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Saturday, March 06, 2021, 17:20
WHO warns of 'mass trauma' caused by COVID-19 pandemic
By Agencies
Saturday, March 06, 2021, 17:20 By Agencies

A woman receives a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Gina Reed at a vaccination center established at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, on March 5, 2021. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AF)P

YAUARETE / GENEVA / QUITO / PARIS / BUDAPEST / ROME / RABAT / MOSCOW / STOCKHOLM / LOS ANGELES / LONDON - World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more "mass trauma" than World War II and warned of its lasting consequences.

"The world has experienced mass trauma because World War Two affected many, many lives," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press conference.

"And now, even with this COVID-19 pandemic, with bigger magnitude, more lives have been affected, almost the whole world is affected," he said, adding that the pandemic induced mass trauma is "beyond proportion and even bigger than what the world experienced" after the Second World War.

ALSO READ: Britain tells EU: Vaccine export curbs endanger virus fight

Merck & Co Inc

US drugmaker Merck & Co Inc said on Saturday the experimental antiviral drug molnupiravir it is developing with Ridgeback Bio showed a quicker reduction in infectious virus in its phase 2a study among participants with early COVID-19.

“The secondary objective findings in this study, of a quicker decrease in infectious virus among individuals with early COVID-19 treated with molnupiravir, are promising,” said William Fischer, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, in a statement from the companies.

The antiviral is being currently tested in a Phase 2/3 trial that is set to be completed in May.

Merck decided to focus on therapeutics after its two COVID-19 vaccines failed to generate desired immune responses, prompting it to abandon the program in January.

Africa

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has amounted to 3,939,794 as of Friday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member African Union, said the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 105,020, while 3,515,988 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease.

In this Feb 15, 2021 photo, a health worker from the Ministry of Health Department for Indigenous Health administers a second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to a woman in Sao Pedro do rio Arapiun, in the Lower Amazon region of the state of Para, near Santarem in Brazil. (TARSO SARRAF / AFP)

Brazil

An army helicopter flew to two isolated indigenous villages in Brazil’s Amazon jungle this week with a welcome cargo - coronavirus vaccines.

The Hupda communities lined up to get their shots.

Traditional medicine prescribed by a shaman is highly respected here, but there was no resistance to receiving the vaccine by China’s Sinovac Biotech.

“We are grateful for the vaccination, so we will not catch the disease,” said Hupda chieftain Jorge Pires in the village of Santo Antanasio, near the Colombian border and a 25-minute helicopter flight from the nearest military outpost.

Following criticism by indigenous leaders that echoed internationally last year that their vulnerable communities were being “decimated” by COVID-19, Brazil’s Health and Defense ministries have mounted a vaccination campaign reaching remote reservations and villages.

So far 265,244 indigenous people have had a first dose, and 124,063 the second dose, of 400,000 covered by the ministry’s indigenous health service Sesai.

According to the service, 50,000 indigenous people have been infected and 589 have died from COVID-19.

Brazil on Friday registered more than 1,600 COVID-19 deaths for the fourth day in a row, reporting 1,800 new deaths and 75,495 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Brazil has so far reported a total of 10,869,227 cases with 262,770 deaths, according to official data.

Ecuador

Ecuador registered 1,335 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease and 33 more patient deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 291,070 and the death toll to 11,225, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno announced the government developed a website called planvacunarse.ec, which means "vaccination plan", with "the necessary information on vaccination against COVID-19 in the country."

The website, which is already up and running, is part of a government strategy to vaccinate between 60 percent and 70 percent of the population, more than 9 million people, starting in April, depending on the international supply of vaccines.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia registered 1,119 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 164,073 as of Friday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said ten new deaths from the coronavirus were reported across the country during the same period, bringing the national death toll to 2,404.

An elderly man of an independent residence receives the first injection of the Pfizer vaccine in Villejuif, near Paris on March 4, 2021. (THOMAS COEX / AFP)

France

The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in France increased by 23,507 in the past 24 hours, while another 439 patients died, according to figures released by health authorities on Friday.

This daily count, down from 25,279 on Thursday, has brought the country's accumulative total of infections to 3,859,102. The total of deaths reached 88,274.

Hungary

Hungary reported a new record daily high of 7,269 coronavirus cases on Saturday, a jump of 14% from Friday after tough new lockdown measures were imposed this week to curb a rapid spike in COVID-19 contagion.

The central European country of 10 million is grappling with some of the highest infection and death rates in the world and Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government on Thursday closed all schools and most shops in response. 

Italy

Italy registered more deaths in 2020 than in any other year since World War Two, according to data that suggest COVID-19 caused thousands more fatalities than were officially attributed to it.

Total deaths in Italy last year amounted to 746,146, statistics bureau ISTAT said, an increase of 100,525, or 15.6 percent, compared with the average of the 2015-2019 period.

Looking at the period from when Italy’s COVID-19 outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 to the end of the year, the “excess deaths” were even higher at 108,178, an increase of 21 percent over the same period of the last five years.

The Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Italy’s top health institute, officially attributed 75,891 deaths to the new coronavirus last year, some 70 percent of this total excess mortality.

Italy has continued to register hundreds of COVID-19 deaths per day this year. Its updated tally stood at 98,974 on Thursday.

Officially, COVID-19 accounted for 10 percent of deaths in Italy last year from Feb 21, with marked regional disparities.

Morocco

Morocco registered 420 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the tally in the North African country to 485,567, the health ministry said in a statement.

The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 471,410 after 477 new ones were added.

The death toll rose to 8,673 with four new fatalities during the last 24 hours, while 366 people are in intensive care units.

Russia

Russia on Saturday reported 11,022 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,820 in Moscow, taking the national case tally to 4,312,181 since the pandemic began.

The government’s coronavirus taskforce said that 441 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the Russian death toll to 88,726. 

Sweden

Sweden is developing a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate for use in international travel. The aim is to have the system in place by June 1, the government said on Friday.

"Sweden is driving the development of digital vaccination certificates. We now have a model that is simple, safe and versatile. I see these vaccination certificates being in place by the summer," Anders Ygeman, minister for digital development, said at a press conference.

Ygeman said he expected travel companies and countries to require internationally valid proof of vaccination in the future. "Today, many demand proof of COVID-19 tests and as the vaccine arrives, it is logical that they will demand vaccine certificates," he said.

The certificate could also be used to access certain events or services in Sweden, Ygeman said, adding that provisions should be made to ensure that those who cannot be vaccinated will not be discriminated against.

The certificate would be accessible through digital identification and could be saved on a smartphone or in a digital wallet. It could also be sent by regular mail either as a paper document or an NFC (near-field communication) sticker attached to the owner's passport.

In this Nov 19, 2020 photo, people visit Disneyland where parts of the park opened today for more retail and dining as an extension of the Downtown Disney District in Anaheim, California. (FREDERIC J BROWN / AFP)

US

The United States has administered 85,008,094 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Friday morning and delivered 114,133,115 doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday, the agency said.

According to the tally posted on March 4, the agency had administered 82,572,848 doses of the vaccines, and distributed 109,905,530 doses.

The agency said 55,547,697 people had received one or more doses, while 28,701,201 people have received the second dose as of Friday.

California health officials on Friday gave Walt Disney Co’s Disneyland and other theme parks the go-ahead to reopen at limited capacity from April 1, after a closure of almost a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Capacity will be limited to between 15 percent and 35 percent, the California Department of Health said in an update. Masks and other safety measures will be required and the parks initially will be open only to state residents.

Outdoor stadiums and ball parks will also be allowed to reopen at reduced capacity, starting April 1.

READ MORE: Germany rejects EU executive call to ease virus border curbs

UK

A mystery person infected with the coronavirus "variant of concern" that first emerged in Brazil has been found in Britain, local media reported Friday.

The latest development came after six cases of the P1 variant had been found in Britain last week, but one of the cases was still unidentified as this person had failed to complete the test registration card properly.

It is understood that British health officials have found the person and traced all of their contacts, the BBC reported.

There are concerns that this variant may spread more easily, might evade the immune system, or that vaccines might be less effective against it.

Another 5,947 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,207,304, according to official figures released Friday.

The country also reported another 236 coronavirus-related fatalities, taking the national death toll to 124,261. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

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