19 infections in China spark new concerns

China reported 19 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for Monday - up from 13 infections a day earlier - the national health commission said on Tuesday, sparking renewed concerns. All of the new infections were imported.

The country also reported 24 new asymptomatic patients, compared with 33 a day earlier. As of Monday, mainland China had 85,704 confirmed Covid-19 cases, the health authority said. China’s coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

In Italy, the northern Lombardy region prepared to impose a night-time curfew, the most restrictive measure the country has seen since emerging from a national lockdown in the spring. The curfew from 11pm to 5am is expected to begin on Thursday night and last till November 13.

On the vaccine front, Moderna’s chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel said he expects interim results from its vaccine trial in November and the US government could give an emergency use nod in December, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bancel said sufficient interim results from the study takes longer to get and the government’s nod to use the vaccine may not come until next year.

In the UK, researchers are preparing to begin a controversial experiment that will infect healthy volunteers with the coronavirus to study the disease in hopes of speeding up the development of a vaccine.

The approach, called a challenge study, is risky but proponents say it may produce results faster than standard research, which waits to see if volunteers who have been given an experimental treatment get sick.

Imperial College London said Tuesday that the study, involving healthy volunteers between 18 and 30, would be conducted in partnership with the department for business, energy and industrial strategy, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and hVivo, a company that has

experience conducting testing.

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Monday that Europe and North America should follow the example of Asian states by persevering with anti-Covid measures.

Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergency expert, said, “Too many countries have put an imaginary finishing line... The countries in Asia, south Asia, the western Pacific that have been successful have really continued to follow-through on those key activities.”