H5N1

Philippines posts higher daily Covid-19 case count at 20,741

Via The Manila Times: PH posts higher daily Covid-19 case count at 20,741.

The daily count of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases increased further to 20, 741 on Saturday, the Department of Health (DoH) said. 

It is now the second highest caseload, dislodging the 20,310 infections recorded on Friday to the third highest since the pandemic began in 2020. 

Positivity rate rose to 28 percent, according to the DoH. With a record 74,034 tests conducted on Thursday, the high positivity rate meant that 20,730 samples were found positive even as five laboratories did not submit their data.    

Saturday's number raised the overall infections to 2.06 million, from which 157,646 are active, with 98 percent experiencing either mild or moderate symptoms or are asymptomatic. 

A record 21,962 recoveries were also reported, raising the total to 1.869 million. 

The death toll rose to 34,062, including 189 new fatalities.

ECDC awards 77 M€ to strengthen EU/EEA Member States’ capacities to detect and identify SARS-CoV-2 variants

Via ECDC, a news eport: ECDC awards 77 M€ to strengthen EU/EEA Member States’ capacities to detect and identify SARS-CoV-2 variants. Excerpt:

ECDC has awarded more than 77 M€ to 24 EU/EEA countries to strengthen whole genome sequencing and RT-PCR infrastructures within the countries’ national public health programmes. 

The immediate objective is to reinforce countries’ capacities for early detection and enhanced monitoring of emergent and known SARS-CoV-2 variants. The support is a response to a request to ECDC by the European Commission to implement a number of activities that were launched as part of the “HERA Incubator” aiming to support the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants across the EU. 

The awarded support is based on the individual needs of each country, as described in applications submitted by their public health authorities. Activities are 90% funded by ECDC, while the countries will be required to finance the remaining 10% themselves. Projects will start in September or October 2021 and run until 30 September 2022.

South Korea: New COVID-19 cases near 2,000 as of 9 p.m. as Seoul sets record high

Via Yonhap: New COVID-19 cases near 2,000 as of 9 p.m. as Seoul sets record high. Excerpt:

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases came close to 2,000 as of 9 p.m. Tuesday as a record-high number of infections was recorded in Seoul. 

The country added 1,937 more COVID-19 cases as of 9 p.m., up 593 from the same time the previous day, according to health authorities and local governments. The number was 280 cases higher than at the same time a week earlier. 

Seoul confirmed 645 new patients in the 21-hour period, the record-high number for that time, with 500 posted in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 113 in Incheon, a port city just west of the capital. 

The daily figure is expected to top 2,000 when the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announces data for the full day on Wednesday morning. 

Daily cases, which have stayed above 1,000 for 49 consecutive days, have typically fallen every Monday and Tuesday due to fewer tests over the weekend, then jumped back up every Wednesday. 

Earlier in the day, the KDCA announced that 1,509 more COVID-19 cases had been reported throughout Monday, which raised the total caseload to 239,287. 

The country added six more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,228, the KDCA said. 

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told an anti-virus meeting that the government will come up with more measures to speed up vaccinations as a recent surge in infections mainly came from people in their 20s and 30s, most of whom are unvaccinated.

Philippines reports record virus cases as Delta variant spreads

Via Reuters: Philippines reports record virus cases as Delta variant spreads. Excerpt:

MANILA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The Philippines health ministry reported a record 18,332 COVID-19 infections on Monday and for the first time acknowledged community transmission of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus in its capital region. 

The region, an urban sprawl containing the capital, Manila, and 16 cities home to more than 13 million people, had been subject to strict lockdown measures which were relaxed for 10 days from Aug. 21 to allow more businesses to operate. 

"Widespread lockdown or restrictions are no longer effective in the country," health ministry spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire told a regular news conference on Monday. "It would be more effective if restrictions were loosened a bit and if lockdowns were more targeted". 

Large numbers of Delta variant cases for which the source could not be traced had been detected in the capital region and nearby provinces, the health ministry said in a separate statement.

New Zealand reports 21 new local COVID-19 cases as outbreak grows

Via Reuters: New Zealand reports 21 new local COVID-19 cases as outbreak grows.

Aug 22 (Reuters) - New Zealand recorded 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as the current community outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to grow, bringing infections associated with the outbreak to 72, health officials said. 

Of the 21 new cases, 20 are in Auckland, the largest city, and one is in the capital Wellington. Five people were in hospital, but no one was an intensive care unit. 

The Pacific nation of 5.1 million is under a strict lockdown until midnight on Tuesday as the outbreak has widened beyond the two key cities. 

COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that about a million people have been fully vaccinated in New Zealand, after more than 50,000 doses of the vaccine were given on Saturday.

"We continue to deliver incredible numbers we can be proud of," he said. 

Until the current outbreak, however, New Zealand's vaccination pace was the slowest among the wealthy nations of the OECD grouping, with only a fifth of the population fully vaccinated. 

The country has recorded just 2,660 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and 26 related deaths, according to the health ministry.

WHO says 49 Ebola contact cases identified in Ivory Coast

Via wionews.com, an AFP report: WHO says 49 Ebola contact cases identified in Ivory Coast.

Forty-nine individuals have been identified who were in contact with a young Guinean woman who tested positive for the Ebola virus in Ivory Coast's biggest city Abidjan, the UN health agency said Thursday. 

The 18-year-old had travelled to Abidjan by bus from Labe in northern Guinea, a journey of some 1,500 kilometres (950 miles) that traverses a densely-forested region where Ebola epidemics broke out earlier this year and 2013-16. 

It is Ivory Coast's first known case of the disease since 1994. 

Ebola, which is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. 

Contact cases were identified from among fellow bus passengers as well as "among families at the starting point in Labe," WHO specialist Georges Ki-Zerbo told an online press conference of the World Health Organization's Africa branch. 

A senior health official in Labe, Elhadj Mamadou Houdy Bah, on Wednesday had said 58 contact cases had been identified there, and none had any sign of the disease. 

An Ivorian doctor told the WHO press conference that 70 people were aboard the bus, of whom 33 arrived in Abidjan, while the others are scattered across Ivory Coast. 

The bus made stops in the western towns of Duekoue and Guezabo and in the administrative capital Yamoussoukro, he said. 

"Through networking, we were able to home in on the communities" where the fellow passengers live, Health Minister Pierre Demba added. 

"We are stressing the need for vigilance" by all health structures to spot any further cases, he said. 

Three suspected cases have tested negative, according to Ivorian health authorities. 

Demba travelled Wednesday to the Ivorian-Guinean border to raise awareness of the need for vigilance. 

Matshidiso Moeti, the director of WHO-Africa, praised the two countries' "remarkable solidarity" over the Ebola situation and the swiftness of the Ivorian response. 

'Doubts' over diagnosis 

Guinea, with aid from the WHO, sent 5,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine to Ivory Coast two days after the young woman's infection emerged. 

Vaccinations began in the country on Monday. 

However, Guinean authorities on Thursday asked for a review of the initial diagnosis of the Guinean woman.  

"The improvement in symptoms... in 48 hours raises questions, given the typical course of the disease," Guinean Health Minister Remy Lamah wrote in a letter to the WHO seen by AFP. 

The minister also said that a Guinean medical team sent to Abidjan could not gain access to the patient. 

The city of Labe, where the young woman is from, recorded no cases of Ebola during the previous outbreaks in Guinea, Lamah wrote. 

He requested a "reconfirmation" of her infection by the Pasteur Institute in the Senegalese capital Dakar, which is a reference lab for West Africa, "and if possible by another accredited laboratory." 

The 2013-16 Ebola epidemic left 11,300 people dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, including 2,300 people in Guinea. 

A four-month outbreak in Guinea claimed 12 lives in Guinea this year before being declared over on June 19.

Ebola outbreak in Côte d'Ivoire: WHO worries about high risk of spread (updated)

Via L'infodrome: Ebola outbreak in Côte d'Ivoire: WHO worries about high risk of spread. I can't find the WHO report mentioned, but I'll keep looking. The Google translation:

The World Health Organization (WHO) fears a high risk of the spread of Ebola virus disease in Côte d'Ivoire. In a report that Linfodrome was able to consult, this Wednesday, August 18, 2021, this organization evokes a significant dispersion of people who have had contact with the confirmed case. 

In a report on the epidemiological situation of the Ebola virus disease, WHO is concerned about the high risk of the spread of this disease in Côte d'Ivoire. The rating is 3 plus (+++). With a potentially large number of contacts. Worse, this report mentions a significant dispersion of people who have had contact with an Ebola patient (+++). With continuous cross-border movements (+++). 

In addition, without wanting to push the population to panic, the world health specialist observed that the strain of virus currently circulating in Côte d'Ivoire is "unknown".

Another L'infodrome story has this to say:

According to a report from the World Health Organization (Oms-N ° 001 of August 17, 2021) that Linfodrome.ci was able to consult, there are 2 new suspected cases with no known link to the confirmed case. “The samples are being analyzed with the Institut Pasteur de Côte d'Ivoire,” the report said. Who mentions the presence of a case at the University Hospital Center (Chu) of Bouaké and another at the Chu of Treichville. Worse, "6 people who have been in contact with these patients are in quarantine at Vitib, in Grand Bassam", adds our source.

Côte d'Ivoire has recorded one confirmed case of Ebola virus patient and 0 deaths.

Update: I've now found the WHO report mentioned in the story. While it's dated August 17, the internal date in the 14th, so I don't know how much of this information is really current. Here's the Google translation of the key pints:

August 14, 2021: confirmation of an EVD case in Abidjan by the IPCI,
Case: 18-year-old patient, domiciled in Labé, Guinea, who came to CI,
Residence: 2 Plateaux, common courtyard, overcrowded shanty town
Symptoms: Fever + Headache, bleeding (gums, genitals)
Evolution: Hospitalized and alive
Ebolavirus species: not yet determined.
Beginning of vaccination of contacts around the case after receiving 5,000 doses of vaccine (3000 Johnson & Johnson, 2000 Merck).

Coronavirus: US scientists suggest another animal link in tests on deer samples

Via the South China Morning Post: Coronavirus: US scientists suggest another animal link in tests on deer samples. If you read the Shriner paper, you'll see that the 2019 sample is mentioned without discussion. Excerpt:

A blood sample collected from American white-tailed deer in 2019 turned out to be positive in antibody tests for Covid-19 infection, according to a new study conducted by US government scientists. 

The researchers discovered three more positive samples dated in January 2020, when the virus was newly identified in China. 

These samples were collected “very early in the pandemic” from wild deer populations in different parts of the US, said quantitative biologist Susan Shriner with the National Wildlife Research Centre in a paper posted on the preprint server bioRxiv.org on July 29. 

The discovery could “provide baseline information for surveyed populations prior to pathogen emergence”, Shriner and her colleagues said. 

The paper has not been peer-reviewed, and the findings were unexpected. 

 The main purpose of the study was to find out whether humans could pass the virus to wild animals. A large-scale survey conducted by the US Department of Agriculture earlier this year found that nearly half the white-tailed deer in the wild might have contracted the novel coronavirus. In some areas the infection rate reached 100 per cent. 

To ensure the accuracy of their testing method, the researchers used some archived samples from as far back as 2011 as controls, and found the results were all negative before 2019.

Many cases of animals being infected with the new coronavirus have been reported across the world, but they were either pets or farm animals that lived near humans, and only tested positive after Covid-19 was detected in people. 

Shriner and her colleagues sent their samples to another government laboratory that ran tests with a different method. The results were consistent. 

In a statement posted on its website, the USDA said the sample in 2019 was “likely a false positive”. However, Shriner’s paper made no such a statement. She did not respond to a request from the South China Morning Post for comment. 

The origin of the pandemic remains a puzzle, and many theories have been proposed.

Thailand reports rising number of new COVID-19 cases

Via VietnamPlus: Thailand reports rising number of new COVID-19 cases.

Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand logged 22,782 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, bringing the national count to 839,771, announced the country’s Ministry of Health on August 12. 

The death toll was raised to 6,942 after 147 fatalities were reported on the day. 

The latest mass tests in Bangkok capital and surrounding provinces were carried out by 41 Comprehensive COVID-19 Response (CCR) teams comprising 400 doctors and medical workers between August 1 and 10, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Public Health Yongyot Thammawut said. 

If the CCR teams, joined by Rural Doctors Society, could continue with the testing in Bangkok for the next two weeks, infections could be lowered, he said. 

It would allow the sick to undergo treatment and be kept from others, which would reduce transmission and prevent their conditions from worsening. Many fatalities could also be averted, the official added.

Effects of adjusting public health, travel, and social measures during the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination: A modelling study

Via The Lancet Public Health: Effects of adjusting public health, travel, and social measures during the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination: a modelling study. The summary: 

Background 

Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, various public health and social measures (PHSMs) have been used to suppress and mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2. With mass vaccination programmes against COVID-19 being rolled out in many countries in early 2021, we aimed to evaluate to what extent travel restrictions and other PHSMs can be relaxed without exacerbating the local and global spread of COVID-19. 

Methods 

We adapted an existing age-structured susceptible-infectious-removed model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics that can be parameterised with country-specific age demographics and contact patterns to simulate the effect of vaccination and PHSM relaxation on transmission. We varied assumptions by age-specific susceptibility and infectiousness, vaccine uptake, contact patterns, and age structures. 

We used Hong Kong as a case study and assumed that, before vaccination, the population is completely susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We applied our model to 304 jurisdictions (27 countries and 277 sub-national administrative regions from eight countries). We assumed that PHSMs have suppressed the effective reproductive number (Re) to fall between 1·0 and 9·0 locally before the commencement of vaccination programmes. 

We evaluated the levels of PHSMs that should be maintained during the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination to avoid a large local outbreak of COVID-19, with different assumptions about vaccine efficacy, vaccination coverage, and travel restrictions. We assumed that the maximum capacity of the health system, in terms of daily hospital admissions, is 0·005% of the population size. 

Findings 

At vaccine efficacy of 0·80 in reducing susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection, 0·50 in reducing SARS-CoV-2 infectivity, and 0·95 in reducing symptomatic COVID-19 diseases, vaccination coverage would have to be 100% for all individuals aged 30 or older to avoid an outbreak, when relaxing PHSMs, that would overload the local health-care system, assuming a pre-vaccination Re of 2·5. Testing and quarantine of at least 5 days would have to be maintained for inbound travellers to minimise the risk of reintroducing a local outbreak until high vaccination coverages are attained locally and overseas in most countries. 

Interpretation 

Gradual relaxation of PHSMs should be carefully planned during the roll-out of vaccination programmes, and easing of travel restrictions weighed against risk of reintroducing outbreaks, to avoid overwhelming health systems and minimise deaths related to COVID-19.