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Coronavirus: China approves vaccine for military use, global deaths reach 500,000, US health secretary warns on infection surge...

Published: 07:31 29 Jun 2020 EDT

Tiziana Life Sciences PLC - Coronavirus: China approves vaccine for military use, deaths reach 500,000, US health secretary warns on infection surge...

Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. has announced its vaccine candidate received military specially-needed drug approval by the Chinese authorities.

Chinese soldiers will be able to receive the jab, developed in conjunction with Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, for a year.

Its use cannot be expanded outside of the military without the approval of the Logistics Support Department.

The firm said phase I and phase II clinical trials showed good safety profile and high levels of humoral and cellular immune response, and overall the formulation has potential to prevent diseases caused by the virus.

Global deaths pass 500,000 mark

Deaths from Covid-19 around the world have passed the 500,000 mark on Sunday night, with 10mln people tested positive so far, according to the tally by the Johns Hopkins University.

However, the real figures are believed to be higher due to different death definitions and testing rates across countries, misreporting and suspected underreporting of cases.

US health secretary says “window is closing” to stop spread

In the US, where there have been 2.6mln cases and over 128,000 deaths, health secretary Alex Azar warned that “the window is closing” for stopping the spread of the virus.

He warned that people need to “act responsibly” and respect social distancing measures as infections are on the surge again.

The higher number of cases has been seen especially in southern states, which ended lockdown faster than others despite warnings by health officials, with the support of the Trump administration.

Boris Johnson admits pandemic is “absolute nightmare” for the UK

Back home, Boris Johnson admitted in an interview to Times Radio that the pandemic has been an “absolute nightmare” for the country.

“This has been a disaster, let’s not mince our words, this has been an absolute nightmare for the country.” he said.

“The country has gone through a profound shock. But in those moments you have the opportunity to change and to do things better. We really want to build back better, to do things differently, to invest in infrastructure, transport, broadband – you name it.”

He also said it is too soon to start an enquiry on the scale of deaths in Britain.

“I don’t think the moment is right now for consecrating a huge amount of official time to all that, but we are learning lessons the whole time and we obviously will draw the right conclusions for the future.”

Tiziana Life Sciences "aggressively advancing" COVID-19 treatment and breakthrough delivery method

Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (LON:TILS) (NASDAQ:TLSA) said it is “aggressively advancing” a potential treatment for COVID-19 alongside a breakthrough method of delivering the inhaled version of this and other similar drugs.

As part of the fast-track process the company has signed an agreement with STC Biologics for producing its candidate.

It is also working with a firm called Sciarra Laboratories on a unique technology that sends the drug directly to the lungs using a handheld inhaler or nebuliser.

Tiziana said this new approach, which can be deployed with small molecule drugs such as Gilead Sciences’ (NASDAQ:GILD) Remdesivir, as well as mAbs like Roche Holding’s (SWX:RO) Actemra, has “significant clinical advantages” over the current delivery methods when treating COVID patients

UK Rapid Test Consortium progresses with home antibody test

Omega Diagnostics Group PLC (LON:ODX) noted that the COVID-19 Rapid Test, which can be used at home, developed by the consortium has attained design freeze.

Lead partner Abingdon Health said the next stage is completing verification, validation and gain regulatory approval.

The consortium also comprises of BBI Solutions, CIGA Healthcare and the University of Oxford

Ireland reopens some non-essential businesses

Pubs, cafes, restaurants, hairdressers and gyms in Ireland, where one person died and three new cases were reported on Sunday, are reopening their doors today.

The government also lifted internal travel restrictions to help tourist operators to trade for a part of the summer, however easier international travel blocks may be lifted later than initially planned.

Germany rolls out walk-in testing at Frankfurt Airport

Germany has rolled out the first testing measures for air travellers at Frankfurt Airport, in partnership with Lufthansa NASDAQ-listed diagnostic data firm Centogene.

The pilot, running until July 31, was designed to aid with regulations when flying internationally, as some countries such as China will not accept inbound travellers without prior testing.

Passengers flying with Lufthansa will be able to take the test a day before or on the day of departure, with results connected to their ticket.

Tiziana Life Sciences reveals "exciting" clinical data from latest MS trial

Tiziana Life Sciences Ltd (NASDAQ:TLSA) chief medical officer and chief operating officer Matthew Davis speaks to Thomas Warner from Proactive after the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company announced some fresh clinical results from its work in treating non-active secondary progressive...

on 10/16/2023