Daily COVID Tracker: Thousands of ventilators removed from UK hospitals over electrical faults

Hospitals in the UK have been ordered to remove and source replacement ventilators over electrical faults. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday.

India’s COVID vaccine prices cut as booster programme is extended

Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech have cut the prices of their COVID-19 vaccines as the country plans to offer booster doses to all adults.

Adar Poonawalla, SII chief executive, said the cost of its vaccine will drop to 225 rupees ($2.96) a dose from 600 rupees for private hospitals.

“After discussion with the central government, SII has decided to revise the price of Covishield vaccine for private hospitals,” he said.

The booster programme, which started in January, is limited to frontline workers and the elderly and has so far administered 24 million doses.

In extending the programme, those outside the two priority categories will have to pay for the shots at privately run facilities, with no mixing and matching of vaccines allowed.

Shanghai carries out more COVID tests

Shanghai, on Saturday, carried out another round of mass COVID-19 testing this time testing residents at least twice in a single day.

It was the fourth consecutive day of city-wide testing in Shanghai, which reported a record 23,600 new locally transmitted cases.

City residents were asked to self-administer tests on Saturday, sometimes even two, and then to queue in their compounds later in the day for PCR tests.

New York mayor tests positive for COVID

Eric Adams, mayor of New York, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Fabien Levy, his spokesperson, said in a statement he woke up with a raspy voice and took a PCR test that came back positive.

He said Adams has no other symptoms but has cancelled all public events for the week and will be taking antiviral medications and working remotely.

New York City has been experiencing a resurgence in COVID cases over the past month.

Thousands of ventilators removed in UK over electrical faults

Hospitals in the UK have been ordered to source replacement ventilators after Philips Respironics said its breathing support devices could suddenly stop working, in some cases without activating a warning alarm.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the problem related to “a number of electrical faults in the devices, which can result in an unexpected shutdown, leading to loss of ventilation”.

It said there had been five reported cases of shutdowns in the UK so far, none of which involved patient harm.

The MHRA added that the root cause of the problem was not yet known and remained under investigation, but that Philips Respironics currently had “no permanent solution” to correct it.

COVID left me exhausted, says Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth ll of England says she was left “very tired and exhausted” after her recent experience with COVID.

The monarch had tested positive for COVID in February.

During a virtual visit to the Royal London hospital to mark the official opening of the Queen Elizabeth unit, she listened to the stories of medical staff, patients and workers who had used the facility during the pandemic.

Speaking to Asef Hussain, former COVID patient, and his wife, Shamina, the Queen said about the virus: “It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn’t it?

“This horrible pandemic. It’s not a nice result.”