx,” according to the study.
COVID/Vitamin D: Much More Than You Wanted To Know – Lots of people think Vitamin D treats coronavirus, and some of them have good evidence. For example, infection rate from coronavirus seems latitude dependent; in general, the further north an area, the worse it’s been hit. Northern areas get less sunlight, and sunlight helps produce Vitamin D, so whenever you see a disease that’s worse at high latitudes, Vitamin D should be on your short list of potential causes.Also – in the US, COVID seemed to remit with the summer and worsen over the winter. It’s hard to distinguish this from general exponential growth and from the effect of playing ping-pong with gradually loosening/ tightening lockdowns, but the US spike this winter was pretty dramatic. Most Northern Hemisphere countries show such a pattern, most equatorial countries don’t, and some Southern Hemisphere countries arguably show the opposite. Whenever you see a disease that’s better in summer and worse in winter, Vitamin D is one of the possible culprits.And also, black people get COVID 1.4x more than white people, and die of it 3x more often. There are lots of potential social causes for health disparities between black and white people. But among potential biological causes, one of the most important is that black people have much less Vitamin D at temperate latitudes – their dark skin blocks the sunlight that would usually help them produce it. This is another pattern that sometimes means Vitamin D could be involved (ask me about schizophrenia rates sometime!), although there are obviously lots of other things that could be going on here.Also also, we know a lot of immune cells have Vitamin D receptors, and Vitamin D seems to modulate the immune system in some important way. A giant meta-analysis in 2017 found that Vitamin D modestly decreased rates of flus and colds, some of the coronavirus’ closest relatives.So lots of people did studies, and some of them were pretty suggestive. For example, a couple of papers like Radujkovic et al found that coronavirus patients with low Vitamin D levels had worse outcomes (eg were more likely to need ICU care or to die) than patients with higher levels. A couple more papers like Annweiler et alfound that patients who regularly took Vitamin D supplements for the year before they got coronavirus did better. A team from Quest Diagnostics, led by Harvey Kaufman, looked through 190,000 patients who they had tested for both coronavirus and vitamin D levels, and found that the coronavirus patients had notably lower Vitamin D levels than controls. Another team under Eugene Merzon in Israel looked through their databases and found the same in a 7807 patient sample.Surely that’s enough evidence to reach a firm conclusion, right? I’m not completely convinced…
Loss of sense of smell and taste may last up to 5 months after COVID-19 – People with COVID-19 may lose their sense of smell and taste for up to five months after infection, according to a preliminary study released today, February 22, 2021, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 73rd Annual Meeting being held virtually April 17 to 22, 2021. “While COVID-19 is a new disease, previous research shows that most people lose their sense of smell and taste in early stages of the illness,” said study author Johannes Frasnelli, M.D., of the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres in Canada. “We wanted to go further and look at how long that loss of smell and taste lingers, and how severe it is in people with COVID-19.” The study involved 813 health care workers who tested positive for COVID-19. Each person completed an online questionnaire and home test to evaluate their sense of taste and smell on average five months after diagnosis. They rated their senses of taste and smell on a scale from 0 to 10. Zero meant no sense at all, and 10 meant a strong sense of taste or smell. Researchers found the average person did not regain their sense of smell entirely. A total of 580 people lost their sense of smell during the initial illness. Of this group, 297 participants, or 51%, said they still had not regained their sense of smell five months later, while 134 participants, or 17%, had persistent loss of smell when evaluated with the home test. On average, people ranked their sense of smell at a seven out of 10 after the illness, compared with a nine out of 10 before they had gotten sick. A total of 527 participants lost their sense of taste during the initial illness.¬ Of this group 200 people, or 38%, said they still had not regained their sense of taste five months later, while 73 people, or 9%, had persistent loss of taste when evaluated with the home test. On average, people ranked their sense of taste at an eight out of 10 after the illness, compared with a nine out of 10 before they had gotten sick.
Post-COVID lungs worse than the worst smokers’ lungs, surgeon says -A Texas trauma surgeon says it’s rare that X-rays from any of her COVID-19 patients come back without dense scarring. Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall tweeted, “Post-COVID lungs look worse than any type of terrible smoker’s lung we’ve ever seen. And they collapse. And they clot off. And the shortness of breath lingers on… & on… & on.””Everyone’s just so worried about the mortality thing and that’s terrible and it’s awful,” shetold CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. “But man, for all the survivors and the people who have tested positive this is – it’s going to be a problem.” Bankhead-Kendall, an assistant professor of surgery with Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, has treated thousands of patients since the pandemic began in March. She says patients who’ve had COVID-19 symptoms show a severe chest X-ray every time, and those who were asymptomatic show a severe chest X-ray 70% to 80% of the time.”There are still people who say ‘I’m fine. I don’t have any issues,’ and you pull up their chest X-ray and they absolutely have a bad chest X-ray,” she said.In X-ray photos of a normal lung, a smoker’s lung and a COVID-19 lung that Bankhead-Kendall shared with CBS Dallas, the healthy lungs are clean with a lot of black, which is mainly air. In the smoker’s lung, white lines are indicative of scarring and congestion, while the COVID lung is filled with white. “You’ll either see a lot of that white, dense scarring or you’ll see it throughout the entire lung. Even if you’re not feeling problems now, the fact that that’s on your chest X-ray – it sure is indicative of you possibly having problems later on,” she said. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CBSN that some patients with severe COVID-19 could feel the impact for years to come.
Michigan boy, 10, loses both hands, both legs to COVID-related MIS-C syndrome – Dae’Shun Jamison, age 10, of Shelby, Michigan, contracted COVID-19 in early December. Like most kids his age who catch the disease, he was initially asymptomatic. But after two weeks he developed headaches and a fever. His mother took him to the hospital on December 21. He has yet to return home. For more than two months, Dae’Shun has undergone an unimaginable battery of surgeries and other procedures, including, tragically the amputation of both hands and both legs. The diagnosis is Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C, a life-threatening condition observed only in children with COVID-19. As their heart, kidneys and other organs become inflamed and dysfunctional, children with MIS-C suffer symptoms like gut pain, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, bloodshot eyes and fatigue. As of February 8, 2,060 children in the US have been diagnosed with MIS-C, and 30 of them have died as a result, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC). In a harrowing series of updates on the family’s GoFundMe page, Brittney Autman tells the story of her son’s experience with MIS-C. Dae’Shun was initially put on a ventilator and dialysis machine, she writes, with “two tubes in each side of his lungs to release fluid from his body.” Another “tube inserted into his pelvis led to his heart, filtering his blood.” On December 30, she writes that her son “will have to get his fingertips and toes amputated.” Dr. Rosemary Olivero, a pediatrician at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids where Dae’Shun is being treated, explained to Newsweek that severe heart dysfunction occurs in some children with MIS-C, obstructing the flow of blood through the limbs and necessitating amputation. On January 2, Autman notes that Dae’Shun “has had 6 units [pints] of blood after his procedures yesterday.” She describes how “they cut his hands and legs to release pressure from the fluid in his body” and to “get some circulation going in his legs and hands.” Soon, Dae’Shun’s condition improved to the point where he was able to be taken off his ventilator and could answer yes/no questions by shaking his head. But the improvements were not long lasting. By January 12, Autman had been informed that her son would need to have both legs amputated. By the time his second leg amputation was scheduled, he had also developed clots obstructing the flow of blood to both of his hands. His left leg and both hands were amputated on February 22. “Dae’Shun is very emotional about his amputations, and it breaks my heart.” Dae’Shun Jamison is one of the more than three million children in the United States who have contracted COVID-19. He and over 2,000 others have suffered MIS-C as a result, including 79 children in Michigan, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. Twenty-four Michigan children under the age of five have developed MIS-C, in addition to 31 children between five and 10 years old, like Dae’Shun, and 24 children age 11 or older, like Honestie Hodges, 14, of Grand Rapids, who died of MIS-C on November 22. The actual prevalence of COVID among children – who, according to the CDC, account for some 13 percent of infections in the US – as well as the emergence of new and horrific conditions in children like MIS-C expose the two big lies that are being used by the Biden administration to force schools back open for in-person learning across the country: (1) children do not contract and spread COVID in large numbers, and (2) if they do, they will not suffer horribly.
This 105-Year-Old Beat Covid. She Credits Gin-Soaked Raisins. – Ask Lucia DeClerck how she has lived to be 105, and she is quick with an answer. “Prayer. Prayer. Prayer,” she offers. “One step at a time. No junk food.” But surviving the coronavirus, she said, also may have had something to do with another staple: the nine gin-soaked golden raisins she has eaten each morning for most of her life. “Fill a jar,” she explained. “Nine raisins a day after it sits for nine days.” Her children and grandchildren recall the ritual as just one of Ms. DeClerck’s endearing lifelong habits, like drinking aloe juice straight from the container and brushing her teeth with baking soda. (That worked, too: She did not have a cavity until she was 99, relatives said.) “We would just think, ‘Grandma, what are you doing? You’re crazy,’” said her 53-year-old granddaughter, Shawn Laws O’Neil, of Los Angeles. “Now the laugh is on us. She has beaten everything that’s come her way.”
COVID Variants May Arise in People with Compromised Immune Systems – Scientific American –Last summer, as the second wave of COVID-19 cases was sweeping the United Kingdom, a man in his 70s was admitted to his local hospital where he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. He was sent home, but a month later he checked into the hospital at Cambridge University, unable to shake the virus. Like many people who develop severe COVID-19, the man was immunocompromised. He had lymphoma and had previously received chemotherapy treatment. Doctors gave him remdesivir, an antiviral drug used to treat COVID-19, but he showed little improvement. Two months after his illness began, as the patient continued to worsen, his medical team opted to treat him with convalescent plasma, a therapy derived from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19, which contains antibodies to fight off the virus. Sadly, he succumbed to the virus 102 days after testing positive, but what doctors learned from him and similar patients “has been transformative of our understanding of what’s going on in this disease,” says Ravindra Gupta, a member of the Cambridge University medical team and senior author of a report of the man’s case published February 5 in Nature. Analysis of samples from the patient showed that the virus evolved rapidly after the plasma therapy, developing mutations that changed how it could infect cells and resist antibodies. The conditions turned out to be ripe for viral evolution. “This is a blueprint for how variants emerge,” Gupta says.The plasma treatments did not rid the man of the virus, and in fact had little impact on the amount of virus detected. But the plasma had a remarkable effect on the genetic makeup of the viral population that the patient harbored. Seemingly in response to the antibodies contained within the plasma, the virus produced “escape mutations,” changes in the genetic code that helped it to evade detection by the sticky antibodies. Such mutations can make the virus more contagious or vaccines less effective. They are popping up in variants of SARS-CoV-2 around the world, fueling the pandemic even as vaccine shots are going into people’s arms. Over the several months of the patient’s treatment, doctors collected samples of the virus and determined their genetic sequences. The infection started out as a genetically singular population, but it underwent subtle changes after treatment with the antiviral drug remdesivir. “And then things really changed when we tried convalescent plasma,” Gupta says. Random changes in any viral genetic sequence are normal over the course of an infection, but a striking pattern emerged in Gupta’s patient. After the plasma infusions, viruses containing multiple new mutations appeared and quickly dominated, but not for long. Two weeks later, when antibody levels were expected to have diminished, the mutant virus population vanished. But then the patient received a final plasma treatment. Remarkably, the mutant strain came roaring back. Gupta’s team conjectured that the genetic changes appear to have occurred in response to the plasma treatment. This phenomenon, called selective pressure, may have occurred when viruses with mutations resistant to the antibodies survived.
Covid-19: Study IDs 7 U.S. Variants; U.K. Strain More Lethal; ’Breakthrough’ Cases Appearing Post-Vax | Physician’s Weekly –Results from a preprint study identified seven Covid-19 variants that seem to have originated in the United States – and it’s possible these mutant strains are even more contagious, the study authors warned.In their study, which was published in MedRxiv and is not yet peer-reviewed, Jeremy P. Kamil, PhD, and colleagues discovered that all seven variants carry the same mutation to amino acid position 677 – a convergent adaptation that may signal an evolutionary advantage for these strains. And, while it is not clear yet whether this particular mutation makes these strains more contagious, the study authors have their suspicions.“This stretch of spike is important because of its proximity to a region key for virulence,” study coauthor Vaughn Cooper, PhD, director of the Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, told CNN. “…We actually think these mutations are relatively rare (compared to other types of mutation), but they are disproportionately selected when they occur.”“There’s clearly something going on with this mutation,” Kamil said, according to the New York Times. “…I think there’s a clear signature of an evolutionary benefit.”The study authors named the seven variants after birds to help make them easier to identify.The largest of the 677 variant sub-lineages – accounting for 754 sequences – was dubbed “Robin 1″ and was first identified on Aug. 17 of last year, they explained. Thus far, Robin 1 has cropped up in over 30 states, but it is most prevalent in the Midwest. A second variant, which first appeared on Oct. 6, originated in Alabama and was labeled “Robin 2″ due to its similarity to Robin 1. A third variant, called “Pelican,” first appeared in Oregon and has since been identified in 12 other states, as well as Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, and India.“The remaining Q677H sub-lineages each contain around 100 or fewer sequences, and are named: Yellowhammer, detected mostly in the southeast U.S.; Bluebird, mostly in the northeast United States; Quail, mainly in the Southwest and Northeast; and Mockingbird, mainly in the South-central and East coast states,” Kamil and colleagues wrote.“Although it is too early to predict whether any particular S:677 polymorphic lineages will persist… the recurrent parallelism affecting S:677 suggests that this position will continue to surface in variants that show signs of increased transmissibility or fitness,” they added. “It will thus be critical to not only to continue genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 to monitor the prevalence of such variants over time, but also to formally define any biological characteristics of these polymorphisms in cell culture and small animal model systems.”
A second COVID mutation is now in FL, on top of the United Kingdom strain spreading through the U.S. –A second COVID mutation emerging from Brazil is now in Florida, adding to cases of the United Kingdom strain that has been spreading across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday evening. The Brazil mutation, called P.1, is in four states right now: Starting in Minnesota and Oklahoma, and now Maryland and Florida. The Brazil strain is on top of the United Kingdom variant, called B.1.1.7, and Florida has the largest number of cases in the nation – 433 – for the United Kingdom strain, according to CDC data from Thursday evening. Overall, the CDC reported 1,523 cases of the United Kingdom variant in 42 states – 41 states and Washington, D.C. – and it is considered more contagious and potentially more deadly than the original virus. The Brazil variant, now with one case in Florida, is described this way by the CDC: “In Brazil, a variant called P.1 emerged that was first identified in travelers from Brazil, who were tested during routine screening at an airport in Japan, in early January. This variant contains a set of additional mutations that may affect its ability to be recognized by antibodies. This variant was first detected in the US at the end of January 2021.” The Brazil strain was one of three variants that the CDC has been tracking as COVID-19 began spreading. The other strain is the South Africa variant, called, B.1.351, that is in 10 states. All three of the mutant strains raise several concerns, including whether the current vaccines will protect people from the COVID mutations.
South African COVID-19 variant found on Long Island – A Long Island resident has the first known case of the South African coronavirus variant in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday. The mutated version of COVID-19 was detected in a Nassau County resident, the governor said in a news release. The announcement came a week after a Connecticut resident hospitalized in New York City was found to have the variant. The strain, originally identified in South Africa, was first discovered in the US last month – and scientists believe it can spread more easily than other virus variants. It’s arrival in the Empire State means “it’s more important than ever for New Yorkers to stay vigilant, wear masks, wash hands and stay socially distanced,” Cuomo said. “We are in a race right now – between our ability to vaccinate and these variants which are actively trying to proliferate – and we will only win that race if we stay smart and disciplined,” he said. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran also urged residents to continue to take precautions. “We don’t believe the South African variant is more deadly, but it may be more contagious,” Curran said in a statement. “The best response is to continue the tried and true precautions: wearing masks, avoiding social gatherings, distancing, staying home and getting tested when sick.” Meanwhile, the state’s latest COVID-19 numbers continued to show a downward trend in hospitalizations and deaths after a spike around the holiday season. Fewer than 5,800 patients were hospitalized with the virus on Saturday, down more than 800 from a week earlier. Officials recorded 75 COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, the first time since Dec. 16 that the daily death toll was under 100. Cuomo also announced that the state’s COVID-19 positivity rate was at 2.99 percent, dropping below 3 percent for the first time since Nov. 23.
No early end to COVID-19: A new strain in any nation threatens us all – With new COVID-19 cases in steady decline across the United States, and the pace of vaccination accelerating, Americans may feel optimistic about what feels like a turning point. Despite this encouraging news and crucial progress, the uncontrolled, global spread of COVID-19 has produced a new problem: mutant viruses or variants, several of which are proving difficult to control. How did that happen? The answer is viral evolution – in this case, the selection of mutant viruses that transmit from one person to another more effectively and/or are more capable of defeating the human immune system. With each virus producing more than 10,000 new viruses, simultaneously occurring across millions of infected individuals, there is a near certainty that new versions of the virus will emerge. Natural selection occurs when these new viruses are tested against millions of human immune systems from across the globe. Virtually all viruses fail that test. However, the rare survivor virus successfully replicates itself, leading to ever more infectious viruses that transmit more efficiently. These new variant viruses make it harder to end the pandemic. In fact, more infectious variants mean we will need to vaccinate a greater proportion of the population than would have been required to control the original COVID-19 virus. These more infectious COVID-19 variants spread both more efficiently and at accelerated rates. A more transmissible virus is like a car that accelerates to a faster speed; to stop it, we must brake sooner, and brake harder. The preventive steps, or braking, that eventually achieved control during the spring wave in the United States may not be sufficient to control the next variant. New variants, such as B.1.1.7 identified in November in the United Kingdom, defeated some of the most aggressive community lockdowns, school closures and stay-at-home orders. Elsewhere, we are now aware that new COVID-19 variants are appearing wherever we are doing high quality sequencing of the virus’s genetic code. We are blinded to the magnitude of the threat of variants, as the majority emerge outside of our current ability to sequence the virus. This blind spot has immediate ramifications for each nation. For example, our partner hospitals in Brazil reported that patients infected with COVID-19 last spring have recently been re-infected by new variants. These variants appear to escape immune protection acquired from the first infection. This is not good. In Manaus, Brazil, after an uncontrolled first wave of COVID-19 between April and November, over 70 percent of the population developed antibodies to the virus – a level of protection we would have predicted would protect the population against re-infection. However, the emergence of another new variant, P.1., breached these immune defenses, resulting in Manaus suffering a catastrophic second wave of infection. Although scientists are still studying this event, initial evidence indicates certain mutations in the virus’s genetic code, along with waning immunity over time, result in people being susceptible to reinfection with the new variant. This is a very serious warning to the rest of the world: Immunity is not absolute – and may have an expiration date. The bottom line: we are far from being out of the woods, even while there is reason for hope.
Texas’ COVID-19 vaccination and testing efforts disrupted by devastating winter storm – On February 18, Julieta de Lima, long-time leading member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and head of the party’s peace negotiating team, delivered a speech to a summit of major church leaders in which she articulated the CPP’s open embrace of the Catholic Church and its legacy of medieval barbarism in the country. She addressed a gathering of archbishops, bishops, religious superiors and prominent ministers assembled for the 9th Ecumenical Church Leaders’ Summit on Peace to commemorate “500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines.” The event was sponsored by the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) which is comprised of the powerful Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the National Council of Churches and the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines. De Lima unreservedly adopted the language and dogma of Christianity. She approvingly quoted Pope Francis, telling the assembled bishops, “The Lord has redeemed us all, all of us, with the blood of Christ, all of us, not just Catholics.” She depicted the CPP as struggling for a “just and enduring peace,” and then dressed this up in the religious fatalism of medieval canon, Thomas a Kempis, declaring “To me this means Man proposes and God disposes with the masses not only voicing the will of God but realizing it on earth.” The Catholic Church, with its dogma of redemptive suffering and its apparatus of obscurantism, is one of the most exploitative institutions on the planet. The wealth of the church and the power of the pope are the product of nearly two millennia of theft, murder, conquest and counter-revolution. Few countries have suffered as greatly as a result of this history as the Philippines. The Communist Party of the Philippines, however, joined the assembled religious superiors in a celebration of this legacy. De Lima declared, “As we celebrate 500 years of Christianity in the country, let us strive ever harder to uphold human dignity.” She claimed that the “Filipino people have adopted it [Christianity] as a redemptive and liberating moral force in the same manner as one type of society after another has adopted science and technology as a progressive factor in advancing civilization.”
February 22 COVID-19 Test Results and Vaccinations — NOTE: The Covid Tracking Project will end daily updates on March 7th. From Bloomberg on vaccinations as of Feb 22nd. “In the U.S., more Americans have now received at least one dose than have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. So far, 64.2 million doses have been given. In the last week, an average of 1.37 million doses per day were administered.Here is the CDC COVID Data Tracker. This site has data on vaccinations, cases and more. The US is averaged 1.3 million tests per day over the last week. The percent positive over the last 7 days was 4.8%. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to below 1%, so the US has far too many daily cases – and percent positive – to do effective test-and-trace. There were 1,238,604 test results reported over the last 24 hours. There were 52,530 positive tests. Over 58,000 US deaths have been reported in February. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project. And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. (updated link to new site) This graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported and daily hospitalizations. The dashed line is the post-summer surge low for hospitalizations.
Death on an unprecedented scale: One year since the first death from COVID-19 in the US — This week, many of the national COVID-19 trackers will mark the death of 500,000 Americans in the United States from the coronavirus. It was just one year ago, on February 29, that the first official US fatality from COVID-19 was reported, a man in his 50s residing in Washington state. Postmortem testing in Santa Clara County, California, indicates that there may have been two earlier deaths, one on February 6 and another on February 17. Still, a closer examination of these horrific numbers, including excess deaths, a term that refers to the number of deaths from all causes during a crisis, above and beyond what would typically be seen, demonstrates that the present catastrophe is far more massive than official figures and, most likely, on par with the 1918 influenza pandemic and even the US Civil War. More on this later. In time, historians will write on the actual deaths that befell the nation during this pandemic, considering those, directly and indirectly, related to the contagion in their accounting. Most importantly, they will need to explain why it happened. However, it is instructive to take a measure of the scale of this devastation wrought primarily by the ruling class. Much can still be done to avert further calamity. It is not too late for the working class to take the initiative to turn the tide of this pandemic. According to the Worldometer COVID tracker, on February 20, 2021, the United States reported 28,706,473 cases of COVID-19 with 509,875 deaths. There are almost ten million active cases. Using back-of-the-envelope math, taking account of new cases and deaths since January 1, 2021, and utilizing a lag in deaths of two to four weeks, the crude case fatality rate for the winter surge was estimated at around 1.5 percent of all confirmed cases of COVID. This implies that based on present active case estimates, an additional 150,000 deaths may be forthcoming. When health care systems can function at standard capacities, there is an improvement in outcomes, which would help reduce this estimate. Hospitalization rates for COVID-19 have been on the decline since their January peaks. Yet, as the new B.1.1.7 strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is rapidly dominating previous versions, the present retreat in infections will slow in the next few weeks only to be followed by a massive wave unrivaled by previous surges. Some are describing the rapid transmission with this new strain as a second pandemic.
More than half a million dead of COVID-19 — The U.S. has surpassed 500,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus, even as case numbers trend downward and vaccination efforts proceed. The U.S. reached the half-million death milestone on Monday, the highest of any country, a little more than a year after the first American is believed to have died from the virus in Santa Clara County, Calif. The true toll of the coronavirus pandemic, however, is likely far higher, as federal figures maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show excess mortality well above what might be otherwise assumed for a typical year. “It’s something that is stunning when you look at the numbers, almost unbelievable, but it’s true,” Fauci said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” the day before the U.S. officially crossed the 500,000 threshold. “This is a devastating pandemic, and it’s historic. People will be talking about this decades and decades and decades from now.” The burden caused by the coronavirus has proven deadlier than what even some of the most pessimistic estimates suggested. COVID-19 has killed nearly 50 percent more people in the United States than the number of people who died from influenza over the entirety of the past decade – a number roughly equal to the population of Atlanta or Kansas City, Mo. The news comes as other trends in the U.S. are more hopeful, including cases dropping over 40 percent in the past two weeks and more than 70 percent since January, according to The New York Times. Daily positive tests are at their lowest rate since late October. Death rates are also beginning to slow. The nation has made tremendous progress in recent weeks in curbing a winter tsunami of new cases, though an average of 71,000 Americans still tested positive for the virus every day last week, a rate still well above the summer and spring peaks. In the last week, an average of 1,850 people died of the virus every day. Hospitalizations have fallen over 50 percent since January, with a total of 62,000 reported around the country as of Thursday, according to the Times. A stunning breakthrough in developing two vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and several more that will soon seek authorization for emergency use, has contributed in part to the decline in cases, though health experts cautioned that the country – and the world – still has a long way to go before the virus will come under control.
Coronavirus dashboard for February 23: vaccinations start to have a dramatic effect
- Total US coronavirus deaths: 500,310
- Total US confirmed infections: 28,190,159
- Total US vaccinated (at least 1 dose): 44,138,118
- Total US vaccinated (both doses): 19,438,495
The good news is, roughly 9.5% of the US population age 18 or over has received both doses of a vaccine. Over 20% has received at least one dose.The bad news is that we have reached the milestone of half a million dead. Further, probably at least 40,000,000 people have been infected, since many who have no or mild symptoms don’t ever get tested.Here’s the graph of the 7 day average of new infections and deaths for the US over the last 12 weeks:While there has been a decline of over 2/3’s in infections, and 40% in deaths, this only puts us even with the very worst levels of the summer outbreak.But there is increasingly dramatic evidence that the vaccines are having a real impact. Since the elderly in long term care facilities were the first to be vaccinated, that is where we would first expect to see an impact. And here it is, graphically:New infections have declined by nearly 90% in these facilities since vaccinations began, and are lower than they have been since at least 8 months ago.Here is a similar graph from one week ago, showing the percent of all coronavirus cases that arose from long term care facilities:The share of total cases declined by 50%. But since, over the same time span, *total* cases themselves declined 50%, that means that the total number of cases in long term care facilities declined by roughly 75%!The situation is similar in bellwether Israel, which has delivered doses equivalent to about 80% of its total population since December. Deaths are down over 60%:And when those who have been vaccinated are compared with those in similar situations who have not been vaccinated, the outcome is even more dramatic:The 7 day average of those who were vaccinated declined by about 2/3’s, while the decline among those not vaccinated was only 10%.There is simply no reasonable doubt that, as matters now stand, the vaccines are going to be very effective, probably by the Fourth of July, in nearly halting deaths due to the virus in the US – and that includes the new variant strains.
COVID-19 vaccine shipments to states increasing by another million doses – The Biden administration said Tuesday that it’s upping the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses sent to states each week – from 13.5 million doses to 14.5 million. The White House’s COVID-19 task force made the announcement on Twitter. The increased vaccine supply comes a week afterthe White House announced it was boosting the number of weekly doses being shipped out from 11 million to 13.5 million. So far, the US has distributed more than 82 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. But the vaccine rollout was plagued by shipping problems last week as winter storms across the US created delays. Officials have said that vaccine shipments should be back on track by the middle of the week. “It’s unfortunate that it was a setback, but it’s a temporary setback, and when you just, you know, put your foot to the accelerator and really push, we’ll get it up to where we need to be by the middle of the week,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
February 25 COVID-19 Test Results and Vaccinations – NOTE: The Covid Tracking Project will end daily updates on March 7th. From Bloomberg on vaccinations as of Feb 25th. “In the U.S., more Americans have now received at least one dose than have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. So far, 68.3 million doses have been given. In the last week, an average of 1.31 million doses per day were administered.” Here is the CDC COVID Data Tracker. This site has data on vaccinations, cases and more. The US is averaged 1.45 million tests per day over the last week. The percent positive over the last 7 days was 4.7%. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to below 1%, so the US has far too many daily cases – and percent positive – to do effective test-and-trace. There were 1,837,743 test results reported over the last 24 hours. There were 75,565 positive tests. Over 66,000 US deaths have been reported in February. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project. And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. (updated link to new site) This graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported and daily hospitalizations. The dashed line is the post-summer surge low for hospitalizations.
California’s coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous – A coronavirus variant that emerged in mid-2020 and surged to become the dominant strain in California not only spreads more readily than its predecessors, but also evades antibodies generated by COVID-19 vaccines or prior infection and is associated with severe illness and death, researchers said. In a study that helps explain the state’s dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths – and portends further trouble ahead – scientists at UC San Francisco said the cluster of mutations that characterizes the homegrown strain should mark it as a “variant of concern” on par with those from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. “The devil is already here,” said Dr. Charles Chiu, who led the UCSF team of geneticists, epidemiologists, statisticians and other scientists in a wide-ranging analysis of the new variant, which they call B.1.427/B.1.429. “I wish it were different. But the science is the science.” Californians, along with the rest of the country, have been bracing for the rise of a more transmissible coronavirus variant from the U.K. known as B.1.1.7. But they should know that a rival strain that is probably just as worrisome has already settled in, and will probably account for 90% of the state’s infections by the end of next month, said Chiu, an infectious diseases researcher and physician. The U.K. and California variants are each armed with enhanced capabilities, and the likelihood that they could circulate in the same population raises the specter of a return to spiking infections and deaths, Chiu said. It also opens the door to a “nightmare scenario”: That the two viruses will meet in a single person, swap their mutations, and create an even more dangerous strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The new evidence that the California variant could make people sicker, and vaccines less effective, should spur more intensive efforts to drive down infections, Chiu said. Those should include both public health measures, such as masking and limits on public activities, and a campaign of rapid vaccinations, he added. The new analysis is currently under review by the public health departments of San Francisco County and the state, which collaborated in the new research. It is expected to post late this week to MedRxiv, a website that allows new research to be shared before its formal publication. Over five months starting on Sept. 1, the California strain, which is sometimes referred to as 20C/L452R, rose from complete obscurity to account for more than 50% of all coronavirus samples that were subjected to genetic analysis in the state. Compared with strains that were most prominent here in early fall, the new strain seems to have an enhanced ability to spread, Chiu said. Exactly how much more transmissible the California strain is remains an open question, he added. But the evidence that it’s more contagious comes from several sources. Samples collected from a range of counties, and using a variety of collection methods, suggest the variant is 19% to 24% more transmissible. But in some circumstances, its advantage was much greater: In one nursing home outbreak, B.1.427/B.1.429 spread at a rate that was six times higher than its predecessors.
The dominant variant of the coronavirus in California has acquired dangerous mutations – Scientists have recently reported that a new variant from California has become the dominant lineage in that state. In a review of their database, they had first identified it in the early part of last summer, laying dormant until the winter surge propelled it rapidly throughout the state. According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), this particular variant grew from 0 percent in September to 50 percent in late January. This new variant has also been detected in many other US states and has reached places as far as the UK, Singapore, and Australia. It possesses mutations in its spike protein that appear to make it not only more transmissible but also helps it to evade antibodies generated by the COVID-19 vaccines. Scientists have designated the new mutation as the CAL.20C variant spanning the B.1.427 and B.1.429 lineages. It is associated with a mutation in its receptor-binding domain called L452R. Dr. Charles Chiu is the senior author of a study documenting the rise of the CAL.20C variant among 8,000 residents of the Mission District in San Francisco, and first detected the variant on December 31. He told the press, “This variant is concerning because our data shows that it is more contagious, more likely to be associated with severe illness, and at least partially resistant to neutralizing antibodies. … The devil is already here. I wish it were different. But the science is the science.” Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Chiu indicated that it would be imperative to drive down infections as much as possible while rapidly moving to vaccinate the population. This assessment was echoed by Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a Georgetown University virologist, who stated, “The [UCSF] findings warrant taking a much closer look at this variant. … They underscore the importance of pulling out all the stops in terms of both exposure reduction and increased vaccine distribution and access.” In a review of 324 people with COVID-19 treated at UCSF clinics or its medical centers, after adjusting for various confounding variables, such as age, gender, and race, those infected with the CAL.20C variant were almost five times more likely to need ICU admission and 11 times more likely to die. Analysis from nasal swabs also demonstrated that patients with CAL.20C carry twice the viral load. Additionally, during in vivo studies, the variant was four times less susceptible to antibodies from previously infected individuals and two times less susceptible to antibodies obtained from people vaccinated with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
California’s super-Covid variant is up to 11 TIMES more deadly, scientists warn — A COVID-19 variant discovered in California is up to 11 times more deadly than other strains already in circulation, experts have warned. The variant could weaken vaccine efficacy and scientists labelled the strain as “the devil” after their alarming discoveries. The variant is called B.1.427/B.1.429 and was first spotted in California this winter. It hasn’t been detected in the UK, but has been found in Australia, Denmark, Mexico and Taiwan. As with any new variant, it contains new mutations which scientists were aware could give it an edge over the “original” strain of the virus.They have been studying it closely with the first findings – which are not published in a peer-reviewed journal – causing concern.Researchers analysed 2,172 virus samples collected in California between September 2020 and January 2021.During this time, the variant had surged to become the more dominant strain, with cases caused by it doubling every 18 days, the New York Times reported.The paper said lab studies found that the variant was “at least 40 per cent more effective at infecting human cells” compared with earlier strains.This is likely based on lab experiments which looks at how the coronavirus latches on to human cells. As well as this, the swabs of people who tested positive for the strain had twice the level of viral particles – otherwise known as viral load – in their throat or nose.Together, these findings suggest that the Californian strain has the ability to spread between people easier. Study lead author Dr Charles Chiu, a virologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told the LA Times: “The devil is already here.
Coronavirus US: are current vaccines effective against the Californian strain? – Covid-19 variants coming from the UK, Brazil and South Africa have been getting all the attention while there has been a concerning strain quietly developing and spreading on home soil, in California. The new variant, which scientists refer to as B.1.427/B.1.429, which came on the radar in September 2020 is thought to spread more quickly than others. According to a limited but worrying new study there are now concerns that it could be better at dodging antibodies created by previous infection or a vaccine, and may cause more serious illness. Experts believe the California variant likely emerged in the state in May. By the end of next month, the homegrown strain will probably account for 90% of the state’s coronavirus infections, said Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious disease researcher. https://t.co/09YzbSxSJi It’s still too early to say for sure whether the Golden State strain will evade vaccines, scientists are still monitoring the situation closely. But back in January, Dr. Charles Chiu, a virologist and professor of laboratory medicine at University of California, San Francisco said that there’s concern about the covid-19 vaccine’s efficacy against the variant. “The data is preliminary, but it basically does raise the concern that there may be some impact on the vaccine.” As we reported previously, with regards to the covid variant discovered in the UK research didn’t show cause for concern that the vaccines could be evaded by the new mutation. In addition, both Pfizer and Moderna have carried out early lab tests on the efficacy of their existing vaccines on the new UK and South African variants. Both companies found that their current vaccines are almost equally as effective on the new UK strain as they are against earlier variants upon which they were developed. However, both vaccines were found to offer slightly less protection against the South African variant. On Friday, a Johnson & Johnson single shot vaccine was recommended by the FDA advisory panel, paving the way for the latest vaccine success story to be granted emergency use authorisation next week, little is known about how this vaccine would fare against the variant discovered in the Golden State but it’s another shot at success. Virus mutations in general are nothing unusual or particularly concerning. Most viruses mutate quickly, accumulating changes in their biology as they replicate. Copying genetic code perfectly is hard and when you multiply as many times as a virus does, you pick up a lot of errors also known as mutations. Those mutations allow viruses to adapt quickly to changes in their host environment. Most mutations actually scupper a virus’ effectiveness in making us sick, some are neutral and others will even help it spread. By July 2020 over 12,000 mutant versions of covid-19 had been identified, according to the New Scientist, though there will be tens of thousands more versions that differ by just a single mutation. Overall any two covid-19 coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2) will only differ by fewer than 30 mutations and are considered as belonging to the same strain.
A New Coronavirus Variant Is Spreading in New York, Researchers Report – NY Times – A new form of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in New York City, and it carries a worrisome mutation that may weaken the effectiveness of vaccines, two teams of researchers have found.The new variant, called B.1.526, first appeared in samples collected in the city in November. By the middle of this month, it accounted for about one in four viral sequences appearing in a database shared by scientists.One study of the new variant, led by a group at Caltech, was posted online on Tuesday. The other, by researchers at Columbia University, was published on Thursday morning.Neither study has been vetted by peer review nor published in a scientific journal. But the consistent results suggest that the variant’s spread is real, experts said.“It’s not particularly happy news,” “But just knowing about it is good because then we can perhaps do something about it.”Dr. Nussenzweig said he was more worried about the variant in New York than the one quickly spreading in California. Yet another contagious new variant, discovered in Britain, now accounts for about 2,000 cases in 45 states. It is expected to become the most prevalent form of the coronavirus in the United States by the end of March.Researchers have been scrutinizing the genetic material of the virus to see how it might be changing. They examine genetic sequences of virus taken from a small proportion of infected people to chart the emergence of new versions. The Caltech researchers discovered the rise in B.1.526 by scanning for mutations in hundreds of thousands of viral genetic sequences in a database called GISAID. “There was a pattern that was recurring, and a group of isolates concentrated in the New York region that I hadn’t seen,” said Anthony West, a computational biologist at Caltech.He and his colleagues found two versions of the coronavirus increasing in frequency: one with the E484K mutation seen in South Africa and Brazil, which is thought to help the virus partially dodge the vaccines; and another with a mutation called S477N, which may affect how tightly the virus binds to human cells. By mid-February, the two together accounted for about 27 percent of New York City viral sequences deposited into the database, Dr. West said. (For the moment, both are grouped together as B.1.526.)
New coronavirus variant in NYC has vaccine-evading mutation —A new coronavirus variant with concerning mutations is on the rise in New York City, according to news reports.This latest coronavirus variant, dubbed B.1.526, first emerged in New York in November 2020, and it now accounts for about 25% of coronavirus genomes that were sequenced from New York in February and posted to a global database called GISAID, according to The New York Times.Researchers at the California Institute of Technology identified B.1.526 after looking through that database for mutations in the virus’s spike protein, or the structure that allows the virus to bind to and enter human cells. The researchers have posted their findings, which have yet to be peer-reviewed, to the preprint database bioRxiv.Two “branches” or versions of the B.1.526 lineage exist, both with worrisome mutations. One branch has a mutation called E484K, which has also been seen in other coronavirus variants, including those identified in South Africa and Brazil. This mutation may reduce the ability of certain antibodies to neutralize, or inactivate, the virus, and may help the coronavirus partially evade COVID-19 vaccines, Live Science previously reported. The other branch has a mutation called S477N, which may help the virus bind more tightly to cells, the Times reported. Separately, researchers from Columbia University also identified the B.1.526 variant when they sequenced more than 1,100 virus samples from patients with COVID-19 at their hospital. They found that the percentage of patients infected with the version of B.1.526 with the E484K mutation had increased quite rapidly in recent weeks, and it now infects 12% of their patients.”We find the rate of detection of this new variant is going up over the past few weeks. A concern is that it might be beginning to overtake other strains, just like the U.K. and South African variants” did in those countries, Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University who led the Colubmia study, told CNN. However, Ho added that more research is needed to determine if B.1.526 is winning out over other variants. “Given the involvement of E484K or S477N [mutations], combined with the fact that the New York region has a lot of standing immunity [to earlier coronavirus strains] from the spring wave, this is definitely one to watch,” Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, told the Times.
Mutant coronavirus variants are a growing threat – While emerging coronavirus variants remain a threat, health experts said they are hopeful that rising vaccination rates and continued wearing of masks can blunt the potential for a new wave. There are indeed concerns about whether the immunity offered by vaccines will be less effective against some coronavirus variants, including the strain first identified in South Africa, B.1.351, and the homegrown California strain, B.1.427/B.1.429. Researchers at UC San Francisco said that in lab tests, the California strain was more resistant to the effects of neutralizing antibodies that are generated by the immune system in response to COVID-19 vaccines or by a previous coronavirus infection. Compared with other variants, the protection provided by the antibodies was reduced by a “moderate … but significant” amount, the UCSF researchers said. When the neutralizing antibodies went up against the homegrown strain, their effectiveness was cut in half. By comparison, when these antibodies encountered the coronavirus strain that’s now dominant in South Africa, their effectiveness was reduced to one-sixth of their usual levels. Vaccine makers have begun working on booster shots that would be a better match for the new variants. But researchers say that the vaccines are still quite good and remain our best bet for being protected against the virus. Doctors urge people to get the shots as soon as they’re eligible. The vaccination campaigns are an important contributor to the continuing decline in daily coronavirus cases, and that trend is gratifying, Dr. Eric McDonald, medical director of the San Diego County epidemiology department, said this week. McDonald said that even if the California strain “is a little more contagious than the other ones that are circulating in the community, the take-home message is the same: that you need to do all the things that we’ve recommended to prevent transmission – so, wearing masks, social distancing, staying at home.” “We couldn’t say it in stronger terms: We think it is a mistake to take our foot off the gas too early, especially when we are accelerating our vaccination efforts right now,” said Andy Slavitt, senior advisor to the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
CDC director: Covid variants could ‘undermine all of our efforts’ – New, highly transmissible Covid-19 variants “stand to reverse” the nation’s control of the pandemic and could “undermine all of our efforts” against the disease if the virus is left to proliferate in different parts of the globe, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. Top U.S. health officials have warned in recent weeks that the emergence of highly contagious variants, particularly the B.1.1.7 strain that emerged in the U.K., could reverse the current downward trajectory in infections in the U.S. and delay the nation’s recovery from the pandemic. The problem isn’t isolated to the United States. As the coronavirus spreads, it makes huge numbers of copies of itself, and each version is a little different from the one before it, experts say. As more people become infected, the more likely it is that problematic mutations will arise. “Even if you were not necessarily leaning towards wanting to be part of the global health effort, we need to because all of the efforts that we’re doing, that we are moving forward here in this nation, could be potentially undermined in a heartbeat from these variants emerging,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told the National Academy of Medicine and the American Public Health Association on Wednesday. Scientists aren’t surprised by the emergence of the variants and have reiterated that the currently available vaccines should still work against them, though they might not be as effective as they are against the original “wild” strain. Moderna said on Wednesday that it shipped doses of a booster shot that specifically targets the variant spreading in South Africa, known as the B.1.351 strain, to the National Institutes of Health. “We know this virus knows no geographic borders and addressing this reality is more pressing than ever before, given the rapid proliferation of Covid-19 variants that stand to reverse the progress that has been made to control this pandemic,” Walensky said. The U.S. is reporting a weekly average of roughly 71,562 new Covid-19 cases per day, a 12% decline compared with a week ago and a significant drop from when average new cases in the U.S. peaked at close to 250,000 cases per day in early January, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. While not every country is reporting similar declines, global Covid-19 cases in the U.S. have dropped for six consecutive weeks as of Sunday, according to the World Health Organization’s latest situation report published on Tuesday. The decline is welcome news as countries race to administer their initial doses of Covid-19 vaccines. While some nations have been administering vaccines since December, however, some are just beginning to receive their initial shots. The first shipment of vaccines delivered through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program arrived in Ghana on Wednesday. Some experts have previously said equitable vaccine distribution may be too late since wealthier nations have made their own deals with vaccine manufacturers, claiming their initial supply of doses. “The Covid-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder of how interconnected we are as a global community,” Walensky said.
Scientists say clinical trials for ‘variant-proof’ vaccines could start very soon -Scientists are developing a range of second-generation Covid vaccines aimed at expanding protection against the disease.Candidates include one version that could provide immune defence against many different virus variants, while other researchers are investigating vaccines that would generate responses aimed specifically at blocking transmission of the disease.Other projects include research into the creation of multiple vaccines that could each tackle different virus strains but would be administered as a single jab in a manner similar to annual flu jabs, which currently combine four vaccines against different strains of the influenza virus. At present, Covid vaccines are designed to stop infected people becoming seriously ill, to prevent hospitalisations and deaths. It is not known yet how effective they are at blocking viruses passing from person to another.“There is no indication that any of the new virus variants that have appeared recently are causing more severe disease than the original virus,” said Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at Nottingham University. “However, there is evidence that some of these new variants may be better at infecting and therefore spreading in populations that have existing partial immunity following natural infection or vaccination.”One possible solution is a vaccine – now under development by a team of scientists including Ball – that targets not just the spike protein on the surface of the Covid virus but also another part of the virus, called the N protein.“Hopefully this should result in much wider response from immune systems and so provide a much broader immunity to the virus,” Ball told the Observer. “And given what we know now about the emergence of Covid virus variants, that could help us strengthen protection against the disease,” he added.
Unprotected African health workers die as rich countries buy up COVID-19 vaccines – On 6 January, gastroenterologist Leolin Katsidzira received a troubling message from his colleague James Gita Hakim, a heart specialist and noted HIV/AIDS researcher. Hakim, chair of the department of medicine at the University of Zimbabwe, had fallen sick and had tested positive for COVID-19. He was admitted to a hospital in Harare 10 days later and moved to an intensive care unit (ICU) after his condition deteriorated. He died on 26 January. It is a crushing loss to Zimbabwean medicine, Katsidzira says. “Don’t forget: We have had a huge brain drain. So people like James are people who keep the system going,” he adds. Scientists around the world mourned Hakim as well. He was “a unique research leader, a brilliant clinical scientist and mentor, humble, welcoming and empowering,” wrote Melanie Abas, a collaborator at King’s College London. But Hakim’s death also highlights a stark reality in the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. Countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas have administered more than 175 million shots to protect people against COVID-19 since December 2020, with most countries giving priority to medical workers. But not a single country in sub-Saharan Africa has started immunizations – South Africa will be the first, this week – leaving health care workers dying in places where they are scarce to begin with. The exact toll of COVID-19 among health workers is hard to gauge, but Hakim was one of several prominent doctors to succumb in recent weeks in Africa, which has suffered a second pandemic wave. Just 1 day before him, U.S. physician David Katzenstein, who had moved to Harare after his retirement and directed the Biomedical Research and Training Institute there, died from COVID-19 at the same hospital. “We don’t hear about a lot of the others who are laboring in the health care workforce behind them.” Neighboring Mozambique lost an anesthesiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a urologist in recent weeks, says parasitologist Emilia Noormahomed of Eduardo Mondlane University, as well as two young general care physicians. Several more are seriously ill. Such losses hit hard in Mozambique, which only has about eight doctors per 100,000 people, compared with almost 300 in the United States. “It will literally take an entire generation to rebuild” from such losses, says Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health.
Japan Finds New COVID-19 Strain, While Immigration Centre Reports Infections — JAPAN confirmed a new variant of COVID-19, and an infection cluster emerged at a Tokyo immigration facility, presenting new challenges as the country tries to overcome a third wave of the pandemic. The new variant has been found in 91 cases in the Kanto area of eastern Japan and in 2 cases at airports, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters on Friday. The government is raising surveillance against mutant varieties as they may be more resistant to vaccines, which Japan started to distribute this week. “It may be more contagious than conventional strains, and if it continues to spread domestically, it could lead to a rapid rise in cases,” Kato said. The new strain appears to have originated overseas but is different from other types that have been found sporadically in Japan, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. It has the E484K mutation on the spike protein of the virus that has been found in other variants, which may undermine the effectiveness of vaccines. Japan has reported 151 cases of variants from Britain, South Africa and Brazil, according to the health ministry. The nation has had more than 400,000 cases of COVID-19 with 7,194 fatalities. Meanwhile, 5 staff and 39 foreign detainees at a Tokyo immigration facility have tested positive for COVID-19. All 130 detainees at the facility have been tested for the virus, according to a spokesperson for the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau. None of the cases is serious, and all infected detainees remain quarantined from others. The representative declined to comment on the nationality of the infected detainees, citing privacy concerns.
New Mutant COVID Strain Discovered In Finland Which May Evade Tests — Hospital officials in Finland are grappling with a surge in COVID-19 cases, as the spread of new and more contagious strains spread throughout the country – including one new variant which may not show up on tests, according to theHelsinki Times.According to Veli-Matti Ulander, the chief administrator for the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), the number of COVID-19 patients has nearly doubled in one week – forcing the transfer of patients to other parts oft he country, as an “attempt to try to spread out the burden placed by the coronavirus on HUS,” Ulander told Finnish media. Chief HUS physician Asko Järvinen added that pressure to transfer patients comes primarily from staffing shortages.The new strain, discovered by the Helsinki-based Vita Laboratories, is unlikely to have emerged in Finland given the country’s low rate of infection, according to the Evening Standard, however it is unclear whether it’s any more infectious – or deadly – than other strains currently in circulation.”Vita Laboratoriot Oy and the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki have detected a previously unknown variant of the coronavirus in a sample from southern Finland,” said the lab, which named the new strain Fin-769H. “Mutations in this variant make it difficult to detect in at least one of the WHO-recommended PCR tests. This discovery could have a significant impact on determining the spread of the disease.”Since the mutant strain was only discovered last week, it’s unclear what impact it’s having on the country’s outbreak, though the timing is certainly curious.“The variant was discovered in a patient last week, so details about the infectivity and potential resistance of this strain to vaccines are not yet known,” said Taru Meri, a researcher at Vita Laboratories. Finland has bucked the trend of falling COVID cases globally. Instead, the country has seen daily numbers remain steady since the start of the new year.
800,000 COVID-19 deaths in Europe: capitalism, social murder and the case for socialism – Yesterday, the official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic across Europe surpassed 800,000. Death on this scale is so massive a blow to society that it is difficult to comprehend. It is as if the cities of Frankfurt (753,056) or Amsterdam (821,752) had been wiped off the map. The loss of life has surpassed the total casualties at the battle of Verdun in World War I, and the number of soldiers killed in the gigantic 1941 battle of Moscow during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. One in 529 people has died of COVID-19 in Belgium, one in 545 in the Czech Republic, one in 558 in Britain, one in 625 in Italy, one in 630 in Portugal, and one in 646 in Bosnia. As deaths surge and births collapse, life expectancy has fallen in Western Europe for the first time since World War II: 1.5 years in Italy, one year in Spain and Britain, and half a year in Sweden and France. Tens of millions in Europe have lost loved ones. By last month, 63 percent of Spaniards, 59 percent of Poles, 58 percent of Italians, 57 percent of Britons and Swedes, 51 percent of Frenchmen and 34 percent of Germans had at least one relative or close friend test positive. Fully 19 percent in Spain and Poland, 21 percent in Italy, 13 percent in Britain, 11 percent in France, 10 percent in Sweden and 8 percent in Germany, saw a relative or close friend die. Tens of millions of workers lost their jobs as the economy fell by 11 percent in Spain, 10 percent in Britain, 9 percent in Italy, 8 percent in France, 5 percent in Germany, and 3 percent in Poland and Russia. Restaurants, theaters, gyms and other small businesses are unsure when or even if they will ever be able to reopen normally. Students who have lost part-time jobs are lining up to receive food and basic supplies from charities or other associations. The pandemic is not only a tragedy, but a comprehensive failure of the social order. A ruling class utterly indifferent to human life is carrying out policies that amount, as the prestigious BMJ (British Medical Journal) recently wrote, to “social murder.” Today, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 stands at 33.5 million, or about 5 percent of Europe’s population. Every day, 100,000 people or more test positive, and deadlier variants of the virus spread further. The Czech Republic recently appealed for international aid, with its hospitals overwhelmed, and expected to be swamped in two to three weeks. It received only one reply, from Berlin, offering to take just nine patients. Yet amid warnings from scientists that a new upsurge of cases due to the variants is inevitable unless drastic action is taken, capitalist governments across Europe are rejecting shelter-at-home orders and moving to eliminate remaining social distancing measures. … Mass spread of the virus is not inevitable. By following medical professionals’ calls for strict contact tracing and shelter-at-home orders, a few countries like China, Taiwan and Vietnam dramatically limited the contagion. In Europe, however, political representatives of the financial aristocracy needlessly condemned hundreds of thousands to death.
Brazil reaches a quarter of a million COVID-19 deaths – With 1,390 new deaths recorded on Wednesday, Brazil surpassed the milestone of 250,000 deaths from COVID-19, one day after reaching 10 million infections. This abominable number represents 10 percent of all coronavirus deaths on the planet, in a country that does not even constitute 3 percent of the world’s population. This week also marks one year since the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Brazil, on February 26, 2020. After this long period of suffering and hardship imposed upon the Brazilian working masses, the pandemic remains totally out of control, with thousands of lives being lost every day and various parts of the country being pushed to the limit. The northern region of Brazil as a whole has suffered a severe impact in recent months. Amazonas, whose capital Manaus had a health care collapse in January, has already recorded more COVID-19 deaths in the first 54 days of this year than during all of 2020. The number of hospital admissions in the state remains high, and hundreds of patients in serious condition await an ICU bed. This week, shocking images were released of a hospital in the city of Parintins where intubated patients are being strapped to their stretchers for lack of sufficient sedatives. The neighboring state of Acre declared a state of public calamity on Monday. The state is facing the catastrophic combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, an outbreak of dengue fever, and floods that have already affected 130,000 people in 10 of the state’s municipalities, including the capital. Hospitals are on the verge of collapse, and a record 621 new cases were recorded on Tuesday. The right-wing governor Gladson Cameli, of the Progressive Party (PP), said he only has resources for the next three months and compared the situation to a “third world war.” It is highly likely that the more contagious P.1 variant of COVID-19, originally discovered in Manaus, is circulating in Acre, which received patients after the hospitals collapsed in the neighboring state. The Brazilian Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that cases of this new variant have already been reported in 17 states in all five regions of the country. In the southeast region, the São Paulo government of Governor João Doria, of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), has decreed a so-called “restrictive curfew” to allegedly limit the circulation of people between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., which will go into effect next Friday. The state, which has seen more than 58,000 deaths and nearly 2 million confirmed cases, registered its highest number of ICU patients this week. The situation is especially devastating in municipalities in the countryside of São Paulo. Last Sunday, Araraquara declared a lockdown, which was followed by smaller municipalities in the region. With cases of community transmission of the P.1 variant of COVID-19, the city reached maximum capacity in its hospitals last Tuesday. Other cities like Campinas, with more than a million inhabitants, have also reached maximum capacity of its ICU beds, and the cities of the industrial ABC region are approaching the same level. The brutal conditions faced in the Amazonian hospitals are being reenacted in São Paulo. This was underscored this week by the resignation of 15 of the 24 resident doctors at the Pimentas Bonsucesso Municipal Hospital, in Guarulhos, in the Greater São Paulo region, in protest over the lack of medications and the precarious conditions of the medical unit. According to one of the residents, interviewed by the newspaper Agora, “The situation really got worse at the end of last year and the beginning of this one, because there was no way to replace the medications, which were in short supply.” The same doctor reports that, as in the hospital at Parintins, there is a lack of sedatives for intubated patients: “This doesn’t allow them to relax, preventing the equipment [ventilators] from working effectively. I witnessed a [COVID-19] patient die by biting the hose [that takes oxygen to the lung], because the intubation was not working, due to the fact that he was conscious.”
‘Aggressive measures needed’: India discovers 240 new, possibly more infectious Covid-19 strains RT -A whopping 240 mutated coronavirus strains have been discovered across India, health officials have said, warning that some of them may potentially be more infectious, and may even be capable of evading immune response altogether. The new Covid-19 strains are likely behind the sudden spike of new cases in several Indian states, including Maharashtra – the second most populous state housing the city of Mumbai – a member of the regional Covid-19 task force, Shahshank Joshi, told NDTV. He added that a total of around 240 new virus variants have been discovered across the country. Some of the new variants could be highly transmissible or potentially more dangerous, Randeep Guleria, the head of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and also a member of the Maharashtra task force, has warned. Some virus strains have an immunity “escape mechanism” that could cause re-infection in people who already developed anti-bodies to Covid-19 through battling the disease or getting a vaccine, he told the Indian broadcaster. The pulmonologist said that vaccination is still a “must” since, even if the jab would not prevent re-infection, it could still make the symptoms much milder. But vaccination alone is not enough, Guleria said, adding that “aggressive measures of testing, contact tracing and isolating infections” are needed as well. Joshi, meanwhile, suggested promoting “double masking” – wearing two face masks at once – and creating certain micro-containment zones to stem the spread of the infection. Their words come as several districts in Maharashtra are about to enter a strict week-long lockdown starting Monday, following a spike in new cases. The state reported 6,971 fresh cases and 35 Covid-related deaths on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, the state’s social welfare minister, Vijay Wadettiwar, said he was considering a night curfew in all areas declared virus hotspots.
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