Germany, South Africa and Sweden also reported their deadliest days yesterday, while the UK had its worst day since April. Switzerland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Panama, Slovakia and Lithuania are among the countries that recorded the highest daily fatalities earlier this week.
Public health officials around the world are desperately begging citizens to follow known safety precautions. Avoiding large meetings, limiting contacts with people outside your home and wearing a mask are essential.
YOU ASKED. WE RESPOND
Q: Does the Covid-19 vaccine work against new mutations?
The two viruses share a mutation known as N501Y, which scientists feared could allow the virus to escape the immunity generated by a vaccine. The researchers made a version of the virus that carries this mutation and then tested it on blood collected from 20 people who received two doses of the Pfizer injection as part of a clinical trial. In research published yesterday, they said they found “no reduction in neutralization activity” against the mutated virus.
The study – conducted by researchers at Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch – does not test the full range of these mutations. It was also not peer-reviewed.
WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY
Two Arthritis Drugs May Help Covid-19’s Sickest Patients
Initial research has shown that administering infusions of tocilizumab or sarilumab, two drugs commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, in critically ill patients with Covid-19 was associated with an 8.5% improvement in disease survival and discharge from the unit. intensive care in a hospital about a week to 10 days faster.
“It’s a huge change in survival,” said Anthony Gordon, lead investigator for the REMAP-CAP study and professor at Imperial College London. “We also saw patients recover more quickly. They were getting better and getting out of the ICU faster – and that was on average and each patient is a little different ”.
A year after Wuhan, China blocks another city
The blockade occurs when a total of 117 Covid-19 infections – including 67 asymptomatic cases – were detected in Shijiazhuang on Wednesday. The city identified another 66 positive cases yesterday, according to the Hebei provincial health commission. The outbreak in that city comes just weeks before the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s most important annual festival, which usually receives millions of people traveling home to be reunited with their family.
LA County sees one virus death every eight minutes
ON OUR RADAR
- Australia and the United Kingdom will demand that international arrivals show negative results from the Covid-19 test.
- Coronavac, the candidate vaccine developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, has been shown to be 78% effective during Phase 3 tests in Brazil.
- A Philadelphia 76ers player tested positive, forcing the team to spend the night in New York.
- Australia’s Greater Brisbane goes into blockade to prevent the spread of the UK’s Covid-19 strain.
- Iran’s supreme leader calls for a ban on the entry of Covid-19 vaccines into the country.
- Taking social detachment to a whole new level, Sweden’s Gothenburg Film Festival is inviting a film fan to spend a week on an isolated lighthouse island, with only films and the North Sea for company.
- The World Health Organization calls on European countries to intensify pandemic measures as the region deals with a new variant.
BEST TIP
This year will be marked as a year of uncertainty, anxiety and – if you’re like many people – a lot of stress-related eating.
TODAY’S PODCAST
“Half an hour after landing, I had my luggage, I was taken to a bus and taken to the hotel where I would be quarantined.” – Emily Liu, associate producer at CNN