COVID-19 Outbreak: Weekly Global Report for Friday, September 3, 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 reached a new milestone of 219 million cases. Deaths around the world have exceeded 4.46 million. The countries with the most reported cases continue to be the U.S. (39.4 million), India (32.9 million) and Brazil (20.8 million).
- U.S. cases exceeded 389.4 million with deaths increasing to 642,000.
- Staff Contact: Ralph Ives (rives@advamed.org).
China
- The latest: The highly transmissible Delta variant has posed the most severe test of Beijing’s “zero tolerance” policy to date. Confronted with its largest COVID outbreak since the initial outbreak in Wuhan beginning last month, Beijing credits the sharp decline in case counts in recent weeks to its “strict, scientific, and swift measures.” All travel into Beijing from hotspots remains cut off. Mass testing is still underway in a few Chinese cities. The world’s third largest container port, in Ningbo, fully re-opened last week after COVID cases were reported there a few weeks prior. Some observers outside and inside China worry that Beijing’s “zero tolerance” policy approach could have economic downsides.
- Overview of China’s containment strategy: Despite a massively efficient vaccine roll-out since May, the Chinese government has given no indication it intends to change its current COVID playbook of closed borders, strict quarantine for foreign arrivals, and aggressive lockdowns and mass testing when flareups arise. Beijing remains ever cautious as the Delta variant circulates worldwide and the efficacy of China’s vaccines is questioned. Many businesses expect that China may retain stringent travel restrictions through February 2022, when Beijing will host the Winter Olympics.
- China reopens terminal at world’s third-busiest port: The Meishan terminal at Ningbo port reopened this Wednesday following a two-week shutdown that further snarled already stressed shipping routes in Asia. The terminal, representing a quarter of the Ningbo-Zhoushan port’s capacity, was shut from Aug. 11 after a worker was found to be infected with COVID-19. This was the second closure of part of a port in China this year due to a COVID outbreak, after the month-long shutdown of Yantian port in Guangdong from late May. With demand for vessels and containers rising this year and companies ramping up exports to Europe and the U.S. for the year-end holiday shopping season, even a limited closure of part of a port is costly for both shoppers and shippers.
- Chinese airports toughen up quarantine rules: Airports around China are lengthening the amount of time some international aircrews and ground staff must spend in quarantine, after containment breaches sparked community spread of the highly infectious delta variant in several regions. Some regional regimes will see airport workers judged to be a higher risk isolated for up to 28 days after two weeks of work. These represent far tougher restrictions than those currently mandated by the country’s national aviation authority.
- China bans vaccination mandate for students: China’s Ministry of Education banned local requirements that students be vaccinated against Covid-19 before returning to school, stressing that inoculations should be voluntary. Earlier this month, the ministry urged local authorities across the country to promote vaccination of all eligible students below the age of 18 amid the recent domestic outbreaks but said the shots must be given only with the consent of students or their guardians. Recently, however, multiple local authorities mandated vaccinations for students and their parents as a requirement for returning to school. Some cities proposed to include vaccinations in personal credit records. The northeastern city of Jilin recently banned unvaccinated people from entering government facilities, banks, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and public entertainment venues and from using public transportation. A county in Henan province and a city in Guangxi province recently required students and their family members to have vaccination proof before they could be admitted to schools.
- Status of vaccination campaign: Over one billion Chinese citizens have received at least one COVID vaccine dose to date, accounting for one-third of total global vaccinations. China’s CDC has revised upwards its threshold to reach herd immunity from 70% to 80-85%. According to Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a key government advisor, China will be able to reach herd immunity by the end of this year. Zhong noted the efficacy of China-developed vaccines is about 70 percent, meaning the country would need more than 80 percent of the population to be vaccinated before establishing herd immunity.” China is well on its way to reach that goal by the end of 2021, Zhong said.
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics: China’s total COVID cases now stand at 107,102, an increase of 229 cases over the previous week. The number of reported deaths remained unchanged over the previous week, at 4,848.
- China’s vaccines and approval date: Sinopharm (approved Dec. 31, 2020); Sinovac’s CoronaVac (approved on Feb. 5); CanSino Biologics and a second Sinopharm vaccine (both approved in April). Three other vaccines have been approved in May and June.
- Post-COVID healthcare system upgrade: China will provide funding to build new institutions and infrastructure to fight infectious diseases and improve healthcare, the state planning body said in a "five-year plan" for the sector. The central government will subsidize the construction of new "prevention bases" for infectious disease and new grassroots medical facilities across the country, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in the plan, published this Thursday. It said China was facing difficult healthcare challenges, including new emerging infectious diseases, the increasingly heavy burden of chronic illnesses as well as the growing need for mental health services. "The public health system is in urgent need of improvement, and the ability to prevent, control and treat major epidemics is not strong," it warned. High-quality medical resources are also insufficient and not evenly distributed, and there are also gaps when it comes to treating women and children, it added.
- BioNTech vaccine: Chinese regulators completed an expert review of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech and Fosun Pharma and the shot is now in the administration review stage, Caixin reported. China hasn't approved any COVID-19 vaccine developed overseas but has greenlighted several domestic brands. Chinese authorities plan to use the vaccine, which goes by the brand name Comirnaty, as a booster shot for people who have received inactivated-virus vaccines, people close to regulators told Caixin. Most people in China have received inactivated-virus vaccines made by Sinovac and state-owned Sinopharm Group that have demonstrated lower efficacy than mRNA vaccines.
- China’s own mRNA vaccine: China’s first messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine, is expected to start phase three tests in many overseas countries soon, the chief executive officer of Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, the vaccine’s developer, said this week. Together with Chinese clinical contract research organization Tigermed, Abogen is preparing to conduct overseas Phase III clinical trials using 28,000 volunteers in countries including Mexico, Columbia and Pakistan. The vaccine can be stored at temperatures of between two and eight degrees centigrade for at least seven months, making it convenient for mass distribution. The clinical trials will not select specific variants, and will also not reject any strains, Ying told Yicai Global. The Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu province-based firm is also developing a separate mRNA vaccine candidate that will target the variants that were first found in South Africa and India.
- Vaccine diplomacy: CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged to provide two billion doses of COVD-19 vaccines to the world by the end of this year. Xi also declared that the COVAX global vaccine distribution initiative would receive a donation from China of $100mln. China has already supplied over 770 million vaccine doses to other countries, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Revised U.S. intelligence agency community report on COVID’s origins: U.S. President Joe Biden received a copy of the updated findings and was briefed on the classified report last Tuesday. The intelligence community has been "working expeditiously" to prepare an unclassified version for the public, Psaki said without giving a timeline for its release. U.S. officials say they do not expect the review to lead to firm conclusions after China stymied earlier international efforts to gather key information on the ground. The U.S. report is intended to resolve disputes among intelligence agencies considering different theories about how the coronavirus emerged, including a once-dismissed theory about a Chinese laboratory accident.
- As China continues to push its own lab-leak theory: The South China Morning Post reports that Beijing, in seeking to counter the hypothesis that the virus may have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is pushing its own hypothesis that the virus originated from Fort Detrick, about an hour’s drive from Washington and the original home of the US biological weapons program. While most Americans may be unfamiliar with Fort Detrick, hundreds of millions of Chinese netizens are familiar with the Detrick name and its supposed links to COVID-19, mostly thanks to China’s so-called Wolf Warrior diplomats. They have said dozens of times in social media posts and press conferences that Fort Detrick, half a world away from China in the state of Maryland, needs to be investigated as a potential source of the virus.
- China’s economy: China's businesses and the broader economy came under increasing pressure in August as factory activity expanded at a slower pace while the services sector slumped into contraction, raising the likelihood of more near-term policy support to boost growth. The world's second-biggest economy staged an impressive recovery from a coronavirus-battered slump, but momentum has weakened recently due to domestic COVID-19 outbreaks, high raw material prices, slowing exports, tighter measures to tame hot property prices and a campaign to reduce carbon emissions. The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) fell to 50.1 in August from 50.4 in July, holding just above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.
- US will limit some Chinese passenger air carriers to 40% capacity: The US Transportation Department on Wednesday said it will limit some flights from Chinese carriers to 40% passenger capacity for four weeks after China imposed similar limits on four United Airlines flights. China told United on August 6 it was imposing sanctions after it alleged five passengers who traveled from San Francisco to Shanghai tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21. The US order said the department will limit over a four-week period each of four Chinese carriers to 40% capacity on a single China-US flight. United Airlines said it was "pleased to see this action by the (Transportation Department) in pursuit of fairness in this important market." The US government says China's "circuit breaker" policy violates the nations' air services agreement and "places undue culpability on carriers with respect to travelers that test positive for COVID-19 after their arrival in China." The limits come as many Chinese students are headed to the US for the start of fall classes.
- U.S.-China relations: The prospect of Xi Jinping holding a face-to-face meeting with Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Italy this autumn have dimmed. While Beijing is yet to reach a final decision, the leadership leans towards China’s president attending via a video link rather than flying to Rome for the summit on October 30-31. Virtual attendance would mean there would be no opportunity at the summit for the Chinese and US leaders to hold their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became US president on January 20. While any decision for Xi to not go to Rome for the summit would be partly because of safety concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, it also reflects the lack of progress made to restart the stalled China-US relationship.
- Staff Contact: Kyle Churchman (kchurchman@advamed.org)
India
- Weekly COVID-19 statistics – : 32,810,845 total cases, 389,583 active cases/439,529 deaths/ discharged 32,028,825 (John Hopkins & MoHFW) as compared to 32,512,366 total cases, 333,725 active cases/436,365 deaths/ discharged 31,788,440 (John Hopkins & MoHFW) last week. 663,037,334 people have been vaccinated.
- The phase II trials of India’s first intranasal vaccine against Covid-19 being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, commenced at city’s Prakhar hospital on Tuesday. Kanpur is the only centre in the state where intranasal vaccine trials against Covid are being done. As many as 30 volunteers consisting of doctors, their family members and others were administered the first dose of the intranasal vaccine.
- Healthcare workers and frontline workers were the very first priority groups identified when Covid vaccination started in mid-January, but more than seven months on, nearly one in five healthcare workers and over a quarter of frontline workers have not yet got their second shots, official data shows. A closer look shows widely differing coverage levels in states with Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Delhi having the lowest coverage.
- Hospital sector witnessed a spike in COVID-19 occupancies during Q1 FY2022 in line with the active cases in India that touched an all-time high in May 2021, peaking at more than 4x the first wave peak. The overall occupancy levels were supported by longer average length of stay for COVID patients even as localised lockdowns resulted in a sequential decline in non-COVID occupancies to a certain extent, ICRA credit rating agency indicated.
- Even as the pace of Covid vaccination has increased significantly, low coverage among elderly above 60 years of age – who are most vulnerable to the SARS-CoV2 infection - in certain states have raised concerns amid looming fear of a third wave. States like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal with considerably large population of 60 plus years have significantly low coverage of Covid vaccination doses per 1,000 population in this age category, according to ORF's Covid vaccine tracker.
- Single dose of Covishield vaccine after Covid-19 infection gives “hybrid immunity” that is more potent than two jabs or infection alone, shows a new study from Kerala. The study results show that patients who received a single dose of Covishield after they had Covid-19 infection had 30 times higher antibody levels in comparison with those who received two jabs but were not infected. In the viral neutralization assay, those with hybrid immunity could neutralize the virus much better than those who have received two doses of vaccine or had prior infection alone.
- Enthused by the 20.1 per cent expansion of the Indian economy in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, India Inc on Tuesday, August 31 said the number reflects that the economy being hit by the pandemic has bounced back. Industry chamber CII said it is good to note the impressive bounce-back of the GDP growth despite the adverse impact of the second wave of the pandemic on the economic activity.
- The government is constantly engaging with stakeholders across sectors to ensure economic revival is adequately supported, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday, August 31. “Revival of the economy, for various other reasons, requires a certain kind of support,” Sitharaman said at the webinar organised to make the healthcare sector aware about the government’s loan guarantee scheme.
- India’s Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), Mr. Krishnamurthy Subramaniam on Tuesday, August 31 reaffirmed government’s prediction of a V-shaped recovery. He mentioned that the Gross nonfunctioning assets (NPAs) declined from 11.2 % to 7.4% in March 2021.
- The government plans to maximize coverage of the first dose of Covid vaccination by September-October to ensure a considerable adult population is fully vaccinated, or has received at least one dose, by the end of this year. With increased pace of vaccination and improved supplies, the government is expecting some states to cover a significant proportion of the adult population with one dose by October itself.
- India's rising output of COVID-19 vaccines and the inoculation of more than half its adult population with at least one dose are raising hopes the country will return as an exporter within months, ramping up from early next year. After donating or selling 66 million doses to nearly 100 countries, India barred exports in the middle of April to focus on domestic immunization as infections exploded, upsetting the inoculation plans of many African and South Asian countries.
- A health ministry official on Thursday, August 26 said pharmaceutical company Cadila Healthcare will supply coronavirus vaccine for children between 12 and 17 from October. Reports said the details of Covid-19 vaccination of children between 12 and 17, including prioritising those with health complications, will be announced before the Zydus Cadila vaccine is rolled out in October.
- Staff Contact: Abby Pratt (apratt@advamed.org).
Japan (No updates this week)
Korea
- South Korea has 1,956 new COVID cases, which is consistent with their levels over the last few weeks. The country’s numbers are concerning but remain overall low.
- Korea’s cases appear to have stabilized after some recent increases. Cases remain persistently above the early summer numbers, but don’t appear to be spiking dramatically. Korea now has 255,401 total cases, 26,876 active with 2,303 deaths. Total cases per million population have remained low compared to most of the world but Korea is now approaching the 5K threshold with 4,977 cases per million. (S. Korea ranks still as one of the lowest among the more highly populated countries). Deaths per million remain comparatively low as well at just 45.
- South Korea officials credit strict social distancing measures as the reason they are not seeing greater spikes. Authorities plan to announce additional restrictions that will be applied later in September, in preparation for anticipation large scale travel for the upcoming Chuseok holiday.
- South Korea has administered approximately 44,519,263 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with 31.7% of its eligible population fully vaccinated. An additional 25.7% have received partial (1 shot).
- Some 1 million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine arrived in South Korea Thursday. But concerns remain that if more shipments do not come in on schedule, the nation’s vaccination plan could face setbacks ahead of the Chuseok holiday. Moderna has promised to supply 7.01 million doses, the majority of which are set to arrive in batches through Sunday. If all those shipments come in on time, 70 percent of the nation can receive their first coronavirus shots before the Chuseok holiday as scheduled. But doubts still remain as arrivals have been delayed due to supply disruptions.
- Senior Health Ministry official Son Young-rae dismissed the concerns Thursday. “The government has never failed to present and achieve its inoculation goal,” he said. “We inform you that there is no problem in achieving the goal.”
- Health authorities added around 1.5 million doses of vaccines will arrive from Romania in the coming weeks. The batch includes 450,000 doses of Moderna vaccines donated to South Korea by Bucharest.
- Hyundai Heavy Industries announced a blueprint to usher in a paradigm shift in the global shipbuilding industry of its planned market debut on the South Korean main board Kospi on Sept. 16. The major shipbuilder here unveiled its vision of being a first mover for eco-friendly ships during an online press conference with reporters Thursday, while also detailing specific plans for its initial public offering. “Developing eco-friendly and digitalized vessels, constructing smart shipyards and investing in hydrogen infrastructure in the ocean are our three key businesses to achieve the vision,” said Han Young-seuk, chief executive officer of Hyundai Heavy Industries.
- Of the 1.08 trillion won ($930.5 million) in IPO proceeds that the company aims to raise, about 760 billion won will be used for preemptive investments in future technologies. It is a part of the firm’s effort to pivot to environmental, social and governance-led businesses, the chief said. The shipbuilder seeks to maximize its profitability through high-value vessels such as hydrogen-fueled ships and ammonia-powered ships, and concentrating on electric power solutions. It also looks to advance digitalized ship technologies to accelerate its entry into the autonomous navigation market.
- The greater Seoul area, the epicenter of the latest wave of the outbreak, has been under the Level 4 distancing measures, the highest in the country's four-tier system, since July with most other areas being under Level 3.
- 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. However, some people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in countries other than Korea will be exempt from the 14-day self-quarantine requirement, meaning they can move around freely as soon as they enter the country. A similar exemption has been in place since May for those who were vaccinated in Korea.
- The new exemption applies only to people who were fully vaccinated at least two weeks before traveling to Korea. It also applies only to those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine that is approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization. The list includes those from Pfizer, Janssen, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Covishield. All international arrivals still have to show a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departing for Korea. Without one, you can still be refused entry.
- The exemption also only applies to those visiting Korea for business or academic purposes, for the public interest or to visit immediate family members. Otherwise, you still have to self-quarantine for two weeks upon entry. Immediate family members are defined as spouses, lineal ascendants or descendants, and lineal ascendants or descendants of spouses. You will have to fill out forms and prove your intent to visit them. The necessary forms are available online from Korean embassies and consulates abroad or other government agencies.
- Those coming from countries experiencing the spread of certain COVID-19 variants are also ineligible for this exemption.
- Resources: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/.
- Staff Contact: Joseph Gatewood (jgatewood@advamed.org).
ASEAN (No updates this week)
Europe
- Europe this week is showing some improvement. The UK is a notable exception, as it now leads Europe in new daily cases. Italy and Spain are showing remarkable reductions in daily cases, and Poland, formerly a hot spot, has seen its numbers drop dramatically. The UK has the unfortunate distinction of reporting the most deaths in Europe (other than Russia).
- 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. We will start again next week with prior week comparisons. France 17,621; Spain 6,818); Russia 18,368; UK 35,693; Italy 6,503; Germany 14,615; and Belgium 1,854.
- In terms of total cases in Europe, see chart below for the specific numbers. Russia is first, UK second, France, Spain and Italy round out the top five. Germany is now 6th, followed by Poland, Ukraine and the Netherland. The Czech Republic takes the 10th Poland and Ukraine have shown dramatic decreases in their new cases.
- In terms of cases per million in Europe, Czech Republic is the 4th highest in Europe with 156,490. Netherlands is 8th with 113,154, Sweden is 10th with 110,196. Spain remains at 12th with 103,940. Belgium has dropped to 15th with 101,701. France has moved up to 13th with 103.654. The UK is 16th at 99,925, and Italy is in good shape, comparatively, at 29th with 75,325.
- Russia's reported numbers on COVID remain problematic, now just shy of 7 million, the most in Europe and fourth worst in the world (behind the USA, India, and Brazil). Russia deaths per day remain very high compared to the rest of Europe, at 790. The official COVID-19 death toll in Russia now stands at over 184,000, fifth highest in the world behind US, Brazil, India, Mexico and Peru. The real tally for Russia is likely to be much higher. By comparison, Germany, with roughly 3 million fewer cases, reports 92,757 deaths and a death rate of 1,103 per million.
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