Health Alerts

The spread of the Delta variant into at least 111 countries across all six WHO regions has seen COVID-19 case numbers increase by 10 percent in the last week – the only region not experiencing a rise in incidence is the Americas. Indonesia and the UK reported significant increases in new cases – 40 percent and 33 percent respectively – while Africa recorded the largest spike in deaths, up 50 percent on the previous week. Fiji was fifth overall on reported new cases per 100,000 population (after British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Cyprus and Jersey). Read more in July 13 WHO epi update and the WHO director-general’s media briefing on July 12.

Related news:

- In view of the outbreak of community acquired cases of the Delta variant in the Greater Sydney region, this week the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has issued updated clinical advice on vaccine use during these events.

- A July 8 NPR article provides more detail on the VOC expected to become the dominant variant globally over the coming months: ‘The Delta Variant Isn't Just Hyper-Contagious. It Also Grows More Rapidly Inside You’. 

-CIDRAP has reported on a study that found that people who had received a flu vaccination two weeks to six months prior to contracting COVID-19 ‘had less risk of sepsis, stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and disease requiring emergency or intensive care’. It also stated that ‘Flu vaccine was not linked with reduced risk of death’ and does not remove the need for COVID-19 vaccinations. More from EurekAlert.     

-Also from CIDRAP, a summary of findings from an Israeli study published in JAMA this week, in which two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Comirnaty, had an efficacy in preventing infection of 78 percent in pregnant women.

- Europe's Digital COVID Certificate came into use on July 1st. The certificate, which is free of charge and comes in paper or digital format, features a QR code to show proof of vaccination, testing negative or recovery from COVID-19 and is valid in all EU countries. Read more

-The Scientist publishes tracking details of COVID-19 vaccines that are currently in clinical trials, plus efficacy data and side effects for those that have been approved.

- To date, COVID-19 vaccines have mostly been known by their developers’/manufacturers’ names, however to avoid confusion in the future, the trademarked vaccine names are to become more prominent on the vial labels: Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) and Spikevax (Moderna). Read more. Read more.