In February 2021, a new Ebola virus disease outbreak was confirmed amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although the country has successfully contained the outbreak amid its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the epidemiological situation is still concerning, primarily due to the risk of an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. The coexistence of both outbreaks increased the burden on the country's health system mainly because Ebola response programs were redirected to the COVID-19 national response. Strategies adopted and lessons learned from previous Ebola outbreaks were crucial to developing the COVID-19 national response. To tackle the challenges of combating both the viruses, it is essential to adopt multidisciplinary measures such as prevention, education, and vaccination campaigns, promoting hygiene and social distancing practices, and improving diagnostic and management protocols. This paper discusses the efforts, challenges, and possible solutions to grapple with Ebola amid the COVID-19 crisis in DRC successfully.
The physical-conceptual distributed hydrological model Grid-to-Grid, or G2G, is applied across the 426, 000 km2 land area draining to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) coastline of Queensland, Australia. Of this area, 76, 600 km2 is ungauged, this being the land between the most downstream gauging locations and the coastline. G2G provides gridded hourly river flows across the model domain, of use for both flood and water availability forecasting in Queensland, as well as hourly coastal discharges required by marine models of the Reef environment employed for conservation purposes. G2G is underpinned by spatial datasets on terrain, land-cover and soil properties. The best sources for these datasets have been identified and developed to support generic application of G2G across Australia. These include the Australian Digital Elevation Model and Digital Atlas of Australian Soils and serve to shape the hydrological response to rainfall patterns in time and space. Raingauge observations along with the AustralianWater Availability Project (AWAP) gridded rainfall are used to generate 1 km gridded historical rainfall. The ACCESS-R numerical weather prediction model is used to generate 1 km gridded forecast rainfall over a lead-time of three days. The model's area-wide formulation allows for the production of real-time flow forecasts everywhere on a 1km grid across the model domain, including those areas which are ungauged. G2G is calibrated over the GBR land area, and the modelling capability assessed through comparison with gauged river flow records at 276 locations over a nine year period. A novel method, employing data assimilation of the furthest downstream gauged river flows, is used to obtain improved coastal discharge estimates required by the marine models. The G2G historical simulations and nowcasts are linked to statistical water quality models to generate sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus loads for use in biogeochemistry models, and are being used in generating GBR Annual Report Cards by the Australian Government. Currently, the G2G modelling system to generate long-term historical simulations, nowcasts and forecasts is not operational but work is in progress to make the system operational in the near future. The work is a collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology Australia and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in the UK, and forms part of the eReefs Programme in support of the Reef 2050 Plan.
The widespread prevalence of fungal infections in the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic could be owed to ubiquitous and injudicious use of steroids and immunosuppressive nature of the virus. However, these fungal infections also meant increased use of antifungal drugs, hence endangering their supply. Amphotericin B is the first line drug for mucormycosis which was declared as an epidemic in India during the second wave. With the increasing demand of the drug, came challenges to manufacture and supply large quantities of the drug and exploitation by creating a black market and spread of false information and imprudent usage. It is of utmost importance to be prepared with adequate supply all over the nation and implementing safety regulations in manufacturing and supply of large quantities of drugs during the demanding times and make them accessible at a reasonable rate.
Vaccines are the best chance to control the pandemic—unless leaders succumb to vaccine nationalism. Vaccine nationalism is a frequent recurrence, especially during a brand-new market distribution. The development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in such a short space of time is a testament to modern scientific abilities. It will also test the world's political will and moral commitment to end this pandemic. As desperate as the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine nationalism is already setting a foundation for itself and is considered socially and economically counterproductive. Vaccine equity is not just a theoretical slogan, and it protects people worldwide from new vaccine-resistant variants. Understanding and anticipating the consequences is vital, and creating a global solution approach to avoid them. This article evaluates the common issues previously faced and the plausible ones during this pandemic. A few recommendations are made to warn and accentuate the reality of this dire matter.
