Health sciences

After two years of competing for vaccination against covid in the world, the number of available vaccines is already exceeding their demand. However, there remains a huge difference in vaccination levels between the richest and poorest countries, writes AFP.

China is battling its biggest spike in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with millions under lockdown and the healthcare system feeling the pressure.

One of the last countries sticking to a zero-Covid strategy, China aims to stamp out every infection with strict lockdowns and by sending all cases to secure facilities.

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar said its country accepted the "serious responsibility" it was being given after the WHO on Wednesday approved Serbia to produce RNA vaccines, which include Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna vaccines, but also vaccines made for other illnesses besides COVID-19.

China on Feb. 12 said it had given "conditional" approval for Pfizer's Covid-19 drug Paxlovid to treat adults with mild to moderate illness and a high risk of developing severe disease.

An early version of COVID-19, which seems to have been created in the laboratory, was discovered in samples from a Chinese biotechnology company, writes Sara Knapton, the Science Editor for The Daily Telegraph.
This finding justifies claims that the virus may have originated as a laboratory experiment that accidentally leaked.

Turkey's locally developed vaccine against COVID-19, Turkovac, is now available in all 81 provinces of the country, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said, urging people to get their shots as daily infections remain high.

"Turkovac is ready to be administered at city hospitals, research and training hospitals and other health institutions in all provinces," Koca wrote on Twitter.

“At the same time, it seems that cannabis use has a periodicity, ie it increases in winter and decreases in the summer months”

However, he clarified that more clinical trials are needed before it can be considered an effective treatment

Turkey will use the anti-COVID drug Molnupiravir in the early-stage treatment of coronavirus patients, the country's health minister has announced as daily infections continue to remain high.

Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has reiterated that the Omicron-triggered rise in the virus case is not likely to cause problems that were experienced in the early chapters of the pandemic but warned that people still need to take necessary precautions.