New Coronavirus News from 25 Jan 2022

‘Omicron won’t be the last variant’: Experts say pandemic’s end not yet in sight [Haaretz, 25 Jan 2022]

by Ido Efrati

Israeli health experts think it is too early to determine that omicron will make COVID endemic, and that antibodies from the less virulent variant won't necessarily provide long-term protection

The rapid spread of the omicron variant has raised hopes that this is the final chord of the coronavirus pandemic. The basis for this hope is the idea that widespread exposure to the virus – in a particularly infectious but less deadly variant – can create a broad protective umbrella over large parts of the population, which, along with vaccines, will make the virus endemic.

It will continue to circulate, but as a result of increased immunity as a result of vaccines and infection, there will be much less transmission, severe illness and death, and life can return to something resembling the pre-pandemic normal.

Although the director for the World Health Organization in Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, said it was “plausible” that Europe is moving toward a “kind of pandemic endgame,” he and Israeli medical experts cautioned that mass infection will not end the pandemic.

Kluge said this week that omicron could infect 60 percent of Europeans by March, and when the current surge in illness ebbs, “there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity,” as a result of a combination of vaccinations and antibodies in recovered COVID-19 patients.

Kluge further told AFP that this situation should last until the end of the year – by which time, he said, COVID-19 might return, but not necessarily as a pandemic. However, he stressed that caution is still necessary despite the optimism, due to the virus’s ability to mutate. He noted that "endemic means ... that it is possible to predict what's going to happen. This virus has surprised [us] more than once so we have to be very careful."

Kluge’s remarks made waves among medical experts in Israel and elsewhere. Dr. Dorit Nitzan, regional emergency director at the WHO Europe, who was present at Kluge’s interview, said that the message taken from his remarks was distorted and is at odds with the truth.

“At no point in the interview did Kluge condition exiting pandemic status on mass omicron infection," Nitzan said. "We do not think that mass infection is the solution or that it will bring about the end of the pandemic." She added that it was possible that this year will see the virus become endemic, “but the road there should be taken with measured steps. The road is based on raising vaccination rates around the world, monitoring illness, testing, and lots of personal responsibility.”

Nitzan estimated that “omicron won’t be the last variant,” noting that the current levels of infection have a price, as well: “We’re seeing many hospitalizations, including a rise in children's hospitalizations, and many at-risk populations are paying a heavy price.” She stressed that the WHO believes that once 70 to 80 percent of the world’s population is vaccinated, the focus can shift to resuming normalcy.

“Eighty-five percent of Africa’s population has yet to receive a first vaccine dose, so we’re asking countries that have accelerated the vaccination process, like Israel, to take stock and make it easier for everyone by directing vaccines to under-vaccinated countries,” said Nitzan.

Prof. Cyril Cohen, head of the immunotherapy lab at Bar-Ilan University, also believes talk of ending the pandemic is premature. He pointed out the emergence of a new variant, BA2, “a relative of omicron,” of which some 100 cases have been discovered in Israel. At this point, there is no indication that BA2 behaves differently from omicron.

Cohen concedes that exposure to the variant may improve the body’s immunity to future variants, but “it’s not something that’s certain.” Explaining the difference between endemic and pandemic states, Cohen gave the flu as an example. “The flu kills a quarter million to half a million people around the world every year, but it’s endemic. It’s not everywhere year-round.
And flu has better seasons and worse seasons, better and worse vaccines, and once in a while comes a violent strain, like bird or swine flu, turning it from endemic to pandemic,” Cohen explained.

Therefore it is unclear to what extent broad and accumulated exposure to different variants provides a defensive barrier capable of halting the pandemic. Cohen added that “repeated exposure or infection to different variants of the virus supposedly increases the immune system’s ‘target bank,’ but that doesn’t mean it can always completely prevent the disease.”

Dr. Oren Kobiler, virology expert at Tel Aviv University, said that the level of protection promised by omicron infection will not persist for a prolonged period. “No doubt, those who are vaccinated or recovering and contract omicron have milder illness in most cases. At the same time, just last week 15,000 people died of COVID in the U.S., where it’s mostly omicron, and Denmark, which already had an omicron wave, is now experiencing a BA2 wave.”

Kobiler added that even should omicron decline, the deadlier delta variant is expected to make a comeback. “Some experts say the omicron doesn’t even make delta disappear. It had declined, but not disappeared completely, and once omicron is gone chances are not great that the protection we got from the omicron will hold against delta.”

And yet, according to Kobiler, eventually COVID-19 will become seasonal, like the flu. “The question is when, he says, “and another question is – will omicron make it happen? You have to be very optimistic to say that, and I don’t see the data to support it.”

Leyden Labs, with license from J&J, secures $140M to stop viruses 'at the gate' with nasal spray [FierceBiotech, 25 Jan 2022]

by Kyle LaHucik

Pandemic preparedness is a big buzzword these days in public health, and Leyden Labs wants to put the words into action with an intranasal spray to go after coronavirus variants, the flu and future viruses. The biotech has secured about $200 million to bankroll its mission.

That includes a $140 million series B disclosed Tuesday that will fund preclinical and early-stage testing of Leyden's platform, aimed at "attacking the viruses at the gate," said Koenraad Wiedhaup, CEO and founder, in an interview.

Helping lead the company is an executive with COVID-19 monoclonal antibody expertise. Chief Commercial Officer Suha Jhaveri helped launch Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline's solo agent sotrovimab as vice president and head of commercial at Vir.

The Dutch biotech will deploy the proceeds on developing a platform that induces protection in the mucosa, or the nose and throat, from future variants of SARS-CoV-2, the flu and other emerging respiratory viruses, Wiedhaup said.

The nascent biotech, formed in the early days of the pandemic, hit a major milestone last week by in-licensing a human monoclonal antibody for influenza A and B from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit. Leyden paid an undisclosed upfront fee and will dole out biobucks to Janssen in exchange for the exclusive worldwide license to develop and market CR9114 for administration in the nose and throat.

CR9114 was one of three human monoclonal antibodies discovered by J&J unit Crucell in conjunction with scientists at Scripps Research and the Centre of Influenza Research at the University of Hong Kong. The team revealed CR9114 in an August 2012 report in the journal Science.

"The awareness rises that the risk of severe respiratory infections by viruses like influenza increases with age while the response to seasonal influenza vaccines diminishes at old age. Simultaneously bird or avian flu have never been as rampant," said Jaap Goudsmit, M.D., Ph.D., Leyden chief scientific officer, in a statement. "However, current seasonal flu vaccines for the elderly protect poorly, if at all, against these influenza strains."

Wiedhaup declined to provide details on timing of clinical entry for the flu program nor the coronavirus variant work. The biotech will explore testing the nasal spray as a way to protect against initial infection, as well as on top of existing vaccines that activate the immune system. The goal is to ward off specific variants but also multiple strains, the CEO said.

The 40-person biotech is led by the former McKinsey partner and Goudsmit, who was previously a senior adviser at Janssen and before that global head of the J&J unit's Prevention Center after the pharma acquired Crucell in 2011. Also in the C-suite is Chief Business Officer Ronald Brus, another Crucell veteran.

Series A investors Casdin Capital and GV led the series B, which included participation from SoftBank, Invus, Bluebird Ventures and existing backers F-Prime and Byers Capital.

‘Peace, freedom, no dictatorship!’: Germans protest against Covid restrictions [The Guardian, 25 Jan 2022]

by Kate Connolly

The university city of Cottbus held one of 2,000 rallies across Germany on Monday, stoked by the far right

On Monday evening on the dot of 7pm people emerged from dimly lit side streets and gathered on the Oberkirchplatz square in Cottbus for what has become a weekly ritual in towns and cities across Germany: a protest against coronavirus protection measures.

The demonstrations have grown in strength as cases of the Omicron variant have surged, and in recent weeks a looming decision on bringing in a vaccine mandate has become the focus of protesters’ ire. More than 2,000 rallies were held nationwide on Monday, drawing tens of thousands of participants.

In Cottbus, a university city south-east of Berlin, a familiar pattern played out. Moments after the protest started, police declared over megaphone that it was illegal – the participants did not wear masks or physically distance from each other. Groups then broke away and began the Spaziergänge, walks that snake in a variety of directions and are designed to overwhelm any police response.

Dressed in padded coats and woolly hats, the protesters were an inconspicuous crowd. “We are just having an evening stroll,” one woman smirked amiably from under a red woollen beret. “Exercising our right to stretch our legs.”

The gentle click of heels and umbrella studs on wet cobbled stones was quickly drowned out, however, by a man who bellowed “Frieden, Freiheit, keine Diktatur!” (Peace, freedom, no dictatorship) then “Widerstand!” (Resistance).

A woman nearby took up the cry with “Wir sind das Volk!” (We are the people) – the chant that echoed around cities across communist east Germany in 1989 before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Those willing to talk mostly said they wanted to show local and national politicians they had had enough of restrictions. Several said they were not vaccinated; some refused to say. Hardly any were willing to reveal their names.

Germany toughens Covid restrictions as Omicron variant takes hold

“I just want my freedom back,” said one elderly woman. Another younger woman said she was trying to stop the government from forcibly vaccinating her nine-year-old, though there is currently no plan to oblige parents to have children vaccinated. A physiotherapist, one of the few protesters who was wearing a mask, said she was fearful of losing her job if she refuses to get vaccinated under plans for a mandate for medical staff, due to be introduced next month.

Asked why there was need for resistance, Maik, a landscape gardener who refused to wear a mask – calling them “chin nappies” – said: “When injustice becomes law, resistance is our duty.”
There is growing evidence that the protests are being manipulated behind the scenes by rightwing populists and far-right groups, who see issues such as restrictions on gatherings, insistence on the wearing of medical masks as well as a possible vaccine mandate for adults as topics ripe for political exploitation.

Zukunft Heimat (Future Homeland), a far-right group founded in 2015 at the height of the refugee crisis that spreads a nationalist, anti-refugee message, coordinates much of the activity around demonstrations in the state of Brandenburg, including Cottbus.

Ahead of Monday’s rallies, it posted a message from one of its co-founders, Christoph Berndt, a dentist who is also the parliamentary leader of the far-right populist AfD in Brandenburg and has been a speaker at anti-refugee Pegida rallies. He called on people to “defend our freedom and our democracy …” against a government which is “treating its citizens with disdain”.

Berndt has previously questioned whether anyone has died of Covid, said he does not believe the virus exists, and refused to wear a mask because it is a “symbol of suppression”.

Protesters in Cottbus in December. Photograph: Frank Hammerschmidt/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
On chat rooms and in conversations on messaging apps about the rallies, people talk about wanting to topple the government, comparing the administration to a dictatorship. Those who once rallied against the former chancellor, Angela Merkel, over her refugee policy now rail against her successor, Olaf Scholz, and his health minister, Karl Lauterbach.

Some refer, online and in person – with what generally appears as glee – to a conspiracy theory called Tag X (Day X) that predicts Germany’s “entire system” will collapse due to critical infrastructure being disabled by quarantine measures.

Rally participants are encouraged to “put sand into the cogs of a system” already perceived to be on its last legs, and lighthearted references are made to a “civil war mood”.

At the time of the refugee crisis, rightwing extremists linked to the far-right Identitarian movement, the rightwing-focused advertising agency One Per Cent and the thinktank Institut für Staatspolitik (IfS) built a digital map, showing the location of anti-Islam protests across Germany. People could put in their postcode and find their nearest rally.

A similar map has been produced for the coronavirus “Spaziergang” movement, created by the far-right association Filmkunstkollektiv, whose members and supporters include Identitarians, members of the IfS, and One Per Cent.

Germany reports record number of daily Covid cases

Filmkunstkollektiv is also known to have produced film material for the AfD, recently accompanying its youth wing on a “vaccine strike” in Berlin. It also has an association with the far-right Compact magazine, whose latest cover depicts a young man with needles and syringes embedded in his body, under the title “Vaccine dictatorship – being boosted to death”.
Much of the wind for the protests has come from neighbouring Austria, where plans for a vaccine mandate and the fightback against it are more inflamed. There, the founder of the Identitarian movement, Martin Sellner, has referred to vaccine passports and fines as “totalitarian instruments”.

This mindset was reflected in some of the protesters on Monday night, even those who declared themselves “apolitical”.

In a chat group on an instant messaging service that provides a running commentary of the Monday protests, an unvaccinated woman wrote that since she has had to to abide by rules that ban those not vaccinated or recovered from many non-essential activities, “it is possible to put oneself in the shoes of Jews who suddenly had their basic rights removed from them during the Third Reich”.

Such remarks have been widely condemned. Experts on Germany’s constitution have warned that the victimhood narrative expressed by many of the protesters is in danger of being exploited by extremist elements. They cite the murder last September of a petrol pump attendant shot by a man after he refused to serve him for not wearing a mask as proof that they are not exaggerating.

Less than an hour into the rally in Cottbus on Monday night, the several hundred peaceful protesters were playing a game of cat and mouse with the police, who managed to kettle in one group next to a Glühwein kiosk.

There were some wild theories doing the rounds. A primary school teacher called Brigitte, walking with a group of friends towards the old market square, said she gave credence to a theory that the vaccine campaign is “an attempt to thin out the world’s population”. The 73% of Germans who are vaccinated are supposed to die, she said. “If this is the case, then I am one of the 26% who will live to make this nation great again.” Asked what the source for the theory was, she replied she “read it on one of my newsfeeds”.

UK Covid: 'Unprecedented' coronavirus rates seen in January as one in 23 infected [MyLondon, 25 Jan 2022]

By Josh Bolton & Nina Massey

Omicron 'almost completely replaced' Delta, the data suggests

There were 'unprecedented' levels of Covid in January with one in 23 people in England infected.

This is the highest figure recorded by the Imperial College London's study which began in May 2020.

It found that the highest prevalence was in primary school children, with 7.81% infected from January 5 to 20.

In the overall population in England, 4.41% were infected.

The figure was three times higher than the prevalence in the previous round of the study, which looked at November 23 to December 14.

However, the data suggests the peak of the wave was around January 5 and cases flattened off over the following weeks.

Professor Paul Elliott, director of the React programme from Imperial’s School of Public Health, said: “There is good news in our data in that infections had been rapidly dropping during January, but they are still extremely high and may have recently stalled at a very high prevalence.

“Of particular concern is that there is rapidly increasing prevalence among children now they are mixing more following the start of the school term and, compared with December, prevalence in older people aged 65-plus has increased seven- to 12-fold, which may lead to increased hospitalisations.

“It’s therefore vital that we continue to monitor the situation closely to understand the impact of the Omicron variant, which now makes up almost all infections in the country.”

Meanwhile, of the 3,582 people who said whether or not they have previously had Covid, two thirds (64.6%) reported a past infection.

Researchers urged caution, however, saying it is unknown when those past infections were and that PCR tests can return positive results for more than 90 days after diagnosis.

The increase in prevalence corresponds with Omicron becoming the dominant variant in England, the researchers added.

Over the study period, prevalence increased in every region compared to the previous report, with the highest figure recorded in the North East at 6.85%, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at 5.58%.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “It’s reassuring to see Covid-19 infections beginning to slow across the country as we move back to Plan A.

“Covid-19 rates are still high so, as we learn to live with the virus, it is vital we continue to be vigilant – wash your hands, let in fresh air, get tested and, if you haven’t already, get boosted now.”

New Coronavirus News from 24 Jan 2022

Stealth Omicron COVID Variant BA.2 That May Spread Faster Found in at Least 40 Countries [Newsweek, 24 Jan 2022]

BY ED BROWNE

The Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, also dubbed "stealth Omicron," has been detected in at least 40 countries worldwide.

BA.2 has caught attention in recent days as it has been responsible for an increasing proportion of Omicron infections compared to the BA.1 lineage that has been the dominant Omicron type so far.

Labs in countries including Denmark and Norway have reported that the sub-variant has been gaining ground, accounting for nearly half of all COVID cases in the former as of January 20, marking a sharp increase in recent weeks.

Virologists say that there is much to learn about BA.2, but it appears the sub-variant may have a transmission advantage over BA.1.

In a press release issued last Friday, the U.K.'s Health Security Agency (HSA) said that BA.2 had been classified as a variant under investigation (VUI) due to international and domestic cases, adding that BA.2 appears to have an increased growth rate compared to BA.1, based on early analysis.

However, the HSA stated that the proportion of BA.2 cases in the country compared to BA.1 was "currently low" and that further analysis was needed to determine the significance of the sub-variant and its mutations.

"So far, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether BA.2 causes more severe illness than Omicron BA.1, but data is limited and UKHSA continues to investigate," said Dr Meera Chand, COVID-19 Incident Director at the HSA.

Effectiveness of Vaccines
A press release from Denmark's Statens Serum Institut (SSI) infectious disease research institution last week stated that it is expected that vaccines will continue to have an effect on severe illness caused by BA.2

A total of 40 countries had uploaded BA.2 sequences to the virus sequencing database GISAID since November 17, the HSA said last Friday. Outbreak.info, an online tool that presents COVID statistics using GISAID data, put that figure at 49 as of Monday.

One notable aspect of BA.2 is that it lacks a genetic characteristic that scientists had used to identify Omicron cases previously—giving credence to its "stealth Omicron" monicker.

However, Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, tweeted last week that BA.2 is still detectable on PCR tests and branded news reports to the contrary as "totally wrong."

"Depending on the PCR test used it may not look like BA.1 (the other Omicron). But it will still give a positive result," he wrote.

According to GISAID on Monday morning, a total of 12,842 BA.2 sequences had been uploaded to its database from around the world. Some 67 of those were reported from the USA.

UK's Covid cases tick up again after a fortnight of Omicron fizzling out: Britain records 88,447 positive tests in 5% jump on last week - but both deaths and hospital admissions fall [Daily Mail, 24 Jan 2022]

By STEPHEN MATTHEWS HEALTH EDITOR and EMILY CRAIG

Britain's Covid outbreak could be rebounding already, with infections now creeping back up after the Omicron crisis seemingly fizzled out.

UK Health Security Agency bosses today logged 88,447 positive tests, up 5 per cent on last week's tally. It marks the second day in a row that infections have risen week-on-week.

Despite question marks emerging over the true trajectory of the outbreak, both hospital admissions and deaths continue to fall.

Britain today posted 56 deaths — down by a third on last Monday's toll. Meanwhile, another 1,967 Covid-infected patients required NHS care on Tuesday — a fall of 17 per cent, according to the most up-to-date UK-wide statistics.

Both measures are expected to keep heading downwards for the next few weeks because of how long it can take for people to become severely ill after getting infected. Britain's Omicron wave collapsed at the start of January before flatlining towards the middle of the month.

Despite the extremely-transmissible variant sending cases to pandemic highs, the number of Covid patients on ventilators has barely risen throughout the wave and is now at a six-month low, illustrating how mild the Omicron wave is compared to previous surges.

A total of 521 people were in hospital yesterday receiving breathing support in England, seven times lower than at the height of the second wave this time a year ago.

Vaccines, natural immunity and the intrinsically milder nature of the Omicron variant have helped sever the once impenetrable-link between infections and severe illness.

Ministers have taken confidence from the situation in hospitals to drop Plan B curbs in England from this Thursday, while Boris Johnson has signalled his intent to scrap all Covid laws by the spring. Work from home guidance and face masks in secondary schools have already been ditched.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said last week that the promising Omicron data in the UK signalled a 'new chapter' in the pandemic, as he compared the burden of Covid to flu.

But a World Health Organization official today warned against drawing comparisons between the two viruses. Dr David Nabarro, the agency's special envoy on Covid, said Covid was still 'very, very dangerous', adding: 'The virus should not be likened to flu. It's a new virus, and we must go on treating it as though it is full of surprises, very nasty and rather cunning.'

Covid figures tend to be artificially lower on a Monday, because they are reported just after a weekend when few people turn up for a swab for the virus.

But the slight rise on the week before — for the second day in a row — suggests the Omicron wave may now be beginning to turn around.

Under-14s are currently seeing their infection rate tick upwards week-on-week amid the return to school, while the fall in cases among 35 to 50-year-olds is beginning to slow down.

It comes as:
• World Health Organization chiefs warned against comparing Covid to the flu, saying it is still 'very nasty' and 'full of surprises';
• Number of hospitalised Covid patients in England needing a ventilator plunges to six-month low;
• No plans to scrap Covid vaccine mandate for frontline workers, Downing Street says
• Tougher Covid restrictions in England and Wales 'haven't made a difference', scientists claim;
• Anti-vaxxer, 28, dies of Covid after tearing off his oxygen mask and insisting he did not have the virus.

Latest NHS data shows 14,334 people in England were in hospital yesterday with the coronavirus, 2.4 times lower than last winter's peak which saw 34,336 infected individuals requiring NHS care on January 18.

But the difference in the number of patients on ventilators was even more stark, with 524 Covid-infected patients across England requiring breathing support — roughly seven times lower than the 3,736 logged on January 24 last year, before the vaccine rollout.

The figure is also the lowest number seen since July 18, when 512 Covid patients in England were on ventilators and the Delta variant was dominant.

Since the Omicron burst onto the scene at the end of November, ventilation numbers have dropped from an average of 790 per day to 570 per day.

Ventilators are the last line of breathing support available to patients. The figures do not show the number of patients requiring support through other machines to help them breathe, such as CPAP machines.

And latest official figures suggest the majority (61 per cent) of patients who were admitted to ICU with Covid last month were unvaccinated.

And just 3.7 per cent of hospitalised patients in England are on ventilators, the smallest share since the pandemic began. For comparison, 18.8 per cent of all patients in hospital last June needed mechanical breathing assistance.

The jabs have been hailed for slashing the link between catching the virus and severe outcomes, meaning fewer people go to hospital and die from the virus in relation to the number of people who get infected.

More than eight in 10 Britons aged 12 and over are double-jabbed, while more than six in 10 have had a third dose.

And the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates 97 per cent of adults across the UK have Covid antibodies, either through vaccination or infection.

Growing immunity, large case numbers and the milder Omicron variant have also seen a rise in 'incidental' hospital admissions — patients who are in hospital for something else but also have Covid.

NHS England's most up-to-date figures show 47.9 per cent of all Covid 'patients' in the country were not primarily unwell with the virus.

Low hospitalisation and death rates has led experts to compare the burden of Covid to flu, with scientists saying the virus may get weaker each year until it poses a similar threat to the common cold.

But when asked on Sky News this morning about remarks likening Covid to the flu, WHO Covid expert Dr Nabarro said: 'I keep wondering what the people who make these amazing predictions know that I and my colleagues don't know.

'You see, what people are seeing from around the world and reporting to the WHO is this is still a very, very dangerous virus, especially for people who have not been vaccinated and who've not been exposed to it before.'

He warned that the virus will continue to mutate, with more variants 'not far away'.

'So quite honestly, we are not saying that this should be considered to be like flu or indeed like anything else. It's a new virus, and we must go on treating it as though it is full of surprises, very nasty and rather cunning,' Dr Nabarro said.

Governments 'should not suggest' that data has 'suddenly changed' or that the virus has 'suddenly got incredibly weak' and instead focus on 'keeping the virus at bay, preventing people from getting infected if at all possible, and making certain that we are well prepared to deal with further surges as they come', he said.

Dr Nabarro said the end of the pandemic was 'in sight', but warned there is uncertainties around how the pandemic will continue to unfold.

He said: 'The end is in sight, but how long is it going to take to get there? What sort of difficulties will we face on the way? Those are the questions that none of us can answer because this virus continues to give us challenges and surprises.

'It's as though we're just passing the halfway mark in a marathon and we can see that yes, there is an end and fast runners are getting through ahead of us.

'But we've still got a long, long way to trudge and it's going to be tough.'
The WHO's regional director said the continent is entering a 'new phase' of the pandemic, driven by Omicron.
Dr Hans Kluge said: 'While Omicron appears to cause much less severe disease than Delta, we are still seeing a rapid rise in hospitalisations, due to the sheer number of infections.

'This is in addition to a Delta burden that has not entirely passed, and also to the high number of incidental admissions.

'Fortunately, hospitalisations with Omicron result much less frequently in ICU admission. As predicted, most people needing intensive care across the Region are unvaccinated.'

He said the pandemic 'will end' but it is 'far too early to relax.'

Millions of daily infections worldwide, as well as waning immunity means it is 'almost a given that new Covid variants will emerge and return', Dr Kluge said.

But lockdowns may not be needed in future waves due to the high vaccine uptake and antivirals, utilising variant monitoring systems and measures such as ventilating spaces, targeted testing, shielding at-risk groups, face masks and social distancing, he added.