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According to a media report, side effects are suspected in the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate, which is in late-stage studies. The study of the promising experimental vaccine will be discontinued after a suspected serious side effect occurs in a subject in the United Kingdom, the health news website Stat News reported, citing a company spokeswoman. “The standard process has caused a vaccination pause to allow verification of safety data,” it is quoted.
Now check if the phenomenon is related to vaccination. No details of the suspected side effect were provided. AstraZeneca only spoke of “a potentially inexplicable illness”.
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In August, the pharmaceutical giant began recruiting 30,000 subjects in the United States for its largest study of the candidate vaccine. The vaccine produced by the University of Oxford is also being tested in thousands of people in the UK; there are smaller studios in Brazil and South Africa. The experimental vaccine known as “AZD1222” has so far been considered one of the main candidates in the development of an effective vaccine against the new coronavirus.
Final large-scale testing phases are also in progress for two other candidate vaccines: one is manufactured by Moderna Inc., the other by Mainz-based biopharmaceutical company Biontech and its US partner Pfizer. These two vaccine hopefuls work differently than the AstraZeneca drug.
Britain bans gatherings of more than six people
In response to rising corona infections in England, gatherings with more than six people are banned there until further notice. The new upper limit will apply from next Monday and affects both meetings in its own four walls and in public spaces, as the British government will officially announce on Wednesday, according to media reports. So far, there is a limit of 30 people.
Exceptions will reportedly apply to households with more than six people, as well as meetings with professional backgrounds or for training purposes, such as in schools. Weddings, funerals, and certain sports must also be exempted from the stricter rules.
The number of corona infections in Britain has increased significantly again. In the past few days there were almost 3,000 new confirmed infections per day. This is the highest level since the end of May. Young people, in particular, are currently infected with the virus. This also explains the low increase in deaths to date, as Covid-19 is typically less severe in younger people.
Positive rate lower than ever in Sweden
Sweden reports a success in the stage to deal with the corona pandemic: the positive test rate has dropped to the lowest level since the virus outbreak. Last week, the tests increased to a record of more than 120,000, according to official information. Only 1.3 percent were positive.
In spring, the level was around 19 percent for weeks. According to some experts, the national strategy, which has meanwhile reduced the risk of infection, is paying off.
Sweden is running its own course in the Crown crisis, which is also under close scrutiny abroad and has at times drawn violent criticism. The government has opposed the blockade and instead relies on the individual responsibility of citizens, as well as rules of distance and good hygiene behavior. The idea behind this is to focus on slowing down the spread of the virus.
So far, more than 5,800 people who have tested positive for coronavirus have died in Sweden. The per capita death rate is therefore significantly higher than in other northern European countries. At the same time, however, it is lower than in Italy, Spain and Great Britain, where there were blockades.
Representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) have praised the Swedish model as sustainable. The head of the Swedish health authority, Johan Carlson, said that the national guidelines are easy to understand and intended for a longer period of time. The population has now internalized them.
The country now has the lowest spread rate in Scandinavia. In Spain and France, positive tests are picking up again after lockdown measures ended. “Our strategy was consistent and sustainable. We probably have a lower risk of spread than other countries,” said Professor of Epidemiology Jonas Ludvigsson of the Karolinska Institutet.
According to him, Sweden is now likely to have higher immunity among the population than most other countries. “I think we are benefiting a lot now,” Ludvigsson said.
The European Parliament cancels the session in Strasbourg
The week of the European Parliament session in Strasbourg, France, has been canceled due to the corona pandemic. Instead, next week’s September meeting will take place in Brussels, Parliament Speaker David Sassoli said on Tuesday after a phone call with Strasbourg Mayor Jeanne Barseghian.
The department of Bas-Rhin, in which Strasbourg is located, has been reclassified by the French authorities as an area in which the coronavirus is actively circulating since last weekend. That also contributed to the decision to cancel the meeting there, Sassoli said. According to the President of Parliament, MPs and employees should have entered quarantine after their return to Brussels.
The session’s week-long cancellation in France was preceded by a debate on whether MEPs and their staff should travel for the session, given current developments in the coronavirus pandemic. The speech by the head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the state of the Union scheduled for next Wednesday will be the first of its kind that will not be given in Strasbourg.
Since March, meetings of the EU Parliament have been held in a smaller format online and in the plenary room in Brussels. The European Parliament has two seats. The Strasbourg seat is established in the EU treaties, and France insists that important decisions are only made there. The so-called two-day mini-plenaries usually take place only occasionally in Brussels.
Concern about the situation in the Czech Republic
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the latest development of corona infections in the Czech Republic is “worrying”. This was announced by the WHO representation in Prague. “There is no alternative to testing, tracking and isolating to control Covid-19, not here or elsewhere,” emphasize the experts.
The UN health organization contradicts Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. He had said that the chains of infection can only be traced back to severe cases of disease. A decision could be made at the end of the week. Babiš reacted with irritation to the current criticism from international experts. “This is the WHO, which initially neither recommended a mask nor knew that a pandemic was happening; in my opinion, they should keep silent,” the billionaire wrote on Twitter.
The number of new infections each day in the country of nearly 11 million people has reached new record levels in the past two weeks. There were 563 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of active infections to 8,424, the Czech Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday. Therefore, 214 patients were in the hospital. 437 people have died so far.
From September 1, masks are again mandatory in Czech stores and shopping centers. The capital is particularly affected by the pandemic. In view of the increasing number of infections, there is growing concern that the German federal government may identify Prague as a risk zone. The German ambassador to the Czech Republic, Christoph Israng, warned several days ago on Twitter: “We all have to be careful to avoid damage to society and the economy.”
More than 100 Austrians receive a Trump crown check
Checks signed by US President Donald Trump to combat the economic consequences of the Corona crisis have also reached a number of Austrians. More than 100 checks of this type for $ 1,200 each (about 1,000 euros) have been cashed at banks, according to the ORF. One of the beneficiaries is a pensioner from Linz in Upper Austria who once worked for a brief period in the US At first he believed it was a bad joke, said the man from the ORF newscast. ZiB2. The bank had verified the authenticity of the check and, shortly after, had the money in the account.
The reason for the cash blessing could be a data breach with the US authorities. The US government had sent checks to countless people with the intention of helping with the coronavirus crisis. U.S. citizens with an annual salary of up to $ 75,000 received checks for $ 1,200, while working couples with salaries of up to $ 150,000 received $ 2,400. Payments to more than a million deaths were also made in error. Apparently, the Ministry of Finance and the tax authorities had not compared her data with the death reports of the social security authorities before sending the aid checks.
In the case of the pensioner from Linz, a good part of the money will go back to the United States. If travel restrictions drop again, she will eventually vacation there again, she announced.
India has the second highest number of corona cases worldwide
India has now replaced Brazil as the country with the second highest rate of corona infection. On Monday, the Indian Ministry of Health recorded 90,802 new infections in 24 hours, a total of more than 4.2 million cases. Only the United States, with its more than six million cases, is even more affected by the pandemic. In terms of the number of deaths from a virus infection, India remains in third place with 71,642 victims; the ministry reported 1,016 more deaths in one day.
In the past four weeks, India has discovered more than two million new cases and for almost a month it has been announcing the highest daily values of new corona infections. The virus is now gradually spreading to smaller cities and communities. However, the Indian government remains on track to loosen the crown’s restrictions to stimulate the economy again.
On Monday, for example, the Delhi Metro resumed operations after five months, a high-speed network connecting the capital New Delhi with the surrounding areas. Only people with no symptoms were allowed to board the trains. Masks, authorization from other travelers and temperature controls were mandatory. Before closing in March, the trains carried an average of 2.6 million passengers a day, making it the largest express transportation system in the country.
