Coronavirus Breaking News
The coronavirus disease COVID-19 is currently reaching pandemic levels in various countries.
The U.S. CDC reported the new nationally reported data indicates a COVID-19 infection positivity rate of 8%, after 162 million tests reported as of November 13, 2020.
Regionally, the state of California leads the USA during 2020 with 17,098,418 coronavirus tests performed, followed by New York (15,648,002), Florida (12,481,001), and Texas (10,084,886).
GL Rapha, one of South Korea's leading biotechnology companies, including a subsidiary of Hankook Korus Pharm, announced an agreement to manufacture in the country more than 150 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine candidate.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) press release issued on November 13, 2020, stated the parties intend to start Sputnik V production in December 2020 and begin deliveries of the vaccine for export in January 2021. More than 150 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine produced in South Korea are scheduled to enter the global market.
According to RDIF, more than 50 countries have received applications for the purchase of over 1.2 billion doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.
Based on data reported to the U.S. CDC as of November 7, 2020, by public health laboratories and a subset of clinical and commercial laboratories in the USA, during week #45, over 3 million specimens were tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus for diagnostic purposes, and 10.5% were found positive.
This is a significant increase when compared with week #44, during which 8.4% of specimens tested were positive.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized 288 coronavirus diagnostic tests, which include 223 molecular tests, 58 antibody tests, and 7 antigen tests, as of November 12, 2020.
The COVID-19 tests most people discuss are RT-PCR, the nasal-swab test that detects viral RNA, and various antibody tests, that detect if you have an immune response due to past exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Based on National Center for Health Statistics Mortality Surveillance data available on November 12, 2020, the U.S. CDC reported 8.9% of the fatalities occurring during the week ending November 7, 2020 (week #45), were due to pneumonia, influenza, and COVID-19 (PIC).
This PIC percentage is above the epidemic threshold in the USA of 6.1%.
The US-based biotech company Moderna has submitted an application to Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, for the authorization of mRNA-1273, an experimental vaccine candidate, targeted against the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
'The rolling submission procedure for mRNA-1273 is based on the initially submitted data packages on the preclinical situation and quality, as well as on preliminary clinical data. In a rolling review, the data can be evaluated as soon as they become available. The companies can then submit the latest data continuously without having to wait for the conclusive results from all studies,' stated the Swissmedic press statement issued on November 13, 2020.
The Ivy League Council of Presidents announced its decision on November 12, 2020, that lvy league schools will not conduct intercollegiate athletics competition in winter sports during the 2020-21 season. In addition, the Ivy League will not conduct a competition for fall sports during the upcoming spring semester.
'Regrettably, the current trends regarding the transmission of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner,' stated this press release.
Lastly, intercollegiate athletics competition for spring sports is postponed through at least the end of February 2021. This notice includes sports played outside in fresh air.
A new study published online by the JAMA on November 12, 2020, highlights that many patients who recover from COVID-19 may be still positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, but only a minority of the patients tested may actually carry a replicating SARS-CoV-2 virus in the respiratory tract.
In this small study, only 1 of 32 patients retesting positive had the replicating virus in the sample, suggesting either recurrent infection or reinfection.
This distinction was impossible to separate because no whole-genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses were performed, said these researchers.
Hungary's foreign affairs and trade minister Peter Szijjarto announced on November 12, 2020, that 'Budapest would receive a sample of the Sputnik V vaccine within a week-and-a-half for laboratory testing.'
'And, according to reporting by the Independent, clinical trials are to begin in December 2020, and depending on the vaccine efficacy results, Hungary will begin to procure the vaccine in January 2021.
Sao Paulo-based National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has authorized the resumption of a phase III clinical trial of the CoronaVac vaccine candidate in Brazil, according to a press statement issued by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. on November 11, 2020.
'We have learned that Anvisa failed to receive the data sent by Butantan Institute in time, and it urgently suspended the clinical study on November 9. Butantan Institute communicated with Anvisa on November 10, and the report from the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) was submitted to Anvisa on the same day.'
'After evaluating the new DSMB data, Anvisa made a very timely decision to resume the clinical research of the coronavirus preventive CoronaVac vaccine.
A new study published by the journal Physics of Fluids on November 11, 2020, is the first-ever demonstration of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment as an innovative method for SARS-CoV-2 virus inactivation.
These researchers found an Ar-fed CAP treatment was shown to quickly and effectively inactivate SARS-CoV-2 on a wide range of surfaces, therefore has great potential as a safe and effective means to prevent virus transmission and future infections.
The researchers concluded by saying, 'they are building a compact device that could be used to treat surfaces for the coronavirus with plasma.'
Governor Greg Abbott announced the state has deployed additional resources to El Paso and Lubbock areas of southwest Texas to help combat COVID-19 in these communities.
As of November 11, 2020, Texas has deployed over 1,350 medical personnel to the El Paso region with the Alternate Care Site, established in late October, is increasing capacity from 65 beds to 100 beds. And, over 9.1 million masks, 3 million gloves, 964,000 gowns and coveralls, and over 245,000 face shields have been allocated. The State is currently operating 8 testing sites across El Paso County.
Last week, Governor Abbott announced that U.S. Air Force Medical Specialty Teams have been deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense to assist area hospitals with surge capacity.
The U.S. FDA has not approved any experimental vaccines for use against the newly identified SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, for the general population, nor for children. The vaccine development landscape includes innovative platforms such as nucleic acid, virus-like particle, peptide, viral vector, recombinant protein, live attenuated virus, and inactivated virus approaches.
An updated listing of these vaccine candidates is posted on this CoronavirusToday webpage.
A new study published by The Lancet on November 3, 2020, used data from the COVID Symptoms Study app, which now has more than 4 million users in the UK, confirmed that the loss of smell (anosmia) is still the single most predictive symptom of a positive COVID-19 swab test across different age groups. These researchers suggest that those people with new-onset anosmia should self-isolate and seek testing services.
This study found the odds ratios ranging from 13.67 (95% CI 11·65–16·02) for the older group, to 20.86 (18·62–23·4) for the younger group.
Anosmia was added to Public Health England's COVID-19 case definition on May 18, 2020.
