Coronavirus world: New single dose vaccine approved amid China outbreak
China hopes its new Convidecia vaccine, the ninth approved by the World Health Organisation, will help control the country’s worsening outbreak of Omicron.
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The World Health Organization approved the single-dose CanSinoBIO’s Covid-19 vaccine -- the ninth jab to get the WHO seal of approval.
The WHO granted emergency use listing authorisation (EUL) to the Chinese-manufactured Convidecia vaccine as the country battles a resurgence of the virus triggered by the Omicron variant.
It is the third Chinese-made vaccine to be approved by the UN’s health agency, after Sinovac and Sinopharm.
Convidecia was found to have 64 per cent efficacy against symptomatic disease and 92 per cent efficacy against severe Covid-19, the WHO said.
“The vaccine meets WHO standards for protection against Covid-19 and ... the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh risks,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
The WHO’s vaccine experts recommended it for people aged 18 and above. Convidecia may be used as a booster dose following a completed primary series using any other EUL Covid-19 vaccine, said the WHO.
The jab has already been rolled out in several countries including China, Argentina, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico and Pakistan.
By the end of 2021, more than 58 million people had already been vaccinated with the jab, including nearly 14 million in China, the WHO said.
The WHO has now given EUL status to nine Covid-19 vaccines and variations thereof -- Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Moderna, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Bharat Biotech, Novavax and CanSinoBIO.
Convidecia is based on a modified human adenovirus. The AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines are also both based on viral vector technology.
The more traditional approach uses a genetically-engineered version of the common cold adenovirus as a “vector” to shuttle genetic instructions into human cells.
Convidecia “demonstrates a favourable safety profile in people across different age groups”, eliciting strong immune responses with both binding and neutralising antibodies, said the WHO.
NZ PM JACINDA ARDERN: ‘I’VE GOT NO TASTE’
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says her bout with Covid-19 has left her without any sense of taste.
Despite overseeing one of the world’s strictest Covid lockdowns, Ardern announced she tested positive for the virus soon after her partner contracted the virus.
While Ardern’s office said her symptoms were moderate, she said in an Instagram video that it left her without any sense of taste.
Losing the senses of taste and smell was more common earlier in the pandemic, with the current Omicron variant having milder symptoms than the original or Delta variants.
The fully-vaccinated PM revealed the uncommon symptom during a budget day breakfast with New Zealand finance Minister Grant Robertson.
The two share a tradition of budget day morning cheese rolls, a local delicacy of cheddar and powdered soup rolled in bread.
“They’re a little on the beige side,” she said of her undercooked rolls.
“But they’re going to taste just as good. But you know what, I’m not going to know because I’ve lost all my taste.”
She ended the live stream by saying she was sure her taste would come back soon, although long Covid could potentially see the symptom continue for months.
New Zealand enforced one of the world’s most restrictive approaches to managing the initial Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, and its death toll of 892 remains among the lowest of developed nations.
However, it has experienced an Omicron surge since restrictions were loosened in March, with Ardern’s positive case among more than 50,000 recorded over the last week.
The statement said Ardern’s arrangements for her upcoming trade mission to the United States are unaffected.
Details of the trip are still to be confirmed, although she is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Harvard University on May 26.
The annual budget was the second high-profile domestic announcement Ardern missed due to Covid following the release of the government’s emissions reduction plan on Monday.
“This is a milestone week for the government and I’m gutted I can’t be there for it,” Ardern said.
“But as I said earlier this week, isolating with Covid-19 is a very Kiwi experience this year and my family is no different.”
KIM JONG-UN SLAMS OFFICIALS OVER COVID OUTBREAK
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the negligence and laziness of state officials worsened the country’s Covid outbreak, state media reported, as the number of known cases crossed 1.7 million.
The nuclear-armed country reported its first coronavirus cases last week, and the Omicron variant-fuelled outbreak has since ballooned — marking the failure of a two-year blockade maintained since the start of the pandemic.
Chairing a meeting of the ruling party’s Politburo on Tuesday, Kim said there was “immaturity in the state capacity for coping with the crisis” and slammed the “non-positive attitude, slackness and non-activity of state leading officials”, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
North Korea recorded 232,880 new cases of “fever” as of Tuesday evening, bringing the total number to 1.72 million with 62 deaths, KCNA said.
State media reports do not specify how many of the cases and deaths have tested positive for the coronavirus, but experts say the country would struggle to test and diagnose on this scale.
At the Tuesday meeting, Kim promised to “arouse the whole Party like an active volcano” to counter the spread of the virus.
North Korea’s leader has put himself front and centre of his country’s Covid response, saying the outbreak is causing “great upheaval” nationwide.
Medicines donated by the Kim family were distributed to North Koreans in South Hwanghae province, state media said, in a bid to highlight his personal role in fighting the outbreak.
Nearly 3,000 military medics are taking part in a “24-hour service system to carry out the delivery and supply of medicines”, state media said Wednesday.
North Korea has one of the world’s worst healthcare systems, with poorly equipped hospitals, few intensive care units, and no Covid treatment drugs or mass testing ability, experts say.
The World Health Organization is “deeply concerned at the risk of further spread of Covid-19 in the country particularly because the population is unvaccinated and many have underlying conditions putting them at risk of severe disease and death,” the UN body’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
ANTI-VAXXER CLAPTON HAS COVID
Singer Eric Clapton, an outspoken critic of Covid vaccines, has tested positive to the virus.
The 77-year-old has been forced to cancel some of his shows scheduled for Europe.
Clapton’s team announced his diagnosis via his Facebook page.
“Eric Clapton is unfortunately suffering from Covid having tested positive shortly after the second concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He has been told by his medical advisers that if he were to resume travelling and performing too soon, it could substantially delay his full recovery. Eric is also anxious to avoid passing on any infection to any of his band, crew, Promoters, their staff and of course the fans,” the post reads.
The decision to cancel the gigs comes after “intensive internal discussion”, the post says.
It continues: “It is very frustrating that having avoided Covid throughout lockdown and throughout the period when travel restrictions have been in place Eric should have succumbed to Covid at this point in time, but we very much hope he will be sufficiently recovered by the end of the week to be able to perform the remainder of the planned performances.”
The Layla singer has ben a staunch critic of Covid vaccines, refusing to play at venues that require vaccines and donating to anti-vaccine bands.
Clapton however has been vaccinated with AstraZeneca.
During an appearance on the Real Music Observer YouTube channel, he said he was convinced by pharmaceutical “propaganda” to take AstraZeneca’s vaccine last year.
In the same appearance, Clapton claimed people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 are “under hypnosis”.
After receiving his vaccine dose in 2021, he claimed in a letter he had “severe reactions which lasted 10 days”, the New York Post reports.
In the letter to anti-lockdown activist Robin Monotti Graziadei, Clapton said he “should’ve never gone near the needle.”
SHANGHAI DECLARES ‘ZERO COVID’
Shanghai claims it had achieved “zero-Covid” across all its districts despite millions remaining under increasing lockdown restrictions in China’s biggest city.
Confronted with its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, China — the last major economy still closed off to the world — put the city of 25 million under heavy restrictions in early April.
The government’s insistence on squashing the Omicron-variant-driven outbreak prompted rare protests and angry scuffles with authorities as Shanghai residents reject the prolonged confinement and food shortages.
“All 16 districts of Shanghai have already achieved zero-Covid at the community level,” Shanghai health commission official Zhao Dandan told reporters.
That means none of the over 1,000 new infections recorded on Tuesday was detected outside of quarantined areas, city authorities said.
China’s strategy to achieve zero Covid cases includes strict border closures, lengthy quarantines, mass testing and rapid, targeted lockdowns.
Vice mayor Chen Tong said on Sunday that the city would gradually reopen businesses starting this week, without giving specifics.
But millions in Shanghai were still unable to leave their residential compounds on Tuesday.
More than 3.8 million people were officially still under the strictest forms of lockdown in the city, according to official figures.
Social media erupted in disbelief at the gap between official statements and the reality of life under an enduring lockdown.
“Since society has reached Covid-zero, why are people in Songjiang district still only allowed to go out once every two days?” a blogger on the Twitter-like Weibo asked.
“Is this a parallel universe Shanghai?” asked another.
In some areas of the city, restrictions have even been quietly tightened in recent days.
Live video broadcast Tuesday by Chinese media showed crowds gathering at Shanghai’s Hongqiao Railway Station as train services leaving the city resumed.
Meanwhile, multiple airlines resumed domestic flights out of Shanghai this week after nearly all routes out of the city were suspended during the outbreak.
People are only allowed to leave Shanghai after receiving permission and taking multiple Covid tests.
NORTH KOREAN MILITARY RAMPS UP COVID RESPONSE
North Korean military medics ramped up the distribution of medicines to fight a growing coronavirus outbreak, with the number of reported cases of “fever” nearing 1.5 million.
Leader Kim Jong-un has ordered nationwide lockdowns to try and slow the spread of the disease through the unvaccinated population, and deployed the military after what he has called a botched response to the outbreak.
Hundreds of personnel in camouflage uniforms from the Korean People’s Army medical units were seen rallying in the capital Pyongyang in photos released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The military “urgently deployed its powerful forces to all pharmacies in Pyongyang City and began to supply medicines under the 24-hour service system”, KCNA said.
One KCNA photo showed soldiers walking next to a long line of green trucks. Kim had strongly criticised healthcare officials for their failure to keep pharmacies open.
North Korea’s leader has put himself front and centre of the country’s Covid response since its first case was announced last week, saying the outbreak is causing “great upheaval”.
Authorities had reported more than 1.48 million cases of “fever” as of Monday evening, KCNA said, with the death toll at 56.
“At least 663,910 are under medical treatment,” the agency said. Authorities have stepped up media awareness campaigns and pharmaceutical factories have increased the production of medicines, KCNA reported.
US DEATHS FROM COVID PASS ONE MILLION
On Monday, local time, the United States reported that it’s death toll from Covid-19 has passed one million, according to AP, a number that is equal to how many Americans died in the Civil War and World War II combined.
Three out of every four deaths were people 65 and older with more men dying than women.
While more white people died from the virus overall, Black, Hispanic, and Native American people were twice as likely to die once they contracted Covid-19, than their white people who caught the virus.
This death toll information is based on findings from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) but authorities suspect the toll is actually much higher.
Unvaccinated people have a 10-time greater risk of dying from Covid-19 than fully vaccinated people, according to the CDC.
NORTH KOREA REPORTS RISE IN ‘FEVER’ DEATHS
North Korea on Sunday reported 15 additional deaths from “fever”, days after officially confirming its first-ever Covid-19 cases and ordering nationwide lockdowns.
The outbreak, which leader Kim Jong-un has said is causing “great upheaval”, leaves a country with one of the world’s worst healthcare systems on the edge of potential disaster.
North Korea has no Covid vaccines, antiviral treatment drugs or mass-testing capacity.
While it has maintained a rigid coronavirus blockade since the pandemic’s start, experts have said that massive Omicron outbreaks in neighbouring countries meant it was only a matter of time before Covid snuck in.
Despite activating a “maximum emergency quarantine system” to slow the disease’s spread through its unvaccinated population, Pyongyang is now reporting large numbers of new cases daily.
Official state media KCNA on Sunday said 42 people had died since the outbreak’s beginning, with 820,620 cases and at least 324,550 receiving medical treatment.
The news agency reported that “all provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other.” North Korea first revealed the highly contagious Omicron variant had been detected in the capital on Thursday, with Kim ordering nationwide lockdowns after an emergency meeting of the country’s Politburo.
“The spread of malignant disease comes to be a great upheaval in our country,” Kim said Saturday.
A large number of the deaths have been due to “a lack of knowledge and understanding of the stealth Omicron variant virus infection”, KCNA said, adding “urgent” measures were being taken to educate the public.
Sunday’s KCNA report did not specify whether the new cases and deaths tested positive for Covid-19, but experts say the country will struggle to screen and diagnose on a massive scale.
North Korea’s healthcare system ranked 193 out of 195 countries in a 2021 Johns Hopkins University survey.
“With the current very backward and inaccurate testing method — which diagnoses Covid-19 based on whether a person has a fever or not – it’s impossible for North Korea to detect asymptomatic infections and contain the outbreak,” said Cheong Seong-jang, a researcher at the Sejong Institute.
“With the continued spike in the number of Covid-19 infections, the number of deaths from it is expected to rise further,” he added.
Kim has said the country will “actively learn” from China’s pandemic management strategy, according to KCNA.
North Korea has previously turned down offers of Covid vaccines from China and the World Health Organisation’s Covax scheme, but both Beijing and Seoul have issued fresh offers of aid since the outbreak was announced.
Despite the public health crisis, new satellite imagery indicates North Korea has resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor.
The United States and South Korea have warned that Kim is preparing to conduct another nuclear test – the regime’s seventh – and that it could come any day.
Analysts have warned Kim could speed up nuclear testing plans to distract North Korea’s population from the disastrous coronavirus outbreak.
VIRUS-HIT SHANGHAI ANNOUNCES REOPENING OF BUSINESSES
Shanghai announced a gradual reopening from Monday of businesses, though it remains unclear when the millions of people still locked down in China’s economic capital will finally be allowed out of their homes.
Confronted with its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, China – the last major economy still closed off to the world – put the city of 25 million under heavy restrictions in early April.
The rigid strategy to root out virus cases at all costs has wreaked havoc on supply chains, crushed small businesses and imperilled the country’s economic goals.
For many Shanghai residents, some of whom were already confined to their homes even before April, the frustrations have included problems with food supplies, access to non-Covid medical care and spartan quarantine centres, and many are venting their anger online.
Shanghai vice mayor Chen Tong on Sunday announced a reopening of businesses “in stages” from May 16.
Chen however did not specify if he was referring to a gradual resumption of activity in the city or if it was conditional on certain health criteria.
Under China’s zero-Covid strategy, any lifting of restrictions is generally conditional on seeing no new positive cases for three days, outside of quarantine centres.
Shanghai authorities were aiming for this goal by mid-May.
Infections appear to be on the decline, with 1,369 new cases reported on Sunday in Shanghai, way down from more than 25,000 at the end of April.
In some areas of the city, however, restrictions have been tightened in recent days.
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