The newly emerging Corona virus continues to spread in the world and forces many countries such as India to re-impose a stone on tens of millions of people, but hope for a vaccine strengthened in the United States with a drug company ready to launch the final phase of clinical trials, while Russia completed the first clinical trials of a pilot vaccine .
The announcement comes as bad news continues from all over the world about the spread of the virus, whose outcome has exceeded 13.2 million infections with more than 576 thousand deaths.
In parts of the Asia Pacific region that have been somewhat successful in fighting the epidemic, evidence of the continuing threat posed by the virus has emerged.
Hong Kong authorities have ordered bars, sports clubs and beauty salons to close their doors again, and banned gatherings of more than four people as part of efforts to contain a new outbreak of the epidemic after months of remarkable success in fighting it.
The people of Hong Kong volunteered to put on masks and masks when the virus surfaced in mainland China late last year. However, as of yesterday, its status in public transport became mandatory upon payment of a fine equivalent to 650 USD.
India is preparing to re-impose the stone on about 140 million people out of a total population of 1.3 billion in Bangalore and the poor state of Bihar.
In Australia, the authorities have appealed to citizens to adhere to the guidelines for social distancing, while isolation measures have continued to be imposed on nearly five million people in Melbourne since last week.
Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic, recorded 1300 additional deaths yesterday, bringing the total to more than 74,000 deaths with two million injuries. On the other hand, major samba institutes threaten not to participate in the upcoming Rio de Janeiro carnival in February 2021.
In the United States, cases continued to rise in the south and west of the country, with 63,262 new infections emerging since last Monday, bringing the total to more than 3.42 million people.
Yesterday, the Catalan government asked the people of Lerida, in the northeast, and the surrounding area, for their homes. The measures affect about 160,000 people who are only allowed to go out to work, to buy food and medicine, or to exercise. The advice of experts and authorities around the world, including in the United States most affected by the epidemic, has often been ignored.
The chief communicable disease expert, Anthony Fuchi, once again warned Americans against inaction, especially young people who feel they are not vulnerable to infection with the virus, preferring to "drink in the pub among the masses."
Given the transmission of the infection without symptoms, these young men should "realize that due to the nature of the epidemic ... they are unintentionally transmitting the infection, they are part of the problem, not the solution," Fauchi said during a video system meeting at Georgetown University.
In this worrying environment, the American company, Moderna Pharmaceutical Industries, announced the day before yesterday that the clinical trials of its vaccine against the "Covid-19" epidemic will enter the final stage on July 27, to give some hope.
This announcement puts "Moderna" at the forefront of the global race to reach a vaccine against the epidemic.
The group, which benefits from $ 483 million in aid from the US government, is the first company to reach this stage, and its promising initial results have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Clinical trials will be conducted in this third and final stage on 30,000 people in the United States, half of whom will receive doses of 100 micrograms of the vaccine, while the other half will receive a placebo.
Researchers will follow up on these people for two years to see if the vaccine is safe and effective in preventing SARS-2 infection.
Russia, in turn, has announced that it has completed the first clinical trials of a pilot vaccine against the virus that has been tested in humans for complete delivery by the end of July.
The Ministry of Defense, which is conducting experiments with the "Nikolai Gamalia" Center for Research in Epidemiology and Microbiology, said that the first group, which includes 18 volunteers, "ended its participation and left the hospital."
In France, where the epidemic weighed on the July 14 celebrations of National Day, and for the first time since 1945, the authorities canceled the traditional military parade along the Champs Elysées.
Hong Kong authorities order bars, sports clubs and beauty salons to close their doors again.