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Sunday, August 8, 2021

US sees 100,000 new cases daily as country faces Delta variant threat while China defeated Delta variant !

Surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths as country faces Delta variant threat

Washington: The US is now averaging 100,000 new Covid-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge in yet another bleak reminder of how quickly the Delta variant has spread through the country.

The US was averaging about 11,000 cases a day in late June. Now the number is 107,143.

It took the US about nine months to cross the 100,000 average case number in November before peaking at about 250,000 in early January.

Cases bottomed out in June but took about six weeks to go back above 100,000, despite a vaccine that has been given to more than 70% of the adult population.

The seven-day average for daily new deaths also increased, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

It rose over the past two weeks from about 270 deaths per day to nearly 500 a day as of Friday.

The virus is spreading quickly through unvaccinated populations, especially in the South where hospitals have been overrun with patients.

Health officials are fearful that cases will continue to soar if more Americans don’t embrace the vaccine.

“Our models show that if we don’t (vaccinate people), we could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to our surge in early January,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said on CNN this week.

The number of Americans hospitalised with the virus has also skyrocketed and it has gotten so bad that many hospitals are scrambling to find beds for patients in far-off locations.

Houston officials say the latest wave of Covid-19 cases is pushing the local health care system to nearly “a breaking point”, resulting in some patients having to be transferred out of the city to get medical care, including one who had to be taken to North Dakota.

Dr David Persse, who is health authority for the Houston Health Department and EMS medical director, said some ambulances were waiting hours to offload patients at Houston area hospitals because no beds were available.

Persse said he feared this would lead to prolonged respond times to 911 medical calls.

“The health care system right now is nearly at a breaking point ... For the next three weeks or so, I see no relief on what’s happening in emergency departments,” Persse said Thursday.

Last weekend, a patient in Houston had to be transferred to North Dakota to get medical care.

An 11-month-old girl with Covid19 and who was having seizures had to be transported on Thursday from Houston to a hospital 274km away in Temple, Texas.

In Missouri, 30 ambulances and more than 60 medical personnel will be stationed across the state to help transport Covid-19 patients to other regions if nearby hospitals are too full to admit them, Missouri Governor Mike Parson announced on Friday.- AP

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US averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day

China defeated Delta variant ! China's Success Cannot Be Copied and Pasted

Difference Frames the World

Suppose western countries can recognize Chinese and Indian vaccines and provide enough raw materials to India. In that case, it will be more beneficial to the world than the G7 countries' lip service of delivering 1 billion doses of vaccines to impoverished nations by the end of 2022.

It is noteworthy that the promised donations dropped from 1 billion to 870 million when officially announced in the communique as if lip service also costs something

The World's First Inhaled COVID-19 Vaccine Is Coming!

The aerosol inhalation vaccine has similar protective efficacy as the intramuscular vaccine. It has fewer side effects in adults over 18 years of age than the injectable ones. It requires aerosol inhalation only to complete vaccination and obtain triple protection of mucosal immunity,

cellular immunity and humoral immunity. If used as a booster, it can significantly improve the already vaccinated population's multiple immunization effect against the new coronavirus mutation. At the same time, the dose of this vaccine is relatively low, which indirectly increases the yield of the vaccine significantly and can effectively solve the problems of medical waste disposal. As a result, it is more suitable for large-scale vaccination.

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US urged to drop ideology-driven epidemic work amid Delta variant rampage

The US has seen its average daily COVID-19 infections reaching a new record high of 100,000 amid the Delta variant rampage, repeating the nightmare of the country's failures in fighting the coronavirus over the past year with the highest death toll and confirmed cases around the world.

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Saturday, August 7, 2021

The race against Delta; Sinovac Sinopharm discovers potent antibody against Delta variant, effective in early treatment of COVID-19

Beware of external outbreaks

As cases rise, experts say it’s time to expand Operation Surge Capacity nationwide

With the Delta variant confirmed to be the dominant strain in the country, experts are calling for Malaysia to continue its vaccination drive – especially in states outside the Klang Valley – to outpace the highly-infectious Covid-19 variant.

Greater vaccination efforts are needed in states outside the Klang Valley, health experts say, especially with the Delta variant casting a shadow on the country’s recovery.

With about 98% of the Klang Valley adult population having received at least the first vaccine dose under Operation Surge Capacity, public figures and health experts say attention should now be focused on other states in Malaysia.

“About two months ago, the proportion of cases for Greater Klang Valley represented 60% to 70% of total cases in Malaysia.

“But now it is about 50% to 60%. The rise in cases is both nationally and in Klang Valley, so it’s not just the concern of the Greater Klang Valley but every other state in Malaysia,” said Health deputy director-general (public health) Datuk Dr Chong Chee Kheong.

He added that the strain on the healthcare system in Klang Valley was now more manageable, but other states were now at risk.

International Islamic University Malaysia epidemiologist Prof Dr Jamalludin Ab Rahman suggested roping in community leaders to help get people vaccinated, including manual registration for those without the Mysejahtera app.

“The state government can identify who (the community leaders) are and if they are from rural areas. The government must go to people rather than wait for them to register,” he said.

He said low vaccine registration rates in certain states such as Sabah (44%) and Kelantan (65%) could be due to a lack of knowledge or technology.

“However, we should also study if there are other reasons like misunderstanding about vaccine safety. If that’s the case, the government needs to engage them and educate them,” he said.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Azmi Mohd Tamil concurred that lower vaccine sign-up rates in certain states might not necessarily be due to vaccine hesitancy, but to the use of Mysejahtera.

“There are a lot of rural elderly Malays who have yet to register with Mysejahtera,” he said.

“There may be lower IT literacy and lower usage of the Mysejahtera app. Lower broadband or Internet penetration could be a problem too.”

As of Thursday, about 65% of adults in Malaysia have received at least one dose.

However, Sabah still has a relatively low vaccination coverage with about 37% of adults receiving at least one dose, with Kedah and Kelantan showing only slightly higher numbers at 43%.

To ramp up vaccination rates, Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia president Dr Raj Kumar Maharajah said doubts that the public might have on the vaccination programme must be addressed.

“There are questions over the efficacy of the vaccines, especially with reports on empty shots and breakthrough infections.

“People are wondering why they need to get vaccinated when people are getting infected. As such, we need public assurance from the government.

“We need to know the vaccination history of the Covid-19 fatalities, or the proportion of vaccinated individuals who went on to Category 4 or 5,” he said.

He added that the government should mobilise the over 7,000 general practitioners (GPS) across the country to aid the vaccination programme.

“The government is not using the GPS to the fullest. They should rope them in, and we must cut down on the number of mega vaccination centres,” he said.

The Star Malaysia by JOSEPH KAOS JR and CLARISSA

China's vaccine producer Sinopharm discovers potent antibody against Delta variant, effective in early treatment of COVID-19

China's vaccine producer Sinopharm announced on Wednesday that the research team discovered a potent neutralizing antibody against the Delta variant that could be effective in short-term preventive and early treatment of COVID-19 triggered by this variant.

The team, led by Yang Xiaoming, Chairman of Sinopharm China National Biotec Group, a Sinopharm subsidiary, found a monoclonal antibody which can effectively block the binding of novel coronavirus to the Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. This enzyme is attached to the membrane of cells located in the intestines, kidney, testis, gallbladder, and heart and the antibody can prevent the virus from infecting cells, the company announced on its official WeChat account.

Monoclonal antibody, as a targeted therapy drug, has a strong specificity, significant efficacy and low toxicity. Known as the "biological missile", it has shown excellent efficacy and broad application prospects in the treatment of a variety of diseases.

The application of the antibody, called 2B11, can also significantly reduce the pulmonary inflammation caused by virus infection.

The Delta variant has become the main variant in global transmission of COVID-19 and is also the prevailing variant in China. Recent studies showed that 2B11 had a highly consistent neutralization activity against the Delta variant, suggesting that it has great application value in short-term prevention and early treatment of COVID-19 caused by this variant.

The company said the clinical application of the 2B11 antibody is progressing an orderly manner with hopes that it can be used in the prevention and control of COVID-19 in China as soon as possible. The research is expected to be a useful weapon against virus mutation.

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Sinovac to submit application for clinical research and emergency use on vaccines against Gamma and Delta variants in several ountries: company CEO

China's Sinovac will submit an application in several countries for clinical research and emergency use on vaccines targeting the Gamma and Delta variants, Sinovac CEO, Yin Weidong, said on Thursday during a forum on international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines hosted by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

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Friday, August 6, 2021

Covid-19 cases in Malaysia expected to continue to rise, says deputy Health D-G

Jan-Aug 6 2021 Covid daily new cases graph | Flourish

Template credits

Line, bar and pie charts by Flourish team

Patients gather at Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) in Stadium Melawati Shah Alam February 8, 2021. Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim said currently, the rising new cases in the country were due to new variants such as the Delta variant. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 6 ― The daily Covid-19 cases are expected to continue increasing before the country’s vaccination rate achieves 80 per cent by the end of the October, said deputy Health director-general (Research and Technical Support) Datuk Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim.

He said currently, the rising new cases in the country were due to new variants such as the Delta variant.

“Taking the example of the high vaccination rate in the Federal Territory of Labuan and Sarawak has shown new cases are dropping but over here (Labuan and Sarawak), admission into intensive care units (ICU) and the death rate have shown a drastic fall.

“So if we could do the same thing in the Peninsula, more so at the hotspots which are experiencing rising transmissions especially in the Klang Valley with higher vaccination rate, we will see a drop in cases.

“The decline in cases may take some time but more importantly we want to see a decrease in terms of serious patients admission into wards and those who died,” he said in a special media conference here today.

Also present were Health Ministry (MOH) secretary-general Datuk Mohd Shafiq Abdullah, Health deputy director-general (Public Health) cum Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force commander Datuk Dr Chong Chee Kheong and Selangor Health director Datuk Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman.

He said as at July 22, MOH had detected 409 cases of variants of concern (VOC) related to Cov

id-19 virus in Malaysia which was 189 cases for Delta variant, 206 cases for Beta variant and 14 cases for Alpha variant. “This month, we expect the number of genome sequencing to increase as we have established a consortium of seven laboratories in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and at universities.

“It will increase another 1,000 genome sequencing a month and thus we will be able to have more detailed information on the distribution of variants in our country,” he said. ― Bernama

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Suspicions hover over COVID-19 origins search in US

Fort Detrick, UNC labs at center of virus origins controversy

A member of the Frederick Police Department Special Response Team peers out of a minivan before the team entered Fort Detrick on April 6. Photo: VCG

After hundreds of political parties and scientists around the world voiced concerns and firm opposition to the US-led politicization campaign on the COVID-19 origins tracing work, US politicians appeared to not give up their playbook of slandering China. But a growing number of questions linger over the US, including unexplained pneumonia outbreaks in the country: Why is the US reluctant to conduct mass testing on its early cases? What happened with its mysterious Fort Detrick and worrisome biolabs around the world? Why doesn't it release data concerning the sickened American military athletes who attended the world military games in Wuhan in 2019? and what happened in a biolab at the University of North Carolina that lately has become a new focus of public suspicions?

Over 300 political parties, social societies and think tanks in over 100 countries and regions opposed politicizing virus origins tracing in a joint statement sent to the World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat recently after global scientists have been calling for a thorough and sincere international cooperation over the origins-tracing issue in which China has set an example.

It has become increasingly clear that Washington is turning the origins studies into a political maneuver as more Chinese diplomats spoke out in denouncing the Joe Biden administration for engaging in a "terror-making campaign" on the matter. US politicians also put the WHO in an awkward position as the US government has been pressuring it on origins tracing in recent months.

On the origins-tracing work, the Chinese Foreign Ministry recently said the US should start with four things, including publishing and examining the data of its early cases, inviting WHO experts to investigate Fort Detrick and its 200-plus biolabs overseas, inviting WHO experts to investigate the University of North Carolina and release the data concerning the sickened American military athletes who attended the world military games in Wuhan. Observers and experts said the US should do more amid rising doubts and suspicions, and react to those unanswered questions.

.Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Clouds of suspicion

The international community clearly views the US, which has been hyping the "lab leak" theory and engaging in groundless attacks against China, as responsible for leaking the SARS-CoV-2, one insider told the Global Times.

A laboratory at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, led by the renowned US coronavirus expert Ralph Baric, is becoming, together with the infamous Fort Detrick lab, the focus of public suspicion in the search for the origins of the virus.

Baric's team is the authority when it comes to [coronavirus] research with widely recognized capability in synergizing and modifying coronaviruses, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian. He urged the US to invite WHO experts to investigate the UNC facility. "A probe into Baric's team and lab would clarify whether coronavirus research has created or will create SARS-CoV-2," Zhao said on Friday.

With a more mature environment of lab virus synthesizing and operating, as well as more virus leakage cases in history, the virus was obviously more likely leaked from the US labs if the "lab leak" claim is true, said Chinese biosecurity specialist Li (pseudonym), who works at a research institute in eastern China.

"We appeal to the WHO to put US labs, including the one located at UNC, into its Phase-II investigation," Li told the Global Times on Tuesday.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese scientists have called on the US to release data and medical records of US military personnel who fell ill during the world military games in Wuhan, some US media and people also raised concerns that the Pentagon did not test their soldiers attending the Wuhan games.

According to an opinion article in the Washington Post, athletes from countries including France, Germany and Italy have publicly claimed that they had contracted what they believed to be COVID-19 at the military games in Wuhan.

"In Washington, military leaders either dismissed it or weren't aware of it. Meanwhile, no one performed any antibody tests or disease tracing on thousands of athletes. No one even attempted to find out whether the games in Wuhan were, in fact, the first international pandemic super spreader event," read the opinion piece.

A Pentagon spokesperson said in an email that there was no screening because the Wuhan military games - held from October 18 to 27, 2019 - "was prior to the reported outbreak." The spokesperson cited December 31, 2019 as the critical outbreak day, the US political magazine American Prospect reported on June 30, 2020. Since that email, Pentagon officials have repeatedly declined to speak on or off the record on the subject.

In addition to suspicions on US biolabs and untested athletes, whether some of the patients of the mysterious vaping-related lung disease that swept through all of the 50 US states in 2019 also sparked more doubts, after Chinese scientists found that 16 e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI) patients were involved in viral infections, which indicates that they could have had COVID-19. Five of the cases were determined as "moderately suspicious."

"Why does the US remain silent? What's hidden there?" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying asked in a tweet on Wednesday, after more and more voices called for an investigation in the US, especially at its Fort Detrick lab.

Some US labs preserve samples of the viruses they uncover instead of reporting them, said Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist at Wuhan University. "Some samples are even held for decades," Yang told the Global Times.

Reject US-led politicization

On the next phase of origins study, the WHO said recently that member states agreed that the origins tracing should not be politicized and the WHO is having positive consultations with a large number of states, including China.

Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said at a press conference on Friday that the next stage origins study is building on the report of the Phase-I mission, in which many studies were proposed to go forward.

He said Chinese colleagues are implementing some of the studies raised in the report, and "we look forward to updates from colleagues from China and we expect to continue in China and a number of countries from around the world."

The Chinese health authority rejected WHO's Phase-II COVID-19 origins study in mid-July, calling it lacking respect to common sense and being arrogant to science amid rising politicized moves of the US government on the matter, as the WHO's plan was proposed when the US-led West intensified the politics-driven conspiracy about a "lab leak" theory and exerted political pressure on international scientists to give up their scientific position on the origins issue.

"We want to reassure colleagues in China that the process is and has always been driven by science," Ryan said, noting that everybody is calling for this.

There's widespread agreement among all our member states, let's not politicize the process, Ryan noted.