COVID-19 Activity Escalating in Africa, Middle East
It said global attention surrounding declining COVID-19 activity in Europe seems to obscure the fact that virus levels are climbing in other parts of the world, including the Eastern Mediterranean region, where activity has accelerated over the past 3 weeks.
More than half of the region’s cases over the past week were from three countries: Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. And COVID-19 activity is on the rise in several more, which the WHO said are worrying developments.
Easing restrictions increases the risk that cases will increase, and the WHO urged countries to do evidence-based risk assessments before scaling back their measures. In other developments, almost all countries in the region have put measures in place regarding public use of masks, and about 40 hospitals in the region are participating in the WHO-led Solidarity trial to test treatments against the virus.
ECDC: Most European Countries Past Peak
In an updated risk assessment today, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said COVID-19 incidence in European Union countries and the United Kingdom have declined by 80 percent since the peak on April 9. The proportion of global cases from the European region has declined from 41 percent in the middle of April to 14 percent on June 9. The initial wave has passed its peak in all countries except for Poland and Sweden.
It said there’s a risk that people might not adhere to measures that are still in place, due to the summer holiday period and “isolation fatigue,” and that countries need to keep up their efforts to maintain distancing and infection prevention and control steps. “The pandemic is not over, and hypothetical forecasting indicates a rise in cases is likely in the coming weeks,” the ECDC said.
In other international COVID-19 developments:
· Beijing today reported its first local COVID-19 case in 2 months, CBS News The patient, a 52-year-old man who had not traveled, was diagnosed after he sought care at a clinic for a fever. He is hospitalized, and two family members are under medical observation.
· Russia today rolled out a drug it approved to treat COVID-19, Avifavir, which in earlier reports was said to be similar to the antiviral drug favipiravir, Reuters The health ministry approved the drug on an accelerated basis, and health officials said initial deliveries went to hospitals and clinics. Russian officials said plans are for ChemRar, the drug’s maker, to produce enough to treat 60,000 people a month. Russia is the third worst-hit country, and its cases have now topped 500,000.
· Paraguay has used isolation camps, mostly military run, to quarantine incoming travelers in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. And though the strategy has won praise and helped the country keep its total low compared to many of its Latin America neighbors, some are raising concerns about conditions in the camps, Reuters reported. Some who have stayed at the camps note crowded conditions and confinement for several weeks, with scarce information. The country has recorded 1,202 cases, more than half of them from the containment camps.
