Coronavirus Breaking News

The Canadian Council of Chief Medical Officers stated on April 7, 2021, 'As we accelerate vaccination in Canada, we understand that everyone is looking forward to returning to a sense of normalcy.'

'We will be able to do this gradually based on local and regional COVID-19 activity, but we need to be careful.'

For example, Toronto Public Health issued a statement on April 6th confirming schools will be shut down as the city reported 955 new cases. The closure means more than 300,000 students, including those who attend private or independent schools, will return to learning from home exclusively.

And Ontario has declared its third province-wide state of emergency, issuing a stay-at-home order effective on April 8th.

'COVID-19 variants of concern are causing a rapid resurgence in Canada and threatening the sacrifices we have made to prevent and control COVID-19. We cannot let our individual and collective guards down until there is sufficient population protection from vaccination.'

'This means that for now, everyone needs to continue with public health measures that we know are effective, regardless of whether you have received one or two doses of vaccine or are not yet vaccinated.'

'As vaccination rolls out across Canada, it provides us with the opportunity to consider how best we can adapt public health measures and gradually lift the most restrictive ones.'

'As Chief Medical Officers of Health, we are committed to reviewing the evidence to inform when and how it is safe to relax these measures. We will continue to work together to provide clear and evidence-informed advice as the science and situation evolve, to keep everyone in Canada safe and healthy.'

The Olympic Flame is scheduled to go through the Osaka prefecture in Japan on April 13, 2021, but Governor Yoshimura said it would be "inappropriate" to hold it on public roads amid fears over large gatherings that could spread the (SARS-COV-2) virus,' reported Kyodo News.

"Today, we asked people in the whole of Osaka to refrain from engaging in unnecessary, non-essential outings," Yoshimura informed Reuters.

The decision to cancel the Olympic event across the Osaka Prefecture came as it confirmed a record 878 additional COVID-19 cases on April 7, 2021.

Toshiro Muto, CEO of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, announced Olympic torchbearers would run at the Expo '70 Commemorative Park in the city of Suita instead of public roads in Osaka.

The US Department of State recently issued a Level 3 Travel Advisory on March 29, 2021, saying 'Reconsider travel to Japan due to COVID-19, as the disease is still a serious concern in Tokyo and across many areas of Japan, and restrictions on entry remain in effect.'

Visit the US Embassy's COVID-19 page for more information on COVID-19 in Japan.

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, issued a statement on World Health Day 2021, calling on everyone to build a fairer, healthier world.

'The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on inequalities in African countries that account for around 17% of the global population.

Amid shortages of essential supplies, African countries have been pushed to the back of the queue in accessing COVID-19 test kits, personal protective equipment, and vaccines.

Of 548 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered worldwide, only 11 million, or 2%, have been in Africa.

At WHO, we are working with countries to strengthen capacities to collect, manage, and use data and enhance monitoring and action to address avoidable inequities. We have disseminated technical guidance on gender, equity, and COVID-19 and trained 30 country teams in the past year. These teams are using skills gained to support equitable health response, including to deal with gender-based violence in the context of COVID-19.'

COVAX, part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, is facilitating equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines to address these issues.

COVAX has built a diverse portfolio of vaccines suitable for a range of settings and populations and is on track to meet its goal of delivering at least 2 billion doses of vaccine to participating countries around the globe in 2021, including at least 1.3 billion donor-funded doses to the 92 lower-income COVAX Facility participants.

According to a study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases on April 2, 2021, 'These results suggest that transmissibility differences among SARS-CoV-2 lineages are likely, not due to differences in aerosol stability.'

The stability in aerosols of four SARS-CoV-2 isolates, including one from lineage B.1.1.7, is similar when compared across multiple environmental conditions. These researchers focused on an isolate of B.1.1.7 as well as three other Coronavirus strains (hCoV-19/France/IDF0372/2020, hCoV-19/USA/NY-PV08449, and hCoV-19/USA/WA-1/2020), testing the effects of light, humidity, and temperature on aerosols from a simulated respiratory tract lining fluid in a rotating drum chamber.

No difference was identified in the absence of sunlight at 20°C or 40°C, but a small significant difference was seen in some aerosols when exposed to sunlight at 20°C and 20% relative humidity.

"There were no differences in the decay constants between isolates in darkness at either 20°C or 40°C, with a mean time for a 90% loss of viral infectivity across all dark conditions of 6.2 hours."

Despite the small difference, these data suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 lineages represented by all four isolates would be rapidly inactivated by natural sunlight in real-world scenarios.

Massachusetts-based Innovation Pharmaceuticals announced an independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) completed its interim safety data review in the Company’s randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial of Brilacidin for treatment of moderate-to-severe COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.

Following their review of thirty patients, the DMC recommended increasing the dosing regimen of Brilacidin from 3 days to 5 days of treatment, as intended per the protocol, which the Company has since implemented. Efficacy data was not reviewed by the DMC and remained blinded.

Recruitment for the 5-day treatment regimen has begun.

“We are thrilled with the recommendation of the DMC pertaining to the safety profile of Brilacidin, a drug that has repeatedly been shown in lab studies by virology experts as a top candidate for fighting infectious and resilient coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen responsible for COVID-19,” commented Leo Ehrlich, CEO at Innovation Pharmaceuticals, in a related press release.

“There is a sense of urgency to develop novel pan-coronavirus therapeutics for COVID-19, particularly given the growing spread of variants worldwide, including P1 and B.1.1.7, which appear to be contributing to cases of infection cropping up in patients who have already been vaccinated."

"With its unique mechanism of action to directly disrupt the novel coronavirus, we believe Brilacidin possesses potential to address these worrisome reminders that SARS-CoV-2 isn’t going anywhere."

"More broadly, Brilacidin’s antiviral potency also appears to extend beyond coronaviruses to other types of viruses, based on independent ongoing laboratory research, further supporting Brilacidin’s broad-spectrum antiviral potential.”

Innovation Pharma is developing Brilacidin under Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Brilacidin is a Host Defense Protein mimetic representing a new class of drugs with antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacterial properties.

Religious leaders and health officials around the Middle East and North Africa declared that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine anytime during Ramadan will not violate the religious obligation, reported JPost on April 1, 2021.

Sheikh Abdul-Latif al-Derian is reported by the AP on April 2, 2021, to say 'the COVID-19 vaccine is administered intramuscular and won’t spoil the fast.'

It is customary for Muslim adults to fast from dawn to dusk and not violate the religious obligation during Ramadan.

Ramadan is currently scheduled from Monday, April 12 to Tuesday, May 11 in 2021.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy month of fasting. It begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon, which can vary globally. Because the Muslim calendar year is shorter than the Gregorian calendar year, Ramadan begins 10–12 days earlier each year, allowing it to fall in every season throughout a 33-year cycle, stated Britannica.

On March 30, 2021, Atlanta-based 11Alive researched the question 'Do the COVID-19 vaccines in the USA contain animal products?

No, there are no animal products in the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, wrote 11Alive.

The sources for this 11Alive answer are Dr. Aaron Glatt, Rabbi, Epidemiologist, Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau, and Dr. Nabile Safdar, President of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.