Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 870th day of the pandemic.
Please pass the popcorn.
If you thought that it might just be a spectacular coincidence that Pfizer and its vaccine partner BioNTech brought an mRNA coronavirus vaccine to market just as drugmaker Moderna did, it’s possible you are sadly mistaken.
Moderna filed two lawsuits in Massachusetts and Germany contending that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine violated Moderna’s mRNA patents.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based drugmaker developed its groundbreaking mRNA technology over an 11-year period and
The two lawsuits claimed that Pfizer and its development partner, BioNTech, had infringed on three patents that Moderna filed in the period from 2011 through 2016 related to its mRNA technology. One lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, where Moderna is based, and the other in the Landgericht Düsseldorf.. BioNTech is based in Mainz.
The outcome of the case could control whom other drugmakers will have to license mRNA technology from and whether Pfizer and BioNTech will have to license the technology from Moderna in order to continue manufacturing their life-saving Covid vaccines.
In news we cover today, Google workers are complaining that they are frequently notified of coronavirus exposures and homeschooling increased dramatically in the pandemic’s first two years.
Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.
UNITED STATES
New cases and deaths from Covid in Florida fell this week, as they did in much of the country. The Sunshine State recorded 89,145 new coronavirus cases and 1,014 new deaths from the virus over the past two weeks, officials there said Friday.
Perhaps to no one’s surprise, homeschooling grew in popularity during the first three years of the pandemic. The National Home Education Research Institute said that an additional one million pupils had joined the ranks of the homeschooled in the 2020-2021 school year.
Meanwhile, the governor of New Mexico, Lujan Grisham, said that she tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday. The 62-year-old said that she is fully vaccinated, including two booster shots and reported this is the first time she tested positive in the course of the ongoing pandemic. Grisham said she is only experiencing mild symptoms.and will isolate in accordance with CDC protocols.
Finally, if you haven’t ordered your free coronavirus test kits from the U.S. government, it may be too late. The Biden administration said Friday that it is suspending distribution of the at-home tests because it needs to create a stockpile for an expected surge of cases in the fall. It blamed Congress for failing to provide more funding that would continue to support the program.
GLOBAL
Foreign students are beginning to return to Chinese universities after a years-long absence. The students campaigned for the right to return by waging a campaign in the media and with Chinese consulates and embassies. Small but steady numbers of students are returning to their campuses after the required coronavirus quarantine period.
TECH
Workers at Google, who have been under a mandatory return-to-office policy since April, say they are receiving numerous Covid exposure notifications on a regular basis. Google’s offices in Los Angeles are currently experiencing the largest outbreak in the city, with 145 cases recorded according to the city’s public health website.
Meanwhile, a small number of Google employees is unhappy about the company’s mandatory vaccine policy to enter Google offices. They workers argue that outbreaks are still occurring even when only fully vaccinated individuals are allowed in offices.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Saturday, August 27.
As of Saturday morning, the world has recorded 605.2 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.7 million cases, and over 6.48 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 580.1million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.6 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Saturday is 18,584,689, a decrease of 91,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 18,541,237, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 43,452, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical is unchanged over the pat 24 hours.
The United States reported 100,346 new coronavirus infections on Saturday for the previous day, compared to 111,303 on Friday, 174,362 on Thursday, and 105,203 on Wednesday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 89,758. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 91,500, a 13% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 481, a decrease of 2% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the4period was 38,331, a 13% decrease.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Saturday, recorded over 95.9 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of close to 1.07 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.4 million, and a reported death toll of 527,597.
New data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed at the end of May that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 820,307, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat reported that 4,991 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in June, down from 7,008 in May and from 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, 34.45 million, although Brazil has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 683,484, and has recorded 34.37 million cases, placing it in the number four slot.
Germany is in the number five slot with over 32 million cases.
The other three countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are the United Kingdom, with 23.5 million cases, in sixth position, South Korea, with 22.9 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with over 21.7 million, as number eight.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Saturday, over 262.3 million people in the United States – or 79.1% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 67.4%, or 223.9 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 608.9 million. Breaking this down further, 90.1% of the population over the age of 18 – or 232.7 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77.3% of the same group – or 199.6 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 51.6% of that population, or 102.9 million people, has already received a third, or booster, dose of vaccine.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 67.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Saturday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 12.55 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 5.5 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 20.9% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain in the single digits, if not lower.
In addition, North Korea and Eritrea are now the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines.
Paul Riegler contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
All Rights Reserved Travel