News
President Emmanuel Macron declares France ‘Green Zone’ in First Victory Against COVID-19
Confirmed cases of coronavirus in Nigeria rise to 16,085 with 403 new cases
According to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), 73 cases were recorded in Gombe, 68 in Lagos, 46 in Kano, 36 in Edo, 35 in FCT, 31 in Nasarawa, 17 in Kaduna, 16 in Oyo, 15 in Abia, 13 in Delta, 13 in Borno, 8 in Plateau, 7 in Niger, 7 in Rivers, 6 in Enugu, 6 in Ogun, 3 in Kebbi, 1 in Ondo, 1 in Anambra and 1 in Imo State.
A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet#TakeResponsibility pic.twitter.com/2BNKd9hlG2
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) June 14, 2020
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48 COVID-19 patients discharged in Lagos State
48 COVID-19 patients have been given the green light after recovering from the virus in Lagos State. This was announced by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in a statement issued on Sunday.
Sanwo-Olu noted that the patients consist of 31 males and 17 females. Of this figure, 10 are foreign nationals including two Indians, four Americans, two Polish, one Brazilian and one Dutch. According to the governor, they were discharged from the isolation facilities to reunite with society.
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Jabi Lake Mall shut down indefinitely
Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have shut down the popular Jabi Lake Mall following a Naira Marley drive-in concert on Saturday, June 13.
According to the tweet on a by the FCTA authorities, the mall was shut down indefinitely for violating the Presidential Task Force’s ban on public gatherings as part of measures to curb COVID-19 pandemic in Abuja.
The FCT Ministerial Task Team on #COVID19 seals up Jabi Lake Mall indefinitely for violating Presidential Task Force’s directives on the ban on public gatherings as part of measures to contain the spread of the dreaded pandemic in the territory. #COVID19FCT pic.twitter.com/JSXJhBb8m3
— Official FCTA (@OfficialFCTA) June 14, 2020
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Hong Kong Disneyland to reopen
On June 18, Disneyland in Hong Kong will become the world’s second Disney park to reopen. It closed on January 26 and has remained shut since then, with a few exceptions, namely its hotels and a few on-site restaurants. Shanghai Disneyland was the first Disney park to reopen.
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Japan records 62 new coronavirus cases
Japan’s health ministry recorded 62 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths on Sunday. The total number of infections reported in Japan stands at 18,214, while the official death toll is 938.
In Tokyo, 47 new infections were recorded on Sunday in the largest single-day increase in the capital since May 5. That number includes 18 cases linked to the nightlife entertainment area in Shinjuku district, CNN reports.
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President Macron says France will further ease COVID-19 restrictions on Monday
PARIS, FRANCE – NOVEMBER 12: French President Emmanuel Macron waits for United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres prior to their meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace on November 12, 2018 in Paris, France. Guterres came to France to participate in the international ceremony of the Armistice Centenary of 1918 at the Arc de Triomphe on November 11. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
French President Emmanuel Macron, in an address to the nation on Sunday evening, applauded the country in the battle against coronavirus.
He announced a further easing of restrictions that were put in place to battle the spread of COVID-19. Macron said, “We can be proud of what has been done and of our country… tens of thousands of lives have been saved by our choices, by our actions.”
Macron said, starting Monday, mainland France will lift all restrictions previously applied to businesses and transport. He added that said France will follow the EU Commission recommendation of opening up borders on Monday.
Macron also said that all French schools, except high schools, would fully reopen from June 22, a move that will allow more parents to return to work and give students at least a few days with their teachers before the summer break. Family visits will also be allowed from Monday at retirement homes, which have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 outbreak that has killed more than 29,000 people in France, though the number of new infections has slowed markedly in recent days.
Mass gatherings will remain “tightly controlled” for now, since “they are the main occasions for spreading the virus,” he said.
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The US recorded more than 19,500 new coronavirus cases on Sunday
According to Johns Hopkins University’s tally, there are at least 2,094,058 cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 115,732 people have died. On Sunday, Johns Hopkins reported 19,532 new cases and 296 new deaths in the US.
The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as repatriated cases.
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Sinovac claims its shot is safe and generates an immune response
A Chinese company, Sinovac Biotech Ltd, says its experimental coronavirus vaccine caused the body to produce antibodies against the virus.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is testing the vaccine in more than 700 volunteers in an accelerated trial that combines Phase 1 safety testing and the next step, Phase 2. “The phase II clinical trial results show that the vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies 14 days after the vaccination,” the company said in a statement.
No one has been able to show if these neutralizing antibodies can protect people against infection with Covid-19, but vaccine makers hope they will. More than 90% of the 600 volunteers in the Phase 2 arm developed these antibodies.
Sinovac is collaborating with Instituto Butantan in Brazil to prepare and conduct a phase III clinical study.
Phase 3 testing is the last step to test whether a vaccine or drug works before seeking approval from regulators.
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Fauci tells British newspaper that “real normality” may not return until next year
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases tempered down expectations for a return to normalcy, offered advice to people who are protesting in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and suggested that US travel bans may remain in effect for months.
Coronavirus could “go on for a couple of cycles, coming back and forth,” he told The Telegraph. “I would hope to get to some degree of real normality within a year or so,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s this winter or fall, we’ll be seeing it for a bit more.”
Fauci said the bottom line is there is a risk (in protesting), and of course, it’s concerning. Wearing masks helps but he emphasized that crowds are risky. “I would say in a perfect world people shouldn’t congregate in a crowd and demonstrate. But I know, even though you say that they are going to go do it. So, if you’re going to do it, don’t take the mask off when you’re chanting, and screaming, and yelling, and doing whatever at a demonstration”.
Travel from the UK and other countries ban:
“It’s going to really wait and see. I don’t think there’s going to be an immediate pullback for those kinds of restrictions. My feeling, looking at what’s going on with the infection rate, I think it’s more likely measured in months rather than weeks”.
Optimism that a vaccine will ultimately be successful, he said:
“We have potential vaccines making significant progress. We have maybe four or five. You can never guarantee success with a vaccine, that’s foolish to do so, there’s so many possibilities of things going wrong. (But) everything we have seen from early results, it’s conceivable we get two or three vaccines that are successful.”
