Aug 13 (Reuters) - Here's what you need to know about the
coronavirus right now:
New Zealand tracking community cases
New Zealand was scrambling to trace the source of its first
coronavirus outbreak in more than three months, reporting 13 new
community infections on Thursday, bringing the total number of
active cases to 36. Tight movement restrictions have been
reimposed in Auckland and social distancing measures across the
rest of the country.
The resurgence of COVID-19 comes just weeks before a
scheduled general election, increasing pressure on Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern to get the outbreak under control amid
growing criticism.
Ardern said it was a positive sign that all 13 new community
cases were linked back to one infected family, either via work
or broader family connections, and that all were being
transferred into quarantine facilities. and testing Russian vaccine
A Brazilian technology institute said on Wednesday it
expects to produce the controversial Sputnik V coronavirus
Russian vaccine by the second half of 2021, shortly after the
state of Parana signed a memorandum of understanding with
Moscow. Jorge Callado, director of Parana's Technology Institute
known as Tecpar, said Parana would likely participate in the
phase three testing, subject to Brazilian regulatory
authorization.
The Philippines plans to start clinical trials for a Russian
coronavirus vaccine in October, with President Rodrigo Duterte
expected to be inoculated as early as May 2021, presidential
spokesman Harry Roque said on Thursday.
Phase three clinical trials in the Philippines are due to
run from October to March 2021, after a panel of vaccine experts
completes its review on Russia's phase one and two trials in
September, Roque told a briefing. on more frozen food
A sample of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern
Chinese city of Shenzhen from Brazil has tested positive for
coronavirus, the city government said in a notice on Thursday.
In addition to screening all meat and seafood containers
coming into major ports in recent months, China has suspended
some meat imports from various origins, including Brazil, since
mid-June.
Li Fengqin, who heads a microbiology lab at the China
National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment told reporters
in June that contaminated food put in cold storage could be a
potential source of transmission. and denial in rural India
Interviews with dozens of staff, patients and relatives at
the 900-bed Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in
India's Bihar state, paint a picture of conditions that might
shock those accustomed to images of hermetically sealed ICUs
during the pandemic, with relatives not even allowed to touch
their dying loved ones. They tell instead of a chronic shortage
of manpower and resources such as blood and medicines.
The state government's response to the outbreak has been so
dire that it has prompted public interest litigation asking that
India's federal government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
take over management of the pandemic here.
Elsewhere, in two dozen small Indian towns and villages
visited by Reuters reporters in recent weeks, people have
largely given up on social distancing and masks after months of
sticking to the rules, believing the virus is not such a serious
threat. The change in behaviour in rural India - where
two-thirds of its 1.3 billion people live, often with only the
most basic health facilities - has come as infections in the
countryside have surged.