Here are the latest updates:
Eli Lilly Co said that its experimental antibody reduced the need for hospitalization and emergency room visits for patients with moderate COVID-19, according to an interim analysis of a mid-stage clinical trial.
The study tested three different doses of LY-CoV555, a manufactured antibody designed to recognize and lock onto the novel coronavirus, preventing the infection from spreading.
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik-V, to Indian drug company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the fund said on Wednesday, as Moscow speeds up plans to distribute its shot abroad.
The deal comes after the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reached agreements with Indian manufacturers to produce 300 million doses of the vaccine in India, which is a major consumer of Russian oil and arms.
More than one thousand Hasidic Jewish pilgrims including children were massed at the Ukraine-Belarus border after Kiev denied them entry due to coronavirus restrictions, the two countries said.
Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews travel every Jewish New Year to the central Ukrainian town of Uman to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nahman, the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement.
The Czech Republic has registered another steep rise in coronavirus infections, with the number of new confirmed cases surpassing 1,600 in one day for the first time.
The Health Ministry says the day-to-day increase reached a new record of 1,677 on Tuesday. The record was broken four times last week.
Vietnam will resume international commercial flights connecting the country to several Asian destinations starting Friday, after a monthslong shutdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak.
The flights, however, are reserved for Vietnamese nationals, diplomats, experts, managers, skilled workers, investors and their families. They are not yet available for tourists.
The Philippines’ health ministry recorded 3,550 additional novel coronavirus infections and 69 more deaths.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had risen to 272,934, the most in Southeast Asia, while confirmed deaths have reached 4,732.
In 351 jails across India, out of a total 1,350, have reported coronavirus infections according to The National Campaign Against Torture.
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra were the states with the most number of prisons infected.
Serum Institute of India has received Indian regulatory approval to resume local clinical trials of AstraZeneca’s potential COVID-19 vaccine, a source familiar with the matter said.
The approval came from the Drugs Controller General of India, the source said.
AstraZeneca has resumed British clinical trials of the vaccine – one of the most advanced in development for COVID-19 – after they were paused earlier this month following a serious side effect in a trial participant.
Ukraine registered a record 76 deaths related to the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the national security council said on Wednesday, up from a record of 72 deaths registered last week.
The council said 162,660 cases were registered in Ukraine as of Sept. 16, with 3,340 deaths and 72,324 people recovered.
Hello, this is Usaid Siddiqui in Doha taking over from my colleague Kate Mayberry.
Caixin is reporting that China has begun human trials of a coronavirus vaccine delivered as a nasal spray that could provide an alternative to injections.
It’s the first vaccine of its kind in the world to proceed to human trials, Caixin said, citing the WHO’s latest list of vaccine candidates.
The vaccine is being developed by Hong Kong University, Xiamen University and a Beijing-based vaccine manufacturer.
Oscar-winning film director Martin Scorsese has warned cinema is becoming “marginalised and devalued” as a “form of comfort food” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Scorsese made the comments in an introductory video to the Toronto Film Festival, where he praised the organisers for going ahead with the event, North America’s largest film festival.
Toronto is taking place mainly online this year, along with a handful of drive-in and limited capacity indoor screenings.
Cases of coronavirus have passed the five million mark in India after the authorities confirmed 90,123 new cases on Wednesday.
India is second only to the US in the number of cases confirmed.
Its death toll is much lower, however.
The health ministry said on Wednesday an additional 1,290 people had died from COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 82,066. Nearly 196,000 people have died from the disease in the US.
You can read more on that story here.
The United Nations could hold an in-person meeting of the General Assembly New York as early as November to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assembly president Volkan Bozkir says discussions are continuing with some countries concerned about meeting so soon – especially in the United States, where the virus continues to spread widely..
Bozkir is keen to start in-person UN meetings, which have taken place via video conference since March, as soon as possible, saying such a summit should have happened “in June.”
Air New Zealand plans to cut as many as 385 more cabin crew jobs because the coronavirus has forced it to reduce international routes.
The reductions would bring its COVID-19 related job losses to around 37 percent of its workforce, which is higher than both Qantas and Singapore Airlines.
in annoucing the decision, Air New Zealand noted the decline in demand on North American routes. It now operates return flights to Los Angeles three times a week rather than every day and has converted its San Francisco flights to cargo only.
Japan has committed 17.2 billion yen ($165 million) in funds for the WHO’s global COVID-19 vaccine programme, known as COVAX.
The initiative is aimed at helping buy and fairly distribute a COVID-19 vaccine to countries around the world. But some countries which have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the United States, have said they will not join.
Japan has also pursued independent arrangements with global pharmaceutical companies to secure vaccines, with the government pledging to have enough supply for the whole population by the first half of 2021. The COVAX programme has set a Sept. 18 deadline for contributions.
Hong Kong has wrapped up a mass testing programme that fuelled controversy because of the involvement of experts from the mainland.
About 1.78 million specimens were collected in the two-week exercise with 45 COVID-19 cases found as a result of the testing and associated contact tracing, according to the government.
The territory, which is home to about 7.5 million people, is to begin relaxing some of its coronavirus curbs from Friday.
China has suspended imports from an OK Foods poultry plant in Arkansas, because of coronavirus cases among workers, according to the USA Poultry Egg Export Council.
It’s the second US poultry factory to be blocked because of an outbreak among employees. “We don’t think that either one of these two are justified, especially considering the fact that the virus cannot be transmitted in poultry meat,” said Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry Egg Export Council.
Chinese customs authority GACC suspended imports from the OK Foods facility, he said. The Arkansas plant became ineligible to ship products to China on Sepember 13, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
US President Donald Trump has been questioned by voters on his coronavirus response at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania.
Asked by one uncommitted Pennsylvania voter why he had played down a pandemic that was known to endanger low-income families and minority communities, he claimed he had done the opposite.
“I didn’t downplay it. In many ways I up played it in terms of action,” Trump said at the event, which was sponsored by ABC News.
“You do not admit to it yourself?” the voter, Ajani Powell, interrrupted.
Trump continued, “Yeah, because what I did is with China, I put a ban on. With Europe, I put a ban on and we would have lost thousands of more people had I not put the ban on. So, that was called action. Not with the mouth but in actual fact.”
He also said a vaccine would probably be available soon. “We’re very close to having a vaccine,” he told the audience. “We’re within weeks of getting it you know could be three weeks, four weeks.”
Australia’s Victoria state looks to be on course to relax a strict lockdown in the city of Melbourne by the end of the month after the average number of cases over the last two weeks dropped below 50, which is within the target range for the state to ease restrictions from September 28.
The fall in cases in recent days – 42 were reported across the state on Wednesday – from early August’s triple-digit highs means some curbs will be eased in rural areas of the state late on Wednesday.
In these places, outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people will be permitted, residents of a household will be allowed to visit one other home, and cafes will be able to seat up to 50 people outside.
#COVID19VicData UPDATED: We have reissued today’s data as there are 81 cases with unknown source in Metro Melbourne, not 82, as earlier tweeted. Yesterday there were 42 new cases reported and 8 lives lost. Info: https://t.co/eTputEZdhs pic.twitter.com/buI8b9yv7J
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) September 15, 2020
A new study has found female healthcare workers and medical staff with Asian heritage are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection because they are less likely to be using face masks that fit them properly.
The analysis published in the journal Anaesthesia looked at studies into the assessment of filtration masks like the N95 and FFP2 models, which are used by medical workers in high-risk situations.
Their review looked at research that showed higher initial fit-pass rates in Caucasians (90 percent) compared with Asians (84 percent) and said particularly low initial fit-pass rates were found in Asian women, with a reported average of just 60 percent.
In the US, the report said authorities use a fit-test panel to assess the suitability of the N95 masks provided to healthcare workers, but they noted that the facial dimensions represented by the panel were based on a group of people in which women and Asians were “underrepresented”.
In many countries around the world, women make up at least three-quarters of all healthcare staff. The authors said that to ensure a mask is not liable to leak, it needs to adequately fit the face shape of the wearer, adding that fit appears to be more important for protection from airborne viral spread than the filtration capacity of the mask itself.
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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.
Read all the updates from yesterday (September 15) here.