The US has taken a step closer to approving the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine, after a committee of experts recommended that the Food and Drug Administration grant it an emergency authorisation. ft.com/content/7bb4aa…
Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline have delayed the launch of their vaccine to late next year after finding that it showed an insufficient immune response in older people. uk.reuters.com/article/uk-hea…
A trial of a coronavirus vaccine developed by Australian firm CSK and the University of Queensland has been abandoned after participants returned false positive results on HIV tests. bbc.co.uk/news/world-aus…
Thousands of children will be tested for coronavirus in schools across London, Kent and Essex in a bid to stem rising infection rates, with test data showing that cases are rising fastest among secondary school children, aged 11 to 18. theguardian.com/world/2020/dec…
France will enter a nationwide lockdown on Friday, lasting until 1 December. Schools will stay open, but bars, restaurants and non-essential shops must close. Germany has also announced a four-week lockdown from 2 November. news.sky.com/story/coronavi…
Nearly 100,000 people are catching coronavirus every day in England, according to the latest data from @imperialcollege’s REACT study. It estimates the number of people infected is now doubling every nine days. bbc.co.uk/news/health-54…
Government officials have asked local health chiefs in England to deploy 30-minute saliva test kits for coronavirus in an acceleration of the controversial “Operation Moonshot” mass screening plan, the Guardian reports. theguardian.com/world/2020/oct…
New research estimates around 15 per cent of deaths worldwide from covid-19 could be attributed to exposure to tiny particles of pollution known as particulate matter or PM2.5.
Structural racism led to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, a review by Dame Doreen Lawrence has concluded.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a new state of emergency yesterday in an effort to curb soaring coronavirus infections, imposing local nighttime curfews and banning travel between regions in some cases. in.reuters.com/article/us-hea…
After 111 days of stringent restrictions, the Australian city of Melbourne will exit lockdown from Wednesday after recording no new covid-19 cases for the first time since June. bbc.co.uk/news/world-aus…
The NHS has been given more than £1bn less than it needs to tackle the second wave of covid-19, deal with the coming winter and restart routine operations, the Guardian reports. theguardian.com/society/2020/o…
US regulators have given full approval for the antiviral drug remdesivir to treat covid-19 patients in hospitals. Last week the WHO said remdesivir had little to no effect on patients' survival. bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-…
The number of covid-19 cases reported by Public Health England appears to have stabilised after seven weeks of rising numbers, although the number of people being admitted to hospital has increased. theguardian.com/world/2020/oct…
France extended curfews to around two thirds of its population, forcing 46 million people to stay at home from 9pm to 6am. Authorities reported a record 41,622 new cases yesterday. uk.reuters.com/article/uk-hea…
A fossil dinosaur originally discovered in northwestern China is so exquisitely preserved that the shape of its cloaca – the opening used for excretion and mating – is visible for the first time. bit.ly/2FUh5dQ
Birds and reptiles have a cloaca – a single orifice used for excretion, urination, mating and laying eggs – so it has always been assumed that dinosaurs had them too, and now this is confirmed.
The cloaca on this fossil has a longitudinal opening like those of crocodiles, which have penises. By contrast, most birds – the living descendants of dinosaurs – do not: they mate cloaca to cloaca.
South Yorkshire will be subject to tier three coronavirus restrictions from Saturday after local leaders agreed a deal with the UK government. theguardian.com/world/2020/oct…
The US has counted almost 300,000 more deaths than would be expected in a typical year, two-thirds of them from covid-19 and the rest from other causes, the @CDCgov has reported. washingtonpost.com/health/coronav…
Studies in Germany and Norway, as well as two reviews focusing on education globally, suggest schools play a limited role in spreading covid-19 and a renewal of widespread school closures would have a limited effect on curbing the disease. ft.com/content/4842aa…