COVID-19 News and Discussions

[caltrek]

^^^It may be a little like reverse engineering. Once you have the proto-type it is a little easier to construct your own version. Also, don't underestimate the degree to which scientists talk to each other across borders, read the same scientific journals, etc.

At the more paranoid end of things, they are not called "intelligence agencies" for no reason.

[Ken_J]

my reply was meant in jest. I would be more upset if they were not sharing, 'stealing' and using things learned from others successes to benefit the rapid advance in disease managment and medicine.

[wjfox]

Third shot of AstraZeneca vaccine could work as booster – study

Mon 28 Jun 2021 12.55 BST

A third shot of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could be an effective booster jab without the need for tweaks, research suggests.

An Oxford University study found that giving people a third dose more than six months after their second led to a substantial rise in antibodies and increased the body’s T-cell ability to fight coronavirus, including its variants.

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said it was not yet known whether people would need a booster shot in autumn but the new data showed the existing vaccine could be effective.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... eeks-study

[Time_Traveller]

UK and Brussels near deal on Covid passports to boost holiday hopes

Mon 28 Jun 2021

Hopes have been raised of summer holidays in Europe for fully vaccinated Britons as a deal with Brussels on Covid passports neared completion and Germany failed to convince popular destinations to pull an “emergency brake” on UK visitors.

Restrictions on travel are tightening across the continent for tourists coming from the UK who have not had two jabs, owing to concerns over the highly transmissible Delta variant now dominant in Britain.

Portugal announced on Monday that people unable to prove full vaccination status would face 14 days in quarantine. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said Britons travelling to the Balearic islands would need to show either a negative PCR test or proof that they have been fully vaccinated to avoid having to self-isolate. From Wednesday, the Balearics will be on the UK government’s green list of countries from which travellers will not need to quarantine when they return home.
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But for travellers from the UK who have had both doses of an approved vaccine, the prospect of a relatively normal summer break appears brighter, with popular destinations loth to shut the doors on those who are unlikely to be infectious. According to the latest data, 61.9% of UK adults are now fully vaccinated and 84.4% have had at least a first dose.

The German government, which has enforced a 14-day quarantine on all tourists from Britain since 26 May, is yet to convince countries more dependent on tourism that stringent quarantine requirements on all travellers from the UK are necessary.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... iday-hopes

[weatheriscool]

Hong Kong to ban passenger flights from UK to curb virus
Source: AP

By ZEN SOO

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

It said in a statement Monday that the U.K. has been classified as “extremely high risk“ because of the “recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the U.K. and the widespread delta variant virus strain there.”

More than 95% of COVID-19 cases in the U.K. are of the delta variant, which was first identified in India. Cases have spiked in recent weeks as British authorities have relaxed coronavirus restrictions, allowing indoor gatherings and businesses including restaurants, cinemas and gyms to reopen. Scientists say the delta variant is much more transmissible than previous versions of the coronavirus, although it is uncertain if it is more deadly.

Under the classification, people who have stayed in the U.K. for more than two hours will be restricted from boarding passenger flights to Hong Kong.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-uk ... 31318b9817

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

World Passes Three Billion Vaccine Mark

June 29, 2021

More than three billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been given across the world, according to an AFP tally Tuesday from official sources.

The pace of vaccination has so quickened that while it took 20 weeks to give the first billion, it only took four to give the last one thousand million.

Some four of 10 of the jabs have been given in China (1.2 billion), with India (329 million) and the United States (324 million) also in the top three.

But it is a trio of Middle Eastern countries that leads the way in terms of coverage (when you exclude countries with populations of less than one million), with the United Arab Emirates having given 153 doses per 100 people, ahead of Bahrain and Israel on 124.

https://www.barrons.com/news/world-pass ... 08?tesla=y

[Time_Traveller]

US donated COVID vaccines to Mexico for use in border cities. Mexico sent them to Tijuana

34 mins ago

In a move that has angered Juárez business leaders, the Mexican government took 1.35 million vaccines donated by the U.S. for use in border cities and sent them all to Tijuana.

The Biden administration and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the agreement on June 3: The U.S. would send the doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Mexico on the promise that Mexico would inoculate people in the country's border cities.

The J&J vaccines landed in Mexico City on June 15.

Two days later, the government of the Mexican state of Baja California announced that it would be distributing 1.35 million J&J vaccines in Tijuana and Mexicali and communities just south of the California border — leaving other major Mexican border cities without supplies for residents 18 to 39.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us ... ARg6?pfr=1

[Time_Traveller]

NHS app won’t be accepted as vaccine passport for tourists heading to Malta

Wednesday 30 Jun 2021

Getaways to Malta have been thrown into doubt after the country said it would not accept the NHS app as proof of vaccination.

The central Mediterranean archipelago is one of the destinations to have been moved to the UK’s green list today but potential holidaymakers are facing a giant barrier if they want to visit.

Travellers are only permitted to enter the country if they’ve had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine and officials are demanding a printed letter sent by the NHS as proof.

Those planning to use the NHS app to show they are double vaccinated will be turned away at the border or not allowed to board planes to the country.

https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/30/malta-tr ... i=14852135

[weatheriscool]

Scientists identify 160 new drugs that could be repurposed against COVID-19
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06- ... ovid-.html
by University of Cambridge

Cambridge scientists have identified 200 approved drugs predicted to work against COVID-19—of which only 40 are currently being tested in COVID-19 clinical trials.

In a study published today in Science Advances, a team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge's Milner Therapeutics Institute and Gurdon Institute used a combination of computational biology and machine learning to create a comprehensive map of proteins that are involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection—from proteins that help the virus break into the host cell to those generated as a consequence of infection. By examining this network using artificial intelligence (AI) approaches, they were able to identify key proteins involved in infection as well as biological pathways that might be targeted by drugs.