World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a press conference organised by the Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents amid the COVID-19 on July 3, 2020 at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. (PHOTO / AFP)
GENEVA / CAIRO / QUITO - WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that “vaccine nationalism” would only slow the effort to quash the pandemic and called for vaccines to be used fairly and effectively.
Tedros said 78 high-income countries had now joined the “COVAX” global vaccine allocation plan, bringing the total to 170 countries, and the “number is growing”. He urged others to join by the Sept. 18 deadline for binding commitments.
Joining the plan guaranteed those countries access to the world’s largest portfolio of vaccines, with nine candidates currently in the pipeline, he said, adding that a further four were “promising”.
The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance are leading the COVAX facility, aimed at helping buy and distribute vaccination shots fairly around the world.
But some countries that have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the United States, have said they will not join COVAX.
“Vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic, not shorten it,” Tedros told a WHO briefing in Geneva, without mentioning any specific countries.
“If and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively ... In other words, the first priority must be to vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries,” he said, adding that priority should be given to healthcare workers, the elderly and those with underlying conditions.
Tedros thanked Germany, Japan, Norway and the European Commission for joining COVAX during the last week.
Vaccine
Drugmakers are planning a public pledge to not send any COVID-19 vaccine to the FDA for review without extensive safety and efficacy data, according to people familiar with the effort.
The joint stance is seen as a bulwark against political pressure being applied on the Food and Drug Administration to get a vaccine out as soon as possible. It is likely to be announced in a multi-company statement as soon as next week. The plans, which could still change, were described by people involved in the effort on condition of anonymity.
The companies involved in the discussions include Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc., Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Sanofi and possibly others. All are developing vaccines for Covid-19.
The drug industry has long relied on the FDA as a gold-standard seal of approval for its drugs and vaccines, assuring patients that the products are safe and effective. But in the middle of the pandemic, the agency has made several controversial decisions to allow emergency use of therapies without rock-solid evidence they work.
A vaccine, which will need to be taken by millions of healthy people, requires significant uptake to be effective in batting down the virus in the US One recent poll found that a majority of the public thought a vaccine approval would be driven by politics.
Health officials inside the Trump administration have said the process will be based entirely on science, and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn has said he would not participate if he thought a vaccine were being rubber-stamped.
At the same time, the president has accused the agency of slowing work to hurt him politically, and said he believes a vaccine will be ready before election day on Nov. 3.
US
Coronavirus cases in the US increased 0.7 percent as compared with the same time Thursday to 6.18 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The increase matched the past week’s average daily gain. Deaths rose by 0.5 percent to 187,200.
The US could see the number of US deaths from Covid-19 rise to 410,451 by the new year, with cold weather pumping up the numbers, according to a forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine.
That number is the most likely scenario if the use of masks and social distancing remains at the same level as now, the institute reported. It also notes a that the virus has followed seasonal patterns similar to pneumonia. If that holds up, northern countries can anticipate more cases in the late fall and winter months, leading to added deaths.
More than 186,000 people have died in the US In June, the institute forecast that the country wouldn’t pass 180,000 dead until Oct 1.
Italy
Italy reported 1,733 new coronavirus cases Friday, the most since May 2, according to data on the Health Ministry website. The increase occurred as daily tests rose to a record 113,085. There were 11 additional deaths reported since Thursday. Total cases reported since late February rose to 274,644
While numbers remain distant from the peak of 6,557 new infections in a day on March 21, they’ve been inching up all week. A total 35,518 people have died from coronavirus in Italy.
UK
The UK reported 1,940 new cases, the highest since May 30. The total now stands at 342,351. The reproductive rate, or R number, stands between 0.9 and 1.1, the government said. The growth rate ranges from -1 percent to 2 percent.
Another 10 people died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive, bringing the total to 41,537.
Brazil
The Brazilian government said Friday the country's COVID-19 death toll surpassed 125,000 after registering 907 more deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 125,521.
Additionally, 51,194 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the national count to 4,092,832 cases.
Sao Paulo, the most populous and hardest-hit state in the country, has reported 845,016 cases and 31,091 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 232,489 cases and 16,467 deaths.
Egypt
Egypt registered on Friday 157 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 99,582, the Egyptian Health Ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, 16 patients died from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 5,495.
The statement added that 890 others were cured and discharged from hospitals on Friday, taking the total recoveries to 76,305.
Egypt announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case on Feb. 14 and the first death from the highly infectious virus on March 8.
Amid declining COVID-19 deaths and fatalities, the most populous Arab country has been easing relevant restrictions over the past couple of months as part of a coexistence plan to maintain anti-coronavirus precautionary measures while resuming economic activities.
Ecuador
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health announced on Friday that the country registered 815 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and 26 more deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 117,175, with 6,674 deaths.
The province of Pichincha, where the capital of Quito is located, continues to register the highest number of new cases in the country, with a total of 24,705 infections and 947 deaths.
The National Committee for Emergency Operations, which is managing the health crisis, has decreed that all social gatherings will continue to be suspended until Sept. 12.
The committee also announced that the permissible capacity of restaurants and shopping centers in Quito has been raised from 30 to 50 percent.
Ecuador began to gradually lift preventive isolation measures and social restrictions on June 1 in order to reactivate the economy, but international land borders remain closed, all face-to-face classes continue to be suspended, and entertainment venues such as bars and nightclubs are still not permitted to reopen.
Germany
The Federation of German Industries (BDI) said Friday it supported shortening the quarantine period for suspected COVID-19 cases in Germany from 14 days to five days.
"The aim must be to allow economic activity at the maximum possible level," said BDI Director General Joachim Lang in a statement.
The last few days saw the debate in Germany about a possible reduction of the quarantine period in the fight against COVID-19. On Tuesday, German virologist Christian Drosten suggested such a reduction in a podcast by German broadcaster NDR.
Drosten acknowledged that his suggestion was close to the "pain threshold of epidemiology." Additionally, no COVID-19 tests should be "wasted" during quarantine but people should only be tested once after the end of the period.
Some politicians in Germany also publicly supported Drosten's suggestion. "I think it makes a lot of sense to limit the quarantine period to five days," German SPD politician and health expert Karl Lauterbach told the newspaper Die Welt on Friday.
Gambia
The Gambia's Ministry of Tourism announced Friday that flight passengers will no longer be subjected to quarantine, as the West African nation declares its intention of reopening the tourism season next month.
The changes are entailed in the latest amendment to the guidelines on the prevention and precautionary procedures on COVID-19.
In a letter addressed to the Director of Gambia Tourism, the ministry said that arriving passengers in possession of negative COVID-19 test certificate of no more than 72 hours will not be tested in The Gambia.
The decision came after a week when the government declared its intention to reopen the tourism season in October.
So far, The Gambia has registered 3,120 confirmed cases, including 99 deaths and 1,295 recoveries.
Canada
There have been 130,493 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 9,141 deaths, the Public Health Agency of Canada said Friday.
Over the past week, close to 46,000 people were tested daily, with 0.9 percent of people testing positive. An average of 525 new cases have been reported daily during the most recent seven days.
The populous provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia have all seen steady increases in the number of active COVID-19 cases recently, some recording numbers that haven't been seen since the height of the outbreak.
Libya
The National Center for Disease Control of Libya on Friday reported 672 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily rise in infections in the country so far.
The center said in a statement that it received a total of 3,812 suspected samples, of which 672 were tested positive, adding that 54 patients have newly recovered and eight more died.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Libya so far is 16,445, including 1,910 recoveries and 262 deaths, the center confirmed.
Morocco
Morocco registered 1,750 new COVID-19 cases and 39 deaths on Friday, increasing the tally of infections to 68,605 and the death toll to 1,292.
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 52,483 after 1,260 new ones were added, the ministry of health said in a statement.
The statement added that the COVID-19 fatality rate in Morocco stands at 1.9 percent and the current recovery rate is 76.5 percent, while more than 180 patients are in intensive care units.
France
The coronavirus accelerated its spreading in France, with 8,975 new cases diagnosed in the past 24 hours, the largest daily uptick since the outbreak of the epidemic in the country, French health authorities announced on Friday.
Between Thursday and Friday, 53 new clusters have been identified. An additional 292 people were admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 infection, bringing the total to 4,671. The number of patients in intensive care reached 473, up by 46.
The cumulative number of people in France who have died from COVID-19 stood at 30,686, revised down due to data corrections, according to figures released by the health ministry.
As of Friday, the cumulative number of cases has reached 309,156.
Mexico
Mexico reported 6,196 new Covid-19 cases cases in the country, bringing the total to 623,090, according to data released by the Health Ministry on Friday night.
That represents an increase of 1 percent compared with the 7-day average of 0.9 percent, according to Bloomberg calculations. Deaths rose by 522, or 0.8 percent, to 66,851.
The government said the occupancy rate of general hospital beds was 34 percent while 30 percent of beds with ventilators are occupied.
Italy
Italy reported 1,733 new coronavirus cases Friday, the most since May 2, according to data on the Health Ministry website. The increase occurred as daily tests rose to a record 113,085. There were 11 additional deaths reported since Thursday. Total cases reported since late February rose to 274,644
While numbers remain distant from the peak of 6,557 new infections in a day on March 21, they’ve been inching up all week. A total 35,518 people have died from coronavirus in Italy.
Russia
Russia’s proposed Covid-19 vaccine induced an antibody response in all participants in early trials and found no serious adverse effects, according to the first peer-reviewed data on studies of the controversial project.
The vaccine also produced a response in T-cells -- a type of white blood cell that helps the immune system destroy infection -- according to preliminary results from phase 1 and 2 trials that were published Friday in the Lancet medical journal. Russian officials had previously made broadly similar claims about the shot, prior to review by outside experts.
Africa
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Friday disclosed that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent reached 1,275,815.
The Africa CDC, specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, in a statement issued on Friday said that the death toll from the ongoing pandemic also rose to 30,596. The number of COVID-19 recoveries also hit 1,015,865 as of Friday afternoon.
Africa's total COVID-19 cases represent 5 percent of all cases reported globally, it said.
The Africa CDC also disclosed that nine African countries account for 81 percent of the new COVID-19 cases reported during the past week, including South Africa at 27 percent, Ethiopia at 17 percent, Morocco at 16 percent, Libya at 5 percent, Algeria at 4 percent, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia and Egypt at 3 percent each.
In terms of reporting the highest cumulative incidence COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in Africa, South Africa placed first at 1,079, Cabo Verde second at 647, and Djibouti at 539, according to the Africa CDC.
According to the Africa CDC, some eleven countries are reporting case fatality rates higher than the global case fatality rate of 3.4 percent that include Chad reporting case fatality rates of 8 percent and Sudan reporting case fatality rates of 6 percent.
The Africa CDC also disclosed that amid the rapid spread of the virus across the continent, African countries have so far conducted more than 11.8 million COVID-19 tests, with 10.7 percent positivity rate.
