Day: December 15, 2021

Beyond2020 returns to Southeast Asia following key sustainable engagements in Indonesia and Cambodia, with a deployment that is uplifting the lives of 18,000 people in The Philippines by enhancing water access and reducing water costs by 85%. Four hydraulic ram pumps and 13 kiosks are being used to impact 3,000 residents in the village of Cabagnaan in the Province of Negros Occidental and 15,000 people in 14 villages across Altavista in the Province of Leyte.

The innovative technology is an enhancement of a system created more than 240 years ago that brings water uphill without the use of electricity or fuel and the emission of harmful gasses.

Launched by the Zayed Sustainability Prize in partnership with several leading organisations, the Beyond2020 initiative exemplifies the humanitarian legacy of the UAE’s founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan by donating sustainable technologies and solutions to vulnerable communities worldwide. The Philippines marks the tenth deployment of Beyond2020, which effectively addresses some of the world’s most pressing sustainable development challenges, providing quality healthcare, nutritious food, essential energy, and access to safe water for drinking and sanitation.

H.E. Mohammed Obaid Al Zaabi, UAE Ambassador to the Philippines, said: “As a wide-reaching humanitarian initiative spearheaded by the UAE government and its wise leadership to drive sustainable economic growth globally, Beyond2020 offers crucial and life-transforming solutions to beneficiaries worldwide. The initiative’s deployment in the Philippines offers communities innovative water technology solutions that aim to improve the health and wellbeing of rural residents through long-term impact, paving the way for an easier, safer and more sustainable lifestyle.”

H.E. Al Zaabi added, “The UAE and the Philippines share a common vision towards building a more prosperous and sustainable future for their people, in accordance with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, the collaboration complements our historically close bilateral relations across multiple avenues. By tackling water scarcity, the drive to further optimise a vital resource for the benefit of communities in the Philippines, also coincides with the recent launch of the UAE’s ‘Principles of the 50’ that seek to stimulate socio-economic growth through humanitarian aid. They are important guiding principles inspired by the enduring legacy of the UAE’s founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed, based on his core values of sustainability, humanitarianism and global cooperation.”

The communities of Cabagnaan and Altavista, that are located on different islands, share the same challenges, whereby water is not available and has to be fetched from a source located further downhill from the community. The deployment utilises a holistic ram pump water system by the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc. (AIDFI), a 2020 Zayed Sustainability Prize finalist under the ‘Water’ category.

The Philippines Ambassador to the UAE, H.E. Hjayceelyn M. Quintana added, “We are pleased to see the introduction of these essential, environmentally-friendly and life-changing solutions by the Beyond2020 initiative. The notable reach and impact of the technology supports the Philippine government’s drive to improve public services and the health of our citizens, with water being a key priority for social welfare and sustainable development.”

“We are confident that the mobilsation of international action that empowers and supports our communities’ ability to access and manage water resources will promote widespread benefits to the daily lives of impacted beneficiaries. We therefore extend our gratitude to the initiative and its partners whose involvement has been central to the realisation of the project on the ground today.”

H.E. Ólafur Grímsson, Chair of the Zayed Sustainability Prize Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland, said, “Beyond2020’s latest project in the Philippines demonstrates the power of leveraging an innovative solution by our global community of winners and finalists and exploring its long-term capacity for beneficiaries. The initiative also demonstrates the power of collaboration as the Prize and its partners have impacted communities in 10 countries to-date, with further deployments scheduled for 2022.”

In addition to providing clean water for drinking and sanitation, the carbon-neutral technology offers residents the opportunity to improve or pursue water-related livelihoods such as vegetable gardens, aquaculture, and livestock breeding, while facilitating a more conducive environment to avoid several waterborne diseases stemming from dirty water. Furthermore, access to improved hygiene grows in prominence given the importance of handwashing in preventing the spread of COVID-19, a pressing concern for vulnerable communities worldwide.

Ten deployments have been rolled out to date under the umbrella of Beyond2020, with another nine in progress. Completed deployments include vital energy, health, water and food-related solutions in Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda, Jordan, Egypt, Cambodia, Madagascar, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and The Philippines.

Beyond2020 brings together a leading number of partners which include Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Mubadala Petroleum and Masdar.

Source: Business Wire

The head of the South African Medical Association says there is a major difference between the delta and omicron variants of the coronavirus and warns politicians against hyping the threat from the new strain.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee criticized Tuesday what she described as the “over-reaction” to the heavily mutated omicron variant by some European governments and cited Britain’s Boris Johnson, who she accused of creating “hysteria” about the new strain.

On Tuesday, the House of Commons approved the reimposition of pandemic restrictions, and the introduction of some new ones, because of rising omicron cases in the country, although Johnson faced a major rebellion by a third of his parliamentary party and relied on opposition parties for the vote.

Coetzee was one of the first medical practitioners in the world to raise the alarm about the new variant. Its genomic data was sequenced last month by scientists in Hong Kong, Botswana as well as South Africa. The emergence has contributed to pandemic alarm in Europe, where governments are already battling the delta strain and are racing to reimpose restrictions.

Coetzee told Britain’s Sky News that delta was heart-breaking and that her patients who contracted it were “extremely, extremely sick” and when opening the door to them “you just knew they were in trouble,” she explained.

But nearly a month into the omicron wave in South Africa, she says she has not seen similar grim scenes and that her omicron patients are suffering much milder symptoms. Apart from one, who had HIV and other comorbidities, none have died.

The British government’s medical advisers are predicting one million omicron infections by the end of the month, and although South Africa is seeing tens of thousands of new cases daily.

Coetzee cautions calm, saying Britain and other European countries are much better vaccinated than South Africa and in a better position to battle it. “Even if you get breakthrough infections, it’s mild cases,” she added, saying she understands the need to take precautionary measures but says, “don’t hype it up.”

Some scientists disagree with Coetzee.

The chief executive of Britain’s Health Security Agency told lawmakers Wednesday that omicron “is probably the most significant threat since the start of the pandemic.”

Dr. Jenny Harries said the new variant was much more transmissible than delta and the rapid spread of omicron would lead to a “staggering” number of COVID cases over the next few days. She delivered a series of dire warnings about the country’s health care system, although she added it was probably too early to tell how serious the scale of increasing infections across the world would turn out to be.

“The difficulty is that the growth of this virus, it has a doubling time which is shortening, i.e., it’s doubling faster, growing faster,” she said.

Governments across Europe are closely observing events unfolding in Britain for a sense of what may lie ahead for them as omicron spreads, and they are worried that reinfection rates from omicron are much higher than has been seen with earlier variants.

Restrictions and penalties

More countries are adopting restrictions. Italy this week required negative tests from vaccinated visitors to the country. Portugal has a similar measure in place. Many European countries have a virtual lockdown for the unvaccinated and are scrambling to increase vaccine booster programs. And more governments, including Germany’s, are proposing or considering mandatory vaccines.

Austria and Italy already plan to impose hefty fines on eligible people who do not get vaccinated.

People over 65 years old in France will be under effective lockdown from Wednesday, if they have not received a third vaccine booster dose.

France’s health pass will no longer be valid for the elderly who have not received a third dose, barring those who have not been boosted from visiting restaurants or cafes or taking intercity trains. They will also be prohibited from visiting cultural venues like cinemas or museums.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Wednesday the European Union faces a double challenge, with a massive increase of delta cases in recent weeks and the threat of omicron looming. “We’re seeing an increasing number of people falling ill, a greater burden on hospitals and unfortunately, an increase in the number of deaths,” she told European Parliament lawmakers.

“And what I’m concerned about is that we now [are] seeing the new variant omicron on the horizon, which is apparently even more infectious,” she added.

But as governments go into overdrive, some epidemiologists and virologists are echoing Angelique Coetzee. Professor Tim Spector, the head of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College, London, says the “majority of symptoms are just like a common cold, so we’re talking about headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, and things like sneezing.” He added: “So, things like fever and cough and loss of smell are now actually in the minority of the symptoms that we’re seeing.”

Earlier this week, the first major study published into the new variant also suggested illness from omicron is less severe than from delta. The study of 78,000 omicron cases in South Africa found the risk of hospitalization is 29% lower compared with the Wuhan strain, and 23% lower than with delta. Far fewer people have been needing intensive care. Just 5% of omicron cases have been admitted to intensive care units compared to 22% of delta patients, the study shows.

The data for the study was compiled by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest private health insurer, and the South Africa Medical Research Council. It noted omicron can evade vaccines more than earlier strains, but the study found vaccines are still holding up well, although there were high numbers of breakthrough infections in people who had been vaccinated.

Vaccine effectiveness against infection dropped from 80% to 33%, according to the study, but offered 70% protection against hospital admission. Boosters may also mitigate the reduction in vaccine effectiveness, according to the study. Some European scientists have cautioned, though, against reading too much into the South African study, saying that South Africa’s population is much younger and that demographic differences could alter medical outcomes.

Source: Voice of America

The White House COVID-19 Response team Wednesday said early data indicates the omicron coronavirus variant is spreading in the U.S., but current vaccine boosters appear to be effective in fighting it.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the variant is in 36 U.S. states and accounts for 3% of all U.S. COVID-19 cases, though it is higher in some areas, such as New York and New Jersey, where it may account for as much 13% of cases.

Walensky said while the vast majority — 96% — of U.S. cases are still caused by the delta variant, she said early data show the omicron variant spreads faster than delta, with cases doubling in about two days.

Walensky, along with White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci and COVID-19 Response coordinator Jeff Zients, cited data showing being fully vaccinated along with a booster shot is the best way to fight off the new variant.

“Our booster vaccine regimens work against omicron,” Fauci said. “At this point, there is no need for a variant-specific booster.”

Walensky cited recent data from U.S. nursing homes showing unvaccinated or fully vaccinated residents without boosters were 10 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than residents fully vaccinated with boosters. Fauci cited the most real-world studies showing boosters can increase anti-body protection against omicron by as much as 35 times.

Zients cited CDC statistics showing an unvaccinated person is eight times more likely to be hospitalized and 14 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than a fully vaccinated person. He said a new study from the Yale University of Public Health shows the U.S. vaccination program prevented 10.3 million hospitalizations and saved 1.1 million lives.

The COVID-19 response coordinator said 14 million people received booster shots in the first two weeks of December, with 26 million total shots in arms during the same period. In total, the team reports more than 200 million U.S. residents are now fully vaccinated, and more than 55 million have received booster shots.

Source: Voice of America