May Tokyo 2020 Olympics help achieve vaccine equity: WHO
ZURICH: World Health Organisation ( WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a Tokyo Olympics Twiter message on Tuesday that COVID-19 can be defeated if all play their part.
“Glad to be in Japan to address the International Olympics Commitee,” Tedros said in his tweet. “I’ve come with a simple but urgent message: we can defeat COVID-19, but only if everyone plays their part.
“May these Tokyo 2020 Olympics be a source of hope and unity to achieve vaccine equity and end the pandemic.”
IOC President Thomas Bach had said earlier that Tedros would be in Tokyo on Wednesday and deliver a speech to IOC members.
The WHO has advised Japanese organisers and the IOC on health measures to be taken by participants and at venues during the event from July 23 to Aug.8.
The chief of the Tokyo 2020 organising commitee on Tuesday did not rule out a last-minute cancellation of the Olympics, as more athletes tested positive for COVID-19 and major sponsors ditched plans to atend Friday’s opening ceremony.
Asked at a news conference if the global sporting showpiece might still be cancelled, Toshiro Muto said he would keep an eye on infection numbers and liase with other organisers if necessary.
“We can’t predict what will happen with the number of coronavirus cases. So we will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases,” said Muto.
UAE CASES: The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced that it conducted 255,986 additional COVID-19 tests and detected 1,541 new coronavirus cases.
MOHAP also announced 4 deaths due to COVID-19 complications.
The Ministry also noted that an additional 1,502 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19.
The Ministry also announced that 69,695 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were given in the past 24 hours.
The total number of doses provided up to Tuesday stands at 16,444,844 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 166.27 doses per 100 people.
INDIA’S DEATH TOLL: India’s excess deaths during the pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official COVID-19 toll, likely making it modern India’s worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the South Asian country.
Most experts believe India’s official toll of more than 414,000 dead is a vast undercount, but the government has dismissed those concerns as exaggerated and misleading.
The report released Tuesday estimated excess deaths - the gap between those recorded and those that would have been expected - to be 3 million to 4.7 million between January 2020 and June 2021.
It said an accurate figure may “prove elusive” but the true death toll “is likely to be an order of magnitude greater than the official count.”
The report was published by Arvind Subramanian, the Indian government’s former chief economic adviser, and two other researchers at the Center for Global Development, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, and Harvard University.
FRENCH VACCINE: The European Medicines Agency said on Tuesday it had started a “rolling review” of France’s Sanofi coronavirus jab, which could lead to authorisation for use in the European Union.
“EMA will assess the compliance of Vidprevtyn with the usual EU standards for effectiveness, safety and quality,” the agency said.
The Sanofi drug, developed with British firm GSK, joins four others on the EMA’S review list, including Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinovac.
Unlike MRNA vaccines, which need to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, the Sanofi jab can be kept closer to room temperature, potentially helping the rollout.
The jab would require two doses, like most other vaccines on the market.
It combines a Sanofi-developed antigen, which stimulates the production of germ-killing antibodies, with GSK’S adjuvant technology, a substance that bolsters the immune response triggered by a vaccine.
AUSTRALIA MOVEMENT CURBS: More than half of Australia’s 25 million people were under lockdown on Tuesday ater a third state adopted movement curbs to rein in the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.
Australia’s infections and deaths are well below other developed nations, but its use of lockdowns, prompted by a sluggish vaccination campaign, is puting pressure on the national government, with polls at their lowest in a year and just months before elections are due to be held.
South Australia, a state of 1.8 million, imposed a seven-day lockdown ater detecting five infections linked to a returned traveller, just as the neighbouring state of Victoria extended by a week a five-day lockdown that had failed to stop new cases
TEHRAN LOCKDOWN: Iran sought to contain a new record surge in COVID-19 cases, with government offices, banks and many businesses shut in the capital Tehran on Tuesday.
Already hit by the deadliest outbreak in the Middle East, the Islamic republic has been gripped by what authorities warned would be a “fith wave” driven by the aggressive Delta variant.