Bats with Covid-like viruses found in Laos; UK coffee chain Pret to expand amid post-lockdown bounce; Six billion anti-Covid shots injected worldwide

Paris: More than six billion doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been given around the world, according to an AFP tally Wednesday based on official sources.

The vaccination drive has reached a steady rhythm taking 29 days to clock up the sixth billion, almost the same speed as the fourth and fifth billion at 30 and 26 days respectively.

In contrast, it took around 140 days to administer the first billion doses. Nearly 40 percent (2.18 billion) of the six billion shots have been administered in China. India (826.5 million) and the United States (386.8 million) complete the trio of countries that have given the most jabs.

Among countries with a population of over one million, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leads the way with 198 doses per 100 habitants, with more than 81 percent of its population fully vaccinated.

Uruguay comes next with 175 doses per 100 inhabitants, followed by Israel (171), Cuba (163), Qatar (162) and Portugal (154). Some of these countries, including Israel, the UAE and Uruguay, have started to give booster jabs with the aim of extending immunity among the fully vaccinated.

While countries in Western Europe, North America and some of the Middle East which have the most advanced drives are starting to slow down, others in Asia, Latin America and Oceania have picked up the baton and are now racing ahead.

While most poorer countries have now started vaccination drives, mainly thanks to the Covax scheme, coverage remains very patchy, although injections have picked up in recent weeks after donations by richer countries.

High-income countries, as defined by the World Bank, administered an average of 124 doses per 100 inhabitants compared with just four doses per 100 inhabitants in low-income countries.

Three countries have not yet started vaccinating at all -- Burundi, Eritrea and North Korea.Meanwhile, scientists have discovered another clue to the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, with bats living in caves in Laos found to be carrying a similar pathogen that experts suggest could potentially infect humans directly.

The virus has killed millions since it emerged in China in late 2019, and controversy continues to swirl around where it came from. Some experts say it is animal-driven but others have pointed to the possibility the pathogen leaked from a lab.

Researchers from France’s Pasteur Institute and the National University of Laos said their findings showed that viruses genetically close to the SARS-CoV-2 virus "exist in nature" among bat species in the limestone caves of northern Laos, which neighbours China.

Of the viruses they identified among the hundreds of bats tested in Vientiane Province, three were found to closely resemble the virus that causes Covid-19, particularly in the mechanism for latching on to human cells.

"The idea was to try to identify the origin of this pandemic," Marc Eloit, who leads the Pasteur Institute’s pathogen discovery laboratory, told AFP. Eloit, whose team analysed the samples collected, said there were still key differences between the viruses found and SARS-CoV-2.

But he said the work was "a major step forward" in identifying the pandemic’s origin, confirming the theory that the coronavirus that has spread across the world could have started with living bats.

The authors of the study, which has been submitted to Nature for peer review, warned that their findings suggest the new viruses "seem to have the same potential for infecting humans as early strains of SARS-CoV-2".

"People working in caves, such as guano collectors, or certain ascetic religious communities who spend time in or very close to caves, as well as tourists who visit the caves, are particularly at risk of being exposed," the authors said.

International experts sent to China by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in January concluded that it was most likely that the SARS-CoV-2 virus jumped from bats to humans via an intermediate animal.

A competing hypothesis that the virus leaked from a lab like the specialised virology laboratory in Wuhan was deemed "extremely unlikely", although it has yet to be ruled out.In a related development, British coffee and sandwich chain Pret a Manger on Wednesday announced plans to expand over the next two years, opening 200 outlets in the UK and launching in five new markets.

Pret, which was forced to close shops and cut thousands of jobs as office workers deserted city centres during coronavirus lockdown, said its recovery in the UK was now approaching pre-pandemic levels.

Meantime, US President Joe Biden addressed a Covid-19 summit of world leaders Wednesday with a promise to donate a "historic" extra 500 million vaccines to countries struggling to overcome the pandemic.

"This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis," Biden said. "America will become the arsenal for vaccines as we were the arsenal for democracy in World War II." The pledge from Biden at the summit, held virtually from the White House, brings the total US commitment of donated vaccines to 1.1 billion -- more than the rest of the world combined.

Earlier in the day, Moscow saw a new increase in coronavirus cases, the mayor’s office announced on Wednesday, as Russian authorities struggle to convince a vaccine-sceptic population to get innoculated.

According to the latest official figures, Russia has recorded more than seven million cases and 200,625 deaths, the highest death toll in Europe. "Over the past few days, we’ve registered an increase in coronavirus cases in Moscow," deputy Moscow mayor Anastasia Rakova told reporters.