Health Alerts

New cases averaged out over the week have dropped to levels last seen in October in the US as the number of vaccines administered hit 248 million, according to CDC data. A mask mandate remains for passengers on all transportation networks to Sept 13 and the CDC has updated guidelines for international travellers: while testing is required for anyone arriving in the US by air, mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the US is waived for fully vaccinated individuals (only vaccines authorised by FDA and WHO). Also on the topic of easing of travel restrictions, news from the EU that ‘the commission proposes to allow entry to the EU for non-essential reasons not only for all persons coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation but also all people who have received the last recommended dose of an EU-authorised vaccine’. Read More

The WHO epi update on May 4 notes that India and Brazil account for more than half of last week’s cases, as both new weekly cases and deaths increased yet again across the globe, remaining ‘at the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic’ for two successive weeks.

In other news -

- Some US news sites are reporting that cruising out of the US may commence in mid-July, dependent on requirements set by the CDC. A number of clarifications of the Apr 2 additional guidance to the CDC’s Framework for Conditional Sailing Order have been provided to cruise lines. Read more

- The company behind the fourth vaccine for Australia’s roll-out, Novavax, is expected to file for regulatory approval in the US soon, with production to ramp up shortly afterwards throughout a network of facilities around the globe. Read more

- Exponential dynamics is used to explain the maths behind ‘the End of the Pandemic’ in a NY Times essay.

- Go Give One is a COVID-19 fundraising campaign with no borders created by the WHO Foundation. Through directly donating to COVAX, ‘the campaign calls on everyone, everywhere to play their part in helping to vaccinate the world’.