February 9 coronavirus news

New figures released by Russia’s federal statistics agency Monday indicate as many as 162,429 deaths in Russia were related to Covid-19 in 2020, a figure much higher than previously reported.

Russia officially reported 57,555 deaths from Covid-19 in 2020, according to data from the country’s coronavirus task force that is published on an easily accessed web page. But figures released by the agency, Rosstat, are less readily accessible: They are available online -- but buried in monthly spreadsheets.

The data published Monday reports a cumulative total of 162,429 Covid-19 deaths between April and December 2020. The figure includes deaths directly attributed to coronavirus infection and those cases where coronavirus was a contributing factor as well as deaths from other underlying causes where Covid-19 was present. 

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, the top official in charge of the country's coronavirus response, said in December that "more than 81%” of the rise in fatalities the country had seen in 2020 was due to Covid-19, without giving the exact number of fatalities from the virus. Based on Golikova's assessment and the overall year-on-year increase in deaths reported by Rosstat, as many as 262,000 Russians could have died from coronavirus last year, by CNN's calculation.  

December was also one of the deadliest months on record for Russia: Rosstat said that 243,235 people died in December 2020, making it the deadliest month Russia has seen in years. The statistics agency said 44,435 of these deaths were people with coronavirus or suspected coronavirus, but added that in 10,820 of those cases the presence of the virus did not “contribute to the death in any way.”

Russia’s counting method, which allows ascribing deaths in coronavirus-infected patients to other causes, has been highly questioned by independent observers and critics.

Based on figures released by Rosstat Monday, Russia would rank as the country with the third-highest cumulative number of Covid-19 deaths in 2020.

Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 response team, has said that despite progress in vaccinations, Americans should not “quit early” in the midst of the pandemic — particularly because of the emergence of variants.  

But Slavitt also said Americans should take comfort in seeing large numbers of seniors and people in nursing homes getting vaccinated. 

“Should we have a wave, our hope is that many, many more people will be protected, unlike the last waves we have had,” he said. 

Slavitt also added that he’s hopeful that vaccine supply and sequencing abilities will increase over time.

Watch:

Peru began distributing China’s Sinopharm vaccine on Tuesday morning, with frontline health care workers taking priority during the first phase of the rollout.

The country has taken part in the Sinopharm vaccine’s clinical trials since last year and becomes the first Latin American country to roll out the Chinese vaccine.

A group of doctors at Lima’s Arzobispo Loayza Hospital were the first to receive the vaccine on Tuesday morning, state news agency Andina reported.

President Francisco Sagasti is expected to be vaccinated later on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Peru received its first shipment of 300,000 doses of China's Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, and expects to receive the remaining 700,000 doses on February 14. The armed forces will be in charge of the vaccine’s distribution across the country.

On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister, Elizabeth Astete, announced her government has reached an agreement with Pfizer for the supply of 20 million doses of their vaccine, state news agency Andina reported.

Astete told a Congress Committee that 250,000 doses will arrive in March and at least 300,000 in April, Andina reported.

"We were assured that Peru will have received a minimum of 5,750,000 vaccines by July 1, and the supply will increase significantly to 20 million since then," Astete said. 

Astete also told lawmakers her government has signed an agreement to receive 6.6 million doses from Pfizer and AstraZeneca via the Covax programme to vaccinate 20% of the population.

President Sagasti, who took office in November, has faced criticism for the delay in reaching a supply agreements for the vaccine.

Peru currently has 1,186,698 confirmed cases of coronavirus and has recorded 42,308 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The country has been reporting more than 6,000 cases a day, an increase over the 2,000 cases a day in early January, while it is also facing a shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds and oxygen during this new wave of the pandemic.

Peru has the fifth highest Covid-19 case count in Latin America, after Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico according to JHU data.

Athletes will be tested for Covid-19 at least every four days during their stay in Tokyo to safeguard against the spread of the virus at this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to organizers.

On Tuesday, Games organizers published the first version of its "Playbook," aimed at athletes and officials.

The athletes and officials will be able to book Covid-19 tests through a web system.

"The timing and frequency of testing may be adjusted, depending on your sport and competition schedule," it says.

Athletes will also have to present a negative test 72 hours prior to departing for Tokyo, and will be tested again upon arrival, it says.

The Playbook adds that athletes will only be permitted to leave the Olympic and Paralympic Village (or other designated accommodation) to carry out the activities outlined in their "14-day activity plan.”

Gyms, tourist areas, shops, restaurants or bars cannot be visited, among others.

Face masks must be worn at all times except when training, competing, eating or sleeping, or if athletes are outside and unable to keep two meters (6.5 feet) apart from others.

Those staying at the Olympic Village must eat at the Village or Games venues and “unnecessary forms of physical contact such as hugs, high-fives and handshakes” are not advised.

The guidelines also say that supporting and celebrating fellow athletes should be done by clapping, and not by singing, shouting or chanting.

The series of "Playbooks" are designed to provide a framework of basic principles that each key stakeholder group – international federations, press, broadcasters, athletes and officials – will have to follow before they travel to Japan, when entering Japan, during their time at the Games and upon leaving the Games.

The first versions for all the aforementioned groups have now been published with an updated version expected to be delivered in April.

A Chinese health official working with the team of World Health Organization experts in Wuhan said that the Huanan seafood market may not be the first place of the Covid-19 outbreak.

"Huanan market may not be the first place that had the outbreak," Liang Wannian, head of Expert Panel of COVID-19 Response of China's National Health Commission (NHC) said in a joint press conference with WHO experts in Wuhan on Tuesday.

Liang noted that the onset date of the earliest Covid-19 case had been on December 8, 2019 and the earliest case associated with Huanan market was on December 12, 2019.

He said that "the case with the onset date of December 8 case had no relation with Huanan seafood market," but did not indicate a location that the December 8 case was connected to.

Earlier, World Health Organization expert Peter Ben Embarek said that the team investigating the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan had identified two scenarios that most likely caused the transmission of Covid-19 to humans.

"Our initial findings suggest that the introduction through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one way that will require more studies and more specific targeted research," Embarek said during a press conference on Tuesday.

He added that the possibility of transmission through the trade of frozen products was also likely.

Almost 50% of deaths in England and Wales during the last week of January involved Covid-19, a report by the UK’s Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.

The ONS report said that in the week ending on January 29, “deaths involving Covid-19 accounted for 45.7% of all deaths in England and Wales."

A total of 18,448 deaths were registered across England and Wales for the week ending on January 29, and of them, 8,433 “mentioned” Covid-19 on the death certificate, marking the second-highest weekly number of deaths involving Covid-19 recorded by the two nations since the pandemic began, the ONS said.

However, since the end of January, the daily coronavirus death toll released by the UK government (covering the four-nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) has indicated a gradual decline in the number of deaths related to Covid-19.

The UK is likely past “this peak” of this wave of the pandemic, England’s Chief Medical Officer told a Downing Street press conference last Wednesday.

ONS figures include all deaths where “novel coronavirus (Covid-19)” is listed on the death certificate, whereas UK government figures count deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.

According to the latest government data released on Monday, the UK reported 6,234 deaths from Covid-19 in the week to 8 February, down 22% from the previous week.

The first multicenter study to investigate the spread of Covid-19 in daycare centers suggests that preschool-age children are not superspreaders of Covid-19.

When the right public health measures are implemented, daycare centers are safe for both children and staff members, the researchers say. 

The study was published Monday in the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal and conducted in the French cities of Paris, Rouen and Annecy between June 4 and July 3, 2020 — up to two months after France’s national lockdown. 

The researchers collected serology data on 327 children and 197 daycare staff across 22 daycare centers and a comparison group of 164 “hospital staff who kept working during the lockdown, were not occupationally exposed to infants, and were not directly exposed to patients with COVID-19,” according to the researchers. 

The study used data from rapid antibody tests and found the prevalence of antibodies for children at daycare centers was only 3.7%, well below the national rate of 10% found in adults in the same time period. 

The 14 children that were found to have antibodies came from 13 different centers, and the two children from the same center never had contact.

At these daycare centers, face masks were worn by staff, enrollment and staffing were reduced, children who became symptomatic were excluded, staff conducted regular temperature checks and reinforced hand hygiene and everyone practiced physical distancing. 

Additionally, the researchers found that daycare staff were no more likely to contract Covid-19 than the general population.

Dr. Camille Aupiais, a pediatrician who contributed research to the study, said:

The researchers say one limitation to the study is that data was collected before the emergence of coronavirus variants that some experts suggest may be more transmissible in children. 

New research in the UK shows around 1 in 3 (35%) of Covid-19 patients put on a ventilator experience "extensive symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)" after treatment. 

The research, conducted in the UK by Imperial College London and the University of Southampton, also found that extensive symptoms of PTSD, such as "intrusive images" of the ICU environment, were also found in 18% of patients hospitalized without requiring a ventilator.

The results of the study were published Tuesday in the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists’ BJPsych Open journal.

The study was conducted in May 2020, when researchers surveyed symptoms of PTSD in over 13,000 British patients with experience of confirmed or suspected Covid-19.

The study also found:

The authors highlight the importance of following-up with Covid-19 survivors after treatment and access to mental health treatment.

Dr. Adrian James, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said:

On Tuesday, Iran began its rollout of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, according to a live broadcast on state television.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki said the top priority groups to receive the vaccination are doctors and nurses working at intensive care units across the country's hospitals.

The health minister's son, Parsa Namaki, was the first Iranian to receive a shot. Namaki, a science and engineering student at Sharif University, was identified on Iran's English-language service Press TV while getting the vaccine.

Iran received its first delivery of the Sputnik-V vaccine from Russia on February 4, according to Iran's state-run news agency IRNA.

The health minister said in addition to the Russian Sputnik vaccine, Iran has also bought some 16.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines through COVAX to vaccinate 8.4 million people. 

Iran reported 7,640 new daily coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the country's total number of cases to 1,481,396.

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

The country also reported 89 new deaths from Covid-19 bringing the country's death toll to 58,625. The health ministry said 3,762 patients are hospitalized in ICU.

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