Experts will travel to Wuhan, which has become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. The WHO has assembled a group of international experts to investigate the causes and origins of the virus that triggered the pandemic, and the President of France has contracted the coronavirus. This and other news about the Covid-19 pandemic are featured in our daily roundup.
According to Johns Hopkins University, 74.2 million people worldwide were infected with the coronavirus last year, and more than 1.6 million people died. The leading countries in terms of number of infected and deaths are the USA, Brazil and India. Russia ranks fourth in the number of cases. Mass vaccination campaigns have already begun in many countries around the world. Twitter warned that it will block any unsubstantiated claims of vaccine harm or anyone’s intention to use vaccines to control the population.
Europe is approaching a total of 500,000 deaths, or about one-third of all Covid-19-related deaths worldwide. Germany plans to begin mass vaccination of its population on December 27. However, the European Medicines Agency has not yet approved the use of the vaccine in the EU; this decision is expected on December 21. Meanwhile, strict restrictions on movement and assembly have been imposed throughout Germany. Additional restrictions have also been introduced in Denmark and the Netherlands.
French President Emmanuel Macron, 42, has tested positive for coronavirus. He underwent the test after experiencing symptoms. The statement from the Elysee Palace said that the head of state will be isolated for 7 days but will continue to work.
It is still unclear where Macron may have been infected, and his office is trying to identify all of the president’s recent contacts. It is possible that other high-ranking officials in France will have to go into isolation before Christmas. The epidemiological situation in the country remains serious. Scientists say the recent nationwide lockdown did not produce the desired results. Last week, authorities imposed a nighttime curfew to prevent another spike in COVID-19 cases after the Christmas holidays. France ranks fifth in the world in terms of the number of people infected throughout the pandemic – nearly 2.5 million people, with 59.4 thousand deaths. By the end of the year, the country should have received more than one million doses of the vaccine, with an additional 2.3 million doses arriving within two months. This is the first phase of the national vaccination campaign, officials said.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf has admitted that his country’s strategy to combat the coronavirus has been unsuccessful. The level of Covid-19 mortality in Sweden compared to neighboring Scandinavian countries speaks for itself, the monarch said.
Carl XVI Gustaf ascended the Swedish throne in 1973. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The number of offers should remain: episodes. The end of the story. Advertising Podcasts. In his Christmas address to the nation, he noted that the country was experiencing a deep trauma. The epidemic has claimed the lives of nearly 8,000 Swedes, and most relatives have not even had the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones, Carl XVI Gustav said. “I think we all made a mistake, and it’s terrible. We all have to suffer the consequences of the decisions that were made,” said the King of Sweden.
From the beginning, Sweden took a different path from other European countries and most of the world. There were no lockdowns, no masks, and quarantine measures were much less strict than in the rest of Europe. The country’s chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, insisted on the benefits of herd immunity, which he calculated the population should have acquired by being infected during the first wave. Opponents of strict measures argued that the danger was not great enough to jeopardize the country’s education system and economy. As a result, 348.5 thousand people fell ill in Sweden during the epidemic, and more than 7.8 thousand died. This is many times more than its neighbors on the Scandinavian peninsula.
“Among the first in the U.S., medical personnel in hospitals are being vaccinated. In the U.S., a record number of cases and deaths have been recorded each day – over 250 thousand and over 3.7 thousand people, respectively. For more than a month, indicators have been rising steadily across the country. On Thursday, a group of leading US experts will discuss the use of the Moderna vaccine. If the decision is positive, the matter will be turned over to a special regulatory agency to legalize mass use. This could make the U.S. the first country in the world to approve Moderna’s vaccine. Last week, U.S. authorities began vaccinating the population with a vaccine co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, known for his skeptical views on the virus and the pandemic, unexpectedly supported the mass vaccination campaign, surprising many. Although the day before, in a televised interview, he said: “I will not be vaccinated. It’s my personal thing, and that’s final.” On the other hand, Peru, a country with one of the highest mortality rates in the world, has been in favor of universal immunization from the beginning, but has not been able to obtain sufficient quantities of vaccines. The disparity in the financial ability of different countries to purchase the vaccine is one of the most pressing issues facing the WHO and many charitable organizations today. Recently, France proposed to the other countries of the European Union to act as a united block and donate 5% of the vaccine doses they purchase to poor countries. At this point, the French initiative is awaiting approval from other EU members, while the WHO is looking for other ways to get the drugs to the world’s less fortunate populations.
On Thursday, Japanese authorities announced that the strain on Tokyo hospitals and the health care system as a whole had reached a breaking point. In Japan, the fourth (highest) level of epidemiological threat was declared after a record 822 deaths in the past 24 hours. In the first week of January, the World Health Organization plans to send an international commission to China to investigate the origins of the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic. The commission will consist of 12-15 experts from various countries. They will base their conclusions on their own observations and on animal and human samples collected by Chinese specialists.
The United States is unhappy that the initial analysis of the investigation was entrusted to Chinese experts. Danish representative Tea Fischer told Reuters in an interview that the business trip will last six weeks, including two weeks of isolation upon arrival. According to her, when the Chinese colleagues finish analyzing the collected materials upon their arrival, the commission will be able to immediately proceed to the second stage of the investigation. However, the United States, which had previously accused the Chinese authorities of concealing the true extent of the disaster at the very beginning of the virus’ spread, criticized the WHO for trusting Chinese representatives in the first phase. Washington has long called for a thorough and transparent investigation, but believes international oversight is needed at all stages. On 31 December last year, the Chinese authorities notified WHO of the first cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in the city of Wuhan. The food market, which at the time was considered the epicenter of the spread of the novel virus, was immediately closed. In May, health ministers from several countries asked WHO to investigate the origin of the virus and how it spread so quickly beyond China. According to WHO officials, the organization has been discussing with the Chinese side over the past few months the conditions for the commission’s work and the details of travel within the country under strict restrictions.