LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday (Dec 19) announced a "stay at home" order for London and southeast England to slow a new coronavirus strain that is significantly more infectious.
Early data suggests the new strain could be "up to 70 per cent more transmissible," Johnson said at a televised briefing.
He ordered new restrictions for London and south-eastern England from Sunday, saying that under the new "tier four" rules, "residents in those areas must stay at home" at least until Dec 30.
The aim of the new rules is to slow the spread of the new strain to areas where it is not yet prevalent.
The measures will mean around a third of England's population cannot travel or meet other households for Christmas.
It was a dramatic step-up after Johnson said last week that it would be "inhuman" to "cancel Christmas" by banning family gatherings, though he urged people to have small celebrations.
"It is with a very heavy heart I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned," Johnson told the nation.
"Alas when the facts change, you have to change your approach."
The announcement came as Britain has seen rising cases and hospital admissions this month.
"This virus has taken off, it's moving fast, and it's leading inevitably to a sharp increase in hospital admissions," said Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser.
Non-essential shops, gyms, cinemas, bowling alleys, casinos, hairdressers and nail bars will be closed in London and other affected regions, including Kent, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
Only one person from one household will be allowed to meet one person from another household in a public place, outside.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said that while there was no current evidence the variant of the coronavirus causes a higher mortality rate or impacted vaccines, urgent work was underway to confirm this.
"We have alerted the World Health Organization and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding," Whitty said in a statement.
Britain reported 27,052 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and 489 deaths, slightly less than on Friday.\
Much of the country, including London, is currently in the highest of a three-tier system of restrictions to curb the pandemic's spread. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said ministers could now announce curbs on travel between southeast England, including the capital, and the rest of the country.
The BBC said these areas would now be placed in a new Tier 4, with a tightening of rules for Christmas.
"Failing to act decisively now, will mean further suffering," Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said on Twitter. "We must keep asking ourselves 'are we doing enough, are we acting quickly enough'."
The opposition Labour Party said the tiering system had failed to curb the virus' spread.
"It has been apparent for some days that the virus is again out of control in parts of the country," said Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's health spokesman.
SINGAPORE - Staycations were cut short at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore, while those on stay-home notices (SHN) at the hotel were subjected to a Covid-19 test on Saturday (Dec 19), after the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it was probing 13 Covid-19 cases among people who served their SHN there.
While the hotel said all guests would be moved out by Sunday, guests with luggage were already seen waiting at a pick-up point when The Straits Times visited at 5pm on Saturday.
Security staff were on hand to help with bags, and at least two safe distancing ambassadors were spotted.
Most of the guests seen were families with young children.
A 37-year-old hotel guest who declined to be named said she saw, from a distance, some people wearing full personal protective equipment being ushered into a separate part of the hotel.
"It's probably just precautionary measures but I thought it's better to check out one night earlier and be safe at home," she said. She was initially booked for a two night stay with her two daughters, aged nine and seven.
Fitness instructor Fazli Ahmad, 29, and his wife, who were checking out of the hotel after a two-night stay, said they will keep a close watch for any possible symptoms over the next two weeks.
"We came back from swimming earlier in the afternoon and saw many safe distancing ambassadors in the hotel, so we thought maybe there was an event. When we read about the matter on the news, we just started packing...to get ready to check out," he said. The couple had their seven-month-old daughter with them.
Other guests decided to cut short their staycation, too, after reading media reports.
Senior manager Muneer, who wanted to be known only by his first name, said he heard the news when he was shopping with his family along Orchard Road.
He decided to check out of the hotel one night earlier as his three-year-old daughter was with him. "It's a little disappointing because we had plans for dinner nearby but now we're going home. Our mood is affected but safety definitely comes first," he said.
Those serving SHN in the hotel were also given a Covid-19 test to determine their status.
Project manager Ginny Leow, 51, who completed her SHN on Saturday and was supposed to check out at noon, said she only managed to get her SHN exit swab after 2pm as the testing stations were "quite busy and crowded".
"Of course I'm worried because I'll be staying with relatives," she said, adding that she was unsure if she should meet anyone before her test results were out.
Ms Leow lives in Vancouver, Canada, and returned to Singapore with her 13-year-old son to spend Christmas with her family.
"Today is my son's birthday so it's supposed to be a happy day but now we're feeling a bit uncertain," she said.
Those who had not completed their SHN were filled with uncertainty.
"I am unsure about whether I should pack my things, so I have just kept half of my belongings. The hotel should inform us about what's going on but we also know that some of the staff might not be clear about what's happening," said a 35-year-old teacher who wanted to be known only as Ms Kok.
After going for hours without any news, she finally received a call around 9.15pm informing her that she would be transferred to another hotel on Sunday.
Mandarin Orchard said in a statement on Saturday that it had no information about how long the hotel would be closed as investigations are still being done.
It added that refunds for upcoming stays, room and dining reservations, and events will be processed within 14 days.
Those in need of assistance for room bookings can call 6737-2200.
Those with dining reservations can contact 6831-6288 or 6831-6271 while those who have booked events can contact 6831-6078.
LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed with his senior ministers on Saturday (Dec 19) what urgent action to take after it was confirmed that a new strain of the COVID-19 virus could spread more quickly and lead to a surge in cases.
The BBC reported that London and southeast England would be placed in a new higher tier of restrictions and the government would cut back on a planned relaxation of the rules over Christmas, but gave no further details.
Johnson will hold a news conference at about 4pm during which he will discuss what his plans are in light of a rise in infections across London and southeast England linked to a new, more transmissible variant of the virus.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said that while there was no current evidence the variant of the coronavirus causes a higher mortality rate or impacted vaccines, urgent work was underway to confirm this.
"We have alerted the World Health Organization and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding," Whitty said in a statement.
Britain reported 28,507 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and 489 deaths, with the reproduction R number estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, meaning the number of cases is rapidly increasing.
Johnson said on Friday he hoped England would not need a third lockdown after Christmas and has so far resisted calls to change plans to ease restrictions for five days over the festive period, allowing three separate households to meet indoors.
Much of the country, including London, is currently in the highest of a three-tier system of restrictions to curb the pandemic's spread. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said ministers could now announce curbs on travel between southeast England, including the capital, and the rest of the country.
The BBC said these areas would now be placed in a new Tier 4, with a tightening of rules for Christmas.
"Failing to act decisively now, will mean further suffering," Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said on Twitter. "We must keep asking ourselves 'are we doing enough, are we acting quickly enough'."
The opposition Labour Party said the tiering system had failed to curb the virus' spread.
"It has been apparent for some days that the virus is again out of control in parts of the country," said Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's health spokesman.
"I am thinking it'd be good to have someone who supports me. She'd be able to come and see me here, and bring me things," said the lovelorn 30-year-old in an interview with the Mainichi Shimbun the morning after he was sentenced to death.
"I want to meet a normal girl (and) get married. If I do, she could see me even when I go to the Tokyo Detention House," he added, referring to the facility where death row inmates are kept.
Shiraishi has long preyed on human weaknesses, first as a sex scout baiting women into prostitution and then an unrepentent killer who has not shown a tinge of remorse for his deeds.
He used Twitter to bait eight suicidal women to his 13.5 sq m home where he drugged, robbed, raped, and killed them before dismembering their bodies in a three-month spree from August to October 2017.
He also killed a male friend of the first victim who came too close to discovering his crimes.
Police found nine human heads and 240 bones stashed in cooler boxes on Halloween that year.
Shiraishi had initially craved love - however perverted or abnormal his definition of romance might be - when he began sussing out his female victims. He was looking for a woman with whom he could live with, and leech off without ever having to work.
Tapping his experience as a scout for the seedy sex trade in Shinjuku's Kabukicho district - a role he had to give up after he was caught and given a suspended sentence - he targeted vulnerable women by whispering sweet nothings.
He used two Twitter accounts. In one, he posed as a suicide guru with the handle "Hangman", skilled at helping people end their lives.
In the other, he portrayed himself as a forlorn man hoping to find people with whom to enter into suicide pacts. He said: "I thought it would be easier for people with some worries or problems to persuade. It's easier to operate."
Shiraishi's modus operandi for most cases was similar, and he was prepared to play the long game. He won the trust of women by acting sympathetic to their plight, by which point he would toy with their feelings with sweet nothings to reel them in.
Whether or not he was serious about the relationship, he dispensed of many of his female victims after they lost their use to him - either because they were poor and could not support his lifestyle, or because he feared that they would report his sexual assault.
"I thought I could get money without working, while satisfying my sexual desires," Shiraishi said. He robbed his victims anywhere between several hundred yen to tens of thousands of yen.
While media outlets once reported the names and photographs of the victims, there has since been a court gag order to keep their identities anonymous. They were ascribed the letters A to I, in chronological order, during the hearings.
"It was a very comfortable and pleasurable life," Shiraishi said in court. "I failed because I was caught. I have no other feelings."
Love gone south
Shiraishi thought he had met the love of his life in A, a 21-year-old company employee who once entertained suicidal thoughts after her best friend killed herself.
But things went south after she demanded the return of a loan, and as jealousy struck when he suspected there was another man in the picture.
Shiraishi found their heated arguments "bothersome" and struck by attacking her from behind.
After days went by without having been found out, he began to think that he could get away with murder.
The smooth operator targeted vulnerable women, winning their trust with sweet nothings like "I badly want to meet you", even as he juggled multiple women at the same time.
One reportedly said in 2017 that she lucked out: "I had a date with Shiraishi at his house, but he cancelled on me saying that he was meeting a friend."
During these "meetings" at home, he fed the women alcohol and drugged them with sleeping pills or tranquilisers before robbing them. For eight of them, he also raped, killed and dismembered their bodies in his bathroom to destroy evidence.
The male victim was drugged and robbed before he was killed and dismembered.
"I disposed of their flesh and internal organs like garbage, but kept their bones out of fear that I would be caught," he told police investigators.
One woman, now 24, was working as a nurse in 2017 when she was acquainted with Shiraishi. She told the Shukan Genkai weekly that she might have been the next victim had he not been nabbed.
They met on Twitter after the woman said she was suicidal. Shiraishi introduced himself as 25-year-old Ryo Yamamoto living in Tokyo's Machida district.
They exchanged messages for 52 days. "I love you," Shiraishi reportedly told her.
They made plans to move in together and holiday at Nagasaki's Huis Ten Bosch theme park. But she also had a glimpse of his dark side, which she brushed off as a sick joke.
She told the tabloid that Shiraishi had informed her that he had killed people, and sent her a photograph of a rope.
"I had the impression that he was a good man with a refreshing, trustworthy voice," she said. "But he was talking to me even as he lived in a house surrounded by skulls and bones from carved up bodies."
Shiraishi used Twitter to bait eight suicidal women to his 13.5 sq m home where he drugged, robbed, raped, and killed them before dismembering their bodies. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM TWITTER
Vicious murderer
Court testimonies by friends and relatives of the nine victims tell a story of people who once entertained suicidal thoughts but had emerged from the darkest periods of their life.
Victim A was applying for new jobs. Her friend C - the only male victim - was passionate about music and wanted to become a full-time musician, though a major illness once left him hospitalised and briefly robbed his will to live.
Victim B, 15, had a change of heart but felt pressured into meeting Shiraishi due to their age difference of more than 10 years.
Victim D, 19, had bought a kimono to wear on Coming-of-Age Day, a major celebration in Japan to mark the adulthood for those turning 20 years old.
Victim E, 26, was a divorcee with a daughter who is now nine years old. Her ex-husband said: "She showered our child with so much love. She was not rich, but would always prioritise our girl when she bought food and clothes."
He has not told their daughter that her mother is dead, and wished that they could have put aside their differences and "live together again as a family of three".
Victim F, 17, had dreams of working as a nurse.
Victim G, 17, was working part-time at a gyoza dumpling shop and promised her father they would make gyozas together.
Victim H, 25, was a social recluse who emerged from her shell, and was working part-time at a convenience store. She told her family she hoped to marry and have her own family and was saving up for the future.
Victim I, 23, was depressed when her mother died in June 2017, but was coming out of the dark period with the support of her brother.
He eventually raised the alarm of Shiraishi's crimes, after he hacked into his sister's Twitter account and read the messages.
Nonetheless, Shiraishi's defence team argued that there was "tacit agreement" behind the "consensual murders", given that they told Shiraishi they wanted to die.
But the prosecution said there was obviously no consent given, and that Shiraishi had struck when the victims were unaware.
Shiraishi was visibly shaken during the trial, when a message from his mother was read out in court. "I've been asking myself if I could even live, thinking of the victims and their bereaved families."
He told the prosecution that he will "kill the perpetrators" when asked to imagine that his mother and sister were strangled, sexually assaulted, and killed.
Throughout the trial, he defied his own attorneys by refusing to answer their questions, hoping to end the process faster so as not to "inconvenience his relatives".
Addressing his family, he said: "I don't think it's possible, but I want you to forget about my existence and live on."
A court sketch drawing shows Takahiro Shiraishi at the first trial in Tokyo on Sept 30, 2020. PHOTO: AFP/JIJI PRESS
Shiraishi's attorneys appealed the death sentence on Friday, likely against their client's wishes, which means the appeal could yet be withdrawn.
Nonetheless, in Japan, death row inmates get no prior notice of their impending execution until the very morning they face the gallows.
"I want to use the time I have left to find a girl," Shiraishi told the Mainichi daily.
"I want to look for someone who'll marry me while I'm in prison. Several people have come in the last two years, but nothing has led to marriage."
BANGKOK: Thailand reported nine new local COVID-19 infections, the biggest one-day rise in local transmissions in more than seven months, health officials said on Saturday (Dec 19).
The nine cases are connected to a shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province, near Bangkok, where four infections were reported on Friday, officials told a briefing.
The cases started with a 67-year-old woman, who sells shrimp in the market, who was confirmed to have the infection before three of her family also tested positive.
There is no need for a lockdown yet but steps will be taken if cases keep rising, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for Thailand's COVID-19 taskforce, told the conference.
"If the number of cases won't come down tomorrow or the day after and become a cluster with unfound origins, we will choose measures from light to strong to handle it," he said.
Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said late on Friday the situation was not worrisome and more than 2,000 people in the area have been tested and more tests would be conducted.
Local cases have largely been found in people observing quarantine after having been in close contact with an infected person. Most of Thailand's recent cases have been imported.
Thailand has kept infections at 4,331 cases and 60 deaths, but its tourism-reliant economy has suffered from a travel ban imposed since April to curb the outbreak.
The country on Thursday further eased restrictions to allow more foreign tourists to return.
The government predicts about 8 million foreign tourists in 2021 after 6.7 million expected this year. Last year's foreign visitors were a record of nearly 40 million.
MANILA: Teeming with marine life, the waters of Scarborough Shoal are a haven for valuable fish, such as yellowfin tuna, grouper and red snapper.
A fishing expedition there can earn fisherman Federico Josol three times more money than fishing in the waters of his hometown Masinloc, the closest point in the Philippines to the shoal.
But every trip to the shoal, located about 225 kilometres off the Philippine coast, carries a risk. And recently, he had a bruising encounter with the Chinese Coast Guard.
“They said it was their territory. We got scared because they had guns. They were ramming into our boats and forcing us to leave,” he recalls. “It’s nothing but bullying.”
The Philippines and China have been locked in a long-simmering sovereignty dispute over the shoal, where Chinese Coast Guard vessels regularly intimidate and drive off Filipino fishermen.
China Coast Guard vessels patrol past Philippine fishing boats at the disputed Scarborough Shoal. (FILE PHOTO: Reuters/Erik De Castro)
In 2016, an arbitral tribunal in The Hague dismissed China’s claim to the shoal, but Beijing rejected the ruling.
The tension in the South China Sea has contributed to the rise of anti-China sentiments in the Philippines, but critics say President Rodrigo Duterte has downplayed the issue and done little to get China to respect his country’s maritime rights.
Since coming to power in 2016, he has pivoted away from the United States and warmed to China in exchange for billions of dollars in pledged Chinese aid, loans and investments in infrastructure.
But four years on, much of Beijing’s promised investments have not materialised. Amid the growing concern, the programme Insight explores whether the concessions made to China, in the maritime dispute and more, may have been for naught.
WATCH: Will Duterte's pro-China policies pay off for Philippines? (46:25)
STALLED PROJECTS
The centrepiece of the Duterte administration’s economic policies is the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) programme, which consists of some 20,000 infrastructure projects including airports, seaports and highways.
With China’s funding touted as the best option for upgrading the country’s infrastructure, the Philippines was set to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure”.
But less than five per cent of China’s promised US$24 billion (S$32 billion) in loans and investments have come to fruition. “They’re taking Duterte for a ride,” says political analyst and author Richard Heydarian.
“He’s done a lot for China, and yet what did he get from China in exchange? Up until today, there are practically zero big-ticket infrastructure projects by China.”
One such project is the Kaliwa Dam project. Seen as a solution to the water woes in Metro Manila and surrounding regions, it includes the building of three dams to serve 17.5 million people.
An aerial shot of Manila.
But the initiative has stalled, as China “is taking quite a hard negotiating line” to ensure that “these projects are commercially worthwhile”, said Peter Mumford, the Southeast and South Asia practice head at risk consultancy Eurasia Group.
The project has also been delayed by protests from environmental groups and local officials concerned that it would result in flooding and the displacement of thousands of indigenous people in the Rizal and Quezon provinces.
Daraitan village in Rizal, for example, could be at risk of being submerged with the construction of the dam — and Melody Alao, a tour guide in the area, would lose her livelihood.
“It’ll affect not only tour guides like me who depend on tourism, but also those involved in transport, canteen owners, street vendors, shops … and so on,” says Alao, whose income helps to send her 18-year-old daughter to school.
“We can’t do anything about it, except maybe appeal to the government.”
The Kaliwa Dam project would require the relocation of close to 1,500 families.
Leon Dulce, the national co-ordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, thinks the environmental impact associated with the dam outweighs the potential benefits.
“(The project) is basically a Pandora’s box of various threats to the people,” he says. “This relationship between Duterte and China — it’s a very toxic relationship that results in the victimisation of the Filipino people.”
Daraitan district chairman Rodel Hinagpisan, however, is optimistic that the Duterte administration will protect the communities there.
“(The government) assured us that we won’t be submerged,” he says. “It’s for the greater good — there’s water scarcity in Metro Manila, (otherwise) the dam wouldn’t be built.”
DEBT-TRAP DIPLOMACY
While projects like the US$211-million Kaliwa Dam remain a priority for the Duterte administration, experts say the Chinese loans needed to finance a big portion of the BBB programme are expensive, with high interest rates.
The Kaliwa Dam and some other "Build, Build, Build" projects fall under the Belt and Road Initiative.
China is also known for funding infrastructure projects in poorer countries and then demanding concessions in exchange for debt relief, a trend called “debt-trap diplomacy”.
“Profit is always the bottom line. And that’s why they (China) choose to pursue the Kaliwa Dam project,” says Dulce. “We run the risk of giving up all of these resources to China should we default on the loans.”
The Philippines should have considered other funding options, says Jay Batongbacal, the director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.
Loan agreements with Japan or South Korea, for example, would have complied with “requirements for social acceptability”, he argues. “(This means) the local communities would sign off on these projects as well, not just the national government.
“The Chinese loan agreement doesn’t provide for that. And so I think the intention was simply to go ahead and build these things without regard for (their) impact on the local communities.”
The Kaliwa Dam project disregards the rights of local communities, say activists and some academics.
Japan’s loan proposal for the Kaliwa Dam, for example, entailed micro-hydro projects and rainforest restoration, cites Dulce.
International developmental projects must also comply with “safeguards against corruption” and a minimum amount of local manpower. China, however, "hasn’t been able to comply with all of these stringent requirements”, adds Batongbacal.
The Philippines’ infrastructure projects were expected to provide employment for more than 21,000 locals. But there is growing concern over the high proportion of Chinese workers in these projects.
“It’s really the Chinese companies and workers benefiting, not the Philippine people,” says Heydarian.
There is also growing public resentment over the South China Sea issue. For one thing, China’s reclamation activities, mass harvesting of giant clams and overfishing are damaging the reef ecosystems in the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands.
Chinese boats fish at the disputed Scarborough Shoal. (FILE PHOTO: Reuters/Erik De Castro)
According to Filipino marine scientists, the Philippines is losing about 33 billion pesos (S$911 million) annually from the damage in these areas, reported Inquirer.net, the news website of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Batongbacal also tells Insight: “China has continued to destroy Scarborough Shoal since 2012. And essentially, the (Philippine) government turned a blind eye to this in order to present this atmosphere of … congeniality with China. I think that’s become increasingly untenable.”
In recent months, divisions have formed within the Philippine government over Duterte’s China pivot, and there has been public pressure to take a tougher stance on Beijing.
For instance, citing security concerns, Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo publicly opposed the relocation of a naval base to make room for a Chinese-constructed airport.
“(The base) is guarding the entrance to Manila Bay, and Manila Bay is the centre of gravity of the national government. If Manila falls, the whole country falls,” he told Inquirer.net in September.
So should Duterte change tack and rethink his China strategy? Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative director Gregory Poling thinks the president is already “responding to the fact that his China policy has abjectly failed”.
Mr Gregory Poling.
Duterte has, for example, suspended a decision to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement, a security pact with the US.
“He needed loans, investments and aid (from China), and none of that showed up,” says Poling.
“He realises that if he keeps this up, it only makes him look weak. It damages his political brand, and it hurts his successor, whoever he decides to anoint for the 2022 presidential run.”
Batongbacal says that with Filipinos unconvinced that the pivot has produced “tangible benefits at this point”, Duterte is probably “hoping that China will provide the Philippines with free vaccines for COVID-19”.
“That’s his last card that he can play in order to salvage his China policy,” adds the professor.
Watch this episode of Insight here. The programme airs on Thursdays at 9pm.
GENEVA: The COVAX alliance which aims to secure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries said on Friday (Dec 18) it now had agreements in place for nearly 2 billion doses, roughly doubling its supply, with the first deliveries due in early 2021.
The initiative, co-led by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said it aimed to deliver 1.3 billion doses of approved vaccines next year to 92 eligible low- and middle-income economies.
All 190 economies that have signed up to COVAX will "have access to doses in the first half of 2021, with first deliveries anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2021 – contingent upon regulatory approvals and countries’ readiness for delivery," it said in a statement.
"Today’s announcements offer the clearest pathway yet to end the acute phase of the pandemic by protecting the most vulnerable populations around the world."
New agreements announced on Friday include an advance purchase agreement with AstraZeneca for 170 million doses, and a memorandum of understanding for 500 million doses from Johnson & Johnson.
Richard Hatchett, CEPI's chief executive, said the COVAX alliance was also in talks with Pfizer and BioNtech - whose COVID-19 won regulatory approval in the United States last week and in Britain this month. The group is also in talks with Moderna, which expects to have its COVID-19 vaccine approved shortly, he said.
Getting vaccine doses to poor countries is a huge challenge, with wealthy countries determined to vaccinate their entire populations as quickly as possible. COVAX is funded by donor countries, multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and private charities such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Friday's announcement of extra COVID-19 vaccine doses for COVAX was "fantastic news and a milestone in global health".
GAVI's chief executive, Seth Berkley, said the goal of providing global, equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines was "alive and well". But he added: "We still need more doses, and yes, we still need more money."
COVAX was launched by GAVI and the WHO in April to ensure access for COVID-19 shots to poor and middle-income countries.
