Early Days of Covid: US, WHO push China for data

The United States and a WHO expert demanded more data from Beijing about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, after a WHO mission to China struggled to make headway.

A team of World Health Organization experts and Chinese counterparts visited key sites around the city of Wuhan, where Covid cases were first detected, but said they had not been able to shed light on the nature of early transmissions.

US national security advisor Jake Sullivan on Saturday said his country had "deep concerns" about the early findings of the investigation.

Peter Ben Embarek, who led the WHO mission, told AFP in an interview his team had asked for more data, adding: "There is a mix of frustration but also a mix of realistic expectations in terms of what is feasible under which time frame."

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said yesterday he shared concerns about the level of access given to a WHO's fact-finding mission to China, echoing criticism from the US.

Experts believe the disease -- which has killed nearly 2.4 million people worldwide -- originated in bats and could have been transmitted to humans via another mammal.

But while the virus was first discovered in Wuhan in December 2019, it remains unclear if that is when and where the contagion actually began.

The fallout came as Europe's death toll topped 800,000 and concerns over coronavirus variants that first emerged in Britain and South Africa forced ever tighter border controls.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday announced a three-day lockdown in the country's biggest city Auckland, after three Covid-19 cases emerged, the first local infections since late January.

New Zealand, which had gone more than two months without local infections before the January case, is to start inoculating its 5 million people against the new coronavirus on February 20, receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier than anticipated.

Japan yesterday approved its first coronavirus vaccine, clearing the way for mass inoculations as the nation prepares to host the postponed 2020 Olympics.

"The health minister today gave a special approval to the Pfizer vaccine," the prime minister's office said in a tweet.

GERMANY CLOSES BORDERS

Germany partially closed its borders with the Czech Republic and Austria's Tyrol yesterday over a troubling surge in coronavirus mutations, drawing a swift rebuke from the European Union.

A thousand police officers have been mobilised to ensure strict border checks, which recall the much-criticised early days of the pandemic when EU countries hastily closed their frontiers to each other.

Under the new rules, in place until February 17, only Germans or non-German residents are allowed to enter, and they must provide a recent negative coronavirus test.

The European Commission, eager to avoid a return to go-it-alone pandemic responses, has condemned Germany's newest restrictions and urged it to facilitate cross-border movement for commuters.

"The fear of the coronavirus mutations is understandable," EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides told Germany's Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper yesterday.

Britain was preparing yesterday to move to the next phase of its vaccination programme, as it neared a target of inoculating 15 million of the most vulnerable people.

The country will start administering vaccines from today to those aged between 65 and 69 and the clinically vulnerable to Covid-19, with almost 1.2 million already invited to book their jabs, the state-run National Health Service (NHS) said.

Portugal, among the world's hardest-hit nations, on Saturday extended the suspension of flights from Britain and Brazil to March 1.

Israel and Cyprus have agreed in principle a deal allowing vaccinated citizens of the two countries to travel between them without limitations, once flights resume, Israel's president said yesterday.

Israel reached a similar agreement with Greece last week, as the Mediterranean nations seek to revive tourism industries battered by the pandemic.

Lebanon yesterday gave its first Covid-19 vaccines dose to a doctor and an elderly actor, as it started an inoculation drive it hopes will keep the pandemic in check amid deepening economic crisis.

EU TO FAST-TRACK JABS

The European Union has agreed to fast-track approvals of vaccines updated to target coronavirus variants, the bloc's health commissioner said yesterday, following criticism of the EU's sluggish vaccine drive.

"We looked at the process together with the European Medicines Agency (EMA)," Stella Kyriakides told German daily Augsburger Allgemeine in an interview.

"And we have now decided that a vaccine, which has been improved by a manufacturer based on its previous vaccine to combat new mutations, no longer has to go through the entire approvals process.

"So it will be faster to have suitable vaccines available without cutting corners on safety," she said.

The EU's vaccine rollout has been snagged by delays and controversies, leaving it lagging behind countries like the United States, Britain and Israel where a larger share of the population has been injected so far.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen last week admitted that mistakes had been made in procuring vaccines on behalf of all 27 member states.