People enjoy their drinks and food in a restaurant in Warsaw on May 28, 2021. (WOJTEK RADWANSKI / AFP)
BUDAPEST / LONDON / DUBLIN / SANTIAGO / GENEVA / ZURICH / BUENOS AIRES / ADDIS ABABA / WARSAW / MOSCOW – Poland's total number of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic passed 3 million on Friday, health ministry data showed, with daily cases hitting their highest in the fourth wave as a spike in infections gathers pace.
Amid wide disregard for rules on wearing masks, infections in Poland are surging ahead of All Saints' Day, when crowds of people visit cemetries to pay their respects to the dead in a tradition that could contribute to the spread of the virus.
Friday's 9,387 new cases were Poland's highest since April, with 102 deaths. In total, the country of about 38 million people has reported 3,008,294 cases and 76,875 COVID-19 related deaths.
The government will have to consider tighter curbs if average daily cases exceed 7,000 at the end of the month, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski was quoted as saying on Monday.
In 2020, cemeteries were closed just before All Saints' Day.
Asked about a possible tightening of curbs, a health ministry spokesman said Poles should focus on respecting the current rules by wearing masks in enclosed public spaces, and added that police had stepped up checks.
In addition to more people flouting the rules, the pace of vaccination has also slowed in recent months, with 19.9 million people fully vaccinated by Friday.
Poland has recommended booster shots for all adults. A poll published on Thursday showed that 63 percent of Poles would get a booster shot if they had the chance.
Women stand at a memorial outside the government house covered with small rocks to remember the victims of COVID-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Oct 18, 2021. (NATACHA PISARENKO / AP)
Argentina
Argentine officials said on Thursday that the country is ready to reopen its borders to visitors from around the world, thanks to the progress in its vaccination drive against COVID-19.
"We can open our borders because Argentina has reached a sufficiently high vaccination threshold to ensure that life returns to normal," Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers Santiago Cafiero said in a videoconference with Argentina's ambassadors overseas.
"We will continue to work jointly with the embassies, which play a central role in the continued recovery of connectivity and the promotion of our wonderful destinations," Tourism and Sports Minister Matias Lammens said at the meeting aimed at adopting measures to promote international tourism.
Since Oct 1, visitors from neighboring countries, such as Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, have been able to enter Argentina, and the borders will open to all as of Nov 1, with certain requirements such as full vaccination completed at least 14 days before arrival and a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival.
A healthcare worker inoculates a child with a dose of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine at the Providencia school in Santiago, Chile, Sept 27, 2021, as vaccinations began in schools for children between the ages 6 to 11. (ESTEBAN FELIX / AP)
Chile
Chile on Thursday registered 2,205 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 22 more deaths in 24 hours, raising the caseload to 1,688,454 and the pandemic death toll to 37,719, according to the Ministry of Health.
The positivity rate in the past 24 hours was 2.95 percent nationwide and 4 percent in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, the ministry said, after analyzing 71,016 COVID-19 test results.
Infections have increased 24 percent in seven days and 92 percent in 14 days, with the number of active cases currently at 10,800.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia registered 386 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 364,098 as of Thursday, the country's Ministry of Health said.
The ministry reported 16 new COVID-19-related deaths during the same period, bringing the national death toll to 6,428.
Global tally
Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 245.65 million while the global death toll topped 4.98 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Hungary
The government of Hungary introduced three new restrictive measures on Thursday in order to curb the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Following a consultation with experts and having studied the available data on infections, the government decided on three anti-epidemic measures: companies can now mandate the vaccination of employees, the wearing of face masks will be mandatory in public transport from Nov 1, and a ban on visits has been imposed in healthcare institutions," Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Minister's Office, said at a press conference.
"The government, as an employer, will require vaccination, and we also call on the local governments to decide whether they prescribe mandatory coronavirus vaccines for their own employees," Gulyas added.
"Anyone who refuses to be vaccinated must be placed on unpaid leave, and if this emergency measure is maintained for one year, the person on leave can be dismissed. The deadline of the administration of the vaccine will be specified in a decree that will be issued in a day or two," Gulyas told journalists.
In the past 24 hours, 45 people have died from the disease, taking the toll to 30,692 in the country, while 797,142 have recovered. Currently, 1,970 patients are being treated in hospitals, including 204 on ventilators, the government's coronavirus information website said.
Parents and their children queue in rain outside the Citywest vaccination center, in Dublin on Aug 14, 2021. (DAMIEN STORAN / PA VIA AP)
Ireland
Crowd surfing will not be permitted at concerts in Ireland and nightclub goers must form a socially distanced queue to buy drinks, under new guidelines issued by the government for recently reopened venues.
Irish nightclubs opened their doors for the first time since March 2020 last weekend, while theatres and concert venues also returned to full capacity as the government lifted most curbs that had made up one of Europe's toughest lockdown regimes.
These included telling performers they should not "partake in high-risk activities" such as crowd surfing, moving through the crowd or throwing personal items from the stage. Neither should they encourage fans to sing along, according to the guidelines.
Once inside, facemasks should be worn at all times other than when people are dancing, drinking or eating, and clubgoers must also stay one metre apart in a supervised queue at the bar to order a drink.
Meanwhile, Ireland's COVID-19 daily cases have surged to a record high since January, according data released by the Irish Department of Health on Thursday.
The department said in a statement that 2,605 new cases were reported in the day. As of Thursday morning, 487 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, and 99 were receiving treatment in intensive care units (ICU).
On Wednesday, the department said that 67 people in the country had died from or with COVID-19 in the past seven days, bringing the total number of such deaths in Ireland to 5,436.
Ireland has further eased its COVID-19 restrictions recently, with capacity limits on all outdoor events being lifted last Friday. It also removed the limit on the number of people allowed to attend weddings and religious ceremonies, and nightclubs opened for the first time in nearly 20 months.
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A healthcare worker draws a dose of the Johnson & Johnson Janssen COVID-19 vaccine at San Rafael Commons in San Rafael, California, the US, on March 25, 2021. (DAVID PAUL MORRIS / BLOOMBERG)
Johnson & Johnson
An estimated 30 million to 50 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine made early this year sits idle in Emergent BioSolutions Inc's plant in Baltimore awaiting a green light from US regulators to ship, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Emergent, a contract drug manufacturer, is waiting for the US Food and Drug Administration to approve release of those doses. The agency must still inspect and authorize the plant before Emergent can ship newly manufactured drug substance, one of the sources said.
The exact number of doses sitting idle cannot be determined, the source said, because Emergent only makes raw vaccine substance and does not fill vials with finished product.
The FDA in April halted operations at Emergent's production facility after J&J's vaccine was found to be contaminated with material from AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shots, which were also being manufactured there at the time.
Material manufactured for the J&J vaccine at the Baltimore plant prior to the April shutdown and awaiting FDA approval could be enough to produce as many as 50 million shots, the two sources said. They asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
Of the 100 million doses worth of vaccine material Emergent described in an April Congressional hearing as being sidelined, the FDA has so far cleared nine batches of J&J's vaccine and three batches of AstraZeneca's. It has not disclosed how many doses were in those batches.
Emergent in late July said it would resume production of J&J's vaccine at the plant following additional FDA reviews, but has not provided updates on production or timing of potential shipments.
Emergent has begun making new vaccine substance, but the FDA has yet to provide guidance on when it plans to inspect the Baltimore facility, one of the sources said.
The FDA said in a statement that it conducted a limited inspection of Emergent's facility in July to confirm it had conducted corrective actions following the April production pause. A previous inspection had turned up a raft of sanitary, safety and bad manufacturing practice issues at the plant.
The agency said it has not yet authorized the facility to ship doses and continues to review batches made prior to the production halt. It has based its batch approvals on reviews of facility records and quality testing conducted by the manufacturer.
The FDA typically waits for a drug manufacturing facility to produce multiple batches of its product before conducting an inspection, according to a former FDA official who asked not to be named because she was not authorized to speak with the media.
Employees of the Federal State Center for Special Risk Rescue Operations of Russia Emergency Situations prepare to disinfect Savyolovsky railway station in Moscow, Russia on Oct 26, 2021. (ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / AP)
Russia
Russia on Friday reported 1,163 new COVID-19 deaths, its highest one-day toll of the pandemic, amid a surge in cases that has forced officials to reimpose partial lockdown measures.
Deaths have set new records in nine of the past 11 days. The coronavirus task force also said it had recorded 39,849 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 7,511 in Moscow.
Russia will go into a nationwide workplace shutdown in the first week of November, and the capital Moscow reintroduced partial lockdown measures on Thursday, with only essential shops like pharmacies and supermarkets allowed to remain open.
Uganda
Uganda will fully reopen its economy in January after almost two years of controls, President Yoweri Museveni said.
The East African country expects to have vaccinated 12 million of the targeted 21 million people by the end of December, Museveni said in a televised address.
“Now that the vaccines are available the economy will be opened in January,” he said.
Uganda has received more than 9.5 million doses of mainly AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and expects more by year-end, he said.
Schools, bars and entertainment centers have been closed since the virus was first detected in the country in March 2020 and a dusk-to-dawn curfew been enforced.
A worker cleans surfaces as a precaution against coronavirus, in the arrivals area of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London, Aug 2, 2021. (MATT DURHAM / AP)
UK
Britain has reported 39,842 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Thursday, meaning cases reported between Oct 22 and Oct 28 were down 9.8 percent compared with the previous seven days.
A further 165 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19, meaning the seven-day total was up 16.2 percent from the previous week.
Changes in the number of deaths typically lag those for cases.
A total of 49.84 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by the end of Oct. 27 and 45.63 million people had received a second dose.
Meanwhile, the UK removed all seven remaining countries from its COVID-19 red list, effectively ending a mandatory hotel quarantine requirement for any arriving travelers.
The highest-risk category will remain in place to protect public health, and UK officials are prepared to add countries back if necessary, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Thursday on Twitter.
The seven countries – Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Haiti, Panama, Ecuador and Peru, will be removed on Nov 1, Shapps said.
The move puts an effective end to hotel quarantine measures set in place in February as the UK sought to slow the import of new coronavirus variants after an outbreak last winter.
The 10-day stay at government-selected lodgings was required for all arrivals from red-list countries, regardless of vaccination status. As of Sept 29, 203,360 people had gone through hotel isolation, which currently costs 2,285 pounds ($3,153) per person.
Earlier in October, the UK removed 47 countries and territories from the red list. It also simplified its border-rule system by eliminating the middle or amber tier of its so-called traffic light system.
People arriving from most countries who are fully vaccinated now require only an inexpensive lateral flow COVID-19 test two days after arrival, and no longer have to isolate.
The decision comes just days before the COP26 climate summit begins in Glasgow, Scotland, which will see delegates from across the world.
An elderly man walks past a social placard advising to wear a face mask as a measure against the coronavirus disease in the center of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 28, 2021. (SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP)
Ukraine
Ukraine registered a record daily high of 26,870 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, exceeding the previous high of 26,071 a day earlier, the health ministry said on Friday.
Ministry data also showed 648 new coronavirus-related deaths.
Ukraine's pandemic tally of infections stands at 2.88 million, with 66,852 deaths.
Vials of COVID-19 vaccine, produced by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, in cold storage at the COVID-19 vaccination center inside France's national velodrome in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines district of Paris, France, March 24, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
United States
The US government has purchased an additional 50 million doses of the Pfizer Inc-BioNTech SE vaccine in a push to secure supply for kids, the companies said in a statement on Thursday. All the doses will be delivered by April 30, 2022.
To date, the US has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for those 12 and older. The Food and Drug Administration is poised to clear the shot at a lower dose for those ages 5 through 11 imminently, paving the way for a pediatric vaccination campaign in early November.
The latest supply agreement includes doses for children under 5, who are not yet eligible for vaccination. Pfizer and BioNTech aim to read out data on the cohort before the end of the year.
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WHO
The World Health Organization and Norway's prime minister called on Thursday on G20 leaders meeting in Rome this weekend to use their financial and political power to fund the ACT Accelerator program's latest $23.4 billion plan to end COVID-19.
"I hope and urge that the G20 will make a commitment to end the pandemic," Jonas Gahr Stoere, prime minister of Norway, which co-chairs the ACT Accelerator's Facilitation Council which leads fundraising, told a WHO media briefing.
In another development, the WHO said on Thursday that it was seeking further data from Merck on its experimental new antiviral COVID-19 pill and hoped to issue guidance in coming weeks regarding its use for mild and moderate cases.
"This is a drug that we are currently evaluating and we met with Merck on Friday to discuss data from their current clinical trials that are under way in other countries," WHO expert Maria van Kerkhove told a news conference where she was asked about Merck's molnupiravir, developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
"So we hope to have some good news there in the coming weeks."
