COVID-19 deaths
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Death toll hits another new high of 102
Bangladesh saw its daily deaths from coronavirus shatter the local record yet again with 102 fatalities between Saturday and Sunday morning.
It was the third consecutive day that the country registered more than 100 deaths in a 24-hour period.
The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,385 with a mortality rate of 1.44 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services.
Data released by the government show a downward trend in tests and new cases as the number of deaths and recoveries rise steadily.
With fewer tests, the number of new cases remained low at 3,698 but the infection rate was at 19.06 percent, down from 21.46 percent on Saturday.
On Sunday, 19,404 samples were tested. The number was 34,630 on April 7 when the country recorded its highest single-day cases of 7,626.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.
The country has so far confirmed 718,950 cases. But 614,936 people – 85.53 percent of all patients – have recovered so far.
Deadliest weeks
April has been the most devastating month so far, with 1,339 deaths and 104,182 new cases.
More people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 20 days than in the last 10 months.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Also read: South Asia fast becoming new global epicentre of Covid-19: IFRC
Last year’s months-long ‘general holiday’ helped curb the virus’ transmission and keep the fatalities low but people have since shown reluctance to adhere to health rules. The lackadaisical attitude has been blamed for the worsening coronavirus situation.
COVID-19 infections approaching highest rates ever, WHO warns
COVID-19 infections are approaching their highest rates since the pandemic began just over a year ago, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Friday.
“Around the world, cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates”, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking during his regular briefing, reports UN News.
“Globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months. This is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far during the pandemic.”
As of Friday, there were 138.5 million cases worldwide, and more than 2.9 million deaths. The pandemic was declared in March 2020.
Tedros said some countries which had previously avoided widespread virus transmission are now witnessing “steep increases” in infections, with Papua New Guinea serving as an example.
Concern for Papua New Guinea
The Pacific island nation, which has a population of around eight million, had managed to keep the disease at bay. Up until the beginning of the year, there were less than 900 cases and nine deaths.
Currently, more than 9,300 cases and 82 deaths have been recorded, and all 22 provinces have been affected. The country’s health Minister, Jelta Wong, who also briefed journalists, said half of all cases and deaths were reported in the last month alone, and health workers are increasingly among those infected.
Also read: No region in the world spared as virus cases, deaths surge
“Our biggest challenge is seemingly to the late adaption or acceptance of the ‘new normal’ and the disbelief in the disease itself,” he said. “This overlaps into much infodemic - and conspiracies and misinformation on the safety and the efficiency of the vaccines.”
The situation in Papua New Guinea, or PNG, is concerning, Tedros said, as it could lead to a much larger epidemic. Late last month, Australia donated some 8,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to its neighbour, and an additional 132,000 doses were delivered this week through the COVAX solidarity initiative.
Vaccine equity now
Tedros said PNG was a perfect example of why vaccine equity is so important, an issue which the WHO chief and other senior UN officials have repeatedly highlighted.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Financing for Development Forum that “to end the pandemic for good, we need equitable access to vaccines for everyone, everywhere.”
WHO continues to assess the pandemic’s evolution. Its Emergency Committee on COVID-19 met this week and Tedros said he will receive its latest advice on Monday.
Also read: Countries worldwide hit new records for virus cases, deaths
Update on virus variants
Monitoring of the COVID-19 virus variant first detected in India continues, WHO said on Friday.
The B 1 617 variant, which has two mutations, emerged at the end of last year and cases have been reported in other countries across Asia and North America.
“This is one variant of interest that we are following,” said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency’s Technical Lead on COVID-19.
“Having two of these mutations, which have been seen in other variants around the world, are concerning because there’s a similarity in these mutations that confer increased transmissibility, for example. Some of these mutations result in reduced neutralization which may have an impact on our counter measures, including the vaccines.”
Strengthening surveillance
COVID-19 variants have been reported in the United Kingdom and South Africa, while a third that was first detected in Japan is circulating in Brazil and elsewhere.
Dr. Van Kerkhove said WHO and partners have been bringing together countries, researchers and different networks, to strengthen global monitoring and assessment of the new coronavirus.
Also read: Shocking imbalance in Covid vaccine distribution: WHO
“It’s really important that that assessment is robust so we understand what each variant of interest and variant of concern means for transmission, for severity and for impacts on diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines”, she said.
COVID-19 vaccines developed so far have been effective against the variants, she added, “but we want to have a system in place should there need to be a change in some of our counter measures going forward.”
Covid-infected Ekattor TV journalist dies
Ekattor TV Associate News Producer Rifat Sultana, who tested positive for Covid-19 a week ago, died at a city hospital Friday evening after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The 32-year-old journalist had also been suffering from pregnancy-related complications.
Parvez Reza, special correspondent of the private TV channel, confirmed the news to UNB saying: "Rifat's husband and mother-in-law also tested Covid-19 positive."
Also read: Ex-law minister Abdul Matin Khasru dies
She had to undergo a Caesarean delivery on Thursday and the newborn baby has been kept in another private hospital in the city.
The private television channel also shared the news of Rifat's death on its verified Facebook page.
Meantime, Bangladesh broke its previous records of single-day death count with 101 fatalities in 24 hours until Friday morning although the number of new cases remained below the 5,000-mark.
Also read Covid-19: Bangladesh shatters single-day fatalities record with 101 deaths
The death tally now stands at 10,182 with a mortality rate of 1.43%, the Directorate General of Health Services said.
Also, the daily infection rate climbed to 23.36% with 4,417 new cases.
Alarm for Bangladesh as Covid’s daily death toll hits a new record of 101
Bangladesh broke its previous records of single-day death count with 101 fatalities in 24 hours until Friday morning although the number of new cases remained below the 5,000 mark.
The death tally now stands at 10,182 with a mortality rate of 1.43 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
With 4,417 new cases, the daily infection rate climbed to 23.36 percent.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
So far, 711,779 cases have been confirmed, with 602,908 recoveries (84.7 percent of all patients) – including 5,694 in the last 24 hours.
Until now, 5,134,478 tests, including 18,906 in the last 24 hours, have been conducted. RT-PCR tests, considered the gold standard for Covid-19 testing, are being conducted at 121 facilities – 52 government and 69 private labs.
Also read: South Asia fast becoming new global epicentre of Covid-19: IFRC
Why are so many babies dying of Covid-19 in Brazil?
More than a year into the pandemic, deaths in Brazil are now at their peak. But despite the overwhelming evidence that Covid-19 rarely kills young children, in Brazil 1,300 babies have died from the virus. One doctor refused to test Jessika Ricarte's one-year-old son for Covid, saying his symptoms did not fit the profile of the virus. Two months later he died of complications from the disease, reports BBC.
After two years of trying, and failed fertility treatments, teacher Jessika Ricarte had all but given up on having a family. Then she fell pregnant with Lucas.
"His name comes from luminous. And he was a light in our life. He showed that happiness was much more than we imagined," she says.
She first suspected something was wrong when Lucas, always a good eater, lost his appetite.
At first Jessika wondered if he was teething. Lucas's godmother, a nurse, suggested that he might just have a sore throat. But after he developed a fever, then fatigue and slightly laboured breathing, Jessika took him to hospital, and asked for him to be tested for Covid.
"The doctor put on the oximeter. Lucas's levels were 86%. Now I know that is not normal," says Jessika.
But he was not feverish, so the doctor said: "My dear, don't worry. There's no need for a Covid test. It's probably just a minor sore throat."
He told Jessika that Covid-19 was rare in children, gave her some antibiotics and sent her home. Despite her misgivings, there was no option to have Lucas tested privately at the time.
Jessika says that some of his symptoms dissipated at the end of his 10-day antibiotics course, but the tiredness remained - as did her concerns about coronavirus.
"I sent several videos to his godmother, my parents, my mother-in-law, and everyone said that I was exaggerating, that I should stop watching the news, that it was making me paranoid. But I knew that my son was not himself, that he was not breathing normally."
This was May 2020, and the coronavirus epidemic was growing. Two people had already died in her town, Tamboril in Ceará, north-east Brazil. "Everyone knows each other here. The town was in shock."
Jessika's husband Israel was worried that another hospital visit would increase the risk that she and Lucas would become infected with the virus.
But the weeks went by, and Lucas became sleepier and sleepier. Finally on 3 June, Lucas vomited over and over again after eating lunch, and Jessika knew she had to act.
They returned to their local hospital, where the doctor tested Lucas for Covid, to rule it out.
Lucas's godmother, who worked there, broke the news to the couple that his test result was positive.
"At the time, the hospital did not even have a resuscitator," says Jessika.
Lucas was transferred to a paediatric intensive care unit in Sobral, over two hours away, where he was diagnosed with a condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS).
This is an extreme immune response to the virus, which can cause inflammation of vital organs.
Experts say the syndrome, which affects children up to six weeks after they are infected with coronavirus, is rare, but leading epidemiologist Dr Fatima Marinho from the University of São Paolo, says that, during the pandemic, she is seeing more cases of MIS than ever before. Although it doesn't account for all deaths.
When Lucas was intubated, Jessika wasn't allowed to stay in the same room. She rang her sister-in-law to try and distract herself.
"We could still hear the sound of the machine, the beep, until the machine stopped and there was that constant beep. And we know that happens when the person dies. After a few minutes, the machine started working again and I started to cry."
The doctor told her Lucas had suffered a cardiac arrest but they had managed to revive him.
Dr Manuela Monte, the paediatric doctor who treated Lucas for over a month in the ICU in Sobral, said she was surprised that Lucas's condition was so serious, because he did not have any risk factors.
Most children affected by Covid have comorbidities - existing conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease - or are overweight, according to Lohanna Tavares, a paediatric infectologist at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in Fortaleza, the state capital.
But that wasn't the case with Lucas.
During the 33 days Lucas was in the ICU, Jessika was only allowed to see him three times. Lucas needed immunoglobulin - a very expensive medication - to deflate his heart, but luckily an adult patient who had bought his own had donated one leftover ampoule to the hospital. Lucas was so ill that he went on to receive a second dose of immunoglobulin. He developed a rash on his body and was running a persistent fever. He needed support to breathe.
Then Lucas began to improve and the doctors decided to take out his oxygen tube. They video-called Jessika and Israel so that he wouldn't feel alone as he regained consciousness.
"When he heard our voices he started to cry," says Jessika.
It was the last time they were to see their boy react. During the next video call "he had a paralysed look". The hospital requested a CT scan and discovered Lucas had had a stroke.
Still, the couple were told Lucas would make a good recovery with the right care and would soon be moved out of ICU and into a general ward.
When Jessika and Israel went to visit him, the doctor was just as hopeful as they were, she says.
"That night, I put my cell phone on silent. I dreamed Lucas came up to me and kissed my nose. And the dream was a great feeling of love, gratitude and I woke up very happy. Then I saw my cell phone and saw the 10 calls that the doctor had made."
The doctor told Jessika that Lucas's heart rate and oxygen levels had dropped suddenly, and he had died early that morning.
She feels sure that if Lucas had been given a Covid test when she had requested it back in early May he would have survived.
"It is important that doctors, even if they believe it is not Covid, do the test to eliminate the possibility," she says.
"A baby does not say what he is feeling, so we depend on tests."
Jessika believes that the delay in proper treatment made his condition more serious. "Lucas had several inflammations, 70% of the lung was compromised, the heart increased by 40%. It was a situation that could have been avoided."
Dr Monte, who treated Lucas, agrees. She says that although MIS cannot be prevented, treatment is much more successful if the condition is diagnosed and treated early.
"The earlier he would have received specialised care, the better," she says. "He arrived at the hospital already critically ill. I believe he could have had a different outcome if we could have treated him earlier."
Jessika now wants to share Lucas's story to help others who may miss critical symptoms.
"Every child I know was saved by some warning and the mother says: 'I saw your posts, I took my son to the hospital and he is now at home.' It's as if it were a little bit of Lucas," she says.
"I have been doing for these people what I wish they had done for me. If I had had information, I would have been even more cautious."
There is a misconception that children are at zero risk for Covid, says Dr Fatima Marinho, who is also a senior adviser to the international health NGO Vital Strategies. Marinho's research has found that a shockingly high number of children and babies have been affected by the virus.
Between February 2020 and 15 March 2021, Covid-19 killed at least 852 of Brazil's children up to the age of nine, including 518 babies under one year old, according to figures from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. But Dr Marinho estimates that more than twice this number of children died of Covid. A serious problem of underreporting due to lack of Covid testing is bringing the numbers down, she says.
Dr Marinho calculated the excess of deaths by unspecified acute respiratory syndrome during the pandemic, and found that there were 10 times more deaths by unexplained respiratory syndrome than in previous years. By adding these numbers, she estimates that the virus in fact killed 2,060 children under nine years old, including 1,302 babies.
Why is this happening?
Experts say the sheer number of Covid cases in the country - the second-highest number in the world - have increased the likelihood that Brazil's babies and young children are affected.
"Of course, the more cases we have and, as a result, the more hospitalisations, the greater the number of deaths in all age groups, including children. But if the pandemic were controlled, this scenario could evidently be minimised," says Renato Kfouri, president of the Scientific Department of Immunisations of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics.
Such a high infection rate has overwhelmed Brazil's entire health care system. Across the country, oxygen supplies are dwindling, there is a shortage of basic medicines and in many ICUs across the country there are simply no more beds.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to oppose lockdowns and the infection rate is being driven by a variant called P.1 which emerged in Manaus, in northern Brazil, last year, and is thought to be much more contagious. Twice the number of people died last month than in any other month of the pandemic, and the upward trend is continuing.
Another problem driving the high rates in children is a lack of testing.
Marinho says that for children often the Covid diagnosis comes too late, when they are already seriously ill. "We have a serious problem detecting cases. We don't have enough tests for the general population, even fewer for children. Because there is a delay in the diagnosis, there is a delay in care for the child," she says.
This is not just because there is little testing capacity, but also because it is easier to miss, or misdiagnose, the symptoms of children suffering from Covid-19, as the disease tends to present differently in younger people.
"A child has a lot more diarrhoea, a lot more abdominal pain, and chest pain, than the classic Covid picture. Because there is a delay in diagnosis, when the child arrives at the hospital they are in a serious condition and can end up complicating - and dying," she says.
But it's also about poverty and access to health care.
An observational study of 5,857 Covid-19 patients under the age of 20, carried out by Brazilian paediatricians led by Braian Sousa from the São Paolo school of medicine, identified both comorbidities and socioeconomic vulnerabilities as risk factors for the worst outcome of Covid-19 in children.
Marinho agrees this is an important factor. "Most vulnerable are black children, and those from very poor families, as they have the most difficulty accessing help. These are the children most at risk of death." She says this is because crowded housing conditions make it impossible to socially distance when infected, and because poorer communities do not have access to a local ICU.
These children are also at risk of malnutrition, which is "terrible for the immune response", Marinho says. When Covid payments stopped, millions were plunged back into poverty. "We went from 7 million to 21 million people below the poverty line in one year. So people are also going hungry. All of this is impacting mortality."
Sousa says his study identifies certain risk groups among children that should be prioritised for vaccination. Currently, there are no vaccines available for children under 16 years of age.
Visits by relatives to children in ICU have been restricted since the beginning of the pandemic, for fear of infection.
Dr Cinara Carneiro, an ICU doctor at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital, says this has been immensely challenging, not just because parents are a comfort to their children, but because they can also help in a clinical sense - they can tell when their child is in pain or in psychological distress and when they need soothing rather than medicating.
And she says the parents' absence intensifies their own trauma when they hear their child's condition has deteriorated and they haven't been there to witness it.
"It hurts to see a child dying without seeing their parents," says Dr Carneiro.
In an attempt to improve the communication between parents and their children, staff at Albert Sabin hospital clubbed together to buy phones and tablets to facilitate video calls.
Dr Carneiro says this has helped immensely. "We have made over 100 video calls between family members and patients. This contact has greatly reduced the stress."
Scientists stress the risk of death in this age group is still "very low" - the current figures suggest only 0.58% of Brazil's 345,287 Covid deaths to date have been of 0-9 year olds - but that is more than 2,000 children.
"The numbers are really scary," says Dr Carneiro.
When to seek help
While coronavirus is infectious to children, it is rarely serious. If your child is unwell it is likely to be a non-coronavirus illness, rather than coronavirus itself.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health advises parents seek urgent help if their child is:
Becoming pale, mottled and feeling abnormally cold to the touch
Has pauses in their breathing (apnoeas), has an irregular breathing pattern or starts grunting
Has severe difficulty in breathing, becoming agitated or unresponsive
Is going blue round the lips
Has a fit/seizure
Becomes extremely distressed (crying inconsolably despite distraction), confused, very lethargic (difficult to wake) or unresponsive
Develops a rash that does not disappear with pressure (the 'Glass test')
Has testicular pain, especially in teenage boys
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports highest ever single-day deaths with 96
Bangladesh reported 96 deaths during a 24-hour period until Wednesday morning, shattering all of its previous single-day death counts.
The latest fatalities pushed up the local tally to 9,987 since the first death was reported on March 18 last year, a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said. The mortality rate stood at 1.42 percent.
However, the number of daily cases fell to 5,185 from Tuesday’s 6,028. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8. Since then, 703,170 cases have been confirmed.
The country has conducted 5,095,613 covid tests, including 24,825 new ones, since the beginning of the outbreak.
Also read: Fresh lockdown in Bangladesh: Experts skeptical about having any great result
The daily infection rate stood at 20.89 percent.
So far, the health authorities reported 591,299 recoveries (84.09 percent), including 5,333 in the last 24 hours.
Daily cases fall, body count rises
Bangladesh saw a spike in the number of daily cases in recent days that was followed by record single-day death counts.
On Wednesday, the country registered its highest number of deaths from the virus for the fourth time in five days. The figure was 69 on Tuesday, 83 on Monday, 78 on Sunday and 77 on Saturday.
Coronavirus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Hospitals overflowing
The steady rise in new cases put severe pressure on the health system which is struggling to accommodate so many patients.
Of the 96 deaths reported, 94 had died at hospitals and two at home.
Hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in Dhaka and elsewhere are running out of general and ICU beds.
Hospitals in Dhaka metropolitan area have 4,286 general beds and 59 ICU beds. Of them, only 526 general and 12 ICU beds are available, according to DGHS data.
Also read: Bangladesh put under complete lockdown amid Covid spike
Overall, there are 10,614 general beds for treating coronavirus patients in the country and more than half of them (5,688) are occupied.
There are 792 ICU beds in total but only 137 are available at the moment.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her new year address, said the ICU facilities are being increased and the areas of coronavirus patient treatment are being expanded.
She said steps have been taken for uninterrupted oxygen supply in public specialised hospitals.
Emphasis on health guidelines
People’s apathy towards health rules has been blamed as one of the main reasons for the sudden rise in coronavirus cases. The infection rate had fallen below 5 percent earlier this year.
Repeated requests of the health experts and the government fell on deaf ears. The people carried on as usual, hardly sticking to basic health rules as they continued to throng shopping malls, places of entertainment and other public gatherings.
Sheikh Hasina urged everyone to be careful and ensure protection for themselves, their family members and neighbours.
“Gatherings have to be avoided and everyone should wear a mask when going outside,” she said. “If everyone follows health guidelines, it’ll be possible to keep the pandemic under control, Inshallah.”
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 69 more die, 6,028 infected
The number of Covid-19 deaths in Bangladesh fell slightly in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, after registering a record breaking single-day death count for the past two days.
The country saw 83 Covid-related deaths on Monday and 78 on Sunday.
Now the fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 9,891 with the new deaths but the mortality rate remained static at 1.42 percent for the fourth consecutive day, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
The deadly virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March. On March 18 last year, Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus death, sparking alarm across the country.
During the 24-hour reporting period, 6,028 new cases were recorded in Bangladesh, pushing up the caseload to 697,985.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh shatters single-day death count record again
The infection rate, however, slipped to 18.29 percent from Monday’s 20.59 percent.
As of now, 5,070,788 samples, including 32,955 in the last 24 hours, have been tested.
Bangladesh has been seeing a record number of infections with daily case count surpassing 7,000-mark earlier this month before falling significantly on April 10 and April 11.
Covid-19: Bangladesh shatters single-day death count record again
Bangladesh is seeing an increase in coronavirus fatalities, breaking its single-day death count record for the third time in as many days on Monday.
The health authorities confirmed 83 deaths in the afternoon, surpassing Sunday’s figure of 78. The number was 77 on Saturday.
Also read:Shots in little arms: COVID-19 vaccine testing turns to kids
Fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 9,822 as the mortality rate remained static at 1.42 percent for the fourth consecutive day, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
Bangladesh announced its first coronavirus death on March 18 last year. The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Between 8am Sunday and 8am Monday, 7,201 new cases were recorded, pushing up the caseload 691,957.
The infection rate jumped to 20.59 percent from 19.81 percent of Sunday’s. So far, 5,037,833 samples, including 34,968 in the last 24 hours, have been tested.
Bangladesh has been seeing record number of infections with daily case count surpassing 7,000-mark earlier this month before falling significantly on April 10 and April 11.
Also read:Are some Covid-19 vaccines more effective than others?
Meanwhile, 581,113 patients have recovered so far, including 4,523 in the last 24-hour period, the DGHS said.
No region in the world spared as virus cases, deaths surge
Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up fast. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel to contain a surge in coronavirus infections. Even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations, is now struggling to contain a new COVID-19 spike.
The only exceptions to the deteriorating worldwide situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, mostly notably Israel and Britain. Even the U.S., which is a vaccination leader globally, is seeing a small uptick in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal help to Michigan to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation transmission rate.
The World Health Organization said Friday that it’s concerned about infection rates that are rising in every global region, driven by new virus variants and too many nations coming out of lockdown too soon.
“We’ve seen rises (in cases) worldwide for six weeks. And now, sadly, we are seeing rises in deaths for the last three weeks,” Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman, said at a briefing in Geneva.
In its latest weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said over 4 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the last week. New deaths increased by 11% compared to last week, with over 71,000 reported.
Also read: Countries worldwide hit new records for virus cases, deaths
The increasing infections, hospitalizations and deaths extend to countries where vaccinations are finally gaining momentum. That leaves even bleaker prospects for much of the world, where large-scale vaccination programs remain a more distant prospect.
In Turkey, which is among the badly hit countries, most new cases of the virus can be traced to a variant first found in Britain.
Ismail Cinel, head of the Turkish Intensive Care Association, said the surge was beginning to strain the nation’s relatively advanced health care system and “the alarm bells are ringing” for intensive care units, which are not yet at full capacity.
“The mutant form of the virus is causing more harm to the organs,” Cinel said. “While 2 out of 10 patients were dying previously, the number is now 4 out of 10. And if we continue this way, we will lose six.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eased COVID-19 restrictions in early March to minimize pain to his nation’s ailing economy. The new spike forced him to announce renewed restrictions, such as weekend lockdowns and the closure of cafes and restaurants during Ramadan, which starts April 13.
Also read: Global Covid cases top 132 million
Turkish medical groups say the reopening in March was premature and that the new measures do not go far enough. They have been calling for full lockdowns during the holy Muslim month.
In the U.S. capital, President Joe Biden’s administration outlined how the federal government planned to help Michigan better administer the doses already allocated to the state, as well as expand testing capacity and the availability of drugs. The effort will not include any extra vaccine doses, a move Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sought.
Doses are currently allocated to states proportionally by population. Whitmer has called for extra doses to be shifted to states like hers experiencing a sharp rise in cases.
The death toll in Iran is also rising, prompting new restrictions that will take effect for 10 days in 257 cities beginning Saturday. They involve the closure of all parks, restaurants, confectionaries, beauty salons, malls and bookstores.
Authorities in Pakistan, which is in the middle of a third surge of infections, are restricting inter-city transportation on weekends starting at midnight Friday as part of measures aimed at limiting coronavirus cases and deaths.
Also read: COVAX reaches over 100 economies, 42 days after first international delivery
Elsewhere in Asia, authorities in Thailand on Friday ordered new restrictions in an effort to contain a growing coronavirus outbreak just days before the country’s traditional Songkran New Year’s holiday, when millions of people travel.
Japan, meanwhile, announced tougher measures ahead of the Summer Olympics.
In Germany, Poland and other countries in the 27-member European Union, vaccination programs are finally ramping up after a slow start in the first three months of the year due to delivery shortages.
Thousands of German medical practices joined the vaccination campaign this week. That helped Germany reach its second consecutive daily record on Thursday of almost 720,000 doses administered — meaning that 14.7% of the population has now received at least one dose and 5.8% have received both shots.
Yet German health officials are warning of a steep rise in intensive care patients and are calling for stronger action to contain infections.
Also read: Governments give varying advice on AstraZeneca vaccine
Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany’s disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said nearly 4,500 COVID-19 patients are receiving intensive care, with the number increasing by 700 over the past week — a 20% rise.
Neighboring Poland is also seeing a dramatic spike in deaths, and hospitals have been forced to turn away cancer and other patients as ICU and other hospital beds are taken by COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations of virus patients there have jumped 20% in the past two weeks.
Harris, from the WHO, said the world knows how to fight these surges. She cited good news from the U.K., where new coronavirus cases dropped 60% in March amid a strong vaccination program, “but we have to do it all.”
“We have to keep on social distancing. We have to avoid indoor crowded settings. We have to keep wearing the masks, even if vaccinated,” she said. “People are misunderstanding, seeming to think that vaccination will stop transmission. That is not the case. We need to bring down the transmission while giving the vaccination the chance to stop the severe disease.”
Are some Covid-19 vaccines more effective than others?
Do some Covid-19 vaccines work more effectively than others?
It’s hard to tell since they weren’t directly compared in studies. But experts say the vaccines are alike on what matters most: preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
“Luckily, all these vaccines look like they’re protecting us from severe disease,” said Dr Monica Gandhi of the University of California, San Francisco, citing study results for five vaccines used around the world and a sixth that’s still in review.
Also read: Countries worldwide hit new records for virus cases, deaths
And real-world evidence as millions of people receive the vaccines show they’re all working very well.
Still, people might wonder if one is better than another since studies conducted before the vaccines were rolled out found varying levels of effectiveness. The problem is they don’t offer apples-to-apples comparisons.
Consider the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, found to be about 95% effective at preventing illness. Studies for those shots counted a Covid-19 case whether it was mild, moderate or severe — and were conducted before worrisome mutated versions of the virus began circulating.
Also read: Governments give varying advice on AstraZeneca vaccine
Then Johnson & Johnson tested a single-dose vaccine and didn’t count mild illnesses. J&J’s shot was 66% protective against moderate to severe illness in a large international study. In just the U.S., where there’s less spread of variants, it was 72% effective. More importantly, once the vaccine’s effect kicked in it prevented hospitalization and death.
AstraZeneca’s two-dose vaccine used in many countries has faced questions about the exact degree of its effectiveness indicated by studies. But experts agree those shots, too, protect against the worst outcomes.
Also read: COVAX reaches over 100 economies, 42 days after first international delivery
Around the world, hospitalizations are dropping in countries where vaccines have been rolling out including Israel, England and Scotland — regardless of which shots are given. And the US government’s first look at real-world data among essential workers provided further evidence that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are highly protective -- 90% -- against infections whether there were symptoms or not.