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Vaccine boost for poor countries as Biden warns of ‘600,000 dead’
WASHINGTON, Jan 23, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – US President Joe Biden on Friday said
“well over 600,000” Americans could die of the coronavirus as he stepped up
federal aid in the world’s worst-hit country, while less wealthy nations
anticipated better access to tests and vaccines thanks to several
international deals.
“The virus is surging. We’re at 400,000 dead, expected to reach well over
600,000,” Biden told a news conference, giving his highest estimate yet for
the US outbreak’s eventual toll.
His new administration boosted stimulus handouts as well as payments to
help families buy food, with more poor children going hungry after the school
lunches they depended on disappeared as classrooms shuttered.
“The American people can’t afford to wait,” said Brian Deese of the White
House’s National Economic Council, adding that many people were “hanging by a
thread.”
Various US states meanwhile grappled with vaccine distribution, with New
York reporting its supply of shots would run out Friday.
The country marked its third consecutive day of more than 4,000
coronavirus deaths, bringing the overall count to 413,000 with 24.8 million
confirmed infections.
In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a new strain of the virus
that has swept his country and beyond could be more deadly as well as more
transmissible, with the variant having spread to more than 60 countries
already.
Around the world there were new signs of the depth of damage dealt to the
economy, with the closely watched PMI index showing that Europe is heading
for a new recession, and Latin America suffering its steepest drop in foreign
trade since the global financial crisis.
– Hungarian rebellion –
As vaccine rollouts gain pace around the world, Hungary announced it was
going it alone and buying two million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine,
frustrated by the European Union’s unwieldy strategy of buying shots in bulk
on behalf of members.
“It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches the
mouse,” Orban said of the different vaccines, despite wariness from some
experts over the fact that Sputnik V was rolled out before large-scale
clinical trials.
Brazil was meanwhile due to receive two million doses of a different jab
developed by British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that richer countries
are hogging the vaccine.
But there was good news Friday for poorer nations, as the WHO and
pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer announced a deal for up to 40 million initial
doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be made available to them through the
Covax global pool.
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“We can only end the pandemic anywhere if we end it everywhere,” said WHO
chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
A separate deal, brokered by international agencies working with the WHO,
will supply developing nations with tens of millions of rapid antigen tests
at half the usual $5 price.
– Imams back vaccine campaigns –
In Britain, imams were using their Friday sermons to reassure worshippers
that coronavirus vaccines are safe, exercising their clout in Muslim
communities to support the immunization drive.
“The hesitancy, the anxiety (and) concern is driven by misinformation,
conspiracy theories, fake news and rumors,” said Qari Asim, chairman of
Britain’s Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board.
The imams’ campaign comes as Britain battles to constrain the new strain
of Covid-19.
Chief government scientist Patrick Vallance said the strain could be 30-40
percent more deadly for some age groups, though he stressed the assessment
relied on sparse data.
The British strain, along with variants first detected in South Africa and
Brazil, are fuelling a tightening of travel restrictions, with Belgium
banning non-essential trips out of the country. Denmark meanwhile banned all
flights from the United Arab Emirates, saying it needed to make sure the
testing regime in Dubai was rigorous enough.
Hong Kong imposed its first coronavirus lockdown on Saturday, targeting a
poor, densely populated neighborhood that’s battling an outbreak. Authorities
planned to test everyone inside the designated zone within 48 hours.
– Rio Carnival cancelled –
From music to sports, organizers of large-scale events are grappling with
the continued fallout of Covid-19, with Rio de Janeiro’s famed carnival
called off for this year.
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane became the latest sports star to test
positive, while former tennis world number one Andy Murray announced he will
not compete in the Australian Open after failing to find a “workable
quarantine” following his own recovery from the virus.
In Japan, organizers of the Tokyo Olympics — already postponed from 2020
— are facing almost daily questions over whether the Games can really go
ahead in July.
The Japanese government insisted, however, that there was “no truth” to a
media report that said “the consensus is that it’s too difficult” to hold the
Games in 2021.
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