Coronavirus Breaking News

Over 9,000 long-term care facilities have opted into the US government's pharmacy vaccination program since it was announced, Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff at HHS, told CNBC reporters on October 23, 2020. The US Department of Health and Human Services recently announced an agreement with the CVS and Walgreens pharmacy chains to administer vaccines to the elderly at long-term care and assisted living facilities, free of charge.

Previously, the National Community Pharmacists Association announced on August 31, 2020, that 86% of community pharmacists say they plan to offer the COVID-19 vaccines when they become available.

Vancouver based Precision Nanosystems, Inc. (PNI) announced that it has received a commitment of up to $18.2 million in support from the Government of Canada under the Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s Strategic Innovation Fund to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. PNI stated on October 23, 2020, 'it will use the investment to advance a best-in-class COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate to clinical trials.'

The Government of Canada has now signed vaccine supply agreements with Medicago, AstraZeneca, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, Pfizer, and Moderna. Agreements signed to date will secure access to up to 358 million doses of their different COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

Just one flight into the country of Ireland led to a 59-person outbreak, reported a new study in Eurosurveillance, which was published on October 22, 2020. Diagnostic tests eventually confirmed that 13 (26.5%) of the original 49 passengers on-board this flight were positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, with the other 46 individuals infected with the virus by a passenger.

These researchers suggest 'Stringent on-board infection prevention and control measures are vital to reduce the risk of both symptomatic and asymptomatic in-flight coronavirus transmission.'

According to a research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on October 12, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused just two-thirds of the excess fatalities during the first 5-months of the outbreak in the USA.

The balance of the excess fatalities was related to the indirect effects of the disease on older Americans suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Mortality rates for Alzheimer's disease/dementia increased twice, between weeks ending March 21 and April 11, 2020, and between weeks ending June 6 and July 25, 2020, the latter coinciding with the summer surge of SARS-CoV-2 cases in sunbelt states of the USA.

Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. revealed an agreement with Merck to develop SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) co-invented by IAVI and Scripps Research as innovative interventions to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Neutralizing mAbs against SARS-CoV-2 are widely considered to be promising candidates for COVID-19 treatment and prevention, stated Serum's press release.

This agreement announced on October 22, 2020, 'builds on the advanced antibody discovery and optimization expertise of IAVI and Scripps Research, gained from years of experience in HIV broadly neutralizing antibody research and development, and on Merck’s and Serum Institute’s significant capabilities in design and scale-up of accelerated manufacturing processes for mAb production.'

“I am confident that we and our partners are on a productive path that will lead to a much-needed, globally available tool for COVID-19 treatment and possibly prevention,” added Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Texas Division of Emergency Management are surging additional medical personnel and equipment to the El Paso region to assist with the community's COVID-19 response.

The DSHS is deploying over 460 medical personnel to the region this week, and the agencies are sending a Texas Emergency Medical Task Force ambulance bus, medical incident support team, five ambulances, and mobile medical units to assist first responders. DSHS is also deploying 48 patient monitors, 25 medical beds, and 30 oxygen concentrators to support area hospitals.

Currently, El Paso’s emergency response warehouses are stocked with over 4.8 million masks, over 629,000 gowns and coveralls, over 400,000 gloves, over 38,000 face shields, and additional PPE.

The new, World Health Organization (WHO) approved antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests for the novel SARS-COV-2 coronavirus in Africa will significantly boost testing capacity and marks a game-changer in the continent’s fight against COVID-19, stated the WHO on October 22, 2020.

Rapid antigen tests are an addition to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, not a replacement for them. They are more reliable in patients who are symptomatic, with a high viral load, or a lot of coronavirus in their upper respiratory tract.

Most African countries conduct polymerase chain reaction or PCR tests, the gold standard, which require laboratories, reagents, and experts, limiting COVID-19 testing mostly to large cities. People can wait from 48 hours to more than 10-days for results as they are sent for laboratory verification.

The new rapid tests are easy to use, cheaper than PCR tests, and provide the results in less than 30-minutes, enabling countries to decentralize testing, added the WHO.