Alarm over new Covid-19 variant puts London in lockdown again

 UK PM Boris Johnson announced the creation of a new tier – Tier 4 – within the Covid-19 alert system, under which towns and areas in England are placed. London has been within the top Tier 3 with the toughest restrictions, but has gone further within the lockdown-like Tier 4

Image Source: Google

World News/ Covid-19: Rapid transmission of a newly-discovered variant of Covid-19 in London and nearby areas prompted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday to place the capital under similar restrictions that were imposed under the national lockdown in November, while relaxations allowed for Christmas are cancelled.

The new variant, he said, was no less lethal than the original version and there's no evidence that a vaccine is a smaller amount effective against it; but he added that there's much that's not known about it.

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The World Health Organization has been informed of the development.

Johnson announced the creation of a replacement tier – Tier 4 – within the Covid-19 alert system, under which towns and areas in England are placed. London has been within the top Tier 3 with the toughest restrictions, but has gone further within the lockdown-like Tier 4.

The curbs become from Sunday morning until December 30.

Johnson said during a televised briefing from Downing Street, “There is still much we don’t know. While we are fairly certain the variant is transmitted more quickly, there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more severe illness. Equally there's no evidence to suggest the vaccine are going to be any less effective against the new variant.

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“Our experts will continue their work to improve our understanding of the variant. So we are learning more about this variant as we go. But we know enough already to be sure that we must act now.

“First, we will introduce new restrictions in the most affected areas – specifically those parts of London, the South East and the East of England which are currently in tier 3. These areas will enter a new tier 4, which will be broadly equivalent to the national restrictions which were in place in England in November.”

Life under Tier 4 in London and southeast England from Sunday morning are going to be almost like the lockdown, which incorporates people staying at home, unless moving out for exemptions allowed; non-retail shops, gyms and leisure facilities to close; work from home; people must not travel out of Tier 4 areas.

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Health secretary announced the discovery of the variant in parliament on Monday, while Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, gave more details of the variant identified by Public Health England’s genomic surveillance. consistent with Whitty, this is often a “critical and dangerous moment”.

Whitty added, “As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates within the southeast, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now considers that the new strain can spread more quickly.

“We have alerted the WHO and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding. there is no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is underway to confirm this.”

Johnson said Christmas this year “will be very different”, adding that people altogether tiers shouldn't travel, which can affect visit meet families over the festive period.

The curbs come days after he had announced relaxations for Christmas, which are now scrapped.

“As prime minister, it is my duty to take the difficult decisions, to do what is right to protect the people of this country. Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, and the potential risk it poses, it is with a heavy heart that i must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” Johnson said.

Covid-19: China gives ‘unproven’ vaccine to thousands of people, makes them sign ‘secrecy’ agreement

 Thousands of Chinese have already been inoculated by Covid-19 vaccines which are still under trial. China has said WHO gave them a go-ahead.

Little is known about China’s Covid-19 vaccination programme. (REUTERS)

China is injecting thousands of its people with Covid-19 vaccine shots, which are still under trial and hence their efficacy unproven, reports said. people who are getting these vaccine shots are made to sign a “nondisclosure agreement”, according to which they can’t talk about it to the news media.

High-risk population, including staff of state-owned companies, government officials, vaccine company staff, teachers are being inoculated on an emergency basis. Global heath experts are raising questions whether their consent has are being taken or not.

In its defence, China has said that the world Health Organization supported China’s experimental coronavirus vaccine programme, which started in July. China informed WHO in June, Zheng Zhongwei, a National Health Commission official, told Reuters.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan has said countries can approve use of medical products within their own jurisdiction in the current emergency situation but only as a “temporary solution”.

China currently has 11 vaccines in clinical trials and four in Phrase 3 trials.Among these. two are developed by state-backed China National Biotec Group and one by Sinovac Biotech. Another experimental vaccine was developed by CanSino Biologics, which was approved to be used in the Chinese military in June.

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Russia's Putin says strengthen WHO, proposes conference on coronavirus vaccine

Russian President Putin told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday the world Health Organization should be strengthened to coordinate the worldwide response to the coronavirus pandemic and proposed a high-level conference on vaccine cooperation.

Image coutesy : Google

“We are proposing to hold an online high-level conference shortly for countries interested in cooperation in the development of anti-coronavirus vaccines,” Putin said.

“We are ready to share experience and continue cooperating with all states and international entities, including in supplying the Russian vaccine which has proved reliable, safe, and effective, to other countries,” he said.

News Source: Reuters

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Covid-19 vaccine distribution not expected until mid-2021: WHO chief scientist

 None of the candidate vaccines in advanced clinical trials thus far has demonstrated a "clear signal" of efficacy at the extent of a minimum of 50% sought by the WHO, spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.

The World Health Organization doesn't expect widespread vaccinations against COVID-19 until the center of next year, a spokeswoman said on Friday, stressing the importance of rigorous checks on their effectiveness and safety.

None of the candidate vaccines in advanced clinical trials thus far has demonstrated a "clear signal" of efficacy at the extent of a minimum of 50% sought by the WHO, spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.

Russia granted regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine in August after less than two months of human testing, prompting some Western experts to question its safety and efficacy.

US public health officials and Pfizer Inc said on Thursday a vaccine might be ready for distribution as soon as late October. That might be just before the US election on Nov. 3 during which the pandemic is probably going to be a serious factor among voters deciding whether President Donald Trump wins a second term.

"We are really not expecting to see widespread vaccination until the middle of next year," Harris told a UN briefing in Geneva.

"This phase 3 must take longer because we need to see how truly protective the vaccine is and that we also need to see how safe it is," she added. This mentioned the introduce vaccine research where large clinical trials among people are conducted. Harris didn't ask any specific vaccine candidate.

All data from trials must be shared and compared, Harris said. "A lot of people have been vaccinated and what we don't know is whether the vaccine works...at this stage we do not have the clear signal of whether or not it's the level of worthwhile efficacy and safety...," she added.

The WHO and GAVI vaccine alliance are leading a worldwide vaccine allocation plan referred to as COVAX that aims to assist buy and distribute shots fairly. the main target is on first vaccinating the foremost high-risk people in every country like healthcare workers.

COVAX aims to acquire and deliver 2 billion doses of approved vaccines by the top of 2021, but some countries that have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the us , have said they will not join.

"Essentially, the door is open. We are open. What the COVAX is about is making sure everybody on the planet will get access to the vaccines," Harris said.

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