Coronavirus infection in humans

Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees flocked on Monday to take a holy bath in India’s Ganges river, even as the nation racked up the world’s highest tally of new daily coronavirus infections.

With 168,912 new cases, India accounts for one in six of all new infections globally, although the figure is still well below the U.S. peak of nearly 300,000 new cases on Jan. 8.

In the northern city of Haridwar, nearly a million devotees thronged the banks of the Ganges, a river many Hindus consider holy, to participate in the months-long ‘Kumbh Mela’ or pitcher festival.

“The crowd here is surging…the police are continuously appealing to people to maintain social distancing,” police official Sanjay Gunjyal told Reuters at the site.

By mid-morning a million people had taken a dip in the river, believed to wash away one’s sins.

As India’s second wave of infections builds, with fewer than 4% estimated to have been vaccinated among a population of 1.4 billion, experts say the situation could have a long way to go before it starts getting better.

“After cases declined in January-February, we were very comfortable,” said a panel of high court judges in the western state of Gujarat, calling on authorities to take urgent steps to rein in the outbreak.

“Almost everyone forgot that there was ever corona,” added the panel, headed by Chief Justice Vikram Nath.

A full opening of the economy from last year’s crippling lockdown, coupled with the mass religious festivals and political rallies in states heading to elections have fuelled the crisis.

Monday’s new infections carried India past Brazil for a tally of 13.53 million, data compiled by Reuters shows, ranking it the second-most infected country after the United States, with 31.2 million.

Tally feared to double in two months

India’s tally is on course to double in two months, according to estimates based on data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Yet authorities appeared unwilling or unable to stop events that could lead to a calamitous spread of the disease.

People are seen at a fish market, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Mumbai, India, April 12, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Thousands of people are attending political rallies in four big states set for elections this month, including two events on Monday in the eastern state of West Bengal, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to speak.

“With 1.2 million active cases, and the daily number reaching 200,000, it’s bizarre to have poll rallies and a full Kumbh Mela,” political commentator Shekhar Gupta said on Twitter.

Officials and experts said authorities had underestimated the resilience of the virus, believing they had beaten it after daily cases fell below 10,000 in early February.

Officials in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, said they were considering a broader lockdown this week after large closures at the weekend.

“It is necessary to break the cycle (of infections),” said a senior state official who sought anonymity. “We are working on identifying industries and services that need to be exempted.”

The rupee fell to its lowest in nearly eight months and Mumbai’s benchmark index tanked as much as 3.7% in the worst session in more than six weeks.

India’s economy has been limping back to recovery after last year’s hard lockdown caused the deepest contraction in decades.

Chairman Phong at the meeting (Photo: SGGP)

Speaking at the meeting chaired by Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tan Binh, Director of the Health Department of Ho Chi Minh City, said that up to now, there are 227 cases of disease detected in Ho Chi Minh City including 68 locally-transmitted cases accounting for 29.95 percent and 155 imported cases accounting for 68.28 percent, four cases of infection in the isolated area of Vietnam Airline accounting for 1.77 percent.

By Thanh An – Translated by Anh Quan

Experts have warned that European countries could risk a repeat of the disaster if the lockdowns were lifted too soon or the public fail to stick to rules.

UK: A MAJOR STEP TOWARDS FREEDOM

In England, all shops are reopening from Monday along with hairdressers, beauty salons and other close-contact services.

Restaurants and pubs are allowed to serve food and alcohol to customers sitting outdoors. Meanwhile, gyms, spas, zoos, theme parks, libraries and community centers can all open.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the latest progress as “a major step forward in our roadmap to freedom”.

“I urge everyone to continue to behave responsibly and remember ‘hands, face, space and fresh air’ to suppress COVID as we push on with our vaccination programme,” he said in a statement.

Britain appears currently to be in a strong position, as reaffirmed by the government, with almost 40 million combined first and second vaccine doses now administered.

However, British scientists have warned that the government is risking a third wave of COVID-19 by easing the lockdown too soon as some parts of Britain still have higher rates of infection.

“We need to tackle that issue urgently or the virus will come back again,” Leeds University medical school Associate Professor Stephen Griffin told the Observer newspaper.

“It’s worrying. There are far too many virus hotspots and not enough attention being paid to controlling infections that might spread from them,” said Griffin.

Also on Monday, Ireland started to ease some of its COVID-19 restrictions as scheduled.

As a result, people are allowed to travel freely within the county where they live or within 20 kilometers from their home, with outdoor gatherings permitted for no more than two households, in-classroom education for all primary and secondary school students resumed, and all residential construction projects reopened.

A PRECARIOUS EUROPE

The situation may be more precarious in other parts of Europe, especially on the European continent.

Major countries like France, Germany and Italy have tightened restrictions to fight a resurge of coronavirus as the vaccination rates in these countries remain relatively low.

In Germany, for instance, 13,245 new infection cases and 99 new deaths were reported within the past day, according to the latest data from the country’s disease control agency Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday: “The third wave (of the pandemic) is perhaps the toughest one for us.” She stressed the need to strengthen vaccination and testing to “break the third wave”.

A week after France entered its third lockdown, the number of new COVID-19 cases “remains very high,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Sunday. “We can expect that after a period of stabilisation comes the fall. But for that, we must keep going.”

On Sunday, the cumulative number of coronavirus infections in France surged by 34,895 and another 176 people have died, data from health authorities showed.

However, countries, including Greece, Latvia, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, are moving to ease their lockdowns.

The 11-day period of strict lockdown in Slovenia ended on Monday as the country entered the red tier of coronavirus restrictions under an overhauled traffic light system. The night curfew is gone after nearly six months and schools are once again open along with most service businesses.

Slovenian Health Minister Janez Poklukar has said that while the lockdown is being relaxed, the country is well in the third wave of the epidemic, whose extent is difficult to fully predict.

Meanwhile, shops in Serbia started to reopen from Monday, in addition to the already opening of restaurants providing service outdoors.

In Greece, high school students returned to classrooms nationwide on Monday after five months of remote learning, although the nationwide lockdown, which started on Nov. 7, 2020, is still in force.

With the self-testing and the acceleration of the vaccination program the country aims to start lifting the final restrictions in May, officials have said.

The Finnish government has published a plan for possible easing of current restrictions, which will be implemented as the country’s anti-coronavirus efforts pay off.

Under the plan, the total closure of restaurants in high infection areas, including the capital Helsinki, will end in April. Primary schools and secondary schools will also return to classroom teaching in April.

In the Czech Republic, the state of emergency ended on Sunday, which means the start of movement between districts and the end to the current night curfew on Monday.

Meanwhile, lower graders of primary schools started returning to schools while selected shops and services were allowed to reopen,

In Latvia, as the state of emergency ended on Wednesday last week, retailers were rushing to reopen their stores to shoppers.

In Malta, childcare centres, kindergartens and primary schools reopened on Monday, to be followed by middle schools and secondary schools later this week.

Sarah Cassar, 37, a Maltese teacher and a mother of three, voiced “mixed feelings” about the return of her children to the classroom, even though she was happy to see her kids going back to school and interact with other children.

“I am rather worried about the possibility of getting infected in class…I am also concerned about the rate of transmission within households. According to the health authorities, that is where the new cases are spreading most. We need more discipline,” she told Xinhua.

“I really hope we get this pandemic under control and everyone can start living their lives again,” she added.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.

* Mainland China reported 16 new COVID-19 cases on April 11, up from 10 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Monday. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 90,426, while the death toll remained at 4,636.

* Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees flocked on Monday to take a holy bath in India’s Ganges river, even as the nation racked up the world’s highest tally of new daily coronavirus infections. With 168,912 new cases, India accounts for one in six of all new infections globally, although the figure is still well below the US peak of nearly 300,000 new cases on Jan. 8.

* The United States had administered 187,047,131 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 237,796,105 doses as of Sunday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

* Talks between Britain and the European Union on part of their Brexit deal which governs trade with Northern Ireland are constructive but there are still differences on how to overcome issues that have triggered violence in the British province.

* US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Brussels on Tuesday to join Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in consulting with NATO allies and partners on range of priorities, the Department of State said on Monday.

* The leader of Israel’s ultra-nationalist Yamina party said on Monday it would back a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, potentially nudging the incumbent towards being able to build a coalition after last month’s inconclusive election.

* German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the current COVID-19 infection rate in the country was much too high, warning that the current third wave of the pandemic could prove to be the toughest yet.

* Republic of Korea plans to begin local production of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine as early as June, while five domestic companies aim to start late stage clinical trials of their own shots in the second half of this year.

* Ireland is set to restrict use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to people over the age of 60, RTE reported.

* Bulgaria’s prime minister revealed that a big new vaccine contract the EU is seeking from Pfizer-BioNTech will be at a significantly increased price.

* The number of patients in intensive care in Sweden is now higher than during the second wave, figures showed on Monday.

* Czech schools, libraries, zoos and some stores reopened on Monday as well as English shops and pub gardens, following months of coronavirus closures.

* Canada is shifting its vaccination campaign to target frontline workers, moving away from a largely age-based rollout.

* An expert panel of India’s drugs regulator recommended emergency use approval of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, sources said, while businesses in Maharashtra state reeled under new restrictions.

* Africa must expand vaccine manufacturing, including by forging partnerships to boost expertise and investment, said continental leaders and international health officials.

* Treating COVID-19 patients at home with a commonly-used inhaled asthma drug called budesonide can speed up their recovery, according to UK trial results.

* Turkey’s daily infection numbers have soared above 50,000 and it will likely tighten restrictions this week ahead of the vital tourism season, a government official said.

* South Africa extended by a further three months the deadline of a loan scheme central to efforts to counter the economic impact of COVID-19.

* The French foreign ministry on Monday said it was confirming that two French citizens had been kidnapped in Haiti.

“The first 100 beneficiaries of such foreign vaccines shall be assessed for seven days for safety outcomes before it is rolled out for further immunisation programme within the country,” the health ministry said in a statement.

* India’s health ministry said on Tuesday its drug regulator had found that safety and immunogenicity data from a local trial of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was comparable to that of a late-stage trial done in Russia.

The vaccine has now been “recommended for grant of permission for restricted use in emergency situations subject to various regulatory provisions”, the ministry said, commenting on the approval earlier confirmed by the drug’s marketing agencies.

The vaccine can now be imported, it said.

* India reported 161,736 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, hitting the world’s highest daily tally once again, for a total of 13.69 million cases, health ministry data showed.

Deaths rose by 879 to 171,058. Numbers typically fall on Tuesdays because of delayed results from tests done on weekends.

The strain, known as B.1.1.7, was identified in Britain late last year and has become the most common strain in the United States, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study in the medical journal analyzed a group of 496 Covid-19 patients who were admitted to British hospitals in November and December last year, comparing outcomes in patients infected with B.1.1.7 or other variants. The researchers found no difference in risks of severe disease, death, or other clinical outcomes in patients with B.1.1.7 and other variants.

“Our data, within the context and limitations of a real-world study, provide initial reassurance that severity in hospitalized patients with B.1.1.7 is not markedly different from severity in those without,” the researchers said in the study.

A separate study published in The Lancet Public Health medical journal found that vaccines were likely to be effective against the British variant since there was no apparent increase in reinfection rate when compared to non-U.K. variants.

According to British scientists, the British variant was about 40-70 percent more transmissible than previously dominant variants.

The studies also confirmed the previous findings that B.1.1.7 was more transmissible.