Cuba revealed the “Abdullah” vaccine against Covid-19, while the number of deaths in Colombia exceeded the 100,000 mark, but European countries resorted to easing restrictions as conditions improved in them.
Cuba, one of the countries least affected by the epidemic in the region, with less than 170,000 infections, including 1,170 deaths out of 11.2 million people, announced yesterday, Monday, that its experimental vaccine, “Abdullah”, showed that it is more than 90% effective against the disease.
The Cuban government group “Pharmacopoeia”, to which the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology is affiliated, wrote in a tweet that the “Abdullah” vaccine – which is being developed by the center – shows an effectiveness of 92.28% after 3 doses.
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And the Finlay Vaccine Institute had announced on Saturday that the “SOBERANA-2” vaccine that it is developing provides an efficacy of 62%, after taking the second dose of 3 doses that one should receive to fully immunize him against Covid-19, and it is expected that this vaccine will get The demo is also getting an official license to use it soon.
If these two vaccines obtain licenses, as expected, Cuba will become the first country in Latin America to develop and produce anti-Covid-19 vaccines, despite the difficulties its scientists face due to the American embargo imposed on it since 1962, which was tightened during the era of former US President Donald Trump.
Several websites stated that the name of the vaccine was derived from “Abdullah’s play” written by the famous Cuban poet Jose Marti, who died in 1895 at the age of 42, and who is known for his penchant for Arabs and glorifying them in many of his poems, to the extent that most of the heroes of his poems are among them, as the hero of the poetic play that He composed it in his youth, and made a young Egyptian man from Nubia its hero, and his name was Abdullah.
For its part, South Africa announced Monday the first phase of giving the continent the ability to produce vaccines against Covid-19, but it will take time to implement the project at a time when “people continue to die,” according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
As for Colombia, yesterday, Monday, it crossed the threshold of 100,000 deaths with Covid-19, and the Latin American country recorded the largest daily death toll from the virus (about 650 deaths), according to what the Ministry of Health announced.
Compared to its 50 million people, Colombia is the fourth country in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of the number of deaths caused by the pandemic, and the sixth in terms of the number of infections, according to a census conducted by Agence France-Presse.
improvement in Europe
On the other hand, several European countries are witnessing a clear improvement in the health field. Italy – one of the European countries hardest hit by the epidemic – is preparing to abolish the mandatory wearing of masks abroad.
And Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced on his Facebook account, “As of June 28, we will end the work of obligating the wearing of masks in the open air.”
He added that this decision will apply in areas classified as “white”, that is, where the virus is spreading at a slow pace, and currently all of Italy is classified as “white”, except for the Aosta Valley, the small region located in the north of the country.
The minister’s announcement came after this proposal was approved by the “Scientific Technical Committee”, which advises the government on ways to combat the pandemic.
Yesterday, Monday, Italy recorded 21 deaths and 495 new infections with the Corona virus within 24 hours, while some regions of the country did not record any deaths.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced – yesterday, Monday – the lifting of the night curfew, which is applied on Sundays, as of July 1, after his country recorded a decrease in the number of Covid-19 infections and an acceleration in the vaccination campaign.
And Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced that his country will start vaccinating the age group over 25 years against the Corona virus, starting from Wednesday.
Although Europe has decided to open its borders to the Americans, the United States keeps its doors closed and refuses to give any date for a possible lifting of restrictions, which have been in place often for 15 months.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said – in an interview with Agence France-Presse – “We are excited to see transatlantic flights resume as soon as that flag allows,” but “I am not able to specify a period because this is largely due to the evolution of the epidemiological situation” and “replications.” transformed”.