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  • California plans to review coronavirus vaccine independently

    California is planning to review federally approved coronavirus vaccines independently before distributing it to residents, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Monday.

    Newsom said during a press conference that the state will establish an 11-person panel of experts in areas like epidemiology and biostatistics to review any vaccine that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves before its allocation.

    "The question I often get is ‘are you going to take someone’s word for it?' Of course, we don’t take anyone’s 'word for it,’” Newsom said. “We will do our own independently reviewed process with our world-class experts."

    “These experts … will independently review and monitor any vaccine trials to guarantee safety, to guarantee equity and to guarantee the transparency of the distribution of our vaccines,” he added.

    California’s expert panel called the Scientific Safety Review Workgroup will review vaccines no matter who wins the presidential election, the governor said.

    The governor’s announcement comes as reports have circulated suggesting the FDA may be enduring political interference as President Trump’s administration has pushed for a vaccine as soon as possible with Operation Warp Speed. The federal agency has promised not to forgo safety for speed.: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...-independently

    Coronavirus Cases: 40,685,500

    Deaths: 1,123,508

    Underreported US death count: 225,241

    American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

    Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
    it's been blown way out of proportion.

    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

    Comment


    • Thailand - State-run banks extend payment holiday as Bt5.5trn debt suspension expires

      State-run banks will extend financial aid to those unable to resume their payments when the central bank’s aid package for retail borrowers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expires on Thursday (October 22), Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said on Tuesday.

      The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has agreed to extend the debt holiday until March next year for debtors unable to make payments.

      The Government Savings Bank and Government Housing Bank are also considering doing the same, he said.

      The debt-repayment suspension covers 12 million accounts with combined debt of Bt5.5 trillion. Four million of those accounts are at state-run banks, accounting for Bt1.9 trillion or 30 per cent of total suspended debt.

      Commercial banks are being urged by the central bank to provide support for customers who can’t make debt payments, estimated at about 10 per cent of all debtors.

      The other 90 per cent are expected to resume debt payments following full (60 per cent) or partial (30 per cent) recovery of their businesses.

      Of the remainder, 4 per cent have liquidity problems while 6 per cent have cut contact with banks and their combined debts of about Bt100 billion.Meanwhile, new central bank governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said he would leave commercial banks to solve the problem by themselves rather than issuing them with orders.Deputy Prime Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said Thailand’s economy is slowly recovering from a sharp downturn in the second quarter, when it was hit hard by fallout from Covid-19.

      The International Monetary Fund now projects the Thai economy will contract 7.1 per cent this year, an improvement on its earlier forecast of a 7.7 per cent contraction.

      Meanwhile the World Bank is optimistic that Asia will recover faster than the rest of the world.

      Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) recently forecast the economy will shrink 7.8 per cent.

      Asked whether ongoing political unrest will drag the economy down further, Arkhom said that it would depend on how the situation developed.

      The government is under mounting pressure after tens of thousands of protesters held rallies across the country this week to demand that the Prayut-led administration step down.: https://www.nationthailand.com/busin...ernal_referral

      Originally posted by Somchai Boonporn View Post
      Perhaps a blessing in disguise for the Golden Land.

      Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

      Comment


        • Argentina becomes 5th country to report 5 million coronavirus cases

        Argentina's health ministry reported 12,982 new coronavirus cases Monday night, taking the country's total to 1,002,662.

        Why it matters: Argentina is the fifth country to surpass 1 million COVID-19 cases, after Russia (over 1.4 million), Brazil (more than 5.2 million), India (7.5-plus) and the U.S. (over 8.2 million), per Johns Hopkins. "It means one in every 45 Argentinians have had the virus," the Guardian notes. The country reported Monday that the virus had killed another 451 people, taking the death toll to over 26,000.: https://www.axios.com/argentina-5th-...9efdbcf9d.html
        • Coronavirus Cases: 40,749,872

        Deaths: 1,124,519

        Underreported US death count: 225,269

        American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

        Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
        it's been blown way out of proportion.
        Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

        Comment


          • Ireland moving back into lockdown as coronavirus cases surge

          The Republic of Ireland will return to its highest level of lockdown restrictions this week to combat surging coronavirus cases, Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced Monday evening.

          Why it matters: The country is the first in Europe to announce a return to a nationwide lockdown. Martin described the measures that'll see non-essential retailers close, home visits banned and a three-mile travel limit imposed from midnight Wednesday as "probably Europe's strictest regime." Bars, cafes and restaurants can only serve takeout meals only under the measures, which will last for six weeks.: https://www.axios.com/ireland-covid-...3c02b6cae.html
          • Coronavirus Cases: 40,888,114

          Deaths: 1,126,527

          Underreported US death count: 225,626

          American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

          Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
          it's been blown way out of proportion.
          Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

          Comment


            • One-fourth of NYC transit workers caught COVID-19

            Nearly a quarter of New York City’s frontline transit workers may have contracted COVID-19 — and those who took sick likely caught the virus at work, a preliminary survey released Monday by New York University shows.

            NYU researchers in July launched an ambitious study to learn why so many of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 70,000 employees caught the virus and how the pandemic has impacted their mental health.

            The researchers received questionnaires from 645 frontline NYC Transit employees, and 24% of them reported a positive COVID-19 diagnosis or antibody test — significantly higher than an assessment released by Gov. Cuomo on May 13, which analyzed antibody tests and found that 14% of transit workers had contracted the disease.

            The virus — which has killed at least 131 MTA workers — likely spread quickly within transit workplaces, said Robyn Gershon, the NYU epidemiologist leading the research.

            Gershon’s team found that those who contracted the disease did not live in areas with high infection rates, meaning they likely got sick on the job, she said.

            “From our New York City data, transit workers were almost twice as likely to be living in a low-risk neighborhood if they were positive, so it looks like it probably was work related,” said Gershon. “We’ll probably never be able to fully tease that apart, but we’re doing more digging.”

            Gershon and her team seek a grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue the study, which could last years. The study will dive deeper into the mental health impact the pandemic has had on city transit workers, so many of whom were infected in March and April that the MTA was forced to temporarily slash subway service due to a workforce shortage.

            Gershon previously headed a probe into the evacuation of the Word Trade Center towers during the 9/11 terror attacks. Her findings led to changes to the city’s fire code — but she fears many transit workers will suffer from PTSD like 9/11 first responders.

            “Long-term PTSD is devastating to your life. We followed up with the World Trade Center study 16 years after ... and many of them have severe impact,” Gershon said. “They can’t leave their apartments. They can’t work. They’ve gotten divorces. That’s what we don’t want to happen to this group.”

            MTA officials said NYU’s findings were merely preliminary. The agency’s data show that just 3,921 — or 7.4% — of the employees at NYC Transit, the agency’s largest subsidiary, caught COVID-19.: https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavi...sxa-story.html
            • Coronavirus Cases: 40,932,179

            Deaths: 1,127,046

            Underreported US death count: 225,780

            American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

            Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
            it's been blown way out of proportion.
            Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

            Comment


            • Thailand - Household debt levels to rise further

              Household debt levels, already at the highest in 17 years, are expected to rise further, the central bank governor said on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic hammers its trade-and tourism-reliant economy.

              The economy suffered its biggest contraction in 22 years in the second quarter and could shrink a record 7.8% this year, the Bank of Thailand has forecast.

              "The pandemic had cut jobs, reducing households' income and debt servicing ability," governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput told reporters.

              "The employment situation has not yet returned to normal," he said, noting the economy would not get back to pre-Covid levels until the third quarter of 2022.

              As of June, household debt rose to 13.6 trillion baht, equal to 83.8% of GDP, the highest since 2003 and among the highest levels in Asia.

              The debt was at 79.9% of GDP at the end of 2019.

              The Federation of Thai Industries has estimated job losses at a record 2.5 to 3 million this year, of which more than a million are in the tourist sector. Thailand has a workforce of about 38 million.: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business...o-rise-further

              Originally posted by Somchai Boonporn View Post
              Perhaps a blessing in disguise for the Golden Land.

              Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

              Comment


                • UK taps Open Orphan to explore vaccine trials that infect volunteers with coronavirus

                Healthy, young people in the U.K. may soon be asked to volunteer to get deliberately exposed to Covid-19 as part of a set of human challenge studies, which aim to speed up the process of vaccine development.

                These studies, which are controversial in medical circles, essentially ask volunteers to be “challenged” with an infectious disease organism. The idea behind them is to recruit healthy, young people, inoculate them and then subsequently expose them to the virus to determine if the vaccine is effective. Proponents say such studies can speed up vaccine development, while others say these trials raise ethical questions.

                The U.K. government has taken an initial step this week by signing a contract with a pharmaceutical services company called Open Orphan for a so-called characterization study, which involves identifying the most appropriate dose of the virus for use in future human challenge studies. In practice, what that means is the researchers will determine the lowest dose of the virus that would still show up positive on a standard polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test.

                The characterization study is expected to be complete in 2021 and is still subject to ethical and regulatory approval. Sponsored by Imperial College in the U.K., the study will be conducted by Open Orphan’s hVivo unit at a London-based research site.

                The government has also secured the first three slots to test vaccines using human challenge studies. It’s still to be determined whether these studies will move ahead.

                “In traditional vaccine trials, all of the subjects get vaccinated and are sent out to live their normal lives,” said Andrew Catchpole, the chief scientific officer for hVivo. “But the outcome is that most are not exposed naturally, so you are beholden to how much disease there is spreading in that community.”

                Catchpole said hVivo already runs more human challenge studies safely for other diseases than any other company globally.

                The volunteers participating in the study model must be between 18 and 30 years old, Catchpole said. Their general health will be screened for any risk factors, he said. The study isn’t open to pregnant women or nursing mothers.

                It remains unclear how many people will raise their hands, but in other countries, such as the U.S., large numbers have already expressed a willingness to participate in such trials.

                Medical experts across the globe have mixed views about human challenge studies.

                “I think they could accelerate the process and in the midst of a pandemic, so it’s worth considering even though they are risky and ethically controversial,” said Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University.

                Infecting a person with a virus that could have consequences for their health violates the “do no harm rule,” Caplan explained.

                But the risks can be minimized as much as possible by starting with the youngest, healthiest people who are far less likely to get seriously ill. Participants are typically given antiviral therapies, such as Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, following exposure. It’s worth noting, though, that recent studies have questioned the efficacy of these drugs.

                Others say that these studies may not be necessary, particularly given the potential harms.

                “Given that we may have an approved vaccine in the coming months, I don’t know how much challenge studies would speed along the process,” said Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency medicine physician based in Boston. “There’s the possibility here of putting people at risk without much of an upside.”: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/20/uk-s...nge-study.html
                • Coronavirus Cases: 40,975,843

                Deaths: 1,128,014

                Underreported US death count: 226,018

                American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

                Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
                it's been blown way out of proportion.
                Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                Comment


                  • “We just don’t know what’s happening in our bodies”: Covid-19 long-haulers are still suffering

                  On March 15, Melanie Montano woke up with a fever and chills. Her Covid-19 symptoms progressed quickly; she lost her sense of smell and taste and had trouble breathing.

                  Seven months later, she’s still struggling with fevers, brain fog, fatigue, and pain in her arms and legs. She’ll feel better some days, only to feel worse the next, in what she calls the “coronacoaster.”

                  With 8 million cases of Covid-19 now confirmed in the US, stories like Montano’s are becoming increasingly common. But you might not know it from listening to President Trump. In his first extended statement in October since his own diagnosis, he falsely implied that everyone infected with the coronavirus can expect a rapid and full recovery. “Now what happens is you get better,” he said. “That’s what happens, you get better.”

                  For many diagnosed with Covid-19, nothing could be further from the truth. Preliminary research suggests at least 10 percent of people — and possibly many more — may continue to have symptoms for at least two months after infection.

                  “When Trump says ‘don’t be afraid of it’ — I’ve been so angry in the last week, I’m just trying to calm down,” says Kate Meredith of Beverly, Massachusetts, who has been experiencing Covid-19 symptoms since mid-March.

                  To this day, Meredith has fevers four to five days a week. “I go up one flight of stairs and can’t breathe,” she says. She also now has tachycardia, a heart condition where standing up too quickly makes her heart rate jump to 140. Since March, she has been to the emergency room three times, and to the doctor 35 times. She still gets debilitating headaches almost daily, and has run out of her two and a half months of medical leave.

                  Meredith and Montano are among thousands of people who have continued to experience extended symptoms or suffered relapses after an initial coronavirus infection. As new information emerges about the many, varied impacts that can linger, patients are facing doubt from doctors and structural failures that loom over an uncertain future.

                  What percentage of Covid-19 patients have persistent symptoms?
                  There have been a number of studies now trying to answer this question, but there isn’t consensus about the true prevalence of long-term Covid-19 symptoms. Much of the preliminary research has been limited to small numbers of patients, and many focus on hospitalized patients, obscuring what happens to milder cases.

                  For example, one study out of Wuhan, China, of 153 non-hospitalized confirmed coronavirus patients found that 22 percent of patients had experienced symptom relapse, and 11 percent of patients had symptoms for more than eight weeks. (It also found a whopping 77 percent of patients had neurological symptoms.)

                  Other research focusing on outcomes for severely ill Covid-19 patients who were hospitalized reports worse odds, like one study in Italy that found 87.4 percent of people had not totally recovered after 60 days. (That said, recovery from intensive care for any illness can take weeks or months; for example, only 33 percent of sepsis patients have returned to work within three months.) Of the 143 patients in the study, 55 percent still had three or more symptoms, like fatigue, chest pain, and shortness of breath, at day 60.

                  Another study followed hospitalized patients for nearly twice as long, 111 days. They also found that 55 percent of patients continued to have fatigue, 42 percent had shortness of breath, and 34 percent reported loss of memory.

                  Yet another study of more than 112 hospitalized and 2,001 non-hospitalized patients in the Netherlands found that only 0.7 percent of people were symptom-free 79 days after their infection. (The most common symptoms were fatigue and difficulty breathing, although the number of symptoms people experienced decreased over time.)

                  Studies that include non-hospitalized patients can have limitations in how they find participants, and in their sample sizes. The COVID Symptom Study, for instance, has asked people to self-report their symptoms into an app after their diagnosis. Analyzing data from 4 million people in the US, UK, and Sweden, the researchers found that approximately 10 percent of people experience prolonged illness for more than three weeks after Covid-19. But many users have reported frustration with the app not including certain symptoms, or needing to answer questions daily that didn’t feel applicable, so user retention suffered.

                  The National Institutes of Health recently updated its Covid-19 guidelines to include a description of persistent symptoms. These state that neurologic and psychiatric symptoms have been reported in coronavirus patients, including high rates of anxiety and depression, particularly in younger patients. They add that patients may experience “headaches, vision changes, hearing loss, loss of taste or smell, impaired mobility, numbness in extremities, tremors, myalgia, memory loss, cognitive impairment, and mood changes for up to 3 months” after their initial illness.

                  No one has yet defined how long “long Covid” might last — many of the studies simply stopped tracking people after a set time. But research on other severe coronaviruses like SARS shows that 40 percent of previously hospitalized patients had chronic fatigue symptoms 3.5 years after their diagnosis. Clinicians and patients don’t know what this might mean for Covid-19 patients with persistent symptoms.: https://www.vox.com/21523448/covid-l...ymptoms-damage
                  • Coronavirus Cases: 41,105,111

                  Deaths: 1,130,619

                  Underreported US death count: 226,204

                  American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

                  Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
                  it's been blown way out of proportion.
                  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                  Comment


                  • Thailand - Job woes add to swelling debt load

                    A rising under-employment rate driven by the Covid-19 crisis will further aggravate the country's swelling household debt and borrowers' debt-servicing struggles, says the Bank of Thailand chief.

                    Although the coronavirus outbreak has not significantly impacted the unemployment rate, due to workers moving from the service sector to the farm sector in their hometowns, the pandemic has induced a rise in under-employment because of a decline in working hours, said governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput.

                    The scenario has led to lower household income and reduced debt repayment ability among consumers, Mr Sethaput said.

                    The ratio of household debt to GDP rose to 84% in the second quarter, an 18-year high, with a value of 13.6 trillion baht, up from 13.5 trillion baht or 80.3% of GDP in the first quarter, according to central bank data.

                    The ratio could rise to 88-90% at year-end 2020 as a result of the economic slowdown, said Kasikorn Research Center.

                    Customers formed a long queue at SCB’s Big C Samut Prakan branch after the Covid-19 lockdown. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

                    Given households' weaker debt-servicing ability, this could further increase the household debt ratio, Mr Sethaput said.

                    The higher under-employment rate will particularly come from the tourism sector, which has been feeling a heavy impact from the pandemic, he said.

                    Although exports are another sector affected by the pandemic, this segment has endured a lesser impact than the tourism industry because 50% of the country's shipments come from the three core industries, namely automotive, electronics and petrochemicals.

                    As the economic recovery is poised to remain uneven, it will take at least two years for the economy to return to the pre-Covid growth trajectory, according to the central bank.

                    Under this scenario, the labour market and employment conditions will need more time to return to normalcy, Mr Sethaput said.

                    The central bank predicts the economy to contract by 7.8% this year, with the figure expected to improve to 3.6% next year.

                    The Bank of Thailand forecasts Thailand's economy to begin showing a positive growth rate in the second quarter of 2021 and return to a normal growth trajectory in the third quarter of 2022.

                    Central bank officials have implemented targeted debt moratorium measures, scheduled to end next June, for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a credit line below 100 million baht and having difficulty servicing existing debt.

                    The measures will only apply to targeted SMEs that cannot cope with repaying loans to financial institutions, on a case-by-case basis.

                    Broad-based measures, particularly the suspension of principal and interest payment, would lead to moral hazard and financial indiscipline, which could subsequently affect the country's household debt ratio.

                    "Today's debt suspension could result in a debt balloon for the next day, increasing the financial burden of borrowers," Mr Sethaput said. "Therefore the central bank wants to ask borrowers who cannot service debts to contact banks about debt restructuring.": https://www.bangkokpost.com/business...ling-debt-load

                    Originally posted by Somchai Boonporn View Post
                    Perhaps a blessing in disguise for the Golden Land.

                    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                    Comment


                    • Thailand - GSB setting aside B10bn for repurchase loan market

                      Government Savings Bank (GSB) is set to allocate 10 billion baht worth of capital to expand into the repurchase loan market to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with liquidity shortages.

                      The bank is preparing to roll out a new loan product tailored for the repurchase business of SMEs.

                      The product has been approved by the Bank of Thailand. It is expected that the product will be launched in early November, said GSB president and chief executive Vitai Ratanakorn.

                      The new offering is one of the bank's financial products aimed at supporting SMEs that lack financial liquidity and are unable to use existing securities in order to seek loans from financial institutions, as this contradicts the lending criteria set by the Bank of Thailand, Mr Vitai said.

                      SMEs have therefore opted to seek loans from the repurchase business, which operates in the informal loan segment.

                      SME business operators usually purchase land plots when they make profits. They have been experiencing a liquidity shortage as the Covid-19 pandemic drags on for an extended period, contributing to a plunge in their share prices, Mr Vitai said.

                      These business operators cannot use their lands as securities to seek loans with banks, since the central bank's regulations stipulate that borrowers' credit must be checked with the National Credit Bureau (NCB) and undergo a debt repayment analysis.

                      Most SMEs' credit records do not meet the qualifications for loan approval, Mr Vitai reiterated.

                      The conditions for loan approval by informal repurchase businesses are also harsh, he said.

                      For instance, a land plot owned by an SME has an appraisal value of 100 million baht, whereby the company wants cash in hand at only 10 million baht, but the condition stipulates 15 million baht in the loan approval contract.

                      Of the 15 million baht, 5 million baht is considered as a lending fee and the loan amount comes with a 30% interest.

                      GSB will only engage in the repurchase loan business in a certain period or during the Covid-19 crisis to help struggling SMEs, Mr Vitai said.

                      "Per our discussion with the central bank, we will not analyse revenue or check SMEs' credit with the NCB, because we will not be able to offer loans once we do so," he said.

                      The term of this loan product must only be used as liquidity for business operations, as opposed to personal consumption or spending.

                      Initially, the redemption period of securities is within three years and credit is provided up to 70% of the appraised value, with interest capped at no more than 7%.: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business...se-loan-market

                      Originally posted by Somchai Boonporn View Post
                      Perhaps a blessing in disguise for the Golden Land.

                      Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                      Comment


                        • Boeing research shows disinfectants kill virus on airplanes

                        Boeing and researchers at the University of Arizona say their experiment with a live virus on an unoccupied airplane proves that the cleaning methods currently used by airlines are effective in destroying the virus that causes COVID-19.

                        Why it matters: Deep cleaning aircraft between flights is one of many tactics the airline industry is using to try to restore public confidence in flying during the pandemic. The researchers say their study proves there is virtually no risk of transmission from touching objects including armrests, tray tables, overhead bins or lavatory handles on a plane.

                        “We’re not just showing we can kill things," University of Arizona microbiologist Charles Gerba said. "We’re showing it’s going to be safer to travel tomorrow."

                        For the record: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says that some 1.2 billion passengers have traveled worldwide so far in 2020, and there have been just 44 cases of COVID-19 reported that were linked to a flight journey. That’s one case for every 27 million travelers.

                        Most of those cases occurred before masks were required of passengers and crew, IATA notes.

                        Just this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance to strongly recommend face masks on airplanes and all other forms of public transportation, as well as in stations and airports.

                        What they did: The researchers applied MS2 — a surrogate virus deemed not harmful to humans but more difficult to kill than SARS-CoV-2 — throughout the cabin.

                        About 230 "strategic high-touch points" were targeted, including seat tray tables, armrests, seat cushions, storage bins, and inside the lavatory and galley.

                        Technicians then disinfected each area with various products and technologies using both manual wiping methods and electrostatic spraying.

                        The tests also measured how well Boeing’s ultraviolet wand and antimicrobial coatings worked.

                        What they found: The University of Arizona analyzed each area post-disinfection and found that all the recommended products, methods and technologies successfully destroyed the MS2 virus, and thus could be expected to kill the coronavirus too.

                        Boeing and the University of Arizona continue to test recommended cleaning methods in a lab against SARS-CoV-2 and other similar viruses to further validate their efficacy.: https://www.axios.com/boeing-disinfe...5080709a6.html
                        • Coronavirus Cases: 41,541,036

                        Deaths: 1,137,190

                        Underreported US death count: 227,409

                        American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

                        Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
                        it's been blown way out of proportion.
                        Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                        Comment


                          • New law in Ethiopia threatens two years in jail for failing to wear a mask

                          Ethiopia's attorney general's office this week detailed new restrictions concerning the coronavirus which require all citizens to wear masks or face up to two years in jail, according to Reuters.

                          Concern that citizens are beginning to become too relaxed in regard to spreading the virus led to the new rules, Reuters reported.

                          “Now it is as if COVID is no longer there, the public is not taking care,” Health Minister Lia Tadesse tweeted on Thursday, according to Reuters. “This will cause a possible increase in the spread of the disease and might be a threat to the nation.”

                          Under the new law, citizens will face fines and imprisonment of up to two years in jail if they do not comply with the new restrictions, Ethiopia's attorney general outlined in a Facebook post.: https://thehill.com/policy/internati...to-wear-a-mask
                          • Coronavirus Cases: 41,570,428

                          Deaths: 1,137,693

                          Underreported US death count: 227,419

                          American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

                          Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
                          it's been blown way out of proportion.
                          Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                          Comment


                            • Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca poised to restart coronavirus vaccine trials

                            Two late-stage clinical trials of key coronavirus vaccine candidates that were recently put on hold after participants became ill are set to restart.

                            The Washington Post reports Johnson & Johnson will soon resume its phase three trial after the pharmaceutical giant temporarily paused the study on Oct. 12 after a participant suffered a stroke. An independent committee investigated the incident and was able to determine the stroke was not related to the vaccine, the outlet reported citing two sources familiar with the trial.

                            The experimental vaccine developed by the company’s subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, went into phase three trials last month and is aiming to enroll 60,000 participants.

                            The potential vaccine has several advantages that could make it easier to broadly distribute. Unlike the other potential vaccines, Johnson & Johnson’s will require just one dose instead of two and will not need to be stored in subzero temperatures.

                            Stat News reports the study could begin enrolling patients again as early as next week.

                            Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday gave AstraZeneca the green light to resume clinical trials in the U.S. for the vaccine it developed in collaboration with Oxford University after reviewing safety data.

                            AstraZeneca halted vaccine trials on Sept. 6 after two participants in the U.K. developed neurological problems. The studies resumed across the world after regulators confirmed it was safe to do so, but the company did not get clearance to continue trials in the U.S. until Friday. It’s not clear why the study was kept on hold much longer in the U.S. than other countries.

                            “The restart of clinical trials across the world is great news as it allows us to continue our efforts to develop this vaccine to help defeat this terrible pandemic,” Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, said in a statement. “We should be reassured by the care taken by independent regulators to protect the public and ensure the vaccine is safe before it is approved for use.”

                            It’s not unusual for some participants to become ill during large scale vaccine trials and most resume shortly after they’re put on pause so cases can be evaluated for safety.

                            The two vaccine candidates are among the four in late-stage trials in the U.S.

                            Health officials have estimated a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine could be made available to high-risk groups before the year is out. A vaccine isn’t likely to be broadly available to all Americans until several months into 2021.: https://thehill.com/changing-america...sed-to-restart
                            • Coronavirus Cases: 42,548,025

                            Deaths: 1,150,140

                            Underreported US death count: 229,292

                            American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

                            Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
                            it's been blown way out of proportion.
                            Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                            Comment


                              • Gates-funded UW study shows hydroxychloroquine doesn’t prevent COVID-19

                              A large clinical trial conducted by the University of Washington found that people who took hydroxychloroquine were just as likely to get COVID-19 as those who took a placebo, adding to growing evidence that the drug promoted by President Donald Trump early in the pandemic doesn’t seem to work against the novel coronavirus.

                              Nearly 800 people from 38 states volunteered for the trial, which was funded with $9.5 million from the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a research fund created by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the British philanthropy Wellcome, and others.

                              The goal was to find out whether hydroxychloroquine could protect people who had been exposed to the virus from getting infected and sick. Participants all had a family member or close contact who had tested positive for the virus, and were randomly assigned to get either a daily pill of hydroxychloroquine or placebo over a 14-day period. The volunteers swabbed their noses every day and sent the specimens to a lab for analysis.

                              Among the group receiving hydroxychloroquine, 46 people became infected with the novel coronavirus. There were 43 infections in the placebo group. The difference wasn’t statistically significant, indicating the drug had no protective effect, said Dr. Ruanne Barnabas, the UW Medicine physician and researcher who led the project.

                              The study also found no evidence that people who got hydroxychloroquine were less likely to develop symptoms when infected.

                              “I think this finding is consistent with the other randomized, controlled trials … that hydroxychloroquine, based on the strong evidence we have to date, does not have a clinically significant impact on acquisition of (the novel coronavirus) or treatment of COVID-19,” Barnabas said.: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...vent-covid-19/
                              • Coronavirus Cases: 43,027,427

                              Deaths: 1,156,011

                              Underreported US death count: 230,085

                              American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

                              Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
                              it's been blown way out of proportion.
                              Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                              Comment


                                • A New, Large Study Finds Plasma Does Not Lower Risk of Dying from COVID-19

                                Researchers in India report that COVID-19 patients who received convalescent plasma from recovered patients did not see a lower risk of dying from the disease.

                                The study, published in BMJ, included 464 people with moderate COVID-19 disease, meaning they had oxygen saturation levels of 93% or less when breathing room air, the criterion that most doctors use to determine if they should hospitalize people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the illness. Study co-author Aparna Mukherjee, a scientist in epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research, notes that patients in her study would likely be considered severely ill in other countries, since definitions of illness vary considerably around the world. Once in the hospital, some patients in the study received two doses of convalescent plasma from those who had recovered from the disease and donated their immune cell-rich blood. These patients were compared to those treated with standard of care, who acted as a control group (but did not receive a placebo infusion). Both groups had similar mortality rates after 28 days.

                                “This study had a large sample size and it showed that when plasma is infused in patients who have moderate COVID-19 (similar to severe in other countries), it did not reduce mortality or progression to more critical COVID-19,” Aparna Mukherjee, a scientist in epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research and one of the co-authors of the study, said in an email response to questions.

                                The results add to the continued debate over how useful convalescent plasma might be as a treatment for COVID-19. Convalescent plasma is one of the oldest therapies that doctors have used in treating infectious diseases, based on the idea that people who are naturally infected and recover will have a ready supply of the proper immune cells needed to fight off the virus or bacteria in question. But because people’s immune systems vary widely, their volume of disease-fighting cells is also unpredictable, and may range from barely adequate levels to extremely rich sources of immune cells. That variability has led to conflicting results on the effectiveness of the therapy, including in this study, which used donated plasma from people who were sick for an average of six days with what the authors describe as mild disease.

                                Two other international studies also failed to find a benefit of convalescent plasma, but those were stopped early because too few eligible patients were enrolled. Other, smaller studies were more encouraging, so in the U.S. the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the therapy in August that allows doctors to treat patients with plasma. Key public health leaders including Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, however, have noted that researchers are still studying convalescent plasma’s role in COVID-19. Those ongoing studies are comparing people who receive the plasma to those receiving a placebo, and may provide more convincing data on whether plasma can help COVID-19 patients or not.

                                It’s also possible that because convalescent plasma serves as a stand-in for immune cells that an infected person might not have generated yet (or won’t generate at robust levels), it’s best used not in hospitalized patients who are already sick but in those who are more recently infected. The ongoing studies are looking at this possibility as well, and Mukherjee agrees that it’s worth investigating. Her study’s findings might even suggest that the plasma was used in patients who were too sick to benefit. “The main cause of mortality in COVID-19 is inflammation in the body that causes pneumonia and other organ failures,” she says. “While the body’s response to virus infection initiates the inflammation, it is not regulated by the virus. So even when the virus is neutralized, the inflammation continues. That is why it is being hypothesized in the upcoming studies on convalescent plasma that it may work in the very early phases of the disease … and may prevent the initiation of the inflammation cascade.”: https://time.com/5903423/plasma-coro...risk-of-dying/
                                • Coronavirus Cases: 43,259,107

                                Deaths: 1,157,700

                                Underreported US death count: 230,279

                                American Civil War Casualties (North and South) - 214,938

                                Originally posted by Boon Mee View Post
                                it's been blown way out of proportion.
                                Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

                                Comment

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