Category: Covid-19

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage parts of the world, the blame game is already well underway to pinpoint why it wasnt better contained. Throughout 2020 and up to the present day, hardly a single aspect of the pandemic responsewhether mask wearing, lockdowns, vaccine production, or school openingshas been free from politicization. Among the public and experts, debates have swirled around who made the most accurate guesses about the number of COVID-19 casualties or its impact on the stock market.

Meanwhile, scientists at the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) were mapping viral proteins, Operation Warp Speed was disbursing funds to biotech companies to ramp up vaccine development, and a wide global public-private coalition was launching COVAX to ensure vaccine distribution to poorer nations. Other than NIAID director Anthony Fauci, few of those involved would be recognized by any member of the public or chattering class. But if and when COVID-19 is finally eradicated, well have these technocrats to thank.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage parts of the world, the blame game is already well underway to pinpoint why it wasnt better contained. Throughout 2020 and up to the present day, hardly a single aspect of the pandemic responsewhether mask wearing, lockdowns, vaccine production, or school openingshas been free from politicization. Among the public and experts, debates have swirled around who made the most accurate guesses about the number of COVID-19 casualties or its impact on the stock market.

Meanwhile, scientists at the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) were mapping viral proteins, Operation Warp Speed was disbursing funds to biotech companies to ramp up vaccine development, and a wide global public-private coalition was launching COVAX to ensure vaccine distribution to poorer nations. Other than NIAID director Anthony Fauci, few of those involved would be recognized by any member of the public or chattering class. But if and when COVID-19 is finally eradicated, well have these technocrats to thank.

In Asia, they already do. From Taiwan to South Korea to Singapore, doctors, engineers, and other professionals occupy the top rungs of elected office and functional agencies. In these countries, public administration is a vocation, and revolving doors between corporate and political life are minimal. Transparency is high and corruption is low. What differentiates all three Asian statesand others with ultra-low COVID-19 death ratesis they are highly technocratic.

In technocracies, competence, public spirit, and key performance indicators are more important than cults of personality or popularity contests. Populist dilettantes such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former U.S. President Donald Trump mocked the experts on everything from Brexit to China tariffs to COVID-19, sacrificing public welfare for political gain. Their megalomaniacal hijacking of the state in times of crisis serves as a stark reminder that when its a matter of life and death, wed better trust the technocrats.

COVID-19 isnt the only hazard demonstrating that complex global challenges easily overwhelm most domestic political systems and international diplomatic mechanisms. Rising geopolitical tensions, the governance of frontier technologies like artificial intelligence, and climate change are other existential issues where global cooperation at the moment can best be described as kicking the can down the road. But crisis management is not the same as problem-solving. That requires a strong global application of the precautionary principle as well as the proactive steering of large-scale resources to solutions. If you want a better world for your children, dont hold your breath for global democratic deliberation.

There are numerous examples of 20th century interventions designed to prevent worst-case scenarios. In the latter years of World War II, then-U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt conceived of the Four Policemen to restrain military rearmament, a coalition that became embedded in the United Nations Security Council. Although the U.N. became a theater for Cold War grandstanding, it also served as a conduit for great-power dialogue. The establishment of the supranational European Union is another example of building institutions that overcompensate to prevent history from repeating itself.

Similar approaches have characterized the U.S. and U.N. response to major demographic risks. In the 1970s, fearing the security implications of a rapidly growing world population, the Ford administration began significant support for population planning policies, such as the mass distribution of contraception across the developing world. That represented a turning point in global fertility, contributing to the present plateau of the world population at almost 8 billion people rather than the 15 billion people feared at the time.

In recent decades, the precautionary principle has entered the formal and legal vernacular. In Germany, the Vorsorgeprinzip has been used to enforce strong environmental protections against pollutants. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, a slew of so-called macroprudential measures required banks to maintain higher capital adequacy ratios to guard against liquidity crises, signaling the rise of a new regulatory capitalism. And with the onset of COVID-19, smart countries moved rapidly to close borders and deploy mass testing and contact tracing. All such measures have been designed by experienced professionals, whether lawyers, engineers, doctors, or scientists.

Precautionary principle thinking gained prominence through the work of scholars like Arend Lijphart, the Dutch political scientist who sought to explain how fragile multiethnic and multilingual societies maintain stability, arguing leaders who foresaw undesirable outcomes would preemptively overcompensate through inclusive policymaking and power-sharing agreements. In the 1980s, political scientist Robert Axelrod coined the phrase shadow of the future in his seminal work The Evolution of Cooperation, using game theory tools to find alternative policies to repetitive confrontation. His contemporary, political scientist Robert Jervis, wrote the Lijphart Effect can help transform a dangerous situation into a safer one. Todays world is full of dangerous situations where shadow-of-the-future thinking should inspire preemptive overcompensation.

COVID-19 is a fine example. Risk philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his collaborators, complexity theorists Yaneer Bar-Yam and Joseph Norman, issued prescient early warnings in January 2020 arguing in favor of the precautionary principle owing to the interconnectedness of global epidemiological, social, and economic systems. Swedens Anders Tegnell, the countrys equivalent to Fauci, took the opposite approach, betting on a herd immunity that never arrived. Tegnell is, of course, an expert but also acted like a maverick rather than acting with the greatest protection of life in mind.

Global leaders have only begun to face the cascading spillover effects of COVID-19 in ways that massively compound existing crises. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have issued more than $2 trillion in emergency lending to cash-strapped governments. The United States, EU, China, and private creditors must consider major debt forgiveness and write-downs to prevent economic collapse in dozens of developing countries. Vaccine shortages and acute hunger have to be confronted through coalitions involving multilateral agencies like the World Food Program and philanthropic donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Business-as-usual, Band-Aid diplomacy wont cut it. Its time for big decisions and strong management, whether a sovereign debt resolution framework or a new Green Revolution.

The global monetary system is another arena ripe for preemptive action. The U.S. dollars hegemony is gradually eroding, but unlike previous great-power transitions, the Chinese renminbi wont replace it. Bodies like the IMF and Bank for International Settlements can engineer an orderly transition toward a multicurrency global system with predictable exchange rates and greater transparency, liquidity, and efficiency among central bank digital currencies. Or the world could just wait for geopolitically motivated currency shocks, such as the 1956 Suez Crisis (during which the United States threatened to dump the pound unless the British withdrew forces from the canal zone) or when former U.S. President Richard Nixon pulled Washington from the gold standard in 1971. China dumping its $1 trillion of U.S. dollar reserves is hardly a cudgel Washington should want held over its head.

Although the United States and China are geopolitical rivals, they do not have direct territorial disputes with each other. China and its neighbors, however, have many. Needless to say, the much-discussed democratic peace theory has no relevance in Asia. Whereas U.S. deterrence has helped maintain stability, actual conflict resolution will require a technocratic peace. Rehabilitating or reunifying North Korea with South Korea will happen through a carefully scripted multistage process, not a continuation of decades of nuclear saber-rattling and preconditions.

In the South China Sea and other maritime domains, disputed islands that have already been fortified will have to be ceded to countries that have claimed themwhether China, Vietnam, or the Philippinesrather than risk uncontrolled warfare to gain them back. Designated negotiators will have to meet in secret to find outcomes where each side gives and takesand all save face. Democratic (and especially nationalist) electorates may howl at compromise, which is why only a technocratic process involving authorized envoys can slow the regions slide toward major escalation.

And then, of course, theres climate change. According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, all fossil fuel investments would have to stop this year to have any chance of keeping pace with intended greenhouse gas reduction targets. Former NASA Goddard Institute director James Hansen has called for the establishment of a planetary regime both to regulate emissions generating industrial activity as well as to undertake global scale ecological conservation projects.

Technologists, philanthropists, and far-sighted governments are also beginning to devote more research to atmospheric and oceanic geoengineering projects that could reduce solar radiation or absorb more carbon dioxide. A wide array of political leaders, civil society activists, and institutional investors have rallied around climate-focused causes, from carbon taxes to coal divestment, but the worse climate scenarios get, the more decision-makers will be forced into radical, top-down measures overseen by technocrats, not activists.

The list of humanitys great challenges is only getting longer, but leaders are still building the global governance plane while flying it. At the same time, the solutions are now widely known, and public and private stakeholders are forming partnerships to implement them, with COVAX being the most recent example. But shifting from reactive to proactivefrom knowing the worst-case scenario to overcompensating to ensure a successful responsewill require new kinds of authority that fit uncomfortably with todays sensitivities around sovereignty and the indecisiveness of democracy.

As the shadow of the future grows nearer, overcoming todays complexity will require less virtue-signaling on Twitter and more technocratic execution. Tomorrows world will be better for it.

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After COVID-19, Only Technocrats Can Save the World - Foreign Policy

New York and California, which were home to some of the nation's deadliest virus hotspots last year, are fully reopening in time for the summer as Sunday marks the 500th day since the first known Covid-19 death in the US.

But there's still a long way to go, CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen warned Saturday evening.

"We certainly have to acknowledge that we have come a long way, and we're out of the worst of it. We're not going to see the massive surges that we saw over the holidays," said Wen, who is the former health commissioner for Baltimore.

"The problem, though, is that we should really be looking at the numbers for each community instead of looking at the US as a whole because while the US as a whole is doing so much better, and there are pockets of the country that have very high vaccination rates, we also have pockets of the country that are actually undergoing massive surges right now where their hospitals are getting full again," Wen said.

While health experts agree full vaccination offers protection against some variants of Covid-19, Wen added that it's unknown whether a variant resistant to vaccines will emerge.

"We just don't know. If it's anything that we've learned during Covid-19, it's how much we need to be humble in the face of this virus," she said.

She noted that it's "certain" new variants will develop, which could make vaccines slightly ineffective, but not entirely.

"This is another reason why those who are unvaccinated should be vaccinated as soon as possible," Wen said.

Vaccination lags continue in some states

As of Sunday, 45.1% of the total US population was fully vaccinated against Covid-19, while 53.3% had received at least one dose.

Nationally, 65.4% of adults have received at least one dose, with the current pace of vaccinations at 1.2 million doses per day, according to CDC data Sunday.

Jackson, Mississippi, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told CNN on Saturday the state is so far behind in vaccinations in part because of "a dynamic of so many individuals who do not have primary health care physicians on a day-to-day basis, and this is another example of how this pandemic is highlighting the disparities in health care."

In Hinds County, where Jackson is located, 40% of the total population is at least partially vaccinated while 36% is fully inoculated, according to state data.

"If we see people who do not have primary health care physicians and we're asking them to get vaccinated, we're asking them to deviate from the norms that they have in every other fashion of their lives," Lumumba added. "People who have not been to the doctor in many years, and in some instances never, and now we're trying to encourage them to ... go get a shot in their arm."

Lumumba noted one way to encourage vaccination is "meeting people where they are," whether that's in barbershops or churches. He noted that vaccine accessibility and historical mistrust within Black and brown communities are contributing factors to the low vaccination rate in his city, whose population is about 85% Black.

Variants on the rise

Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Wyoming join Mississippi in being among the states with the lowest vaccination rates. That's a problem because experts have been warning that emerging variants could cause serious illness for the unvaccinated.

The CDC has predicted the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, could become the dominant strain in the US.

The Delta variant, along with the Gamma or P.1 variant, have been deemed variants of concern by the CDC -- meaning their danger comes from their ability to transmit more easily or cause more severe disease.

The Gamma variant, first identified in Brazil, has been detected in every US state where the CDC has variant information.

Vaccination has been shown as the best way for the US to get ahead of the variants. A recent study by Public Health England found that two doses of a coronavirus vaccine are "highly effective against hospitalization" caused by the Delta variant. The study found the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalization after two doses.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy previously told CNN there isn't enough data to indicate the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine in regard to the Delta variant, but it has shown it can help prevent hospitalizations and deaths when people are infected with other strains.

"The key is get vaccinated, get both doses," Murthy said.

Steve Edwards, the CEO of CoxHealth, a system of hospitals and clinics based in Missouri, told CNN on Friday that the Delta variant is unlike others.

"We can't tell why one patient is doing poorly and one is doing well. There's just something different about how this variant is affecting the immune system of our patients," Edwards said.

He added along with low vaccination rates in Missouri, the Delta variant is playing a big role in the surge of cases at his hospitals.

"I think the Delta variant is what's fueling this," he said. "Much of the South, Midwest, much of the places that have low vaccination rates -- if confronted with the Delta variant, will see a similar kind of surge of patients as we're beginning to see right now."

Study suggests Delta variant growing faster where vaccinations lower

A new study appears to confirm that the Delta variant is growing faster in US counties with lower vaccination rates.

The Delta variant and and the Gamma variant are overtaking the Alpha -- or B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom -- as the dominant variant in the United States, according to the study by scientists at Helix.

Researchers analyzed nearly 20,000 Covid-19 tests collected since April 2021 and just under 250,000 Covid-19 sequence results of samples Helix collected since January 2021.

"In the United States, this analysis showed that the growth rate of B.1.617.2 was faster than P.1," said the research. However, growth rates of the two variants differed by the county vaccination rate.

The samples the study looked at came from 747 counties. The sequence data from the counties was compared to county vaccination rates that came from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They defined a county with a lower vaccination rate as one which had less than 28.5% of the population completely vaccinated on May 1, the others were considered counties with a higher vaccination rate.

"The growth curve for B.1.617.2, which is more transmissible but against which vaccines are highly effective, shows faster growth in counties with lower vaccination rates," said the study. "In contrast, P.1, which is less transmissible but against which vaccines have somewhat less efficacy, has a higher prevalence in counties with higher vaccination rates."

The study is scheduled to be published as a preprint in the coming days.

CNN's Virginia Langmaid, Susannah Cullinane and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.

Link:

It has been 500 days since the first known US death from Covid-19. Variants and low vaccination rates threaten to prolong the pandemic - CNN

Dysregulation of brain and choroid plexus cell types in severe COVID-19  Nature.com

Continued here:

Dysregulation of brain and choroid plexus cell types in severe COVID-19 - Nature.com

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The biotech firm Theravance Biopharma said that a trial of its drug nezulcitinib in hospitalized patients with acute lung injury caused by Covid-19 had failed, and that patients who received the drug didnt have more days without respiratory failure than those who received a placebo.

Shares of Theravance (TBPH) initially fell as much as 17.4%, to $14.42, from their Friday closing price of $17.52. Shares recovered later in the premarket session, however, and by 7:30 a.m. Eastern time, the stock was down only 3.6%, to $16.88.

Theravance said there were positive signals in the data. The company said that a post-hoc analysis of the trial showed an improvement in mortality and time to recovery in a subgroup of patients who received nezulcitinib and whose blood tests indicated certain proteins were below a level indicative of hyperinflammation.

The company also said it saw a positive trend in the mortality rate in the treatment group.

Even though this Phase 2 study, enrolling more than 200 patients, didnt meet the primary endpoint, we are encouraged by the trend in the pre-specified analysis of the 28-day mortality rate in the intent-to-treat population, said Theravances CEO, Rick Winningham, in a statement.

Theravance said that it would discuss the results with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to seek input on protocols to further study nezulcitinib in acute hyperinflammation in the lung.

Nezulcitinib is a so-called JAK inhibitor, a member of a class of drugs that seeks to combat inflammation by blocking the activity of certain enzymes. Unlike most JAK inhibitors, nezulcitinib is inhaled and designed to target the lungs. The company has said it may also test nezulcitinib for other conditions.

The drug is one of a number of drugs that combat inflammation that companies have sought to test in the sickest Covid-19 patients, often with disappointing results. One apparently successful set of results came just last week, when a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Pfizers (PFE) JAK inhibitor, which is marketed as Xeljanz, lowered the incidence of death or respiratory failure compared with a placebo in patients with Covid-19 pneumonia.

The incidence of death or respiratory failure in the placebo group in the study, which was run in a hospital in Brazil, was 29%, compared with 18.1% in the group that received Xeljanz.

Theravance shares are down 1.4% so far this year, and down 21.6% over the past 12 months. The company has a market value of $1.1 billion. Of the nine analysts tracked by FactSet who cover Theravance, seven rate it at Buy, one rates it at Hold, and one rates it Underweight.

The company scheduled a call for investors at 8 a.m. Eastern.

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com

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Theravance Stock Drops on Covid-19 Therapy Disappointment - Barron's

(CNN) The United States has extended Covid-19 restrictions on non-essential travel at land and ferry crossings with Canada and Mexico until July 21, according to a tweet from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Sunday.

"DHS also notes positive developments in recent weeks and is participating with other US agencies in the White House's expert working groups with Canada and Mexico to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably."

In March 2020, the US and Canada mutually agreed to shut down the border to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

Canada continues stringent restrictions

Addressing media after the announcement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that the extension of the travel restrictions may be "frustrating" for many people but that his goal is to keep Canadians safe.

"We're not out of this pandemic yet. We have to hit our targets of 75% vaccinated with the first dose, at least 20% vaccinated with the second dose before we can start loosening things up because even a fully vaccinated individual can pass on Covid-19 to someone who is not vaccinated," Trudeau said,

Blair said the government will soon announce how it plans to handle travel among those who are fully vaccinated.

Canada is largely off-limits to US travelers. Tourism, leisure and casual visits are all forbidden. Some exceptions exist for family members, foreign workers and international students.

Those arriving by air are required to quarantine for three nights in a government-authorized hotel in addition to the rest of the testing and quarantine requirements.

Travel to Mexico

Mexico allows US travelers by air. There's no need for a negative PCR test for Covid-19, and no quarantine required. Most resorts, however, ask guests to fill out health questionnaires.

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US extends Covid-19 travel restrictions with Canada and Mexico - CNN

Here's one method of containing COVID-19 at nursing homes: Pair long-term care facilities (LTCF) staff and residents who've recovered with susceptible residents to help reduce transmission. It seems to work, says a study.

Long-term care facilities (LTCFs), particularly nursing homes, received a lot of unwanted attention and not enough desperately wanted assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, COVID-19 has caused 655,110 cases in nursing home residence and 132,608 deaths,accordingto the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). Among those staff working in nursing homes, there have been 583,756 cases and 1931 deaths. It has been estimated that of those living in LTCF within the United States, 8% died of COVID-19.

The coronaviruss sieges and surges underscored systemic problems in the facilities. One of those problems is that states do not as yet mandate that a fulltime infection preventionist (IP) be assigned to nursing homes, something that the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology lobbies for. Adding to the problems, since COVID-19 theres been an exodus of workers from nursing homes.

The impact to this particular patient and health care worker population is astounding and one that wholly underscores a deeply-rooted vulnerability. Infection Control Today has reported on ways nursing homes and other LTCFs can shore up systemic problems in a cost-effective manner, and even conducted a case study on methods one nursing home used to keep COVID-19 for the most part at bay during a surge.

Early in the pandemic, testing was a hurdle that the health care system struggled to overcome. If testing was more widely available though, what would transmission be within nursing homes? Moreover, what about cohorting patients and staff who had recovered from COVID-19 with those who were susceptible?

A new research study from researchers at Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Womens Hospital, addressed this within JAMA Network. The goal was to understand and evaluate transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within nursing homes when certain interventions were in placespecifically routine screening testing and pairing staff/residents who were recovered with susceptible residents to help reduce transmission.

The goal was simplepair those susceptible staff and residents with those who were recovered and felt to have protective immunity. For recovered residents, they were moved back into non-COVID-19 cohorts once they were recovered and were prioritized for new roommates.

For staff, this meant that those considered immune (recovered) were placed in the non-COVID-19 unit, leaving susceptible staff to work in the COVID-19 unit with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE). Meaning, by breaking up susceptible groups who could spread it between each other and by replacing susceptible contacts with recovered contacts, they could cut transmission.

Utilizing an agent-based susceptible-exposed infectious-recovered model between July and September of last year, the simulation included 100 residents and 100 staff across 3 shifts. Residents were categorized based upon COVID-19 diagnosis. Screening was done with two types of tests (rapid antigen and PCR) done at varying frequency.

The authors noted that among the simulated cohort of 100 residents and 100 staff members, frequency and type of testing were associated with smaller outbreaks than the cohorting and staffing interventions. The testing strategy associated with the greatest estimated reduction in infections was daily antigen testing, which reduced the mean cumulative incidence proportion by 49% in absence of contact-targeted interventions.

Under all screening testing strategies, the resident cohorting intervention and the immunity-based staffing intervention were associated with reducing the final estimated size of the outbreak among residents, with the immunity-based staffing intervention reducing it more (eg, by 19% in the absence of testing) than the resident cohorting intervention (eg, by 8% in the absence of testing). The estimated reduction in transmission associated with these interventions among staff varied by testing strategy and community prevalence.

As the authors note, utilizing routine screening testing for not only residents, but also staff could help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, utilizing an immunity-based approach to staffing could also help reduce transmission. These findings are particularly important and while they may require some operational hurdles for nursing homes to recover, they offer alternatives for reducing transmission within these high-risk environments.

This article first appeared inContagion.

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One Method to Contain COVID-19 at Nursing Homes - Infection Control Today

Selbyville, Delaware, June 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

According to latest report COVID-19 Detection Kits Market by Product (RT-PCR Assay Kits, Immunoassay Test Strips/Cassettes), Specimen Type (Nasopharyngeal Swab, Oropharyngeal Swab, Nasal Swab), End-use (Hospitals, Diagnostic Centers), Regional Outlook, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast 2027, by Global Market Insights Inc., the market valuation of COVID-19 detection kits will cross $8 billion by 2027. Increasing cases of COVID-19 and rising number of diagnostic tests across the world will propel the market growth.

COVID-19 is a virus that attacks the respiratory system of person in short span of time making it more dangerous if goes undetected. The virus gets transmitted directly from person to person through oral or nasal droplets and indirectly when person gets in contact with infected environment. Due to the nature of the disease, major target population affected by COVID-19 is old age people. It is observed since the outbreak of pandemic, the elderly population is more likely to suffer severe infection as compared to younger population. One of the major reasons for high susceptibility of old people to virus is underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases among others. It is extremely important to diagnose the COVID infection early, especially in old age people. The increasing number of cases and geriatric population has led to high demand for COVID-19 detection kits across the world. The demand for COVID-19 detection kits is likely to grow in the initial years of the assessment period. However, the demand is likely to reduce by the end of the forecast period.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/4610

The RT-PCR assay kits segment dominated more than 71% of the COVID-19 detection kits market share in 2020 led by the high accuracy, reliability and increased adoption of RT-PCR tests. The market of RT-PCR test kits is expected to flourish during initial years of pandemic, however, as the effect of virus subsides, the demand for diagnostic tests is projected to decrease during the forecast timeframe.

The nasal swab segment accounted for around 12% of revenue share in 2020. The growth of this segment is majorly attributed to worldwide acceptance and availability of the products and convenience in the sample collection.

The diagnostic centers segment in the COVID-19 detection kits market exceeded USD 6.6 billion in 2020 on account of the increased number of diagnostic centers involved in COVID-19 detection tests, high capacity to run patient samples, and advanced diagnostic infrastructure.

Asia Pacific COVID-19 detection kits market captured around 34% of revenue share in 2020 impelled by the rapid spread of virus in large populated countries like China and India. These countries generated huge demand for COVID detection kits, thus increasing the revenues. Besides, recurring demand for diagnostic tests in countries during the second wave is likely to drive the market.

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https://www.gminsights.com/roc/4610

Some of the key players operating in the COVID-19 detection kits market include Cepheid, Co-Diagnostics, BGI, Abbott Laboratories, BioFire Diagnostics, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, GenMark Diagnostics, Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech, Mylab Discovery Solutions, Qiagen, Quidel Corporation, Randox Laboratories, SD Biosensor, Seegene, Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology and Thermo Fisher Scientific. These industry participants are adopting various growth strategies to capture maximum share and sustain the market competition.

Table of Contents (ToC) of the report:

Chapter 3COVID-19 Detection Kits Market Insights

3.1 Industry segmentation

3.2 Industry landscape, 2020 - 2027

3.3 Industry impact forces

3.3.1 Growth drivers

3.3.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges

3.4 Growth potential analysis

3.4.1 By product

3.4.2 By specimen type

3.4.3 By end-use

3.5 COVID-19 detection kits pricing analysis, 2021

3.6 Regulatory landscape

3.7 Porters analysis

3.8 Competitive landscape, 2020

3.9 PESTEL analysis

Browse Complete Table of Contents (ToC) @

https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/covid-19-detection-kits-market

About Global Market Insights Inc.

Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology.

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COVID-19 Detection Kits Market revenue to cross USD 8 Bn by 2027 - GlobeNewswire

A nurse shows a dose of the Soberana-02 COVID-19 vaccine to be used in a volunteer as part of Phase III trials of the experimental Cuban vaccine candidate, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Havana, Cuba, March 31, 2021. Jorge Luis Banos/Pool via REUTERS

HAVANA, June 19 (Reuters) - Cuba's Soberana 2 vaccine candidate has shown 62% efficacy with just two of its three doses, state-run biopharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma said on Saturday, citing preliminary data from late phase trials.

Cuba, whose biotech sector has exported vaccines for decades, has five vaccine candidates in clinical trials, of which two - Soberana 2 and Abdala - are in late phase trials.

"In a few weeks we should have the results for the efficacy with three doses which we expect will be superior," said Vicente Vrez, director of the state-run Finlay Vaccine Institute, which developed Soberana 2.

The news comes as the Caribbean's largest island is facing its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic in the wake of the arrival of more contagious variants, setting new records of daily coronavirus cases.

The Communist-run country has opted not to import foreign vaccines but rather to rely on its own. Experts say it is a risky bet but if it pays off, Cuba could burnish its scientific reputation, generate much-needed hard currency through exports and strengthen the vaccination drive worldwide.

"We know our government has not been able to provide this project all the funding it required, and nonetheless this is a result of global standing," President Miguel Diaz-Canel said at the presentation of the results on state-run television.

Several countries from Argentina and Jamaica to Mexico and Venezuela have expressed an interest in buying Cuba's vaccines. Iran started producing Soberana 2 earlier this year as part of late-phase clinical trials.

Cuba's authorities have started administering the experimental vaccines en masse as part of "intervention studies" they hope will slow the spread of the virus.

Daily cases have halved in the capital since the start of this vaccination campaign, according to official data, although that may also be due to stricter lockdown measures.

Reporting by Anett RiosWriting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Cuba encouraged by early efficacy results of homegrown COVID-19 vaccine - Reuters

Thanks to vaccines against COVID-19, the summer of 2021 feels very different from the summer of 2020. Restaurants, stores, and tourist attractions are starting to open again, people are gathering, and families are planning vacations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that if you are fully vaccinated, you dont have to wear a mask or social distance, except when required by law or other regulations.

But what do you do if you have children who arent vaccinated?

Currently, only people 12 years and older can be vaccinated. While its looking hopeful that we will be able to vaccinate younger children sometime later in 2021 or early 2022, its not going to happen this summer. And while most of the time children dont get seriously ill with COVID-19, it certainly can happen.

This doesnt mean that families with children younger than 12 need to isolate all summer but it does mean that families need to be careful and thoughtful as they plan summer activities.

Here are some tips that will help:

Make sure everyone who can be vaccinated is vaccinated. By "everyone," I mean parents, siblings, and any other family and friends that you regularly see or would like to see. The vaccine is widely available, and serious side effects are very, very rare.

Stay outdoors as much as possible. The risks are lower. Children dont have to wear a mask outdoors if they are with their immediate family or in a small gathering with all vaccinated people. If there is a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated, they must wear masks.

Avoid crowds even outdoors. While wearing a mask helps to decrease the risk, crowded places and events can be risky, even for those who are vaccinated. The risk may not be that high in communities with low COVID-19 case counts, but you just cant know where the people in the crowd have traveled recently. As fun as ball games and theme parks are, it would be better to wait until next summer.

Be cautious in indoor spaces. Unvaccinated people, including children, should wear masks in indoor public spaces. (In crowded indoor spaces, vaccinated people should wear masks too, but weve already talked about avoiding crowds.) If you have children, it may be best to save the indoor seating at restaurants for date night. Theres always takeout. Have a picnic.

When visiting with other families with children, the safest thing is for all the children to wear masks. If you have had other families in your bubble, keep up the conversations about what everyone is doing, and the ground rules for your bubble, to be sure that its a safe enough bubble for your children to go mask-free. And be sure that the families know to report any exposures or symptoms to others in the bubble and isolate themselves as needed.

Parents, older siblings, and close friends and family may want to mask up sometimes, even if vaccinated. No vaccine is perfect. Since you are the ones with the most consistent contact with the unvaccinated children in your family, taking some extra precautions isnt a bad idea. This doesnt mean you have to wear a mask all the time. But carry one with you and err on the side of wearing it when you are out in places where social distancing is tough and there could be unvaccinated people.

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

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Children not yet vaccinated against COVID-19? What to do - Harvard Health

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) A COVID-19 vaccine clinic is being held at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield Tuesday.

Curative will administer the Pfizer vaccine to individuals 12 years or older from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A parent or guardian will need to sign a consent form for children ages 12 14. The second dose will be available on July 13.

The Basketball Hall of Fame is issuing a free ticket to the Hall that can be used after the return of the second dose.

Walk-ins are welcome however, appointments can be booked online at Curative.com. The Basketball Hall of Fame is located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield.

According to the states Department of Public Health as of Sunday, there are 8,449,443 doses administered with a total of 3,818,482 fully vaccinated people.

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Curative and Basketball Hall of Fame hold COVID-19 clinic with free tickets to the Hall - WWLP.com