UN hopes for vaccines within months as global COVID-19 cases surge

The EU hopes to start vaccinating people against COVID-19 as early as next year, as Italy recorded more than one million cases.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson loads a delivery van with a tray of shopping during a visit to a distribution centre in London. Picture: AFP

The EU hopes to start vaccinating people against COVID-19 as early as next year, as Italy recorded more than one million cases and Britains death toll passed the 50,000 mark.

The head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Andrea Ammon, said a vaccination program could be kicked off “optimistically (in the) first quarter next year, but I can’t be more precise,” as trials in the US and Russia suggested vaccines in the final stages of testing were so far proving very effective.

The announcement by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer earlier this week that a vaccine it is ­developing with Germany’s BioNTech is 90 per cent effective has sparked a wave of optimism across the globe that the pandemic might soon be brought under control.

More news on Thursday that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was 92 per cent effective fuelled another rally on world stock markets.

But the small glimmer of hope is not enough to eclipse the grim statistics still being recorded all across the world.

In Italy, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases passed the symbolic one-million mark, while almost 43,000 people have died, official data showed.

In Britain, the death toll topped 50,000 after another 595 fatalities in one day.

And in Spain, the death toll surged over 40,000 with infections passing the 1.4-million mark as the rate of new cases continued to grow, sparking tighter restrictions on international travellers entering the country.

According to the World Health Organisation, 42 “candidate vaccines” are undergoing clinical trial, up from 11 in mid-June.

Australia has committed to up to five different vaccine types if they prove to be safe and effective: purchasing 10 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 3.8 million doses of the Oxford vaccine (and then the right to manufacture 30 million doses of it within Australia), 51 million doses of the University of Queensland CSL vaccine, 40 million doses of Novavax, and a global share of the Covax facility which incorporates most of the major vaccine developers.

The latest Sputnik V results, which have not yet been peer-­reviewed, come from the first ­interim data from double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase three clinical trials in Russia, Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and India, involving 40,000 volunteers.

There were no unexpected ­adverse events during the trials, the researchers said. Some side ­effects of the vaccination were pain at the injection site, flu-like syndrome including fever, weakness, fatigue, and headache.

In the US, too, the caseload is soaring — a record 200,000 new infections were registered on Tuesday and another 1535 people died in 24 hours. New York ­announced a new 10pm curfew for most bars and restaurants would come into affect on Friday, and gathering at homes would be limited to 10 people.

The virus is also reaching the farthest corners of the Earth, with Vanuatu reporting its first case, ending its status as one of the few remaining virus-free countries.

And in Europe, which has suffered more than 317,525 deaths from 13.3 million infections, many countries are struggling with a surging second wave.

Greece, already under lockdown, announced on Thursday AEDT that a curfew would ­additionally come into effect from Friday in a bid to curb the spread of the virus and ease pressure on its strapped hospitals.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa warned on Thursday of a of a second coronavirus wave after a surge of infections in a southern province.

The Eastern Cape province recorded a 50 per cent jump in cases over the past week.

AFP

Additional reporting: Jacquelin Magnay