Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
World	110,418,822	+392,406	2,439,909
USA	28,453,526	+71,640	502,544
India	10,949,546	+12,440	156,038
Brazil	9,979,276	+57,295	242,178
Russia	4,112,151	+12,828	81,446
UK	4,071,185	+12,718	118,933
France	3,514,147	+25,018	83,122
Spain	3,107,172	+10,829	66,316
Italy	2,751,657	+12,074	94,540
Turkey	2,609,359	+7,325	27,738
Germany	2,362,364	+9,598	67,074
Colombia	2,207,701	+5,103	58,134
Argentina	2,039,124	+6,064	50,616
Mexico	2,004,575	+8,683	175,986
Poland	1,605,372	+8,694	41,308
Iran	1,542,076	+8,042	59,184
South Africa	1,496,439	+2,320	48,478
Ukraine	1,280,904	+4,286	24,689
Peru	1,252,137	+7,408	44,308
Indonesia	1,243,646	+9,687	33,788
Czechia	1,112,439	+12,591	18,682
Netherlands	1,038,156	+3,361	15,017
Canada	834,182	+2,605	21,435
Portugal	790,885	+2,324	15,649
Chile	784,314	+2,275	19,659
Romania	768,785	+2,815	19,588
Belgium	741,205	+1,717	21,750
Israel	738,629	+4,054	5,473
Iraq	653,557	+3,575	13,204
Pakistan	565,989	+1,165	12,436
Philippines	553,424	+1,184	11,577
Bangladesh	541,877	+443	8,314
Morocco	479,579	+508	8,517
Austria	437,874	+1,735	8,290
Serbia	426,487	+2,467	4,277
Japan	419,015	+1,250	7,102
Hungary	391,170	+1,548	13,931
Saudi Arabia	373,702	+334	6,445
UAE	358,583	+3,452	1,055
Jordan	355,106	+2,887	4,503
Lebanon	346,080	+2,479	4,152
Panama	333,755	+504	5,672
Slovakia	282,864	+3,168	6,168
Nepal	273,070	+125	2,055
Belarus	272,273	+1,352	1,876
Malaysia	272,163	+2,998	1,005
Ecuador	268,219	+146	15,394
Georgia	266,948	+486	3,390
Croatia	238,501	+502	5,375
Bolivia	237,706	+562	11,274
Bulgaria	233,342	+1,246	9,744
Azerbaijan	232,491	+154	3,187
Dominican Republic	231,737	+642	2,990
Tunisia	225,116	+787	7,651
Ireland	211,751	+638	4,036
Denmark	205,597	+414	2,316
Kazakhstan	204,055	+796	2,540
Costa Rica	200,888	+434	2,745
Lithuania	191,828	+383	3,118
Slovenia	181,606	+1,097	3,745
Kuwait	180,505	+1,017	1,019
Egypt	175,677	+618	10,150
Greece	174,659	+754	6,194
Moldova	172,815	+1,301	3,697
Palestine	170,527	+1,040	1,948
Armenia	169,597	+206	3,155
Guatemala	168,880	+777	6,164
Honduras	161,727	+744	3,913
Qatar	158,591	+453	256
Nigeria	149,369	+869	1,787
Ethiopia	149,308	+818	2,237
Paraguay	147,253	+1,037	2,991
Myanmar	141,690	+31	3,192
Oman	138,206	+277	1,549
Venezuela	134,319	+392	1,297
Libya	128,348	+312	2,056
Bosnia and Herzegovina	126,781	+368	4,949
Bahrain	115,057	+696	410
Algeria	111,247	+178	2,947
Kenya	103,332	+144	1,801
North Macedonia	97,803	+347	3,010
Albania	95,726	+1,075	1,600
China	89,795	+7	4,636
Kyrgyzstan	85,619	+55	1,446
S. Korea	84,946	+621	1,538
Uzbekistan	79,497	+36	622
Latvia	78,643	+946	1,508
Ghana	78,271	+1,225	565
Sri Lanka	77,906	+722	422
Zambia	71,677	+854	983
Montenegro	70,174	+404	916
Norway	67,498	+358	607
Singapore	59,821	+11	29
Afghanistan	55,557	+17	2,430
Estonia	54,300	+811	510
Luxembourg	53,329	+267	616
Mozambique	52,629	+829	561
Finland	51,595	+548	723
Uruguay	50,208	+483	553
Cuba	40,765	+824	277
Uganda	40,102	+39	331
Namibia	36,440	+74	394
Zimbabwe	35,423	+108	1,418
Cyprus	32,828	+121	227
Suriname	8,832	+12	168
Aruba	7,513	+52	69
Vietnam	2,329	+18	35

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

Covid-19 infections have fallen by two-thirds in England, study finds

From CNN’s Sarah Dean and Meera Senthilingam in London

 

 

Patients wait after receiving their Covid-19 jabs at a vaccination centre at Salisbury Cathedral on February 11, in Salisbury, England. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Covid-19 infections in England have fallen by more than two-thirds in recent weeks, initial findings from a survey on community prevalence show. 

The interim findings from the ninth report of REACT-1, a study into Covid-19 infections in England, were released Thursday by Imperial College London.

More than 85,400 volunteers were tested with throat and nose swabs in England between February 4 and 13 to examine the levels of infection in the general population.

The findings show national prevalence fell by two thirds — from 1.57% to 0.51%, or 51 per 10,000 infected. This is a significant decline in infections compared to the last report from January 6 to 22. England entered its third national lockdown of the pandemic on January. 6.

“These encouraging results show that lockdown measures are effectively bringing infections down. It’s reassuring that the reduction in numbers of infections occurred in all ages and in most regions across the country,” Paul Elliott, director of the program at Imperial, said in a statement. 

The decline in prevalence was larger in some regions, in particular in London where it fell from 2.83% to 0.54% since the last report.

“In London, South East and West Midlands, prevalence fell by around 80%, although declines were smaller in the northern regions,” the Imperial report says.

Prevalence fell substantially across all age groups with highest prevalence among 18- to 24-year-olds at 0.89% and those between the ages of 5 and 12 at 0.86%, the report adds. The report concludes that although there is a " strong decline" in prevalence of coronavirus in England among the general population five to six weeks into lockdown, it still remains high — "at levels similar to those observed in late September 2020."

There are also still more people hospitalized with Covid-19 than at the peak of the first wave in April 2020.

The UK began its mass vaccination campaign in December, offering nearly all people over 70 a vaccine during January and February. It has now given more than 15 million people a first dose.

“The fall in prevalence was similar among those aged 65 years and over compared with other age groups, suggesting that if vaccines are effective at reducing transmission as well as disease, this effect is not yet a major driver of prevalence trends. Therefore, the observed falls described here are most likely due to reduced social interactions during lockdown,” the report reads.

“We do not yet know whether being vaccinated stops someone from passing the virus on to others,” England’s Department of Health added.

However, on Tuesday the UK Office for National Statistics reported almost 41% of over-80s in England tested positive for antibodies "most likely due to the high vaccination rate in this group.”

 

 

 

EU announces bio-defense plan against Covid-19 variants

From CNN’s James Frater in London

 

 

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen looks on as she arrives at the European Parliament to explain the European Union's vaccine strategy, in Brussels, Belgium, on February 10. Johanna Geron/AFP/Getty Images

The European Union has announced a plan called the “HERA Incubator” to combat the increased threat from coronavirus variants. 

In a statement the European Commission said the HERA Incubator will “bring together researchers, biotech companies, manufacturers, regulators and public authorities to monitor variants, exchange data and cooperate on adapting vaccines.”

The core function of the HERA Incubator will be to “boost preparedness, develop vaccines for the variants and increase industrial production.” It will receive €75 million in funding to develop specialized tests for new variants, and to support genomic sequencing across the EU. 

In addition, a clinical trial network which brings together 16 EU member states and five other countries including Switzerland and Israel will be created to exchange data and findings from trials. 

The rapid spread of Covid-19 variants has raised concerns about the effectiveness of current approved vaccines against these mutations. With the emergence of the UK and South Africa variants that have been linked to a faster spread of infection, several vaccine makers and independent researchers ran additional tests to find out whether their shots are still efficient. For example, early results suggested the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines protect against the new variants, but are slightly less effective.

But a variant of Covid-19 that emerged in South Africa forced the country to pivot from using AstraZeneca vaccine to the Johnson & Johnson shot. The decision was made after preliminary trial data showed AstraZeneca’s shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by that variant.

A potential issue that may arise as the world tries to end the pandemic is having to go through months of approval processes for adapted vaccines, in attempts to catch up with emerging variants that could cause more severe illness.

The European Commission has proposed changing current regulations to allow “the approval of an adapted vaccine with a smaller set of additional data” and is considering a new category of emergency authorization of vaccines at EU level.

“New variants of the virus are emerging fast and we must adapt our response even faster,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, adding that the HERA Incubator would pull “all available resources to enable us to respond to this challenge.”

The HERA Incubator will also serve as a blueprint for the EU's long-term preparedness for health emergencies. 

European leaders will meet on February 25, when the Commission hopes they will endorse and mandate the HERA Incubator.

 

 

 

Germany reports a coronavirus outbreak in an ice cream factory

By CNN’s Stephanie Halasz

 

 

The Froneri factory is pictured on February 16 in Osnabrück, Germany. Friso Gentsch/picture alliance/Getty Images

An ice cream factory in northern Germany has been hit by an outbreak of the coronavirus, the manufacturer said in a press release Wednesday. 

Froneri said it is investigating how the virus made it into its plant in Osnabrueck.

So far, 670 staffers -- all those who had access to the plant since January 25 -- have been tested, with 210 results returning positive. Some of those cases are the UK coronavirus variant, Froneri said, without specifying a number. 

The plant will stay shut till February 26, and all plant workers are to be tested one more time.

Froneri added that there have not been physical visits to its headquarters in the UK in months, and therefore, the outbreak has not spread to the facility there.

 

 

 

World's first Covid-19 human challenge study to begin within a month in the UK

From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite

 

The world's first Covid-19 human challenge study will begin within a month in the UK, the country's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said Wednesday in a statement.

During this trial, up to 90 volunteers aged 18-30 years will be exposed to Covid-19 in a safe and controlled environment to increase understanding of how the virus affects people, the ministerial department said, adding that the study will play a "key role in developing effective Covid-19 vaccines and treatments".

What is a challenge trial? In regular Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials tens of thousands of volunteers are given an experimental vaccine and then released to live their everyday lives; researchers assume that a certain percentage of them will be exposed to the virus naturally.

In a challenge trial, by contrast, participants are deliberately dosed with virus.

Proponents of challenge trials say that they are more efficient, requiring far fewer volunteers because researchers know for certain that everyone will be exposed to the virus, and that they can deliver scientific data more quickly. 

Critics worry about exposing people to a virus for which there is no fail-safe treatment, and say that the young, healthy volunteers are not representative of the wider population.

BEIS said the version of the virus used would be the one in circulation since March 2020 -- rather than any new strains -- emphasizing that it "has been shown to be of low risk in young healthy adults."

After the initial trial, vaccine candidates which had been proved safe in clinical trials could be given to small numbers of volunteers, the department said.

Earlier this week the UK hit its target of offering a first dose of vaccine to 15 million people by mid-February.

 

Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-02-18-21/index.html

 

 

 

A coronavirus vaccine nears final tests in Cuba, and tourists may get inoculated

By Ed Augustin and Natalie Kitroeff

 

Mayelin Mejias working at the Finlay Vaccine Institute in Havana last month. The first of four vaccines being developed in Cuba will soon enter a final phase of testing.Credit...Yamil Lage/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 

The Cuban government says it is on the brink of an extraordinary scientific achievement: the mass production of a coronavirus vaccine invented on the island.

One of the four vaccines developed by Cuban scientists will enter a final phase of testing next month, a crucial step toward regulatory approval that, if successful, could put the island on the path to inoculate its entire population and begin exports by year’s end.

If the vaccine proves safe and effective, it would represent a significant political victory for the Cuban government — and a chance to rescue the nation from economic ruin. For a country that has for decades touted its sophisticated health care system as evidence of the benefits of socialism, the vaccine also offers a unique public relations opportunity.

The vaccine heading for a final phase of trials is called Sovereign 2, in a nod to the pride the island takes in its autonomy, despite decades of hostility from its neighbor to the north. Already, Cuba is floating the idea of enticing tourists to its shores with the irresistible cocktail of sun, sand and a shot of Sovereign 2.

Vicente Vérez, one of the scientists leading the team that developed the vaccine, has said that the island could offer vaccinations to all foreigners who travel there.

Cuban scientists say the government will probably give away some doses to poor countries, in keeping with its longstanding practice of strengthening international relations by donating medicine and sending doctors to address public health crises abroad.

Cuba began to pour money into biotech in the 1980s, as part of Fidel Castro’s drive to make the nation self-sufficient in the face of a U.S. embargo that made it difficult to obtain drugs produced abroad. That investment gave rise to dozens of medical research institutions and a surplus of doctors who can travel on those medical missions.

In 2019, the leasing of doctors, nurses and technicians brought in $5.4 billion, twice as much as tourism, a major driver of the economy.

As for the biotech sector, Cuba makes eight of the 12 vaccines administered to children on the island and exports vaccines to more than 30 countries.

The plan to open Covid-19 vaccination to tourists appears to some to be a risky and shrewdly capitalist gambit to attract visitors, and with them the hard currency the island desperately needs. The combination of the pandemic and sanctions have created the worst economic crisis the country has experienced since the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, experts say.

Cuban scientists, however, insist the goal is to spread health. Any profit, they say, is merely a side effect.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/17/world/covid-19-coronavirus/a-coronavirus-vaccine-nears-final-tests-in-cuba-and-tourists-may-get-inoculated

 

 

 

Japan finally begins vaccinations, with the Olympics looming

 

 

Japan’s late start on vaccines has raised questions about whether it will be ready to host the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin in Tokyo this July after a one-year delay. Credit...Koji Sasahara/Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan began its national coronavirus vaccination program on Wednesday, starting with the first of 40,000 medical workers and planning to reach the general population by the summer.

The comparatively late start has raised questions at home and abroad about whether the country will be ready to host the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin in Tokyo this July after the pandemic forced a one-year delay.

Japan has managed to keep coronavirus infection levels relatively low and, so far, has recorded around 7,200 deaths. But the authorities declared a one-month state of emergency in early January, after daily case counts reached nearly 8,000. They have since extended it until at least the beginning of March, partly in response to more contagious coronavirus variants.

The vaccine rollout has been slower than in many other developed countries in part because the authorities requested that Pfizer run separate medical trials in Japan. That reflected some public ambivalence toward vaccinations, a general sense of caution that most recently surfaced after media reports about rare side effects related to vaccines for HPV.

Speaking to the news media on Tuesday, Taro Kono, the minister in charge of the rollout, emphasized that it was important to “show the Japanese people that we have done everything possible to prove the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.”

While that slowed the program’s start, he said, “We think it will be more efficient.”

Major obstacles to a rapid rollout remain. Japan relies on other countries for its entire vaccine supply and is still working to approve the vaccines from AstraZeneca and Moderna. It is also short of the special syringes that would allow its doctors to extract an extra, sixth dose from each vial supplied by Pfizer.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Mr. Kono said the vaccination program was not linked to the Games.

Speaking on Wednesday, the governor of Shimane Prefecture, which has recorded only 280 cases, threatened to pull it out of activities around the Olympic torch relay for fear of spreading infection.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/17/world/covid-19-coronavirus/japan-finally-begins-vaccinations-with-the-olympics-looming

 

 

 

Summary

 

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

· US agents seized 10m fake N95 masks. US federal agents have seized more than 10 million fake 3M brand N95 masks in recent weeks, the result of an ongoing investigation into counterfeits sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies.

· Hong Kong has fast-tracked China’s Sinovac vaccine approval. Hong Kong’s government on Thursday approved the Chinese-made Sinovac coronavirus vaccine for emergency use after a panel of experts fast-tracked its recommendation despite the drug’s comparatively low efficacy.

· India will make Covid molecular tests mandatory for people arriving directly or indirectly from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil in a bid to contain the spread of more infectious virus variants found in those countries.

· The United Nations on Wednesday led calls for a coordinated global effort to vaccinate against Covid-19, warning that gaping inequities in initial efforts put the whole planet at risk. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced alarm that just 10 nations have administered 75 percent of doses so far - and 130 countries have received no doses.

· Demand for UK nursing degrees has risen by a third during the pandemic. The Covid pandemic has inspired a new generation of students to become nurses, with a third more applying to study the subject at university than last year, though professional leaders say the rise only brings numbers back to the level of five years ago.

· Australia will begin its first coronavirus vaccinations from Monday in about 240 aged care homes across more than 190 locations around the country. The rollout will begin with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, with the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine due to join the rollout from early March.

· Covid infections in England fall by two-thirds but spreading fastest among young, a study suggests. The React 1 study from Imperial College London points to the third national lockdown having significantly curbed the spread of the coronavirus despite the emergence of new variants.

· New Zealand’s birthrate dropped to its lowest ever level in 2020, well below the population replacement rate of 2.1. According to Statistics New Zealand, the country’s total fertility rate dropped to 1.61 births per woman of child-bearing age (15–49 years), the latest fall in a decade-old trend.Most babies registered in 2020 were conceived before New Zealand moved to Covid-19 lockdown on 25 March last year, said Hamish Slack at Statistics NZ.

· Devastating winter storms sweeping the US have injected confusion and frustration into the US Covid-19 vaccination drive, snarling deliveries and forcing the cancellation of thousands of shots around the country.Across a large swath of the US, including deep south states such as Georgia and Alabama, the snowy, slippery weather either led to the closing of vaccination sites outright or held up the necessary shipments, with delays expected to continue for days.

· BioNTech says it will provide vaccines to Taiwan, talks ongoing. Germany’s BioNTech SE plans to provide Covid vaccine to Taiwan, the company said, after the island complained the firm in December pulled out of a deal to buy 5 million doses at the last minute, possibly due to Chinese pressure.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/feb/18/coronavirus-live-news-un-says-130-countries-have-not-received-a-single-vaccine-dose?page=with:block-602e0dc38f08bdbed283a295#block-602e0dc38f08bdbed283a295