8th Mar 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=615 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

Reuters on MSN.com Indonesias resort island of Bali on Monday welcomed its first foreign tourists under relaxed coronavirus rules that no longer require arrivals to quarantine part of a broader easing of curbs in the Southeast Asian country after infections declined. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bali-welcomes-first-foreign-tourists-after-covid-quarantine-rule-lifted/ar-AAUJ13J 8th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Floridas top health official said on Monday the state would recommend against the COVID19 vaccine for healthy children breaking with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In announcing the move during press briefing convened by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis the states surgeon general Dr. Joseph Lapado cited studies that showed few COVID fatalities among healthy children and elevated risk among young boys receiving the vaccine of side effects such as myocarditis. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-breaks-with-cdc-recommends-no-covid-vaccine-healthy-children-2022-03-07/ 8th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Wall Street Journal Moderna Inc. said it will never use its Covid19 vaccinerelated patents to stop others from manufacturing its vaccine in more than 90 low and middleincome countries but signaled it was prepared to begin enforcing patents in wealthier countries. The drugmaker said Monday it now expects anyone in higherincome countries that want to use its patented technologies to respect the companys intellectual property. It also said it is willing to license its patents to others in those countries on commercially reasonable terms. Such terms usually involve royalties on the sales of products using the licensed technology. The new stance opens up the possibility of Moderna filing patentinfringement suits against companies in wealthier countries that dont reach agreements on using Modernas technology though it didnt say when it might begin seeking to enforce its patents. https://www.wsj.com/articles/moderna-signals-it-may-enforce-covid-19-vaccine-patents-in-wealthy-nations-11646699609 8th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Moderna Inc. plans to start human trials for vaccines against 15 threatening viruses and other pathogens by 2025 part of a strategy to develop shots that could be made quickly in response to a future pandemic. The effort will include prototype vaccines against the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome a cousin of Covid19 the Ebola and Marburg viruses a tickborne virus that causes CrimeanCongo hemorrhagic fever and mosquitoborne viruses such as chikungunya and dengue fever according to a company statement Tuesday. Moderna has come under criticism from vaccine advocates who say the company has been slow to ship doses of its Covid vaccine to poor countries and that patents it is pursuing in South Africa threaten access to shots. The company is rowing back announcing an agreement Monday to open a vaccine plant in Kenya that will make as many as 500 million doses annually although it didnt specify which vaccines might be produced there. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/moderna-readying-for-next-pandemic-with-human-tests-of-15-shots 8th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg When Covid19 flared in the northern Chinese border region of Ejin late last year it revealed a key impediment to the country charting an exit from its zerotolerance pandemic strategy. The healthcare system is so unprepared that any major shift away from Covid Zero which in China has meant frequent mass testing swift quarantines lockdowns and sealed international borders risks a public health crisis. In Ejin home to about 30000 in the Chinese province that borders Mongolia several dozen infections in midOctober quickly overwhelmed the two local hospitals. Authorities had to transfer more than 140 patients by train to the provincial capital of Hohhot over 1000 kilometers 621 miles away according to local media. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-07/hard-for-china-to-exit-covid-zero-with-unprepared-hospitals 8th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Even a mild case of Covid19 can damage the brain and addle thinking scientists found in a study that highlights the illnesss alarming impact on mental function. Researchers identified Covidassociated brain damage months after infection including in the region linked to smell and shrinkage in size equivalent to as much as a decade of normal aging. The changes were linked to cognitive decline in the study which was published Monday in the journal Nature. The findings represent striking evidence of the viruss impact on the central nervous system. More research will be required to understand whether the evidence from the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging at the University of Oxford means Covid19 will exacerbate the global burden of dementia which cost an estimated 1.3 trillion in the year the pandemic began and other neurodegenerative conditions. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-07/brain-shrinkage-cognitive-decline-found-months-after-mild-covid 8th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Hong Kong is considering prioritizing reducing Covid19 deaths over a compulsory citywide test as authorities struggle to contain its worst wave of virus cases in the pandemic a local newspaper reported. The U.S. raised its Covid travel advisory for the city by one step to Level 4 or Very High. China reported 505 local covid cases for March 7 down slightly from 526 cases the previous day its biggest oneday tally of coronavirus infections since the Wuhan outbreak at the start of the pandemic. More than 6 million people worldwide have died from Covid19 two years after the novel pathogen started spreading globally. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/u-s-raises-travel-alert-for-hk-as-deaths-hit-high-virus-update 8th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

iNews Ireland has dropped all Covid entry restrictions on arrivals regardless of vaccination status. The relaxation of border rules came into force on Sunday 6 March and includes the end of Passenger Locator Forms. Travellers are no longer required to show proof of vaccination recovery or a negative Covid test on arrival. https://inews.co.uk/news/ireland-entry-requirements-all-covid-restrictions-scrapped-for-arrivals-regardless-vaccination-status-1501714 7th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Yahoo News A new Gallup poll shows that concerns about the pandemic have fallen with just over a third of respondents saying they are now worried about contracting COVID19. Americans questioned in the survey released Monday are more optimistic about the state of the pandemic than they have been since June before the pandemics delta and omicron variants contributed to a significant uptick in infections according to the survey giant. For example just 34 percent of people said they are worried about contracting COVID19 compared to 50 percent in January. https://news.yahoo.com/americans-significantly-less-worried-contracting-144815476.html 7th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

ABC News Belgium began easing most COVID19 restrictions Monday in the biggest move to relax measures since the onset of the crisis some two years ago. Gone are the coronavirus passport that allows entry into bars restaurants theater and cinemas as well as capacity limits. The government announced last week that the nation of 11 million will go from code orange the secondtoughest for virus measures to code yellow as of Monday. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/belgium-scraps-covid-19-measures-crisis-eases-83294567 7th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Indonesias resort island of Bali on Monday welcomed its first foreign tourists under relaxed coronavirus rules that no longer require arrivals to quarantine part of a broader easing of curbs in the Southeast Asian country after infections declined. Known for its surfing temples waterfalls and nightlife Bali drew 6.2 million foreign visitors in 2019 the year before COVID19 struck. But only a trickle of visitors have returned since Bali started opening up to foreign tourists last October discouraged by the need to quarantine and other rules. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bali-welcomes-first-foreign-tourists-after-covid-quarantine-rule-lifted-2022-03-07/ 7th Mar 2022

Lockdown Exit

STAT News A new report released Monday charts a path for the transition out of the Covid19 pandemic one that outlines both how the country can deal with the challenge of endemic Covid disease and how to prepare for future biosecurity threats. The report plots a course to what its authors call the next normal living with the SARSCoV2 virus as a continuing threat that needs to be managed. Doing so will require improvements on a number of fronts from better surveillance for Covid and other pathogens to keeping tabs on how taxed hospitals are and from efforts to address the air quality in buildings to continued investment in antiviral drugs and better vaccines. The authors also call for offering people sick with respiratory symptoms easy access to testing and if they are positive for Covid or influenza a quick prescription for the relevant antiviral drug. https://www.statnews.com/2022/03/07/experts-sketch-roadmap-to-get-from-covid-pandemic-to-next-normal/ 7th Mar 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC on Monday urged Americans to avoid travel to Hong Kong New Zealand and Thailand over COVID19 cases. The CDC elevated its travel recommendation to Level Four Very High for the three destinations. In total the CDC urges Americans to avoid travel to about 135 countries and territories. The CDC lists another 33 destinations as Level 3 High and recommends unvaccinated Americans avoid travel. It lowered six destinations on Monday to Level 3 Anguilla Cape Verde Fiji Mexico Philippines and United Arab Emirates. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-cdc-urges-americans-avoid-travel-hong-kong-new-zealand-2022-03-07/ 8th Mar 2022

Exit Strategies

The Scotsman The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation JCVI describes the Spring booster as a precautionary measure and has already hinted at plans for another round in Autumn 2022. It will remain to be seen what effect this has on vaccine uptake. There may be none given the only groups currently invited are most at risk either through age or immunity. But these are the same invited each year for the flu vaccine which has a lower uptake. https://www.scotsman.com/health/covid-scotland-spring-booster-marks-new-era-in-vaccine-programme-3598831 7th Mar 2022

Exit Strategies

RNZ In New Zealand more than 1500 people who received a Pfizer Covid19 vaccine in Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago may not be fully protected after the doses were stored at an incorrect temperature. The issue mainly affected booster shots but some were of first and second doses of the vaccine. SDHB medical officer of health Susan Jack said There is no risk of harm to individuals that have received a vaccine stored at an incorrect temperature. However in these circumstances the vaccine is not considered to be potent nor to produce a reliable level of immunity. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/462870/covid-19-vaccine-more-than-1500-people-affected-by-incorrect-storage 7th Mar 2022

Exit Strategies

CTV News Following the emergence of the Omicron COVID19 variant several pharmaceutical companies have announced that they will be manufacturing COVID19 vaccines that specifically target the latest variant of concern. In January Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced that studies were being done to compare its original COVID19 vaccine with doses designed to match Omicron. At the beginning of the year Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the redesigned vaccine could be ready to launch as soon as March. Moderna made a similar announcement revealing that the company has begun testing its own Omicronspecific vaccine and that clinical data should be available by March as well. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/experts-advise-against-waiting-for-omicron-specific-vaccines-1.5804356 7th Mar 2022

Partisan Exits

The Independent A large group of truck drivers and their supporters who object to COVID19 mandates began their mobile protest in the Washington D.C. area Sunday embarking on a drive designed to snarl traffic and make their objections known to lawmakers. The Peoples Convoy follows similar demonstrations by truckers in Canada upset at vaccine requirements to cross the Canadian border. The Washington Post reported that convoy organizer Brian Brase intends for protesters to travel on the beltway every day during the upcoming week until its demands are met. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/covid-protesters-canada-travelers-virginia-b2029774.html 7th Mar 2022

Partisan Exits

Sky News In England a senior epidemiologist who advised the government during the coronavirus pandemic claims he was told to correct his views after he criticised what he thought was an implausible graph shown at an official briefing. Professor Mark Woolhouse has also apologised to his daughter whose generation has been so badly served by mine and believes that closing schools was morally wrong. The Edinburgh University academic is deeply critical of the use of lockdown measures and says plain common sense was a casualty of the crisis. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-expert-claims-he-was-told-to-correct-his-views-after-criticising-implausible-graph-shown-during-official-briefing-12555800 7th Mar 2022

Partisan Exits

Reuters Russia is resuming a support programme for critically important firms hoping to protect companies from the effects of international sanctions by reviving measures first introduced in 2020 to shield them from the fallout of the COVID19 pandemic. https://www.reuters.com/business/russia-revives-covid-support-programme-help-firms-hit-by-ukraine-sanctions-2022-03-07/ 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Omicron infections are contagious for at least 6 days Patients infected with the Omicron variant of SARSCoV2 remain contagious for just as long as patients infected with earlier variants according to a small study. Researchers took blood samples from 56 newlydiagnosed patients including 37 with Delta infections and 19 with Omicron infections. All were mildly ill such as with flulike symptoms but none were hospitalized. Regardless of which variant or whether or not they had been vaccinated or boosted study participants shed live virus for on average about 6 days after symptoms began and... about one in four people shed live virus for over 8 days said Dr. Amy Barczak of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who coauthored a report posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-infections-contagious-least-6-days-takeda-drug-shows-promise-covid-2022-03-07/ 8th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

BBC News Catching Covid may cause changes to the brain a study suggests. Scientists found significant differences in MRI magnetic resonance imaging scans before and after infection. Even after a mild infection the overall size of the brain had shrunk slightly with less grey matter in the parts related to smell and memory. The researchers do not know whether the changes are permanent but stressed the brain could heal. The study is published in the journal Nature. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60591487 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CBS News At the New York labs of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla showed correspondent Alina Cho where scientists are working on the next generation of COVID vaccines testing vaccinated and unvaccinated cell samples against new variants. These are the same labs where they helped pioneer the original vaccine. Think back to two years ago as COVID19 spread across the world when the normal timeline for the development of a vaccine was eight to ten years. You went to your team and you said Get one in eight months said Cho. Did you honestly believe you could get it done I felt that we dont have option to fail Bourla replied. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-behind-scenes/ 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Conversation The Omicron variant of the SARSCoV2 virus was discovered in South Africa and emerged in November 2021. Scientists have already learned a lot about Omicron. One of the key questions that remains is how well our immune systems deal with infection by this variant. This is important for two reasons. Firstly Omicron is highly infectious and has swept across the world. Thus many people have been exposed to Omicron and we need to define how well such people are protected from future reinfections by emerging variants. Secondly several vaccine manufacturers have started to incorporate Omicron into their vaccines. https://theconversation.com/omicron-doesnt-need-its-own-custom-covid-vaccine-heres-why-178099 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CNBC Moderna plans to invest 500 million to produce messenger RNA the technology underlying its Covid vaccines at the facility in Kenya. It could fill Covid vaccine doses at the Kenya facility as early as 2023 subject to demand according to the company. Moderna has faced criticism from groups such as Oxfam International and Doctors Without Borders for not sharing its vaccine technology with middle and lower income countries. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/07/moderna-reaches-preliminary-agreement-to-build-covid-vaccine-manufacturing-plant-in-africa.html 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Guardian Im one of the fortunate people who is yet to test positive for Covid. This is despite the fact that I work with live replicating SarsCoV2 the virus that causes Covid for my research teach facetoface at university and have schoolage children. My fully vaccinated healthy friends of the same age were not so lucky and some have suffered from more than one case of Covid in the past couple of years. What does this reveal about my immune system First we have to consider a number of scenarios. There is a very small chance that I have never come into contact with the virus. But given the duration of the pandemic and the number of highly transmissible variants this is unlikely. Then there is the chance that I have come into contact with SarsCoV2 but it was cleared from my body quickly before it developed into the disease Covid abortive infection. At the start of the pandemic and before I was vaccinated I could have caught the virus but I could have been one of the small number of people who did not display symptoms and therefore did not test for it. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/07/never-caught-covid-immune-systems-vaccines 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

News-Medical.Net Are the cardiac complications associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 COVID19 vaccines worse than the disease itself In order to answer this question it is necessary to understand their true incidence and association with the vaccine. A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv provides valuable evidence towards this end using surveillance data to provide the best estimates of these outcomes. The onset of COVID19 caused by infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 SARSCoV2 led to a worldwide outbreak of infections sickness and death. The emergence and rapid transmission of SARSCoV2 prompted the development of vaccines to potentially create herd immunity and limit the spread of SARSCoV2. However doubts raised by the unprecedented speed of vaccine approval the novel platforms used for their development and the rapid spread of conspiracy theories accompanied by a severe shortfall of vaccine supplies to developing areas of the world hindered the expected speed of vaccine coverage. During this lag period attention shifted to the potential adverse effects associated with COVID19 vaccines. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220306/Myocarditis-and-pericarditis-in-COVID-19-vaccine-recipients.aspx 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Medical Xpress The wide inequalities in COVID19 vaccine uptake between people from ethnic minority groups and White British people are far greater than for the prepandemic flu jab a study by University of Manchester health researchers has found. The findings published in PLOS Medicine overturns the prevailing view that ethnic inequalities in COVID19 vaccine uptake simply follow previous trends in peoples willingness to take up vaccination. Instead the researchers suggest the COVID19 vaccination program has created additional and different inequalities beyond preexisting inequalities in vaccine uptake. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-covid-vaccine-rollout-worsened-health.html 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

EurekAlert! A consortium of six sites in the Boston area led by Mass General Brighams Brigham and Womens Hospital will together recruit participants as part of a nationwide study of the longterm effects and prolonged symptoms of COVID19. Together the sites will recruit 909 participants over the next year to be part of the greater Boston COVID Recovery Cohort BCRC. Participants will be followed for the next three years. As part of the National Institutes of Health Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery RECOVER Initiative the cohort will help researchers to better understand and define the constellation of longterm complications that can occur after infection and lay the groundwork for preventing and treating symptoms. The six Boston area sites include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Boston Medical Center Cambridge Health Alliance Tufts Medical Center and Mass General Brigham founding hospitals Brigham and Womens Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/945272 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

News Medical The findings of the study demonstrated the higher occurrence of more severe cases during the predominance of the Alpha variant as compared to the Delta wave after adjusting the regression model for effects like age and status of vaccination. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220307/Severity-of-COVID-19-cases-in-the-months-of-Alpha-variant-predominance-compared-to-the-Delta-variant.aspx 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Technology Networks The OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine is also effective in reducing symptomatic COVID19 in a socially vulnerable community where viral transmission is high and access to healthcare might be limited. This is the conclusion of a study performed in a group of favelas in Brazil and coled by ISGlobal a centre supported by the la Caixa Foundation and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil Fiocruz. A large number of people in low and middleincome countries live in densely populated slums or favelas often with limited resources to respond to the stress caused by a pandemic such as COVID19. We know that socially vulnerable populations have been disproportionately affected by the COVID19 pandemic they are more exposed to the virus and are more likely to die if they get sick says ISGlobal researcher Otavio Ranzani but studies estimating vaccine effectiveness in these populations are lacking he adds. Moreover few studies have assessed vaccine effectiveness against the Gamma variant which circulated mainly in Brazil and Latin America and is able to partially escape recognition by vaccineinduced antibodies. https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/oxford-covid-19-vaccine-effective-in-protecting-socially-vulnerable-populations-359285 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Nature There is evidence to suggest that host genomic factors may account for disease response variability in COVID19 infection. In this paper we consider if and how host genomics should influence decisions about vaccine allocation. Three potential host genetic factors are explored vulnerability to infection resistance to infection and increased infectivity. We argue for the prioritisation of the genetically vulnerable in vaccination schemes and evaluate the potential for ethical deprioritisation of individuals with genetic markers for resistance. Lastly we discuss ethical prioritisation of individuals with genetic markers for increased infectivity those more likely to spread COVID19. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41431-022-01058-1 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Pharmaceutical Technology Serum Institute of India SII has received an emergency use authorisation EUA grant recommendation from the Subject Expert Committee SEC of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation CDSCO for its Covid19 vaccine Covovax for people aged 12 to 17 years. The recommendation comes after the panel held a meeting for Covid19 associated proposals ANI reported. The vaccine is produced by the transfer of technology from Novavax. https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/sii-eua-recommendation-vaccine/ 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

FiercePharma Moderna tapped Kenya as the country for its 500 million mRNA vaccine manufacturing push on the African continent. The drugmaker said it inked a memorandum of understanding with Kenyan officials to build a stateoftheart mRNA facility which was first announced in October 2021. The site will focus on producing up to 500 million vaccine doses a year. The company said the plant will benefit all of Africa and in the future could be expanded to include fillfinish and packaging capabilities at the site. Additionally Moderna said it is working toward getting the plant built and operational to fill doses of its COVID19 vaccines in Africa by 2023 depending on demand for the shots. The exact location and square footage of the proposed manufacturing plant within Kenya werent disclosed. https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/moderna-taps-kenya-site-500m-mrna-manufacturing-facility 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

STAT News There are almost as many questions about long Covid as there are symptoms. From the pandemics early days a significant share of people have been troubled by problems that persist for weeks or even years after their acute infection clears or find theyve developed new issues that range from bothersome to debilitating. These difficulties span the mind and the body and so far they resist explanation. Current treatments focus on easing brain fog bonewearying fatigue shortness of breath muscle pain loss of smell anxiety and depression and sleep problems but two burning questions remain unanswered Who gets long Covid and how can it be prevented https://www.statnews.com/2022/03/07/long-covid-studies-continue-researchers-cast-wider-net/ 7th Mar 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP A Minnesota health system that established two COVID19 patientonly hospitals early in the pandemic had lower rates of coronavirusrelated death than hospitals with mixed patient cohorts according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. University of Minnesota at Minneapolis researchers studied the outcomes of 5504 adult COVID19 patients treated at M Health Fairview from Mar 1 2020 to Jun 30 2021 from 11 hospitals including 2 reserved for the treatment of COVID19 patients. Median patient age in the entire cohort was 62.5 years and 51.9 were women. Of the 5504 patients 2077 37.7 were treated at one of the two dedicated hospitals in St. Paul and 3427 62.3 were cared for at the other hospitals. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/03/covid-only-minnesota-hospitals-had-lower-death-rates 4th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Business Standard Mumbai on Monday recorded 38 COVID19 cases which took the tally to 1056956 while the death toll remained unchanged at 16692 a civic official said. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/pandemic-on-the-wane-mumbai-sees-just-38-covid-19-cases-no-death-122030701241_1.html 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Star The Philippines Department of Health DOH reported a total of 6297 new Covid19 infections and 615 deaths from March 1 to 7 according to its first weekly bulletin released on Monday. The daily case average was 899 30 percent lower than the cases reported in the previous week in February. The DOH will release the weekly bulletin every Monday instead of reporting daily cases. The new format does not include the total number of cases. On Sunday the DOH said 3667542 confirmed cases had been reported in the SouthEast Asian country. https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/03/07/philippines-logs-6297-new-covid-19-cases-in-a-week-feb-28-march-6 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Channel NewsAsia Singapore reported 13520 new COVID19 cases as of noon on Monday Mar 7 comprising 13371 local infections and 149 imported cases. There were six fatalities taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1084. There are 1477 patients in hospital according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Healths MOH website. A total of 198 patients require oxygen supplementation. Fiftyfour patients are in the intensive care unit compared to 47 on Sunday. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-singapore-new-cases-deaths-hospital-icu-moh-mar-7-2544581 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Xinhua Taiwan reported 29 new COVID19 cases including two locally transmitted infections and 27 imported ones the islands disease monitoring agency said Monday. Taiwan has relaxed several of its COVID19 prevention measures from March 1 given that the local epidemic situation is stable and under control. Starting Monday Taiwan will further shorten the duration of home quarantine for all arrivals from overseas as well as close contacts of confirmed cases from 14 to 10 days. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/20220307/96f786b9164945ddb22bd77af6fc0f93/c.html 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Wall Street Journal China logged its highest daily total of locally transmitted Covid19 infections in more than two years with the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus posing a fresh test to Chinas ability to quickly smother outbreaks. Chinas National Health Commission said Monday that it had detected 526 domestic infection cases 214 of which were symptomatic on the prior day marking the single highest daily tally by either measure since the initial pandemic outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in early 2020. Most of those who tested positive on Sunday were in the eastern port cities of Qingdao and Shanghai with others detected in the southern province of Guangdong and the northeastern province of Jilin. https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-covid-19-cases-hit-highest-daily-total-since-2020-wuhan-outbreak-11646654767 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Sky News Six million people have now died of coronavirus since the pandemic began new figures have shown. The global milestone has been recorded by Johns Hopkins University suggesting the pandemic is far from over despite restrictions being eased in the UK following a surge in Omicron cases over the winter period last year. The death rates worldwide are still highest among people who are unvaccinated against the virus said Tikki Pang a visiting professor at the National University of Singapores medical school and cochair of the Asia Pacific Immunisation Coalition. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-death-toll-reaches-grim-milestone-of-six-million-new-figures-from-johns-hopkins-university-show-12559850 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

CBC.ca The official global death toll from COVID19 eclipsed six million on Monday underscoring that the pandemic which officially enters its third year at the end of this week is far from over. The milestone recorded by Johns Hopkins University is the latest tragic reminder of the unrelenting nature of the pandemic even as people are shedding masks travel is resuming and businesses are reopening around the globe. As death rates remain high in Poland Hungary Romania and other eastern European countries the region has seen more than 1.5 million refugees arrive from wartorn Ukraine a country with poor vaccination coverage and high rates of cases and deaths. Meanwhile despite its wealth and vaccine availability the United States will hit one million reported deaths sometime this spring. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/covid-pandemic-6-million-deaths-1.6375281 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Hong Kong reported 25150 new coronavirus infections and 280 deaths on Monday as authorities struggle to contain a worsening COVID19 outbreak which has torn through hundreds of nursing homes and hit many of the citys unvaccinated elderly. While Hong Kong was successful in controlling the virus in 2021 it has recently seen COVID19 infections soar to a total of around 500000. Most of the Chineseruled citys more than 2200 deaths have been in the past two weeks. Health authorities said 161 of the deaths reported on Monday were in the past 24 hours while 119 were older fatalities processed with a delay. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/hong-kong-reports-25150-new-daily-coronavirus-infections-2022-03-07/ 7th Mar 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Mainland China has logged its highest number of daily new local symptomatic COVID19 infections in about two years with the highly transmissible Omicron variant putting pressure on the governments strict policy of curbing each outbreak quickly. China reported 214 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms for Sunday the majority in the provinces of Guangdong Jilin and Shandong. Its the highest daily caseload since early March 2020 when authorities began to count locally found infections and cases arriving from outside the mainland separately. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/china-reports-327-new-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-march-6-vs-329-day-earlier-2022-03-07/ 7th Mar 2022