A physician’s exam room in New York City
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,035th day of the pandemic.
The World Health Organization acknowledged on Wednesday that the pandemic is on the path to a close, but in the same breath, officials there refused to rule out the possibility that there could be yet another chapter or plot twist that could reverse some or all of the progress made over the past three years, including natural immunity, vaccines, and antivirals.
“The acute phase of the pandemic is ending,” said Dr. Sylvie Briand, the WHO’s director of Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness and Emergency Preparedness, at a webinar hosted by the organization, referring to the first and typically worst phase of a pandemic during which a virus presents itself in a sufficient manner so as to occasion a global health emergency.
Last month, when the WHO extended the global health emergency by another three months, it said that that the pandemic “may be approaching an inflexion point.”
But “until no one is at risk, everyone is at risk,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19 said at the online event.
In other words, it still ain’t over until the fat lady sings.
In other news we cover today, Turkey’s president called this week’s earthquake the “disaster of the century” and a study found that Steve Bannon’s podcast is a top spreader of misinformation.
UNITED STATES
An experimental drug treatment could be a promising alternative to the antiviral Paxlovid. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a shot of interferon lambda prevented 51% of hospitalizations among vaccinated individuals. The medication could turn out to be superior to Paxlovid in some cases but still has to go through the regulatory approval process.
A peer-reviewed study released on Thursday by the Brookings Institute found that Steve Bannon’s podcast is a top misinformation spreader. The study, entitled “Audible reckoning: How Top Political Podcasters Spread Unsubstantiated and False Claims,” demonstrated that Bannon’s “War Room” podcast had more falsehoods and unsubstantiated claims than any other political talk show.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives voted 227 to 201 in support of a bill to end the coronavirus vaccine mandate for foreign air travelers. It is not clear whether the Senate will consider the measure. The White House said it intends to keep the policy in place.
Finally, a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that there were over 600 excess deaths of doctors during the first two years of the pandemic. However, physicians had much lower excess mortality than the general population, perhaps thanks to protective equipment and workplace measures, the researchers noted.
GLOBAL
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan called this week’s earthquake and associated loss of life the “disaster of the century.” Officials believe that over 10,000 people are dead due to the quake. The country has seen 17 million cases of Covid with a death toll of at least 100,000.
TRAVEL
Officials in Singapore said on Thursday that the country will move to end the last of pandemic-induced restrictions that have remained in place after it reopened last year. The move will include ending the requirement to don face masks on public transport.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Thursday, February 9.
As of Thursday morning, the world has recorded 676.9 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.2 million cases, and 6.78 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 649.5 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.3 million.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Thursday at press time is 20,685,513, a decrease of 4,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 20,644,107, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 41,406, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.
The United States reported 112,192 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday for the previous day, compared to 31,892 on Wednesday, 24,780 on Tuesday, 2,718 on Monday, and 2,986 on Sunday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 43,770. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 39,978, a figure down 15% over the past 14 days, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 460, a decrease of 16% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 29,358, a decrease of 17%. In addition, the number of patients in ICUs was 3,696, a decrease of 19% and the test positivity rate is now 11%, an increase of 1% over the same period.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Thursday, recorded just over 104.6 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.14 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.7 million, and a reported death toll of 530,748.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat last reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July 2022, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with over 39.5 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 37.9 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 697,583, has recorded 36.9 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are Japan, with 32.9 million cases, South Korea, with 30.3 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with 25.5 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.3 million, and Russia, with just over 22 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, 268.9 million people in the United States – or 81% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 69.2%, or 229.6 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 668.8 million. Breaking this down further, 91.9% of the population over the age of 18 – or 237.4 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 78.9% of the same group – or 203.7 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 18.8% of the same population, or over 48.6 million people, has already received an updated or bivalent booster dose of vaccine.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 69.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Thursday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.27 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 1.09 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 26.4% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
