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The number of lives lost worldwide in the pandemic is close to 300,000, according to Johns Hopkins University figures, with 297,197 deaths reported. There are 4,347,015 confirmed infections.
Actual figures are likely to be significantly higher as a result of underreporting or different definitions of what constitutes
A vaccine to counter the new coronavirus could be approved in about a year in an “optimistic” scenario, an agency that approves drugs for the European Union said Thursday.
As the world rushes to develop a vaccine, the European Union, badly affected by Covid-19, fears it may not have enough supplies, especially if a vaccine was developed in the United States or China.
The European Medicines Agency, in communication with 33 developers, was doing its best to speed up the approval process, EMA chief vaccine officer Marco Cavaleri said, but was skeptical of claims that anyone could be ready to September.
“For vaccines, since development has to start from scratch. . . we could look from an optimistic side a year from now, in early 2021, “he told reporters.
He ruled out the possibility of skipping the third phase of a vaccine trial, which he said would be necessary to ensure that a vaccine was safe and effective.
The World Health Organization warned that the coronavirus “may never go away,” as its experts predicted that a global mental health crisis caused by the pandemic was looming. Photograoh: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Dialogue and cooperation.
The EMA is also looking at 115 different therapies or treatments for the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 300,000 deaths worldwide, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cavaleri said some of those therapies could be approved in Europe as early as this summer, but did not specify which ones.
A prominent EU lawmaker said the European Union should circumvent the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies if a vaccine were developed outside the bloc, a new sign of EU fears of falling behind in the global race.
“If a vaccine is first developed outside of Europe, we must do everything possible to ensure that the vaccine is truly available to all countries,” said Peter Liese, a leading member of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. , like Chancellor Angela Merkel’s.
“We count on dialogue and cooperation, but we must also expect others to reject dialogue and cooperation. That is why we need a plan B, ”said Liese.
The United States and China have been cautious in supporting an EU-sponsored global funding campaign that raised $ 8 billion to research, manufacture and distribute a possible vaccine and treatments for COVID-19 this month.
Liese asked EU governments and the European Commission to consider an exemption under World Trade Organization rules that allows states to produce generic drugs without the consent of the pharmaceutical companies that first developed them and still own the intellectual rights. .
The EU has insisted that any coronavirus vaccine must be made available fairly to all countries, after the British chief executive of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi said he was booking the first shipments of its vaccine to the United States.
“The Covid-19 vaccine should be a global public good and its access must be fair and universal,” said European Commission spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker.
Global mental health crisis
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the coronavirus “may never go away,” as its experts predicted that a global mental health crisis caused by the pandemic was looming.
The global health body warned on Wednesday that it should not try to predict how long the coronavirus will continue to circulate, and called for a “massive effort” to overcome it.
“It is important to put this on the table: this virus can become another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus will never go away,” said Michael Ryan, WHO chief emergency officer.
“I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may or may not be a long-term problem, “he said.
A report from the WHO’s mental health department to the UN warned of another impending crisis: “Isolation, fear, uncertainty, economic turmoil: all cause or may cause psychological distress,” said department director Devora Kestel. . She said the world could expect to see an increase in the severity of mental illness, even among children, youth, and health workers.
“The mental health and well-being of entire societies have been seriously affected by this crisis and are a priority that must be urgently addressed,” he said.
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The British head of a French pharmaceutical company has caused outrage by saying that any vaccine discovered by his company would initially be reserved for the United States. Paul Hudson, executive director of Sanofi, told Bloomberg News that any vaccine invented by his company would go to the US first. Since he had done everything possible to finance the company’s investigation.
France’s higher education minister Frederique Vidal said Sanofi’s plan to give priority access to the United States would be “incomprehensible and shameful,” since a successful vaccine must be “a public good for the world.”
The European Commission has said it is monitoring the Hungarian government on the coronavirus laws that created a state of emergency with no end date. The commission, the body charged with upholding European Union law, said the absence of a clear time limit in the emergency decree raises “possible concerns about legal certainty,” while a media law penalizing spreading misinformation about the pandemic “can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Hungary.”
Russia
Meanwhile, Russia became the nation with the second highest number of infections with 242,271, behind the United States with just under 1.4 million. The official death toll in Russia is 2,212, although authorities attributed the deaths of more than 60% of coronavirus patients in April to other causes. Moscow, the center of the country’s outbreak, accounted for 1,232 of those deaths. Tatyana Golikova, Russia’s health minister, denied any falsification of the statistics.
In the United States, President Donald Trump said warnings from his top infectious disease expert about the dangers of lifting the restrictions too soon “are not acceptable.”
Trump said he was “surprised” by Anthony Fauci’s caution to reopen the economy and schools too soon.
“For me it is not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools,” Trump said. “Our country must return and must return as soon as possible, and I do not consider that our country will return if the schools are closed,” he said, adding that the only thing that would be acceptable would be teachers or teachers “over a certain age” who do not teach. .
Global infections
In South Korea, 24,000 people have been evaluated in relation to Seoul’s nightclub group, causing bars and entertainment venues in the capital to close, according to the city’s mayor. Cluster-linked cases have grown to 120.
Japan was expected to lift the state of emergency for 39 of its 47 prefectures on Thursday, local media reported, while the capital Tokyo will maintain the restrictions until it sees compelling containment of the coronavirus.
While the nation has avoided the type of explosive growth seen elsewhere, its tests have also been among the lowest, with 188 tests per 100,000 people, up from 3,159 in Italy and 3,044 in Germany. Tokyo, the most affected, has conducted only 50,000 tests so far, of which around 5,000 were positive. With the hospitals still stretched, the capital and the surrounding prefectures will remain in a state of emergency.
Brazil
Brazil registered a record number of new cases of the new coronavirus on Wednesday, beating France’s count to become the sixth most affected country, as the disease sends the economy into its worst year since at least 1900.
The UK government confirmed 11,385 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its total count to 188,974 coronavirus cases since the outbreak began. Earlier on Wednesday, France revised its total number of confirmed and suspected cases, down 0.3 percent to 177,700.
In other coronavirus developments:
China reported three new cases of Covid-19, all purchased locally, and there were no new deaths or suspected cases.
Stock markets in Asia reacted poorly to Powell and the WHO’s comments and concerns about a second wave of infections. Japan’s Nikkei fell 07 percent, while indices in Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, and China fell about 1 percent. But Australia reported an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent, which was lower than expected.
The daily report of deaths in Spain rose to more than 200 on Thursday for the first time since May 8, the Ministry of Health reported. The death toll from the disease rose to 27,321 on Thursday, as 217 people died overnight, according to the ministry, according to Reuters. The total number of diagnosed cases increased to 229,540 on Thursday. The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased 933 on Thursday, a number similar to Wednesday, to 172,239, according to the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. The reported death toll increased from 89 to 7,723.
Hong Kong will examine hundreds of families, local media reported, after her 23-day streak of no local infection broke with the diagnosis of Covid-19 in a 66-year-old woman with no history of recent travel, and her five years – granddaughter granddaughter. Several other family members reportedly also showed symptoms. – Agencies
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