STOCKHOLM: The head of the EU’s disease control group warned on Friday that the novel coronavirus could survive indefinitely even as global infections nearly halted last month and vaccine spreads spread rapidly in parts of the world .
In an interview with AFP, ECDC chief Andrea Ammon urged European countries in particular not to drop the anti-virus guard that “looks very human-friendly” and could be called upon to vaccine experts tweak over time, as does seasonal flu.
“So we should be ready for him to stay with us,” according to Ammon, head of the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Following the latest wave of pandemic disease that began in China over a year ago, optimistic trends such as an AFP database showed that the rate of new Covid-19 infections has grown 44.5 percent worldwide over the last month.
More than 107 million people have been infected worldwide and nearly 2.4 million have died from Covid-19.
But disease experts have warned that vaccines will not end the pandemic unless all countries receive doses quickly and equitably.
Writing in an open letter published in the medical journal Lancet, the authors said with vaccine stock collection in richer countries, “it could be years before the coronavirus is brought under global control.”
The warning came when Moderna, the U.S. vaccine maker, said it was seeking approval from regulators worldwide to add 50 percent more coronavirus vaccines to each of its filters as way to increase current supply levels quickly.
In Britain, a sharp decline in diseases and the acceleration of vaccines have prompted some ruling Conservative Party to push for building home – stay rules in early March.
Much of the country entered a lockout in early January to prevent the more portable version of Covid-19 first identified in the UK.
Despite this, the British government issued a warning, a watchdog came out elsewhere, including Italy, Portugal and Australia.
‘It’s rough’
In Australia, more than six million people in Melbourne and the surrounding area were under a five-day coronavirus emergency lockout.
“It’s rough. It’s going to be a few rough days for everyone,” said tennis star Serena Williams, responding to the locking times after her latest win at the Australian Open.
As long as play continues to go under the restrictions, fans will no longer be allowed and players will have to limit themselves to biosecure “bubbles”.
The tax on sport, entertainment and economies remained huge.
The Tokyo Olympics are expected to open in July after several delays.
But the organizers of the games are already battling public questions about hosting the big international event this summer.
Lowest rate for the UK economy
European Commission leader Ursula von der Leyen has urged 27 EU member states to accelerate a key part of the bloc’s 750-billion-euro ($ 900-billion) plan to recover from the effects of the pandemic -discharged.
The UK – which has left the EU and has the highest virus death tax in Europe after an initial response that was widely criticized for the pandemic – reported that the economy has traveled 9.9 percent last year.
Finance Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged the impact would be a “real shock” and warned: “We should expect the economy to get worse before it gets better.”
Hungary at the same time said that it was the first EU country to start using the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
The country broke ranks with the EU last month by becoming the first bloc member to endorse Sputnik V, ordering the delivery of two million doses over three months, enough to vaccinate a million people.
Russia registered Sputnik V in August, months ahead of Western competitors but before large-scale clinical trials began, which left some experts unsupervised.
However, recent results published in the Lancet found that the vaccine is 91.6 percent effective against Covid-19.
Some EU leaders seem to be warming to the idea of using Sputnik V as the bloc is struggling with supply shortages for the three vaccines it has approved.
Plans to vaccinate all Americans
The European Pharmaceutical Agency has so far agreed vaccines for the block developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, US company Moderna and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca with Oxford University.
The EMA said on Friday it had launched a “follow-up review” of vaccines from German manufacturer CureVac, the first step towards a possible license.
In the United States – the world’s worst country with more than 480,000 deaths – health authorities on Friday urged schools to reopen safely and as soon as possible, offering a detailed plan to limit Covid-19 emissions .
The strategy emphasizes universal sheltering, hand washing, disinfection and contact detection. Although he recommends vaccination for teachers and staff, he will not stop saying that it is needed – a divisive issue among teachers’ unions.
The push comes as the United States is in the midst of a major aggressive vaccination campaign, aimed at protecting almost all Americans by the end of July.
Brazil’s tough campaign to get the vaccine out of its population has collapsed this week as a lack of doses is forcing authorities to halt or halt mitigation in a number of key areas.
But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in Canada will be back on track in March with the recent delivery of step-by-step doses to make up for delays.