Category: General

Scientists in Hong Kong say the omicron variant of the coronavirus multiplies much faster in the airway passages, which could explain how the variant is spreading so fast around the globe.

A preliminary report by a team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong says laboratory experiments on tissue samples show omicron grows about 70 times faster than delta in the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs.

The study also found that omicron grows 10 times slower in lung tissues than the original version, which could indicate a lower chance of a severe illness.

Lead researcher Michael Chan Chi-wai cautions that the severity of disease is not only determined by how quickly the virus replicates, but also by each person’s immune response to the infection, which could evolve into a life-threatening illness.

Dr. Chan adds that “by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic.”

He says along with recent studies showing omicron can “partially escape immunity” from vaccines and previous infection, “the overall threat from the omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”

Omicron has now been detected in nearly 80 countries since it was first identified in southern Africa back in November. Indonesia and New Zealand are the latest countries to report their first confirmed case of the virus.

On the vaccine front, an advisory panel with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet Thursday to discuss imposing limits on the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of continued side effects.

The vaccine has been linked to a rare yet serious blood clotting disorder that occurs predominantly among women. At least six women out of the 16 million U.S. citizens who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been diagnosed with the disorder, including one woman who died.

The blood clotting disorder first emerged in April, soon after the vaccine began to be administered across the U.S., prompting federal health officials to suspend its use for several days while a safety review was conducted. Regulators added a warning about the potential for blood clots on the vaccine’s label, but concluded that its benefits outweighed the risks.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine trails well behind the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in terms of demand, both as an initial dose or a booster shot.

Source: Voice of America

The Israeli government on Wednesday said it was donating 1 million coronavirus vaccines to the U.N.-backed COVAX program.

The Foreign Ministry said the AstraZeneca vaccines would be transferred in the coming weeks, a decision that was part of Israel’s strengthening ties with the African countries.

“I am delighted that Israel can contribute and be a partner in eradicating the pandemic around the world,” said Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

The announcement said the vaccines would reach close to a quarter of African countries, though it did not provide a list. Israel has close ties with a number of African nations, including Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Israel also established relations with Sudan last year as part of a series of U.S.-brokered accords.

COVAX is a global initiative that aims to provide coronavirus vaccines to poorer nations. Wealthier countries have acquired the most of the world’s vaccine supplies, causing vast inequality in access to jabs.

Israel was one of the first countries to vaccinate its population. Early this year, it came under criticism for not sharing enough of its supplies with the Palestinians.

Since then, Israel has vaccinated tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel and its settlements, and the Palestinians have procured vaccines from COVAX and other sources.

Source: Voice of America

The White House COVID-19 Response team Wednesday said early data indicates the omicron coronavirus variant is spreading in the U.S., but current vaccine boosters appear to be effective in fighting it.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the variant is in 36 U.S. states and accounts for 3% of all U.S. COVID-19 cases, though it is higher in some areas, such as New York and New Jersey, where it may account for as much 13% of cases.

Walensky said while the vast majority — 96% — of U.S. cases are still caused by the delta variant, she said early data show the omicron variant spreads faster than delta, with cases doubling in about two days.

Walensky, along with White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci and COVID-19 Response coordinator Jeff Zients, cited data showing being fully vaccinated along with a booster shot is the best way to fight off the new variant.

“Our booster vaccine regimens work against omicron,” Fauci said. “At this point, there is no need for a variant-specific booster.”

Walensky cited recent data from U.S. nursing homes showing unvaccinated or fully vaccinated residents without boosters were 10 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than residents fully vaccinated with boosters. Fauci cited the most real-world studies showing boosters can increase anti-body protection against omicron by as much as 35 times.

Zients cited CDC statistics showing an unvaccinated person is eight times more likely to be hospitalized and 14 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than a fully vaccinated person. He said a new study from the Yale University of Public Health shows the U.S. vaccination program prevented 10.3 million hospitalizations and saved 1.1 million lives.

The COVID-19 response coordinator said 14 million people received booster shots in the first two weeks of December, with 26 million total shots in arms during the same period. In total, the team reports more than 200 million U.S. residents are now fully vaccinated, and more than 55 million have received booster shots.

Source: Voice of America

The head of the South African Medical Association says there is a major difference between the delta and omicron variants of the coronavirus and warns politicians against hyping the threat from the new strain.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee criticized Tuesday what she described as the “over-reaction” to the heavily mutated omicron variant by some European governments and cited Britain’s Boris Johnson, who she accused of creating “hysteria” about the new strain.

On Tuesday, the House of Commons approved the reimposition of pandemic restrictions, and the introduction of some new ones, because of rising omicron cases in the country, although Johnson faced a major rebellion by a third of his parliamentary party and relied on opposition parties for the vote.

Coetzee was one of the first medical practitioners in the world to raise the alarm about the new variant. Its genomic data was sequenced last month by scientists in Hong Kong, Botswana as well as South Africa. The emergence has contributed to pandemic alarm in Europe, where governments are already battling the delta strain and are racing to reimpose restrictions.

Coetzee told Britain’s Sky News that delta was heart-breaking and that her patients who contracted it were “extremely, extremely sick” and when opening the door to them “you just knew they were in trouble,” she explained.

But nearly a month into the omicron wave in South Africa, she says she has not seen similar grim scenes and that her omicron patients are suffering much milder symptoms. Apart from one, who had HIV and other comorbidities, none have died.

The British government’s medical advisers are predicting one million omicron infections by the end of the month, and although South Africa is seeing tens of thousands of new cases daily.

Coetzee cautions calm, saying Britain and other European countries are much better vaccinated than South Africa and in a better position to battle it. “Even if you get breakthrough infections, it’s mild cases,” she added, saying she understands the need to take precautionary measures but says, “don’t hype it up.”

Some scientists disagree with Coetzee.

The chief executive of Britain’s Health Security Agency told lawmakers Wednesday that omicron “is probably the most significant threat since the start of the pandemic.”

Dr. Jenny Harries said the new variant was much more transmissible than delta and the rapid spread of omicron would lead to a “staggering” number of COVID cases over the next few days. She delivered a series of dire warnings about the country’s health care system, although she added it was probably too early to tell how serious the scale of increasing infections across the world would turn out to be.

“The difficulty is that the growth of this virus, it has a doubling time which is shortening, i.e., it’s doubling faster, growing faster,” she said.

Governments across Europe are closely observing events unfolding in Britain for a sense of what may lie ahead for them as omicron spreads, and they are worried that reinfection rates from omicron are much higher than has been seen with earlier variants.

Restrictions and penalties

More countries are adopting restrictions. Italy this week required negative tests from vaccinated visitors to the country. Portugal has a similar measure in place. Many European countries have a virtual lockdown for the unvaccinated and are scrambling to increase vaccine booster programs. And more governments, including Germany’s, are proposing or considering mandatory vaccines.

Austria and Italy already plan to impose hefty fines on eligible people who do not get vaccinated.

People over 65 years old in France will be under effective lockdown from Wednesday, if they have not received a third vaccine booster dose.

France’s health pass will no longer be valid for the elderly who have not received a third dose, barring those who have not been boosted from visiting restaurants or cafes or taking intercity trains. They will also be prohibited from visiting cultural venues like cinemas or museums.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Wednesday the European Union faces a double challenge, with a massive increase of delta cases in recent weeks and the threat of omicron looming. “We’re seeing an increasing number of people falling ill, a greater burden on hospitals and unfortunately, an increase in the number of deaths,” she told European Parliament lawmakers.

“And what I’m concerned about is that we now [are] seeing the new variant omicron on the horizon, which is apparently even more infectious,” she added.

But as governments go into overdrive, some epidemiologists and virologists are echoing Angelique Coetzee. Professor Tim Spector, the head of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College, London, says the “majority of symptoms are just like a common cold, so we’re talking about headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, and things like sneezing.” He added: “So, things like fever and cough and loss of smell are now actually in the minority of the symptoms that we’re seeing.”

Earlier this week, the first major study published into the new variant also suggested illness from omicron is less severe than from delta. The study of 78,000 omicron cases in South Africa found the risk of hospitalization is 29% lower compared with the Wuhan strain, and 23% lower than with delta. Far fewer people have been needing intensive care. Just 5% of omicron cases have been admitted to intensive care units compared to 22% of delta patients, the study shows.

The data for the study was compiled by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest private health insurer, and the South Africa Medical Research Council. It noted omicron can evade vaccines more than earlier strains, but the study found vaccines are still holding up well, although there were high numbers of breakthrough infections in people who had been vaccinated.

Vaccine effectiveness against infection dropped from 80% to 33%, according to the study, but offered 70% protection against hospital admission. Boosters may also mitigate the reduction in vaccine effectiveness, according to the study. Some European scientists have cautioned, though, against reading too much into the South African study, saying that South Africa’s population is much younger and that demographic differences could alter medical outcomes.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is encouraged by data released by Pfizer Inc on its COVID-19 anti-viral medicine and his administration has ordered enough of the pills to treat 10 million Americans.

“Getting vaccinated and getting your booster shot remain the most important tools we have to save lives. But if this treatment is indeed authorized “and once the pills are widely available” it will mark a significant step forward in our path out of the pandemic,” Biden said in a statement.

Source: Voice of America

The disfiguring disease noma, found mainly in poor areas of sub-Saharan Africa that lack health care, kills 90% of victims, most of them children, when left untreated. Noma is preventable, and to that end, aid groups are urging the World Health Organization to add Noma to its list of neglected tropical diseases.

Eight-year-old Amadou Compaore recently recovered from noma, a little-known tropical disease.

Although noma has scarred his face, Compaore, relatively speaking, is one of the lucky ones. If noma is diagnosed within the first few weeks of infection, it is easily treatable with a course of antibiotics.

His father, Sibiri Compaore, told VOA, he noticed the disease in the run-up to Christmas. To begin with, Amadou said his mouth ached to the point where he couldn’t eat anymore. He even had great difficulty drinking sachets of water.

Compaore senior took his son to the nearest city, Kaya, about 25 kilometers away, where medical staff were able to identify the disease thanks to awareness building by the Swiss non-governmental organization Sentinelles.

Sidi Omar Boena is a nurse at a Sentinelles medical center in Ouagadougou, specializing in the treatment of noma.

He says most health workers in Burkina Faso have not heard of the disease noma and that diagnosing it in people 400 to 500 kilometers from Ouagadougou is very difficult.

He says that he is sometimes forced to diagnose noma with photos sent to him via WhatsApp.

Odette Serene, who also suffered from noma, now receives regular follow-up treatment at the Sentinelles clinic, including support in finding a job.

She now works as a tailor, but she says people still laugh at her, which makes her sad. She says Boena has done a lot to take care of her, however.

Noma is just one of many illnesses currently missing from the World Health Organization’s list of neglected tropical diseases.

Doctors Without Borders, a medical NGO, is running a campaign to have noma added to the WHO list, which already includes diseases like rabies and dengue fever.

“Of course, at the community level, there is discrimination affecting the patients, and so every time there is a case, we might not even be aware because patients are hidden by the communities or they are dying. More than 90% of people are estimated to die,” Jeantet said.

The WHO says when it adds diseases to the list, factors like social stigma and death rates are taken into consideration. The WHO says resources are limited, so some diseases have to be left off.

WHO press officer Ashok Moloo explains the effect of adding a disease to the list.

“It really brings the disease or the condition to another level … It also adds to the advocacy part of the disease, awareness creation and also resources,” Moloo points out.

As for Amadou Compaore, he says what the doctors have done to help him has been an inspiration. He told VOA he wants to become a doctor, to treat people so that they can be cured, like him.

The WHO plans to make possible new additions to its neglected tropical disease list in 2023. It remains to be seen if noma will be among them.

Source: Voice of America

The Western U.S. is bracing for the brunt of a major winter storm expected to hit Monday, bringing travel headaches, the threat of localized flooding and some relief in an abnormally warm fall.

Light rain and snow fell in Northern California on Sunday, giving residents a taste of what’s to come. The multi-day storm could drop more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow on the highest peaks and drench other parts of California as it pushes south and east before moving out midweek.

“This is a pretty widespread event,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Anna Wanless in Sacramento. “Most of California, if not all, will see some sort of rain and snow.”

The precipitation will bring at least temporary relief to the broader region that’s been gripped by drought caused by climate change. The latest U.S. drought monitor shows parts of Montana, Oregon, California, Nevada and Utah in exceptional drought, which is the worst category.

Most reservoirs that deliver water to states, cities, tribes, farmers and utilities rely on melted snow in the springtime.

The storm this week is typical for this time of the year but notable because it’s the first big snow that is expected to significantly affect travel with ice and snow on the roads, strong wind and limited visibility, Wanless said. Drivers on some mountainous passes on Sunday had to wrap their tires in chains.

Officials urged people to delay travel and stay indoors. Rain could cause minor flooding and rockslides, especially in areas that have been scarred by wildfires, according to the forecast. The San Bernardino County sheriff’s department issued evacuation warnings for several areas, citing the potential for flooding. Los Angeles County fire officials urged residents to be aware of the potential for mud flows.

Forecasters also said strong winds accompanying the storm could lead to power outages. Karly Hernandez, a spokesperson for Pacific Gas & Electric, said the utility that covers much of California didn’t have any major outages on Sunday. Crews and equipment are staged across the state to respond quickly if the power goes out, Hernandez said.

Rain fell intermittently across California on Sunday. Andy Naja-Riese, chief executive of the Agricultural Institute of Marin, said farmers markets carried on as usual in San Rafael and San Francisco amid light wind.

The markets are especially busy this time of year with farmers making jellies, jams and sauces for the holidays, he said. And, he said, rain always is needed in a parched state.

“In many ways, it really is a blessing,” Naja-Riese said.

Lichen Crommett, manager of the San Lorenzo Garden Center in Santa Cruz, California, said customers weren’t deterred by a light sprinkling of rain Sunday morning.

“It’s not like raincoat worthy just yet, but any second it could change,” she said.

A second storm predicted to hit California midweek could deliver almost continuous snow, said Edan Weishahn of the weather service in Reno, which monitors an area straddling the Nevada state line. Donner Summit, one of the highest points on Interstate 80 and a major commerce commuter route, could have major travel disruptions or road closures, Weishahn said.

The weather follows a calm November that was unseasonably warm.

“With this storm coming in, it’s going to be a wakeup call to a lot of folks,” Weishahn said.

Vail Resorts’ three Tahoe-area ski resorts opened with limited offerings over the weekend after crews worked to produce artificial snow. Spokeswoman Sara Roston said the resorts are looking forward to more of the real thing.

“We will assess once the storm comes in, but we do expect to open additional terrain following,” she wrote in an email.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Avalanche Center warned heavy snow and strong winds on top of a weak snowpack could cause large and destructive avalanches. One man died Saturday at a ski resort in the Pacific Northwest when he was caught in an avalanche that temporarily buried five others.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday unveiled a White House plan to build 500,000 new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the country, part of President Joe Biden’s goal of making the vehicles more accessible for both local and long-distance trips.

Harris made the announcement during a ceremony at an EV charging facility in suburban Maryland outside the U.S. capital, Washington.

“There can be no doubt: The future of transportation in our nation and around the world, is electric,” Harris said, adding that the nation’s ability to manufacture, charge and repair electric vehicles will help determine the health of U.S. communities, the strength of the nation’s economy and the sustainability of the planet.

The EV Charging Plan takes $5 billion from the infrastructure law signed last month and allocates it to states to build a nationwide network of charging stations. The law also provides an additional $2.5 billion for local grants to support charging stations in rural areas and in disadvantaged communities.

In a statement, the White House also announced it will establish on Tuesday a Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, leveraging the resources from each of the departments to implement the EV charging network and other electrification provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The White House says the goal of the plan is to speed up the adoption of electric vehicles for consumers and commercial fleets. They network as planned would reduce emissions and help meet the goal of net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.

Biden has established another ambitious goal of having electric vehicles account for 50% of all vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030. Last year, industry experts said sales of fully electric vehicles accounted for about 2% of vehicles sold in the U.S.

Source: Voice of America

Six years ago today, nearly 200 nations signed the Paris Climate Accord, where they agreed to keep the rise in global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. Scientists say that threshold is an absolute minimum to avoid catastrophic climate change.

“Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe.”

As he wound up the recent COP26 in Glasgow, Guterres had that harsh warning for the 200 countries who had gathered to talk climate change — and how to slow it down.

Hanging over the summit was the deadline of 2030 for a drastic reduction of greenhouse emissions that was set six years ago at COP21 in Paris.

Former executive secretary of the U.N. Climate Convention, Christiana Figueres, remembers it as a historic event.

“It was a real breakthrough for the United Nations to have a completely unanimous, legally binding pathway for decarbonizing the global economy,” Figueres said.

Secretary of state at the time, John Kerry signed that agreement for the U.S.

“It really was an exciting moment when 195,196 countries come together simultaneously, all wanting to move in the same direction, understanding the stakes,” Kerry said.

2015 was the hottest year on record. Scientists pointed to that as sure proof that global warming was real and serious.

But that record keeps on getting broken as the planet gets hotter year by year.

The World Meteorological Organization says the planet has been propelled into uncharted territory, with rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and “relentless” extreme weather events.

The WMO warns that “extreme” weather is the new normal.

Nonetheless, both Figueres and Kerry remain optimistic.

“We are moving in the right direction,” Figueres said. “The question is the timing, and I do feel that everyone came out of Glasgow with a renewed sense of timing.”

Kerry is now President Biden’s special envoy for climate.

He was back in Paris this week as part of a whistle stop tour of Europe to reassure leaders the U.S. is back in the game, after former President Donald Trump shut the door on climate issues.

“No one country can save this. Everybody has to act,” said Kerry.

That was also perhaps the main takeaway from the Glasgow summit — as developing nations pleaded with their richer neighbors not to be complacent with what has been achieved, but to keep pushing hard to meet that 2030 deadline, to save the planet.

Source: Voice of America

Italy’s La Scala has postponed its ballet season premiere after a coronavirus outbreak in its ranks, just days after the famed Milan theater staged its high-profile opera season opener with a full-capacity audience.

At least one of the four ballerinas who tested positive for COVID-19 also appeared in the Dec. 7 premiere of the opera Macbeth.

Ten other people linked to the outbreak tested positive for the virus, all of them theater support personnel, including someone who worked in the hairdressing department, the theater said in a statement.

Italian health authorities placed several other people in quarantine because they were in close contact with those confirmed infected, La Scala said.

La Scala Theatre Ballet was scheduled to perform La Bayadere to open its season on Dec. 15. The performance has been pushed back until Dec. 21.

The 19th century ballet is based on a score by Ludwig Minkus and choreography that Rudolf Nureyev debuted with the Paris Opera ballet in 1992. La Scala’s performance of the ballet marks the first time the Nureyev Foundation has allowed another company to perform it.

The opening of La Scala’s opera season is considered a highlight of Italy’s cultural calendar and took on added glitter this year after the 2020 edition was televised due to the pandemic.

While the Dec. 7 performance officially launched La Scala’s opera season, the theater staged pre-season operas, ballets and other events for several months, one of the few European houses to resume regular, full-capacity performances.

Italy, like other countries in Europe, is seeing an increase in new coronavirus cases as cold weather sets in. The country reported 20,000 new cases Friday.

However, the latest wave so far is more contained in Italy than in other European nations, and the country’s daily death toll has generally stayed below 100 for months.

Officials credit 85% of Italy’s population over age 12 being fully vaccinated, as well as continued mask mandates and health pass requirements to access workplaces, restaurants, museums and theaters.

Source: Voice of America