Global virus infections exceed 90 million

"Biontech" is likely to make two billion doses of its vaccine against "Corona" by the end of 2021

Britain waits for the worst weeks in the "Covid-19" pandemic ... while the health services face "a difficult time".

Yesterday, the German Biontech group expected that it would be able to manufacture "two billion doses" of the emerging coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2021, in a number higher than the previously mentioned (1.3 billion), while infection with the virus worldwide exceeded 90 million infections.

In detail, the American Pfizer Group participating in the production of a vaccine reached this new estimate after adopting a "new standard", allowing six doses of each bottle to be given instead of five, according to a document published on its website.

Biontec is also counting on "expanding its existing facilities", including the expected February operation of a new European production site in Marburg, Germany.

This new plant, which the group has described as a "major influencing factor", will allow "up to 750 million doses" to be added to the current production capacity.

The amount of available doses is one of the main challenges in the vaccination strategy against "Covid-19", at the global level.

Marburg, the second site in Germany, is expected to be able to produce an additional 250 million doses in the first half of the year, in a way that boosts the production of the Belgian plant in Bors, where the doses are manufactured for the European Union.

The German-American alliance also relies on three production sites in the United States.

Biontec's announcement comes after the European Commission announced, last Wednesday, a new agreement with the coalition, which provides for a pre-order of 200 million additional doses of the vaccine, with the possibility of ordering 100 million new doses.

On Friday, the European Medicines Agency said that six doses can be extracted from each package containing the "Pfizer - Biontech" vaccine against "Covid-19", provided that appropriate injections are used, which increases the ability to use the vaccines that were originally requested.

Vaccination campaigns are subject to various criticism in several European countries, especially in France, where the campaign was very slow, and in Germany, where doctors regretted not giving priority to medical staff, due to the lack of sufficient number of doses.

In London, the chief medical advisor to the British government, Chris Whitty, said yesterday that the country is waiting for the worst weeks in the "Covid-19" pandemic, while the health services face "a difficult time", after the number of deaths and injuries rose to record levels before launching a vaccination program. collective.

Deaths due to the virus have now increased to 81,000 in the United Kingdom, which is the fifth largest toll in the world, while more than three million have been confirmed infected with the disease.

A new highly contagious strain of the virus is spreading among the population, as one in 20 people has so far been infected in areas of London.

In an effort to contain the pandemic and try to restore some degree of normalcy by spring, Britain is pushing its largest vaccination program so far, through which it will provide doses to all those in the four priority groups, who number about 15 million, by the middle of next month.

But Witty warned that the situation will now deteriorate.

"The next few weeks will be the worst in this pandemic, in terms of numbers," he said.

A Reuters statistics showed that the number of global infections with the virus exceeded 90 million, yesterday, while the countries of the world rushed to arrange vaccines, and continue to extend or re-impose general isolation to combat new strains of the virus.

New strains of the virus were initially discovered in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and are rapidly spreading around the world.

The spread of the new Corona virus has accelerated in the past few months, and a Reuters census showed that about a third of the total infections had been recorded during the last 48 days.

Europe, which last week became the first region in the world to record 25 million infections, is still the worst affected region by the pandemic, followed by North America, and South America, with 22.4 million and 16.3 million infections, respectively.

Diab: Lebanon has entered a stage of grave danger

The head of the Lebanese caretaker government, Hassan Diab, confirmed yesterday that all indications about the outbreak of the Corona epidemic clearly indicate that Lebanon has entered the stage of severe danger, or are at the gates of this stage.

"The whole world is fighting a fierce war with this epidemic, and some in Lebanon believe that Corona is a lie," Diab was quoted by the National News Agency as saying, at the start of the Corona Ministerial Committee meeting yesterday.

He added, "Our duty is to protect the Lebanese from themselves due to the recklessness of a large part of them. Either we rectify the situation with a complete, strict and firm closure of the country, or we are facing a Lebanese model that is more dangerous than the Italian model."

Last Sunday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health announced the registration of 3,743 new cases of corona, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 219,296, and recorded 16 deaths, bringing the total deaths to 1606.

Beirut - Dr.

Wuhan is enjoying recovering from the epidemic a year after its first death

One year ago, China announced the first death from the new Corona virus in Wuhan, and after 12 months, the "Covid-19" epidemic claimed the lives of 1.9 million people around the world, and it is still continuing to spread without decline.

But in the central Chinese city, which has a population of 11 million where the epidemic began, the virus has been eliminated and residents are proud of its return to normal life.

Yesterday morning, the anniversary of the start of the outbreak passed unnoticed in Wuhan, as employees went to work as normal as parks crowded with pedestrians in a city determined to shed its stigma as the origin of the virus.

On January 11, 2020, Beijing announced the first known death of the emerging corona virus, which is of a 61-year-old man who used to frequent a market in the city that sold live wild animals intended for human consumption, and his name was associated with many of the first infections.

And this epidemic quickly spread to countries around the world, infecting and killing millions.

The name of the first known victim of the epidemic has not been announced, as all we know is that a 61-year-old man used to go to Huanan Market, which is still closed on Monday behind a long wall.

In the central Chinese city, which was the first area where quarantine was imposed, as of January 23, 2020, residents were devoted Monday morning to their normal daily concerns.

Staff headed to work, while others wandered along the riverfront, in sharp contrast to the scenery with countries still subject to strict lockdowns and restrictions.

Elderly couples danced with hands and put on masks, while the social distancing faded under the winter sun in a public park on the bank of the Yangtze River.

Wuhan - AFP

The amount of available doses is one of the main challenges in the global strategy of vaccination against "Covid-19".

Follow our latest local and sports news, and the latest political and economic developments via Google news