NEW DELHI – India has tested its COVID-19 vaccine system with a nationwide trial, as it prepares to roll out a vaccination program to stem the coronavirus pandemic.
The exercise on Saturday included data entry into an online platform for monitoring vaccine vaccination, as well as testing cold storage and transportation arrangements for the vaccine.
The massive exercise took place a day after a panel of experts from the government held a meeting to examine the applications of potential vaccine candidates, including the forerunner Covishield, developed by the University of Oxford and the drug manufacturer AstraZeneca in the UK .
The government plans to vaccinate 300 million people in the first phase of the vaccination program, which includes health care and frontline workers, police and military troops and those with underlying medical conditions older than 50.
India has confirmed more than 10.3 million cases of coronavirus, the second in the world in the US. More than 149,000 people died in India, third behind the US (347,000) and Brazil (195,000).
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
India, which plans to vaccinate 300 million people in the first phase, tested its delivery system for coronavirus tests with a nationwide trial of storage and delivery. Meanwhile, Tokyo’s governor Yuriko Koike is asking the national government to declare a ‘state of emergency’ to curb the rising coronavirus ‘in the name of valuing life’. Tokyo reported a daily record of 1,337 cases on New Year’s Eve and concerns are mounting ahead of the hosting of the July Olympics. In Italy, older people challenge stereotypes that they need care and protection in the midst of the pandemic and many are key workers.
California started the new year by reporting a record 585 coronavirus deaths in one day as infections escalated and hospitals reach capacity. Texas reported a record for hospitalizations for the fifth consecutive day. There were 12,481 COVID-19 patients on New Year’s Day, an increase of more than 1,750 from a week ago.
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THIS HAPPENS DIFFERENTLY:
TOKYO – Officials in Tokyo and three nearby prefectures have called on the national government to declare a state of emergency to curb the rising spread of the coronavirus.
“In the name of valuing life, we have made this plea together,” the Tokyo government’s Yuriko Koike said after he charged the minister with coronavirus measures on Saturday, along with Saitama’s governors. Chiba and Kanagawa.
Japan has recently seen an increase in reported cases of coronavirus, especially in urban areas. Tokyo had a daily record of 1,337 cases on New Year’s Eve.
There are concerns about hosting the Olympics in July, with 11,000 Olympic athletes entering Japan, as well as tens of thousands of officials and media.
“Corona knows no calendar,” says Koike. “Hospitals are filling up, affecting medical care for all.”
Japan has never had an exclusion, trying to juggle the need to keep the economy going with health risks. Premier Yoshihide Suga has been criticized for what some see as his mismanagement of the pandemic. Japan has more than 3,500 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths.
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BERLIN – The CEO of travel agent TUI, Germany, predicts a “largely normal summer” in 2021 as more and more people are vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The head of the TUI, Fritz Joussen, says that he tells Saturday’s edition of the daily newspaper Rheinische Post that the company’s market research shows that ‘people have an enormous longing to be able to travel well again after the difficult corona period.’
He said that “we are expecting a largely normal summer.” However, he added that the company only offers about 80% of the flights it undertook in the pre-pandemic years to achieve optimal occupancy. ‘
Revitalizing coronavirus infections in the fall and winter have called for national and regional restrictions on travel and hotel accommodation, along with the requirement for quarantine, which largely shut down tourism in Europe after something of a revival last summer.
Vaccinations started in Europe last month, but it will take a while for the situation to be significantly affected.
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SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea is extending strict distance rules for another two weeks as authorities try to suppress a viral revival while confirming the first case of a seemingly more contagious coronavirus variant in South Africa.
Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said on Saturday that the second highest level of distance rules would apply to the region in Seoul until January 17. He says the third highest level of restrictions will remain in other areas until then.
The curbs contain bans on social gatherings of more than five people and personal religious services. The government will require foreigners entering South Korea to submit negative virus test results from January 8.
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LONDON – The British government is facing increasing calls to keep all schools in England closed for at least two weeks due to rising coronavirus cases following another sudden reversal of policy.
The call from the National Education Union, which represents more than 450,000 members working in schools, comes after Education Minister Gavin Williamson changed his mind and said all schools for younger pupils should stay in London next week as the main battle have to fight with high levels of infection.
Mary Bousted, the union’s co-head, said the decision was ‘absolutely necessary’, but downplayed the government because they had originally planned to reopen some schools in areas where new infections were high.
The UK is in the midst of a sharp rise in new cases of coronavirus which has accused many of a new virus variant that is reportedly up to 70% more contagious.
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LOS ANGELES – California started the new year by reporting a record 585 coronavirus deaths in one day.
The state Department of Public Health said Friday that more than 47,000 new confirmed cases have been reported, bringing the total to more than 2.29 million.
Hospitals in the state ended the year on a ‘disaster’, a health official said as the pandemic drove deaths and illnesses to staggering levels, and some medical centers scrambled to provide oxygen for critically ill patients.
Gavin Newsom’s government office announced Friday that California will begin working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate and upgrade outdated oxygen delivery systems at six Los Angeles hospitals.
The collaboration comes as older hospitals maintain oxygen pressure in the aging infrastructure, and some have struggled to locate additional oxygen tanks for discharged patients to take home.
California became the third state to exceed 25,000 COVID-19 deaths since the onset of the pandemic this week.
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AUSTIN, Texas – For the fifth consecutive day, Texas reached a new record for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, in a continuing upsurge of coronavirus-induced illness after holiday gatherings and travel.
Texas reported 12,481 COVID-19 patients in state hospitals on New Year’s Day, an increase of more than 1,750 from a week ago.
State health officials on Friday reported 12,369 new, confirmed cases of the virus and another 3,658 probable cases.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, intensive care units in several parts of Texas were full or nearly full.
The grim count continued to climb as some Texans rallied to celebrate the new year, despite warnings from health officials that the congregation was likely to spread the virus further.
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CARSON CITY, Nev. Nevada reported 2315 additional known COVID-19 cases on Friday, as well as another 21 deaths due to the coronavirus.
The state’s totals since the pandemic began increased to 227,046 cases and 3,146 deaths.
Seven-day rolling averages of daily new cases and daily deaths in Nevada have dropped over the past two weeks. This is according to data from Johns Hopkins University and The COVID Tracking Project.
The number of infections is thought to be much higher than reported because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest that people can become infected with the virus without feeling sick.
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LONDON – British medical authorities warn that hospitals across the country are facing a dangerous few weeks amid emerging new coronavirus infections blaming a new virus variant.
Concerns are growing about the ability of the already protracted National Health Service to handle the expected increase in the number of people seeking treatment for COVID-19.
Field hospitals that were set up in the early days of the pandemic, but which were subsequently buttered, are reactivated.
The English director of the Royal College of Nursing says the UK is in the “eye of the storm.”
More than 55,280 new infections and another 613 deaths were recorded on Friday, which put the UK on course to recapture Italy as the country worst hit in the pandemic.
The increase in new cases is believed to be due to a new, more contagious variant of the virus first identified in London and the south-east of England.
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