(STACKER) The vaccine deployment in December 2020 signaled a turning point in the COVID-19 pandemic. By theend of May 2021, 40% of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated. But as vaccination rates lagged over the summer, new surges of COVID-19 came, including Delta in the summer of 2021, and now the Omicron variant, which comprises themajority of casesin the U.S.
Researchers around the world have reported that Omicron ismore transmissiblethan Delta, making breakthrough and repeat infections more likely. Early research suggests this strain may cause less severe illness than Delta and the original virus, however, health officials have warned an Omicron-driven surge could stillincrease hospitalization and death ratesespecially in areas with less vaccinated populations.
The United States as of March 18 reached 970,343 COVID-19-related deaths and nearly 79.7 million COVID-19 cases, according toJohns Hopkins University.Currently, 65.3% of the population isfully vaccinated, and 44.4% of vaccinated people have received booster doses.
Stackercompiled a list of the counties with highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in New Mexico using data from theU.S. Department of Health & Human ServicesandCovid Act Now. Counties are ranked by the highest vaccination rate as of March 17, 2022. Due to inconsistencies in reporting, some counties do not have vaccination data available. Keep reading to see whether your county ranks among the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in your state.
Population that is fully vaccinated: 36.0% (6,651 fully vaccinated) 48.6% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 497 (92 total deaths) 46.6% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 26,930 (4,982 total cases) 9.5% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 39.7% (6,136 fully vaccinated) 43.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 336 (52 total deaths) 0.9% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 17,230 (2,664 total cases) 30.0% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 39.7% (6,136 fully vaccinated) 43.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 336 (52 total deaths) 0.9% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 17,230 (2,664 total cases) 30.0% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 40.4% (28,709 fully vaccinated) 42.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 447 (318 total deaths) 31.9% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 26,971 (19,168 total cases) 9.6% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 41.4% (1,460 fully vaccinated) 40.9% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 369 (13 total deaths) 8.8% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 11,710 (413 total cases) 52.4% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 41.8% (24,441 fully vaccinated) 40.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 453 (265 total deaths) 33.6% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 29,051 (16,983 total cases) 18.1% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 42.7% (3,521 fully vaccinated) 39.1% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 594 (49 total deaths) 75.2% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 24,052 (1,985 total cases) 2.2% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 45.3% (30,584 fully vaccinated) 35.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 267 (180 total deaths) 21.2% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 19,716 (13,306 total cases) 19.9% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 46.0% (1,866 fully vaccinated) 34.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 370 (15 total deaths) 9.1% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 19,192 (779 total cases) 22.0% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 46.4% (22,702 fully vaccinated) 33.8% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 376 (184 total deaths) 10.9% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 25,604 (12,534 total cases) 4.1% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 46.7% (817 fully vaccinated) 33.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 286 (5 total deaths) 15.6% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 32,609 (570 total cases) 32.6% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 48.3% (302 fully vaccinated) 31.1% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 640 (4 total deaths) 88.8% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 12,960 (81 total cases) 47.3% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 51.4% (2,157 fully vaccinated) 26.7% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 333 (14 total deaths) 1.8% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 25,869 (1,086 total cases) 5.2% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 52.9% (10,355 fully vaccinated) 24.5% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 327 (64 total deaths) 3.5% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 26,431 (5,173 total cases) 7.4% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 54.2% (41,546 fully vaccinated) 22.7% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 330 (253 total deaths) 2.7% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 24,031 (18,429 total cases) 2.3% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 57.6% (6,873 fully vaccinated) 17.8% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 536 (64 total deaths) 58.1% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 20,224 (2,415 total cases) 17.8% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 57.8% (9,608 fully vaccinated) 17.5% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 517 (86 total deaths) 52.5% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,726 (3,781 total cases) 7.6% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 58.1% (2,627 fully vaccinated) 17.1% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 354 (16 total deaths) 4.4% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 16,678 (754 total cases) 32.2% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 60.1% (16,027 fully vaccinated) 14.3% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 667 (178 total deaths) 96.8% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 25,953 (6,923 total cases) 5.5% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 60.8% (16,578 fully vaccinated) 13.3% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 191 (52 total deaths) 43.7% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 21,102 (5,756 total cases) 14.2% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 61.2% (16,533 fully vaccinated) 12.7% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 296 (80 total deaths) 12.7% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 24,506 (6,616 total cases) 0.4% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 61.3% (6,616 fully vaccinated) 12.6% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 649 (70 total deaths) 91.4% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,729 (2,021 total cases) 23.9% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 61.7% (2,651 fully vaccinated) 12.0% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 395 (17 total deaths) 16.5% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 25,581 (1,100 total cases) 4.0% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 62.5% (136,428 fully vaccinated) 10.8% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 330 (719 total deaths) 2.7% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 28,692 (62,605 total cases) 16.6% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 63.4% (78,578 fully vaccinated) 9.6% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 591 (733 total deaths) 74.3% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 32,649 (40,471 total cases) 32.7% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 64.1% (435,069 fully vaccinated) 8.6% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 252 (1,711 total deaths) 25.7% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 21,487 (145,923 total cases) 12.7% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 64.2% (94,165 fully vaccinated) 8.4% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 266 (390 total deaths) 21.5% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,645 (33,231 total cases) 7.9% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 64.5% (15,287 fully vaccinated) 8.0% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 515 (122 total deaths) 51.9% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 28,188 (6,683 total cases) 14.6% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 68.2% (48,656 fully vaccinated) 2.7% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 806 (575 total deaths) 137.8% more deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 35,968 (25,669 total cases) 46.2% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 68.5% (26,646 fully vaccinated) 2.3% lower vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 331 (129 total deaths) 2.4% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 24,938 (9,706 total cases) 1.4% more cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 71.5% (13,855 fully vaccinated) 2.0% higher vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 67 (13 total deaths) 80.2% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 13,940 (2,700 total cases) 43.3% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 71.5% (107,511 fully vaccinated) 2.0% higher vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 172 (259 total deaths) 49.3% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,653 (28,047 total cases) 24.2% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
Population that is fully vaccinated: 73.0% (23,901 fully vaccinated) 4.1% higher vaccination rate than New Mexico Cumulative deaths per 100k: 272 (89 total deaths) 19.8% less deaths per 100k residents than New Mexico Cumulative cases per 100k: 16,160 (5,288 total cases) 34.3% less cases per 100k residents than New Mexico
By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu, Layal Liverpool, Carissa Wong, Alex Wilkins and Alexandra Thompson
A pharmacist checks a customers blood sugar levels
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Covid-19 linked to a 46 per cent increased risk of type 2 diabetes
People who have had covid-19 within the past year may be more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes for the first time or being prescribed medication to manage their blood sugar levels.
Ziyad Al-Aly at the VA Saint Louis Health Care System in the US and his colleagues reviewed the medical records of 181,280 individuals who tested positive for covid-19 between March 2020 and September 2021, using data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The team compared the number of new diabetes cases among these veterans with that of more than 8 million people who had no evidence of a covid-19 infection. None of the participants had diabetes at the start of the study.
Covid-19 was linked to a 46 per cent higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes or requiring blood-sugar-lowering medication, even among people with a mild or asymptomatic covid-19 infection.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot make enough insulin or the hormone that is produced does not work properly. SARS-CoV-2 virus may inflame insulin-producing cells, decreasing their efficiency, Al-Aly told The Washington Post.
The link between covid-19 and type 2 diabetes was observed among all the participant groups, regardless of their sex, ethnicity or age, said Al-Aly.
In August 2020, a different team uncovered a link between covid-19 and type 1 diabetes in children, with four NHS trusts in London seeing around double the usual number of new cases during the early months of the pandemic. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body mistakenly attacks cells in the pancreas, causing no insulin to be produced.
Among adults, a team in Germany also recently linked covid-19 to a 28 per cent higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
Other coronavirus news
Pregnancy complications may be up to three times more likely among individuals who have tested positive for covid-19. Researchers analysed the medical records of 43,886 pregnant individuals in northern California between March 2020 and March 2021. Some pregnancy complications such as a preterm birth, clots and sepsis were up to three times more common among people who had a known covid-19 infection.
The most important thing people can do to protect themselves and their baby is to get vaccinated, co-author Mara Greenberg at The Permanente Medical Group said in a statement.
The number of people with covid-19 in Scottish hospitals has reached a record high, with 2128 cases on 20 March, surpassing the previous peak of 2053 in January. This comes after Scotland recently lifted many of its covid-19 restrictions. Not everyone with SARS-CoV-2 in hospital is necessarily admitted for covid-19.
Chinese officials have locked down 9 million people who live in the northeast city Shenyang amid the countrys current omicron wave. China reported 8024 cases yesterday.
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Covid-19: The story of a pandemic
New Scientist Weekly features updates and analysis on the latest developments in the covid-19 pandemic. Our podcast sees expert journalists from the magazine discuss the biggest science stories to hit the headlines each week from technology and space, to health and the environment.
The Jump is a BBC Radio 4 series exploring how viruses can cross from animals into humans to cause pandemics. The first episode examines the origins of the covid-19 pandemic.
Why Is Covid Killing People of Colour? is a BBC documentary, which investigates what the high covid-19 death rates in ethnic minority patients reveal about health inequality in the UK.
Panorama: The Race for a Vaccine is a BBC documentary about the inside story of the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against covid-19.
Race Against the Virus: Hunt for a Vaccine is a Channel 4 documentary which tells the story of the coronavirus pandemic through the eyes of the scientists on the frontline.
The New York Times is assessing the progress in development of potential drug treatments for covid-19, and ranking them for effectiveness and safety.
Humans of COVID-19 is a project highlighting the experiences of key workers on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus in the UK, through social media.
Belly Mujinga: Searching for the Truth is a BBC Panorama investigation of the death of transport worker Belly Mujinga from covid-19, following reports she had been coughed and spat on by a customer at Londons Victoria Station.
Coronavirus, Explained on Netflix is a short documentary series examining the coronavirus pandemic, the efforts to fight it and ways to manage its mental health toll.
Stopping the Next Pandemic: How Covid-19 Can Help Us Save Humanity by Debora Mackenzie is about how the pandemic happened and why it will happen again if we dont do things differently in future.
The Rules of Contagion is about the new science of contagion and the surprising ways it shapes our lives and behaviour. The author, Adam Kucharski, is an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and in the book he examines how diseases spread and why they stop.
A Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine injection
SYSPEO/SIPA/Shutterstock
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is thought to have helped an immunocompromised person clear the covid-19 virus
Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are thought to have cleared the SARS-CoV-2 virus from a person who first tested positive more than 7 months earlier. This is the first known time a covid-19 vaccine has been used to treat, rather than prevent, the infection.
Ian Lester has the rare genetic disease Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, which weakens the immune system. Lester, 37, first tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in December 2020. His immune system was unable to fight off the infection naturally for at least 218 days.
Given the persistent positive PCR tests and impact on his health and mental health, we decided on a unique therapeutic approach, said Stephen Jolles at Cardiff Universitys School of Medicine in a statement.
We administered two doses of the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine, one month apart, and very quickly saw a strong antibody response, much stronger than had been induced by the prolonged natural infection.
Lester was confirmed to have cleared SARS-CoV-2 72 days after the first vaccine dose and 218 days after his infection was detected.
To our knowledge, this is the first time mRNA vaccination has been used to clear persistent COVID-19 infection, said Mark Ponsford, at Cardiff University.
Other coronavirus news
England has rolled out a booster jab programme for people aged 75 and over, care home residents and people aged 12 and over who have a weakened immune system. The Office for National Statistics estimates one in 20 people in England had covid-19 in the week ending 12 March. It is hoped that the booster programme will protect people amid surging cases of the omicron BA.2 sublineage. Similar boosters are already being administered to some groups in Scotland and Wales.
China reported two covid-19 related deaths on 19 March, its first official covid-19 fatalities since January 2021. Both people died of underlying medical conditions, with mild covid-19 symptoms, according to Jiao Yahui at Chinas National Health Commission. The deaths occurred in the province Jilin, where more than two-thirds of the countrys cases have been reported amid its current covid-19 wave. On 19 March, Chinas reported new infections hit a rolling seven-day average of 2333 infections.
A police officer wearing personal protective equipment in Manzhouli, China
STR/AFP via Getty Images
Covid-19 is surging in China, with more than 5000 new cases a day
China yesterday reported 5280 new SARS-CoV-2 cases, more than double the previous days count and its highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic. The surge has prompted the introduction of full or partial lockdowns in various cities across the country.
China has been pursuing a strict zero covid strategy, which until recently had largely kept outbreaks under control. The omicron variant, however, is more transmissible than previous variants and is probably driving the current surge.
Cities across the country are now in full or partial lockdowns. The north-east province Jilin is the worst affected, accounting for more than 3000 of Chinas new reported cases on 15 March. Speaking on 14 March, Jilins governor vowed to achieve community zero-Covid in a week.
Chinas rising cases correspond with a global increase in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. A World Health Organization report reveals the number of new reported infections between 7 and 13 March increased by eight per cent compared to the previous week. The number of new weekly cases had been declining since the end of January.
Other coronavirus news
Face covering rules in Scotland will remain in place until April. On 15 March, Scotland reported 38,770 new covid cases, up from a daily average of 6,900 three weeks ago. As a result, coverings will continue to be required on public transport and in shops, although other covid restrictions will be lifted on 21 March. The BA.2 omicron sublineage, which is even more transmissible than the initial omicron variant, accounts for 80 per cent of Scotlands SARS-CoV-2 cases, according to first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who added it is prudent to keep mask rules in place. A small study has linked covid-19 with cardiovascular changes among unvaccinated people without any pre-existing medical conditions. Fbio Santos de Lira from So Paulo State University and his colleagues looked at 38 people, aged 20 to 40, less than six months after they were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Even mild or moderate infections were linked to cardiovascular changes that resulted in a raised heart rate, which affected some of the participantss ability to climb stairs or walk.
Commuters exit a London Overground train, Liverpool Street, London
AFP via Getty Images
Nearly 400,000 people in the UK tested positive for the coronavirus last week
Government statistics show 399,820 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the UK between 5 and 11 March, an increase of 143,956 (56.3 per cent) on the previous seven days. Between 1 and 7 March, hospitalisations increased by 16.9 per cent from the previous week. Deaths within 28 days of a positive test are rising more slowly, with a week-on-week increase of 2.8 per cent as of 11 March. Easing restrictions, waning immunity and the more transmissible omicron sublineage BA.2 are thought to be driving the surge in cases.
Amid the rise in infections, ministers have been criticised for scrapping Englands React study at the end of March. React randomly tests about 150,000 people across the country for SARS-CoV-2 each month to gauge nationwide infection levels. Talking to The Guardian, one scientist called the move about as far from following the science as you can get, while another accused ministers of turning off the headlights at the first sight of dawn.
Ministers are also being urged to consider offering older people a fourth vaccine dose. In England, people with a suppressed immune system, living in a care home or aged 75 or older are set to be offered an additional jab in April. Some scientists are calling for the age requirement to be set lower. However, a small Israeli study of healthcare workers found a fourth dose increased some antibody levels, but this did not translate into boosted immunity.
Other coronavirus news
Chinas covid-19 cases have doubled in 24 hours amid its worst outbreak in two years. Nearly 3400 new cases were reported on 13 March, double the previous day. This has prompted schools to shut in Shanghai, Chinas biggest city, and regional lockdowns to be introduced in several north-eastern hotspots. The surge in cases is thought to be driven by omicron and a rise in asymptomatic infections.
Latest on covid-19 from New Scientist
Many countries have scaled back their coronavirus restrictions, but Iceland is going further with a plan to let infections spread
Laboratory culture system using VeroE6 cells tested negative for covid-19.
Rockett et al, 2022
The monoclonal antibody sotrovimab has been linked to a drug-resistant mutation in SARS-CoV-2.
A study in Australia suggests that sotrovimab, a treatment for covid, may cause the coronavirus to acquire mutations that enable it to resist the drug.
Sotrovimab neutralises SARS-CoV-2s spike protein, which the virus uses to enter cells. Given through a drip, sotrovimab can be administered to people within five days of their infection to prevent symptoms from becoming severe.
Rebecca Rockett from the University of Sydney and her colleagues reviewed the first 100 people who received sotrovimab at a healthcare facility in New South Wales between August and November 2021, when the delta variant of the virus was dominant. Eight of the people who were treated persistently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and had airway samples collected before and after they received sotrovimab.
In four of these patients, SARS-CoV-2 developed spike mutations between six and 13 days after sotrovimab was administered, with these genetic changes making the drug effectively inactive, said Rockett, as reported in The Guardian.
The researchers are calling for increased genomic surveillance around sotrovimabs use. What we dont want to see is resistant virus disseminating in the community, because that will mean that a lot of other people cant use this drug as well, said Rockett.
Other coronavirus news
The WHO has warned the pandemic is far from over. The number of global recorded deaths between 28 February and 6 March declined by 8 per cent compared to the previous week, with recorded infections also falling by 5 per cent. Although reported cases and deaths are declining globally, and several countries have lifted restrictions, the pandemic is far from over and it will not be over anywhere until its over everywhere, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHOs director-general, said on 9 March. The virus continues to evolve, and we continue to face major obstacles in distributing vaccines, tests and treatments everywhere they are needed.
A surveillance programme that looks for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater has been rolled out across Northern Ireland, the BBC reported. Wastewater samples from 31 sites are being collected every day and sent to a Queens University Belfast laboratory for testing. Gauging infection levels in specific areas may help to prevent large SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, with the technology also looking for new variants.
Students queuing up for covid-19 nucleic acid tests, Qingdao, Shandong province, China
Wei Zhe/VCG via Getty Images
Covid deaths and new infections are continuing to decline after the peak of the omicron surge
The number of global recorded covid deaths between 28 February and 6 March declined by 8 per cent compared to the previous week. In its weekly update, the WHO reported the number of recorded new SARS-CoV-2 infections also decreased by 5 per cent week-on-week.
In the week starting 28 February, more than 10 million new covid cases and 52,000 deaths were reported across the WHOs six regions.
Case numbers only increased in the Western Pacific Region, rising by 46 per cent. Covid deaths rose in the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean regions, by 29 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, with fatalities falling elsewhere.
The surge in infection caused by the omicron variant appears to have peaked in February. But the WHO has stressed that countries vary in their testing strategies and therefore any trends should be interpreted with caution.
Other coronavirus news
However, in the UK, reported coronavirus cases have increased by nearly two-fifths week-on-week. According to government data,322,917 people reported a positive test between 2 and 8 March, an increase of 90,944 (39.2 per cent) from the previous week. Hospital covid admissions are also rising, with 8763 people admitted between 26 February and 4 March, an increase of 11.1 per cent from the previous week. Deaths have slightly declined, however. Between 2 and 8 March, 729 people died within 28 days of a positive test, 12 (1.6 per cent) fewer than the previous week.
The number of cancer research studies funded in the UK fell by 32 per cent in the first year of the pandemic, according to figures from the National Cancer Research Institute. The money awarded to these projects plunged by 57 per cent, The Guardian reports. The closing of charity shops and cancelled fundraising events are thought to have contributed to the problem.
Covid-19 booster jab information campaign, Putney, London, UK
Amer Ghazzal/Shutterstock
Booster jabs substantially increased protection against omicron but efficacy starts to fall after two months
The protection given by vaccine booster shots against the omicron variant starts to decline after two months, a study has found.
Researchers at the UK Health Security Agency looked at covid-19 infections in the UK between 27 November 2021 and 12 January 2022 the period in which the omicron variant started to spread widely. The data included over one million people who had been infected with either the delta or omicron variant.
The researchers only looked at whether people developed a mild illness and not whether someone was hospitalised or not.
They found that a booster dose substantially increased protection against developing mild illness from the omicron variant. Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were only 8.8 per cent effective against the omicron variant after 25 or more weeks. But a third booster dose of this vaccine increased protection to 67.2 per cent. However, this then dropped to 45.7 per cent after 10 or more weeks.
A Moderna booster, given to those who had received two initial doses of the Pfizer jab, was 73.9 per cent effective against mild illness from the omicron variant after two to four weeks. This then dropped to 64.4 per cent after five to nine weeks.
NEW YORK -- New York Mayor Eric Adams reiterated that while he remains optimistic about the COVID 19-related numbers he's seeing, the city's professional sports teams are going to have to wait their turn as far as potential vaccination-mandate rollbacks are concerned.
"Right now, we're going to take some complaints," Adams said during a Tuesday morning news conference announcing that masks will be optional for day care students between the ages of 2 and 4 starting on April 4 if the COVID numbers hold. "But when this is all said and done, people are going to realize this is a thoughtful administration and we got it right. So baseball, basketball, businesses, all of those things, they have to wait until that layer comes."
The layer that teams like the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, New York Yankees and New York Mets are all waiting on is a rollback of the private employer mandate, which does not allow employees to work in the office -- or in this case players to play for their teams -- if they are not vaccinated against COVID. Nets star guard Kyrie Irving, who is not vaccinated and has made it clear he won't get the vaccine, has not been able to play in any games in New York City this season because of the mandate.
"We're going to do it in the right way," Adams said. "We're going to follow the science ... we're going to make the right decision. And in New York, no matter what you do, this is 8.8 million people and 30 million opinions, so you're never going to satisfy New Yorkers, so you must go with the logic, your heart and the science."
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For Adams, that means he will continue to listen to his medical team and doesn't sound likely to be swayed by any of the professional teams that might be impacted. The Yankees' home opener is April 7, the NBA play-in tournament starts April 12 and the Mets' home opener is April 15.
When asked if he has felt heat from local sports teams to pull back the mandate, Adams said he doesn't "feel any pressure doing this job at all, because I'm going to do what's right." He said one of the main reasons he doesn't feel pressed is because of his experience as a New York City transit cop in the 1980s.
"We're going to slowly peel back, as I stated over and over again, we're going to do it layer by layer and each layer we peel back we're going to do an analysis: 'Are we OK?'" Adams said. "And if we have to pivot and shift and come back here in a week and say we're going to do something different, we're going to do that. I'm not going to hesitate to say this is where the numbers are taking us, this is where the science is and this is what we're going to do. Because I'm not going to only view this from where we are in the crisis, I see myself out of crisis.
"And people are going to look back later like they did with the schools -- remember what they did to us when we were talking about keeping the schools open -- I said, 'Don't worry about the noise, team, we're going to do the right thing for our children' and people are going to look back later and say, 'You know what? We don't want to admit it, but this administration got it right, and they're going to do that again.'"
Adams said the feedback he's gotten from local businesses is that they appreciate the mandate remaining in place.
"Believe it or not, a lot of our businesses, they love the mandates," Adams said. "When I speak to a lot of my businesses, getting people back in the office, that mandate is allowing them to feel safe in the office for those who feel that they would rather the vaccine mandate to be in place. But again, we're going to do it in layers, and when we feel it's the right time to look at that, if we do so at all, because the work environment is an important environment, we're going to make that determination. We're not there yet."
New York City's infection rate has been climbing again lately, rising 50% over the past week. The city is averaging a little more than 950 new cases per day, comparable to the daily average in early November before the start of the omicron wave.
City health commissioner Ashwin Vasan said cases have increased slightly in recent days and officials will continue to watch the trends over the next two weeks before deciding whether to lift the rule.
Vasan said officials are closely monitoring the spread of a strain of the more transmissible omicron subvariant known as BA.2 and expect to see rising cases to some degree.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
SK Bioscience said Monday that it signed a supply contract of GBP510, an independently developed Covid-19 vaccine candidate, with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The contract amount is for 10 million doses, and SK Bioscience will supply them sequentially according to the inoculation plan of the KDCA after completing the development of GBP510.
SK Bioscience said that the company has proven its world-class technology by consigning and supplying two of the five major Covid-19 vaccines -- AstraZeneca and Novavax -- licensed in from advanced countries, such as the U.S. and EU, and receiving approval to supply its vaccine.
Based on such experiences, SK Bioscience plans to provide a new Covid-19 vaccine option through the supply of GBP510 and contribute to the national goal of preparing for an endemic era by securing vaccine sovereignty without being swayed by global supply-demand volatility while leading the successful globalization of Korean-made vaccines in the global market.
The company also seeks to promote the Korean vaccine industry into a global vaccine hub by providing GBP510 as a control vaccine to other Korean vaccine developers after consultation with health authorities.
"The GBP510 is the result of SK's technological prowess, the government's will to become a bio powerhouse, and the cooperation of global organizations supporting vaccine development for the public's right to health," SK Bioscience CEO Ahn Jae-yong said. "Starting with GBP510, we will develop products to prepare for various viral infections and establish ourselves as a leading company in the global vaccine market."
SK Bioscience developed GBP510 jointly with the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design and used GSK's adjuvants in the clinical trials.
GBP510 is undergoing a global phase 3 clinical trial to verify safety and effectiveness. SK Bioscience has recently started expanding the scope of vaccination through additional clinical trials.
The company aims to expand the scope of the vaccine to include booster shots and children and adolescents simultaneously as part of its efforts to commercialize GBP510.
SK Bioscience has started research to confirm the preventive effect of GBP510 on Covid-19 variants, such as Omicron. It is building a platform to respond to the next pandemic using GBP510 development technology.
The company recently confirmed that the booster shot showed a preventive effect on Omicron virus from participants in the GBP510 phase 1 and 2 clinical trials and is conducting a comprehensive study.
SK Bioscience is also looking into developing a vaccine targeting the sarbecovirus, including Covid-19 and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) viruses and related variants.
F.D.A. field inspectors check imported seafood at the Los Angeles International Airport in 2009. The agency is ramping up inspections again.Credit...Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is ratcheting up a wide range of facility inspections that were delayed by travel pauses after the pandemic began.
The inspections have long been a crucial tool to ensure that drugs are contaminant-free, device flaws are fixed and the food supply is sanitary. If agency inspectors find serious problems, they usually require improvements but they also can seize goods, or pursue civil or criminal penalties.
Typically in recent years, the F.D.A. inspected about 12,500 U.S. facilities annually, a number that fell by about half, to about 6,100, in 2021. Foreign inspections the agency visits facilities making products for the American market fell even more precipitously, from more than 3,100 in the years before the pandemic to 167 in 2021.
In recent months, F.D.A. inspections have turned up alarming problems. A consumer complaint led federal inspectors to a Family Dollar distribution facility in Arkansas in January, where they found live and dead rodents in various states of decay.
A review of company documents revealed that 2,300 rodents had been collected since March 2021. A recall of a wide array of food, medications, cosmetics and dietary supplements followed.
F.D.A. inspectors have also been probing Abbott Nutritions baby formula manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Mich., after the company reported finding Cronobactor sakazakii bacteria during its own routine testing.
The company has also issued a recall. The investigation includes five infant hospitalizations and may have contributed to two deaths.
An estimated 73 percent of the facilities making active drug ingredients for the U.S. market are overseas. The federal Government Accountability Office has raised concerns about the inspection lapse and staff vacancies among foreign inspectors.
The F.D.A. said on Friday that mission critical inspections never ceased, even as the agency halted travel to ensure the safety of its work force during virus surges in the pandemic. Domestic inspections resumed again in February after a pause during soaring cases of the Omicron variant. The F.D.A. plans to return to its normal cadence of overseas inspections in April.
The F.D.A. is working as quickly and as safely as possible to resume normal operating status for inspections that prioritize public health, a spokesman, Jeremy Kahn, said in an email.
In the United States and abroad, the dip in inspections came with a drop in enforcement actions, such as warning letters, injunctions and product recalls, according to an analysis by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Enforcement shifted focus as well, a partner, Jennifer Bragg noted, zeroing in more on unsubstantiated claims about the testing and treatment of the coronavirus.
One unintended consequence of a new wave of inspections could be that companies halt production while responding to problems that F.D.A. officials find, exacerbating current medication or sterile injection fluid shortages.
That happened years ago, when the agency focused on overseas blood-thinner makers after sterility lapses were tied to dozens of deaths in the United States, said Erin Fox, a drug shortage expert at the University of Utah.
Are we going to have a repeat of that? Ms. Fox wondered. Just quality in general is really important.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 470.8 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 6.07 million. More than 11 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.
China's financial hub of Shanghai reported a record daily surge in local COVID-19 infections on Monday as authorities scrambled to test residents and rein in the Omicron variant. Shanghai reported 24 new domestically transmitted COVID cases with confirmed symptoms for Sunday and 734 local asymptomatic infections.
The Chinese city of Shenzhen said it would allow offices and factories to restart operations from Monday and that public transport would also resume, after residents in the city completed three rounds of COVID-19 testing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
South Korea has reached a deal to buy 10 million doses of the country's first experimental coronavirus vaccine, developed by SK Bioscience, authorities said on Monday.
Hong Kong SAR, China, plans to relax some anti-COVID measures next month, lifting a ban on flights from nine countries, reducing quarantine and reopening schools, after a backlash from business and residents.
France reported an average of close to 90,000 new daily coronavirus infections over the last seven days, a 36% rise from a week earlier when most COVID-19 health protocol measures were lifted by the government just ahead of the country's elections.
The Italian government plans to phase out coronavirus restrictions more than two years after the disease first swept the country. The cabinet said COVID-19 health certificates proving vaccination or recent recovery from coronavirus would no longer be needed to access restaurants, gyms and public transport, from 1 May.
Pharmaceutical company Moderna said on Monday it has signed a new agreement with Switzerland for the supply of another 7 million doses of its COVID-19 booster vaccine for delivery in 2023. The agreement also includes an option of 7 million doses for delivery in 2023 and 2024.
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in selected countries.
Image: Our World in Data
AstraZeneca said on Monday that its antibody-based cocktail to prevent and treat COVID-19 retained neutralizing activity against Omicron coronavirus variants, including the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant, in an independent lab study.
This is the first data looking at the impact of AstraZeneca's Evusheld treatment on "cousins" of the Omicron variant following a recent global spike in cases. The Anglo-Swedish firm said in December that another lab study found that Evusheld retained neutralizing activity against Omicron.
Data from the latest study by Washington University in the United States showed the therapy reduced the amount of virus detected in samples viral load of all tested Omicron sub-variants in mice lungs, AstraZeneca said. The study has yet to be peer reviewed.
Evusheld was tested against the BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2 sub-variants of Omicron and was also shown in the study to limit inflammation in the lungs a critical symptom in severe COVID-19 infections.
"The findings further support Evusheld as a potential important option to help protect vulnerable patients such as the immunocompromised who could face poor outcomes if they were to become infected with COVID-19," said John Perez, Head of Late Development, Vaccines and Immune Therapies at AstraZeneca.
A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson has said that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is a long way off, citing a rise in cases in its latest weekly data.
The UN health agency has previously said that the acute phase of the pandemic could end this year, but it would depend on how quickly the target to vaccinate 70% of the population in each country is met, among other factors.
Asked by a journalist at a Geneva media briefing about the timing of the pandemic's end, Margaret Harris said it is "far from over", adding that "we are definitely in the middle of the pandemic".
After more than a month of decline, COVID cases started to increase around the world last week, the WHO said, with lockdowns in Asia and China's Jilin province battling to contain an outbreak.
A combination of factors is causing the increases, including the highly transmissible Omicron variant and its cousin the BA.2 sub-variant, as well as the lifting of public health and social measures, the WHO said.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
(The Conversation) It seems not a day goes by without learning someone in our inner circle of family, friends and colleagues has COVID. When we ask how unwell our acquaintance is, the responses vary from theyre really crook to you wouldnt even know they had it.
This is in line with studies that report moderate to severe illness in a minority of people (usually older with other risk factors) and thatup to one in three positive people exhibit no symptoms.
Given the ubiquitous presence of thishighly infectious coronavirusin our community and the high rate of asymptomatic illness, those who have not been diagnosed with COVID might wonder, how would I know if I had been infected? And, does it matter if I have?.
Most people know theyve had COVID because they had a fever or upper respiratory tract symptoms and/or were exposed to an infected person AND had a swab test (PCR or rapid antigen) that detected the COVID virus (SARS-CoV-2) in the upper airway.
At the beginning of 2022, many people with consistent symptoms or high-risk exposures were not able to access PCRs or RATs to confirm their diagnosis, but instead presumed themselves positive and quarantined.
It is possible to diagnose past infection in those who never tested positive. A blood test can look forSARS-CoV-2 antibodies(also known as immunoglobulins). When we are infected with SARS-CoV-2, our immune system launches a precision counter strike by producing antibodies against viral targets, specifically the Spike (S) and Nucleocapsid (N) proteins. COVID vaccinationinducesa similar immune response against the S protein only. The S antibody neutralizes the invader by preventing the virus from attaching to human cells.
These antibodies can be detected within one to three weeks after infection and persist forat least six months potentially much longer. A blood test that shows antibodies to S and N proteins indicates someone has been previously infected. Detection of antibodies to the S protein only indicates vaccination (but not infection).
Before you rush off to get a COVID antibody test, there are a few notes of caution. There is stillmuch to learn about the characteristicsof the immune response to COVID infection. Not everyone mounts a detectable antibody response following infection and levels can decline to undetectable levels after several months in some people.
Because there are other circulating seasonal coronaviruses (such as those that cause the common cold), tests may also pick up antibodies to non-SARS-CoV-2 strains, leading to false positive results.
Commercial and public hospital pathology labs can perform SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing, but the interpretation of results should be undertaken carefully.
So, antibody testing should really only be done when theres a good reason to: say, when confirming past infection or effectiveness of vaccination is important for the current care of an individual. Diagnosing a post-infectious complication or eligibility for a specific treatment, for example. It could also be useful for contact tracing or for assessing the background population rate of infection.
Seroprevalence studies test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in repositories of stored blood that are representative of the general population, such as from a blood bank. This data helps to understand the true extent of COVID infection and vaccination status in the community (and informs our assessment of population susceptibility to future infection and reinfection). Its more useful than daily reported case numbers, which are skewed towards symptomatic individuals and those with access to swab testing.
Newresearchfrom the World Health Organization, which is yet to be reviewed by other scientists, reported the results of a meta-analysis of over 800 seroprevalence studies performed around the world since 2020. They estimated that by July 2021, 45.2% of the global population had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies due to past infection or vaccination, eight times the estimate (5.5%) from a year earlier.
There areplansto conductfresh seroprevalence studiesin Australia in the coming year, which willupdate local dataand help us understand to what extent the Omicron wave has washed through the population.
For most people, knowing your COVID infection status is unlikely to be more than a topic of dinnertime conversation.
While some studies have pointed to a less robust and durable antibody response followingmildorasymptomaticinfection compared with severe illness, it is not known how this influences protection from reinfection. Certainly, the knowledge we have antibodies from past infection should not deter us from being fully up-to-date with COVID vaccination, which remains the best protection against severe illness.
There are reports of people with mild or asymptomatic COVID infection developinglong COVID persistent or relapsing symptoms that last several months after initial infection. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, physical and mental fatigue, exercise intolerance, headaches, and muscle and joint pain.
However, thelikelihoodof developing this condition appears higher in those who suffer a heavier initial bout of COVID illness. This might be linked withhigher viral loadat that time.
As we enter the third year of the COVID pandemic and given that up to one in three infections may be asymptomatic, it is likely many of us have been infected without knowing it.
If you are experiencing lingering fatigue, brain fog or other symptoms that could be long COVID, you should talk to your doctor. Otherwise, knowing our COVID infection status is unlikely to be of much practical benefit. Antibody testing should be reserved for specific medical or public health indications.
Being up-to-date with COVID vaccination is still our best defense against severe illness moving forward.
When our immune system comes into contact with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it fights back and produces antibodies. A similar immune response is triggered by Corona vaccines. However, there is still little data available on the strength and durability of immune protection. A team led by Prof. Carsten Watzl from the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors Institute for Occupational Research (IfADo), in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (MPI) and the Klinikum Dortmund, has now been able to detect high levels of neutralizing antibodies in test persons even 300 days after a coronavirus infection with the original variant of the coronavirus. And what's more: after complete vaccination, the recovered probands showed antibody levels about 5 times higher than those vaccinated without prior infection. This would provide much better protection against a severe course of the disease in the event of a new infection with other coronavirus variants.
Our immune protection is provided by two systems working hand in hand. When infected with a virus, the immune system reacts by producing antibodies that can prevent the virus from infecting further cells.
At the same time, so-called T-killer cells can recognize the foreign virus components and thus kill already infected cells. During the immune reaction, the antibodies constantly improve and are finally tailor-made for the pathogen. The amount of these neutralizing antibodies indicates how well a new infection can be fought off by the body.
When the corona pandemic broke out, we as immunologists were of course interested in how our immune system defends itself against the corona virus. That's why, together with our colleagues from the Max Planck Institute and the Dortmund Hospital, we developed a reliable test system to detect neutralizing antibodies."
Carsten Watzl, IfADo Director, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology
In order to be able to fish antibodies out of the blood in a targeted manner, you need an appropriate bait. One of the main targets of the immune system is the spike protein, which is used by the virus to bind to human cells and then infect them.
"We have been able to produce a part of this protein, or more precisely the area that docks with the cell, in high purity in the test tube," reports Jan-Erik Hoffmann, head of protein production at the MPI Dortmund. With this exact copy and blood samples from the "Klinikum Dortmund" the researchers at IfADo were able to develop a reliable and meaningful detection system for coronavirus antibodies.
In close exchange with the Dortmund health department and the Dortmund hospital, the scientists used this system to perform a study with about 140 volunteers from a Dortmund health facility with several documented cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection at the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020)
Effective amounts of neutralizing antibodies against the spike protein could be detected in almost all of the subjects tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. And even after 300 days, the antibody levels had hardly decreased in three out of four subjects.
However, test persons were infected with the original variant of the coronavirus and neutralizing antibodies against the original spike protein were measured. As we know, the virus has now evolved in such a way that immunity to the original virus currently offers significantly less protection. Therefore, the researchers also investigated the effect of vaccination with the vaccines from AstraZeneca and BioNTech on the immune system.
The astonishing result: After complete vaccination, recovered test persons developed up to five times more neutralizing antibodies than vaccinated persons without prior infection. This should also provide better protection against current variants.
"There are now several studies on the immune response after a COVID-19. Our study differs from this in that we had blood samples before and from the first weeks of the pandemic. So we knew exactly whether a test person was already infected or not. In addition to this unbiased data, the long period of the study of almost one year is also remarkable," Watzl says. "The rules of the game have changed in the meantime, of course, because there are new variants like Omikron. However, it is important to know how long immunity actually lasts, because this can also protect against a severe course of the disease in the case of a new infection with other coronavirus variants. Currently, we are also using our jointly developed test systems to study the immune response to the COVID-19 vaccines and their protection against different coronavirus variants."
"This study is a prime example of successful interdisciplinary cooperation that not only yields important scientific findings but is also highly relevant to society," emphasizes PD Dr. Bernhard Schaaf, Director of the Department of Pneumology and Infectious Diseases at Klinikum Dortmund. "This is transfer of knowledge into everyday life and at the same time transparent cooperation at eye level."
Source:
Journal reference:
Urlaub, D., et al. (2022) Neutralizing antibody responses 300 days after SARS-CoV-2 infection and induction of high antibody titers after vaccination. European Journal of Immunology. doi.org/10.1002/eji.202149758.
The number of children in state schools in England who were absent last week because of Covid has more than tripled in a fortnight, confirming headteachers predictions of growing disruption in classrooms as pupils prepare for summer exams.
Figures published by the Department for Education (DfE) on Tuesday showed 202,000 pupils were off school on 17 March because of the virus a dramatic jump from 58,000 two weeks earlier, when attendance was described as returning to something approaching normal.
According to the latest government data, 159,000 pupils were off with a confirmed case of the Covid last week, up from 45,000 on 3 March, with a further 16,000 pupils absent with a suspected case of coronavirus, up from 6,000 earlier in the month.
Overall, attendance in state schools in England dropped from 92.2% two weeks ago to 89.7%, with Covid-related absence up from 0.7% to 2.5%. The government would like to see attendance in schools return to pre-pandemic levels of about 95%.
The latest figures also show increasing absence among staff, with almost one in 10 teachers and schools leaders (9.1%) off on 17 March, up from 5.8% two weeks earlier. About 48,000 teachers and 60,000 teaching assistants were absent last week, with schools struggling to secure supply cover for those missing.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said: These figures are absolutely in line with what we have been hearing from our members. Covid cases have been spiking again in many schools over the past week or so in line with the rising numbers nationally. The government urgently needs to remind people that just because the legal requirement to isolate has been removed, there is still a duty to take appropriate action to reduce the spread of Covid just like any other illness.
Whiteman said plans to remove free access to lateral flow tests from the start of next month amid rising cases was irresponsible. The government cannot just let Covid rip through schools. Covid hasnt gone away and we need a proper plan for how to live with it long term that is focused on keeping levels low and reducing disruption.
A key concern is pupils preparing for GCSEs and A-levels this summer. Many schools are still finishing teaching the specifications as there has been so much disruption over the two years of exam courses, said Whiteman. More disruption now could be seriously damaging to pupils exam chances and education recovery.
The Department for Education said: Thanks to the hard work of teachers and school staff, over 99.9% of schools have consistently been open this term. We are now moving to living with and managing the virus, while maintaining good ventilation and hygiene as the norm, and continuing to use vaccines to build the populations wall of protection.
The first time the Omicron variant breached Hong Kongs coronavirus defenses, in late 2021, the city stamped it out, cementing its status as one of the worlds most formidable redoubts of zero Covid.
But a few weeks later, Omicron came to the metropolis again, this time causing an outbreak among cleaners at a public-housing estate that spiraled out of control. The conflagration of resulting cases is now killing people at a rate exceeding that of almost any country since the coronavirus emerged.
Over the entire pandemic, Hong Kongs death toll per capita, once far lower than those of Western nations, is no longer exceptional. A month ago, Americans had died from Covid at 90 times the rate of people in Hong Kong. By Monday, the cumulative American toll was three and a half times as high.
As the United States braces for its own, less punishing rise in cases, and mainland China battles its biggest outbreak in two years, scientists have looked to Hong Kong for clues about the threat Omicron poses in an entirely different setting: a dense city where people were not only largely untouched by previous infections, but whose oldest and most vulnerable residents were also largely unvaccinated.
Several critical lessons emerged, health experts said.
In the era of Omicron and its even more infectious subvariant, BA.2, vaccinating a broad swath of the population remained important, scientists said. But inoculating as many older people as possible had become far and away the top priority.
That message, they said, was most pressing for China, where vaccinations in older age groups also appear to be lagging and there is little immunity from earlier infections.
But it was relevant again in the United States, too, where subpar vaccination and booster rates among older people have left scientists concerned about a potential surge of BA.2 cases. Partly because so many more Americans have been infected and killed by the coronavirus during earlier waves, scientists do not expect the United States to face as serious a situation in the coming months as Hong Kong.
Hong Kongs dreadful outbreak also signals the perils of trying to eliminate the virus without a plan for what would come next, health experts said. Omicrons high transmissibility, they said, made outbreaks almost inevitable.
Hong Kong, which along with mainland China had been among the last holdouts of a strategy of tight restrictions and border controls to eradicate the virus, was left vulnerable by how few of its residents had any immunity from prior infections: Before the Omicron surge, scientists estimated that only 1 percent of Hong Kongs population had contracted the virus.
Those low levels of immunity can leave places vulnerable to waves of cases, as more contagious variants sneak in or restrictions are lifted. But governments can still prepare for those waves, said Dr. Gabriel Leung, the dean of medicine at the University of Hong Kong.
Less than one-quarter of people aged 80 and over in Hong Kong had been given two doses of a vaccine before Omicron surged, compared with more than 90 percent of people in Singapore and New Zealand.
Because of the number of unvaccinated older people in China, scientists said, it might also have some difficulty lifting zero Covid restrictions. More than 87 percent of Chinas population have been vaccinated. But just over half of people 80 and older have had two shots, and less than 20 percent of people in that age group have received a booster, Zeng Yixin, a vice minister of the National Health Commission, said on Friday.
I dont think its quite ready for the transition, Dr. Leung said.
A number of Asian and Pacific countries had largely kept the virus at bay for two years, only to face Omicron outbreaks because the virus was so contagious and their populations had avoided earlier infections. But high vaccination rates, including among older people, have helped many of those countries avoid more devastating surges.
In South Korea, for example, where 87 percent of people are vaccinated and 63 percent have booster shots, the cumulative death toll per capita is one-tenth of Americas, even though South Korea has recorded more than three-quarters as many cases as the United States over the entire pandemic.
March 22, 2022, 3:24 p.m. ET
Health experts said that Hong Kongs difficulties vaccinating older people resulted from a combination of complacency, given the citys earlier success in containing the virus, and unfounded fears that older people and those in poor health faced particular risks from vaccines.
The city has now vaccinated 39 percent of residents aged 80 and above, despite having inoculated almost two-thirds of 12- to 19-year-olds.
Many people in Hong Kong have been given the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, which appears to offer relatively little protection from Omicron infections but a better defense against severe disease. Scientists noted that almost 90 percent of people who died during the latest wave were not fully vaccinated, suggesting that getting shots to the most vulnerable is more important than the particular brand.
The problem in Hong Kong is, we havent succeeded in vaccinating our most vulnerable population the elderly, especially those staying in elderly-care homes, said Dr. Siddharth Sridhar, a clinical virologist at the University of Hong Kong. And as a result, we are in a very bad situation.
The United States has vaccinated many more of its older residents than Hong Kong but fewer than Western Europe and has seen a high death rate. And as immunity from early vaccinations wanes and booster shots become critical for shoring up protection against Omicron among older people, the United States finds itself exposed on that count, too. About 41 percent of people 65 and over have not received a booster shot.
Unlike other parts of Asia that had gradually lifted restrictions in recent months, Hong Kong was not ready for its defenses to fail, scientists said.
From the governments point of view, there was such a strong fixation on zero Covid that as long as that worked, vaccination was not necessarily the priority, said Ben Cowling, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong.
Many older residents and their families adopted the same view, public health experts said. If Hong Kongs rigid social-distancing measures and careful border controls were going to keep the virus out anyway, the conventional thinking went, was getting a vaccine worth the trouble?
If youre telling people that the disease is never going to get in, then theres less of an incentive to go and get vaccinated, said Dr. David Owens, a family doctor in Hong Kong. To an extent, the messaging around elimination confounded the need to vaccinate.
Dr. Cowling, of the University of Hong Kong, said that his city could have responded in one of two ways to signs that cases would surge: either double down on zero Covid through measures like building better quarantine facilities for overseas arrivals, or acknowledge that outbreaks are unavoidable and raise vaccination rates.
Zero Covid is a really good strategy if you can stay at zero, Dr. Cowling said. But as we found in Hong Kong, it doesnt last forever.
Hong Kong eventually took steps to persuade older people to become vaccinated, once earlier inducements like vaccine passes proved ineffective. In January, the government announced that it would ban unvaccinated people from restaurants that serve dim sum, which are popular among older residents. But it was too late.
With cases and deaths now declining, Hong Kong announced on Monday that it would lift certain restrictions.
Singapore began abandoning zero Covid policies in the summer. Dr. Ooi Eng Eong, an infectious disease expert at Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, said that it took a wave of the Delta variant to raise vaccination rates and disabuse people of the notion that they did not need protection.
Now, cases in Singapore have surged, but deaths are relatively low.
Its so much more transmissible that I think wearing a face mask and all that helps but not to the extent that it has impacted the epidemiology, Dr. Ooi said of Omicron. The trends are really driven by vaccination.
Still, even after five or six waves of the pandemic, the reasons that some countries have succeeded while others have suffered remain unclear.
Japan, for example, has tamped down on cases throughout the pandemic without resorting to full-fledged lockdowns, scientists said.
The country benefited from its government sharing sound public health advice early in the pandemic. As much as residents tired of precautions, they largely took the advice seriously, said Taro Yamamoto, a professor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Nagasaki University.
Roughly 80 percent of people in Japan have had their initial vaccine series. But even though the country is lagging in administering booster doses and had a surge of Omicron infections, death rates during Omicron have remained considerably lower than in nearby South Korea.
Partly its a mystery, Professor Yamamoto said. We cannot explain it all.
