Category: Life & Style

On Thursday, Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) extended its support to sell its COVID-19 Vaccine at $7 per unit to the African Union. John Nkengasong, the head of the African Centres said that half the price is already paid by the United States earlier this year.

The price is also significantly lowered to what other buyers like the European Union have agreed to this year. It is considered as a part of a trend by drugmakers to sell drugs at a reduced price to lower-income countries.

John Nkengasong said, “I am happy to say that a dose of the Moderna vaccine will be $7. That is what is being offered to us”. Moderna earlier said this year that the deals outside the US are struck between $22 and $37 per vaccine dose. However, Moderna has never provided information on pricing for low-income countries due to the absence of data. The company also announced its plans to spend $500 million on a vaccine plant in Africa in October.

Only 6% of the eligible population in Africa is fully vaccinated before the expected fourth wave of the pandemic. They have recorded 8.5 million cases so far with a death toll of 220,00.

On Friday (Nov 12), Australia’s Prime Minister Mr. Scott Morrison confirmed that the country has hit a jaw-dropping new milestone for COVID -19 Vaccine. Ninety percent of the adult population has received their first dose against the coronavirus infection.

The Prime Minister also confirmed that they have passed the rollout for ages above 16. He further added that the nation will hit its 80% target of double dosing in every state and territory by the end of 2021. However, Australian Capital Territory- victory and New South Wales have already achieved the mark with strict lockdowns between August and October.

In an interview, Mr. Morrison said, “We are going to have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. That goes with having one of the best records in the world for saving lives”. The nation has administered a total number of jabs over 37 million.

On Friday, the nation had recorded more than 1,400 new Covid-19 infections. However, Australia still has some more time to achieve the double-dose rate as they have administered only 81.9 percent across the country. Children under 12 still await the government signal to mark the Covid-19 vaccine safe for their age group.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that over 2.2 million at-home Covid-19 tests are recalled by Ellume an Australian company as they risk returning false positives.

On Wednesday (Nov 10), the regulators classified the action as a class I. They recall it as the more serious kind that has received 35 reports of false positives through the test made by the firm. The FDA further stated that incorrect results can lead people to have wrong Covid-19 medication and treatments or might even isolate themselves when they do not need to.

According to a spokesperson, Ellume has recognized the cause of the problem. They have applied various measures to control false testing and are now making new tests to send them to the US.

In October, Ellume had shipped 3.5 million tests to the United States. The start-up stated that in October, over 1,95,000 unused Ellume tests were affected. The FDA company recalled the tests were sent between mid-April and late August.

This autumn. America planned to spend US$3  billion on the supply of at-home tests. The Joe Biden administration plans to expand the testing and Ellume’s manufacturing.

On Thursday, UN chief Antonio Guterres said that the current climate situation was “a one-way ticket for disaster”. He emphasized the need to “avoid a failure” at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

According to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, which reached the COP21 summit, global warming should be kept well below 2°C and ideally closer to 1.5°C. However, the current data as per UN estimates indicated “catastrophic” warming of 2.7 degrees celsius on the cards.

Antonio Guterres said, “the present indications show a pathway of at least 2.7 degrees heating above pre-industrial levels, and that’s obviously a one-way ticket for disaster”. He added that the carbon pollution of a few countries had brought humanity to its knees and they bear the greatest responsibility.

The G20 leaders are scheduled to meet in Rome and are aware of their economies which are responsible for four-fifths of the planet’s carbon pollution. He warned that if they do not stand up, then humanity is headed for terrible human suffering. Guterres asked the United States and China to do more than what they have announced so far.

The meeting is to be held between 31 October and 12th November in Glasgow is seen as a crucial step to aim at the emission target to slow global warming worldwide

From next week, Australia plans for a travel bubble with Singapore and allows quarantine-free flights to start from November.

Mr. Scott Morrison, Australia’s Prime Minister confirms the statement on Friday regarding the bubble for fully vaccinated travelers to visit the country. International students and business travelers will initially get the preference to apply for the same from November 23. The nation will allow tourists to enter the country from December.

Mr. Morrison said, “We anticipate that being able to be achieved within the next week or so as we would open up to more visa class holders coming out of Singapore. We are opening up and are in the final stages of completing an arrangement with the Singapore government.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Mr. Lee Hsien Loong said in a Facebook post that he was delighted regarding Australia’s decision to allow entry to visa holders from Singapore. He further added that he had encouraged Australia’s prime minister to do so during his visit to Singapore in June.

The two nations hope to progressively rebuild international travel and will share the details soon. Sydney and Melbourne have allowed quarantine-free entry to fully vaccinated international visitors from November 1.

On Tuesday, the United Kingdom Official data reported a new mutation of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 is found in the country. The new variant dubbed as “Delta Plus” is found in some quarters that contain a mutation that can cause a greater survival chance.

The experts do not believe that the new variant to be responsible for the continuing high number of daily coronavirus infections within the nation. On Monday, the country had hit its highest record since July with 49,156 new cases of coronavirus cases.

In the latest technical briefing document by the UK, Heath Security Agency said, “New sublineages of the Delta are regularly identified and designated. One recently designated sublineage is AY.4.2”. It further added that the Delta sublineage newly designated as AY.4.2 is noted to be expanding in England which assessment has commenced. Some small numbers of new cases are also seen like Delta E484K and Delta E484Q”.

Experts suggest that the new variant is not yet considered a variant of concern. The first cases of new variants came to light in July 2021, which is slowly increasing. These new variants are likely to be up to 10 percent more transmissible as compared to Alpha and Delta which were 50 to 60 percent transmissible.

The World Health Organization-led program aims to buy antiviral Covid-19 pills for US$10. Meck & Co’s experimental pill molnupiravir is among the other drugs to be included to treat patients with mild symptoms.

WHO is ensuring that poorer countries get fair access to the vaccine shots, tests, and medications against the virus. It aims to secure antiviral drugs for these countries. Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) is the document that outlines the goals till September next year. The ACT-A says that the program wishes to deliver 1 billion COVID-19 tests to the poorer countries and procure drugs to treat nearly 120 million out of 200 million patients worldwide. This data is estimated to be achieved in the next 12 months.

The organization wants to shore up supplies of drugs and test at a comparatively lower price. WHO has lost the vaccine race to wealthy nations who scooped up a huge share of the vaccine supply around the world which left the poorer countries with very few jabs available.

According to the officials, the draft is still under consultation and declined any comment before it is finalized. The estimate of the price of drugs, treatment, and tests will account for the program’s biggest expenses.

On Monday, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has listed Singapore as “very high” in their list of risk travel destinations. As per the CDC, Singapore rose from Level 3 to its highest risk Level 4 under its Travel Notices.

The notice cited: “Level 4: Very High Level of Covid-19 in Singapore”, which was followed by advice to “avoid travel to Singapore” for the US residents. The CDC said, “because of the current situation in Singapore, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants”. The notice asked the travelers to follow recommendations or requirements in Singapore while traveling and wear a mask along with staying six feet apart from others.

Singapore has reported 2,553 new cases on Monday of Covid-19 infections. It included 2,008 new cases in the community, 544 in migrant worker dormitories, and one imported case. Recently, the nation has announced the expansion of a quarantine-free travel scheme for fully vaccinated travelers.

The first Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flight will land on Wednesday in Singapore as the next step of Singapore’s re-opening borders.

On Sunday, the Mosque in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia re-opened for the public. It operated at full capacity for the first time with worshippers praying shoulder-to-shoulder since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The workers at the mosque removed the markings from the floor that was used to guide people about social distancing in and around the mosque. It was built around the Kaaba, the black cubic structure towards which Muslims pray from around the world. The Saudi official said, “this is in line with the decision to ease precautionary measures and to allow pilgrims and visitors to the Mosque at full capacity”.

The nation is slowly opening up and has started welcoming vaccinated foreign tourists since August 1. As the measure for social distancing was lifted by the authorities, it was made mandatory for visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus.

It was also announced by the country that it is ready to accept pilgrims wanting to make the Umrah pilgrimage. In July, only 60,000 of the residents were allowed to visit Hajj. The national authorities said the use of masks in most open spaces is no longer mandatory.

The United Nations is all set to reopen its land border from next month, for fully vaccinated travelers. The country plans to lift its nineteen-month freeze to nonessential travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US has heavily limited travel to the essentials between Canada, Mexico, and the US, such as a vehicle, rail, or ferries. Both Canada and Mexico have pressured the US government for months to lift the restriction on travel for those people who have separated from their families.

On Wednesday, the government plans to announce the rule regardless of the reason to travel, starting in early November. A similar easing of restriction will be seen in the next month for air travel into the county. The date is not fixed yet for both by the officials.

On Tuesday evening, the senior administration officials previewed the new policy on the condition of anonymity to be discussed before the formal announcement. The recent decision was an outcome of last month’s announcement that the US will end country-based travel bans for air travel and rather will need vaccination for foreign nationals seeking to enter via airplane.

Those who plan to enter illegally will be subjected to expulsion under Title 42 authority first invoked by former President Donald Trump.