Covid Surge May Be Flattening In Europe

Bloomberg: Europe Sees Early Signs Latest Virus Surge Is Leveling Off
Europe’s virus surge appears to be leveling off after governments across the continent clamped down with another round of tough measures, including lockdowns and restrictions on the unvaccinated. While the trend varies across countries, overall European Union numbers look to have hit a plateau. Austria and Germany have seen a dramatic shift, with the former’s seven-day case rate plunging by more than half since late last month. (O'Brien, 12/10)

Bloomberg: U.K. Omicron Spread May Be Faster Than In South Africa
The omicron strain may be spreading faster in England than in South Africa, with U.K. cases of the variant possibly topping 60,000 a day by Christmas, according to epidemiologist John Edmunds. It’s likely there are more omicron cases than confirmed by tests, Edmunds, who works at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said on a webinar organized by the Royal Society of Medicine on Thursday. The U.K. may be at risk of more hospitalizations because the average age of the population is higher than in South Africa, Edmunds also said. (Gretler, 12/10)

On vaccine equity around the globe —

The Washington Post: Warning Of Vaccine Inequality, WHO Again Avoids Endorsing Boosters For General Public
A World Health Organization advisory group has decided against endorsing a broad-based global rollout of coronavirus vaccine booster shots. The experts reiterated the wide disparity in access to vaccines between rich and poor countries and continued to recommend that first vaccine doses remain the priority. (Jeong and Suliman, 12/10)

The New York Times: What Data Shows About Vaccine Supply And Demand In The Most Vulnerable Places 
Most wealthy countries have vaccinated significant shares of their populations and have rapidly moved into the booster-dose phase. But one year into the global vaccine rollout, the gap between vaccination rates in high- and low-income countries is wider than ever. Poorly vaccinated countries face several challenges. Early in the rollout process, some countries were not able to secure enough doses to inoculate their residents, and many still face shortages. In others, supply is only part of the story. A New York Times analysis of available data highlights the countries where infrastructure issues and the public’s level of willingness to get vaccinated may pose larger obstacles than supply. (Collins and Holder, 12/9)

Bloomberg: Mexico’s Vaccine Stockpile Surpasses 50 Million Doses
Mexico’s stockpile of unused vaccine surpassed 50 million doses Thursday, according to Health Ministry data, as the country’s vaccination campaign lags regional peers. Mexico was the first Latin American nation to deliver a jab of vaccine against the coronavirus last December and the daily rate of doses administered peaked at more than 1.5 million in late July. The number of doses delivered daily has plunged since then and hasn’t hit 500,000 in the last seven days, according to the Health Ministry. (Quinn, 12/10)

In other global news about the coronavirus —

Bloomberg: Sinovac Vaccine Efficacy: Study Finds Longer Gap For Booster Improves Protection
A longer gap between second and third doses of China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine provides more protection against the virus than a shorter wait, according to a study published in medical journal the Lancet. Antibody levels in people who received a third dose eight months after their second dose rose more than twice as much as people who got a booster shot within two months of their second dose, according to researchers from Sinovac Biotech Ltd., Fudan University and several regional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (12/10)

Reuters: S.Korea To Cut COVID-19 Booster Shot Interval Again As Infections Rise 
South Korea will further cut the interval for coronavirus booster vaccines for all adults from four to five months to three, officials said on Friday, as it struggles to fight record levels of infections amid concerns over the Omicron variant. The move came three weeks after the government reduced the booster gap for people aged 60 and older and primary groups to four months from six. The interval for all other adults had been five months. (Shin, 12/10)

Bloomberg: Mouse With Covid Sparks Taiwan Alert After Biting Lab Worker
A mouse bite is at the center of an investigation into a possible new Covid-19 outbreak in Taiwan, after a worker at a high-security laboratory was confirmed as the island’s first local case in more than a month. The lab worker, a woman in her 20s, tested positive for Covid this week after coming into contact with the virus during her work at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institute, in mid-November, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a quickly organized briefing Thursday evening. She had not traveled abroad recently and had received two doses of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine. (Ellis, Wan and Matsuyama, 12/10)

AP: Pandemic Mystery: Scientists Focus On COVID's Animal Origins
Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the origin of the virus tormenting the world remains shrouded in mystery. Most scientists believe it emerged in the wild and jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another animal. Others theorize it escaped from a Chinese lab. Now, with the global COVID-19 death toll surpassing 5.2 million on the second anniversary of the earliest human cases, a growing chorus of scientists is trying to keep the focus on what they regard as the more plausible “zoonotic,” or animal-to-human, theory, in the hope that what’s learned will help humankind fend off new viruses and variants. (Ungar, 12/10)

In other news —

Reuters: Chinese Woman Dies From H5N6 Strain Of Bird Flu 
A woman in China's Sichuan province died from the H5N6 strain of avian influenza last month, a regional health bureau said this week, in the latest human fatality from the lethal disease. The 54-year-old woman from Zigong city developed symptoms on Nov. 17 and was admitted to hospital on Nov. 21. She died on Nov. 23, according to a Wednesday statement on the website of the health bureau of semi-autonomous region Macau. (12/8)

The Washington Post: Canada Bans LGBTQ ‘Conversion Therapy’ As France Moves To Criminalize It
Canada has approved a law banning “conversion therapy” and criminalizing profiting off the discredited, anti-LGBTQ practice with sentences of two to five years in prison. The legislation — which describes the practice as seeking to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender — makes promoting the practice a criminal offense and authorizes courts to order the removal of ads for it. The bill became law Wednesday after members of Parliament passed it unanimously this month. (Francis, 12/9)

The Washington Post: Mark Lenzi, Diplomat With Havana Syndrome, Sues State Department, Blinken 
A U.S. diplomat who says he suffers from a mysterious illness known as “Havana Syndrome” has sued the State Department and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for disability discrimination, alleging that he was poorly treated compared with colleagues who reported similar ailments, and that he suffered retaliation from the U.S. government. In a complaint filed Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Mark Lenzi also accused the State Department of initially downplaying the health risks of Havana Syndrome. He said an agency-affiliated doctor refused to diagnose him with the condition, meaning he received less support than other colleagues. (Cheng, 12/10)

Kansas City Star: Will Bob Dole’s Death Spur UN Disability Rights Treaty? 
Disability rights advocates say if lawmakers want to honor Sen. Bob Dole’s legacy, they should finally ratify a United Nations treaty on disability rights the Kansas Republican icon championed in his later years. But advocates acknowledge that passing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the evenly divided Senate will be difficult even with President Joe Biden’s backing. (Lowry and Desrochers, 12/10)