Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

More than 24, 5 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, and more than 17 million have recovered. Over 833,000 people have died.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that his agency was setting up a review committee to evaluate the performance of its International Health Regulations (IHR) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus infections in the US are on the decline, but experts say the new reality may be “rolling hot spots,” where parts of the country are affected by outbreaks while others trend down. There are over 6 million cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 184,000 people have died from the virus

India recorded more than 75,000 new infections in the country’s highest one-day surge in cases. The country now has 3,384,575 confirmed cases. India’s previous highest daily count was 70,488 on August 22. India has been recording more than 60,000 new infections per day for the last two weeks.

German health authorities expect that one or more vaccines against the novel coronavirus will be ready by early 2021. Germany currently has several Covid-19 vaccine candidates in various phases of testing. Among the most advanced are efforts by Biontech/Pfizer and CureVac, both of which have received special grants from the German government to speed up testing and expand production capacities.

French Health authorities have reported 6,111 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the highest since March 31, at the height of the pandemic. Currently, 4,535 patients are in hospital for coronavirus symptoms in France including 381 in intensive care units. There have been 30,576 deaths in France since beginning of the pandemic.

The United Kingdom has recorded 1,522 new cases of COVID-19 in the latest daily government statistics, the highest number since June 12 and up from 1,048 cases a day earlier.

Africa’s top public health official says the continent has seen a 20-percent decrease in confirmed cases in the past week, with 23 of 54 countries reporting a sustained decrease in new cases in the past couple of weeks.

The death toll in South Africa has hit 13628 while the number of cases now sits at 618 286. The number if recoveries recorded is at 531 338, which is a recovery rate of 86%. The 7 day average of cases in South Africa shows a significant decline in the average number of positive cases since the peak in July.

Nigeria will resume international flights from Sept. 5, the head of the aviation regulatory body has announced. International flights, which were halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, had been expected to resume on Aug. 29

While more than 5 000 Zimbabweans have now recovered from Covid-19, the country has been witnessing double figures of Covid-19 deaths for the past 2 days. 10 deaths were recorded and 7 of the deaths were from Harare. The total number of deaths in Zimbabwe is currently sitting at 189. 41 new cases were recorded and 38 of those were local cases while 3 were returnees from South Africa. No new cases were reported in Harare for the second day in a row.

Moderna says vaccine data shows it is well tolerated across all age groups

Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine appears to be safe and elicits an immune response in all age groups, including the elderly, a company official said Wednesday. Data from the phase one safety trial of the vaccine showed only mild adverse effects, and generated an immune response in volunteers aged 18 to 71, Dr. Jacqueline Miller, therapeutic area head for infectious diseases at Moderna, told a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

The phase one trial was conducted in three age groups: 18 to 55, 56 to 70 and 71 plus years of age. Participants received two 100mg doses of the vaccine 28 days apart.  Neutralizing antibodies – which inactivate the virus — were detected in all participants, including the upper age range, she told the meeting. All age groups also seemed to produce the same immune response – a good sign, as older people often have weaker responses to vaccines.

The most common adverse reactions were fatigue, chills, headache and myalgia. More reports of adverse symptoms observed after the second dose of the vaccine, but the majority of symptoms resolved within two days.  ACIP advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how vaccines should be used in the population. CNN

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28/08/2020

 (Source: Kitco)