Weekly COVID-19 incidence across the globe has been increasing rapidly over the past six weeks and it was Europe’s steep rise in new cases that contributed almost one-quarter of the week’s 3.3+ million cases registered (WHO Epi Update Nov 3). Switzerland has now entered the top 10 countries for per capita incidence, according to the Nov 2 JH newsletter, after it recorded a 43 percent increase in new cases for the week and France reported a new high of more than 52,500 daily cases on Nov 3. While in the US, which ranks #1 globally for new cases, the biggest rise in confirmed cases among children occurred at the end of October, with the total for the month nearing 200,000. Read more.
The WHO’s IHR committee met last week, determining that ‘the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a PHEIC’ and issued advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR (2005). Read more
In related news:
-Analyses of COVID-19 infection fatality ratios (IFR) published by Imperial College, London, found ‘the risk of death doubling approximately every eight years of age’. An IFR of 1.15 percent was estimated for high income countries, but in low income countries (which tend to have a younger population), the ratio was estimated to be 0.23 percent.
-Kenya has vaccinated 40 frontline health workers in Kalifi County with the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine candidate (developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with AstraZeneca) in the first local trial.
-As summarised in a The Lancet communication, findings from a study undertaken in Singapore reported ‘Among non-household contacts, exposure to more than one case, being spoken to for 30 min or longer by an index case, and sharing a car with an index case were associated with SARS-CoV-2 transmission; whereas sharing a bedroom and being spoken to by an index case for 30 min or longer was associated with SARS-CoV-2 transmission among household contacts.’
-UK health authorities are developing guidelines on the treatment of ‘long covid’ which will be the subject of frequent review/update as more data are received. The post-covid syndrome will apply to symptoms that appear during, or just after the infection, and persist for at least 12 weeks with no alternate diagnosis. Read more
-COVID-19 Antibodies may last longer than researchers thought Read more
-Mock voyages are part of the US CDC’s framework to recommence cruises once initial measures are tackled: demonstrated ‘adherence to testing, quarantine and isolation, and social distancing requirements to protect crew members while they build the laboratory capacity needed to test crew and future passengers’. The agency ‘will help ships prepare and protect crew members’ in the early phases of the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order.
Before you travel, call Travelvax Australia’s telephone advisory service on 1300 360 164 (toll-free from landlines) for country-specific advice and information. You can also make an appointment at your nearest Travelvax clinic to obtain vaccinations, medication to prevent or treat illness, and accessories for your journey.