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Coronavirus live news: Vaccine trial restarts as cluster worsens in Victoria, Australia Coronavirus live news: Vaccine trial restarts as cluster worsens in Victoria, Australia
(32 minutes later)
Dr Fauci says White House task force meeting less despite rising infection rates; WHO warns of ‘exponential’ rise in cases. Follow updatesDr Fauci says White House task force meeting less despite rising infection rates; WHO warns of ‘exponential’ rise in cases. Follow updates
Two drugmakers have announced the resumption of US testing of their Covid-19 vaccine candidates.
Testing of AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate had been halted since early September, while Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine study was paused at the beginning of last week. Each company had a study volunteer develop a serious health issue, requiring a review of safety data.
The two coronavirus vaccines are among several candidates in final-stage testing, the last step before seeking regulatory approval.
The drugmakers said they got the go-ahead on Friday from the Food and Drug Administration to restart tests in the US.
Such temporary halts of drug and vaccine testing are relatively common. In research involving thousands of participants, some are likely to fall ill. Pausing a study allows researchers to investigate whether an illness is a side effect or a coincidence.
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Sutton was asked when the press conference will be held tomorrow, and he said “when it is called”. And that’s the end of that.
Victorian chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton says he is “very confident” Victoria will get control of the cases associated with the northern Melbourne outbreak, but reiterates there is a need to find the links between the cases, and that will inform the easing of instructions.
Sutton declines to comment on why he instructed lawyers acting for the health department not to include evidence where it showed he was included on emails on 27 March that mentions the use of private security guards well before he previously said he was made aware.
Sutton says he is providing an affidavit to the inquiry and it is appropriate to wait for that to be provided to the inquiry.
Andrews won’t cop criticism of the public health team who communicated with the family at the centre of the East Preston Islamic College outbreak.
He said the family were advised what to do, but the message didn’t get through because one child went to school while infectious.
Andrews disagrees with the suggestion it would be a miracle to have low case numbers tomorrow given all the tests waiting to be processed.Andrews disagrees with the suggestion it would be a miracle to have low case numbers tomorrow given all the tests waiting to be processed.
Andrews says the 25km radius limit and the Melbourne metro/regional border are on the table to be eased tomorrow, if that happens, but suggests both could remain in place to prevent potential spread of Covid-19 to popular tourism locations like Mornington Peninsula.Andrews says the 25km radius limit and the Melbourne metro/regional border are on the table to be eased tomorrow, if that happens, but suggests both could remain in place to prevent potential spread of Covid-19 to popular tourism locations like Mornington Peninsula.
Daniel Andrews says the school, community and faith leaders are calling people in the northern Melbourne area to get tested. The two schools involved are organising for everyone who hasn’t been tested to get tested.Daniel Andrews says the school, community and faith leaders are calling people in the northern Melbourne area to get tested. The two schools involved are organising for everyone who hasn’t been tested to get tested.
Daniel Andrews says “it’ll be a very late night, and a very early morning” when it comes to making decisions around restrictions easing tomorrow. Earlier in the press conference he said the easing of restrictions tomorrow could not be “banked on”.Daniel Andrews says “it’ll be a very late night, and a very early morning” when it comes to making decisions around restrictions easing tomorrow. Earlier in the press conference he said the easing of restrictions tomorrow could not be “banked on”.
He says Victoria is still in a good position with low case numbers, and will proceed with easing of restrictions if possible. It’s just about getting those test results.He says Victoria is still in a good position with low case numbers, and will proceed with easing of restrictions if possible. It’s just about getting those test results.
Jeroen Weimar says the Victorian health department is focused on close and secondary contacts for the northern Melbourne outbreak, and says he doesn’t think schools opened up again too soon.Jeroen Weimar says the Victorian health department is focused on close and secondary contacts for the northern Melbourne outbreak, and says he doesn’t think schools opened up again too soon.
“Some family members live in all sorts of housing, some in public housing, some in community housing, many in private accommodation. We are increasingly doing door-to-door testing for them so we are going to them to ensure that they get the care they need and support that they need but also to get tested,” he said.“Some family members live in all sorts of housing, some in public housing, some in community housing, many in private accommodation. We are increasingly doing door-to-door testing for them so we are going to them to ensure that they get the care they need and support that they need but also to get tested,” he said.
“If I look at the response of the school leadership of the schools that we are leading with, dealing with in this particular outbreak, they have taken prompt and swift action. We are talking about cases that happened on Monday this week.”“If I look at the response of the school leadership of the schools that we are leading with, dealing with in this particular outbreak, they have taken prompt and swift action. We are talking about cases that happened on Monday this week.”
The positive case at Croxton school is a student, they are part of a family of four, and all four of the family are positive, Jeroen Weimar said.The positive case at Croxton school is a student, they are part of a family of four, and all four of the family are positive, Jeroen Weimar said.
One of the family’s other children attends the East Preston Islamic College, but it is not clear whether the cases are connected. The two children attended school while infected on one day.One of the family’s other children attends the East Preston Islamic College, but it is not clear whether the cases are connected. The two children attended school while infected on one day.
A total of 9,405 tests have been conducted for staff, students or close contacts at the East Preston Islamic College, Victoria’s head of contact tracing, Jeroen Weimar, says.A total of 9,405 tests have been conducted for staff, students or close contacts at the East Preston Islamic College, Victoria’s head of contact tracing, Jeroen Weimar, says.
There are 101 close contacts associated with the college isolating, and 307 secondary contacts isolating. There are 34 close contacts of the Croxton special school also isolating.There are 101 close contacts associated with the college isolating, and 307 secondary contacts isolating. There are 34 close contacts of the Croxton special school also isolating.
The Victorian health department sent out 22,000 text messages and emails to taxi and Uber drivers in the northern Melbourne area, and Weimar has encouraged the drivers to come forward for testing.The Victorian health department sent out 22,000 text messages and emails to taxi and Uber drivers in the northern Melbourne area, and Weimar has encouraged the drivers to come forward for testing.
Daniel Andrews flags the long-awaited easing of restrictions announcement tomorrow should not be “banked on”. He says the announcements will still come tomorrow, but the actual easing will depend on the thousands of tests results waiting to come back as a result of the testing blitz in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
On the northern Melbourne outbreak, Daniel Andrews says he met with the community leaders this morning.
He says there are thousands of test results from people in the area still waiting to come back, and hundreds if not thousands of more people are likely to be tested today.
He says it is a 35% increase in the normal amount of testing you would expect to see in that community.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says Victoria has under 100 active cases of Covid-19 for the first time since 19 June.
Of today’s seven cases, Andrews says six are linked to outbreaks or known cases, including East Preston Islamic College, Croxton special school Northcote, the Hoppers Crossing community outbreak, and Estia in Keilor. One of those seven cases is under investigation.
There are three new cases in Darebin and single cases in Banule, greater Dandenong, Maribyrnong and Wyndham.
There were 17,219 test results since yesterday, which Andrews says is “another very, very strong number.”
Eight people are in hospital, and none in the ICU. There are seven active cases among healthcare workers.
Mexico’s health ministry reported on Friday 6,604 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 418 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 880,775 and the death toll to 88,312.
Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
I am in Melbourne, the city with one of the, if not the, longest lockdowns in the world. Now we only have around 100 actives cases left, we are on the verge of opening up. We all crave a return to “Covid normal” as the politicians like to say, but there’s a fear it could return, and we might be forced to endure another lockdown.
For the second day in a row, the Australian state of New South Wales has reported no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases.
There were five cases reported in hotel quarantine.
There were 12,890 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with 13,686 in the previous 24 hours.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, will provide his daily update at 11.30am AEDT today.
It’s the last update before tomorrow’s expected announcement of the further easing of restrictions in the state.
Australia’s ABC has reported the principal of the East Preston Islamic College in Melbourne has said the family of the child who attended school while infectious with Covid-19 is considering leaving the area after being devastated that it has led to the virus spreading.
The family had been isolating, but was told by the Victorian health department that two of the family’s children could return to school. English is not their first language, and it was interpreted that this meant all three children could go back to school, too.
The child was meant to keep isolating, and tested positive on Wednesday.
Now four new cases connected to the outbreak of 32 cases were reported on Saturday and around 800 people in the northern suburbs of Melbourne are currently isolating and being tested.
A bright yellow helicopter rose into a blue sky on Friday carrying a Covid-19 patient from the Netherlands to a German intensive care unit, the first such international airlift since the pandemic first threatened to swamp Dutch hospitals in the spring, AP reports.
The clatter of the helicopter’s rotors as it lifted off from a parking lot behind a hospital 30km east of Amsterdam was a noisy reminder of how the coronavirus is again gripping Europe and straining health care systems that struggled for equipment and staff during the pandemic’s first wave.
Elsewhere on the continent, an absence of noise will underscore the virus’ resurgence. More than two-thirds of the people living in France were to be subject to a nightly curfew starting at midnight Friday, hours after health authorities announced that the country had joined Spain in surpassing 1 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
“The epidemic is very strongly accelerating,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after visiting a hospital near Paris.
France became the second country in Western Europe and the seventh world-wide to reach that number of known infections after reporting 42,032 new daily cases. Of the 445,000 confirmed cases the World Health Organization had recorded in the past 24 hours, nearly half were in Europe, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said.
I’m Josh Taylor and I will be seeing you through the rest of the morning and early afternoon of Saturday, Australian time.
Here’s what we know so far today:
Victoria has reported no new deaths and seven new cases of Covid-19 overnight, including four new cases linked to an outbreak at the East Preston Islamic College. About 800 people who are either close contacts or secondary contacts of those associated with the school are currently isolating and awaiting test results. All staff and students from the nearby Croxton School have also been told to get tested and self-isolate, even if they aren’t experiencing symptoms.
AstraZeneca has resumed the US trial of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine after approval by US regulators, the company said. It was paused on 6 September after a report of a serious neurological illness, believed to be transverse myelitis, in a participant in the company’s UK trial.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease expert, said the White House coronavirus task force’s meetings have become less frequent, even as infections rise in dozens of US states.
The EU’s disease control agency joined health workers across Europe in sounding the alarm about the surge in coronavirus infections as the World Health Organization warned of an “exponential” rise in cases. Several countries in Europe are reporting infection rates higher than during the first wave of the pandemic in March and April, with Spain saying it has now more than 3 million cases.
France’s second wave of coronavirus could be worse than the first, the boss of Paris public hospital group AP-HP said on Friday as the country registered a record number of daily cases. With pressure on hospitals rising fast, France has expanded a 9pm to 6am curfew to cover 46 million people, more than two-thirds of its population.
Italy registered 19,143 new coronavirus infections, a jump of more than 3,000 within the last 24 hours. The northern Lombardy region, the worst hit region during the first wave of the pandemic, recorded almost 5,000 new cases while in Campania, in the south, there were 2,280.
More than half a million people in the US could die from Covid-19 by the end of February next year, but about 130,000 of those lives could be saved if everybody were to wear masks, according to estimates from a modelling study.