The overall balance of cases of COVID-19-transmitted coronavirus disease exceeded 81.4 million on Tuesday, and the World Health Organization said the pandemic is not necessarily the largest that the world should take advantage of. people around the world to learn from this crisis.
Speaking at the agency’s final press conference for 2020, WHO’s chief of emergency, Mike Ryan, said the coronavirus pandemic has been severe and has affected every corner of the planet.
“But that’s not necessarily the big one,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. We are now learning 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 to be taken out of this pandemic, with all the tragedy and loss, [it] is [that] we need to unite our act. We must honor those we have lost by improving what we do every day. ”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus congratulated the cooperation between the private and public sectors that has led to the development of several vaccines in record time, which are now being deployed worldwide. “This is an incredible scientific achievement,” he said.
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The WHO works 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 are spreading more rapidly or making people sicker and having some potential impact. in tests, treatments and vaccines.
“Specifically we are working with scientists from the UK and South Africa who are conducting epidemiological and laboratory studies, which will guide the next steps,” he said.
Meanwhile, the WHO is working to ensure that vaccines are available to “those who need them everywhere” and reminds people that even with the distribution of vaccines, they must adhere to the measures of vaccination. public safety: frequent hand washing, social distancing, and wearing a face mask in public.
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“That.” [failure to meet vaccine targets in the U.S.] I feel a mess in many ways, but I’m not surprised, unfortunately, considering how the tests have gone, the tracking does not exist at all and how it makes us surprise this new [virus] varying due to our lack of genomic surveillance. ”
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To date, the United States has vaccinated 2.1 million people and distributed more than 11 million doses of the two vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization, one developed by Pfizer. Inc.
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 well below the initial predictions made by “Operation Warp Speed,” the federal program created to accelerate the development of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, according to Kavita Patel, a primary care physician and policy expert. health who served in the Obama White House.
The Patel Clinic is one of the sites that is part of the vaccination strategy in the District of Columbia, he said in an interview with MSNBC.
“In October, we learned from Operation Warp Speed that we would have 100 million doses by the end of the year,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. At that time, expectations fell to 40 million and then to 20 million at the end of December. We have dosed 2.2 million, far from the 20 million ”.
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Failure to meet the vaccine’s goals, “I’m disappointed in many ways, but I’m not surprised, unfortunately, given how the tests have gone, the tracking does not exist at all and how we catch guard for this us [virus] varying due to our lack of genomic surveillance, ”he said.
The United States reported 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 U.S. made an average of 183,124 cases a day.
According to the COVID follow-up project, the number of patients with COVID-19 in US hospitals reached a record 121,235, surpassing the 120,151 record set on December 24th.
According to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, the United States continues to lead the world by cases (19.3 million) and deaths (334,967), about one-fifth of the world’s amounts for each.
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In other news:
• Israel has now vaccinated more people with COVID-19 than those infected with the virus since the outbreak began, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing Health Minister Yuli Edelstein. Just nine days into the country’s vaccination campaign, 495,000 Israelis have been administered, compared to 407,285 confirmed cases of the disease. Israel expects to vaccinate 150,000 people a day, which will allow it to vaccinate 2.25 million people in a month and a half, or about a quarter of the entire population.
• The new COVID variant that hit the UK has likely been in Germany since November, according to health officials quoted by The Guardian, following the death of a patient with this variant in the north of the country. The patient was an elderly man with underlying health conditions, whose wife was also infected but survived. It is understood the couple contracted the virus from their daughter who had traveled to the UK in mid-November.
• The shares of the biotechnology company Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. they fell 55% on Tuesday as investors responded to the results of a phase 1/2 trial of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate that one analyst said was disappointing. Arcturus ARCT based in San Diego,
He said on Monday afternoon that he had received approval from the Singapore Health Sciences Authority to carry out a phase 2 study of his vaccine candidate ARCT-021 which will enroll up to 600 volunteers. Approval is based on phase 1/2 trial data that showed that the vaccine produced neutralizing antibodies after a dose, albeit at lower levels than rival candidates. Arcturus hopes its vaccine does not require a booster injection, which makes administration easier than vaccines that require two doses. Raymond James said the data was “disappointing.” “Although the latter data set does not completely affect single-shot ARCT-021, which may provide protection against COVID-19 infection in phase 3, the lack of SARS-CoV-neutralizing antibodies 2 (NAb titers) above the levels observed in convalescent sera reduce our confidence that ARCT-021 will be able to achieve competitive levels of vaccine efficacy with a single dosage, ”analysts led by Stephen Seedhouse wrote 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 combat the resurgence of coronavirus, including a new variant, as reported by the Associated Press. Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all public beaches and swimming pools in the country’s infection points, which include Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and several coastal areas. In addition, South Africa is extending the night curfew by four hours, requiring all residents to be home from 9pm to 6am, the president said. “Reckless behavior due to alcohol intoxication has helped increase transmission. Alcohol-related accidents and violence are putting pressure on our hospital emergency units, ”Ramaphosa said in a nationwide speech.
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The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide exceeded 81.4 million on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins, and the number of deaths is 1.77 million. At least 46 million people have recovered from COVID-19.
Brazil has the second highest number of deaths, with 191,570, and is the third by cases, with 7.5 million.
India is the second in the world in cases with 10.2 million and the third in deaths with 148,153.
Mexico has the fourth highest death toll (122,855) and the 13th highest number of cases (1.4 million).
Italy has 72,370 fatalities, the highest in Europe, and 2.0 million cases. The UK has 2.3 million cases, the largest number in Europe and 71,217 deaths, the second highest in Europe and the sixth highest in the world.
China, where the virus was first discovered late last year, has had 95,773 confirmed cases and 4,777 deaths, according to its official figures.