February 15 coronavirus news

The AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine was listed by the World Health Organization for emergency use on Monday, meaning that it can be rolled out globally through COVAX.

Tedros explained that the “two versions” are the same vaccine being manufactured by two different producers – AstraZeneca-SKBio and the Serum Institute of India. They require separate reviews and approvals, as they are being made in different production plants.

Emergency use listing assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines and is a prerequisite for the vaccines to be part of the COVAX supply, as well as allowing countries to expedite their own regulatory approval, according to a WHO news release, also on Monday.

For the two AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines, WHO assessed the quality, safety and efficacy data, risk management plans and programmatic suitability in less than four weeks. On Feb. 8, the vaccine was reviewed by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), who recommended the vaccine for all groups age 18 and above.

SAGE recommended use of the vaccine for all people ages 18 and older, and that the two doses are administered eight to 12 weeks apart. Their interim recommendations say that it has an efficacy of 63.09% against symptomatic infection.

Along with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, these are the second and third vaccines to receive emergency use listing by WHO, Tedros said. Experts say they could have a major global impact because they cost less and are more easily distributed, since they do not have ultra-cold chain requirements.

The Illinois Department of Public Health Monday reported 41 new Covid-19 related deaths, bringing the total number of lives lost in the state since the pandemic began to 20,002, according to a statement from the department.  

The department reported 1,420 new cases of Covid-19 and a 3.5% positivity rate. There are 1,789 people hospitalized with Covid-19, 389 patients in the ICU and 184 on ventilators.

Nearly 1.2 million people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the state of Illinois since health department began tracking data, according to the statement.  

The biotechnology company Novavax told CNN on Monday that its scientists are testing a new version of its Covid-19 vaccine in the lab that specifically targets the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa.

As part of this research, the scientists are hoping to determine whether the new vaccine would serve as a booster shot to the original vaccine that has already been developed, or as a bivalent vaccine administered on its own, meaning it would target two strains of the coronavirus, both the original and the variant first identified in South Africa. 

Once lab testing is complete, the new vaccine could move to clinical trials – but a timeline is still in the works and the research is still very early.

In a previous announcement in January, the company said, "Novavax initiated development of new constructs against the emerging strains in early January and expects to select ideal candidates for a booster and/or combination bivalent vaccine for the new strains in the coming days. The company plans to initiate clinical testing of these new vaccines in the second quarter of this year."

The biotechnology company Novavax told CNN on Monday that it expects to announce this week that its PREVENT-19 trial has reached full enrollment.

The trial will include about 30,000 adults across 115 locations in the US and Mexico to test whether the company's investigational vaccine prevents Covid-19 disease. 

Novavax announced in January that early results from a Phase 3 trial in the UK show its coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy of 89.3%. 

As the US trial for Novavax's coronavirus vaccine reaches full enrollment, the company told CNN on Monday that its vaccine is still on track to possibly receive authorization for emergency use in the US by summer. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for patience and warned the “threat from this virus remains very real” despite the UK reaching its target of giving 15 million people a first dose of the vaccine by Feb. 15. 

Speaking during a Downing Street news conference on Monday, Johnson said he would be setting out a roadmap out of lockdown next week but “we want this lockdown to be the last." He said he wants the progress to be “cautious and irreversible."

He said the level of infection remains very high and there are still more people in hospitals with Covid-19 than at the peak last April. “So this moment is a huge step forward but it’s only a first step,” Johnson cautioned.

The government’s next target is to offer vaccines to its top nine priority groups — including everyone over the age of 50 — by the end of April.

There have been at least 27,645,547 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 485,414 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

So far today, Johns Hopkins University has reported 5,265 new cases and 78 new deaths.  

At least 70,057,800 vaccine doses have been distributed and at least 52,884,356 total doses of the vaccine have been administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.  

The UK's mandatory hotel quarantine for travelers arriving from some countries — including South Africa, Portugal and South American nations — went into effect today

Non-UK residents from these countries will be refused entry. British citizens and permanent residents will be picked up straight from the airport and transferred to government-provided accommodation where they will begin their mandatory stay.

CNN's Go There is in London, where international correspondent Scott McLean answered CNN viewers' questions about the UK variant and new quarantine policies.

Watch:

In an interview that aired on “Axios on HBO” Sunday, Axios Managing Editor Margaret Talev asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, if he ever worried about contracting the coronavirus himself.

At age 80, Fauci is considered at high risk for serious disease and death if he were to get sick with Covid-19.

Iraq has reported its first new cases of what it says is a rapidly spreading coronavirus variant, after several infections were recorded, including children, the Health Minister Hassan Al Tamimi said in a news conference on TV on Monday.

Al Tamimi did not specify which variant was detected, or how many cases had been identified, but warned of its danger amidst a “remarkable increase in infections”.

On Monday, the Iraqi Ministry of Health reported at least 2,798 new confirmed coronavirus cases. It brings the total number of cases in Iraq to at last 646,650, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

Iraq on Saturday had announced a series of restrictive measures "in light of the increasing number of infections among citizens," to contain the spread of coronavirus, according to a statement released by the Iraqi cabinet.

The statement said Iraq will impose a full curfew on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays of each week between Feb. 18 through March 8.