$1.9 Trillion Covid-19 Relief Proposal Based on Specific Needs: White House | President Joe Biden’s proposal for a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package was based on an assessment of specific needs, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday, when asked about Republican objections about the total cost. “The package wasn’t designed with the $1.9 trillion as a starting point. It was designed with the components that were necessary to give people the relief that they needed,” she told reporters during her first briefing after Biden’s inauguration. Psaki said Biden would be closely involved in negotiating with Congress about the relief package, and acknowledged that the final version of any legislation rarely looked exactly like the initial proposal.
US Covid-19 Deaths Exceed WWII Military Toll | The number of US Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday surpassed the country’s toll of military fatalities in World War II, according to a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University. As of the evening, the tracker showed that 405,400 people have died from the disease caused by the new coronavirus in the United States. The total number of combat and non-combat deaths in World War II was 405,399, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
UK Researchers Say Lateral Flow Tests Detect the Most Infectious COVID Cases | Rapid lateral flow tests will likely identify the most infectious Covid-19 cases with higher viral loads despite concerns over the overall sensitivity of the tests, Oxford University researchers said, as the British government eyes mass testing to ease the current lockdown. Along with the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines, the government has cited widespread testing, including lateral flow tests, as a key part of its plans to re-open the economy. Concerns about the tests’ accuracy have led some to question the plan, however. Some scientists have sounded alarm at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans, dubbed “Operation Moonshot”, saying mass coronavirus testing is likely to be ineffective and expensive.
Oxford Scientists Preparing Vaccine Versions to Combat Emerging Virus Variants | Oxford scientists are preparing to rapidly produce new versions of their vaccine to combat emerging more contagious COVID-19 variants discovered in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday. The team behind the vaccine from Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc is undertaking feasibility studies to reconfigure the technology, the newspaper said, citing a confirmation from the Oxford University. The scientists were working on estimating how quickly they could reconfigure their ChAdOx vaccine platform, the report said.
Biden Looks to Galvanize Covid-19 Fight, Vaccinations as He Takes Office | President Joe Biden will attempt to jump-start the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic with a string of immediate executive orders on Wednesday after his inauguration to lead a country reeling from its worst public health crisis in more than a century. Biden takes office a day after the US marked 400,000 deaths from Covid-19 while vaccination programs have lagged far behind the target. “We’re entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus and must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation,” Biden, a 78-year-old Democrat, said in his inauguration speech.
Why India Supplying Covid-19 Vaccines to Neighbours is Strategically Relevant | India’s soft diplomacy has been on display during the Covid-19 pandemic — from supplying medicines like hydroxychloroquine, paracetamol and medical equipment to other countries, to New Delhi kick-starting the supply of Indian-manufactured coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday to neighbouring countries as a goodwill gesture. A chunk of the vaccines being dispatched to the neighbouring countries is on a grant basis. A consignment packed off from the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune, with 150,000 doses, was delivered to Bhutan on Wednesday. As far as Bhutan is concerned, trade of essential supplies continued to the neighbour despite Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020.
Maharashtra: Serum Institute of India’s vaccine consignment containing 10 lakh dosages to be dispatched to Kathmandu and 20 lakh dosages to Dhaka arrive at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/FD1yGadx7l
— ANI (@ANI)January 20, 2021
Madrid Begins Mass Testing Young People for Covid-19 | Health authorities in Madrid began mass testing hundreds of young people for COVID-19 at universities on Wednesday to detect asymptomatic carriers in one of the groups with the highest rates of transmission. With the country in the grip of a third wave of infection, authorities called on young people to attend makeshift medical centres at nine university campuses to take a rapid antigen test. Spain’s nationwide incidence of the virus as measured over the past 14 days reached a new high of 736 cases per 100,000 people on Wednesday and hit 790 in Madrid. That figure rose to over 1,100 cases per 100,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24.
3 Covid-19 Vaccines Under Final Review for Emergency Use: WHO | The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that three Covid-19 vaccines were in the late stages of review for possible emergency use listing, in addition to the one made by Pfizer and BioNTech already approved. An internal WHO document seen by Reuters gives timelines for the agency’s possible vaccine approvals, indicating that shots from Moderna, AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac could win emergency go-ahead in coming weeks or months. “We have one vaccine so far listed. We have 3 more in final phase to be assessed for listing, we have 2 more still submitting…In total we have 13,” Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines, vaccines and pharmaceuticals.
Argentine Regulator Approves Sputnik V for People Over 60 | Argentina has approved use of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccination for people over the age of 60, the government of the South American country announced in a statement on Wednesday. The National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology, or ANMAT, Argentina’s regulatory body, said in the statement that the vaccine “is within an acceptable margin of safety and efficacy for the age group over 60 years.” President Alberto Fernandez, 61, plans to get vaccinated with Sputnik V, now that it has been approved for his age group, government officials said. Some 45,832 people have died in Argentina of COVID-19 so far.
“Delhi sets a new record! We have conducted over 1 crore Corona tests to date, equivalent to 50% of Delhi’s population,” Kejriwal tweeted. “With a focus on increased testing and treatment, Delhi has successfully contained the scale and spread of Corona infection.” These 228 new cases came out the 63,151 tests conducted the previous day, including 32,957 RT-PCR tests and 30,204 rapid antigen tests, the Wednesday bulletin said.
Delhi sets a new record!
We have conducted over 1 crore Corona tests to date, equivalent to 50% of Delhi’s population. With a focus on increased testing & treatment, Delhi has successfully contained the scale & spread of Corona infection. pic.twitter.com/QtGoYU7IYu
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal)January 20, 2021
Covid Tests Crosses 1 Crore-mark in Delhi, Kejriwal Calls it ‘New Record’ | The number of tests conducted in Delhi to diagnose coronavirus has crossed the one crore-mark on Wednesday, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailing the milestone as a “new record”. In a tweet, Kejriwal asserted the city had “successfully contained the scale and spread” of the infection. Delhi recorded 228 more COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths, taking the infection tally to over 6.33 lakh on Wednesday, while the positivity rate stood at 0.36 per cent. The number of tests done per million as on Tuesday was over 5.29 lakh, while the total number of tests stood at 1,00,59,193, according to the Health Department.
Source: News18