Coronavirus LIVE: Cases close to 8.6 mn in India, death toll at 127,104

Coronavirus update: Maharashtra has 1,719,858 coronavirus cases, Karnataka 844,147, Andhra Pradesh 842,967, Tamil Nadu 739,147 and UP 497,000. Stay tuned for coronavirus India LIVE updates

9:16 AM

China's Covid-19 vaccine trials suspended in Brazil after 'severe incident'

Brazil's health regulator Anvisa said on Monday it has suspended clinical trials of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, following a "severe incident". The health regulator in a statement referred to the "incident", that occurred on October 29, without revealing further information. "National Health Surveillance Agency ANVISA has temporarily suspended human testing of the Chinese vaccine Coronavac due to 'a serious adverse effect,'" Sputnik reported, citing Anvisa's statement. President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday had said that their government would buy whatever coronavirus vaccine is certified by Anvisa

9:00 AM

What's ahead for Covid-19 vaccines

Pfizer's surprising news that its COVID-19 vaccine might offer more protection than anticipated an announcement right after a fraught US presidential election campaign is raising questions about exactly how the different shots will make it to market. Pfizer Inc. and the maker of the other leading US vaccine candidate, Moderna Inc., have been cautioning for weeks that the earliest they could seek regulatory approval for wider use of their shots would be late November. In Britain, AstraZeneca recently said it hoped to prove its own vaccine was effective by year's end.

 

8:58 AM

Jharkhand reports 246 new COVID-19 cases, 8 fresh fatalities

Jharkhand's Covid-19 tally rose to 1,04,688 on Tuesday as 246 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said. Eight fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 905, he said. Ranchi district reported the highest number of new cases at 52, followed by East Singhbhum (48) and Palamu (27), the official said.

8:30 AM

India's Active Cases have fallen below 6% of the total cases

India's Active Cases have fallen below 6% of the total cases. The Recovered Cases have leaped past 92% of the cumulative cases. Health Ministry said, "Calibrated & effective strategy of the Centre focused on high levels of Testing for early identification combined with timely tracing, isolation & hospitalisation for the severe cases have resulted in a manageable number of active cases & continuously rising number of recoveries.

8:12 AM

Behind Pfizer's Covid vaccine, an understated husband-and-wife 'dream team'

Positive data on BioNTech and U.S. partner Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine is an unlikely success for the married couple behind the German biotech firm, who have devoted their lives to harnessing the immune system against cancer.Pfizer said on Monday said its experimental vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data from a large study. Pfizer and BioNTech are the first drugmakers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek U.S. emergency use authorization later this month. Read More

8:01 AM

Trump accuses FDA and Pfizer of withholding COVID-19 vaccine announcement before elections

US President Donald Trump on Monday accused the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Pfizer of withholding the announcement on COVID-19 vaccine before elections to prevent him from getting a "vaccine win". The US Food and Drug Administration "and the Democrats didn't want to have me get a Vaccine WIN, prior to the election, so instead it came out five days later - As I've said all along!" Trump said in a tweet. Early in the day, pharma major Pfizer announced that its vaccine, as per preliminary estimates, has been found to be 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19.

 

7:51 AM

Oil prices drop as near-term demand concerns overshadow COVID-19 vaccine hopes

US oil prices fell in early trade on Tuesday as concerns over demand in the near term in coronavirus-hit economies in Europe and the United States returned to haunt the market after an overnight surge on progress towards a COVID-19 vaccine. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures dropped 81 cents, or 2%, to $39.48 a barrel at 0029 GMT, having jumped 8% on Monday, its biggest daily gain in more than five months, after drugmakers Pfizer PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.F said an experimental COVID-19 treatment was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results.

7:43 AM

Vaccine progress injects optimism into global stocks

Global stocks and oil jumped and Treasuries sold off on Monday as progress in the development of a coronavirus vaccine lifted investor confidence in a world economic recovery. "Preliminary trials have caused markets to come alive, not that they needed much encouragement," Chris Weston, Pepperstone's Melbourne-based head of research, wrote in a note Monday. Pfizer Inc said its COVID-19 vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech SE , was more than 90% effective in preventing infection, marking the first successful results from a large-scale clinical trial.

7:35 AM

Pfizer coronavirus vaccine results leave questions about safety, longevity

Covid-19 vaccine results from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE fueled optimism that the world will soon have a potential way out of the pandemic, yet experts cautioned that the shot still has many hurdles to clear. Questions about production, distribution and, most importantly, the performance and capability of the shot itself still need to be answered, even if the numbers look highly promising, according to vaccine specialists. The Pfizer trial started less than four months ago, and how long the vaccine will confer protection and how many will benefit are almost complete unknowns for now. Read More

7:27 AM

Top 5 worst affected countries by Covid-19

Top 5 worst affected countries by Covid-19. (Source: Worldometer)

7:19 AM

Eli Lilly's Covid-19 antibody drug gets emergency USFDA clearance

Eli Lilly & Co.’s antibody therapy was granted an emergency-use authorization by U.S. drug regulators for treating Covid-19, widening access to a treatment that early data suggests is effective in keeping people infected with the coronavirus out of the hospital. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the experimental treatment, called bamlanivimab, for use against mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults, including those who are 65 and older, and pediatric patients, the agency said on its website.Eli Lilly & Co.’s antibody therapy was granted an emergency-use authorization by U.S. drug regulators for treating Covid-19, widening access to a treatment that early data suggests is effective in keeping people infected with the coronavirus out of the hospital. Read More

7:11 AM

Wall Street rallies on coronavirus vaccine trial results

The S&P 500 and the Dow rallied sharply but closed shy of their records on Monday as investors bet that a full economic reopening was finally in sight following the first positive data from a late-stage COVID-19 vaccine trial. U.S. crude oil rose more than 8% and pushed up energy stocks while safe-haven U.S. Treasuries sold off after U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said a large-scale trial of their vaccine showed it was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19. Investors said they were also reassured by Saturday's news that Joe Biden had garnered enough votes to win the U.S. presidential election as they had priced in this news last week.

2:08 AM

Ukraine's president tests positive for Covid-19

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced Monday that he has tested positive for coronavirus infection and will be working in self-isolation while being treated.

 

"There are no lucky people in the world for whom Covid-19 does not pose a threat," Zelenskiy said on Twitter.

 

"However, I feel good. I promise to isolate myself and I continue to work."

1:10 AM

India still in first Covid wave: Experts

Battling apprehension, Nisha Punjabi, a Bahrain-based blogger, decided to visit India to see her family after almost a year. Armed with a bagful of masks, sanitisers and gloves, Punjabi landed in Delhi this week.

Much to her dismay, the taxi she booked to pick her up from the airport did not have the shield between the driver and the passenger as promised. “I was so surprised when the manager of the taxi company told me that Covid has gone from India so we have removed the shields.”

 

The shield, in fact, seems to be coming off for a larger population that is fatigued with wearing masks and social distancing nine months into the pandemic. The decline in the national curve of the disease has further encouraged people to throw caution to the wind.

1:04 AM

Pfizer has a 90% effective vaccine. What happens next?

Stock markets are booming, scientists are hailing Pfizer's vaccine which has shown 90 percent effectiveness and corporates are already imagining the sunny prospect of a return to on-campus work but Pfizer is reminding everyone that it still needs to check off three boxes before its silver bullet progresses toward emergency use authorisation.

 

Pfizer explains that there needs to be "success" in the following three areas: Evidence of efficacy in most vaccinated patients, evidence of safety with data from thousands of patients and manufacturing which is consistently at the highest quality standards.

 

Early Monday, Pfizer and German partner BioNTech released efficacy results from a late stage study of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate 'BNT162b2'. The company reported it was 90 per cent effective after looking at 94 infections in a study that has enrolled more than 43,000 people in the US and five other countries. Some got the vaccine, others got dummy shots.