More than a year after the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 in China, the Covid-19 pandemic has killed more than 1.77 million people worldwide, out of more than 81 million confirmed infections, according to a report established by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Tuesday, December 29.
The United States is officially the most affected country, both in number of deaths and cases, with 335,000 deaths, followed by Brazil (192,000 deaths), India (148,000), Mexico (123,000) and Italy (73,000). These figures exclude ex post revisions by statistical agencies, such as in Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
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Vaccination campaigns around the world
TheArgentina began a Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Tuesday with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, becoming the first Latin American country to use it. The Belarus did the same with the arrival in the country of the first batch of vaccines.
In the European Union (EU), the vaccination campaign, which began this weekend after the endorsement of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, continues. On Tuesday, the president of the European Commission said that the EU had decided to order 100 million additional doses of the vaccine. “We will therefore have 300 million doses of this vaccine, which has been deemed safe and effective”, wrote Ursula von der Leyen in a message posted on Twitter.
TheSpain received more than 350,000 doses of the vaccine on Tuesday and the Minister of Health indicated that, if everything went as planned, “Around 70%” of the population could have been vaccinated next summer.
To the United States, the authorities began to vaccinate their forces deployed in South Korea on the day the country, struck by a third wave, recorded a record number of deaths from the coronavirus. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband were due to be vaccinated on Tuesday, a week after President-elect Joe Biden.
In England, more hospitalized patients than in April peak
The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in England has exceeded that of the peak of the first wave of April, plunging caregivers “In the heart of the storm”, according to a health services official. As of Monday morning, 20,426 people were hospitalized in England, affected by this disease, against 18,974 during the peak of the first wave, on April 12.
The number of infected people counted in a single day in the United Kingdom has reached 41,385, exceeding the threshold of 40,000 for the first time, according to official figures. In total, more than 2.3 million people have been diagnosed positive in the UK, of which over 71,000 have died.
UK authorities must step up restrictive measures to avoid another wave “Catastrophic” of deaths linked to the coronavirus variant, one of the government’s scientific advisers said on Tuesday.
“High” risk that new variants of Covid-19 will cause more deaths
The risk is ” Student “ that the recently identified SARS-CoV-2 variants are a source of additional pressure on health systems and a higher cause of mortality due to their greater contagiousness, estimated the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control ( ECDC).
In a report released on Tuesday, the latest to date, the ECDC believes that, “If there is no information on more severe infections” with these variants, their greater contagiousness will have an estimated impact “Higher on the number of hospitalizations and the number of deaths”.
The new strain present in Germany since November
The new strain of coronavirus detected in the United Kingdom was already present in northern Germany as early as November, where it was identified in a patient, German health authorities said on Tuesday.
Scientists have “Was able to sequence the variant of the B1.1.7 virus in an infected person in November this year”, said the Ministry of Health of Lower Saxony (North), in a statement sent to AFP. This variant is “Responsible for a large part of the infections detected in the south of England”, he said.
The patient infected at the end of November, ” very old “ and suffering from previous pathologies, is “Meanwhile deceased”, adds the press release, without specifying the cause of death. The man’s wife, who contracted the same strain of the coronavirus, is cured. Their daughter had stayed in the UK “Mid-November” and would have been, “In all likelihood”, infected on the spot, say the authorities.
Philippines closes borders to 20 countries to prevent arrival of coronavirus variant
The Philippines will close its borders to foreigners from twenty countries and territories, including France, in an attempt to prevent the variant of the coronavirus from entering their soil, authorities said on Tuesday. The border closures will apply until January 15. It takes effect Wednesday, according to the president’s spokesman Harry Roque.
With this measure applying in particular to Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, the Asian archipelago is trying to contain an epidemic that has infected nearly half a million people. Filipinos returning from states and territories on the list will be allowed to enter their country, but subject to a fortnight quarantine, even if they have been diagnosed negative for Covid-19, he said.
Dozens of countries, including the Philippines, have closed their borders to travelers from the United Kingdom in recent weeks to block the spread of this variant of the coronavirus which appears to be more contagious.
Cuba plans to administer its own vaccine within six months
Cuba plans to launch a massive Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the first half of 2021 with its own vaccine, a senior health sector official has announced.
Vicente Vérez Bencomo, the director of the Finlay Institute, specializing in research and production of vaccines, made the statements during a visit by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to the premises of the institute, where two vaccine candidates against Covid-19 have been developed: Soberana01 y Soberna02. “01 will complete phase 1 of clinical trials and 02 will start phase 2”, said Mr. Vérez.
At the same time, negotiations are underway to implement phase 3 trials of this vaccine candidate in other countries, due to the low prevalence of Covid-19 in the Cuban population, said Vérez.
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