Coronavirus digest: WHO warns against 'vaccine nationalism'

Vaccine warning

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that "vaccine nationalism" will only hinder efforts to combat the pandemic and called for vaccines to be used fairly and effectively.

According to Tedros, 78 high-income countries had now joined the "COVAX" global vaccine allocation plan, bringing the total to 170 countries, and the "number is growing." 

He urged other countries to join by the September 18 deadline.  

Corona-apps: Contact-tracing applications can sharply reduce the spread of the virus even when only a few people use them, according to a study conducted by Google and Oxford University researchers.

An app used by 15% of the population, together with a well-staffed contact-tracing workforce can lead to a 15% drop in infection rates and an 11% drop in virus deaths, the study said.

 

Read more: COVID-19 tracing apps proving to be a tricky business around the world

Europe

Russia: Patients involved in early tests of a Russian coronavirus vaccine developed antibodies with "no serious adverse events", according to research published in the medical journal The Lancet.   

The so-called "Sputnik-V" vaccine produced an antibody response in everyone who participated in the early-stage trials. Nevertheless, experts expressed caution, saying the trials were too small to prove safety and effectiveness. 

Germany: Some 10,000 travelers returning to the southern state of Bavaria did not get their coronavirus test results within the required 48 hours, the state's Health Ministry has admitted. 

Some are said to have waited up to a week.   

This is the second time the state has run into problems with its testing procedure.  Bavaria is the only German state that offers free tests for everyone.  

France: Almost 9,000 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in France — a new daily record. Health authorities said that there had been 8,975 new confirmed cases and that more people were being hospitalized as a result of the virus. The surge in parts of France is partially due to increased testing. Around a dozen schools have also been forced to close. 

Italy: Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalized and diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19. 

Turkey: Ankara has recorded the highest daily death toll since mid-May with the number of daily confirmed COVID-19 deaths topping 50. According to the Health Ministry, 53 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 6,564. Authorities have imposed nationwide restrictions on large social gatherings including weddings. 

Asia

South Korea: Doctors have agreed to end a two-week strike after reaching a "dramatic compromise" over the government's medical reform plans, Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun said.

Around 16,000 intern and resident doctors have been on strike since August 21 over proposed reforms which include increasing the number of doctors, building public medical schools and expanding telemedicine. 

The country, which saw earlier success in fighting the pandemic, has recorded nearly 21,000 cases and a death toll of 331.

North America

The US economy added 1.4 million jobs in August and the unemployment rate fell to 8.4%, the Labor Department said, a sign of the continuing recovery from the pandemic. At the height of the health crisis, US unemployment topped 41 million.

Canada also added 246,000 jobs in August.

South America 

Brazil: A Brazilian state that has signed an agreement to produce Russia's coronavirus vaccine says it plans to conduct phase III trials on 10,000 volunteers at the start of next year. Approval for the trial will be requested of Brazil's health regulator ANVISA by the end of September. Doses will be imported for the tests. 

Meanwhile, Brazil's total caseload topped 4 million, as the country reported 43,773 infections. Its official death toll stands at 124,614.

Middle East

About 30 coronavirus infections have been discovered at an officers' training school in Israel, forcing dozens of soldiers into quarantine, the country's military reported on Twitter on Friday.

Widespread testing was mandated after two cases came to light at the school.

There are currently 372 soldiers infected with the coronavirus, and 3,695 soldiers and employees in quarantine, according to the army.

The country has been seeing regular record levels of new infections in recent days. Wednesday saw it record more than 3,000 new cases for the first time.

Tougher lockdown measures are expected to go into place starting on Monday.

Africa

South African healthcare workers gathered in Pretoria and Cape Town to protest against poor working conditions and corruption in the purchase of personal protective equipment.

The union leading the demonstrations, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union, has threatened that its 200,000 public workers will go on strike on September 10 if their issues are not addressed.

South Africa, Africa's worst-hit country, has recorded over 630,000 cases and more than 14,300 deaths.

Read more: Coronavirus: South Africa's social divide and economic woes exposed

mvb/mm (Reuters, AP, AFP)