Tag Archives: COVID-19

Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine candidate approved for emergency use in China- source

BEIJING (Reuters) – Sinovac Biotech Ltd’s coronavirus vaccine candidate CoronaVac was approved in July for emergency use as part of a program in China to vaccinate high-risk groups such as medical staff, a person familiar with the matter said.

China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a unit of state-owned pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), also said it had obtained emergency use approval for a coronavirus vaccine candidate in social media platform WeChat on Sunday.

CNBG, which has two vaccine candidates in phase 3 clinical trials, did not say which of its vaccines had been cleared for emergency use.

China has been giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to high-risk groups since July, and a health official told state media in an interview aired last week that authorities could consider modestly expanding the emergency use program to try to prevent possible outbreaks during the autumn and winter.

Officially, China has given little details on which vaccine candidates have been given to high-risk people under the emergency use program and how many people have been vaccinated.

State media reported in June, prior to the emergency use program, that employees at state firms travelling overseas were allowed to take one of the two vaccines being developed by CNBG, while China’s military had also approved the use of CanSino Biologics’ vaccine candidate.

Seven vaccines against the coronavirus are in final trial stages around the world, and four of them are from China.

But no vaccine has yet passed the final stage of trials proving it is safe and effective – conditions usually required to be met to get regulatory approval for mass use. COVID-19 has killed over 800,000 people worldwide.

(Reporting by Roxanne Liu in Beijing and Miyoung Kim in Singapore; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)

Prayers and faxed letters: Texas woman buries husband who died of COVID-19

By Callaghan O’Hare and Maria Caspani

HOUSTON (Reuters) – As hundreds of thousands of people in Texas fled their homes ahead of Hurricane Laura on Wednesday, Michelle Gutierrez was in Houston burying her husband David, who died of COVID-19 on Aug. 14.

The couple would have celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on Sept. 4, a few days after David’s 54th birthday. Michelle and David met at a mechanic’s shop in Houston in 2009, when he had stepped in as a translator to help her with a mechanic who only spoke Spanish.

He then offered to fix her computer, and the rest is history. They built a life together in Houston, where they raised five children and he worked as a software engineer.

In early July, David was hospitalized after his symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, worsened. His wife and two daughters had tested positive but showed no symptoms.

David would fight the virus for over a month at Houston’s St. Luke’s in The Woodlands hospital, where he eventually died of heart failure.

“It’s been a roller coaster, every day is different,” Michelle said on the day of his funeral, her voice breaking with emotion. “One day you’re fine and the next day, you walk around and memories flood your mind… You just wish this was all a dream.”

About a week after her husband was hospitalized, Michelle and her daughters gathered under his hospital window to pray for him.

“And then after that first night I was like, ‘You know what, I’m gonna come in every night, honey, I’m going to be here every night, praying for you and just being there in spirit’,” she said.

And so she did, until the Friday in August when David passed away.

Michelle said she kept trying to communicate with her husband as his condition worsened. At first, before he was put on a ventilator, they managed to text one another, she said. But once he was in a coma, she began faxing letters to the hospital, and nurses would read them aloud to him.

David is one of thousands who have succumbed to the coronavirus in Texas, where a spike in cases in June and July strained hospital systems as the virus engulfed many southern states.

Nearly 180,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19, the highest in the world, with 5.8 million cases recorded nationwide, according to a Reuters tally, also the highest in the world.

At David’s wake, a bottle of hand sanitizer and social distancing signs were prominently displayed as masked mourners walked to the casket to bid their farewells.

As for the future, Michelle said she was enrolling in a college nursing program. She had already planned to do so before her husband’s passing, but feels more motivated now.

“That’s more so now than before after seeing how these nurses took care of David and they were wonderful… And I could not have done it without them.”

(Reporting by Callaghan O’Hare in Houston, Texas and Maria Caspani in New York; Writing by Maria Caspani; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

U.S. COVID-19 deaths exceed 180,000, cases continue to fall

By Lisa Shumaker

(Reuters) – U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 180,000 on Thursday after a surge of new cases in June and July, many of them in hotspots like California, Florida, and Texas.

There were some signs of an improving outlook. Last week, deaths fell 17% from the prior week and below an average of 1,000 a day for the first time in weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.

However, while U.S. metrics on cases, deaths, hospitalizations and test positivity rates were declining, health experts warned there could be another surge as schools reopen and colder weather forces more gatherings indoors.

This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said people exposed to COVID-19 but not symptomatic may not need to be tested. This contradicted earlier guidance from the CDC, shocking doctors and politicians and prompting accusations that it may have been based not on sound science but on political pressure from the Trump administration.

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut slammed the CDC’s move as “reckless” and “not based on science,” and said they will not change testing guidelines in their states.

“CDC and HHS have not shared their scientific rationale for this change in policy, which substitutes sound science-based public health guidance with the president’s misinformation,” they said in a joint statement. “Health experts recommend testing close contacts of individuals with COVID-19 to identify and prevent asymptomatic spread. This type of robust testing by our states has been a key factor in our success so far to flatten the curve in the tri-state area.”

On Wednesday, the top U.S. government infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told CNN he was having surgery during discussion of the change and expressed worry about the CDC’s move.

U.S. confirmed cases are now over 5.8 million – the highest total in the world. The U.S. death toll is also the world’s highest.

On a per capita basis, the United States ranks 12th in the world for the number of deaths, with 54 deaths per 100,000 people, and tenth in the world for cases, with 1,774 cases per 100,000 residents, according to a Reuters analysis.

U.S. consumer confidence dropped in August to its lowest in more than six years, as households worried about the labor market and incomes, casting doubts on the sustainability of the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 recession.

The ebb in confidence followed the expiration of a $600 weekly unemployment benefit supplement on July 31.

For weeks, Republicans and Democrats have been deadlocked over the size and shape of a fifth coronavirus-response bill, on top of the approximately $3 trillion already enacted into law.

(Reporting by Lisa Shumaker, additional reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and David Gregorio)

Beyond Meat begins direct online sales of plant-based patties

(Reuters) – Beyond Meat Inc on Thursday launched a new website to sell its plant-based meat products to U.S. customers, just nearly three months after rival Impossible Foods started its direct-to-consumer sales.

The move comes at a time when demand for vegan products has surged amid rising beef prices due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restaurant traffic has not recovered to normal levels.

Impossible Foods, which began direct online sales in June, and Beyond Meat currently sell their plant-based meat products in thousands of retail stores across the United States, including Kroger and Walmart Inc.

Beyond Meat has been seeing a jump in consumer demand in its retail channels during the lockdown and said direct online sales would include the Beyond Beef and Sausage patties, with two-day shipping included in all orders.

(Reporting by Aditi Sebastian; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)

Hurricane Laura slams southwestern Louisiana, but less damage than forecast

By Elijah Nouvelage and Ernest Scheyder

LAKE CHARLES, La. (Reuters) – Hurricane Laura ripped through southwestern Louisiana on Thursday, destroying buildings in towns across the southwestern corner of the state and killing a 14-year-old girl after making landfall as one of the most powerful storms to hit the area.

Still, the damage Laura has inflicted so far is far less than what forecasters predicted.

The hurricane’s first reported U.S. fatality was the teenage girl in Leesville, Louisiana, who died when a tree fell on her house, a spokeswoman for Governor John Bel Edwards said.

“We do expect that there could be more fatalities,” the spokeswoman, Christina Stephens, said on Twitter.

A chemical plant caught fire in Laura’s wake on Thursday morning in Westlake, Louisiana, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Lake Charles, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky over the wind-torn landscape near Interstate 10.

Edwards warned residents in the area to shelter in place, close doors and windows and turn off air conditioners as authorities investigated. Traffic was blocked on the interstate and Highway 90.

“Stay inside and wait for additional direction from local officials,” Edwards wrote on Twitter.

CLEANUP BEGINS

Residents of Lake Charles heard Laura’s winds howling and the sound of breaking glass as the storm passed through the city of 78,000 with winds of 85 miles per hour (137 km per hour) and gusts up to 128 mph (206 kph) in the hour after landfall.

National Guard troops cleared debris from roads in Lake Charles on Thursday afternoon. There were downed power lines in streets around the city, and the winds tipped a few semi-trucks onto their sides.

The windows of the city’s 22-floor Capital One Tower were blown out, street signs were toppled and pieces of wooden fence and debris from collapsed buildings lay scattered in the flooded streets, video footage on Twitter and Snapchat showed.

Lake Charles resident Borden Wilson, a 33-year-old pediatrician, was anxiously anticipating his return home after evacuating to Minden, Louisiana.

“I never even boarded up my windows. I didn’t think to do that. This is the first hurricane I’ve experienced. I just hope my house is fine,” he said in a telephone interview.

In the small town of Starks, about 25 miles northwest of Lake Charles, pine trees strewn across roads and homes were the biggest challenge in cleaning up.

Rev. Karl Smith carefully inspected the damage done to buildings around his First Pentecostal Church. He rode out the storm in the cellar of his house – and had to cut through trees so that he and his wife could get out.

“We just had trees thrown everywhere,” Smith said. “It’s a big mess.”

HIGH WATERS, TORNADO THREATS

Laura made landfall just before 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) as a Category 4 storm packing winds of 150 mph in the small town of Cameron, Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

It rapidly weakened to a Category 1 storm on Thursday morning with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), and has since become a tropical storm.

The NHC warned that high water levels would persist along the Gulf Coast for several hours as Laura moved north and then northeast.

Besides threatening life, the storm slammed the heart of the U.S. oil industry, forcing oil rigs and refineries to shut down production.

The Port of Lake Charles remained closed as workers were unable to enter or exit the facility due to downed power lines and trees.

The port avoided significant flooding but power was out as of Thursday morning, manager of security and safety Ed Manint said. The harbor police were assessing the damage, he said.

‘LESS SURGE THAN WE THOUGHT’

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Pete Gaynor told Fox News that the agency would make storm damage assessments on Thursday and had the resources to respond to the storm now, adding he expected to see significant damage from wind and building damage.

“I think we’re generally fortunate – less surge than we thought,” Gaynor said.

The NHC on Wednesday predicted storm surge would be “unsurvivable” and could penetrate up to 40 miles inland. While the worst projections had not materialized, damaging winds and flooding rainfall would continue spreading inland later on Thursday, the NHC said.

Laura could spawn tornadoes on Thursday over Louisiana, Arkansas and western Mississippi, and was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) of rain across portions of that region, the NHC said.

(Reporting by Elijah Nouvelage in Lake Charles, La., Ernest Scheyder in Starks, La., Jennifer Hiller and Gary McWilliams in Houston, Liz Hampton in Denver, Timothy Ahmann, Susan Heavey and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Gabriella Borter and Peter Szekely in New York and Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Tex.; Writing by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Matthew Lewis)

U.S. CDC reports 177,759 deaths from coronavirus

(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday said the number of deaths due to the coronavirus had risen by 1,142 to 177,759 and also reported 5,752,653 cases, an increase of 37,086 cases from its previous count.

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on Aug. 25 versus its previous report a day earlier.

The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.

(Reporting by Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Gaza man dies of coronavirus as lockdown imposed to curb first outbreak

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Gaza reported one coronavirus death and at least 10 new cases of infection on Wednesday as the blockaded Palestinian enclave sought to control its first public outbreak of the disease.

Hamas-controlled security forces enforced a lockdown in all cities in the coastal territory, warning people to stay at home or to wear face masks if they had to go out for emergencies.

Health officials said the 61-year-old man who died had pre-existing conditions and had been on a respirator.

Ten more cases were reported on Wednesday, six of them in Maghazi refugee camp where the first four infections were discovered on Monday, and another four in Gaza City and the northern area of the enclave of 2 million people.

The new infections added to concerns among local and international health organizations about Gaza’s potentially disastrous combination of poverty, densely populated refugee camps and limited hospital capacity.

Until Monday the 360 square-kilometre (139 square-mile) coastal strip had reported no infections outside border quarantine facilities for new arrivals.

Facing for the first time a situation that the rest of the world has been dealing with for months, Gazans have been going online to share experiences and voice their concerns.

“We are now alone with Corona, with the blazing sun and the power supply being cut off. Corona came to empty pockets and homes on the brink of sadness and anger,” wrote one Gaza resident on Twitter.

The 40 kilometre-long territory is sealed off from the outside world by Israeli walls, watchtowers and gunboats along 90% of its border and coastline, and by Egypt along a narrow strip to the south.

Both countries impose tight restrictions on movement in and out of Gaza, citing security concerns over Hamas, which is regarded as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.

The blockade is thought to be one reason why Gaza remained relatively virus-free, with many of its residents comparing their situation to a permanent lockdown.

The United Nations agency dealing with Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it was considering alternative plans to continue under lockdown the health, education and food services it provides to more than half Gaza’s population.

UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said clinics remained open but staffers were providing medical consultations over the phone, and some medication was being delivered to homes.

(Additional reporting by Zainah El-Haroun in Ramallah; Writing by Stephen Farrell and Dan Williams; Editing by William Maclean and Hugh Lawson)

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine shows similar immune response in old and young

(Reuters) – Moderna Inc said on Wednesday that an analysis of the early-stage data of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine showed it induced immune responses in older adults that were similar to younger participants.

The drug developer is one of the leading U.S. contenders in the race to develop a safe and effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus and its candidate, mRNA-1273, is already in the Phase 3 stage of human testing.

Moderna is now reporting interim data from the Phase 1 study, which includes new analysis from 20 additional people and details on how the vaccine performs in older people.

The analysis looked at 100 micro gram dosage that has been selected for the larger Phase 3 trial. Moderna said the immune responses in those aged between 56 and 70 years, above 70 and those in the age-group of 18 and 55 were similar.

The data is being presented at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on Wednesday.

The company has so far enrolled over 13,000 participants in the late-stage study and about 18% of the total participants are Black, Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, groups that are the hardest hit by the pandemic.

Moderna, which has no drugs in the market, has received nearly $1 billion from the U.S. government under a plan to speed up vaccine development for COVID-19. It has also struck a $1.5 billion supply agreement with the United States.

Shares of the drug developer rose more than 7% to $71.35 after the data. They have more than tripled in value so far this year and results from its studies have boosted the broader market.

(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

U.S. rejects U.N. rights panel upholding access to abortions during pandemic

An exam room at the Planned Parenthood South Austin Health Center is shown in Austin, Texas, U.S. June 27, 2016. REUTERS/Ilana Panich-Linsman

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday hit back at a U.N. women’s rights panel that said some U.S. states limited access to abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting its interference and the notion of “an assumed right to abortion”.

“The United States is disappointed by and categorically rejects this transparent attempt to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to assert the existence of such a right,” the U.S. mission in Geneva said in a release posted on Twitter.

“This is a perversion of the human rights system and the founding principles of the United Nations,” it said, citing an Aug. 11 letter it sent to the U.N. experts responding to the “spurious allegations”.

The U.N. working group on discrimination against women and girls said on May 27 that some U.S. states “appear to be “manipulating the COVID-19 crisis to curb access to essential abortion care”.

The panel of five independent U.N. experts said that states including Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee had issued COVID-19 emergency orders suspending procedures not deemed immediately medically necessary to restrict access to abortion.

“This situation is also the latest example illustrating a pattern of restrictions and retrogressions in access to legal abortion care across the country,” Elizabeth Broderick, panel vice-chair, said at the time.

The U.S. statement cited allegations of forced abortions and sterilizations in China’s western region of Xinjiang and urged the panel to focus on “actual human rights abuses”.

A lack of comment on such issues was “one of the reasons that the United States and others increasingly see the U.N.’s human rights system as utterly broken”.

U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking re-election in November, works closely with evangelical Christians and puts their causes of restricting abortion and preserving gun ownership at the top of his policy agenda.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Factbox: Coronavirus in U.S. Congress: 17 members have tested or been presumed positive

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – At least 17 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate – nine Republicans and seven Democrats – have tested positive or are presumed to have had COVID-19, with Senator Bill Cassidy becoming the latest on Thursday.

Here is a look at lawmakers affected by the virus:

RESIDENT COMMISSIONER JENNIFFER GONZALEZ COLON

Gonzalez, resident commissioner of Puerto Rico and the U.S. territory’s sole representative in Congress, said that she tested positive for COVID-19 on Facebook, days after accompanying federal officials on a visit to Puerto Rico’s pharmaceutical industry.

SENATOR BILL CASSIDY

Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, decided to self-quarantine for 14 days and contact those with whom he may have had contact after testing positive for the virus, according to a statement released by his office on Aug. 20.

“I am strictly following the direction of our medical experts and strongly encourage others to do the same,” the 62-year-old senator, himself a physician, said in the statement.

REPRESENTATIVE RODNEY DAVIS

Davis, an Illinois Republican, said in a statement on Aug. 5 that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus after running a fever.

“If you’re out in public, use social distancing, and when you can’t social distance, please wear a mask,” Davis, 50, said in the statement.

REPRESENTATIVE RAUL GRIJALVA

Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, tested positive for the coronavirus and went into isolation, he said in a statement on Aug. 1.

Grijalva expressed frustration with the reluctance of some Republican lawmakers to wear masks, which can slow the spread of the coronavirus.

REPRESENTATIVE LOUIE GOHMERT

The Texas Republican, 66, a staunch conservative, said on July 29 he tested positive in a prescreening at the White House but did not have any symptoms.

“It’s really ironic, because a lot of people have made a big deal out of my not wearing a mask a lot. But in the last week or two, I have worn a mask more than I have in the whole last four months.”

REPRESENTATIVE MORGAN GRIFFITH

The Virginia Republican, 62, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said in mid-July that he had tested positive. His office said he did not have significant symptoms.

REPRESENTATIVE TOM RICE

The South Carolina Republican, 62, said on Facebook in mid-June that he, his wife and son had all tested positive for the coronavirus but all were “on the mend.”

SENATOR TIM KAINE

The Virginia Democrat and former vice presidential candidate, 62, said in mid-May that he and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

SENATOR BOB CASEY

Casey, 60, a Pennsylvania Democrat, tested positive for coronavirus antibodies in May, but pledged to keep wearing a mask.

REPRESENTATIVE NEAL DUNN

The Florida Republican, 67, a former surgeon, said in April that he had gone to the emergency room after not feeling well and later tested positive for the coronavirus.

REPRESENTATIVE JOE CUNNINGHAM

A Democrat from South Carolina, Cunningham, 38, said on March 27 he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

REPRESENTATIVE MIKE KELLY

Kelly, 72, a Republican from Pennsylvania, tested positive for the coronavirus in late March at a drive-through testing site. He told an interviewer that it took him about a month to recover and that he lost 30 pounds (14 kg).

SENATOR RAND PAUL

The Kentucky Republican, 57, said on March 22 that he had tested positive and was in quarantine, but was feeling fine. After he returned to work, Paul still did not wear a mask and said it was because he believed he was immune.

REPRESENTATIVE MARIO DIAZ-BALART

The Florida Republican, 58, tested positive in mid-March, saying the symptoms “pretty much hit me like a ton of bricks.” After his health improved, Diaz-Balart said he would participate in a plasma donation program to help people with serious or life-threatening infections of COVID-19.

REPRESENTATIVE BEN MCADAMS

The Utah Democrat also caught the virus in March. He was hospitalized and needed oxygen. After his release, he warned others to take the virus seriously. “I’m young, I’m 45 years old, I’m healthy, I exercise every day, and it hit me really hard,” he told ABC.

REPRESENTATIVE NYDIA VELAZQUEZ

Velazquez, 67, a Democrat from New York, said in March that she had been diagnosed with a presumed case of the coronavirus, although she had not been tested.

REPRESENTATIVE SETH MOULTON

The Massachusetts Democrat, 41, said in March that he and his wife were in self-quarantine after experiencing coronavirus-like symptoms. The congressman said they did not, however, qualify for testing.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)