(CNN) Local and federal officials in Brazil were warned of looming oxygen shortages nearly a week before crisis struck in the city of Manaus, the country’s Solicitor General has revealed.

In a country already hard-hit by the coronavirus, oxygen shortages and soaring Covid-19 cases have pushed Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, into a healthcare crisis. Nurses in the city have been quoted in local news reports as saying patients have died of asphyxiation in the city’s hospitals because there is no oxygen to give them. Some relief has come from Venezuela.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Five trucks carrying oxygen from Venezuela arrived at Manaus, a city of 2 million people in the Brazilian rainforest where the local health system has collapsed amid a devastating second wave of COVID-19 and a severe shortage of oxygen for breathless patients.

Venezuela’s consul in Manaus, Patricia Silva, said the trucks delivered 132,000 liters of oxygen late Tuesday. They came from the state of Bolivar in southern Venezuela and travelled more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) to Manaus, the capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state.

“We, as the Bolivarian government, defend our principles of cooperation and solidarity. Solidarity among peoples will save us, especially in this terrible pandemic,” Silva told journalists in Manaus.

The Brazilian government has come under sharp criticism over its handling of the crisis. Last week, Supreme Court judge Ricardo Lewandowski ordered the government to present a response plan to solve the oxygen shortage, citing the Jair Bolsonaro administration’s “omissive behavior” in addressing the emergency.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro’s Solicitor General José Levi do Amaral sent a 16-page report defending the government’s response to the court. The report discloses that the federal health ministry knew about the crisis six days before the situation became critical on January 14.

It also stresses that the local government in Amazonas did not inform federal authorities about the looming oxygen shortage. “The Health Ministry…became aware on (January) 8th through an e-mail sent by the product manufacturer,” the report states. The provider, named in the report as White Martins, first notified the Amazonas State government, and then federal authorities, the report says.

It is not clear why notifying the federal government of oxygen shortages was allegedly left to a private contractor. According to the Solicitor General’s report, the Manaus health department had been aware that the city’s health system was on the verge of collapse since early January.

Manaus City officials did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

An Amazonas’ state government spokesperson told CNN they would provide “clarifications” to the Prosecutor General’s office, and added that the state continues to work to mitigate the crisis, including, “the transport of oxygen from other states to Manaus, the installation of mini oxygen in hospitals, the transfer of patients for assistance in other states and the requisition of all production from local oxygen suppliers.”

Brazil’s General Prosecutor Augusto Aras has ordered the Health Ministry to open a probe into the collapse of Manaus’ health system, in addition to a separate investigation examining potential negligence by state and city officials.

But the Solicitor General’s report raises questions about why the federal Health Ministry was not able to help prevent the collapse of Manaus’ healthcare system, after it received advance notice. Officials from the Ministry traveled to Manaus in the beginning of January, and Pazuello personally visited the city from January 11 to January 13.

Disaster struck the city’s hospitals the next day. On January 14, Amazonas state officials announced that Manaus hospitals and emergency rooms faced crippling shortages of oxygen, amid soaring Covid-19 cases. “We are facing a lot of difficulty in getting medical supplies. And as everyone is following, our main difficulty now has been getting oxygen,” Governor Wilson Lima told reporters.

Though the Brazilian air force responded by delivering emergency supplies of liquid and gaseous oxygen, shortages continue. Logistical problems have compounded the crisis, as Manaus’ supplies mainly enter the city via the Amazon River. There is only highway out of the city, which connects it to the neighboring state of Amapá.

Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello has defended his agency’s response. “We took action immediately,” he said at a press briefing in Brasilia on Monday. “There was no indication of lack of oxygen from our meetings in early January. The rise of the cases was very fast,” he said.

“When we [visited Manaus] on [January] 4, the problem was not oxygen. The problem was bed structure, the number of Covid-19 patients, the queues,” Pazuello also said.

Bolsonaro’s appointment of Pazuello, a former military commander, to lead the Health Ministry, have been heavily criticized by opponent as Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll remains second highest in the world, behind only that of the United States.

Bolsonaro himself rejected any responsibility for the city’s lethal crisis. “There is a problem in Manaus … We mourn the deaths from asphyxiation, from lack of oxygen, and people blame the government. We have allocated billions to the states, but those responsible for the lack of medication are the state and municipal health secretaries,” he told supporters on Monday.

His statement followed Vice President Hamilton Mourão’s claim last week that no one could have foreseen the city’s health system collapse.

“You cannot predict what would happen with this (virus) strain that is occurring in Manaus. Totally different from what had happened in the first half,” Mourão said

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The Government of Jamaica has signalled an intention to deepen its ties with the United States following the inauguration of a new Administration yesterday.

In extending congratulations to the 46th President of the United States Joseph R Biden Jr and Vice-President Kamala Harris on their formal assumption of duties , Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith said: “The Government and people of Jamaica look forward to the further deepening of this strong and active partnership, under the Biden-Harris Administration.

Today’s (yesterday) inauguration reaffirms the strong democratic foundation on which the United States of America is built and for which it has had a long and distinguished tradition. The occasion is special and historic,” said Johnson Smith in a release.

“Even as we renew engagement with President Biden, previously a vice-president, we also look forward to building new relations with the vice-president. Indeed, it is of special significance to Jamaica that Vice-President Harris is the first female vice-president of the United States of America, a woman of colour and the child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.

“We, therefore, join in acknowledging this important milestone and note with pride her own inspiring assertion that while she is the first, she expects that many more will follow her,” added Johnson Smith.

She said Jamaica values its close friendship with the US which is a key ally and a major development partner.

“It is a relationship that has been shaped by mutually beneficial cooperation, deep historical and cultural ties, mutual respect for the rule of law and human rights, as well as the large Jamaican Diaspora in the United States.

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Hours before Kamala Harris’s historic inauguration as US Vice President, her ancestral village in Tamil Nadu celebrated with firecrackers, sweets and customized calendars of their most famous face.

Kamala Harris’s uncle, an academic who lives in Delhi, had advice for her.

“There’s no message I can give, I didn’t help her become Vice President. She did all on her own. All that I’ll tell her is ‘do whatever Shyamala (Kamala Harris’ mother) taught you. You’ve been doing fine so far, keep it up.’ It’s all I can say,” G Balachandran told news agency ANI.

Mr Balachandran had also spoken to Kamala Harris, his sister’s daughter, after Joe Biden won the presidential race in November.

Kamala Harris’s maternal grandfather was born over a century ago in Thulasendrapuram, a village about 320 km from Chennai.

Kamala Harris was born to an Indian mother, Shyamala Gopalan, and a Jamaican father, both of whom immigrated to the United States to study. She visited Thulasendrapuram when she was five and has recalled walks with her grandfather on the beach at Chennai.

Later tonight, she becomes the first woman, first Black American and first Asian American to win the second highest US office.

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By Steve Miller, RealClearInvestigations

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — On Interstate 59, a neon billboard used by the Alabama Department of Public Health advises motorists to get their flu and pneumonia vaccines. Placards placed atop gas pumps around the state also promote the flu vaccine.

The state of Alabama’s pitch on vaccination … but for the flu, not covid.

alabamapublichealth.gov

But the vaccine that will quell COVID-19, a virus that has killed 400,000 nationwide, crippled businesses and prompted governments to force onerous restrictions the public, gets no mention.

Karen Landers, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Health, said the state has “no specific marketing campaign going on” because “the vaccine supply is less than the demand, here and nationwide.”

Alabama, though, has plenty of medicine and many residents wondering how to get it.  Records show that the state has received 444,000 doses of the vaccine as of Friday, and has vaccinated 100,000 people, using around 23% of its allotted doses.

Across the U.S., 31 million doses of the COVID vaccine have been distributed as of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while states have administered 12 million, around 38%.  The vaccine produced by pharma giants Moderna and Pfizer are two-dose treatments that provide up to 95% protection.

The failure of Alabama and other states around the country to launch vaccine advertising campaigns – touting the medicine’s efficacy and informing people how and where they can receive it – is creating potentially life-threatening confusion.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to spend more money on vaccinations, allocating $400 billion in a plan that includes using local pharmacies (a feature borrowed from the Trump administration) and mass vaccination centers.  Biden said the push will include a public awareness campaign aimed at promoting the importance of getting inoculated.

But for now the lack of advertising is striking because local and federal government agencies routinely spend large sums on public health campaigns – including warning people how to behave in response to COVID-19.

The Obama administration spent $684 million driving awareness of the Affordable Care Act starting in 2013, although it was dogged by the rollout of a federal web portal widely viewed as disastrous. The pharmaceutical industry spent $9.5 billion on digital advertising alone in 2020, according to researcher eMarketer.

Hard-to-Reach Audiences

One of the challenges of the covid vaccine, as with Obamacare, is connecting with people who are hard to reach, including those without Internet service or who aren’t avid news followers.

Yet while the vaccine is in the early stages of distribution, information on what it does and how to get it can only be found at the websites of state and county health departments.

By contrast, when the virus emerged last spring, local governments quickly took to the airwaves with ads urging people to “stay home, stay safe,” collectively spending millions of dollars on multi-platform announcements, including government-produced signage distributed to businesses notifying  patrons that masks were required for entry.

A lucky recipient at the Louisville, Ky., Walgreens that found itself sitting on vaccine ready to expire. A lack of information about vaccine availability is contributing to supply and demand mismatches.

wlky.com

The lack of comparable information about the vaccine is contributing to supply and demand mismatches.

When a Walgreens in Louisville, Ky., found itself sitting on vaccine ready to expire, it made a public announcement that anyone could get the vaccine. The store was subsequently overwhelmed.

For that last-minute move, the store was criticized by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who said the vaccine needed to be held for people who deserve it in accordance with CDC guidelines.

In Michigan, under some of the most onerous shutdowns in the U.S. ordered by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the lack of an information campaign has confused the public.

“No one here even knows that there is a vaccine available,” said Joel Fragomeni, a Detroit-based comedian who volunteered for AstraZeneca’s clinical trial of its COVID vaccine, which is expected to be approved in the spring. “People are still mostly locked down waiting for the weekly cases report to see what can be opened and closed.”

States were presented in October with a 57-page guide to prepare distribute the vaccine, including two pages devoted to how to drive awareness among the public.

Among the suggestions: “Keep the public, public health partners, and healthcare providers well-informed about COVID-19 vaccine(s) development, recommendations, and public health’s efforts.”

It is not clear why the states or the federal government have been slow to advertise availability. Some experts say the unprecedented speed with which the medicine was developed may have caught authorities unprepared as they were preoccupied with other aspects of the pandemic.

In addition, broad confusion over who should get the first available doses has made messaging difficult.

Scant Spending on Vaccine Awareness

In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office in August signed off on a $5 million ad campaign to promote masking. But the governor’s website homepage makes no mention of the vaccine, listing only new positive case rates.  The state is sitting on 43% of the 1 million vaccine doses it has received and has yet to spend anything on vaccine awareness.

New York City in April launched a $10 million campaign advising residents how to behave as the virus spread. The state launched an additional campaign in July urging residents to wear masks.

New York has used less than half the vaccine it has been given, as people seek information on how and where to sign up to receive a dose.

Dearth of public information: Waiting in vain for vaccine this week in Paterson, N.J.

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

California spent millions on billboards, social media and broadcast spots in July telling people to wear masks and keep away from each other, promoting the campaign in a press release on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s home page.

Newsom’s office last issued a statement on the vaccine in late December, noting that California would partner with CVS and Walgreens to inoculate residents of long-term care facilities. Since then, information has been so scarce that residents have begun to crowdsource details.

The Ad Council and the CDC continue to run 60-second announcements on CNN’s Headline News urging people to stay home, avoid businesses like restaurants and bars and distance from each other.

National television spots urging viewers to get a vaccine for shingles – which kills roughly 100 people a year — are in full rotation in places like the Weather Channel.

The Ad Council, a consortium of private firms started during World War II that produces ads for the public good, has co-produced ads since the beginning of the pandemic advising people to stay home, keep away from each other and wear masks. In November it promised a $50 million campaign to drive awareness of the vaccine.

Last week, the council announced it had not yet met that goal, although it promised a campaign was forthcoming.

In an email, Ad Council spokesman Ben Dorf said that “even while many Americans have already started the vaccination process – we recognize that there is currently a lack of confidence and credible resources for people to go to, leading to mass hesitation, fear, misinformation and complacency.”

Polls contend many Americans are reluctant to take a vaccine, with the perhaps most politically opportunistic naysayer being Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who in October said she wouldn’t take it if President Trump were telling her to. She was vaccinated in December.

Dorf promised advertising in the future, although he specified no time.

“This is the biggest issue of our lifetime and it requires an effort like never before, in terms of size, scale, speed and urgency,” he wrote.

Emails to the CDC were referred to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, which did not respond.

Pfizer, Moderna, Walgreens and CVS did not respond to calls and emails requesting information on marketing plans for the vaccine.

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“He’s confined to the villa where he is staying with his family. He will have to remain in quarantine for up to 14 days.”

Robbie Williams has contracted Covid-19 while on holiday in the Caribbean. The English singer has been on holiday in St. Bart’s since December with his wife and kids. He reportedly contracted the virus while over there and is currently in quarantine.

The ‘Angels’ singer has apparently had a rough dose of Covid with one source close to the Robbie saying he’s “been fairly sick” with it. There’s no word on how he got the virus or if any of his family have it too.

The source told The Sun: “He’s confined to the villa where he is staying with his family. He will have to remain in quarantine for up to 14 days.”

This is Robbie’s second Covid-19 scare. Last year he thought he may have had the virus when he returned back to LA from Australia.

The 46 year old self-isolated from his family at the time, “when I landed back in LA it was unusually cloudy and grey, and what with everything going on it did feel very apocalyptic,” he said.

“I was in quarantine in an Airbnb down the road from my family and started worrying about food, about my medication running out, about Beau and my family, and was just very fearful for a couple of days.”

He was reunited with his family after he was sure he was clear from Covid-19. His wife, Ayda, shared the video at the time which showed the kids running up to their dad with excitement.

Robbie has been pretty quiet on social media lately so no word on how he’s feeling, but we wish him a speedy recovery.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned “there will be more to come” as the UK recorded its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day, 1,820.

The number of new cases rose sharply to 38,905, after a fall earlier in the week which inspired optimism that lockdown restrictions were working, The Guardian reported.

For the second day in a row, the UK recorded the biggest increase in COVID-19 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, up on Tuesday’s high of 1,610. The number of new coronavirus cases within 24 hours dropped to 33,355 on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the record daily death toll was “appalling” and warned “there will be more to come”.

The prime minister added, “These figures are appalling, and of course we think of the suffering that each one of those deaths represents to their families and to their friends. I’ve got to tell you … there will be more to come”.

He stated that the new variant was now in virtually all parts of the UK.

“It’s true that it looks as though the rates of infection in the country overall may now be peaking or flattening but they’re not flattening very fast and it’s clear that we must keep a grip on this. We must maintain discipline, formation, keep observing the lockdown,” he noted.

Upon news of the latest death figures, palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke tweeted, “Another 1,820 UK COVID deaths. This figure makes me want to weep, scream, punch a wall, smash furniture. As if the deaths alone weren’t devastating, knowing many were avoidable crushes me. These are mass casualties caused by the failure of government. Heartbreaking.”

The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, was asked on Good Morning Britain about why the UK had the worst death rate in the world from coronavirus. She replied that it “has to be put into context” and she did not think there was one simple “factor or cause as to why so many people have died in the UK”.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where COVID-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have been 110,000 deaths involving COVID-19 in the UK.

Government data up to January 19 shows that of the 5,070,365 vaccinations that have been given in the UK so far, 4,609,740 were first doses – a rise of 343,163 on the previous day’s figures – while 460,625 were second doses, an increase of 3,759 on figures released the previous day.

The seven-day rolling average of first doses given in the UK is now 281,490. Based on the latest figures, an average of 399,625 first doses of vaccine would be needed each day in order to meet the government’s target of 15mln first doses by February 15.

As few as 20% of staff in some care homes have received a coronavirus vaccine, the NHS national clinical director for older people has announced.

Dr. Adrian Hayter noted those involved in the vaccination programme must do “better and more” to ensure care home staff got a jab as soon as possible.

While some care homes have seen 70-80% of their staff vaccinated, which he called “fantastic”, others have rates as low as 20%. Overall 45% of care home staff had received a jab, he continued.

Hayter acknowledged there had been delays and that some care homes had found the process difficult.

The latest figures bring the total number of cases in the UK to 3,505,754.

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President Biden to use the Defense Production Act in COVID Fight

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