Banners advertising the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, UK, Oct 20, 2021. (IAN FORSYTH / BLOOMBERG)
NEW YORK / OSLO / WASHINGTON / OTTAWA / TUNIS / BUCHAREST / BERLIN – European Union diplomats have been banned from attending most social events at the COP26 climate change talks due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the UK.
Two officials attending the United Nations summit in Glasgow, Scotland, said the EU will not host its annual reception, and that guidelines have been issued for socializing in order to prevent the spread of infections. The bloc’s diplomats will be allowed to attend only crucial events at the conference, which runs from Oct 31-Nov 12.
The UK is reporting around 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day — numbers not seen since the summer — and the government is coming under pressure to reimpose restrictions. COP delegates will be required to test for the virus on a daily basis, and vaccines have been offered to people coming from countries without easy access to them.
“We are working tirelessly with all our partners, including the Scottish government and the UN, to ensure an inclusive, accessible and safe summit in Glasgow,” a COP26 spokesperson said. “There are comprehensive Covid-mitigation measures in place to ensure the health of participants and the local community.”
EU officials said they are watching the virus numbers daily and are prepared to hold all of their own COP events online only, if necessary. Currently all EU-hosted sessions at the summit will be hybrid — both in-person and digital.
EU leaders will attend some key receptions, but otherwise each invitation will be assessed closely with a great sense of responsibility, according to one of the people. In the last two weeks, the EU has scaled back the number of officials going to Glasgow by about 20 percent to 30 percent on the advice of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the person said.
Canada
Canada saw an average of 2,821 COVID-19 new cases daily on Oct 15-21, a decrease of 11 percent compared to the previous week, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada on Friday.
Hospitalization and critical care admission trends, primarily involving unvaccinated people, were stabilizing in the country.
The latest data showed that 2,367 people with COVID-19 on average were being treated in hospitals each day on Oct 15-21, which was 4 percent lower than the previous week.
As of Oct 21, 2021, Canada had administered almost 58 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with the latest data indicating that over 88 percent of people aged 12 years or older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and over 83 percent were fully vaccinated.
On Friday afternoon, Canada reported 2,754 new cases of COVID-19, increasing the cumulative total to 1,695,914 cases, including 28,729 deaths, according to CTV.
Germany
Rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Germany this week have led experts to predict a spike in infections this fall and winter.
For the first time since mid-May, Germany's seven-day COVID-19 incidence exceeded 90, with 95.1 cases per 100,000 people, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Friday.
The seven-day incidence jumped by ten points within one day. A week ago, the average incidence rate in Germany still stood at 68.7, according to RKI, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.
The trend of rising incidences which first emerged in September was "noticeable in almost all age groups in the last week," the RKI wrote in its weekly report published on Thursday.
Daily COVID-19 infections in Germany also picked up as 19,572 new cases were registered within one day, around 8,000 more than a week ago, according to the RKI.
"The increase in the number of cases is expected to further accelerate in the course of the fall and winter," the RKI warned in its weekly report.
Although COVID-19 infection figures are rising, a recent survey by market research institute YouGov showed that almost one in two Germans were not at all or not very concerned about getting infected, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not.
Norway
Norway will hold off giving children aged 12-15 a second dose of a vaccine against COVID-19 until it has gathered more research, partly due to a rare side effect involving inflammation of the heart, health authorities said on Friday.
The Nordic country has so far only recommended using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to minors.
The health ministry said there was no urgency given that children have a low risk of falling seriously ill from COVID-19 and because a single dose of a vaccine offered a protection rate of 85 percent against the disease for up to 16 weeks.
"A second vaccine dose is also linked with a higher risk of pericarditis and myocarditis, especially among young men and boys," the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in a statement.
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Pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart, while myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.
The FHI will assess the situation again in early 2022 after it has gathered more information from studies currently being conducted in the Nordics, it said.
A healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at West Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (HANNAH BEIER / BLOOMBERG)Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine showed 90.7 percent efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of children 5 to 11 years old, the US drugmaker said on Friday.
Sixteen children in the trial who had received a placebo got COVID-19, compared with 3 who were vaccinated, Pfizer said in briefing documents submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration.
Because more than twice as many children in the 2,268-participant trial were given the vaccine than placebo, that equates to better than 90 percent efficacy.
Pfizer's clinical trial in those 5 to 11 years old was not primarily designed to measure efficacy against the virus. Instead, it compared the amount of neutralizing antibodies induced by the vaccine in the children to the response of older recipients in their adult trial.
Based on those results, Pfizer and BioNTech said last month that their COVID-19 vaccine induced a robust immune response in the children.
The 5 to 11 year olds were given two shots of a 10-microgram dose of the vaccine, a third of the dose size given to people 12 and older.
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The staff of the US Food and Drug Administration said the benefits of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for young children likely outweigh its risks.
According to the staff report, posted on the FDA website, the vaccine’s capacity to prevent hospitalizations and deaths likely exceed the risk of adverse outcomes such as the heart condition myocarditis, which has been reported in some younger males who have received messenger RNA shots.
Outside advisors to the FDA are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to vote on whether to recommend that the agency authorize the vaccine for that age group.
Romania
The Romanian government decided Friday to soon reintroduce night curfew and the mandatory mask wearing in all public spaces in the midst of the worst ever health situations since the pandemic began.
The wearing of protective face masks is mandatory in both indoor and outdoor public spaces, as well as in the workplace and in the public transport, said Raed Arafat, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior who heads the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU).
"From 10 pm (to 5 am), people's movement will be prohibited throughout the country," the DSU head told a press conference, specifying exceptions to the restriction for those vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19.
The new control measures set by the authorities will come into force on coming Monday for a period of 30 days, according to Arafat.
Arafat also reminded that access to public buildings as well as to all public activities and events will be restricted only to persons with a green certificate.
The pandemic situation in Romania deteriorated rapidly since late September, insufficient vaccine coverage of only 30 percent and non-compliance with protection measures are believed to be the main causes for the surge.
This week, the eastern European country registered a record daily new COVID-19 infections of 18,863, and 574 deaths.
Tunisia
Tunisia is imposing COVID-19 vaccine passes on Tunisians and all foreign visitors, a presidential decree showed on Friday.
Officials, employees and users are required to show a card proving inoculation against the coronavirus to access public and private administration
Officials, employees and users are required to show a card proving inoculation against the coronavirus to access public and private administrations, according to the decree. The pass will also be required to enter cafes, restaurants, hotels and tourist establishments, it said.
The decree showed that the jobs of employees who did not receive vaccination in the public and private sectors will be suspended until the vaccine pass is presented.
The vaccine pass will also be a necessary document for travelling abroad. The decree says that authorities should give a pass to every person who has received the vaccination. It will also be given to foreign visitors who present a certificate of vaccination upon arrival.
More than 4.2 million of Tunisians out of about 11.6 million resident have completed their COVID-19 vaccination, the Tunisian Ministry of Health said.
Tunisia last month entirely lifted its nightly curfew after about a year in force, as outbreaks of the virus diminished.
Pedestrians in London on Oct 20, 2021. (BLOOMBERG)
UK
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday a new COVID-19 lockdown is not on the cards, as advisers warned that acting early with lighter measures to cut rising case numbers would reduce the need for tougher restrictions later.
Johnson's government has said there is no need yet to introduce a "Plan B" involving mask mandates, work-from-home orders and vaccine passports, though such measures could be introduced if more people do not come forward for COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots. read more
Johnson scrapped England's COVID restrictions in the summer, and he said that, while case numbers were rising, the trend was in line with what was expected.
The UK Health Security Agency said it designated a Delta coronavirus subvariant called AY.4.2 as a "Variant Under Investigation", saying there was some evidence that it could be more transmissible than Delta
Asked on Friday about the possibility of another lockdown over winter, the Conservative prime minister said: "I've got to tell you at the moment that we see absolutely nothing to indicate that that is on the cards at all."
While Johnson has scrapped the legal requirement to wear masks, he said they should still be worn in confined spaces, especially when meeting strangers.
COVID-19 infections in Britain are up 17.9 percent over the last seven days, with 52,009 reported on Thursday, and the reproduction "R" number is estimated between 1.0 and 1.2. Any figure above one suggests an exponential growth in cases.
Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency said it designated a Delta coronavirus subvariant called AY.4.2 as a "Variant Under Investigation", saying there was some evidence that it could be more transmissible than Delta.
"The designation was made on the basis that this sub-lineage has become increasingly common in the UK in recent months, and there is some early evidence that it may have an increased growth rate in the UK compared to Delta," UKHSA said.
"While evidence is still emerging, so far it does not appear this variant causes more severe disease or renders the vaccines currently deployed any less effective."
US
Biden administration officials urged eligible Americans on Friday to get booster shots of a COVID-19 vaccine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head said it may update its definition of what constitutes full vaccination.
Currently people in the United States are considered fully vaccinated if they have had two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Inc vaccine, or one dose of the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson
Currently people in the United States are considered fully vaccinated if they have had two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Inc vaccine, or one dose of the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson.
"We have not yet changed the definition of 'fully vaccinated.' We will continue to look at this. We may need to update our definition of 'fully vaccinated' in the future," CDC director Rochelle Walensky told reporters.
"If you're eligible for a booster, go ahead and get your booster and we will continue to follow," she said.
The seven-day average of new cases in the US was 73,079 as of Oct 20, down 15 percent from a week earlier. The new average is the lowest since the end of July, CDC data show.
Most states remain in the “high” level of community transmission determined by the CDC. Those one step lower, in the “substantial” category, include New Jersey, Maryland, California, Mississippi, Florida, Hawaii and Louisiana.
Community transmission is based on the number of cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 population and the number of tests in the last 7 days that have a positive result.
