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The Centre has issued a bird flu alert to states after cases of H5N1 avian influenza were reported from several places across the country. The central government has asked the states to take all possible steps to contain the spread of bird flu “on an urgent basis”. It has warned that there is a possibility of bird flu spreading to humans and domesticated animals.

Kerala has already declared bird flu as a state disaster and rapid response teams in the state have started culling chickens and ducks. Himachal Pradesh, where the first serious alert came from, too has imposed several restrictions on movement of poultry products in the state.

Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan have also reported cases of bird flu. These states have taken certain steps in the wake of outbreak of bird flu. The birds affected by avian influenza show symptoms such as tremors, diarrhoea, head tilt and paralysis.

Here is a look at how bad the situation is in different states.

Himachal Pradesh
More than 2,300 migratory birds have died in Himachal Pradesh due to bird flu outbreak. Most of the birds to have died of H5N1 avian influenza are bar-headed geese in the Pong Dam reservoir area in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.

Spread of avian influenza has been confirmed here by the forest officials. Samples were tested by the Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases confirming that H5N1 avian influenza was behind these deaths. It is a virus that has a known history of transmission between the poultry and wild birds.

The Kangra district officials have imposed a complete ban on the sale, purchase and export of any poultry products including eggs, birds and meat, and fish of any breed or age in or from the affected areas.

Kerala
Kerala, where bird flu has been declared a state disaster, has reported cases of avian influenza from Kottayam and Alappuzha districts. Kerala Minister for Forests, Wildlife and Animal Husbandry K Raju said around 12,000 ducks died due to spread of bird flu in the state. Raju said around 36,000 birds would be culled to avoid further spread of bird flu in Kerala. Trade of poultry meat and eggs has been banned in the affected districts in Kerala.

Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh has issued a bird flu alert following the deaths of a number of crows. Here, the bird flu outbreak has taken place due to the spread of H5N8 avian influenza virus. It has killed more than 375 crows in the districts of Indore, Mandsaur, Agar-Malwa, Khargone and Sehore.

Samples tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) revealed the presence of the H5N8 in Indore and Mandsaur districts.

A control room has been set up in Indore and all districts of Madhya Pradesh have been asked to report any suspicious case of bird flu to the authorities. The health department has been directed to provide PPE kits, anti-retroviral drugs and disinfectants to those engaged in monitoring of birds, culling of suspected population and disposal of the carcasses.

Rajasthan
More than 500 birds have lost their lives in Rajasthan due to bird flu. Most of the victim birds have been crows. The authorities have said the first case of bird flu in Rajasthan surfaced on December 25 in the Jhalawar district.

Now, bird flu has spread also to Kota, Baran, Bikaner, Dausa and Jodhpur districts. Samples sent to Bhopal-based NIHSAD have confirmed the spread of avian influenza caused by H5N1 strain of the virus in Rajasthan.

Haryana
Haryana has reported the death of around 4 lakh birds in the past 10 days in Panchkula district following the authorities have issued an advisory on poultry products. Barwala-based poultry farms in the Hisar district of Haryana reported deaths of around 1.5 lakh birds in the past one week.

Samples have been sent for testing at the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL) in Jalandhar. Report is awaited for confirmation of bird flu. A team from RDDL visited Barwala for re-sampling of the birds.

Gujarat
More than 50 birds were found dead in the Junagarh district of Gujarat on January 3 setting off an alarm in the wake of bird flu scare in neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The forest officials sent the carcasses for examination.

The state governments of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have also issued alert to districts asking the officials of the health and animal husbandry departments to monitor the situation and report any suspicious case of bird flu. Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory have also stepped up monitoring of birds. Experts have collected samples from wetlands in the Jammu for bird flu testing.

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) gave a green signal to Oxford-Astrazeneca’s and Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, along with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin last week. Covishield has been authorised for emergency use only and final contours are reportedly being worked out as it is yet to fulfil additional conditions.

The big question, however, is how many Indians are ready to take the vaccine?

As per latest survey by online platform LocalCircles, 69 per cent maintain that they are in no rush to take a vaccine against coronavirus. The question ‘The first Covid-19 vaccine in India now stands approved. What will be your approach in taking this vaccine’ received 8,723 responses and only 26 per cent of citizens said they will get the vaccine shot as soon as it becomes available

Since October 2020, LocalCircles has been collecting responses from citizens to know their approach on taking the Covid-19 vaccine, aimed to understand if the percentage of reluctance or hesitancy has increased, reduced or remains unchanged. Follow for Coronavirus vaccine Live Updates

As per a survey conducted in October, the percentage of Indians hesitant to take the Covid-19 vaccine stood at 61 per cent. With vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna announcing success on efficacy results, the aggregate percentage of citizens in India hesitant about the vaccine reduced to 59 per cent in the November survey.

The vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca via Serum Institute came as hope for India. A survey by LocalCircles, however, showed a dramatic increase in the percentage of citizens to 69 per cent who were hesitant to take a vaccine against coronavirus.

Another independent survey conducted in December by LocalCircles member Dr Abdul Ghafur indicated that the majority of healthcare professionals (55 per cent) were also hesitant about getting Covid-19 vaccine immediately. This majority of professionals in the survey maintained that they are worried about side-effects, or not sure about its efficacy. Approximately 60 per cent of these professionals were engaged with a Covid facility.

Why are people hesitant to take Covid vaccine?
Citizens belief that enough information is not available when it comes to vaccine side-effects, efficacy from trials, which combined with declining caseloads in India are top reasons why people are hesitant to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

Few experts warn of lack of transparency regarding the approval process, too, with DCGI not taking any questions from media when announcing the approval of Covishield and Covaxin on January 3, 2020, is of concern.

Earlier, when the Serum Institute was conducting trials for Covishield, a participant who undertook the trial had alleged that the vaccine was causing him serious side-effects, both neurological and psychological.

The Serum Institute dismissed these claims as “oblique pecuniary motive” maintaining that the participant’s suffering was independent of the vaccine trial he underwent and threatened to seek damages for malicious allegations in excess of Rs 100 crores (20 times the damages claimed by the participant).

All such issues have led to a level of distrust amongst citizens.

2021-1-6，澳大利亚将推广接种第一批新冠疫苗的时间提前两周至3月初。

看点：
政府最初计划在3月底开始接种新冠疫苗
辉瑞和阿斯利康的疫苗仍然需得到澳大利亚治疗用品管理局的批准
澳大利亚已获得1000万剂辉瑞疫苗和5380万剂阿斯利康疫苗

第一批接种的将是辉瑞生物技术公司（Pfizer-BioNtech）的疫苗，联邦政府已经采购了由该公司生产的1000万剂疫苗。

这种疫苗已经在海外多国获得紧急授权，并立即开始免疫接种。

澳大利亚联邦政府原计划在本月晚些时候由治疗用品管理局（Therapeutic Goods Administration，TGA）批准该疫苗，并在3月下旬开始接种。

但是联邦卫生部长格雷格·亨特（Greg Hunt）在悉尼2GB广播电台节目中表示，根据最新的医疗建议，疫苗接种时间表将可以提前两周。

“我们已经将疫苗接种时间从今年年中逐步提前到第二季度，再到3月底，现在到3月初，并且我不会排除进一步提前的可能，” 他说。

亨特表示“安全高于一切”，政府的第一要务是确保公众对澳大利亚推广使用的所有疫苗都有信心。

他表示第一批接种的疫苗将提供给前线工作者和那些接触国际旅客的人群，关于其他优先接种群体以及其余人群的接种顺序的医疗建议还在“制定当中”。

“这不是一蹴而就的事，这是符合常理的-就是要按照易感染性，以及传播风险和感染的后果[来决定接种顺序]，” 亨特说。

多种疫苗供澳大利亚人接种

除辉瑞疫苗外，澳大利亚还采购了近5400万剂牛津大学-阿斯利康（Oxford-AstraZeneca）疫苗，其中5000万剂已经开始由维多利亚州的CSL公司在境内生产。

这两种疫苗仍然需要得到TGA的批准，然后在全国推广之前也要进行批量测试。

人们需要接种两剂辉瑞疫苗，这意味着辉瑞疫苗推广后将覆盖500万澳大利亚人。

2021年01月05日 多名科学家与医生强调，大马的国家冠病疫苗接种计划需采用“全社会”的方法，各造必须致力在疫苗抵达我国时，克服严重的反对接种疫苗障碍。

20名科学家、医生和有心人联合发表题为“冠病是危险的，而不是疫苗”的声明说，当局应通过国会公共账目委员会和国会卫生、科学与创新专责委员会进行行政监督，以完全透明和公共问责的方式，解决许多人对疫苗采购和免疫计划的担忧。

声明提到，尽管大马大多数冠病患者没有症状或出现轻度症状，但卫生部指中度至重度3至5期患者的百分比已从7％增至11％。对于这类患者，借助呼吸器和死亡的风险非常高，因此现在比以往任何时候都更要接种疫苗。

“与疫苗有关的还有许多未知数。临床试验中看到的功效会转化为现实功效吗？许多因素会影响社区环境中疫苗的有效性，最大因素是为成年人群接种疫苗的后勤保障。

“我们希望这些疫苗可终结冠病噩梦，但随着它在我国和其他国家广泛推广，将需要更多监测和数据来证明这一点。然而与接种后可能有不良反应的风险相比，接种疫苗给个人和社会带来的好处更多。”

约翰逊说：“我们的医院现在所承受的压力，比冠病大流行任何时候都来得大。我们还需要做得更多，才有足够能力遏制新变种冠病病毒。”

英国首相约翰逊宣布，再次封锁英格兰以遏制新变种冠病病毒，所有人除非有必要理由，否则都必须待在家中，直到至少2月中旬。

路透社报道，约翰逊在周一（4日）晚上发表全国电视讲话时说，英国最先发现的更具传染性的B.1.1.7变种冠病病毒，现已在许多国家迅猛蔓延，必须立即采取行动以减缓其传播。

约翰逊说：“我们的医院现在所承受的压力，比冠病大流行任何时候都来得大。”他说：“鉴于全国大部分地区已经采取极端措施，很显然的，我们还需要做得更多，才有足够能力遏制这个新变种病毒。因此，我们必须进入全国封锁。换句话说，政府现在得再次命令每个人待在家中。”

从1月5日开始，英格兰所有非关键商店和餐饮设施都必须关闭，中小学生也将从同日起暂停上学，唯有弱势儿童和关键服务员工的子女除外。

约翰逊说，受此影响，今年夏天的所有学校考试将不可能举行。这将是第二个学年受到冠病大流行的干扰。

约翰逊表示，如果疫苗接种计划进展顺利，而封锁措施对减缓死亡病例奏效，封锁将有望在2月中旬开始解除。但他对封锁时间表持谨慎态度，并敦促人们遵守防疫规则。