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:
Both new Covid cases and US deaths attributed to the virus were lower during the past week. New Covid infections during the week ending April 24th were down 16.3% from during the week ending April 17th, and down 76.7% from the early January peak. US Covid deaths were down 2.0% from the prior week, and down 79.0% from the January peak. New infections in the states that had been leading the early spring surge, including Michigan, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, have all turned lower.
About 40% of the US adult population is fully vaccinated, and over 55% have received one dose, but the vaccination rate appears to be slowing; i have reports of two plains states that are turning down additional doses on that account, and another report suggests about 5 million of us have not followed up after one dose. The 3 vaccines now in use appear to be equally effective against the now dominant UK strain (B.1.1.7), but there continues to be sporadic reports of new infections with Covid mutations that are more successful against both vaccinated and previous infected populations. Included among those are a handful of cases of the relatively new B.1.617 variant, aka the “double mutant”, that is infecting India. New cases of that variant are making inroads in Israel, where 62% of the population is fully vaccinated, including 90 percent of those most at-risk.
The chart below from WorldoMeter shows the daily number of new cases for the US, updated through 01 May.
According to Johns Hopkins (graph below), new cases globally continue to increase, but at a noticably slower rate last week.
Also, Johns Hopkins has a graph for global deaths (below). The high 2 weeks ago was exceeded this week so the peak for deaths has still not been defined.
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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: 01 May 2021 Coronavirus Charts and News: Are Some a Little Too Anxious for JandJ’s COVID Shot? India’s Second Wave Worsened.
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:
‘Long haulers’ study suggests even mild COVID-19 could increase risk of death up to 6 months after infection – Mild COVID-19 made people more likely to die for six months in a large-scale study published Thursday in Nature. The study, of nearly 73,000 mostly male veterans, found that people who had COVID-19 but weren’t hospitalized were 59% more likely to die more than a month after diagnosis, compared to someone without the virus. A higher risk of death extended to at least six months. The study’s authors, from the US department of Veterans Affairs, estimated that mild COVID-19 would cause eight more deaths per 1,000 people six months out from diagnosis, compared to an average group of people on the US department of Veterans Affairs database. The numbers were higher for those who had hospital treatment – a separate group of nearly 14,000 people in the study. The authors estimated that out of 1,000 people who received hospital treatment for COVID-19, 28 more would die within six months of diagnosis, compared with an average group of 1,000 on the database. Due to the nature of the study, it was not possible to say whether COVID-19 caused these deaths. The cohort for mild COVID-19 comprised more than 73,000 mostly white (76%), male (90%) war veterans with an average age of 66, so it is not clear whether the findings apply to a wider population. The US department of Veteran Affairs researchers also found that those not needing hospital treatment required 20% more ongoing care than someone who hadn’t gotten infected. Some of these people had lingering symptoms, including respiratory symptoms, headaches, mental-health conditions, and metabolic disorders. A previous study from France, reported on by Insider’s Aria Bendix in March, found that 40-year-old women were most at risk of so-called “long-COVID,” – a range of symptoms lasting a month or more after first catching coronavirus or that appear weeks after infection. The authors of the new study didn’t provide much detail about the symptoms, including how long they lasted for, and whether the veterans had preexisting conditions before they caught COVID-19. The authors also reported increased use of certain medications, including pain medication, cough medicines, inhalers, and mental health treatments in those who had COVID-19, but didn’t give much detail.
High-dimensional characterization of post-acute sequalae of COVID-19 – Abstract – The acute clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are well characterized1,2; however, its post-acute sequalae have not been comprehensively described. Here, we use the national healthcare databases of the US Department of Veterans Affairs to systematically and comprehensively identify 6-month incident sequalae including diagnoses, medication use, and laboratory abnormalities in 30-day survivors of COVID-19. We show that beyond the first 30 days of illness, people with COVID-19 exhibit higher risk of death and health resource utilization. Our high dimensional approach identifies incident sequalae in the respiratory system and several others including nervous system and neurocognitive disorders, mental health disorders, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, malaise, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and anemia. We show increased incident use of several therapeutics including pain medications (opioids and non-opioids), antidepressants, anxiolytics, antihypertensives, and oral hypoglycemics and evidence of laboratory abnormalities in multiple organ systems. Analysis of an array of pre-specified outcomes reveals a risk gradient that increased across severity of the acute COVID-19 infection (non-hospitalized, hospitalized, admitted to intensive care). The findings show that beyond the acute illness, substantial burden of health loss – spanning pulmonary and several extrapulmonary organ systems – is experienced by COVID-19 survivors. The results provide a roadmap to inform health system planning and development of multidisciplinary care strategies to reduce chronic health loss among COVID-19 survivors.
Staying 6 feet apart indoors does almost nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19, MIT study finds – The widely used rule of staying 6 feet away from others does little to affect the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in indoor spaces, according to a new study out of MIT.According to MIT researchers, the rule is based on an outdated understanding of how the coronavirus moves in closed spaces.They said other variables – like the number of people in a space, whether they wear masks, what they are doing, and the level of ventilation – were much more important.The 6-foot rule is used in various forms around the world: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises 6 feet of separation indoors and outdoors, while in the UK the figure is 2 meters. In much of Europe, the figure is 1 meter, which is also recommended as a minimum distance by the World Health Organization.But while such distancing rules are easy to remember, and purport to suit any situation, the new study says they may not be that useful.The study was released online ahead of its publication in the peer-reviewed journal PNAS on Tuesday.It says a better way of controlling indoor exposure is to do individual calculations based on variables for that space.In some cases, the exposure level might be the same at 6 feet as at 60 feet, one of the study authors has said.Martin Bazant and John Bush, both MIT professors in applies mathematics, developed a formula to estimate how long it would take for a person to hit dangerous levels of exposure from one infected person entering a room.The calculation is more sophisticated version of the traffic-light system previously proposed by MIT. It takes into account the number of people in the room, the size of the space, what they are doing, whether masks are being worn, and what kind of ventilation is in place.Using this calculation, it could be that the level of exposure is high in some spaces even if people are more than 6 feet away. It could also be lower than expected.”The distancing isn’t helping you that much, and it’s also giving you a false sense of security because you’re as safe at 6 feet as you are at 60 feet if you’re indoors. Everyone in that space is at roughly the same risk, actually,” Bazant told CNBC.
Quebec schools without air purifiers have 3 to 4 times more COVID-19 cases, says dad running citizen count — It’s been about four months since Montreal schoolchildren began, unintentionally, to take part in what may end up being a huge naturally occurring science experiment: how well air purifiers work. Since January, most English public schools in the Montreal area have had air purifiers, air exchangers or some other form of extra air-quality device if they don’t have built-in mechanical ventilation. French public schools in the same types of buildings have not had air purifiers. The provincial government continues to say that air purifiers aren’t necessary or proven to work, but the citizen paying the closest attention to the numbers says that based on his data so far, it seems they do. “I can measure that,” Olivier Drouin, who runs the website Covid Ecoles Quebec, told CJAD radio on Friday. “I can measure that with not just two or three sample data… with 1,000 schools, and with 60 schools plus that have air purifiers,” he said. More specifically, he’s found that the schools without air purifying devices have more than three times as many COVID-19 cases as the others, he said. “The number of cases that [schools with air purifiers] reported, on average, per school versus where there’s no… air quality measures… is three to four times fewer cases,” he said. “Air quality measures,” for his purposes, include not just air purifiers but air exchangers and a couple of similar devices that serve a similar function, Drouin said. Drouin also spoke in March to La Presse about these patterns. He told the paper that in a sample of 677 schools with confirmed COVID-19 cases since the beginning of January, he’d found 4,223 cases in total, an average of 6.8 cases per school. But in the 62 schools with purifiers, he only found 110 cases or an average of 1.8 cases per school, about a quarter of the broader rate.
The Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions on the Spread of COVID-19 – A Lesson from South Korea and Sweden — One of the most severe and unprecedented government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the use of stay-at-home orders and government-forced business and school closures among others. While governments would have us believe that these measures have been successful at reducing the spread of COVID-19, until now, there has been little research into the effectiveness of these two most restrictive non-pharmaceutical interventions or NPIs. Thanks to research by Eran Bendavid, Christopher Oh, Jay Bhattacharya and John Ioannidis at Stanford University, we now have an evaluation which compares the use of less restrictive NPIs or lrNPIs and more restrictive NPIs or mrNPIs on the spread of COVID-19. The use of non-pharmaceutical interventions was justified by governments around the world to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in the absence of pharmaceutical options (i.e. vaccines etcetera) thereby reducing death, disease and health system overloading. The early adoption of the most restrictive NPI policies (also known as lockdowns) was justified at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as the disease spread rapidly and overwhelmed national and local health systems. That said, it has become apparent that the most restrictive NPIs had a series of unintended but related health consequences including hunger, increase in non-COVID-19 diseases from missed health appointments, higher rates of opioid overdose deaths, mental health issues including suicide and higher rates of domestic abuse. Some of these health consequences are related to the significant negative economic impacts of the lockdown measures. To better weigh the real world benefits of non-pharmaceutical interventions, one must balance the positives and the negatives. For the purposes of the study, the authors used data from ten nations as follows: England, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, South Korea, Sweden and the United States. The authors used South Korea and Sweden as examples of nations with less restrictive policies (lrNPIs) and compares the impact of their modest responses on the spread of COVID-19 to nations with more restrictive policies (mrNPIs). South Korea’s strategy relied on isolation of infected cases and their contacts and intensive investments in both testing and contact tracing. In the case of Sweden, the government implemented only social distancing guidelines, discouragement of domestic and international travel and a ban on large gatherings. The results obtained by Sweden and South Korea are then compared to the nations with more restrictive NPIs.
Single-pill treatment for COVID-19 could be available this year — – Drugmaker Pfizer is currently testing a single-pill treatment for COVID-19, and if all goes well, the drug could be available this year. The drug, called PF-07321332, is currently in a Phase One clinical trial with healthy adults. According to the Telegraph, the protease inhibitor may be available as soon as this year. The pill was unveiled at the American Chemical Society Spring 2021 meeting in early April. The drug works by targeting the main protease of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. By inhibiting the protease, the drug prevents the virus from reproducing itself within the body. 6-foot rule may not protect you from COVID indoors, study says Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s chief science officer, said in a press release that the pill could be prescribed “at the first sign of infection” without requiring critical care or hospitalization. “For the foreseeable future, we will expect to see continued outbreaks from COVID-19,” Charlotte Allerton, Pfizer’s head of medicine design, told C&EN. “And therefore, as with all viral pandemics, it’s important we have a full toolbox on how to address it.” Protease inhibitors are currently used to treat HIV around the world.
Humans can infect cats with COVID-19 – what that means for variants — Scientists have found new evidence that humans can infect their cats with COVID-19.The findings are especially worrisome, given that animal transmission may encourage the breeding of new coronavirus variations, and set off a new wave of infections.Other instances of cats coming down with COVID-19have been reported; whether it was transmitted via humans could not be confirmed at the time.But there have now been at least two confirmed cases of pet owners having passed SARS-CoV-2 to their cats, according to Scottish researchers at the University of Glasgow, who published their findings in the journal Veterinary Record.The two cats were of different breeds and lived in different households. One, a 4-month-old female Ragdoll kitten, developed symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in March 2020, and was euthanized due breathing difficulties and rapidly declining health in April. Around the same time, the other case study, a 6-year-old female Siamese, showed only mild symptoms of illness, such as nasal discharge and conjunctivitis.Veterinarians say this research is critical, not only to the health of our pets, but as a way of better understanding how coronavirus variants develop – the fear is that animals may act as a “viral reservoir” for pathogens to mutate.“These two cases of human-to-animal transmission, found in the feline population in the UK, demonstrate why it is important that we improve our understanding of animal SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said Margaret Hosie, lead author and medical researcher at the University of Glasgow.Talking to the BBC, Hosie said, “Currently, animal-to-human transmission represents a relatively low risk to public health in areas where human-to-human transmission remains high. However, as human cases decrease, the prospect of transmission among animals becomes increasingly important as a potential source of SARS-CoV-2 reintroduction to humans.”
21,000 tested positive in one week after first vaccine dose: analysis –About 21,000 of the roughly 470,000 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S. in the week ending April 18 had received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, a Washington Post analysis published on Saturday found. As the Post reported, this is not evidence that vaccines don’t work. Rather, these people contracted the virus before the vaccine could take full effect. A study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March found the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are about 80 percent effective at preventing coronavirus infection after one dose. Both vaccines reach their full effectiveness of 90 to 95 percent about two weeks after a second dose is administered. Health experts have said that until vaccines fully take effect, there is little difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, so it is important to continue observing COVID-19 guidelines. However, there are some benefits offered to those who become infected between doses, the Post reports. “Even if you develop disease, you already have a head start from an immune system standpoint on controlling the virus,” C. Buddy Creech, the director of Vanderbilt University’s vaccine research program, told the Post. “The real challenge is we have to show the blueprint to the immune system with enough lead time,” he added.
Women selling breast milk with COVID-19 antibodies online: report –Some nursing mothers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or recovered from the disease are selling their breast milk online, according to US News & World Report. Several listings have popped up on websites that sell breast milk with antibodies in recent months amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the outlet. A search for COVID-19 antibody breast milk on website Only the Breast yields more than 27 pages of results. “I had COVID in October and get tested for antibodies regularly as I work in healthcare. My baby got COVID and was over it in one day due to my antibodies,” reads one listing on the site from a Chicago mom. “She continues to be protected by them as studies show that they are passed on through breast milk for as long as the mother has them.” Another ad on Only The Breast advertises breast milk from a donor who has been vaccinated with Pfizer’s vaccine at $2.50 per ounce. “Provide your baby with safe antibodies!” it reads, according to the report. Some breast milk is being marketed as having COVID-19 antibodies that come from mothers with special dietary restrictions, such as vegan, paleo or gluten free diets. In addition, several ads include statements about scientific findings on babies getting antibodies from their mothers through nursing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided guidelines to nursing mothers amid the pandemic, stating that mothers are unlikely to pass the disease onto their babies should they become infected. Less conclusive information exists on whether mothers can effectively give their children immunity through antibodies in breast milk. The CDC notes that clinical trial testing for the vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. did not include mothers who were breastfeeding.
Israel examining heart inflammation cases in people who received Pfizer COVID shot (Reuters) – Israel’s Health Ministry said on Sunday it is examining a small number of cases of heart inflammation in people who had received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, though it has not yet drawn any conclusions. Pfizer said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition than would normally be expected in the general population. Israel’s pandemic response coordinator, Nachman Ash, said that a preliminary study showed “tens of incidents” of myocarditis occurring among more than 5 million vaccinated people, primarily after the second dose. Ash said it was unclear whether this was unusually high and whether it was connected to the vaccine. Most of the cases were reported among people up to age 30. “The Health Ministry is currently examining whether there is an excess in morbidity (disease rate) and whether it can be attributed to the vaccines,” Ash said. Ash, who spoke about the issue in a radio interview and during a news conference, referred to it as a “question mark”, and emphasized that the Health Ministry has yet to draw any conclusions. Determining a link, he said, would be difficult because myocarditis, a condition that often goes away without complications, can be caused by a variety of viruses and a similar number of cases were reported in previous years. Pfizer, asked by Reuters about the review, said it is in regular contact with Israel’s Health Ministry to review data on its vaccine. The company said it “is aware of the Israeli observations of myocarditis that occurred predominantly in a population of young men who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine”. “Adverse events are regularly and thoroughly reviewed and we have not observed a higher rate of myocarditis than what would be expected in the general population. A causal link to the vaccine has not been established,” the company said.
South African variant may ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine protection, but vaccine highly effective, Israeli study says –A study in Israel found Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to be less effective on the variant found in South Africa.However, the variant’s occurrence in the country is low, and the research has also not been peer-reviewed. The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who tested positive at least two weeks after receiving one or two doses of the vaccine against the same number who had tested positive but were unvaccinated. It also matched age and gender, among other characteristics. South Africa’s variant was found to make up 1% of all cases in the study, according to Tel Aviv University, and the country’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit. They found that the variant was eight times more prevalent in patients who had received two doses of the vaccine, compared to those who were unvaccinated. According to Tel Aviv University professor Adi Stern, the data suggests that the South African variant is able to break through the vaccine’s protection to some extent. The researchers cautioned that the data was not intended to deduce overall vaccine effectiveness against other variants, since it only looked at people who had already tested positive for COVID-19, instead of overall infection rates. Pfizer and BioNTech could not be immediately reached for comment outside business hours.
A COVID Triple-Mutant Found in India Could Be Much More Deadly – As India contends with its second major wave of COVID cases and adouble-mutated variant of the virus, it now faces a new threat – a triple-mutant variant.Scientists found two triple-mutant varieties in patient samples in four states: Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. Researchers in the country have dubbed it the “Bengal strain” and say it has the potential to be even more infectious than the double-mutant variant.This is because three COVID variants have merged to form a new, possibly deadlier variant. The Times of India spoke to Vinod Scaria, a researcher at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in India, who said the triple-mutant was also an “immune escape variant” – a strain that helps the virus attach to human cells and hide from the immune system. He added that it could have evolved from the double-mutant variant – which experts say is likely behind the recent surge of COVID in the country. Sreedhar Chinnaswamy, a researcher from the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in India, told the Times of India that the variant also carried the E484K mutation, a characteristic found in the variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil. “In other words, you may not be safe from this variant even if you were previously infected by another strain, or even if you have been vaccinated,” Chinnaswamy said. Paul Tambyah, a professor of medicine at the National University of Singapore, said the good news is that there is no concrete evidence that the triple mutation is deadlier or more transmissible. “Singapore researchers have done some work trying to link the mutations with clinical outcomes and transmissibility and have found no link between more severity or more transmissibility with newer mutants compared with the original lineages of SARS-CoV2,” Tambyah said. Other scientists studying COVID have detected quadruple- and quintuple-mutants in samples as well, he said, without it necessarily affecting how well vaccines work.
Reinfections of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccination — On April 5, Bridge Michigan reported that 246 fully vaccinated people in Michigan were later infected with the coronavirus, including 11 hospitalized and three who died. A spokesperson from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) was quoted by Bridge Michigan a week later that the deaths have since undergone a more “detailed review,” and all three had histories of earlier infections before vaccination. Moreover, neither COVID-19 nor any “other acute respiratory infection” was identified on the trio’s death certificates. Vaccinations have shown to be safe and highly effective at reducing hospitalization and death. Recently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that out of 75 million people that had been fully vaccinated, there had been 5,800 reported infections, of which 396 required hospitalization, of which 74 died. While the deaths might appear to be literally one in a million, many of the 75 million continued to quarantine and social distance, and so were protected by other means than just the vaccine. An alarming study published by the CDC last week was based on an investigation conducted by the Kentucky Department for Public Health on a COVID-19 outbreak at a skilled nursing facility attributed to an unvaccinated symptomatic health care worker. It was reported that 75 of the 83 residents (90.4 percent) had already received both doses of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, while only 61 (53 percent) of the 116 health care personnel had completed their immunization. The investigation found that 26 residents and 20 workers were diagnosed with a COVID-19 infection. Eighteen of the infected residents and four infected workers were beyond the 14-day window of their second dose. The CDC report mentioned that the genetic sequencing of the virus identified it as an R.1 lineage variant, characterized by the E484K and other mutations within the spike protein. Though this variant has not been classified as a variant of concern or interest, it possesses several mutations known to make it more transmissible and immune evading. The report attempts to downplay concerns raised by the infection of fully vaccinated individuals arguing that the attack rate was four times higher among unvaccinated individuals. Those who were vaccinated were much less symptomatic and required fewer hospitalizations. However, one fully vaccinated resident did die. The infection rate among vaccinated residents was 24 percent. Among the health care workers, it was 6.6 percent. These findings raise serious and critical questions about the safety of a reopening campaign relying largely on vaccines to assure the public they are safe from catching and spreading the infection.
US “excess deaths” in 2020 surpassed the toll during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic -According to a report published Friday by the New York Times, in 2020 the United States suffered the biggest single-year surge in its death rate since the federal government began publishing statistics, significantly surpassing the rise in the death rate during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. The Times conducted its own analysis of annual US death rates going back a century and found that the rate jump from 2019 to 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, was 16 percent, as compared to the 12 percent surge in the US during the global pandemic that occurred over a century ago. The total number of COVID-19 deaths in the US is already approaching 600,000, on track to surpass the 675,000 estimated to have been killed in the US during the 1918 pandemic. By the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations modeling projections, the COVID-19 death toll is expected to surpass 600,000 before June, reaching 620,000 by August under a best-case scenario. The Times report aligns with an analysis of mortality data conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that from March 2020 until February 20, 2021, there were 574,000 more Americans who died than would be expected in a typical year. This places the deaths nationwide at 21 percent higher than what has usually been observed. A JAMA report published online on April 2, 2021, authored by Dr. Steven H. Wool and colleagues from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, corroborated these findings in their analysis. They found that between March 1, 2020 and January 2, 2021, there were 522,368 excess deaths, accounting for a 22.9 percent increase in all-cause mortality. At the time, there had been 378,039 confirmed COVID-19 deaths. As they explained, “Excess deaths not attributed to COVID-19 could reflect either immediate or delayed mortality from undocumented COVID-19 infections, or non-COVID-19 deaths secondary to the pandemic, such as from delayed care or behavioral health crises.” Adjustments must be made for the differences in population size of the United States in 1918 compared to 2020. Additionally, as health care and public health measures have improved, the population’s lifespan has risen. As a result, the per capita death rates for the two periods are substantially different, which adds complexity to these comparisons. Nevertheless, the 16 percent increase in the death rate in 2020 from preceding year, compared to the 12 percent jump during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, is staggering.
Michigan hospitals see increasing numbers of younger COVID-19 patients: report –Volume 90% Michigan is seeing an increasing number of serious cases of COVID-19 among younger adults, stressing the state’s hospital system, according to an organization of community hospitals. The Michigan Health and Hospital Associate (MHA) told The New York Times the rate of hospitalizations of coronavirus patients in their 30s and 40s is double the numbers the state saw during a pandemic peak last fall. The Hill has reached out to MHA for more information about the data. The Times notes the surge of younger patients comes as more older Americans are fully vaccinated. But higher rates of vaccination doesn’t fully explain the increase, the Times says, pointing to new, more contagious variants spreading among young people. Michigan is facing the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases per capita of any state in the country; the state’s governor has called for the public to exercise caution and responsibility to slow the spread of the virus while pointing to successful GOP legal challenges to her previous COVID-19 restrictions as a reason why she has not implemented new statewide efforts to slow the virus’s spread. In October the state’s Supreme Court handed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) a defeat on the issue and ruled that she could not continue extending a state of emergency order under which she had implemented lockdowns. The state did see its test positivity rate drop by more than 10 percent over a 7-day period ending last week, a sign that Michigan’s surge may be abating at least somewhat. As of Thursday, roughly a third of the state’s adult population was vaccinated, according to state health officials.
COVID-19 deaths surge in Michigan — Michigan, the center of auto production in the United States, is facing the deadliest wave of COVID-19 anywhere in the country. Since the beginning of the month, more than 1,200 Michigan residents have died from COVID-19. The 7-day average of daily deaths has more than quadrupled from its low in mid-March, from 16 lives lost per day to 67. Michigan hospitals are now admitting twice the number of those in their 30s and 40s compared to during the fall and winter peak, according to data aggregated by the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. Like last spring, hospitals are once again implementing “surge protocols” to handle the emergency. Despite the disaster, however, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has rejected the necessary measures to contain the disease, including closing schools, limiting after-school activities or shutting bars. In an effort to blame the population for the outbreak, Whitmer has insisted that the state has a “compliance problem,” not a “policy problem.” Whitmer’s inaction has led scientists and public health experts to demand emergency measures to contain the pandemic. “As a matter of disease mitigation, there’s no question” that closing schools and other restrictions would slow transmission and save lives, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, associate dean for Public Health Practice and Training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the Detroit Free Press. He urged that “stronger action” be “seriously considered.” Children have also been increasingly hard hit, in Michigan and nationally. At least 70 were in intensive care last week in the state, double the number during the worst days of last November. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported that the 10 – 19 age group had the most new infections in the second week of April, averaging 1,150 new cases each day. Nationally, children now make up about 1 in 5 new cases, and at least 582 deaths have been caused by the deadly contagion.
COVID-19 strains hospitals, will likely trigger new restrictions – The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Oregon rose to 318 Monday, straining hospital resources and passing a state-set threshold that puts several counties on track for the “extreme risk” category. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is expected to announce updated risk levels early this week, and counties that qualify will see increased restrictions on businesses and gatherings starting Friday. The new hospitalization figures come as COVID-19 variants are becoming more established in Oregon. Cases have risen dramatically over the last week. “In the race between vaccines and variants, the variants are gaining ground and have the upper hand,” Brown said in a press conference Friday. Today, that wave appears to be a rising number of hospitalizations in Oregon. Only Montana and Washington have seen sharper spikes. Oregon’s cases rose by 51% over the last two weeks: that’s the fastest increase in the United States. For counties to be placed in Oregon’s “extreme risk” category, they must meet certain metrics. On April 6, Josephine and Klamath counties met the threshold. To stop restrictions from being imposed, Gov. Brown added an additional requirement: at least 300 hospital beds must be occupied by COVID-19 patients in the state. Now, a dozen counties are set to move to “extreme risk” status this week. In addition to Klamath and Josephine counties, Baker, Clackamas, Columbia, Crook, Deschutes, Jackson, Linn, Marion and Polk counties meet the criteria for “extreme risk.” Brown indicated a twelfth county could be on the threshold, but did not name it.
5M Americans have missed second vaccine dose: report -More than 5 million Americans have missed getting their second coronavirus vaccine dose, indicating a growing trend that could endanger the U.S.’s efforts to return to normalcy.The New York Time reports that the rate of people missing their second dose of the Pfizer of Moderna vaccine has more than doubled since the beginning of the national vaccine rollout. Five million people accounts for about 8 percent of those who received a first dose of the Prizer or Moderna vaccine. Several people interviewed by the Times said they were afraid of the vaccine’s side effects, while others told the newspaper they felt protected by one dose. But some patients were unable to get a second dose due to issues with vaccine availability, the Times reported. Several people who got their vaccines at Walgreens told the Times that after their first dose, they were sent to a pharmacy that carried a vaccine from a different company. Some were able to get the proper vaccine in time, but others gave up. Jim Cohn, a spokesman for Walgreens, told the Times that this problem accounted for “a small percentage” of the people who were vaccinated through the pharmacy chain, adding that 95 percent of people who got vaccinated at Walgreens received their second dose. Two of the three coronavirus vaccines being administered in the U.S. require two doses. A third, from Johnson & Johnson requires only one dose. A single shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine induces a significantly weaker immune response than the two doses. One dose will provide some protection, but it will not be as robust and may not protect against the COVID-19 variants that are spreading around the world and in the U.S.
62 Kansas counties decline weekly vaccine allotment amid wane in demand —A drop in demand led more than half of the counties in Kansas to decline their weekly allotment of COVID-19 vaccine doses. The Associated Press reported that 62 out of Kansas’s 105 counties turned down their weekly allotment of doses last week, falling in line with a trend seen across the U.S. in which vaccine supply has outpaced demand. A spokesperson for Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) said many Kansas residents are delaying getting their vaccines due to the drop in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the Sunflower State, according to the AP. Kansas state officials are planning to roll out a campaign to encourage those who are indifferent or hesitant to get the vaccine to get immunized, the AP reports, with plans to target younger people who are making up a larger portion of new cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kansas has administered almost 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. At least 37.5 percent of the state’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. The AP earlier reported that states such as Louisiana and Mississippi have asked the federal government to stop sending their full allotments of vaccines due to dwindling demand among their residents. The U.S.’s vulnerability to the virus has slowly dropped as vaccine administration expands and more people gain immunity to COVID-19. However, multiple health experts have warned that the threat posed by COVID-19 variants is still present and the best way to prevent a new outbreak from the more infectious strains is to get immunized. Nationally, more than a quarter of all American adults are fully immunized against the coronavirus, according to the CDC. In order to reach herd immunity, health experts have said that around 70 to possibly 90 percent of the U.S. population will need to be protected against the coronavirus.
Iowa declines 22K vaccine doses amid slowdown in demand – Health officials in Iowa are refusing thousands of coronavirus vaccine doses from the federal government, citing a lack of demand. State officials told the Des Moines Register this weekend that they declined 18,300 of the 34,300 doses of Moderna vaccine they were slated to receive this week, and did not accept 3,510 of the 46,800 Pfizer doses planned. “Along with several other states, we are seeing a slowdown of vaccine administration, but we are working with our local partners and community leaders to determine where additional education is needed and to gain an understanding of the needs of each county’s unique population,” Sarah Ekstrand, a spokeswoman for the local health department, said. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said last week that more than 30 percent of Iowa’s counties had indicated they did not need their allotted weekly vaccine doses from the state, The Associated Press reported. More than half of Iowa adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, more than 40 percent of Iowans have been fully vaccinated against the disease, the AP noted. Federal health officials announced last week that all U.S. adults are now eligible for a coronavirus vaccination and encouraged inoculations as several states report a dip in demand.
Most common coronavirus variant in Hawaii is California strain – The state’s also reporting 86 cases of the U.K. variant, eight from the South African variant and seven of the Brazil variant. — There’s 555 cases of COVID-19 variants or mutations of the coronavirus in the islands. More than 200 reported in the past two weeks. According to the state most of the cases are on O’ahu and across Maui County. By far the most common variant is the California strain about 450 cases reported in Hawaii. The state’s also reporting 86 cases of the U.K. variant, eight from the South African variant and seven of the Brazil variant. “None of this is super surprising right, this is a virus that adapts. And it’s adapting slowly to humans, and it’s making the changes to do well in terms of spreading from person to person. It’s also facing a world of vaccines so it’s trying to figure out how to evade those,” Chief of Infectious Disease of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, Tarquin K. Collis, said. He says as the variants continue to spread it’s more important than ever to get vaccinated.
April 26th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations; 7-Day Average Cases Lowest Since March 21st – According to the CDC, 230.8 million doses have been administered. 37.0% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 53.9% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (139.2 million people over 18 have had at least one dose). And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. Almost 17,000 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. This data is from the CDC. The 7-day average is 54,406, down from 57,197 yesterday, and down from the recent peak of 69,878 on April 13, 2021. This is also below the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.This data is also from the CDC.The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase. The current 7-day average is 36,654, down from 38,111, reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.
Two additional strains of COVID-19 identified by Texas A&M scientist (KBTX) -Scientists at the Texas A&M University Global Health Research Complex (GHRC) have identified two additional strains of the COVID-19 virus. On Monday, the university announced the first strain BV-1 was identified in an individual who only had mild symptoms. BV-2 and BV-3, named for the Brazos Valley, were recently identified from samples collected from on campus testing of students and faculty. Mandatory COVID-19 saliva testing for students living, studying, or working on the Texas A&M University campus in Bryan-College Station began back in March. The Global Health Research Complex says the first sample that led to the identification of the BV-1 strain came from a student who resides off campus but is active on campus originations. The student’s sample tested positive on March 5 and was later re-tested and confirmed by an independent federally regulated lab at St. Joseph Regional Hospital. At this time, details of the origin of the two additional strains have not been released. “The student later provided a second sample that tested positive on March 25, indicating the variant may cause a longer-lasting infection than is typical of COVID-19 for adults ages 18-24,” a statement from the Texas A&M University Global Health Research Complex read. “A third sample obtained on April 9 was negative and revealed no evidence of virus. The student presented mild cold-like symptoms in early to mid-March that never progressed in severity and were fully resolved by April 2.” Texas A&M professor of biology and GHRC Chief Virologist Ben Neuman says the new strains identified are only slight variations from the previously identified variant. “So the piece of the coronavirus spike that’s actually going to stick onto the cell is kind of shaped like a banana and even curved like a banana,” said Neuman. “So at one end of the banana, you’ve got the change that makes the UK variant stick a little bit better. One of these that we found BV-2 has another change at the opposite end of the banana, and we think that one might also make it stick a little bit better or may block some antibodies. Neuman says the lab is paying close attention to the variant BV-3, which seems to be a combination of variants.BV-3, I think is an interesting one because it looks like it is partly a very common strain that you’d find in this area and partly the UK variant,” said Neuman. “It’s a recombinant, which means that somebody probably had caught two versions of the virus at the same time, two different variants, and the virus kind of recombined mixed together inside of them, and so you get this little monstrosity.
Study from Omaha, Nebraska shows vast failure to detect COVID-19 in schools – A recent study conducted in three Omaha, Nebraska, public schools shows that the vast majority of COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools are likely going undetected. The study, overseen by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, found that infection rates in the three schools were almost six times higher for students and two-and-a-half times higher for staff than what was recorded through self-initiated tests and reporting. The authors also found that “when compared to conventional reporting in our setting (passive case finding), our results suggest that as many as 9 in 10 student COVID-19 cases and 7 in 10 staff COVID-19 cases may be missed by conventional reporting mechanisms.” The study, released on April 17, involved weekly saliva polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at two middle schools and a high school over a five-week period from November 9 to December 11, 2020. PCR testing is more reliable than rapid antigen tests, as it detects the genetic material specific to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Almost 3,000 saliva samples were tested from 773 asymptomatic staff and students, with 46 positive cases found. The case rate detected by PCR testing for students was 70/1000, while only 12/1000 were detected through conventional reporting. For staff, 53/1000 were detected by PCR, and only 21/1000 were detected by conventional reporting. Significantly, the three schools studied were only operating at one-quarter of normal classroom densities. As the authors note, “our results may underestimate the risk of in-school transmission for schools operating at more normal density.” The Omaha study confirms the findings of a study conducted by the INOVA Health System, Virginia Department of Health and George Mason University. The Virginia study, published in March, found that 8.5 percent of children aged 0 to 19 tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, nearly double the rate in adults. The Virginia study tested 1,038 children in northern Virginia from July to October 2020. Of those children testing positive, 66 percent “had no history of symptoms of COVID-19 infection, which highlights the silent or asymptomatic infection in children, and subsequent risk of transmission of infection to others,” the authors wrote.
April 27th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations; Vaccinations have Slowed — According to the CDC, 232.4 million doses have been administered. 37.3% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 54.2% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (139.9 million people over 18 have had at least one dose). And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. Almost 17,500 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. This data is from the CDC. The 7-day average is 55,186, down from 56,013 yesterday, and down from the recent peak of 69,878 on April 13, 2021. This is also below the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.This data is also from the CDC. The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase. The current 7-day average is 37,092, up from 36,654 reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.
New variant strain of COVID-19 found in Shelby County, officials say – – A new COVID variant from India has been detected in Shelby County. Deputy Shelby County Health Director David Sweat said so far, they’ve only detected one case of the strain from India. person who tested positive recently traveled to India and returned with COVID symptoms. The World Health Organization has declared the B1617 strain from India a variant of interest. Sweat said the person who tested positive in Shelby County is in isolation. He said 10 percent or more of people who get COVID in Memphis are getting their samples sequenced. That allows health officials to detect new variants like these. Sweat said the detection of the Indian variant is a reminder that the pandemic is not over, and letting up on safety measures like masking would be premature. “We need to recognize the virus knows no boundaries and knows no boarders,” Sweat said. “Variants and emerging threats can come to us from anywhere in the world at any point in time. It’s important for all of us here to remain vigilant and follow the best protocols we can to protect ourselves.” MORE: Mobile program works to vaccinate homebound population in Shelby County Because there’s only been one reported case so far, health officials said it’s possible to keep the variant from spreading in our community. But to do that, more people must get vaccinated.
B.1.617 strain spreads to Michigan with Clinton County case identified –Michigan’s first known case of the B.1.617 COVID-19 variant has been identified in Clinton County, health officials said. Scientists first detected the B.1.617 strain in India in December. Now, the variant has been identified in an adult resident of Clinton County who recently traveled to India, according to a news release Friday from the Mid-Michigan District Health Department.MMDHD was first notified of the B.1.617 variant on April 21, department spokeswoman Leslie Kinnee said. It’s typical for viruses to mutate over time and preliminary research suggests the B.1.617 variant could be more contagious.Michigan is suffering from the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreak with 3,623 new cases reported Thursday. Just over 40% of Clinton County residents ages 16 and over are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 compared to 37% of eligible residents statewide, according to a state dashboard updated Thursday. “Our best defense is for everyone to get vaccinated,” MMDHD Health Officer Marcus Cheatham said in a statement.
US Restricts Travel From India Over COVID Strain (AP) – The U.S. will restrict travel from India starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India,” she said. With 386,452 new cases, India now has reported more than 18.7 million since the pandemic began, second only to the United States. The Health Ministry on Friday also reported 3,498 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 208,330. Experts believe both figures are an undercount, but it’s unclear by how much. The U.S. action comes days after Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the growing health crisis in his country and pledged to immediately send assistance. The U.S. has already moved to send therapeutics, rapid virus test and oxygen to India, along with some materials needed for that country to boost its domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, a CDC team of public health experts was expected to soon be on the ground in India to help health officials there move to slow the spread of the virus. The White House waited on the CDC recommendation before moving to restrict travel, noting that the U.S. already requires negative tests and quarantines for all international travelers. Other restrictions are in place on travel from China, Iran, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Brazil and South Africa, which are or have been hotspots for the coronavirus.
Hospitals ‘feeling the strain,’ as B.C. records 853 new cases of COVID-19 and 1 more death –B.C. health officials announced 853 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday and one more death due to the disease, noting hospitals in some parts of the province, particularly in the Lower Mainland, continue to shoulder a heavy burden. The province initially reported 874 new cases but revised it in the afternoon. There are currently 503 people who are in hospital with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus – a slight decrease from yesterday’s all-time high of 515 – but the 178 patients in intensive care is the highest it’s ever been. Henry said with hospitals in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions being pushed the hardest right now, people in those regions need to be especially cautious. . “Our hospitals in these regions are feeling the strain more than ever.” She said hospitals in smaller communities also cannot handle any unexpected patient influxes and so staying local is important. Henry also said B.C. is expecting to begin receiving much greater supplies of vaccines in coming weeks which will speed up the age-based and worker-based vaccination programs. As of Thursday, 1,749,375 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered, 90,296 of which are second doses. There are currently 7,996 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and 11,628 people are under public health monitoring due to exposure to known cases. So far, B.C. has recorded 128,742 cases of COVID-19, including 1,577 people who have died.
British Columbia hospitalizations set new record as COVID-19 variants spread — British Columbia’s health care system is becoming increasingly strained as active COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations reach their highest-ever levels in Canada’s West Coast province. As of Saturday evening, 486 people stricken by COVID-19 were hospitalized and 160 in intensive care. The rapid rise in infections is the direct product of the provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) government’s reckless open economy/open schools policy, which has created an ideal environment for the new, more infectious variants to flourish among younger, working-age adults. Currently, there are 8,842 active COVID-19 cases in BC and a further 12,608 people are in self-isolation after public health agency warnings that they have potentially been exposed to infected persons. Hospitals in four of the province’s five health regions are nearing capacity. Already on April 19, 94.9 percent of total beds were occupied and 80.9 percent of critical care beds. Hospitals in the Vancouver Coastal Health region were at 100 percent of critical care capacity before emergency “surge beds” were added. Surge capacity, it should be noted, commonly consists of patients being placed in hospital hallways, waiting rooms, shower rooms, sunrooms, or having to be kept in the emergency room for abnormally long periods due to a lack of availability of in-patient units. Dr. Kelly Kasteel, a doctor from Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, wrote a public Facebook post last weekend detailing the conditions she is working under and the growing crisis hospital staff are bearing witness to. “Last week, all of our emergency beds including suture beds and casting beds had admitted patients in them and I only had 2 chairs to assess patients in,” she wrote. Dr. Kasteel went on to describe assessing a patient on the floor of the emergency room. “She was in the Covid area,” explained Dr. Kasteel, “and after waiting four hours was feeling so faint she decided it was better to lay on a disgusting emergency floor than to collapse. Covid patients who are transferred in by ambulance because their oxygen is critically low are waiting 3 hours for a bed. ICUs are refusing our transfers out because they literally have no space to care for patients. This is dangerous care. Nothing about this situation is acceptable.”
Despite a few rich countries doing well, global COVID-19 cases are the highest they’ve ever been — Global COVID-19 cases remain at an all-time high even as some rich countries report fewer and fewer of them. The graph below, from the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Dashboard, shows the number of daily new coronavirus cases recorded globally as of Sunday: It shows the number of daily new cases recorded in WHO’s South-East Asia region, which consists of 11 countries including India, rising dramatically while the number of new cases in the Europe region gets smaller. India is facing a devastating surge of the virus, having recorded more than 300,000 daily new cases for the past five days in a row. Hospitals have reported dire oxygen shortages and are turning patients away, leaving many people to die while waiting for help. Meanwhile, Europe and the US have recorded fewer daily new cases as their vaccination rollouts continue. As of Sunday, nearly 140 million people in the US – more than 40% of the population – had received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the UK, the proportion of people given a single shot passed 50%, with small nations like Israel, Bahrain, and Bhutan also having strong vaccine drives. But the vast majority of countries are nowhere close to that. The US has pledged to supply India with raw materials for vaccine production as well as personal protective equipment, testing kits, and ventilators. The UK is also sending ventilators and oxygen devices.
Another Australian capital city COVID outbreak highlights danger of global pandemic – The latest COVID-19 crisis in the Western Australian (WA) state capital of Perth has shown how vulnerable Australia, like the rest of the world, is to the more infectious variants now ravaging entire countries, and how quickly infections could spread across the continent. Premier Mark McGowan’s state Labor Party government yesterday ended a three-day partial lockdown of the city, despite a still unknown number of infections from an outbreak that spread from a defective quarantine hotel for returned travellers. McGowan told a media conference that only about half the more than 1,100 close or casual contacts of infected people tested had so far received negative results. Nevertheless, schools, workplaces and other venues, including restaurants, pubs and cafes, would reopen. For the next four days, masks would remain mandatory, except for primary school students. The state government had been forced to announce a three-day shutdown last Friday after it was revealed that three people, including a pregnant mother and her four-year-old girl, had contracted COVID-19 while in hotel quarantine, from a returned traveller from India. Among those infected was a Victorian man who spent five days in Perth before flying to Melbourne, on the other side of the continent, on April 21, where he tested positive. The virus strain involved has been identified as the UK variant, one of the mutations that have spiralled out of control in India, resulting in catastrophic levels of infections and deaths. Until now, the coronavirus has remained at low levels in Australia since a “second wave” killed more than 700 people last May to October, but this is the second outbreak in Perth this year. There have been outbreaks also in recent months in every other mainland state capital – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide – including of highly-contagious variants.
Pfizer confirms fake vaccine shots on sale in Mexico, Poland: reports – US drugmaker Pfizer on Wednesday confirmed that suspect doses of its coronavirus vaccine that were seized in Mexico and Poland were indeed fake, with doses going for as much as $1,000 a shot, according to US media. At a clinic in Mexico some 80 people received bogus doses of the drug, which appeared to have been physically harmless, though offering no protection against the potentially deadly disease ravaging the country, a report in the Wall Street Journal said. The vials were found in beer coolers and were initially identified by fabricated lot numbers and expiration dates, Mexican officials said. The liquid in the confiscated vials in Poland was a cosmetic substance, thought to be anti-wrinkle cream, the company said. “We are cognizant that in this type of environment — fueled by the ease and convenience of e-commerce and anonymity afforded by the internet — there will be an increase in the prevalence of fraud, counterfeit and other illicit activity as it relates to vaccines and treatments for Covid-19,” a Pfizer spokesperson told ABC News. In February, health authorities in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon warned about “clandestine” sales of “alleged Covid vaccines” and urged people not to take them. In March, the World Health Organization also warned of “falsified” Pfizer vaccines found in Mexico and warned that the shots “may still be in circulation in the region.” Pfizer tested the bogus vials and found they did not contain the two-shot vaccine it developed with BioNTech. Lev Kubiak, Pfizer’s head of global security, said the desperate need and the shortfall in vaccines had led to the scams. “We have a very limited supply, a supply that will increase as we ramp up and other companies enter the vaccine space. In the interim, there is a perfect opportunity for criminals,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
India’s COVID-19 surge is highlighting a ruthless, global black market for oxygen, where sellers jack prices up to 1,000% – India is having to deal with a black market for oxygen amidst a record-breaking COVID-19 surge that has exhausted supplies in many hospitals. It is a trend that has been seen in many countries around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Six hospitals in India said Thursday that hey had run out of medical oxygen, one of the most important treatments for those struggling with COVID-19 symptoms.Demand for oxygen is likely to shoot up in coming days in twelve states in India as the country continues to report hundreds of thousands of new cases each day, the Indian Express reported. The Times of India reported Thursday that the average cost of an oxygen cylinder has “skyrocketed”, to 20,000 to 25,000 rupees, about $250-330.One man in India told AFP that he paid 45,000 rupees, about $600, for a cylinder of oxygen. That is about nine times its normal price,AFP reported on Thursday.One advertisement circulated on social media offering a cylinder for 30,000 rupees, about $400. Another offered it for 35,000, about $460, the Times of India reported.According to World Bank data, the Gross National Income per capita in India is $2,120 per year. India is not alone in facing this issue. 25 countries around the world are reporting a surge in demand for oxygen, mostly in Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. More than half a million COVID-19 patients need oxygen treatment every day, per WHO estimates. That means 1.1 million oxygen cylinders every day.
Lacking oxygen, scores in India suffocate to death as COVID-19 infections reach record high Setting yet another grim record, India’s new COVID-19 infections surpassed 300,000 for the fifth day in a row yesterday. A further 352,991 cases were reported Monday, the highest single-day total ever recorded in India or, indeed, anywhere. Officially, India’s active case count stands at more than 2.6 million, underscoring the potential for continued exponential growth in COVID-19 infections. This in a country where hundreds of millions live in squalid urban slums or in rural areas where public health facilities do not exist; and where in great metropolitan centres, like Mumbai and Delhi, the health care system has already been overwhelmed by the deluge of COVID-19 cases. Yesterday, India recorded its highest number of new COVID-19 deaths to date, 2,812. The official death tally since the beginning of the pandemic now stands at 195,123. According to Indian Health Ministry data, 16,257 people died from the virus, during the week ending Sunday, April 25, nearly double the previous week’s 8,588 deaths. India’s emergence as the world’s COVID-19 epicentre – accounting for more than 40 percent of all new cases worldwide last week – is the direct product of the “profits before lives” policy enforced by Narendra Modi and his far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. As terrible as the official death toll is, it indubitably grossly understates the true scale of the calamity now unfolding in the world’s second most populous country. Prior to the pandemic, Indian authorities medically certified less than 30 percent of all fatalities. With the country’s ramshackle health care system now collapsing, proper attribution of deaths is in even greater disarray. India’s Economic Times reported last Friday that official figures for deaths from coronavirus in Lucknow, the capital city of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, stood at 145 in the six days between April 11 and April 16. But testimony from health and crematorium workers and other witnesses showed that “just two of the city’s main crematoriums reported more than 430 or three times as many cremations under COVID-19 protocol” during the same period. Hospitals in major cities, including the national capital Delhi and in Maharashtra, the second most populous state, have been forced to turn away hundreds, possibly thousands, of extremely ill patients because of shortages of beds, trained personnel, drugs, and oxygen. Scores of patients have died in recent days gasping for breath after the hospitals in which they were being treated exhausted their medical oxygen supplies, and could not, despite harrowing pleas to government for emergency help, be resupplied in time.
India Covid-19 cases and deaths are going unreported, experts say – CNN –India, home to the world’s worst ongoing coronavirus outbreak, has reported more than 17.6 million cases since the pandemic began last year.But the real number, experts fear, could be up to 30 times higher — meaning more than half a billion cases.Health workers and scientists in India have long warned that Covid-19 infections and related deaths are significantly underreported for several reasons, including poor infrastructure, human error, and low testing levels.Some things have changed since then — testing has greatly increased in the wake of the first wave, for instance. But still, the true extent of the second wave now ravaging India is likely much worse than official numbers suggest.”It’s widely known that both the case numbers and the mortality figures are undercounts, they always have been,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in New Delhi.”Last year we estimated that only one in about 30 infections were being caught by testing, so the reported cases are a serious underestimate of true infections,” he said. “This time, the mortality figures are probably serious underestimates, and what we’re seeing on the ground is many more deaths, than what has been officially reported.”CNN has reached out to the country’s health ministry for comment about the claims of underreporting.As the first wave began to ebb in September last year, the government pointed to its low death rate as a sign of its success in handling the outbreak, and to support its decision to lift some restrictions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the low figures as boosting “the confidence of people,” and predicted that “the entire country will emerge victorious in the battle against Covid-19,” according to a press release in August. The country’s daily death toll is now projected to continue climbing until mid-May, according to prediction models from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations.The death toll could peak at more than 13,000 a day — more than four times the current daily death toll, the predictions show. “I don’t think any family has been spared a Covid death,” said Laxminarayan. “There’s a missing person in every family that I can think of.”
Two die and more than 100 test positive in coronavirus outbreak among US diplomatic staff in India — There has been a major coronavirus outbreak among US diplomatic staff in India with two locally employed staff dying and more than 100 people testing positive in recent weeks as the country struggles to cope with a dramatic surge of the deadly disease, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN.Reported Covid-19 case rates in India have hit global highs for the past five consecutive days, hospitals have run out of beds, medicine, ventilators and oxygen, and thousands have died amid a devastating second wave, which began last month.The sources did not provide details where in the country the staff died and tested positive but the US operates five consulates in different cities and an embassy in the capital of New Delhi.US personnel, family members and locally employed staff in India only began receiving their Covid vaccines within the past two weeks, one of the sources said. Within the past six weeks — even as India’s case rates were ticking up and staff had not yet been vaccinated — there were two high-level trips by Biden administration officials to the country.Sources told CNN that some staff were frustrated because they felt that they were not given clear information about when the US diplomatic mission would receive vaccines and they felt they were not being prioritized because many diplomatic staff in Europe and the US had already received their shots.One source told CNN that the State Department had worked to get vaccines to locations where personnel live on campus — including in Kabul and Baghdad — which may have contributed to the Mission being so late in the queue. However, as one source noted, the vaccines “came too late for the two people who died … it’s horrible.”
India passes grim milestone of 200,000 COVID-19 deaths —India became the fourth country in the world to pass 200,000 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday as the country continues to struggle against a deadly second wave of infections that has overwhelmed most of the country’s hospitals. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University indicated that Indian health officials had recorded just over 201,000 deaths from the virus as of Wednesday morning, U.S. eastern time. India has now also recorded nearly 18 million total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, second only to the U.S. The country joins a grim club of nations who have experienced the worst of the pandemic; only India, the U.S., Mexico and Brazil have recorded more than 200,000 deaths since the beginning of 2020. U.S. COVID-19 deaths sat at just above 573,000 as of Wednesday, far outpacing any other country including Brazil, which has recorded the second-most deaths at 395,000. Indian hospitals face dwindling supplies, not enough vaccines and insufficient space for new patients as the country’s death toll and case count continue to climb; supplies including oxygen are in particular short supply, and have left many with severe COVID-19 symptoms unable to find a hospital where they can receive treatment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last week that the country was in its most serious battle against the virus so far.
India coronavirus cases may peak next week: government adviser – (Reuters) – India’s coronavirus cases may peak between May 3-5, according to a mathematical model of a team of scientists advising the government, a few days earlier than a previous estimate as the virus has spread faster than expected. The world’s second-most populous country has reported more than 300,000 new infections daily for nine consecutive days, hitting another global record of 386,452 on Friday. The surge has led to a public health crisis in India, forcing the government to seek oxygen, medicines and other essentials from countries around the world. “Our belief is that by next week, the daily new cases nationwide would have peaked,” M. Vidyasagar, head of a government-appointed group of scientists modelling the trajectory of infections, told Reuters. The group previously told senior government officials in a presentation on April 2 that cases would peak between May 5-10, said Vidyasagar. “We said (at that presentation) that it was not a matter of putting up some structures that would come up in July or August, because by then the wave will have ended,” he said. “Try to figure out how we’re going to fight the fight for the next four to six weeks, that was the message. Don’t waste a lot of time putting up long-term solutions because your problem is right now.” India’s first wave of the pandemic peaked in mid-September with 97,894 cases. The country is now reporting more than three times as many infections daily, taking the total number of cases to 18.8 million with 208,000 deaths. The real number of infections is believed to be 50 times more, said Vidyasagar, as many people who contract the disease show no symptoms.
Coronavirus crisis in India drives global COVID-19 surge — COVID-19 is surging out of control in India. Crematoriums have been running at capacity while bodies pile up. As a resident of Delhi told the Time s of India, “I have lived here all my life and pass through this area twice a day. I have never seen so many bodies burning together.” Official figures indicate that the country saw another record one-day high with almost 380,000 cases of COVID-19 and 3,647 deaths yesterday. There were an unprecedented 5 million cases in less than three weeks. The country just surpassed 200,000 COVID-19 – related deaths. Experts insist that the crisis in India is far more massive than official reports indicated. The actual caseload may be 10 to 30 times higher than official statistics. Based on the unprecedented number of funerals taking place, some have placed the death toll at 10 times the figures cited by state epidemiologists and political representatives. India’s reporting system for all-cause mortality is woefully inadequate. One in seven deaths is never registered. Of those that are, barely one in four is certified by a physician. The pandemic has further exacerbated this situation, as a death attributed to COVID-19 requires a recent positive test result. Despite the massive surge in cases, testing outside major urban centers remains very limited. According to the Economist, “Even with more than 1.5 million Indians now getting tested each day, the rate of testing relative to population is still less than a tenth of that in Britain. And because of the surge in cases, labs, even in Delhi, India’s capital, are overwhelmed. They now take days to deliver results; many die without knowing they are positive, or after getting a false negative.” The positivity rate in Delhi is above 30 percent, implying that one in three tests results in a confirmed infection. Social media apps are being flooded with panicked requests by people and pleas for oxygen, medicines, and basic medical supplies to care for their families at home because hospitals can no longer admit patients. According to Becker ’ s Health IT, Aanchal Agrawal, a 29-year-old “content creator,” is working with 200 volunteers combing through her 42,000 Twitter followers to source oxygen, beds, antivirals for residents infected with the coronavirus.
Indian Covid Strain: New Indian COVID-19 variant: ‘Double mutant’ strain risks and how COVID is evolving worldwide –A new variant of COVID-19 has been found from testing samples collected in India. The UN has dubbed this as theB.1.617 variant, aka the “double mutant”. The Indian variant was detected on Tuesday and has since been detected in “at least 17 countries,” according to the GISAID open-access database.Scientists are still determining if the variant may be more or less infectious when facing the vaccines.As with the common flu, it seems COVID-19 keeps changing in small ways as it passes from one person to another. Some mutations can be insignificant whereas others may trigger changes in the spike protein that the virus uses to latch on to and enter human cells, which in layman’s terms would mean they could be more infectious and are more likely to not respond to vaccines.The vaccines are claimed to work in the following ways: the vaccine that is used in this particular case is supposed to protect us by stimulating our bodies to make antibodies, even though vaccine producers now claim that the vaccine does not provide full protection and that you may still get COVID-19.The World Health Organization (WHO) said in its weekly epidemiological update on the COVID-19 pandemic that “most sequences were uploaded from India, the United Kingdom, USA and Singapore.” India is witnessing a massive surge in fresh COVID-19cases and deaths, with mounting fears that the variant could be contributing to the unfolding calamity and now the surge has also spread to neighbouring countries, such as Nepal.The virus has now killed over 3.1 million people worldwide and, according to the WHO, the double variant “has a higher growth rate than other circulating variants in India, suggesting potential increased transmissibility.””Indeed, studies have highlighted that the spread of the second wave has been much faster than the first,” the WHO said, underscoring that although “other drivers” could be contributing to the surge, such as comprising mass gatherings and lax observance of public health measures.”Further investigation is needed to understand the relative contribution of these factors,” the agency said. The WHO also underlined that “further robust studies” into the attributes of B.1.617 and other variants, comprising impacts on transmissibility, risk and severity of reinfection, were “urgently needed.”However, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India says this new “double mutant” variant has not been found in sufficient numbers to account for the increase in COVID-19 cases across the country. That, rather, is likely to be because of the large public gatherings such as weddings, the opening of cinema halls and gyms, as well as large political rallies in West Bengal, where elections are due to be held soon.
Indian COVID strain spreads in Israel, also among vaccinated – The Health Ministry has identified 41 new cases of the Indian coronavirus variant in Israel, including four in people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.Israel’s genomic sequencing system found that 24 of those infected with the variant, which experts say may be more contagious than other variants, had returned recently from abroad. The other 17 contracted it via community transmission, including five schoolchildren. The Health Ministry and the IDF Home Front Command are carrying out widespread testing at the schools where the children are enrolled. Twenty-one of the people who tested positive for the variant are foreign nationals. Last week, Israel banned entry to tourists from India over concerns about the variant’s spread and the severe increase in cases there. As part of the new restrictions, only 300 Indian caregivers and students will be allowed to enter the country per month. They will be required to quarantine at coronavirus hotels designated for those coming from India, unless they have either recovered from or were vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel.A Health Ministry statement said that new restrictions which would forbid Israelis from traveling to countries with high infection rates (save for exceptional cases) are awaiting approval from the relevant ministries before it can be sent to government approval. Israelis returning from these countries would also need to quarantine, even if they have been vaccinated against or recovered from COVID-19. Foreign nationals from these countries would also not be allowed to enter Israel, and those who have received permission to do so would have to quarantine at designated hotels, as is the case with arrivals from India. Last month some 1,000 people entered Israel from India, and only about a quarter of them were vaccinated. Among those who entered, 63 tested positive for the virus, but not all of them had necessarily been infected by the Indian variant. The Indian variant is of concern to experts because it consist of two mutations of its protein, which could make it more resistant to the coronavirus vaccine. Last month, the Indian Health Ministry reported on a strain of the virus that includes two genetic changes and constitutes a kind of “union” of two variants previously known as E484Q and L452R.
Top Israeli health official: Not clear if vaccine effective against India strain – A top health official on Wednesday said it was not clear that COVID-19 vaccines offer protection against the so-called Indian variant of the disease, and cited this concern as a key reason why Israel must ban travel to countries with high coronavirus infection rates. “We don’t know about the Indian variant, we don’t know enough,” Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health services at the Health Ministry, said of the strain of the disease ravaging India. Asked about claims and indications that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is effective against the Indian strain, she said: “I didn’t see any research on this.” Earlier Wednesday, BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin voiced confidence that the vaccine his company jointly developed with Pfizer – the primary vaccine used in Israel – works against the Indian variant. Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories FREE SIGN UP “We are still testing the Indian variant, but the Indian variant has mutations that we have already tested for and which our vaccine works against, so I am confident,” said Sahin. In an interview with Channel 13, Alroy-Preis also warned that mass Lag B’Omer gatherings at a Galilee pilgrimage site on Thursday night, expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people, could drive an outbreak of the coronavirus. She said a framework had been painstakingly negotiated “by everyone” to regulate the gathering, and fumed that it had not been implemented. “It’s a disgrace,” she said. She expressed support for the Health Ministry’s proposed new travel restrictions for Israelis, which would ban travel to seven high-risk countries including India, and force even vaccinated travelers from those countries to enter quarantine upon their return to Israel. Israel has issued a travel warning for seven countries: India, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico and Turkey. Again, though, Alroy-Preis, complained, the urgent restrictions have not been implemented. The Health Ministry’s recommendations, which have not yet been adopted by the government because ministers in the outgoing coalition have been arguing over other issues this week, would also require non-citizens entering Israel from the specified highly infected countries to self-isolate in quarantine hotels.
Children from 5 schools among Israel’s 41 cases of Indian COVID strain – Israel has identified 41 cases of the Indian COVID-19 variant, including five children as well as other cases not linked to returnees from abroad, indicating community spread, the Health Ministry said Thursday. Four of the 41 people have been fully vaccinated. According to the ministry’s statement, 24 cases of the mutated strain were found among people who returned recently from abroad, including 21 foreign residents. But 17 of those infected hadn’t been abroad, and some of them had no obvious links to someone who did, indicating that the variant is spreading undetected. Moreover, five kids from five schools were diagnosed with the Indian variant. Since children cannot currently be vaccinated, this has raised fears of a new outbreak after infections have been steadily dropping for several months following the country’s rapid inoculation campaign. The schools included Shvilim in the town of Pardes Hanna, known for its nonconformist residents, where many are refusing to vaccinate and where several virus cases have been identified recently, concerning health officials. With dozens of active patients, the town has now been classified as “orange” under the government’s traffic light system, making it one of only two localities in the country not rated as “yellow” or “green.” The other schools where a student has the Indian strain are Keshet in Ashdod, Yosef in Holon, and Dekel Vilnai and Tzemah Hasadeh in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.
China Rocked by Double Mutant COVID Strain As Nation Fears Fresh Outbreak – The “double mutant” coronavirus strain that was found in India has now been detected in China, the country’s chief epidemiologist has said in a major announcement ahead of this weekend’s public holiday. At a Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention press conference held in Beijing on Thursday, Wu Zunyou revealed the “Indian variant” had been found in “some Chinese cities,” without elaborating. The news has sparked intense discussion online about stricter border controls amid the five-day Labor Day break beginning Saturday. The country where COVID-19 was first reported some 16 months ago is preparing to step up public health measures in order to allay fears of a fresh outbreak caused by the “double mutant” strain B.1.617. Citizens are rightly concerned about the variant, Wu said, noting: “The virus has been mutating since the start of the pandemic.” It will not stop mutating until the pandemic is over, he added.”Implementing containment measures is key to stopping the spread of mutant strains, and also to prevent the occurrence of new mutations,” the senior health official said
Vietnam records Covid cases with Indian virus strain – Four Indian experts and a Vietnamese man working at the hotel they were quarantined in have been infected with an Indian strain of the coronavirus, the Ministry of Health said. The result was announced Friday following genetic sequencing of the patients’ samples by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. The Indian variant, B.1.167, is a “double mutant” strain, which is recorded for the first time in Vietnam. The Vietnamese man was a receptionist at Nhu Nguyet 2 hotel in the northern province of Yen Bai. The 63-year-old man made contact with the group of Indian experts as they came to the hotel on April 18 for quarantine. Among 11 Indians, four had been confirmed as Covid-19 cases. The B.1.617 strain contains two key mutations called E484Q and L452R, which have been found separately in other variants but not together in a single strain. These mutations have been shown to make the virus more transmissible and to be less susceptible to neutralizing antibodies. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the predominant lineage of B.1.617 was first identified in India last December, although an earlier version was spotted in October 2020. The WHO has described it as a “variant of interest”, suggesting it may have mutations that would make the virus more transmissible, cause more severe disease or evade vaccine immunity. Other strains with known risks, such as those first detected in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa, have been categorized as “variants of concern,” a higher threat level, Reuters reported. The Indian variant has been found in at least 17 countries. Vietnam’s Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said he is “deeply concerned about the risk of imported cases causing the fourth wave in the country.” He asked leading institutes to conduct genetic sequencing of recent entrants who are infected with the coronavirus to figure out appropriate preventative measures. The Pasteur Institute in HCMC previously found that nearly 86 percent of imported positive cases from Cambodia carry the B1.1.7 variant (U.K.), and over 14 percent the B.1.351 variant (South Africa). Vietnam has recorded almost all kinds of new coronavirus variants. After over a month of no community transmissions, the country has recorded 13 new local cases since Thursday, starting with a migrant worker from Japan who tested positive two days after finishing his two-week quarantine.
Indian variant in Europe: Where is it and should we be concerned? A so-called “double mutant” version of the novel coronavirus first detected in India has now reached several European countries. Health authorities in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Romania, Switzerland and Belgium have detected cases of the so-called Indian variant, formally known as B.1.617. The cases have raised alarm over a possible rapid spread in infections driven by the strain, which brings together two key mutations on the spike side of the virus previously spotted in other dominant coronavirus variants. B.1.617 contains two notable mutations – formally known as E484Q and L452R. This has led to it sometimes being dubbed the “double mutant” strain, though this is something of a misnomer as it actually carries more than a dozen mutations altogether. Preliminary evidence suggests the mutations make B.1.617 more transmissible and less susceptible to vaccines than other strains, but scientists are still attempting to determine the extent to which that is the case. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated it as a “variant of interest”, suggesting it may be more infectious than other versions of the virus, cause more severe disease or evade vaccine immunity to a greater degree. But other strains with known risks, such as those first detected in the UK, Brazil and South Africa, have been categorised as “variants of concern” – a higher threat level. B.1.617 has been recorded in at least 17 countries worldwide since first being detected in India, which is currently battling a devastating wave of COVID-19 infections. In Europe, the UK has been the most affected country, with health authorities recording 193 cases of the variant to date.
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