New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world — the latest count being over 11.3 crore cases and more than 2.5 lakh deaths.
COVAX delivers the first batch of Covid vaccines to Ghana, New Zealand’s success with Covid has led to skyrocketing housing prices and the European Union is considering vaccination passports to boost tourism.
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Covax delivers first Covid vaccines in ‘momentous occasion’
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, delivered its first doses of Covid-19 vaccine, reports The Guardian.
As many as 6,00,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine landed in Ghana’s capital city Accra Wednesday. An initiative to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, “Covax aims to distribute enough vaccines over the next six months to inoculate 3% of the population of 145 countries”, the report notes.
It quotes Anne-Claire Dufay of Unicef Ghana, and the WHO country representative, Francis Kasolo who in a statement said, “This is a momentous occasion, as the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines into Ghana is critical in bringing the pandemic to an end.”
More vaccine doses will be delivered to Ivory Coast Friday.
New Zealand’s virus success unleashes runaway housing prices
New Zealand’s successful fight against the Covid-19 virus has led house prices to skyrocket, reports The Associated Press.
According to the report, prices have risen by more than 19 per cent over the past year.
“New Zealand has managed to stamp out community spread of the virus, allowing most aspects of life to return to normal, and its economy has rebounded strongly as a result … But that success has helped fuel the housing market,” the report states.
The economic boost led to credit ratings rising that further led to an increase in price of houses.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is also quoted as saying, “We’ve been very clear that what happened in the last three months of last year is not sustainable. And that’s why we need to change the settings.”
New Zealand has recorded 2,368 cases and 26 deaths.
Also read: Cautious until now, these Asian countries are finally accelerating Covid vaccine drives
EU considers vaccination passports to resurrect tourism
European Union leaders are considering the implementation of vaccination passports to boost tourism, reports Reuters.
“With the rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 now gathering pace, some governments, like those of Greece and Spain, are pushing for a quick adoption of an EU-wide certificate for those already inoculated so that people can travel again,” the report notes.
But, France and Germany have said that these certificates can make the vaccine obligatory.
The report quotes a statement by EU leaders in which they said, “We call for work to continue on a common approach to vaccination certificates.”
The European Union has recorded 2,11,13,083 cases and 5,15,519 deaths.
Coronavirus variant identified in Amazonas already recorded in 17 states in Brazil
The coronavirus variant P.1, originally identified in Brazil’s state of Amazonas, has been detected in at least 17 states, reports Folha De S.Paulo.
According to the report, 184 cases of the variant have been found so far.
“Specialists, however, point to the possibility that the number is higher, since analysis for genomic sequencing (the model used for this identification) usually targets just a sample of Covid cases,” it notes.
So far, it is not clear if the variant is more transmissible.
Brazil has recorded 1,03,26,008 cases and 2,50,079 deaths.
Also read: This is how much you may pay to take Covid vaccine in a private hospital
New coronavirus variant spreading in New York, researchers report
In New York, a new coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly, reports the New York Times.
Within a few months, the B.1.526 variant accounted for about one in four viral sequences, the report notes.
The variant was discovered by researchers at California Institute of Technology “by scanning for mutations in hundreds of thousands of viral genetic sequences in a database called GISAID”.
It also quotes Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University, who said, “It’s not particularly happy news.” Researchers have been studying the genetic material of the virus to understand how it’s mutating.
The US has reported 2,89,74,623 cases and 5,18,363 deaths.
What else we are reading:
Africa, Oceania lag behind as virus drug access gap widens: Nation
How Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine Covid-19 shot works: The Straits Times
Also read: How quarantines after international air travel are getting longer and lonelier