Europe battles surge as cases top 30mn globally
LONDON/ COPENHAGEN: Much of Europe braced for new curbs against Covid-19 after the World Health Organization warned of “alarming rates of transmission” in the continent, even as global infections topped 30 million.
Britain is limiting gatherings and France is set to roll out new curbs for major cities as governments across the region are battling fresh spikes of the disease. The Madrid region of Spain, witnessing an explosion of cases, said on Friday it was placing a partial lockdown on roughly 13% of the population.
More than 947,000 people have now died from Covid-19, with Europe accounting for more than 200,000. WHO’s Europe director Hans Kluge said a surge seen this month “should serve as a wake-up call” after the continent recorded 54,000 infections in a single day last week.
French authorities are preparing tighter restrictions in several cities to curtail a resurgence that has seen nearly 10,000 new cases per day in the past week.
UK health secretary Matt Hancock said another national lockdown was not being ruled out, as the number of new cases accelerated in recent days. New curbs, called “circuit break” are likely next week targeting restaurants, pubs and hospitality areas, which could be shut or asked to close early for some weeks. Parts of north England have already been placed under new curbs.
“This is a big moment for the country. We are seeing an acceleration in the number of cases,” Hancock told BBC radio.
Asked if he was considering a new national lockdown, he said, “I have learned over the last nine months not ever to rule anything out. However, it is not the proposal that’s on the table.”
Europe is still hoping not to follow the example of Israel, which entered a second nationwide lockdown on Friday at the onset of the Jewish high-holiday season, following a jump in new coronavirus cases.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, said the country may be entering a third wave of infections, after 144 deaths and 3,049 new cases were recorded in past 24 hours.
One-hour Covid test is accurate, finds study
A Covid-19 test known as DnaNudge that gives results in just over an hour and requires no lab was accurate in almost all cases, according to an academic review in The Lancet. The test, based on the design of a DNA test developed by a professor at Imperial College London, received approval for use by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in April after successful trials.
In a study in The Lancet Microbe, the test was found to have an average sensitivity - ability to correctly identify those with Covid-19 - of 94.4% and a specificity - correctly identifying those without the disease - of 100%.
Moderna targets 20mn vaccine doses by year end
US drug firm Moderna said on Friday it was on track to produce 20 million doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, while maintaining its goal of readying 500mn to 1 billion doses in 2021.
Moderna had enrolled 25,296 participants out of a planned 30,000 in its late-stage study as of Wednesday.