January 31 coronavirus news

The health ministry of Iran has warned of a fourth wave of Covid-19, that could cause coronavirus cases to surge in coming weeks, in a news ticker on Iran’s state-run TV.

The country reported 6,268 new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the country's total number to 1,417,999.

The new numbers were announced by Iran’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadaat Lari in a news conference on state TV.

She also reported 70 new deaths from Covid-19, bringing the country's death toll to 57,959.

The health ministry said 3,932 patients are hospitalized in ICU.

The country continues to keep restrictions in place to try and avoid a larger outbreak of cases.

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

Former US President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" sanctions, have hampered the Covid-19 fight, say Iranian officials and doctors.

The European Union’s decision to invoke a safeguard in its post-Brexit agreement with the United Kingdom amid a vaccine row was a “very foolish thing to do,” former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday.

The EU startled Belfast, London and Dublin on Friday when it said that it was willing to use Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol -- an emergency clause allowing either the UK or the EU to take unilateral measures should the agreement be deemed to be causing “economic, societal or environmental difficulties.” The triggering of Article 16 would have restricted any effort to use Northern Ireland as a backdoor to the rest of the UK to circumvent export controls amid a row between the UK and the bloc over supplies of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Speaking on Sky News in a pre-recorded interview released on Sunday, Blair said: “It was a very foolish thing to do. Fortunately, they withdrew it very quickly. It remains -- and I was someone who negotiated the Good Friday Agreement -- it’s brought peace to the island of Ireland and it’s absolutely vital we protect it.”

“That’s why what the European Commission did was unacceptable,” he added.

Tony Blair was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom when the Good Friday Agreement with the Republic of Ireland was signed and came into force on December 2, 1999.

In Los Angeles County, a Facebook user said last year that public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer should be shot. In Kentucky, the governor announced in early January that public health commissioner Dr. Steven Stack's home had been vandalized. And the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has faced threats serious enough that one source previously told CNN he required personal security from law enforcement at all times.

Health leaders from coast to coast shared similar stories: As they sprung to action to help combat rising coronavirus infections, they became the target of public anger and were harassed by groups who accused them of lying and limiting their freedoms.

The impact has been devastating -- not only on health leaders' physical and mental health but on a struggling public health field that was already in desperate need of its officers. More than 180 health officials have resigned, retired or been fired during the pandemic, according to the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), which represents the country's nearly 3,000 local health departments.

"Losing leaders now at that rapid rate is extremely alarming," NACCHO CEO Lori Tremmel Freeman told CNN. "We have to stop the bleeding now so that we can continue through this response but also be prepared for the next time we have to deal with a public health emergency."

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United Arab Emirates announced it will launch the Vaccine Logistics Alliance to "equitably distribute" 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines in 2021, according to a statement released by the Government of Dubai Media Office.

The alliance will bring together Emirates airline, logistics company DP World, Dubai Airports, pharmaceutical manufacturer, and other government agencies to transport the vaccines.

"The distribution will particularly focus on emerging markets, where populations have been hard-hit by the pandemic, and pharmaceutical transport and logistics are challenging," according to the statement.

In December the People's Vaccine Alliance said rich countries had bought enough Covid-19 vaccine doses to immunize their populations three times over, but that developing countries are being left behind in the global sprint to end the pandemic.

In 67 poorer nations, just one in 10 people can hope to receive a vaccine by the end of 2021, the international vaccine watchdog added.

The group urged pharmaceutical companies to share their technology and intellectual property with the World Health Organization and urged governments to commit to sending vaccines to the developing world, in order to close the economic disparity between nations as they look to emerge from the devastating Covid-19 crisis.

Tentative optimism has emerged about an exit route from the pandemic as multiple forms of Covid-19 shots are rolled out across the UK and Europe.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has pledged that every British adult will be offered a Covid-19 vaccine by the autumn of 2021, following pressure to ramp up vaccination as cases in the country continue to rise, with more than 3.7 million infections reported to date.

But while most people will benefit from Covid-19 vaccines, those with impaired immune systems may not respond to them in the same way as their peers.

Danielle Seal likens going for a walk during the pandemic to an extreme sport.

"When I go [and walk] the dog I have to ask people to stay two meters away," she told CNN. "And that's what really upsets me. If you try and squeeze past me, you are putting my life in danger. Going for a walk is an adrenaline-seeking extreme sport."

Seal has Common Variable Immunodeficiency Disorder (CVID), a type of primary immune deficiency (PID). This means that her body does not produce protective antibodies to defend itself against pathogens like bacteria or viruses, leaving Seal and others like her extremely vulnerable to infections -- even without a global pandemic.

The 45-year-old has taken extreme care during the crisis to avoid contracting Covid-19, but her situation is unlikely to change in the long-term, even as governments fixate on the glimmer of hope provided by vaccines against the coronavirus.

"Many individuals who are clinically extremely vulnerable will have some degree of immunosuppression or be immunocompromised and may not respond as well to the vaccine," reads the advice from Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI.)

This is because vaccines are designed to generate an immune response from the human body, by causing it to produce antibodies and T-cells that help fight specific infections. But for people with immune deficiencies, the body may just make a few of these antibodies or T-cells — or none at all — leaving them vulnerable to infection.

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Nine children with symptoms of Covid-19 have died in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in the Amazonas state of Brazil, according to Júnior Hekurari Yanomami, the President of the Yanomami and Ye’kuana District Council for Indigenous Health.

The children were between the ages of 1 and 5 according to Yanomami, and each showed symptoms of Covid-19 including a high fever.

Five of the children were from the Kataroa village and four of them were from Waputha, Yanomami said, adding that health clinics in both villages closed down two months ago - leaving only one health worker there during that period. 

"We are requesting the government to send help immediately. The health professionals we have inside the Yanomami territory are insufficient. The second wave is being harsh on us, it has spread throughout the whole territory," Yanomami said.

According to Yanomami, there are 45 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Surucucu village, another village in the Amazonas state. Four of the cases are children with severe conditions who were moved to a hospital in the neighboring state of Roraima. 

Before December 20, there had not been any cases of Covid-19 among the nuns living at the Motherhouse campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters in Adrian, Michigan.

Now, nine have died from the disease following an outbreak that saw 48 of the campus' 217 residents test positive -- 13 active Covid-19 cases remain and 26 people are recovering, Adrian Dominican Sisters said in a statement.

"We spent nine months keeping the coronavirus at bay. Right before Christmas, it slipped in," Sister Patricia Siemen told CNN affiliate WDIV. Siemen is the order's prioress, or leader.

The nine sisters died between January 11 and 26. Most of the sisters were already at high risk due to existing health issues, WDIV reported.

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9 nuns die of Covid-19 after outbreak at Adrian Dominican Sisters campus in Michigan

South Korea is extending its social distancing measures for another two weeks until after the Lunar New Year holiday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a televised speech on Sunday.

Chung said the decision didn’t come lightly, and apologized to business owners, but he stressed the importance of keeping strict rules due to the upcoming holiday from February 11 to February 13.

The Seoul Metropolitan Area is currently at Level 2.5 on the scale of social distancing restrictions -- the second-highest level -- with the rest of the country at the lower Level 2.

Under the current rules, restaurants in Seoul and surrounding areas are only allowed to receive take out and delivery orders after 9 p.m., and spectators are banned at sporting events.

The Prime Minister emphasized on Sunday that the government is committed to bringing back normal daily life as soon as possible by stabilizing the infection rate.

South Korea recorded 355 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA.)

Western Australia state is imposing a five-day lockdown for three areas -- Perth metropolitan area, Peel region and the South West region -- after a hotel security guard tested positive for Covid-19.

Starting at 6 p.m. on Sunday, these regions will go into a "full lockdown" until 6 p.m. on Friday, announced state premier Mark McGowan on Sunday.

Under this restriction:

The positive case is a man in his 20s working the Sheraton Four Points hotel, McGowan said. There were four active cases at the hotel while the employee was on shift, two of which were identified as the UK strain and one the South African strain.

"We are told the guard was working on the same floor, as a positive UK variant case," McGowan said. The man had worked two 12-hour shifts on January 26th and 27th, and said it's possible the man contracted the UK strain, though authorities are still investigating exactly how he was infected.

Officials are calling on all people who visited a specified list of venues on a certain date to get tested. All close contacts of the man are required to quarantine for 14 days.

"Western Australians have done so well for so long but this week it is absolutely crucial that we stay home, maintain physical distancing and personal hygiene and get tested if you have symptoms," McGowan said.