Latest updates: German biotechnology company warns of “gaps” in vaccine supply; Philippines bans U. S. arrivals until mid-January
Jeeves Wijesuriya, a young doctor working in a London, UK hospital and a member of the Health Workers Foundation, writes that the Covid plots are “a kick in the teeth” for an exhausted physical fitness like her.
Covid is tearing hospitals apart at an unprecedented rate, while a depleted workforce, already fueled by fumes not a “new winter wave,” but due to a momentary wave of Covid cases worse than the first, is looking to combat it. For us, the objective fact is undeniable: patients are seriously ill, patients who decline temporarily and suddenly, requiring intensive care, ventilation and specialized support.
And yet, in the outdoor world, our social media and even our newspapers magnify another “truth. ” That there is no primary emergency, be it misdiagnosis or global hysteria, that all primary countries and their educational institutions established. and medical organizations are inexplicably taking advantage.
Signatory Tom Jones announced that he had won the coronavirus vaccine in the UK, and said it was a credit to be 80 years old. The veteran star told host Jools Holland that she likes to get the flu shot.
After performing at jools’ annual Hootenanny exhibition on New Year’s Eve, Sir Tom said:
I already had my jab. It’s smart to be 80, you’re first in line for the jab. It’s smart, it’s like getting the flu shot.
When Holland jokingly asked if it was a valid vaccine, Jones said, “It’s not a black market vaccine. That’s the genuine deal. “
India has asked China to allow two Indian cargo ships that have been stranded for months near two Chinese ports due to the pandemic to temporarily board or upgrade the 39 members of its team.
“Team members are under pressure due to the long delay,” said Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava. “We hope that this assistance will be provided urgently, almost and at the right time, given the serious humanitarian scenario ahead. “aboard the ships. “
The ships are among the ships of countries waiting to unload their cargoes at the ports of Jintang and Caofeidian, he said, according to the Associated Press.
The Chinese government indicated that equipment replacement is not allowed at ports due to Covid-related restrictions. Beijing warned that the shipping company may request a rotation of equipment at Tianjin port, the spokesman said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said local government maintains close communication with Indian officials and aid.
Some Chinese ports allow equipment adjustments under the pretext of complying with applicable epidemic prevention regulations, but Jintang Port and Caofeidian Port are not included in this list. It depends on the shipment to send whether or not to adjust its operation. arrangements, ” said Wang last week.
The Indian shipment of the Great Eastern Shipping Company MV Jag Anand has been anchored near Jingtang in Hebei Province since June 13 with 23 indian team members on board. Another shipment, MV Anastasia, with 16 members of the Indian team, has been near Caofeidian since September 20 both waiting for their shipment before leaving the ports.
The UK economy is beginning 2021 on its back, as a record number of coronavirus infections and stricter restrictions cloud expansion customers and restrict the chances of an immediate recovery from the country’s worst recession in three hundred years.
It was hoped that the arrival of effective vaccines opposed to Covid could lead to the resumption of activity, but with new government controls to combat emerging infection rates, the outlook is deteriorating.
World humanitarian leaders and NGOs have suggested that world leaders make millions of refugees and others displaced by war have the Covid-19 vaccine urgently as the pandemic continues to overwhelm some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
The effect of contagion has intensified dramatically across the Middle East in recent weeks, corresponding to the increase in overall numbers. It has been further amplified through particularly under-funded medical responses that cannot cope with the number of other people who die or seriously ill.
The Philippines will have to ban visitors from the United States from entering the country on Friday.
The ban will be in force from January 3 to 15 as an additional measure to involve the new, more contagious coronavirus variant.
The United States is the twentieth region to be included in the list of Philippine countries subject to restrictions.
CNN reports from the Philippines.
The United States showed its first known case of the new coronavirus variant on December 30, when the patient, a boy in his twenties, discovered that he had the new Covid-19 variant.
Nearly 2,500 revelers attended an illegal New Year’s Eve party in an empty warehouse in northwestern France, violently clashing with police who did not arrest him and raising considerations that the clandestine occasion could spread a coronavirus, the government said Friday.
Revelers had organized the illegal rave in Lieuron, south of Rennes, Brittany, after skirmishes with police, a member of the local prefecture said. Many were still on site on Friday when a cord surrounded him.
Local gendarmes tried to “encourage this occasion, but faced fierce hostility from many revelers” who set fire to one of their cars and threw bottles and stones, he said, adding that those they provide came from all over France and even from abroad.
These massive meetings are strictly prohibited in France to prevent the spread of covid-19 and curfew at 8pm, which has not been lifted by New Year’s Eve, is applied in the country.
The Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the illicit organization of musical collecting and premeditated violence to the authorities.
Registered vehicles from all over France were still parked on Friday and many revelers received as the music continued, an AFP journalist said.
In the southern city of Marseille, security forces arrested an illegal party of about 300 other people, police said. More than 150 more people were notified and the three alleged organizers were arrested.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 132,000 police officers had been deployed to France for New Year’s celebrations to ensure safety and a curfew was respected.
France will boost its vaccination programme as opposed to Covid-19 after the government criticized for being too cautious in favor of vaccine skeptics.
Health Minister Olivier Véran announced Thursday night that the vaccine would be available to fitness personnel over the age of 50 from Monday.
Nurses and the workers’ medical corps were not expected to be vaccinated until the end of February, according to the government’s original schedule.
The announcement came after ministers were accused of complying with anti-vaccines in the vaccine deployment.
Five days after the launch of its vaccination programme, the latest figures recommend that only another 332 people have been vaccinated in France. Germany reported administering the Covid-19 vaccine to some 130,000 people at the same time and Italy to 8,300. was on track to have administered doses of 1. 3 million until Thursday night.
My colleague Kim Willsher has more.
India’s drug regulator on Friday approved a coronavirus vaccine developed through AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use, two sources told Reuters about the matter.
A representative of the Central India Organization for drug Standards Control (CDSCO), whose experts were meeting for the time being this week, declined to comment.
Approval paves for deployment to the highest affected country in the world.
The UK and Argentina already have the vaccine for urgent public use.
India needs to start administering the injections soon. These are also emergency use authorization programs for vaccines manufactured through Pfizer Inc with BioNTech in Germany and through Bharat Biotech in India.
With more than 10 million, India reported the highest number of coronavirus cases after the United States, its infection rate decreased particularly since a mid-September peak.
Covid-19 has killed at least 1818946 people around the world since the outbreak began in China last December, according to an official resource count compiled through Agence France-Presse at 11:00 GMT on Friday.
At least 83,381,330 cases of coronavirus have been reported. Of these, at least 52,534,200 are now recovered.
These figures are based on the daily tolls provided through the country’s fitness government and exclude future re-evaluations through statistical bodies, as has happened in Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the number of tests carried out has increased particularly while reporting techniques have improved, resulting in an increase in reported cases.
However, the number of diagnosed cases represents a portion of the actual total number of infections, as a significant number of less severe or asymptomatic cases are not yet detected.
As of Thursday, there were 13,629 new deaths and 728,621 new deaths worldwide.
According to the most recent reports, the countries with the maximum of new deaths were the United States with 3426, followed by Brazil with 1074 and the United Kingdom with 964.
In the early days of the pandemic, Israel launched a tool for mass surveillance of its civilians, following people’s mobile phones in hopes of preventing the spread of coronavirus.
The government has touted the technology, used to trap sought-after Palestinian militants, as a breakthrough in opposition to the virus, but months later, the effectiveness of the tool was questioned and critics say its use came here with an immeasurable burden on the country’s democratic principles. , reports Associated Press.
“The concept of a government that largely tracks its own citizens deserves to sound the alarm,” said Maya Fried, spokeswoman for the Civil Rights Association in Israel, who has continually challenged the use of the tool in court. “This goes against the foundations of democracy. You can’t just abandon democracy as a crisis. “
Little is known about technology. According to Yediot Ahronot newspaper, Shin Bet’s internal security service has been the tool for two decades, scanning the metadata of any telecommunications facility in Israel.
The data collected includes the location of the cellular device, internet browsing history and calls and SMS messages earned and beyond, but not their content. all the data.
Israel first introduced the Shin Bet in its war opposed to the virus epidemic in March. By tracking the movements of inflamed people, you may have only come into contact with them and are at risk of infection and quarantined them.
Given the limited networking functions of the Israeli Ministry of Health, the Shin Bet was even considered the most productive option to take control, even though its own leaders were reluctant to implement the tool. Shin Bet declined to comment.
Officials say the generation has been a tool to track the epidemic and insist that they have struck a balance between the protection of individual rights and public health.
“We think the charge is reasonable,” said last month Yoav Kisch, the deputy fitness minister. “We have not noticed that this tool is used for exploitation. This tool saves lives. “
Initially, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used emergency regulations to approve the use of the tool, but after the hasty deployment challenged in court, the government forced legislating limits on its use in July, subjecting it to some parliamentary scrutiny.
Critics say there is no trace of how Shin Bet’s knowledge is collected, stored, used or removed.
Correspondent Ireland
Rising infection rates in Covid-19 in Northern Ireland have pushed hospitals and ambulances to the limit.
The overall rate of bed occupancy is 100%, with only six empty beds, and other people who need ambulances have been warned about long delays in reaction times.
Around 160 northern Ireland ambulance service workers, between one-third and a quarter of frontline staff, are on leave for pandemic-related reasons, the firm said in a statement. people who call 999 would possibly revel in a delay in answering their calls. “
Nigel Ruddell, medical director of the ambulance service, described the crisis in more ruthless terms: “It’s like fighting with one hand tied behind your back,” he told the BBC.
As of Thursday, 467 hospitalized patients had undergone coronavirus tests, adding 34 in extensive care units. The region recorded 11 deaths and 1,929 infections.
Health Minister Robin Swann asked others to socialize: “If you decide to meet other people outdoors at home this new year, you may invite an unforeseen guest to the party. “