New Indian COVID Strain Could Be More Infectious

As reports of a new strain of coronavirus in Maharashtra emerge, AIIMS Chief, Dr. Randeep Guleria on Saturday, 20 February, told NDTV that herd immunity, especially in the case of the new Indian strains – found in Amravati and Akola – is a “myth” because at least 80 percent of the population needs to have developed antibodies to fight the virus.

The doctor added that the new strain is “highly transmissible and dangerous” and could cause re-infections for those who have previously developed anti-bodies. Guleria attributed the re-infections to the “immune escape mechanism” of variants of the virus.

Advising people to maintain “Covid appropriate behavior”, Guleria emphasized the importance of getting the vaccine nevertheless, saying that although the person may not be immune to the new strain, they are likely to develop a milder version of it. Thereafter, the vaccine may be effective with reduced efficacy, added the report.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has informed that political, religious, and social gatherings will be prohibited in Maharashtra from Monday, 22 February, in view of rising COVID-19 cases.

According to PTI, CM Uddhav Thackeray also said:

“COVID-19 raising its head in Maharashtra again; will know in 8 to 15 days if this is another wave.”   

Meanwhile, NDTV, has quoted CM Thackeray as saying that they will have to order a lockdown if cases keep rising for eight to 15 days.

“Do we need a lockdown? If you behave responsibly, we will know in the next eight days. Those who don’t want a lockdown, will wear a mask. Those who want a lockdown, will not wear one. So wear a mask and say ‘No’ to the lockdown.”

 

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

(With inputs from PTI and NDTV.)

Leading Countries in Covid-19 Vaccination administration.

 

Daily number of COVID-19 vaccinations administered per 100 people

The following chart shows the daily number of COVID-19 vaccination doses administered per 100 people. This is shown as the rolling seven-day average. Note that this is counted as a single dose, and may not equal the total number of people vaccinated, depending on the specific dose regime (e.g. people receive multiple doses).

Note: Includes countries for which data is available.·Source: Our World in Data

The data on countries with a current vaccination campaign was compiled from government sources by Our World in Data. Many countries, particularly those in the developing world, where governments have struggled to procure vaccines, are not yet vaccinating residents at all.

Most countries are using vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, both of which require two doses. Two of the countries with among the world’s highest vaccination rates, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, are also using a vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinopharm, which has not been approved for use in the United States or the European Union.

The table below shows which countries have vaccinated their residents at the fastest rates since the start of their immunization campaigns, and which vaccinated the most in the last seven days. It also shows, at current speeds and immunization levels, how long it will take for at least half the residents in each country to receive at least one dose of a vaccine.

Israel, for example, will reach half its population with at least one dose of the vaccine in just four weeks at its current rate, though the vaccination campaign and the vaccinated rate excludes Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip, who may have to wait several months for widespread distribution. Most European countries are months away from reaching Israel’s levels of vaccination.

Part of the disparity stems from when vaccines were approved in each country. Health authorities in the European Union approved the Pfizer vaccine 10 days later than their counterparts in the United States and nearly three weeks after U.K. officials.

And distribution lagged in some countries even after the vaccine was approved. The Netherlands, one of Europe’s richest countries, was the last in the European Union to begin its vaccination campaign — on Jan. 6, a week and a half after neighboring Germany and almost a month after the United Kingdom. The Dutch health minister attributed the delay to the need for proper preparations.

Europe’s slow vaccine rollout has been hampered by supply shortages, a lack of nurses, and burdensome paperwork. Criticism of the European Union’s procurement strategy has grown louder as new variants of the virus threaten to take hold on the continent.

Hungarian authorities recently broke with the bloc to approve Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Hungary also agreed to purchase China’s Sinopharm vaccine.

If Europe is moving slowly, almost all nations in the developing world are further behind, and in most of them, inoculations have not even begun. Wealthy countries have preordered more than half of the doses that could come to market by the end of the year, in many cases enough to vaccinate their populations several times over. Many poorer nations may be able to vaccinate one in five residents, at most, by then.

Coronavirus vaccine: OC health care worker dies days after receiving second shot

A report from ABC7 news.

IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- 

A health care worker has died at UC Irvine Medical Center after receiving his second dose of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday.

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Tim Zook, a 60-year-old X-ray technician at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, suffered an adverse reaction within hours after the second shot was administered.

He died days later, on Saturday.

Zook's family said he had high blood pressure and was slightly overweight, but he was a proponent of the vaccine.

The Orange County coroner's office said it was investigating the man's death, adding that if there is a correlation to the vaccine it will notify the OC Health Care Agency.

Test for COVID-19 anal swabs, where virus may survive longer: experts

Beijing reported a 9-year-old boy tested positive for COVID-19 last week, and his school conducted a variety of tests including serum antibody tests, nasal, throat, and even anal swabs for all its staff and students, prompting many to wonder if anal swabs could be more accurate in detecting the virus than other measures.

Li Tongzeng, a deputy director in charge of infectious disease at Beijing You'an Hospital, said that studies have shown that the coronavirus survives longer in the anus or excrement than those taken from upper body tracts, and for some silent carriers the virus may be present in their throats for 3 to 5 days, allowing some tests to provide false negative results.

Taking an anal swab could increase accuracy in key groups, Li noted during an interview with the China Central Television. However, given that the method is not as convenient as throat swabs, it will only be applied to key groups at quarantine centers.

Meanwhile, the testing method has been controversial among experts. Yang Zhanqiu, a deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, told the Global Times that since the virus has proven to be contracted via the upper respiratory tract rather than the digestive system, the most efficient tests are still nasal and throat swabs.

"There have been cases concerning the coronavirus testing positive in a patient's excrement, but no evidence has suggested it had been transmitted through one's digestive system," Yang added.

Beijing will also conduct serum antibody tests for all inbound overseas travelers who have entered the Chinese capital city since December 10 in an effort to find the chain of transmission in the latest cluster infections in the capital's Daxing district, the Beijing government said on Friday.

Chinese health experts said antibody tests for inbound travelers revealed that the outbreak in Daxing district began a month before the first case was reported on Sunday, and nucleic acid testing won't be able to find the first patient.