WHO says discussing new virus vaccine with Russia
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Russian health authorities are discussing the process for possible WHO pre-qualification for its newly approved virus vaccine, a WHO spokesman said.
"We are in close contact with Russian health authorities and discussions are ongoing with respect to possible WHO pre-qualification of the vaccine, but again pre-qualification of any vaccine includes the rigorous review and assessment of all required safety and efficacy data," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a UN briefing in Geneva, referring to clinical trials.
New Zealand announces return of virus after 102 days
New Zealand announced its first locally transmitted virus infections in 102 days, prompting the country's prime minister to issue a stay-at-home lockdown order for the country's largest city.
Jacinda Ardern said four cases had been detected in a single family in Auckland from an unknown source.
"After 102 days, we have our first cases of Covid-19 outside of managed isolation or quarantine facilities... While we have all worked incredibly hard to prevent this scenario, we have also planned and prepared for it," she said.
Coronavirus found on frozen seafood in China
Authorities in China have found the novel coronavirus on the packaging of imported frozen seafood that arrived from the port city of Dalian, which recently battled a surge of cases.
The virus was found on the outer packaging of frozen seafood bought by three companies in Yantai, a port city in eastern Shandong province.
The Yantai city government said in a statement the seafood was from an imported shipment that landed at Dalian but did not say where it originated.
In July, customs officers in Dalian, a major port in the northeastern province of Liaoning, found the coronavirus in the packaging of frozen shrimps imported from Ecuador, and China then suspended imports from three Ecuadorean shrimp producers.
The novel coronavirus is believed to have emerged in a market that sold seafood and wildlife in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Indonesia starts human trials of China-made virus vaccine
Indonesia on Tuesday has launched human trials of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine with some 1,600 volunteers slated to take part in the six-month study.
The vaccine candidate, produced by Sinovac Biotech, is among just a few in the world to enter Phase 3 clinical trials, or large-scale testing on humans – the last step before regulatory approval.
The treatment, known as CoronaVac, is already being tested on 9,000 health workers in Brazil, the second-hardest-hit country in the coronavirus pandemic after the United States.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, has been struggling to contain its mounting virus cases, with more than 127,000 confirmed infections and over 5,700 deaths.
Russia approves 'first virus vaccine'
Russia's health ministry has given regulatory approval for the world's first pandemic vaccine, developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, after less than two months of human testing, President Vladimir Putin said.
The move paves the way for mass inoculation even as the final stages of clinical trials to test safety and efficacy continue.
The speed at which Russia is moving to roll out its vaccine highlights its determination to win the global race for an effective product but has stirred concerns that it may be put ting national prestige before science and safety.
Philippines records 2,987 more virus infections
The Philippines on Tuesday reported 2,987 new virus infections, taking its tally of confirmed cases to 139,538, the highest in Southeast Asia.
A health ministry bulletin also reported 19 more fatalities, bringing the country's death toll to 2,312.
Former Indian president contracts Covid-19
Former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee, 84, who served as president between 2012 and 2017, was put on ventilator support after undergoing surgery having contracted the virus.
Local media reported he is under care at the military hospital in New Delhi.
Mukherjee, who also led India's federal defence, foreign affairs, finance ministries over a decades-long political career, said in a Twitter posting on Monday that he had tested positive while visiting the hospital for a separate procedure.
India nears 2.3 million Covid-19 cases
India reported 53,601 new cases of virus as its total infections neared 2.3 million.
The Health Ministry also said 871 deaths were newly reported, raising total fatalities to 45,257.
India has been posting an average of around 50,000 new cases a day since mid-June.
Its total infections are third in the world, behind the US and Brazil.
The three countries account for half of the world's 20 million cases.
Russia reports 4,945 cases
Russian registered 4,945 new cases of the virus, pushing its national case tally to 897,599, the fourth largest in the world.
The official death toll rose to 15,131 after authorities said in their daily pandemic report that 130 people had died in the previous 24 hours.
UK suffers biggest job losses since 2009
The number of people in work in Britain fell by the most since 2009 in the three months through June as the pandemic crisis took a heavy toll on the labour market, even with the government's huge jobs protection scheme still in place.
Led by a record plunge in self-employed workers, there were 220,000 less people employed in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.
Separate tax data for July showed that the number of staff on company payrolls had fallen by 730,000 since March, sounding the alarm about a potentially much bigger rise in joblessness.
Mainland China's community cases fall to 13
The number of new community infections reported in China fell to just 13, while the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong saw a further decline to 69 new cases.
The mainland also saw 31 new cases brought by Chinese travellers from abroad arriving at eight different provinces and cities.
China requires testing and a two-week quarantine of all new arrivals and has barred most foreigners from entering the country.
All new locally transmitted cases were in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, whose main city, Urumqi, has been at the centre of the country’s latest major outbreak.
China has reported a total of 4,634 deaths from the pandemic among 84,712 cases.
Hong Kong has been bringing numbers of new cases down since its latest outbreak last month, partly by mandating mask-wearing in public settings and stepping-up social distancing restrictions.
Greece logs 126 cases, with a major museum closed
Greece’s culture ministry is closing down the Museum of the Ancient Agora, a major archaeological site in central Athens, for two weeks after a cleaner there was diagnosed with the virus.
A ministry statement Monday said the museum would be comprehensively disinfected, while the actual site of the Ancient Agora, which was the administrative, political and social centre of the ancient city, will remain open.
Greek sites and museums are open to visitors, with the wearing of masks obligatory in museums.
The closure also comes as Greece has announced 126 new confirmed virus cases in the last day, bringing the country’s total to 5,749, and one more death for a total death toll of 213 amid a spike in daily infections.
New Zealand retirement home in lockdown to test for virus
A New Zealand retirement village has gone into lockdown after residents displayed symptoms of respiratory illness, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The Village Palms retirement village in Christchurch advised of the lockdown in a letter to family members today, the newspaper said. No further details were immediately available.
New Zealand, which has managed to largely contain the spread of the pandemic, has gone more than 100 days without community transmission of virus.
Germany reports 966 cases
The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 966 to 217,293, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.
The reported death toll rose by four to 9,201, the tally showed.
Brazil registers 22,048 new cases
Brazil registered 22,048 new cases of coronavirus and 703 deaths, the health ministry has said.
Overall, Brazil now has 3,057,470 confirmed cases, while the death toll has risen to 101,752.
Mexico reports 705 more deaths
Mexico's health ministry has reported 5,558 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 705 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 485,836 cases and 53,003 deaths.
Australia's Victoria state reports 19 fatalities
Australia's second-most populous state of Victoria has reported 19 deaths from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours and 331 new cases.
The state reported 322 infections and 19 deaths, its biggest one-day rise in casualties, a day earlier.
Victoria last week began a six-week total lockdown, closing down shops and businesses to contain a second wave of infections requiring its five million residents to stay home.
Trump weighs blocking US citizens coming home
The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering a measure to block US citizens and permanent residents from returning home if they are suspected of being infected with the new coronavirus, a senior US official has confirmed to Reuters.
The official said a draft regulation, which has not been finalised and could change, would give the government authorisation to block individuals who could “reasonably” be believed to have contracted Covid-19 or other diseases.
The draft regulation, which was first reported by The New York Times on Monday, would be issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has played a lead role in the pandemic response, the senior official told Reuters.
A Trump pandemic task force was not expected to act on the proposal this week, although that timeline could change, the official said.
WHO sees hope
The World Health Organization has insisted there was still hope of conquering the coronavirus pandemic despite the suffering behind the looming landmarks of 750,000 deaths and over 20 million cases.
With both figures expected to be reached within days, the WHO stressed it was never too late to take action to suppress the Covid-19 crisis that has gripped the planet.
"This week we'll reach 20 million registered cases of Covid-19 and 750,000 deaths," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.
"Behind these statistics is a great deal of pain and suffering."
"But I want to be clear: there are green shoots of hope and ... it's never too late to turn the outbreak around."
Tedros gave examples of countries that had successfully clamped down on the spread of Covid-19, citing New Zealand and Rwanda, and praised nations that had suffered major national outbreaks and were now responding quickly to local spikes.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
