Updated: September 7, 2020 10:00:56 pm
Students wearing protective masks leave an elementary school, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on September 2, 2020. (Reuters)
Global coronavirus updates: There are more than 27 million cases of the new coronavirus worldwide and 8,89,213 people have died so far, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
Pharmaceutical company CSL Ltd said on Monday that it had agreed to make a COVID-19 vaccine that is being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford if the trials are successful, with doses expected for Australia in early 2021. The company also said that had agreed with the Australian government to manufacture a potential alternative vaccine that it is developing with the University of Queensland (UQ), and the first doses of that vaccine are expected in mid-2021.
These are the main global developments:
Students wearing protective masks walk down a street, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on September 2, 2020. (Reuters)
UNICEF to lead global procurement and supply of COVID-19 vaccines
In what could be the largest and fastest operation of its kind in the world, UNICEF has announced that it will lead the procurement and supply of coronavirus vaccines to ensure that all countries have safe, prompt and equitable access to initial doses. when available. .
Over 200 UN officials in Syria infected with COVID-19
More than 200 UN staff members have been infected by COVID-19 in Syria as the world body intensifies its contingency plans to combat the rapid spread of the pandemic in the country, medical workers and UN officials said. The UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza, told the heads of UN agencies last Tuesday that the UN was in the final stages of securing a medical center for treating cases.
“More than two hundred cases have been reported among UN staff members, some of whom have been hospitalized and three were medically evacuated,” the top UN official in Syria said in a letter, which was leaked to Reuters by a infected local staff member. .
People disinfect as a precaution against coronavirus at a local market in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, September 2, 2020 (AP Photo / Lee Jin-man).
Australia said on Monday it will receive the first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021, as the country’s virus hotspot said the number of new daily infections has dropped to a 10-week low. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government has reached a manufacturing agreement with CSL Ltd to produce a COVID-19 vaccine from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, with 3.8 million doses to be delivered in January and February 2021. .
Known as AZD1222, the AstraZeneca vaccine is undergoing late-stage clinical trials in Great Britain, Brazil, and South Africa. Australia said in August it would buy the AstraZeneca vaccine, but the deal appeared in some doubt in August after CSL said it was prioritizing its own rival vaccine. The hurdle was overcome when Australia said on Monday that it also agreed to purchase CSL’s alternative COVID-19 vaccine if the trials are successful.
A police officer wearing a mask as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus stands guard near the Capitol during the curfew in Havana, Cuba, on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 (AP Photo / Ramón Espinosa).
UNICEF will lead the procurement and supply of vaccines globally
In what could be the largest and fastest operation of its kind in the world, UNICEF will lead the procurement and supply of coronavirus vaccines to ensure that all countries have safe, prompt and equitable access to initial doses when available. . said.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is the world’s largest buyer of vaccines, purchasing more than 2 billion doses of various vaccines annually for routine immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.
With several promising vaccine candidates, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Revolving Fund of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), will lead efforts to acquire and deliver doses of COVID-19 vaccines on behalf of the COVAX World Vaccine Center. for 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries, whose vaccine purchases will be supported by the mechanism.
A girl receives gel from her mother, who wears a mask to fight the spread of the coronavirus, before entering Heembeek primary school during the first school day of the new season in Brussels. (AP)
South Korea’s hotspot suffers a decline
South Korea has added 119 more cases of the coronavirus, its lowest daily jump in more than three weeks amid a downward trend in new cases. The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the additional figures brought the country’s total to 21,296 with 336 deaths. It is the fifth consecutive day that the daily jump of the country remains below 200.
Medical professionals collect samples from a man at a makeshift Covid-19 testing site at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020 (Anthony Kwan / Pool Photo via AP)
The 119 additional cases are the lowest in kind since mid-August. The number of South Korean cases has risen since the beginning of last month, and many are associated with churches, restaurants and schools and an anti-government street demonstration in the Seoul metropolitan area. In late August, South Korea’s daily jump once ticked over 400.
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