A healthcare worker collects vials of the AstraZeneca Plc COVID-19 vaccine from a fridge, on Monday, March 22, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
NEW YORK / LONDON / SANTIAGO / TRIPOLI / LUSAKA / ROME / BRUSSELS / SAO PAOLO / BUENOS AIRES / BOGOTA – When alarm about potential side effects of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot halted vaccinations around Europe this month, many people worried this would damage public trust in the vaccine. In Italy, legal action has added to the turbulence.
On March 11, a prosecutor in the Sicilian city of Syracuse placed two doctors and a nurse under investigation for possible manslaughter, following the sudden death of a navy officer just hours after he had received the shot made by AstraZeneca PLC.
Prosecutor Gaetano Bono also ordered the nationwide seizure of tens of thousands of doses of the same batch of vaccine. He told Reuters it was a precautionary measure. But his move angered health practitioners, who said they saw no need for it.
Italy as elsewhere is pinning its hopes on mass inoculations to overcome the crisis after registering some 105,000 COVID-19 deaths — more than any of its EU partners — and suffering its worst economic slump since World War Two.
The country’s drive to vaccinate the vast majority of its 60 million citizens by September got off to an inauspicious start, hit by slower-than-expected vaccine deliveries and bad publicity for the AstraZeneca vaccine, seen as crucial in the pandemic because it is easier and cheaper to transport than other shots.
After five consecutive weeks of growth, Italy's coronavirus infection rate has started to retreat slightly as the country enters its second week of tightened health restrictions.
The Ministry of Health recorded 13,846 new infections between Sunday and Monday, down from more than 20,000 a day earlier. The daily death toll was 386, up from 300 a day earlier, while the number of patients in intensive care units grew by 62 over the previous 24 hours to 3,510.
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca may have released outdated information about its COViD-19 vaccine trial, giving an “incomplete” view of the efficacy of the shot, said the leading US agency on infectious diseases.
The Data and Safety Monitoring Board, charged with ensuring the safety and accuracy of the trial, has “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,” said the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases in a statement early Tuesday.
“We urge the company to work with the DSMB to review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible,” said the statement from the group headed by Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official.
The disclosure comes as a setback to AstraZeneca, who earlier Monday said its vaccine was found 79 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in a US clinical trial of more than 30,000 volunteers.
Germany
Germany is extending its lockdown until April 18 and calling on citizens to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays to try to break a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said early on Tuesday.
In talks that ran deep into the night, Merkel pushed the leaders of Germany’s 16 states to take a tougher stance to fight the pandemic, reversing plans for a gradual re-opening of the economy agreed earlier this month after a sharp rise in the infection rate.
“We are now basically in a new pandemic. The British mutation has become dominant,” Merkel told a news conference.
“Fundamentally, we face a new virus of the same kind but with very different characteristics. More deadly, more infectious, and infectious for longer.”
Daily COVID-19 infections in Germany continued to rise on Monday, casting doubts on the relaxations of the current restrictions against the pandemic which has cost 74,714 lives in the country.
A total of 7,709 new cases were registered in one day, taking the national tally to almost 2.67 million since the outbreak of the pandemic, said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
The incidence rate of reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 citizens in the past seven days increased to 107.3 as of Monday, according to the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.
Roche
New late-stage clinical trial data show an antibody cocktail of casirivimab and imdevimab reduced hospitalisation or death by 70 percent versus a placebo in non-hospitalised patients with COVID-19, Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding said on Tuesday.
Casirivimab and imdevimab also met all key secondary endpoints in the phase III trial with 4,567 participants, including the ability to reduce symptom duration to 10 days from 14, Roche said in a statement.
Regeneron
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it would apply for US authorization for a lower dose of its COVID-19 antibody cocktail, after data from a final-stage trial showed early use of the drug reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 70 percent.
EU
European Union leaders are aiming to break their deadlock with the UK over deliveries of AstraZeneca’s vaccine by sharing a Dutch plant’s output, according to diplomats familiar with the matter. The appeal stems from the EU’s view that the drugmaker had double booked its production and that both Brussels and London have valid claims.
Earlier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he’s “reassured” that the EU is not seeking a vaccine blockade, as government and opposition politicians showed rare united front on the issue. Both sides were critical of the bloc over reports it plans to restrict exports of vaccines to its former member.
”I’m reassured by talking to EU partners over the last few months that they don’t want to see blockades,” Johnson said in a pooled interview with broadcasters Monday. “That’s very, very important.”
Global tally
Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 123 million while the global death toll topped 2.7 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
READ MORE: UK warns EU of reputation damage if it reneges on vaccines
US
Americans must recommit to wearing masks and taking other COVID-19 mitigation measures to avoid a new surge of the virus in the US, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Rochelle Walensky said cases have begun to rise slightly again, while hospital admissions remain stable and deaths continue to decline. Variants, which are in some cases more contagious or more dangerous, continue to spread, she said.
Walensky repeated a warning that states are lifting restrictions too early, and called on Americans to continue to wear masks, avoid crowds and wait to travel, even if they’ve been vaccinated.
Anthony Fauci, the top US expert on infectious diseases, said the data on the Sputnik V vaccine developed in Russia looks good and leads him to believe that it’s “quite effective.”
Johnson & Johnson should come close to hitting its target of delivering 20 million doses of its one-shot COVID-19 vaccine in March after its shipments stalled in recent weeks, a top White House official said on Monday, while declining to say how many will go out this week.
Results from a large clinical trial in the United States and South America indicate that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is well-tolerated and protects against symptomatic COVID-19 disease, including severe disease or hospitalization, said the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Monday.
The independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) formed by the NIH overseeing the trial identified no safety concerns related to the vaccine, AZD1222, according to the NIH.
UK
Fines of 5,000 pounds (US$6,900) will be introduced from next week for people from England who try to travel abroad without good reason under new COVID-19 laws which last until the end of June.
In the UK, foreign holidays are currently banned under “Stay at Home” legislation which will be replaced by the new COVID-19 laws next week. The government has said holidays could be allowed again from May 17 at the earliest.
But new warnings from the Prime Minister about a third wave of COVID-19 infections in Europe on Monday has placed the peak holiday season in jeopardy.
In the face of rising infections on the continent, health minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday that there are no plans for travellers from Europe to be added to Britain’s travel “red-list” with mandatory quarantine in hotels on arrival.
The UK is marking one year since the start of its first coronavirus lockdown, as the government reflects on the best and worst of its response to the pandemic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will privately hold a minute’s silence Tuesday for more than 126,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in the UK, the fifth-biggest death toll in the world according to Bloomberg’s COVID-19 tracker.
It comes as the country’s health service presses on with a vaccination program that has seen more than half of all adults receive their first dose of the vaccine, by far the fastest of all European countries.
Britain on Monday reported another 17 coronavirus-related deaths, the lowest daily death toll since late September last year.
The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 126,172. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
Another 5,343 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,301,925, according to official figures released Monday.
Switzerland
Switzerland gave Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COViD-19 vaccine a green light, having already approved the drugs from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. However, the Swiss government hasn’t bought any doses of J&J’s vaccine on the grounds that it would have been delivered too late. AstraZeneca’s application is also still pending after officials requested more data from late-stage trials in North America and South America.
Hungary
Hungary has run out of doctors and nurses to deal with Covid-19 patients, forcing hospitals to put out a call for volunteers without any medical training. The country reported a record 252 daily coronavirus deaths, with doctors urging the government to implement tougher curbs.
Austria
Austria canceled plans to further reopen the economy around Easter after surging Covid cases threatened to overwhelm hospitals, especially in Vienna and the surrounding regions in the east of the country.
Lithuania
Lithuania's top state officials received the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Monday to promote confidence in the jab, local media reported.
The officials included President Gitanas Nauseda, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, Parliament Speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen and Health Minister Arunas Dulkys.
After getting the shot, Nauseda told reporters that he believed in science and the institutions authorized to evaluate "all the vaccines and all the developers."
ALSO READ: WHO chief: Little done to address virus vaccine inequity
Ukraine
Ukraine officially started the second stage of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Ukraine's Health Minister Maxym Stepanov reported on his official Facebook page on Monday.
According to Stepanov, at the second stage it is planned to immunize family doctors, people over 80 years old and social workers.
In addition, 565 stationary vaccination points will be opened throughout the country, which will provide vaccinations along with mobile teams.
Stepanov also said that as part of the mass vaccination against COVID-19, which began in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 111,025 people had been vaccinated in the country as of Monday.
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers ruled to require a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test as an obligatory requirement for foreigners entering the country, local media said Tuesday.
The corresponding resolution was approved by the government at an extraordinary meeting on Monday, Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
Portugal
The Portuguese Directorate-General for Health (DGS) announced on Monday another 248 infections of COVID-19, the lowest number of daily cases since Sept. 1, bringing the tally to 817,778 since the beginning of the pandemic.
An additional 16 deaths have been reported related to the new coronavirus, taking the toll to 16,784 since March 2020.
According to the DGS epidemiological situation report, the number of hospitalized patients rose to 771, with 165 patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
Volunteers deliver COVID-19 test kits to residents in London, on March 22. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
Danmark
Denmark has agreed to further ease COVID-19 curbs next month by letting hairdressers, spas and other services reopen, while restaurants and cinemas will be allowed to follow suit in May, contingent on the use of coronavirus “passports”.
Denmark has gradually reopened as infection rates have dropped following wide lockdown measures introduced in December to curb a more contagious variant.
“With few exceptions, the Danish society is open once everyone over the age of 50 has been offered a vaccine,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.
Starting on April 6, more students can resume classes while some service professions such as hairdressers and tattoo parlours can reopen, according to the plan agreed with parliament late on Monday.
Many of the planned reopening schemes are contingent on the use of a so-called “corona-passport”, which shows whether the holder has been vaccinated, has previously been infected or has taken a test within the last 72 hours.
France
From Saturday, all people in France ages 70 to 75 will be able to get vaccinated, President Emmanuel Macron said. So far, shots have only been offered to people over 75, patients with preconditions or medical staff, but a drop in the number of elderly people in intensive care has highlighted the need to expand eligibility.
France’s COVID-19 figures are going up at a “vertiginous rate” and if the situation does not improve, further lockdown measures may be needed, Frederic Valletoux, president of the French hospital federation, said on Tuesday.
“The epidemic is gathering pace, and the figures are exploding,” Valletoux, who is also mayor of Fontainebleau just south of Paris, told LCI TV.
The number of COVID-19 deaths in France more than doubled to 343 on Monday from a day earlier, data from health authorities showed.
The national death toll now stands at 92,621, the third-highest in Europe after Britain and Italy.
The number of patients hospitalized for the disease increased by 562 to 26,488, while 4,548 out of the country's 5,100 resuscitation beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, up by 142 in one day.
The number of new cases dropped to 15,792 on Monday from 30,581 the day before, but higher than 6,471 registered the same day in the previous week.
The daily tally usually dips on Mondays because of decreased activities at testing centers and delay in data collection during the weekend.
Spain
Spain's Ministry of Health on Monday reported 16,471 new COVID-19 cases and 633 deaths for the period between midday Thursday and 2 p.m. on Monday.
The four-day delay in reporting was due to the March 19 holiday in many parts of Spain, including Madrid.
The cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections now stands at 3,228,803 in Spain, with 73,543 fatalities.
The incidence rate of the virus per 100,000 inhabitants over the past 14 days has risen slightly over the past four days from 128.17 cases on Thursday to 128.71 on Monday.
A total of 6,321,908 COVID-19 vaccine doses have already been administered in Spain, with 2,110,868 people given both doses, according to the the Health Ministry.
Albania
The first batch of 10,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Tirana International Airport on Monday, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced via a Facebook video message.
In his message, Rama said that the doses are a gift from the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed bin Zayed.
Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu and Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj, who were present at the airport, praised the help given by the UAE.
Manastirliu said that with the arrival of the Sputnik V vaccine, health authorities will further extend the vaccination program in the country.
"We will work to get even more vaccines, so that we can soon start mass vaccination of the population and get prepared for a more alleviated touristic season," she added.
Romania
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) in Romania reached a record 1,339 on Monday and the number of confirmed cases totaled 900,858, the authorities said.
Meanwhile, with 60 more fatalities associated with the virus in the past 24 hours, the death toll now stands at 22,268, the Strategic Communication Group, Romania's official COVID-19 communication task force, reported.
With a new wave of the pandemic brought about by the virus variants, the health situation in the eastern European country has become severe. As of Monday, ten of the country's 42 administrative divisions, including the capital Bucharest, have been classified as a red zone after their 14-day cumulative infection rate exceeded three cases per 1,000 people. Twenty-seven counties are in the yellow zone, and only five counties remain in the green zone with low infection rates.
Cyprus
Cyprus will open its borders starting April 1 to visitors from Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the UK, the country’s tourism ministry said. Those with a negative test result who haven’t come into close contact with a confirmed case will be guaranteed a quarantine-free stay. Vaccinated travelers from Israel won’t need to be tested, and the same will apply to Britain starting May 1.
All people in Cyprus older than 45 years are expected to be administered at least the first COVID-19 vaccine shot by the first week of May, the Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
It said that Cyprus is set to receive 270,000 additional doses of all four vaccines authorized in the country by the end of April. This, it said, will enable Cyprus' vaccination campaign to be accelerated.
The ministry said that 131,000 people, or about 14.5 percent of the population, had been vaccinated as of Sunday, with another 195,000 expected to receive the first dose in the first week of May. This will raise ratio of vaccinated people to about 34 percent of the population.
Cuba
Cuba's Public Health Ministry reported on Monday 718 new COVID-19 infections in 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed cases to 67,476, as well as three more deaths for a total of 397.
The ministry's director of hygiene and epidemiology Francisco Duran said during his daily report that 441 of the infections were in Havana, which has an incidence rate of 290.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest in the country.
Authorities are maintaining restrictive health measures in the capital that include limiting circulation from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., as well as severe fines for those who do not wear masks or wear them incorrectly.
Ecuador
Ecuador on Monday reported a total of 312,851 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease and 11,664 deaths from the virus since the onset of the outbreak in February 2020.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, 253 new cases of infection and 27 more deaths were registered in the previous 24 hours.
The actual pandemic death toll is likely closer to 16,500 as another 4,814 deaths are considered to be "probable" COVID-19 fatalities.
Brazil
The mayor of Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro has suspended football for 10 days in a bid to combat rising COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Monday's announcement forms part of a 10-day ban on non-essential activities in Brazil's second-largest city, which is grappling with its most severe COVID-19 surge since the pandemic began. The restrictions will take effect on March 26 and end on April 4.
Brazil on Monday said 1,383 more people died from the novel coronavirus disease in the previous 24 hours, raising the national death toll to 295,425.
According to the Ministry of Health, tests detected 49,293 new cases, bringing the nationwide count to 12,047,526.
Brazil is one of the countries hardest hit by the virus worldwide in terms of both deaths and cases, second only to the United States.
Currently, the South American country sees an average of 141 deaths and 5,733 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Chile
The Chilean government announced on Monday that more than 13 million people will go into quarantine starting on Thursday amid surging COVID-19 cases nationwide.
"We are beginning a very complex week from a health point of view, which requires that we continue to maintain health measures to prevent the spread of the virus," Chilean Health Minister Enrique Paris said during a press conference.
"During family gatherings, I want to emphasize that it is necessary to maintain physical distance, wash your hands, not share glasses or utensils, and wear a face mask, the most effective way to avoid the spread," he said.
Argentina
Argentina is on the "right path" in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease, President Alberto Fernandez said on Monday, underscoring the importance of vaccines against the virus being considered a global public good available worldwide.
"We must preserve health before income, so we are concerned that the vaccine be free and that everyone have access to it," Fernandez said during a visit to a COVID-19 vaccination center at the National University of Lanus, on the southern outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires.
Tunisia
Tunisian Health Ministry on Monday reported 217 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number in the North African country to 245,923.
The death toll from the virus rose by 23 to 8,569, the ministry said in a statement.
The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 1,038, including 260 in intensive care units, while the total number of recoveries reached 213,106, it added.
Morocco
Morocco announced on Monday 125 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally in the North African country to 491,834.
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 479,557 after 305 more were added.
The death toll rose to 8,769 with two new fatalities during the last 24 hours, while 419 people are in intensive care units.
Algeria
Algeria on Monday reported 98 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the North African country to 116,255.
The death toll from the virus rose to 3,061 after four new fatalities were added, said the Algerian Ministry of Health in a statement.
Meanwhile, 91 more patients recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 80,810, the statement added.
Niger
Niger will begin its vaccination program this week after receiving a donation of 400,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine. The country aims to vaccinate 60% of its population of 23 million, President Mahamadou Issoufou said when the first batch of shots was received.
Just like its West African neighbors, Niger has been largely spared from a deadly second wave of the virus, reporting 4,918 cases and 185 coronavirus-related deaths as of March 21. Niger reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 19 last year.
