KEY COVID NOS. WORLDWIDE

Pos   /   Country   /   New Daily cases   /   Total Deaths   /        Daily Deaths /           Active Cases   /           Deaths/1M Pop

               World    7,37,967              /             33,44,437            /             13,520   /             1,78,77,280        /             429.1

1             USA        34,741   /             5,97,760              /             816        /             63,67,682            /             1,797

2             India      3,62,406              /             2,58,351              /             4,126     /             37,16,045            /             186

3             Brazil     76,638   /             4,28,256              /             2,545     /             10,09,213            /             2,003

4             France   21,498   /             1,07,119              /             184        /             7,54,268              /             1,638

5             Iran        16,409   /             75,934   /             366        /             4,69,740              /             894

6             Italy       7,852     /             1,23,544              /             262        /             3,52,422              /             2,046

7             Ukraine 4,538     /             46,987   /             356        /             2,84,950              /             1,080

8             Argentina            24,475   /             68,807   /             496        /             2,77,424              /             1,511

9             Russia    8,217     /             1,14,331              /             355        /             2,72,199              /             783

10           Mexico  1,897     /             2,19,323              /             234        /             2,58,018              /             1,686

11           Germany              13,833   /             86,009   /             252        /             2,51,839              /             1,024

12           Turkey   13,029   /             43,821   /             232        /             2,27,350              /             515

13           Spain     6,418     /             79,208   /             108        /             2,22,387              /             1,694

14           Netherlands        6,356     /             17,399   /             16           /             2,20,398              /             1,013

15           Poland   4,255     /             70,679   /             343        /             1,89,141              /             1,869

16           Hungary               905        /             28,888   /             96           /             1,72,456              /             2,997

17           Sweden                /             14,267   /             36           /             1,51,432              /             1,405

18           Honduras             1,130     /             5,789     /             88           /             1,34,356              /             577

19           Colombia             16,993   /             79,261   /             490        /             1,09,831              /             1,544

20           Nepal    9,238     /             4,252     /             168        /             1,01,634              /             144

25           Pakistan               2,881     /             19,210   /             104        /             76,536   /             86

31           Philippines           4,842     /             18,714   /             94           /             53,214   /             169

34           Bangladesh         1,140     /             12,045   /             40           /             47,103   /             73

PANDEMIC PANEL SAYS WORLD COULD HAVE PREVENTED COVID CATASTROPHE

A global panel of experts has said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 an emergency very late and the catastrophe caused by the deadly virus across the globe could have been prevented.

The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPPR) said a series of bad decisions by the WHO meant COVID-19 went on to kill at least 3.3 million people so far and devastate the global economy.

The panel called for bold WHO reforms and revitalising national preparedness plans to prevent another "toxic cocktail". It further suggested that a new transparent global system should be set up for probing disease outbreaks.

The suggestion comes after the panel blamed the World Health Organisation (WHO) for announcing the Covid-19 pandemic global emergency a month late.

The independent global panel said, ideally, WHO should have declared the new coronavirus outbreak in China an international emergency earlier than January 30, 2020. But the delay in the announcement was a "lost month" as countries failed to heed the alarm, said the panel.

A report called the "Covid-19: Make it the Last Pandemic", argued that the global alarm system needed overhauling to prevent a similar catastrophe. The report said the emergence of Covid-19 was characterised by a mixture of "some early and rapid action, but also by delay, hesitation, and denial".

Chinese doctors reported cases of unusual pneumonia in December 2019 and informed authorities, while WHO picked up reports from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control and others, the panel said.

But WHO's Emergency Committee should have declared an international health emergency at its first meeting on January, 22 instead of waiting until 30 January, the report said.

"We have identified failures at every stage, and we do believe that it could have been possible to prevent this pandemic," panel co-chair and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said.

Early responses to the outbreak detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 "lacked urgency," with February 2020 a costly "lost month" as countries failed to heed the alarm, said the panel.

ISRAEL AND GAZA ESCALATE TOWARDS WAR

Israel on Wednesday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures and toppling a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in a series of airstrikes. The Islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities.

Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz had earlier vowed more attacks on Hamas and other Islamist militant groups in Gaza to bring "total, long-term quiet" before considering a ceasefire.

"This is just the beginning," warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We'll deliver them blows they haven't dreamt of."

Gaza militants have launched more than 1,000 rockets since Monday, said Israel's army, which has carried out more than 350 air strikes on the crowded coastal enclave, targeting what it calls military sites.

The most intense hostilities in seven years have killed at least 56 people in Gaza, including 14 children, and seven in Israel, including a soldier and one Indian national, since Monday.

As world powers voiced growing alarm over the crisis, the UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland warned that "we're escalating towards a full-scale war".

The UN Security Council held another emergency meeting without agreeing on a joint statement due to opposition from the United States, Israel's ally.

Mr. Netanyahu spoke on late Wednesday to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who reiterated his call to "end the violence".

Mr. Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in the mixed Jewish-Arab Israeli city of Lod, where police said "wide-scale riots erupted among some of the Arab residents", and authorities later imposed an overnight curfew there.

COVID VACCINES: MIXING INCREASES REPORTS OF MILD SIDE-EFFECTS

Adults are more likely to report mild and moderate side-effects after mixing doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer Covid vaccines, a study indicates.

Chills, headaches and muscle pain were reported more frequently when different vaccine doses were combined.

Any adverse reactions were short lived, with no other safety concerns.

"It's a really intriguing finding and not something we were necessarily expecting," Prof Matthew Snape, from the Oxford Vaccine Group said.

The Com-Cov study launched in February to see whether a different jab for the second dose might give longer-lasting immunity, better protection against new variants or simply allow clinics to swap vaccines if supplies are interrupted.

The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have both said they plan to mix vaccines in the near future, amid uncertainty over shipments of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and concerns about rare blood clots.

The study, led by the University of Oxford, has recruited 830 volunteers aged over 50.

It is expected to publish its first full results in June.

BANGLADESH REBUFFS CHINA ON QUAD WARNING

Bangladesh’s government has asked foreign envoys in Dhaka “to maintain decency and decorum” after public remarks from China’s Ambassador to the country provoked a sharp response.

The strongly-worded statement from Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry followed remarks by China’s envoy in Dhaka, Li Jiming, who warned Bangladesh to not consider joining the Quad grouping and said doing so would “damage” relations.

“Obviously it will not be a good idea for Bangladesh to participate in this small club of four because it will substantially damage our bilateral relationship,” Mr. Li said at a meeting organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association on Monday, the Press Trust of India reported from Dhaka.

The comment brought a sharp response from the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry, which said in a statement that Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told reporters “as a sovereign country, Bangladesh will determine the course of its foreign policy in the interest of its people” and “urged foreign envoys in Dhaka to maintain decency and decorum while speaking in public.”

“We’re an independent and sovereign state. We decide our foreign policy. But yes, any country can uphold its position,” Mr. Momen was quoted as telling the media.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing she “had not seen any reports from our Embassy in Bangladesh” on the issue. “So about the protest from the Bangladesh Foreign Minister , I’m not sure what exactly the protest is and what the accurate words are. But we always treat other countries despite their size as equals. We always follow the peaceful coexistence principle in developing bilateral relations and we always support each other,” she said.

BANGLADESH RECEIVES 5,00,000 DOSES OF CHINESE COVID-19 VACCINE AS GIFT

Bangladesh on Wednesday received 5,00,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine as a gift to continue its vaccination drive, which was halted due to shortage of India-made Astrazeneca jabs.

Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming handed over the vaccines to Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque at State Guest House Padma, hours after a Bangladesh aircraft landed in Dhaka carrying the vaccines from China.

Mr. Momen said that Bangladesh seeks to procure 40 to 50 million doses of the Chinese vaccine on a commercial basis.

He proposed co-production arrangement of the Chinese vaccine in Bangladesh, saying it could create a “win-win” situation for both the countries.

“We have the capacity to produce the vaccine and we can do it with their (Chinese) help . . . if they agree we can go for co-production,” he said.

Mr. Maleque said that his office has sent a letter of interest to China to buy the vaccine on a commercial basis.

Chinese envoy Li said the gift was the manifestation of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation, which again shows that “our people are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle”.

INDIA MAY OVERTAKE CHINA AS MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY SOONER THAN UN PROJECTIONS OF 2027: REPORT

Chinese demographers say India will become the world’s most populous country earlier than the United Nations’ projection of 2027, surpassing China where a steady drop in the birth rate has been recorded in the last few years.

India is expected to add nearly 273 million people to its population between now and 2050, a UN report said in 2019, forecasting that the country will cross China as the world’s most populous country by 2027. India will remain the most populated country through the end of the current century, the report said.

In 2019, India had an estimated population of 1.37 billion and China 1.43 billion, according to the UN figures.

The once-in-a-decade census released by China on Tuesday said China’s population grew at its slowest pace to reach 1.41178 billion, keeping its status as the world’s most populous country amid official projections that the numbers may decline from next year.

The drop in population was expected to lead to labour shortages and a fall in consumption levels, impacting the world’s second largest economy’s future economic outlook.

China’s state-run Global Times daily on Wednesday quoted Chinese demographers as saying that India’s population may overtake China’s well before 2027.

With the Chinese birth fertility rates expected to drop in the coming years, demographers predicted that India with its much higher fertility rate will overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2023 or 2024, earlier than the last UN prediction in 2019, the daily’s report said.

MACRON’S PARTY BARS LOCAL POLL CANDIDATE OVER HIJAB PHOTO

French President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party has barred a Muslim woman from running for as candidate on its ticket in a local election after she wore an Islamic headscarf for a photo that appeared on a campaign flier.

La Republique en Marche said the party line was that in secular France there should be no place for the overt display of religious symbols on electoral campaign documents. “This woman will not be an En Marche candidate,” Stanislas Guerini, the party’s general secretary, told RTL radio. French law does not prohibit the wearing of the hijab or other religious symbols in images that appear on campaign fliers. The episode illustrates how sensitive a subject the place of Islam in France has become ahead of next year’s presidential vote, with the main challenge to a Macron re-election bid coming from the far right.

Macron has warned of the growing threat of Islamist separatism in France.The affair erupted after Jordan Bardella, the number 2 in the far-right Rassemblement National party of Marine Le Pen, tweeted a copy of the flier with the post: “Is this how you fight separatism?” En Marche candidate,” Guerini responded, demanding either the flier be withdrawn or the candidate Sara Zemmahi lose support. Zemmahi or her associates could not be reached.

ANTONIO GUTERRES APPOINTS MARTIN GRIFFITHS AS UN HUMANITARIAN CHIEF

The United Nations chief has appointed veteran British diplomat Martin Griffiths, a seasoned negotiator with wide global experience, as the new UN humanitarian chief.

“Griffiths brings extensive leadership experience in humanitarian affairs at headquarters and country levels, both strategically and operationally," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said, “as well as senior level experience in international conflict resolution, negotiation and mediation.” Mr. Griffiths has spent the last three years as the UN special envoy for Yemen and he briefed the UN Security Council earlier Wednesday on his latest efforts to peacefully resolve the six-year conflict.

Mr. Guterres said Griffiths will continue to serve as the UN's top envoy for Yemen “until a transition has been announced.” Mr. Griffiths will replace Mark Lowcock, a Briton who has served as undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator for four years and was highly regarded.

Mr. Guterres said he is “deeply grateful” for Lowcock's “dedicated service to the organization and commitment in mobilising assistance and resources to protect and alleviate the conditions of the many people affected by humanitarian crises.”