LONDON – Researchers in Scotland say their COVID-19 vaccination program has led to a dramatic reduction in hospitals.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland found that the Pfizer vaccine reduced hospital admissions by as much as 85% and that an Oxford / AstraZeneca shot injected up to 94 %.
The conclusions were based on a comparison of data from people who received the first dose of the vaccine and those who did not receive inoculation. The data was collected between December 8 and February 15, a time when 21% of the Scottish population got their first impression.
“These results are very encouraging and have given us great reasons to be optimistic about the future,” said Dr Aziz Sheikh, director of the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute. “We now have national evidence – nationwide – that the vaccine protects against COVID-19 hospitals.”
THE VIRUS ISLANDER:
– Researchers in Scotland say their COVID-19 vaccination program has made hospitals collapse
– Russia’s vaccine distribution is picking up speed, but experts say the campaign is still moving slowly
– Primary schools and nurseries will reopen in more than half of the 16 German states
– Every Democratic vote requires a $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, but minimum wage and other issues will push options
– Portugal detects 7 cases of coronavirus differentiation first identified in Brazil
– Follow all AP pandemic broadcasts at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE’S INVOLVED:
LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is unveiling a roadmap for building locks – but millions of people in the UK are looking for a haircut or restaurant food still a long way to go .
Johnson is expected to unveil Monday’s plan to phase out phases, starting with the reopening of schools in England on March 8. People will be allowed to meet one friend or relatives for a chat or an outdoor picnic from the same day.
Three weeks later, people will be able to meet outdoors in groups of up to six. But restaurants, pubs, gyms and a hairdresser are likely to remain closed until April at least.
The government says progress will depend on vaccines being effective, infection rates remaining low and no new viral changes appearing that will throw the plans into disarray.
Britain has the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in Europe, with more than 120,000 dead.
Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the government’s plan to ease barriers was “sustainable” as it goes. ”
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LISBON, Portugal – Portugal is the newest country in the European Union to discover the COVID-19 variable that was first identified in Manaus, Brazil.
Portuguese health authorities said late on Sunday that they had detected seven cases of the variant, warning that it is highly contagious and could infect people previously on COVID-19.
More than 150,000 Brazilians live in Portugal. The two countries have close cultural and economic ties.
Portugal for several weeks last month was the worst country in the world in the pandemic, with the highest number of daily cases and deaths, but a lockout since January 15 has reduced pressure on the public health service.
The European Center for Disease Control says Portugal’s 14-day case notification rate per 100,000 people is 590. This makes it the fourth highest rate in the 30 countries surveyed by the EU.
The seven-day continuous average of daily deaths fell from 2.35 deaths per 100,000 people on Feb. 7 to 0.90 deaths per 100,000 persons on Feb. 21, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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BERLIN – Elementary schools and nurseries in more than half of 16 German states opened Monday after two months of closure due to a coronavirus outbreak.
The move comes despite growing signs that the decline in case numbers in Germany is reversing and even rising in some areas.
German education minister Anja Karliczek has defended the decision to reopen schools, saying younger children in particular benefit from learning together in groups.
Karliczek told the German news agency dpa that schools should “use all means to prevent the spread of viruses” and expressed confidence that state education officials – who are in charge of school affairs in the Germany – on disease numbers when deciding where to reopen.
The German disease control agency says 4,369 cases were re-diagnosed and 62 deaths last day, although Monday’s numbers are often low due to reported delays over the weekend.
Education unions have called for teachers and kindergarten staff to be moved to a higher priority group for vaccines, a view government officials have said they will consider.
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan fast player Lahiru Kumara has been positive for COVID-19 ahead of a cricket tour in the West Indies, Cricket Sri Lanka said on Monday.
He was positively tested through pre-departure tests of the squad and was lonely.
Kumara is the third member of the team to test positive for COVID-19. Coach Mickey Arthur and bat Lahiru Thirimanne earlier proved it, throwing the tour without a doubt. However, the team was expected to leave for Antigua as scheduled later Monday.
Health authorities said Monday they have decided to buy 10 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine from nearby India. This is the only vaccine currently approved by the regulatory body in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is currently administering 500,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine given by India.
Sri Lanka has reported 79,999 COVID-19 patients, including 445 deaths.
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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden celebrates 500,000 U.S. lives lost from COVID-19 with a minute of silence and a candlelight ceremony at the White House.
The country is expected to pass the grim milestone on Monday, just over a year after the first fatal U.S. death of pandemic.
The White House said Biden will give remarks at sunset to honor those who lost their lives. He will be joined by first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. They partake in the moment of silence and bright lights.
Biden has made a point of recognizing the lives lost from the coronavirus. His first event was when he arrived in Washington to set up a month ago to comment at the COVID-19 memorial ceremony.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand will remove the remaining coronavirus strains from Auckland on Monday after a revolution found in the largest city went extinct.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said more than 72,000 tests had found no evidence that the virus was spreading in the community.
Auckland was sent to a three-day lockdown this month after a positive mother, father and daughter affair. Subsequently, five other calls confirmed positive. After the lockout ended, restrictions on Auckland continued to include gatherings.
The origins of the revolution are unclear, although authorities are still investigating whether infected airline passengers are linked to their mother, who works for a company that does laundry for companies. -air.
New Zealand has a strategy to eradicate the coronavirus and managed to stop its spread in the community.
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LOS ANGELES – California’s death toll during a coronavirus pandemic has skyrocketed to 49,000, even as rates of new diseases and hospitals are falling across the state.
California reported another 408 deaths Sunday, bringing the majority since the uprising to 49,105 – the highest in the country.
Health officials said Sunday that the number of patients in California hospitals with COVID-19 has slipped below 7,000, a fall of more than a third over two weeks.
The 6,760 confirmed cases reported Sunday are more than 85% lower than the mid-December peak of about 54,000 in a single day. Total cases come to nearly 3.45 million.
The favorable rate for probationers has been falling for weeks, which means fewer people are in hospital.
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CODOGNO, Italy – Italians are celebrating a year since their country was shocked to discover that this is the first locally known COVID-19 case in the West.
With Sunday church services and wreath-laying ceremonies, including small towns to the north were the first to be struck by the pandemic, citizens paid homage to the dead. Italy has a confirmed death toll from the 95,500 virus.
While the first wave of diseases has largely entered Lombardy and other northern regions, a second wave, starting in the fall of 2020, has raced across Italy, which has so far 2.8 million cases recorded.
The first locally transferred case was found in 38-year-old patients at a hospital in Codogno, Lombardy. That patient survived.
But in the northeastern city of Vo, which recorded the first known death in the country on February 21, 2020, officials unveiled a memorial plaque at a tree planting ceremony.
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WASHINGTON – The White House says about a third of the coronavirus vaccine doses delayed by this week’s winter weather were delivered this weekend.
Media secretary Jen Psaki says the administration has been working with sailors and says the number of 6 million doses created this week will be shut down when power shut down some vaccination centers and the freezing weather revolves around some vaccines in shipping hubs.
Psaki says the administration is making sure these catch doses go out to vaccines “as soon as they can handle them.”
Speaking to “This week,” Psaki says, “We have been able to get around 2 million of those 6 million doses,” saying, “We expect to go up quickly this week. “