Tulips at the 2024 Tulpenfest in Amsterdam
Good afternoon. This is Jonathan Spira, director of research at the Center for Long Covid Research, reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on its 1,492nd day.
In news we cover today, a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention killed off a widespread right-wing conspiracy theory that attempted to link mRNA vaccines with sudden cardiac death, Senator Bernie Sanders released a draft of his planned $10 billion Long Covid research legislation for discussion, and Paxlovid may not be as effective as originally thought in fending off symptoms in lower risk individuals.
TULPENFEST – AMSTERDAM’S TULIP FESTIVAL
Tulips are considered a harbinger of spring, and Amsterdam’s Tulpenfest, or tulip festival, is in full bloom, just as tulips across the Northern Hemisphere are starting to appear, ready to show their brilliant colors to all who take a moment to stop and smell the, ahem, tulips.
Or, as mathematics professor and musical satirist Tom Lehrer put it…
Spring is here
A-suh-puh-ring is here
Life is skittles and life is beer
I think the loveliest time
Of the year is the spring
I do, don’t you?
‘Course you do
TODAY IN COVID HISTORY
On April 12, 2020, the figures relating to the global coronavirus pandemic were indeed grim.
Covid had infected 1.7 million people and killed over than 110,000 across the globe. The United States had as of this date more than half a million cases and New York state alone had more cases than any other country. In addition, as of the prior day, the United States led the world in Covid deaths and that unfortunate leadership position remains unchanged four years later.
Also as of a report released on this date, 18% of the New York Police Department’s 6,522 uniformed members were out sick, most with Covid. Some 2,344 uniformed members and 489 civilian members gad tested positive for coronavirus, the report said.
Finally, the Chinese government tightened its grip on the publication of pandemic-related research papers.
China imposed restrictions on academic research on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, according to a central government directive and online notices published by two Chinese universities. The new policy required all academic papers on Covid-19 to be subject to extra vetting before being submitted for publication. Studies on the origin of the virus were to receive extra scrutiny and had to be approved by central government officials, the directives, which were removed from the two sites within a day of publication, said.
LONG COVID
Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled a draft of his long-awaited Long Covid ‘moonshot’ bill to direct $10 billion to address the devastating condition.
The move comes after his heavily covered Senate hearing in January on Long Covid, which included moving testimony from individuals and members of Congress who either have Long Covid or who have a family member who has the condition.
Sanders, who is the chairman of the Senate health committee, is now seeking feedback from the Long Covid community on the proposal. Once passed, the legislation would appropriate $10 billion in mandatory funding for the National Institutes of Health over the next decade to bolster its response to the condition through several new initiatives. However, the reactions to Sanders’ draft reveal significant and enduring divisions among Long Covid advocacy groups.
UNITED STATES
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study that showed no link between coronavirus mRNA vaccines such as those from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and cardiac arrest in young people.
The findings put to rest a popular right-wing vaccine conspiracy theory.
The study, entitled “Assessment of Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death Among Adolescents and Young Adults After Receipt of COVID-19 Vaccine – Oregon, June 2021–December 2022” and published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, focuses on people who got an mRNA coronavirus vaccine and died within 100 days of being inoculated. Out of 40 deaths that occurred among people who got an mRNA Covid vaccine, three occurred within that time frame and none of the death certificates attributed the fatalities to the vaccine.
A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the antiviral Paxlovid may not be as effective at fending off SARS-CoV-2 symptoms in some people as scientists had previously hoped. Researchers at Pfizer, which had developed Paxlovid, assessed participants enrolled in a phase 2-3 trial and found that both vaccinated people with a high underlying risk for severe infection and unvaccinated people with a low risk for severe infection experienced symptoms for roughly the same duration regardless of whether they took Paxlovid.
However, the study confirms that the antiviral is still quite effective in older or immunocompromised people who are at a high risk of hospitalization from SARS-CoV-2.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, April 12.
As of Friday, at press time, the world has recorded 704.75 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of less than 0.01 million in the last 24 hours, and 7.01 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 675.62 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.01 million in the same period.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls as well as the occasional downward or upward adjustment as corrections to case figures warrant.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Friday at press time is 22,123,398, a decrease of 4,000 in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,088,604, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 34,785, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 19 months.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Friday, recorded 111.82 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.22 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 45.04 million, and the world’s fourth highest death toll, 533,570.
The last data made available by Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service in July 2022 showed that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in the country was 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat has not released any additional data on the death toll in Russia since then.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 40.14 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.83 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 711,380, has recorded 38.74 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 34.57 million cases, as number six; Japan, with 33.8 million cases placing it in the number seven slot; and Italy, with 26.72 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.91 million, and Russia, with 24.12 million, as nine and ten respectively.
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending April 6, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on April 12 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 3.4%, and the trend in test positivity is -0.4% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 0.5%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -14.8%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 7,318, a figure that is down 9.8% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 1.1%, a figure that is down 8.3% in the same period.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Friday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.57 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 5,896 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 32.7% 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 at or below 10%.
In addition, with the beginning of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, 2023, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines in any significant number.
Finally, as of March 31, 2024 , only the following countries and territories have not reported any cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections whatsoever:
Antarctica
British Antarctic Territory
Peter Island
Overseas
Bouvet Island
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Prince Edward Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
The Coronavirus Daily News Brief is a publication of the Center for Long Covid Research. www.longcov.org
If you have Long Covid and need to talk to someone, call the Long Covid Patient Peer Counseling Phone Line, or HOPELINE. The HOPELINE is our free, confidential support and information service.
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