Keeping tabs on Covid-19: A mixed picture around the world

As some countries drop Covid-19 restrictions, WHO issues warning

The UK, Ireland, Norway and Belgium are among the countries beginning to ease Covid-19 restrictions as a drop in the number of infections indicates that the latest wave of the virus has peaked.

Meanwhile, the Omicron variant is surging in other parts of the world. New Zealand, Japan, Poland and Russia are reporting record numbers of infections, while Germany and China are among the nations ramping up pandemic measures.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that governments must not assume the pandemic is coming to an end, with more variants likely to follow Omicron.  

Speaking at the opening of the WHO Executive Board meeting, he said: "There are different scenarios for how the pandemic could play out and how the acute phase could end. But it's dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the end game." 

He added that the world would be "living with Covid for the foreseeable future".

Ghebreyesus remarked: "Learning to live with Covid cannot mean that we give this virus a free ride. It cannot mean that we accept almost 50,000 deaths a week from a preventable and treatable disease."

Merck agrees deal to make generic anti-viral pill for poorer nations

A generic version of Merck’s anti-viral pill to treat Covid-19 will be available at low cost in 105 low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa.

Around 30 manufacturers will produce generic versions of molnupiravir, thanks to a deal negotiated by Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), an agency backed by the UN.

Manufacturers will be able to sell the drug priced at US$20 for a course of 40 pills for five days, far less than the $700 it costs in the US. Merck will not receive royalties for the sale of the drug for as long as Covid-19 is classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the WHO.

Also in the news

• COVAX needs $5bn to continue delivering Covid-19 vaccinations to low- and middle-income nations. Dr Seth Berkley, chief executive officer at Gavi, one of the organizations co-leading the initiative, has said COVAX is “basically out of money”.
• The WHO has officially recommended two new drugs to treat Covid-19: GSK-Vir’s sotrovimab and Lilly’s baricitinib, usually given to patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
• University of Bristol researchers in England have found that coronavirus loses 90 percent of its ability to infect within 20 minutes of being airborne, with most of the loss occurring within the first five minutes.