Feds Unprepared to Meet First U.S. Evacuees from Wuhan Last Year
More than 120 countries have called for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, with many governments accusing China of not doing enough to contain its spread.
Letitia James, the New York state attorney general, said Thursday the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo has severely undercounted the state’s COVID-19 nursing home deaths. She suggested that the count was off by as much as 50%.
New York’s Health Department corroborated James’ suspicions later Thursday, adding more than 3,800 deaths to nursing homes, increasing the nursing home death toll by 40%.
The new nursing home number does not change New York’s death toll, however, but it does bring into question the state’s policy of returning nursing home residents who had been treated in hospitals for COVID back to the nursing homes. Cuomo maintains he was following federal guidelines.
Health officials in South Carolina say they have detected two cases of the South African COVID-19 variant, the first cases in the United States.
So far, the variant does not appear to cause more serious illness, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement that “preliminary data suggests this variant may spread more easily and quickly than other variants.”
“That’s frightening,” because it means there are likely more undetected cases within the state, Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases physician at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said in an interview with CBS News. “It’s probably more widespread.”
Officials say the two South Carolina cases do not appear to be connected or travel related.
It is normal for viruses to mutate. So far, variants from Britain and Brazil have also been discovered.
Japan’s top government spokesman said Thursday that AstraZeneca will make more than 90 million doses of its vaccine in Japan.
“We believe it is very important to be able to produce the vaccines domestically,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters.
Like many countries already carrying out vaccination campaigns, Japan plans to prioritize front-line medical workers when it begins administering the shots in late February.
Japan has arranged to buy 120 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. The vaccine requires a two-shot regiment for each person.
The European Union and AstraZeneca clashed this week after the company said it would have to cut planned deliveries to the EU due to production delays.
EU officials are demanding the doses be delivered on time and have threatened to put export controls on vaccines made in EU territory.
This article is published courtesy of the Voice of America (VOA).
