Excerpts from our full October prayer report looking at Covid-19 Hot Spots, Flattening the Curve, Hopes for a Vaccine and Prayer Points with Links to Resources:

As of 30^th September, the total global figure for people infected by Covid-19 stands at 33.4 million according to Johns Hopkins University. In addition to this, the death statistic has risen above the unwanted milestone of 1,000,000.

Covid-19 hot spots

The US continues to be the country with the highest numbers confirmed cases and deaths related to Covid-19 globally with figures at around 7,300,000 and 210,000 respectively. The daily infection rate has remained stable over the past month at around 40,000 new cases per day and new deaths have consistently been above 700 according to Worldometer.

India is currently experiencing the highest rate of new coronavirus cases per day reaching its own 24-hour high of 97 thousand on 16^th September, and also the highest rate of deaths with an average over 1,000 per day throughout most of September. India has also overtaken Brazil for the spot of the most cumulative cases and is on track to soon overtake the USA for the top spot. This comes as the Taj Mahal reopens at quarter capacity in the northern city of Agra after being closed for 6 months.

Latin America continues to suffer with over 9.2 million cases of Covid-19. Brazil and Argentina, in particular, are observing tens of thousands of new cases each day and hundreds of deaths. Some of these deaths may even have been preventable as reports speculate corruption among politicians to take advantage of the pandemic chaos to line their own pockets with inflated contracts for ventilators and other medical supplies in high demand.

Many European countries are seeing second waves of infection within their borders. The likes of France, UK, and Netherlands are showing increasing case numbers beyond their first spike. This does not necessarily mean that this wave is currently worse than the first, however, since testing was not widely available at the beginning of the pandemic so only the most serious cases were confirmed. In areas with the highest rates of infection there are local lockdowns in place and restrictions on bar & restaurant opening hours across England. The Netherlands are facing their first strict restrictions after largely avoiding any serious impacts previously. It will now be recommended to wear masks in shops and social gatherings will be limited to three people. Russia remains the worst affected country in Europe with over 1.1 million cases without any sign of a significant decline in transmission rates.

Africa seems to be seeing an overall decline in the prevalence of Covid-19 with a reduction of positive test results and an increase in testing over recent weeks and months. The pandemic seems to have impacted the continent less severely than the rest of the world partly due to a younger population, low population density & mobility. Other countries around the world struggling to contain the virus include Indonesia, Iran, and South Africa, where the numbers of new cases and deaths remain high.

Has the curve flattened?

The initial intention of flattening the curve was to reduce the rate of infection enough to keep hospital admissions below maximum capacity so that everyone who needed medical treatment could receive it. This was a particular issue early on in the pandemic since many of those infected and impacted by the virus were more likely to be older and therefore more likely to need hospitalisation, with particular issues in care homes.

Many of the newer infections have been among young people, and mass migrations of students to universities have been partially to blame for this. Young people are naturally more at risk of infection regardless of universities since they are more likely to be working in retail and hospitality where interaction with customers is highly likely. Furthermore, government schemes such as the UK’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ or France’s restaurant vouchers encouraged socialising and patronage at these establishments to boost the economy. Finding the balance between keeping the economy as strong as possible and minimising infection has been the factor to decide whether a country has handled the pandemic well or not.

In some countries around the world where good social distancing has been practised, masks worn where necessary, efficient testing and quarantining has taken place, and test-and-trace systems have been implemented, the rate of infection has been shown to fall, and in some places, reduce to 0. This has been fully enacted by small countries and island nations and has seen positive results from larger countries such as Taiwan, and Iceland where the virus was once prominent.

In other countries, there has been impatience during lockdown, not waiting long enough for case rates to fall before reopening. This prevents a reduced rate of transmission, which doesn’t work towards the eradication of the virus. Through further restlessness and more easing of lockdown restrictions, the rate of transmission has increased again producing additional waves of infection as shown by the recent dramatic increase in cases in the Netherlands or Israel.

The efforts that have been put in place by countries all over the world have reduced the impacts of the virus, though. Without the measures such as travel restrictions to and from zones with high case rates and social distancing designed to reduce transmission, the new numbers of cases would likely not have dropped, and the death toll would have been much higher by now.

Vaccine update

Vaccines are currently being developed by teams all over the world in the race to find a solution to the pandemic. 43 of these are currently in human trials, and 93 are in animal trials, to prove that they work as intended and are safe for wide-spread use.

A vaccine developed by the University of Oxford with AstraZeneca has been shown to trigger an immune response creating neutralising antibodies and T-cells in the recipient after a single dose in 90% of participants, although not without possible side-effects such as fever and headaches. Larger trials have been taking place in Brazil, UK, South Africa, and USA where exposure to Covid-19 is high to ensure the vaccine is safe and effective, and then 2,000 volunteers from Britain and 37,000 worldwide will take part in “challenge trials” where they will be deliberately infected with coronavirus to observe the vaccine’s response. There was a pause in the phase 2 efficacy trials due to safety concerns which have since resumed 6 days later in the UK and South Africa and then Brazil. The US is yet to continue their branch of the trial over calls for more transparency.

Over 150 countries equivalent to 64% of the world’s population have pooled efforts and resources to set up the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, otherwise known as COVAX. The benefits of this are that all member parties can take advantage of successful vaccines produced from their collective library so that everyone will have access to a working product in the shortest time frame possible. In the event that a country’s own vaccine plans fall through, they will have a backup option in COVAX. Notably absent from this coalition are China and USA.

COVAX have now announced a plan to fairly distribute working vaccines around the world going first to front-line workers and then to those at highest risk. However, funding to provide vaccines to lower income countries is not yet sufficient as only $800 million of the $2 billion required has been raised.

Read the full report for September with more prayer pointers on our website

Let’s Pray…

• Let us continue to declare that the novel coronavirus is defeated by the blood of Jesus.
• We pray for divine intervention and for God's name to be glorified even as each nation and government tries its best to flatten the curve, prevent and lessen the impact of second spikes and finally arrest this epidemic. 
• We release wisdom, skill, and integrity upon our leaders. 
• We pray for protection, wisdom and strength, for those working to bring treatment and comfort to the sick and their families.
• We pray special grace and help for the vulnerable and lesser-developed nations.
• We pray for refugees and displaced peoples. We pray against domestic violence and other crimes that have become rampant during lockdowns.
• We pray for a safe, effective, and affordable vaccine to be released soonest but without including aborted baby cells in its creation or neglecting proper testing protocols.
• We continue to release faith, hope, and love over the peoples of the world. May the Church seize this opportune time to manifest Jesus our Lord and Savior to those who are seeking answers and peace.