New Coronavirus News from 26 Apr 2022

Why North Korea and Eritrea do not have Covid vaccine programmes [Buzz.ie, 26 Apr 2022]

By Clara Murray

Just two out of 195 states are yet to start vaccinating their citizens – here’s why

It feels like a long time since the Covid-19 vaccine rollout dominated the conversation. In Ireland, 85 per cent of eligible people have now been fully vaccinated against the virus, while nearly two-thirds of the global population have got at least one jab.

But for some parts of the world, the conversation has not even begun.

Just two countries have not given out a single Covid vaccine to their populations through an official programme: the dictatorships of North Korea and Eritrea.

North Korea
As one of the world’s most politically and economically isolated countries, it is not surprising North Korea has rebuffed the global vaccination push.

The UN-backed Covax program, which aims to share vaccines with poorer countries, said this week it would stop offering the jabs to North Korea after they were repeatedly refused.

Its official reason? Other countries needed the doses more. Perhaps thanks to its closed borders and a strict lockdown regime, North Korea claims to have prevented any serious outbreak of the disease – and has not officially recorded any cases.


However, a recent UN report said this was “likely at considerable cost to the wider health situation and further exacerbating economic deprivation”.

Leader Kim Jong-un has also berated officials for not planning its response to the “great crisis” of Covid properly, according to Sky News.

But while you might think beggars can’t be choosers, the Washington Post reported North Korean officials may be holding out for donations of mRNA vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna over the AstraZeneca and Sinovac shipments which have already been offered.

Eritrea
Located on Africa’s east coast, this impoverished state broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 after a decades-long war. (The two nations are still embroiled in a conflict.)

Nearly 10,000 Covid infections have been reported among its population of six million. But to date no official Covid vaccine programme has been set up and Eritrea is refusing to share data on the virus with the world.

However, the head of African Centres for Disease Control said last year, “we are not giving up” on rolling out jabs in the war-torn country, which does not have any elections, free press or parliament.

Eritrea’s government has not made any statement on its Covid policies and its reasons for shunning the jabs are not yet clear.

President Isaias Afwerki, who has held power since independence, has been described as an “all-powerful despot” and one of the world’s most authoritarian rulers. In his 30 years in power, he’s overseen tight restrictions on foreign influence, particularly from the United States. This may explain his reluctance to accept overseas aid.

Another possible reason put forward by Vice is WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' former membership of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which Eritrea is currently at war with.
What is bizarre is that Eritrea has made vaccination for other diseases such as measles, polio and TB a major priority – and has accepted Western aid to do so.
Bigger picture
Even leaving aside these outliers, the world has still not achieved vaccine equality. Low income countries have administered just 22 jabs per 100 people compared to nearly 200 among high income nations.
In part this is due to high prices charged by manufacturers and restrictive contracts which favour richer nations. Meanwhile, donated vaccines often go unused due to supply chain issues and short shelf lives. A lack of health infrastructure, training and medical staff also play a role in some countries.
It matters because low vaccination rates worldwide leave the door open to new variants, like Omicron XE, cropping up.
“Until we get the globe vaccinated up to as high a point as we can, we'll be going through this a number of times again,” Michael McCarthy Flynn, lead convener of People’s Vaccine Alliance Ireland, told Buzz last year.

COVID-19 rates are on a steady rise in California. Has the fifth wave of virus begun? [Sacramento Bee, 26 Apr 2022]

BY MICHAEL MCGOUGH

A steady increase in coronavirus transmission has continued across most of California during April, recent state health data show, likely fueled by more contagious offshoots of the COVID-19 omicron variant that are gaining ground throughout the U.S. California’s daily case rate is now 8.7 per 100,000 residents, with test positivity at 2.7%, the California Department of Public Health said in a Tuesday update. Each metric is up about 40% in the past two weeks. CDPH last Friday reported positivity at 3.1% but in Tuesday’s update revised that day’s figure to 2.8%. It still marked the state’s highest measurement since Feb. 25, after falling as low as 1.2% in late March.

Wastewater monitoring data has shown potentially steeper increases in some well-populated parts of California. The amount of virus detected in wastewater increased by about 192% in Davis between April 1 and April 17, and by about 140% in Sacramento in the same period, according to CDPH’s wastewater network data dashboard.

During the same stretch, Yolo County’s test positivity rate doubled and Sacramento County’s increased by about 50%. There have also been significant increases in the Bay Area. Napa, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and Contra Costa counties all have test-positivity rates more than double the state average, ranging from 5.7% to 6.7%. In San Jose, virus levels rose 150% in the wastewater from March 31 to April 16; test positivity spiked nearly 60% in the same stretch, CDPH infection numbers show. Hospital numbers at the moment remain on a plateau.
California on Tuesday reported 950 COVID-positive patients in hospital beds and has fluctuated between about 950 and 1,000 since April 15, state data show. The number of virus patients in intensive care units slid Tuesday to an all-time low of 112. Both are tiny fractions of the omicron peak in early January, when California saw COVID-19 hospitalizations soar above 15,000 virus patients including 2,600 in ICUs. $2 for 2 months Subscribe for unlimited access to our website, app, eEdition and more CLAIM OFFER Hospital trends throughout the pandemic have tended to lag behind case trends by a couple of weeks, though, meaning hospitalizations could begin to elevate soon given the increase in case rate. ICU numbers typically trail behind overall hospitalizations by an additional week or so. BA.2 SUBVARIANTS STILL ON THE RISE U.S. health officials have estimated that BA.2 is roughly 40% more transmissible than the original omicron variant, BA.1; and that a related strain called BA.2.12.1 is about 25% more transmissible than BA.2, which would make it about 75% more contagious than BA.2. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a weekly update Tuesday said the two subvariants combined for 97% of U.S. virus cases last week, up from 93% the prior week. Of sampled cases nationwide, 68% were BA.2 and 29% were BA.2.12.1, compared to 74% and 19% one week earlier, respectively. For the CDC region that comprises California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Pacific island territories, BA.2 made up 82% and the more contagious BA.2.12.1 comprised 15% last week, shifting from 85% and 9%, respectively, the previous week.

The precise prevalence of the two subvariants in California is not yet clear because the CDPH data dashboard for variants does not distinguish between BA.1, BA.2 and BA.2.12.1. All three subvariants remain lumped together as “omicron,” which the state last week said made up 99% of recent specimens sequenced for variants. One Sacramento-area testing network that does monitor for BA.2, the Healthy Davis Together project in Yolo County, reported BA.2 comprised 93% of positive cases for the week ending April 16, with the remaining 7% BA.1. BA.2 has increased from 83% on April 9 and 68% on April 2 in Yolo County. The rate of Healthy Davis Together tests returning positive increased by just over double between April 2 and April 16, according to the project website. Healthy Davis Together data does not yet distinguish BA.2 from BA.2.12.1. Experts are still working to understand BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, especially the latter, and how they may influence factors like vaccine efficacy and immune protection from previous infection.

Health officials across the U.S. have said in recent weeks that it does not appear that BA.2 causes more severe illness than the original omicron variant. SACRAMENTO-AREA NUMBERS BY COUNTY Sacramento County’s latest case rate is 6.2 per 100,000 residents, state health officials said in a Tuesday update, a 35% increase from one week earlier. CDPH reported Sacramento’s test positivity rate at 3.2% as of Tuesday, up from 2.7% last week. Hospitals in Sacramento County were treating 48 virus patients Monday, state data show, down from 55 one week earlier. The ICU total halved, to four from eight.

The CDC classifies Sacramento County in the “low” level of COVID-19 activity. Placer County’s latest case rate is 5.2 per 100,000 residents, state health officials said in a Tuesday update, a 26% increase from one week earlier. CDPH reported Placer’s test positivity rate at 3.7% as of Tuesday, up from 3.5% last week. Hospitals in Placer County were treating 22 virus patients Monday, state data show, down from 33 one week earlier. The ICU total moved to four from three. The CDC classifies Placer County in the “low” level of COVID-19 activity.

Yolo County’s latest case rate is 7.0 per 100,000 residents, state health officials said in a Tuesday update, a 9% increase from one week earlier. CDPH reported Yolo’s test positivity rate at 1.5% as of Tuesday, up from 1.2% last week. Hospitals in Yolo County were treating one virus patient Monday, state data show, compared to two one week earlier. The ICU total held at zero. The CDC classifies Yolo County in the “low” level of COVID-19 activity. El Dorado County’s latest case rate is 4.6 per 100,000 residents, state health officials said in a Tuesday update, a 35% increase from one week earlier.

CDPH reported El Dorado test positivity rate at 4.3% as of Tuesday, up from 2.4% last week. Hospitals in El Dorado County were treating one virus patient Monday, state data show, compared to zero one week earlier. The ICU total held at zero. The CDC classifies El Dorado County in the “low” level of COVID-19 activity. Sutter County’s latest case rate is 3.2 per 100,000 residents and Yuba County’s is 5.0 per 100,000, state health officials said in a Tuesday update, respective increases of 17% and 100% in the past week. CDPH reported Sutter at 3.3% test positivity, up from 2.4% last week. Yuba’s positivity was 3.1% as of Tuesday, up from 3% last week. The only hospital in Yuba County, which serves the Yuba-Sutter bi-county area, was treating zero virus patients Monday, state data show, compared to two one week earlier. The ICU total decreased to zero from one. The CDC classifies Sutter and Yuba counties in the “low” level of COVID-19 activity. This story was originally published April 26, 2022 10:22 AM.

South Korea’s economy slows in Q1 on COVID curbs, inflation [Al Jazeera English, 26 Apr 2022]

Economic growth nearly halves in first quarter to 0.7 percent amid lower spending due to COVID curbs and inflation.

South Korea’s economic growth nearly halved in the first quarter from the previous three months as consumers and companies cut spending amid coronavirus curbs and surging inflation.

Gross domestic product grew a seasonally-adjusted 0.7 percent in the first quarter from the last quarter of 2021, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said on Tuesday, down from 1.2 percent in October-December, but slightly ahead of market expectations.

Private consumption shrank 0.5 percent, the worst in five quarters, as the government forced bars, restaurants and other businesses to close early to combat a surge in Omicron variant cases.

Capital investment fell 4 percent, the fastest decline in three years, while construction investment lost 2.4 percent.

From a year earlier, the economy grew 3.1 percent, compared with economists’ forecast of 2.8 percent growth.

“From the current quarter, the growth engine is expected to shift from exports to domestic consumption,” ING economists said in a note. “We are already seeing early signs of a recovery in private consumption as the government lifts most restrictions while the trade balance is going to record a deficit for a couple of months in the near future.”

The BOK is expected to revise down this year’s growth forecast from the current 3 percent estimate in its next review in May, as the country faces headwinds from the Ukraine war, US monetary policy tightening and COVID-19 lockdowns in China.

New BOK Governor Rhee Chang-yong said last week that economic growth is expected to weaken further from earlier projections, highlighting that monetary policy will aim to balance growth and inflation.

The BOK this month raised its benchmark rate to 1.50 percent, the highest since August 2019, in a surprise move as it ramped up the fight against inflation.

The International Monetary Fund recently lowered its 2022 growth projection for the country to 2.5 percent from 3 percent while upgrading its inflation projections to 4 percent from 3.1 percent.

Moody’s has forecast growth of 2.7 percent this year, while ING sees a 2.8 percent expansion.

S. Korea logs over 80,000 new COVID-19 cases [The Korea Herald, 26 Apr 2022]

By Shim Woo-hyun

Total COVID-19 caseload surpasses 17m

South Korea added over 80,000 new COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Monday, bringing the total caseload to 17 million, government data showed Tuesday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country’s daily COVID-19 infections on Monday reached 80,361, while the total caseload came to 17,009,865.

The daily tally increased from the previous day’s 34,370 as they tend to fall on Mondays due to fewer tests over the weekend.

But, the daily count reported on Tuesday was still down from 118,504 cases a week ago and 210,755 cases two weeks’ prior, reflecting the recent downward trend.

The number of deaths from COVID-19 also decreased to 82 on Monday, down 28 from the previous day’s 110. It was also the first time in around eight weeks for the COVID-19 related deaths to drop to two digits.

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 22,325, and the fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.

The number of critically ill patients also went down to 613, from the previous day’s 668. The hospital bed occupancy rate for seriously ill COVID-19 patients came to 33.4 percent as of midnight Monday.

The number of COVID-19 patients who are under at-home treatment, however, increased by 70,881 to 461,401 due to the jump in daily COVID-19 cases from a day earlier.