May 18 coronavirus news

Patients who re-tested positive for coronavirus after being discharged are not contagious, South Korean health officials said Monday.

The Korean Centre for Disease Control (KCDC) made the announcement after conducting a lab analysis of 108 cases and epidemiology investigations on 285 cases to determine whether coronavirus patients should be quarantined for two weeks after being released from hospital. Health officials tested 790 close contacts of the 285 cases who re-tested positive for the virus after recovering, but found no infections linked to the recovered patients.

What this means: Following the announcement, the country's health officials removed the guideline recommending recovered patients to undergo a further two weeks of quarantine after being released from hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

The Director of the KCDC, Jung Eun-kyeong, said health authorities could not say why some patients were re-testing positive for the virus, but added that experts believed the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test was detecting pieces of dead virus.

When a positive specimen was isolated and cultivated, coronavirus was not detected in PCR tests, so the experts concluded the virus was not infectious, Jung added.

"The pandemic has highlighted the dangerous and growing inequality that exists between countries and within them," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa warned at the World Health Organization's virtual 73rd World Health Assembly. 

"Although the virus has affected both developed and developing countries, it is the poor who suffer the most," Ramphosa said.

Ramaphosa noted that the healthcare systems of many countries are struggling, having been neglected, underfunded, or "designed to serve their select few."

Ramaphosa is serving as the current chairperson of the African Union. He said Africa reaffirms its full support for the World Health Organization.

"The World Health Organization has been instrumental in providing guidance and support to African governments," Ramaphosa said. "Africa is extremely vulnerable to the ravages of this virus and needs every possible support and assistance."

Global universal healthcare: Ramaphosa called for a renewed push for the goal of global universal healthcare. "The virus has demonstrated the essential value of universal health coverage, and this is where we need full solidarity," he said.

A home housing refugees in western Germany has been hit by a coronavirus outbreak, a Cologne district government press officer told CNN.

The refugee accommodation in Sankt Augustin, Germany recorded its first case last Friday, Vanessa Nolte said. Since then 120 refugees, out of a total of 489 who are registered there, have tested positive.

Only 312 of the residents were actually tested for coronavirus, as the inhabitants are not confined to the home, but can come and go, Nolte said. In addition, 10 staff members have tested positive for the virus, she said.

The refugees are mostly young people and families, Nolte said; she could not give information on their nationalities.

The refugee accommodation was immediately put into full quarantine, meaning no one could enter or leave, and authorities are in the process of separating the positive from the negative cases.

This is proving challenging as some of the inhabitants do not want to be moved, the press officer added.

The world has “been humbled by this very small microbe,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said to the 73rd World Health Assembly on Monday.  World Health Assembly on Monday.  

“Six months ago, it would have been inconceivable to most that the world’s biggest cities would fall,” Tedros added. “That shops, restaurants, schools and workplaces would be closed. That global travel would grind to a standstill. That simply shaking hands could be life threatening.” 

He urged officials to "treat this virus with the respect and attention it deserves," nothing that millions of cases have been reported around the world.

“But numbers don't even begin to tell the story of this virus, each loss of life leaves a scar for families, communities and nations.” 

Pope Francis offered the first public mass at St Peter’s Basilica in two months on Monday morning, where he celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of St John Paul II.

The Pope was joined by a limited number of worshipers.

Masses and religious ceremonies resumed in Italy on Monday under strict safety measures, after being banned for almost two months due to coronavirus.

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Sunday called on citizens to "remain prudent," as the country prepared to relax its coronavirus lockdown from Monday.

Study subjects who received Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine had positive early results, according to a press release issued Monday by the biotech company, which partnered with the National Institutes of Health to develop the vaccine.

These early data come from a Phase 1 clinical trial, which typically study a small number of people and focus on whether a vaccine is safe. The information has not been peer reviewed, nor published in a medical journal.

Race for a vaccine: Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of eight developers worldwide already doing human clinical trials of potential vaccines against the novel coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization. Two others, Pfizer and Inovio, are also in the United States, one is at the University of Oxford in the UK, and three others are in China. 

"All eight initial participants" in the Moderna trial developed neutralizing antibodies to the virus at levels reaching or exceeding those seen in people who have naturally recovered from Covid-19, according to the press release.

Neutralizing antibodies bind to the virus, disabling it from attacking human cells. The presence of such antibodies at the levels of people who have naturally had the infection is an important indicator in vaccine studies

The US Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company to begin Phase 2 trials, which typically involve a larger number of people, and the company expects to begin Phase 3 trials in July. Phase 3 involves large-scale testing of the vaccine, typically in tens of thousands of patients.

The length of such trials varies greatly, and the press release doesn't indicate how long they might take, or when the vaccine might be available to the public.

At the highest dose, three participants had "the most notable adverse events," which resolved, and no serious adverse events were reported, the company said, not specifying what the adverse events were.

The company indicated that the Phase 3 trials will be done with lower doses. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed support for the World Health Organization and called for equal access to any vaccine for coronavirus, while speaking in a pre-recorded statement played out at the World Health Organisation’s 73rd World Health Assembly.

"If we do discover a vaccine against Covid-19, it will be a global public good, and everyone must have access to it," Macron said. He called this a question of effectiveness as well as of principle. "Human health cannot be quarreled over, cannot be appropriated, and cannot be bought and sold," he continued.

"We need a strong WHO to tackle Covid-19, and the WHO is us, its member states," Macron added.

Merkel urges unity: Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the coronavirus pandemic "a global crisis" and urged international cooperation to defeat it, in a speech at the WHO’s World Health Assembly on Monday.

"We are experiencing a global crisis with hundreds of thousands of people who have been infected, and affected with social and economic consequences that show that virtually no country has been spared by this pandemic," Merkel said.

"So no country can solve this problem alone," she added. "We must work together."

Merkel voiced her support for the World Health Organization, calling it "legitimate," and said its financing needed to be "sustainable."

"I am convinced we will be able to overcome this pandemic when we work together," she added.

Loss of sense of smell or taste have been added to the official list of coronavirus symptoms in the UK, the Department of Health and Social Care said Monday.

A government statement said "from today all individuals should self-isolate if they develop a new continuous cough or fever or anosmia."

Anosmia refers to the loss of or changes in a person's sense of smell. According to the department of health, "it can also affect your sense of taste as the two are closely linked."

The Chief Medical Officers for the four nations of the United Kingdom endorsed this expansion of symptoms, saying that they "have been closely monitoring the emerging data and evidence on Covid-19 and, after thorough consideration… are now confident enough to recommend this new measure," the statement said.

Anosmia emerged as a potential Covid-19 symptom in March, when doctors in the United States called for it to be added to the "list of screening tools" for Covid-19.

Around the same time, ENT UK, a professional organization representing UK ear, nose and throat surgeons, said in a statement on its website that anosmia could be another symptom of infection with the virus.

Up to 70,000 cases could have been undiagnosed: The announcement comes after the head of the UK’s coronavirus symptom app, Professor Tim Spector, criticized the government’s failure to expand their list of symptoms. Spector estimated that an additional 50,000-70,000 cases in the UK have gone undiagnosed due to the lack of recognition of other symptoms such as anosmia.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro joined a large rally outside his official residence, the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia on Sunday to greet supporters, according to video posted on his official social media accounts.

Video streamed on Bolsonaro's YouTube page showed him wearing a face mask while walking close to a large crowd. At least four ministers accompanied Bolsonaro as he shook hands with those in the crowd and even carried several children in his arms. 

Bolsonaro addressed the media during the rally, saying "it is very gratifying, honorable for me, for my cabinet, to receive a demonstration of support in this sense."

"We will be able to change the fate of Brazil, despite this crisis that has been affecting the whole world," Bolsonaro added.

Shortly after the rally, Bolsonaro welcomed a group of men wearing military outfits at the Presidential Palace. The men said they were paratroopers from the Brazilian army, and wanted to show support for Bolsonaro.

The group said a prayer for Brazil, at one point shouting "Bolsonaro is us." They also did several rounds of push-ups with the Brazilian President.

The demonstration took place just hours after Sao Paulo's mayor, Bruno Covas, warned that his city's health system is on the brink of collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The country's Ministry of Health has so far reported 241,080 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 16,118 deaths.

Brazil has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University in the US. The latest spike in cases pushed Brazil's count past Spain and Italy.