Live news on coronavirus: WHO warns that “vaccine nationalism will generate new coveted mutations” | World news

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and World Bank President David Malpass stressed on Tuesday the need to coordinate to respond to the global pandemic, improve access to the vaccine for the poorest countries and combat climate change, Treasury said.

Reuters: During a call with Malpass, Yellen “stressed that climate change is an existential threat to our environment and the global economy and urged strong support for low-income countries,” the Treasury said in a statement .

“The secretary stressed the need to work closely to help countries reduce debt vulnerabilities and improve debt sustainability and transparency,” he added. He highlighted his appreciation for the World Bank’s efforts in these areas.

Mexico was about to approve the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V after the publication of the first results of an advanced study, Mexican officials said Tuesday.

AP: Deputy Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell, a spokesman for the government pandemic, said the health ministry signed a contract on Monday for 400,000 doses of Sputnik V that will arrive this month. He said approval of the regulations was expected in a few hours.

It couldn’t come a moment too soon. Mexico has been so affected that the capital’s hospitals were 87% full and ambulance drivers waited hours to find an open bed for patients.

“Unfortunately, due to the saturation of hospitals and telephone lines, we are waiting about three or four hours before they can assign us a hospital and get there,” said the head of the ambulance crew, Eduardo Vigueras.

Vigueras noted that sometimes patients are sent to the only beds available in hospitals, far away from the overflowing district on the east side of Izapapapa. He said some relatives are angry and are aggressive with paramedics due to delays in treatment.

Because some patients are in such poor condition, some families make an even more difficult choice. Paramedics say they often go looking for a seriously ill coronavirus patient only to find that their loved ones want to cancel the emergency call, because they know treatment is so scarce and they may not see their family member again.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said “all vaccines” approved by the EU drug regulator are welcome, including Russian and Chinese shots, Reuters reports.

In a television interview, he said that Germany welcomed the strong data from trials of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

All vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency are welcome. I talked to the Russian president about it. Today we saw good data [about the Russian vaccine]. All vaccines are welcome in the EU as long as they are approved by the EMA.

It comes after he said last month he was “open to the idea” of using European manufacturing capabilities to increase production of the Russian vaccine.

Earlier today, Merkel said Germany will have vaccinated 10 million people against the new coronavirus by the end of the first quarter.

Merkel added that the EU had been right not to ask for emergency approval which had allowed Britain to release the first vaccine for public use before anyone else, as it was crucial to keep people’s confidence in the vaccines.

“It could be said that we will already be able to vaccinate 10 million people who use both vaccines during the first trimester or others will say ‘only’ [10 million]; but it will go up there anyway, ”he said.

He also said it would be considered whether those who reject a vaccination should face restrictions at some point.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that all his compatriots who want a vaccine will be offered a “late summer,” Reuters reports.

He told TF1 that 80 per cent of nursing home residents (about 500,000 people) would be vaccinated in early March.

Macron defended France’s record against criticism for its slow deployment, especially compared to neighboring Britain which began its inoculation program weeks before EU countries and has set a much faster pace. .

He said France’s launch “may seem too slow” compared to countries that “had made other bets”.

“But I defend the strategy we have adopted with Germany, with the European Union, which is precisely to vaccinate in Europe,” he said.

The nationalism of the coronavirus vaccine is detrimental to everyone, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday, and said weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving the global vaccination on the scale needed to end the coronavirus pandemic.

“Despite the growing number of vaccine options, current manufacturing capacity only meets a fraction of global needs,” the WHO Director-General said in an article published in the journal Foreign Policy.

“Allowing the majority of the world’s population not to be vaccinated will not only perpetuate unnecessary disease and death and the pain of ongoing blockades, but will also generate new mutations in the virus as Covid-19 continues to spread among populations without protection, “he wrote.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Tuesday that weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving global vaccination on the scale needed to end the coronavirus pandemic.

“Allowing the majority of the world’s population not to be vaccinated will not only perpetuate unnecessary disease and death and the pain of ongoing blockades, but will also generate new mutations in the virus as Covid-19 continues to spread among populations without protection, “Tedros wrote in Foreign Policy magazine.

These are the other key developments of the last few hours:

• The nationalism of the Covid-19 vaccine is harmful to everyone, said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He said weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving global vaccination on the scale needed to end the pandemic.
• The number of patients hospitalized with coronavirus in France is the highest since November. The health ministry reported that 28,029 people were hospitalized with the virus and 3,270 in intensive care. Both numbers set new highs for 2021.
• Nicola Sturgeon announced a gradual return to school for Scotland’s youngest children, with nurseries and all primary school pupils from P1 to P3 were scheduled to return to the classroom from 22 February. The announcement will put pressure on the UK government to respond to calls from Conservative MPs on why England operates on a slower schedule.
• Saudi Arabia suspended entry of 20 countries to try to curb an increase in coronavirus infections. The Interior Ministry announced that the “temporary suspension” would take effect from 9pm on Wednesday.
• A single dose of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine provides sustained protection against Covid-19 for at least three months and reduces virus transmission by two-thirds., according to a new study.
• French President Emmanuel Macron said all French people who are willing to vaccinate them will be offered a vaccine in late summer.
• Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said most of the closure measures in the Netherlands, many of which have been in place since October, will remain in place until at least March 2. due to fears of an increase in cases as a result of new coronavirus variants.
• Portugal, which is currently feeling the full force of its third wave of coronavirus pandemics, has called for international help to relieve overwhelmed hospital staff. Prime Minister Antonio Costa acknowledged that the country’s hospitals are under “gigantic pressure”. The government acted after the country’s 24-hour death toll rose from 300 and television stations broadcast images of ambulances queuing in front of Lisbon’s largest hospital.
• The Palestinian Authority began vaccinating its health workers in the occupied West Bank against Covid-19 after receiving doses from Israel.