COVID-19 News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Pfizer jab less effective, still protects against Indian strain: study
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05- ... train.html

The Pfizer vaccine is slightly less effective but appears to still protect against the more transmissible Indian strain of the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study by France's Pasteur Institute.

"Despite slightly diminished efficacy, the Pfizer vaccine probably protects" against the Indian variant, according to laboratory test results, said Olivier Schwartz, the institute's director and co-author of the study that was published on the BioRxiv website ahead of peer review.

The study sampled 28 healthcare workers in the city of Orleans. Sixteen of them had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, while 12 had received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

People who had received two doses of Pfizer saw a three-fold reduction in their antibodies against the Indian variant, B.1.617, according to the study, but were still protected.

[Time_Traveller]

COVID-19: 'Significant chance' 21 June date for ending lockdown could change, government adviser warns

Monday 31 May 2021

There is a "significant chance" the government's target of lifting remaining lockdown restrictions from 21 June will change, a government adviser has told Sky News.

Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), cast doubt on whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be able to proceed with his timetable for easing COVID rules as planned.

He told Sky News that "things are much more up in the air" than they were earlier this month, due to the spread of the Indian variant of coronavirus in the UK.

Stage four of Mr Johnson's roadmap for lifting lockdown restrictions - when the prime minister aims to remove all legal limits on social contact - is scheduled to take place from 21 June.

But Prof Finn warned this was now "very much open to question" as he warned of England having to return to a full lockdown if the pace of reopening was later realised to have been too fast.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-sag ... r-12321212

[Yuli Ban]

Peru more than doubles death toll after review

Peru has more than doubled its Covid death toll following a review, making it the country with the world's highest death rate per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The official death toll now sits at more than 180,000, up from 69,342.

Prime Minister Violeta Bermudez told reporters that the number was raised on the advice of Peruvian and international experts.

This was in line with so-called excess deaths figures.

Excess deaths are a measure of how many more people are dying than would be expected based on the previous few years.

"We think it is our duty to make public this updated information," Ms Bermudez said.

Peru has been one of the worst-hit countries in Latin America, resulting in an overstretched healthcare system and a lack of oxygen tanks.

The official number of Covid deaths now stands at 180,764, a huge increase on the previous official figure of 69,342.

I'll be surprised if the total worldwide COVID-19 death toll thus far isn't closer to 7 to 10 million.

[Time_Traveller]

Covid-19 variants to be given Greek alphabet names to avoid stigma

Tue 1 Jun 2021

Coronavirus variants are to be named after letters of the Greek alphabet instead of their place of first discovery, the World Health Organization has announced, in a move to avoid stigma.

The WHO has named four variants of concern, known to the public as the UK/Kent (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351), Brazil (P.1) and India (B.1.617.2) variants. They will now be given the letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta respectively, to reflect their order of detection, with any new variants following the pattern down the Greek alphabet.

The decision to go for this naming system came after months of deliberations with experts considering a range of other possibilities such as Greek Gods, according to bacteriologist Mark Pallen who was involved in the talks.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... oid-stigma

[wjfox]

Covid: Zero daily deaths announced in UK for first time

7 minutes ago

The UK has announced zero daily Covid deaths within 28 days of a positive test for the first time since last March.

The latest figures also reported another 3,165 new cases, compared with 3,383 on Monday and 2,493 one week ago.

It comes amid concern over a recent small rise in cases linked to the variant first identified in India.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57320320

[weatheriscool]

Moderna seeks full FDA approval for its Covid-19 vaccine
Source: CNN

Moderna announced it has begun applying for full approval for its Covid-19 vaccine in people ages 18 and up.

The company says it will continue to submit trial data “on a rolling basis over the coming weeks with a request for a Priority Review.” A priority review asks the US Food and Drug Administration to take action within six months, compared to the 10 months designated under standard review.

Moderna announced it has begun applying for full approval for its Covid-19 vaccine in people ages 18 and up.

The company says it will continue to submit trial data “on a rolling basis over the coming weeks with a request for a Priority Review.” A priority review asks the US Food and Drug Administration to take action within six months, compared to the 10 months designated under standard review.

Read more: scroll down - https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/corona ... 58e9930c31

[Xyls]

I'll be surprised if the total worldwide COVID-19 death toll thus far isn't closer to 7 to 10 million.

I believe current estimates are ranging in the 7-13 million range. We will likely end around 15 million which I believe is one of the numbers we kind of guessed on the old forum near the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. This is still a high death toll even with lockdowns had we not done the lockdowns and let the virus run rampant this virus easily would've eclipsed the Spanish Flu and probably would've killed between 70-120 million people before it petered out imo.

[Yuli Ban]

‘No going back to normal’: 43,000 US kids lost a parent to COVID

Ebony James’s 20-year-old son sometimes sits in his car for hours after he parks inside the family’s garage. Her eight-year-old stopped sleeping in his own bed after his dad no longer sat with him reading the Bible until he fell asleep. Her 16-year-old daughter “completely shut down and just didn’t talk at all”.

This is how they are processing the sudden death of their father, Terrence, 49, from COVID-19 in February.

[wjfox]

UK hits Covid vaccine milestone as 75% of adults receive first dose

13 minutes ago

The UK has today hit an important vaccine milestone as three-quarters of adults have had a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

A total of 39,585,665 first doses have now been delivered since the vaccination roll-out began almost six months ago. This is the equivalent of 75.2% of all people aged 18 and over.

The rate is even higher in Wales where 2,152,709 first doses have been given, the equivalent of 85.3% of the adult population.

This is well ahead of the other three nations of the UK, with England now on 74.7% (33,085,145 first doses), Scotland on 74.1% (3,286,261 first doses) and Northern Ireland on 73.1% (1,061,550 first doses).

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, described the latest vaccination figures as an “incredible achievement”, with three-quarters of adults in the UK having received a first dose and 50% of adults in England having been given both jabs.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 58279.html

[wjfox]