COVID-19 IN BRIEF: Health passes in Serbia, a traffic-light system in New Zealand, and vaxxed only at Cape market
SERBIA’S HEALTH PASS
Serbia will make a Covid-19 “health pass” mandatory for access to restaurants, cafés and bars in the evenings, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said on 20 October, as the country struggles with persistently high numbers of coronavirus infections.
As of 23 October, people who want to visit indoor cafés, hotels and restaurants after 10pm will need to show a pass – a digital or paper certificate showing someone has been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from the virus.
Serbia, which has a population of 6.7 million, is struggling with a daily average of about 6,000 cases of Covid-19. So far, the country has reported more than one million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and a total of 9,214 deaths. Reuters
NEW ZEALAND SETS TARGET
New Zealand will end its strict coronavirus lockdown measures and restore more freedoms only when 90% of its eligible population is fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on 22 October.
New Zealand has been unable to beat an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant of Covid-19 centred in Auckland, forcing Ardern to abandon her elimination strategy and switch to living with the virus.
Some 68% of eligible New Zealanders are fully vaccinated and 86% have had one dose.
When the vaccine target is reached, the country will move into a traffic-light system to manage outbreaks. Vaccine certificates will be central to the system, which will use three settings – green, orange and red – to manage fresh outbreaks and cases. Reuters
NO SPUTNIK FOR SA
After an eight-month review, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has decided not to grant emergency use approval, also known as Section 21 approval, to Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
The regulatory body received an application for the jab on 23 February. Since then it has been reviewing the data supplied by the vaccine’s manufacturer to see whether it’s suitable for use in South Africa.
Concerns have emerged that the use of the adenovirus 5 as a vector, which is used in the second dose of the Sputnik vaccine, could increase men’s risk of contracting HIV.
Sahpra has safety concerns about using a vaccine like Sputnik V in South Africa because the country has a significant proportion of people infected with HIV.
MARKET MATTERS
The Lourensford Market in Somerset West in the Western Cape has made its Friday evening Twilight Markets vaccinated-only events, in line with global trends and the government public health policies for large gatherings, it says. Proof of partial vaccination will be accepted. The Twilight Market takes place from 5pm to 9pm on Fridays. In addition to market attendees needing to be vaccinated, mask-wearing is compulsory and all other Covid-19 protolcols will be in place. Lourensford’s Saturday and Sunday markets, from 10am to 3pm, will not need proof of vaccination from visitors, but from the weekend of 22 October, all vendors and their staff will need to provide proof of vaccination to enter the premises on any market day.
SCEPTICS NO LONGER
Previously vaccine-sceptical populations in Ukraine and Romania are rapidly changing their minds as they endure the Covid-19 pandemic’s deadliest wave yet.
The worsening situation prompted a record week of almost one million inoculations in Ukraine, which initially had difficulties in securing supplies of vaccines and later saw its citizens wary about taking them. Its coverage is even less than Bulgaria, the EU’s least-vaccinated member state.
With the Romanian government appealing to the EU and the World Health Organization for assistance, Bucharest is holding a three-day jab “marathon” that will be open to anyone who comes. More than 3,000 showed up on day one alone. Bloomberg/DM168