The delta variant of the coronavirus, which is now also predominant in Germany, appears to partially escape antibodies from those who have been vaccinated for the first time and those who have not been vaccinated. A study in the trade journal delivers on this Nature More information.
In the experiments, the antibodies formed after a single dose of Biontech / Pifzer and Astra Zeneca were barely able to bind to the mutant discovered in India and render it harmless, report researchers working with Olivier Schwartz from the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Both vaccines would have elicited an efficient reaction against Delta only after the second dose – in 95 percent of the people (after one dose: 10 percent).
According to the study, antibodies in blood samples from unvaccinated convalescents are less able to bind to Delta than the previously predominant variant alpha. After analyzing samples from convalescents who had already received a vaccination, the researchers write that the results strongly suggested that such a booster would most likely protect convalescents against a variety of circulating strains of the virus, including Delta.
Results from such laboratory experiments cannot be directly transferred to vaccination protection in practice. The team of authors writes that the examined levels of so-called neutralizing antibodies would, however, be considered a strong indication of immune protection against symptomatic corona infections. The human immune system not only defends itself against pathogens with antibodies, there is also cellular immunity. (07/08/2021)
England lifts quarantine for the British upon arrival
Fully vaccinated Britons will no longer need to be in quarantine from July 19 when they return from countries with a medium risk of infection. Transport Minister Grant Shapps announced. This should give the country’s corona-plagued airlines and travel agencies a boost. In the UK, 65 percent of adults are fully vaccinated. So far, the British have had to go into quarantine for up to ten days when returning from countries such as Spain, France, Italy or the USA.
Tourists from Germany, for example, have to be in quarantine for at least five days after arriving in the United Kingdom on July 19. The British government is lifting the mandatory self-isolation for fully vaccinated travelers and minors – but this only applies to people residing in the country.
“We would like to welcome international visitors back to the UK and are working on extending our approach to vaccinated passengers from major travel destinations,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in Parliament on Thursday. He hoped that the extension to countries like the US and EU member states could take place “over the summer”. A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson made it clear that the vaccinations must have been given by the British health service NHS in order to be allowed to enter without quarantine.
Brits or people residing in the United Kingdom must continue to present a negative Corona test from July 19 when entering from “yellow countries” such as Germany, France or Italy, which must not be older than 72 hours. You must also take another test after arrival and within two days, but the self-isolation and another test after at least eight days are not applicable, as Minister Shapps said. The rules apply to England and may differ in the rest of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Japan declares a state of emergency for the Olympic city of Tokyo
The corona emergency will be imposed again in Tokyo during the Olympic Games. As expected, the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga decided on Thursday. The state of emergency will apply from next Monday until August 22, provisionally. The Olympic Games are scheduled to take place from July 23rd to August 8th.
The reason for the now fourth state of emergency for Tokyo are again significantly increasing numbers of corona infections. However, the state of emergency is not a lockdown with tough curfews like in other countries. While citizens are called upon to stay at home if possible, restaurants are not allowed to serve alcohol, offer karaoke and have to close earlier than normal in the evening.
Many people in Japan fear that the games could turn into a super-spreader event. Japan’s Olympic organizers and the International Olympic Committee have always emphasized that everything will be “safe”. For this reason, the games will now take place differently than planned without spectators. (07/08/2021)
USA stick to entry ban
The US government does not plan to lift travel restrictions early. As a White House spokesman told Reuters, they do not want to give in to the growing pressure from US business groups and some MPs for the time being: “We have made tremendous strides in our vaccination efforts, like many other countries, but we want to make sure that we are able to reopen international travel in the long term if it is safe to do so. “
In June, the US government set up an inter-agency working group with the European Union, the UK, Canada and Mexico to look at how restrictions could be lifted and ultimately travel resumed. (07/08/2021)
The number of corona deaths worldwide exceeds four million
Despite great vaccination efforts, the global death toll from Covid-19 has reached the four million mark. Growing inequality in access to vaccines means that poorer countries in particular are exposed to outbreaks of highly infectious virus strains. Even if the rapid introduction of vaccines in countries like Great Britain, the USA or the EU enables normalization of life, it took only 82 days, according to the Johns Hopkins University, to have to add another million victims to the death statistics.
Previously, the new million mark was only reached after 92 days. The actual death rate is likely to be far higher than stated due to different survey methods around the world. Developing countries are bearing an increasing number of deaths. India accounted for 26 percent of the increase from three million to four million deaths and Brazil for about 18 percent. By comparison, the United States accounted for about four percent of the increase, where more than 332 million vaccine doses have now been administered. (07/08/2021)
More than 100 researchers condemn Boris Johnson’s “unethical experiment”
In an open letter, 122 scientists and doctors opposed the British government’s strategy to soon lift all corona restrictions. The international experts denote in their writing that the trade journal The Lancet published Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s strategy as a “dangerous and unethical experiment”.
The signatories of the letter, including Chaand Nagpaul, the head of the council of the British Medical Association, also call the plan “dangerous and premature”. The letter literally states: “With this strategy there is a risk that a generation with chronic health problems and disabilities will be left behind; the personal and economic consequences could still be felt for decades.” The letter also draws attention to the fact that “fertile ground” could be created for vaccine-resistant virus variants. Herd immunity must be achieved through vaccinations, not mass infections.
The government estimates that after the lifting of all corona rules on July 19 in England, up to 100,000 people could become infected with the virus every day. Due to the success of the vaccination campaign, however, she does not expect a massive increase in deaths. (07/08/2021)
New York honors “Corona heroes” with a confetti parade
New York has honored its heroes in the fight against the corona pandemic with a confetti parade. In hot summer weather, 14 moving trucks and 260 groups – including doctors, medical workers, delivery men and educators – pulled over the festival route in Manhattan, sometimes in the rain of scraps of paper. Onlookers on the roadside cheered them and held up posters that said, among other things, “Thank you, heroes” or “Courage, strength, hope”.
As early as April 2020 – at the height of the pandemic in New York – Mayor Bill de Blasio had promised “the biggest, best parade” for when the pandemic in the metropolis was under control. “When the day comes when we can start the vibrant, beautiful life of this city again, the first thing we will do is a confetti parade for our health and rescue workers,” the mayor said at the time.
The end of the restrictions due to the corona pandemic is also to be celebrated in New York in August with a big concert in Central Park. The east coast metropolis was the epicenter of the corona pandemic in the USA last spring. In the meantime, the infection rate is largely under control thanks to a relatively successful vaccination campaign. (07/07/2021)
WHO records more infections but fewer deaths
The World Health Organization (WHO) has registered fewer deaths from the coronavirus than it has seen since the beginning of October 2020. In the week from June 28 to July 4, there were just under 54,000, seven percent less than in the previous week, as the WHO announced.
At the same time, the number of reported infections rose slightly worldwide, to a good 2.6 million in the week mentioned. The increase was particularly strong in the WHO European region, which includes 53 countries from Portugal to Tajikistan: an increase of 30 percent compared to the previous week. The particularly contagious Delta variant of the virus was detected in seven other countries, now in 104 of the 194 WHO member countries. According to the CDC, the variant is already dominant with 51.7 percent in the USA.
This means that a total of 183 million infections have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic and almost four million people have died with a corona infection. The WHO assumes a high number of unreported cases because not all cases are discovered and reported in all countries. (07/07/2021)