Covid-19 pandemic could have been prevented, says report

The world had ignored warnings which resulted in the outbreak of Covid19 and the international system could have prevented it from escalating into the devastating pandemic an independent global panel concluded on WednesdayThe Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response IPPPR in its report said ldquoIt is clear to the Panel that the world was not prepared and had ignored warnings which resulted in a massive failure an outbreak of SARSCOV2 became a devastating pandemicrdquoAfter analysing the early response to the Covid19 outbreak the probe panel concluded that ldquothe international system could have been different and prevented it from escalating into the devastating pandemic it becamerdquoThe panel concluded that the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern PHEIC did not lead to an urgent coordinated worldwide response ldquoIt was not until the number of Covid19 cases increased dramatically and Covid19 had spread internationally that governments took serious action to prevent transmissionrdquo the panel saidIt further said that countries that devalued science failed to build trust in their response and pursued inconsistent strategies that left them lagging behind the epidemic and with high infection and death rates To avoid future pandemics the panel called for the setting up of a highlevel Global Health Threats Council led by Heads of State and GovernmentUK officials review variantThe number of people infected with Covid19 in England fell by almost half over the past month marking lowest Covid19 cases since last year according to new statistics released on Thursday The Imperial College London led Realtime Assessment of Community Transmission REACT1 study comes as it emerged the governmentrsquos Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies SAGE was to meet on Thursday to discuss the Variant of Concern VOC first identified in India which UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said was of ldquoincreasing concernrdquo as it may be ldquoconsiderably more transmissiblerdquo than the dominant variant first detected in the county of Kent last year It is feared the June 21 date set in UK governmentrsquos complete lockdown easing roadmap may be impacted by the SAGE analysislsquoVaccines approved by US work against B1617 variantrsquoCovid19 vaccines approved by the United States like Pfizer Moderna and Johnson and Johnson have effectiveness against the B1617 variant of the virus that is predominant in India a top American health official said The observation is based on latest data about the variant and the three major vaccines approved by the US said Dr Francis Collins Director of the National Institute of Science ldquoThe data is coming in and it looks very encouraging that the USapproved vaccines the Pfizer the Moderna the JampJ do have effectiveness against this variant called B1617rdquo Collins told media ldquoItrsquos a little less effective in that case than some of the others but it looks like it ought to be good enough to make Americans protected And thatrsquos really a good thing to hearrdquo he said627977No of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours159949065Total no of cases worldwide3322439Total no of deaths worldwideSource WHOJohns HopkinsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever