COVID-19 Outbreak: Weekly Global Report for Friday, May 7, 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 increased by around 5 million to reach a total of 155.4 million cases. Deaths around the world have exceeded 3.2 million. The countries with the most reported cases continue to be the U.S. (32.6 million), India (21.1 million) and Brazil (15 million).
- U.S. cases exceeded 32.6 million with deaths increasing to 580,000.
- Staff Contact: Ralph Ives (rives@advamed.org).
China
- Overview: China’s vaccination efforts have ramped up markedly in recent weeks. Over 280 million Chinese citizens have received a COVID vaccine jab as of May 5—the largest number of vaccinations of any country. Still, China to date has only administered vaccines for around 20% of its population, compared to 70% in the United States. China aims to vaccinate 40% of its population (560 million) by the end of June.
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics: China’s total COVID cases now stand at 102,573, an increase of 112 cases over the previous week. The number of deaths rose to 4,846, an increase of one over the previous week.
- Vaccine roll-out: Over the past week, China has administered an average of about 10 million doses a day, up from about four million a day earlier in April. Experts have said they need to reach 10 million a day to meet the national goal of vaccinating 40% of the population by the end of June.
- China’s vaccines: 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.
- Approval of BioNTech in the pipeline: China is planning to approve its first foreign vaccine before July, according to people familiar with the matter, as pressure mounts from domestic scientists and the foreign business community to expand beyond the country’s own roster of shots. Chinese officials have been scrutinizing clinical-trial data for the coronavirus vaccine made by Germany’s BioNTech and are expected to green light domestic distribution of the shot within the next 10 weeks, people privy to these discussions say.
- Questions surrounding the efficacy of China’s vaccines: A few weeks ago, the head of the China CDC, Gao Fu, caused a stir by implying that Chinese vaccines have relatively low efficacy. Gao and state media later tried to walk back his remarks saying Chinese vaccines are near 100% effective against serious disease. China is aiming to produce its first messenger RNA vaccine by the end of the year, which offers a higher protection rate.
- Vaccine diplomacy: According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China is providing free vaccines to 69 countries and commercially exporting them to 28 more. China had exported 115 million doses by the end of March, according to Airfinity—a British company that provides real-time life-science intelligence.
- Some travel restrictions between the U.S. and China eased: China said it was willing to resume a travel exchange with the United States following an announcement by the U.S. that it was easing some coronavirus travel bans. The U.S. has announced it will allow students and professionals in various categories and from various countries, including China, to enter the country. The announcement comes more than a year after the US suspended entry for travelers who had been in mainland China 14 days before travelling because of the Covid-19 outbreak.
- 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.
- S. aims to shape new WHO report on COVID’s origins: Experts from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of State, the Agriculture Department and five other federal agencies are developing recommendations to be submitted to the WHO for its planned second phase of the inquiry into how the new coronavirus started spreading. The U.S. is expected to push back on a hypothesis promoted by China that the virus could have spread via frozen-food products, according to people familiar with the work. Instead, the experts are expected to urge the release of more data as well as more testing of animals and humans for early evidence of the new coronavirus, including in parts of southern China where related viruses were previously found.
- China’s economy: The National Consumption Promotion Month, jointly organized by the MOC and relevant departments and localities, will kick off on May 1 and continue for the entire month. It will feature a series of activities promoting consumption across the country, according to the ministry. This year marks the 10th anniversary of this event, the MOC said, adding that it has become a signature activity that helps expand domestic demand and spur consumption, especially for automobiles.
- S.-China relations: President Biden used his prime-time address to the joint sessions of Congress last Wednesday to cast the U.S.-China relationship as a battle for century-defining technologies and a litmus test of the merits of democracy versus autocracy. Chinese President Xi Jinping was “deadly earnest about [China] becoming the most significant, consequential nation in the world,” Biden said.“He and others – autocrats – think that democracy can’t compete in the 21st century with autocracies, because it takes too long to get consensus,” he said, appearing to veer off script, according to prepared remarks circulated by the White House before the speech. “We’re in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century. We’re at a great inflection point in history, we have to do more than just build back … we have to build back better.”
- Staff Contact: Kyle Churchman (kchurchman@advamed.org)
India
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – 21,070,852 total cases, 3,566,398 active cases/230,168 deaths/ discharged 17,280,844 (John Hopkins & MoHFW) as compared to 18,368,096 total cases, 3,084,814 active cases/204,832 deaths/ discharged 15,086,878 (John Hopkins & MoHFW) last week. 162,513,339 people have been vaccinated.
- India accounted for 46% of the new Covid-19 cases recorded worldwide last week and one in four of deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, May 05. The surge of the coronavirus in India, including of a highly infectious new variant first identified there, has seen hospitals run out of beds and oxygen, and morgues and crematoriums overflowing.
- The Central Drugs Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) has provided an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for Roche’s antibody cocktail (Casirivimab and Imdevimab) in India on May 05. This approval was based on the data that have been filed for the EUA in the United States, and the scientific opinion of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in the European Union.
- The locally manufactured Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be available for use in India only by the fourth quarter of 2021. According to sources, though the process of transfer of technology by J&J to Indian vaccine maker Biological E has been initiated, it could take another 4-5 months for all the required processes to be completed and full-fledged manufacturing of the vaccines to begin in India.
- India’s drug regulator has cleared the way for import of Covid-19 vaccines into India. According to the drug regulator any private entity can procure the vaccine from the importer for its use if the vaccine to be imported is approved by the drug regulatory authority and import license has been obtained from it.
- RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on May 05 made an announcement that banks can provide Rs 50,000 crore priority lending for ramping up Covid-related healthcare infrastructure and services in the country.
- The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) in its advisory for Covid-19 testing during the second wave of the pandemic has recommended that the need for RT-PCR test in healthy individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travel may be completely removed to reduce the load on laboratories.
- Drug firm Bajaj Healthcare on Tuesday, May 04 announced the launch of its antiviral Favipiravir tablets under the brand name 'Favijaj' used for the treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 infections in the country.
- Pfizer is in discussions with the Indian government seeking an "expedited approval pathway" for its Covid-19 vaccine, its CEO Albert Bourla said on LinkedIn on Monday, May 03, announcing a donation of medicines worth more than $70 million.
- The UK and Indian governments announced their first enhanced trade partnership on Tuesday, May 04 as a precursor to a free trade agreement when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian PM Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting.
- The indigenously developed Covaxin is capable of fighting the Brazilian variant too, according to the latest study on Covid-19 vaccine. Earlier, Covaxin was found to fight the UK variant, B.1.1.7, and the so-called double mutant of Maharashtra, B.1.617.
- The government on Friday, April 30, exempted from customs duty imports of inflammatory diagnostic kits till October 31, a move aimed at increasing Covid-19 testing. "Customs duty on imports of inflammatory diagnostic (marker) kits, namely-IL6, D-Dimer, CRP, LDH, Ferritin, Pro Calcitonin (PCT) and blood gas reagents, has been exempted till October 31, 2021, to supplement testing efforts," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) tweeted.
- IT company Tech Mahindra is in the process of filing a patent, along with Reagene Biosciences, for a drug molecule that can potentially attack coronavirus, according to a senior company official.
- Bharat Biotech is now in parleys with global pharma giants for manufacturing the desi vaccine. While the company has already joined hands with Ocugen for Covaxin in the US market, it has now initiated dialogue with drug majors in Europe that have vaccine manufacturing capabilities.
- Staff Contact: Abby Pratt (apratt@advamed.org).
Japan
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – 622,693 reported cases and 10,625 reported deaths compared to 553,749 reported cases and 9,828 reported deaths two weeks ago.
- Japan re-instituted a state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka, and two other prefectures from April 25 to May 11 and is expected to extend it for several more weeks due to the continuing high number of cases. Several more prefectures may be added to those already subject to the state of emergency.
- The majority of new cases are among people younger than 50, with people in their 20s accounting for one-quarter of new cases.
- The number of COVID-19 patients in Japan in serious condition reached its highest level since the pandemic began.
- Japan is set to approve the Moderna vaccine around May 21. This will be the second vaccine approved in Japan, after the Pfizer vaccine was approved in February.
- Japan began vaccinating people age 65 or above on April 12. Supplies of vaccines are extremely low and it appears unlikely that Japan will achieve its goal of vaccinating all of its 36 million senior citizens by the end of June. So far, less than 1% of the population has received a vaccine dose.
- 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 are down a bit from last week. They are reporting 574 new cases per day, but reported 674 new cases the previous day. Both figures are decreases from last week’s 678 new cases per day. New deaths remain low at 4per day. South Korea continues to avoid the dramatic spikes that many other countries are experiencing.
- South Korea has 125,519 total cases, 8,177 active cases, with 1,851 deaths, reporting 4 deaths per day. Total cases per million population have remained low compared to most of the world but Korea has now crept over the 2,000 threshold with 2,446 cases per million. (S. Korea ranks as one of the lowest among the more highly populated countries). Deaths per million remain comparatively low as well at just 36.
- Korea has 3 national holidays in the week from May 1 to May 8.
- Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong has called on the international community to work together for the fair distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines at the meeting of Group of Seven countries, amid Seoul’s rising concern over a looming vaccine shortage.
- Chung joined the in-person gathering of G-7 foreign and development ministers meeting in London from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. South Korea was invited as a guest -- along with Australia, India, South Africa and Brunei -- to this year’s session of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies. At the meeting, Chung underlined the “pressing need” for the international community’s cooperation in guaranteeing fair access to vaccines and urged the G-7 countries to take the lead, the ministry said.
- The G-7 foreign ministers also pledged to expand the production of affordable coronavirus vaccines, through working with industry, according to their joint statement released after the meeting. In a press session Thursday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s Commissioner noted that the country could ‘afford to weather’ the current cases without imposing stronger restrictions. South Korea’s numbers remain low compared to most other countries. However, the number of available hospital beds has taken a hit recently as more critically ill patients remain hospitalized.
- South Korea has inoculated more than 3 million people in two months since its vaccine rollout, health authorities said Thursday, as the country ramps up its COVID-19 immunization drive by providing more shots to create herd immunity by November.
- African swine fever has returned to South Korean farms after seven months, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Wednesday, after it confirmed two cases at a farm of 401 pigs in Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon Province. All domesticated pigs at the farm were culled immediately.
- A total of 11 African swine fever cases have been discovered from wild boars in Yeongwol-gun since the outbreak started in 2019. The pig farm is just 1.2 kilometers away from where the last case in the county was discovered in a wild boar.
- A political standoff between the ruling and main opposition parties appeared imminent Thursday, as key National Assembly committees were scheduled to decide on the parliamentary approvals of scandal-ridden minister nominees recently picked by President Moon Jae-in.
- A total of 3,560,324 people, including 5,253 the previous day, have received at least their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines since the country started its vaccination program on Feb. 26. AstraZeneca's vaccine has been given to 1.92 million people, while 1.64 million have received that of Pfizer. A total of 18,260 cases of side effects after vaccinations have been reported, up 150 from a day earlier. A total of 88 post-vaccination deaths have been reported, although the exact causes of the deaths remain unknown as they could not determine causality, the health authorities said.
- This is a link to detailed South Korea’s vaccine delivery timeline, highlighting both delivered and expected to be delivered vaccines for 2021. http://res.heraldm.com/content/image/2021/04/15/20210415000913_0.jpg
- South Korea remains under fairly strict social distancing requirements. A nationwide ban on gatherings of 5 people or more continues. Level 2 requirements are in place for Seoul and its surrounding area, with Level 1.5 for other parts of the country. Level 2 requirements include prohibitions on ‘high risk’ activities, mandatory mask wearing for all indoor and high risk outdoor activities, ceasing operations in restaurants and bars after 9 pm, and strict percentage capacity limits on schools, religious services and sporting events.
- 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.
- Resources: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/.
- Staff Contact: Joseph Gatewood (jgatewood@advamed.org).
ASEAN
Cases
- ASEAN now has 3,496,549 reported cases and 69,638 reported deaths compared to 3,240,728 reported cases and 65,380 reported deaths two weeks ago.
- Several ASEAN countries are experiencing surges.
- Thailand: Reported cases have grown from 46,643 to 74,900 over the past two weeks and reported deaths have increased from 110 to 318 over that time.
- Malaysia: Reported cases have grown from 381,813 to 424,376 over the same timeframe. In response, Malaysia’s government placed Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding area under a movement control order (MCO) from May 7 to May 20.
- Indonesia: Cases in Indonesia continue to rise, although at a somewhat slower pace. Indonesia is now reporting 1,691,658 total cases, up from 1,626,812 two weeks ago. It is reporting about 2,000 new deaths over that timeframe. Indonesia accounts for two-thirds of total deaths in ASEAN since the start of the pandemic.
- Philippines: Cases continue to grow but at a slightly slower pace. The Philippines is now reporting 1,080,172 total cases, up from 971,049 two weeks ago. Total reported deaths have increased to 17,991 from 16,370 over that time.
- Cambodia: The country has also experienced a surge in cases and deaths. Reported cases have increased to 16,971 from 7,747 over the past two weeks and reported deaths grew to 110 from 54 over that period.
- Laos: Laos has reported a surge in total cases from 88 to 1,072 over the past two weeks, although it is still reporting zero total deaths since the start of the pandemic.
- Vietnam: Cases of COVID-19 infection have leveled off in Vietnam following an outbreak in late January. The total number of confirmed infections was 3,030.
Vaccinations
- 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.
- 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 fewer than one 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 became 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 granted emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac vaccines, and the government has announced plans to administer over 60 million doses in 2021.
- Thailand's Food and Drug Administration has approved Siam Bioscience as a manufacturing facility for the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. Thailand plans to export the vaccines to eight Southeast Asian countries.
- 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.
- 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.
Travel
- Singapore will accept visitors using a mobile travel pass containing digital certificates for COVID-19 tests and vaccines beginning in May. It will accept the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mobile travel pass.
- 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.
- As of April, Thailand reduced 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
- Most of Europe continues to be mired with large numbers of cases, but some of the more concerning numbers, such as Germany and France, have dropped again from last week. The UK’s daily cases have come down dramatically, due to the number of people who have received the vaccine. The UK continues to be on good footing when compared to most of the EU. Spain and Italy appear to be continuing on a moderately positive trend, with improvements in deaths per day and lower levels of new cases.
- Increases in new cases per day (New Daily Cases) tend to benchmark increasing COVID incidence. We’ve 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. France 26,000 (31,539); Spain 6,317 (8,665); Russia 7,975 (7,848); UK 2,144 (2,166), Italy 10,576 (13,385); Germany 21,266 (24,696); and Belgium 2,731 (2,946).
- In terms of total cases, see chart below for the specific numbers. France remains in the lead followed by Russia, the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Czech Republic and the Netherlands round out the top 10 countries with the largest number of total cases in Europe.
- In terms of cases per million in Europe, Czech Republic is 3rd worst in Europe with 152,834. Sweden is 8th worst with 98,709. France is 12th with 87,260, Belgium 13th at 85,937. Spain is 20th with 75,930. Italy is 26th with 67,405, and the UK is 27th with 64,909.
- Russia's reported numbers on COVID, despite its Sputnik vaccine, remain problematic at 4,847,489 (second to France) and 127,570 reported deaths (and reporting one of the lowest death rates in the world at just 766 per million). (A recent survey found underutilization of the Sputnik vaccine in Russia due to citizens’ skepticism to be willing to take it, as well as lower than expected production). By comparison, Germany with one of the better track records for the larger Western European countries, has approximately 1.4 million fewer cases (3,469,448) and reports 84,593 deaths and a death rate of 1,007 per million. Russia has authorized the one-shot Sputnik Light version of its Covid vaccine for use, the Russian Direct Investment Fund confirmed.
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