Covid 19

RICEBORO, Ga. (AP) — The mayor of a small coastal Georgia town has died from complications due to COVID-19 Riceboro Mayor Joe Harris died Tuesday, Pearlie Axson, the town's mayor pro tem, told local news outlets. Harris died at Liberty Regional Medical Center in Hinesville after being hospitalized last week, Axson said. The 35-year-old Harris had been mayor of Riceboro, a town of about 800 people south of Savannah, since 2020. He was an elementary school teacher in Hinesville. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Tuesday. Axson said the city council will meet to decide if a special election will be needed. …

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The Columbus Blue Jackets continued laying down the hammer on personnel who refused the COVID-19 vaccine. Columbus president John Davidson announced Tuesday that veteran forward Zac Rinaldo would be denied access to training camp and would start the season in the American Hockey League because of his refusal to get vaccinated. Davidson told reporters during his media day availability that all 67 training-camp attendees would be fully vaccinated against the virus, calling it "an important issue" for the Blue Jackets. "It's a team-first issue," Davidson said. "We win as a team, lose as a team. Everything we do we do together, as a team, and as we continue to navigate the COVID-19, it's no different. We have to do what we have to do. I'm proud of our group, and I'm proud that they recognize how important it is for us to do everything we can to protect ourselves and others." Rinaldo, who signed a two-way contract with Columbus in June, has carved out a decade-plus hockey career as …

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As many as 1,647 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. While Chennai’s daily count dropped just below 200, Coimbatore continued to report over 200 infections. The fresh cases took the State’s tally to 26,48,688. There were 218 cases in Coimbatore and 198 in Chennai. Erode and Chengalpattu recorded 112 and 109 cases respectively. Cases dropped marginally in both Tiruppur and Thanjavur, when compared with the previous day — while the former saw 85 cases, the latter logged 79. Salem recorded 77 infections. Five districts saw under 10 cases each, with Ramanathapuram recording the least number of cases at three. State’s toll Another 19 people — three in private hospitals and 16 in government facilities — succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 35,379. There were no deaths due to COVID-19 in 26 districts. While Tiruppur recorded three deaths, there were two in Chennai. Among the deceased was a 25-year-old man from Tiruvarur with Down’s syndrome and …

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As many as 1,647 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. While Chennai’s daily count dropped just below 200, Coimbatore continued to report over 200 infections. The fresh cases took the State’s tally to 26,48,688. There were 218 cases in Coimbatore and 198 in Chennai. Erode and Chengalpattu recorded 112 and 109 cases respectively. Cases dropped marginally in both Tiruppur and Thanjavur, when compared with the previous day — while the former saw 85 cases, the latter logged 79. Salem recorded 77 infections. Five districts saw under 10 cases each, with Ramanathapuram recording the least number of cases at three. Tamil Nadu’s COVID-19 toll Another 19 people — three in private hospitals and 16 in government facilities — succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 35,379. There were no deaths due to COVID-19 in 26 districts. While Tiruppur recorded three deaths, there were two in Chennai. Among the deceased was a 25-year-old man from Tiruvarur with Down’s …

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KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Severe Covid-19 cases among unvaccinated younger people are outnumbering cases among vaccinated elderly people, which may be possibly linked to vaccine hesitancy, say doctors at a Covid-19 hospital in Klang. This comes as more than 55% of the total population in Malaysia are fully vaccinated and almost 80% of Klang Valley residents have completed their vaccinations. Consultant emergency medicine specialist Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Mohamad Nor told Bernama about two-thirds of COVID-19 patients treated at Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in Klang are below 60 and almost all have not been vaccinated. "Almost all (of those under 60 who were hospitalised) have not been vaccinated. There is still that group missing out on vaccinations,” he said. Dr Ahmad Tajuddin, who is also the head of the Emergency and Trauma Department at HTAR, said they started noticing the trend at the start of the fourth wave in late June. He added that at the time, they did not think …

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GEORGE TOWN: Penang will kick off Covid-19 immunisation programme for adolescents on Wednesday (Sept 22), says Chow Kon Yeow. The Chief Minister said for a start, the vaccinations will involve students aged 16 and 17 years old who have permanent addresses in Penang but study in boarding schools outside the state. "The students will be notified of their appointments through the MySejahtera application and they should attend their appointments with their parents or guardians," he said in a statement Tuesday (Sept 21). He said students are advised to bring the necessary documents, especially the Covid-19 vaccination consent form, to ensure that the vaccination process goes smoothly. He said on Thursday (Sept 23), vaccination sessions for students aged 16 and 17 who do not have comorbidities would be held from 9am to noon at six vaccination centres (PPV). He said the PPV are SPICE Convention Centre, Tapak Ekspo Seberang Jaya, Vangohh Eminent Hotel, Dewan Perda Convention Centre, …

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PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll has reached 24,078 after the Health Ministry reported 334 more coronavirus deaths on Tuesday (Sept 21). Based on the ministry’s Github data repository, four out of the 301 deaths occurred on Tuesday, while the rest are backlog cases that were not confirmed previously. Of the reported deaths on Tuesday, 84 were fatalities classified as “brought-in-dead” (BID) cases. This brings the total of BID cases in the country up to 4,648. Based on the latest graphs on the ministry’s CovidNow website, the country’s death cases continue to show a declining trend. The average number of deaths in the last seven days - based on actual date of death - is 101. This is a decline from early August, when the average was around 300 death cases a day. Out of the 334 reported deaths on Tuesday, 205 of them were from the Klang Valley. The rest were in Johor (37 deaths), Kelantan (20), Sabah (14), Perak (12), Sarawak (10), Kedah (eight), Penang (seven), …

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A booster of Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) one-shot coronavirus vaccine offers a stronger immune response months after people receive their first dose, the company said Tuesday. In a statement, J&J said an extra dose either two months or six months after the initial shot increased defense against the virus. The results, however, have not yet been peer reviewed or published, the Associated Press reported. The J&J vaccine, considered an important weapon against COVID-19 for its one-shot protection, started running a global test to see whether two doses could improve its effectiveness as the U.S. began distributing vaccines to the public. Dr. Paul Stoffels, J&J's chief scientific officer, said in a statement that "a booster shot further increases protection against COVID-19 and is expected to extend the duration of protection significantly." For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. That two-dose approach was 75 percent effective globally at …

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China's strict "zero tolerance" COVID-19 policies are decimating the country's tourism industry ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics , the Associated Press reported. The strategy of trying to isolate every case and stop transmission has kept the death and infection rate low, but travel restrictions have made potential tourists nervous about traveling to areas they might be unable to leave. "Two years ago, this was our busiest season," said Wang Hui, manager of the Beizhong International Travel Agency. "Now, customers tend to postpone their plans because of the outbreaks. This year is worse than last year." The country has also been largely closed to foreigners to help curb the spread of the virus and its variants. For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. Foreign athletes are due to compete in the Winter Olympics that start February 4 in Beijing and the nearby city of Zhangjiakou, but the government has yet to say whether restrictions that prevent most …

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At-home COVID-19 tests have been hit by a shortage as U.S. companies have warned it will take time to replenish their supplies after scaling back production over the summer from decreased demand, the Associated Press reported. Abbott Laboratories, the largest rapid test maker in the U.S., shut down one of its factories, laid off employees and destroyed some testing components over the summer, the New York Times recently reported. The company said the decisions were made amid increased vaccination numbers and lower demand for testing. According to Abbott, the destroyed supplies had a limited shelf life and were not viable for sale or for donation to other countries. "It is now very clear that testing is a necessary companion to vaccines and Abbott is ramping up again," a company spokesperson said. Abbott said it is currently producing "tens of millions" of its BinaxNOW tests per month, and is working to increase capacity in coming weeks to meet the surge in demand. For …

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