Olympics Day 5: Tokyo’s Daily Covid Cases Now Highest In The Pandemic

Reuters: Olympic Host Tokyo Hits Record 2,848 COVID-19 Cases, Seeks More Hospital Beds
Tokyo's 2,848 daily coronavirus infections on Tuesday were the Olympic host city's highest since the pandemic began, officials said, as media reported that authorities had asked hospitals to prepare more beds for patients. Japan has avoided the devastating outbreaks suffered by other nations such as India, Indonesia and the United States, but the fifth wave of the pandemic fueled by the Delta variant is piling pressure on Tokyo's hospitals. (Nussey and Slodkowski, 7/27)

NBC News: 'Severe' Covid-19 Cases Surge In Tokyo During Olympics
Serious Covid-19 cases are surging in Tokyo while the Olympics are going on, the city's governor said Tuesday as the Japanese capital recorded a record number of new infections. The rising number of "severe" cases is forcing local hospitals to add new beds to treat new patients, governor Yukio Koike said. Meanwhile, new daily Covid-19 cases hit 2,848 in Tokyo, exceeding 2,500 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, according to Tokyo's officials. (Siemaszko and Yamamoto, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Team USA Trails In The Other Tokyo Olympics Medal Table: Vaccinated Athletes 
Team USA athletes’ vaccination rate of 85.5% seems wildly successful by public-health standards, and far better than the overall U.S. rate of 57% of people who have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. In the context of the world’s other prominent national Olympic committees, however, the U.S. doesn’t sniff the vaccination-rate medal stand. Ten national Olympic committees said that 94% or more of their Olympic athletes have been vaccinated, and two of those said they had reached 100%, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of 25 of the largest delegations at the Tokyo Games.  (Bachman and Kantchev, 7/27)

AP: Alternate Olympic Surfer: Rival 'Selfish' For COVID Report
An aggrieved Olympic surfing alternate forced into a futile race against time to catch a wave in Japan is slamming a competitor’s officials as “selfish” for not being transparent about his rival’s positive COVID-19 test that cost him a shot at the sport’s historic Summer Games debut. Angelo Bonomelli, 30, is the frustrated Italian surfer who, by a hair, missed out on the sport’s Olympic debut because Portugal’s Frederico Morais, 29, waited until the last minute to disclose his reported infection — despite the long list of coronavirus rules, restrictions and realities set for the Tokyo Olympics. That meant it became impossible for Bonomelli or the next eligible alternate, Carlos Munoz of Costa Rica, to make it to Tokyo on time, which ultimately left a startling hole in the surf zone Sunday, the first day of the men’s inaugural Olympic surfing competition. (Ho, 7/27)

In other global developments —

Reuters: Antibodies From Sinovac's COVID-19 Shot Fade After About 6 Months, Booster Helps - Study 
Antibodies triggered by Sinovac Biotech's (SVA.O) COVID-19 vaccine declined below a key threshold from around six months after a second dose for most recipients, although a third shot had a strong booster effect, according to a lab study. Chinese researchers reported the findings from a study of blood samples from healthy adults aged between 18-59 in a paper published on Sunday, which has not been peer reviewed. (7/27)

Politico: Africa Wants To Produce A Coronavirus Vaccine — And Big Pharma’s Not Happy 
Africa is poised to make a bold move that could turn around its fortunes in coronavirus vaccine manufacturing — taking the continent from import dependence to self-sufficient production of life-saving jabs for coronavirus, TB and maybe even one day for HIV. Two manufacturers are establishing an mRNA vaccine technology-transfer hub at the tip of the continent that could let it produce its own vaccines, on its own terms. It's a way to address just how exposed countries are if they don’t have their own vaccine manufacturing capacity. Africa imports about 99 percent of routine immunizations — and is the least vaccinated against coronavirus in the world.  (Furlong, 7/26)

Bloomberg: Covid Vaccine Maker BioNTech Attempts Shot for Malaria Next
BioNTech SE will seek to follow its successful Covid-19 vaccine with a shot to prevent malaria, marking its first solo project and first new infectious-disease effort since the pandemic began. The German biotech aims to start patient trials of a malaria shot by the end of next year. Backed by the World Health Organization, European Commission and the kENUP Foundation, the project will simultaneously seek to build out the infrastructure needed to produce any successful malaria shot, and other messenger RNA vaccines, in Africa, BioNTech Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin said. (Kresge, 7/26)