
<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong>: The number of new Covid-19 cases around the world fell for the fifth consecutive week last week, the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update---16-february-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>, dropping 16% to 2.7 million new cases, though infectious new variants of the virus continue to spread to new regions of the world. </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<ul><li>In the space of five weeks, the number of new Covid-19 cases reported around the world has almost halved, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report Tuesday. </li></ul>



<ul><li>Of the six regions the WHO divides the world into, only one, the Eastern Mediterranean, reported a (7%) rise in cases last week, with all others reporting double digit declines.   </li></ul>



<ul><li>The number of new deaths reported around the world also fell 10% from last week to 81,000, the WHO said, which used figures up to Sunday.</li></ul>



<ul><li>WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus <a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1361401367743655942?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> Monday the global progress “shows that simple public health measures work, even in the presence of variants.” </li></ul>



<ul><li>“What matters now is how we respond to this trend,” he said, stressing that the “fire is not out… (and that) if we stop fighting it on any front, it will come roaring back.”</li></ul>



<ul><li>The agency is still monitoring the spread of numerous Covid-19 variants—including those first identified in South Africa, the U.K. and Brazil—which have each spread to new countries.  </li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This shows that simple public health measures work against <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a>, even in the presence of variants. What matters now is how we respond to this trend. The fire is not out, but we have reduced its size. If we stop fighting it on any front, it will come roaring back.</p>&mdash; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1361401367743655942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



<p>By a substantial margin, the United States recorded the highest number of new cases (673,670) and deaths (21,412) from the virus last week, although these figures were down 23% and 5% from the previous week respectively.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



<p>Many countries around the world are starting to ramp up vaccination drives, with Israel and the United Arab Emirates having&nbsp;<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">inoculated</a>&nbsp;a significant portion of the population. There are fears that poorer countries will be left without supplies as the rich hoard them—something Tedros has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/10/26/who-warns-of-dangerous-moment-amid-spike-in-covid-19-cases/?sh=4cd61d56244c">termed</a>&nbsp;vaccine nationalism—though the WHO’s recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/02/15/astrazeneca-oxford-covid-19-vaccine-gets-emergency-approval-from-who/?sh=4bc5cd3c3953">approval</a>&nbsp;of AstraZeneca’s shot, a much cheaper and more easily transported product, is cause for optimism.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h3>



<p>The WHO is keeping an eye on new variants of the novel coronavirus, though warned that approximately 70% of its genomic sequences come from just three countries (U.S., U.K. and Denmark).</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/17/new-global-covid-cases-fell-16-last-week-says-who" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New global Covid cases fell 16% last week, says WHO</a>&nbsp;(Guardian)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update---16-february-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Weekly epidemiological update &#8211; 16 February 2021</a>&nbsp;(WHO)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/02/14/why-coronavirus-cases-are-dropping/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Four reasons experts say coronavirus cases are dropping in the United States</a> (Washington Post)</p>



<p><em>By Robert Hart,Forbes Staff</em></p>


SWITZERLAND-VIRUS-HEALTH-FOUNTAIN

New Covid-19 Cases Around The World Dropped 16% Last Week, World Health Organization Says


<p>There’s been a recent&nbsp;increase&nbsp;globally in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. This can be seen in recent&nbsp;measles outbreaks&nbsp;in parts of the world where it was thought to have been&nbsp;eradicated.</p>



<p>This has prompted the World Health Organisation to list “vaccine hesitancy” (the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines) as one of 10&nbsp;global health threats&nbsp;in 2019.</p>



<p>While there are many&nbsp;complex reasons&nbsp;why people choose not to vaccinate, changes in the way that information is accessed may provide one explanation for the rise in vaccine hesitancy.</p>



<p>We are involved in projects at the&nbsp;South African Research Chair in Science Communication at Stellenbosch University&nbsp;which explores vaccine communication. In a world where people are increasingly&nbsp;encountering science information online, particularly on social media, it’s important to understand why people are vulnerable to anti-vaccination messages and why this kind of information spreads so easily.</p>



<p>Effective communication strategies will be crucial if scientists want to counter the worrying trend of increases in vaccine hesitancy.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">New media change the way people process science</h4>



<p>In recently completed&nbsp;research, author Francois shed some light on how the anti-vaccination movement uses social media to amplify doubt and fuel hesitancy. The research found that “anti-vaxxers” select and share scientific information from open access journal articles on social media to escalate uncertainty in the broader population.</p>



<p>Anybody, including activists with specific agendas, can produce and share information online. This is heightened on social media, where people are connected in real time on a global scale.</p>



<p>Most online media don’t benefit from the quality control of journalists and editors that shapes the content of traditional mass media. Consequently, content is generated by experts and quacks alike, and opinion and facts become blurred. This makes it hard to judge if information is credible or not.</p>



<p>To complicate matters, people are able to create virtual communities of like-minded individuals who seek out information sources that they feel comfortable with. So people get more information they already agree with and few (if any) alternative views in online&nbsp;“echo chambers”. This results in anti- and pro-vaccine messages being shared and replicated in isolated groups, which polarises the contesting views even further.</p>



<p>So how can false information about vaccines shared on social media be countered? Scientists may think that sharing peer-reviewed, factual evidence about the safety of vaccines could&nbsp;change people’s views. Sadly, this is not the case.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Facts alone are not enough</h4>



<p>One-way, top-down communication simply does not work. This is especially true when communicating about a controversial topic rooted in science.</p>



<p>That’s because a lack of information is not the problem. The issue is the way people process that information. Sometimes, people simply “refuse to know” what scientists are trying to tell them. This is what may cause vaccine opponents to reject years of research proving that vaccines don’t increase the&nbsp;risk of autism, even in vulnerable children.</p>



<p>Facts may even backfire. Research&nbsp;shows&nbsp;that bombarding vaccine-hesitant parents with evidence about the safety of vaccines may make them more vaccine-resistant. These studies confirm that it’s particularly difficult to dislodge incorrect information from someone’s memory. And it’s possibly even harder to change a person’s mind if they hold strong beliefs about a contested issue.</p>



<p>People’s views about contested issues in science are&nbsp;polarised&nbsp;by “cognitive bias” and “motivated reasoning” that result from their&nbsp;personal beliefs&nbsp;and values. If they are inclined to like new scientific information, they will view it more positively. But if new information dispels preexisting views, they won’t be receptive.</p>



<p>The so-called&nbsp;“negativity effect”&nbsp;also comes into play. People are more likely to share stories and images about harm and tragedy, than neutral or positive content. This explains why messages about the alleged dangers of vaccines, often accompanied by emotive images of sick children, are amplified more powerfully via social media compared with pro-vaccine messages.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">New research</h4>



<p>To address these issues,&nbsp;two new research projects&nbsp;are underway at the South African Research Chair in Science Communication at Stellenbosch University.</p>



<p>The first focuses on two public pages on Facebook that are specifically aimed at South African audiences. One is opposed to vaccines; the other is in favour.</p>



<p>The objective is to understand the nature and origins of anti- and pro-vaccination claims and images, as well as to explore the evidence provided in support of these claims. It’s hoped that a better understanding of claims made by these opposing groups via social media may provide a starting point for constructive dialogue between these groups.</p>



<p>A second study will examine how scientific information about vaccines and other contested issues is fed into online social networks by ideologically-motivated social movements to advance their cause. A better understanding of how scientific information flows from the formal science communication system to online communication networks will provide important insights about how to protect scientific information from strategic abuse.</p>



<p>&#8211;<em>Marina Joubert; Science Communication Researcher, Stellenbosch University</em></p>



<p><em>-Francois van Schalkwyk; Research Fellow, Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST), Stellenbosch University</em></p>



<p><em>-The Conversation</em></p>


Tag: World Health Organisation

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

New Covid-19 Cases Around The World Dropped 16% Last Week, World Health Organization Says

Why Anti-vaccine Beliefs And Ideas Spread So Fast On The Internet