Vaccine trials postponed, 900,000 dead worldwide ... coronavirus update

Highlights, new actions, new reports: updates on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.

In France, more than 6,500 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) warned "conditions are clearly worsening". The exact number of new cases numbered 6,544, the DGS said in a press release. This number was up from Monday (4,203 new cases counted), but decreased from the previous three days (between 7,000 and 9,000 daily cases).

Also read: Coronavirus: Scientific Council prefers quarantine

Ninety-one outbreaks of new contamination have been detected in the past 24 hours, up to the day before (58 new outbreaks). The positivity rate (proportion of positive cases, among all people who tested for more than 7 days), 5.2%, is steadily increasing.
The Oxford vaccine trial is postponed

Clinical trials of one of the most advanced experimental vaccines, developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca, have been postponed overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. To explain the possible serious effects on participants, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca, an industrial partner of the British University of Oxford, has announced a halt to global vaccine trials in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Great Britain. United States, after the emergence of a "potentially unexplained disease" in volunteers.

Vaccinations will be suspended until an independent committee assesses the incident, details of which have not been released but appear to have significant consequences. According to specialist website Statnews, the trial was adjourned due to "suspected serious side effects in participants in the UK".

According to David Lo, a professor at the University of California Riverside, "other side effects" have been reported, "such as fever, pain (..) becoming more serious," he told AFP. "Trials are often temporarily delayed when an adverse reaction occurs in a patient, so researchers can tell" the sites where trials are also being conducted, he said. "Undoubtedly right now it's just a matter of caution - it's a pause, not the same as saying we can't move forward," he added.

Breaking these tests could delay one of the most advanced Western projects, along with American companies Moderna and Pfizer, each recruiting tens of thousands of volunteers to ensure that the doses are safe, and to prevent vaccinated people from falling ill with Covid-19. All three companies have so far stated that they expect results before the end of the year or early 2021, and have started producing millions of doses earlier if they are certain. AstraZeneca has sold hundreds of millions of doses to several countries around the world, more than its competitors.
Balance in the world

The pandemic killed more than 894,000 people worldwide and 27,421,340 cases of infection were officially diagnosed in late December, according to a report released by AFP from official sources Tuesday at 17:00 GMT. The United States was the country most affected by the deaths, with 189,557. Brazil (127,464), India (72,775), Mexico (67,771) and the United Kingdom (41,586) followed.

Latin America and the Caribbean crossed the 300,000 death threshold on Tuesday due to the coronavirus epidemic, particularly in Peru which exceeded 30,000 deaths on the same day, according to AFP figures.

The Latin American giant, Brazil, is the second most populous country in the world, after the United States, with 127,464 people died (with 4,162,073 cases). But Peru eliminates the world's highest death toll in terms of population, with 93.28 fatalities per 100,000 population, according to the rankings published by American Johns Hopkins University, which are the benchmark.

The country eliminates the world's highest number of deaths in terms of population, with 93.28 deaths per 100,000 people, according to rankings published by the American University of Johns Hopkins. In France, more than 6,500 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours, the Directorate General of Health warned of "real dire conditions". Spain has cleared 500,000 diagnosed cases. And in Britain, gatherings of more than six people (against 30 now) will be banned from Monday.