Although the new Corona virus (Covid-19) epidemic has become forgotten; The virus continues to spread amid ignorance, neglect, and the belief that it has ended. Yesterday (Tuesday) noon, the cumulative number of injuries in the world since the outbreak of this catarrh rose to 685 million. The number of deaths from the global epidemic rose yesterday, to reach 6.84 million deaths, since its outbreak at the end of 2019. The countries most affected by Covid-19, globally, are close to recording new leaps to a greater number of infections and deaths. While the United States – the first in the world – is crawling towards 107 million injuries; The number of new cases increased in India, so that the Indian government decided to enhance testing capabilities in the country's states to curb the growing outbreak. India is close to recording 45 million injuries since the beginning of the outbreak. As for France, which ranked third in the world in terms of the number of injuries; It is just around the corner from reaching 40 million infections. South Korea – seventh in the world – is moving towards recording 31 million injuries. Behind it stands Italy – the eighth in the world – which is about to reach 26 million injuries. A study conducted by researchers from the Center for Clinical Epidemiology of the US Department of Veterans indicated that the new Corona virus is still capable of killing people, to the extent that its killing ability exceeds the ability of the influenza virus to kill by 60%. And although the series of effective vaccines that were devised to combat Covid-19, and the drugs that showed efficiency in reducing the risk of death, reduced the level of death from Covid-19 during the last winter to only 6%, compared to between 17% and 21% during the year 2020. ; This percentage is still high, compared to 3.7%, which is the percentage that the influenza virus causes the death of those it infects. US epidemiology consultant Dr. Ziyad Al-Ali said that the conclusion reached by the researchers should be interpreted as also leading to the fact that the chances of hospitalization for people with Covid are two or three times greater than those who are hospitalized with influenza in the United States. Statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that about 22,000 Americans died of influenza during the 2019-2020 influenza season, while Covid-19 killed 350,000 Americans in 2020 alone. And Dr. Ziyad Al-Ali had published a study during the year 2020, confirming that, compared to patients hospitalized with influenza; People hospitalized with COVID-19 face risks of acute kidney failure, serious blood clots, and more serious cardiovascular complications. Lakshmi Santosh, assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said that patients with Covid-19 develop greater complications in the functions of the body's organs, compared to patients with influenza.
In a related context; Officials of the White House and the US Department of Health and Human Services announced yesterday that the administration of President Joseph Biden has decided to invest more than $ 5 billion to accelerate the development of new vaccines and medicines for the Covid-19 epidemic. The project, which was called the "Next Generation Project", aims to provide protection from all coronaviruses, including the virus that causes Covid-19 disease, so that these viruses do not represent a threat to humanity in the coming days. A spokeswoman for the US Department of Health said (Monday) that while current vaccines are still very effective in preventing exacerbation of the disease and death, “they are less able to reduce the number of new infections and the spread of infection.” She added: The emergence of new viral variants, and the decline in immunity over time, could pose a challenge to health care systems in the coming years. The White House said the administration will spend at least $5 billion in cooperation with the private sector to expedite the development and distribution of the next generation of vaccines and medicines, through close collaboration between the public and private sectors.
announced
The American pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences, said (Tuesday) that the data of the first phase of its clinical trial of an anti-Covid-19 drug developed by its scientists encouraged it to start soon in the second phase of the clinical trial on the drug that the company called “Obeldesir”. The drug aims to prevent the new Corona virus from reproducing itself inside the body, to defeat the immune system. The company believes its new drug can solve symptomatic issues during an early infection period. And she is studying the possibility of knowing its possible impact on chronic Covid disease. The company said that this new drug can be taken on an empty stomach. The initial trial did not result in any negative complications. An advanced stage clinical trial is currently underway to see the ability of Uplidesvir to treat non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
confirmed
China (Tuesday) said that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by a Chinese company with mRNA technology is its preferred choice for circulating the booster dose to enhance protection against COVID-19. The Chinese National Health Commission said that the CSPC vaccine, which targets the Omicron strain, and a similar vaccine developed by Synoceltec, targeting 4 mutants, including Omicron, would be the best option for immunizing adults. China was relying on vaccines made with old technology to immunize its population, less able to achieve the results shown by the vaccines of the American companies Moderna and Pfizer. However, China did not allow the use of the two American vaccines until it decided to abandon the “zero Covid” strategy in early December 2022, which led to the infection of at least 80% of the Chinese people with the virus.
Yassin Ahmed (London) @OKAZ_online