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 Biden to tackle COVID on first full day in White House
President Joe Biden will sign 10 executive orders on Thursday to
fight the pandemic, including directing that disaster funds be used
to help reopen schools and requiring that people wear masks on
planes and buses, officials said.
"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," the president said in his inauguration speech.
One order will require mask-wearing in airports and on certain modes
of public transportation, including many trains, airplanes and
intercity buses.
WHO plans slew of vaccine approvals
The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to approve several
vaccines from Western and Chinese manufacturers in coming weeks and
months, a document published on Wednesday shows, as it aims for
rapid rollouts in poorer countries.
COVAX, a global scheme co-led by the WHO, wants to deliver at least
2 billion doses across the world this year, with at least 1.3
billion going to poorer countries.
But it has so far struggled to secure enough shots due to a shortage
of funds, while wealthy nations have booked large volumes of
vaccines for themselves.
Africa's COVID death rate now higher than global rate
Africa's coronavirus case fatality rate stands at 2.5%, higher than
the global level of 2.2%, a trend that is alarming experts, the head
of the continent's disease control body said on Thursday.
Earlier in the pandemic, Africa's death rate had been below the
global average, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention head John Nkengasong told reporters.
"The case fatality rate is beginning to be very worrying and
concerning for all of us," he said.
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England's lockdown having little impact
A third pandemic lockdown appears to be having little impact on
rates of COVID-19 in England, researchers warned on Thursday, with
prevalence of the disease "very high" and "no evidence of decline"
in the first 10 days of renewed restrictions.
Until rates of COVID-19 are reduced substantially, health services
"will remain under extreme pressure" and the number of deaths will
continue to rise rapidly, researchers leading Imperial College
London's REACT-1 prevalence study said.
"The number of COVID-19 in-patients (in hospital) is extremely high
at the moment, and we can't expect that to drop unless we can
achieve lower levels of prevalence," said Steven Riley, a professor
of infectious disease dynamics who co-led the work.
Moscow restrictions relaxed
Moscow will relax some restrictions from Friday, including fully
reopening colleges and specialist education institutions, the mayor
of the Russian capital said.
The number of daily new cases has started to fall in Russia, which
launched a voluntary vaccination programme with the Russian-made
Sputnik V vaccine last month. It has resisted imposing a strict new
lockdown, relying instead on targeted measures.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said new daily cases were considerably
lower than at the end of December and that a tangible drop in daily
hospital admissions to 1,200-1,300 people from 1,500-1,800 had made
him cautiously optimistic.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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