“‘Long covid’ is still poorly understood but we hope through our research that we can contribute to better identification and management of this condition, which our data and others’ suggest may ultimately affect millions of people in the UK alone,” said Paul Elliott, an Imperial College epidemiologist who led the covid study, according to the BBC.
Here are some significant developments:
Merkel is fully vaccinated — and with mixed vaccine doses to dissuade public fears
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is fully vaccinated — but each of her two shots were from a different vaccine in a move meant to reassure the public not to worry about mixing doses if advised to by a doctor.
Merkel, 66, had her first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine on April 16 and her second of the Moderna vaccine this week, her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
“She can now perhaps take away the fears of people … who were or are worried about this so-called cross-vaccination,” he said.
When Merkel received the AstraZeneca in April, fears were rising over reports of the vaccine possibly causing very rare but serious blood clots. This led many people to opt out of taking that version of the vaccine, despite global shortages in doses.
Merkel’s decision to take AstraZeneca at that time also intended to counter the public’s fears, Seibert said.
Scientists say its safe to mix and match two-dose coronavirus vaccines based on preliminary data, though further studies are still underway. (The vaccine produced by Johnson and Johnson requires just one dose.)
Some countries facing shortages or delays in vaccine doses, such as Germany, have advised people to do so in consultation with their medical providers. Though some vaccines rely on different technologies than others, scientists say it should be safe as the ultimate end goal — building up antibodies to fight off the virus causing covid-19 — is the same.
Israel postpones reopening border to vaccinated tourists over delta variant fears
Israel has postponed plans to reopen its borders to vaccinated tourists in light of rising fears over the infectious delta variant’s spread.
The government had set July 1 as its target and said details about infection-control measures for tourists were still under discussion.
But on Wednesday Israel’s newly established coronavirus cabinet said it was pushing the date back to Aug. 1 amid concerns about outbreaks of the delta variant inside Israeli schools and the likelihood for cases to spread further once more international travel resumes.
“Our goal at the moment, first and foremost, is to protect the citizens of Israel from the Delta variant which is raging in the world,” newly appointed Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. “At the same time, we want to reduce as much as possible the disruption to daily life in the country. Therefore, we decided to act as early as possible — right now — so as not to pay a heavier price later on, by taking responsible and quick actions.”
Both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories depend heavily on tourism, which has been all but stopped by the coronavirus pandemic. Some groups of vaccinated tourists were allowed in beginning in May.
After an aggressive campaign to vaccinate Israeli citizens, life inside Israel has largely returned to pre-pandemic life.
But the vaccination program’s final leg has now hit a snag as cases of the highly contagious delta variant have started to climb, driven by outbreaks inside schools where vaccination rates are lowest. The government has urged parents to vaccinate children ages 12 to 15-years-old, the youngest demographic approved for the coronavirus vaccine inside Israel.
Bennet on Wednesday said that his government would also reimpose an indoor face mask mandate if new covid-19 cases exceed one hundred for at least a week.
Singapore sets out plan for living with ‘new normal’ of covid
Singapore’s success at containing the virus has relied largely on two lockdowns, strict disease surveillance and sealed borders, coupled with one of Asia’s fastest inoculation programs. But as distancing fatigue grows in one of the world’s smaller countries, its leaders have sketched out what a future living with the virus might look like.
Singapore is already set to vaccinate about two-thirds of its residents with at least one dose by early July. “Our next milestone will be to have at least two-thirds of our population fully vaccinated with two doses [by mid August],” wrote Gan Kim Yong, Lawrence Wong and Ong Ye Kung, ministers leading the country’s covid response, in an editorial for the state-affiliated Straits Times.
The trio said that data from Israel suggested that the hospitalization and fatality rates for a country that had achieved herd immunity would be comparable to those of a typical flu season in the United States. All of the roughly 120 fully vaccinated people in Singapore who were later infected — but who were not originally in a hospital or nursing home — were either asymptomatic or only had mild symptoms, they said. (The country’s national vaccination program is built on Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots.)
They also said that testing would continue to play an important role, particularly at the border. This suggests that unlike the European Union and United States, where some international travelers no longer need a negative test to enter, Singapore intends to keep some virus controls at its frontier.
But within the country, testing would be used less as a tool for disease surveillance and more to ensure large events can go ahead safely. Rapid antigen tests, which are less sensitive but also much less invasive than “gold standard” polymerase chain reaction tests, could be more widely used.
Left unsaid was what would happen to TraceTogether, acontact tracing program that has raised questions over privacy rights in Singapore.
The Southeast Asian island nation has logged over 62,000 infections and 35 deaths since the start of the pandemic. At least 36 percent of its residents are fully inoculated.
NEA widens pool of arts groups eligible for $80 million in pandemic relief
The National Endowment for the Arts announced Wednesday that it will make $80 million in pandemic relief available to more arts and cultural organizations, including first-time applicants and those that have never received support from the federal arts agency.
The relief funds will also support local arts agencies that will distribute the federal dollars to grass-roots organizations in their communities. The NEA hopes to significantly increase access to federal funds with this more inclusive approach, said Sonia Chala Tower, NEA director of public affairs and strategic communication and one of four officials President Biden appointed to the agency in January.
“We know that arts organizations large and small have been impacted by the pandemic. The arts sector was hit extremely hard. This funding will be critical. It will be a lifeline,” Tower said. “The goal is to really make sure we are providing resources to the arts community. It’s about rebuilding the creative community.”
Brazil sets national infections record as new coronavirus cases, deaths hit world’s worst
Brazil reported a national record of 115,228 new confirmed coronavirus cases in 24 hours, its Health Ministry said Wednesday, as its devastating third wave of infections shows no signs of relenting.
The country’s seven-day average for new infections and deaths is now the highest in the world, according to Our World in Data, which tracks publicly available figures.
Cases had dipped in April after a previous peak, raising hopes that the third wave was subsiding in the South American nation of more than 200 million people. But new infections and deaths have soared over the past two weeks, with around 2,000 people with covid-19 dying per day. Last week, the country’s death toll due to the pandemic surpassed 500,000, second only to the United States.
The spike comes despite Brazil boosting its sluggish vaccination program over the past two months. The country has fully vaccinated around 12 percent of its population.
Last week, thousands across Brazil protested President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic. Bolsonaro has routinely downplayed the threat of the virus and the efficacy of social distancing and masks. Earlier this month he was fined for leading motorcycle-riding supporters through the streets of Sao Paulo, a few weeks after he was fined for not wearing a mask at another rally.
Weighted Hula-Hoops: ‘Feel like a kid again’ with this pandemic fitness trend
Wang was smitten. Hooping was a great way to spice up her usual workouts, far more entertaining than, say, jogging on a treadmill. And it worked: She’s seen benefits from months of frequently using her 3.6-pound hoop, usually for about 15 to 30 minutes at a time. “It’s fun and different,” said Wang, 25, a content creator who lives in Philadelphia. “I feel like it definitely strengthened my abs, and my core section is just stronger in general.”
Though they’ve existed for more than a decade, weighted Hula-Hoops have emerged as a social media favorite during the pandemic, enticing fitness enthusiasts looking for new, affordable and convenient ways to work out at home with the promise of childlike fun.
Federal health officials cite ‘likely association’ between coronavirus vaccines and rare heart issues in teens, young adults
Federal health officials said Wednesday there is a “likely association” between two coronavirus vaccines and increased risk of a rare heart condition in adolescents and young adults, the strongest assertion so far on the link between the two.
Data presented to advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adds to recent findings, most notably from Israel, of rare cases of myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — predominantly in males ages 12 to 39, who experience symptoms after the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Most cases have been mild and have taken place several days to a week after the second shot, officials said. Chest pain is the most common symptom. Patients generally recover from symptoms and do well.
There have been 1,226 reports of myocarditis out of about 300 million mRNA doses administered in the United States, as of June 11, according to Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC vaccine safety official.
"had" - Google News
June 24, 2021 at 03:40PM
https://ift.tt/3zQFqbr
Covid-19 live updates: Over 2 million in England may have had ‘long covid,’ women and poor vulnerable - The Washington Post
"had" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KUBsq7
https://ift.tt/3c5pd6c
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Covid-19 live updates: Over 2 million in England may have had ‘long covid,’ women and poor vulnerable - The Washington Post"
Post a Comment