The ICU COVID-19 ward at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas, US, Aug 4, 2021. (HOUSTON COFIELD / BLOOMBERG)
WASHINGTON/ BERLIN/ BRUSSELS/ TOKYO/ LONDON / ACCRA/ HAVANA- People who get the Delta variant of the coronavirus are twice as likely to be hospitalized as those who were infected by the Alpha variant which was first detected in England last year, a study showed on Friday.
ALSO READ: Previous COVID-19 patients prevent Delta better than Pfizer
The study, based on more than 43,000 COVID-19 cases of mostly unvaccinated people in England, compared the risk of hospitalization for people infected with Delta, which was first detected in India, with people who caught Alpha.
"Our analysis highlights that in the absence of vaccination, any Delta outbreaks will impose a greater burden on healthcare than an Alpha epidemic," Anne Presanis, one of the study's lead authors and a University of Cambridge statistician, said.
The study was based on cases between March and May during the early stages of Britain's COVID-19 vaccination campaign, so it was not able to assess the extra risk of hospital admission for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people.
The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, was the largest so far to analyze COVID-19 cases confirmed by virus genome sequencing.
Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign rally in Bolton, Ontario, was canceled because his security staff were concerned about the number of anti-vaccination protesters at the site, CBC reported in a tweet.
Trudeau has called a snap election for Sept 20 on the premise he needed a mandate to “finish” the job of tackling the COVID-19 crisis and plan for the post-pandemic recovery.
Health Canada announced its approval of the use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in youth aged 12 to 17 on Friday.
The Moderna vaccine has been approved for use in adults over the age of 18 in Canada since December 2020.
Chile
Chile received a new shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac on Friday.
According to the Chilean Ministry of Health, this is the 16th shipment of Sinovac doses to arrive in the South American country since February.
To date, some 84.54 percent of Chile's target population has been fully vaccinated, while 89.97 percent of the population has received at least one dose.
Cuba
Cuba on Friday reported 7,639 new cases of the novel coronavirus infection and 82 more deaths in 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 627,311 and the pandemic death toll to 4,984.
Germany
Germany will make up to 70 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine available to African countries this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday, more than doubling a previous pledge to donate 30 million.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said African leaders told the summit "it is not fair that Africa has vaccinated only 2 percent of the their 1.3 billion population and yet the more developed countries in the north have vaccinated up to 60 percent."
Merkel said she was confident that there could be a "transfer, step by step, of the technology" to allow production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.
Ghana
Ghana has received a sum of US$1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost its post-COVID-19 economic recovery, the Ministry of Finance said in a release on Friday.
The package is part of the fund's US$650-billion package approved to support the post-COVID economic recovery in IMF member states.
Modern
Production of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines at a plant in Spain can continue, the European Union drugs regulator said on Friday, while it carries out its investigation of a suspected metallic contamination incident.
Japan on Thursday suspended the use of 1.63 million doses shipped to 863 vaccination centers nationwide, more than a week after the domestic distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical, received reports of contaminants in some vials.
The European Union drugs regulator said it was investigating the incident at the Spanish plant run by Rovi, but did not find reasons to seek a temporary suspension of production after an initial assessment.
Moderna has so far delivered to the EU nearly 75 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. The company has two contracts with the 27-nation bloc for up to 460 million shots.
Year 6 students take a class at Park Lane Academy in Halifax, northwest England on March 17, 2021.
(Oli SCARFF / AFP)
Italy
Italy’s government expanded the mask requirement for residents of Sicily to outdoor activities and limited restaurants to seating four people per table, with an exemption for families.
While daily cases are increasing on the Mediterranean island, nationwide infections remain relatively low with 7,826 reported on Friday. That compares with levels of more than 25,000 in Italy in March. Another 45 people died of causes related to COVID-19.
Russia
Russia saw the highest monthly coronavirus death toll of the pandemic in July, with 50,421 people dying from COVID-19 or related causes during the month.
The death toll exceeded the number of coronavirus deaths in December, hitherto the deadliest month of the pandemic in Russia.
Russia's deputy prime minister Tatiana Golikova said on Friday that more than 37 million people in the country had received both shots of a vaccine against COVID-19.
Over 44 million people received at least one shot of the vaccine, she was quoted as saying. The country has a population of more than 144 million.
Scotland
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was “actively considering” vaccine passports for Scots wishing to go to a pub or a nightclub.
Sturgeon said while she didn’t single out the hospitality industry, such venues would fall into the category of places the Scottish government might introduce a vaccine passport entry requirement.
UK
Britain reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in just over a month during the past seven days, reflecting the continued spread of the Delta variant of the disease, government figures showed.
Britain recorded a further 38,046 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, down slightly from Thursday's 38,281 but taking the total number of new infections in the past seven days to 239,237, the most for any seven-day period since July 20-26.
ALSO READ: Pandemic worsening around the world
Britain's government said on Saturday it had told England's health service to get ready for a mass COVID-19 vaccination program for children aged between 12 and 15 starting in September, if vaccination experts give the green light.
A first vaccine dose has already been offered to all 16- and 17-year-olds in England as well as to 12- to 15-year-olds with specific underlying health conditions and those who live with someone who is immuno-suppressed.
A deer is seen at La Aurora natural reserve, in Hato Corozal municipality, Casanare department, Colombia on April 9, 2021.
(RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP)
US
The US government said on Friday it had confirmed the world's first cases of COVID-19 in deer, expanding the list of animals known to have tested positive for the disease.
The US Department of Agriculture reported infections of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in wild white-tailed deer in the state of Ohio, according to a statement. There were no reports of deer showing symptoms of infection, the USDA said.
"We do not know how the deer were exposed to SARS-CoV-2," USDA spokeswoman Lyndsay Cole wrote in an e-mail to Reuters. "It’s possible they were exposed through people, the environment, other deer, or another animal species."
The USDA has previously reported COVID-19 in animals including dogs, cats, tigers, lions, snow leopards, otters, gorillas and minks.
The number of coronavirus patients in US hospitals has breached 100,000, the highest level in eight months, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, as a resurgence of COVID-19 spurred by the highly contagious Delta variant strains the nation's health care system.
A total of 101,433 COVID patients were hospitalized, according to data published on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said on Friday that Federal health authorities are discussing shortening the timeline for COVID-19 booster shots to allow additional doses sooner than the eight-month window officials have been targeting.
"The question raised is: should it be shorter than eight months, should it be as little as five months? That's being discussed," Biden told reporters at the White House.
For now, the planned timeline remains in place for adults to have another dose of the vaccine eight months after the original inoculation, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a news briefing later on Friday.
