Hong Kong to make up to 10,000 hotel rooms available for Covid cases
Daily infections have surged by more than 40 times since the start of February and authorities have shut schools, gyms cinemas and most public venues. Many office employees have reverted to working from home.
Lam’s comments, in a statement released late on Wednesday, came after the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, told Hong Kong’s leaders their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control coronavirus in the global financial hub.
=====================================================
US CDC looks to update mask guidance soon
© Getty
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to update a range of guidance in the coming weeks, including on masks, to focus on hospitalizations rather than just infection numbers alone, agency director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday.
“We recognize the importance of not just cases … but critically, medically severe disease that leads to hospitalizations. We must consider hospital capacity as an additional important barometer,” Walensky said during a White House briefing.
Key message: The focus on hospitalizations is a signal the administration is shifting its messaging about the spread of the virus, and looking to give the public some positive news. The move would make it easier to justify lifting COVID-19 mitigation measures like mask and vaccine mandates.
“We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing when these metrics are better, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen,” Walensky said.
According to the current CDC metric, which is based on case counts, 97 percent of counties in the country are experiencing high transmission.
But mayors and governors across the country, especially in blue states like California and New York, have begun rolling back mask and vaccine requirements for businesses and schools.
Walensky didn’t commit to a timeline during the briefing, but the moves by states are putting pressure on the Biden administration.
The desire to move on from the current emergency was best illustrated by White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients: “We’re moving toward a time when covid isn’t a crisis but is something we can protect against and treat,” he said.
==================================================
US CDC lowers cruise warning, still remains ‘high’
© Associated Press/Bruce Smith
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lowered the travel advisory for cruise ships, indicating the agency thinks conditions have slightly improved from late last year.
The agency on Tuesday lowered its official travel health advisory from “very high” to “high,” recommending that people should be up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. That means having both a primary shot and a booster, if eligible.
The agency since Dec. 30 had recommended people avoid cruises completely.
If you are not up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines, avoid cruise ship travel, CDC said. Even if you are up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, if you are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19, the agency still recommends not cruising.
CDC does not require cruise passengers to wear masks, and some cruise lines, like Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, have begun rolling back their own mask rules.
======================================================
BIONTECH PLANNING MODULAR FACTORIES TO BOOST VACCINE PRODUCTION IN AFRICA
BioNTech announced on Wednesday that it plans to create manufacturing facilities in Africa in order to bolster the company’s ability to provide more essential medicines, including the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Today’s milestone brings us one step closer to our goal of improving healthcare by making our innovations accessible worldwide,” BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said in the company’s statement on Wednesday.
Pending approval from local regulators, BioNTech will aim to begin producing up to 50 million doses of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine that it made with Pfizer within the year in Africa.
The first shipment of materials necessary to make the company’s vaccine will be sent to either Senegal or Rwanda. The company produced 1.2 billion doses in Marburg, Germany, last year, according to The Associated Press.
But the company has garnered criticism, especially from advocates of vaccine equity in poorer countries, for refusing to suspend vaccine patents and allow more competitors to manufacture the vaccine, the AP reported.
The company has cited the difficulty of making mRNA vaccines, saying that local partnerships are BioNTech’s preferred way to maintain the consistency and quality of their vaccines globally, according to the wire service.
=====================================================
Five- to 11-year-old children in England to be offered Covid vaccine
Pfizer/BioNTech jab to be offered to younger children as experts decide benefits outweigh risk
All children aged five to 11 in England will be offered a Covid vaccine, ministers have said in a long-awaited announcement, while emphasising that parents would be expected to make their own decision.
The rollout, described by the health secretary, Sajid Javid, as “non-urgent”, is set to begin in April in pharmacies, GP surgeries and vaccination centres, using Pfizer/BioNTech doses.
The announcement followed a recommendation by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that the vaccine programme should be extended to younger children, after months of deliberation over the benefits and risks.
The move for England was brought forward by several days after similar announcements from Wales and Scotland. Stormont’s health minister, Robin Swann, confirmed Northern Ireland will mirror the policy.
Emphasising that the decision would be left to parents, Javid said: “The NHS will prepare to extend this non-urgent offer to all children during April so parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of Covid-19 as we learn to live with this virus.”
A government source said vaccination for this age group “would not be pushed in the same way” as the offer for adults and older children, with parents told it is available if wanted but no campaign or attempts at persuasion.
The main purpose of offering the vaccine to younger children, the JCVI said, was to protect against rare cases of severe illness in advance of a potential future coronavirus wave. However, the experts emphasised that the move should not be prioritised over other childhood vaccination programmes such as MMR and HPV, which have fallen behind during the pandemic.
In England, children are expected to be offered the jab through pharmacies, GPs and vaccine centres rather than through schools, and it is not clear whether parents will be contacted directly or need to come forward to request a jab.
The announcement for England was expected to be made next week alongside the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, but it appeared to be brought forward after Wales announced on Tuesday that it was pressing ahead with its own offer to five- to 11-year-olds following the JCVI advice.
The Welsh health minister, Eluned Morgan, accused the UK government of delaying the publication of the JCVI advice in order to have a “significant announcement” to include in the long-term plan for living with Covid.
“That’s not a good enough reason for us to postpone,” she said. “We didn’t want to dance to the timetable being set by what worked for the UK government. Our job is public protection, it’s not to march in step with whatever the UK government decides is their political priorities.”
While the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds in December, with the body concluding the jabs were safe and effective for this group, the JCVI previously announced that only vulnerable children in this age group would be offered a Covid jab.
As with the vulnerable cohort, the wider group of all five- to 11-year-olds will be offered 10-microgram doses of the Covid jabs – a third of the amount used for adults.
The pace of the rollout among children has been slow. In the last week of January, more than one in eight primary schoolchildren in England were infected with Covid – the highest prevalence for any age group at any stage of the pandemic.
The decision to extend Covid jabs to younger children has involved lengthy discussions.
While some scientists have argued they are necessary – citing concerns over high infection rates in schools, rising Covid-related hospitalisations in children and long Covid – others have stressed that the risk-benefit equation becomes finely balanced in younger age groups because Covid is generally a mild disease in childhood, long Covid is rarer, milder and less long-lasting than in adults, and Covid jabs are unable to prevent all transmission in any case.
The JCVI said it had also considered the impact of school absences, but that ultimately this did not tip the balance in favour of vaccinating because mild side-effects from the vaccine could also lead to some absences.
The main motivation was “future-proofing” younger age groups against possible future waves of infection, including the potential for a wave that might cause more severe illness.
It was announced in September last year that children aged 12 to 15 would be offered a Covid jab. The programme was later extended to offer a second dose, with some eligible for a booster, such as those in a clinical risk group. All 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible for two doses of a Covid jab and a booster.
Prof Azeem Majeed, the head of primary care and public health at Imperial College London, said: “The benefits of vaccination are much greater for older people than young children because of the higher risks from Covid-19 in the elderly. Nonetheless, the evidence does suggest a benefit in children also and it’s good to see the UK finally approve vaccines in five- to 11-year-olds, even if it has lagged behind many other countries in making this decision.”
Prof Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the latest evidence showed that vaccination in younger age groups is safe, but that the benefits were unlikely to be great. “The risk of severe disease and long Covid in this age group was always much lower than older age groups, and given the high rate of prior infections, these risks are probably even lower now,” he said.
================================================
Barbados relaxes more Covid curbs
Barbados has recently ended the 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew as public health officials green light the easing of more Covid curbs.
There will now be no restriction of beach activity and parks, and Barbadians and visitors will again be allowed to enjoy these facilities.
Hiking will also be allowed in groups of 30 ipeople.
Pleasure craft and private boats, chartered for private cruises will move from 50 to 100 per cent of their authorised number of passengers. Proof of vaccination or testing will be required before boarding.
The six-feet rule for distancing will no longer apply, except where persons exercise together outdoors, without wearing a mask.
In all other cases, the physical distance of at least three feet will apply.
In addition to relaxed restrictions, visitors to the island can also attend several sporting and entertainment activities as Barbados reopens.
Some of the major upcoming events already announced for 2022 include the England vs. West Indies cricket tour in March; the World Surfing League QS3000 in April; the Annual Barbados Jazz Excursion and Golf Weekend in October; and a motorsports calendar of activities taking place at Bushy Park.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Sen. Lisa Cummins said “We are looking ahead with great optimism as we welcome the return of so many well-loved activities to our shores.”
“Our tourism, entertainment, culture and sports sectors, among others, continue to drive demand for destination Barbados.”
The post Hong Kong Surge, US CDC Mask Changes, Cruise Ship Risk Lowered, Biontech Africa Plan, Barbados Relaxes Curbs appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.