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1ST Anniversary: WHO Declared Pandemic One-Year-Ago Today, Brazil-2,000 Deaths in Day, World Stats

On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Since then:

  • Over 116 million cases and 2.5 million deaths across nearly 200 countries
  • The US has the highest number of deaths, with 522,818 now recorded
  • Over 319 million vaccines have been given.

IN CHINA:

Premier Li Keqiang says China will continue to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) in trying to find the origins of Covid-19, Reuters reports.

Keqiang was speaking in response to a question on U.S. criticism that it was not transparent in sharing data on early cases with a WHO investigation earlier this year.

Speaking at a media briefing to mark the end of China’s annual session of parliament, he said China had “acted in a fact-based manner and with an open, transparent and cooperative approach”.

Keqiang also denied that the government’s 2021 goal for economic growth of more than 6% is not a low target. In 2019, China recorded 6.0% GDP growth, it’s slowest rate of increase in thirty years.

Analysts say the relatively low target will allow policymakers to curb market risks as the country’s economy moves beyond the pandemic.

Hungary reports record high 8,312 daily tally of new Covid cases

Hungary has reported a record 8,312 new coronavirus infections and 172 deaths.

There were 8,329 coronavirus patients in hospital, 911 of them needing a ventilator, putting a strain on the healthcare system, the government said on its website.

Hungary has been hit hard by the third wave of the pandemic, with infections surging since the second half of February and surpassing the country’s previous peak in December.

A new round of lockdown measures went into effect on Monday which required most shops to close for two weeks. Kindergartens and primary schools have also been closed until April 7.

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A new antibody drug “reduces hospital admission or death from Covid-19 by 85%”, the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced.

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New COVID Treatment

The drug, called VIR-7831, is a new treatment for people with mild to moderate illness, and the study has been so successful that it has been stopped early.
GSK and its partner, Vir Biotechnology, plan to immediately seek an emergency use authorisation in the United States and approval in other countries, including potentially in the UK.
Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced molecules that mimic human antibodies.
The global phase 3 clinical trial based its initial analysis on data from 583 patients at risk of hospital admission.
GSK said VIR-7831 works in two ways – by blocking the virus’s entry into healthy cells and also clearing infected cells.
A separate laboratory study has found that VIR-7831 is effective against the main current Covid-19 variants, including the Kent, South African and Brazilian variants, the firm said.
VIR-7831 is designed to be given as a single intravenous (IV) infusion.
Dr Hal Barron, chief scientific officer at GSK, said: “We are pleased that this unique monoclonal antibody was able to bring such a profound benefit to patients.
“We look forward to the possibility of making VIR-7831 available to patients as soon as possible and to further exploring its potential in other settings.”
An employee at work on the vaccine packing line of British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
An employee at work on the vaccine packing line of British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

Russia reports 9,270 new COVID-19 cases, 459 deaths

Russia reported 9,270 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, including 1,281 in Moscow, taking its total case tally to 4,360,823 since the pandemic began.

The government coronavirus taskforce also said that 459 people had died in the last 24 hours, pushing its death toll to 90,734.

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HEATHROW AIRPORT

UK: Heathrow’s passenger numbers have fallen to the lowest level since the 1960s, the airport has announced.

Just 461,000 people travelled through the west London airport in February, a 92% decline compared with February 2020 and is the lowest monthly total since 1966.

The airport blamed the decrease on the ban on non-essential travel, quarantine rules and the requirement for pre-departure and post-arrival coronavirus testing.

It said it is working with Boris Johnson’s taskforce to reopen international leisure travel from May 17, but warned that the “biggest single concern is the ability of Border Force to be able to cope with additional passenger numbers”.

Summary

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

  • Brazil daily death toll passes 2,000 for first time. Brazil’s 24-hour death toll has for the first time passed 2,0000, as the world’s second worst-affected country in terms of the total lives lost sees records tumble.Another 2,286 Brazilians had lost their lives in the 24 hours to Wednesday. The latest high, which followed a record 1,972 deaths on Tuesday, took the South American country’s total death toll to more than 270,000, second only to the US.
  • Biden pledges to share surplus vaccines with rest of world. US president Joe Biden has pledged surplus vaccines will be shared with the rest of the world, after he announced the purchase of an additional 100m Johnson & Johnson doses.
  • South Korea extends AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 65 and over. South Korea will extend vaccination for people aged 65 years and older with AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to ramp up its immunisation drive, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a government meeting on Thursday.
  • Rich, developing nations wrangle over Covid vaccine patents. Richer members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) blocked a push by over 80 developing countries on Wednesday to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of Covid vaccines for poor nations.
  • Emirates tells staff to get vaccinated or pay for regular Covid tests. Dubai’s Emirates has told employees to take a free coronavirus vaccine or pay for tests to prove they are not infected with the deadly disease, cautioning that an unvaccinated workforce could create operational issues.
  • 3,000 nurses dead, Covid exodus looming: global federation. At least 3,000 nurses have been killed by Covid-19, the global nurses’ federation said Thursday as it warned of a looming exodus of health workers traumatised by the pandemic, AFP reports. Exactly one year on since the World Health Organization (WHO) first described Covid-19 as a pandemic, the International Council of Nurses said burn-out and stress had led millions of nurses to consider quitting the profession.
  • Five countries suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine. Austria’s national medicines regulator has suspended use of a batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine after four patients were diagnosed with dangerous blood clotting conditions after receiving the jab, PA reports.Four other countries – Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia – have suspended its use to allow time for the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) to conduct an investigation.
  • Covid cases put Ausralian Hospital under extreme pressure. An infux of Covid-19 patients from Papua New Guinea has sparked a “code yellow” emergency at the Cairns Hospital in Australia, the ABC reports. The internal emergency declaration triggers strategies to help the hospital cope when it nears capacity. The six Covid-19 patients are all being treated in isolation, and came from hotel quarantine.
  • Taiwan in travel bubble talks. Taiwan officials have revealed they have been in talks since last year with several countries about the possibility of forming travel bubbles. It didn’t make clear whether all the discussions were still going, given some of the countries had seen recent resurgences of Covid cases.
  • October deadline for vaccinating all Australians refers to first dose only. Opposition senators are probing health department officials the government’s commitment that Australian adults would be “fully vaccinated” by October. In fact, the health department secretary, Brendan Murphy’s, evidence today is that every adult will have received the first dose of AstraZeneca, but maybe not everyone will have had the second dose.
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WORLD STATS:

Coronavirus Cases:

118,691,635

Deaths:

2,633,345

Recovered:

94,300,701
ACTIVE CASES
21,757,589
Currently Infected Patients

21,667,599 (99.6%)

in Mild Condition

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