Tag Archives: COVID-19

France reports 4,246 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, new 2021 high

PARIS (Reuters) – The number of people in intensive care units in French hospitals with COVID-19 rose by 27 to 4,246, the highest so far this year, the health ministry reported on Thursday.

The number of new positive cases also remained on a steadily increasing trend, up by 34,998 to 4.18 million in the second-biggest increase in absolute numbers this year, following an increase of 38,501 on Wednesday.

Compared with last Thursday, the case count was up by 4.8%, the 10th consecutive increase week-on-week, but remained well below week-on-week increases in the range of 20 to 30% ahead of a second lockdown in November.

The virus’s cumulative death toll rose by another 268 to 91,679, ministry data showed.

The government will detail further confinement measures at a news conference at 1800 GMT.

(Reporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Alex Richardson)

Canada extends travel restrictions at U.S. border: Canadian official

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. land borders with Canada will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least April 21, the Canadian government said Thursday.

The new 30-day extension is the second announced under President Joe Biden and comes as U.S lawmakers in border states have urged lifting the nearly year-old restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canada has shown little interest in lifting the restrictions and last month imposed new COVID-19 testing requirements for some Canadians returning at crossings.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Italy mourns its coronavirus dead as third wave builds

BERGAMO, Italy (Reuters) – Flags flew at half mast and thousands of towns held a minute’s silence on Thursday as Italy mourned the victims of a coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 100,000 in 13 months.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi led tributes in Bergamo, an epicenter of the disease’s first destructive wave a year ago and where city mayor Giorgio Gori said it had left no one unscathed.

“There is not a single person in Bergamo who did not have to say goodbye to a loved one,” he said.

Thursday marked the first anniversary of the day a convoy of army trucks rolled into the city to remove dozens of coffins accumulated in churches and chapels – a stark snapshot of the virus’s untamed power.

“The respect we owe to those who have left us must give us the strength to rebuild the world they dreamed of for their children and grandchildren,” said Draghi, speaking in a “remembrance wood” being created as a living monument to the dead in a local park.

In all, 103,432 deaths linked to coronavirus have been reported in Italy, the seventh highest toll in the world, including 670 in Bergamo and around 6,000 in the surrounding province.

Gori, wearing a sash in the colors of the national flag, said the real number in his city was much higher as only very few people were tested for the virus in the early days.

Like much of Italy, Bergamo is once again in lockdown to try to contain a third COVID-19 wave that on Wednesday saw a record 324 people nationwide admitted to intensive care, and only a few people were allowed to attend on Thursday in what is set to become an annual commemoration.

Anxious to end the health crisis, Draghi said Italy’s ongoing vaccination campaign was a priority and promised that inoculations would carry on unhindered whatever decision the European Medicines Agency (EMA) took about the AstraZeneca shot.

Italy, like several European countries, suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines this week over concerns about unusual blood disorders that had appeared in a handful of people. EMA is due to release findings about those cases later in the day.

“Whatever its decision, the vaccination campaign will continue with the same intensity, with the same objectives. Increased supplies of some vaccines will help compensate for delays by other pharmaceutical companies,” Draghi said.

(Writing by Crispian Balmer; editing by John Stonestreet)

France to impose tougher COVID-19 curbs on Paris, other regions

PARIS (Reuters) – The French government will impose tougher restrictions for some regions including Paris from this weekend to counter the accelerating spread of COVID-19 infections, spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.

The announcement paves the way for new curbs in the greater Paris region, where intensive care wards are full and the hospital system is buckling with an incident rate of more than 400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Attal said the new measures for Paris could include some form of confinement. Weekend lockdowns have already been imposed on top of a nationwide nightly curfew along parts of the Mediterranean Riviera and some areas of the north.

President Emmanuel Macron had hoped a vaccination drive could stave off a new pandemic wave triggered by more contagious variants, and prevent France from resorting to more measures that risk slowing the economy and cooping up citizens.

That approach is now being tested. The vaccine rollout has been slowed by an onerous European Union procurement process, supply difficulties, public skepticism and most recently the suspension of vaccinations using AstraZeneca shots in more than a dozen EU states including France.

Macron on Wednesday defended the EU COVID-19 vaccine strategy and said that within a few months Europe would be among the regions producing the most doses.

“We are living through the hardest weeks now. We know it,” Macron said after welcoming Poland’s prime minister at the Elysee Palace.

The new restrictions will be announced by the prime minister on Thursday. They will not include school closures, Attal said.

The head of public hospitals in Paris earlier warned that the virus was running amok in the capital and surrounding departments, an area that accounts for about a third of economic activity.

“The virus is not under control,” Martin Hirsch said.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Matthieu Protard; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Edmund Blair and Hugh Lawson)

U.S. plans to use real world, trial data to determine when vaccines need to be updated

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. officials plan to use data gathered from people who have already been vaccinated against COVID-19 as well as data from ongoing clinical trials to determine when and whether current vaccines need to be updated to address viral variants.

Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a hearing on Wednesday that his agency has already started getting data on vaccine safety from surveillance systems.

Those systems have been set up to gather reports of vaccine side effects from individuals and physicians and are managed in partnership with the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The FDA is also working with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to mine data in health information systems to look for possible safety signals.

Marks told a hearing of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce that his agency has already begun to receive data on vaccine safety.

He said the FDA intends to use these surveillance systems to determine whether vaccines continue to be effective in the presence of new variants of the coronavirus, especially those that may be capable of evading protection from vaccines.

Marks told the panel he expects to start receiving data on whether vaccines are continuing to work within the next few months. He is also continuing to monitor clinical trials for signs of vaccine failure.

Large numbers of breakthrough infections in which vaccinated people get COVID-19 would suggest that booster shots – using the same or a retooled vaccine targeting specific variants – are needed.

Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax Inc have announced they have begun work on vaccines to address variants should they be needed.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; additional reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru, Editing by Franklin Paul and Aurora Ellis)

Pandemic picking up speed in half of the Americas: PAHO director

By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) – New coronavirus cases are picking up again in half of the countries in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday, calling on Brazil to protect its people in the face of record infections and deaths.

Brazil is now reporting the highest number of new infections in the region, PAHO director Carissa Etienne said. Several areas of Brazil are witnessing record-high infections, and hospital beds are nearly at capacity across more than half of Brazilian states.

Brazil on Tuesday reported a record 2,841 deaths in 24 hours, as the incoming health minister pledged to continue the controversial policies of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the severity of the disease.

“The situation in Brazil is a cautionary tale that keeping this virus under control requires continuous attention by public health authorities and leaders to protect people and health systems from the devastating impact of this virus,” Etienne said.

According to a Reuters tally, Latin America has recorded around 22.9 million coronavirus cases, and 722,000 deaths, almost double the toll of Asia and Africa combined.

The news out of North America was mixed as the vaccine rollout in the United States gained momentum. The United States and Mexico are reporting a drop in new infections, though cases in Canada are accelerating, particularly among young adults ages 20 to 39, Etienne said.

But she said vaccines are limited and supplies face a bottleneck, with only two manufacturers providing shots through the World Health Organization and Gavi coalition’s COVAX facility to provide equitable access for poorer nations.

So far, nearly 138 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the Americas, although just 28 million of those shots were given in Latin America and the Caribbean.

New infections are decelerating in the Caribbean, but some islands are seeing the number of COVID-19 deaths double, she said.

Cases were rising in Uruguay, Ecuador and Venezuela in the last week, while Paraguay’s health system issued an urgent warning as hospitals filled up with COVID-19 patients, Etienne said.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Franklin Paul and Bill Berkrot)

Australia urges EU to send 1 million COVID-19 vaccines for PNG amid fresh outbreak

By Colin Packham

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia said on Wednesday it will ask the European Union to release 1 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to help Papua New Guinea (PNG) battle a dangerous outbreak that authorities fear could spread to other parts of the region.

The request could inflame existing tensions between Canberra and Brussels amid claims of vaccine nationalism after the EU recently blocked an Australia-bound shipment of the doses.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday said the vaccines were contracted to Australia and were now badly needed to contain a surge in coronavirus cases in the Pacific island nation, parts of which are just a short boat ride from Australian territory.

“We’ve contracted them. We’ve paid for them and we want to see those vaccines come here so we can support our nearest neighbor, PNG, to deal with their urgent needs in our region,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

“They’re our family, they’re our friends. They’re our neighbors. They’re our partners… This is in Australia’s interests, and is in our region’s interests.”

“We confirm that the President of the European Commission has received a letter from the Australian Prime Minister on this topic and we will reply in due time,” a spokeswoman for the EU executive said on Wednesday.

Australia will donate 8,000 locally produced COVID-19 vaccines to PNG as an immediate response to the outbreak, and would make a million doses available as soon as they arrived from Europe, he said.

Earlier this month, the EU, at Italy’s request, blocked a shipment of 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca PLC vaccine to Australia, citing vaccine shortages in Europe.

It later denied Australia’s request to review the blockage, the first such refusal since Brussels established a mechanism to monitor vaccine flows in late January.

PNG has officially recorded over 2,300 cases since the pandemic began, a figure experts say vastly underestimates the true outbreak.

Prime Minister James Marape earlier this week said COVID-19 had “broken loose” as he warned local hospitals would soon be overwhelmed.

Marape has urged people to avoid unnecessary travel but his warning came as thousands of people gathered to mourn the death of Michael Somare, PNG’s first prime minister after independence from Australia.

Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the limited coronavirus testing being done in PNG was showing alarming results.

“When people are being admitted into hospital in Port Moresby, half of women who are coming in due to pregnancy are positive,” Kelly told reporters in Canberra.

Morrison warned an “uncontrolled” outbreak could produce a new variant of the virus that would affect not only PNG but the wider region.

Canberra will suspend all travel to and from PNG from Wednesday midnight, he added.

Australia said in a statement on Wednesday it has approached the United States, Japan and India, members of the so-called Quad group of Asia Pacific nations, to seek additional help for PNG.

FIGHTING CHANCE

A senior Australian government source said while the EU had justified blocking the shipment to Australia due to Canberra’s success in containing the virus, that rationale would not hold with PNG.

Aid agencies echoed the desperate need for vaccines in the impoverished country of almost nine million people.

“PNG needs a fighting chance to beat this, and frontline doctors and nurses could be the difference between keeping this under control or utter catastrophe for PNG’s health system,” said Marc Purcell, chief executive of The Australian Council for International Development, which represents aid agencies.

The government source said Canberra would lodge its request with the EU this week and an answer was likely within days. He declined to be named as he is not authorized to talk to media.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney and Colin Packahm in Canberra; additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; Editing by Stephen Coates, Christopher Cushing and Sam Holmes)

Mother who lost only son to rare COVID complication warns parents to look for early signs

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – By the time doctors realized that Lorena Navarrete’s son had a rare complication of COVID-19 that afflicts some children, it was too late to save her 16-year-old Emilio.

Lorena, a single mother who lives in the southern Chilean city of Puerto Montt, told the TVN network that her music-loving and sociable son died about a week after he first complained of feeling tired and of a pain in his legs in late January.

Within days he had developed livid blotches on his skin, a high fever, vomiting and dark urine.

Doctors at the city’s hospital, overrun with severe COVID cases, repeatedly tested him for COVID but with the results coming back negative were at a loss as to what was wrong with him.

By the time his illness was identified as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, it was too late. Lorena could not be at her son’s bedside because of strict health protocols, but a social worker called to pass on the message that her son loved her very much. She asked the social worker to tell her son she would see him soon, and that his pets were well.

“A doctor said that if I had faith, I should pray because my son was very ill,” said Navarrete, who works as a nurse technician. “They had a diagnosis and it was PIMS.”

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), as PIMS is more commonly known, is a rare, life-threatening syndrome linked to COVID-19.

It usually appears between two and six weeks after infection, even in asymptomatic cases of COVID-19.

It shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease, including fever, rashes, swollen glands, conjunctivitis and, in severe cases, heart inflammation, and can cause multiple organ failure. It is not always fatal if caught and treated early.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in January that it was investigating whether COVID variants were increasing the number or severity of cases following anecdotal reports from some states.

Dr. Loreto Twele, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Puerto Montt hospital, said catching it was like piecing together a jigsaw.

“There is no single exam. You have to put the pieces together to be able to make an early diagnosis and start treatment,” she said.

Chilean public health chief Paula Daza said in a media briefing on Monday that of the 69,563 confirmed cases of COVID in children so far in Chile, 157 cases of MIS-C have been reported.

“The rate of cases of children with these conditions is quite low, however, health professionals have to be alert,” she said.

For Emilio’s mother Lorena, the pain of losing her only son is partly helped by knowing she can raise awareness.

“I do not want Emilio’s death to be in vain and for this to be known so that the same thing does not happen to other parents,” she said.

(Writing by Aislinn Laing and Fabian Cambero; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Moderna begins study of COVID-19 vaccine in kids

(Reuters) – Moderna Inc has begun dosing patients in a mid-to-late stage study of its COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, in children aged six months to less than 12 years, the company said on Tuesday.

The study will assess the safety and effectiveness of two doses of mRNA-1273 given 28 days apart and intends to enroll about 6,750 children in the United States and Canada.

The vaccine has already been authorized for emergency use in Americans who are aged 18 and older.

In a separate study which began in December, Moderna is also testing mRNA-1273 in adolescents between 12 and 18 years old.

The latest study is being conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

U.S. administers nearly 111 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines: CDC

The United States has administered 110,737,856 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 142,918,525 doses in the country as of Tuesday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

The tally is for Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the agency said.

According to the tally posted on March 15, the agency had administered 109,081,860 doses of the vaccines, and distributed 135,847,835 doses.

The agency said 72,135,616 people have received at least one dose, while 39,042,345 people were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

A total of 7,569,120 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.

(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)