EU agency says MRNA vaccines promising against India variant
Deaths swelled by a record 4,205, while infections rose to 348,421 in 24 hours, health ministry data showed. Experts believe the actual numbers could be five to 10 times higher
THE HAGUE: Coronavirus vaccines using MRNA technology like Pfizer-biontech and Moderna appear able to “neutralise” the variant of COVID-19 behind India’s outbreak, the EU’S drug watchdog said on Wednesday.
There was “promising evidence” that such jabs could counter the B.1.617 variant of Covid-19, first found in India in October and now in dozens of countries around the world, the European Medicines Agency ( EMA) said.
“The data seems to be rather reassuring on the fact that at least the messenger RNA vaccines will be able to neutralise this variant, at least to an extent that will guarantee sufficient protection,” Marco Cavaleri, the EMA’S head of vaccine strategy, told a news conference.
The Amsterdam-based regulator was “monitoring very closely” the data emerging about the Indian variant, he added.
Cavaleri said the EMA also believed rival vaccines using viral vector technology would be effective but they were waiting for “real world data” from the use of a version of Astrazeneca’s vaccine in India.
“So far overall we are prety confident overall that the vaccines generally will be covering this variant,” the Italian said.
The World Health organisation said Wednesday that a variant of COVID-19 behind the acceleration of India’s explosive outbreak has been found in dozens of countries all over the world.
The UN health agency said the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, first found in India in October, had been detected in more than 4,500 samples uploaded to an open-access database “from 44 countries in all six WHO regions”.
“And WHO has received reports of detections from five additional countries,” it said in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic.
Outside of India, it said that Britain had reported the largest number of Covid cases caused by the variant.
Earlier this week, the WHO declared B.1.617 -- which counts three so-called sub-lineages with slightly different mutations and characteristics -- as a “variant of concern”.
India’s coronavirus death toll passed 250,000 on Wednesday as the World Health organisation said the variant fuelling the surge had been found in dozens of countries across the globe.
While vaccinations have helped to ease the pandemic crisis in the United States and Europe, India is in the grip of a devastating wave.
Another 4,205 deaths were on Wednesday confirmed over the previous 24 hours, a national record, taking total fatalities to 254,197.
The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced that 1,508 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the UAE to 540,646.
As part of its intensified testing campaign, MOHAP announced it conducted 210,362 additional COVID-19 tests over the past 24 hours, using state-of-the-art medical testing equipment.
MOHAP also announced two deaths due to COVID-19 complications, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 1,619.
The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha), the UAE’S largest health care network, in coordination and cooperation with the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi, announced the availability of the Pfizer-biontech COVID-19 vaccine at Dubai Parks Centre and the National Screening Centre in Ajman that are affiliating with Seha.
Those wishing to receive the vaccine can book an appointment through the “Seha” application at these two centers, the Abu Dhabi health body said.
It stressed the importance of taking the COVID-19 vaccine in order to speed up the recovery process in the UAE and protect members of the community.
In Abu Dhabi city, the Pfizer vaccine is available at Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) facilities at Al Zaafaranah Diagnostic and Screening Centre, Madinat Mohamed Bin Zayed
Healthcare Centre, Al Bahia Healthcare Centre.
In Pakistan, Chairman of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and Federal Minister Asad Umar said on Wednesday that the registration of coronavirus vaccination for citizens aged 30 to 39 will be open from Sunday (May 16). This is the first time that the age limit has been reduced to thirty years.
Umar said in a tweet that as vaccine supply continues to improve and vaccination capacity gets enhanced in all provinces, the government continues to expand the categories of those who are eligible to get vaccinated. “As vaccine supply continues to improve and vaccination capacity gets enhanced in all federating units, we continue to expand the categories of those who are eligible to get vaccinated,” Umar said on Twiter. “Starting Sunday, the 16th of May, registration will be open to all 30 years and older citizens,” the official added.
Coronavirus cases are exploding in Asia and the Pacific with over 5.9 million new confirmed infections in the past two weeks, more than in all other regions combined, the International Federation of the Red Cross said Wednesday.
It warned that the surge is pushing hospitals and health systems to the brink of collapse.
India’s coronavirus death toll passed 250,000 on Wednesday but comparisons of official data with those from people on the frontlines suggested the true number is several times higher.
Deaths swelled by a record 4,205 while infections rose 348,421 in the 24 hours to Wednesday, health ministry data showed.
Experts believe the actual numbers could be five to 10 times higher, however.
Across the vast nation, the devastating Covid-19 wave has overwhelmed hospitals with patients and crematoriums with bodies, and many coronavirus deaths are not being properly recorded as such.
Experts say the official quarter-million death count is hugely underreported.
“Even three to four times would be an underestimate,” Anant Bhan, an independent health policy and bioethics researcher, said.
Harrowing images from overwhelmed crematoriums, graveyards, and even makeshit funeral pyres have highlighted the scale of the crisis.
Bodies of suspected Covid-19 victims have also been seen floating down the holy Ganges river.
The discrepancies appear particularly stark in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
In Rajkot in the west of the state, the official death toll between April 1-23 was 154, yet the city’s own health officials put it at 723.
And in Bharuch, the official count for the same period was just 23 but there were 600 funerals.
Gujarat’s chief minister Vijay Rupani insisted that the state was following guidelines from the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Those say only deaths directly caused by Covid-19 can be recorded as such, but not fatalities triggered by co-morbidities - when a patient had heart problems and dies of cardiac arrest, for instance.
Even before the pandemic, just 22 per cent of the nearly 10 million annual deaths in India were medically certified, and experts say the spike in funerals points to the same happening with Covid-19 fatalities.
The surge has pushed the Aishbagh Burial Ground in Lucknow, capital of Utar Pradesh state, to the brink.
Hafiz Abdul Mateen from the graveyard told AFP it handled four to five burials a day before the pandemic.
“Today, 45 bodies of Covid victims have been buried here,” he said.
“We’ve increased the number of gravediggers but that’s also not enough as these men are geting tired and falling sick.” The official figures for deaths in some other states including Utar Pradesh and Haryana also do not align with the number of funerals.
Media reports have also suggested that the official numbers for the capital New Delhi also fall well short of the reality.
“Our estimate is 50 per cent of Covid-19 deaths are not registered by the government,” Jitender Singh Shanty, in charge of one of Delhi’s 26 crematoriums, told AFP.
Health economist and research Rijo M. John described the situation as a “batle for data, data sharing and transparency.”
But a spokesperson for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party denied allegations of undercounting or political motivations behind the mismatch in fatality numbers.
“It is not possible for anyone to hide the numbers in this age and time,” R.P. Singh told AFP. Despite the assurances, some are not convinced. “There is massive unde reporting of deaths and cases,” said college student Sonalika Sahay, 22.
“The government is saying the positivity rate is coming down and the situation is improving. How can it be possible when corpses are being dumped in rivers in dozens?”
Across India overwhelmed hospitals have been unable to treat people and there have too many bodies for crematoriums to deal with, and many Covid-19 deaths are not properly recorded as such.
Bodies being burnt in car parks and other public places have highlighted the scale of the crisis.
Bodies have also been seen floating down the holy Ganges river, stoking concerns that the virus is now raging in India’s vast rural hinterland where two-thirds of people live and where health care is patchy.