Posted on: Tue 12-01-2021

Scientists at the World Health Organisation warned on Monday that mass vaccinations would not bring about herd immunity to the coronavirus this year, even as one leading drug maker boosted its production forecast.

England, meanwhile, launched the first of its mass-vaccination sites in major cities, racing to get ahead of the rapid spread of a new strain of the disease there.

The pandemic has infected more than 90 million people and the death toll has passed 1.94 million since China confirmed the first death in the central city of Wuhan a year ago.

China has largely brought the virus under control but is tackling local infections.

More than half a million people were placed under lockdown in Beijing on Monday as the government imposed strict measures to stamp out a handful of cases.

But infection numbers were surging across Europe, particularly as Britain coped with a new strain of the disease that could lead to its hospitals being overwhelmed.

Russia on Sunday confirmed its first case of the new UK coronavirus strain, which scientists fear is significantly more contagious.

The virus has also exploded across the US, the hardest-hit country, where president-elect Joe Biden publicly received his second dose of the vaccine.

German company BioNTech said it could produce millions more doses of its coronavirus vaccine than originally expected this year, boosting production forecast from 1.3 billion to 2 billion.

The announcement by BioNTech, which linked with US company Pfizer to produce the first vaccine approved in the West, was a boost to countries struggling to deliver the shots.

But the company also warned that Covid-19 would “likely become an endemic disease”, and said vaccines would need to fight against the emergence of new viral variants and a “naturally waning immune response”.

Later Monday, chief WHO’s scientist Soumya Swaminathan warned it would take time to produce and administer enough vaccine doses to halt the spread of the virus.

“We are not going to achieve any levels of population immunity or herd immunity in 2021,” Dr Swaminathan said.

She stressing the need to maintain physical distancing, washing hands and wearing masks to rein in the pandemic. Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday that a new lockdown was unavoidable as the country suffered record numbers of virus deaths and infections“. We are certainly facing a third wave,” Mr Costa said.

Lebanon tightened its virus restrictions with an 11-day total lockdown and new travel restrictions.

A team of 10 scientists from the WHO were preparing for a mission to China on Thursday to investigate the origins of the disease.

It will “conduct joint research co-operation on the origins of Covid-19 with Chinese scientists”, Beijing’s National Health Commission said.

The visit comes more than a year after the pandemic began amid accusations that Beijing tried to thwart the investigation.

The US and Australia have led international calls for an independent inquiry, angering China.

The anniversary of the first reported death passed by unmarked on Monday in Wuhan, where commuters moved freely to work, and parks and riverside promenades buzzed with visitors.

“Wuhan is the safest city in China now, even the whole world,” resident Xiong Liansheng, 66, told AFP.

Source: independent

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