August 19 coronavirus news

Egypt will require all travelers arriving in the country to present a negative Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) lab test result starting September 1.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly made the announcement in a news conference on Wednesday, according to the state-run Al-Ahram news agency.

Madbouly said the decision to require the test for all travelers came due to “increasing infections in some countries,” according to Al-Ahram.  

Egypt shut its airspace in March but resumed regular international flights gradually from July 1, Al-Ahram reported. 

Foreign tourists are currently allowed entry only into the three coastal Egyptian governorates with the lowest coronavirus infection rates in the country -- South Sinai, Red Sea, and Matrouh, according to the news agency. 

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said it is using a new, fast saliva test for coronavirus under an Emergency Use Authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The university’s test is similar enough to one developed at the Yale School of Public Health to allow authorization, Dr. Marty Burke, associate dean for research at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, told a briefing Wednesday.

The FDA authorized Yale’s test, called SalivaDirect, last week.

It gives results in about three hours, a University of Illinois spokeswoman said. Students, faculty and staff have been getting tested twice weekly to keep a handle on the spread of the virus, she said, with more than 50,000 tests done since July.

The university tested 10,000 people on Monday alone, a spokesperson said.

“It’s one of the least expensive and potentially most effective now on the market,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the briefing.

Argentina reported its highest daily number of Covid-19-related deaths on Wednesday, with 282 fatalities.

The coronavirus death toll in the South American country now stands at 6,330, according to the Health Ministry.

Argentina also reported 6,693 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 312,659.

Argentina has reported the sixth highest number of cases in Latin America, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The College Board announced that 178,600 out of 402,000 students who signed up to take the SAT and SAT Subject Tests on Aug. 29 will not be able to do so.

The College Board cited the closure of local test centers and the need to reduce capacity as a result of social distancing as the reason for a significant number of students being unable to take the test on their previously scheduled date.

As of Tuesday, 54% of test centers initially scheduled to administer tests in August remain open. Of the 54% of test centers that are open, 46% are at capacity.

“We know this is a challenging time for students who want to take the SAT," said Priscilla Rodriguez, the College Board vice president of College Readiness Assessments. "We are working with local communities to help ensure as many students who want to test have the opportunity to do so, safely, during next week’s SAT administration and those that follow each month this year.” 

The College Board said it will work with test centers that need to close or reduce their available seats because of new safety measures.

Colombia surpassed the 500,000 mark in nationwide coronavirus cases Wednesday after the country registered a record 13,056 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to the country's health ministry.

This brings the country's total case count to at least 502,178. 

There were also 360 new deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, raising the national death toll to 15,979, the ministry reported.

This comes after Colombia's health ministry approved a plan this morning to partially resume domestic flights from 10 cities.

Colombia joins Brazil, Mexico and Peru to become the fourth country in Latin America to top 500,000 total Covid-19 cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

The Detroit Federation of Teachers voted overwhelming Wednesday to authorize a safety strike over concerns about the school district’s reopening plan, union president Terrence Martin said.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Public Schools Community District said via Twitter that “teachers have options. No teacher is required to teach face to face,” and that “most students are selecting online learning.” 

“We are hopeful we can reach an agreement with the Detroit Public Schools about the reopening,” Martin said, adding that the union is seeking reassurances from the district about the safety measures that would be taken in schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The vote to authorize the safety strike received the support of 91% of the union members as negotiations with the school district continues.

The first day of the district’s school year is scheduled for Sept. 8.

Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui said he expects a coronavirus vaccine to be widely available sometime next year – perhaps between April and June, according to a new report. 

Slaoui, in an interview Wednesday with Business Insider, said he expects most of the US’s “high-risk population of around 70 or 80 million people will have been immunized” by then. Much depends on whether a majority of the six vaccines backed by Operation Warp Speed demonstrate efficacy, he said.

"I feel pretty confident we will be there," Slaoui said.

High-risk individuals include the elderly and those with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, kidney and heart disease.

Some context: Slaoui, an immunologist who formerly headed up GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine program, told CNN late last month that there might not be enough vaccine available for all Americans until the end of next year. He said there would be enough vaccine for all Americans "ideally" by the middle of 2021, but possibly not until the end of 2021.

The head of Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s accelerated vaccine program, also told Business Insider that he expects critical information on late-stage vaccine trials currently underway by Moderna and Pfizer to be available soon and that the trials are moving along “very well.” AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are expected to begin trials shortly, too.

"I would not be surprised if we have data before the end of the year," Slaoui said, but he was unable to give a more precise time on when the government might know if one of the vaccines works. 

Brazil has confirmed 49,298 new Covid-19 cases and 1,212 deaths in the past 24 hours, the country’s health ministry reported Wednesday. 

At least 111,100 people have died in Brazil from coronavirus, according to the ministry’s data. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases now stands at 3,456,652.

A top Brazilian health official said at today’s news conference that Covid-19-related deaths in the country have been on the decline.

Some context: As of last week, Covid-19-related deaths fell by 2% compared to the previous week, according to data released on Wednesday by the health ministry.

Brazil continues to trail only the United States in terms of the highest number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the world.

Health officials in Washington state – where the first US coronavirus outbreak was reported – say the rate of new cases is slowing down for a second time.

“I do honestly think that the face coverings have made a difference,” Secretary of Health Dr. John Weisman said Wednesday during a news conference.

Earlier in the week, the department issued a status report saying new cases are “plateauing” in Washington.

The statewide seven-day rolling average peaked nearly a month ago, but Weisman said case counts are only just now getting back down to where they were during the state’s first peak at the beginning of April.

“We're both encouraged, and also still really cautious,” he said.