- The German Vaccine Commission has stated that it cannot recommend the use of the AstraZeneca / Oxford coronavirus vaccine for those over 65 years of age.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a third of the African continent will be vaccinated by the end of 2021.
- The US economy shrank by 3.5% last year, the strongest fall since 1946, according to official data.
- Nearly 101 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 2.17 million have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 55.7 million patients have recovered.
This is Usaid Siddiqui from Toronto. Here are the latest updates for Thursday, January 28:
The virus has cost global tourism $ 1.3 trillion by 2020: UN
The coronavirus crisis has cost the global tourism sector a $ 1.3 trillion loss in revenue by 2020 as the number of people traveling has fallen, the UN said, calling it “the worst year in tourism history.”
Revenues lost last year amounted to “more than 11 times the losses recorded during the global economic crisis of 2009,” the World Tourism Organization in Madrid said in a statement, warning that between 100 and 120 million places Direct work in tourism are at risk.
The WHO team will visit hospitals, laboratories and the market in Wuhan
Scientists led by the World Health Organization (WHO) plan to visit hospitals, laboratories and markets in central China’s Wuhan city to investigate the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the WHO said.
“Field visits will include the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Huanan Market, the CDC Wuhan Laboratory,” the Geneva-based agency said in a tweet, adding that they will speak with some of the first COVID-19 patients at the outbreak that began in December. 2019.
The team intends to visit hospitals, laboratories and markets. Field visits will include the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Huanan Square, Wuhan CDC Laboratory. They will talk to the first respondents and some of the first # COVID-19 patients.https: //t.co/Owd6GEBoAj
– World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 28, 2021
Switzerland says deliveries of Modern COVID-19 vaccine will be delayed
Moderna has warned Switzerland that its deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine will be delayed, the Swiss Ministry of Health said, leading to deficiencies in February that the country expects the US company to compensate in March.
The delays are due to European supply problems with vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca, as well as with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, as demand for COVID-19 photos is high, but supply remains limited and production limited.
New York recorded 50% of deaths in nursing homes – AG
New York may have counted COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents by up to 50 percent, the state’s attorney general said in a report.
Attorney General Letitia James has been examining for months the discrepancies between the number of deaths reported by the state Department of Health and the number of deaths reported by homes themselves.
A patient is loaded behind an ambulance by emergency medical workers outside the Cobble Hill Health Center in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York [File: John Minchillo/AP]
The mayor of Tampa issues an outdoor mask order for the Super Bowl
Anyone visiting Tampa’s popular outdoor destinations for the Super Bowl will need to wear a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor on Wednesday signed an executive order saying that masks should be worn outside the city, in neighborhoods around Raymond James Stadium – where the Super Bowl will take place – and in other tourist spots.
About 20-25% of Russians have viral antibodies – TASS
The head of Russia’s consumer safety agency said about 20-25 percent of Russians have COVID-19 antibodies, the TASS news agency reported.
Russia’s coronavirus task force has reported 19,138 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, including 2,897 in Moscow, bringing the national total to 3,793,810 since the beginning of the pandemic.
AstraZeneca, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, defends the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine
AstraZeneca and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the effectiveness of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine after German regulators said it should not be given to people over the age of 65.
A spokesman for the UK company said the latest data from clinical trials for his vaccine, developed in conjunction with Oxford University, “support efficacy in the 65-year-old age group”.
The company is awaiting a decision from the EU medicines regulator, the spokesman added.
Mutations in France are spreading rapidly: the Minister of Health
French Health Minister Olivier Veran warned the public that coronavirus mutations spread rapidly on Thursday, as the country weighed in on the introduction of additional pandemic mitigation measures.
“What we want to avoid is an epidemic within the epidemic,” Veran told reporters, as France continued to report more than 20,000 new cases of the virus each day.
The German Jabs Council does not recommend AstraZeneca for the elderly
The German Vaccine Commission has said it cannot recommend the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for the elderly, the latest consecutive twist on the jab that has put the UK and the EU on a collision course.
The Scientific Panel, called STIKO, said the vaccine should only be used for “people aged 18 to 65, based on available data”.
Currently, there is insufficient data to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine for people aged 65 and over, the group said.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed in conjunction with Oxford University, has not yet been approved for general use in the European Union. [File: Monirul Alam/EPA]
Germany to ban certain travelers for fear of viruses
Germany is preparing entry bans for travelers from Britain, Portugal, Brazil and South Africa to limit the spread of more contagious variants of coronavirus in those countries, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Thursday.
“To protect our population, there should be no entry from regions where these virus variants are widespread,” he said on the sidelines of a virtual meeting with his EU counterparts.
One third of Africa will be vaccinated this year: WHO
Africa can expect to see at least 30% of its population immunized against COVID-19 by the end of 2021, the WHO said on Thursday as vaccines begin to leak to the continent.
It is estimated that Africa will need 1.5 billion doses of vaccine to immunize 60 percent of the 1.3 billion people, the threshold for herd immunity against COVID-19.
Funeral workers wearing personal protective equipment carry a coffin during the funeral of a COVID-19 victim, amid a nationwide blockage of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Olifantsvlei Cemetery, southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. South [File: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters]
The US economy in 2020 has the worst year since 1946
The US economy shrank by 3.5% as the COVID-19 pandemic closed large sectors of business and everyday life, according to published government data.
It was the largest contraction in the world’s largest economy since 1946, the Commerce Department said.