At the moment, the United States remains the most affected nation with over 29.4 million infected and 535,000 deaths. The nation is followed by Brazil with 11.5 million cases and a death toll of over 279,000.
India has the third-highest number of cases (11.3 million infections, 158,000 fatalities), while Mexico has the third-highest death toll in the world (over 194,000 deaths, with only 2.1 million cases having been detected in the country).
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ROME (Sputnik) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the suspension of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine use by a number of European states, and indicated that their countries were ready to continue using the vaccine shortly after, the Chigi government palace said in a statement.
The conversation between the two leaders took place after a press conference by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). At it, its director, Emer Cooke, said that the regulator still believed that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweighed the risks associated with it.
"This is a temporary precautionary measure, which will last until March 18, pending the announcement of the results of additional tests by the EMA. The preliminary statements from the EMA are encouraging," the statement said.
"In case of a positive outcome," Italy and France are ready to quickly return to the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the two leaders indicated.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US government issued simplified rules for developers of coronavirus tests to promote serial screening - a process in which the same individual is tested multiple times within a few days, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
"Today, we are providing information for test developers about a streamlined path to emergency use authorization," the FDA said in a press release on Tuesday. "This [path] applies to developers of molecular and antigen tests, for use in serial testing programs, as well as at-home’ tests for use in a serial manner outside of a testing program."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Tuesday that he would get inoculated with the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine amid shaken trust if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reverses the decision to halt its use.
The announcement came as a growing number of countries across the world, including France, are suspending the use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine amid reports about severe post-inoculation side effects such as thrombosis.
"As soon as the green light is given, I will be inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine," Castex wrote on Twitter.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Germany has identified seven severe cases of blood clots among those vaccinated with the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and six of them are women, the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, also known as the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), said.
According to the medical authority, the condition manifested from four to 16 days after vaccination. So far, three people have died. The institute advises those vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine to consult with a doctor in case of prolonged headache or skin hemorrhage.
"However, at the same time, it should be noted that we are talking about potential complications that are very rare. In Germany they were detected in seven people among a total of 1.5 million vaccinated," the PEI said.
TORONTO (Sputnik) – The number of COVID-19 variant cases in Canada is likely much higher than what has been detected by public health officials, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said on Tuesday.
Canada has recorded over 3,600 variant cases as of Tuesday, with 90 percent of those being attributed to the variant first identified in the United Kingdom, according to Tam, who noted that these are the cases that have been identified through genome sequencing.
"There are, in fact, many more cases where we suspect that they are cases of variant of concern because they contain these mutations," Tam told reporters. "The 3,600 is kind of a tip of the iceberg."
Tam elaborated that there are many more mutations "underneath" what provincial health authorities are screening for.
Tam added that Canada is in a precarious position amid fears of a third wave, with the province of Ontario seeing a growing caseload. More than half of all new cases in Ontario – 53 percent – are attributed to new variants, according to the province’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.
Commenting on the situation in Ontario, Tam said that the province stands at an inflection point and urged local health authorities get the situation under control, while that opportunity exists.
Canada is again seeing an increasing number of coronavirus cases following weeks of cases plateauing, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said on Tuesday.
“Over the past several weeks, COVID-19 activity plateaued at a high level, with national case counts now on the rise", Tam told reporters.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - People in France more than in Germany believe their government could have handled the pandemic better, an IFOP poll for French job-hunting service Aladom and newspaper Le Parisien showed on Tuesday.
The survey found that 69 percent of French respondents assessed negatively their state's strategy of tackling COVID-19, comparing to 43 percent of respondents in Germany.
Asked to compare the COVID-19 crisis management in their country with the other country, 44 percent of the French said that President Emmanuel Macron's cabinet did "less well" than German Chancellor Angela Merkel's, 28 percent thought that France and Germany did somewhat the same, and 28 percent said France did better than Germany.
The poll also found that the mental state of people in France was worse than in Germany, with 47 percent of French respondents claiming to have mental well-being issues due to COVID-19 and related restrictions. This included such issues as anxiety, depression and sleep disorders. In comparison, only 17 percent of German respondents said the same.
"The experts will then carry on their assessment, they again will meet on Thursday to come to a conclusion on the full information that has been gathered and to advise us as to whether there are any further actions that need to be taken, and we will inform the public of the outcome immediately after this meeting", EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said during a press conference.
"During today's meeting (16.03.2021), the National Vaccination Committee once again looked into the matter of reports about individual cases of thromboembolic events among people who were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, in the wake of the temporary preventive suspension of vaccination in several countries. The committee examined the data and unanimously holds that there are no grounds for amending its recommendation of 11.03.2021", the national vaccination committee said in a statement, quoted by the AMHA news agency.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Trials of the Russian-developed Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine involving children is planned to start in the summer, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Gamaleya research institute, said on Tuesday.
"We plan to start a study of this medication on children in the summer", Gintsburg said during a briefing, adding that it will be necessary to give children a smaller dose of the vaccine.
"A bilateral agreement was approved two weeks ago… As soon as [the vaccine] is approved, Cyprus will procure a number of vaccine doses to satisfy the country's needs", spokesman Kyriacos Koushos told the RIK broadcaster.
"I know how critical Quarter 2 is for the roll-out of our vaccination strategies in the Member States. These accelerated 10 million doses will bring the total doses of BioNTech-Pfizer in Quarter 2 up to over 200 million. This is very good news. It gives Member States room to manoeuvre and possibly fill gaps in deliveries", Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, as quoted in a press release.
Indian pharma company Dr Reddy's has completed the administration of the Sputnik V vaccine in 1,500 participants for the third phase trials in India. They will announce the vaccine's interim efficacy data in the coming days.
Dr Reddy's had applied for emergency use authorisation of the vaccine last month but were told to come back with additional data.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia registered 9,393 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 9,437 the day before, taking the overall tally to 4,409,438, the coronavirus response centre said on Tuesday.
"Over the past day, 9,393 coronavirus cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 1,021 cases (10.9 percent) without clinical symptoms", the centre said, adding that the cumulative case count has now reached 4,409,438, with the rate of increase at 0.21 percent.
White House spokesman Kevin Munoz told the news portal Axios that "strong COVID-19-related protocols like mask wearing and social distancing" would remain in place to prevent the spread of the infection.
"Our testing protocol is informed by a range of factors, including an employee’s vaccination status, and is only one of a host of measures in place to mitigate risk in the workplace", Munoz said as quoted by the media outlet.
The ministry explained that the new variant was found in a cluster at the Lannion hospital center in the Cotes d'Armor department.
"The first analyses of this new variant do not allow to conclude either an increased severity or transmissibility compared to the historical virus. In-depth investigations are underway to better understand this variant and its impact", the ministry said in a statement.
A 33-year-old man admitted to a government hospital in Delhi has become the first person confirmed to have COVID-19 caused by the South African variant of the novel coronavirus.
There are at least four more cases in other parts of the country.
The medical director of Lok Nayak Hospital confirmed to Sputnik that the patient from Kerala tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning from South Africa nine days ago and was immediately shifted to the hospital.
"We received his reports late on Monday night confirming that he is infected with the South African variant", Dr Suresh Kumar said.
CAIRO (Sputnik) - Morocco does not intend to reject the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, following the example of other countries, due to side effects, the 360 news website reported, citing a source in the government Scientific Committee.
"We will continue to use the British vaccine, as there are no reasons for the suspension from the point of view of science and healthcare, there are no threats", the source said, adding that during the vaccination campaign launched in Morocco on 28 January, no "incidents" with that vaccine had been recorded.
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is replacing Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello in what becomes the fourth change in the post since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The appointment of Dr. Marcelo Queiroga to the Ministry of Health was decided this afternoon, he is president of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology", Bolsonaro informed a group of supporters on Monday, as quoted by the G1 news portal.
The new appointment follows a spike in coronavirus fatalities in Brazil, which has surpassed India to become the second-worst nation hit by COVID-19 (after the US).
"Pending the opinion of the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) of the European Medicines Agency, which is investigating a number of cases of blood clots in people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine in the EU, it was decided today to temporarily postpone the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for vaccination until Thursday 18 March", the country's Ministry of Health said.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is the first top Japanese official to be publicly inoculated, receiving his first dose of a vaccine against the coronavirus ahead of a meeting with US President Joe Biden set to take place in April.
