Corona injuries exceed 86 million ... a race towards vaccines and closures in Britain and Lebanon

Corona virus infections around the world exceeded the barrier of 86 million, Tuesday, according to data from the "World Meter" website, which specializes in monitoring virus statistics, at a time when the countries of the world continue to race towards obtaining vaccines developed against the virus, which prompted many of them to close borders again.

The site data showed that HIV infections around the world amounted to 86 million 105,851.

The United States topped the list of injuries, registering 21 million and 353 thousand and 51, followed by India (10 million and 357 thousand and 567), then Brazil (7 million and 754 thousand and 560).

Turkey ranked seventh, with a total of 2,255,607 injuries.

While the total Corona deaths around the world reached one million 860 thousand and 540, and those recovering 61 million and 57 thousand and 700 people, as of Tuesday morning, according to the same source.

The United States topped the list of countries that witnessed the most cases of recovery from Corona, recording 12 million 736 thousand and 512, followed by India (9 million and 975 thousand and 958), and Brazil is third (6 million and 875 thousand and 230).

Close

Britain imposed the lockdown again on Tuesday to combat the acceleration of the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic with the emergence of the new mutated virus, while Germany is preparing to extend its restrictions.

Britain - which has so far recorded more than 75,000 deaths - is one of the countries in Europe most affected by the pandemic.

The situation in it worsened with the outbreak of the new strain of the virus, which led to an increase in the number of infections to more than 50 thousand new cases per day, reaching about 59 thousand cases yesterday, Monday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed yesterday that "it is clear that we need to do more", announcing the imposition of closures in all parts of the country from Wednesday dawn until mid-February, while schools will be closed from today.

In Scotland, northern Britain, the first day of total isolation begins Tuesday, with schools also closed, after Northern Ireland and Wales took the initiative to impose a third closure immediately after Christmas ends.

In parallel, Britain is continuing the vaccination campaign intensively with the start of the use of the vaccine developed by the British "AstraZeneca" laboratories with the University of "Oxford" (Oxford).

The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is inexpensive (about 2.5 euros per dose) and can also be stored in regular fridges, unlike the vaccines Moderna and Pfizer-Biontech, which need to be used. Store them in special refrigerators where temperatures are very low (20 degrees below zero for the first and 70 degrees below zero for the second).

While more than a million people in Britain have so far received the Pfizer-Bionic vaccine since the vaccination campaign began in early December, the authorities have requested 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to store, making it more suitable for a large-scale vaccination campaign. .

On Monday, Mexico became the fourth country to ratify the use of this vaccine, after Britain, Argentina and India.

Her government has reached an agreement with the billionaire charitable organization Carlos Slim, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford to produce the vaccine in its territory and Argentina, and to distribute it on a non-profit basis in Latin American countries except for Brazil.

Under the deal, Mexico will receive 77.4 million doses of the vaccine.

In light of the acceleration of injuries, the Lebanese authorities announced yesterday the re-closure of the country from Thursday until the first of next month, at a time when the Japanese government announced that it was "studying" to impose a state of emergency again in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Germany and America

Germany is expected to extend restrictions on movement beyond the tenth of this month, and Chancellor Angela Merkel and the sixteen states will make a decision in this regard during a video conference on Tuesday, in which most states are likely to agree to an extension of the measures until the end of the month.

Germany is an example in Europe to contain the virus, unlike Britain, but it suffers severely from the second wave outbreak, especially in its north, and its toll for the first time exceeded a thousand daily deaths on the 30th of last month, and the total number of infections rose to more than 34 thousand deaths out of about 1775 injuries Since the start of the epidemic.

Merkel, who remains very popular less than a year before leaving the chancellery, was unable to impose tougher measures in the early fall on states that fear a decline in economic activity.

The management of the second wave is now attracting criticism in the media, and Die Welt newspaper described it as a "major failure".

For its part, the Netherlands decided to provide a two-day vaccination campaign, to start Wednesday in the last country of the European Union to start immunizing its citizens.

Returning to the United States, health officials said that more than two-thirds of the Corona vaccines that were shipped inside the country, totaling 15 million doses, were not used, at a time when the rulers of New York and Florida states pledged to punish hospitals that do not rush to give vaccinations.

On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that hospitals should use vaccines within a week of receiving them, otherwise they will face a fine or reduce their supplies in the future, hours before the announcement of the state's first infection with a mutated strain of the fastest spreading virus that had first appeared in Britain.

Indonesia

Today, Tuesday, Health Minister Bodi Gonadi Sadikin said that his country will start, on January 13, a mass vaccination campaign to prevent Covid-19 disease.

The minister added in a statement that the program begins in the capital, Jakarta, and President Joko Widodo will be the first to receive the vaccine dose, indicating that vaccination campaigns are scheduled to start in other parts of the country for the next two days.

The government stated earlier that 1.3 million medical workers, who are fighting the Corona pandemic, will be among the first to receive the vaccine manufactured by the Chinese company Sinovac.

On Monday, the American pharmaceutical company Moderna said that Tel Aviv had permitted the use of its vaccine to prevent Covid-19 in Israel, which represents the third license for the vaccine and the first outside North America.

"The Israeli Ministry of Health has requested 6 million doses, and the first deliveries are expected to begin in January," Moderna said in a statement.

The company has obtained a license for its vaccine in the United States and Canada, and additional licenses are being reviewed in the European Union, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.