May 28 coronavirus news

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline says it has plans for next year to manufacture 1 billion doses of its pandemic vaccine adjuvant - a booster that potentially could help make any Covid-19 vaccine stronger and possibly aid in scaling up production.

The London-based company said in a statement on Thursday that its adjuvant has been shown to reduce the amount of vaccine required per dose, which allows more vaccine doses to be produced. 

An adjuvant also is added to some vaccines to enhance the immune response, which creates stronger immunity against infections. 

GSK said it will make the vaccine adjuvant technology available to partners that are developing "promising" Covid-19 vaccine candidates, and that making the adjuvant available to the world's "poorest countries" would be key.

"We believe that our innovative pandemic adjuvant technology has the potential to help improve the efficacy and scale up of multiple COVID-19 vaccines," Connor said.

Some background: In April, GSK and French drugmaker Sanofi announced they will be collaborating to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, with clinical trials expected to begin in the second half of 2020. They are among dozens of companies around the world working to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte approved a recommendation on Thursday to relax Covid-19 lockdown measures in the capital city of Manila from June 1, CNN Philippines reports. 

In a televised address to the nation, Duterte said he approved the recommendation by the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) to scale back quarantine restrictions which have been in place for Manila for over two months.

According to CNN Philippines, Thursday’s decision is also in line with the recommendation by all 17 mayors of Metro Manila to reopen nonessential businesses to help restart the ailing economy.

Government officials from the UK and Portugal are in contact to possibly establish a so-called "air corridor" between the two countries.

An official from the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign affairs said talks between the two countries began following last week’s announcement by the British government that all international arrivals to the UK would be required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

The official also highlighted comments made by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the Liaison Committee of the British Parliament on Wednesday where the Prime Minister said he was open to bilateral agreements for quarantine exemption with “safe countries.”

People in Scotland may meet with people from one other household from Friday but the group must not exceed 8 people in total, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced Thursday as part of the country’s advance into its so-called ‘Phase One’ easing of lockdown measures.

Sturgeon said that households do not have to meet with the same other household all the time during Phase One but should avoid meeting with more than one different household a day.

According to Sturgeon, Scottish people “should still be meeting far fewer people than [they] would in normal times.” She advised them not to share items with other households and to maintain social distance at all times.

As part of the Phase One easing of measures, Scotland will allow certain non-contact sports to resume and people will be able to sunbathe in parks. However, the Scottish government strongly advised against traveling further than 5 miles for leisure or recreation purposes.

Under Phase One garden centers, drive-through and takeaway food establishments will reopen. The construction industry may resume site preparation ahead of a return to the majority of outdoor work. Household waste and recycling centers will reopen to the public from Monday, June 1.

Teachers will also be allowed to re-enter schools on June 1 to begin preparations for schools reopening on August 11. Childcare services and outdoor nurseries will reopen from Wednesday, June 3 with limits placed on the number of children that can be cared for.

Despite the continual decline in Scottish cases, Sturgeon admitted she was “nervous” that “the limited changes we are making to these rules might lead to greater change in reality." She asked Scots to respect the parameters set out by the government.

“Make sure things still feel different to normal because they should still feel different to normal,” Sturgeon said.

The United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) estimates 13.7 million people could experience severe food insecurity due to the effects of coronavirus this year.

As job availability and economies decline, the WFP estimates the amount of people currently experiencing food insecurity- 3.4 million- could quadruple in 2020.

Migrants are particularly at risk, the WFP says. In Colombia, Ecuador and Peru severe food insecurity among extremely vulnerable Venezuelan migrants could jump from 540,000 to more than 1 million. 

The WFP also says children not receiving their provided lunches due to school closures and the approaching hurricane season could also have an affect on the amount of people who go hungry.

Spencer Suckling has been driving one of London's famous red buses for 16 years. In that time, he’s dealt with rude passengers, stressed commuters and speeding motorists.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has brought new dangers for transport workers in the British capital.

Suckling was spat at by a moped driver during an altercation with the man two weeks ago in south London. The moped was speeding and Suckling pointed that out to the driver.

Suckling kept his cool. He sounded the alarm on his bus. British Transport Police officers were not far away but the moped driver fled before they could catch him.

“I was extremely shocked and alarmed. With what is going on, I was a little worried and scared. Before I even thought ‘oh that is disgusting’ my first thought was Covid-19,” he said. He spent seven days in isolation after the incident.

In the past two weeks London’s Metropolitan Police force has arrested six people for assaults on the city’s bus drivers alone.

Yet transport workers have not only caught Covid-19, but have died from it. The virus has killed more than 40 workers in the city, according to the Transport for London transit authority.

Belly Mujinga, a railway ticket office worker, was also spat at and coughed on by a man claiming he had coronavirus, while working at London's Victoria train station. She died 14 days later.

Thankfully, Suckling had no symptoms and is now back at work, doing the job he takes great pride in. And despite this incident, he has not lost faith in the public in these unprecedented times.

“For once in my 16 years I think I have seen the public actually appreciate frontline workers, especially bus drivers. A lot of appreciation, at last, for what the bus driver does,” he said.

As the UK starts to move out of lockdown from next week, these bus drivers will be key to keeping London moving in the weeks and months ahead.

The Covid-19 outbreak has been responsible for 159,000 excess deaths in 24 European countries since early March, World Health Organization (WHO) Europe Director Hans Henri Kluge announced on Thursday.

Excess deaths is a term used to define the number of deaths which occurred in a given crisis above and beyond what would have been expected under ‘normal’ conditions.

The WHO lists 53 countries in its Europe region, including Russia and Turkey. 

According to Kluge, there have been over two million confirmed Covid-19 cases and over 175,000 confirmed deaths in the European region. Kluge said these death numbers are “above and beyond what we would have expected normally at this time of the year.”

Case information reported to the WHO has revealed that 94% of all Covid-19 deaths were people over the age of 60 years old, and 59% of those deaths were men.

From the total deaths, 97% of the cases had at least one underlying health condition, with cardiovascular disease being the most common.

Kluge also gave an update on the current spread of the virus in Europe, saying that in the past 14 days cumulative cases in the region have increased by 15%, with the region still accounting for 38% of cases and 50% of deaths globally.

Russia, the United Kingdom, Belarus, Turkey and Italy are the countries that have reported the highest cumulative numbers of confirmed cases in the last two weeks, Kluge said. Spain, Italy, the UK and France continue to account for 72% of all European Covid-19 deaths, he added.

As countries across the region continue to ease restrictions, Kluge stressed that “there can be no economic recovery without Covid-19 transmission under control."

He advised leaders to examine the lessons of the 2008 financial crash, where many countries cut spending on healthcare.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa said they are "seeing some rapid increases" in cases during a press briefing on Thursday.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa said, “It took 36 days to reach 1,000 reported cases, and then 62 days to move to 100,000 cases. We are just above 100,000 now.” 

Moeti said it’s a mixed bag across the continent, “Compared to two weeks ago, reported cases have tripled in five countries and doubled in 10 countries, noting that most countries still have fewer than 1,000 reported cases.”

Governments in each country have been working day and night to “procure and replenish essential supplies and equipment,” Moeti said and added that this remains one of the biggest challenges of the response.

“With strong country leadership and implementation of public and social health measures, cases in Africa remain lower than in some other parts of the world. However, we are not letting our guard down and we cannot be complacent,” she said. 

The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 5.7 million people globally. If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments: