Overview
SARS-CoV-2 PCR percent positivity, as detected in integrated sentinel surveillance as part of the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) and reported to FluNet was 7.3% from 79 countries during the week ending 28 April 2024.
KP.3 and KP.2, both descendent lineages of JN.1 and variants under monitoring (VUMs) accounted for 20.0% and 9.6% of sequences in week 17 compared to 3.5% and 6.4% in week 14, respectively. Globally, JN.1 is the most reported variant of interest (VOI) (now reported by 130 countries), accounting for 54.3% of sequences in week 17 and having declined from a prevalence of 69.0% in week 14.
Globally, the number of new cases decreased by 48% during the past 28-day period of 1 to 28 April 2024 compared to the previous 28-day period (4 to 31 March 2024), with over one hundred and forty-seven thousand new cases reported. The number of new deaths decreased by 44% as compared to the previous 28-day period, with over 2600 new fatalities reported. As of 28 April 2024, over 775 million confirmed cases and more than seven million deaths have been reported globally.
During the period from 1 to 28 April 2024, COVID-19 new hospitalizations and admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU) both recorded an overall decrease of 35% and 45% with over 32 000 and more than 250 admissions, respectively.
In this edition, we include:
A day after it was revealed that the US government funded a dangerous research at Wuhan Institute of Virology in China before COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday demanded the arrest of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former Chief Medical Advisor to the US President.
On Thursday, Lawrence Tabak, a principal deputy director at National Institutes of Health, revealed to Congress that NIH funded risky "gain-of-function" research in Wuhan lab.
Representative Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), a member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, asked Tabak about the NIH's support to Wuhan Institute of Virology through the Manhattan-based nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance.
"It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research," Tabak replied, adding that "If you're speaking about the generic term, yes, we did."
Tabak's response contradicts Fauci's repeated denials of the same.
During his appearance in Congress in May 2021, he claimed that NIH has never and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
"Prosecute/Fauci," Musk tweeted, posting The Post's Friday front page with a photo of Fauci and the heading SICK LIES.
Although Musk did not specify what criminal charges Fauci should face, House Republicans have proposed fraud and misleading Congress. Both felonies can result in up to five years in jail.
Reacting to Musk's post, one of his followers wrote: Fauci deserves a prison cell! Another X user commented, He's always been a liar.
Also Read: Covid-19 social distancing was not based on scientific data, Fauci admits
Notably, the Chinese lab is accused of releasing the deadly respiratory virus, which claimed lives of at least 1,190,546 residents in the US, and caused massive financial, social, and educational loss around the world, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
According to documents disclosed by the Intercept in late 2021, the Manhattan-based organization EcoHealth Alliance utilised Fauci's agency money to fund the Chinese institute's trials that transformed three bat coronaviruses that were not connected to COVID 19.
When human-type receptors were introduced to "humanised" mice, the researchers discovered that the viruses became far more contagious.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, prohibited EcoHealth from obtaining government funding for the next three years.
While the world remains unaware about the origins of COVID-19 due to refusal of the Chinese government to permit an unbiased international probe, the FBI and the Energy Department suspect the epidemic originated following a leak from Wuhan lab.
Moreover, US President Joe Biden has spoken less about the cause of the outbreak, but his GOP rival Donald Trump has advocated compelling China to pay $10 trillion in "reparations."
Singapore is seeing a new Covid-19 wave as the authorities recorded more than 25,900 cases from May 5 to 11 even as Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Saturday advised the wearing of masks again.
We are at the beginning part of the wave where it is steadily rising," said Ong. So, I would say the wave should peak in the next two to four weeks, which means between mid- and end of June," Minister Ong Ye was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the estimated number of COVID-19 cases in the week of May 5 to 11 rose to 25,900 cases, compared with 13,700 cases in the previous week. The average daily Covid-19 hospitalisations rose to about 250 from 181 the week before. The average daily intensive care unit (ICU) cases remained low at three cases, compared with two cases in the previous week.
The MOH said that to protect hospital bed capacity, public hospitals have been asked to reduce their non-urgent elective surgery cases and move suitable patients to transitional care facilities or back home through Mobile Inpatient Care@Home, an alternative inpatient care delivery model that offers clinically suitable patients the option of being hospitalised in their own homes instead of a hospital ward.
Ong urged those who are at greatest risk of severe disease, including individuals aged 60 years and above, medically vulnerable individuals and residents of aged care facilities, to receive an additional dose of the Covid-19 vaccine if they have not done so in the last 12 months.
Ong said that if the number of Covid-19 cases doubles one time, Singapore will have 500 patients in its healthcare system, which is what Singapore can handle. However, if the number of cases doubles a second time, there will be 1,000 patients, and that will be a considerable burden on the hospital system", he pointed out.
One thousand beds is equivalent to one regional hospital," Ong said. So, I think the healthcare system has to brace ourselves for what is to come." There are no plans for any form of social restrictions or any other mandatory kind of measures for now, as Covid-19 is treated as an endemic disease in Singapore, he said, adding that imposing additional measures would be a last resort.
Ong said that with Singapore being a transport and communications hub, it will be one of the cities to get a wave of Covid-19 earlier than others. So, Covid-19 is just something that we have to live with. Every year, we should expect one or two waves," he said. Globally, the predominant Covid-19 variants are still JN.1 and its sub-lineages, including KP.1 and KP.2. Currently, KP.1 and KP.2 account for over two-thirds of cases in Singapore.
As of May 3, the World Health Organisation has classified KP.2 as a variant under monitoring. There are currently no indications, globally or locally, that KP.1 and KP.2 are more transmissible or cause more severe disease than other circulating variants, the MOH said. However, members of the public are urged to stay updated with vaccinations to protect themselves against current and emerging virus strains. The MOH said that to date, about 80 per cent of the local population have completed their initial or additional dose, but have not received a dose within the last year.
18 May 2024
Image source, Getty Images
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry in Northern Ireland has heard devastating evidence with multiple failings across several departments, including the Department of Health (DoH).
Three weeks of hearings in Belfast has seen forensic scrutiny of health policy, and how crucial information was communicated by health officials and sought by others.
We learned that "political dysfunction" hampered the roll-out and compliance of some Covid-19 policies.
By January 2021, this had a direct impact on cases and fatalities, counsel to the inquiry said.
The inquiry has left a trail of unanswered questions and talking points for the health service.
On day one and in opening statements the plight of care home residents, owners, staff and families was laid bare.
The inquiry heard how older people had become the first casualties of the pandemic and had been "forgotten" about.
The commissioner for older people's description of a sense of "hospitals being cleared of old people and sent into care homes, not tested" was chilling.
Eddie Lynch said the action by the Department of Health was "reckless".
However, in his evidence to the inquiry, the chief medical officer said that discharges were not the "major factor" in terms of infection.
Over the next three weeks a stream of questions examined plans around protecting the vulnerable in advance of, or during, the pandemic.
Image source, Getty Images
Among the questions: "Where was the risk analysis?"
Care home owners said they had felt "forgotten about" in the planning for an emergency.
In the closing statement, counsel for the commission said: "Older people were left horribly exposed."
Three years without an assembly prior to the pandemic left its toll.
In closing remarks, counsel for the bereaved said the years of austerity and underfunding with single year budgets left departments including health "ravaged and worn".
That impacted on staffing across the system which, when required to act quickly, simply wasn't there.
Image source, Getty Images
The test and tracing system was "understaffed" and, according to the chief medical officer, the Public Health Agency (PHA) did not react with speed to the severity of what was unfolding.
The chief scientific advisor was on sick leave from mid-February in 2020.
The DoH did not replace Prof Ian Young - he returned at the end of March.
To answer this, we first need to confirm who was in charge.
The inquiry attempted to - but with little success.
The answer depended on who was in the witness box.
Evidence confirmed that health officials had agreed to discharge care home residents to hospitals without testing.
In his evidence the Health Minister, Robin Swann, said more could have been done to prevent care home deaths and that it wasn't until 10 March that the "penny dropped" for him about the "grave position" Northern Ireland was in.
While Mr Swann said he did not believe it was his responsibility for other ministers not understanding the seriousness of Covid, he said if there was a failure on his part to sound the alarm bell louder, he accepted that.
The families said the UK Covid Inquiry should have spent longer looking into what happened in Northern Ireland.
Spokesperson Brenda Doherty said the inquiry revealed failings in health and social care and how badly Northern Ireland had been let down by its politicians.
Those who lost loved ones said some days they felt "deflated others they got a result".
Nothing will bring back their dads, mums, aunts and grannies, but legislation to prevent other mistakes from happening would be a result, the families said.
According to both the inquiry and bereaved families, the government can start planning for civil contingencies and name who is responsible for initiating and leading a cross-departmental response in a crisis.
Legislation is required to safeguard the elderly, those with disabilities and the vulnerable.
A small but important example, the inquiry heard, is for care homes to be equipped with visiting pods and protective equipment that they can install without families losing contact even for one day.
Public inquiries aren't designed to be pleasant, easy, even satisfactory. And the UK Covid-19 Inquiry sitting in Belfast is no exception.
The families aren't satisfied with the time it spent examining the situation in Northern Ireland, who was probed, and the answers revealed.
But when questioning was forensic it managed to expose what happened in care homes and the huge mistakes that followed.
According to the families, it also exposed the lack of "overarching responsibility" for leading and managing the pandemic.
History proves that inquiries tend not to deliver a great deal in Northern Ireland with families often left fighting the system for decades.
To borrow a phrase from the inquiry, who borrowed it from the late Mo Mowlam, there is hope that enough people listening will "bloody well get on and do it".
COVID-19 levels are about the lowest they've ever been in the US but another new crop of virus variants once again threatens to disrupt the downward trend as the country heads into summer.
KP.2 - one of the so-called FLiRT variants - has overtaken JN.1 to become the dominant coronavirus variant in the US, according to data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data through May 11 shows it's responsible for more than a quarter of cases in the country, which is nearly twice as many as JN.1.
A related variant, KP.1.1, has caused about 7 percent of cases, CDC data shows.
FLiRT variants are offshoots of the JN.1 variant - all part of the broader Omicron family - that caused this winter's wave. The acronym in the name refers to the locations of the amino acid mutations that the virus has picked up - some in places that help it evade the body's immune response and others that help it become more transmissible.
COVID-19 variants are "accumulating mutations that do one of two things: They either cause antibodies that you've accumulated from vaccination or infection to no longer bind to the to the virus - we call that escape from immunity - or they increase the strength in which the viruses bind to cells", said Andy Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
This has become a familiar pattern in the way the virus that causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, but experts say we still don't know enough to predict exactly where the changes will occur next or how they will affect the way the virus moves through the population.
The mutations of the FLiRT variants make increased transmissibility - and a possible summer wave - a real threat. COVID-19 is settling into some seasonal patterns, which have included a summer bump in years past, but the exact level of risk for this year is unclear.
"We've had some variants in the past that start out kind of strong and then don't take over. These subvariants could progressively become dominant or they could get up to accounting for somewhere between 20 percent and 40 percent of the cases and then just stay there," said William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. "We just have to see.
"The virus continues to be in charge. It's going to tell us what it's going to do.
"All of our crystal balls are...cloudy."
COVID-19 surveillance has scaled back significantly since the US public health emergency ended a year ago, which also adds to the uncertainty. But the data that is available is consistent.
For now, wastewater surveillance suggests viral activity is very low and decreasing in all regions of the country, and COVID-19 hospitalisation rates remain extremely low.
"We learned from the laboratories that FLiRT variants appeared, so far, to be as transmissible as the other Omicron subvariants, which means they're really quite contagious. But they do not appear to be producing more severe disease or any sort of illness that's distinctive from the point of view of clinical presentation symptoms," Dr Schaffner said.
As of May 1, the requirement for all hospitals to report COVID-19 data to the federal government has expired. But Dr Schaffner's Vanderbilt University Medical Center is part of a CDC-run surveillance network that continues to track trends based on a sample of hospitals that cover about 10 percent of the US population.
COVID-19 hospitalisation rates have fallen from nearly 8 new admissions for every 100,000 people in the first week of the year to about 1 new admission for every 100,000 people at the end of April, the data shows.
While the FLiRT variants pose some risk this summer, experts remain focused on what might happen in the fall.
"If I were to predict, I would say that this might result in a few extra cases, a small surge this summer. But it's really going to be about which variant is around when we get to the fall," Dr Pekosz said. "The fall is probably when we should expect to see a surge of COVID cases. And if we have a variant around there that has a lot of these mutations that avoid immunity, then the potential in the fall to have a larger surge is greater."
The autumn and winter pose a greater risk because of the immunity that has built up in the population, he said.
"The virus now needs better conditions to transmit and those better conditions to transmit are probably going to happen in the fall when weather gets cooler, people are spending more time indoors and they're more likely to be in environments where respiratory virus transmission occurs more efficiently."
Research published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA is a reminder of the burden that COVID-19 continues to have in the US. This winter, while COVID-19 hospitalisation rates were far lower than they were in earlier years, it was still deadlier than the flu.
A study of thousands of people in hospital found 5.7 percent of COVID-19 patients died, compared with 4.2 percent of those hospitalised for influenza. In other words, COVID-19 carried about a 35 percent higher risk of death than flu.
People who received the latest COVID-19 vaccine this past fall may still have some protection against the latest variants; that immunisation targeted a different strain but was found to be similarly effective against JN.1 and experts saidsome of those benefits may extend to its FLiRT relatives.
People who had a recent infection - especially since the start of the year, when JN.1 was prominent - may also have some protection. But immunity wanes over time.
In June, the US Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory committee will meet to discuss recommendations for the version of the COVID-19 vaccine that will be available this fall. The meeting was postponed by about three weeks to "allow for additional time to obtain surveillance data" to have "more up-to-date information when discussing and making recommendations", according to a post on the federal agency's website.
For now, experts said, risk remains relatively low.
"As with all things COVID, our outlook may change in a week or two. But... we're in really a very good place - the best place we've been in for a long, long time," Dr Schaffner said.
State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada
Zip Code
Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Politics
By Josh Christenson
Published May 16, 2024, 3:11 p.m. ET
Its about time!
At long last, National Institutes of Health (NIH) principal deputy director Lawrence Tabak admitted to Congress Thursday that US taxpayers funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in the months and years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Tabak, asked Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, did NIH fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through [Manhattan-based nonprofit] EcoHealth [Alliance]?
It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research, Tabak answered. If youre speaking about the generic term, yes, we did.
The response comes after more than four years of evasions from federal public health officials including Tabak himself and former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Dr. Anthony Fauci about the controversial research practice that modifies viruses to make them more infectious.
Tabak added that this is research, the generic term [gain-of-function], is research that goes on in many, many labs around the country. It is not regulated. And the reason its not regulated is it poses no threat or harm to anybody.
Dr. Bryce Nickels, a professor of genetics at Rutgers University and co-founder of the pandemic oversight group Biosafety Now, told The Post the exchange was two people talking past each other.
Tabak was engaging in the usual obfuscation and semantic manipulation that is so frustrating and pointless, Nickels said, adding that the NIH bigwig was resisting accountability for risky research that can create pathogens of pandemic potential.
Instead of addressing this directly, Tabak launched into a useless response about how gain-of-function encompasses many types of experiments, he added.
In July 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) barred the Wuhan Institute of Virology from receiving federal grants for the next 10 years.
EcoHealth Alliance, whose mission statement declares it is working to prevent pandemics, had all of its grant funding pulled by HHS for the next three years on Tuesday.
EcoHealth Alliance president Dr. Peter Daszak, in a hearing earlier this month before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, testified that his organization never has and did not do gain-of-function research, by definition.
But that claim directly contradicted Daszaks private correspondence, including a 2016 email in which he celebrated the end of an Obama administration pause on gain-of-function research.
The EcoHealth head was also called out in sworn testimony to the COVID panel by Dr. Ralph Baric, a leading coronavirologist who initiated the research himself and declared it was absolutely gain-of-function.
In an October 2021 letter to Congress, Tabak had acknowledged NIH funded a limited experiment at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that tested whether spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model.
He did not describe it as gain-of-function research but disclosed that EcoHealth failed to report the bat coronaviruses modified with SARS and MERS viruses had been made 10,000 times more infectious, in violation of its grant terms.
The NIH scrubbed its website of a longstanding definition for gain-of-function research the same day that the letter was sent.
Tabak also noted in his October 2021 letter that the sequences of the viruses are genetically very distant from COVID-19 but other grant proposals from EcoHealth have since drawn scrutiny for their genetic similarities.
Fauci has repeatedly denied that the Wuhan lab research involved gain-of-function experiments, clashing with Republicans in high-profile hearings and playing semantics with the term during a closed-door interview with the House COVID panel earlier this year.
He needs to define his definition of gain-of-function research, because as I have through this process in the last three years, read many, many published articles about gain-of-function research, or creation of a chimera, this is a new one, COVID subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said following Faucis grilling in January.
The ex-NIAID head and White House medical adviser under President Biden was escorted by Capitol Police and his attorneys to and from the committee room for his two days of interviews and repeatedly dodged The Posts questions about gain-of-function research and pandemic lockdown restrictions.
In 2021, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) held Faucis feet to the fire over the evasions in several hearings.
The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Fauci declared that May.
In another House hearing the same month, then-NIH director Dr. Francis Collins testified that researchers at the Wuhan lab were not approved by NIH for doing gain-of-function research.
We are, of course, not aware of other sources of funds or other activities they might have undertaken outside of what our approved grant allowed, Collins added cautiously at the time.
That ignorance about what experiments came about as a result of the NIH grants was underscored by Daszak during his COVID subcommittee hearing last week.
The EcoHealth leader acknowledged he had not askedlongtime collaborator and Wuhan Institute of Virology deputy director Shi Zhengli for any viral sequences since before the pandemic began.
In his own closed-door testimony to the House subcommittee released Thursday, Collins echoed Tabaks comments but went further by saying there is a generic description of gain-of-function which is utilized in scientific and public conversation, but is not appropriate to apply that to a circumstance where were talking about a potential pathogen.
We need to be highly cognizant of the risks of gain-of-function technology now that scientific capabilities exist for creating something in a lab that didnt exist 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago, Wenstrup told The Post following Thursdays hearing.
Drs. Fauci and Collins, over a decade ago, both conceded that there are risks associated with gain-of-function research.
EcoHealth received more than half a million dollars for its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology as part of a grant of more than $4 million to study the emergence of bat coronaviruses between 2014 and 2024.
That grant was revoked in 2020, reinstated in 2023 and finally suspended and proposed for debarment this week.
The House subcommittee is still investigating whether COVID-19 accidentally leaked out of a lab in Wuhan, which has been described as the most likely cause of the pandemic by the FBI, US Energy Department, ex-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Robert Redfield and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.
Nickels also slammed Tabak Thursday for still claiming the evidence points to SARS-CoV-2 originating in a wild animal market in Wuhan.
No credible scientist still believes this. In fact, the wet market theory has even been refuted by the worlds leading coronavirus expert, Ralph Baric, in his testimony from January, Nickels said.
The Rutgers prof added that Thursdays hearing highlighted the lack of oversight for scientific research on pathogens that poses a threat to humans, making it up to the grantee to oversee themselves, as Wenstrup put it.
Its pure insanity to continue to delegate responsibly for risk/benefit analysis of research that poses an existential threat to humanity to the scientist that will perform the work and their institutions, Nickels claimed.
We just had a devastating pandemic likely caused by creation of a [Pathogen with Enhanced Pandemic Potential] in a lab, and yet scientists want the public to trust them that they can police themselves? he balked. Thats just total and complete nonsense.
Fauci is scheduled to answer questions about the gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab and theories of the origin of the pandemic in a public subcommittee hearing set for June 3.
Load more...
https://nypost.com/2024/05/16/us-news/nih-director-admits-taxpayers-funded-gain-of-function-research-in-wuhan-four-years-after-covid-pandemic-began/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
Story continues below Advertisement
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing related symptoms.
Powell tested positive late Thursday.
Story continues below Advertisement
Following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, he is staying away from others and working at home, a Fed spokesperson said.
Powell was a participant in a panel discussion in Amsterdam on Tuesday, where he said that the central bank is unlikely to raise its key interest rate in response to signs of stubborn inflation and underscored his view that price increases would soon start to cool again.
Powell, who was to deliver commencement remarks to Georgetown University Law Center in person, now plans to deliver his remarks via a prerecorded video, the spokesperson said.
Story continues below Advertisement
Powell previously tested positive for Covid in January 2023, and displayed mild symptoms, according to the Fed.
Discover the latest business news, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
KP.2 currently makes up an estimated 28.2% of cases in the U.S., CDC data shows.
May 13, 2024, 5:07 PM ET
6 min read
For the last few months, JN.1 has been the dominant COVID-19 variant in the United States, making up the majority of cases. A new variant, however, has taken over and may lead to an increase in cases this summer.
KP.2, which is an offshoot of the omicron variant, currently accounts for an estimated 28.2% of COVID cases after making up just 1.4% of cases in mid March, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Prevention.
Over the past four years, the U.S. has seen summer waves of COVID and this summer may also bring a rise in cases, but not severe as in past seasons.
"We've had four consecutive increases of COVID in the summers in the last four years," Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), told ABC News. "We expect an increase this summer too, but it probably won't be large and it probably won't be as profound as wintertime."
Chin-Hong said he would refer to the increase as more of a "swell" rather a "wave" or a "surge."
"Like when you're at the beach and you see the swell coming," he explained. "It's not like a tsunami, it's not like a huge wave crashing, it's just kind of like a little swell. But the swell does mean that some people are going to get sick."
Early data indicates KP.2 has more mutations to the spike protein than JN.1, which the virus uses to attach to -- and infect cells, which could potentially make KP.2 more infectious.
"The virus' capacity to evolve is anticipated, and it's something we've prepared for in our ongoing public health response," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor. "Given the seasonal patterns observed with COVID-19, a slight uptick in cases could be anticipated this summer, making ongoing surveillance and vaccination efforts all the more essential."
Experts say there is no clear evidence that KP.2 -- which some scientists have nicknamed "FLiRT" on social media but is not an official name used by the CDC or the World Health Organization -- causes more severe illness or is more deadly than previous variants.
While more studies are needed to see if KP.2 is better at evading current vaccines than other variants, Chin-Hong said his experience at UCSF's hospital over the past few weeks seems to indicate that vaccines are continuing to provide good protection.
He said the one common factor among all the patients hospitalized at UCSF with severe COVID is that none of them received the updated COVID vaccine that rolled out in fall 2023.
"If you haven't done, go ahead and get it," Chin-Hong said.
He added that it's especially important for those who are immunocompromised or more susceptible to severe disease, such as being aged 65 and over, to get vaccinated.
COVID hospitalizations have not been increasing in the U.S., a milestone for the nation.
In late April, the latest week for which data is available, the U.S. hit 5,615 COVID weekly hospitalizations. By comparison, there were more than 150,000 weekly admissions at the peak of the omicron variant circulating in early 2022.
Experts say the U.S. is in a much better place to fight COVID than at the start of the pandemic and new variants are a reminder to remain vigilant, but not to panic.
"We have to remember this virus is now part of the respiratory mix we handle yearly just like influenza and, just like influenza, we try to stay ahead of the game to prepare for any possible surge or to understand how well the vaccines are matched," Brownstein said. "This is all bread-and-butter public health surveillance. It's important to stay up-to-date with vaccines and remain vigilant and stay home when sick."
Life expectancy projected to rise by 0.16 years per year 2022-2050 notably lower than 0.27-year increase seen 1990-2019
While the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant setback to global life expectancy, a new study suggests the decline may be reversing. Though life expectancy began to improve in 1990, a slump in growth rates was recorded in 2020 after COVID-19 struck, found the research published in The Lancet medical journal.
However, the numbers have since returned to or exceeded 2019 levels from 2022 to 2023.
The effects will likely be noticeable. Life expectancy is expected to increase by 0.16 years annually from 2022 to 2050, which is significantly less than the 0.27 years annual increase noted 1990 to 2019, according to the study.
From 2022 to 2050, life expectancy growth rates in high-income regions, North Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania slowed down significantly compared to previous years.
Global and super-regional life expectancy 1990-2050
Forecasts based on reference scenario. Black vertical line indicates 2022. Source: The Lancet
In India, life expectancy was 60 for men and around 62 for women in 1990. It rose to 68 and 72 before dropping to 66 and 71 for men and women in 2021, respectively.
A Lancet study in April 2024 found that global life expectancy increased by 7.8 years from 1990 to 2019. However, from 2019 to 2021, COVID-19 and related deaths caused a 2.2-year decline. This decline was partially offset by reductions in other diseases, resulting in a net decrease of 1.6 years in global life expectancy.
But things are expected to change. By mid-century, global life expectancy is predicted to increase by nearly five years, from 73.6 years in 2022 to 78.1 years in 2050. Additionally, global healthy life expectancy (HALE) is expected to grow by 2.6 years, from 64.8 years in 2022 to 67.4 years in 2050.
In India, men and women are expected to live nearly seven years longer by 2050. The average lifespan is expected to be 76 and 80 in men and women, respectively.
Life expectancy and HALE in India, 1990-2050
The increase in life expectancy is likely due to public health measures that have prevented and improved survival rates for cardiovascular diseases, COVID-19 and various communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases.
Across locations, the burden of disease will continue to shift from communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases to non-communicable diseases (conditions that are not due to an infection. Examples include heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes), the study read.
The researchers reached these findings by analysing estimates of years lived with disability, disability-adjusted life-years (DALY) and HALE for 204 countries and territories up to 2050. One DALY represents the loss of the equivalent of one year of full health.
The analysis also included measures of fatal disease burden mortality, years of life lost (YLL) and life expectancy. YLL measures years lost between the age at which a person dies and the number of years they could have potentially gone on to live, based on the current best life expectancy across the world.
The team used the 2021 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimates to project 359 causes of disease burden, both fatal and non-fatal, from 2022 to 2050 for 204 countries and territories. GBD is the most comprehensive assessment of health trends and conditions worldwide.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
