The Union government in India was reported to be considering empowering companies in strategically important businesses to strike direct deals with COVID-19 vaccine developers to secure doses for their employees, according to the HindustanTimes on October 4, 2020. The Prime Minister's office must approve this special window for 'India Inc' to purchase COVID-19 vaccines.
Coronavirus Breaking News
The coronavirus disease COVID-19 is currently reaching pandemic levels in various countries.
Oct 4, 2020 • 6:36 am CDT
As of October 2, 2020, the US Department of Defense (DoD) reported an 8th active duty person has died related to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020. In total, 46,346 active duty personnel have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Previously, travel restrictions at 135 of 231 DoD Installations (58%) had been lifted, as of September 28, 2020.
Oct 4, 2020 • 6:01 am CDT
Late on October 3, 2020, the US Physician to the President, Sean Patrick Conley, submitted a written statement to President Donald J. Trump's White House press secretary: "not yet out of the woods," but the medical team "remains cautiously optimistic" about his condition following his coronavirus diagnosis.'
'The plan for tomorrow (October 4th) ... is to continue treatment with Veklury (Remdesivir).'
The U.S. FDA announced on August 28, 2020, it broadened the scope of the existing authorization for Veklury to include treatment of all hospitalized adult and pediatric patients with suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, irrespective of their severity of the disease.
Oct 3, 2020 • 3:03 pm CDT
The American Dental Association (ADA) released a statement on August 12, 2020, stating it "respectfully yet strongly disagrees" with the WHO's interim guidance recommending that "routine" dental care be delayed in certain situations because of COVID-19.
The ADA Board of Trustees adopted an ad interim policy stating dentistry is essential healthcare and the House of Delegates will consider it as a resolution during its virtual meeting in October 2020.
ADA President Chad P. Gehani stated in the press statement: "Dentistry is essential health care because of its role in evaluating, diagnosing, preventing, or treating oral diseases, which can affect systemic health."
On August 28, 2020, the U.S. CDC published an update on the Interim Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for Dental Settings During the COVID-19 Response with additional guidance and clarification for dental care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Oct 3, 2020 • 1:50 pm CDT
During the afternoon of October 3, 2020, the U.S. President Donald J. Trump issued a Tweet from Bethesda, Maryland, saying 'Doctors, Nurses and ALL at the GREAT Walter Reed Medical Center, and others from likewise incredible institutions who have joined them, are AMAZING!!! Tremendous progress has been made over the last 6 months in fighting this PLAGUE.'
'With their help, I am feeling well!'
The President’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley led an earlier update from Walter Reed at 11 AM ET, which is posted on YouTube.
Oct 3, 2020 • 5:17 am CDT
New York based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. confirmed that the company provided a single 8-gram dose of REGN-COV2, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, for use by the U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
REGN-COV2 is an investigational COVID-19 therapy, which was provided in response to an Individual Patient Investigational New Drug application, commonly known as ‘compassionate use’ request, from the President’s physicians. In the USA, this type of compassionate use program is also known as an Expanded Access Program and is intended for patients with serious or life-threatening conditions who do not have any viable or available treatment options and are unable to participate in ongoing clinical trials.
Regeneron is accelerating the traditional drug development process through its proprietary technologies that use unique genetically-humanized mice to produce optimized fully-human antibodies and bispecific antibodies.
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Oct 2, 2020 • 1:43 pm CDT
The U.S. CDC reported on October 2, 2020, the percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the USA decreased from 5.0% during week #38 to 4.8% during week #39.
Additionally, the CDC reported the percentage of fatalities attributed to pneumonia, influenza, or COVID-19 (PIC) for week #39 is 6.4%. This is currently 32% lower than the percentage of cases reported during week #38 (9.5%). However, the PIC percentage will likely increase as more death certificates are processed by the CDC.
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Oct 2, 2020 • 1:17 pm CDT
Washington-based Amazon Inc. announced on October 1, 2020, of its 1,372,000 Amazon and Whole Foods Market front-line workers, only 19,816 tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus or were presumed to have COVID-19 between March and September 19, 2020.
'In reality... this data is 42% lower than the expected number. This means our employees are at very low risk of virus transmission in the workplace.' stated the company.
You can see a full state-by-state chart of case rates among Amazon front-line employees, along with additional details about the methodology and data sources on this webpage.
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Oct 2, 2020 • 11:35 am CDT
California based Cepheid announced on September 29, 2020, it has received Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. FDA for Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2/Flu/RSV, a 4 in 1 rapid molecular diagnostic test for the qualitative detection of the viruses causing COVID-19, Flu A, Flu B, and RSV infections from a single patient sample, with results delivered in approximately 36 minutes.
Dr. David Persing, Chief Medical and Technology Officer at Cepheid stated in a press release: "The ability to run a single, highly sensitive test that detects all 4 viruses in a syndromic panel provides actionable results and helps to alleviate pressure on our healthcare system."
Oct 2, 2020 • 9:15 am CDT
A new, large study in India published on September 30, 2020, data reported from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh provide a detailed view of SARS-CoV-2 transmission pathways and mortality in a high-incidence setting.
Among 575,071 individuals exposed to 84,965 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the infection probabilities ranged from 4.7-10.7% for low-risk and high-risk contact types.
And this study found COVID-19 case-fatality ratios spanned 0.05% at ages 5-17 years, up to 16.6% at the age of 85 years old and above.
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Oct 2, 2020 • 5:45 am CDT
Late on October 1, 2020, the president of the United States Donald J. Trump Tweeted '@FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!'
Melania Trump, President Trump's wife, and the current @FLOTUS issued a Tweet early on October 2, 2020, which said 'As too many Americans have done this year, @potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together.'
With his positive COVID-19 test result, President Trump joins other world leaders who previously contracted the coronavirus disease during 2020, such as the UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro.
Oct 1, 2020 • 9:17 pm CDT
A new study published in PLOS Medicine on October 1, 2020, by Prof. Rachel Batterham at University College London and colleagues, found about 78% of people experiencing the recent loss of smell and/or taste have tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. Additionally, of those who tested positive, 40% of these individuals did not have a cough or fever.
'Our findings suggest that people who notice a loss in their ability to smell everyday house-hold odors such as garlic, coffee, and perfumes should self-isolate and seek PCR testing. Loss of sense of smell needs to be recognized globally by policymakers as a key symptom of COVID-19,' stated these researchers.
Oct 1, 2020 • 8:53 pm CDT
According to new data, the country of Italy registered 2,548 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry announced on October 1, 2020. This update is the first time Italy has exceeded 2,000 cases in a single day since the end of April. During 2020, Italy has confirmed 35,918 fatalities related to COVID-19 during 2020.
The latest update from Italy's Higher Health Institute on October 1st shows the average age of 80 years in deceased COVID-19 patients, with an average of 3.4 pre-existing diseases.
Oct 1, 2020 • 4:47 pm CDT
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) recently commissioned a survey to better understand beliefs about influenza and pneumococcal disease, as well as attitudes and practices around vaccination including the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On October 1, 2020, the NIFID survey found among US adults revealed the following highlights: 46% are very or extremely worried about COVID-19 infection for themselves or someone in their family, but only 23% are similarly concerned about being infected with seasonal flu.
Oct 1, 2020 • 3:58 pm CDT
Minnesota based OralDNA Labs announces on September 30, 2020, that the U.S. FDA has issued an amended Emergency Use Authorization (EAU) for the OraRisk® COVID-19 RT-PCR test allowing testing from a saline oral rinse collection. This is the 1st EAU for a simple saline 30-second swish and gargle collection.
This process eliminates the need for a nasal swab and avoids the difficulty some individuals have in providing sufficient saliva for saliva direct testing. Collected samples are viable for up to 72-hours and just as important, the samples no longer require cold pack transportation.
This test is for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in oral saline rinse specimens, nasopharyngeal swab, and nasal swab specimens collected in universal transport media, and nasal swabs collected in oral saline rinse, from individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider.
