UK regulators to assess Oxford vaccine, German cases pass 1m

The UK government has asked a regulatory body to evaluate the latest findings at the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine while Germany inched past one million cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, reported EFE.

UNITED KINGDOM

The UK government has formally requested the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to evaluate the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

The request marks a significant first step towards obtaining approval of the vaccine for distribution, provided it meets the required standards of safety, efficacy and quality, explained the Department of Health and Social Care on Friday.

Health minister Matt Hancock said: “We have formally asked the regulator to assess the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, to understand the data and determine whether it meets rigorous safety standards. This letter is an important step towards deploying a vaccine as quickly as safely possible.”

The news comes after the research team behind the vaccine had to defend the product following growing doubts about the preliminary results of its phase three clinical trial.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's conservative government also requested an evaluation of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BionNTech last week.

GERMANY

Germany surpassed on Friday one million recorded Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. The number of confirmed cases now stands at 1,006,394 and 15,586 deaths.

The country also recorded a record number of 426 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The majority of Germans supported the tightening of coronavirus restrictions agreed on Wednesday by Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional heads of government, according to polling.

Survey results from election study group Forschungsgruppe Wahlen show that 61% think it is right that restaurants and cultural and leisure facilities should remain closed, while 36% disagree.

EUROPEAN UNION

European Commission president, Ursula Von der Leyen, said Friday during a video conference with the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, that the first EU citizens could "possibly" be vaccinated against the coronavirus as early as December.

According to the APA news agency, the Commission said the EU will eventually have two billion doses of different vaccines at its disposal, more than is needed to immunize the EU population.

Von der Leyen said that some 700 million people from non-EU Western Balkan countries and parts of Africa would also benefit from the order of vaccines.

Austria will receive 2% of the available doses, "more than it is likely to need," explained the Commission chief.

Austria hopes to start vaccinating primarily health care workers, the elderly and others at risk by January.

CROATIA

Croatian authorities on Friday logged a record number of 4,080 new cases in one day. In the same period, 48 people died from the disease. There are currently 2,240 Covid-19 patients receiving hospital treatment in the Balkan nation.

The occupancy rate in the country’s medical facilities, including the emergency hospitals set up by the military, is at 64%.

To confront the situation, Croatia has adopted a battery of measures that will come into force on Saturday, including the closure of restaurants, sports centers and caps on the number of passengers allowed on public transport.