Russia approves trial of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine – latest updates

Friday, August 21, 2020

Russia approves trial of virus vaccine

AstraZeneca has received regulatory approval to conduct part of a Phase III trial of its potential Covid-19 vaccine, AZD1222, in Russia, a filing in the Russian registry of clinical trials showed on Friday.

The trial will involve 150 participants and will be handled by four medical facilities in St Petersburg and Moscow, the registry filing, dated on Friday, showed.

Singapore to allow visitors from Brunei, New Zealand

Singapore will allow travellers from Brunei and New Zealand to visit starting in September, in a "small, cautious step" by the virus-hit aviation hub to restart air travel, officials said on Friday.

The city-state closed its borders in March to tourists and short-term visitors and later implemented a partial lockdown as coronavirus outbreaks swept through dormitories housing hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.

Arrivals from Brunei and New Zealand will be subject to a virus test in lieu of a 14-day quarantine.

Tunisia imposes curfew in two southern towns

Tunisia imposed a 5 pm to 5 am [local time] curfew from Friday in two southern towns to help contain a renewed coronavirus outbreak, the state news agency TAP said.

The North African nation is seeking to counter a second spread of Covid-19 evident since it reopened its borders on June 27 as part of steps to ease a lockdown and revive the economy, particularly the vital tourist industry.

Since then, however, Tunisia has recorded a major resurgence of infections, exceeding 100 per day over the last two weeks.

The curfew in the towns of Hamma and Hamma Gharbia will remain in effect until August 27.

The government, which has declared 2,543 cases of the virus along with 63 deaths, said it would not be able to shut down the economy again as losses from the lockdown were severe.

UK extends ban on evicting tenants for another four weeks

The British government said on Friday it would extend a ban on evicting tenants from social or private rented accommodation for another four weeks due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The moratorium on evictions, which has been in place for five months, had been due to expire on Sunday.

The government also said there will be a six-month notice period for evicting tenants, meaning renters cannot be evicted until March next year.

The ban on evictions was introduced to give greater protection to millions of renters who may be experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Philippines reports 4,786 more infections

The Philippines recorded 4,786 new virus infections, taking its total confirmed cases to 182,365 since the pandemic began, the highest in Southeast Asia.

In a bulletin, the health ministry also reported 59 more fatalities, bringing the country's death toll to 2,940.

"The infectiousness has increased because the strain has evolved," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said at a webinar.

Poland records highest daily cases

Poland reported 903 new virus cases, according to the Health Ministry'sTwitter account, the highest daily increase since the pandemic outbreak.

Poland has reported 60,281 cases in all, and 1,938 deaths.

Indonesia logs 2,197 infections

Indonesia reported 2,197 virus infections, taking the total number of cases to 149,408, data from the country's health ministry showed.

The data recorded an additional 82 deaths, taking the total to 6,500, the highest pandemic death toll in Southeast Asia.

Russia's case tally nears 950,000

Russia reported 4,870 virus cases, pushing its confirmed national tally to 946,976, the fourth largest in the world.

Authorities said 90 people had died over the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 16,189.

Russian vaccine to complete clinical trial in September

The clinical trial of a Russian pandemic vaccine, Sputnik V, being developed by the Siberian Vektor research centre, is due to be completed in September, the RIA news agency cited Russia's healthcare watchdog as saying.

UK doesn't want to offer false hope on airport tests

Britain is investigating using pandemic testing to shorten quarantine times for travellers from restricted countries but does not want to offer false hope that the rules can be changed easily, transport minister Grant Shapps said.

Heathrow said on Wednesday that a testing area was ready to open should Britain approve a rule change and allow two tests, one on arrival and one some days later, to cut the quarantine time from the current two weeks.

Hong Kong announces mass testing

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said that mass testing of residents for virus in the Asian financial hub will begin on September 1, as she warned people not to be complacent despite a steady fall in the number of new infections.

The testing, which will be done with the assistance of a 60 person team from the mainland, is the first time Chinese health officials have assisted the special administrative region in its battle to control the epidemic. 

Irish minister resigns over breaching pandemic regulation

Irish Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary is resigning over his attendance this week at a social event with more than 80 people which may have breached pandemic regulations, a number of media outlets reported.

Calleary apologised "unreservedly" late on Thursday for attending a hotel dinner hosted by the Irish parliament's golf society, a day after the government significantly tightened nationwide restrictions to try to rein in a spike in cases.

Germany's cases rise by 1,427

The number of confirmed virus cases in Germany increased by 1,427 to 230,048, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.

The reported death toll rose by 7 to 9,260, the tally showed.

UK government debt exceeds $2.6 trillion for first time

British government debt has exceeded $2.6 trillion for the first time following large state borrowing as the pandemic pushed the UK economy deep into recession, official data showed.

At the end of July, total accumulated debt hit $2.61 trillion, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

The debt increased by $301 billion compared with July 2019.

Hungary to tighten border crossing

Hungary will tighten border crossing rules from September 1 to prevent the spread of the virus as the number of new infections is rising in neighbouring countries, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio.

Orban, a nationalist who has been in power for more than a decade, also said the government would draft a two-year plan to boost the economy by the middle of next month, after a deeper-than-expected 13.6 percent plunge in second-quarter economic output.

Infections in India surpass 2.9 million

India’s virus caseload crosses 2.9 million with a surge of 68,898 in the past 24 hours. 

The Health Ministry also reported 983 more deaths, taking total fatalities to 54,849.

India has been recording at least 50,000 new infections per day since mid-July. 

Four of India’s 28 states now account for 63 percent of fatalities and 54.6 percent of cases. 

Western Maharashtra state and three southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the worst-hit. 

The Health Ministry said more than 900,000 tests are being done and the rate of tests that are positive for the virus is averaging 8 percent, but it will be lowered through isolation, tracking and clinical management.

Chinese mining company used vaccine in PNG

A Chinese mining company in Papua New Guinea claims to have immunised employees against the pandemic in an apparent vaccination trial, a newspaper reported.

The South Pacific island nation’s Health Minister Papua Jelta Wong said his department was investigating the claim by Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Ltd., The Australian reported.

National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning banned disease vaccine testing or trials in Papua New Guinea on Thursday and later noted the National Department of Health had not approved any trials.

Lebanon prepares for lockdown after port disaster

Lebanon is to partially close down for two weeks to stem a string of record daily infection rates that have brought the number of virus cases to 10,952, including 113 deaths.

Authorities fear Lebanon's fragile health sector would struggle to cope with a further spike in virus cases, especially after some hospitals near the port were damaged in the explosion.

They have said the new lockdown measures, which include a nighttime curfew from 0300 GMT to 1500 GMT, will not affect the clean-up or aid effort in areas ravaged by the blast.

Venice Film Festival requires participants to wear masks

The Venice Film Festival is requiring participants at the first in-person cinema showcase of the pandemic era to wear face masks during screenings and take a virus test if they’re arriving from outside Europe.

According to guidelines published Thursday, fans and the general public will be kept away from the red carpet during the September 2-12 festival, and movie-goers will have to buy tickets and reserve seats online to ensure every other seat is left vacant.

Seoul surge spreading across South Korea

South Korea added its most new virus cases in months on Friday, driven by a surge around the capital that appears to be spreading nationwide.

The 324 new infections was its highest single day total since early March and the eighth consecutive triple-digit daily increase.

Most of the people recently infected live in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan region, where health workers are scrambling to track transmissions from various sources, including churches, restaurants, schools and workers.

But the new infections reported Friday were fro m practically all of South Korea's major cities, including Busan, Gwangju, Daejeon, Sejong and Daegu, the southeastern city that was the epicenter of a massive outbreak in late February and March.

The newest figures reported by South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought the nation's caseload to 16,670, including 309 deaths.

Latin America death toll passes 250,000 mark

The number of deaths caused by Covid-19 in Latin America has passed 250,000, as the virus continues to devastate the region.

The grim milestone was passed as Brazil reported 1,204 deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours, according to the country's health ministry.

Brazil reported 45,323 new cases of the coronavirus.

The country has now registered 3,501,975 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 112,304, the health ministry said on Thursday.

New Zealand defers lockdown decision

New Zealand has reported 11 new cases of coronavirus, and put off a decision about easing restrictions in its biggest city of Auckland to next week.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she would announce on Monday whether the government would ease alert level 3 restrictions enforced in Auckland, and level 2 measures in the rest of the country.

Of the new Covid-19 cases, nine were in the community while two were imported.

Mexico tops 59,100 deaths

Mexico's health ministry has reported 6,775 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 625 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 543,806 cases and 59,106 deaths.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

Japan to ease entry curbs on foreigners with resident visas

Japan plans to ease its Covid-19 entry restrictions on foreign nationals with resident visas from next month, public broadcaster NHK reported, after an outcry over the emotional and economic hardship that the measures are inflicting.

Re-entry will be permitted for visa holders including permanent residents and exchange students on condition that they undergo testing for the coronavirus and quarantine for 14 days, the same policy that now applies to Japanese citizens re-entering the country, NHK reported on Friday.

Senator Cassidy tests positive for coronavirus

US Senator Bill Cassidy has announced that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and is experiencing some Covid-19 symptoms. 

He said he is quarantining in Louisiana.

The Republican senator, 62, who is running for reelection on November 3, is experiencing “mild symptoms that began this morning,” from Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, his spokesperson Cole Avery said. 

Cassidy is at least the 13th member of Congress known to have tested positive for the coronavirus and only the second senator.

Australia's Victoria reports lowest rise in cases in five weeks

Australia's second-most populous state of Victoria has reported its lowest daily rise in new coronavirus cases in more than five weeks, fuelling optimism that the spread of the virus has further eased.

Victoria, which has become the country's Covid-19 hot spot, logged 179 new cases in the last 24 hours, compared with 240 a day earlier. 

The state reported nine deaths from the virus, versus 13 fatalities on the previous day.

A flare-up in infections forced authorities two weeks ago to impose a nightly curfew and shut large parts of the state's economy but new daily cases have slowed in recent days, allaying fears of a nationwide second wave. 

Germany to take on more debt in 2021 

Germany will need to take on yet more debt in 2021 to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on the economy.

"Next year we will continue to be forced to suspend the debt rule and spend considerable funds to protect the health of citizens and stabilise the economy," Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in an interview with the Funke media group, referring to Germany's cherished policy of keeping a balanced budget.

Scholz already plans to borrow around 218 billion euros ($258 billion) this year to help pay for a huge rescue package to steer the country through the coronavirus-induced downturn, blasting through a financial crisis-era "debt brake" written into the constitution.

World Bank chief warns extreme poverty could surge by 100m

The coronavirus pandemic may have driven as many as 100 million people back into extreme poverty.

The World Bank previously estimated that 60 million people would fall into extreme poverty due to Covid-19, but the new estimate puts the deterioration at 70 to 100 million.

World Bank President David Malpass said "that number could go higher" if the pandemic worsens or drags on.

The situation makes it "imperative" that creditors reduce the amount of debt held by poor countries at risk, going beyond the commitment to suspend debt payments, Malpass said in an interview with AFP.

Even so, more countries will be obliged to restructure their debt.

"The debt vulnerabilities are high, and the imperative of getting light at the end of the tunnel so that new investors can come in is substantial," Malpass said.

Advanced economies in the Group of 20 already have committed to suspending debt payments from the poorest nations through the end of the year, and there is growing support for extending that moratorium into next year amid a pandemic that's killed nearly 800,000 people and sickened more than 25 million worldwide.

But Malpass said that will not be enough, since the economic downturn means those countries, which already are struggling to provide a safety net for their citizens, will not be in a better position to deal with the payments.

Arcturus in talks with dozen countries for vaccine supply deals

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc is in discussions with about a dozen countries for supply deals of its coronavirus vaccine that is currently in early human testing.

The U.S.-based company is talking to some countries in Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia, as well as with several U.S. government agencies,  the company's chief executive officer Joseph Payne told Reuters on Thursday.

There are "approximately a dozen countries that we're in conversations with," Payne said.

Arcturus recently began testing its vaccine in humans in an early-to-mid stage study, lagging rivals such as Moderna Incand Pfizer Inc, that have begun late-stage trials of their experimental coronavirus vaccines.

The company on Tuesday signed a supply agreement with Israel for delivery of an initial 1 million doses, with the potential to buy additional doses – a deal that could eventually be worth$275 million, pending regulatory approval.

The company has also received $10 million from the Singapore government to develop its vaccine, access to which could go to the country first if the vaccine is approved.

The negotiations with other countries are focused on two "levers", Payne said: the number of doses involved and clinical trial support.