With almost a year into a pandemic, the world is still reeling from the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), as it continues to infect thousands in all countries. In the UK, the strictest restrictions were imposed on Monday as cases continue to grow at record highs. Meanwhile, in the United States, Pfizer Inc and its partners delivered the first vaccines to 141 of 145 sites selected by the United States government for the first day of nationwide rollout Monday. Singapore became the first Asian country to approve the Pfizer vaccine and said it hopes to start receiving injections by the end of the year.
In India, the number of daily coronavirus cases fell to the lowest since July 6, registering 22,065 new cases of the deadly virus. In Italy, the government is considering strict restrictions at the national level as the Christmas holidays approach.
Here is the latest update on the Covid-19 pandemic:
1) A new variant of coronavirus has been identified in London that is said to be responsible for the spike in cases. It was initially detected in south-east England, where cases are increasing most rapidly. However, there is no scientific evidence that the variant is more dangerous or infectious. “The variant may or may not be contributing to that,” Whitty told a news conference, adding: “We don’t know what cause and effect is,” England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said on Monday when warning that don’t blame yourself for the peak.
2) The World Health Organization (WHO) also confirmed the new variant of Covid-19; the world health body said it is aware of a genetic variant of the virus identified in about 1,000 people in the UK. During a press conference Monday, WHO Executive Director Michael Ryan said: “This virus evolves and changes over time, and we have seen different variants emerge.” WHO is working with an international network of laboratories to see if the variant is becoming more prevalent internationally.
3) In India, doctors at a Delhi hospital saw an increase in cases of a rare fungal infection in recovering coronavirus patients. According to hospital authorities, the deadly infection, which, if not caught early, can kill half of the patients and lead to loss of vision or jaw in others, was caused by Covid-19. In the last 15 days, ENT surgeons at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) have seen 13 cases of “mucormycosis (black fungus) triggered by Covid-19”.
4) A group of researchers in France has found that dogs can sniff out Covid-19 and identify patients, including asymptomatic ones. In the preliminary study at PLoS One and conducted in March, dogs that sniffed samples of underarm sweat with swabs were able to tell which samples came from Covid-19 patients and which were from people who tested negative for the new coronavirus. Dogs can identify infected people with 85% to 100% accuracy and rule out infection with 92% to 99% accuracy, Reuters news agency reported citing Dominique Grandjean of the Alfort Veterinary School in France.
5) Singapore became the first Asian country to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine and said it hopes to start receiving injections by the end of the year. The government also said it hopes to have secured enough vaccines for everyone by the third quarter of next year.
(With contributions from the agency)
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