“The currently available vaccines against COVID-19 are very successful, but the majority of the world’s population is still unvaccinated and there is a critical need for more vaccines that are easy to use and effective at stopping disease and transmission,” said Paul McCray, a professor of at University of Georgia, US.
“If this new COVID-19 vaccine proves effective in people, it may help block SARS-CoV-2 transmission and help control the COVID-19 pandemic,” McCray, co-leader of the study, said.
Dr Vipin Srivastava, who has developed a method to observe the pattern of the number of cases and deaths for the past 463 days, said July 4 appears to be similar to what it was during the first week of February this year when the second wave was said to have set in.
According to his analysis, whenever there is a crossover from an increasing trend to a decreasing trend in daily deaths or vice versa, the Daily Death Load (DDL) fluctuates ‘wildly’.
Remdesivir is in high demand after the intravenously-administered medicine helped to shorten hospital recovery times in a clinical trial. On Friday, it got conditional approval from the European Commission for use in severe COVID-19 patients.
The Ficci-Dhruva Advisors industry survey was conducted in June 2020 and saw participation of over 100 top corporate executives (CxOs) from across sectors.
“While the green shoots of recovery are being seen, it is important to emphasise that sustaining this improvement in the operational parameters of businesses will require continuous support from the government.
Any change in the WHO’s assessment of risk of transmission could affect its current advice on keeping 1-metre (3.3 feet) of physical distancing. Governments, which rely on the agency for guidance policy, may also have to adjust public health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
This is the third consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 20,000 in the country.
Around 60.77 per cent of patients have recovered so far.
Vaccine trials usually take years to complete, though regulators have allowed testing on some potential vaccines to be fast-tracked in light of the public health emergency.The ICMR’s timeline drew criticism here from health experts in India, who expressed concern the trials would compromise patient safety and ethics.
“These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalised COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,” the WHO said in a statement, referring to large multicountry trials that the agency is leading.
According to the third round of the Delhi-NCR Coronavirus Telephone Survey (DCVTS-3), only 32 per cent of the respondents followed all precautions to fight COVID-19 pandemic.
Besides wearing masks, these include using hand sanitiser, washing hands with soap, maintaining a distance of three feet, taking bath after returning home, putting away clothes for washing separately and wearing gloves.
The World Health Organisation has long held that the coronavirus is spread primarily by large respiratory droplets that, once expelled by infected people in coughs and sneezes, fall quickly to the floor.
But in an open letter to the WHO, 239 scientists in 32 countries have outlined the evidence showing that smaller particles can infect people and are calling for the agency to revise its recommendations.
Sanofi has received financial backing from the United States and caused a stir in its home base of France after its British CEO Paul Hudson signalled that Europe was being too slow in supporting work on a vaccine, hinting U.S. patients might get any vaccine it develops first.
It has two segments — a COVID Care Centre (CCC), where asymptomatic positive coronavirus cases will be treated and a Dedicated COVID Health Care (DCHC), which will treat symptomatic cases and have an oxygen support system.