Health News at Your Fingertips

Schools in Taiwan have reopened today as the island’s largest coronavirus outbreak appeared to subside.

Schools on the island shut down in May and many switched online in the face of the island’s largest outbreak, which has since passed 15,000 cases. Taiwan is now reporting new Covid cases in the single digits.

The Associated Press reported this morning:

Students will eat lunch at their own desks, which now have plastic dividers separating students. Masks are required, and classrooms will have exhaust fans to circulate air.

Two giant balloons and music created a festive air greeting the students arriving for classes at Tienmu Elementary School on Wednesday.

Parents are relived that their kids are back in school, saying online learning wasn’t necessarily good in the long term.

Liao Cher-hao, president of the parents’ association of the school in the capital, Taipei, said:

You can see that parents are really happy today. They all want to send their kids back to school ASAP. Basically, we made a survey. The results of online classes are not super good.

Another vial of the Moderna Covid vaccine suspected of containing a “foreign substance” has been found in Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture.

Authorities said a pharmacist found “several black particles” in one vial after checking it before the vaccine’s use.

Japan suspended the use of 1.63m doses of Moderna shots last week after becoming aware of contamination in some of the supply, according to the Reuters news agency.

Moderna and Spanish pharma company Rovi, which bottles Moderna vaccines, have said the cause could be a manufacturing issue, and European safety regulators have launched an investigation. Moderna has said no safety or efficacy issues had been identified from the issue.

Kanagawa prefecture said the vaccine’s domestic distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, had collected the vial with the suspected contaminant and that about 3,790 people had already received shots from the same lot.

More schools in India were given the go-ahead to reopen for the first time in nearly 18 months on Wednesday, despite apprehension from some parents and signs that infections are on the rise once again.

At least six more states in the country will gradually reopen schools and colleges with health measures in place throughout September.

In New Delhi, all staff must be vaccinated and class sizes will be capped at 50% with staggered seating and sanitised desks, the Associated Press reported.

In the capital only students in grades nine to 12 will be allowed to attend at first, though it is not compulsory.

Jacob John, a professor of community medicine at Christian Medical College, Vellore, said:

The simple answer is there is never a right time to do anything during a pandemic. There is a risk, but life has to go on – and you can’t go on without schools.

Many healthcare workers protested in the Philippines today to demand an end to what they described as “government neglect” and “unpaid benefits”.

It comes as pressure builds at hospitals fighting one of Asia’s longest-running coronavirus epidemics.

Protesters wearing protective medical gear gathered around the Department of Health (DOH) in Manilla and held placards demanding their risk allowances and hazard pay, and the resignation of health secretary Francisco Duque.

Medical staff have been overwhelmed during the pandemic and 103 have died from Covid, among 33,400 coronavirus deaths in the Philippines.

Robert Mendoza, the president of the Alliance of Health Workers, told Reuters from the back of a pickup truck:

It is sad that many of us have died, many of us became sick, and many have resigned or opted to retire early, yet we are still kneeling before the DOH to give us our benefits.

China is expected to deliver the first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Taiwan on Thursday, with 932,000 shots set to arrive on the island.

The official state news agency Xinhua, in a brief report, said the vaccines were being provided by Shanghai Fosun Pharamceutical.

It has the right to sell the shots on BioNTech’s behalf in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, according to the Reuters news agency.

The arrival of the first batch of vaccines has proved a controversial issue, with ministers blaming China for blocking an order earlier this year.

However, Beijing – which claims Taiwan as its own territory – has always vehemently denied these claims.

Taiwan’s government subsequently allowed major Apple Inc supplier Foxconn – formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd – as well as its billionaire founder, Terry Gou, along with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, to negotiate on its behalf for the jab.

A $350m deal for 10m shots was agreed last month, which will be donated to the government for distribution

A new coronavirus variant named Mu has been designated a variant of interest by the World Health Organization (WHO), PA Media reports. Mu, or B.1.621, was first identified in Colombia and cases have been recorded in South America and Europe.

The WHO’s weekly bulletin on the pandemic said the variant has mutations suggesting it could be more resistant to vaccines, as was the case with Beta, but that more studies would be needed to examine this further.

It said: “Since its first identification in Colombia in January 2021, there have been a few sporadic reports of cases of the Mu variant and some larger outbreaks have been reported from other countries in South America and in Europe.

“Although the global prevalence of the Mu variant among sequenced cases has declined and is currently below 0.1%, the prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has consistently increased.

“The epidemiology of the Mu variant in South America, particularly with the co-circulation of the Delta variant, will be monitored for changes.”

There are four coronavirus variants of concern, as deemed by the WHO, with the Alpha variant – first recorded in Kent – seen in 193 countries, Beta in 141, Gamma in 91 and Delta in 170 countries, while Mu is the fifth variant of interest.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

A new coronavirus variant named Mu has been designated a variant of interest by the World Health Organization. Mu, or B.1.621, was first identified in Colombia and cases have been recorded in South America and Europe.

The WHO’s weekly bulletin on the pandemic said the variant has mutations suggesting it could be more resistant to vaccines, as was the case with Beta, but that more studies would be needed to examine this further.

Here are the other key recent developments:

• The UK government will press ahead with plans to introduce vaccine passports for nightclubs and other crowded indoor venues in England from the end of next month, the Guardian reports. Officials also restated their intention to roll out a Covid-19 booster programme from September.
• About 14 million people in the US received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in August, about 4 million more than in July, officials said on Tuesday as the government pushes inoculation as infections rise.
• The US state department has raised its travel advisory alert for Canada to a “level 3: reconsider travel” status amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it said.
• The Irish government has announced plans to remove all Covid-19 restrictions by 31 October.
• Seven in 10 (70%) of the European Union’s adult population has been fully vaccinated against Covid, hitting a target it had set at the beginning of the year. The figure masks the contrast among EU countries, with some nations being well above the 70% goal while others in the poorer eastern region of the bloc are far behind.
• Italy reported 75 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, up from 53 the previous day, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 5,498 from 4,257, the health ministry said.
• Israel has recorded its highest daily coronavirus case tally of nearly 11,000 new infections, amid a surge caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant as schools prepare to reopen.