Coronavirus Updates

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez tested positive for the coronavirus despite receiving a vaccination in January. Fernandez, who said Friday in a tweet that he had a slight fever, received the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in January. According to the Gamaleya Institute, which developed the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V is 91.6% effective against infection and 100% effective against severe cases.

A fourth wave of the coronavirus has hit Iran. The surge in cases of the deadly virus comes some two weeks after millions of Iranians traveled throughout the country during the Persian new year holiday of Nowruz. At least 15,000 people who tested positive for the coronavirus traveled during Nowruz, Al Jazeera reported citing Iran’s health ministry.

Turkey is giving its citizens Pfizer vaccine shots against the coronavirus. It added the Pfizer vaccine on Friday alongside the China Sinovac Biotech vaccine. People will be able to choose which shot they receive, Reuters reported. Some 7.1 million in Turkey have received two doses, and 2.4 have received one dose of the Sinovac vaccine. Some 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have already arrived in Turkey, with another 1.7 million doses expected to arrive in the coming days. Turkey plans to vaccinate the majority of its citizens by June.

Some 100,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine were sent from the Chinese government to the Palestinian Authority. The vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Monday, bringing to 53,000 the number of vaccine doses that have been given to the PA.

Pfizer has begun global clinical trials for its vaccine against the coronavirus with children age 11 and under, AFP reported. The trial is giving shots at three different dosing levels. Testing is already underway for ages 12 to 15. Emergency authorization for use of the vaccine covers ages 16 and older.

A study conducted jointly by the World Health Organization and China on the origins of COVID-19 has found that the virus likely was transmitted from humans to bats through another animal and that a leak of the virus from a Chinese lab is “extremely unlikely,” The Associated Press reported, citing a draft copy of the study. The draft report iwas unable to determine whether the outbreak started at a Wuhan seafood market that had one of the earliest clusters of cases in December 2019.

More than half of Israel’s population of 9.3 million have received two doses of a vaccine against the coronavirus, the country reported on Thursday. All citizens ages 16 and over are eligible to receive the shots. The country has inoculated its citizens with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

AstraZeneca reported a revised figure for the effectiveness of its vaccine against the coronavirus, saying on Thursday that the shot is 76% effective in preventing cases of symptomatic COVID-19, including in older people, down from the 79% it reported on Monday. The revised figure was reported after criticism that the US vaccine trial may have used “outdated information.”

The positive results of a US trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus may have used “outdated information,” according to the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a statement. Still, Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “likely a very good vaccine.”  The results announced on Monday were based on an interim analysis with a cut-off date of February 17, according to the company.

Pakistan has purchased more than 1 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics COVID-19 vaccines, Reuters first reported. It is the first time the country has purchased doses of the vaccine, previously relying on donations. Talks are continuing with the companies for the purchase of seven million more doses, according to the report. The first shots are set to be delivered this month. China previously donated 1 million Sinopharm doses, which are being used to vaccinate health care workers and the elderly. Prime Minister Imran Khan tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.