He also urged all countries to implement an evidence-based combination of measures, including surveillance, testing, contact tracing, supportive quarantine, and compassionate care to stop the virus…reports Asian Lite News.
Covid has grown like a giant that frightens each human in the world without any barriers. The number of new Covid-19 cases per week worldwide has nearly doubled over the past two months, approaching the highest infection rate seen so far during the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
Cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates, and some countries that had previously avoided widespread transmission are now seeing steep increases in infections, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a special ministerial meeting, Xinhua news agency reported.
He attributed the alarming increase to rapidly spreading variants, inconsistent use and premature easing of public health measures, fatigue of populations with social restrictions, and dramatic inequity in vaccine coverage.
Health worker collect swab sample testing for Covid-19 at CP in new Delhi on Monday March 22, 2021.(Photo:Wasim Sarvar/IANS)
“Vaccine equity is the challenge of our time. And we are failing,” he said, as WHO statistics have shown that of more than 832 million vaccine doses that have been administered globally, over 82 per cent have gone to high- or upper middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.2 per cent.
“The inequitable distribution of vaccines is not just a moral outrage, it is also economically and epidemiologically self-defeating. The more transmission, the more variants. And the more variants that emerge, the more likely it is that they could evade vaccines,” the WHO chief warned.
A health worker looks at a vial of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination centre
As for solutions, Tedros urged countries to immediately donate vaccine doses that are over their needs to COVAX, increase vaccine production by, for example giving voluntary license and waivering certain intellectual property provisions, and invest in local vaccine manufacturing.
He also urged all countries to implement an evidence-based combination of measures, including surveillance, testing, contact tracing, supportive quarantine, and compassionate care to stop the virus.
Meanwhile, the authorities still need to encourage people to take personal precautions, such as physical distancing, masks, hand hygiene, and ventilation, to keep themselves and others safe, he said.
To test the fitted filtration efficiency (FFE) of a range of masks, the researchers worked with James Samet and colleagues in the USEPA Human Studies Facility on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill…reports Asian Lite News.
The number of positive cases is increasing minute by minute. Scientists now report that wearing two face coverings can nearly double the effectiveness of filtering out SARS-CoV-2-sized particles, preventing them from reaching the wearer’s nose and mouth and causing Covid-19.
The reason for the enhanced filtration isn’t so much adding layers of cloth but eliminating any gaps or poor-fitting areas of a mask, according to the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
People wearing face masks walk on the street in Tokyo, Japan
“The medical procedure masks are designed to have very good filtration potential based on their material, but the way they fit our faces isn’t perfect,” said Emily Sickbert-Bennett, associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
To test the fitted filtration efficiency (FFE) of a range of masks, the researchers worked with James Samet and colleagues in the USEPA Human Studies Facility on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
There they filled a 10-foot by 10-foot stainless-steel exposure chamber with small salt particle aerosols, and had researchers don combinations of masks to test how effective they were at keeping particles out of their breathing space.
By measuring particle concentration in the breathing space underneath the mask compared to that in the chamber, researchers determined the FFE.
“We also had the researchers in the chamber undergo a series of range-of-motion activities to simulate the typical motions a person may do throughout their day, bending at the waist, talking, and looking left, right, up and down,” said Phillip Clapp, an inhalation toxicologist in the UNC School of Medicine.
Do you have a case of ‘Maskne’?.
According to their findings, the baseline fitted filtration efficiency (FFE) of a mask differs person to person, due to each person’s unique face and mask fit.
Generally, a procedure mask without altering the fit, is about 40-60 per cent effective at keeping Covid-19-sized particles out. A cloth mask is about 40 per cent effective.
When layered over procedure masks, cloth masks improve fit by eliminating gaps and holding the procedure mask closer to the face, consistently covering the nose and mouth.
Guidelines to Weddings in times of COVID:19.
When a procedure mask is worn over a cloth mask, FFE improved by 16 per cent.
“We’ve found that wearing two loosely fitted masks will not give you the filtration benefit that one, snug-fitting procedure mask will,” Sickbert-Bennett said.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawa had said on Tuesday that there is no comparison between the event held at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi last year and Kumbh in Haridwar as the former was held in a closed space while the latter is being held in a vast open area.
It is really pathetic that the Covid cases in India is on huge surge and there are no plans for the government ,at least to bring strict protocols on public gatherings. A total of 2167 people were found positive for coronavirus in Haridwar — the place where the month-long Kumbh Mela is going on — in the last five days.
According to the Uttarakhand State Control Room, there were 254 COVID-19 positive cases on April 10, 386 on April 11, 408 on April 12, 594 on April 13 and 525 on April 14. Officials have meanwhile said that despite a record surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, the Kumbh Mela will continue till April 30.
Indian Naga Sadhus (Hindu holy men) gather before taking holy dip in the waters of the River Ganges on the Shahi snan (grand bath) (Pallav Paliwal)
“Kumbh Mela used to begin in January but looking at the COVID-19 situation, the state government decided to start this in April. The Centre’s SOP said that in the wake of the situation the period (of Mela) be reduced. I have no information if it’s being curtailed,” Haridwar District Magistrate and Kumbh Mela officer Deepak Rawat said on Wednesday. Serious questions are being raised over the decision to continue with the Kumbh Mela, as India reported over two lakh new cases on Thursday, the highest-ever spike since the beginning of the pandemic. Around 14 lakh devotees took a holy dip in the River Ganga at the Haridwar Mahakumbh on Wednesday on the occasion of Baisakhi Shahi Snan, the third royal bath in this Kumbh.
Indian Naga Sadhus (Hindu holy men) gather before taking holy dip in the waters of the River Ganges on the Shahi snan (grand bath)(Pallav Paliwal)
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawa had said on Tuesday that there is no comparison between the event held at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi last year and Kumbh in Haridwar as the former was held in a closed space while the latter is being held in a vast open area. “There is no comparison between Markaz and Kumbh. Markaz was in a closed hall. All the people slept in a single hall with close contacts. They shared blankets. On the contrary, there are 16 ghats in Kumbh. Not just Haridwar, Kumbh is spread from Rishikesh to Nilkanth. Devotees take bath in different ghats at different times,” he had said. (ANI)
Pedestrians wearing face masks are seen in Berlin, capital of Germany
“If the numbers of seriously ill Covid-19 patients exceed those experienced during the second wave, we will be in a critical situation,” said a German official…reports Asian Lite News
Germany’s largest university hospital, Berlin’s Charite, has sounded the alarm over the country’s worsening third wave of coronavirus infections.
“If the numbers of seriously ill Covid-19 patients exceed those experienced during the second wave, we will be in a critical situation,” said Martin Kreis, a board member at Charite, DPA news agency reported.
At the beginning of the year, the number of severe Covid-19 cases in Charite’s intensive care units reached its absolute limit. The hospital was unable to accept patients from other parts of Germany as a result.
“We will continue to do everything in our power to care for patients from the Berlin area,” said Kreis.
The number of people entering intensive care units at Charite has increased significantly over the past two weeks, with the 30-60 age group particularly badly affected because they are less likely to have received a vaccination.
Though most of the hospital’s workforce is now vaccinated, but many are suffering from exhaustion and trauma over the many coronavirus-related deaths, Kreis said.
Germany is battling a third wave of infections driven mainly by the British variant of the virus.
The Robert Koch Institute for disease control said Saturday that 24,097 cases and 246 deaths had been registered within 24 hours. The seven-day incidence figure per 100,000 inhabitants stood at 120.6.
A pedestrian walks by a pub, The Hope, shuttered in London due to coronavirus regulations. Thousands of British pubs have not survived the pandemic, according to an industry association, and the ones that have will need financial support "for years if they are to recover." Photo: Yui Mok/PA
Copenhagen-based World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe Office announced that the European region has recorded more than 1 million Covid-19-related deaths, reports Asian Lite News
For Danica Angela Marcos, the weirdest yet saddest scenario was to watch her grandfather’s funeral live on Zoom, seeing her cousins crying on the screen but not able to give them a hug because of the lockdown.
“It’s not like we can do (it) all over again when the pandemic is over … I cannot re-attend my grandpa’s funeral,” mumbled the black-hair Londoner in her 20s, rolling eyes to hold back tears, whose grandfather passed away in California, the United States, towards the end of last year.
Many Europeans, like Marcos, have undergone similar human sorrows and pains, as the nightmare of Covid-19, which has shrouded the continent since more than one year ago, is still hovering around, Xinhua news agecy reported on Friday.
On Friday, the Copenhagen-based World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe Office announced that the European region has recorded more than 1 million Covid-19-related deaths.
Since breaking out in late 2019, Covid-19 has been causing infections and deaths at an accelerated pace across Europe. One after another, governments of different countries were woken up to the danger, announcing partial or full lockdowns, and even night curfews, moves rarely seen since the end of World War II.
Schools closed, flights grounded, hairdressers and restaurants shutdown, only grocery and shops selling essential goods, in most countries, were among the few that were allowed to open, while the customers were required to wear masks and keep social distance of more than one meter.
Before the reopening of schools, online courses were offered to students who were forced to stay home during the pandemic in many European countries. Many schools sent assignments to parents via e-mail or other digital tools, or shared free online resources.
However, not all students are self-disciplined. In France, about 5 to 8 per cent of students were “lost,” or unreachable by their teachers, estimated the French Ministry of Education in April 2020.
“This virus has imposed limitations on all of us. I have practically no social life and can’t hug the people I love. My personal life has turned completely around. Few things remain from my previous life. And as a person, I feel exhausted, restless, and uncertain,” Abigail Mora Sanz, a psychotherapist in Spain, told Xinhua.
Besides the continent’s aging population and the overwhelmed healthcare systems, some experts attributed the bleakness in Europe to frequent policy changes, which have swung between lockdowns and relaxations for several rounds.
One of the major challenges for European countries is “the temptation of too fast reopening, which is politically popular but can cause another wave of epidemics before proper vaccination,” said Miklos Hargitai, an editorialist of Hungary’s daily Nepszava.
“In addition, Europe has not adopted the practice of the most successful countries in curbing the virus,” Hargitai told Xinhua.
A woman wearing a face mask walks at Covent Garden in London, Britain. (Xinhua/Han Yan/IANS)
Another factor behind Europe’s current COVID-19 resurgence is the alarming and explosive spread of the highly contagious virus variants, which increases the risk of hospitalization.
The slow rollout of vaccination may also prolong the pandemic. According to WHO Europe Office, only 10 percent of the region’s total population has received at least one vaccine dose and 4 percent has received both, as of April 1.
“Vaccines present our best way out of this pandemic… However, the rollout of these vaccines is unacceptably slow,” said Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe.
On April 1, Kluge called upon governments in the region to “scale up both vaccine production and vaccination.”
German photographer Ulrich Hufnagel was diagnosed with COVID-19 last September, with so-called mild case symptoms and was quarantined for more than 20 days.
People wearing face masks walk past sale advertisement on Oxford Street in London, Britain
“It is very annoying that some people in Germany and Europe do not take the virus seriously. My hope now rests on quick vaccination. I think this is the only possibility to get our normal life back,” Hufnagel said.
Due to what appears to be an acute shortage of vaccine doses earlier this year, tensions once remained high between the European Union, Britain, and some central-eastern European countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria.
The connection between blood clots and the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which has been purchased and administrated in large amounts by many European countries, also raised concern among people.
The European Medicines Agency confirmed on Wednesday that the occurrence of blood clots with low blood platelets are strongly associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination campaign for healthcare professionals in Nice
Faced with such dire challenges, some governments in the region have started to look for the alternatives. Serbia and Hungary have granted permission for the use of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China. Some other countries, like Poland and the Czech Republic, also voiced interest in Chinese-made vaccines.
“We fully support the Chinese idea of establishing a global anti-pandemic community of cooperation and help,” said Sylwester Szafarz, former consul general of Poland in the Chinese city of Shanghai.
However, vaccines themselves are not a panacea for the pandemic, until people are inoculated in huge numbers, WHO Europe Office warned, noting that it can give a false sense of security, inducing the public to stop wearing masks and taking other precautions.
Besides measures to accelerate the vaccination, several governments and health care experts deem social restrictions a key tool for containing the disease and reducing deaths.
“Now is not the time to relax measures. We can’t afford not to heed the danger. We have all made sacrifices, but we cannot let exhaustion win. We must keep reining in the virus,” Kluge said.
With their life being changed amid the pandemic, many people in Europe have been eventually getting used to wearing face masks outside, working and studying from home.
To some people, the future seems less gloomy and confidence is growing.
Once worried that the lockdowns could totally ruin his business, Remi Boute, director of a bookstore in southeast France’s Saint-Etienne, feels relieved as his shop reopens.
“When the stores reopened, we had the satisfaction of seeing people tell us they were happy to see our stores open. They returned in large numbers,” he said.
“We faced something that we’d never seen and so what we tried to do was to understand it, to better treat our patients and save or try to solve the problem in the most cases we could,” said Pere Domingo, senior infectious disease consultant and coordinator of COVID-19 at Barcelona’s Sant Pau Hospital.
“This intellectual component … has been something that has stimulated us, and helped us overcome all these negative feelings that at one time or another we have all had,” said the Spanish professor, who has been devoted to the research of infectious diseases since 1989.
Daniele Franco, Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, said confronting the economic damage from the pandemic is the G20’s top priority…reports Asian Lite News
Finance Ministers and central bank governors from the world’s largest economies have agreed on continued financial backing for countries struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic “as long as required”, said the co-chair of a virtual G20 summit.
At the summit on Wednesday, Daniele Franco, Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, said confronting the economic damage from the pandemic is the G20’s top priority, reports Xinhua news agency.
Franco said the participants at the second G20 meeting of the year agreed to use “all available policy tools for as long as required” in order to save lives and livelihoods.
Franco also said increasing the global availability of coronavirus vaccines in an “equitable and accessible” way was part of that effort.
G20 Italy(Twitter)
Franco and Ignazio Visco, Governor of the Bank of Italy and the other co-chair of the talks, spoke to more than 100 reporters on Wednesday via video hook-up from Rome.
That was the same format used by Ministers and governors for the negotiations.
While the coronavirus pandemic was the central topic at the virtual summit of representatives from 19 major economies and the European Union, discussions also touched on other pressing issues, such as the need for global action on climate change and the development of standards for a global corporate tax rate.
G20 Italy(Twitter)
Franco noted that the International Monetary Fund had just upped its estimate for GDP)growth to 6.0 per cent, up from 5.5 per cent in January.
He said that was a positive sign, but he warned that the global economic outlook remained “clouded by uncertainty” due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Together, G20 countries account for 80 per cent of the world’s GDP
Global leaders called for a treaty that would provide a framework for international cooperation to immediately exchange information at the start of possible pandemics…reports Asian Lite News
Twenty-five world leaders have supported a proposal from European Council President Charles Michel to draw up a new international treaty on pandemic preparedness in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
Leaders including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha signed an opinion piece along with Michel and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, dpa news agency reported.
“There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone,” the piece, published on Tuesday, said.
The article made the case for a new agreement anchored in the WHO’s constitution that would improve global preparedness for pandemics and ability to respond.
Zulema Riquelme, a 46-year-old nursing technician, receives a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Metropolitan Hospital in Santiago, Chile
A treaty would provide a framework for international cooperation to immediately exchange information at the start of possible pandemics, and channel global resources for research into possible treatments and vaccines, Michel said at a virtual press conference with Tedros on Tuesday.
“The time to act is now,” Tedros said, “We must not allow the memories of this crisis to fade and go back to business as usual.”
Michel first put forward the idea in November, but has now won public support from heads of state or government from Indonesia, Kenya, Costa Rica, Tunisia and South Korea, among others.
People wearing face masks visit the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C during covid 19 surge
However, notable omissions from the article’s signatories include the US and China.
Initial reaction among the 194 WHO member countries was “positive”, according to Tedros, who said he hoped all would help take forward debate on the initiative ahead of May’s World Health Assembly.
It was too soon to say whether the treaty could cover contentious issues such as intellectual property on vaccines or more equitable sharing of shots, the WHO chief added.
With the death of 197 people in the last 24 hours, the fatality toll has reached 1,59,755 in India…reports Asian Lite News Desk.
Even the vaccine rollout is on full mode, no great change is not visible in the number of cases in India. The nation is witnessing a massive surge in coronavirus cases and recorded 43,846 infections in the last 24 hours, highest so far since November, taking the total tally to 1,15,99,130 on Sunday.
A single-day spike of 44,489 new infections were recorded on November 26. The country has been registering an increase in cases for the eleventh consecutive day.
According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana are exhibiting a steep rise in daily cases.
The Central government is closely monitoring and actively engaging with the states and union territory over the rising cases in the country.
With the death of 197 people in the last 24 hours, the fatality toll has reached 1,59,755 in India. The active caseload in the country has mounted to 3,09,087.
With the discharge of 22,956 patients in a day, a total of 1,11,30,288 persons have been discharged so far. A total of 11,33,602 tests were done on Friday.
So far, 4.46 crore doses of corona vaccine have been administered in the country since the drive began on January 16 after the approval for ‘Covishield’ and ‘Covaxin’.
More than 16.12 lakh doses were administered on a single day on Saturday.
