Risk of heart inflammation after Covid-19 vaccination found to be very low, says new study - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - The overall risk of heart inflammation following Covid-19 vaccination has been found to be very low, affecting just 18 people per million vaccine doses.

A new study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine confirms that the risk of myopericarditis - a condition that causes inflammation of the heart muscle - following Covid-19 vaccination is comparable to or lower than the risk following non-Covid-19 vaccinations.

The study was led by researchers in Singapore, namely Dr Kollengode Ramanathan, a senior consultant from the department of cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore.

Other authors include Dr Jyoti Somani and Professor Dale Fisher from the division of infectious diseases at the National University Hospital.

Myopericarditis, in some cases, can result in severe permanent heart damage. It is most often caused by viruses but can also occur after vaccination in rare instances. There have been reports of myopericarditis following mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccination, especially in adolescents and young adults.

The researchers examined international databases, looking at more than 400 million vaccination doses, to compare the risk of myopericarditis following vaccination against Covid-19 and other diseases such as influenza and smallpox.

They found no statistically significant difference between the incidence of myopericarditis following Covid-19 vaccination, at 18 cases per million doses, and other vaccinations, at 56 cases per million doses.

Among Covid-19 vaccinations, the risk of myopericarditis was higher for those who received mRNA vaccines (22.6 cases per million doses) compared with non-mRNA vaccines (7.9 cases per million doses).

Reported myopericarditis cases were also higher in people below the age of 30 (40.9 cases per million doses), males (23 cases per million doses), and following the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine (31.1 cases per million doses).

"The occurrence of myopericarditis following non-Covid-19 vaccination could suggest that myopericarditis is a side effect of the inflammatory processes induced by any vaccination and is not unique to the Sars-CoV-2 spike proteins in Covid-19 vaccines or infection," said Dr Somani.

Dr Ramanathan said: "Our research suggests that the overall risk of myopericarditis appears to be no different for this newly approved group of vaccines against Covid- 19, compared to vaccines against other diseases.

"The risk of such rare events should be balanced against the risk of myopericarditis from infection and these findings should bolster public confidence in the safety of Covid-19 vaccinations."

There were some limitations to this study. For instance, the findings include only a small proportion of children under the age of 12 who have only recently been eligible for vaccination, and results of this study cannot be generalised to this age group.

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2022-04-12 01:00:00Z
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China’s foreign firms decry ‘rapidly mounting’ costs of zero-Covid measures - South China Morning Post

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China’s foreign firms decry ‘rapidly mounting’ costs of zero-Covid measures  South China Morning PostView Full coverage on Google News
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2022-04-11 11:30:14Z
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China Stocks Caught in Fresh Rout on Covid, Regulation Worries - Bloomberg

Chinese stocks tumbled on Monday as mounting concern over a Covid outbreak at home and rising global interest rates added to persistent regulatory headwinds.

The tech sector was once again at the forefront of losses, with the Hang Seng Tech Index closing 5.2% lower in Hong Kong. The broader Hang Seng Index as well as China’s benchmark CSI 300 Index each slumped about 3%.

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2022-04-11 06:04:00Z
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Perception that US is on the wane as the East rises likely to be proven wrong: PM Lee - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - There is a strong perception in some parts of the world, including China, that the East is rising and the West declining, and that the United States no longer has a bright future as the world is changing too fast for its system - a democracy with checks and balances.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong does not believe this at all, he said in a recent dialogue with the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal.

While the US is preoccupied with many problems for which it does not see a ready solution, to conclude that America is a country with no future is a "very, very rash assumption to make", he said.

"It is a bet which if proven wrong - which is very likely - is going to cost; cost in overly ambitious plans, cost in overly complacent assumptions, cost in being aggressive in ways which are going to cause a problem, not just to the US but with the rest of the world."

Even if the US is no longer the hyperpower, he added, it will still be close to the biggest economy and one of the most advanced, vibrant and dynamic economies and societies in the world, able to attract talent, generate new ideas and reinvent itself.

But he noted that this was not a universal view.

And there is not much the US can do about that perception by arguing about it.

"You can only solve that problem by progressively being seen to overcome your problems. And to be looking outwards and to be playing the part which so many countries in the Asia-Pacific would like you to play," he added.

The transcript of the dialogue on April 1, during PM Lee's visit to Washington and New York, was released by the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday (April 10).

For a long time, PM Lee said, the US had held itself out as a beacon for the world and saw that it was in its own interest to be open and to carry the obligations of being a policeman in the region.

And the stability of the region turned out to be a boon, with many US multinational corporations and citizens benefiting from being in the region and many from the region developing links and a fondness for the US, he added.

But over time, as the balance shifted with the rise of China and the development of South Korea and South-east Asian countries, a counter-narrative developed in the US questioning why it should still bear the burden of security when its share of the gains is now smaller than it used to be, he said.

While the current US administration under President Joe Biden takes a broader approach, the strategic and economic balance has shifted, and adjustments do need to be made in terms of what the other countries in the region will do, PM Lee added.

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2022-04-10 10:00:00Z
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Locked down Shanghai residents risk punishment, sneaking out to barter for food - South China Morning Post

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Locked down Shanghai residents risk punishment, sneaking out to barter for food  South China Morning Post
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2022-04-09 00:30:21Z
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Sri Lanka doubles interest rates to tame inflation as crisis bites - CNA

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's central bank doubled its key interest rates on Friday (Apr 8), raising each by an unprecedented 700 basis points to tame inflation that has soared due to crippling shortages of basic goods driven by a devastating economic crisis.

The heavily indebted country has little money left to pay for imports, meaning fuel, power, food and, increasingly, medicine are in short supply.

Street protests have been held nearly non-stop for more than a month, despite a five-day state of emergency and a two-day curfew.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka's (CBSL) monetary board raised its standing lending facility to 14.50 per cent and its standing deposit facility to 13.50 per cent.

It cited "inflationary pressures that could further intensify... driven by the build-up of aggregate demand, domestic supply disruptions, exchange rate depreciation and the elevated prices of commodities globally". Inflation hit 18.7 per cent in March.

An analyst had expected hikes of up to 400 basis points.

Thilina Panduwawala, head of economic research at Frontier Research, said the hike showed that the CBSL's new governor, P Nandalal Weerasinghe, was serious about addressing the crisis.

"With the monetary policy tightening now finally clear, the stage is set to take the next vital steps with regards to IMF and debt restructuring and clearly communicate this to the international stage," Panduwawala said.

Finance Minister Ali Sabry said earlier that the country must urgently restructure its debt and seek external financial help, while the main opposition threatened a no-confidence motion in the government and business leaders warned exports could plummet.

"We cannot step away from repaying debt because the consequences are terrifying. There is no alternative, we must restructure our debt," Sabry told parliament.

J.P. Morgan analysts estimate that Sri Lanka's gross debt servicing costs will amount to US$7 billion this year, with a US$1 billion repayment due in July.

"We have to go for a debt moratorium," said Sabry, who offered to quit a day after he was appointed on Monday but later confirmed that he was still finance minister.

"We have to suspend debt repayment for some time and get bilateral and multilateral support to manage our balance of payments."

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2022-04-08 14:21:15Z
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'Healthy growth' in number of local food farms: Singapore Food Statistics report - CNA

SINGAPORE: There has been a "healthy growth" in the number of local food farms, from 221 in 2019 to 260 in 2021, said the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in its inaugural Singapore Food Statistics report released on Friday (Apr 8).

More than 90 per cent of Singapore's food is imported, and local farms serve as important buffers by reducing dependence on imports during supply disruptions, said SFA. 

For example, local fish farms stepped up to keep their production going during the two-week closure of Jurong Fishery Port in July 2021.

Singapore sets aside 1 per cent of its land area for food farms. 

The report also highlighted the diversification of Singapore's food supply sources, from 172 countries and regions in 2019 to 180 in 2021. 

"Import source diversification, complemented with local food production, hence helps us hedge against supply and price disruptions," said SFA. 

DIVERSIFYING IMPORT SOURCES 

Many factors could impact Singapore's food supply, including climate change, disease outbreaks, geopolitical uncertainties, global population growth and global pandemics like COVID-19, said SFA. 

The agency highlighted efforts to diversify Singapore's egg supply over the past three years to mitigate supply disruptions due to farm closures. In 2021, imported eggs from alternative sources such as Thailand, Australia, Spain and Poland contributed to about 18 per cent of Singapore's egg supply, up from 2 per cent in 2019. 

SFA has also approved 16 countries for the export of eggs to Singapore, up from 12 in 2019. 

More than 50 per cent of hen shell eggs currently come from Malaysia, according to the report. 

Singapore's major sources of commonly consumed food in 2021 include Australia (vegetables, meat), China (vegetables, fruits), Brazil (meat), Indonesia (seafood), Malaysia (vegetables, hen shell eggs, seafood, meat, fruits), Poland (hen shell eggs), South Africa (fruits) and Vietnam (seafood). 

LOCAL FARMS 

Singapore's agri-food sector is mainly made up of farms that produce hen shell eggs, vegetables and seafood. They contributed 30 per cent, 4 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, to Singapore's total food consumption in 2021, according to the report. 

From 2019 to 2021, "the total value of local production of these food items increased 12 per cent, from S$42.1 million to S$47.3 million", SFA said.

The local production of hen shell eggs has increased by more than 7 per cent year-on-year and will be boosted by the development of a fourth egg farm. When it is fully operational from 2024, local farms will be able to meet about half of Singapore's demand for eggs, said the report. 

FOOD SAFETY 

As Singapore's food safety regulator, SFA ensures the safety of imported food through the accreditation of overseas sources for higher-risk products including meat and eggs. 

It also "maintains a comprehensive and risk-based inspection process" to keep local food establishments in check. Lapses in licensing conditions, regulatory requirements, biosecurity, food safety and hygiene practices call for immediate rectification, and may lead to enforcement action, said SFA. 

Non-compliance with SFA’s standards of inspection by retail food establishments remained low between 2019 and 2021, at 3 per cent on average, according to the report. 

Non-retail food establishments showed a similar trend over the same period, except for central kitchens which typically saw higher non-compliance rates.

SFA said the number of foodborne illness cases related to foodborne outbreaks have been kept low, with no more than 26 such cases per 100,000 population annually over the previous three years. 

In terms of food recalls, SFA effected 23 food recalls in 2021, comparable to previous years.

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2022-04-08 08:41:47Z
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