G7 health ministers were to hold an emergency meeting Monday on the new Omicron Covid-19 strain spreading the globe and forcing border closures, as experts race to understand what the variant means for the fight to end the pandemic.   The meeting was called by G7 chair Britain, which is among a steadily growing number of countries detecting cases of the heavily mutated new strain.   Omicron, first discovered in southern Africa, represents a fresh challenge to global efforts to battle the pandemic. Several countries have already re-imposed restrictions many had hoped were a thing of the past.   "We know we are now in a race against time," said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. Vaccine manufacturers needed two to three weeks "to get a full picture of the quality of the mutations", she added.   A long list of countries has already imposed travel restrictions on southern Africa, including key travel hub Qatar, as well as the United States, Britain, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Netherlands.   Angola became the first southern African country to suspend all flights from its regional neighbours Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.   South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday called on countries to lift the travel bans "before any further damage is done to our economies".   Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera accused Western countries of "Afrophobia" for shutting their borders.   The head of the World Health Organization in Africa also urged countries to follow the science rather than impose flight bans in a bid to contain the new Covid strain.   "With the Omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world, putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity," said WHO regional director Matshidiso Moeti.   - Race to determine threat level -   Dutch health authorities said they had identified at least 13 cases of Omicron among 61 quarantined passengers who tested positive for coronavirus after arriving from South Africa.   Border police there announced Sunday they had arrested a couple on a plane at Schiphol Airport after they fled a hotel where the passengers were being quarantined.   Despite the new threat, tens of thousands rallied in Austria to protest the government's introduction of compulsory vaccination -- the first EU country to do so.   Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said it was "a minor interference" compared to the alternative for a country with one of the lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe.   With many European nations, including Germany and France, already re-introducing restrictions to counter surges in infections, Swiss voters firmly backed a proposed Covid pass law in a referendum Sunday.   In Britain, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said new Covid rules will be enforced from Tuesday, including mandatory mask-wearing in shops and on public transport in England, and tighter restrictions on passengers arriving from abroad.   As scientists try to determine the level of threat posed by the new strain, one South African doctor said dozens of her patients suspected of having the Omicron variant had only shown mild symptoms, such as fatigue.   Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told AFP she had seen 30 patients over the past 10 days who tested positive for Covid-19 and who all fully recovered without hospitalisation.   Senior US government scientist Anthony Fauci said he "continues to believe that existing vaccines are likely to provide a degree of protection against severe cases of Covid", during a briefing on the new variant with President Joe Biden on Sunday.   - Israel raises 'red flag' -   Israel announced some of the strictest curbs, closing the borders to all foreigners -- just four weeks after re-opening to tourists following a prolonged Covid-driven closure.   "We are raising a red flag," Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.   But the new strain has already slipped through the net and has now been found everywhere from the Netherlands to the UK, Botswana, Hong Kong and Australia.   Canada became the latest country to announce its first detected cases Sunday in two people who had travelled to Nigeria.   Scientists in South Africa said they had last week detected the new variant with a far greater number of mutations than in the cases of earlier strains like Beta or Delta -- the latter of which dented the global recovery and sent millions worldwide back into lockdown.   The prestigious Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome produced the first "image" of the new strain and confirmed there were many more mutations than seen in the Delta variant. But that does not mean it is more dangerous, the researchers said. Source: AFP/BSS AH

The Directorate General of Drug Administration has given permission to local institute Globe Biotech Ltd. to produce their Corona vaccine ‘Bangavax’ for running clinical trial. Globe Biotech Research and Development division chief Dr. Asif Mahmud delivered the information on Wednesday. Globe Biotech, a sister concern of medicine producing institution of the country Globe Pharmaceuticals Group of Companies on July 2 last year claimed that they have invented the vaccine. It is the first institution of the country which has claimed of inventing the Corona vaccine. The institution began their research to invent it on March 8. On October 18 Asif Mahmud said that their vaccine was tested successfully on animals. The World Health Organization has a list of 156 vaccines for pre-experimental use and Globe Biotech has three of them. AH

Claiming that they have got very promising results from pre-clinical trials on rabbits and mice of the coronavirus vaccine styled ‘BNCOVID’ developed by it, Bangladesh’s Globe Biotech Ltd on Monday said they want to bring it to the market by January next if they are allowed to launch the first phase of human trials very soon. The Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company said they have completed all the necessary preparations for making their vaccine initiative a success, but they said everything now depends on the government’s cooperation in completing the required processes. “We hope the government will stand beside us and assist us in every necessary area. If we all can make collective efforts, we hope, we’ll be able to start giving our vaccine to people across Bangladesh by January next,” Harunur Rashid, chairman of Globe Biotech, told a press conference at a city hotel. He said pre-clinical trials suggest that their vaccine is as promising as the other leading corona vaccine candidates in the world. “If we can now make united efforts, we can export the vaccine to all over the world alongside meeting the local demand.” Stating that the government has set aside Tk 10,000 crore for the corona vaccine, Harun said they will be able to earn over Tk 50,000 by exporting the BNCOVID vaccine if only the government extends the necessary support to them. “Developing a vaccine is a daunting task. But our team worked hard and made an impossible job possible.  We’ve built a cent percent foundation for the vaccine as we’re now at the stage of conducting phase-1 and phase-2 clinical trials,” he observed. He urged the government and the regulatory body, including DGDA, to allow them to conduct the clinical trials of the vaccine as soon as possible. “We believe our vaccine will turn out to be one of the effective vaccines in the world and we’ll be able to save many lives. But we need government patronage to make it possible.”  Globe Biotech CEO Kakon Nag said their vaccine has already proved safe and effective in the pre-clinical trials on mice following an animal model and the results of the pre-clinical trial were published in the international platform, biorxive.org -- an archive for unpublished pre-prints in life sciences. “We’re now preparing the protocol for conducting a clinical trial of the vaccine together with  Contract Research Organisation (CRO),” he said. Kakon hoped that CRO will soon apply to the Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) with the protocol for getting the approval for the clinical trial of the vaccine. Once they get the BMRC’s approval, he said, CRO will apply to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) for permission to carry out the clinical trial. Mentioning that Bangladesh is now witnessing the second wave of coronavirus, Kakon said recent studies recommend that D614G variant is cent percent responsible for it. “The BNCOVID vaccine developed with our own technology is the only and the first vaccine against the D614G variant.” “We’ve done whatever necessary to bring an effective and safe vaccine to the market, but the further steps and final success depend on the cooperation of the government and the people of the country,” he observed. Kakon said now their only responsibility is to provide vaccine doses for the clinical trial as per the protocol. Asked whether they have any plan to conduct the trial of the vaccine in any other country, he said they are now focusing on trials only in Bangladesh as their primary target is to provide the BANCOVID here. “If we want to export the vaccine, then we may need to conduct the trial in other countries.” The Globe Biotech CEO said they want to complete the trial within a short time by appointing a bigger number of volunteers as many people are contacting them to work as volunteers. About the possible price of the vaccine, he said it is now difficult to say the exact price of it since their product does not reach the final stage. “But we can say it will be relatively cheaper.” Speaking at the programme, Prof Mamun Al Mahtab, chairman of the hematology department at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), said he hopes the BANCOVID will be an effective vaccine. “BANCOVID has just completed the preclinical stage. Even then, this vaccine may finally become unsuccessful. But we appreciate this imitative  of Globe Biotech.”  BSMMU deputy registrar Dr Sheikh Abdullah Al Mamun thanked Globe Biotech for making efforts for devolving the vaccine. “But you’ve to still go a long way to succeed.” On July 2, Asif Mahmud, in-charge of research and development of Globe Biotech Limited, announced at a press conference that they were developing a Covid-19 vaccine as they completed preliminary animal trials successfully. Asif Mahmud was present at the press conference, but did not say anything about the vaccine. Source: UNB AH