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WHO: India Variant of 'Global' Concern

VOA News

   The World Health Organization said Monday that a variant of the
   coronavirus circulating in India is of global concern.
   "We classify it as a variant of concern at a global level," Maria Van
   Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing. "There is
   some available information to suggest increased transmissibility."
   India's daily COVID statistics are down slightly but remain high. The
   health ministry said Monday there were 366,161 new infections and 3,754
   deaths caused by the coronavirus in the previous 24-hour period. Public
   health experts say they believe the new cases and deaths are
   undercounted.

   India has 22.6 million COVID cases so far, according to the Johns
   Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Only the U.S. has more infections,
   accounting for 32.7 million of the world's 158.3 million COVID cases,
   the center reported.
   There is growing concern in India about a fungal infection affecting
   COVID patients and people who have recovered from the disease.
   Mucormycosis is caused by mold and can affect a person's facial
   structure and in some cases cause blindness. COVID patients with
   diabetes are particularly susceptible to mucormycosis, medical experts
   said.
   Nepal, struggling to combat an outbreak of the pandemic, is running
   short of oxygen and oxygen tanks. The Himalayan country has asked Mount
   Everest climbers and guides not to abandon their oxygen cylinders on
   the mountain and instead bring them back down so that medical
   facilities can fill them to give to COVID patients.
   Kul Bahadur Gurung, a senior official with the Nepal Mountaineering
   Association, told Reuters, "We appeal to climbers and Sherpas
   [Himalayan people living around Nepal and Tibet, well known for
   climbing mountains] to bring back their empty bottles wherever possible
   as they can be refilled and used for the treatment of the coronavirus
   patients who are in dire needs."
   A Nepal health ministry official said the country needs 25,000 oxygen
   tanks immediately, speaking to Reuters.
   EU summit, U.S. criticism
   On the second day of a summit in Portugal on Saturday, the European
   Union approved a contract extension with Pfizer-BioNTech to provide up
   to 1.8 billion additional doses of its vaccine through 2023.
   Pfizer has already provided the EU with 600 million doses, as required
   in the initial contract.
   Also at the summit, the U.S. faced mounting criticism from EU leaders
   over President Joe Biden's surprise endorsement last week of lifting
   COVID-19 vaccine patents to make more doses available to poorer
   countries.
   "We don't think, in the short term, that it's the magic bullet," said
   EU Council President Charles Michel.
   Michel and other EU leaders said the U.S. should, instead, start
   boosting vaccine exports to have maximum impact on the global pandemic.
   "I'm very clearly urging the U.S. to put an end to the ban on exports
   of vaccines and on components of vaccines that are preventing them
   being produced," French President Emmanuel Macron said.
   The U.S., like Britain, has limited exports of domestically developed
   vaccines so it can inoculate its population first. The EU has become
   the world's leading vaccine provider, distributing about 200 million
   doses to the 27-nation bloc and roughly an equal number to nearly 90
   countries around the world.
   Pope Francis said that he supports the temporary suspension of vaccine
   patents, according to news reports. He added that market forces, as
   they relate to vaccines, must not predominate.