Coronavirus Breaking News

The Washington University School of Medicine announced on September 3, 2020, it is the clinical coordinating center for an ambitious, international clinical trial, which is the first to evaluate on a large scale whether the common MMR vaccine can protect against COVID-19.

Data from the trial sites will be compiled at University College London. Laurence Lovat, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of gastroenterology and biophotonics, is the study leader in the United Kingdom. “If we discover that the MMR vaccine can help train the body’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, then we will have something to administer very quickly while waiting for more specific vaccines and preventive therapies to be developed,”

The developers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine have defended the clinical trial data they presented during August 2020, in a new letter published in The Lancet on September 18, 2020. The letter to the Lancet's editorial board, 'emphasized that all the data presented were obtained in ‘experiments and double-checked,’ reported the TASS news agency.

Furthermore, deputy director Denis Logunov and the letter co-authors at the Gamaleya Center based in Russia promised to 'provide access to certain volunteers, so that all the existing issues are clarified.'

According to France's Public Health Agency, 13,215 people have tested positive for COVID-19 on September 18, 2020, making it the highest largest number of infections recorded in a single day since the coronavirus outbreak of 2020 began, reported XinhuaNet.

In France, the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases now totals 428,696.

Although the risks for SARS-CoV-2 transmission have been extensively investigated, the in-flight transmission of the virus has not been formally confirmed, stated a team of researchers.

According to an Early Release study published by the U.S. CDC on September 18, 2020, four persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection recently traveled on the same flight from Boston, Massachusetts to Hong Kong, China. Given the case histories and sequencing results, the most likely sequence of events is that one or both of passengers A and B contracted SARS-CoV-2 in North America and transmitted the virus to flight attendants C and D during the flight.

The airplane was the only location where all 4 persons were in close proximity for an extended period.

Furthermore, their virus genetic sequences were found to be identical, unique, and belong to a clade not previously identified in Hong Kong, which strongly suggests that the virus can be transmitted during air travel.

France based Sanofi and GSK announced they have finalized an advanced purchase agreement with the European Commission for the supply of up to 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, once the vaccine is approved. This final agreement confirms the announcement made on July 31, 2020, and marks a key milestone in protecting European populations against COVID-19.

Previously, the companies announced the launch of a Phase 1/2 clinical study on September 3rd. And stated a 'Phase 3 study is planned to begin by the end of 2020 and regulatory approval could be requested in the first half of 2021.'

The government's systems to find people who might pass on coronavirus infections to others, known as contact tracing, are in disarray across Europe and the USA, reported the WSJ on September 17, 2020. In France, Spain, and England investigators have been interviewing far fewer contacts of infected people than officials expected.

With many governments unwilling to reimpose sweeping lockdowns, epidemiologists say swift contact tracing is essential to limit the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus because infected people become contagious before they develop symptoms. That means the contacts of people who have tested positive must be identified and isolated quickly before they unknowingly infect others.

One positive case-study is the Republic of Singapore, which has enhanced its national-level contact tracing efforts by requiring anyone entering a public venue to be scanned for a QR code or identity cards to verify health status.

This effort contrasts with some U.S. states and big cities, where investigators aren’t contacting many people who test positive, and those who are reached, often don’t disclose their contacts. That has prevented investigators from casting a wide net to stop new infections. The full WSJ article is found at this link.

France's Health Minister Olivier Véran announced on September 17, 2020, 'extra measures will soon be implemented to curb the spreading of COVID-19 in the cities of Lyon and Nice. These cities will join Marseille, Bordeaux, and Guadeloupe, a French territory in the Caribbean, as coronavirus “red zones” where additional measures are already in place, reported France24.

According to data services, France registered 10,593 new confirmed coronavirus cases on September 17th, setting a new daily record. During 2020, France has confirmed 31,095 fatalities related to COVID-19.