Covid world updates: ‘Save Australia’ Covid protest in NYC
Australia was at the heart of a US anti vaccine mandate protest march in NYC, where hundreds yelled “Save Australia” and waved Aussie flags.
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Australia was at the heart of a US anti vaccine mandate protest march in New York City, where hundreds of demonstrators including teachers yelled “Save Australia” and waved Aussie flags.
Footage filmed outside the Department of Education in Brooklyn shows dozens of people chanting opposition to requiring Covid-19 vaccines for work.
The march ended outside the Australian consulate in Midtown, where speeches were held in support of Australia.
“What’s going on in Australia is not just going to be Australia. And when it shows up on our doorsteps, we’re gonna punch it right in the f***ing teeth,” one demonstrater said.
“We’re holding the line for Australia, we support Australia!” another said.
The mandate, which was supposed to take effect on September 27, sparked a legal battle between the city and a group of teachers.
The mandate was upheld by the Supreme Court on October 1.
According to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio more than 95 per cent of fill-time education department staff have taken the vaccine.
AUSTRALIA ORDERS 300K DOSES OF COVID PILL
Pharmaceutical company Merck says it will seek authorisation of its oral drug molnupiravir for Covid after it was shown to reduce the chance newly infected patients were hospitalised by 50 per cent.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Monday that 300,000 courses of the promising oral antiviral Covid-19 treatment had been purchased by the Government.
The Molnupiravir has been shown to prevent people with Covid-19 developing serious symptoms, with a recent trial finding the new pill reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death from Covid-19 by 50 per cent.
Mr Morrison said once the treatment was approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Molnupiravir would join Australia’s main line of defence against Covid-19.
“Vaccines and new treatments like this will boost our National Plan to safely reopen Australia and keep Australia safely open,” the PM said on Monday.
“While our vaccination rate continues to climb, we’ve been investing in and closely monitoring research into Covid-19 treatments and we are securing supply of promising treatments.
“If the medical experts at the TGA approve this treatment for use, it will join other Covid-19 treatments such as sotrovimab and remdesivir which are already available to Australian doctors to help treat those with Covid-19.”
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the pill does not prevent Covid it treats it. So you still need to take a Covid vaccine.
“The treatments we had until now have had to be done through hospital infusion,” Mr Hunt told ABC TV on Tuesday morning.
“It’s provided to people early after diagnosis if they have risk factors of potentially progressing to hospitalisation. It’s a five-day course, two pills a day
“It doesn’t prevent Covid, it’s about treating it, and significantly reducing the risk so it’s a complement to vaccination.”
The pill’s possibly game-changing results could offer a new way of treating the disease, and represent what scientists hope will be the first of many successful antivirals.
Until now the only way of treating the disease has been with steroids such as dexamethasone and intravenous antibodies. Both require patients be in hospitals or clinics.
The new treatment, molnupiravir, created by the pharmaceutical companies Merck (MSD outside the US) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, targets the virus’s life cycle, introducing errors in its genome so it cannot reproduce.
For the study almost 800 unvaccinated people were treated within five days of symptoms appearing. All had at least one risk factor for developing severe Covid-19.
Among the half on molnupiravir, 7 per cent ended up in hospital. In the half given a placebo, it was 14 per cent.
The drug also had a strong effect on preventing death from the disease, albeit based on small numbers. Nine of those on the placebo were dead after a month compared with none of those on molnupiravir.
Independent data-monitoring scientists have recommended stopping the trial and applying for emergency-use authorisation for the drug immediately.
Wendy Holman, chief executive of Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said that if approved the drug would have a clear role in the next phase of the pandemic.
“With the virus continuing to circulate widely … antiviral treatments that can be taken at home to keep people with Covid-19 out of the hospital are critically needed,” she said.
Dr Daria Hazuda, chief science officer at MSD, said: “Given the data that there were nine deaths in the placebo arm and none in the molnupiravir arm, I think that’s game-changing.”
The drug’s usefulness will depend on how fast and cheaply it can be made. The US has bought 1.7 million courses at dollars 700 each. MSD says that it can make 8.3 million more courses by the end of the year.
Eddie Gray, the head of Britain’s antiviral task force, hopes to have two pill-based treatments in the NHS by the end of the year. He said he could not disclose whether Britain was in line to buy molnupiravir.
Other antivirals in development include one by Pfizer, which targets an enzyme used in viral reproduction.
Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the University of Oxford, said that if approved, molnupiravir would be a “huge advance”.
VIRUS IS MUTATING TO BECOME MORE AIRBORNE
Newer variants of coronavirus like Alpha and Delta are highly contagious possibly because they are better at travelling through the air, according to a new study.
Most researchers now agree that coronavirus is transmitted through large droplets that quickly sink to the floor and through smaller ones, called aerosols, that float over longer distances indoors and settle directly into the throat and lungs.
But two new studies conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases indicate that the virus, specifically the Alpha variant, is 43 times more infectious than previous versions, and the Delta variant possibly higher again in transmissibility.
Scientists believe the virus is changing to enable it to spread more efficiently through the air.
It comes as the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) have issued an urgent warning for pregnant women and those who have recently given birth to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The CDC has issued an urgent recommendation for pregnant women and those who have recently given birth to get vaccinated against coronavirus https://t.co/4NbabNy0Sj
— CNN (@CNN) October 3, 2021
Women trying or planning to become pregnant and those who are breastfeeding should also be vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Only 31 per cent of pregnant people in the US have been vaccinated, and thousands of pregnant women are in the hospital with the virus – and more than 160 are dead, according to CNN.
“CDC strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccination either before or during pregnancy because the benefits of vaccination outweigh known or potential risks,” the agency said in a health alert.
“As of September 27, 2021, more than 125,000 laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases have been reported in pregnant people, including more than 22,000 hospitalised cases and 161 deaths,” it added.
It comes as an estimated three children per day are dying from Covid-19, according to American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP).
Nicole and Jeff Sperry are mourning their 10-year-old daughter who died just days after contracting Covid-19.
Mother Nicole Sperry told CNN that people in her daughter’s school district in Suffolk, Virginia had a mentality that healthy people did not get Covid, and that “Covid was over” and they could get on with their lives.
“It upsets me so much that people are so nonchalant about it, while my only girl is gone,” Ms Sperry said in a video for CNN.
“My baby was healthy and strong and [the virus] took her in less than five days,” said father Jeff Sperry. “If it can take her, it can take anybody.”
GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN TO COLLAPSE IF PANDEMIC DOESN’T END
Power outages in China, chaos in Britain’s petrol stations, factory closures in Germany – supply chain problems around the world are threatening to kneecap a global recovery as countries try to re-emerge from pandemic-induced recessions.
Last week saw a number of supply chain issues crippling economic activity across the globe: China ran out of coal for its power stations; the UK had insufficient lorry drivers to deliver petrol to fuel pumps; and gasoline prices are soaring all across Europe as demand outstrips supply.
“The risk is that even though the economies are reopening, growth slows down because we cannot produce the things people demand,” said Niclas Poitiers, a researcher at the Bruegel institute in Brussels.
Coronavirus continues to call the shots, experts say.
“In the UK and Europe, we are talking as if the pandemic is over,” said Frances Coppola, author of the financial blog, Coppola Comment.
“Global trade can’t return to normal while we still have countries where people are dying of Covid,” he wrote.
China’s manufacturing activity shrank in September for the first time since the beginning of the year.
In France, manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level since the start of 2021. And in Japan, industrial output declined in August for the second month in a row.
Companies are finding it difficult to get their hands on the raw materials and components they need to keep production lines running.
The auto industry is suffering from a severe shortage of semiconductors – the electronic chips without which their models cannot function.
Japanese giant Toyota slashed its production forecasts last month, and Stellantis said it would have to halt production at the German plant of its Opel subsidiary until the beginning of next year.
The industry is set to lose hundreds of billions in revenues this year according to consultancy Alix Partners.
Swedish giant H&M complained of “disruption and delays in product supplies” in September.
Furniture maker Ikea announced it would be unable to offer some of its mainstay products because of a shortage of transportation staff and high raw material prices.
Freight costs between China and the west coast of the US have risen more than five-fold over the year as a result of pressures arising from the post-pandemic recovery, according to Freightos Baltic.
US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell warned that bottlenecks and hiring difficulties could “prove to be greater and more enduring than anticipated”.
Meanwhile, in the United States, people continue to die of coronavirus at a rate of approximately 1000 per day.
NEW ZEALAND TIGHTENS TRAVEL RULES AS VIRUS SPREADS
New Zealand has announced tighter border restrictions, as new cases of Covid-19 emerge in areas previously free of the virus.
“We are introducing the requirement for air travellers aged 17 and over, who are not New Zealand citizens, to be fully vaccinated to enter New Zealand,” Covid-19 response Minister Christ Hipkins said.
The national flag carrier Air New Zealand also announced it was introducing a “no jab, no fly” policy for passengers on all international flights from February 1, 2022.
The country has been hugely successful at containing the virus – reporting just 27 deaths in a population of five million – thanks to tight border controls and lockdowns, allowing pre-pandemic life to mostly resume.
But the upped border restrictions came as Hamilton city and neighbouring Raglan town were put into a five-day lockdown, with only essential movement permitted, after two people tested positive.
The cases are not believed to be connected to the latest outbreak in Auckland, 160km away.
The city of two million has been in lockdown for nearly seven weeks as officials grapple with an outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant that has so far infected 1320 people.
About 2000 people attended an anti-lockdown rally in Auckland over the weekend, with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern describing the demonstration as “a complete slap in the face” for people who had been abiding by the strict rules banning public gatherings.
“It was illegal and also it was morally wrong,” she said.
New Zealand is pursuing a “Covid zero” elimination strategy. It had been free of community transmission for six months before the latest Auckland outbreak.
US PASSES GRIM COVID MILESTONE
US fatalities from Covid-19 surpassed 700,000 on Friday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, a toll roughly equivalent to the population of the nation’s capital Washington.
The grim threshold comes with an average of well over 1000 dying each day, in a country where 55.7 per cent of the population is now fully vaccinated, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
After a heavily criticised early response to the pandemic, the United States organised an effective vaccine rollout – only to see a significant portion of Americans still refusing to get the shots.
The United States finds itself having notched the most fatalities in the world, far exceeding other frontrunners such as Brazil and India, and facing a resurgence in cases due to the prominence of the highly contagious Delta variant.
While the latest global coronavirus wave peaked in late August, the virus continues to spread rapidly, particularly in the United States.
The vaccination campaign launched by US authorities in December – which had reached a peak in April, with sometimes more than four million injections per day – has meanwhile slowed considerably.
Coronavirus misinformation has been rampant in the nation, and masking remains a political issue, dividing many Americans.
Some Republican governors, such as those in Texas and Florida, have sought to ban mandatory masking in their states, citing individual freedoms.
In Washington, hundreds of thousands of white flags fluttered on the grass on the National Mall, not far from the White House, as sombre reminders of those who have died of Covid in the United States.
#US | Stunning view in #WashingtonDC as over 6,70,000 white flags are flying on the #NationalMall in the memory of people who lost their lives during the #COVID#pandemic.#CovidVictims#Coronavirus#COVID19pic.twitter.com/S1svVY6WFg
— Mojo Story (@themojostory) September 19, 2021
CALIFORNIA MAKES VAX MANDATORY FOR STUDENTS
Covid vaccinations will be compulsory for all students in California, the state’s governor announced Friday – a first in the United States, where vaccine hesitancy has slowed efforts to end the pandemic.
The plan will be phased in as Food and Drug Administration regulators grant full approval for use in younger age groups.
California “will require our kids to get the Covid-19 vaccine to come to school,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.
“Our schools already require vaccines for measles, mumps and more. Why? Because vaccines work. This is about keeping our kids safe and healthy.” The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been granted full FDA approval for those age 16 and up.
“Once the FDA approves the vaccination in different cohorts, starting with 12 and above – grade seven to 12 – we will begin to apply that requirement in the next term,” Newsom said as he made his announcement at a local school.
“We are all exhausted by this pandemic,” added Newsom, saying the rules would apply to all students attending class in both the state or private education systems.
The rules are set to affect six million students in America’s most populous state, where 84 per cent of all eligible residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
More than 700,000 people have died in the United States from coronavirus, with vaccines, mask-wearing and shutdowns all becoming fiercely political issues.
“Schools are actually closed more frequently in those states that have not been more disciplined in terms in advancing more scientific and data-driven approaches to taming this disease,” Newsom said.
Pfizer and BioNTech last week said they had begun submitting data to the FDA for the highly-anticipated authorisation of their vaccine for children aged five to 11.
Children have been infected in greater numbers in the latest wave driven by the Delta variant, and inoculating younger people is seen as key to keeping schools open and helping thwart the pandemic.
The Pfizer vaccine received full, formal approval in the United States in August and is technically available to younger children if prescribed by a doctor.
Pfizer and BioNTech are also testing their vaccine on children as young as two.
PHUKET OPENS FOR VACCINATED TRAVELLERS
Fully vaccinated travellers from any country can now book holidays to tourism haven Phuket, the Thai government has announced, under tweaks to a struggling quarantine-free travel scheme.
Thailand’s tourism industry has been on its knees, with the coronavirus pandemic and related restrictions slashing visitor numbers from 40 million in 2019 to a mere trickle over the last two years.
Pre-virus, the sector made up a fifth of Thailand’s national income, and the travel curbs have fed into the country’s worst economic performance in more than two decades.
The kingdom launched a “sandbox” scheme in July, which allowed fully vaccinated travellers from countries considered low-to-medium risk to roam free on the popular beach island for a fortnight, and then afterwards travel to the mainland without quarantine.
Last week, authorities cut the required stay to a week, in line with national changes to quarantine rules.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand announced late Friday that the scheme had been broadened from the around 80 countries already eligible.
“This means Thailand is now welcoming travellers from any country in the world to the sandbox program,” it said in a statement.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said unvaccinated children would be able to travel with their vaccinated parents.
The sandbox program has already lured more than 38,000 visitors to the white sands of Phuket, and generated $66.67 million ($A124 million).
Thai authorities hope to reopen five other destinations, including capital Bangkok, using the sandbox model from the start of November, followed by 20 more locations in December once vaccination rates increase.
However, travel advice from other countries discouraging would-be tourists could hamper Thailand’s plans to reboot the industry.
Britain and the US have issued travel warnings as the country grapples with a deadly third wave of the virus and low vaccination rates.
For weeks demonstrations have gripped Bangkok as protesters demand the resignation of Thailand’s prime minister over his handling of the pandemic.
Daily new case numbers are hovering at around 11,000, following a peak of 23,000 in August – but testing levels have also declined.
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