New York City ahead of curve on Covid-19, but faces risks going into fall – experts

New York City, once an epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, has managed to contain the virus as it reopens, but faces risks of an uptick in cases in the fall, public health experts told Reuters.

The city's success comes from a mix of high rates of compliance with local and federal public health guidance and also substantial immunity among the general population, a result of the severity of the outbreak in March and April, according to public health experts based in New York City.

"There was an alignment in New York with the state government, the healthcare system and the media on what to do - namely, lock everything down," said Mark Jarrett, chief quality officer at Northwell Health.

"The lockdown didn't please everyone but was really well accepted."

That contrasts with other parts of the country, where political opposition to mask wearing and lockdowns is more widespread, Jarrett added.

The rate of contagion also declined more quickly because the initial outbreak left between 25% and 50% of New Yorkers with some level of immunity, said Maria Lima, associate dean for research at the City University of New York School of Medicine.

New York is at risk for an uptick in cases as schools reopen and cold weather pushes more people indoors, the experts said.

"The big challenge is schools reopening, recreating that density anew," which had been reduced by social distancing, said Troy Tassier, a professor of economics at Fordham University who specializes in epidemiology.

After peaking in early April at a seven day average of more than 5 000 cases per day, New York City has reduced its daily case count to an average of less than 200, according to city data.

The percentage of people tested who turned out to have the virus declined from around 70% in late March to less than 1%, and confirmed deaths have declined from over 500 per day in April to the low single digits.

The United States as a whole continues to struggle to contain the virus, clocking upwards of 45 000 cases per day. Total cases have surpassed 5.5 million and more than 170 000 people have died.

- Reuters

Hong Kong offers free virus test to all residents

Hong Kong will offer a free coronavirus test to all 7.5 million residents next month, the city's leader said Friday, but it was unclear how many would take part in the scheme run by companies based in mainland China.

Initially a poster child of the pandemic, Hong Kong has seen a third wave of virus cases - blamed on exemptions from quarantine rules for air and ship crews, and some business travellers.

Carrie Lam, the finance hub's leader, announced that voluntary mass-testing would start on 1 September and go on for two weeks.

"There is still quite a number of silent transmitters in the community," she said.

"So the more that we could test... the earlier we could find the remaining outstanding cases," she added, appealing to residents to take part.

Health minister Sophia Chan had previously told a radio show she hoped five million people would participate.

But Lam on Friday said the government has set "no targets" for the scheme that will be conducted by Hong Kong subsidiaries of three mainland firms, including Chinese genomics firm BGI Group.

Many Hong Kongers remain deeply suspicious of Beijing as it stamps down on political freedoms, including imposing a sweeping new security law on the city last month.

Biometric surveillance, including DNA, forms a core part of the authoritarian mainland's vast surveillance state.

Hong Kong opposition figures have expressed fears that virus testing by mainland officials could help Beijing harvest Hong Kongers' DNA.

The city's government had dismissed those suggestions as unfounded rumours.

More than 3 300 new Covid-19 infections have been detected in Hong Kong since July - more than 70 percent of the total since the disease first hit the city in late January.

The death toll has risen to 75 from just seven at the beginning of July.

The number of daily cases is now dwindling after distancing measures were reimposed, but there are still several infections each day with no clear source.

- AFP 

Coronavirus toll

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 793 847 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

At least 22 734 900 cases have been registered in 196 countries and territories. Of these, at least 14 298 000 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organisation (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

Many countries are testing only symptomatic or the most serious cases.

On Thursday, 6 209 new deaths and 273 683 new cases were recorded worldwide. Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were the United States with 1 213 new deaths, followed by Brazil with 1 204 and India with 983.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 174 290 deaths from 5 575,386 cases. At least 1 947 035 people have been declared recovered.

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 112 304 deaths from 3 501,975 cases, Mexico with 59 106 deaths from 543 806 cases, India with 54 849 deaths from 2 905 823 cases, and the United Kingdom with 41 403 deaths from 322 280 cases.

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Belgium with 86 fatalities per 100 000 inhabitants, followed by Peru with 82, Spain 62, the United Kingdom 61, and Italy 59.

- AFP

French children over 11 to wear masks at school

French schoolchildren above the age of 11 will be required to wear masks when they return to school in just over a week in a bid to halt the quickening spread of the coronavirus, the education minister said.

The new policy marks a toughening of measures as coronavirus infections pick up pace in France, with 4 700 new cases reported on Thursday - a massive increase on the previous day and a post-lockdown record.

"Use of masks will be systematic inside from middle school and not only where there is no social distancing. But outdoors, it's a local decision," Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said in a televised interview late Thursday.

The government will provide masks for families with limited income on a case by case basis, Blanquer said on Friday as he visited a school in the Oise region in northern France, an area heavily affected by the virus.

The measure concerns pupils between the ages of 11 and 18. Pupils are due to return to school on 1 September.

Blanquer ruled out any nationwide delay to the start of the school year, a move advocated by some teachers' unions worried about the spike in infections.

New infections across France have been increasing in recent weeks and the numbers of people admitted to hospital and to intensive care have been rising as well.

Paediatricians on Wednesday called on the government to establish clear and precise strategies to deal with the discovery of a Covid-19 infection within a school.

"We immediately test the class and the school, and from that moment we trace the chain of transmission," the minister said, responding to their concerns.

Blanquer said he was paying close attention to paediatricians' opinions and said he would be willing to extend obligatory mask-wearing to nine- and 10-year olds.

Masks are compulsory in the busiest areas of many French towns and cities, including Paris and Lyon, on public transport and in all shared-work places.

After initially casting doubt on the value of masks as an infection barrier, the French government has recently been promoting their use

The coronavirus outbreak has claimed more than 30 400 lives in France so far.

- AFP

Denmark signs up for EU’s AstraZeneca vaccine deal

Denmark said Friday it had signed on to the European Union's deal with Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca to secure a supply of coronavirus vaccine as soon as it is available.

"If the vaccine is effective and safe, Denmark will receive enough doses so that around 2.4 million Danes can be vaccinated," Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told reporters.

"But the aim is that all Danes will be offered a vaccine," he said.

Denmark is home to some 5.8 million people.

Pharmaceutical companies around the world are racing to develop vaccines against the new coronavirus.

The EU has so far reached agreements with Sanofi-GSK, Johnson and Johnson and CureVac, in addition to AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca said in July that its vaccine, developed together with the University of Oxford, should be available by the end of the year.

Denmark on Friday reported a total of 16 525 cases and 621 deaths linked to the new coronavirus.

- AFP

Lebanon enforces new partial lockdown in effort to curb Covid-19

Lebanon imposed a partial lockdown for two weeks starting on Friday in an effort to counter Covid-19 infections which have spiralled since the catastrophic explosion at Beirut port.

The spread of Covid-19 is compounding the woes of a country still reeling from the 4 August  blast that killed at least 179 people and wounded some 6 000, and a financial meltdown that has devastated the economy since October.

"In this area those who escaped death have relatives who are wounded, there are no homes or cars, frankly we have forgotten corona," said Nabil Nahed, 50, a public sector employee whose house in the Gemmayzeh area was badly damaged in the blast.

"But we have to take precautions as much as we can because in the last two weeks everyone has been mixing, and corona certainly increased," he said.

Lebanon recorded its highest 24-hour tally of new infections on Thursday, with 613 new cases. The infections have spread in the aftermath of the blast as hospitals were flooded with the casualties, medics say.

"Before the explosion, the total cases were 5 000-6 000, now we are approaching 10 000 and above," Iman Shankiti, the World Health Organisation representative in Lebanon, told Voice of Lebanon radio. "In the last two weeks, the total is equal to everything from February to the day of the explosion."

The shutdown, which includes a curfew from 18:00 to 06:00, allows for clearing rubble, making repairs and giving out aid in neighbourhoods demolished by the explosion. The airport will remain open, with travellers having to take a PCR test before boarding and on arrival.

A security source said compliance was good in the Beirut area though less so in northern Lebanon.

- Reuters

Russia approves trial of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine – registry filing

AstraZeneca has received regulatory approval to conduct part of a Phase III trial of its potential Covid-19 vaccine, AZD1222, in Russia, a filing in the Russian registry of clinical trials showed on Friday.

The trial will involve 150 participants and will be handled by four medical facilities in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the registry filing, dated Friday, showed.

Reuters