The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa reached 10,809,836 in the last 24 hours, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said…reports Asian Lite News
The specialised healthcare agency of the African Union said that the Covid death toll across the continent stands at 239,615 and some 9,791,949 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia are among the countries with the most cases on the continent, said the Africa CDC.
South Africa tops the list with 3,605,222 cases, followed by the two northern African countries Morocco and Tunisia with 1,135,796 and 909,813 cases respectively, it said.
In terms of caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region in Africa, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region, said the Africa CDC.
The global coronavirus caseload has topped 258.1 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.15 million and vaccinations to over 7.42 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University…reports Asian Lite News
In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number number of vaccine doses administered stood at 258,172,735, 5,158,642 and 7,423,214,529, respectively.
Global Covid caseload tops 258.1 mn
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 47,886,798 and 772,414, according to the CSSE.
The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,518,901 infections and 465,911 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,020,412 infections and 612,782 deaths).
The other worst countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (9,941,704), Russia (9,205,431), Turkey (8,598,380), France (7,611,366), Iran (6,077,438), Germany (5,418,774), Argentina (5,315,989), Spain (5,096,538) and Colombia (5,050,255), the CSSE figures showed.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (292,471), Russia (260,319), Peru (200,866), the UK (144,414), Indonesia (143,744), Italy (133,247), Iran (128,956), Colombia (128,138), France (120,853) and Argentina (116,382).
The global coronavirus caseload has topped 255.9 million while the deaths have surged to more than 5.13 million and vaccinations to over 7.59 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University…reports Asian Lite News
In its latest update on Friday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number number of vaccine doses administered stood at 255,994,694, 5,131,102 and 7,596,483,034, respectively.
Global Covid caseload tops 255.9 mn
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 47,528,607 and 768,658, according to the CSSE.
The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,478,517 infections and 464,623 deaths), followed by Brazil (21,989,962 infections and 612,144 deaths).
The other worst countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (9,772,663), Russia (9,063,318), Turkey (8,505,190), France (7,453,941), Iran (6,063,775), Argentina (5,312,089), Spain (5,074,027), Germany (5,233,832) and Colombia (5,040,665), the CSSE figures showed.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (291,573), Russia (255,448), Peru (200,741), Indonesia (143,709), the UK (143,999), Italy (133,034), Colombia (127,963), Iran (128,634), France (119,333) and Argentina (116,341).
The global coronavirus caseload has topped 246.3 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.99 million and vaccinations soared to over 6.94 billion…reports Asian Lite News
In its latest update on Sunday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number number of vaccine doses administered stood at 246,367,237, 4,994,637 and 6,947,883,074, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 45,949,951 and 745,665, according to the CSSE.
Global Covid-19 caseload tops 246.3 mn
In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 34,260,470 cases.
The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (21,804,094), the UK (9,062,710), Russia (8,338,053), Turkey (8,009,010), France (7,262,178), Iran (5,916,211), Argentina (5,288,259), Spain (5,011,148), Colombia (5,000,677), Italy (4,767,440), Germany (4,594,059), Indonesia (4,243,835) and Mexico (3,802,287), the CSSE figures showed.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Brazil (607,694), India (457,740), Mexico (287,951), Russia (233,063), Peru (200,197), Indonesia (143,388), the UK (140,981), Italy (132,074), Colombia (127,258), Iran (126,126), France (118,612) and Argentina (115,942).
The global coronavirus caseload has topped 244 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.95 million and vaccinations soared to over 6.83 billion…reports Asian Lite News
In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number number of vaccine doses administered stood at 244,054,440, 4,954,527 and 6,833,629,339, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 45,544,971 and 737,316, according to the CSSE.
In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 34,189,774 cases.
The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (21,735,560), the UK (8,851,104), Russia (8,149,946), Turkey (7,879,438), France (7,228,331), Iran (5,868,360), Argentina (5,281,585), Spain (5,002,217), Colombia (4,992,586), Germany (4,485,437), Italy (4,743,720), Indonesia (4,240,479) and Mexico (3,784,448), the CSSE figures showed.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Brazil (605,804), India (454,712), Mexico (286,496), Russia (227,506), Peru (200,052), Indonesia (143,235), the UK (139,990), Italy (131,856), Colombia (127,099), Iran (125,363), France (118,452) and Argentina (115,851).
A man wearing a face mask cycles past the Francis Crick Institute Vaccination Centre in London,UK , Britain, March 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Han Yan/IANS)
England’s coronavirus reproduction number, also known as the R number, has risen slightly to between one and 1.2. Last week, the figure stood at between one and 1.1, reports Asian Lite News
The UK has reported the highest single-day coronavirus case surge in more than two months, according to official figures.
The new 6,238 coronavirus cases on Friday increased the country’s overall infection tally to 4,521,919, the seventh highest in the world, Xinhua news agency reported.
The death toll spiked to 128,086 after 11 more people succumbed to the disease.
Meanwhile, England’s coronavirus reproduction number, also known as the R number, has risen slightly to between one and 1.2. Last week, the figure stood at between one and 1.1.
People are seen at an NHS COVID-19 vaccination center in London, Britain, on March 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
The latest R number indicates that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 10 and 12 others.
When the figure is above one, an outbreak can grow exponentially.
The latest data came as Public Health England (PHE) said the B.1.6172 coronavirus variant, also known as Delta, is now the “dominant” strain in the UK.
The number of cases of the Delta variant has risen by more than 5,000 since last week to 12,431.
PHE officials said that the Delta variant has now overtaken the Kent variant, known as Alpha, as the most dominant.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock visits the Covid-19 Vaccination Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. (Picture by Pippa Fowles No 10 Downing Street)
There is “early evidence to suggest there may be increased risk of hospitalisation” from Delta, but further data is needed to confirm this, according to the PHE.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that more than three-quarters of adults in Britain have now had their first Covid vaccine dose.
Nearly 40 million people, or three-quarters of adults in Britain, have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.
The British government is facing increasing pressure to delay the final step of unlocking restrictions in England on June 21 due to concerns over the spread of the Delta variant.
Many experts have until recently denied the lab-leak theory and claimed that coronavirus originated as a natural infection leaping from animals to humans. But now, there has been a shift, reports Asian Lite News
The head of China’s Wuhan virology lab, also called as the ‘bat woman’, and an expert from the University of North Carolina in the US, had in a paper published in 2015 flagged the dangers of their gain-of-function experiment of a novel coronavirus which could infect human cells, media reports said.
In the research, Shi Zhengli and epidemiologist Ralph Baric used mice as subjects and inserted the protein from a Chinese rufous horseshoe bat into the molecular structure of the SARS virus from 2002, creating a new, infectious pathogen, the Vanity Fair reported on Thursday.AA
“Scientific review panels may deem similar studies too risky to pursue,” the researchers wrote in the paper and warned the world of “a potential risk of SARS-CoV re-emergence from viruses currently circulating in bat populations”.
Wuhan Institute of Virology
The findings were published in scientific journal Nature Medicine. It was unearthed by a small team of investigators, commissioned by Matthew Pottinger, the deputy National Security Adviser in the Donald Trump administration. The team aimed to unravel the origins of Covid-19.
The Vanity Fair report quoted Pottinger as saying there were so many people within the government “wholly discounting the possibility of a lab leak, who were predisposed that it was impossible”.
In addition, many leading experts had either received or approved funding for gain-of-function research. Their “conflicted” status, said Pottinger, “played a profound role in muddying the waters and contaminating the shot at having an impartial inquiry”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Anhui Innovation Center and learns about the technological innovation in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province. (XinhuaYan Yan)
The 2015 paper’s acknowledgments also cited funding from the US National Institutes of Health and from a nonprofit called EcoHealth Alliance, which had parcelled out grant money from the US Agency for International Development, the report said.
Many experts have until recently denied the lab-leak theory and claimed that Covid-19 originated as a natural infection leaping from animals to humans. But now, there has been a shift.
A team of 18 scientists from Universities in the US, Canada, the UK and Switzerland have signed a letter in the journal Science arguing the need to determine the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. Various other studies have hinted at Covid-19 as a result of the Wuhan lab-leak. The US’ top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci also said he is “not convinced” Covid-19 developed naturally.
Dr Anthony Fauci
US President Joe Biden has recently ordered the intelligence community to re-double efforts to examine how the virus originated, including the lab accident theory. The European Union, the UK, Australia, and Japan also have joined the US in seeking a deeper probe into the origins of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry has last week dismissed the Wuhan lab leak theory as “extremely impossible” and have accused the US of “political manipulation”, media reports noted. (IANS)
Introduction of cross ventilation and exhaust fans will be beneficial in curtailing the spread of the disease…reports Asian Lite News
The government on Thursday said that the aerosol can travel up to ten metres from the infected person, and that aerosol through the infected person can fall within two meters but can be carried to ten meters through the air.
“Aerosol and droplets are key mode of transmission of the virus,” it said.
The advisory said, to prevent it people should continue wearing mask, wear double masks or a N95 mask.
The advisory issued by the principal scientific advisors office said, “Ventilation is a community defense that protects all of us at home or at work. Introducing outdoor air in offices, homes and larger public spaces is advised. Measures to improve ventilation in these spaces must be taken up on urgent priority in urban and rural areas alike, recommendations for hutments, homes, offices and large centralised buildings are given. Simple strategic placement of fans, open windows and doors, even slightly open windows can introduce outdoor air and improve the air quality inside.
Introduction of cross ventilation and exhaust fans will be beneficial in curtailing the spread of the disease.
In buildings with central air-management systems improving central air filtration/increased filtration efficiency is especially helpful when enhanced outdoor air delivery options are limited. In offices, auditoriums, shopping malls etc use of gable fan systems and roof ventilators are recommended. Frequent cleaning and replacement of fiters is highly recommended.
Saliva and nasal discharged in the form of droplets and aerosols, by an infected person while exhaling, talking, speaking, singing, laughing, coughing or sneezing etc is the primary mode of virus transmissions. infected person who shows no symptoms also transmit the virus. People without symptoms can spread the virus.
Only 24 hours after recording less than 4,000 deaths, India on Friday once gain breached the grim milestone as daily fatalities due to Covid-19 rose to 4,209, according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, even as new cases dropped to its lowest at 2,59,551 in exactly a month.
India registered record deaths due to Covid on Wednesday with 4,529 deaths — the highest number of fatalities from Covid infection in any country so far. It surpassed 4,468 deaths in the US on January 12, and earlier 4,211 in Brazil on April 6. These three are the worst-hit by the pademic.
Fresh Covid cases came down below the three lakh-mark for the first time on May 17 after touching record high of 4,14,188 on May 7.
India’s overall tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 2,60,31,991 with 30,27,925 active cases and 2,91,331 deaths so far.
According to the Health Ministry, a total of 3,57,295 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, with 2,27,12,735 being cured from Covid till date.
The Health Ministry said that a total of 19,18,79,503 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 14,82,754 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.
Mike Pompeo said China “covered up” the origins of COVID-19 and that evidence continues to mount despite their efforts to deny access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, reports Asian Lite News
The evidence suggests that the coronavirus originated from the lab in Wuhan city of China, said former US Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, adding that the risk of bioweapons and bioterror arising from the region is “very real”.
Pompeo told Fox News that the Chinese Communist Party “covered up” the origins of COVID-19 and that evidence continues to mount despite their efforts to deny access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“We worked to get every bit of evidence that we could, we tried to deliver this to the CDC, tried to work with the Chinese. They covered it up terribly,” Pompeo said.
He said the combination of circumstantial evidence and China’s intense effort to deny any information relating to the lab suggests to him that the virus originated in that lab.
“I haven’t seen a shred of evidence to suggest anything to the contrary,” Pompeo said.
“The risk that something like this happens again from that laboratory or another Chinese laboratory is very real,” Pompeo said. “They [China] are operating and conducting activities that are inconsistent with their capacity to secure those facilities. And the risk of bioweapons and bioterror emanating from this region is very real.”
Pompeo also warned that similar scenarios could happen in the future, pointing to the possibility of biological warfare.
Recently, findings in a report in an Australian daily has yet again reinforced the call that international investigators must dig deeper to rule out whether COVID-19 is a made-in-China bioweapon.
The controversy about Covid-19 origins has resurfaced after the Weekend Australian newspaper revealed that Chinese scientists were thinking about bioweapons, visualising a World War-3 scenario.
The daily cited a Chinese government document that discussed the weaponisation of SARS coronavirus. Titled the Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons, the 2015 paper was authored by Chinese scientists, Chinese public health officials and members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Last month, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken launched a scathing attack against China for a lack of transparency during “the early stages” of the coronavirus pandemic and called for a more thorough investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
Blinken’s remarks come as a report of a joint inquiry by the World Health Organisation and China published in March did not conclusively establish how or when the virus began spreading and did little to address Western concerns that the Chinese Communist Party bent the investigation to its advantage.
The WHO report determined that the possibility the virus came from a lab was “extremely unlikely,” noting there was “no record” any lab had closely related viruses.
After the report was released, several countries including the United States, Australia and Canada released a statement, saying that they “fully” supported the WHO’s efforts to bring an end to the pandemic, including understanding how it “started and spread”.
But they added it was “essential that we voice our shared concerns that the international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples”.
Scientists call for probe
A team of 18 scientists from Universities in the US, Canada, the UK and Switzerland said that more investigation is needed to determine the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable,” they wrote in a letter published on Thursday in the journal Science.
“Knowing how Covid-19 emerged is critical for informing global strategies to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks,” said the researchers led by Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Washington, US.
The Coronavirus disease, which was first documented on December 1, 2019 from Wuhan City in China, has since spread like wildfire throughout the globe. The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 160.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.34 million, so far.
The team of researchers lauded the efforts of scientists in understanding SARS-CoV-2 — its transmission, pathogenesis, and mitigation by vaccines, therapeutics, and non-pharmaceutical interventions. Yet, even after 17 months, how the coronavirus pandemic exactly began still remains a mystery.
The researchers highlighted a joint China-World Health Organization (WHO) report into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, some results of which were released in November 2020.
“WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus commented that the report’s consideration of evidence supporting a laboratory accident was insufficient,” they noted.
“As scientists with relevant expertise, we agree with the WHO director-general, the United States and 13 other countries, and the European Union that greater clarity about the origins of this pandemic is necessary and feasible to achieve,” they said. They call for an investigation that is “transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight, and responsibly managed.”
“In this time of unfortunate anti-Asian sentiment in some countries, we note that at the beginning of the pandemic, it was Chinese doctors, scientists, journalists, and citizens who shared with the world crucial information about the spread of the virus — often at great personal cost. We should show the same determination in promoting a dispassionate science-based discourse on this difficult but important issue,” they said. (ANI/IANS)
The paper titled The Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons suggested that World War Three would be fought with biological weapons…reports Asian Lite News
A document written by Chinese scientists and health officials before the pandemic in 2015 states that SARS coronaviruses were a “new era of genetic weapons” that could be “artificially manipulated into an emerging human disease virus, then weaponised and unleashed, reported Weekend Australian.
The paper titled The Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons suggested that World War Three would be fought with biological weapons. The document revealed that Chinese military scientists were discussing the weaponisation of SARS coronaviruses five years before the COVID-19 pandemic. The report by Weekend Australian was published in news.com.au.
Peter Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), told news.com.au that the document is as close to a “smoking gun” as we’ve got.
“I think this is significant because it clearly shows that Chinese scientists were thinking about military application for different strains of the coronavirus and thinking about how it could be deployed,” Jennings said.
“It begins to firm up the possibility that what we have here is the accidental release of a pathogen for military use,” Jennings added.
He also said that the document may explain why China has been so reluctant for outside investigations into the origins of COVID-19.
“If this was a case of transmission from a wet market it would be in China’s interest to co-operate … we’ve had the opposite of that.”
Robert Potter, a cyber security specialist who analyses leaked Chinese government documents, was asked by The Australian to verify the paper. He says the document definitely isn’t fake, reported news.com.au.
“We reached a high confidence conclusion that it was genuine … It’s not fake but it’s up to someone else to interpret how serious it is,” Potter said.
“It emerged in the last few years … they (China) will almost certainly try to remove it now it’s been covered.”
Bangladesh emphasizes wearing masks to contain COVID-19
Potter further stated that it isn’t unusual to see Chinese research papers discussing areas that they’re behind on and need to make progress in.
“It’s a really interesting article to show what their scientific researchers are thinking,” he added.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been caused by a coronavirus named SARS-Co V-2 which emerged in December 2019. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, several of which cause respiratory diseases in humans – ranging from a common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began there have been over 157 million cases of COVID-19 and 3.28 million deaths worldwide, according to the latest update by Johns Hopkins University. (ANI)
