"Connecting Communities for COVID19 News" 27th Oct 2020
Isolation Tips
Australia's COVID-19 lockdown also prevented about 400 deaths from other illnesses - research paper
Social distancing and lockdowns in Australia not only slowed the spread of COVID-19, they saved the lives of about 400 people who would have been expected to died in June from respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia, a research paper published on Monday showed. Examining Australia’s most recent official fatality data, the Actuaries Institute said there was a shortfall between verified deaths and the number expected during the mid-winter month, which it concluded was due to a decline in respiratory illnesses.
How Australian renters have suffered through the lockdowns
Australians stuck living in share houses during pandemic share their struggles
Many renters faced relationship break-ups, tough landlords and fears of eviction
At least 20 per cent of Australian renters chose to move back with their parents
Hygiene Helpers
China’s Kashgar had a covid-19 outbreak. Now all 4.5 million residents are being tested.
Just two days after announcing the discovery of a single asymptomatic case of the novel coronavirus, authorities in China's Kashgar area said they have tested 4.5 million residents, nearly the entire population. By Monday evening, 164 asymptomatic cases had been found in the area. The swift response by health authorities in Kashgar, a trade hub of 4.7 million people in China's far-western Xinjiang region, reflects the heavy pressures on local officials to quash the outbreak, the country's largest since the summer. Central government officials flew there during the weekend to monitor the testing.
Coronavirus: Test and trace workers report new problems with troubled service
Frontline workers at England’s beleaguered test and trace service have now complained about technical problems over the weekend potentially causing delays to contact tracing thousands of patients who have tested positive for the virus. As the test and trace service battles a surge in daily positive test results, workers reported a system failure on Sunday which led to a problem with cases being put through for clinical assessment and contact tracing. The problem started at around 10am on Sunday and was still being experienced by some staff on Monday. The Independent spoke to contact tracers and also saw messages between workers on Sunday and Monday confirming the lack of cases coming on to the system which is provided by company Sitel.
Can Pre-Flight COVID-19 Testing Get Travelers Back On Planes?
In hopes of jumpstarting a business decimated by the pandemic, airlines and airports are offering pre-flight, on the spot testing for COVID-19, with some test results back in 15 minutes.
Community Activities
C+D joins with COVID-19 trial pharmacy lead to find community recruits
C+D and Professor Mahendra Patel are campaigning together to find 1,000 pharmacies to contribute to an Oxford University COVID-19 clinical trial by signposting suitable patients. In September, Professor Patel was appointed as national black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) community and pharmacy lead for the PRINCIPLE COVID-19 clinical trial, run by Oxford University. The trial is evaluating whether the use of two common antibiotics, azithromycin and doxycycline can help people with COVID-19 symptoms recover at home, thereby reducing the need for hospital admissions. It is open to people who are aged over 50 with certain underlying health conditions, and to anyone over the age of 65.
Boxing Day Test crowd allowed at MCG after Melbourne lockdown ends
A crowd at the MCG for the Boxing Day Test has been all but guaranteed by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews as the state’s coronavirus restrictions were significantly eased. Melbourne will start to open up following more than four months in hard lockdown, after no Covid-19 cases were recorded in Victoria on Monday.
Cricket Australia is yet to lock in its international schedule for a summer highlighted by a blockbuster four-Test series against India. Premier Andrews said the lifting of restrictions meant it was too late for crowds to attend next month’s Melbourne Cup, but not the biggest day in Australian cricket.
Working Remotely
The great rebalancing: working from home fuels rise of the 'secondary city'
Amy Kaper has never met her colleagues. Though her employer is based in Washington DC, she works from her apartment in Arizona. Kaper’s chronic health issues made an office job difficult, and working remotely – in IT in the healthcare industry – gives her more autonomy, and more time. “It was a huge adjustment – but I feel really lucky,” she says. This year, the proportion of Americans working from home like Kaper has skyrocketed – from 8% in February to 35% in May. Most countries have experienced a similar jump during the pandemic, as remote working has gone from a fringe benefit to a necessity. Analysis suggests roughly 28% of jobs in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK can be carried out remotely, and as many as 37% in the US.
Remote Workforce to Double in 2021 Due to Improved Productivity: CIO Survey
The CIOs also expressed increased optimism about business prospects in 2021, as they see an increase in tech budgets by 2.1%, compared with a 4.1% decline this year due to the lockdowns triggered by the pandemic. The survey said information technology decision-makers expect permanent remote work to double to 34.4% of their companies’ workforces in 2021, compared with 16.4% before the coronavirus outbreak, a result of positive productivity trends. About 72% of their companies’ total global workforce is currently working remotely, according to the CIOs. Of the more than 1,000 CIOs interviewed for the survey, 48.6% reported that productivity has improved since workers began working remotely, with only 28.7% of respondents indicating a decline in productivity.
Want to work remotely overseas? These countries offer 'digital nomad' visas to South Africans
If all you need to do your job is a laptop, phone and strong internet connection, you may be able to apply for a "digital nomad" visa in some countries. This will allow you to work from another country. But you will have to prove that you earn a good income.
Five Ways to Work Better From Home
For millions of Americans, November will mark the eighth month of remote work.
Some have adapted: A recent survey of more than 4,000 people working full time remotely during the pandemic found that 65% would like to make the arrangement permanent, according to FlexJobs, a remote job-listings website. But a survey of more than 12,000 employees, managers, human-resources leaders and executives in 11 countries released this month by Oracle and the advisory firm Workplace Intelligence found that seven in 10 people called this the most stressful year of their working lives; 41% said there no longer was a distinction between their personal and professional lives.
Fund managers grapple with limits of remote working
Top executives at UK fund house Jupiter were brimming with enthusiasm to have returned part-time to the company’s London office last month. “Our managers are really enjoying the interaction with other colleagues,” chief executive Andrew Formica told clients in a video interview. “It’s great being back in an office environment again,” agreed veteran equity manager Richard Buxton. “[I missed] wandering around the office chatting to different people and getting their perception of markets.”
But the staff reunion did not last long. Just a week later, the UK government’s retreat from its push to get workers to return to offices threw Jupiter’s plans into disarray.
Some things will never change, but remote toil could revamp the workplace landscape
While the numbers are down significantly from a peak early in the COVID-19 pandemic, some 33 million U.S. workers are still toiling from remote locations in a massive, albeit compulsory, experiment in redefining the American workplace. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, those 33 million employees represent just under a quarter of the total U.S. workforce, and the Utah Department of Workforce Services believes that ratio likely holds up amid the state’s 1.6 million wage earners. The timeline for a safe, en masse return to the in-person workplace remains hazy, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that many of those now grinding it out from home are having a fine time and are in no hurry to revert to commuter days. With the increasing possibility of a tidal wave of new, permanently out-of-office employees comes the realization the workplaces left behind last spring by the 400,000 or so current remote Utah workers may never look the same again.
Virtual Classrooms
PPS sees high student login percentage during first month of virtual learning
The vast majority of Pittsburgh Public Schools students logged into the district’s web-based learning platform during the first month of remote instruction, administrators said. David May-Stein, the district’s chief of school performance, said during a board education committee meeting Tuesday that as of Oct. 5 about 98% of students had logged into the Schoology platform. “We are keeping a close eye on student attendance as it relates to students actually logging into the system,” Mr. May-Stein said.
A Sudden Shift To Virtual Learning: What It Means For The Future?
For many years there has been an expectation that many in the working world would see a big change in their schedules, opting for coworking situations and working from home instead of being in an office. This is of course down to the ability to connect remotely and the potential savings which could be made by businesses. Something which was never considered however, was the same thing happening in education. Distance learning has certainly improved thanks to tech advancements, but nobody ever considered a traditional education being offered through such means.
How Las Vegas student teachers are honing their craft in virtual classroom
John Lessner’s first experience as a teacher has featured some comical moments.
Lessner, a Nevada State College student doing student-teaching at Walter V. Long Elementary, has encountered students with a television on in the background during a virtual class. There have also been interruptions from a playful dog and a loud sibling or two. In the final step to earn an undergraduate degree, student teachers spend a full semester getting on-the-job training with a certified teaching mentor.
How creative use of technology may have helped save schooling during the pandemic
It is estimated around half the world's students' schools remain shut down. All told, this has been a potentially damaging disruption to the education of a generation. But one of the few positive outcomes from this experience is an opportunity to rethink how digital technologies can be used to support teaching and learning in schools.
Public Policies
Covid: Trump's chief of staff admits US cannot control pandemic
A senior aide to President Donald Trump has conceded that the US is "not going to control the pandemic". Instead White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Covid-19 could only be defeated by "mitigation areas" like vaccines and therapeutics. His remarks come as coronavirus cases surge in the US, nine days before the presidential election. Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden said the White House was waving "the white flag of defeat". He added that Mr Meadows' comments showed that the Trump administration had "given up on their basic duty to protect the American people". In an interview with CNN, Mr Meadows said control of the virus was not a realistic goal because "it is a contagious virus just like the flu".
Groundhog day in Wales as country enters second-wave lockdown
Like the groundhog that peeks out and then retreats until winter is over, Wales has been forced back underground by the shadow of the coronavirus. Friday nights are usually heady and vibrant in the Welsh capital; its people are famous for being fiercely proud and incredibly hospitable. Cardiff, then, is a good place to welcome the weekend. At least, it was, until Friday, October 23, when Wales rolled back the clock to March 2020 to start a second national lockdown.
‘Mini-lockdown’ enforced in Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte detailed on Sunday (25 October) the new measures to be enforced from Monday (26 October) to 24 November. “The analysis of the current situation shows a worrying increase of positive cases,
Spain enters COVID state of emergency to much dismay
The Spanish government faced a backlash on Monday over its plans to put the country, one of Europe’s worst COVID-19 hotspots, under a state of emergency for six months. Opposition parties said that was too long, epidemiologists said the move may be too little too late, and some citizens balked at nightly curfews. “The curfew doesn’t make much sense. Does the virus only infect people between 2300 and 0600? No,” said Marta Aragoneses, a 36-year old schoolteacher, enjoying a cigarette outside a cafe in Madrid’s historic La Latina neighbourhood.
Merkel, German state leaders to decide on new COVID measures: spokesman
Chancellor Angela Merkel in planning a “lockdown light” that will focus on closing bars, restaurants and public events to slow a second wave of COVID-19 infections in Germany, Bild newspaper reported on Monday. Shops will stay open, with some restrictions, under the plan and schools will keep operating, apart from in areas with particularly high numbers of cases, the mass-selling daily reported. A government spokesman neither confirmed nor denied the report and said no final decisions had been made. Infections have almost doubled in the past week in Germany and cases are also rising across Europe and large parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Spain's Catalonia mulls weekend virus lockdowns
Spain's Catalonia region said Monday it was studying imposing a lockdown on weekends to fight the spread of the coronavirus, a day after a nighttime curfew came into effect across the country. "It is a scenario which is on the table because it is during the weekend that there are more social interactions," the spokeswoman for the regional government, Meritxell Budo, told Catalan public radio.
France 'must impose a second coronavirus lockdown'
France has lost control of the coronavirus pandemic and should follow the examples of Ireland and Wales by heading back into lockdown, a leading expert on infectious diseases has warned. Professor Eric Caumes on France Info - "The virus is so present among us that I think that today we have no choice but to reconfine," Professor Eric Caumes (right) head of the infectious diseases department at Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, said in an interview with Franceinfo on Monday.
Of all the places that have seen off a second coronavirus wave, only Vietnam and Hong Kong have done as well as Victorians
Of the 215 nations and territories that have reported COVID-19 cases, 120 have experienced clear second waves or late first waves that began in July or later. That’s according to the Worldometer global database, which sources data from national ministries of health and the World Health Organisation. Of these 120, only six have definitively emerged from their second wave: Australia, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore. I am not including New Zealand, as the series of clusters that arose in Auckland in mid-August never evolved into a clear second wave.
China battles new Covid-19 cluster in Xinjiang
More than 100 asymptomatic coronavirus cases have been discovered in Xinjiang, one of China’s most heavily monitored and policed regions. It is the biggest cluster detected in the country since July. On Saturday, a 17-year-old girl tested positive for Covid-19 in Kashgar, sparking a citywide testing drive and strict restrictions on movement. A further 137 infections were discovered on Sunday, each linked to a factory in Shufu county where the teenager’s parents work, according to local health officials.
Austria's Kurz sees second lockdown as "ultimate measure" to curb COVID-19
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday that a second lockdown might be the "ultimate measure" to contain the sharp rise of coronavirus infections. "The higher the infection rates, the more restrictive measures are needed," said Kurz on the Austrian National Day. "The ultimate measure is a second lockdown." He emphasized that the Alpine country is facing an "extreme challenge" with the "exponential growth" of infections. "Even for those who still do not want to believe it, the situation is very, very serious," said Kurz. The key is to prevent the intensive care units from being overwhelmed, added the chancellor.
China's top leaders meet to plan next five years as coronavirus rebuilding begins
China's top leaders are meeting behind closed doors in Beijing on Monday to map out their economic and political agenda for the next five years, as the ruling Communist Party looks to capitalize on its containment of the coronavirus epidemic.
President Xi Jinping, who also heads the Party, will join the members of the Central Committee, the Party's top decision-making body, to formulate the 14th Five-Year Plan, the vast policy framework by which China will be governed from 2021 to 2025.
In an unusual step, the committee will also be drawing up a "vision" for 2035, a long-term plan for the year which Xi has set as a deadline for China to "basically achieve socialist modernization."
As Europe And The U.S. Struggle To Contain Covid-19 Surge, Australia Lifts Its Strictest Lockdown
The Australian city of Melbourne, recently a coronavirus hotspot in the country, is the latest to announce it will lift restrictions after going 24 hours without a single new infection or death for the first time in four months, in sharp contrast to the other side of the world where new infections are spiking in the U.S. and in Europe, where fresh lockdowns are being introduced.
Belgium tightens COVID-19 measures, hopes to avoid lockdown
Belgium, one of the European countries worst hit by COVID-19, has tightened curbs on social contacts by banning fans from sports matches and limiting numbers in cultural spaces, while officials in Wallonia imposed a stricter night curfew on residents, write Robin Emmott, Marine Strauss and Kate Abnett. The local government in the French-speaking region, among the hardest-hit parts of the country, has told people to stay at home from 10pm to 6am and made remote working mandatory for students until Nov. 19. Belgium, which has Europe’s second highest infection rate per capita after the Czech Republic, had already closed cafes, bars and restaurants and imposed a shorter night curfew. New infections hit a peak of 10,500 on Thursday. But the government has resisted calls from medical experts to order a new lockdown to avoid causing more economic pain.
Coronavirus: Officials address 'leaked' lockdown plans after social media rumours speculate an alert level move 'planned' for November
Rumours that New Zealand will enter a "planned" lockdown in early November have been squashed by All-of-Government COVID-19 response group after the "leaked" proposal circulated social media. One person claiming to work in education said their superior was at the Ministry of Education during the school holidays and was told: "The Ministry of Health is preparing for a third wave that they have predicted will hit November 6 or 8". "They used the word 'preparing'. I'm cynical when it comes to COVID and the government and what info they pass out," they said in a Facebook message.
Covid 19 coronavirus: World Health Organisation highlights New Zealand's pandemic success
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has highlighted the steps New Zealand took to eliminate Covid-19 within its community. In a four-minute video posted on social media, the WHO details how the country went from its first case of coronavirus, on February 28, to the peak of daily new cases at 89, to successfully eliminating the virus within a matter of months. The video singles out New Zealand's plan, including the strict lockdown measures, the isolation of any positive cases and close contacts, as well as the country's contact tracing method. It features footage from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's addresses to the nation, including the level 4 lockdown announcement, as well as interviews with some of the country's top experts, including Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
Malaysia extends partial lockdown in capital amid COVID-19 surge
Malaysia on Monday extended a partial lockdown on its capital Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding state of Selangor for another two weeks, as the country recorded the biggest jump in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. The Southeast Asian nation has seen a resurgence in infections, with the total number of cases more than doubling in the past month. The health ministry reported 1,240 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest daily rise on record.
Italy imposes harshest coronavirus restrictions since spring lockdown as second wave sweeps Europe
Italy became the latest European country to announce new restrictions to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus on Sunday as countries across the continent continue to report surging infections. France on Sunday announced more than 50,000 new infections, a new record for the fourth day running. Germany, widely lauded for its initial handling of the virus, reported a surge of its own. The number of coronavirus cases in Poland has doubled in less than three weeks. And Spain has also imposed new restrictions.
Europe Imposes New Covid-19 Restrictions as Second Wave Accelerates
Europe’s second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating, forcing countries to impose ever-more social-distancing rules in a bid to avoid a return to full-blown lockdowns. France announced a daily record for coronavirus infections, with confirmed infections reaching over 52,000 on Sunday, compared with nearly 84,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. on Saturday, whose population is around five times bigger. Italy, struggling with an explosive rise in infections, imposed the toughest restrictions on its population since ending its lockdown, including the closure of all bars and restaurants at 6 p.m. In Spain, the government announced a state of emergency, as it did in March, giving national authorities greater powers to impose social-distancing and emergency health-care policies.
Maintaining Services
NHS short of over £1bn for Covid second wave and onset of winter
The NHS has been given in excess of £1bn less than it needs to tackle the second wave of Covid-19, deal with the coming winter and restart routine operations, the Guardian has learned. The disclosure raises questions about the pledge from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, at the start of the pandemic to give the NHS “whatever resources it needs” to cope with the pandemic. Hospitals across England face holes in their budget for the rest of the year of up to £20m, which they say is hampering their efforts to prepare properly for the service’s annual winter crisis and get back to pre-pandemic levels of surgery.
Covid-19: US pulls plan to give early vaccine to Santa Claus
The US has cancelled plans to offer Santa Claus performers early access to a coronavirus vaccine in exchange for their help in promoting it publicly. Those who perform as Mrs Claus and elves would also have been eligible for the jabs. The festive collaboration was part of a $250m (£192m) government campaign to garner celebrity endorsements of vaccinations once they are approved. But health authorities confirmed the advertising campaign had been scrapped. Ric Erwin, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas, called the news "extremely disappointing."
Covid-19: How the Czech Republic's response went wrong
The Czech Republic was praised for its swift initial response to the coronavirus crisis, but seven months on it's now recording 15,000 new cases a day and has the second highest per capita death rate over seven days in the world. So what went wrong? Letnany Exhibition Grounds on the northern outskirts of Prague is usually where you go to check out the latest caravans or fitted kitchens. But its cavernous halls are now home to a ghostly field hospital, built by the army in just over seven days. On Sunday it was formally handed over to Prague's main infectious diseases hospital. "Our task is to enhance the capacity of civilian hospitals," said Colonel Ladislav Slechta, commander of the Czech Army's Military Medical Agency which built the facility.
Arsonists throw petrol bombs at Germany's Robert Koch Institute
A window was destroyed and walls discoloured during Sunday's arson attack
Berlin police are now investigating whether the attack was politically motivated
The German capital has seen some angry protests against the lockdown rules
Australia's coronavirus epicenter records no new cases as the US and Western Europe struggle to contain the pandemic
Melbourne, the city at the epicenter of Australia's coronavirus epidemic, will move out of lockdown this week after the Victoria state health department on Sunday reported no new cases and no deaths due to the virus for the first time in more than four months. Announcing the relaxation of restrictions at a news conference on Monday, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said starting on Tuesday at 11:59 p.m., Melbourne residents will be allowed to leave their homes and most businesses in the state can reopen with restrictions on the number of people.
"With 0 cases and so much testing, we are able to say that now is the time to open up. Now is the time to congratulate every single Victorian who has stayed the course," Andrews said. The remarkable milestone of no new cases comes just months after Andrews declared a "state of disaster" to stem an outbreak that saw as many as 725 people in the state test positive for the virus in a single day.
The U.S. and Europe are losing the coronavirus battle
European leaders are bracing for disaster, too. After a summer of reopenings and revived travel and tourism, a second wave is ravaging countries that both evaded and suffered from the first. France reported a daily record in cases on Sunday. Cases in Poland doubled in less than three weeks (and the country’s president now has the virus). In the Czech Republic, more than 250,000 people in a country of 10.7 million are infected.
German business sentiment falls on coronavirus angst
German business morale fell for the first time in six months in October, weighed down by companies’ concerns about rising coronavirus infection rates that are making them more sceptical about the coming months, a survey showed on Monday. The Ifo institute said its business climate index fell to 92.7 from a downwardly revised 93.2 in September. A Reuters poll had foreseen a decline to 93.0. “Companies are considerably more sceptical regarding developments over the coming months,” Ifo President Clemens Fuest said in a statement. “In view of rising infection numbers, German business is becoming increasingly worried.” The German economy contracted by 9.7% in the second quarter as household spending, company investments and trade collapsed at the height of the pandemic.
Sri Lanka shuts parliament after coronavirus case detected
Sri Lanka’s parliament has been closed after a police officer at the complex tested positive for the coronavirus amid a new surge of cases in the country. Parliament will be closed for two days as a precautionary measure so the premises can be disinfected, said Narendra Fernando, the parliament’s sergeant at arms.
Guatemala health workers face retaliation over COVID-19 concerns
Paty Chavez has had a rough few weeks. A nurse at a regional hospital in the Indigenous highlands of Guatemala, she tested positive for COVID-19, recovered, protested against the hospital’s response to the virus, and then was fired – all in the span of 15 days. “My colleagues are all scared. They say, ‘look what happened to the person who most spoke out’,” said Chavez, an Indigenous Maya K’iche mother of three who worked for four years at the El Quiche Regional Hospital, 137km (85 miles) northwest of the capital. But as is the case with so many public health workers in Guatemala, basic labour rights eluded Chavez because she works on a contract basis, a problem that has been exacerbated by COVID-19.
Coronavirus: Plane food sold in shops and 'flights to nowhere' - airlines try to stem pandemic losses
Finland's national carrier has started selling its business class meals in a supermarket to prevent jobs cuts at its catering unit - and the food has been a hit.
Some 1,600 meals were sold in the first few days at the supermarket, which is near the airline's main hub of Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Plans are being made to sell the meals from more outlets. Kimmo Sivonen, a shopkeeper at Kesko's K-Citymarket Tammisto in Vantaa told Reuters that there had been "positive feedback" from customers and the product was "one of the best-selling products in our store".
Covid rips through Kenya’s private school system
As Kenya pushes the reopening of its schools to 2021, thousands of private schools are at risk of shutting their doors permanently
Healthcare Innovations
Coronavirus immunity may only last a few months after an infection, study warns
The proportion of the public testing positive for antibodies fell from six per cent to 4.4 per cent in three months, according to a major study commissioned in England by the Department of Health and Social Care.
Heart inflammation in athletes who survive COVID-19 is NOT a major concern, say US doctors
A team of cardiologists say increased rates of myocarditis, inflammation of the heart, particularly among college athletes in the US diagnosed with COVID-19, is not a cause for concern.
Elderly people given Oxford University's vaccine DO get protection from Covid-19
Suggests group at highest risk of serious illness and death could be protected
Study found jab prompted release of antibodies and T-cells in people over 55
Findings not made public yet but Oxford released statement to build excitement
Johnson & Johnson sees covid-19 vaccine available as soon as January
Johnson & Johnson’s first batches of its Covid-19 vaccine could be available for emergency use as soon as January, Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, the company’s head of public health research and development, said in a presentation at the World Health Summit.
Israel to start COVID-19 vaccine human trials on Nov. 1
Israel will begin human trials for a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by a research institute overseen by the Defence Ministry on Nov. 1 after receiving regulatory approval, the ministry said on Sunday. The Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) began animal trials for its “BriLife” vaccine in March. The Health Ministry and an oversight committee have now given the green light to take it to the next stage. Eighty volunteers aged between 18 and 55 will be monitored for three weeks to see if virus antibodies develop, the ministry said in a statement. A second phase, expected to begin in December, will involve 960 people over the age of 18.
Celltrion nabs emergency use for rapid COVID-19 test from FDA
Celltrion has nabbed a speedy preapproval for its quick pandemic virus test as it forecasts high demand. This comes three months after asking the FDA for an emergency use authorization, which has been giving COVID-19 tests and drugs the ability to be used in the U.S. but is not a full approval.
Covid 19 coronavirus: The strange ways virus can affect the brain
On March 17 this year, a man was taken to hospital in Israel suffering from a dry cough and a loss of sense of smell. He developed a fever and felt tired but, after three days as an in-patient, was released to quarantine. Then something strange started happening. His handwriting changed. It became smaller, crabbed and unreadable. Not just that, but he struggled to speak clearly or write texts on his phone. His right hand began to tremble. Eventually, symptoms became so bad that he returned to hospital, this time to the department of neurology, dealing in disorders of the brain and nervous system.
Oxford vaccine prompts immune response in elderly: AstraZeneca
An experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom produces an immune response in both younger and older adults, triggering lower adverse responses among the elderly, British drugmaker says.
Coronavirus vaccines stir doubts among many people worldwide, new study shows
Survey respondents represented a random sample of the populations of 19 countries that comprise around 55% of the global population. Their characteristics and a summary of their responses to the survey questions are listed in Table 1. Women were 53.5% of the study population, and 63.3% of all participants earned more than $32 per day. More than a third of the respondents (36.3%) had a university degree, and 62.4% were between 25 and 54 years old....
