International policy updates

 

Vaccines:

 

• Interpol has issued a notice warning that criminals will attempt to infiltrate or disrupt COVID-19 vaccine supply chains and asks that law enforcement is prepared as possible.
• No one who received the Moderna vaccine in the trial went on to develop severe COVID-19. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel has suggested that given the high efficacy against both mild and severe disease, it will have the most impact if given to those who have the greatest risk.
• 15,203 volunteers have signed up to the Novavax Phase 3 trials, interim data from this trial will be available in the first quarter of 2021.
• Operation ‘Warp Speed’ director of supply, production and distribution in the United States has said that any American who wants to be vaccinated will be able to do so by this summer.
• Germany plans to begin vaccination programmes in January ‘at the latest’
• The French national health authority has outlined a five-step plan for vaccination roll-out, beginning with elderly care home residents
• Both Pfizer and Moderna have requested approval for their vaccines from the EU.
• Moscow’s Mayor has confirmed that 70 vaccination centres will open in the city.

 

Global

 

• New research has mapped mental health innovations from across the world. The article summarises key lessons learned and recommendations including, promoting access to basic needs, prioritising care for vulnerable groups, supporting staff mental health and engaging with hard to reach groups.
• Research from the UN suggest that the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak will have the worst impact on the poorest countries. An additional 32 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty (defined as less than $1.90 per day).
• Clinicians are noticing that ‘delirium’ is common amongst just over 50% of COVID-19 patients, some researchers have proposed that it is included as part of the clinical criteria.

 

Europe

 

• The German health minister has called for extra COVID-19 measures in some districts, and has extended its lockdown to 10 January 2021. Greece has now also extended lockdown across the country by one week to 7 Dec.

 

North America

 

• The USA has shortened COVID-19 quarantine for those arriving from outside of the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed the quarantine period to 7-days if they have tested negative for COVID-19 and show no symptoms.
• Californian Governor has warned that ICU beds could be full by Christmas, he also announced a regional ‘stay-at-home’ orders. These new lockdown orders could be triggered if a region’s hospital ICU bed availability goes below 15%.
• Canadian airports have begun a pilot project of rapid testing, in the hopes that this will increase passenger confidence in flying.

 

Africa

 

• In an Africa-wide project ANTICOV, clinical trials seek to find drugs that can treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. This is the first major drug trial across the continent.

 

Middle East

 

• A night time curfew will come into effect in Gaza, with mosques and schools set to close from this Saturday.

 

Asia

 

• South Korea reported 629 new coronavirus cases on Friday 4 December making it the highest daily infection number in nearly 9 months. The capital, Seoul will require most establishments to close at 9pm to prevent further spread.

 

International COVID-19 analysis

 

Below is the latest international comparison of COVID-19 data using WHO published figures. As mentioned before, country to country comparison has some limitations because of the variation in approach, data collection and testing.

 

Data from 03/12/2020:

 

• Worldwide, there have now been 63,965,092 confirmed cases, an increase of 6.5% since the previous week (3,890,918 more cases). This suggests that worldwide cases continue to rise at a steady rate. However, COVID-19 deaths appear to be rising again at a considerable rate as the number of deaths increased by 10.5% in the past week to 1,488,120 (141,642 more deaths). This is up from a growth of +0.2% last week.
• The UK continues to be ranked at 7^th in the world with 1,659,260 total cases. This accounts for 2.6% of world cases. The number of UK deaths accounts for 4.0% of world deaths (59,699). The UK remains the country with the highest death toll in Europe and the fifth highest death toll globally.
• Meanwhile, the rate of growth in confirmed cases across Europe appear to be slowing. Cases in UK increased by 6.6% this week (102,249 more cases), down from a growth rate of +8.9% last week. Cases in Italy increased by 10.9% this week (160,736 more cases), down from a growth rate of +16.4% since the previous week. France experienced a 3.5% increase in cases (73,836 more cases), down from a growth rate of +5.1% last week. Cases in Spain increased by 3.8% (60,709 more cases). This is similar to the previous week where cases grew by 3.9%.
• The USA remains the country with the most cases and deaths in the world, accounting for 21.2% of world cases (13,563,731 cases) and 18% of total deaths (268,482 deaths). India remains the country with the second highest of cases in the world with 9,534,964 cases, an increase of 2.9% cases since last week. Cases in Brazil may be rising again as they experience a 4.4% increase since last week (268,079 more cases). This is up from a growth rate of +2.0% last week.
• South Africa remains the worst affected country in Africa with 796,472 recorded cases and 21,709 deaths.
• Currently England has 15 times more cases than Scotland (97,720 cases), 17 times more cases than Wales (83,961 cases) and 27 times more cases than Northern Ireland (53,728 cases) (PHE data).

 

	Cases	% change since last week	Deaths	% change since last week	Death rate
USA	13,563,731	9.0%	268,482	4.1%	2.0%
India	9,534,964	2.9%	138,648	2.5%	1.5%
Brazil	6,386,787	4.4%	173,817	2.2%	2.7%
Russia	2,375,546	8.6%	41,607	9.3%	1.8%
France	2,205,212	3.5%	53,455	6.4%	2.4%
Spain	1,665,775	3.8%	45,784	4.0%	2.7%
UK	1,659,260	6.6%	59,699	5.6%	3.6%
Italy	1,641,610	10.9%	57,045	9.6%	3.5%
Argentina	1,432,570	3.7%	38,928	4.0%	2.7%
Colombia	1,324,792	4.9%	36,934	3.5%	2.8%
Mexico	1,122,362	5.9%	106,765	3.9%	9.5%
Germany	1,106,789	12.5%	17,602	16.1%	1.6%