January 18 coronavirus news

Pakistan’s Drug Regulatory Authority has granted approval for the use of a vaccine developed by Sinopharm, a state-run Chinese firm.

In December last year Pakistan’s minister of science Fawad Chaudhry had announced that the country would be purchasing 1.2 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine from China’s Sinopharm in early 2021.

China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine has a 79.34% efficacy, higher than its Chinese competitor Sinovac.

The Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines have been regarded as potentially affordable and easily distributed vaccine candidates. Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the Chinese shots do not require expensive cold storage.

Head here to find out more about the latest on the rollout of Chinese vaccines.

India has vaccinated at least 381,305 people since its nationwide program started on Saturday, according to a press conference by the country’s Health Ministry on Monday.

On Monday alone, 148,266 people received injections. India has given emergency approval to vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and a local pharmaceutical company, Bharat Biotech. It is unclear the breakdown of drugs used in the vaccine program’s initial stage.

Health Ministry officials also reported 580 instances where people reported adverse events following immunization and that seven people were hospitalized. 

Two deaths have also been reported, but officials say evidence does not suggest it was caused by the vaccine. 

A 53-year-old man in northern Uttar Pradesh state died on Sunday morning, a day after receiving the vaccine. A post mortem report revealed the cause of death due to cardiopulmonary disease. In southern Karnataka state, a 43-year-old man passed away on Monday after receiving the vaccine on Saturday with the cause of death also linked to cardiopulmonary failure.

“These deaths are not related to the vaccination according to the post mortem report,” health ministry officials stressed at a press conference on Monday.

More than half – 60% – of all Covid-19 cases in the United states have been reported since Election Day, according to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.

As of Monday morning, there are 23,937,331 Covid-19 cases in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University. Whereas, on the morning of Nov. 4 – the day after the US presidential election – there were a total of 9,573,836 cases.

Brazil’s government has said its nationwide coronavirus vaccination plan will start Monday afternoon.

The announcement was made earlier in the day by Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello from a São Paulo health ministry facility during a ceremony to deliver the Chinese-made Coronavac shot to state governors.

Coronavac was approved Sunday -- along with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine -- by the country’s health regulator agency Anvisa. Pazuello had previously said on Sunday the national immunization plan would begin Wednesday. However, it was moved up at the request of state governors.

Brazil has currently recorded more than 8.4 million Covid-19 infections and almost 210,000 deaths. It trails only the United States and India in total coronavirus cases.

How the vaccine will be rolled out in Brazil:

As countries across the world roll out millions of coronavirus vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) gave a frank warning about the fairness of the global situation.

"The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure" in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday, adding that "the promise of equitable access is at serious risk."

"Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic, the restrictions needed to contain it, and human and economic suffering," Tedros

The WHO chief added that "vaccine equity is not just a moral imperative, it is a strategic and economic imperative," and called for a fairer vaccine distribution across the world.

As many people postpone necessary medical care due to the pandemic, medical professionals are worried that their patients will get sick or even die from other causes.

Some 25% of Americans said that they or someone in their household had delayed medical care in the past month due to coronavirus, according to a December Kaiser Family Foundation study. An earlier report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 41% of Americans delayed medical care, including 12% who postponed urgent or emergency care.

CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor at George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, says she “certainly understand why some people have postponed their medical appointments” but expressed concern that patients are forgoing care for ongoing medical issues.

“It's important for people to check in with their doctors' offices,” she says.  

Wen advises that when making decisions about postponing appointments, consider if it could be done virtually or if that's not an option, can you combine multiple visits to reduce overall risk.

Head here to find out more about which appointments could be delayed and which you really should try and attend, as well as what precautions are worth considering.

RELATED

Don't delay medical appointments -- advice from Dr. Wen

Pandemic restrictions could be lifted from March in the United Kingdom once the most vulnerable are protected with a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a government minister.

The reopening of the country will be "gradual, it will be probably through the tiered system," and likely two to three weeks after the middle of February target for vaccinating the "top four cohorts" of vulnerable people, the vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC on Monday. 

The government plans to administer the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by February 15 to about 15 million people across the UK, including care home residents, health and social care workers, and older people.

“If we take the mid-February target -- two weeks after that you get your protection pretty much for the Pfizer/BioNTech [vaccine], three weeks for the Oxford/AstraZeneca, [then] you are protected," Zahawi said.

Iran reported 5,806 new coronavirus infections on Monday, adding to the country's case count of more than 1.3 million. It also recorded 83 new fatalities, bringing the current total death toll to 56,886.

Iran is the Middle East country hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of total cases and deaths.

The new numbers were announced by Iran’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadaat Lari in a news conference on state TV. The health ministry said 4,348 patients are currently hospitalized in intensive care units.

The Swiss ski resort of St. Moritz has quarantined two hotels and temporarily closed all ski schools to curb the outbreak of a coronavirus variant in the area.

The Swiss canton of Grisons ordered all people in the area to wear a mask in a statement after it registered the emergence of cases Sunday evening. The canton's health department did not specify which variant had appeared.

It added that mass testing of the population in the upmarket ski resort would take place on Tuesday.

Many European Alpine destinations were shuttered over the recent festive season. However, Switzerland took a different approach. The government banned public events and limited private gatherings in early December but allowed each local cantonal authority to authortize if ski resorts could open provided Covid-19 measures were put in place.

See how Verbier, Switzerland, is staying open amid pandemic: