The global count of confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus disease reached close to 100 million on Monday, with the United States accounting for a quarter of that total, while President Joe Biden was preparing to reinstate travel restrictions against foreign citizens visiting the US from Brazil, the UK, Ireland and much of the rest of Europe, as well as South Africa.
The travel restrictions that were first imposed last spring will be maintained amid fears about new strains of the virus that were first detected in the UK and South Africa, which are considered to be more infectious and carry higher viral loads. than the original virus.
The South African variant, which has not yet been detected in the U.S., is of particular concern, as it may be less responsive to current vaccines that have gained emergency use authorization in the U.S., one developed by Pfizer Inc. PFE,
and the German partner BioNTech SE BNTX,
and another developed by Moderna Inc. MRNA,
Moderna said Monday that laboratory studies have shown that its vaccine can still protect people from the new variants. The study was not conducted on humans, however. The findings were released in a press release, and the company said it expects the results to be published in a pre-printed format.
Moderna said that in vitro studies showed that UK variant B.1.1.7 had no “significant” impact on neutralizing antibody titers developed as a result of vaccination; however, in the case of South African variant B.1.351, the vaccine still produced levels of neutralizing antibody titers that were protective, but the titer levels were lower.
Moderna now plans to study booster doses for its two-dose vaccine, COVID-19, to see if a third dose of some kind can increase the titers of neutralizing antibodies and whether a booster can specifically protect against variant B.1.351. This reinforcement, mRNA-1273,351, will be tested in preclinical studies and a Phase 1 study in the USA
The United States registered another 129,527 new cases on Sunday, according to a New York Times tracker, and at least 1,815 deaths. The US recorded an average of 170,559 cases a day last week, but that is 33% less than the average two weeks earlier.
The number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals dropped to 110,628 on Sunday, according to the COVID Tracking Project, from 113,609 the previous day and the lowest level since December 14.
“While cases, hospitalizations and deaths remain at unacceptable levels, there is no denying the cases and hospitalizations are improving dramatically,” said Chris Meekins, an analyst at Raymond James in a weekly commentary.
The vaccine tracker at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is showing that by 6:00 am ET on Sunday, 21.8 million doses have been administered and 41.4 million doses distributed. In the last week, the United States came close to dosing 1 million people a day, which would help Biden achieve his goal of 100 million doses in the first 100 days of his presidency.
See now:Biden signs flood of executive orders to strengthen pandemic management
“There are still potential threats that can lead us astray, such as virus mutation or vaccine production capacity; however, these improvements are encouraging and signal that the United States is moving in a better direction, ”wrote Meekins.
In his early days as president, Biden published a 198-page pandemic response plan and signed 13 executive actions to mitigate the virus ”“ His actions are consistent with his campaign’s emphasis on fighting the pandemic and include some of his main proposals , as if rejoining WHO, asking Americans to wear masks for 100 days and strengthening travel safety protocols, ”said Meekins.
There was good news from Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who said on Friday that the first single-dose vaccine COVID-19 could get emergency approval in just two weeks. Fauci told Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC program that the vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson could receive a US until then.
“I would be surprised if it were more than two weeks from now that the data would be analyzed and decisions would be made,” he said. The J&J vaccine has a second advantage, as it does not require ultra low temperature storage, like the others.
Read too:ServiceNow joins effort to distribute COVID-19 vaccine
In other news:
• Merck MRK,
it is halting the development of its two candidate vaccines COVID-19 after disappointing trial results and will instead focus on the development of two therapeutic candidates under investigation. The decision comes after a review of the results of the Phase 1 studies of the candidate vaccines, called V590 and V591, in which the immunological responses were lower than those observed after natural infection and in tests with other candidate vaccines. “Merck continues to advance in clinical programs and expand the manufacture of two experimental drugs, MK-7110 and MK-4482 (molnupiravir); molnupiravir is being developed in collaboration with Ridgeback Bio, ”said the company in a statement.
Don’t miss:Fear of a new variant of the virus leads the US to more genomic sequencing
• The CDC has updated the recommendations for vaccine administration to say that it is okay to space the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccines currently available within 42 days, if necessary, reported Jaimy Lee of MarketWatch. Regulatory labels say that doses of the BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine should be spaced 21 days apart, while the second dose of Moderna’s vaccine should be administered 28 days after the first dose. “However, if it is not feasible to adhere to the recommended interval, the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can be scheduled for administration within 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose,” said the CDC. The United Kingdom also said that it is acceptable to space the doses of its authorized vaccines, which include AstraZeneca AZN,
AZN,
and Oxford University vaccine, in addition to those developed by BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna, as needed.
For more information, see:Pfizer temporarily reduces vaccine deliveries in Europe while improving production capacity
• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tested positive for COVID-19, but said his symptoms are mild and that he is receiving medical treatment, the Wall Street Journal reported. López Obrador, 67, continued to travel around the country and participate in public events, even after a second wave of coronavirus infections hit the country last month. Mexico has suffered about 150,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19. “As always, I am optimistic,” he said in a tweet. “We are all going to get over it.”
• France issued a decree banning the use of certain homemade masks in public amid growing concerns that they do not offer sufficient protection against new variants, the Guardian reported. Only three types of masks will be recommended: surgical, FFP2 and fabric masks made according to Category 1 standards. French authorities have confirmed that it will be difficult to police the ban. “I don’t think the police are going to ask people about the level of protection of their masks,” said a spokesman for the prime minister. Germany last week ordered Bavarian residents to wear top-grade N95 medical masks in public.
See now:West Virginia is vaccinating people faster than California – here’s why
• A new study highlights the high risks that tenants face when they want to get government help in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, reported Jacob Passy of MarketWatch. Over the next four years, the COVID-19-related recession is expected to cause a 49% increase in the number of chronic homeless people across the country, according to new research from Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit urban research organization based in California. The homeless crisis is expected to peak in 2023, the researchers found, with over 603,000 adults of working age without a place to sleep. “Disconnecting from work is a degenerative dynamic – less work, less income, less stable living conditions and more disconnection from work,” wrote the researchers. “It is not the total loss of jobs, but the loss in the margins of the labor market that is the main cause of the lack of economically motivated housing.”
Biden reveals plan to restrict Covid-19 in its first 100 days
Latest counts
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide rose to more than 99.3 million on Monday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, and the death toll rose to 2.13 million. About 53 million people have recovered from COVID-19.
The USA leads the world with 25 million cases and 419,338 deaths.
Brazil has the second highest number of deaths with 217,037 and is the third in cases with 8.8 million.
India is the second world in cases with 10.7 million and the third in deaths with 153,470.
Mexico has the fourth highest number of deaths with 149,614 and the 13th highest number of cases with 1.8 million.
The UK has 3.7 million cases and 98,131 deaths, the highest number in Europe and the fifth largest in the world.
See too: The coronavirus pandemic in the UK has never been worse. But the British are moving more than in the March blockade.
China, where the virus was first discovered last year, had 99,323 confirmed cases and 4,805 deaths, according to its official figures.