Covid-19 outbreak 2020

Several European countries, inclduing France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania will resume administering AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine in the following days after European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced the vaccine was "safe and effective".

Emer Cooke, head of the EMA, said that while "a small number of cases of rare and unusual but very serious clotting disorders" were uncovered, the agency did not find that the vaccine caused an increase in the risk of blood clots.

Spain's Health Minister Carolina Darias announced Thursday that the country will resume administering the AstraZeneca vaccine next Wednesday after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) deemed it "safe and effective."

"The decision was taken unanimously as the benefits outweighed the risks, in line with the findings from the European Medicines Agency," so Darias.

The United States will reach the Biden administration's goal to administer 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses on Friday, President Joe Biden said.

"I am proud to announce that tomorrow, 58 days into our administration, we will have met my goal of administering 100 million shots to our fellow Americans," so Biden. "That's weeks ahead of schedule. Even with the setbacks we faced during the winter storms."

French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a four-week lockdown for 16 regions, including Paris, the Île-de-France region, Hauts-de-France and parts of la Normandie, will start Friday at midnight. Essential stores and schools will remain open and the curfew will start at 7pm. The lockdown is imposed to prevent a third wave.

A spokesperson for the Serum Institute said: "Five million doses had been delivered a few weeks ago to the UK, and we will try to supply more later, based on the current situation and the requirement for the government immunisation programme in India."

The supply issues could affect infection rates but should not impact hospital admissions, as those who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 were being prioritised for the jab.

Walt Disney's two theme parks in California will reopen on April 30 to a limited number of guests. The company announced on Wednesday, over a year after they closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The resort includes the original Disneyland and the adjacent California Adventure theme parks.

Visitors aged 2 and up will need to wear masks, except when eating, drinking or swimming, and following other safety measures, including temperature checks before entering and social distancing on rides and throughout the parks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it was still reviewing safety concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine. Still, it recommended the continuation of its use based on the current benefit-risk assessment.

The jab suspension and an already sluggish inoculation campaign across the EU pose a threat to plans announced by the European Commission on Wednesday to launch a "green digital certificate" to collate vaccine information.

Jutta Paulus, a licensed pharmacist and a member of the European Parliament for the Green Party, said the "benefits of taking the AstraZeneca vaccine do outweigh the risks."

After her mother was vaccinated against Covid-19, a baby girl was born with antibodies that fight the coronavirus in Florida in the eastern United States.

The girl's mother was 36 weeks pregnant when she received the first dose of the antidote developed by the Moderna laboratory, to which she agreed because she was on the front line of the fight against the pandemic. The baby girl was born three weeks later, in late January.

"As far as we know, this is the world's first reported case of a baby born with covid-19 antibodies after her mother's vaccination," said Paul Gilbert, a pediatrician. Gilbert and Chad Rudnick, also a pediatrician, will publish a scientific paper on the matter, they said in an interview with Palm Beach television station WBPF.

A total of 13 European countries have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as of Tuesday due to blood clot concerns. Germany, France, Italy, Span, Portugal, Luxembourg and Slovenia suspended the vaccine on Monday, Sweden and Latvia followed on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization's vaccine safety experts were due to meet Tuesday to discuss the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, as more countries stopped vaccinations over blood clot concerns. WHO on Monday appealed to countries to keep vaccination campaigns going, saying there was no evidence the vaccine caused clotting issues.

But much of Europe has gone against that advice in recent days, temporarily halting AstraZeneca shots even as the continent confronts a third wave of the pandemic, spurred by variants of the virus, and faces criticism over sluggish vaccination campaigns.

In a statement on Sunday, the pharmaceutical giant said that of the 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the United Kingdom so far, blood clot incidents were "much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population."

The number of coronavirus cases in Germany grew 20% in the past week, as lockdown restrictions are gradually eased, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases (RKI) said Tuesday.

RKI epidemiologist Dirk Brockmann told German broadcaster ARD that the loosening of measures was particularly unhelpful given the exponential growth of the British virus variant B117. And since they're also combined with descriptive terms, the possibilities of creating new words are endless: "hard" and "light" were the most popular, but "yo-yo," referring to ever-changing lockdown rules, was another one, as well as "Flockdown," when heavy snow ("Flocken"=flakes) keeps everyone inside anyway.

President Jair Bolsonaro announced on Monday evening that Dr Marcelo Queiroga will be the new Minister of Health, replacing Eduardo Pazuello. The exchange takes place at the worst moment of the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, with records of daily deaths and health systems in several collapsing states. Queiroga will be the fourth Minister of Health since the beginning of the pandemic a year ago.

Bolsonaro announced the new Minister during a conversation with supporters at the door of the Palácio da Alvorada.

Last year, Pazuello's predecessors, doctors Luiz Henrique Mandetta and Nelson Teich, left office because they disagreed with Bolsonaro's policy on treating the pandemic.

On Monday afternoon, Pazuello held a press conference to announce the purchase of 138 million doses of vaccine against covid-19 and confirmed that the president was in talks to replace him in the post.

Germany on Monday halted the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, the Health Ministry announced in a statement. Italy, France and Spain follow suit later in the day.

"After new reports of thrombroses of the cerebral veins in connection with the vaccination in Germany and Europe, the PEI considers further investigations to be necessary," the Health Ministry announced.

The European Medicines Agency will decide "whether and how the new information will affect the authorization of the vaccine"

AstraZeneca has released a statement, saying its Covid-19 vaccine has shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

"Following a recent concern raised around thrombotic events, AstraZeneca would like to offer its reassurance on the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine based on clear scientific evidence. Safety is of paramount importance and the Company is continually monitoring the safety of its vaccine," the report said. "A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union (EU) and UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country."

Italy headed into another strict lockdown on Monday. Regions that are considered red zones are affected by the new measures to contain the spread of more potent Coronavirus strains.

“I am aware that today’s measures will have an impact on children’s education, on the economy but also on the psychological state of us all,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Friday. “But they are necessary to avoid a worsening that will make inevitable even more stringent measures.”

Ireland temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. The move follows a report from Norway of patients developing blood clots post-inoculation.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency said there were four new cases of serious blood clotting in adults.

The Irish National Immunization Advisory Committee (NIAC) made the directive as a precaution.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health signed on Friday a contract to receive 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, developed by Russia's Gamaleya Institute.

According to a federal law sanctioned at the beginning of the pandemic last year, Anvisa has 72 hours to decide whether or not to validate the registration of a Covid-19 vaccine granted by one of the national health agencies of the United States, the European Union, Japan and China - Sputnik was approved in Russia and also in Argentina.

The Swedish-British vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca has again revised the announced delivery quantity downwards. According to this, the member states of the European Union will probably only receive 30 million doses of Corona vaccine by the end of the month - ten million less than last announced. This was already a reduced quantity: originally, AstraZeneca had contractually promised to deliver 90 million doses.

American vaccine development company Novavax said its Covid-19 vaccine has shown a 96% efficacy against the original Coronavirus strain and a 86% efficacy against the more potent UK strain B117 in Phase 3 clinical trials in the United Kingdom. The vaccine has also shown to be 100% effective against severe Covid-19 infections.

Trials are still running in the United States, and the company will apply for US emergency use authorization as soon as those trials are complete.

Stanley Erck, Novavax's president and CEO, said that the company was "very encouraged by the data".

“We are very encouraged by the data showing that NVX-CoV2373 not only provided complete protection against the most severe forms of disease, but also dramatically reduced mild and moderate disease across both trials. Importantly, both studies confirmed efficacy against the variant strains,” so Erck. “Today marks one year since the WHO officially declared the COVID-19 pandemic, and with this data in hand, we are even more motivated to advance our vaccine as a potential weapon in the fight to end the suffering caused by COVID-19.”

French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi announced Friday the launch of human trials of its second Covid-19 vaccine. Sanofi and the US-based company Translate Bio are developing the vaccine based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.

Sanofi's Chief Executive Paul Hudson told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche last month that the vaccine "will not be ready this year."

The company's first vaccine, developed with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is still in the testing phase. Both companies are attempting to revive their development after earlier tests showed in December, a low immune response in older adults.

In his first primetime address to the nation, President Joe Biden announced that he has directed all states, tribes and territories to make all adults eligible for Covid-19 vaccines by May 1.

"I will not relent until we beat this virus. But I need you, the American people. I need you, I need every American, to do their part," Biden said. "I need you to get vaccinated when it's your turn and when you can find an opportunity. And to help your family, your friends, your neighbors get vaccinated as well. Because here's the point, if we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together -- by July the Fourth, there's a good chance you, your family and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day. ... After this long hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special."

On Wednesday the first batch of 50.000 Pfizer/Biontech vaccines arrived in Uruguay. The jabs will be applied first to health workers.

50.000 more doses are expected to arrive in the next week, plus 60.000/week later until complete the order of 460.000.

The US House of Representatives voted 220 to 211 to pass the $1.9tn Covid relief bill on Wednesday and, according to press secretary Jen Psaki, President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill on Thursday.

Kyle Griffin from MSNBC tweeted that "President Biden will sign the American Rescue Plan in the Oval Office TODAY. The Vice President will attend."

The United States Department of Health and Human Services is going to purchase 100 million additional doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, so President Joe Biden on Wednesday. It's yet unclear when those doses will be available.

"There is light at the end of this dark tunnel of this past year, but we cannot let our guard down now or assume victory is inevitable. Together we're going to get through this pandemic and usher in a healthier and more hopeful future," Biden said.

Brazil has recorded 2,286 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass) said on Wednesday 10. This is the highest number of deaths recorded in one day since the beginning of the epidemic, and continues the rampant rise of the disease throughout the Brazilian territory.

With this, the country accumulates 270,656 victims of the Covid-19 and 11,202,305 cases.

Intensive care units in hospitals in Paris are nearing full capacity as severe Coronavirus cases increase. Paris hospitals currently treat almost 1,000 people in ICU and are being force to put of non-urgent surgeries.

The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Mr. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, has announced, this evening, during a televised address to the nation, that a lockdown will be implemented from 10 March 2021 at six am till 25 March 2021, following an increase in Covid-19 cases.

He indicated that the virus is now to be found in several clusters adding that new positive cases have been detected today which are not from the initial cluster.

As part of the restrictions, all activities will remain closed except for the police, port, airport, fire services, health, pharmacy, and security services.

Essential services that will operate on 10 March 2021 are health services, fire services, security services, petrol facilities, security services, pharmacy services, and retail distribution chains.

Supermarkets, superettes, shops, bakeries, and petrol stations will remain closed tomorrow but will reopen on 11 March 2021 with strict sanitary measures. Access to these services will be in alphabetical order.

The Prime Minister confirmed that a local case of COVID-19 has been detected in Mauritius and it is a person working in a company dealing with products from South Africa. To this end, he stressed that additional precautions have been taken to avoid the risk of contamination in the country.

The Swiss biotech company Adienne Pharma & Biotech signed an agreement to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine at its production site in the Milan region, said Antonio Francesco Di Naro, founder and president of the company.

The deal comes as Prime Minister Mario Draghi pledged to speed up Italy's fledgeling vaccination campaign amid a new rise in infections from the disease that's led to more than 100,000 fatalities in the country.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday lashed out at manufacturers for failing to uphold their commitments as countries in Europe struggle to step up the pace of inoculations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Monday released its first guidelines for fully Covid-19 vaccinated Americans, recommending adhering to face coverings and social distancing rules in public spaces while relaxing safety measures indoors with other vaccinated people.

“We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love,” said CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH. “There are some activities that fully vaccinated people can begin to resume now in their own homes. Everyone – even those who are vaccinated – should continue with all mitigation strategies when in public settings. As the science evolves and more people get vaccinated, we will continue to provide more guidance to help fully vaccinated people safely resume more activities.”

Nikolas Löbel, a lawmaker from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), stepped down on Monday over a government deal to procure face masks.

"In order to avoid further damage to my party, I am resigning my Bundestag mandate with immediate effect," Löbel said.