No injection: Pfizer begins human trials of Covid pill March 23, 2021 Pfizer has begun early-stage human trials of a pill to treat the first signs of Covid infection, the company announced today. The US pharmaceuticals giant said the oral treatment had “demonstrated potent” activity against Sars-Cov-2 in previous trials. If it succeeds in human trials, the pill could be prescribed to those recently infected with coronavirus [...]
Spain to lift travel ban on UK arrivals from next week March 23, 2021 Spain is set to lift a ban on arrivals from Britain from 30 March, three months after suspending flights from the UK following concerns over the Kent Covid strain. A ban on all UK arrivals to Spain by air and sea has been in place since 22 December. Government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero told a [...]
Going Dutch: Downing Street refuses to rule out sharing Astrazeneca vaccines with EU March 23, 2021 Downing Street has refused to rule out sharing British supplies of the Astrazeneca vaccine made in the Netherlands with the EU to avert an exports ban from the bloc. Asked whether the UK would be willing to offer some of the Dutch-made jabs to Europe, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said Boris Johnson has “set [...]
Half of CEOs don’t expect a return to normal this year, but the push to embrace remote working stalls March 23, 2021 Half of CEOs don't expect a return to normal until 2022, but their push to embrace remote working has stalled, with fewer downsizing offices or advertising fully remote job postings
London records two Covid deaths in lowest daily jump since September March 22, 2021 London recorded two Covid deaths in the past 24 hours, signalling the lowest daily fatality count since the beginning of September. It marks the eleventh day in a row that the capital has reported single-digit coronavirus deaths, hailing a dramatic drop from a record 204 coronavirus-related fatalities reported in London on 19 January. The figure [...]
Test and Trace trials ‘groundbreaking’ new technology to detect Covid mutations March 22, 2021 NHS Test and Trace has begun trials of a “groundbreaking” new variant test that can hunt down Covid mutations and return results within 48 hours, the health secretary has announced. The tests could potentially halve the time it takes to identify whether a positive coronavirus sample contains a variant of concern, which usually take around five days [...]
London Covid-19 prevalence plummets as vaccination picks up pace March 19, 2021 The percentage of Londoners testing positive for coronavirus has continued its downward trend in the past week, as the nation’s largest ever vaccination programme continues at pace. The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) latest infection survey estimated that the proportion of people in the capital testing positive for coronavirus fell to 0.3 per cent last [...]
European Commission calls for reciprocity on vaccine exports with the UK March 19, 2021 European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen has called for reciprocity on vaccine exports amid an ongoing row with the UK and US over jab deliveries. “I ask for greater openness as Europe is among the regions in the world that exports the most, but reciprocity is needed,” she told Italian newspaper la Repubblica. She [...]
Britain to trial vaccine passports to reopen sports venues March 19, 2021 Britain will pilot vaccine passports to encourage the return of fans to sports events, the culture minister has announced, as he claimed the future of the sporting industry depended on crowds filling seats this summer. In an interview with The Sun, Oliver Dowden said: “We are working to make sure we can get as many [...]
France, Spain, Italy and Germany to resume Astrazeneca vaccinations after EU regulator rules jab is ‘safe and effective’ March 18, 2021 France, Spain, Italy and Germany are among the European countries that have confirmed they will resume rolling out the Astrazeneca vaccine after the EU medicines regulator said there is “clear scientific” evidence that the jab is both “safe and effective”. Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), earlier today said the agency remains [...]