The global case count for COVID-19 coronavirus-borne disease rose to 81.4 million on Tuesday, and the World Health Organization said the pandemic is not necessarily the big one the world should face and urged people across the world to learn from this crisis.
Speaking at the agency’s last press conference for 2020, WHO emergency chief Mike Ryan said the coronavirus pandemic was severe and affected every corner of the planet.
“But this is not necessarily the big problem,” he said. “This is an alert. We are now learning how to do things better – science, logistics, training and governance, how to communicate better. But the planet is fragile. We live in an increasingly complex global society. These threats will continue. If there is anything we need to get out of this pandemic, with all the tragedy and losses, [it] It’s [that] we need to act together. We need to honor those we lose by improving what we do every day. “
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the cooperation between the public and private sectors that led to the development of several vaccines in record time, which are now being launched worldwide. This “is an incredible scientific achievement,” he said.
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WHO is working closely with scientists to understand the new variants of COVID-19 that have emerged in the UK and South Africa and to assess whether they spread faster or make people sicker and have a potential impact on testing , treatments and vaccines.
“Specifically, we are working with scientists in the UK and South Africa who are conducting epidemiological and laboratory studies, which will guide the next steps,” he said.
In the meantime, WHO is working to ensure that vaccines are made available “to the needy everywhere” and reminding people that, even with vaccines being distributed, they must adhere to public safety measures – frequent hand washing, detachment social and use. a facial mask in public.
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‘This one [failure to meet vaccine targets in the U.S.] it seems like a disappointment in many ways, but I’m not surprised, unfortunately, considering how the tests went, the tracking doesn’t exist and how we’re being taken by surprise by this new [virus] variant due to our lack of genomic surveillance. ‘
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The U.S. has so far vaccinated 2.1 million people and distributed more than 11 million doses of the two vaccines that have received emergency use authorization, one developed by Pfizer Inc. PFE,
with its German partner BioNTech SE BNTX,
and one developed by Moderna Inc. MRNA,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is far below the first predictions made by “Operation Warp Speed”, the federal program created to accelerate the development of treatments and vaccines against COVID-19, according to Kavita Patel, a primary care physician and health policy specialist who served in the Obama White House.
Patel’s clinic is one of the locations that is part of the vaccination strategy in the District of Columbia, she said in an interview with MSNBC.
“In October, we heard from Operation Warp Speed that we would have 100 million doses by the end of the year,” she said. “We kind of thought it was unreasonable. Then the expectation dropped to 40 million and then to 20 million in late December. We dosed 2.2 million, which is well below that 20 million. ”
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The failure to meet the vaccine’s goals “seems like a disappointment in many ways, but I’m not surprised, unfortunately, considering how the tests went, the screening doesn’t exist and how we’re being discovered. guard for this new [virus] variant due to our lack of genomic surveillance, ”she said.
The United States recorded at least 188,934 new cases of COVID on Monday, and at least 1,899 people died, according to a New York Times tracker. Last week, the US recorded an average of 183,124 cases per day.
The number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals rose to a record high of 121,235 on Monday, according to the COVID Tracking Project, surpassing the record of 120,151 set on December 24.
The US continues to lead the world in cases, with 19.3 million, and deaths, with 334,967, or about a fifth of the global counts for each, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.
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In other news:
• Israel has vaccinated more people against COVID-19 than those infected with the virus since the outbreak began, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing data from Health Minister Yuli Edelstein. Just nine days after the country’s vaccination campaign began, 495,000 Israelis were medicated, compared with 407,285 confirmed cases of the disease. Israel expects to vaccinate 150,000 people a day, allowing it to vaccinate 2.25 million people in a month and a half, or about a quarter of the total population.
• The new COVID variant that hit the UK is probably in Germany since November, according to health officials cited by the Guardian, after the death of a patient with this variant in the north of the country. The patient was an elderly man with underlying health problems, whose wife was also infected, but survived. The couple reportedly contracted the virus from their daughter, who traveled to the UK in mid-November.
• Shares in biotechnology company Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. fell 55% on Tuesday, with investors responding to the results of a Phase 1/2 test of their candidate vaccine COVID-19 that an analyst said was disappointing. Arcturus ARCT of San Diego,
said on Monday that it received approval from the Singapore Health Sciences Authority to proceed with a Phase 2 study of its candidate vaccine ARCT-021, which will involve up to 600 volunteers. The approval is based on data from the Phase 1/2 trial, which showed that the vaccine produced neutralizing antibodies after a dose, albeit at lower levels than rival candidate vaccines. Arcturus hopes that its vaccine will not require a booster injection, making it easier to administer than vaccines that require two doses. Raymond James said the data was “underwhelming”. “Although this latest data set does not completely harm the single-injection ARCT-021, which may provide protection against COVID-19 infection in Phase 3, the lack of neutralizing antibody SARS-CoV-2 (NAb titers in or above the levels seen in convalescent sera reduce our confidence that ARCT-021 will be able to achieve competitive levels of vaccine efficacy with a single dose, ”wrote analysts led by Stephen Seedhouse in a note to customers.
• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa imposed a ban on the sale of alcohol and ordered the closure of all bars as part of new restrictions to help the country fight the resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new variant, the Associated Press reported. Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all public beaches and swimming pools in the country’s pockets of infection, which include Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and several coastal areas. In addition, South Africa is extending its night curfew by four hours, requiring all residents to be home from 9 pm to 6 am, the president said. “Reckless behavior due to alcohol intoxication contributed to increased transmission. Alcohol-related accidents and violence are putting pressure on our hospital’s emergency units, ”said Ramaphosa in a national speech.
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Latest counts
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide rose to 81.4 million on Tuesday, Johns Hopkins data show, and the death toll is 1.77 million. At least 46 million people have recovered from COVID-19.
Brazil has the second highest number of deaths, 191,570, and the third in cases, with 7.5 million.
India is the second world in cases with 10.2 million, and the third in deaths with 148,153.
Mexico has the fourth highest number of deaths with 122,855 and the 13th highest number of cases with 1.4 million.
Italy has 72,370 deaths, the highest in Europe, and 2.0 million cases. The UK has 2.3 million cases, the majority in Europe, and 71,217 deaths, the second largest number in Europe and the sixth largest in the world.
China, where the virus was first discovered last year, had 95,773 confirmed cases and 4,777 deaths, according to its official figures.