(Worldwide) COVID-19 cases decline 19% in world
COVID-19 is subsiding worldwide with a 1% weekly decline in deaths and 19% drop in cases as only Russia, Germany, Netherlands and South Korea set national daily marks among large nations in the past week.
With coronavirus waning and vaccine usage percentages rising, nations are dropping restrictions, including lockdowns and required mask wearing and social distancing.
In the past seven days, global cases increased 16,053,879 for a total of 411,660,354, according to tracking by Worldometers.info so far Sunday. Deaths, which lag a few weeks behind infections, increased to 72,744, for a total of 5,831,689. One week ago, the cases declined 15% and deaths went up 10%.
(Worldwide) Vietnam to end COVID curbs on international flights
Vietnam will remove its COVID-19 restrictions on international passenger flights with all markets starting Feb. 15, with no limitation on the number of flights, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Southeast Asian country imposed tight border controls at the start of the pandemic to keep out COVID-19, with some initial success, but that dealt a blow to its burgeoning tourism sector which accounted for about 10% of gross domestic product.
Vietnam has already informed its partners about that new policy and only China has not yet agreed to resume commercial flights with Vietnam, Son was quoted as saying.
(Worldwide) Germans pin hopes on Novavax
Benedikt Richter, a 40-year-old teacher in the southwest German city of Kaiserslautern, long held out against getting vaccinated against COVID-19. He felt uneasy about the novelty of the mRNA technology used in two of the most commonly administered shots.
But when the European Union in December approved the use of the Novavax (NVAX.O) vaccine Nuxavoxid, which deploys a long-established protein-based technology, he became interested.
Data unearthed by Reuters suggests the new two-dose vaccine, recommended in Germany for basic immunisation for people over 18, is already going some way to convince more of the as-yet unvaccinated to get a shot.
(AUS) Omicron is Victoria’s dominant strain
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer says the Omicron strain remains dominant among the community. A Genomic testing done early December to late February, showed ninety-eight percent of more than ten-thousand (10,200) samples tested positive for the Omicron variant.
However as daily Omicron case numbers increased, Health Authorities were not able to undertake genomic sequencing on every new case. Establishing the strain of every new case requires a lot of time and resources when done on a mass scale. However, investigation will continue in situations where it impacts the care of a patient.
(AUS) Deployment of defence personnel in nursing homes
From early February more than 6,500 (six thousand and five hundred) aged care workers in Australia tested positive for COVID and remain in isolation. Lack of staff led the aged care unions to seek help from the Australian Defence Force.
The federal government announced that over 1,700 (Seventeen hundred) registered nurses, medical technicians and general support troops will be sent to New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia to assist in aged care’s administration and general duties.
In addition, 15 military planners will partner with the Department of Health in managing the ADF staff going into aged care. Health care experts however warn that there are systemic issues that must be fixed in the long term to avoid a worsening crisis.
(AUS) Novavax vaccine soon to be available
The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine will be available to Australians aged 18 and over from this week as the federal government announced it has secured 51 million doses to be distributed across the country. Novavax is the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to receive approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
The Department of Health said that while Australia’s vaccination rates are high, there has been a “demand for a protein-based formula”. According to the advice provided by the Australian Technology Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), two vaccines are recommended with a three-week wait in between each dose.
Novavax will be available at some general practices, community pharmacies and state-run vaccination hubs across Australia.