Covid-19 : India’s worsening Covid crisis is a dire problem for the world

 

The catastrophe unfolding in India appears to be the worst-case scenario that many feared from the Covid-19 pandemic: unable to find sufficient hospital beds, access to tests, medicines or oxygen, the country of 1.4 billion is sinking beneath the weight of infections.

The two opposed assumptions of the global response to coronavirus – wealthy countries in the west prioritising vaccines for their own need in one camp, and the argument led by the World Health Organization for global vaccine equality in the other – are also failing to hold as the scale of the crisis in India points to an urgent need to prioritise the response there.

With the global supply of vaccines unlikely to pick up until the end of this year, what is required now is international leadership and a recognition that, despite the best intentions of the World Health Organization and the vaccine-sharing Covax initiative to fairly distribute jabs, the pandemic may require a period of more focused firefighting where difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions need to be made.

That will require countries to look beyond their own health crises to see that the pandemic could still get much worse without intervention. Experts have repeatedly warned that allowing the virus to circulate unchecked increases the risk that dangerous new strains will emerge and prolong the pandemic.

Models already exist for what could be done, including George W Bush’s initiative to fight Aids in Africa under the president’s Emergency plan for Aids relief and the 2014 global response to Ebola in West Africa, which was seen as an international priority.

The reality is that the magical thinking displayed by the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government – which claimed the pandemic was in its “endgame” in March as the country careened towards a second wave of infections – was not much different from the mistakes of other leaders, including the former US president Donald Trump, who thought the virus would simply disappear, or the mistaken boosterism of the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson.

What is different in India – a country with a fragile health system and even weaker surveillance – is the huge possibility for harm locally and globally, perhaps on a scale not yet seen in the pandemic.

 

BIAFRA : Killing of ESN commander, Ikonso Don disastrous – Ohanaeze

 

 

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has described the killing of a top commander of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, Ikonso Don as a disaster.

 reports that this was contained in a statement by the Secretary-General of the organization, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro.

He said the killing had made Ikonso a martyr and further worsened the tensed security situation in the Southeast zone.

Isiguzoro while questioning the circumstances surrounding the killing of the IPOB member, declared that “we have taken time to study the entire situation before issuing this statement and we feel that many questions are left unanswered.

“There are strong counter claims that Ikonso was not killed during a gun duel contrary to the statement by security agencies. And our question is: why kill a man you have taken captive? Why did they not arrest and prosecute him in a court of competent jurisdiction?

“So, we are questioning the circumstances surrounding his death. Ikonso should not have been killed. His death has huge consequences because he has been made martyr, a hero, you can even see that the IPOB said they have renamed the Imo Government House after him.

“The escalation of violence we are witnessing in the Southeast now won’t be happening if they didn’t kill him. Southeast is now at the mercy of herdsmen and unknown gunmen.”

 

He accused federal government forces of trying to recycle violence in the Southeast, wondering why the zone should be so militarized whereas people still moved freely in the Northeast.

“Military action is not the solution, they should withdraw troops from the roads. What the Federal government must do at the moment is to give the Southeast governors all the support they need. We are not seeing it at the moment, federal forces are rather making things difficult for them. The governors should take the lead with the Federal government supporting them.

“The Federal Government must also end all forms of marginalization of the Southeast, that’s why the youths are very angry. We have started the process of restoring peace, we are talking with all stakeholders, every party, but the Federal Government should stop aggravating matters.”

 

He equally berated “Abuja politicians” from the zone, accusing them of keeping silent while the people were being slaughtered.

“All of them have failed Ndigbo, they have not just refused to join in search for solution but are keeping grave silence. Even those of them close to the President are not telling him the truth. They have all relaxed in Abuja while their home is burning, but they must know that if this fire is not quenched, nobody will escape,” he cautioned.

Coronavirus Vaccine : Covid-19: India records highest daily cases amid oxygen shorteage

 

India has shattered a global record of daily coronavirus cases, reporting a grim 314,835 new infections in the last 24 hours.

India further recorded 2,023 additional deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 15,616,130 infections and the death toll to 182,553 people, according to data released by the health ministry on Thursday.

There are 2,157,538 active cases in the country, with an increase of 125,561 cases through to Tuesday, while 13,276,039 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals.

At least 22 patients died due to a low oxygen supply after a leakage in the oxygen supply tank of a civic hospital in India's Nashik town, around 167 km from Mumbai.

India's COVID-19 vaccine capacity has been severely affected as the U.S. has restricted exports of more than 30 key vaccine raw materials by leaving the critical raw materials needed for vaccine production to local manufacturers in February, which will further exacerbate the epidemic in India.

Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Serum Institute of India, on April 16 tweeted a post, saying that the U.S. needs to lift the vaccine raw materials export ban.

"If we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details," he wrote.

The export ban has drawn criticism from several Indian media outlets.

Scroll, an independent Indian media website reported on April 19 that India's COVID-19 vaccine production lines will be halted within a few weeks if the U.S. does not provide key raw materials.

Zee News criticized the crucial raw material export ban imposed by the Biden Administration as "an act of vaccine mafia".

 

Coronavirus : Pfizer, Moderna Covid vaccines 94% effective at preventing hospitalizations in elderly, CDC study shows

 

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines are 94% effective at preventing hospitalizations among fully vaccinated adults ages 65 and older, according to a real-world study published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The two-dose mRNA vaccines were also found in the study to be 64% effective at preventing hospitalizations in the elderly who received just one shot. The study evaluated 417 hospitalized adults across 14 states from January to March. The U.S. agency said the findings were consistent with those found in clinical trials.

“This multisite U.S. evaluation under real-world conditions suggests that vaccination provided protection against COVID-19–associated hospitalization among adults aged ≥65 years,” the CDC wrote in the study. “Vaccination is a critical tool for reducing severe COVID-19 in groups at high risk.”

The CDC study provides more evidence on the benefits of getting vaccinated against the virus, which has infected more than 32.1 million Americans and killed at least 573,420, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Health officials had previously said Covid-19 hospitalizations among older Americans, who are at increased risk for severe disease, have tumbled since the shots first became available in the United States late last year.

As of Tuesday, more than 81% of U.S. adults ages 65 and older have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to data compiled by the CDC. More than 67% of U.S. adults ages 65 and older are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

In a statement Wednesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency’s findings were “encouraging and welcome news.”

“The results are promising for our communities and hospitals,” she said. “As our vaccination efforts continue to expand, COVID-19 patients will not overwhelm health care systems — leaving hospital staff, beds, and services available for people who need them for other medical conditions.”

Earlier this week, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Americans should begin to see a turning point in the pandemic “within a few weeks” as the U.S. continues to vaccinate Americans at a rapid pace.

The U.S. is reporting an average of 2.7 million daily Covid-19 vaccinations over the past week, according to data from the CDC, about equivalent to levels one month ago.

If the U.S. continues its vaccination pace, “literally within a few weeks, we’re going to start to see a turning around of the dynamics,” Fauci said Monday during a virtual event hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Not down to no infections,” he said. “If you’re waiting for classic measles-like herd immunity, that’s going to be a while before we get there. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to have a significant diminution in the number of infections per day and a significant diminution in all of the parameters, namely hospitalizations and deaths.”

Coronavirus Vaccine : How long does protection from COVID-19 vaccines last?

 

Experts don't know yet because they're still studying vaccinated people to see when protection might wear off. How well the vaccines work against emerging variants will also determine if, when and how often additional shots might be needed.

“We only have information for as long as the vaccines have been studied," said Deborah Fuller, a vaccine researcher at the University of Washington. “We have to study the vaccinated population and start to see, at what point do people become vulnerable again to the virus?”

So far, Pfizer's ongoing trial indicates the company's two-dose vaccine remains highly effective for at least six months, and likely longer. People who got Moderna’s vaccine also still had notable levels of virus-fighting antibodies six months after the second required shot.

Antibodies also don't tell the whole story. To fight off intruders like viruses, our immune systems also have another line of defense called B and T cells, some of which can hang around long after antibody levels dwindle. If they encounter the same virus in the future, those battle-tested cells could potentially spring into action more quickly.

Even if they don't prevent illness entirely, they could help blunt its severity. But exactly what role such “memory” cells might play with the coronavirus -- and for how long -- isn’t yet known.

While the current COVID-19 vaccines will likely last for at least about a year, they probably won’t offer lifelong protection, as with measles shots, said Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, a vaccine expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“It’s going to be somewhere in the middle of that very wide range,” she said.

Variants are another reason we might need an additional shot.

The current vaccines are designed to work against a particular spike protein on the coronavirus, said Mehul Suthar of the Emory Vaccine Center. If the virus mutates enough over time, vaccines might need to be updated to boost their effectiveness.

So far, the vaccines appear protective against the notable variants that have emerged, though somewhat less so on the one first detected in South Africa.

If it turns out we need another shot, a single dose could extend the protection of the current shots or contain vaccination for one or more variants.

The need for follow-up shots will also depend partly on the success of the vaccination push globally, and tamping down transmission of the virus and emerging variants.

US Capitol on High Alert for Biden's First Address to Congress

 

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday will take place in a U.S. Capitol on high alert, with memories fresh of the deadly January 6 attack on the building by supporters of his predecessor, Donald Trump. 

The crowd inside the Capitol will be a small fraction of the hundreds of members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, top government officials and guests who typically attend, to allow for more social distancing in a COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 572,000 Americans. 

But security will be higher than usual, even for what is officially designated a "National Special Security Event," with the Secret Service in charge of security. 

"The Secret Service and all law enforcement and public safety partners have worked hard collectively in preparation to secure this significant event," said a Secret Service representative, adding that "every security contingency is accounted for." 

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday said she is confident about security for Biden's speech. 

"I actually had a very strong briefing on Monday. I said I wish I had had this briefing, you know, before January 6. But we insisted on knowing every detail of it," she told reporters. 

The limitations on attendance, she said, mostly are being driven by COVID-19 precautions, but security also is playing a role. 

The white-domed building is still surrounded by a black steel mesh fence with some 2,250 armed National Guard troops from the District of Columbia and 18 states on duty in the city — the vestiges of a much larger force put in place after Trump supporters stormed the building as Congress was voting to certify Biden's election victory. 

Five people, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer, died from or following the violence, and dozens of police were injured in clashes with rioters. More than 400 people have been charged in connection with the attack, and authorities expect at least 100 more will be charged, federal prosecutors said in a court filing last week. 

District of Columbia authorities have asked the Pentagon to authorize the district's National Guard contingent to help local police handle any anti-Biden protests coinciding with Wednesday's address. 

"The D.C. National Guard is prepared to support D.C. law enforcement, pending approval" by Acting Army Secretary John Whitley, the D.C. National Guard said in a statement. 

It was not immediately known if Whitley would approve the request. The National Guard deployment already has cost more than $520 million, according to the U.S. National Guard Bureau.

joint session of congress 2021 : President Biden's First Address to Congress Is Invite Only

 

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden's first address to Congress is an invite-only affair, no guests allowed.

The restrictions for Wednesday's event are due to COVID-19 safety protocols, but they will have the added security benefit of a limited number of people inside the U.S. Capitol for the president's first major indoor event since he took office just weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Fencing is still up around the Capitol, and the National Guard is still there.

"Obviously the events of the sixth are poignant reminders of why we need to be vigilant," said Michael Plati, the U.S. Secret Service special agent in charge who is leading security for the joint session. "But the standard of security remains the same."

Congressional leadership extended the invitations, and anyone without one must leave the building by 5 p.m. Wednesday, though staff with Capitol offices and those credentialed by the sergeant-at-arms can remain in the building, according to a memo by Timothy Blodgett, the acting sergeant-at-arms. Official visitors are allowed only until 1 p.m., and they must be escorted into the Capitol from the barricades.

While senators are in Washington this week, the House is not in session, with most lawmakers working remotely. House Republicans are holding a private retreat in Florida, and it's doubtful many will rush back to attend.

Chief Justice John Roberts is the only member of the Supreme Court invited to Wednesday's speech. He plans to attend, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

Security agencies ready

One of the main issues on Jan. 6 was a lack of coordination between multiple agencies in the district, which won't happen this time because those agencies have already been approved to work together and have been doing so for months, said Plati, who led security for the Jan. 20 inauguration that proceeded without any problems.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited Biden to the chamber to share his "vision for addressing the challenges and opportunities of this historic moment." Presidents don't deliver a State of the Union address to Congress until their second year in office.

The joint session is designated as a "national special security event," which clears the way for communication, funding and preparation between multiple agencies in Washington, including the U.S. Capitol Police, Pentagon, Homeland Security and District-area police. Other such events are the State of the Union, the Super Bowl, and the Democratic and Republican national conventions.

Biden's address comes as he completes his first 100 days in office. He didn't give a traditional address to Congress earlier this year because, the White House said, he was focusing on his COVID-19 recovery and response efforts.

The address will provide him with an opportunity to update the American public on his progress toward fulfilling his promises and make the case for the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package he unveiled earlier this month.

Security will be tight around the Capitol region for the event. National Guard troops, in place since the riot, are still in the area. Some security plans will be obvious — officers in uniforms, checkpoints, metal detectors, fencing — and some won't. Capitol police said Monday that streets around the Capitol will be shut down two hours before the event.

"We have many options, and we prepare for contingencies well in advance," Plati said.

Trouble at the Capitol

The Capitol Plaza remains behind fencing that was erected after a mob of Donald Trump supporters had descended on it on Jan. 6, sacking the building and disrupting the vote to certify Biden's presidential win. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer. Hundreds of people were charged in the insurrection.

There had also been a second razor-wire-tipped fence that blocked off city streets around the Capitol, but that has since come down. Soon after it was removed, a man rammed his car into two Capitol Police officers, killing one. It's likely that streets will be blocked off anew for Wednesday's event.

And a 22-year-old Virginia man was caught by Capitol Police scaling the fence Monday. He was taken into custody.

Law enforcement officials never go into too much detail about security so would-be attackers aren't tipped off. But Plati said they have taken into account recent events and watched other major U.S. events such as the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis and the response to it.

"There are always opportunities to learn from these incidents, but the planning is comprehensive" and incorporates the possibility for mass civil unrest or other security concerns, Plati said.

"We continuously evaluate the intelligence with our partners and refine the plan; we look to make those refinements," Plati said.