Category Archives: Infectious Diseases

Taiwan tech companies buy 10m Covid vaccine doses in deal that sidesteps China

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Beijing had offered Taiwan the vaccines, amid a major shortage on the island, but Taiwan’s ruling party did not want to deal with China directly

Major Taiwanese tech companies have inked a deal to buy 10m vaccine doses for Taiwan, sidestepping months of complicated geopolitical wrangling between Beijing and Taipei.

The US$350m purchase from German manufacturer BioNTech, is split between TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, and Foxconn, one of the world’s largest contract electronics makers, and its charity foundation. The two companies will donate the vaccines to Taiwan’s central epidemic command centre for distribution.

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Health campaigners call for an end to the use of the word leper

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Derogatory use of the “L-word” has increased during Covid and is said to be further marginalising people with the curable disease

Health campaigners are calling for an end to the use of the word leper, saying the language frequently used by politicians and others during the pandemic has made people with leprosy even more marginalised.

The metaphor of the socially outcast “leper” has been used often, whether in media reports on stigma against early Covid-19 patients or by politicians in Italy and Brazil complaining about being seen as “leper colonies”. Campaigners now want an end to the use of what they call the “L-word”.

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Australia Covid news live: NSW expecting more than 100 coronavirus cases; government ads spark backlash

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Sydney braces for spike in cases of Delta variant as Victoria closes border to NSW. Follow the latest updates, live

We are expecting to hear from the Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in about five minutes.

Don’t think Adelaide is safe from the soccer celebrations!

pic.twitter.com/UB97AZ0A7W

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Covid unlocking on 19 July must come with a warning, says Johnson

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Ministers are told easing of restrictions could be accompanied by 2m new cases in coming weeks

Boris Johnson has said caution is “absolutely vital” before the abandonment of virtually all formal Covid restrictions as ministers toughen their language amid expectations of soaring infection rates.

The Guardian understands that ministers have been told to brace for at least one to two million new cases of coronavirus in the coming weeks, though the vaccination programme means far smaller proportions of those infected will be hospitalised and die than in previous waves.

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Fauci says no immediate need for Covid booster for fully vaccinated Americans

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Biden chief medical adviser says guidance may change in future as Pfizer suggests booster ‘may be beneficial’ after six months

Dr Anthony Fauci has said there is no immediate need for a Covid-19 booster for fully vaccinated Americans but remained open to the possibility in the future, as reports suggest that one major pharmaceutical company plans to lobby government officials to approve booster shots next week.

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced last week that it had observed that its vaccine, while effective against the virus, had “a decline in efficacy against symptomatic disease over time”. The company suggested that as new variants continue to emerge a booster shot after six months “may be beneficial”.

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Ugandan minister blames west for Covid vaccine shortage

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Chris Baryomunsi says Uganda unable to obtain more shots because ‘western world has focused on its population’

A Ugandan government minister has blamed the west for his country’s inability to secure more Covid-19 vaccines, as the World Health Organization warned Africa urgently needed hundreds millions more jabs to fend off a surging third wave of infections.

Chris Baryomunsi said Uganda had been able to vaccinate more than a million people but was unable to obtain further shots.

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Covid live: public in England expected to wear masks when measures lift; Indonesia reports 1,007 daily deaths

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UK minister says mask guidance indoors is set to stay in England; Indonesian death toll rises to total of 66,464 after deadly day

The Press Association have written up warnings expressed by Sir David Spiegelhalter on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show today that life is likely to be “massively disrupted” by people being told to self-isolate as the number of coronavirus cases rises over the summer.

The statistician said it would make sense to get the rules “in proportion” today as vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed the Government was looking at ways to tweak the NHS Covid app.

Few people told to self-isolate actually have an infection, and especially if they’re vaxxed, and so I do think it makes sense to get this in proportion to actually ‘what are the benefits of this massive disruption

The team are looking at how we use that app in terms of alerting people to those around them who test positive.

It’s important to look at that in a new context of this massive vaccination programme and make sure that it is fit for purpose for this new world including, for example, being able to take maybe five days, as we have piloted, of lateral flow tests and upload them to the system rather than having to self-isolate.

In Libya, Al-Wasat news is reporting that the country has recorded a record number of coronavirus cases.

The National Center for Disease Control announced the registration of 2,854 new cases of the “emerging corona virus”, in addition to 376 cases of recovery, and 8 deaths, in the highest number of infections since March 2020.

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Freedom day? Boris Johnson faces a tough call as Covid cases soar

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The prime minister seems intent on lifting England’s remaining Covid restrictions on 19 July. But many in the NHS fear it could be overwhelmed – and tourist hotspots are fearful too

With foreign holidays still in doubt and Cornwall filling up by the day, Jessica Webb has a unique perspective on “freedom day”. With her sister, Naomi, and her father, Spence, she helps run Falmouth Surf School and Watersports on Maenporth beach. Bookings for surf lessons are strong, and Jessica, 38, has started running yoga classes on paddleboards anchored in the cove to cope with excess demand.

She is also a part-time healthcare assistant in the A&E department at Cornwall’s only major hospital, in Treliske. “Even now, before the summer holidays have started, we don’t have enough staff in the hospital, people are waiting hours at A&E, the ambulances are all parked up outside,” she says. “There’s just so little capacity and so few beds – even for the people that live here all the time, let alone all the holidaymakers.

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Is it wise to lift England’s Covid restrictions fully?

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The cases for and against the final easing of rules on ‘freedom day’ of 19 July

At the start of this pandemic, one key ethical justification for restrictions was to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed. Yet, despite rapidly rising cases, the number of patients in hospital with Covid has remained relatively low (similar to the start of October). It is clear that the vaccination programme is reducing deaths and hospital admissions from Covid-19. The benefit of continuing restrictions is now far smaller than it was.

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Woman, 90, infected with Alpha and Beta Covid variants at the same time

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Researchers warn ‘phenomenon is probably underestimated’ after the death of woman in Belgium

A 90-year-old Belgian woman who died after falling ill with Covid-19 was infected with both the Alpha and Beta variants of the coronavirus at the same time, researchers have said.

The unvaccinated woman was admitted to the OLV hospital in the city of Aalst after a spate of falls in March and tested positive for Covid-19 the same day.

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Coronavirus live: police urge ticketless England fans not to travel to London; Fukushima to ban spectators from Olympic events

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Met urges England fans not to gather in large numbers in capital for the Euro 2020 final on Sunday due to ‘ongoing public health crisis’

Seven people have died and 2,190 new people have been infected with coronavirus in Scotland in the past 24 hours.

The latest figures from the Scottish government show the daily test positivity rate is at 9% with 435 people are in hospital.

A fifth of staff could be absent from one NHS trust in England within three weeks from now, a representative organisation has warned, due in part to staff having to self-isolate amid rising coronavirus infections.

NHS Providers, a membership organisation of NHS trusts in England, said the staff shortage, also caused by people taking annual leave delayed by the pandemic, could lead to 900 operations being cancelled. It declined to name the trust.

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Government announces 50 new cases amid fears of extended lockdown – as it happened

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NSW reports 47 people in hospital, with 16 in intensive care including a teenager. This blog is now closed

We’re going to wind things up for the evening. Here’s a reminder of what we learned today:

NSW has updated its list of venues of concern. New close contact venues include Bupa Dental in Miranda from 10.50am to 12pm on Wednesday 7 July, Chemist Warehouse in Punchbowl on Thursday 8 July from 9.20am to 9.40am and Direct Trade in Merrylands from 2.20pm to 2.50pm on Saturday 3 July.

The full list of venues is on the NSW Health website.

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Pfizer to ask US to authorize third Covid vaccine shot as booster

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Evidence shows a greater risk of reinfection six months after inoculation as Israel reports a drop in vaccine effectiveness

Pfizer plans to ask US regulators to authorize a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine within the next month, the drugmaker’s top scientist said on Thursday.

The announcement was based on evidence of greater risk of reinfection six months after inoculation and due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.

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Global experts urge Boris Johnson to delay ‘dangerous’ Covid reopening

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More than 100 scientists and doctors say move risks creating a generation with problems due to long Covid

Lifting the remaining Covid restrictions in England this month is “dangerous and premature”, according to international scientists and doctors, who have called on the UK government to pause reopening until more people are vaccinated.

Writing in the Lancet, more than 100 global experts warn that removing restrictions on 19 July will cause millions of infections and risk creating a generation with chronic health problems and disability from long Covid, the impact of which may be felt for decades.

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Age, sex, vaccine dose, chronic illness – insight into risk factors for severe Covid is growing

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A look at the demographics as 18.5 million people in the UK fall into the heightened risk category

About 18.5 million individuals, or 24.4% of the UK population, are at increased risk of developing severe Covid because of underlying health conditions. It is well known that older people are at high risk, but the understanding of all the risk factors is incomplete. Experts say that this knowledge needs to develop at speed to support policy and planning given that social restrictions will end in England on 19 July.

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NSW Covid update: Sydney lockdown extended one week as state records 27 new cases

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Focus shifts from eastern suburbs to Sydney’s south-west with Gladys Berejiklian not ruling out stricter measures for three local government areas

The greater Sydney lockdown has been extended for a week after New South Wales recorded another 27 local Covid cases and health officials expressed concern about the growing spread of the virus in some south-western suburbs.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said the decision to extend the lockdown was a difficult but necessary one.

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Kenya in rush to vaccinate 4m children as measles cases surge

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WHO reports measles outbreaks in eight African countries amid huge fall-off in jabs during Covid

Kenya has restarted its vaccination programme in an effort to tackle the re-emergence of measles, which has surged in the country during the Covid restrictions.

A 10-day campaign against highly contagious measles and rubella has begun to target 4 million children aged nine months to five years in 22 of Kenya’s 47 counties where outbreaks are highest.

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‘Dire need’: Australia urged to offer more aid to Indonesia as Covid crushes health system

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Critics say government not doing enough to help neighbour as record cases deplete oxygen supplies

The Australian government has been urged to rapidly step up its assistance to Indonesia, amid warnings the sharp rise in Covid-19 cases is fuelling an “escalating crisis right on our doorstep”.

With aid groups fearing the Indonesian health system is on the verge of collapse, and with oxygen and bed shortages reported in some hospitals, there are growing calls for the Morrison government to help its most populous neighbour.

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Crackdown on ‘vaccine sommeliers’ as Covid pandemic grips Brazil

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Although four vaccines are available, some shots are deemed by some more desirable than others

Cities across Brazil are clamping down on “vaccine sommeliers” who seek to cherrypick their Covid shots despite the devastating epidemic still gripping Latin America’s largest nation.

More than half a million Brazilians have lost their lives to an outbreak the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, stands accused of ruinously mishandling. Yet some citizens have shown themselves to be perplexingly selective about which brand of vaccine they receive.

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To mask or not to mask: what will Johnson and others do after 19 July?

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The PM says he will keep his covering in crowded places after England’s rules change but what do his ministers and experts think?

Boris Johnson has said he will continue to wear a mask in “crowded places” after mandatory requirements are dropped in England on 19 July.

“What we’re trying to do is move from a universal government diktat to relying on people’s personal responsibility,” he told Monday’s Downing Street press conference. “Clearly there’s a big difference between travelling on a crowded Tube train and sitting late at night in a virtually empty carriage on the main railway line. So what we want to do is for people to exercise their personal responsibility but to remember the value of face coverings both in protecting themselves and others.”

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