April 28 coronavirus news

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it’s the responsibility of wealthy countries to help places that do not have the same level of resources or capabilities as they fight Covid-19.

The US has “really revved up their activity in helping out India,” Fauci told the Guardian Australia, adding that the country is sending oxygen, Remdesivir, PPE and other medications there. Soon, vaccine will be sent, too.

“Because we’re all in this together. It’s an interconnected world. And there are responsibilities that countries have to each other, particularly if you’re a wealthy country and you’re dealing with countries that don’t have the resources or capabilities that you have,” he continued.

Going forward, he said, global health systems need to be upgraded so that issues can be detected sooner. Transparency and communication between countries is also essential, not just in countries like India, but also for the US. 

Fauci said that although the World Health Organization was trying to accelerate support to India using the COVAX Initiative, “we have to do even more than that.” 

“The only way that you’re going to adequately respond to a global pandemic is by having a global response, and a global response means equity throughout the world,” Fauci said. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci has said India’s homegrown Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, has been found to neutralize the B1.617 variant, first identified in the South Asian nation.

Referring to it as the “troublesome India 617,” he added, “despite the real difficulty that we’re seeing in India, vaccination could be a very, very important antidote against this.”

Covaxin is 78% effective against coronavirus, according to the data released on April 21 by Bharat Biotech, the company that developed the drug jointly with the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The efficacy against severe Covid-19 was 100%, with an impact on reduction in hospitalizations, according to the release. 

The vaccine's clinical trial involved 25,800 participants ages 18 to 98. The efficacy figure is based on an early analysis of 43 Covid-19 cases. Thirty-six cases occurred in participants who got a placebo, compared to seven participants who got the vaccine, according to a news release issued in March

About the vaccine: Covaxin is a two-dose vaccine. It is the first Covid-19 vaccine that has been developed in its entirety in India. In March 2020, following the successful sequencing of the novel coronavirus, the ICMR established a public-private partnership with Bharat Biotech to develop the virus isolate into a vaccine candidate.

At a webinar on April 23, India’s top epidemiological experts acknowledged that correlations exist between the rising prevalence of the B1.617 variant and the recent surge in cases in the country.

“In Maharashtra, we saw it (the variant first identified in India) go up we saw an outbreak, we are seeing it go up in Delhi, we are seeing an outbreak, these are very important epidemiological correlations,” said Anurag Agrawal, director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. According to Agrawal, the B1.617 variant was first found in India in December.

Another expert said the surge in the national capital region of Delhi is due to the prevalence of variants, including both the B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, and B1.617 variant. 

“We have seen a rise from 28 percent of mutated variants in second week of March...to 50 percent in the last week of March...the surge which we are observing in Delhi, I think it directly correlates with the type of variants which we are observing,” according to Sujeet Singh, director of the National Center for Disease Control.

India reported 360,960 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, a global record in the number of new cases reported in a day, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health.

The total number of cases now stands at 17,997,267, including 201,187 deaths.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that the US and CDC are working to send supplies and assistance to India as it faces a “horrifying” situation with Covid-19.

Walensky said that CDC has had a very close relationship with infectious disease experts with the Ministry of Health in India and that CDC is deploying a strike team this week to assist.

They are also working to send over around 500 canisters of oxygen as a start and working to send supplies as soon as possible. 

A new study by Public Health England (PHE) suggests that a single dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine can reduce transmission by up to half. 

The PHE study, posted Wednesday, looked at more than half a million households and found that contacts had “lower odds of being secondary cases if the index case was vaccinated 14 days or more before testing positive.” 

The study from the PHE — an executive agency of the UK Department of Health tasked with protecting and improving health — has not been peer-reviewed or published.

The effects were similar for both the AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, it said.

However, the protective effect sharply decreases if the vaccination date was closer to the positive test date, the study says.

In all the households, the majority of the initial Covid-19 cases were under the age of 60; in unvaccinated households, there was a high proportion of people age younger than 40.

The PHE study also reported that:

The study intended to look at transmission among people in the same households, but could also apply to other, similar circumstances.

In a statement on the PHE website, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:

Prof Deborah Dunn-Walters, chair of the British Society for Immunology Covid-19 Taskforce and professor of immunology at the University of Surrey, told the Science Media Center that the PHE data was "very promising," saying that it "provides further evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccines are effective in reducing transmission of the virus between individuals as well as preventing people getting very ill with disease."

Public health authorities continue to recommend that people do not skip their second dose. Getting two doses of the vaccine will provide the best long-term protection from the virus, according to the UK's national health service.

The Prince of Wales expressed his sadness over the "horrific" Covid-19 situation in India on Wednesday.

"This week, I have been deeply saddened by the tragic images we have all seen as Covid-19 takes its horrific toll in India," Prince Charles said in a message sent to the people of India, in which he urged the public to support the country.

"With support from the Indian diaspora, the British Asian Trust has launched an Emergency Appeal for India to channel this desire to do something about this terrible situation and help save lives. Many members of the diaspora, and others including businesses, trusts and foundations, have already come together behind this appeal. I do hope that even more of us might be able to provide support to help those in India in their time of need," he added.

On Tuesday, India reported its highest daily death toll since the beginning of the pandemic, with 3,293 deaths. India’s coronavirus death toll has now surpassed 200,000 people.

For seven consecutive days, the country has reported more than 300,000 new daily cases.

On Tuesday, a record 360,960 new cases were recorded by health authorities.

An increase in cremations following India’s second wave of Covid-19 has prompted the North Delhi mayor to issue a request for a steady supply of firewood.

In a letter, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash asked Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to direct the forest department to ensure a steady supply.

Delhi has been dealing with an unprecedented wave of Covid-19 the past few weeks, with the local government recording 381 deaths in the capital alone on Tuesday. 

Nationwide, India marked the grim milestone of 200,000 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, after reporting a further 3,293 deaths -- a daily record -- on Tuesday.

360,960 new cases were also recorded by the Indian Department of Health on Tuesday, marking the seventh consecutive day of more than 300,000 new cases.

India’s Election Commission (IEC) have issued guidelines ordering all polling officials and candidates to provide negative Covid-19 test reports or to be fully vaccinated ahead of the of the counting of state election ballots on May 2.

The move is the latest effort by authorities to control the country's devastating coronavirus outbreak, currently the world's worst.

“No candidates/agents will be allowed inside the counting hall without undergoing RT-PCR/RAT test or without having 2 doses of vaccination against Covid-19 and will have to produce negative RT-PCR report or RAT report or vaccination reports within 48 hours of start of counting,” read the (IEC) guidelines issued Thursday.

In addition, public gatherings have been banned outside counting venues, which must be large enough to maintain social distancing and have proper ventilation, the IEC said . Counting centers must also be disinfected before, during and after the counting.

The temperatures of everyone entering will be checked, and those showing symptoms will not be allowed in, the IEC's guidelines said.

The Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam, as well as the union territory of Puducherry, went to the polls on March 27 -- with voting taking place across eight phases and ending on April 29.

All votes are to be counted on May 2, with the results announced on the same day.

On Wednesday, India’s Election Commission banned all victory processions during the day of, and after the counting of votes.

A European Union legal case against British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca began in a Belgian court on Wednesday.

The European Union announced Monday that it is suing AstraZeneca over an alleged breach of its vaccine supply contract in a dramatic escalation of a months-long dispute over delivery delays that hampered the rollout of shots across the continent.

The 27 nations of the European Union had ordered 300 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the drugmaker to be delivered by the end of June, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million. But deliveries of the vaccine repeatedly fell short, sparking a bitter public fight over the terms of the contract.

AstraZeneca said in March it was aiming to send 100 million doses in total to the union in the first half of the year -- just a third of what was expected.

The Belgian court told CNN on Wednesday that the EU's legal case asks whether the company can take measures to catch up on delayed production and delivery to the bloc, as per the contract.

The court is tasked with looking at that request and whether AstraZeneca should be fined if they are unable to comply, a spokeswoman of the Belgian Court of First Instance in Brussels told CNN.

Speaking outside the court on Wednesday, lawyer Hakim Boularbah, who is representing AstraZeneca, said: "The only statement I can make is that AstraZeneca deeply regrets the decision of the European Commission to take this action to court. They hope the dispute will be resolved as soon as possible.”

A lawyer for the commission, Rafaël Jafferali, told cameras outside court that "We made our case in court. We explained the situation. Our comments are for the court.” 

The next court hearing is scheduled for May 26.

The judge, who has not been named, is expected to take three to six weeks to come back with a ruling. 

Bangladesh has announced that the country’s oxygen supplies should only be provided to hospitals and clinics as a precautionary measure due to an overall increase in Covid-19 infections across the country, according to the Department of Explosives.

Monira Yesmine, an official from the department, told CNN that the government had sent a notice to various oxygen companies on Friday requiring them to suspend oxygen supply for industrial use and provide it only to hospitals and clinics instead “due to increased cases of Covid-19 patients in the nation and fear of oxygen shortage.”

The move comes as hospitals in neighboring India have been plagued by oxygen shortages as cases continue to surge on the subcontinent.

India has taken a similar approach to commercial oxygen supply, with its government temporarily banning the supply of oxygen for industrial use from April 22.

Dr. Supriyo Sarker, Program Manager of Bangladesh's Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told CNN that Bangladesh received its last oxygen supply shipment from India on April 21. 

Sarker said that currently, the main challenges in the country's health system "are shortage of manpower, bed and ICU capacity and the oxygen supply for Covid-19 patients.”

He noted however, that over the last few days, a drop in case numbers had been reported, and that oxygen was still in reserve.

"If the infection doesn’t increase any further, we won’t face a big problem," he said, underscoring the government's precautionary stance.

The country’s Health Minister Zahid Maleque said the country is unlikely to face a crisis of medical oxygen given the current number of coronavirus patients receiving treatment in hospitals.

On vaccines, Bangladesh is currently seeking more doses amid a current shortage after the Indian government’s decision to halt its exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the midst of its own crisis dealt a blow to the country's rollout plans.

Bangladesh recorded 3,031 additional daily cases on Tuesday, according to the DGHS, raising the national confirmed cases to 751,659.

The country's death toll stood at 11,228 on Tuesday.