Severe reinfection with South African SARS-CoV-2 variant 501Y.V2: A case report
https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab129/6132402
Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases, 10 February 2021
Reinfections
Rare albeit probably underestimated
Confirmed cases worldwide, 31
In most cases less severe than the initial infection
A case of severe SARS-CoV-2 reinfection with South African variant 501Y.V2
September, mild COVID-19, no genomic sequencing
58-year old immunocompetent male
History of asthma
December, tested negative twice
January 2021, 129 days later, recurrent dyspnea and fever
K417N, E484K and N501Y in RBD
5 others in spike protein
Seven days later, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome
Requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation
SA variant not previously associated with more severe disease
Dexamethasone and tocilizumab
Antibody testing was positive for IgG against SARS-CoV-2
Peru
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/15/peru-foreign-minister-resigns-over-covid-vaccine-scandal
Foreign minister, vaccinated last month, resigned
Health Minister, resigned
Early vaccination of senior officials
Hospitals overwhelmed
Health workers rolling, from February 8, 300,000 doses
Australia
Victoria
UK variant, 16 cases
Cluster, workers at a quarantine hotel at Melbourne airport
Five day lockdown
Two new cases of locally transmitted infections, 3 year old
New Zealand
Three unexplained cases
One family
Airline catering laundry worker
Three-day lockdown in Auckland
Japan
Approves BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine
Starting next week
Small sample size of the extra trial
Germany
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-angela-merkel-vows-to-improve-coronavirus-vaccine-rollout-but-warns-of-mutations/a-56556191
disappointment
at full capacity, end of March / April
smart to avoid a third wave, March 7th
UK, Ten day hotel quarantine starts today
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56064759
England, red list of 33 countries
Scotland, all international arrivals
£1, 750
£650 for additional adult
Priority groups
Vaccinations
First dose, 15,062,189
Second dose, 537,715
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-care-home-and-healthcare-settings-posters/covid-19-vaccination-first-phase-priority-groups
Starting group 5
All those 65 years of age and over
Next, group 6
Adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group
Excess mortality reveals Covid’s true toll in Russia
https://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1740-9713.01486
1 January 2021, Deaths
Russia 57,600 deaths (0.04% of population)
Peru (0.12%)
Spain (0.11%)
UK (0.11%)
USA (0.11%)
Excess mortality in Russia from April to November
Excess deaths, 264,100
Estimate of excess mortality is 6.5 times than the 40,500 deaths reported
April to November, 0.18% of the country’s population
Ratio of 6.5, largest ratio across all countries
Daily reported death count for Russia, one of the least reliable indicators of epidemiological situation across all countries
By comparison
US, x 1.3
Mexico, x 2.5
Italy, x 1.7
UK, x 1.5
Spain, x 1.4
Iran, x 2.4
Germany, x 1.2
Poland, x 2.9
South Africa, x 2.1
Russia, 14th February 2021
Population, 144 million
Official death figures, 78,825 (JH)
X 6.5 = 512,362
0.35% of population
Source