By Ben Westcott, Adam Renton and Ivana Kottasová, CNN
From CNN Health’s Jamie Gumbrecht and Devon Sayers
Moderna’s investigational vaccine for the novel coronavirus has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration to proceed to phase two of a study, the company said Thursday in a press release.
The next phase of the trial is expected to begin shortly, it said.
The vaccine, mRNA-1273, was the first US vaccine to start clinical trials in the United States. Moderna said it is finalizing protocol for a phase 3 study which is expected to begin in early summer.
CNN has reached out to the FDA.
If you're just joining our live coverage of the global coronavirus pandemic, here are the key headlines today:
From CNN's Faith Karimi
A growing number of children are showing up at New York hospitals with troubling new symptoms that state health officials believe could be linked to coronavirus.
In an advisory to health care providers, state officials said 64 children in New York have been hospitalized with a condition doctors described as "pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome."
Some of the children had persistent fever, toxic shock syndrome and features similar to Kawasaki disease, the state health advisory said.
Kawasaki disease causes inflammation in the walls of the arteries and can limit blood flow to the heart. While it's usually treatable and most children recover without serious problems, it can also be deadly. It mainly affects children under the age of five.
From CNN's Marnie Hunter
While pandemic-era policies are still being developed at hotels around the globe and will no doubt vary widely, it's safe to say that guests will see big changes the next time they check in wherever they find themselves.
Hotel stays are likely to be a stripped-down affair, particularly in higher-end hotels where personalized service and amenities have long been part of the draw.
Text by Marnie Hunter, illustrations by Will Mullery, CNN
From CNN’s Mick Krever in London
The Dutch Safety Board has begun an independent investigation into the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
The probe will look at the preparations for a pandemic, crisis management, the measures taken and the phasing out of these measures, a statement said Thursday.
The Safety Board will also look at the effects of the coronavirus crisis on the safety of vulnerable people in the society, for example due to discontinuation of regular care or social services, the statement added.
Its aim is to draw lessons for “potential future epidemics.”
As of Wednesday, the Netherlands had 41,319 reported positive cases and 5,204 people reported dead, according to the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.
From CNN’s Darya Tarasova and Nathan Hodge
The estimated number of people infected with coronavirus in the Russian capital is far higher than previously reported, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Thursday.
In an interview on state news channel Rossiya-24, Sobyanin said screening studies found that between 2% and 2.5% of the city’s population – around 300,000 people – have contracted the virus. That’s around three times higher than the capital's 92,676 officially confirmed cases.
“Our task is to identify as many of these people as possible,” Sobyanin said.
He added it was “clear that there are even more really sick people in the city” than those identified through testing.
Sobyanin said hospitals had been able to cope with an influx of patients.
"Over the past two weeks, the number of hospitalizations [of people with coronavirus] has not increased,” he said. “Moreover, the number of hospitalized and those who have been discharged shows a positive trend now. More were discharged than were hospitalized. And this is the main result of our work.”
The mayor warned, however, that lockdown and distancing measures would not end quickly.
“Today we see that it will take a long period to overcome the epidemic,” he said. “This means that for a long time we will live in a new reality, one not very comfortable for all of us."
From CNN’s Deborah Bloom in Atlanta
Poland's upcoming presidential election will be postponed amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus, the country's coalition government leaders said Wednesday.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski of the ruling Law and Justice party, and Jaroslaw Gowin of the smaller Agreement party, announced a "solution that will guarantee Poles the opportunity to take part in democratic elections" in a joint statement reported by state-run Polish News Agency.
"The speaker of the Sejm will announce new presidential elections at the earliest possible date," the statement reads, referring to Poland's lower house of parliament. It adds that voting will be done by post, "in the interests of the safety of Poles in view of the epidemic situation."
A total of 733 people have died from coronavirus in Poland, where 14,740 cases of the virus have so far been reported, state-run Polish Radio announced late Wednesday.
The decision to postpone the vote comes after weeks of criticism of the government. Campaigners and academics have said that the Law and Justice party is using the pandemic to continue chipping away at democracy and tightening its grip on power.
From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Sharon Braithwaite in London
Members of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom, especially black men and women, face a higher risk of dying from Covid-19, according to data from England and Wales released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.
According to the ONS, the mortality rate from the novel coronavirus is 4.2 times higher for black men than for white men.
The numbers are similar for black women whose death rate from Covid-19 is 4.3 times higher than for white women.
The ONS statisticians found that black people are 1.9 times more likely to die of the virus even when age, socio-demographic characteristics and measures of health and disability are taken into account.
People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities had “statistically significant raised risk of death” from Covid-19, compared with those of white ethnicity, the ONS said.
“These results show that the difference between ethnic groups in Covid-19 mortality is partly a result of socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances, but a remaining part of the difference has not yet been explained,” the ONS said in its report.
From CNN’s Nathan Hodge in Moscow
Russia on Thursday recorded a record daily rise in coronavirus cases, reporting 11,231 new cases over the last 24-hour period, the country’s Covid-19 response headquarters said in a statement.
All told, Russia has seen 177,160 official cases of coronavirus, and 1,625 deaths.
The Russian government has nationwide lockdown measures in place until May 12, and President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said those measures may be extended and strengthened in some regions of the country.
