Daily Archives: May 7, 2022

Last updated 16 April 2020

On 31 December 2019, WHO was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. Chinese authorities identified the SARS-CoV-2 as the causative virus on 7 January 2020, and the disease was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by WHO on 11 February 2020. As part of WHOs response to the outbreak, a Research and Development (R&D) Blueprint has been activated to accelerate the development of diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for this novel coronavirus.

Under WHOs coordination, a group of experts with diverse backgrounds is working towards the development of vaccines against COVID-19.

The group makes a call to everyone to follow recommendations to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and protect the health of individuals. The group also thanks everyone for putting their trust in the scientific community.

We are scientists, physicians, funders and manufacturers who have come together as part of an international collaboration, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), to help speed the availability of a vaccine against COVID-19.While a vaccine for general use takes time to develop, a vaccine may ultimately be instrumental in controlling this worldwide pandemic.In the interim, we applaud the implementation of community intervention measures that reduce spread of the virus and protect people, including vulnerable populations, and pledge to use the time gained by the widespread adoption of such measures to develop a vaccine as rapidly as possible. We will continue efforts to strengthen the unprecedented worldwide collaboration, cooperation and sharing of data already underway. We believe these efforts will help reduce inefficiencies and duplication of effort, and we will work tenaciously to increase the likelihood that one or more safe and effective vaccines will soon be made available to all.

Randy A. Albrecht, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

Mohamad Assoum, Mercy Global Health

Luigi Aurisicchio, on behalf of Takis Biotech, Italy

Dan Barouch, Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, USA

Trevor Brasel, The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), USA

Jennifer L Bath, ImmunoPrecise Antibodies, Canada

Sina Bavari, Edge BioInnovation Consulting and Management, USA

Maria Elena Bottazzi, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA

Gerhard Beck,Austrian Medicines and Medical Devices, Austria

Tom Brady, Flow Pharma Inc, USA

Kate Broderick, Inovio, USA

Will Brown, Altimmune Inc, USA

Dirk Busch, Maura Dandri, Dirk Heinz and Hans-Georg Kraeusslich, on behalf of the German Center for Infection Research - DZIF, Germany

Scot Bryson, Orbital Farm, Canada

Ricardo Carrin, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, USA

Miles Carroll, Public Health England, UK

Keith Chappell, University of Queensland, Australia

Daniel S. Chertow, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Sandra Cordo, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Wian de Jongh, on behalf of the Prevent n-CoV consortium (AdaptVac, ExpreS2ion, Copenhagen University, Leiden University Medical Centre, Wageningen University and Tubingen University)

Natalie Dean, University of Florida, USA

Rafael Delgado, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Spain

Dimiter Dimitrov

David A. Dodd, GeoVax, Inc., USA

Paul Duprex, Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh, USA

Luis Enjuanes; Centro Nacional Biotecnologa, Spain

Jeremy Farrar, Josie Golding, Charlie Weller, on behalf of Wellcome Trust, UK

Mark Feinberg, Swati Gupta and Ripley Ballou, on behalf of IAVI, USA

Antonella Folgori, on behalf of ReiThera, Italy

Thomas Friedrich, University of Wisconsin, School of Veterinary Medicine, USA

Simon Funnel, Public Health England, UK

Luc Gagnon, Nexelis, Canada

Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

Vipin Garg, Altimmune Inc., USA

Volker Gerdts, on behalf of VIDO-Intervac, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Nora Gerhards, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, The Netherlands

Christiane Gerke, Head of Vaccine Programs/Head of Vaccine Innovation Development, Institut Pasteur, France

Carlo Giaquinto, Department of Women and Child Health, University of Padova, Italy

Prakash Ghimire, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Nikolaj Gilbert, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), USA

Sarah Gilbert, University of Oxford, UK

Marion F. Gruber, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Farshad Guirakhoo, GeoVax Inc, USA

Bart L Haagmans, Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands

M. Elizabeth Halloran, Center for Inference and Dynamics of Infectious Diseases, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and University of Washington, USA

Scott Harris, Altimmune Inc, USA

Hideki Hasegawa, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan

Richard Hatchett, on behalf of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Norway

James Hayward, Applied DNA Sciences, USA

Sheri Ann Hild

Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine, USA

Youngmee Jee, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Republic of Korea

Charu Kaushic, Institute of Infection and Immunity, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Government of Canada

Alyson A. Kelvin, Dalhousie University, Canada

Larry D. Kerr, Office of Global Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Bernard Kerscher, PEI, Germany

Jae-Ouk Kim, International Vaccine Institute, Republic of Korea

Seungtaek Kim, Institut Pasteur Korea, Republic of Korea

Jason Kindrachuk, University of Manitoba, Canada

Otfried Kistner, Senior Consultant and Independent Vaccine Expert, Austria

Gary Kobinger, Universit Laval, Canada

Marion Koopmans, Viroscience Department, Erasmus Medical Centre, The Netherlands

Jeroen Kortekaas, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, the Netherlands

Philip R. Krause, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Greg Kulnis, Nexelis, Canada

Paul Henri Lambert, Centre of Vaccinology, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Nathalie Landry, Medicago Inc., Canada

Roger Le Grand, Inserm-CEA-Universit Paris Saclay, France

Robin Levis, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Mark G Lewis, Bioqual Inc, USA

Joshua Liang, Clover Biopharmaceuticals, China

Jinzhong Lin, on behalf of Fudan University, China

Ira Longini, University of Florida, USA

Shabir Madhi, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Jessica E. Manning, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Peter Marks, Director, on behalf of Food and Drug Administration/Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research

Hilary D. Marston, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Federico Martinn-Torres, Hospital Clnico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, on behalf of the GISAID Initiative

John W. Mellors, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA

Ali Mirazimi, Department of Laboratory medicin, Karolinska institutet, Sweden

Kayvon Modjarrad, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, USA

Stefan O. Mueller, CureVac, Germany

Vincent J. Munster, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Csar Muoz-Fontela, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany

Aysegul Nalca, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), USA

Jos Manuel Ochoa, Altimmune Inc., USA

Dave O'Connor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Lidia Oostvogels, CureVac, Germany

Nisreen M. A. Okba, Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands

L. Jean Patterson, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Joe Payne, on behalf of Arcturus Therapeutics

Jonathan Pearce, on behalf of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK

Stanley Perlman, University of Iowa, USA

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Public statement for collaboration on COVID-19 vaccine ...

Provisional name given to any recently discovered coronavirus of medical significance

Novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a provisional name given to coronaviruses of medical significance before a permanent name is decided upon. Although coronaviruses are endemic in humans and infections normally mild, such as the common cold (caused by human coronaviruses in ~15% of cases), cross-species transmission has produced some unusually virulent strains which can cause viral pneumonia and in serious cases even acute respiratory distress syndrome and death.[1][2][3]

The following viruses could initially be referred to as "novel coronavirus", before being formally named:

All four viruses are part of the Betacoronavirus genus within the coronavirus family.

The word "novel" indicates a "new pathogen of a previously known type" (i.e. known family) of virus. Use of the word conforms to best practices for naming new infectious diseases published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. Historically, pathogens have sometimes been named after locations, individuals, or specific species.[citation needed] However, this practice is now explicitly discouraged by the WHO.[12]

The official permanent names for viruses and for diseases are determined by the ICTV and the WHO's ICD, respectively.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei a 2020 study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham found a more than ten-fold increase in use of expressions such as "Chinese virus" or "Wu flu virus" on Twitter compared to before the outbreak. The researchers voiced concerns whether such terminology could hinder public health efforts or be stigmatizing. No such effects were observed in the wake of the MERS outbreaks being referred to as "Camel flu virus" or "Middle East virus".[13]

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Novel coronavirus - Wikipedia

Nearly 15 million more people died during the pandemic than would have in normal times, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, a staggering measure of Covids true toll that laid bare how vastly country after country has undercounted victims.

In Mexico, the excess death toll during the first two years of the pandemic was twice as high as the governments official tally of Covid deaths, the W.H.O. found.

In Egypt, excess deaths were roughly 12 times as great as the official Covid toll.

In Pakistan, the figure was eight times as high.

Those estimates, calculated by a global panel of experts assembled by the W.H.O., represent what many scientists see as the most reliable gauge of the total impact of the pandemic. Faced with large gaps in global death data, the expert team set out to calculate excess mortality: the difference between the number of people who died in 2020 and 2021 and the number who would have been expected to die during that time if the pandemic had not happened.

Their calculations combined national data on reported deaths with new information from localities and household surveys, and with statistical models that aimed to account for deaths that were missed.

Most of the excess deaths were victims of Covid itself, the experts said, but some died because the pandemic made it more difficult to get medical care for ailments such as heart attacks. The previous toll, based solely on death counts reported by countries, was six million.

Much of the loss of life from the pandemic was concentrated in 2021, when more contagious variants tore through even countries that had fended off earlier outbreaks. Overall deaths that year were roughly 18 percent higher an extra 10 million people than they would have been without the pandemic, the W.H.O.-assembled experts estimated.

Developing nations bore the brunt of the devastation, with nearly eight million more people than expected dying in lower-middle-income nations during the pandemic.

Its absolutely staggering what has happened with this pandemic, including our inability to accurately monitor it, said Dr. Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist at St. Michaels Hospital and the University of Toronto, who was a member of the expert working group that made the calculations. It shouldnt happen in the 21st century.

The figures had been ready since January, but their release was stalled by objections from India, which disputes the methodology for calculating how many of its citizens died.

Nearly a third of the excess deaths globally 4.7 million took place in India, according to the W.H.O. estimates. The Indian governments own figure through the end of 2021 is 481,080 deaths.

But India was far from the only country where deaths were substantially underreported. Where excess deaths far outstripped the number of reported Covid fatalities, experts said the gap could reflect countries struggles to collect mortality data or their efforts to intentionally obscure the toll of the pandemic.

In some countries, flaws in government reports were widely known. Russia, for example, had reported roughly 310,000 Covid deaths by the end of 2021, but the W.H.O. experts indicated that the excess death toll was nearly 1.1 million. That mirrored earlier estimates from a Russian national statistics agency that is fairly independent of the government.

Aleksei Raksha, an independent demographer who quit the Russian state statistics service after complaining of the failure to count Covid deaths properly, said that informal orders had been given to local authorities to ensure that in many cases, Covid was not registered as the primary cause of death.

Excess deaths have established the true picture, Mr. Raksha said. Russia demonstrated a dismal performance in fighting the pandemic.

In other nations, W.H.O. experts used what limited data was available to arrive at estimates jarringly at odds with previous counts, though they cautioned that some of those calculations remained highly uncertain. In Indonesia, for example, the experts leaned heavily on monthly death data from Jakarta, the capital, to estimate that the country had experienced over a million more deaths than normal. That figure would be seven times as high as the reported Covid death toll.

Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a spokeswoman for the governments Covid-19 vaccination program, acknowledged that Indonesia had suffered more deaths than the government had reported. She said the problem stemmed in part from people not reporting relatives deaths to avoid complying with government rules for Covid victims funerals. But she said that the W.H.O. estimates were far too high.

In Pakistan, Dr. Faisal Sultan, a former health minister, defended the governments death reports, saying that studies of the number of graveyard burials in major cities did not reveal large numbers of uncounted victims of the pandemic.

For still other countries that suffered grievously during the pandemic, the W.H.O. estimates illuminated even more startling figures hiding inside already devastating death counts. In Peru, for instance, the expert estimate of 290,000 excess deaths by the end of 2021 was only 1.4 times as high as the reported Covid death toll. But the W.H.O. estimate of 437 excess deaths for every 100,000 Peruvians left the country with among the worlds highest per capita tolls.

When a health care system isnt prepared to receive patients who are seriously ill with pneumonia, when it cant provide the oxygen they need to live, or even provide beds for them to lay in so they can have some peace, you get what youve gotten, said Dr. Elmer Huerta, an oncologist and public health specialist who hosts a popular radio show in Peru.

In the United States, the W.H.O. estimated that roughly 930,000 more people than expected had died by the end of 2021, compared with the 820,000 Covid deaths that had been officially recorded over the same period.

In Mexico, the government has itself kept a tally of excess deaths during the pandemic that appears roughly in line with the W.H.O.s. Those estimates about double the countrys reported Covid death toll reflected what analysts there described as difficulties counting the dead.

We responded badly, we reacted slowly. But I think the most serious of all was to not communicate the urgency, the wanting to minimize, minimize, said Xavier Tello, a public health analyst based in Mexico City. Because Mexico wasnt or isnt testing for Covid, a lot of people died and we dont know if they had Covid.

The W.H.O.s calculations include people who died directly from Covid, from medical conditions complicated by Covid, or because they had ailments other than Covid but could not get needed treatment because of the pandemic. The excess death estimates also take into account expected deaths that did not occur because of Covid restrictions, such as reductions in traffic accidents or isolation that prevented deaths from the flu and other infectious diseases.

Calculating excess deaths is complex, the W.H.O. experts said. About half of countries globally do not regularly report the number of deaths from all causes. Others supply only partial data. In the W.H.O.s African region, the experts said that they had data from only six of 47 countries.

Scientists also noted that excess death rates were not necessarily indicative of a countrys pandemic response: Older and younger populations will fare differently in a pandemic, regardless of the response. And the W.H.O. experts said that they did not account for the effects of heat waves or conflicts.

Where death figures were missing, the statisticians had to rely on modeling. In those cases, they made predictions based on country-specific information like containment measures, historical rates of disease, temperature and demographics to assemble national figures and, from there, regional and global estimates.

W.H.O. officials used the release of their calculations to plead for greater investment in death reporting.

When we underestimate, we may underinvest, said Dr. Samira Asma, the W.H.O.s assistant director general for data, analytics and delivery for impact. And when we undercount, we may miss targeting the interventions where they are needed most.

W.H.O. officials cited Britain as an example of a country that had accurately recorded Covid deaths: Their analysis found that about 149,000 more people than normal had died during the pandemic, nearly identical to the number of Covid deaths Britain reported.

The disagreement over Indias Covid deaths spilled into public this week when the Indian government on Tuesday abruptly released mortality data from 2020, reporting an 11 percent increase in registered deaths in 2020 compared with average annual deaths registered over the two prior years.

Analysts saw the release as an attempt to force the W.H.O. to reconsider its calculations on the eve of publication. Indian health officials said their figures showed that the country had lost fewer people to Covid than outside estimates suggested.

But scientists believe that most of the countrys excess mortality occurred in 2021, during a grievous wave caused by the Delta variant. And even Indias 2020 figures gave additional credence to the W.H.O. estimates, said Dr. Jha, who has also studied excess deaths in India.

The Indian government wanted to deflect the news, he said, but theyre confirming, at least for 2020, the W.H.O. numbers.

Other experts said that Indias refusal to cooperate with the W.H.O. analysis was rooted in the countrys history of ignoring how data can inform policymaking.

Its natural to miss some of the Covid deaths, said Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health who has been working with the W.H.O. to review the data. But, she added, Nobodys been this resistant.

The Ministry of Health in New Delhi did not respond to requests for comment. W.H.O. officials said that Indias 2020 death figures were released too late to be incorporated into their calculations but that they would carefully review the data.

Nations that report Covid deaths more accurately have also been at the center of disputes over the reliability of excess death estimates. In Germany, for example, the W.H.O. experts estimated that 195,000 more people than normal had died during the pandemic, a significantly higher toll than the 112,000 Covid deaths recorded there.

But Giacomo De Nicola, a statistician at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, who has studied excess deaths in Germany, said that the countrys rapidly aging population meant that the W.H.O. analysis might have underestimated the number of people who would have been expected to die in a normal year. That, in turn, could have produced overestimates of excess deaths.

He said that the W.H.O.-assembled experts had accounted for trends in mortality, but not directly for changes in the age structure of the population. While Germany experienced excess deaths, he said, the W.H.O. estimate for the country seems very high.

Overall, the W.H.O. calculations were more conservative than separate analyses released earlier by The Economist and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Some experts said that the W.H.O. analysis benefited from relying more heavily than other estimates on actual data, even where it was incomplete, as opposed to statistical modeling.

Oscar Lopez, Karan Deep Singh, Sofa Villamil, Christopher F. Schuetze, Ivan Nechepurenko, Richard C. Paddock, Muktita Suhartono, Mitra Taj, Julie Turkewitz, Merna Thomas and Salman Masood contributed reporting.

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George Cheeks, the president of CBS, tests positive for coronavirus after attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner. - The New York Times

Im positive! Do I need to self-isolate or quarantine?

If you test positive, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you should isolate and delay travel for 10 days, regardless of symptoms or a negative test taken within the isolation period. The country where you are staying may have its own rules for quarantine and isolation. The rules differ from country to country and isolation periods may be longer than the 10 days recommended by the C.D.C. Across Europe, many countries follow guidance from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which recommends that fully vaccinated people should self-isolate after testing positive. If their symptoms improve and they feel better for at least 24 hours and they test negative for the virus twice within a 24-hour period, they can stop isolating. Or, if after six days they test negative once, they can stop isolating. Unvaccinated people are advised to self-isolate for 10 days, but can leave isolation if they meet the same requirements for negative tests.

Some other destinations, particularly in Asia, may require mandatory quarantine or isolation in a government facility or designated hotel for 14 days or more.

This will depend on the regulations in the country you are visiting, so be sure to check what they say on local health ministry websites. In most places, tourists are not required to officially report a positive test result to the government, although if you took your test in person at a local health facility, the results are often sent to the regional or national health authority.

Most countries, including popular European destinations like Greece, Italy and France, allow visitors testing positive to choose their own accommodation for the recommended period of self-isolation. You can find this information on U.S. embassy websites. If you have booked a hotel or Airbnb for your trip, it is worth calling ahead of time and seeing what their policy is for isolation and whether they have availability should you need to extend your stay.

Some lodging facilities will require you to isolate alone in a separate room, even if your family members or travel companions test negative. You should also ask about access to food and medical facilities, particularly if you are staying in a remote area.

Its useful to have a plan B in place in case your hotel or rental cannot accommodate you, or to have a cheaper option available if you do have to self-isolate for 10 days. Many countries have designated quarantine hotels or apartments and some resorts in popular tourist destinations like Spain, Portugal and Mexico allow guests to quarantine at a discounted rate.

While most people are likely to test negative within 10 days of a positive coronavirus test, for some it can take weeks or even months, according to the global health partnership Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. If you find yourself in that position, and feel well enough to travel, you can return to the United States but will need to obtain documentation of recovery.

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Testing Positive for the Coronavirus Overseas: What You Need to Know - The New York Times

People wearing face masks walk down a street before the start of a mandatory total isolation decreed by the mayor's office, amidst an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Bogota, Colombia January 7, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

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BOGOTA, May 6 (Reuters) - Colombia will offer a second coronavirus booster shot to people aged 50 and over, the government said on Friday.

Colombia has reported just under 6.1 million confirmed coronavirus infections and 139,809 deaths, according to the Health Ministry.

The decision on a second booster comes after the Andean country of around 50 million people hit its target of fully vaccinating 70% of its population, the government said.

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A second booster shot "will be important to keep protecting ourselves, saving lives, and giving confidence to the population," President Ivan Duque said in a statement.

Second boosters will consist of either a half dose of the Moderna (MRNA.O) vaccine or a full dose of the Pfizer (PFE.N) vaccine, he added.

Those eligible for the second booster can get it four months after receiving their first, the government said.

The government in March had started to offer second boosters to those with autoimmune conditions and those who had received organ transplants.

Almost 11.9 million people have received a first booster shot, according to Health Ministry figures, while just over 19,000 have had a second booster.

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Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Colombia to offer second coronavirus booster shots to over 50s, others - Reuters

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) Kansas coronavirus cases crept up a bit more this week. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports 2,232 new cases in the past seven days. It says the seven-day average of cases is 271, which is 12 more than last weeks seven-day average.

The Kansas COVID-19 death toll increased by 56, bringing it to 8,691. However, the KDHE said only two of those deaths happened in the past week. When the death toll increases that much, it is sometimes because officials have finalized death certificates from older cases.

The KDHE said 69 Kansans are hospitalized with COVID-19. That is 12 fewer than last week. Of the 95 hospitals reporting to the KDHE on Thursday, the patients are:

Some of the recent coronavirus cases have been tested for variants. The KDHE said 22 of the recent tests were the BA.2 stealth omicron variant.

Kansans continue to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Since last Friday:

Of Kansans who are eligible to get vaccinated, the KDHE reports 67.07% have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 58.53% have completed a vaccine series.

CDC Mask Guidelines based on community-level transmission:Low (green):No mask needed indoors (get tested if you have symptoms)Medium (yellow):Mask recommended for high-risk patients (discuss with your healthcare provider)High (orange):Should wear mask indoors in publicKansas coronavirus cases updated May 6, 2022CDC Community transmission rates updated May 5, 2022Sources:Kansas Department of Health and EnvironmentCenters for Disease Control

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KDHE gives update on coronavirus cases and deaths - KSN-TV

Taipei is easing COVID-19 curbs even as its daily cases are rising, in a strategy radically different from Beijings zero-tolerance policy that has shut down many Chinese cities and sent the economy into a tailspin.

On May 5, Taiwan recorded more than 30,000 new COVID-19 infectionscrossing that daily threshold for the first time since the pandemic began. The current wave of infections looks to get worse for the island of 23 million, which has so far registered nearly 232,400 casessome 215,000 since Januaryand 886 fatalities.

Daily caseloads are expected to rise even further because of the Omicron variant. Health minister Chen Shih-chung said earlier that Taiwan was on track to record up to 100,000 new infections daily, much more than the initial projection of 45,000.

Yet, in the face of this spike, the government has signaled a shift in the pandemic strategy it has been following for two years, away from virus suppression characterized by draconian travel restrictions, mask-wearing mandates, and fastidious contact tracing. A month into the launch of a new Taiwanese model of COVID-19 containment, asymptomatic and mild cases are being isolated at home, save for infected children. Close contacts need only be quarantined for three days instead of the earlier 10. Quarantine for arrivals will be cut down from 10 to just seven days.

Read More: How Hong Kong Became Chinas Biggest COVID Problem

Premier Su Tseng-chang said this new approach isnt exactly living with COVID-19, as the virus would not be allowed to spread unchecked. But prevention of the virus from spreading is to be balanced with reopening the economy and allowing people to live normally, he emphasized. There would be no stringent lockdowns, Su told reporters on May 1. Health officials are to focus on minimizing severe cases and maintaining effective control of mild or asymptomatic ones.

On the other side of the Taiwanese Strait, the zero-COVID policy has seen drastic restrictions on normal life. Entire cities in mainland China have been locked down for weeks. Ports and factories have had their operations suspended. Health apps on mobile phones govern access to transport and public facilities. Though curbs are now being loosened in Hong Kong, harsh travel restrictions over the past two years have temporarily reduced the proud aviation hub and freewheeling financial center to a shadow of its former self.

Experts say Taiwan must find its own approach given the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant. Any containment protocol has to be dynamically revised according to the situation of the epidemic or other characteristics of this virus, says Chen Chien-jen, who was Taiwans vice-president from 2016 to 2020 and is an epidemiologist by training.

Pedestrians wearing protective masks cross a street at a shopping district in Taipei, Taiwan, on Saturday, April 16, 2022.

Lam Yik Fei/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Taiwan has successfully fended off COVID-19 outbreaks in the past. The island banned flights from across the strait in January 2020, immediately after the virus was detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Swift tracing of close contacts, mass testing, and a centralized mask distribution system helped Taiwan avoid a lockdown, save for some soft curbs a year ago to control an outbreak of the Alpha variant.

Last summer, Taiwans COVID-19 response was again put to the test in the face of hundreds of new infections. At the time, the island was struggling to source COVID-19 vaccines and only 3% of its eligible population was vaccinated. New arrivals were required to undergo a 14-day quarantine, and strict contact-tracing policies were imposed on restaurants, stores and other businesses. Taiwans COVID-19 cases ballooned to around 11,000 by June 2021 and more than 800 people died during the wave.

Taiwan also began rolling out its locally developed vaccines around the same time. Chen tells TIME that a high vaccination rate, and the availability of rapid testing and antiviral therapies, had to be in place before Taiwan could move away from its de facto zero-COVID policy. The island has now vaccinated 79% of its population, secured some 40 million test kits, and will have obtained 700,000 courses of Pfizers COVID-19 drug, Paxlovid, by June. Around 180,000 courses have already been distributed to hospitals and pharmacies.

Read More: Global Shortages Loom as China Lockdowns Continue

There has been some vaccine resistance among Taiwans elderly. There will still be groups who feel that since they had almost no chance of getting the virus when Taiwan had no cases, [they dont] need to get the vaccine now, says Wayne Soon, a history professor at Vassar College in New York, who studies medical ideas and practices in East Asia. But COVID-19 immunization among those aged 75 and above has now reached 72.5%, with nearly 60% in the same age group having received a booster.

In Hong Kong, by comparison, only around 25% of those aged 80 and above were vaccinated by January, just before a massive surge in infections. This led to many severe cases, overwhelming the health care system. Roughly 9,300 people have died of COVID in the territory, with 98% of those fatalities occurring in the latest, Omicron-driven outbreak. Over 95% of those who died were aged 60 and above.

Hong Kong, too, appears to be walking back its previous zero-COVID protocols, with curbs easing on businesses and travel. Huang Yanzhong, a global health policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations tells TIME that Hong Kong can likewise expect numbers to surge as regulations are loosened, but cases should be asymptomatic or mildas are 99% of the cases in Taiwans current wave of infection.

You cannot expect to move away from zero-COVID unless they experience this stage, this feature, this spike in cases, including the severe cases and also the mortality rate, Huang says. But that can be managed. That transition can be achieved [at] a manageable level.

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Taiwan Is Abandoning Its Zero-COVID Strategy - TIME

EASTON, Pa. - Confusion about vaccines and whether to get a third or fourth COVID shot continues to grow.

"A lot of this emanates from a very uncoordinated approach from our public health agencies," said Dr. Jeffrey Jahre, the senior vice president of medical and academic affairs and an infectious disease specialist at St. Luke's University Health Network.

In a report released this week, a trio of top FDA officials said to expect vaccines to become part of the new normal, and that getting one new, updated shot each fall could save lives and minimize societal disruptions.

But Dr. Jahre believes given the data scientists have now, it's too early to be sure.

"I think that is an overreach," said Dr. Jahre. "We don't know whether this is going to be necessary."

He also says there isn't data to support the rumor everyone will always need boosters every few months.

The FDA has meetings on a variety of topics scheduled throughout the month of June.

There are set to be discussions on a new vaccine from the manufacturer Novavax, using Moderna and Pfizer shots for younger populations, and whether the current vaccines' strain composition should be modified for the fall.

"I think most things are pointing toward needing a booster sometime in the early fall," said Dr. Alex Benjamin, the chief of infection control and hospital epidemiology at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

"As we seek and gain new knowledge, we have to take advantage of that knowledge and adjust our recommendations so that it fits with that knowledge," said Dr. Benjamin.

Right now, people over age 50 or those who are immunocompromised are eligible for a fourth dose, or what's known as a second booster.

"In those populations of people who receive second boosters, we know that their immunity levels wane after the first booster dose, but are sort of rejuvenated again after the second booster," said Dr. Benjamin.

If you're over age 50, but don't have health conditions and are thinking about a fourth dose, doctors say to consider the infection rate in your community.

"Do you take care of kids who are not eligible to be vaccinated? Do you take care of older parents? Are you planning to travel anytime soon?" Dr. Benjamin said.

Dr. Jahre agrees with the mentality: one size doesn't fit all.

While the answers to many questions are still to be determined, Dr. Jahre says something that is certain: it's not too late to get vaccinated.

"There's absolutely no question that if you have had at least two doses of either the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, that you're much more highly protected against the severe consequences of the disease," said Dr. Jahre.

Coronavirus cases in the Lehigh Valley are on the rise.

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Local doctors weigh in on the future of coronavirus vaccines, confusion surrounding boosters - 69News WFMZ-TV