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HK media: There may be no immunity against Covid-19, new Wuhan study suggests

South China Morning Post  with the sobering news from a study at the epicentre of China’s coronavirus outbreak earlier this year.

The newspaper cites new research on antibodies by Chinese and American scientists, which concludes that humans may never develop immunity against Covid-19
  • study focuses on whether hospital workers in Wuhan who were directly exposed to infected patients at the early stage of the outbreak had developed antibodies
  • “People are unlikely to produce long-lasting protective antibodies against this virus,” the researchers concluded in a non-peer-reviewed paper posted on preprint website medRxiv.org
South China Morning Post  with the sobering news from a study at the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak earlier this year.

The number of potential coronavirus vaccines in development is now above 70

But, these are just two of many. The World Health Organization (WHO) says there are 70 coronavirus vaccines in development globally:
  • three are already already being tested in human trials
There are manufacturing contenders in the race:
  • Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics
  • Beijing Institute of Biotechnology
  • US’ Moderna and Inovio Pharmaceuticals
  • Pfizer and Sanofi also

Japan offers Avigan for free to countries fighting coronavirus

The flu drug Avigan will be made available at no cost to countries that ask for it to treat the novel coronavirus, the Japanese government announced Friday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that about 30 countries have sought Avigan through diplomatic channels. “We are making arrangements to provide it for free,” he said.

Doing so will help expand clinical research into the drug, Suga said. At 2,617 cases as of Friday, Japan has relatively few of the more than 1 million infections worldwide, making broad clinical trials difficult.

Indonesia ordered 2 million doses of Avigan on March 20, and the country plans to begin clinical testing once the shipment arrives. The country has seen coronavirus cases there surge to 1,986, after going weeks without confirming infections in the early stages of the epidemic. Indonesia now has 181 deaths, placing it higher than South Korea, and second only to China in Asia.

Japan has also received a request from Turkey. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca met with Akio Miyajima, the Japanese ambassador to Ankara, last month and inquired about acquiring Avigan, diplomatic sources told the Nikkei Asian Review. (more…)

Trump drops idea of New York lockdown as U.S. death count crosses 2,000

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would issue a travel warning for the hard-hit New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus, backing off from an earlier suggestion that he might try to cut off the region entirely.

“A quarantine will not be necessary,” he said on Twitter.

Trump’s announcement came as the U.S. death count crossed 2,100, more than double the level from two days ago. The United States has now recorded more than 122,000 cases of the respiratory virus, the most of any country in the world.

Since the virus first appeared in the United States in late January, Trump has vacillated between playing down the risks of infection and urging Americans to take steps to slow its spread.

Trump said on Saturday afternoon that he might impose a ban on travel in and out of New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, the U.S. epicenter of the disease, to protect other states that have yet to bear the brunt. He offered few specifics.

Critics promptly called the idea unworkable, saying it would cause chaos in a region that serves as the economic engine of the eastern United States, accounting for 10 percent of the population and 12 percent of GDP. (more…)

China official PMIs February: Manufacturing 35.7 (expected 45.0) Non-manufacturing 29.6 (expected 51.0)

China’s economy was hit hard right from the Lunar New Year holiday and the weeks after from the coronavirus outbreak.

  • deaths now number >3,000 in China
  • Severe travel restrictions
  • Severe actions on public health
  • Business closures
Manufacturing 35.7, this is the lowest ever recorded for this indicator.
  • expected 45.0, prior 50.0
Non-manufacturing 29.6 … I mentioned during the week I was surprised the ‘expected’ for this was still in expansion. And here we are, deepest in contraction ever recorded
  • expected 51.0, prior 54.1
Composite 28.9
  • prior 53.0
China's economy coronavirus outbreak.