AstraZeneca Plc's AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine trial in the United States is expected to resume as early as this week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration completed its review of a serious illness, four sources told Reuters.

AstraZeneca’s large, late-stage U.S. trial has been on hold since Sept. 6, after a participant in the company’s UK trial fell ill with what was suspected to be a rare spinal inflammatory disorder called transverse myelitis.

The sources, who were briefed on the matter but asked to remain anonymous, said they have been told the trial could resume later this week. It was unclear how the FDA would characterize the illness, they said.

An FDA spokeswoman declined to comment.

The agency is requiring researchers conducting the trial to add information about the incident to consent forms signed by study participants, according to one of the sources.

UK regulatory officials previously reviewed the illness and determined there was “insufficient evidence to say for certain” that it was or was not related to the vaccine. It permitted the trial to resume enrolling participants in the UK, according to a draft of the updated consent form shared with Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-usa-ex/exclusive-astrazeneca-u-s-covid-19-vaccine-trial-may-resume-as-soon-as-this-week-sources-idUSKBN2752C5

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

A new trial of rapid, mass Covid testing has begun in hospitals and will soon be rolled out to schools, universities and care homes, Downing Street has announced, in the latest attempt to push ahead with the so-called Operation Moonshot.

The pilot scheme is under way with tests of asymptomatic NHS staff at hospitals in Manchester, Southampton and Basingstoke, Boris Johnson’s spokesman said, and in the coming weeks this will be extended to hospitals in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle.

The trial will then begin testing people in schools, universities and care homes in the worst-affected regions, the spokesman said without specifying which these were.

Two types of tests will be used. Hospitals will use lamp tests, an abbreviation for loop-mediated isothermal amplification, which is a swab and saliva method that delivers results in 60 to 90 minutes.

Schools, universities and care homes will use lateral flow tests, a swab test that does not need processing in a laboratory and gives a result in less than an hour, and often significantly less.

It is the latest incarnation of what Johnson announced in September as Operation Moonshot, a £100bn plan to deliver up to 10m tests a day, seen by ministers as the best way to bring back some sort of more normal life before an effective vaccine for coronavirus is fully available.

By showing that asymptomatic people do not have Covid, such huge-scale testing could allow workplaces to operate more normally or be used to bring crowds back to theatres and sports venues by testing them before they arrive.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/19/operation-moonshot-pilot-of-rapid-covid-tests-under-way-in-nhs-hospitals

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

Immunity from the deadly Ebola virus could last years after the infection, the world’s longest study of survivors by British and Guinean scientists has concluded in findings that could have implications for Covid immunity research.

The findings are the result of the world’s longest and most comprehensive study of survivors from the devastating west African outbreak between 2013 and 2016. They could help the understanding of the body’s immune response to Covid and other zoonotic diseases.

A recent study suggested antibodies for Covid may only last two months, leading to speculation that immunity to the virus may not be long-lived and those who have recovered would be at risk of reinfection.

The team of scientists in Guinea found that some Ebola survivors there showed no antibodies three months after the infection even though they would have to mount a strong response to fight such a lethal virus.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/killer-cells-ebola-immunity-study-could-help-covid-research

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

Quarantine for travellers coming to the UK will be slashed in half by December, handing hopes for holidays over the Christmas break.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told airline bosses that ministers had agreed passengers will only have to self-isolate for seven days under their new “test and release” scheme - rather than 14 under the current rules.

The cost would have to be paid by the passenger – and the tests will be have to be provided privately rather than putting extra pressure on the NHS.

It comes after a summer of rows between ministers and the travel industry after the Government slapped 14-day quarantine periods on people coming back from dozens of countries - putting people off going away.

Mr Shapps said today: "My ministerial colleagues and I have agreed a regime, based on a single test provided by the private sector and at the cost to the passenger, after a period of self-isolation and doing those things could achieve our objectives.

"The next step is to develop how this approach can be implemented."

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/12964979/new-test-and-release-scheme-will-cut-travel-quarantine/

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

The Chinese economy grew 4.9% between July and September, according to government data, as China becomes the first major economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The year-on-year expansion, while slightly lower than analyst expectations, represents a dramatic reversal from the first quarter of this year when the economy shrunk by 6.8%, China’s first contraction since 1992 when officials began keeping quarterly GDP data.

China’s central bank governor Yi Gang said on Sunday that officials predict annual growth of about 2%. “The Chinese economy remains resilient with great potential. Continued recovery is anticipated, which will benefit the global recovery,” he said.

China is expected to be the only G20 economy to grow this year. The global economy is slated to contract by 4.4%, according to the International Monetary Fund, the steepest downturn since the Great Depression.

Covid-19 first emerged in central China in Wuhan in December and by early April, lockdowns were lifted as the country gradually re-opened factories and businesses while travel restrictions were loosened. Policymakers released targeted stimulus measures from tax cuts and lower interest rates to credit local governments and cheaper lending for businesses.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/china-becomes-first-major-economy-to-recover-from-covid-19-pandemic/ar-BB1a9Zjm

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

Near the end of September, with coronavirus cases falling and more schools and businesses reopening, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration urged restraint, citing a statistical model that predicted a startling 89% increase in virus hospitalizations in the next month.

That hasn’t happened. Instead, state data shows hospitalizations have fallen by about 15% since that warning while the weekly average number of new cases continues to decline even as other more populous states like Florida, Ohio and Illinois see increases.

California’s good news isn’t enough to change what Newsom calls his “slow” and “stubborn” approach to reopening the world’s fifth-largest economy. He again cautioned people against “being overly exuberant” about those coronavirus numbers, pointing to a “decline in the rate of decline” of hospitalizations.

While California’s 14-day average of hospitalizations is down, the 7-day average is up ever so slightly to 2,241 patients. The number peaked in July at more than 7,100.

“Boy, what more of a reminder do you need than seeing these numbers begin to plateau?” Newsom said Monday during his weekly news conference.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s top public health official, said Monday the state’s hospitalizations have declined in part because of the state is testing more people, allowing public health officials to trace positive cases and put people into “supportive isolation.”

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-business-california-gavin-newsom-us-news-a570f528de4c1d1fc986b63c2e446ffb

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel said the federal government could authorize emergency use of the company's experimental Covid-19 vaccine in December, if the company gets positive interim results in November from a large clinical trial.

Mr. Bancel, speaking during The Wall Street Journal's annual Tech Live conference Monday, said sufficient interim results from the study takes longer to get, government authorization of the vaccine may not occur until early next year.

Cambridge, Mass.,-based Moderna has one of the leading Covid-19 vaccines in development, along with a vaccine co-developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. Large U.S. trials for two other leading Covid-19 vaccines, from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca PLC, have been paused, while the companies investigate unexplained illnesses among study subjects.

Mr. Bancel's comments suggest Moderna's timetable isn't far off from Pfizer's, which said last week it expects to seek U.S. authorization of emergency use of its vaccine by late November.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/moderna-ceo-eyes-december-for-covid-vaccine-2020-10-19

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

For months, as New York City struggled to start part-time, in-person classes, fear grew that its 1,800 public schools would become vectors of coronavirus infection, a citywide archipelago of super-spreader sites.

But nearly three weeks into the in-person school year, early data from the city’s first effort at targeted testing has shown the opposite: a surprisingly small number of positive cases.

Out of 16,348 staff members and students tested randomly by the school system in the first week of its testing regimen, the city has gotten back results for 16,298. There were only 28 positives: 20 staff members and eight students.

And when officials put mobile testing units at schools near Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods that have had new outbreaks, only four positive cases turned up — out of more than 3,300 tests conducted since the last week of September.

New York City is facing fears of a second wave of the virus brought on by localized spikes in Brooklyn and Queens, which have required new shutdown restrictions that included the closure of more than 120 public schools as a precaution, even though few people in them have tested positive.

But for now, at least, the sprawling system of public schools, the nation’s largest, is an unexpected bright spot as the city tries to recover from the pandemic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/nyregion/schools-coronavirus.html

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

As scientists around the world race to find a treatment for the coronavirus, a young girl among them stands out.

Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old from Frisco, Texas, has just won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge -- and a $25,000 prize -- for a discovery that could provide a potential therapy to Covid-19.

Anika's winning invention uses in-silico methodology to discover a lead molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"The last two days, I saw that there is a lot of media hype about my project since it involves the SARS-CoV-2 virus and it reflects our collective hopes to end this pandemic as I, like everyone else, wish that we go back to our normal lives soon," Anika told CNN.

Anika, who is Indian American, submitted her project when she was in 8th grade -- but it wasn't always going to be focused on finding a cure for Covid-19.

Initially, her goal was to use in-silico methods to identify a lead compound that could bind to a protein of the influenza virus.

"After spending so much time researching about pandemics, viruses and drug discovery, it was crazy to think that I was actually living through something like this," Anika said.

"Because of the immense severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and the drastic impact it had made on the world in such a short time, I, with the help of my mentor, changed directions to target the SARS-CoV-2 virus."

"Anika has an inquisitive mind and used her curiosity to ask questions about a vaccine for Covid-19," Dr. Cindy Moss, a judge for the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, told CNN.

"Her work was comprehensive and examined numerous databases. She also developed an understanding of the innovation process and is a masterful communicator. Her willingness to use her time and talent to help make the world a better place gives us all hope."

"My effort to find a lead compound to bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus this summer may appear to be a drop in the ocean, but still adds to all these efforts," she said. "How I develop this molecule further with the help of virologists and drug development specialists will determine the success of these efforts."

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/18/us/anika-chebrolu-covid-treatment-award-scn-trnd/index.html

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.

In two early studies, researchers said some patients showed signs of healing just weeks after leaving the hospital.

When Annie Coissieux tried to stand up for the first time after weeks in the hospital battling Covid-19, she couldn’t get on her feet.

“My first day after I.C.U., I couldn’t leave the chair without the help of two nurses,” she recalled from her home in the Drôme region in southeast France. She felt breathless and exhausted after walking for just a few minutes. “Going to the bathroom was a real mission that required time and effort.”

Ms. Coissieux, 78, was sent to a nearby pulmonary rehabilitation clinic, Dieulefit Santé, where a physical therapist taught her breathing exercises to help restore her lungs and the muscles involved in breathing.

When she went home three weeks later, Ms. Coissieux could walk close to 1,000 feet, albeit with a walker. As she continued exercising at home, she grew stronger.

“Now I can walk 500 meters with no walker,” or about 1,600 feet, said the retired schoolteacher. “I can walk up the stairs at my cousin’s house.” And while she still feels fatigued in the afternoons, she cycles on her indoor bike and swims.

Lingering shortness of breath and diminished stamina have dogged many Covid patients whose lungs were viciously attacked by the coronavirus. Early in the pandemic, doctors worried that Covid might cause irreversible damage leading to lung fibrosis — progressive scarring in which lung tissue continues to die even after the infection is gone.

At a recent European Respiratory Society meeting, doctors presented early results of a few small studies that offered a glimmer of hope, indicating that in at least some cases, patients’ lungs show signs of recovery especially with intensive aftercare and exercise.

For patients who were bedridden or intubated in intensive care units for weeks, the ability to breathe on their own was impaired. Their muscles, including the diaphragm — the main breathing muscle that pushes the abdominal organs down so that the lungs can expand — had weakened.

“They spent months in bed and lost their muscle and respiratory capacity,” Ms. Al Chikhanie explained.

“It seems that most of these more severe patients recover from severe lung injury,” said Dr. Frederic Hérengt, who oversaw the study at Dieulefit Santé.

Longer range studies still have to be conducted to assess the potential for permanent effects.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/health/Covid-lung-damage-recovery.html

HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

I run this site in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy giving you all positive news!  If you've enjoyed the site we'd love for you to help me share the good news far and wide, share us on Reddit, your Facebook or your Twitter and spread a little positivity around.

ENJOY FEEL GOOD, INSPIRING STORIES AND VIDEOS ?

Our new page here is just what you need, with just good news, feel good stories unrelated to COVID.