Massachusetts based Moderna, Inc. announced that it has completed enrollment of 30,000 participants for the Phase 3 COVE study of the mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate against COVID-19. As of October 22, 2020, more than 25,650 participants have received their 2nd vaccination.
Coronavirus Breaking News
The coronavirus disease COVID-19 is currently reaching pandemic levels in various countries.
Oct 22, 2020 • 9:28 am CDT
Switzerland-based Roche and Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that they are joining forces in the fight against COVID-19 to develop, manufacture and distribute AT-527, Atea’s investigational oral direct-acting antiviral, to people around the globe.
AT-527 is an investigational, oral, purine nucleotide prodrug, which has demonstrated in vitro and in vivo antiviral activity against several enveloped single-stranded RNA viruses and is currently being studied in a Phase 2 clinical trial for hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19.
In addition, AT-527 may be developed for post-exposure prophylactic settings.
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Oct 22, 2020 • 7:16 am CDT
Fewer New Yorkers are dying from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus than health experts had anticipated, a new study led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. This new investigation showed that by mid-August 2020, the death rate in those hospitalized in New York with coronavirus-related illness had dropped from 27% to about 3% points.
According to the findings, the likelihood of death was on average 22 percentage points lower in August than in March, for most critically ill patients.
The NYU Grossman School of Medicine study press release issued on October 22, 2020, showed that a younger, healthier group of people were getting infected and were arriving at the hospital with less-severe symptoms than those infected in the Spring of 2020.
Lead author Leora Horwitz, M.D. stated: "Even in the absence of a silver-bullet treatment or vaccine, we are protecting more of our patients through a host of small changes."
Oct 22, 2020 • 6:39 am CDT
Napa County California businesses were recently notified they may officially begin to move to the less restrictive tier of the COVID-19 lockdown on October 21, 2020. The state of California has a Blueprint for a Safer Economy for reducing COVID-19 cases, with criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on activities.
This announcement means wineries can serve customers inside, but with some restrictions.
Napa County's color rating moved from red to orange, based on the (15) fatalities related to COVID-19 reported during 2020.
Oct 21, 2020 • 6:01 pm CDT
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro announced on October 21, 2020, he rejected the planned purchase of 46 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine candidate, which is produced by a Chinese firm.
On October 20, 2020, Brazil’s health minister Eduardo Pazuello said 'the federal government had reached a deal with Sao Paulo state to buy CoronaVac vaccine doses to be administered starting in January 2020.'
“The Brazilian people will not be anyone’s guinea pig,” Bolsonaro said on Twitter. “My decision is to not purchase such a vaccine.”
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Oct 21, 2020 • 4:42 pm CDT
A study published by PNAS on October 13, 2020, found hyperinflammatory syndrome reminiscent of toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is observed in severe COVID-19 patients, including children with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). These researchers showed that the SARS-CoV-2 spike contains sequence and structure motifs highly similar to those of a bacterial superantigen and may directly bind T cell receptors.
They further reported a skewed T cell receptor repertoire in COVID-19 patients with severe hyper-inflammation, in support of such a superantigenic effect.
Notably, the superantigen-like motif is not present in other SARS family coronaviruses, which may explain the unique potential for SARS-CoV-2 to cause both MIS-C and the cytokine storm observed in adults with COVID-19.
Previously, a September 8, 2020 study published in Nature stated: 'Different SARS-CoV-2 strains haven’t yet had a major impact on the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they might in future.'
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Oct 21, 2020 • 3:34 pm CDT
The leaders of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, announced the expansion of how it defines a “Close Contact” of someone with COVID-19. The CDC's leaders said on October 21, 2020, a close-contact is someone who spent a cumulative 15-minutes or more within 6-feet of someone who was infectious over 24 hours.
The CDC advises anyone who has been in Close Contact with a COVID-19 patient to quarantine for 2-weeks.
And, if possible: 'Wash hands regularly, stay at least 6-feet away from others whenever possible, and wear masks, says the CDC.
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Oct 21, 2020 • 12:16 pm CDT
Japan's first clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine is underway at Osaka University Hospital. Some of the small-scale results, along with those from another university, are expected within the next month and will determine whether a larger clinical trial can be held in November 2020, involving 500 people, reported Nikkei Asia on October 13, 2020.
Takeda Pharmaceutical, Japan's largest pharmaceutical maker, chose not to develop a coronavirus vaccine on its own, deciding to either manufacture or import and distribute those of two U.S. drug developers, such as Novavax and Moderna.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been just 1,679 fatalities reported amongst Japan's 126 million residents, as of October 21, 2020.
Oct 21, 2020 • 9:09 am CDT
Reuters reported Pfizer and BioNTech SE announced on October 20, 2020, launching combined Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in Japan of their mRNA vaccine candidate BNT162, which is targeted against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla recently stated 'Pfizer expects to have the safety data from BNT162 in the third week of November 2020.'
Oct 21, 2020 • 7:52 am CDT
Brazil’s health minister Eduardo Pazuello stated the country would add the Chinese-made CoronaVac vaccine to its national immunization program against COVID-19. Pazuello is reported by the SCMP to say: 'Brazil's federal government had reached a deal with Sao Paulo state to buy 46 million vaccine doses to be administered starting in January 2020.'
Brazil is a South America country of 212 million residents and has registered about 5.3 million SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus cases and 155,000 fatalities related to COVID-19.
Oct 21, 2020 • 6:52 am CDT
The Washtenaw County Health Department, in collaboration with the University of Michigan, issued a 14-day Stay in Place order for the university's 31,000 undergraduate students regarding the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, which has impacted about 400 students.
Under the Washtenaw County order which went into effect on October 20, 2020, U-M undergraduate students living in on-campus, near-campus, or off-campus housing in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be required to stay in place and remain in their current designated residence for 2 weeks, unless they are going to in-person classes, getting food or doing work that cannot be done remotely.
However, the U-M Wolverine football games will continue to be played.
Oct 21, 2020 • 6:40 am CDT
A study conducted during June 2020 in 19 countries to determine potential acceptance rates and factors influencing the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines, found 71.5% of participants reported that they would be very or somewhat likely to take a COVID-19 vaccine, and 61.4% reported that they would accept their employer’s recommendation to do so.
These levels of willingness to accept a COVID-19 vaccine are insufficient to meet the requirements for community immunity.
In this study published in the journal Nature on October 20, 2020, found differences in acceptance rates between countries ranged from almost 90% (in China) to about 55% (in Russia).
Oct 20, 2020 • 8:47 pm CDT
These vaccine development landscape documents have been prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on October 19, 2020, for information purposes only concerning the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Inclusion of any particular product or entity in any of these landscape documents does not constitute, and shall not be deemed or construed as, any approval or endorsement by WHO of such product or entity.
Oct 20, 2020 • 4:32 pm CDT
Sweden has begun regional lockdowns in response to COVID-19 outbreaks by establishing new rules for about 170,000 citizens living in the Uppsala region. These residents have been asked to work from home and avoid social gatherings. However, the new rules do not affect schools or restaurants.
‘It is not a lockdown as that would mean that you shut down the whole society,’ said Anders Tegnell, the architect of Sweden’s liberal approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Amedpost on October 20, 2020.
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Oct 20, 2020 • 4:09 pm CDT
According to a study published in Anaesthesia on October 16, 2020, renal impairment is common in patients who are critically ill with COVID‐19. This study's data demonstrate that renal impairment in patients admitted to intensive care with COVID‐19 is common and is associated with high mortality and requirement for on‐going renal support after discharge from critical care.
Led by researchers at Imperial College London, the retrospective study involved 372 adult COVID-19 patients in four ICUs in the United Kingdom. Of the 372 patients, 216 (58%) had kidney impairment, with a majority of cases developed during hospitalization (168 patients).
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