World's top intensive care body advises against remdesivir for sickest Covid patients

‘Antiviral remdesivir should not be used as a routine treatment for COVID-19 patients in critical care wards, the head of one of the world's top bodies representing intensive care doctors said, in a blow to the drug developed by U.S. firm Gilead GILD.O.

‘Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, and steroid dexamethasone are the only drugs authorised to treat COVID-19 patients across the world. But the largest study on remdesivir’s efficacy, run by the World Health Organization (WHO), showed on Oct. 15 it had little or no impact, contradicting previous trials.

‘In light of the new interim data from the WHO’s Solidarity trial “remdesivir is now classified as a drug you should not use routinely in COVID-19 patients,” the President of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), Jozef Kesecioglu, said in an interview with Reuters.’

Read here (Reuters, Nov 13, 2020) 

Lung damage found in Covid dead may shed light on ‘long Covid’: Study

‘A study of the lungs of people who have died from COVID-19 has found persistent and extensive lung damage in most cases and may help doctors understand what is behind a syndrome known as ‘long COVID’, in which patients suffer ongoing symptoms for months. “The findings indicate that COVID-19 is not simply a disease caused by the death of virus-infected cells, but is likely the consequence of these abnormal cells persisting for long periods inside the lungs,” said Mauro Giacca, a professor at King’s College London who co-led the work. In a telephone interview, Giacca said that, while his research team found no overt signs of viral infection or prolonged inflammation in other organs, they discovered “really vast destruction of the architecture of the lungs”, with healthy tissue “almost completely substituted by scar tissue”.

Read here (Reuters, Nov 4, 2020)

WHO study says remdesivir did not cut hospital stay or mortality in Covid-19 patients. Same with hydroxychloroquine, anti-HIV drug combination lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon

‘Gilead Sciences Inc's GILD.O remdesivir had little or no effect on COVID-19 patients' length of hospital stay or chances of survival, a clinical trial by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found. The antiviral medication, among the first to be used as a treatment for COVID-19, was one of the drugs recently used to treat U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection.

‘The results are from WHO’s “Solidarity” trial, which evaluated the effects of four potential drug regimens, including remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, anti-HIV drug combination lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon, in 11,266 adult patients across more than 30 countries. The study found the regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the length of the in-hospital course among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the WHO said on Thursday.’

Read here (Reuters, Oct 16, 2020)

YouTube bans coronavirus vaccine misinformation

‘Alphabet Inc’s YouTube said on Wednesday it would remove videos from YouTube containing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, expanding its current rules against falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the pandemic.

‘The video platform said it would now ban any content with claims about COVID-19 vaccines that contradict consensus from local health authorities or the World Health Organization. YouTube said in an email that this would include removing claims that the vaccine will kill people or cause infertility, or that microchips will be implanted in people who receive the vaccine...

‘Andy Pattison, manager of digital solutions at the World Health Organization, told Reuters that the WHO meets weekly with the policy team at YouTube to discuss content trends and potentially problematic videos. ‘

Read here (Reuters, Oct 14, 2020)

China in talks with WHO over assessing its Covid-19 vaccines for global use

‘China is in talks to have its locally-produced COVID-19 vaccines assessed by the World Health Organization, as a step toward making them available for international use, a WHO official said on Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of essential workers and other groups considered at high risk in China have been given locally-developed vaccines even as clinical trials had not been fully completed, raising safety concerns among experts.’

Read here (Reuters, Oct 5, 2020)

Pandemic to keep Asia's growth at lowest since 1967, warns World Bank

‘The coronavirus pandemic is expected to lead to the slowest growth in more than 50 years in East Asia and the Pacific as well as China, while up to 38 million people are set to be pushed back into poverty, the World Bank said in an economic update on Monday. The bank said the region this year is projected to grow by only 0.9%, the lowest rate since 1967.

‘Growth in China was expected to come in at 2% this year, boosted by government spending, strong exports and a low rate of new coronavirus infections since March, but held back by slow domestic consumption. The rest of the East Asia and Pacific region was projected to see a 3.5% contraction, the World Bank said.’

Read here (Reuters, Sept 29, 2020)

Dogs used to detect coronavirus in pilot project at Helsinki airport

‘Dogs trained to detect the novel coronavirus began sniffing passenger samples at Finland’s Helsinki-Vantaa airport this week, authorities said, in a pilot project running alongside more usual testing at the airport. The dogs’ efficiency has not been proven in comparative scientific studies so passengers who volunteer to be tested and are suspected as carrying the virus are instructed to also take a swab to confirm the result.’

Read here (Reuters, Sept 24, 2020)

China giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to high-risk groups since July, says official

‘China has been giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to groups facing high infection risks since July, a health official told state media. No vaccine has yet passed final, large-scale trials to prove it is safe and effective enough to protect people from contracting the virus that has led to almost 800,000 deaths worldwide.

‘The aim is to boost the immunity of specific groups of people, including medical workers and those who work at food markets and in the transportation and service sectors, Zheng Zhongwei, a National Health Commission official, told state TV in an interview aired late on Saturday.’

Read here (Reuters, August 22, 2020) 

Pandemic forces Malaysian palm industry to rethink reliance on foreign labour

‘Malaysia's palm oil producers are embarking on a rare recruitment drive to hire locals and accelerating industry mechanisation as they grapple with a severe shortage of foreign labour due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the September-November peak production season approaches, companies are erecting banners near plantations and posting online job advertisements boasting free housing, free water and other perks of estate life in a bid to lure workers to do everything from driving tractors to harvesting.’

Read here (Reuters, August 18, 2020)

Israeli hospital trials super-quick saliva test for Covid-19

‘A newly developed saliva test aims to determine in less than a second whether or not you are infected with the novel coronavirus, Israel’s largest medical center said on Thursday... The center said in an initial clinical trial involving hundreds of patients, the new artificial intelligence-based device identified evidence of the virus in the body at a 95% success rate... The company said they are in the process of getting regulatory approval. Each test costs less than 25 cents and it expects the device will eventually cost less than $200.’

Read here (Reuters, August 13, 2020)

Watch here (South China Morning Post video on Youtube)

Proportion of youth with COVID-19 triples in five months: WHO

‘Young people who are hitting nightclubs and beaches are leading a rise in fresh coronavirus cases across the world, with the proportion of those aged 15 to 24 who are infected rising three-fold in about five months, the World Health Organization said. An analysis by the WHO of 6 million infections between Feb. 24 and July 12 found that the share of people aged 15-24 years rose to 15% from 4.5%.’

Read here (Reuters, August 5, 2020)

Moderna aims to price coronavirus vaccine at $50-$60 per course: FT

‘Moderna Inc is planning to price its coronavirus vaccine at $50 to $60 per course, at least $11 more than another vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. Moderna’s proposed price for a two-dose course sold to governments compares with $39 for two doses under a deal that Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech struck with the U.S. government.’

Read here (Reuters, July 29, 2020)

WHO promises ‘honest evaluation’ of how world handled COVID-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was setting up an independent panel to review its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response by governments. The announcement follows strong criticism by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration of the global agency’s role in the crisis - though the WHO said the review was not linked to the United States. Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf have agreed to head the panel, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Read here (Reuters, July 9, 2020)

Pandemic exposes systemic staffing problems at US nursing homes - Special report by Reuters

‘In the United States, longstanding problems with staffing shortages and chronic turnover have left nursing homes especially exposed. An estimated 40% of the country’s more than 100,000 COVID-19 deaths are connected to long-term care facilities such as nursing homes or assisted-living centers, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation tally.

‘About a quarter of nursing homes responding to a recent federal survey reported shortages of direct-care staff during at least one of the last two weeks in May, according to a Reuters analysis of survey data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.’

Read here (Reuters, June 10, 2020)

Widespread mask-wearing could prevent COVID-19 second waves: Study

‘Population-wide face mask use could push COVID-19 transmission down to controllable levels for national epidemics, and could prevent further waves of the pandemic disease when combined with lockdowns, according to a British study on Wednesday. The research, led by scientists at the Britain’s Cambridge and Greenwich Universities, suggests lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, but that even homemade masks can dramatically reduce transmission rates if enough people wear them in public.’

Read here (Reuters, June 10, 2020)

Dutch mink cull starts as coronavirus spreads to 10th farm

‘Dutch mink farms have begun a government-ordered cull amid concern that animals infected with coronavirus could transmit the illness to humans. Infected mink have been found on 10 Dutch farms where the ferret-like animals are bred for their fur, according to the country’s Food & Wares Authority. “All mink breeding farms where there is an infection will be cleared, and farms where there are no infections won’t be,” said spokeswoman Frederique Hermie.’

Read here (Reuters, June 6, 2020)

New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says

‘The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday. “In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion. “The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he told RAI television.’

Read here (Reuters, June 1, 2020)

Vienna Airport to offer coronavirus tests to avoid quarantine

‘Vienna Airport will offer onsite coronavirus testing from Monday to enable passengers entering Austria to avoid having to be quarantined for 14 days. Passengers arriving at the airport have been required to present a health certificate showing a negative COVID-19 result which is no older than four days, or go into quarantine. From Monday passengers can have a molecular biological (polymerise chain reaction or PCR) COVID-19 test at the airport, and get the result in two to three hours, the airport said.’

Read here (Reuters, May 3, 2020)

WHO chief says pandemic 'far from over', worried about children

“We have a long road ahead of us and a lot of work to do,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva, adding that a second wave of infections could be prevented with the right actions.

He also expressed ‘concern that the health of children was being threatened by the impact of the coronavirus emergency on vaccination programmes for other diseases.’

“Children may be at relatively low risk from severe disease and death from COVID-19 - the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus - but can be at high risk from other diseases that can be prevented with vaccines.”

Read here (Reuters, April 27, 2020)

Work smart, travel alone, eat out fast: South Korea's prescription for coronavirus recovery

‘South Korea outlined guidelines on Friday for a two-year return to a post-coronavirus normality including flexible working, bookings on public transport and quick restaurant meals in a country that has been a role model in containing COVID-19.

“Some experts predict COVID-19 will stay for as long as two years, and we have to accept the reality that we can’t go back to pre-COVID-19 life during that time,” Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told a briefing.

‘The guidelines detail a code of conduct in areas including workplaces, transport, restaurants, shopping and sporting fixtures, starting with general rules such as washing hands, maintaining distance and regular temperature checks and disinfection.’

Read here (Reuters, April 24, 2020)