As COVID-19 surges across much of Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday recorded the most cases in a single day, and its COVAX effort to speed the development and equitable global distribution of vaccines gained more steam with China's announcement that it has joined.
Pandemic cases climbed by 338,779 yesterday, with nearly 98,000 of them from the European region. The overall total is at 36,694,318 cases, and 1,064,204 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.
More record highs in Europe
Several European countries today reported new daily highs, such as Slovakia, where the government has called on the military to help at public health offices and hospitals, France, where hospitalizations are rising and officials expect to announce new restrictions, and Russia, which reported 12,126 new cases, including 3,701 in Moscow, the country's main hot spot.
In the United Kingdom, officials reported 17,540 new cases, up sharply by about 3,000 cases from the day before, with reports of rising hospitalizations.
In Spain, a clash between Madrid regional officials and the central government over a partial lockdown for the capital area took another turn after the regional court nullified the federal lockdown order. In an effort to counter the move, the central government declared a state of emergency to reimpose the lockdown, Reuters reported.
Italy, one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe's first wave, reported more than 5,000 cases today, its highest since the end of March.
And the European Commission yesterday announced a deal with Gilead to secure supplies of remdesivir for 36 countries, enough to treat 500,000 patients.
WHO: COVAX participants rise to 171
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, led off a WHO media briefing today by congratulating the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger.
In their announcement, Nobel officials mainly lauded the group for bettering conditions for peace in conflict areas and for preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. It also recognized the WFP for intensifying its efforts in the pandemic, especially in countries also grappling with conflict, such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Burkina Faso.
In new COVAX developments, Tedros said China, South Korea, and Nauru are the latest countries to join the COVAX Facility, bringing the number of countries and economies that are part of the WHO-led effort to 171. The effort's main goal is to ensure that 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses are made and distributed equitably by the end of 2021.
Tedros said the WHO also welcomes the announcement from vaccine developer Moderna that it would not enforce its patent rights over its COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. He added that the WHO is eager to learn more about what the announcement means for technology transfer, and he praised the company's move as an act of global solidarity.
