1st Jul 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=693 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Pfizer Inc said on Thursday it is seeking full U.S. approval for its oral COVID19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid which is currently available under an emergency use authorization EUA. Pfizer said it submitted a New Drug Application for Paxlovid to the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID19 in vaccinated and unvaccinated people at high risk of progression to severe illness. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-asks-formal-us-approval-oral-covid-treatment-paxlovid-2022-06-30/ 1st Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters The latest easing of coronavirus travel rules combined with other encouraging policy signals have began luring some foreign investors back to Chinese stocks raising the chances that the market can sustain its bounce after months of heavy selling. As the SP 500 is about to close its worst first half of any year since 1970 and bonds have taken a thrashing Chinas beatendown equity markets start looking like a shelter from a global storm of runaway inflation interest rate hikes and recession fears. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/easing-covid-19-rules-growth-focus-aid-china-bulls-cautious-return-2022-06-29/ 30th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Bhutan will reopen for international tourists from September for the first time since the pandemic began more than two years ago officials said on Thursday as the tiny Himalayan kingdom looks to revive its economy. Wedged between China and India the country with scenic natural beauty and ancient Buddhist culture took drastic early steps and banned tourism a major source of income in March 2020 when the first COVID19 case was detected there. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bhutan-welcome-tourists-who-can-spend-first-time-since-covid-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters As China loosens its monthslong COVID19 curbs railway travel is expected to see an uptick in passengers just in time for the summer transport season which starts on July 1. By Aug. 31 the number of passenger trips on Chinas railway network is expected to reach 520 million and 10 million on peak days. The national railway is also opening new stations such as the Xiangwan section of the ZhengzhouChongqing highspeed railway the Puzheng section of the Jizheng highspeed railway the Heruo Railway and the Beijing Fengtai Station. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-summer-railway-travel-expected-rebound-covid-curbs-ease-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters More than a thousand visitors streamed in on Thursday as Walt Disney Cos Shanghai Disney Resort theme park opened after a closure of three months with face masks and social distancing the order of the day. The park shut on March 21 as cases rose in the Chinese business hub leading to a twomonthlong citywide lockdown that eased on June 1. Just over a week later the resort began opening some areas with the theme park the last to reopen. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/shanghai-disneyland-theme-park-re-opens-after-three-month-closure-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Chinas factory and service sectors snapped three months of activity decline in June business surveys showed on Thursday as authorities lifted a strict COVID lockdown in Shanghai reviving output and consumer spending. The official manufacturing purchasing managers index PMI rose to 50.2 in June from 49.6 in May the National Bureau of Statistics NBS said. That slightly missed the forecast for 50.5 in a Reuters poll but rose above the 50point mark that separates contraction from growth for the first time since February. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/chinas-june-factory-services-activity-expands-first-time-four-months-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Associated Press Shanghai is moving to allow inperson dining and reopening its Disney Resort theme park as domestically transmitted cases of COVID19 in Chinas largest city remain at zero following a more than twomonth lockdown. Chinese officials hail their hardline zeroCOVID policy for stemming the growth of cases and deaths from the virus despite the enormous cost to the Chinese economy and international supply chains reliant on Chinas manufacturing and shipping abilities that have been thrown askew. China has repeatedly defended the policy and indications are it will maintain zeroCOVID at least through the spring of 2023 when President Xi Jinping is expected to be installed for a third fiveyear term as head of the worlds secondlargest economy and a rising competitor to the United States in the IndoPacific region. In remarks carried by the official Xinhua News Agency Xi on Wednesday said Chinas policies against the virus have protected peoples lives and health to the greatest extent. https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-travel-xi-jinping-shanghai-4907a125ae306a70b0110d5d41ad06f3 30th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended COVID19 vaccine manufacturers change the design of their booster shots beginning this fall to include components tailored to combat the currently dominant Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the coronavirus. If authorized the changes would mark the first major retooling of COVID vaccines but also could slow their rollout as the FDA has recommended a design somewhat different from what the companies had already tested and started producing. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fda-recommends-inclusion-ba4-ba5-subvariants-covid-boosters-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg People who are underweight or obese are most at risk of severe Covid but a UK study found that two doses of vaccine still protect both groups well. The researchers who focused on patients at the two extremes of the body mass index scale found that the shots worked slightly better for those at the high end of the measure in a study published in medical journal The Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology on Friday. The scientists used health records of more than 9 million patients from generalist practices in England taking part in the database QResearch. Our findings provide further evidence that Covid19 vaccines save lives for people of all sizes said Carmen Piernas the studys lead author and a lecturer at the University of Oxfords Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/covid-shots-worked-better-for-obese-than-underweight-in-uk-study 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters As China loosens its monthslong COVID19 curbs railway travel is expected to see an uptick in passengers just in time for the summer transport season which starts on July 1. By Aug. 31 the number of passenger trips on Chinas railway network is expected to reach 520 million and 10 million on peak days. The national railway is also opening new stations such as the Xiangwan section of the ZhengzhouChongqing highspeed railway the Puzheng section of the Jizheng highspeed railway the Heruo Railway and the Beijing Fengtai Station. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-summer-railway-travel-expected-rebound-covid-curbs-ease-2022-06-30/ 1st Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

CBC.ca Some Canadian parents say theyve been left behind as they wait on Health Canada to authorize vaccines for children under five years old. Its upsetting to see the whole world moving on and forgetting about all of the littles basically said JaimieLyn Oldfield from Kingston Ont. She said her family has made sacrifices to protect her nearly threeyearold daughter Rosslyn from contracting COVID19. We hardly see her grandparents she said. Everyone else got vaccinated and its really disheartening and upsetting when theyre like OK were going to remove all of these masking mandates. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/covd-19-vaccine-under-5-waiting-1.6504267 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

Business Insider South Africa Covid19 vaccination levels are dropping fast putting South Africas herd immunity target well out of reach. People are reading the end of pandemic restrictions as a signal that vaccination is no longer required say government monitors. On Wednesday less than 6000 people received a first jab. At that rate it will take until just about September 2028 to reach the 67 coverage target. That is not counting getting people to show up for booster shots or the continuing slowdown in the vaccination rate. https://www.businessinsider.co.za/covid-19-vaccination-in-south-africa-is-now-pretty-slow-2022-6 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

Haaretz All members of the health ministrys expert advisory board agreed that the vaccine is safe for children under the age of five though some experts cautioned that only those with underlying health conditions should be vaccinated https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-06-30/ty-article/.premium/israeli-health-officials-greenlight-covid-vaccines-for-young-children/00000181-b432-da42-abdd-b7379f780000 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

Stuff Minister for Covid19 Response Ayesha Verrall has confirmed that the country will stay at the orange traffic light setting. The Government also announced on Thursday that the advice for Covid reinfection has changed with people experiencing symptoms more than 29 days after previous infection advised to isolate and test. The previous window was 90 days. People with symptoms after 29 days who test positive will be required to isolate for seven days Verrall also announced that there would be 50 childsize masks made available for every year 4 to year 7 student from now until the end of the year. This is in addition to a previously announced policy of free flujabs for children aged 312 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129131217/covid19-traffic-light-setting-remains-at-orange-reinfection-rules-changed 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

ABC News The review will look at current vaccine supply deals. Mr Butler says it will also look forward to what Australia will need over the next few years. The government wants the review done in weeks not many months https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-30/federal-government-launches-covid-vaccine-deal-review/101196650 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

CBC News People at high risk of severe disease from COVID19 infection should be offered a booster shot this fall regardless of how many boosters theyve previously received the National Advisory Committee on Immunization NACI said on Wednesday. That group includes everyone age 65 and older NACIs updated guidance said. Everyone else age 12 to 64 may be offered the additional doses in the fall NACI said. NACI said it will provide recommendations on the type of booster to be given when evidence about multivalent vaccines which prime the bodys defences against multiple variants including Omicron and its subvariants becomes available. Manufacturers are working on new COVID19 vaccines including multivalent vaccines and vaccines specifically targeting VOCs variants of concern although their exact characteristics and timing of availability in Canada are not yet known NACI said https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-vaccines-boosters-fall-2022-naci-1.6506360 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE said on Wednesday they signed a 3.2 billion deal with the U.S. government for 105 million doses of their COVID19 vaccine which could be delivered as soon as later this summer. The deal includes supplies of a retooled Omicronadapted vaccine pending regulatory clearance according to Pfizer. Drugmakers have been developing vaccines to target the Omicron variant that became dominant last winter. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-signs-32-bln-deal-with-us-government-covid-vaccine-doses-2022-06-29/ 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

The Associated Press U.S. health officials said Wednesday they have agreed to purchase another 105 million doses of Pfizers COVID19 vaccine in anticipation of a fall booster campaign. The 3.2 billion deal announced by the Biden administration comes as federal scientists consider how to update the vaccines to better protect Americans from the rapidly evolving virus. Federal officials said the purchase agreement includes the option to purchase a total of 300 million doses including a mix of doses for both adults and children. The first shots would be delivered by early fall pending a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to authorize new versions of the shots. A decision is expected from the FDA in the coming days following a Tuesday meeting in which outside advisers recommended modifying the vaccines to better target the omicron variant. https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-government-and-politics-d5690c06fd614a15274eaff5d6262688 30th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

FiercePharma Developing an antibody treatment that is effective against the omicron variant of COVID19 has paying off for Eli Lilly. But the company may soon lose its primary customerthe U.S. government. Wednesday Lilly revealed a purchase agreement with the U.S. to provide 150000 doses of bebtelovimab for 275 million. Based on current demand the supply should carry the U.S. through to the end of August the company said. But Lilly also warned that this could be the last shipment of COVID antibodies to the U.S. as the government is close to exhausting its pandemic relief funds. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/us-secures-more-lilly-covid-19-antibodies-275m-pandemic-funding-uncertain-may-be-swan-song 30th Jun 2022

Partisan Exits

Sky News Jeremy Corbyns brother has been fined for holding illegal gatherings during coronavirus lockdowns. Piers Corbyn has campaigned against vaccines face masks and COVID restrictions throughout the pandemic. The 75yearold was found guilty of holding or helping organise a gathering of more than 30 people in Trafalgar Square in August 2020. Another illegal gathering that flouted COVID rules happened in the same place in September 2020 and in Westminster a month later. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-piers-corbyn-fined-for-illegal-gatherings-held-during-lockdowns-12642933 30th Jun 2022

Partisan Exits

Reuters South Koreas unification ministry said on Friday there is no possibility of COVID19 entering North Korea via contaminated balloons sent by activists in the South. North Korea said earlier in the day the countrys first outbreak began with patients touching alien things near the border with South Korea apparently shifting blame to its neighbour for the wave of infections that hit the isolated country. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skorea-says-leaflets-sent-by-defectors-unlikely-be-cause-covid-nkorea-2022-07-01/ 30th Jun 2022

Partisan Exits

Reuters South Koreas unification ministry said on Friday there is no possibility of COVID19 entering North Korea via contaminated balloons sent by activists in the South. North Korea said earlier in the day the countrys first outbreak began with patients touching alien things near the border with South Korea apparently shifting blame to its neighbour for the wave of infections that hit the isolated country. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/nkorea-says-covid-outbreak-began-with-patients-touching-alien-things-near-border-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

FiercePharma How has the pharma industry weighed human rights during its marketing of COVID19 drugs and vaccines Thats what the Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation PAF sought to answer and the results might not be what the industry wants to hear. For its Fair Pharma Scorecard project PAF ranked 26 companies involved in selling COVID19 drugs vaccine and diagnostics based on their compliance with 19 human rights principles. Not one company complied with all the criteria and most still need to take big steps to make their products accessible and affordable PAF said. In general PAF noticed a weariness toward knowledge sharing iffy transparency levels and differences between various products at the same companies. For example Pfizers compliance with the criteria scored at 65 for its oral antiviral Paxlovid and 50 for its vaccine. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/pharmaceutical-accountability-foundations-fair-pharma-scorecard-calls-out-pfizer-moderna 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The New York Times Paxlovid did what it was supposed to do Dr. Fauci 81 said in an interview saying that he believed that the treatment made by Pfizer kept him out of the hospital when he first tested positive for the virus on June 15. He added that he thought the drug also reduced the severity of his initial symptoms. One thing Paxlovid could not do was keep Dr. Fauci from missing his daughters wedding. It went on without him in New Orleans two Saturdays ago when he was sidelined with his initial infection. He participated remotely. Dr. Fauci has been vaccinated against Covid and has received two booster doses. His experience with Paxlovid adds to a growing body of anecdotal evidence about patients whose Covid symptoms improved after they took Paxlovid and who even tested negative only to have symptoms occur again a few days later. That is exactly what happened to him Dr. Fauci said he recently tested positive again after three days of negative tests. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/29/world/covid-19-mandates-vaccine-cases 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Wall Street Journal Pfizer Inc. has asked the Food and Drug Administration to grant full approval of its Covid19 antiviral pill a step toward allowing the drugmaker to sell the drug commercially. Pfizer said Thursday that it had filed the submission. The FDA typically has 60 days to accept the application and up to 10 months to conduct a review before issuing a decision. To date Pfizer has been selling the drug called Paxlovid to the federal government under an authorization for emergency use. The federal government has then been directing the pills distribution. https://www.wsj.com/articles/pfizer-seeks-fdas-full-approval-for-paxlovid-covid-19-pill-11656585900 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CNN A tiger at an Ohio zoo died of health complications caused by Covid19 officials said Wednesday. The 14yearold Amur tiger Jupiter died Sunday after developing pneumonia caused by the virus the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium said in a statement. Jupiter was undergoing longterm treatment for chronic underlying illnesses which made him more susceptible to the virus the zoo said. Jupiters care team reported last week that he had been acting ill. He wasnt interested in eating or interacting with his keepers and was reluctant to move or stand according to the statement. After Jupiter was anesthetized for examination results suggested he may have been suffering from an infection and treatment began. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/29/us/ohio-tiger-dead-covid-19/index.html 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The BMJ Canada performed better than the majority of G10 countries in its response to the first two years of the covid19 pandemic a study has concluded. A paper published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal concluded that Canadians were better vaccinated than comparable western countries with fewer infections fewer covid deaths and lower mortality from all causes. Researchers from the University of Toronto some of whom are members of Ontarios covid19 science advisory board linked the countrys lower death rate to the persistence of its social restrictions and the relative lack of antivaccine sentiment. The study compared responses from the 11 countries in the G10 comprising Canada Belgium France Germany Italy Japan the Netherlands Sweden Switzerland the UK and the US. Japan was an extreme outlier with by far the fewest deaths and infections despite having the oldest population and imposing the mildest restrictions. https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1615 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters South Korea on Thursday authorised AstraZeneca PLCs antibodybased therapy for preventing COVID19 infection in people with a poor immune response increasing its options as it works to ease the pandemic burden on the healthcare system. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety granted emergency use authorisation for 20000 doses of Evusheld for individuals aged 12 years and older who have not been exposed to the coronavirus. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-authorises-astrazeneca-covid-therapy-evusheld-vulnerable-people-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Pfizer Inc said on Thursday it is seeking full U.S. approval for its oral COVID19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid which is currently available under an emergency use authorization EUA. Pfizer said it submitted a New Drug Application for Paxlovid to the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID19 in vaccinated and unvaccinated people at high risk of progression to severe illness. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-asks-formal-us-approval-oral-covid-treatment-paxlovid-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Bloomberg New York City will start offering Pfizer Inc.s Covid antiviral Paxlovid at first of its kind mobile testtotreat sites across the city providing immediate treatment for those who test positive for the virus. Initially mobile sites will be stationed outside of pharmacies in Inwood South Ozone Park and the East Bronx and will expand to 30 locations by the end of July Manhattans Borough President Mark Levine said on Twitter Thursday. People who test positive for Covid and qualify for Paxlovid will be able to get a prescription onthespot which they can take to a nearby pharmacy to pick up the drug. By the end of the summer officials plan to bypass pharmacies entirely offering Paxlovid directly through the mobile sites. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/nyc-to-offer-pfizer-s-covid-drug-at-mobile-test-to-treat-sites 30th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP Maternal deaths in the first months of the COVID19 pandemic increased 33and even higher in Black and Hispanic womenaccording to data from the National Center for Health Statistics NCHS published yesterday in a study in JAMA Network Open. That rate compares with an overall 22 COVIDrelated excess death rate during the study period according to two researchers from the University of Maryland UMD and Boston University BU who conducted the study. They defined maternal mortality as deaths during pregnancy or just after birth. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/06/maternal-deaths-climbed-33-during-covid-19 29th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

FiercePharma After running six months on an emergency use authorization for Paxlovid Pfizer is now seeking a full FDA approval for the COVID antiviral in patients who are at high risk for progression to severe illness regardless of their vaccination status. When taken within five days of symptom onset Paxlovid cut the risk of hospitalization or death from any cause by 86 in nonhospitalized highrisk patients according to final results from the phase 23 EPICHR study. Pfizers application package also includes data from the EPICSR study which didnt hit its goal in vaccinated patients with and unvaccinated patients without risk factors for severe COVID. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/covid-19-tracker-pfizer-targets-variant-specific-vaccines-fall 29th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

STAT News On Tuesday the FDAs Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee VRBPAC voted 192 to approve the use later this year of Covid19 vaccines based on an Omicron variant sequence. One of us P.A.O. was among those voting no. It is possible these vaccines will be twocomponent designs that also include the current version. Will Americans soon be better protected against Covid19 The Covid19 vaccines currently authorized for use in the U.S. are all based on the sequence of the original SARSCoV2 virus which was obtained early in 2020. The virus has evolved over the past 30 months creating variants that are either more infectious or harder to counter by vaccination or both https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/29/fda-dont-rush-to-change-covid-19-vaccine-composition/ 29th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Guardian Although infections are rising we are not being swamped by yet another Covid wave. Just as we come forward each year for our flu inoculation we must do the same for our yearly Covid vaccine. The solution to rising cases is not lockdowns or restrictions on our liberties but vaccines. This is not just the case in Britain but around the world. Covid is a global virus so needs global solutions. Because while Covid is endemic here it is still having a major impact on much of the developing world. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/30/covid-uk-cases-vaccines-matt-hancock 30th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

South China Morning Post Major rivers in the country are in spate following torrential rains since last week prompting officials to step up disaster response efforts amid a wave of infections Experts say the Norths problems are only going to worsen as it cant receive aid from Seoul due to frosty interKorean ties and stringent Western sanctions https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3183590/north-koreas-woes-overflow-kim-jong-un-battles 30th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

South China Morning Post Professor Ivan Hung a top infectious disease expert says Hong Kong has fulfilled necessary criteria for city to transition from pandemic to endemic. Health officials on Thursday log 2358 coronavirus infections of which 162 were imported and two Covidrelated deaths https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3183664/coronavirus-outbreak-hong-kong-shifting-pandemic 30th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Associated Press The number of new coronavirus cases rose by 18 in the last week with more than 4.1 million cases reported globally according to the World Health Organization. The U.N. health agency said in its latest weekly report on the pandemic that the worldwide number of deaths remained relatively similar to the week before at about 8500. COVIDrelated deaths increased in three regions the Middle East Southeast Asia and the Americas. The biggest weekly rise in new COVID19 cases was seen in the Middle East where they increased by 47 according to the report released late Wednesday. Infections rose by about 32 in Europe and Southeast Asia and by about 14 in the Americas WHO said. WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said cases were on the rise in 110 countries mostly driven by the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-pandemics-united-nations-southeast-asia-443391280474444544c2ef2a467bb6e7 30th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Authorities in the worlds biggest gambling hub Macau are scrambling to contain the citys biggest coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began requiring all residents test daily and stay home as much as possible. Health police and fire services staff are among the more than 570 infected cases the government said on Thursday. Residents must test daily for the virus using Rapid Antigen kits. The Chinese special administrative region carried out three citywide mass coronavirus tests for its more than 600000 residents in the space of a week. More than 7000 people are in mandatory quarantine. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/macau-covid-infections-rise-spread-extends-medics-police-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters A new wave in France of COVID19 infections fuelled by emerging variants of the disease should peak towards endJuly the French governments top scientific adviser JeanFrancois Delfraissy said on Thursday. The peak is not yet here this peak of infections will probably be for endJuly Delfraissy told RTL radio. Then the BA.5 variant will reappear if it is not overtaken by another variant ...in autumn he added. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-new-wave-covid-infections-expected-peak-end-july-scientist-2022-06-30/ 30th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

CIDRAP Four of the six WHO regions saw rises last week the Eastern Mediterranean Europe Southeast Asia and the Americas. Globally deaths stayed level but were up in the Eastern Mediterranean Southeast Asian and Americas regions. About 4.1 million cases were reported to the WHO last week likely an undercount given reduced testing in many countries. The United States Germany Brazil Italy and China reported the most cases. At a briefing today of the WHOs Pan American Health Organization PAHO officials said cases rose in all four subregions in the Americas with a jump of 24.6 in South America. Cases in North America rose 7.7 last week mainly due to rises in the United States and Mexico. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/06/global-covid-cases-rise-ba4-and-ba5-expand 29th Jun 2022