Featured Headlines
HCQ No Longer Approved Even a Little for COVID-19 – MedPageToday
Study after study showed no benefit, and now the FDA has had enough. The FDA rescinded its emergency use authorization (EUA) of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to treat COVID-19 patients, citing concerns about efficacy and risks associated with its use, and saying the drug no longer meets the criteria for an EUA, the agency said on Monday.
Face Masks Prevented Thousands of COVID-19 Cases – Med Page Today
Use of face masks may have prevented tens of thousands of COVID-19 infections in New York City and Italy after both areas implemented mask-wearing policies for the public, a modeling study found. [Related Study]
Coronavirus Breaches Chinese Capital, Rattling Officials – NYT
The authorities in Beijing placed a swath of the city under lockdown on Monday and tested tens of thousands of people as they rushed to contain a new coronavirus outbreak that marked an unnerving breach in China’s capital.
Unlocking the Immune Mysteries of Covid-19 in the Blood – Labiotech.eu
With over six million cases and 376,000 deaths globally, the coronavirus pandemic is unlike anything we have experienced in modern history. Yet, we are still completely in the dark about how the virus actually causes disease in humans. A group of researchers in Belgium has pooled their technology to screen patients’ immune systems with the goal of finally understanding the virus that we’re fighting.
We’re about to enter the era of the coronavirus super-spreader – Wired.uk
Preliminary evidence suggests that 20 per cent of people are responsible for 80 per cent of Covid-19 transmission, putting to focus on events where transmission is high
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned a British newspaper that vacationers across the pond shouldn’t expect travel restrictions to the U.S. to lift anytime soon.
Virus Exposes Weak Links in Peru’s Success Story – NY Times
Deep-rooted inequality and graft have thwarted the steps Peru took to prepare for its response to the pandemic.
Clinical Considerations
An interview with three corona experts on SARS-CoV-2 and pneumonia – Biomedical Central
Every century the world will witness a major pandemic. Most active clinicians and researchers alike only have knowledge of the Spanish flu pandemic from medical history. At that time, the exact viral cause of the disease was not known, and neither was there a therapy nor a vaccine. Today, 102 years later, SARS-CoV-2 has infected millions of patients all over the world, with over 400,000 deaths at the time of writing. Pneumonia has interviewed Frank van Kuppeveld and Berend Jan Bosch from Utrecht University, and Manish Sagar at Boston University School of Medicine, to hear their views on the cause and consequences, the present and the future of this new corona virus, SARS-CoV-2.
COVID-19 May Trigger Onset of Diabetes – Laboratory Equipment.com
Emerging evidence suggests that COVID-19 may actually trigger the onset of diabetes in healthy people and also cause severe complications of pre-existing diabetes.
COVID-19 Threatens The Entire Nervous System – Scienceblog.com
A new review of neurological symptoms of COVID-19 patients in current scientific literature reveals the disease poses a global threat to the entire nervous system, reports a Northwestern Medicine study published this week in Annals of Neurology. [Related Study]
Blood clots targeted in treatment trial – BBC
The trial, funded by the British Heart Foundation, will test the theory the clots are caused by a hormone imbalance triggered by coronavirus infection. It will become one of several drugs currently being trialled to prevent the disease’s worst effects.
Early respiratory distress syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2 in a newborn – MedicalNews.net
A recent case report from the researchers at the University of São Paulo, published in the journal CLINICS, shows how newborns can also be infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and develop serious symptoms, even though the most likely route of infection in such cases is still not completely clear. [Related Study]
Official Reporting for June 15, 2020
| WHO SITREP #146 | ECDC | Johns Hopkins | |
| Confirmed Cases | 7,690,708 | 7,882,230 | 7,963,453 |
| Deaths | 427,630 | 433,259 | 434,432 |
Total deaths: 115,644
Surveillance Headlines
UNITED STATES
Texas: Texas Calls In A Strike Force To Try To Slow Coronavirus Spread In Nursing Homes – NPR
California: Case total in California passes 150,000 mark – Mercury News
Arizona & Oregon: As COVID-19 Cases Rise: Oregon Pauses Reopening, Arizona Doesn’t – NPR
Florida: Florida sees 2 consecutive days of 2,000-plus new COVID-19 cases as more beaches reopen – ABC News
Alabama: Alabama’s Coronavirus Cases Are Skyrocketing, Breaking Records For 4 Straight Days – Forbes
Oregon: Coronavirus outbreaks surge among Oregon food processors as state scrambles to react – Oregon Live
West Virginia: WV church has 17 people test positive for COVID-19 – WDBJ
Utah: Utah wasn’t prepared to help Hispanics fight the coronavirus. And the cases have skyrocketed. – Salt Lake Tribune
EUROPE
France: to accelerate easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions – NBC
ASIA
China: Beijing spike continues with 36 new cases – BBC
MIDDLE EAST
Pakistan: Pakistan’s upward coronavirus spiral continues – Mercury News
Afghanistan: Desperate for Any Coronavirus Care, Afghans Flock to Herbalist’s ‘Vaccine’ – NY Times
LATIN AMERICA
Brazil: Brazil faces the coronavirus disaster almost everyone saw coming – Washington Post
Science and Tech
Steroidal drugs subvert SARS-CoV-2 interaction with ACE2 receptors – Medical News.net
A new study by Italian researchers and published online on the preprint server bioRxiv* in June 2020 reports the ability of several existing steroidal drugs to reduce the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 to the ACE2 receptor. This could help define newer strategies using viral entry blockers to reduce viral load. [Related pre-print study]
Vaccine
Germany is taking a 23% stake in privately owned CureVac as it preps to push on with work for its mRNA vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The discovery of antibodies that block the most infectious elements of the coronavirus is helping Bay Area scientists unlock the many mysteries of human immunity, and could be crucial in the development of a vaccine. Under the investment policy, the German government said CureVac “retains complete operational and strategic independence; the Federal Government will not influence corporate policy decisions.”
AstraZeneca Inks Europe Deal For 400M Covid-19 Vaccine Doses – Yahoo News
AstraZeneca (AZN) has agreed to supply up to 400 million doses of the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, to Europe’s Inclusive Vaccines Alliance (IVA), with deliveries starting by the end of 2020.
NIAID and Moderna scientists describe SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development – MedicalNews.net
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Moderna Inc., have described the potent neutralizing effects of a candidate vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that is currently being tested in a phase II trial.
Diagnostics
What Mussels Can Teach Us About False Positive COVID-19 Tests – NPR
3-Minute Audio at the link – A wildlife biologist got involved in coronavirus research by raising important questions about the accuracy of the test used to diagnose COVID-19.
Therapeutics
London researchers to test promising coronavirus treatment – bhf.uk
A new drug for preventing lung damage and blood clots in people with coronavirus (Covid-19) is set to be trialled in UK hospitals with support from researchers at our British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence at Imperial College London.
Published Research
COVID ‐19: a global threat to the nervous system – Annals of Neurology
Pre-Pub (not yet peer reviewed, should not be regarded as conclusive)
The D614G mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein reduces S1 shedding and increases infectivity – [BioRXiv]
Coping in Quarantine
Loneliness vs COVID-19 Infection Among Seniors – MedPage Today
How should protecting seniors’ physical safety during the COVID-19 pandemic — during which social distancing has been of critical importance — be weighed against the need for human connection? That was the question addressed at a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging on Thursday.