World Coronavirus Dispatch: Horror scenes in Lebanon’s intensive care units
Vaccine shortage hits Spanish inoculation
A vaccine shortage has forced the Madrid regional government to suspend vaccination for two weeks, dealing a blow to Spain’s efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic. In view of the delivery of vaccine doses from Pfizer, the Spanish government had decided to allocate the injections to the regions according to the needs of the population, but then changed the figures as the pharmaceutical giant delivered fewer doses than expected. Madrid have complained that they have only received half of the planned doses. The national government had set itself the ambitious goal of vaccinating 70% of its 47 million inhabitants by the end of the summer. But the goal remains a bit far-fetched given that Spain had administered just under 1.3 million doses in one month. Spain had seen 2,670,102 confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic, 57,291 have died from the disease so far. Read here
Britain to quarantine citizens in hotels at own expense
Rushing to control the rapidly spreading coronavirus variants, Britain has ordered a mandatory quarantine for travelers arriving in the country from 22 high-risk countries, including South Africa and Brazil, and from other South American countries. Incoming citizens will be required to self-isolate in hotels for approximately 10 days at their own expense. With a few exceptions, non-UK citizens of these 22 countries are already banned from traveling to Britain. Public health experts said the plan had too many loopholes, especially given London’s status as an international hub. Read here
A dozen Auckland hotel people linked to the spread of the variants travel to Australia
Twelve people who were quarantined at an Auckland hotel in New Zealand — where the highly contagious variant of the South African coronavirus has spread — traveled to Australia, before the travel bubble is suspended between the two countries, authorities revealed. Australia on Thursday said its travel bubble suspension would be extended for another three days after New Zealand recorded two more cases of the Auckland hotel variant. So far, there is no evidence of transmission outside of the hotel system in New Zealand. Read here
Maintain Covid bailout programs or risk triggering a market correction: IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that there could be a sharp market correction if central banks and governments suspend pandemic rescue programs, indicating genuine concern about the stock market bubble. The organization said that without continued low interest rates and government subsidies, there was a possibility that a stock market crash could occur. In a published report, the IMF said investors had ignored recent data showing a slowdown in major economies as the pandemic persisted through the winter months. Read here
Horror scenes in intensive care units in Lebanon
Lebanon’s intensive care wards are in the throes of dreadful scenes, leaving doctors and staff with no choice but to make life and death decisions about who should receive scarce medical resources and choose between two people who to save and who to let die. People infected with the virus are breathless in hospital horror scenes as rising cases after the Christmas holidays inundated scarce medical resources. Doctors say they are on the verge of the “Italy scenario”. More than 1,000 people died from Covid in Lebanon in January. Read here
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