Coronavirus - 31st July 2022

Hong Kong logs a further 4,634 Covid cases

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Health officials on Sunday reported 4,455 new local Covid infections and 179 imported cases.
A total of 1,494 patients were being treated at public hospitals, of which 12 patients were in intensive care.
One more Covid patient has died.
The 82-year-old man had diabetes and hypertension, and was prescribed oral antivirals at a designated clinic on Wednesday.
He was admitted to hospital two days later with a fever and cough, but his condition deteriorated and he suffered multiple organ failure. He passed away on Saturday.
A 22-month-old girl infected with Covid remains in critical condition.
A chief manager at the Hospital Authority, Dr Gladys Kwan, said testing requirements for staff were being stepped up.
"For our staff now, apart from the daily rapid antigen test, they have to have the PCR test twice every week. We already cover those colleagues who are taking care of the high-risk group patients, and these plans will continue to expand," she said.
"So starting from next week, we are going to cover all the A&E colleagues as well as those who do outreach work at residential homes. We will review the effectiveness and see if we can further expand."
Separately, Kwan said hospitals have been arranging compassionate visits for families of critically ill patients throughout the pandemic, and that staff will try to cater to the needs of the families.
She was responding to questions about the dancer seriously injured at a MIRROR concert last week, whose family is understood to have gone to Queen Elizabeth, Hospital where he's being treated, not long after flying into Hong Kong from Canada on Sunday.
The Centre for Health Protection's Chuang Shuk-kwan said from April 2021 to March this year around 1,240 applications for compassionate visits had been approved.

Gujarat Logs 942 Covid-19 Cases

Outlook - (With PTI Inputs)
Gujarat's Covid-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 12,55,171, new cases 942, death toll 10,970, discharged 12,37,664, active cases 6,537.
Gujarat on Sunday reported 942 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 12,55,171, the state health department said. A day earlier, the state reported 1,012 cases and two fatalities. 
With 679 patients discharged from hospital, the total number of recoveries in Gujarat mounted to 12,37,664 on Sunday. With no new fatality, the Covid-19 death toll remained unchanged at 10,970, the department said in a release.
Gujarat is now left with 6,537 active cases. The condition of 14 patients is critical, it said. Among districts, Ahmedabad recorded the highest number of 329 cases, Vadodara 140, Surat 83, Rajkot 56, Mehsana 54, and Banaskantha 47 cases.
With 3.63 lakh more people getting jabbed against Covid-19, the number of doses administered so far in Gujarat rose to 11.65 crore. The number of active cases in the neighbouring Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu rose to 10 with five new cases and one recovery, officials said.
Gujarat's Covid-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 12,55,171, new cases 942, death toll 10,970, discharged 12,37,664, active cases 6,537, people tested so far - figures not released.

India records 19,673 Covid cases, 39 fatalities in a day; active infections reach to 1,43,676
The New Indian Express
PTI reports:  India's COVID-19 case rally rose by 19,673 in a day to reach 4,40,19,811 while active cases reached 1,43,676, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
The death toll has climbed to 5,26,357 with 39 more fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
Active caseload increased by 292 in a day and comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.48 per cent, the ministry said.
The number of people who have recuperated from the viral disease surged to 4,33,49,778 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.
The daily positivity rate was 4.96 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 4.88 per cent.
According to the Union Health Ministry, 204.25 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far.
India's COVID-19 case tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.
It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 last year, three crore on June 23 and four crore on January 25 this year.
The 39 new fatalities include seven in West Bengal, four in Maharashtra, three in Delhi, two each from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and one each in Assam, Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

Biden tests positive for COVID-19 for second straight day amid ‘rebound’ case

Josh Boak - The Associated Press
President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 for the second straight day, in what appears to be in a rare case of “rebound” following treatment with an anti-viral drug.
In a letter noting the positive test, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House physician, said Sunday that the president “continues to feel well” and will keep on working from the executive residence while he isolates.
Biden tested positive on Saturday, requiring him to cancel travel and in-person events as he isolates for at least five days in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
After initially testing positive on July 21, Biden, 79, was treated with the anti-viral drug Paxlovid. He tested negative for the virus on this past Tuesday and Wednesday, clearing him to leave isolation while wearing a mask indoors.
Research suggests that a minority of those prescribed Paxlovid to experience a rebound case of the virus. The fact that a rebound rather than a reinfection possibly occurred is a positive sign for Biden’s health once he’s clear of the disease.
“The fact that the president has cleared his illness and doesn’t have symptoms is a good sign and makes it less likely he will develop long COVID,” said Dr. Albert Ho, an infectious disease specialist at Yale University’s school of public health.