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Sunday, May 02, 2021, 12:02
Indian experts flag variants that could 'evade immune response'
By Agencies
Sunday, May 02, 2021, 12:02 By Agencies

Family members wearing protective gear offer prayers next to the pyre of a victim who died of COVID-19 coronavirus at an open air crematorium set up for the coronavirus victims inside a defunct granite quarry on the outskirts of Bangalore on May 1, 2021. (MANJUNATH KIRAN / AFP)

SINGAPORE / TOKYO / NEW DELHI - A forum of scientific advisers set up by the Indian government has told authorities about minor mutations in some samples of the coronavirus that could “possibly evade immune response” and require more study, a leader of the forum has told Reuters.

However the advisers said while they were flagging the mutations, there was no reason currently to believe they were expanding or could be dangerous.

Indian hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have been overwhelmed as the country has reported more than 300,000 daily cases for more than 10 days straight. Many families have been left on their own to scramble for medicines and oxygen

Scientists are studying what led to the current surge in cases in India and particularly whether a variant first detected in the country, called B.1.617, is to blame. The World Health Organization has not declared the Indian variant a “variant of concern,” as it has done for variants first detected in Britain, Brazil and South Africa. But the WHO said on April 27 that its early modelling, based on genome sequencing, suggested that B.1.617 had a higher growth rate than other variants circulating in India.

Indian hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have been overwhelmed as the country has reported more than 300,000 daily cases for more than 10 days straight. Many families have been left on their own to scramble for medicines and oxygen.

Nearly 10 Indian states and union territories have imposed some form of restrictions, even as the federal government remains reluctant to impose a national lockdown.

India's COVID-19 tally reached 19,557,457 on Sunday, with a single day spike of 392,488 cases, said the federal health ministry.

As many as 3,689 deaths were recorded since Saturday morning, taking the total death toll to 215,542.

There are a total of 3,349,644 active cases in the country, with an increase of 80,934 through Saturday, while 15,992,271 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far across the country.

India has received its first 150,000 doses of Sputnik V, said Deepak Sapra, CEO of API and Services at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, the Indian drugmaker that has partnered with Russia to supply the vaccine. Further consignments will arrive “in the next few weeks,” Sapra said.

Eighteen patients were killed when a fire swept through a COVID-19 hospital ward in western India, the Associated Press reported. Another 31 people were rescued from the fire in Gujarat state. The cause of the blaze is being investigated.

India’s capital extended by a week curbs it put in place to control a new wave of COVID-19 infections. The lockdown was initially imposed on April 19 and has already been extended once. The city has recorded an average more than 20,000 new infections daily for the past five days, according to government data.

Egyptian Minister of Health Hala Zayed announced on Saturday that 30 tons of medical supplies will be sent to India to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australia

Australia's fourth-largest city faces prospects of its second snap lockdown in two weeks, officials said on Sunday, after a hotel quarantine security guard in Perth and two of his housemates tested positive for COVID-19.

Western Australia (WA) Premier Mark McGowan said late on Saturday he had yet to decide whether the state's capital city, which last week emerged from a three-day snap lockdown after reporting one COVID-19 infection, would go into lockdown on Sunday.

"Our restrictions in place, and the use of masks, and the ability of our contact tracers and testing give us the ability to hold on a lockdown decision," McGowan told reporters late on Saturday.

"But it is possible that this could change tomorrow, or the day after."

READ MORE: Indian states run out of vaccines, nationwide inoculation delayed

Cambodia 

Cambodia reported a daily record of 730 new coronavirus cases, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections that emerged about two months ago.

The Southeast Asian nation has recorded one of the world's smallest COVID-19 caseloads, but the recent outbreak that was first detected in late February has caused infections to climb to 14,520, with 103 deaths.

Cambodia on Saturday imposed a ban on the imports of frozen meat and meat products from India in further efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian country, said Kun Nhim, director-general of Cambodia's General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE).

The ban took effect immediately and until further notice, he said in a statement, adding that the temporary suspension came after India reported a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases.

Nhim also advised customs officials to spray disinfectant on transport vehicles and the outer packaging of other products that have been sourced from India.

ALSO READ: India's daily COVID-19 cases pass 400,000 for first time

Iran

Iran on Saturday reported 17,080 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 2,516,157.

The pandemic has so far claimed 72,090 lives in Iran, up by 332 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing on the state of pandemic in the country.

Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Saturday 5,167 new coronavirus cases, raising the total nationwide number to 1,070,366.

A statement by the ministry also reported 33 new COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 15,498, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 7,295 to 949,341.

A total of 9,376,388 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 38,287 done during the day.

Ryadh Abdul-Amir, head of the Public Health Department in the ministry, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the citizens' turnout for vaccination is low, but it suits the limited quantities of vaccines.

Japan

Japan's western prefecture of Osaka confirmed a record daily total of 1,262 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, along with 41 deaths, national broadcaster NHK reported.

Osaka's previous high was 1,260 infections, announced on Wednesday, NHK said.

The capital Tokyo has also seen a surge in infections, with 1,050 new cases on Saturday, according to the broadcaster, after reporting in excess of 1,000 cases on Thursday as well.

The worsening situation has sharpened focus on whether the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games can or should go ahead, with the opening ceremony only 12 weeks away.

VLP Therapeutics, a US-based company, will apply for Japanese approval for its coronavirus vaccine by next month and aims to start clinical trials there by summer, the Nikkei reported on Saturday, without saying where it got the information.

Laos

Laos recorded 112 new cases of COVID-19, raising the total in the country to 933, according to the Lao Ministry of Health on Sunday.

Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health Latsamy Vongkhamsao, told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane on Sunday that among the new cases, 34 were detected in Lao capital Vientiane, 11 in Champasak, 60 in Bokeo, three in Savannakhet and Vientiane, and one in Bolikhamxay province.


Mongolia

Mongolia's national count of COVID-19 cases rose by 1,185 to 38,470 in the past 24 hours, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Sunday.

Apart from one imported case, all the other new infections were locally transmitted, mostly detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, the NCCD said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mongolia's total death toll reached 126 with two new fatalities, and 1,026 more people were newly discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 21,707, according to the center.

Medical staff wait at a traffic light to walk across to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore on April 30, 2021. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

Myanmar

A batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government arrived at the Yangon International Airport on Sunday, according to a release from the Chinese embassy on Sunday.

The donated vaccines, promised by China earlier this year, was handed over at a critical stage of prevention and control against the pandemic, demonstrating the "Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship and spirit of a community with a shared future, said the embassy, hoping that the vaccines can help protect life and health of Myanmar people and combat the pandemic.

Myanmar on Saturday reported 14 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing its total tally to 142,831.

According to a release from Myanmar's health ministry, 1,596 samples were tested for the coronavirus epidemic on Saturday, down from around 10,000 samples tested daily in early February.

The number of recoveries from COVID-19 stands currently at 131,971 in the Southeast Asian country, and the death toll at 3,209, the release said.

Nepal

Demand for oxygen has been rising in Nepal as more and more hospitalized COVID-19 patients are in need of oxygen.

"The majority of the COVID-19 patients admitted at our hospital required the support of bottled oxygen," Somnath Bastola, senior manager (corporate communication and public relation department) of Norvic International Hospital said.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported four new cases of COVID-19, said the Ministry of Health in a statement on Sunday.

The four new cases of COVID-19 reported since the ministry's last update on Friday, were recent returnees in managed isolation facilities. There was no new case of COVID-19 in the wider New Zealand community, according to the ministry.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand was 24, and the total number of confirmed cases remained at 2,262 in the country, it said.

The total number of tests processed by New Zealand laboratories to date reached 2,026,948.

All direct passenger flights from Perth, Australia to New Zealand were paused, after a worker at a Perth managed isolation facility had tested positive for COVID-19.

Nepal

The Nepali government on Saturday reported a record high spike in COVID-19 cases with a second wave of the coronavirus hitting the Himalayan country hard.

"A total of 5,763 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours," Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population said Saturday. The last record of highest coronavirus cases in a day was reported on Oct. 21 last year, when the Nepali government reported 5,743 cases.

Pakistan

Pakistan on Saturday announced significant reducing of inbound international air travel on May 5-20, saying inbound air traffic will operate at 20 percent of the total current capacity.

The decision was taken "amid high disease prevalence in various parts of the world and current disease situation in the country with corresponding extreme stress on the critical care system," according to an advisory issued by the National Command and Operation Center.

Singapore

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday that the government will have to be agile and decisive with its response to tighten measures against COVID-19 promptly where it is necessary, to clamp down on the spread of new clusters, and to avoid going into a second Circuit Breaker.

He called on Singaporeans to work with the government and not let down the guard, when he delivered his 2021 May Day Rally speech.

"It is not time to relax yet. This is a marathon. Let us keep jogging and keep ourselves safe," he said.

Lee reminded the Singaporeans not to make the mistakes some other countries have done, which were celebrating too early, relaxing too fast, letting the guard down, which caused another wave to come.

"If we have to do another lockdown like last year's Circuit Breaker, it would be a major setback for our people and for our economic recovery," Lee added.

Singapore was in the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker period from April 7 to June 1 last year, so as to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The Circuit Breaker measures include home-based schooling and shutting most workplaces temporarily.

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 34 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 61,179.

South Korea

South Korea reported 606 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Saturday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 123,240.

The daily caseload was down from 627 in the previous day, staying below 700 for four days.

The daily number of infections hovered in triple figures since Nov. 8 last year due to cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Thailand

Thailand's Health Ministry on Sunday reported 1,940 new coronavirus cases, while deaths hit 21 for a second day, the highest daily number of fatalities since the pandemic began.

Thailand largely controlled the virus early in the pandemic through shutdowns and strict border controls. But a deadly third wave that begin in early April includes the highly transmissible B.1.1.7 variant and has accounted for about half of its total cases and deaths.

Of the new infections, 1,930 were domestic transmissions and 10 others were imported, CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan told a press conference.

The capital city Bangkok registered the highest number of new infections with 539 cases, followed by 276 cases in Nonthaburi and 145 cases in Samut Prakan, according to Apisamai.

The Philippines

Thailand on Sunday reported 1,940 new COVID-19 cases and 21 more fatalities, according to the country's Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Of the new infections, 1,930 were domestic transmissions and 10 others were imported, CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan told a press conference.

The capital city Bangkok registered the highest number of new infections with 539 cases, followed by 276 cases in Nonthaburi and 145 cases in Samut Prakan, according to Apisamai.

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported Saturday 9,226 new COVID-19 infections.


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