France starts to distribute AZ Covid vaccine

France began distributing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday even as epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet warned that the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 - first identified in the UK - could be dominant in the country by March.

“Between January 7-8, the B.1.1.7 variant accounted for 3.3% of new contaminations; on January 27, it was 14% according to preliminary results from the second flash study,” Fontanet, who is also a member of the Scientific Council advising the French government on the pandemic, said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, according to a CNN report.

“This progression confirms it is 50% to 60% more transmissible than the 2020 virus. If we continue on this trajectory, with an R number of 1.5 for the English variant, we will reach 30-35% by mid-February and the number of hospital admissions will be around 2,000 a day. This variant will become dominant around March 1,” he added.

Meanwhile, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Sunday delivered a batch of coronavirus vaccines to the Pakistan military, making it the first foreign military to receive antiCovid shots directly from the Chinese armed forces.

The PLA also dispatched vaccines to the Cambodian army on Sunday, the Chinese defence ministry said. China and Pakistan consider each other close allies while Beijing’s ties with Phnom Penh are possibly the strongest among southeast Asian countries.

The Chinese defence ministry on Sunday released statements on delivering the vaccines, saying the Pakistani military was the first to receive “vaccine assistance” from their Chinese counterparts. “The PLA on Sunday delivered a batch of Covid-19 vaccines to the Pakistani military at the latter’s request and with the approval of the Central Military Commission,” China’s defence ministry said.

The PLA will continue to make positive contributions to the building of a community of common health for mankind, the statement said. It did not share details about the number of vaccine doses that were given to the Pakistan army. Last week, the first batch of 500,000 Chinese Covid-19 vaccines were sent to Pakistan, Chinese state media reported.

2 ex-footballers die after infection during TV show

CNN has reported that Iran was jolted by the recent Covid-related deaths in Tehran of two prominent ex-footballers who have represented the national team. Mehrdad Minavand, 45, and Ali Ansarian, 43, have featured in the country’s hugely popular Pro League for Persepolis FC in the past. They were reportedly infected with the virus while taking part in the TV show covering a football match.