Australia reports death after AstraZeneca shot
Canberra, April 16: Australia reported its first death linked to the AstraZeneca shot on Friday. The 48-year-old woman was injected with the vaccine on April 8. That was hours before Australian authorities recommended people under the age of 50 take the Pfizer shot instead because of the small risk of rare blood clots associated with AstraZeneca, Therapeutic Goods Administration, the vaccine regulator, said in a statement. She was admitted with blood clots to a Newcastle hospital in New South Wales state four days later and died on Thursday, the statement said. The woman is the third case of blood clots in Australia officially linked to the vaccine since the national rollout began in early March. About 885,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the nation. (AP)
WHO chief calls growth in virus cases ‘worrying’
Geneva, April 16: The head of the World Health Organisation said coronavirus cases are continuing to rise globally at “worrying” rates and noted that the number of new cases confirmed per week has nearly doubled during the past two months. At a press briefing on Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of new cases “is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far in the pandemic.” Tedros said some countries that had been able to avoid widespread COVID-19 outbreaks are now seeing steep increases, citing Papua New Guinea as an example. “Until the beginning of this year, Papua New Guinea had reported less than 900 cases and nine deaths,” Tedros said. The noted. The country has now identified more than 9,000 cases and 83 deaths, half of which were reported in the last month. “Papua New Guinea is a perfect example of why vaccine equity is so important,” Tedros said, adding that the Pacific island nation has relied on vaccine donations from Australia and the UN-backed COVAX initiative. To date, COVAX has shipped about 40 million vaccines to more than 100 countries, or enough to protect about 0.25 per cent of the world’s population. (AP)
UK finds 77 cases of COVID-19 variant first found in India
London, April 16: UK health authorities have identified 77 cases of the highly infectious B.1.617 variant of coronavirus which causes COVID-19, first found in India, and has designated it a Variant Under Investigation (VUI). Public Health England (PHE), which releases weekly updates on the number of confirmed new cases of Variants of Concern (VOC) and VUI in the UK, reported on Thursday that the variant first detected in India includes a number of mutations. “A new variant has been designated a Variant Under Investigation (VUI) by PHE. The variant, first detected in India, includes a number of mutations including E484Q, L452R, and P681R,” the PHE weekly report said. “PHE has identified 77 cases of this variant in the UK and all appropriate public health interventions will be undertaken, including enhanced contact tracing. This variant has been designated VUI-21APR-01. PHE and international partners continue to monitor the situation closely,” it said. The B.1.617 strain’s mutations are feared to make the variant spread faster and partially evade immunity. The variant is believed to be largely responsible for India’s current second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also led to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson deciding to shorten the length of his India visit later this month. (PTI)
Israel to lift outdoor mask mandate
Tel Aviv, April 16: The rules to enforce wearing of masks outdoors in Israel will be lifted starting Sunday, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said. Edelstein said in a statement on Thursday that he had instructed the Ministry’s Director-General, Hezi Levi, to sign an order to cancel the restriction, reports Xinhua news agency. The decision was made on the recommendation by the professionals in the ministry, who said that, due to the low Covid-19 morbidity, there is no longer a need for wearing face masks outdoors in Israel. In closed places, however, the mask-wearing rules will still apply, the statement noted. “The level of morbidity in Israel is very low thanks to the successful vaccination campaign, and thus further easing can be made for the citizens,” Edelstein said. (IANS)