In recent years, the issue of mental health has emerged as a pressing concern worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression is the leading cause of disability globally, affecting over 264 million people of all ages. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing mental health challenges, with increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression reported across populations. As we grapple with this growing crisis, it is imperative to explore holistic approaches to mental well-being, including the ancient practice of yoga.
Mental health issues can arise from a myriad of factors, including genetic predispositions, traumatic experiences, societal pressures, and environmental stressors. In today’s fast-paced world, individuals often find themselves overwhelmed by the demands of modern life, leading to burnout, anxiety disorders, and depression. Moreover, the stigma surrounding mental illness can prevent individuals from seeking help, exacerbating their symptoms and perpetuating the cycle of suffering.
While medical interventions such as therapy and medication play a crucial role in managing mental health conditions, there is a growing recognition of the importance of holistic approaches that address the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. This is where the ancient Indian practice of yoga comes into play.
Yoga is more than just a physical exercise; it is a holistic discipline that integrates breath control, meditation, and physical postures to promote overall well-being. At its core, yoga emphasizes the cultivation of self-awareness, inner peace, and harmony with one’s surroundings. By fostering a deep connection between the mind, body, and soul, yoga offers a powerful tool for managing stress, alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression, and promoting resilience in the face of adversity.
Research has shown that regular practice of yoga can have profound effects on mental health. Studies have found that yoga interventions can reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD, as well as improve quality of life and overall psychological well-being. Moreover, yoga has been shown to regulate the body’s stress response system, lowering levels of cortisol and promoting relaxation.
One of the key strengths of yoga lies in its adaptability and accessibility. Whether practiced in a traditional studio setting or in the comfort of one’s own home, yoga offers a range of techniques that can be tailored to individual needs and preferences. From gentle, restorative practices to more dynamic, physically challenging sequences, there is a style of yoga suitable for everyone, regardless of age, fitness level, or prior experience.
Additionally, yoga promotes a supportive and inclusive community that encourages self-acceptance, compassion, and connection with others. By fostering a sense of belonging and mutual respect, yoga helps to combat feelings of isolation and alienation, which are common contributors to poor mental health.
As we navigate the complexities of the modern world, it’s essential to prioritize mental health and well-being as integral components of overall health. By embracing holistic approaches such as yoga, we can cultivate resilience, inner peace, and vitality, empowering ourselves to lead fulfilling and meaningful lives. In the words of B.K.S. Iyengar, one of the foremost yoga teachers of the 20th century, “Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.” Let us harness the transformative power of yoga to illuminate the path towards mental well-being for all.
When will we learn that there are no victors in war. Ultimately, we are all losers. I pray that peace returns to the embattled war zone
“Israel has weaponized its memories of the Holocaust so deeply that it has now raised an army of heartless avengers who have no compassion for those who had no role to play in the Nazi pogrom that exterminated their brethren decades ago. How long will they carry this legacy of revenge? Despite the severe criticism of their determination to reduce Palestine to dust, which has now shaped into unacceptable war crimes, Israel has not let up its hunting of Hamas. Not even after appeals from the WHO and the UN. When will we learn that there are no victors in war; ultimately, we are all losers. I pray that peace returns to this embattled war zone and that the true spirit of Christmas inspires them to restore peace and goodwill among men.”
By Ira Pande
This is that special year that will end on a Sunday so that the new year will literally start on a fresh slate. Be that as it may, as I sit down to write my last column for 2023, my mind goes over some landmark events that have changed our world forever. Equally, it is a time to remember those dear souls who we will miss as we step into 2024 and those wars and strife that have scarred this year but will hopefully find resolution in the coming one.
All around me are the familiar scenes of X-mas celebrations: brightly lit streets, shopping arcades and shops. Fake fir trees garlanded with fairy lights and cheery Christmas decorations with a star or angel on its crown. Yet, is it not ironic that Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Palestine in general, where Christianity was literally born, are today drowning in darkness and death? A few years ago, on a visit to Israel, we attended the Midnight Mass in Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity. In this bitterly divided territory, Bethlehem is still zealously controlled by Palestine. However, since Christmas is a season for peace and goodwill, it allows access to Jews and pilgrims from countries across the world to its part of the Holy Land. Long lines of believers wait patiently to enter the birthplace of Christ the Redeemer. Even non-believers are moved by the carols that sing: ‘Away in a manger, no crib for a babe/The little child Jesus lay down his sweet head’ and that famous hymn, ‘Silent night, holy night’, acquires a different timbre when it is sung at that time of the year. The term ‘heavenly peace’ acquires a significant dimension if you hear it in Bethlehem, believe me.
However, what we have seen in this land lately are flying missiles, drones bombing homes and settlements. Even hospitals have not been spared, nor children, women and the innocent citizens who are not Hamas. As I see news clips beamed from there, my eyes well up when I see terrified children, many who have lost their parents, grandparents and siblings in one day, running away from the rubble that was once a home. I cannot understand how those who carry out instructions to kill can bring themselves to destroy hospitals and kill children. If this is not the opposite of the spirit of peace and goodwill among men, what do you call it? Words fail me for even terms like dystopia cannot convey the horror of such bestial behavior.
Israel has weaponized its memories of the Holocaust so deeply that it has now raised an army of heartless avengers who have no compassion for those who had no role to play in the Nazi pogrom that exterminated their brethren decades ago. How long will they carry this legacy of revenge? Despite the severe criticism of their determination to reduce Palestine to dust, which has now shaped into unacceptable war crimes, Israel has not let up its hunting of Hamas. Not even after appeals from the WHO and the UN. When will we learn that there are no victors in war; ultimately, we are all losers. I pray that peace returns to this embattled war zone and that the true spirit of Christmas inspires them to restore peace and goodwill among men.
From there, let me turn to an incident that gave me such joy that I must share it with my readers. Every month or so, I do a story-telling session in our club for little children between the ages of four and 10. For an hour, I am alone with them and instead of reading ‘good’ stories from the classics, such as the Panchtantra, I make up characters and adventures that ignite their imagination. So the children become storytellers (you will be surprised when you hear how hilarious their suggestions are). Logic and reality are happily dispensed with as they join me in adventures that take them to forests where trees speak, owls and monkeys share their knowledge and where doing all the things forbidden to them by parents and teachers are allowed. I have always known that children love other naughty children for in making up stories about them, they are able to sublimate their hidden wishes. So, when they hear of a naughty chap called Agdum Bugdum, they giggle when they learn he wears his chaddis over his pants, eats from a chair while seated on a table and walks backwards when going to school.
By the end of the session, they were making up scenarios where Chunnu-Munnu smuggle a monkey into their home and teach their pet to steal mangoes from the garden of the crusty uncle next door. Or how the owl they meet one night in the forest outside their house has a friendly ghost who waits to serve them all kinds of goodies when they visit him. I have to confess that by the end of the session, the kids had taken over the storytelling and I was rocking with laughter at the improbable tales they thought up.
In our ‘normal’ world, there is a shrinking space for innocent fun. Parents are more concerned about their children learning how to sing, dance, play games and what have you. Remember what children love above all else is having fun with other children and being naughty. Keep moral lessons for later.
(The author is a columnist)
Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. It’s also associated with chronic illness and disability.
Recent research estimates that the world could see close to half a billion new cases of major chronic diseases by 2030 if people don’t get more active. Regular physical activity helps to prevent and manage many chronic diseases. Popular ways to be physically active include walking, cycling, and playing sports.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that children and adolescents (5-17 years old) get an average of at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity.
This should incorporate vigorous aerobic activities, as well as those that strengthen muscle and bone, at least three days a week. It’s also recommended that children spend no more than two hours a day on recreational screen time. These recommendations aim to improve children’s physical and mental health, as well as cognitive outcomes.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, physical activity among children and adolescents was already below the recommended levels. In 2016, 81 per cent of adolescents around the world aged 11-17 were considered physically inactive. Girls were less active than boys.
The pandemic has made matters worse. Physical inactivity in children and adolescents has become a global public health priority. It is now included in global action plans.
For example, using 2016 as baseline, the WHO through its Global Action Plan on Physical Activity targeted a 15 percentage point reduction in prevalence of physical inactivity among adolescents by 2030.
This call to action also implored other international organisations and governments to help track progress in physical activity promotion among children and adolescents.
Covid-19 continues to spread en masse in several coutnries across the globe. While the scare of another probably pandemic wave has not died down, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new guidelines with respect to people who get infected by the deadly virus. WHO informed that they have updated its guidelines on ‘mask wearing in community settings, Covid-19 treatments, and clinical management.’
Amid spread of newer variants of Covid-19, WHO has urged everyone to continue wearing masks and take the booster doses of vaccine in order to curb the spread of the virus.
Here is a detailed look at WHO’s updated guidelines
ISOLATION PERIOD
– WHO has said that if Covid-19 patients are displaying symptoms of the virus they will have to be isolated for at least 10 days from the date of onset of the symptoms
– Earlier WHO’s guidelines had stated that Covid-19 patients who displayed symptoms of Covid-19 be discharged after 10 days of onset of symptoms, along with a vigilance of at least 3 days after the symptoms have disappeared
– WHO has mentioned that if a Covid patient tests negative with an antigen-based rapid test, they can be discharged early from isolation
– Asymptomatic Covid patients or individuals who have tested positive for the virus, but do not experience any symptoms, should be isolated for 5 days, WHO mentions in their updated guidelines
– Earlier the isolation period for these patients was ten days
WEARING MASKS
The WHO recommends the use of masks ‘ irrespective of the local epidemiological situation, given the current spread of the Covid-19 globally.’
– WHO says wearing a mask in public spaces is still key against the prevention of the deadly virus
– In their statements, WHO recommended the use of masks ‘ irrespective of the local epidemiological situation, given the current spread of the Covid-19 globally.’
– WHO also says that one should wear masks in the following situation
– If one has recently been exposed to Covid-19
– When someone has or suspects they have Covid-19
– When someone is at high-risk of severe Covid-19
– Anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space
TREATMENT OF COVID-19
– WHO has extended its strong recommendation for the use of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir
– WHO also reviewed the evidence on two other medicines, sotrovimab and casirivimab-imdevimab, and maintains strong recommendations against their use for treating COVID-19
Thiruvananthapuram (TIP)- A man who returned from the UAE has tested positive for monkeypox in Kerala, state Health Minister Veena George said on Thursday, July 14. He landed at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Tuesday and is “quite stable, with all vitals normal”, she said.
The central government has sent a team, which has experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), to assist the state. “There is nothing to worry about or to be anxious about. All the steps are being taken and the patient is stable,” the state minister told news agency ANI, sharing no further specifics about the patient. She said his primary contacts have been identified — his father, mother, a taxi driver, an auto driver, and 11 fellow passengers from adjacent seats. She had said hours earlier that “a person who returned from abroad” is admitted to a hospital with symptoms of monkeypox. His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology.
Also earlier in the day, the central government wrote to states to take precautions. Concerned over cases in Europe and America — monkeypox is rarely reported outside Africa — the government had in May issued guidelines about isolation and contact-tracing.
The virus causes fever symptoms besides distinctive bumpy rashes. That is usually manageable, though one of two strains is more dangerous. The Congo strain causes death in up to 10 per cent of the patients. The West African strain is milder, with a fatality rate of around 1 per cent.
It was first found in monkeys in 1958, hence the name. Rodents are now seen as the main source of transmission. It spreads through close contact, both from animals and, less commonly, between humans. Two months ago, scientists were alarmed after a few cases of monkeypox — which hardly occurs outside Africa’s western and central regions — were reported or suspected in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.
It puts virologists on alert also because it is in the smallpox family. Smallpox was eradicated by vaccination in 1980, and the shot has since been phased out. But that vaccine also protects against monkeypox, so the winding down of vaccination could be behind new cases, experts have said.
What is Monkeypox Virus?
Monkeypox is an infectious disease that is usually mild and is endemic in parts of the west and central Africa. It is spread by close contact, so it can be relatively easily contained through measures such as self-isolation and hygiene. Most of the cases reported so far have been detected in the UK, Spain, and Portugal.” The vast majority of reported cases so far have no established travel links to an endemic area and have presented through primary care or sexual health services,” the UN agency said.
Monkeypox Risk, Moderate? WHO Explains Why
WHO expert Dr. Rosamund Lewis, in a video shared by the world health body on Saturday, explained why the risk of the Monkeypox has been said to be “moderate”. Lewis answered various questions related to the disease and also assured that it causes mild illness.
“Most people who contract the virus do not become seriously ill. However, the risk has been described as moderate because it’s spreading to locations where it has never been reported before. So this new pattern of spread is concerning. So WHO aims to identify where the risk may be, and who may be at risk. This is the message we’re sending – If you know your own risk, you can lower your risk,” she explained.
WHO Quells Fears, Suggests Guidelines to be Followed
WHO talks in favor of home assessment when deciding to isolate and care for a person with suspected or confirmed infection with the mild uncomplicated disease in a home setting. It also says that symptoms in mild cases should be constantly monitored as well as a patient’s mental health. Extra precaution should be followed while handling cleaning linens, and household surfaces and during waste disposal recommends WHO.
All patients should be advised to abstain from sexual activity until all skin lesions have crusted, the scabs have fallen off and a fresh layer of skin has formed underneath”, the guidelines note.
Patients at high risk for complications namely young children, pregnant women, and those who are immunosuppressed or with severe or complicated infections should be admitted to the hospital for closer monitoring and clinical care under appropriate isolation precautions to prevent transmission.
Newborns of infected mothers should be constantly monitored, and “infant feeding practices, including whether to stop breastfeeding for a mother infected with the virus, should be assessed on a case-by-case basis”.
More needs to be done to enhance WHO’s ability to respond to disease outbreaks
In the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again brought up the much-discussed issue of reforming the World Health Organization while addressing the heads of countries at the second global COVID-19 summit. That reforms are urgently needed to strengthen the global health body and its ability to respond to novel and known disease outbreaks in order to limit the harm caused to the global community is beyond debate. The long delay and the reluctance of China to readily and quickly share vital information regarding the novel coronavirus, including the viral outbreak in Wuhan, and its stubborn refusal to allow the global agency to investigate, freely and fairly, the origin of the virus have highlighted the need to strengthen WHO. But any attempt to build a stronger WHO must first begin with increased mandatory funding by member states. For several years, the mandatory contribution has accounted for less than a fourth of the total budget, thus reducing the level of predictability in WHO’s responses; the bulk of the funding is through voluntary contribution. Importantly, it is time to provide the agency with more powers to demand that member states comply with the norms and to alert WHO in case of disease outbreaks that could cause global harm. Under the legally binding international health regulations, member states are expected to have in place core capacities to identify, report and respond to public health emergencies. Ironically, member states do not face penalties for non-compliance. This has to change for any meaningful protection from future disease outbreaks.
While Mr. Modi has been right in calling for reforms in WHO, the demand for a review of the health agency’s processes on vaccine approvals is far removed from reality. Covaxin is not the first vaccine from India to be approved by WHO, and the manufacturer of this vaccine has in the past successfully traversed the approval processes without any glitch. The demand for a review of the vaccine approval process is based on the assumption that the emergency use listing (EUL) of Covaxin was intentionally delayed by the health agency, which has no basis. That the technical advisory group had regularly asked for additional data from the company only underscores the incompleteness of the data presented by the company. As a senior WHO official said, the timeline for granting an EUL for a vaccine depends “99% on manufacturers, the speed, the completeness” of the data. To believe that the agency was influenced more by media reports than the data submitted by the company is naive; the media were only critical of the Indian regulator approving the vaccine even in the absence of efficacy data. Also, the rolling submission began in July 2021 after the company had completed the final analysis of the phase-3 data. Any reform in WHO should not dilute the vaccine approval process already in place.
Top World Health Organization official says low hospitalization and death rates in South Africa due to the omicron variant cannot be considered a template for how the variant will fare as it surges in other countries.
Dr. Abdi Mahamud, Covid-19 incident manager at the UN health agency, notes a “decoupling” between case counts and deaths in the country, which first announced the emergence of the fast-spreading new variant.
He said that in terms of hospitalizations South Africa remains “very low, and the death has remained very, very low.” But Mahamud says “it cannot be extrapolated from South Africa to other countries, because each is country is unique on its own”. By its latest count, WHO says 128 countries had confirmed cases of the new variant that first emerged in southern Africa in November, but many other places — which may not have complete testing capabilities — are believed to have it too.
Mahamud notes that omicron has shown nearly unprecedented transmissibility for a virus.
He notes a “remarkable increase” in cases in the United States, where “we are seeing more and more hospitalizations coming along”. But he did cite an increasing number of studies showing omicron affects the upper part of the body, whereas other versions devastated lung function and caused severe pneumonia that led to many deaths.
Mahamud says that could be “good news” but that more studies are needed to get a full picture.
Hospitalisation figures may better reflect Omicron severity: Fauci
The number of hospitalisations due to the Omicron variant is a better measure to understand its severity than the traditional case-count of new infections, top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said. Fauci has joined a growing body of experts who argue that case counts ‘don’t reflect what they used to’, as data suggests Omicron is less severe but more contagious, the Guardian reported.
However, referring to the Omicron surge in the US as a “tsunami”, Fauci also cautioned the public not to be fooled by preliminary data suggesting the variant lacks the severity of earlier Covid-19 variants, such as Delta.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to “a tsunami of cases,” putting immense pressure on national health systems. Recapping WHO’s response since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said at a press briefing that he’s “highly concerned that Omicron being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta — is leading to a tsunami of cases.” “This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse and again disrupting lives and livelihoods,” he added, citing the pressure as not only new Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalisation but also a large number of health workers getting sick themselves.
Tedros reiterated his concern over a recent narrative that Omicron has been causing milder or less severe diseases, Xinhua news agency reported.
“But we are undermining the other side at the same time — it could be dangerous… we shouldn’t undermine the bad news just focusing on the good news,” he said.
“We don’t want people to be complacent, saying this is not severe, this is mild. And we have to be very careful in that narrative,” he added.
According to Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, though Omicron looks like being more transmissible, having a shorter incubation period, and causing a mild disease, it’s based on the largely young population that the variant has been infecting.
Since the Omicron wave has not been fully established in the broader population, Ryan said he’s “a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in the older and more vulnerable populations.” “I think it’s really important over the coming weeks that we keep suppressing transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can,” he added.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): The US will lift all travel restrictions for incoming non-citizen, non-immigrant travelers from November 8, with only limited exceptions, and they will be required to be fully vaccinated and produce proof of their COVID-19 vaccination prior to boarding a flight to the country, the White House announced on Monday.
The updated travel guidelines also include new protocols around testing. To further strengthen protections, unvaccinated travelers – whether US Citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or the small number of accepted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to test within one day of departure.
“Under this new international air travel system, foreign nationals will need to be fully vaccinated, in order to fly to the United States. The new system also includes enhanced testing requirements, strengthened contact tracing, as well as masking. These are strict safety protocols that follow the science and public health to enhance the safety of Americans here at home, and the safety of international air travel,” a senior administration official told reporters.
Beginning November 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to fly to the US, with only limited exceptions, the official said. With this, the United States will lift all travel restrictions specific to all countries and regions. According to the White House, passengers will need to show their vaccination status, and the airlines will need to match the name and date of birth to confirm that the passenger is the same person reflected on the proof of vaccination; determine that the record was issued by an official source (e.g., public health agency, government agency) in the country where the vaccine was given and review the essential information for determining if the passenger meets CDC’s definition for fully vaccinated such as vaccine product, number of vaccine doses received, date(s) of administration, site (e.g., vaccination clinic, health care facility) of vaccination.
The Biden Administration will work closely with the airlines to ensure that these new requirements are implemented successfully, a senior administration official said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that for purposes of travel to the United States, vaccines accepted will include FDA approved or authorized and World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listed (EUL) vaccines. Individuals can be considered fully vaccinated for more than weeks after receipt of the last dose if they have received any single dose of an FDA approved/authorized or WHO EUL approved single-dose series (i.e., Janssen), or any combination of two doses of an FDA approved/authorized or WHO emergency use listed COVID-19 two-dose series (i.e., mixing and matching).
For those Americans who can show they are fully vaccinated, the same requirement currently in place will apply – they have to produce a negative test result within three days of travel, the White House said, adding that for anyone travelling to the United States who cannot demonstrate proof of full vaccination, they will have to produce documentation of a negative test within one day of departure. Children under 18 are excepted from the vaccination requirement for foreign national travelers, given both the ineligibility of some younger children for vaccination, as well as the global variability in access to vaccination for older children who are eligible to be vaccinated. Children between the ages of 2 and 17 are required to take a pre-departure test.
If travelling with a fully vaccinated adult, an unvaccinated child can test three days prior to departure (consistent with the timeline for fully vaccinated adults). If an unvaccinated child is travelling alone or with unvaccinated adults, they will have to test within one day of departure, the White House said in a fact sheet.
The White House said there are a very limited set of exceptions from the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals. These include exceptions for children under 18, certain COVID[1]19 vaccine clinical trial participants, those with medical contraindications to the vaccines, those who need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons (with a US government-issued letter affirming the urgent need to travel), those who are travelling on non-tourist visas from countries with low-vaccine availability (as determined by the CDC), and other very narrow categories.
Those who receive an exception will generally be required to attest they will comply with applicable public health requirements, including, with very limited exceptions, a requirement that they be vaccinated in the US if they intend to stay here for more than 60 days, the White House said.
UNITED NATIONS (TIP): The highly transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19 has now been reported in 135 countries, according to the World Health Organisation which said the cumulative number of coronavirus cases reported globally could exceed 200 million by next week.
The Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update dated August 3, released by WHO, said globally 132 countries have reported cases of the Beta variant and 81 countries of the Gamma variant.
It said the cases of Alpha variant have been reported in 182 countries, territories or areas, while 135 countries have reported cases of the Delta variant, which was first identified in India.
The global number of new cases has been increasing for more than a month, with over 4 million cases reported in the past week—July 26 to August 1, the update said.
“This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific Regions which reported 37 per cent and 33 per cent increases respectively as compared to the previous week, while the South-East Asia Region reported a 9 per cent increase,” it said. Overall, the number of deaths reported this week decreased by 8 per cent as compared to the previous week, with over 64,000 deaths reported.
However, the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean Regions showed a sharp increase in new deaths as compared to the previous week, reporting 48 per cent and 31 per cent increases, respectively.
The cumulative number of cases reported globally is now nearly 197 million and the number of cumulative deaths is 4.2 million. “If these trends continue, the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million by next week,” the update said. At the country level, the highest numbers of new cases in the past week were reported by the United States (543,420 new cases; 9 per cent increase), India (283,923 new cases; 7 per cent increase), Indonesia (273,891 new cases; 5 per cent decrease), Brazil (247,830 new cases; 24 per cent decrease), and Iran (206,722 new cases; 27 per cent increase).
The South-East Asia region reported a 9 per cent increase in new cases as compared to the previous week (over 841,000 cases), while the number of weekly deaths remained similar to the previous week (22,000 deaths).
The highest numbers of new cases in the region were reported from India (283,923 new cases; 20.6 new cases per 100,000; 7 per cent increase), Indonesia (273,891 new cases; 100.1 new cases per 100,000; 5 per cent decrease), and Thailand (118,012 new cases; 169.1 new cases per 100,000; 26 per cent increase).
Cases from India, Indonesia and Thailand accounted for 80 per cent of new cases being reported from the region.
The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from Indonesia (12,444 new deaths; 4.5 new deaths per 100,000; 28 per cent increase), India (3,800 new deaths; less than one new death per 100,000; 45 per cent decrease), and Myanmar (2620 new deaths; 4.8 new deaths per 100,000; 24 per cent increase).
Amid the growing cases of Delta variant and vaccine inequity, WHO called for a “moratorium” on booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine until at least the end of September, noting with concern the disparity in vaccination levels in low and high-income countries.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference on Wednesday that while high-income countries have now administered almost 100 doses for every 100 people, low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people, due to lack of supply.
“We need an urgent reversal, from the majority of vaccines going to high-income countries, to the majority going to low-income countries,” he said.
“Accordingly, WHO is calling for a moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September, to enable at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated,” the WHO chief said.
WHO’s goal remains to support every country to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of its population by the end of September, at least 40 per cent by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year.
The global health agency urged “everyone with influence” – Olympic athletes, investors, business leaders, faith leaders, and every individual in their own family and community to support its call for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September.
He added that ensuring increased vaccination coverage in low-income countries requires everyone’s cooperation, especially the handful of countries and companies that control the global supply of vaccines.
So far, more than four billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally and over 80% have gone to high- and upper-middle income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.
“And yet even while hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards booster doses,” Ghebreyesus said.
Emphasizing that while he understands the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant, Ghebreyesus said, “we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected.”
(Source: PTI)
In response to the Delta surge, the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator is launching the Rapid ACT-Accelerator Delta Response, or RADAR, issuing an urgent call for 7.7 billion dollars for tests, treatments and vaccines. PTI
The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic is now in the “early stages” of the third wave, warned World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday, even as he sounded a fresh alarm over a global surge in cases of the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. “Unfortunately…we are now in the early stages of a third wave”, Ghebreyesus said in an address to the emergency committee on Covid-19 established under the International Health Regulations (IHR), a treaty that guides global response to public health risks.
“The Delta variant is now in more than 111 countries and we expect it to soon be the dominant Covid-19 strain circulating worldwide, if it isn’t already,” a UN report quoted World Health Organization chief Ghebreyesus as saying. He added that the coronavirus is continuing to evolve and resulting in more transmissible variants.
Tedros Adhanom, the director-general of the international public health agency, pointed out that Covid-19 cases and deaths were on the decline for a while due to increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America, but the global trend has now reversed and cases are rising once again, the last week being the fourth consecutive one which witnessed rising cases in all but one of WHO’s six regions. Deaths are also rising again, after 10 weeks of steady decline, it said. WHO said that the recent spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus is being fueled by “increased social mobility” and inconsistency in the use of proven public health and social measures. Vaccination against Covid-19 is important but that alone will not stop the pandemic, the global health body said, pointing out that countries need to undertake a “comprehensive risk management approach to mass gatherings”, an updated guidance for which was recently issued by WHO.
Nairobi (TIP): Nine out of ten African countries could miss the target of vaccinating 10 per cent of their population against Covid-19 by September, dimming hopes of containing the pandemic in the continent, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday, June 10.
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said that nearly 90 per cent or 47 out of 54 African countries are off-track in terms of inoculating 10 per cent of their population against the virus in the next three months even as they grapple with surging infections, Xinhua reported.
“As we close in on five million cases and the third wave in Africa looms, many of our most vulnerable people remain dangerously exposed to COVID-19,” Moeti said in a statement.
Statistics from African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) indicate the continent had acquired 54.9 million vaccine doses and administered 35.9 million as of June 7.
According to Africa CDC, the top five African countries that have led in COVID-19 vaccination include Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa.
Moeti said that Africa required 225 million doses to achieve the 10 percent vaccination target, adding that the continent is banking on donations and replenishing the COVAX facility to ramp up inoculation targeting high-risk groups.
According to WHO, 20 countries in Africa have used less than 50 percent of vaccine doses they received under the COVAX facility while 12 have more than 10 percent of AstraZeneca doses at risk of expiry by the end of August.
“We need to ensure that the vaccines that we have are not wasted because every dose is precious,” said Moeti, adding that some African countries have registered success in vaccine roll-out amid sound planning. Source: IANS
ovid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths are falling fast across Europe, but the risk of a deadly autumn resurgence remains high as societies open up and the more transmissible Delta variant advances, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. The warning came as new case numbers continued to plunge in most of the continent, falling in some areas to their lowest levels since August, and multiple governments, including France and Germany, relaxed restrictions further.
Urging people and governments to exercise “caution and common sense” over the summer, the WHO Europe’s regional director, Hans Kluge, said on Thursday that community transmission was still widespread and would continue as travel and social gatherings increased.
“We’ve been here before,” Kluge said. “Last summer, cases gradually rose in younger age groups, then moved into older age groups, leading to a devastating … loss of life in the autumn and winter of 2020. Let’s not make that mistake again.”
Katy Smallwood, a senior emergency officer, said the Delta variant first detected in India was of particular concern. “It is not yet prevalent in the European region but in some countries has already displaced the dominant Alpha variant,” she said.
World shouldn’t let China’s wild theories pose a hindrance
Covid-19 has claimed over 37 lakh lives worldwide in the past year and a half, leaving global economy in a shambles, yet the origin of the lethal virus continues to be shrouded in mystery. China’s lack of transparency has been a major stumbling block. An investigation by an expert team of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in January-February this year virtually ruled out the hypothesis that the virus accidentally leaked from a maximum-security biological lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The probe was deemed inconclusive and unsatisfactory amid allegations that China did not give unrestricted access to the team, which was allowed to visit Wuhan a whole year after the outbreak of the pandemic. Of late, the lab leak theory has gained ground with the emergence of new evidence, prompting the US, the UK, India and other badly hit countries to raise the pitch for an in-depth probe into the matter.
With US President Joe Biden giving the American intelligence authorities 90 days to get ‘information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion’ on the virus’ origin, China has harked back to the 2003 war on Iraq to counter the US. China fears that American agencies, which allegedly fabricated evidence about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction to justify the launch of the war, could do something similar in the case of the Covid investigation. This is a preposterous apprehension as there is no doubt that the virus originated from Wuhan — whether from a seafood market or a lab is yet to be ascertained. The two situations are simply not comparable. It’s apparent that Beijing is resorting to diversionary tactics to stall attempts to find out the truth.
The entire world wants answers, not just America. What’s needed is an unbiased scientific study by an international panel, not a political blame game aimed at scoring brownie points. The WHO must show a sense of urgency to wade through the sinister web of lies and half-truths. The sooner China’s accountability is fixed, the better prepared we would be to face or even prevent any future pandemic.
Applaud POTUS Biden – now a Bipartisan Investigation.
“I heartily welcome and celebrate President Biden’s command to our intelligence community to investigate the origin of Covid19. Roots are important not only to Alex Haley, but to biochemists and epidemiologists the world over to understand the nooks and crannies of this pandemic virus so as to more perfectly vaccinate against it and to ultimately disarm it. This is a deadly Virus-ICBM, and a crime against humanity.
Open Letter No. 1 to President Trump.
A little more than a year ago, unaware how Covid19 would ravage humanity across the globe, as a lawyer seeking justice I thought only in terms of crime and punishment and wrote my first of three Open Letters to then-president Trump on April 14, 2020, via Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger and included therein my science I had identified to crack this case and determine that it was a lab-created Frankenstein of a virus. Indeed, I identified more than Spike Glycoprotein (s) as the transplanted “master key” to get past our immune system as a Trojan Horse; I also identified that the protein string of the earlier virus – including Patient Zero who was admitted on December 1, 2019, at the Wuhan Hospital – from the Fall of 2019 was different than the cover-up virus released at the Wuhan Wet Market on or about December 30, 2019. President Trump launched his preliminary investigation the next day on April 15, 2020. My thoughts were of us being Pearl Harbored by this Virus many times over.
Open Letter No. 2 to President Biden.
On April 13, 2021, the one-year anniversary, I wrote my second Open Letter to President Joe Biden. By this time, I knew that Sweden had experienced Covid19 cases in the Fall of 2019 – well before Patient Zero was admitted in Wuhan Hospital. And given the vaccines everyone was taking, to know the genome of all virus variants was critical to public health.
Open Letter No. 3 to P. M. Modi – Embrace President Xi and Desmond Tutu’s TRC.
Then Covid19 made a reappearance in India as a double mutation-variant and killed people as a lawn mower cuts grass: effortlessly. The mutations were getting more lethal, not harmless as normal viruses do. This was more evidence of its clear origin of being created in the Wuhan Lab doing biowarfare gain-of-function research. This forced me to abandon the simple principles of tort law and crime and punishment as I foresee an out-of-control biowarfare agent self-perpetuating and become more lethal and vaccine-proof. So, my third and last Covid19 Open Letter of May 6, 2021, to PM Modi was to urge him to embrace China’s President Xi and get him to join in a Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission paradigm to get the Covid19-origin’s whole truth, the raw truth, the actual truth, so humanity may survive. Otherwise, President Xi who wants to rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty’s Tribute System and dominate the world would merely inherit the wind with no one to dominate.
Edgar Allen Poe to assist DNI Avril Haines bypass Compromised Scientists, and how our Crispr gene-editing technology was used in Wuhan to create Covid19 biowarfare agents.
Finally, I have the highest respect for our Intel community, especially Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, to ferret out the truth. But, here, we have an Edgar Allen Poe problem well documented in the “Purloined Letter” – hiding in plain sight and still invisible. There is absolutely zero evidence of any zoonotic transmission – from animal to human – despite the forceful attempts by the WHO, China and even some of our own compromised scientists, who get federal tax dollars to play the Devil and create uncontrollable biowarfare agents, to mislead us all into believing Mother Nature did it. She didn’t. Bats biting humans don’t as a result transfer their Spike Glycoprotein to humans. This was done by using our Crispr gene-editing technology. Even Charles Darwin’s evolution bars such corrupt pandering by compromised scientists to policymakers who know not what they are being told. Mumbo jumbo is being sold by corrupt scientists.
Hope Humans Live
Covid19 is lab created. We need to disarm it. Humanity’s future may depend on it. Let greed take a brief holiday and give safe passage to the whole raw truth of this Frankenstein that has exceeded its designed lethality. I trust President Xi will embrace the TRC paradigm to restore CCP’s China’s more-loved status globally.”
(The author is an eminent attorney. Twitter @ravibatra)
United Nations (TIP): The “terrible” surge of the coronavirus cases in India has severely impacted Covax’s vaccine supply in the second quarter of this year to the extent that there will be a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI. The joint statement was issued on Thursday by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) CEO Dr Richard Hatchett, Gavi, Vaccine Alliance CEO Dr Seth Berkley, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
“Countries that are advanced in their vaccination programmes are seeing cases of Covid decline, hospitalisations decrease and early signs of some kind of normality resume. However, the global picture is far more concerning,” the statement said.
Giving a call to action to equip Covax to deliver 2 billion doses in 2021, the statement said, “We are seeing the traumatic effects of the terrible surge of Covid in South Asia – a surge which has also severely impacted global vaccine supplies.”
It added that Covax has proven it works as the global mechanism for equitable access to Covid vaccines, having delivered over 70 million doses to 126 countries and economies around the world since February – from remote islands to conflict settings – managing the largest and most complex rollout of vaccines in history. Over 35 countries received their first Covid vaccine doses thanks to Covax.
“However, the terrible surge of the virus in India has had a severe impact on Covax’s supply in the second quarter of this year, to the point where, by the end of June we will face a shortfall of 190 million doses,” the joint statement said.
It said even though Covax will have larger volumes available later in the year through the deals it has already secured with several manufacturers, it warned that “if we do not address the current, urgent shortfall, the consequences could be catastrophic.”
It said the pandemic has just taken a frightening new turn, as a deadly surge of cases rages across South Asia and other hotspots.
The global agencies called on nations to share doses “now”, saying the United States and Europe have collectively pledged to share 180 million doses.
Govt expects speedy India launch of single-dose Sputnik Light
The government is hopeful of a speedy launch of single-dose Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik Light in India and all stakeholders, including the Russian manufacturer and its Indian partners, have been directed to fast-track the application and regulatory approval procedures for the jab to boost the country’s vaccination drive.
An application seeking regulatory approval for Sputnik Light is expected to be filed in the next couple of weeks and it could become the first single-dose vaccine to be launched in India, sources said citing high-level discussions held among top government officials in the recent days to boost domestic availability of Covid-19 vaccines. Source: PTI
The World Health Organization (WHO) validated on Friday the BBIBP-CorV COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm for emergency use.
“This afternoon, WHO gave emergency use listing to Sinopharm Beijing’s COVID-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing.
“This expands the list of vaccines that COVAX can buy, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval, and to import and administer a vaccine,” he said.
In an official press release, WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Health Products Dr. Mariangela Simao said that the addition of the Sinopharm vaccine has “the potential to rapidly accelerate COVID-19 vaccine access for countries seeking to protect health workers and populations at risk.” The vaccine produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the China National Biotec Group, is an inactivated vaccine with easy storage requirements, which makes it highly suitable for low-resource settings.
It is also the first vaccine that will carry a vaccine vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that change color if the vaccine is exposed to heat, letting health workers know whether the vaccine can be safely used.
According to WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), the Sinopharm vaccine is recommended for use in adults 18 years and older, in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of three to four weeks.
Though few older adults over 60 years were enrolled in clinical trials and efficacy could not be estimated in this age group, WHO is not recommending an upper age limit for the Sinopharm vaccine, because reviewed data have suggested that the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in older persons, according to the WHO press release.
“There is no theoretical reason to believe that the vaccine has a different safety profile in older and younger populations,” said the WHO press release, which recommends that countries using the vaccine in older age groups conduct safety and effectiveness monitoring.
Compensation Is Due from China; and If We Were Pearl Harbored, Then Reparations too- Ravi Batra
New York based attorney Ravi Batra, on 14thApril 2020 wrote an open letter to then President Trump making out a case against China for the pandemichavoc, which has taken away millions of lives, created terrible health issues, and ruined the global economy. Mr. Batra called upon President Trump to demand from China due compensation from China for causing colossal losses in terms of men and material to America and Americans, and additionally, if China Pearl Harbored America, reparations. A year later, Mr. Batra wrote an open letter to President Biden repeating his accusation against China and asking the US President to demand due compensation, and reparation, if required.
We are publishing here Mr. Batra’s open letter to President Biden, without editing it. -EDITOR
“April 13, 2021
H.E. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America
H.E. Nancy Pelosi
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
H.E. Chuck Schumer
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
Re: 1 Year after My April 14, 2020 “Open Letter” – M/O Novel Coronavirus Aka Covid19 Aka “2019-n-CoV” or “2019-nCoV” – Compensation Is Due from China; and If We Were Pearl Harbored, Then Reparations too.
Honorable President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Schumer:
As an un-conflicted American, I love and admire the Chinese culture; always have, and find Confucius wiser as I age. With God’s Grace I and my family survived Covid19 on or about March 29, 2020. Treating this Virus as a cancer case that I needed to crack, and after learning biochemistry and epidemiology during an intense effort, I did so, and a year ago, on April 14, 2020, I wrote a 6-page “Open Letter” to then-President Trump, Speaker Pelosi and then-Senate Majority Leader (“OL”; copy enclosed, with uniform spelling of “Wuhan”), and for POTUS, emailed it to a former Marine: Deputy NSA Matt Pottinger at 8:31pm. In the OL, I had the science, the facts, and recommendations, including, bringing our “supply chains” home. The next day, April 15, 2020, about 1 p.m. the United States opened a preliminary investigation into inter alia the origin of SARS-CoV2 from PLA-run Wuhan Virology Lab, and the motives of CCP China in causing its global-spread without sounding a pandemic-alarm directly or thru the WHO. I remain grateful for the start of the April 15, 2020 “all hands-on deck” Investigation.
It remains an open secret that my analysis was and is correct, and that this is a lab-created Frankenstein that transplanted the “Spike Glycoprotein(S)” (“Spike”) from Bats – a unique feature in bats, as they are either “cold” or “warm” blooded, and still, a warm Bat can procreate with a cold Bat due to the “Spike.” OL at 3. I called “Covid19,” aka “Wuhan Virus,” a Trojan Horse, as its Spike feature does not cause our immune system to sound an alarm upon infection (and the T-cells remain asleep). Disturbingly, CCP has not turned over, to this day, the genome of Patient Zero who was admitted in Wuhan hospital on or about December 1, 2019, while a different protein string-virus was released on or about December 31, 2019 at the Wuhan Wet Market. The animal farms about 1000 miles away from Wuhan, did not experience a Covid19 outbreak, thereby decimating the WHO’s coddled-team’s report, after a 3-hour chaperoned visit to the Wuhan Virology lab, falsely asserting a virus jump from an animal to a human.
WHO dishonored its high fiduciary obligations, and did not promptly alert the leaders of every nation that a pandemic was afoot and ask to lock-down CCP’s China. President Trump said we were fighting an invisible enemy. I disagree; the cascading events in just the South China Sea – from creating Mischief Reef, to sinking of Filipino Fishing boats with Fishermen to their death, to sinking Vietnamese Fishing boats, to the recent squatting of 245 Chinese Militia ships, lashed together to appear as part of “9-Dashes” in Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone – are in violation of inter alia the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”). The Virus is surely invisible, but this string of protein, despite its lab-based default programing, has no animus towards us and does not benefit by causing death and destruction – and by my last count, our needlessly dead well exceed our losses at Pearl Harbor. A substantial question arises: is Covid19 a biowarfare agent? The death and destruction we have suffered suggests a motivated animus, which is a human phenomenon that renders us unworthy in the eyes of God.
Despite Truth-in-Labeling laws, CCP has succeeded in blocking this Virus from being origin-labeled by deeming it racist. Our misguided citizens criminally attacking innocent law-abiding Asian-Americans has provided cover, while shaming us as a nation that celebrates diversity, and staining E Pluribus Unum. Our shameful chapter of interning innocent and loyal Japanese-Americans during WWII, when we did no such thing to German-Americans while fighting Nazi Germany, is a lesson we need to learn perpetually, exactly, as Kristallnacht teaches: remember always. It is a singularly important ingredient in our effort to form a more perfect union – a point recently well made by Secretary Blinken in Anchorage.
I write to seek from you dear and respected President Biden, given your distinguished tenure and natural God-given abilities – a clear American policy – both as to our injury from Covid19 and holding the sending-nation reasonably responsible (turnover all biomedical information, indemnify our losses, etc.), and to restore global peace and security, by avoiding a war if we can. Indeed, pre-Covid19, troubled by the years-long effort by China to create Mischief Reef into a military base, in September 2017, I had a respectful conversation with China’s distinguished FM Wang Yi, which in sum and substance, I explained the above facts and said, you are inviting a little war now or a big war later, and since I don’t like wars, I prefer a little war now. Minister Wang, with concern, immediately responded: No war! No war!, and left to end this conversation.
Diplomacy is always needed, even to arrange a surrender to end a war. It has been reported that President Xi, whom I consider to be at least as much an exceptional mastermind as Chairman Mao was, if not more, has asked his diplomatic corps to unsheathe their swords to be Wolf Warriors – a function or definition that defies diplomacy, even as it weaponizes it. Given that backdrop, we, as hosts at Captain Hook Hotel in Anchorage on March 18, 2021 – instead of a protocol-based public welcome, private candid talks, and a public press conference at the end – started with our honest expressions in public. In a moment that evokes – albeit, in part – a declaration of independence [sadly, from us], CCP’s Foreign Affairs Chief Yang Jiechi effortlessly responded in public, what I believe was intended for private talks. We are at the cusp of a modern-day Gordian Knot.
While I take note of William Stanton’s recent April 9, 2021 piece on “Agents of Influence,” I particularly take note of former NSA H.R. McMaster’s May 2020 piece in The Atlantic, entitled “How China Sees the World,” I freely admit that it was our then-President Nixon who opened the world for China and granted CCP a permanent seat on the UNSC. Whether we have a rules-based or law-based system of sovereigns co-existing in the comity of nations, we ought not be in the position of having to pick between the ever-reasonable and well-calibrated go-along and get-along Neville Chamberlain or Winston Churchill as being necessary to maintain our cherished freedoms and never surrender our sovereignty. Methinks, a new joint Yalta and Brentwood Conference is needed, before over-due structural reforms can occur, and global peace and security re-harnessed, without endless regional wars.
Mr. President, you and I have had several meaningful exchanges, including, in the White House, and most relevantly, in the UN’s Hall of Flags in Fall 2015 – when I urged you to run in 2016, as an election you were born for – to revive the American Dream. The American Dream belongs more to everyday Americans, than Wall Streeters, custodians of international money and achiever of maximum profit, as it was everyday Americans in 1814 who during heavy bombardment of Fort McHenry, kept our Flag high by paying the ultimate sacrifice repeatedly, and caused Francis Scott Key to pen our Star-Spangled Banner. Please let it wave high, and free, in this 21st Century.
If I can assist, as you wished of me during our substantive talk in the Hall of Flags, as a citizen-patriot, devastated by January 6th more than by 9/11, I would be happy to re-find diplomacy’s respect-based ability to “round the edges” and fashion justice-based remedies that are equitable – as the Jesuits teach us everything must be. Sometimes, davening with the right Minyan helps to be better able to turn swords into ploughshares. As Honor and WWIII walk into the ring to face off, the time is now for your leadership to make foreign policy into domestic policy – just as your infrastructure plan is our OBOR/BRI within our borders. Retail solutions will not work in the East or in the West; but, wholesale solutions will turn adversaries into allies. God Bless you, and continue to Bless these United States of America – I prefer “united,” the verb.
Respectfully,
/S/
Ravi Batra
Encl: April 14, 2020 Open Letter to POTUS et al
C: Leader Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr., Leader Kevin McCarthy, HFAC Chairman Greg W. Meeks, Ranker McCall, Chair Carolyn B. Maloney, Ranker Jim Jordan, SFRC Chairman Bob Menendez, Ranker Risch, Secretary Anthony Blinken, Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, NSA Jake Sullivan.”
WARSAW (TIP): The world should be back to normal by the end of 2022 thanks to COVID-19 vaccines, Bill Gates said in an interview for Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and television broadcaster TVN24, says a Reuters report. “This is an incredible tragedy,” the Microsoft co-founder said on the pandemic, adding that the only good news was the access to vaccines. “By the end of 2022 we should be basically completely back to normal,” Gates said. Gates, a billionaire who stepped down as chairman of Microsoft Corp in 2014, has through his philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed at least $1.75 billion to the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes support for some makers of vaccines, diagnostics and potential treatments. The COVAX facility, backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), aims to secure 2 billion vaccine doses for lower income countries by the end of 2021.
Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, has warned countries against premature easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Kluge’s warning on Thursday, March 18, came as the region has been witnessing a rise in Covid-19 transmission rates, while its death toll was inching towards the 1 million mark, Xinhua news agency. Addressing a virtual press conference here, Kluge noted that “while 27 countries are currently in a partial or full nationwide lockdown, 21 are gradually easing restrictive measures”.
“Some are doing so based on the assumption that increasing vaccination uptake in countries would immediately lead to an improved epidemiological situation,” he said.
“Such assumptions are too early to make.”
Kluge stressed that with vaccination coverage in the region ranging from less than 1 per cent to 44 per cent, it is “far too early to demonstrate the effect of vaccines on overall Covid-19 hospitalisation and deaths”.
Despite “giant scientific leaps and the introduction of effective tools that give us power over the virus”, the WHO official acknowledged that in parts of the region, such as central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic states, “case incidence, hospitalizations and deaths are now among the highest in the world”.
London (TIP): Thousands of COVID-19 patients continue to suffer serious, debilitating and lingering symptoms many months after their initial bout of infection, with major social, health and economic consequences, European health experts said on Thursday, February 25. Publishing a World Health Organization-led guidance report on the condition, often referred to as “long COVID” or “post-COVID syndrome”, experts said around one in 10 COVID-19 patients are still unwell 12 weeks after their acute infection, and many suffer symptoms for far longer. “This is a condition that can be extremely debilitating. Those suffering from it describe a varying combination of overlapping symptoms… (including) chest and muscle pain, fatigue, shortness of breath … brain fog (and) many others,” said Martin McKee, a professor at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies who led the report. Hans Kluge, the WHO’s European regional director, said long-COVID could have “severe social, economic, health and occupational consequences”. “The burden is real and it is significant,” he said.
He urged health authorities to listen to patients’ concerns, take them seriously, and establish services to help them.
Growing evidence from around the world points to many thousands of people experiencing long-COVID. The condition appears not to be linked to whether a patient had a severe or mild infection.
An initial report by Britain’s National Institute for Health Research last year suggested long-COVID may be not one condition, but multiple syndromes causing a rollercoaster of symptoms affecting the body and mind.
Kluge noted that as with any new disease, much remains unknown about COVID-19.
“We need to listen and … understand. The sufferers of post-COVID conditions need to be heard if we are to understand the long-term consequences and recovery from COVID-19,” he said.
“This is a clear priority for WHO (and) it should be for every health authority.”
Trump had cut off US funding to the WHO, saying it was “virtually controlled by China.”
WASHINGTON / UNITED NATIONS(TIP): The US rejoined the World Health Organisation (WHO) in one of the first official orders of the Joe Biden presidency, reversing a key foreign policy decision his predecessor Donald Trump took last year after accusing the UN health agency of incompetence and bowing to Chinese pressure over the coronavirus pandemic. In April last year, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the globe, Trump cut off US funding to the WHO, saying it was “virtually controlled by China.” He then went further, triggering the process to pull the US completely out of the organisation.The withdrawal was due to go into effect in July this year, but Biden’s order will cancel it. Biden in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, the first day of his presidency, said, “The United States intends to remain a member of the World Health Organisation.” “The WHO plays a crucial role in the world’s fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic as well as countless other threats to global health and health security. The United States will continue to be a full participant and a global leader in confronting such threats and advancing global health and health security,” Biden wrote.
The UN Secretary-General welcomed the US’ re-engagement with the WHO, saying supporting the health agency is “absolutely critical” to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. He said Washington joining the global vaccine initiative will boost efforts to ensure equitable access to vaccines for all countries.
Guterres said now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop the virus and its shattering consequences.
The US has been the largest funder to the WHO, contributing more than USD 450 million per annum. The US has been a party to the WHO Constitution since June 21, 1948.
As the world reached a “heart-wrenching milestone” of two million COVID-19-related deaths less than a week ago, Guterres lamented that the deadly impact of the pandemic has worsened due to the absence of a global coordinated effort and said that “vocationalism” by governments is “self-defeating” that will delay a global recovery. Guterres has said the UN is supporting countries to mobilize the largest global immunization effort in history and the world organization is committed to making sure that vaccines are seen as global public goods – people’s vaccines.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden signed the executive order, reversing Trump’s decision to withdraw from the WHO. “This will strengthen our own efforts to get the pandemic under control by improving global health, and tomorrow we are not wasting any time,” she said.
The WHO’s Executive Board has been meeting virtually this week, and the Biden administration announced that a US delegation, headed by Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, will participate. Fauci will deliver a speech on January 21 to the WHO as head of a US delegation to lay out how the administration intends to work with the WHO on reforms, supporting the coronavirus response and promoting global health and health security
“Once the United States resumes its engagement with the WHO, the Biden-Harris administration will work with the WHO and our partners to strengthen and reform the organisation, support the COVID-19 health and humanitarian response, and advance global health and health security,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
Business Roundtable welcomed the decision of Biden to not to withdraw from the WHO. “We need international cooperation to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control here in America and around the world.
Business Roundtable applauds President Biden’s decision to re-engage with the WHO to improve the international response to the pandemic and welcomes his commitment to WHO reform to prevent and better respond to future public health crises,” it said,
TRIPS waiver proposal from India, South Africa and other members
By Brajendra Navnit
“The TRIPS waiver proposal is a targeted and proportionate response to the exceptional public health emergency that the world faces today. Such a Waiver is well-within the provisions of Article IX of the Marrakesh Agreement which established the WTO. It can help in ensuring that human lives are not lost for want of a timely and affordable access to vaccines. The adoption of the Waiver will also re-establish WTO’s credibility and show that multilateral trading system continues to be relevant and can deliver in times of a crisis. Now is the time for WTO members to act and adopt the Waiver to save lives and help in getting the economy back on the revival path quickly.”
While making the vaccines available was a test of science, making them accessible and affordable is going to be a test of humanity. History should remember us for the “AAA rating” i.e. for Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of Covid19 vaccines and treatments and not for a single “A rating” for Availability only. Our future generations deserve nothing less.
A proposal by India, South Africa and eight other countries calls on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to exempt member countries from enforcing some patents, and other Intellectual Property (IP)rights under the organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPS, for a limited period of time. It is to ensure that IPRs do not restrict the rapid scaling- up of manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. While a few members have raised concerns about the proposal, a large proportion of the WTO membership supports the proposal.It has also received the backing of various international organizations, multilateral agencies and global civil society.Unprecedented times call for unorthodox measures. We saw this in the efficacy of strict lockdowns for a limited period, as a policy intervention, in curtailing the spread of the pandemic.International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its October 2020 edition of World Economic Outlook states “…However, the risk of worse growth outcomes thanprojected remains sizable. If the virus resurges, progresson treatments and vaccines is slower than anticipated,or countries’ access to them remains unequal, economic activity could be lower than expected, withrenewed social distancing and tighter lockdowns”. The situation appears to be grimmer than predicted, we have already lost 7% of economic output from the baseline scenario projected in 2019. It translates to a loss of more than USD 6 trillion of global GDP. Even a 1% improvement in global GDP from the baseline scenario will add more than USD 800 billion in global output, offsetting the loss certainly of a much lower order to a sector of economy on account of the Waiver.
Merely a signal to ensure timely and affordable access to vaccines and treatments will work as a big confidence booster for demand revival in the economy. With the emergence of successful vaccines, there appears to be some hope on the horizon. But how will these be made accessible and affordable to global population? The fundamental question is whether there will be enough of Covid-19 vaccines to go around. As things stand, even the most optimistic scenarios today cannot assure access to Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics for the majority of the population, in rich as well as poor countries, by the end of 2021. All the members of the WTO have agreed on one account that there is an urgent need to scale-up the manufacturing capacity for vaccines and therapeutics to meet the massive global needs. The TRIPS Waiver Proposal seeks to fulfil this need by ensuring that IP barriers do not come in the way of such scaling up of manufacturing capacity.
Why existing flexibilities under the TRIPS Agreement are not enough
The existing flexibilities under the TRIPS Agreement are not adequate as these were not designed keeping pandemics in mind. Compulsory licenses are issued on a country by country, case by case and product by product basis, where every jurisdiction with an IP regime would have to issue separate compulsory licenses, practically making collaboration among countries extremely onerous. While we encourage the use of TRIPS flexibilities, the same are time-consuming and cumbersome to implement. Hence, only their use cannot ensure the timely access of affordable vaccines and treatments. Similarly, we have not seen a very encouraging progress on WHO’s Covid19-Technology Access Pool or the C-TAP initiative, which encourages voluntary contribution of IP, technology and data to support the global sharing and scale-up of the manufacturing of COVID- 19 medical products. Voluntary Licenses, even where they exist, are shrouded in secrecy. Their terms and conditions are not transparent. Their scope is limited to specific amounts or for a limited subset of countries, thereby encouraging nationalism rather than true international collaboration.
Why is there a need to go beyond existing global cooperation initiatives?
Global cooperation initiatives such as the COVAX Mechanism and the ACT-Accelerator are inadequate to meet the massive global needs of 7.8 billion people.The ACT-A initiative aims to procure 2 billion doses of vaccines by the end of next year and distribute them fairly around the world. With a two-dose regime, however, this will only cover 1 billion people. That means that even if ACT-A is fully financed and successful, which is not the case presently, there would not be enough vaccines for the majority of the global population.
Past experience
During the initial few months of the current pandemic, we have seen that shelves were emptied by those who had access to masks, PPEs, sanitizers, gloves and other essential Covid-19 items even without their immediate need.The same should not happen to vaccines.Eventually, the world was able to ramp up manufacturing of Covid-19 essentials as there were no IP barriers hindering that. At present, we need the same pooling of IP rights and know-how for scaling up the manufacturing of vaccines and treatments, which unfortunately has not been forthcoming, necessitating the need for the Waiver.
It is the pandemic – an extraordinary, once in a lifetime event – that has mobilized the collaboration of multiple stakeholders. It is knowledge and skills held by scientists, researchers, public health experts and universities that have enabled the cross-country collaborations and enormous public funding that has facilitated the development of vaccines in record time – and not alone IP!
Way forward
The TRIPS waiver proposal is a targeted and proportionate response to the exceptional public health emergency that the world faces today. Such a Waiver is well-within the provisions of Article IX of the Marrakesh Agreement which established the WTO. It can help in ensuring that human lives are not lost for want of a timely and affordable access to vaccines. The adoption of the Waiver will also re-establish WTO’s credibility and show that multilateral trading system continues to be relevant and can deliver in times of a crisis. Now is the time for WTO members to act and adopt the Waiver to save lives and help in getting the economy back on the revival path quickly. While making the vaccinesavailable was a test of science, making them accessible and affordable is going to be a test of humanity. History should remember us for the “AAA rating” i.e., for Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of Covid19 vaccines and treatments and not for a single “A rating” for Availability only.Our future generations deserve nothing less.
(The author is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to WTO)
Heart disease, which has remained the leading cause of death at the global level for the last 20 years, is now killing more people than ever before, according to the World Health Organization.
The WHO said diabetes and dementia are also among the world’s top 10 causes of death.
The WHO’s 2019 Global Health Estimates, released on Wednesday, said non-communicable diseases now make up 7 of the world’s top 10 causes of death, an increase from 4 of the 10 leading causes in 2000. The new data cover the period from 2000 to 2019.
“Heart disease has remained the leading cause of death at the global level for the last 20 years. However, it is now killing more people than ever before,” the organisation said.
Heart disease now represents 16 per cent of total deaths from all causes and the number of deaths from heart disease increased by more than two million since 2000 to nearly 9 million in 2019. Diabetes and dementia enter the top 10 causes of death.
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are now among the top 10 causes of death worldwide, ranking 3rd in both the Americas and Europe in 2019. Women are disproportionally affected: globally, 65 per cent of deaths from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are women.
Deaths from diabetes increased by 70 per cent globally between 2000 and 2019, with an 80 per cent rise in deaths among males. In the Eastern Mediterranean, deaths from diabetes have more than doubled and represent the greatest percentage increase of all WHO regions.
The WHO said the estimates reveal trends over the last 2 decades in mortality and morbidity caused by diseases and injuries, clearly highlighting the need for an intensified global focus on preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as tackling injuries, in all regions of the world, as set out in the agenda for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“These new estimates are another reminder that we need to rapidly step up prevention, diagnosis and treatment of non-communicable diseases,” Director-General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “They highlight the urgency of drastically improving primary health care equitably and holistically. Strong primary health care is clearly the foundation on which everything rests, from combatting non-communicable diseases to managing a global pandemic.”
I found it very interesting to read Ravi Batra’s legitimate complaint against the Government of China in his article ‘Can the United States Renege on the Payment Due to the WHO?’, published in the September 18 edition of The Indian Panorama.
Ravi Batra is a highly experienced and professional attorney. He has presented a very convincing argument. It appears that there is no doubt that the corona virus emanated at the lab in Wuhan. It did not spring from the market. Everyone keeps wondering why China took all the measures to make sure the virus did not spread across China but was totally negligent on its spread abroad. It is true that China knowingly kept its international airports open for normal international traffic. What is sauce for goose should be sauce for the ganders also.
It is also true that China confided with the Director General of the W.H.O. to treat the matter of origin of the virus confidential and top secret.
President Trump has withdrawn the USA as a member of the WHO in protest. He has already levelled diplomatic protests. This week, he also brought it to the attention of the members of the General Assembly of the U.N. I hope the U.N.General Assembly will pass a resolution requesting China to pay damages to all the victims of the world. Perhaps, Ravi Batra could work with the U.S.Secretary of State and U.S. .Ambassador to the U.N. in drafting the most appropriate resolution. China must pay for the war reparations.
200,000 Americans have died on account of coronavirus stemmed from Wuhan, China. As Ravi Batra had indicated previously, not only American victims but also all victims of the world have legitimate grievance and complaint against the Government of China.
I strongly recommend to Ravi Batra that he should file a class action lawsuit on behalf of the American victims. I would even recommend that Ravi Batra join the forces of the U.S. Government in coordinating action against China.
What China has done is worse than a world war, and tantamounts to a war against humanity.
Warmest regards.
Very truly yours,
Ven Parameswaran
Email: vpwaren@gmail.com
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