COVID-19 Up

2021-02-27 20:34:50 Russian Scientists Say Sputnik V Performs Well Against SARS-CoV-2 Mutations

@COVID19Up: A Russian trial testing the effectiveness of revaccination with the Sputnik V shot to protect against new mutations of SARS-CoV-2 is producing strong results, researchers said on Saturday.

Last month President Vladimir Putin ordered a review by March 15 of Russian-produced vaccines for their effectiveness against new variants spreading in different parts of the world.

“(A) recent study carried out by the Gamaleya Centre in Russia showed that revaccination with Sputnik V vaccine is working very well against new coronavirus mutations, including the UK and South African strains of coronavirus,” said Denis Logunov, a deputy director of the centre, which developed the Sputnik V shot.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-27 19:39:51 Brazil Tops 251,000 COVID Deaths as Daily Fatalities Set New Record

@COVID19Up: Brazil has passed two grim landmarks, as deaths from COVID-19 passed 251,000 and the country saw its highest daily toll since the coronavirus was first detected there one year ago.

A total of 1,582 Brazilians died from COVID-19 on Thursday as the country struggles with a slow vaccination rollout, new variants of the disease and an uncoordinated government response.

Hospitals in 17 state capitals are overwhelmed with cases, according to the government research institute Fiocruz. More than 90% of intensive care beds are full in the Amazon cities of Manaus and Porto Velho.

“This scenario in the state capitals is certainly due, in part, to the increased circulation of the new variant in these locations,” said Julio Croda, an epidemiologist and researcher at Fiocruz.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-27 19:11:07 EU Medicines Regulator Approves Regeneron's COVID-19 Synthetic Antibody Therapy

@COVID19Up: Europe's medicines regulator on Friday provisionally approved use of US biotech firm Regeneron's COVID-19 therapy, saying it prevented patients from getting worse.

The European Medicines Agency said preliminary results showed treatment with REGN-COV2 reduced the amount of the virus in the back of the nose and throat and led to fewer medical visits.

"The Agency concluded that... REGN-COV2 can be used for the treatment of confirmed COVID-19 in patients who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are at high risk of progressing to severe COVID-19," it said in a statement.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-27 17:54:53 Panel Recommends FDA Authorize Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use

@COVID19Up: In a unanimous 22-0, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson be authorized for emergency use in adults during the pandemic.

The vote in favor of the vaccine, which requires only one shot for protection, was taken to answer this question: Do the benefits of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine outweigh its risks for use in people 18 years of age and older.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested in an international study of about 40,000 people, half of whom got the vaccine and half of whom got a placebo. The study found the company's vaccine to be 66% effective overall in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 disease. For disease judged severe or critical, the effectiveness was 85%. The study was conducted in the U.S., South America and South Africa.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-27 16:26:06 Regeneron to Stop Giving Placebo in COVID-19 Drug Trial After "Clear Efficacy"

@COVID19Up: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said on Thursday that an independent panel found the company's COVID-19 antibody cocktail to have "clear clinical efficacy" in reducing the rates of hospitalization and deaths in patients.

The cocktail, a combination of two antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab, was authorized in November for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Independent Data Monitoring Committee found that both 1,200mg and 2,400mg doses of the cocktail had reduced the rate of hospitalization and deaths compared with placebo, according to the company. The panel has recommended that Regeneron should stop enrolling patients in the placebo group for its ongoing late-stage trial.

The company plans to immediately follow the panel's recommendation and also share details of unblinded data from the trial once it becomes available in March.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-27 05:28:27 CDC Director Raises Alarm as COVID-19 Cases Rise Again, Variants Spread

@COVID19Up: States should maintain COVID-19 restrictions such as mask wearing and capacity limitations as case numbers halt their decline, the head of the U.S. CDC said Friday, citing the circulation of new variants and infection rates that remain alarmingly high.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky issued a sobering warning during a press briefing Friday, where she said the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant, first found in the U.K., now accounts for an estimated 10% of current U.S. cases, and that variants in California and New York also appear to spread more easily.

“Things are tenuous—now is not the time to relax restrictions,” Walensky said. “The latest data suggest that these declines may be stalling, potentially leveling off at still a very high number. We at the CDC consider this a very concerning shift in the trajectory.”
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-27 03:54:52 Brazil's Capital Goes Into Lockdown to Quell COVID-19 Surge

@COVID19Up: The governor of Brazil’s capital city, Brasilia, decreed a 24-hour lockdown for all but essential services on Friday to curb a worsening COVID-19 outbreak that has filled its intensive care wards to the brim.

“The lockdown will start today and be total, it will be 24-hours a day,” said a press aide for the federal district’s Governor Ibaneis Rocha. A decree published at the end of the day said the lockdown would start right after midnight Saturday.

Shops, pharmacies, gas stations, churches and funeral parlors will remain open, the aide said, but everything else will shut down, especially bars and restaurants, which were blamed for increased spread during the end of last year and Carnival holidays.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-27 03:23:26 Czech Government Tightens Lockdown, Limits Movement to Fight COVID-19 Surge

@COVID19Up: The Czech government announced on Friday strict new restrictions limiting people’s movement over the next three weeks and tightening shop and school closures in a bid to slow a fast spread of COVID-19 infections.

The country of 10.7 million, in which around one in 10 have been infected in the past year, has the highest per capita infection rate in the world over the past week, according to the Our World in Data website, 10 times higher than Germany. The death toll has risen to 20,000 from about 600 in five months.

The country is facing a renewed surge in infections, accelerated by the British variant. The number of patients in serious condition is a record. Some hospitals have been forced to transfer patients hundreds of miles away due to capacity.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-26 23:54:52 Nearly Half of U.S. Population 65 and Older Has Received a First COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

@COVID19Up: Nearly half of the U.S. population ages 65 and older has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt said.

The U.S. has doubled the pace of vaccinations since President Biden took office on Jan. 20, Mr. Slavitt said at a briefing Friday by the White House COVID-19 response team. Nearly one in five Americans have received a first dose of the vaccine, he said.

Mr. Slavitt said he would hold a call later Friday with thousands of business owners to seek help in vaccination efforts. The administration will ask U.S. companies to offer vaccination incentives to employees, such as paid time off or compensation for those getting vaccinated; to require masking and social distancing on their premises; and to amplify messaging by the CDC about vaccines and mask-wearing.
SOURCE | TIP

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2021-02-26 23:20:01 COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Are Starting to Rise Again. How Worried Should We Be?

@COVID19Up: For two weeks, COVID-19 cases and deaths have dropped steadily from the alarmingly high peak of America's third wave of the pandemic.

But it turns out, a fourth wave of the pandemic already appears to be building.

Cases have leveled out worldwide. "The most likely explanation is the more contagious variants of the virus, like the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in Britain," David Leonhardt writes at The New York Times. Business Insider's Jim Edwards points out that the uptick in cases and deaths could be statistical noise, but notes that worrisome new variants have also popped up in California and New York.

"Taking into account the counterbalancing rises in both vaccinations and variants, along with the high likelihood that people will stop taking precautions, a fourth wave is highly likely this spring," Apoorva Mandavilli reports at the Times, citing a majority of 21 experts interviewed on the pandemic. "But they stressed that it is not an inevitable surge, if government officials and individuals maintain precautions for a few more weeks," and "COVID-19 deaths will most likely never rise quite as precipitously as in the past."
SOURCE | TIP

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