Bhinneka News Online: Thursday Morning Briefing: "A long way to go"

Thursday 21 May 2020

Thursday Morning Briefing: "A long way to go"

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

"A long way to go"
The World Health Organization is starting to raise the alarm bell about the rising number of new coronavirus cases in poor countries, even as many rich nations emerge from lockdowns.

The global health body said on Wednesday 106,000 new cases had been recorded in the previous 24 hours, the most in a single day since the outbreak began.

"We still have a long way to go in this pandemic," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Global coronavirus cases have surpassed 5 million, with Latin America overtaking the United States and Europe in the past week to report the largest portion of new daily cases.

Track the spread of the virus with this state-by-state and county map.

Vaccine: high hopes and a reality-check
The United States said it will pump up to $1.2 billion into developing AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and confirmed that it would order 300 million doses.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said he hoped the first doses of the vaccine, which is being developed with the University of Oxford, would be available by October.

AstraZeneca meanwhile stressed it was still awaiting results from an early stage trial to know if the vaccine worked at all.

China fur and traditional medicine trade to continue?
China's parliament is preparing new laws to ban the trade and consumption of wildlife, following on from a temporary move in January after exotic animals traded in a Wuhan market were identified as the most likely source of COVID-19.

However, local action plans published this week suggest the country's fur trade and lucrative traditional medicine sectors will continue as usual.

Sports and sleep wear over suits and ties
The new best sellers at Marks & Spencer are sports wear, sleep wear and bras, while sales of suits and ties are down to "a dribble", as the lockdown transforms shoppers' priorities, Britain's biggest clothing retailer said on Wednesday.

What customers are buying is "completely different from what it would have been a year ago," M&S chairman Archie Norman told reporters, after the 136-year-old group published annual results and its response to the pandemic.

Along with surging sales of jogging pants, hoodies and leggings, an emphasis on home comforts and family needs has boosted bedding sales by 150%.

From Breakingviews: Corona Capital - Walmart, Insurers, Whitbread
Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Life under lockdown

A top U.S. scientist said on Wednesday that governments should not count on a successful vaccine against COVID-19 being developed anytime soon when deciding whether to ease restrictions imposed to curb the pandemic.

William Haseltine, a groundbreaking researcher of cancer, HIV/AIDS and human genome projects, said the better approach now is to manage the disease through careful tracing of infections and strict isolation measures whenever it starts spreading.

British healthcare workers will on Thursday begin taking part in a University of Oxford-led international trial of two anti-malarial drugs to see if they can prevent COVID-19, including one U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking.

Your bubble is ready: plastic pods offer solution for COVID dining. For restaurant owners worrying how they can welcome back customers but keep them safe from COVID-19, a French designer has created a cylinder of transparent plastic that hangs from a cable on the ceiling, much like a lampshade.

COVID Science

Monkeys who survive coronavirus infection immune to reinfection. Two studies in monkeys offer some of the first scientific evidence that surviving COVID-19 may result in immunity from reinfection, as well as a positive sign that vaccines under development may succeed.

On breezy days, staying six feet (two meters) away from other people may not be enough to avoid saliva droplets containing the new coronavirus, according to two papers published on Tuesday.

New studies show that the nose may hold the answers to why children seem less vulnerable to infection with the new coronavirus, and why loss of smell is a COVID-19 symptom.

In addition fewer patients are showing up at hospitals with heart attacks and strokes, and doctors worry people are staying away from emergency rooms because they fear COVID-19.