Covid-19 deaths are currently five times lower than they were in March and April, when the first wave hit the continent, the WHO’s European director, Dr Hans Kluge, told a news conference on Thursday.
One reason for the increase in cases seen in recent weeks is more young people testing positive for the virus, he said, adding that the lower mortality rate was because that demographic was less likely to die from Covid-19 than older people.
But projections of the course of the disease in Europe were “not optimistic”, he explained.
If European governments relax their restrictions, the course of the virus indicates that by January 2021 the daily mortality rate will be four to five times higher than it was during April, Dr Kluge said.
But if 95% of people wear masks and other social distancing measures are applied, Europe could avoid about 281,000 deaths by February, he added.
He said that governments must consider mental health and domestic violence when imposing restrictions, and do everything possible to keep schools open.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has called on countries to step up their preparations, advising governments to co-ordinate contact tracing and the eventual deployment of vaccines.
A Nigerian payments company Paystack has been acquired by a US-based payments giant, Stripes.
The deal is rumoured to be for over $200 million.
For many in the Nigerian tech ecosystem, it was just a matter of time before this happened.
Founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi. Paystack sought to solve the challenge most Nigerians face when it comes to online payment transactions in Africa.
By seamlessly connecting all multi-channel payment options with merchants across the country, it enabled them to accept payments from around the world, via credit card, debit card, and direct bank transfer on web and mobile.
This got the one-year-old startup into US-based seed-stage accelerator, Y Combinator where it received 120,000 US dollars in funding and access to global investors.
Later that year, it raised a seed funding of 1.3 million US dollars from Tencent, Comcast Ventures, Singularity Investments, Michael Seibel, Justin Kan, Jason Njoku’s SPARK.ng, Olumide Soyombo among other investors.j
But it was in 2018 Paystack put everyone on notice as it raised 8 million Dollars in Series A funding. With participation from global payments company, Visa, US-based accelerator, Y Combinator, and Tencent, it was Stripe, a similar payments company based in the US, who led the round.
Three years after launching, this brought the company’s total funding to a little over $10 million. And since then, the company hasn’t raised a follow-up round.
So far, Paystack now has more than 60,000 businesses using its platform and is looking to expand beyond Nigeria and Ghana where it currently operates.
According to the founders of Stripe, the company was looking to continue investing in product development, further global expansion and strategic initiative
The billion-dollar startup has been strategically investing in similar startups around the world. Having invested in Paystack (Africa) two years ago, it recently invested in Paymongo, a payments startupin the Philippines (Asia) last month.
For its global expansion into Africa, Paystack presented the perfect acquisition opportunity. But while this is the biggest acquisition deal to come out of sub-Saharan Africa and Stripe’s largest acquisition till date, both companies will continue to operate independently.
The United Nations (UN) on Thursday said they are following the End SARS protests in Nigeria.
Secretary-General António Guterres, commended the government’s decision to undertake “broader reforms” in the Nigeria Police.
Guterres spoke through his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, in New York.
The UN chief said he was prepared to “accompany Nigeria in those efforts”.
He welcomed the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and urged the government to undertake broader police reforms.
The world body urged the country’s security forces to exercise “maximum restraint” in their response.
“The Secretary-General is following the protests in Nigeria calling for the dissolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and an end to human rights violations allegedly committed by security agencies.
“The Secretary-General stresses the importance of respect for peaceful protests and freedom of assembly and calls on the security forces to exercise maximum restraint in the policing of the demonstrations.”
Colonel Sagir Musa’s “VEILED THREATS” to protesters Army spokesman Col Sagir Musa said in a Facebook post: “The NA [Nigerian army] hereby warns all subversive elements and trouble makers to desist from such acts as it remains highly committed to defend the country and her democracy at all cost.”
He went on to offer to “support the civil authority in whatever capacity to maintain law and order and deal with any situation decisively”.
The statement has been received as a veiled threat by protesters,
PM must decide on no-deal as Michel Barnier says negotiations ‘are not over’
Boris Johnson is facing the momentus decision of whether to walk out on Brexit trade talks, after the EU offered to extend them beyond the prime minister’s deadline to the end of October.
Chief negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters in Brussels that he had proposed a two-week extension to negotiations, offering to work through the weekend if necessary to get an agreement.
“I can confirm that we’re available, we shall remain available until the last possible day,” he said, after a meeting of EU leaders in the Belgian capital to discuss the issue.
“The negotiations aren’t over, we want to give these negotiations every chance of being successful to give every chance of agreement.”
The prime minister, who would trigger a no-deal Brexit if he decides to refuse the offer, this week said he would wait for the conclusions of the summit before making a decision about whether to extend on Friday.
He faces the choice amid a growing revolt at home over his handling of the Covid-19 crisis, and with early signs that a second wave of the pandemic is about to hit the UK.
But a statement prepared by EU leaders after their discussion gave no hint of compromise, and was even downgraded from an earlier draft that promised “intensified” discussions, in case the wrong message was sent.
“As of tomorrow I will be speaking with my counterpart David Frost [the UK chief negotiator],” Mr Barnier told reporters.
“On Monday we’ll be in London for the full week, including the weekend if necessary, the following week in Brussels.
“That’s what I have proposed to the British team to negotiate in the short space of time still left to us, so that we can negotiate this agreement through to the end of October.”
Speaking alongside European Council president Charles Michel, the chief negotiator said that sticking points remain in three perennial areas: the level playing field on regulations, governance of any deal, and fisheries.
The issue of governance has become particularly important following a UK decision to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement with its Internal Market Bill, an episode has led some EU member states to call for stronger enforcement measures for any future deal, diplomats say.
Missing from the press conference lineup was Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. Ms Von der Leyen arrived at the summit as normal but had to leave near the beginning to self-isolate, after one of her team tested positive.
Mr Johnson is expected to make his announcement on whether talks will continue on Friday, after the conclusion of the summit’s second day. If he decides to end talks there, the UK will crash out of the single market and customs union on 31 December with nothing to replace them, and fare tariffs and other economic disruption. The government has taken to referring to the eventuality as an “Australia-style Brexit”.
A UK government spokesperson said of the meeting’s results: “As the PM made clear on his call with the EU Presidents [on Wednesday night], he will reflect on the outcome of the European Council before setting out the UK’s next steps, in light of his statement of 7 September.”
Since blood group distributions vary among ethnic subgroups, the researchers also controlled for ethnicity and maintained that fewer people with blood type O tested positive for the virus.
People with blood type O may have a lower risk of infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that causes COVID-19, and reduced likelihood of severe outcomes, including organ complications, if they develop the disease, two new studies suggest.
The studies, published in the journal Blood Advances on Wednesday, add evidence that there may be an association between blood type and vulnerability to COVID-19.
However, the researchers noted that more studies are needed to better understand why and what it means for patients.
In the first study, researchers compared Danish health registry data from over 473,000 individuals tested for COVID-19 to data from a control group of more than 2.2 million people from the general population.
Among the COVID-19 positive, they found fewer people with blood type O and more people with A, B, and AB types.
The study suggests that people with blood types A, B, or AB may be more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than people with type O.
The researchers did not find any significant difference in rate of infection between A, B, and AB types.
Since blood group distributions vary among ethnic subgroups, the researchers also controlled for ethnicity and maintained that fewer people with blood type O tested positive for the virus.
“It is very important to consider the proper control group because blood type prevalence may vary considerably in different ethnic groups and different countries,” said study author Torben Barington, from the University of Southern Denmark.
A separate retrospective study in Canada found that people with blood groups A or AB appear to exhibit greater COVID-19 disease severity than people with blood groups O or B.
The researchers examined data from 95 critically ill COVID-19 patients hospitalised in Vancouver.
The team found that patients with blood groups A or AB were more likely to require mechanical ventilation, suggesting that they had greater rates of lung injury from COVID-19.
The researchers also found more patients with blood group A and AB required dialysis for kidney failure.
These findings, taken together, suggest that patients in these two blood groups may have an increased risk of organ dysfunction or failure due to COVID-19 than people with blood types O or B.
While people with blood types A and AB did not have longer overall hospital stays than those with types O or B, they did remain in the intensive care unit (ICU) for a longer average time, which may also signal a greater COVID-19 severity level, the researchers said.
During a Wednesday appearance on Pod Save America, former President Barack Obama responded to President Donald Trump’s attacks, Mediaite reported.
Trump has long claimed that Obama and members of his administration need to be indicted for allegedly undermining his presidency from the outset.
In a recent tweet, for instance, Trump accused Obama and his allies of spying on his campaign, suggesting that they are guilty of treason, which is a high crime punishable by death.
Speaking with his former adviser Tommy Vietor, who is one of the hosts of the podcast, Obama said that even Trump’s allies tend to avoid addressing this issues and dodge questions from members of the media.
“This is something that even his, you know, his fellow Republicans tend to just pretend doesn’t happen,” Obama said, noting that Attorney General William Barr and various congressional committees have rejected Trump’s claims as baseless.
Obama suggested that Trump’s attacks show that he is trying to politicize the criminal justice system.
“That is stuff that you keep out of politics right now,” he argued, noting that his successor has used similarly “inflammatory” language to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Obama said that his is “not surprised” that Trump’s attacks have continued, but noted that he is “disappointed that Republicans who know better have not checked him on this.”
He concluded that it remains to be seen whether Republicans will change their behavior if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the presidency, because they have failed to stand up to the commander-in-chief.
“And I think on a very important question after the election, even if it goes well with Joe Biden, is whether you start seeing the Republican Party restore some sense of ‘here are norms that we can’t breach’ because he’s breached all of them and they have not said to him, ‘this is too far.’”
Elsewhere in the interview, Obama took aim at Trump’s foreign policy, accusing him of trying to “decimate” American institutions. He said that the commander-in-chief has purged competent officials and experts from the State Department, appointing loyalists who align with him ideologically.
Obama also said that Biden will have to “rebuild” the State Department if he wins the presidency, saying that his former vice president would listen to experts and engage in diplomacy.
With less than a month until Election Day, Biden is a clear favorite to win. According to the RealClearPolitics average of polling data, Trump is trailing him by 9.2 percentage points nationwide.
Long-time White House photographer Pete Souza weighed in on some recent images released by the Trump administration of Donald Trump, saying that they were “obviously” staged.
After revealing that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, President Donald Trump checked into Walter Reed hospital, as The Inquisitr previously reported. While there, he released a few images that appeared to show him working in various rooms while he was being treated, as The Daily Beast wrote.
Souza, who worked under both former President Ronald Reagan and former President Barack Obama, has a unique perspective about the photos coming out of the White House.
“They were obviously posed pictures,” he said.
As ABC News reported at the time, the three images came under intense scrutiny.
In the first image, Trump wears a dark blue jacket and a white button-down shirt open at the neck. He appears to be signing a piece of paper at a round table.
When the image is zoomed in on, the paper that he is signing appears to be blank and he is apparently signing his name to the empty page. An official pushed back on the claim, saying that the image was overexposed on the page so that the type couldn’t be seen.
In a second image, the suit jacket is gone, but it seems as though he is wearing a similar shirt. Again, he works at a table with several binders and documents in front of him.
A journalist named Jon Ostrower examined the two images and noted that they were taken just 10 minutes apart.
Souza also spoke with Variety about the images, repeating the claim that the images released by the administration aren’t real.
“They’re reality show photos. It’s hard to find any authentic behind-the-scenes moments among the tens of thousands of photographs they’ve posted on Flickr,” he said.
The images stand in contrast to his own photos, according to Souza, who feels that his images create a more accurate portrayal of the reality of the White House behind the scenes. He explained why he felt it was important to capture reality.
“Michelle Obama has the great quote where she says the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are. I think my photographs of both President Reagan and President Obama reveal who they are as human beings. They’re authentic. They’re not staged. They’re not posed,” he said.
Following the heightening protests against police brutality across the country, the Nigerian Army has warned it is prepared to protect the country’s democracy at all cost.
Apparently referring to the #EndSARS protesters, the Nigerian Army in a statement by the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sagir Musa, assured it is committed to the “sustenance of peace, security and defence of democracy in Nigeria”
Lieutenant General TY Buratai (Chief of Army Staff)
According to the statement: “The Nigerian Army (NA) wishes to reassure law abiding citizens that it is highly committed to the sustenance of peace, security and defence of democracy in Nigeria.
“As a responsible and law abiding organisation, the NA reaffirms its unalloyed loyalty and commitment to the President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari and the Constitution of the Country.
“The NA hereby warns all subversive elements and trouble makers to desist from such acts as it remains highly committed to defend the country and her democracy at all cost.
“The NA is ready to fully support the civil authority in whatever capacity to maintain law and order and deal with any situation decisively.
“All officers and men are directed never to be distracted by anti democratic forces and agents of disunity”.
Apparently referring to the #EndSARS protesters, the Nigerian Army in a statement by the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sagir Musa, assured it is committed to the “sustenance of peace, security and defence of democracy in Nigeria”
According to the statement: “The Nigerian Army (NA) wishes to reassure law abiding citizens that it is highly committed to the sustenance of peace, security and defence of democracy in Nigeria.
“As a responsible and law abiding organisation, the NA reaffirms its unalloyed loyalty and commitment to the President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari and the Constitution of the Country.
“The NA hereby warns all subversive elements and trouble makers to desist from such acts as it remains highly committed to defend the country and her democracy at all cost.
“The NA is ready to fully support the civil authority in whatever capacity to maintain law and order and deal with any situation decisively.
“All officers and men are directed never to be distracted by anti democratic forces and agents of disunity”.
During the late hours of yesterday , the co-founder and C.E.O of Twitter, Jack Dorsey solicited for support towards the ongoing “end sars” protest in Nigeria.
He did this through his verified Twitter account and of course, this caused a lot of controversial comments on Twitter. Many Nigerians praised him for showing his concern for Nigerian youths , while others criticised his action.
Jack wrote ;
“Donate via #Bitcoin to help #ENDSARS.”
However, amongst those who criticised Jack Dorsey , is a former presidential aspirant for the 2019 presidential election and C.E.O of IPI group limited, Adam Garba.
Adamu Garba replied Jack Dorsey by tweeting the following statements;
“Dear @jack, It’ll do you a lot more good if you stay away from Nigerian Politics. You should know that the so-called #EndSARS protest have transformed into political agitation, capable of breaking law & order in our country. You should not be a moral & financial sponsor to this.”
“This is Nigeria, most of the demands initially presented was attended to by the responsible authorities. SARS no longer exist in this country. Your support for a disbanded entity was a needless interference. We cannot allow killings again in Nigeria in the name of protests.”
“I understand that this may play well to your business, you have more content, more people & more activity on your platform, but to us is about life, peace & security of our dear Country, we cannot allow you to be part of the people sponsoring disorder. We need peace & prosperity.”
“I can see you are even sharing a link for people to donate money for this protest, an event capable of escalation beyond our already overstretched security management. If this protest continues to evolve into disorder (hopefully not)…As a Nigerian citizen, we’ll meet in court. Thank you. @jack”
Covid: Trump’s son Barron had coronavirus, says first lady
US President Donald Trump’s 14-year-old son Barron contracted coronavirus but has since tested negative, First Lady Melania Trump revealed.
Mrs Trump said her “fear came true” when Barron tested positive for Covid-19.
But, she said, “luckily he is a strong teenager and exhibited no symptoms”.
Both the president and first lady also tested positive for coronavirus – as well as other White House staff – but have since recovered.
Later at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Mr Trump said: “He [Barron] had it for such a short period of time.
“I don’t even think he knew he had it because they’re young and their immune systems are strong and they fight it off.”
He added: “Barron is beautiful and he is free.”
The president cited his son’s recovery as a reason why American schools should reopen as soon as possible, a move opposed by teachers’ unions who fear their members could be infected by students.
He told the crowd: “Barron’s tested positive. Within, like, two seconds it was Barron is just fine now. He’s tested negative, right?
“Because it happens. People have it and it goes. Get the kids back to school.”
Opinion polls suggest Mr Trump is trailing his Democratic White House challenger Joe Biden barely three weeks before the election.
After she and the president received their positive results two weeks ago, she said “naturally, my mind went immediately to our son”.
Mrs Trump said it was a “great relief” when Barron initially tested negative, but was concerned he would later test positive for the virus. “My fear came true when he was tested again and it came up positive,” she said, adding that Barron exhibited no symptoms.
“In one way I was glad the three of us went through this at the same time so we could take care of one another and spend time together,” she wrote.
The first lady also reflected on her own diagnosis. She said she experienced a “roller coaster of symptoms”, including body aches, a cough and fatigue.
“I chose to go a more natural route in terms of medicine, opting more for vitamins and healthy food,” she wrote.
In her statement, Mrs Trump also said the “most impactful part” of her recovery was “the opportunity to reflect on many things – family, friendships, my work, and staying true to who you are”.
Mrs Trump said she would be resuming her duties as soon as she could.
While Mrs Trump remained in the White House, President Trump spent three days at Maryland’s Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after his own Covid-19 diagnosis. He received a number of different drug treatments, including dexamethasone, a steroid, antiviral treatment remdesivir and monoclonal antibody therapy.
He returned to the campaign trail on Monday, telling supporters he felt “powerful”.
His personal doctor said on Sunday that he was no longer a Covid transmission risk to others.
An event at the White House on 26 September, for the unveiling of Mr Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, was thought to be the root of the localised outbreak of coronavirus.
The White House press secretary, former Trump counsellor Kellyanne Conway and two senators were among the people around the president who tested positive for the virus. On 2 October, hours after the first couple announced they had tested positive, Mrs Trump’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham told US media that Barron had tested negative.
The US has recorded more than 7.8 million coronavirus cases and 216,000 deaths, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.
The general overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Adeboye has spoken about the present state of Nigeria. He mentioned that we must restructure Nigeria.
He further said;
“United states of Nigeria is more likely to survive than our present structure” .
Below is the video, in which he made his points known.
Kilimanjaro: Fire breaks out on Africa’s tallest mountain
Hundreds of people have been working to put the fire out
Efforts are continuing in Tanzania to extinguish a fire that has broken out on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.
Members of the Tanzania National Parks Authority (Tanapa) and local people have been struggling to put out the blaze, which began on Sunday.
Their efforts have been hampered by the altitude as well as strong winds and dry weather which have caused the fire to spread fast.
The cause of the fire is not clear. But there is speculation that the flames could have spread from a fire used to prepare food for tourists.
Tanapa spokesman Pascal Shelutete told the Tanzanian newspaper Mwananchi: “It seems the fire that was lit to prepare food… torched the dry vegetation in the area and spread quickly.”
Mr Shelutete said the fire started at the Whona area, a rest centre for climbers using two of the several routes up the mountain.
Tanapa tweeted pictures which give a sense of the extent of the fire and its aftermath.
It also tweeted a picture on the day the fire started.
“The fire is still going on and firefighters from Tanapa, other government institutions and locals are continuing with the efforts to contain it,” Mr Shelutete said.
The College of African Wildlife Management, located near the mountain, has sent 264 students to help fight the fire and distribute supplies to firefighters.
The parks authority said in a statement that it had taken “every step to make sure that the fire will not affect the lives of tourists, their equipment, porters and tour guides”.
Mount Kilimanjaro, which is 5,895m (19,341ft) high is a popular tourist destination and tens of thousands of people climb it every year.
Reaction on local social media was divided. Some suggested there was “nowhere left to hide”.
Others said drones should be fitted with weapons to help tackle other cases of criminality.
Privacy rights advocates have raised concerns about the speed at which the UK and other Western nations have embraced other forms of surveillance tech.
The drone operation led police to an abandoned brick factory in the southern city of Guilin, reported regional media.
The video showed the suspects exchanging what police say were illegal drugs.
The footage was live-streamed to nearby police, who then moved in.
Silkie Carlo, Big Brother Watch’s Director, called the move a “leap forward for intrusive surveillance technology”.
“It’s particularly worrying that the UK and China are almost neck-and-neck in the race to monitor citizens with new tech.” Another information revealed that drone surveillance has been deployed over England’s beauty spots during the pandemic to spy on walkers.
“It’s clear that Parliament needs to legislate to control police use of drone surveillance.”
Chinese social media platform Weibo was flooded with thousands of comments following the video’s release.
Many users showed little sympathy for the suspects, with some going as far to suggest that drones should be used to “execute” drug dealers caught in the act.
However, others voiced concerns about the Chinese government having “eyes in the sky” at all times.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also fuelled a rise in the use of drones.
They have been used as a method of public-shaming across China, with loud public warnings playing when members of the public are spotted not wearing a face covering.
Covid-19: Protests as Argentina’s cases pass 900,000
protest in Buenos Aires in their cars
Thousands have joined anti-government protests in Argentina as confirmed coronavirus infections continue to rise, passing 900,000 on Monday.
Many Argentines are angry at the government’s handling of the crisis and the economic effect of lockdowns, as well as issues such as corruption.
A strict lockdown early in the pandemic meant that the number of cases grew slowly at first.
Upon further investigation, more than 24,000 people have died with Covid in the South American nation.It registered its highest daily number of confirmed cases on 7 October, when 16,447 infections were registered.
On Monday, health authorities reported 9,524 new cases. Health officials say there has been a steep increase in infections in large cities in the interior of the country.
Thousands of Argentines joined anti-government protests in the capital, Buenos Aires, and other major cities on Monday.Their grievances were varied, including opposition to reform of the justice system and calls for corruption cases to be investigated.
Many also said they were opposed to the government’s handling of the pandemic, in particular the effects of lockdowns which have further hurt Argentina’s already ailing economy.
Some parents attending the march in Buenos Aires told local media they wanted schools to reopen while people working in the hospitality sector said they were facing economic hardship after months of lockdown
But following an easing of restrictions cases have been rising steeply.
As of Monday, Argentina has 903,730 confirmed cases of coronavirus, making it the country with the sixth highest number of infections.
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the senate to confirm Lauretta Onochie, his media aide, as a commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Buhari’s request was contained in a letter read by Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday.
Onochie who is from Delta state is currently the president’s aide on social media.
Also to be confirmed are Prof. Muhaamad Sani from Katsina State, Kunle Cornelius Ajayi from Ekiti State and Seidu Ahmad from Jigawa State.
Lauretta Onochie is Buhari’s Special Assistant on social media.
In another letter, Buhari has asked the upper legislative chamber to confirm three nominees as executive directors of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
The nominees are Ifeanyi Christian (south-east), Muhammad Gambo (north-east) and Abubakar Ismaeel (north-west).
The president’s request for confirmation of the nominees will be referred to the appropriate committees to handle on Wednesday.
Global Times says that “the target is to test about six million people from five districts by Tuesday, and roughly nine million” by the end of the week.
So far, 1.1 million tests have been processed, and all results have come back negative.
Hospital personnel were tested as a priority yesterday. Today, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools are carrying out tests on students and staff.
Hundreds of thousands of tests have also been carried out on people who have visited Qingdao in the last fortnight.
Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine trial paused due to ill volunteer
A notable company Johnson & Johnson has paused its Covid vaccine trial to investigate why one participant in the study fell ill.
The company said an independent review would check if the person’s unexplained symptoms were related to the jab.
Therefore as a precaution, recruitment to the phase three trial has been suspended.
It said in large trials, with tens of thousands of volunteers, it was to be expected that some may become unwell during the study period.
The company said that for privacy reasons, it could not give more details about the ill participant.
According to the company, “More is being learnt about this participant’s illness, and it’s important to have all the facts before additional information is shared.”
It is not the first Covid vaccine trial to be suspended – a participant in the UK’s Oxford University study had an unexplained illness too, but it has since been deemed safe to resume, except for in the US where regulators are still in discussions with manufacturer Astra Zeneca.
There are nearly 180 vaccine candidates being tested around the world, but none has yet completed clinical trials.
The Johnson & Johnson jab, like the Oxford University Astra Zeneca one, is in the advanced stage of testing.
Both use a modified common cold virus to prime the immune system against Covid.
The Johnson & Johnson trial had started recruiting participants in late September, with a goal of enrolling up to 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 sites in the US as well as in South America and South Africa.
Boris Johnson says the government’s new three-tier alert system is a “balanced package”, adding that the government “could go now for a national lockdown again” but it didn’t “want to go down that extreme route right now’
The Prime Minister also says that He wants to “take local authorities with me” but adds that if he can’t get agreement “then clearly it is the duty of national government to take the necessary action” He also says a relatively normal Christmas is possible, but it depends on the public sticking to his coronavirus rules.
Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, says he is “not confident” that tier three proposals for the “very high” alert areas “would be enough to get on top of” the virus in those areas He says there is “a lot of flexibility” for local authorities to add more restrictions on top of the “base” of tier three rules.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tells a news conference he is taking a “balanced approach” to managing the virus But he says he does not favour another national lockdown “right now” because it would harm the economy Boris Johnson tells the Commons there will be a new three-level alert system for England – medium, high and very high
Liverpool will be on the highest level of alert, the PM says. He adds he does not want a new national lockdown More people are in hospital with Covid than before lockdown in March, says NHS medical director Stephen Powis.
Top UK scientists have said NHS Nightingale hospitals are on stand-by in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate Most A-level and GCSE exams in England will be delayed by three weeks in 2021
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