World crown: US rejects vaccine initiative – politics

The United States government rejects participation in the international Covax initiative, which aims to ensure fair global access to Covid-19 vaccines. The United States does not allow itself to be constrained by multilateral projects that are under the influence of “the corrupt World Health Organization (WHO) and China,” a White House statement said. Covax is led by the Gavi and Cepi vaccination alliances and by the WHO.

The United States left the WHO in July. President Donald Trump accused the Geneva-based organization of being too late to report the danger of the coronavirus and of being under government control in Beijing, despite China paying lower contributions to the WHO than the United States. Trump holds the WHO jointly responsible for the high number of deaths related to the virus.

Government spokesman Judd Deere said in the statement that the president will spare no expense to ensure that each new vaccine meets FDA standards, is thoroughly tested and saves lives.

Several dozen countries have so far shown interest in a Covax cooperation. The program includes several candidate vaccines. As soon as a preparation is shown to be effective and safe, two billion doses of vaccines will be produced by the end of 2021. The goal is to protect nurses and people who are particularly vulnerable to old age or previous illnesses in all the countries of the world: about 20 percent of the total population in the participating countries.

The WHO recently warned against solo national efforts in the fight against the corona virus and called on all countries to invest more money in the Covax initiative. It is useless to vaccinate the entire population if in other countries particularly needy people such as nurses are left unprotected. The EU recently announced that it would support the initiative with guarantees worth € 400 million.

Rapid virus detection test

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche plans to launch a rapid test for the diagnosis of novel coronavirus infection on the market at the end of September. According to Roche, the antigen test offers a reliable result within 15 minutes, for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. In the US, the company wants to apply for an emergency license. The world’s largest provider of medical diagnostics has already launched several Covid-19 tests.

Peru leads the world in mortality from Covid-19

In terms of population, there is no country in the world where as many people die from Covid-19 disease as in Peru. The South American country last recorded 89.99 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. This places it in first place globally, ahead of Belgium, Andorra and Great Britain. Only the small state of San Marino in Italy, when it becomes a population, has even more deaths, but with a total of only 42 victims.

So far, more than 652,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus in Peru and more than 28,000 patients have died from Covid-19. In South America, only the much larger Brazil is more affected by the pandemic.

Despite great efforts, the Peruvian government has so far been unable to reduce the number of infections. True, right at the start of the pandemic, it issued extensive curfews to slow the spread of the virus. Yet many people in this poor country simply cannot afford to stay home. About 70 percent of the workforce in Peru is employed in the informal sector, that’s a lot even by Latin American standards.

Now the government has tightened the rules once again: there is a full curfew on Sundays, family gatherings are prohibited for the time being. Also, an awareness campaign with drastic slogans is to warn people of the danger that Covid-19 represents. “If you absolutely must go shopping with a friend, take the opportunity and buy a grave in the cemetery together,” says one of the posters, for example.

Hungary closes the borders

Hungary closed its external borders to most foreigners since Tuesday morning due to the corona pandemic. With some exceptions, only Hungarian citizens are allowed to enter. Foreigners must give a valid reason. From the point of view of the EU Commission, the entry bans imposed on Germans and other EU citizens are not compatible with European law. The fact that there are exceptions for citizens of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia is a clear indication of discrimination, said a spokesman for the authority in Brussels.

He also referred to a letter from the responsible EU commissioners, Didier Reynders and Ylva Johansson, to the Hungarian government. In this, the two demand that all measures that violate the basic principles of EU law be withdrawn immediately.

According to Hungarian regulations, border crossings are only possible with a special permit and on certain transit routes. Against this background, Hungary will again carry out internal EU border controls until 1 October. According to the government, the reason for the measures is the growing number of Covid 19 cases.

In view of the increasing number of individual national attempts at entry restrictions and border controls, the EU Commission now wants to come up with a concrete proposal for better coordination in the coming days. It is also intended to ensure that freedom of movement within the EU is only restricted if absolutely necessary due to the pandemic.

WHO: governments should “listen” to anti-corona demonstrations

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to react wisely to demonstrations against state crowning measures. Governments should not overreact, said WHO expert Mike Ryan in Geneva. “The really important thing is to start a dialogue.” Right now it is important not to promote further division in society.

Persuasion about the need for action can sometimes fail. “But it’s really important not to impose your will,” Ryan said. There is the right to disagree. Exceptional situations such as the Corona crisis always generated strong feelings and reactions. Of course, it is also imperative that protests are carried out in a safe manner that does not increase the risk of transmission, Ryan said. That can also be achieved through listening and dialogue.

In Berlin, tens of thousands protested against the state corona measures on Saturday. A group of protesters broke through the barriers of the Reichstag building and then climbed the stairs. The German capital is now considering how to deal with it.

WHO on the situation in Europe: with local restrictions due to winter

The WHO does not expect a return to full closures in Europe to combat the corona pandemic. The outbreaks could be managed with local restrictions, Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, told the television channel. Sky News. “The day we will defeat the pandemic is not necessarily the vaccine, but when we learn to live with it. And that could be tomorrow.” She does not expect any major national curfew in the coming months to prevent a second wave of infections. “I am optimistic, but we cannot rule out local blockades,” Kluge said.