COVID-19 Outbreak: Weekly Global Report for Friday, March 26, 2021
AdvaMed recognizes that its members, particularly those with global government affairs responsibilities, are tracking COVID-19 related developments around the world to assess the public health and economic impacts on their businesses. Knowing that companies are consuming information from a variety of sources, AdvaMed's global team would like to provide members with a weekly snapshot of the key statistics, policy developments and advocacy initiatives underway in our priority markets. If you have any suggestions, we welcome your feedback.
Global
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics: global cases topped 121.5 million. Deaths around the world have exceeded 2.58 million. The countries with the most reported cases continue to be the U.S. (30 million), Brazil (12.2 million) and India (11.8 million).
- U.S. cases exceeded 30 million with deaths increasing to 545,000.
- Staff Contact: Ralph Ives (rives@advamed.org).
China
- Overview: China’s vaccination campaign has been much slower than other countries, largely due to effective containment measures and minimal cases of local transmission. Over 83 million Chinese citizens have received a COVID vaccine jab as of March 24. China aims to vaccinate 40% of its population by June.
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics: China’s total COVID cases now stand at 101,612, an increase of 142 cases over the previous week. Deaths reached 4,840, an increase of 1 over the previous week.
- Vaccine roll-out: in late February, China’s regulator approved for general use a third and fourth vaccine produced by CanSino Biologics and Sinopharm. This follows China’s approval of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine on Dec. 31 last year and Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine on Feb. 5. CanSino said its one-shot vaccine candidate is 65.28% effective 28 days after the dose is given. It can be stored at 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius, “making it more accessible especially to the regions with underserved public health,” it said in a statement.
- Vaccine diplomacy: According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China is providing free vaccines to 69 countries and commercially exporting them to 28 more.
- Updated estimates on 2020 hospital visits: according to the National Health Commission, the total number of hospital visits/medical consultations in January through September 2020 reached 3.9 billion, a decrease of 15.3% over the same period in 2019. It is important to note that this percentage decrease has gotten progressively smaller since June, perhaps indicating Chinese patients have become more comfortable in visiting medical institutions in the second half of 2020.
- Traditional Chinese medicine: China last week approved the sale of three traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) drugs through a special approval procedure, offering more options for COVID-19 treatment, according to the National Medical Products Administration. The three medicines, namely Lung Cleansing and Detoxifying granules, Dampness Resolving and Detoxifying granules and Lung Diffusing and Detoxifying granules were reportedly proven effective in treating COVID-19 patients in central China's Wuhan last year.
- WHO report on COVID’s origins: The WHO team that investigated the origins of Covid-19 in China has decided not to scrap the report’s release after all. The 280-page report is set to be issued soon. The U.S. government has called into question the forthcoming report’s completeness and accuracy, arguing that the Chinese government continues to conceal information.
- The Chinese economy: As the first major economy to beat back Covid-19, China is now taking the global lead in moving to unwind its pandemic-driven economic stimulus efforts. Unlike the U.S. and Europe, which are still flooding their economies with liquidity and spending, China has started reining in credit in some corners. China’s policy makers have expressed concern about an overheating housing market and want to prevent bigger imbalances. They are also eager to resume a multiyear campaign to curb debt that started building during the previous global recession.
- S.-China relations. The new administration is continuing to review the Trump-era inheritance, but some early indicators show it is doubling down versus reversing. Last week, the Biden administration intensified sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials accused of undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and announced it would continue secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Iranian oil. Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held discussion with their Chinese counterparts in Anchorage.
- Staff Contact: Kyle Churchman (kchurchman@advamed.org)
India
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – 11,787,013 total cases, 395,192 active cases/160,692 deaths/ 11,231,650 discharged (John Hopkins & MoHFW) as compared to 11,474,302 total cases, 252,364 active cases/159,216 deaths/11,063,025 discharged last week (John Hopkins & MoHFW). 53,145,709 people have been vaccinated.
- India has put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine-maker, to meet domestic demand as infections rise, according to sources.
- The government has constituted an inter-ministerial group to look at ways to augment Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing capacities in the country as the second wave of infection intensifies and authorities gear up to expand the eligibility criteria to include the 50-years-plus age group.
- India has decided to extend the interval between doses of Covishield vaccines from four to eight weeks, the Health Ministry said on Monday, March 22. The Ministry said that protection is enhanced if the second dose of Covishield is administered between 6-8 weeks, but not later than stipulated period of 8 weeks keeping the existing scientific evidence in view.
- From April 1, all people above 45 years of age are entitled to get Covid-19 vaccine, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Tuesday, March 23. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet, he said even people without comorbidity and above the age of 45 years, can get vaccinated.
- Tata Medical and Diagnostics has entered into a clinical collaboration with city-based Anderson Diagnostics and Labs to detect new Covid-19 variants from the U.K., Brazil and Africa with the indigenously developed TataMD CHECK - diagnostic kit.
- AIIMS director Randeep Guleria on Saturday, March 20, said that the Covid-19 vaccine should be able to give good protection from the infection for eight to ten months. He also said that no major side-effect of the vaccine has been recorded.
- A new double mutant Covid-19 variant has been found in India, said the government on Wednesday, March 24. Several Variants of Concerns (VOCs) have been found in India previously, however, the ministry of health said that the cases of new variants are limited in number.
- Staff Contact: Abby Pratt (apratt@advamed.org).
Japan
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – 463,727 reported cases and 8,984 reported deaths compared to 453,483 reported cases and 8,777 reported deaths last week.
- Japan has approved the Pfizer vaccine and began providing it to a small subset of health care providers. Vaccination of a further 3.7 million front-line health care providers is set to begin in March, followed by 36 million people age 65 or above beginning April 12. People with pre-existing conditions and those working at elderly care facilities will be next in line, followed by the general population.
- Japan hopes to inoculate its entire population with a COVID-19 vaccine by the time the Olympics start in July 2021.
- Japan has contracted with Pfizer for 120 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered in the first half of 2021, and for enough vaccine for 72 million people by the end of 2021. Japan has also contracted for 50 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 120 million doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. Astra Zeneca will manufacture 90 million of those doses in Japan. The company submitted its application for approval on February 8. The application for the Moderna vaccine was made on March 5 and is not expected to be approved until at least May.
- Japan ended the State of Emergency in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures, but not all curbs were lifted. Restaurants are being asked to close by 9 p.m. at least until the end of March. Infections have fallen since the restrictions were imposed, but the decline has bottomed out and even rebounded in some prefectures including Tokyo.
- The central government has asked companies to reduce the number of workers going to the office by 70% and facilitate telecommuting and staggered commuting hours.
- The Japanese government has decided to maintain its controls for foreign nationals entering the country. Reciprocal business travel arrangements that were forged with China, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam are expected to remain suspended in the near term. While Tokyo’s restrictions on foreign entries except for returning nationals remain in place, the government will make exceptions for athletes entering the country for the upcoming Olympic Games.
- Staff Contact: Phil Agress (PAgress@AdvaMed.org).
Korea
- South Korea’s numbers have remained consistent for the last few weeks, with a slightly downward trend. They are reporting 430 new cases per day, down slightly from 445 last week. New deaths just 2 per day. South Korea continues to avoid the dramatic spikes that many other countries are experiencing.
- South Korea has 100,276 total cases, 6,499 active cases, with 1,955 deaths, reporting 2 deaths per day. Total cases per million population have remained low compared to most of the world at just 1,955 (S. Korea ranks as one of the lowest among the more highly populated countries). Deaths per million remain comparatively low as well at just 33.
- To curb the pandemic in the greater Seoul area, home to roughly half of the country's 52 million population, the KDCA extended virus curbs, the third highest in the five-tier virus restriction that were set to expire on March 14 for another two weeks until March 28. Health authorities said they will decide Friday whether to again extend the current virus curbs by another two weeks but given the current situation, the measures are highly likely to be extended. The greater Seoul area has been under the Level 2 social distancing measures since February. The measures include attendance caps at schools, religious activities and sports events.
- Health authorities plan to step up the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine rollout after confirming that there is no evidence of a correlation between the vaccines and blood clots found in some recipients.
- Korea recorded deaths so far from COVID have been mainly in people in their 60s or older, but three people in their 20s have died over the past month.
- Since the mass vaccination program launched late February, 733,124 people have received at least a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine in South Korea. This translates to about 26,100 shots being administered per day. Despite concerns about the current vaccination place being slow, top officials at the national health agency reiterated in a news briefing Thursday that Korea “would have no problem achieving herd immunity by November.”
- Korea’s current stockpile of vaccine comes from two pharmaceutical companies -- AstraZeneca and Pfizer. Nearly 92 percent of all those vaccinated so far, or 673,183, were inoculated with AstraZeneca’s jab, and the rest with Pfizer’s. Those being offered the first doses of the vaccines now are front-line workers at COVID-19 wards and workers and residents at long-term care facilities.
- From April, the rollout will extend to priority groups next in line, including people living in group homes or other congregate living settings, early childhood educators, airline cabin crews, non-COVID-19 health care personnel, adults with certain medical conditions at risk and anyone aged 75 or older. Elected and government officials traveling on official duty will also be eligible for the shots.
- The prime minister as well as the Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol will be getting their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine Friday. President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook received the first dose of the vaccine from the same company at a public health center near the presidential office on Tuesday.
- South Korea’s benchmark interest rate has been set at an all-time low of 0.5 percent per annum for 10 months since May last year, as the central bank tries to prop up a lackluster economy that has faltered in the wake of the novel coronavirus.
- The record-low rate could benefit many households and micro-business owners who resort to financial loans in this unexpected situation. But the Bank of Korea will have no choice but to conduct rate hikes eventually on a mid-term basis, given that the low-rate era causes inflationary pressure, which would undermine private consumption.
- The city of Seoul has mandated coronavirus tests for all foreign workers in the city. The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued an administrative order requiring all foreign workers in the city to undergo diagnostic tests March 17-31 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Fines of up to 2 million won ($1,778) will be imposed if they fail to get tested during the period.
- South Korea, 52 million population, has secured access to coronavirus vaccines enough for 56 million people. The COVAX project will supply 20 million doses of vaccines to inoculate 10 million people.
- South Korea has imposed Level 2.5, the second highest in the country's five-tier scheme, to the greater Seoul area, with Level 2 in other areas. Private gatherings of five or more have been banned across the country, while the operation of restaurants has been limited after 9 p.m.
- South Korea continues to impose suspension of direct flights from Britain.
- Foreigners arriving at South Korean airports face a mandatory 14-day quarantine procedure and must present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of their departure to the nation.
- Foreigners from Britain and South Africa who fail to present negative PCR test results will be banned from entering the nation, and incoming Korean nationals without test results will be isolated in temporary living facilities for two weeks upon their arrival in the nation, the KDCA said.
- South Korea’s movement toward implementation of a proposal that would potentially reduce the price of certain cardiac and peripheral stents has been at least temporarily postponed. A December meeting that was scheduled to occur to discuss the proposal has been postponed. AdvaMed is in touch with members and the medtech association in Korea and has had several discussions with the US Government on this topic. We have sent a letter to the health ministry expressing opposition to the proposal.
- We have submitted a letter in response to a recently issued request for comments on the proposal for potential implementation of pricing controls on stents. Please contact Joseph Gatewood (jgatewood@advamed.org) if you have an interest in this matter and are not already engaged.
- Resources: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/.
- Staff Contact: Joseph Gatewood (jgatewood@advamed.org).
ASEAN
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – ASEAN now has 2,741,885 reported cases and 57,693 reported deaths compared to 2,647,484 reported cases and 56,613 reported deaths last week.
- Indonesia reported 1.48 million cases last week and the Philippines has reported over 693,000 cases. The Philippines is experiencing roughly 8,000 new cases of COVID per day, the highest recorded rate since the pandemic began.
- Indonesia’s total COVID-19 deaths have reached 39,983, which accounts for 69% of all COVID-related deaths in Southeast Asia. The Philippines reported 13,095 deaths.
- Myanmar is now reporting 142,292 total cases and 3,204 deaths, although there is almost certainly substantial under reporting since February 1 due to the military coup.
- Cambodia reported 5 deaths. Laos reported zero deaths, while Brunei has reported 3 deaths, and Singapore has reported 30 deaths (despite having over 60,000 cases).
- Cases of COVID-19 infection have leveled off in Vietnam following an outbreak in late January. The total number of confirmed infections was 2,576.
- Thailand, which in mid-December had just over 4,000 cases of COVID-19, experienced a major surge that originated in a shrimp market southeast of Bangkok. It is now reporting over 28,346 cases ad 92 deaths. Thailand began vaccinations in late February.
- Indonesia is currently in the second stage of vaccinations following the vaccination of medical workers in the first stage. It is administering the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines.
- Indonesia has secured orders for 600 million doses of vaccine from four producers. This includes between 13.7 million and 23.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX system. The vaccines will arrive in two phases: 25-35% of doses in Q1 2021, and 65-75% in Q2. The Ministry of Health said this vaccine can be used for those who are over 60, unlike the Sinovac vaccine, currently in use in Indonesia. President Jokowi has set a target of finishing the vaccination process within this year.
- Indonesia authorized one of the world’s first private vaccination schemes to run alongside its national program so that companies can buy state-procured vaccines to inoculate their staff. The regulation stipulates that companies can buy vaccines and inoculate staff and their families for free at privately-run health centers with vaccines distributed by state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma. The vaccines in the scheme must differ from the current rollout, which includes China’s Sinovac Biotech and is slated to include the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines. Indonesia’s private sector expects to receive 2 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine.
- Malaysia approved both AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines for emergency use on March 2. Mass vaccinations began on February 24 using the Pfizer vaccine and the government aims to vaccinate 80% of its 32 million population by next February.
- Malaysia has agreed to buy 25 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. It has also signed agreements for 18.4 million doses of vaccines produced by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute and China's Sinovac.
- The Philippines began its immunization program after receiving its first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine (600,00 doses of Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac, donated by China). It is due to receive another 25 million doses of CoronaVac this year.
- However, there is little public support for the inoculation drive. Polls show that less than a third of Filipinos are willing to be vaccinated due to fears of the potential side effects.
- Singapore began its vaccination program in January with seniors aged 70 and above and more than 50,000 active taxi and private-hire car drivers eligible for the shot. Those aged 60 and above are expected to eligible at the end of March, with a forecast of 1.25 million individuals vaccinated by the end of April.
- Thailand's COVID-19 vaccination program began on March 1. Thailand has approved the AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccine, and the government has announced plans to administer over 60 million doses in 2021.
- Vietnam received its first batch of vaccines (117,000 doses from AstraZeneca) in late February. It aims to obtain 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses this year, including 30 million through COVAX, 30 million from AstraZeneca, and the rest from ongoing negotiations with Pfizer and Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. Meanwhile, a Vietnamese pharmaceutical company has begun second phase trials on a coronavirus vaccine. If trials are successful, it is expected to be approved for emergency use in May.
- Elective surgeries have resumed in Thailand and Vietnam.
- In Indonesia, provincial hospitals are resuming elective surgery with COVID-19 protocols in place.
- Malaysia maintains limits on elective surgery except in emergency cases.
- Singapore restricts most elective surgeries but allows certain procedures including cancer screening, surgical operations for advanced cataracts, flu vaccinations, and dental procedures.
- The Philippines has suspended the entry of all foreign nationals and returning citizens except for overseas Filipino workers until April 19, while capping international arrivals at 1,500 per day.
- Indonesia has closed its border to foreign nationals to mitigate the increased spread of COVID-19. The policy provides exemptions for holders of diplomatic visas and official visas related to foreign officials at the ministerial level, holders of limited stay permits, and permanent resident permits.
- As of February 1, Singapore suspended its Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) arrangements with Malaysia, Germany, and South Korea for three months due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Travelers who have already been approved to enter Singapore under these RGLs can continue to do so. The move does not affect Singapore’s Periodic Commuting Arrangement with Malaysia, which includes longer-term workers and business travel. Following this latest suspension, only the green lanes with Brunei and a few cities in China remain open.
- Starting in April, Thailand will reduce its mandatory quarantine from 14 to seven days for foreigners arriving in the country who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Vaccinations must be administered within three months of the travel period and visitors will still be required to show negative COVID-19 test results within three days of their departure. Those not yet inoculated but with coronavirus-free certificates would be quarantined for 10 days.
- Staff Contact: Phil Agress (PAgress@AdvaMed.org)
Europe
- Europe still struggles with persistently high numbers even as some countries appear to be experiencing flattening in the rate of increase. Spain and the UK appear to be on positive trend with lower daily numbers. France seems to be lagging the other large EU countries in its recovery, and Italy is concerned enough about recent spiking that it has moved toward stricter lockdown measures. Germany is experiencing some uptick in infections, but its overall increase appears lessened from last week. The stubbornness of the numbers appears in large part attributable to citizens’ fatigue with COVID restrictions. The UK’s vaccination program, ahead of virtually all of the EU, seems to be having a large positive impact.
- Increases in new cases per day (New Daily Cases) tend to benchmark increasing COVID incidence. We’ve now put the new daily case numbers in the chart below so you can see the numbers in comparison. Here are the current figures with prior week figures in parentheses, and most appear on strong downward trend. France 24,882 (38,501); Spain 5,516 (6,092); Russia 8,457 (8,998); UK 5,378 (5,926), Italy 22,385 (20,684); Germany 10,943 (12,246); and Belgium 2,232 (2,163).
- In terms of total cases, see chart below for the specific numbers. Russia remains the leader in Europe, followed by France (which is 1st in the EU), UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Czech Republic. Most comparator countries of similar size appear to be doing better than France, with the possible exception of Poland.
- In terms of cases per million, Czech Republic is 3rd worst in Europe with 137,609, Portugal is 8th with 80,414; Belgium 12th at 72,184; Spain is 14th at 73,744; France 17th at 66,460; UK 22nd at 63,207.
- Russia's reported numbers on COVID, despite its Sputnik vaccine, remain problematic with perhaps the highest number of total cases of any country at 4,474,610 (slightly higher than France’s total) and 95,818 reported deaths (and reporting one of the lowest death rates in the world at just 656 per million). By comparison, Germany with one of the best track records for the larger Western European countries, has more than 1.7 million fewer cases (2,709,872) and reports 75,911 deaths and a death rate of 904 per million.
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