World Coronavirus Dispatch: Biden orders inquiry into origins of virus

Dominic Cummings gives a damning account of UK govt's Covid response, German scientists claim they can help prevent blood clots, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Malaysia's PM under pressure as anger builds on Covid surge

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is under fire as his decision to suspend democracy to contain the coronavirus outbreak failed to yield results. Criticism about the government’s approach to a worsening pandemic and accusations of double standards in enforcement of virus rules have resulted in an outpouring of anger on local social media in the past few months. Daily infections have more than doubled since Malaysia declared a state of emergency in January in order to focus on the pandemic. Covid cases and deaths reached record-highs, while the pace of the vaccination has failed to pick up. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 168,417,658

Global deaths: 3,498,557

Nations with most cases: US (33,190,267), India (27,369,093), Brazil (16,274,695), France (5,683,143), Turkey (5,212,123).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Biden orders intelligence inquiry into origins of virus

Joe Biden has ordered US intelligence agencies to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, indicating that his administration takes seriously the possibility that the deadly virus was accidentally leaked from a lab, in addition to the prevailing theory that it was transmitted by an animal to humans outside a lab. The President's statement, his most public and expansive yet on the question of how the virus spread to humans, came as top health officials renewed their appeals this week for a more rigorous inquiry. Read here

Boris Johnson’s former top aide paints a damning picture of UK govt’s pandemic response

Dominic Cummings, the former top aide to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and once the second most powerful man in UK, painted a picture of chaos, incompetence and confusion at the heart of the government in a ferociously critical account of its early handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. In more than seven hours of testimony before lawmakers, Cummings said that Johnson had initially regarded Covid-19 as a “scare story” and at one point had suggested that a doctor inject him with the coronavirus on live television to play down the dangers to a worried public. Read here
 

German scientists say they can help improve vaccines to prevent blood clots

A team of German scientists said they believe they have worked out why some people given the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines against Covid-19 develop blood clots – and claim they can tell the manufacturers how to improve the vaccine to avoid it. The blood clots are rare but troubling in the younger age group who are more at risk of clotting and less likely to experience severe Covid illness. Scientists say the key is in the adenovirus – the common cold virus that is used to deliver the spike protein of the coronavirus into the body. Read here