“Injecting, ingesting, snorting household cleaners is dangerous. It is not advised and can be deadly.”
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 1,506th day.
In news we cover today, two million people in the United Kingdom have Long Covid, the WHO expanded its definition of an airborne pathogen, a second successful kidney xenotransplant took place, and four years ago today, public health officials in one state were urging the public not to inject or ingest household chemicals.
TODAY IN COVID HISTORY
On April 25, 2020, the director of the Illinois Public Health department, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, said at a news conference that there had been a significant increase in calls to poison control in the state in the last two days. The calls concerned one individual who had used a detergent based solution for a sinus rinse, and another person who had gargled with a bleach and mouthwash mixture to kill germs, Ezike said.
She urged people to not use cleaning chemicals to try and kill the virus.
“Injecting, ingesting, snorting household cleaners is dangerous. It is not advised and can be deadly,” Ezike warned.
The CEO of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a non-profit put together organization formed to speed the development of vaccines, put forward what was then considered a radical idea, that was starting the manufacture of coronavirus vaccines even before the first phase of human clinical testing was complete.
The state of Hawaii reported a 98% decrease in travelers arriving at airports since the state’s 14-day quarantine rule was put in place, Governor David Ige announced at a press conference. The governor also extended the state’s stay-at-home order from April 30 to May 31.
In the United Kingdom, health officials launched mobile Covid testing units for workers on the front lines.
“Everyone who needs a coronavirus test should be able to have access to one,” said Testing Minister Lord Bethell. “New mobile testing units will travel the country to provide vital frontline workers with tests so those testing negative to safely return to work. Testing is key in our battle against coronavirus. We now have the ability to provide more people with the certainty they need to get back to the front line when it is safe to do so.”
Then U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he would soon return to work after having been hospitalized with a severe case of Covid.
Finally, as of this date, there were at least 933,050 cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 53,391 people had died.
LONG COVID
Two million people across England and Scotland are currently suffering from Long Covid, of whom 381,000 have had their day-to-day activities limited significantly, according to an official study published on Thursday.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics said 3.3% of people surveyed between February 6 and March 7 reported having Covid symptoms that had lasted more than four weeks since an initial infection and were not explained by another medical condition.
The data showed that 9.1% of those who were not working or looking for work reported Long Covid symptoms, nearly triple the rate among the population as a whole.
UNITED STATES
As of April 19, more than twice the number of adults in the country have received a flu shot – 48.5% – than received the latest coronavirus vaccine, a figure that stands at only 22.8%, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A new study from the CDC focusing on vaccination coverage and rates of SARS – CoV-2 infection in nursing homes found that fewer than half of all nursing home residents – 40.5% to be exact – were up to date with the coronavirus vaccine shots. The study covered the period from October 2023 through February 2024.
GLOBAL NEWS
The World Health Organization issued a new report in which it sought to clarify what counts as a pathogen that can spread through the air. The WHO loosened the definition of airborne pathogens – which include SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and measles – to include when respiratory droplets spread through the air and when they land on a person, regardless of the size of the droplet.
The move was taken to cut down on the confusion around how to “describe the transmission of pathogens through the air that can potentially cause infection in humans,” it said.
According to the new report, the phrase “transmission through the air” can be used to describe when infectious respiratory particles become airborne and spread, and the subcategories of “airborne transmission” and “direct deposition” can both fall under this blanket phrase.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
On the heels of a successful gene-edited pig kidney transplant, surgeons at NYU Hospital announced the transplant of a gene-edited pig kidney in tandem with a mechanical heart pump implant.
The patient, 54-year-old Lisa Pisano, suffered from both kidney disease and heart failure. Under the Food and Drug Administration’s compassionate use policy, doctors first surgically implanted the electric heart pump, followed by the pig kidney eight days later.
The procedure marks the second time that a successful gene-edited pig kidney xenotransplant has taken place.
PANDEMIC STATISTICS
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending April 13, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on April 19 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 3.4%, and the trend in test positivity is -0.1% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 0.4%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -19.9%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 6,604, a figure that is down 13.8 % over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 1.0%, a figure that is down 9.1% in the same period.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine at press time, 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 7,278 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 April 14, 2024, only Turkmenistan in Central Asia is only state that has not reported any cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections whatsoever, although it is strongly suspected that the virus is present there. Meanwhile, the last territory in the world to have its first ever SARS-CoV-2 infection was Tokelau, a dependency of New Zealand that reported its first five cases on December 21, 2022.
Where Has All the Data Gone?
We regret to inform that, as of April 15, 2024, the Global Daily Statistics data in the Coronavirus Daily News Brief are no longer being updated. Over the past 15 months, as more politicians and governments sought to place SARS-CoV-2 in the rear-view mirror, pandemic data reporting sputtered out and we are now at the point where it is simply not feasible to provide statistically valid case data on a global scale.
We are developing potential new and authoritative sources that we will present once they have been properly vetted, so stay tuned to this space. In the meantime, our Long Covid and pandemic coverage will remain much the same.
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Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this issue.
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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