France’s COVID-19 deaths top 150,000

A man gets tested with an antigenic test for COVID-19 in Paris on July 6, 2022. (ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)

BOGOTA / PRAGUE / LUSAKA / PARIS / LOS ANGELES / LISBON – The total number of COVID-19 related deaths in France passed the 150,000 mark on Friday, after 74 deaths related to the virus were recorded in hospitals in the past 24 hours, announced the country's public health agency.

According to the French Ministry of Health, the number of COVID-19 tests reached 3 million in one week, and the number of 16 to 25 year-olds testing positive increased by 60 percent this week.

France's total number of COVID-19 related deaths hit the 140,000 mark on March 11, two years after the pandemic hit the country.

In another development, the administrative court of Nice delivered a decision on Friday suspending the mandatory wearing of face masks on public transport in the city, French news channel BFMTV reported.

Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi announced on Wednesday the return of masks on public transport, effective from next Monday, due to over 200,000 new COVID-19 cases in France in less than 24 hours.

However, the court said that the health situation in the municipality does not justify a different mandate from that in force at national level. Currently, the French government recommends, but does not oblige wearing a face mask on public transport.

The court said that it had taken into consideration the increase in COVID-19 cases in the region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, but that the number of cases admitted to intensive care in the region is low.

A nurse vaccinates a person against COVID-19 at the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, on March 11, 2022. (SCHNEYDER MENDOZA / AFP)

Colombia

Colombia has entered the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, so citizens should reinforce self-care measures and get vaccinated against the virus, Minister of Health and Social Protection Fernando Ruiz said Friday.

"Evidently we are in the fifth peak. It has been spreading in different cities, especially in urban areas … the number of deaths from yesterday (Thursday) indicates a relative stability compared to the previous week," Ruiz said.

The official pointed out that people over 70 years old were most affected when taking into account last week's death toll, while hospitalizations were up among unvaccinated young people.

"These two groups are highly sensitive. Young people, because a significant group has not been vaccinated, and in older adults, the issue of the booster is extremely important," he explained.

Ruiz also stressed the need to accelerate testing to identify new cases in time, emphasizing that although the Omicron variant of the virus is dominant in the country and less lethal than others, it can still cause complications.

The South American country registered 23,667 COVID-19 infections and 132 deaths in one week, bringing the total number to 6,198,848 cases and 140,202 deaths, according to the latest Health Ministry report.

A nurse treats a patient infected with the coronavirus in an intensive care unit (ICU) in the General University Hospital in Prague on Jan 26, 2022. (MICHEL CIZEK / AFP)

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic has recorded 1,549 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily count since the start of May, data from the country's Health Ministry showed Friday.

The daily number of infections in the Czech Republic started rising at the end of June. Last week, the country reported more than 1,000 daily cases for five consecutive working days.

The daily number of hospitalizations has also almost doubled in the past two weeks, from 134 on June 24 to 262 on July 7.

Authorities have said that the more contagious subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of the Omicron virus are to blame for the rise in infections.

Local media quoted the Health Ministry as saying that the number of infections would keep rising for several more weeks, but hospitals and intensive care units would be able to cope.

The Czech Vaccinology Society has recommended a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose for people over 60. It is also recommended for those over the age of 12 with a severe immunocompromising condition, and the health staff who work with such patients, as well as for those in social care facilities.

People wearing face masks ride the Gloria funicular in Lisbon on April 19, 2022. (ARMANDO FRANCA / AP)

Portugal

Portugal registered 65,364 COVID-19 cases in the week between June 28 and July 4, the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health (DGS) reported on Friday.

A total of 123 fatalities were recorded, down by 27 from the previous week, according to the daily epidemiological bulletin.

The bulletin showed that 1,213 people were hospitalized with complications from COVID-19, 228 fewer than the previous week.

An employee at the Afrigen biotechnology company and Vaccine Hub facility, works in a room housing the bio-reactor, in Cape Town, on Oct 05, 2021. A South African biotech consortium is gearing up to make Africa's first homegrown messenger RNA jab against COVID-19 in a bid to overcome unequal access to inoculations and help the continent towards vaccine autonomy. Backed by the World Health Organization, Cape Town-based Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines is leading the pilot project which will use reverse-engineering to try and get the formula from the Moderna mRNA vaccine. (RODGER BOSCH / AFP)

South Africa

South Africa's Afrigen Biologics Limited said on Friday that it will collaborate with US government researchers to develop mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.

The agreement will enable the sharing of scientific expertise, technical skills and materials with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help Afrigen produce mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases, said the Cape Town-based biotech start-up.

Last year, the World Health Organization picked a consortium of South African companies including Afrigen to provide poor and middle-income countries technology to make mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

The collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, will help Afrigen fast-track manufacturing for its vaccine's first clinical trial, said Afrigen managing director Petro Terblanche.

The partnership will also use the technology to study and develop vaccines for cancer and other diseases including HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and influenza, Afrigen said.

In this file photo taken on January 10, 2022, a health worker shows a vial of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus disease COVID-19 at a vaccination center in Santiago. (JAVIER TORRES / AFP)

United States

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it has granted full approval to Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents aged between 12 and 15 years.

The vaccine, sold under the brand name Comirnaty for adults, has been available under an emergency use authorization since May 2021 for the 12-15 age group. It will now be sold under the same brand name for adolescents as well.

The FDA said on Friday the full approval follows a rigorous analysis and evaluation of the safety and effectiveness data. The vaccine was approved for use in those aged 16 and older in August last year.

Meanwhile, according to data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, the newer and most contagious Omicron subvariants, known as BA.4 and BA.5, now made up over 70 percent of COVID-19 infections in the US.

The BA.5 subvariant accounted for 53.6 percent of new infections in the latest week ending July 2, while BA.4 accounted for 16.5 percent of the new infections, CDC data showed.

Zambia

Zambia will soon start administering Paxlovid, an oral antiviral pill, to people at risk of developing severe COVID-19 disease, its health ministry said on Friday.

Sylvia Masebo, the Minister of Health, said the ministry was working with other partners to start administering the oral pills following a steady rise in cases in order to prevent severe COVID-19 ,especially on people with underlying conditions such as diabetes, sugar disease, high blood pressure and HIV/AIDS, among others.

The minister further directed health facilities to start giving the injectable drug, Remdesivir, which was currently available in the country and limits the multiplication of the virus that caused COVID-19.

"I need to assure the nation that this drug is available in the country and is approved for use by the WHO (World Health Organization). It is a drug we should use to avoid any individuals becoming severely ill," she told reporters during a COVID-19 update press briefing.

Zambia's cumulative COVID-19 cases now stand at 326,794 following 143 new cases in the past 24 hours.

A total of 4,008 deaths have been recorded while 321,707 people have recovered since the first case was recorded in the country in March 2020.