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Tokyo Olympics: No Foreign Fans, Good Pfizer Vaccine News, Bad News for Airlines, More,

Guardian (UK) Japan has decided to stage this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics without overseas spectators due to public concern about Covid, two government sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Olympics, postponed by a year because of the pandemic, are scheduled for 23 July to 8 August and the Paralympics from 24 August to 5 September Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said a decision on spectators would be made by the end of March.

The government has concluded that welcoming fans from abroad would not be possible given public concern about the coronavirus and the detection of more contagious variants in many countries, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is not public.

Kyodo News, which reported the decision on Tuesday, said the opening ceremony of the torch relay on March 25 would also take place without spectators.

“The organising committee has decided it is essential to hold the ceremony in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima behind closed doors, only permitting participants and invitees to take part in the event, to avoid large crowds forming amid the pandemic,” Kyodo said, quoting the officials.

The Tokyo organising committee said a decision would be made based on “factors including the state of infections in Japan and other countries, possible epidemic-prevention measures, and expert scientific advice.”

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto has said she wants a decision made on before the start of the torch relay on whether to allow overseas spectators.

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Some hopeful news on the variants: Pfizer vaccine neutralizes Brazilian virus variant in new study

The Pfizer vaccine was able to neutralize a coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil in a new lab study, a positive sign for the vaccine’s effectiveness.

Neutralization of the Brazilian variant, known as P.1, was “roughly equivalent” to the original strain of the virus, which the Pfizer vaccine has been shown to be highly effective against, researchers wrote in a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine.

The P.1 variant has provoked some concern given the surge in cases it is fueling in Brazil.

Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said in a presentation last week there are “preliminary reports” the variant is more infectious, and that antibodies produced by vaccines “may be less effective.” 

The results published Monday from researchers from Pfizer, its German partner BioNTech, and the University of Texas Medical Branch, however, are reassuring. 

The study also found strong neutralization of the B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the U.K., though that was already expected. 

Perhaps a more concerning variant: The B.1.351 variant, first identified in South Africa, has raised concern for its potential ability to weaken the effectiveness of vaccines to some degree. The study found neutralization of that variant was “robust but lower.” .

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New CDC guidelines a blow for ailing airline industry

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week delivered a tough blow to the airline industry, which is struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

While the CDC issued a number of recommendations that allow vaccinated and low-risk people more freedom to gather, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Monday that the agency’s advice on travel remains the same for both vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans: Don’t do it.

But some experts called that guidance confusing and the airline industry, while saying it would continue to work with the CDC, stressed its efforts to prevent coronavirus transmission aboard aircraft and its confidence that its approach is safe.

Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University and former Baltimore health commissioner, called the guidance on Monday “far too cautious.”

“A lot of families are separated from one another and need to travel to see one another. I’m really befuddled by why the guidance around travel was not changed. Travel is very low risk — imagine if you’re traveling in your individual car or even by plane — whenever everyone is wearing masks, the risk of coronavirus is very low,” she said.

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SUMMARY

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

  • UK ministers asked to justify ‘staggering’ £20bn test and trace system cost. There is no evidence to show that the government’s £22bn test-and-trace programme to combat Covid-19 in England contributed to a reduction in coronavirus infection levels, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded.
  • Overseas fans face ban from Tokyo Olympics, reports news agency. Japan’s government has decided to stage the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics without overseas spectators because of fears among the population over the potential spread of Covid-19, the Kyodo news agency has reported, citing officials with knowledge of the matter.
  • Nancy Pelosi hailed a ‘historic’ Covid relief bill as House prepares to vote. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has hailed the massive $1.9tn Covid relief bill as “historic” and “transformative” as the House stood poised to give the legislation final approval with a vote on Wednesday morning.
  • Big Indian state scaled down vaccinations, citing shortage. The Indian state of Rajasthan said on Tuesday it had started limiting Covid vaccinations to its major hospitals due to a shortage of doses, despite an assurance from the federal government that supplies were adequate.
  • Brazil suffered record deaths. Brazil registered 1,972 new Covid deaths in a single day on Tuesday, a national record, according to the health ministry. The country had 70,764 new cases of coronavirus, reaching a total of 11.12 million infections. Brazil had 168,370 coronavirus deaths.
  • Palestinian intensive care units at 100% capacity. Palestinian hospitals are overfull and intensive-care units operating at 100% capacity with coronavirus patients in some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has said.
  • San Francisco Uber driver assaulted after passenger allegedly refuses to wear mask. An attack on a San Francisco Uber driver over the weekend by a passenger who allegedly refused to wear a face mask has drawn outrage after video of the incident emerged on Tuesday.
  • J&J ‘under stress’ to meet EU 2nd-quarter vaccine supply goal – Reuters source. Johnson & Johnson has told the European Union it is facing supply issues that may complicate plans to deliver 55m doses of its Covid vaccine to the bloc in the second quarter of the year, an EU official told Reuters.

 

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