Tag: COVID19

Biden Checks Favourable for COVID-19, Returns to Isolation

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By ZEKE MILLER and JOSH BOAK, Associated Push

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden examined beneficial for COVID-19 all over again Saturday, marginally extra than a few days immediately after he was cleared to exit coronavirus isolation, the White Property explained, in a scarce scenario of “rebound” subsequent remedy with an anti-viral drug.

White Dwelling medical professional Dr. Kevin O’Connor explained in a letter that Biden “has knowledgeable no reemergence of symptoms, and continues to truly feel rather perfectly.” O’Connor stated “there is no rationale to reinitiate treatment method at this time.”

In accordance with Centers for Condition Handle and Avoidance suggestions, Biden will reenter isolation for at minimum 5 times. He will isolate at the White House right until he assessments destructive. The agency suggests most rebound scenarios continue to be delicate and that critical ailment in the course of that interval has not been noted.

Phrase of Biden’s constructive exam arrived — he experienced been destructive Friday morning — just two hrs after the White Household introduced a presidential check out to Michigan this coming Tuesday to emphasize the passage of a bill to promote domestic superior-tech manufacturing. Biden had also been scheduled to check out his house in Wilmington, Delaware, on Sunday morning, in which very first girl Jill Biden has been keeping while the president was positive. The two visits have been canceled as Biden has returned to isolation.

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Biden, 79, was dealt with with the anti-viral drug Paxlovid, and examined damaging for the virus on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was then cleared to go away isolation when sporting a mask indoors. His good exams places him between the minority of these recommended the drug to experience a rebound case of the virus.

White Residence COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha instructed reporters on July 25 that info “implies that between 5 and 8 p.c of people today have rebound” immediately after Paxlovid procedure.

“Acknowledging the potential for so-identified as ‘rebound’ COVID positivity noticed in a tiny proportion of sufferers handled with Paxlovid, the President increased his tested cadence, to guard folks all over him and to guarantee early detection of any return of viral replication,” O’Connor wrote in his letter.

O’Connor cited destructive exams for Biden from Tuesday night, Wednesday early morning, Thursday early morning and Friday early morning, ahead of Saturday morning’s good consequence by antigen tests. “This in reality represents ‘rebound’ positivity,”

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Statement on the twelfth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic

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The WHO Director-General has the pleasure of transmitting the Report of the twelfth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, held on Friday, 8 July 2022, from
12:00 to 15:30 CEST.

The WHO Director-General concurs with the advice offered by the Committee regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and determines that the event continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The WHO Director-General considered the advice provided by the Committee regarding the proposed Temporary Recommendations. The set of Temporary Recommendations issued by the WHO Director-General is presented at the end of this statement.

The WHO Director-General is taking the opportunity to express his sincere gratitude to the Chair, and Members of the Committee, as well as to its Advisors.

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Proceedings of the meeting

On behalf of the WHO Director-General, the Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Michael J. Ryan, welcomed Members and Advisors of the Emergency Committee, all of whom were convened by videoconference.

Dr Ryan expressed concern regarding the current global COVID-19 epidemiological situation. Cases of COVID-19 reported to WHO had increased by 30% in the last two weeks, largely driven by Omicron BA.4, BA.5 and other descendent lineages and the lifting
of public health and social measures (PHSM). This increase in cases was translating into pressure on health systems in a number of WHO regions. Dr Ryan highlighted additional challenges to the ongoing COVID-19 response: recent changes in testing policies
that hinder the detection of cases and the monitoring of virus evolution; inequities in access to testing, sequencing, vaccines and therapeutics, including new antivirals; waning of natural and vaccine-derived protection; and the global burden of
Post COVID-19 condition.

The Ethics Officer from the Department of Compliance, Risk Management, and Ethics briefed Members and Advisers on their roles and responsibilities. Members and Advisors were also reminded of their duty of confidentiality as to the meeting discussions
and the work of the Committee, as well as their individual responsibility to disclose to WHO, in a timely manner, any interests of a personal, professional, financial, intellectual or commercial nature that may give rise to a perceived or direct conflict
of interest. Each Member and Advisor who was present was surveyed. No conflicts of interest were identified.

The Representative of the Office of Legal Counsel briefed the Members and Advisors on their roles and responsibilities and

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WHO: Almost 15 million fatalities linked with COVID-19 | Health and Conditioning

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LONDON (AP) — The Environment Wellness Firm estimates that practically 15 million individuals had been killed possibly by coronavirus or by its influence on overcome well being techniques all through the 1st two yrs of the pandemic, a lot more than double the existing official dying toll of around 6 million.

Most of the fatalities happened in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas, in accordance to a WHO report issued Thursday.

The U.N. wellness agency’s director-typical, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, explained the freshly calculated determine as “sobering,” stating it ought to prompt international locations to spend much more in their capacities to quell upcoming well being emergencies.

WHO tasked scientists with identifying the real quantity of COVID-19 deaths amongst January 2020 and the stop of last yr. They estimated that amongst 13.3 million and 16.6 million folks died both due to the coronavirus directly or mainly because of components somehow attributed to the pandemic’s affect on overall health techniques, this kind of as most cancers individuals who ended up unable to seek out treatment when hospitals have been total of COVID people.

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Based mostly on that selection, the researchers came up with an approximated complete of 14.9 million.

The estimate was centered on nation-noted details and statistical modeling, but only about 50 percent of international locations delivered details. WHO mentioned it wasn’t but ready to crack down the information to distinguish in between direct deaths from COVID-19 and those similar to consequences of the pandemic, but the company ideas a upcoming challenge examining death certificates.

“This might seem like just a bean-counting exercise, but possessing these WHO quantities is so significant to knowledge how we need to battle future pandemics and carry on to respond to this just one,” mentioned Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disorders professional at the Yale School of General public Wellbeing who was not connected to the WHO investigation.

For instance, Ko explained, South Korea’s conclusion to devote closely in community wellness soon after it endured a significant outbreak of MERS allowed it to escape COVID-19 with a per-capita loss of life price about a 20th of the a person in the United States.

Accurately counting COVID-19 deaths has been problematic during the pandemic, as studies of verified conditions represent only a portion of the devastation wrought by the virus, mostly mainly because of confined

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COVID-19 Pandemic’s Effect on Overall health Treatment System Documented in Good Wellness Report

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A new Honest Overall health white paper made up of the fifth yearly version of FH Healthcare Indicators and FH Medical Cost Index was launched, displaying a extraordinary increase in telehealth utilization from 2019 to 2020.

Telehealth utilization grew nationally 7060% from 2019 to 2020 (Determine 1), an increase driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed on certain in-workplace providers, coupled with the bigger possibility of infection from in-particular person encounters. This is among the results in a new Truthful Health and fitness white paper containing the fifth annual version of FH Healthcare Indicators and FH Health-related Rate Index. Like the preceding editions, this year’s edition of FH Healthcare Indicators and FH Clinical Cost Index is supposed to give clarity to all well being treatment stakeholders in a quickly shifting healthcare atmosphere.

FH Health care Indicators

FH Healthcare Indicators expose traits and patterns in the areas where by patients get overall health care. Focusing on choice destinations of service—retail clinics, urgent treatment centers, telehealth, and ambulatory surgical procedures centers (ASCs)—as very well as unexpected emergency rooms (ERs), FH Healthcare Indicators appraise changes in utilization, geographic and demographic aspects, diagnoses, processes, and expenses.

Among the other key results:

  1. Telehealth utilization enhanced nationally 41,919% from 2015 to 2020, a more than 40-fold improve over the advancement of 1019% percent from 2014 to 2019 claimed in final year’s edition.
  2. In all other places of company studied for improvements in utilization, utilization diminished from 2019 to 2020, likely due to the influence of COVID-19. Utilization fell 38% in ASCs, 30% in ERs, 16% in urgent care centers, and 4% in retail clinics.
  3. In 2020 as in previous a long time, more assert lines were being submitted for females than males in most age teams in the locations of company in which Fair Wellbeing analyzed gender-linked patterns—retail clinics, urgent care facilities, telehealth, ASCs, and ERs.
  4. On the other hand, in some sites of assistance, these as retail clinics, urgent care centers, ASCs, and ERs, the gap between males and women narrowed. For instance, in ERs, in the age team 61-70, the male and woman shares had been about equal (50%) in 2020, a alter from 2019, when the woman share had been 52% and the male share 48%. This craze bears checking in the upcoming.
  5. In 2020, publicity to communicable conditions joined the list of the most typical diagnostic groups in
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Vietnam drops COVID-19 limitations for overseas website visitors | Health and Health

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HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam on Wednesday scrapped quarantine and other journey limits for foreign visitors in an exertion to completely reopen its border just after two several years of pandemic-related closure, the government claimed.

Site visitors coming into the Southeast Asian place only will need to clearly show a adverse COVID-19 take a look at prior to arrival, in accordance to the Overall health Ministry, which mentioned the new measures were being powerful quickly.

Website visitors have to observe their individual well being all through the initially 10 times of their stay and notify professional medical experts in Vietnam if they knowledge any COVID-19-like indicators.

Vietnam also reinstated visa exemptions and the issuance of visas on arrival related to their pre-pandemic position.

Vietnam shut its border and stopped issuing tourist visas in March 2020 to incorporate the spread of the coronavirus. It partially reopened to global tourism last November for visitors traveling in rigorous bubbles.

In Hanoi’s Outdated Quarter, in which streets were bustling just before the pandemic, numerous outlets have closed due to a deficiency of travellers. The number of that keep on being open are battling.

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“It has been pretty hard. Small business is so slow due to the fact there are no foreign tourists,” reported Tuyet Lien, the owner of a shop offering silk and other souvenir goods.

“I’m pretty excited the nation is reopening entirely. The visitors will arrive again shortly and company will thrive all over again,” Lien additional.

The tourism market comprised virtually 10% of the country’s economic system ahead of the pandemic.

“We believe that Vietnam is immediately modifying to be better aligned with other world destinations that have reopened for tourism. We continue being constructive that inbound travel quantity will slowly rise,” stated Mathieu Le Besq, normal supervisor of Accor hotels in Vung Tau, a beach vacation resort town in southern Vietnam.

The reopening arrives as Vietnam studies report numbers of new COVID-19 infections, with a every day regular of virtually 200,000 circumstances above the previous two months.

Regardless of the superior an infection price, the Overall health Ministry claims the the vast majority of people have gentle signs from the omicron variant and do not call for hospitalization.

Vietnam has administered above 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, masking 80% of the country’s 98 million individuals, in accordance to the

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COVID-19 and resilience of healthcare systems in ten countries

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Using administrative and RHIS data from ten countries, we assessed the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on a spectrum of health services. We estimated the immediate effect after the declaration of the pandemic on 11 March 2020 and assessed whether services had returned to pre-pandemic levels by the last quarter of 2020. We found declines of varying magnitude and duration in every country. Effects were heterogeneous across countries, and we found no clear patterns in disruptions by country income group or according to the severity of COVID-19 epidemics. The health systems most affected included those in Chile, Haiti, Mexico, Nepal and South Africa. By contrast, Ethiopia and South Korea, which represent the poorest and richest countries, respectively, in our analysis, were among the least affected by health service disruptions.

The magnitude of health service disruptions at national levels also did not appear to be directly driven by COVID-19 severity. Of the ten countries included, six reported fewer than 2,000 cumulative cases per million in 2020 and even fewer deaths (Supplementary Table 3). Only 41 total cases were reported in Laos in 2020. Chile, Mexico, Nepal and South Africa faced higher COVID-19 caseloads, with peaks in June or July (or late October in Nepal). However, health service disruptions were largest in April and May 2020 in all countries, suggesting that they were not caused by overburdened health systems but rather by a combination of policy responses and demand-side factors. Several reasons for reduced healthcare use appeared common across countries: fear of contagion, inability to pay for healthcare due to loss of employment or remuneration, intentional suspension of routine care to leave room for patients with COVID-19, the redeployment of health workers or hospitals to COVID-19 care and prevention and the barriers imposed by COVID-19 lockdowns. Whether the type of COVID-19 response (for example, elimination versus steady-state strategies) or the stringency and length of COVID-19-related lockdowns were associated with the magnitude of disruptions remains unclear and should be investigated further.

On the other hand, we found patterns in disruptions according to the type of health service. Outpatient visits and hospital-based services (including emergency room visits, inpatient admissions, trauma care, accidents and surgeries) declined in every country reporting them, and these disruptions often persisted throughout the period analyzed. Other studies also reported declining inpatient admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic16,24. These declines may be explained, in part, by a reduction in need.

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