Italy records its highest increase in Covid-19 cases since late April
From CNN’s Livia Borghese
Italy on Thursday reported the highest daily increase in new coronavirus cases since April 24, figures from the country’s health ministry show.
The country recorded at least 2,548 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of infections to 317,409.
The number of people that have died from coronavirus is at least 35,918 – an additional 24 fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours. The number of patients admitted to intensive care has also risen by 11, bringing the total to at least 291.
Gilead now to oversee distribution of its Covid-19 drug remdesivir, US officials announce
From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard
The US Food and Drug Administration has updated its emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19.
The agency is no longer requiring remdesivir to be distributed through the US government, officials announced during a call with reporters on Thursday.
Starting on Thursday, the biopharmaceutical company Gilead — the maker of remdesivir — will be responsible for the distribution of the drug in the United States.
“The supply of remdesivir now outweighs demand and there is no need for the federal government to oversee allocation,” Dr. John Redd, an official at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said during Thursday’s call.
Gilead said in a news release the company is “now meeting real-time demand” for the drug, sold under the brand name Veklury in the United States.
The release also noted that AmerisourceBergen will continue to serve as the sole US distributor of remdesivir through the end of this year and will sell the product directly to hospitals. It costs about $3,200 for a five-day treatment course.
“We feel very confident in supply ramp up and that’s what we’ve been working through all year,” Johanna Mercier, chief commercial officer for Gilead Sciences, said during Thursday’s call.
“By the end of the year we will have more than 2 million treatment courses available,” Mercier said. “We feel very confident that, even if there was a surge in the epidemic, that we can manage that.”
Loss of smell could be a highly reliable indicator of Covid-19 infection, research says
From CNN’s Naomi Thomas
Loss of smell and taste are a strong sign that someone is infected with Covid-19, according to new research published Thursday.
People who lose either smell or taste should consider self-isolating, even if they have no other symptoms, researchers in Britain said.
“Our findings show that loss of smell and taste is a highly reliable indicator that someone is likely to have Covid-19 and if we are to reduce the spread of this pandemic, it should now be considered by governments globally as a criterion for self-isolation, testing and contact tracing,” Rachel Batterham of University College London and University College London Hospitals, who helped lead the study team, said.
How the study was conducted: The team studied 590 volunteers who experienced a new loss of smell or taste. They tested 567 of them for coronavirus.
Of the 567, 77.6% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. In total, 80.4% of participants reporting smell loss and 77.8% of those reporting taste loss had a positive test result, the team reported in the journal PLoS Medicine.
Nearly 40% of those who tested positive for antibodies had neither a fever nor a cough.
Batterham and her colleagues also found that participants with a loss of smell alone were nearly three times more likely than patients with just a loss of taste to have Covid-19 antibodies, and participants with a combined loss of smell and taste were four times more likely to have antibodies.
“These findings suggest that a loss of smell is a highly specific symptom of Covid-19, in contrast to a loss of taste, despite their comparable frequency,” the researchers wrote.
The study recruited its volunteers between April 23 and May 14, during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak in London. It did not include a comparison group of people who did not lose their sense of smell and/or taste.
27 US states are reporting an uptick in Covid-19 cases. Here’s a look at where infections are rising.
From CNN’s Amanda Watts
As the United States continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, a majority of states are showing an increase in new cases compared to the previous week.
According to Johns Hopkins University data:
- 27 states are showing upward trends
- 14 states are showing steady trends
- 9 states are showing downward trends
The US is currently averaging 42,785 new Covid-19 cases a day, which is down 1% from last week. The country continues to lead the world in total cases, with more than 7 million coronavirus cases.
Watch CNN’s John King break down the latest figures:
What we know about the surge of Covid-19 cases in parts of New York
From CNN’s Sheena Jones
The positivity percentage rate in 20 Covid-19 hotspots in New York has increased, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday at a daily presser.
The positivity rate has increased from 5.5% to 6.5%, the governor said.
“There are increases primarily in Brooklyn,” Cuomo said.
The governor called on local government to move from compliance to enforcement and to start fining people if they do not wear a mask.
“An infection today can become a cluster tomorrow,” the governor said.
The governor reiterated that he spoke with people in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in the hotspot area and told them enforcement would be stepped up.
Cuomo also announced that Covid Alert, an app to help with Covid-19 contact tracing, will launch in New York Thursday.
The app will allow users to know if they were in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, the governor said.
Using cellphone data and Bluetooth technology, the app will tell users if they have been within six feet of someone who tested positive for Covid-19. It will also tell users if they were near someone for longer than 10 minutes, Cuomo said.
The governor said he will make the app available to any other state that wants to use it.
The state of Pennsylvania also launched a Covid-19 tracking app in September.
White House on Trump’s Wisconsin rallies: “People can choose whether or not to come”
From CNN’s Betsy Klein
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was questioned Thursday on the President’s decision to hold rallies in Wisconsin Saturday against recommendations from the White House coronavirus task force regarding social distancing.
“The President believes that people have a First Amendment right to political speech. He is having a rally. People can choose whether or not to come,” McEnany said, adding that there would be “measures to protect rallygoers.”
The Trump campaign told CNN Thursday that “everyone attending will receive a temperature check, be provided a mask they are encouraged to wear and have access to plenty of hand sanitizer.”
The events come as Wisconsin “has continued to see a rapid worsening of the epidemic in the last week,” a September 27 task force report obtained by CNN said. The state has the third highest case rate in the country and has a test positivity rate between 8% and 10%, the seventh highest in the country.
The task force recommended increased social distancing “to the maximal degree possible.”
“During the intense period of viral surge, large numbers of acutely infected individuals caused exponential growth in infections. Although young adults are the most affected group currently, spread to other age groups is inevitable. To the maximal degree possible, increase social distancing mitigation measures until cases decline, including through supporting local authorities to pass and enforce mitigation measures,” the report said.
The state also reported a grim new milestone Thursday — 27 people died of Covid-19 Wednesday, according to the state’s Covid-19 website. That is the highest death count on record for the state.
McEnany attacked what she described as “two standards of health in this country: one for Trump supporters and one for everyone else,” railing against social justice protesters.
Delta may have to furlough about 1,900 pilots if Congress doesn’t reach a stimulus deal, CEO says
From CNN’s Aditi Sangal
American and United Airlines are cutting 32,000 jobs after Congress failed to reach a new deal on federal aid plans. Delta has been able to a delay job cuts for now, but CEO Ed Bastian says they may have to furlough 1,900 pilots in the future if Congress doesn’t reach a stimulus deal.
“If we don’t get the support from Congress, we will be required as an industry to furlough tens of thousands of workers,” he told CNN Thursday. “Also very importantly, we’re flying to a lot of small cities because of the CARES Act, that we’re being provided, that otherwise would lose service.”
Apart from severely impacting jobs in the aviation industry, the pandemic has also impacted the sense of safety among flyers. Delta has already mandated masks on flights and Bastian says the company is also working on offering its flyers rapid tests.
There is a possibility where Delta may require a flyer to first take a rapid Covid-19 test before boarding, he adds, saying it would largely ensure safety and help passengers avoid quarantines upon arriving at their destination.
“The thing that’s holding traffic back internationally and you know, in New York, are the quarantine measures. No one is going to be flying to Europe in the spring if they are uncertain whether they can do anything or how long they have to stay or if they are able to enjoy their trip or conduct business. The testing is critical to avoid those quarantines,” he said.
Watch:
Speaker Pelosi “hopeful” for a compromise despite being far apart in stimulus talks
From CNN’s Clare Foran, Haley Byrd and Lauren Fox
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated Thursday that the House is likely to move forward with a vote on the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus proposal from House Democrats.
“I’m hoping that we will be voting on it today,” she said during her weekly news conference. The legislation goes beyond the price Republicans are comfortable with, and it is unlikely to pass the GOP-held Senate.
Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are still far apart in talks for a new round of aid, although she said she remains hopeful that a compromise can be found.
“We’re hopeful that we can reach agreement because the needs of the American people are so great,” Pelosi said. “But there has to be a recognition that it takes money to do that, and it takes the right language to make sure it is done right.”
“State and local, we’re still far apart on that,” she said, adding, “we are coming closer on money for our health provisions in the bill, it’s just a question of the language.”
Pelosi also said Democrats “have concerns about a sufficient amount of money to address the unemployment needs of the American people.”
During the news conference, Pelosi also emphasized the need for politics to remain separate from the effort to produce a vaccine.
“What we have to do is have confidence, trust in the vaccine,” Pelosi said. “Let science determine this, and not politics. And then people will have confidence in the product.”
She said she would take a Covid-19 vaccine, even though she doesn’t like needles and takes her flu shot “under great duress” each year.
World’s poorest countries receive $150 million to prepare for delivery of Covid-19 vaccines
From CNN’s James Frater
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has approved $150 million of funding to help 92 low-and middle-income countries “jumpstart” their “readiness to deliver Covid-19 vaccines, in the form of planning, technical assistance and cold chain equipment.”
“The decisions taken today serve the twin goals of moving forward rapidly with our need to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in a statement on Thursday.
Okonjo-Iweala added that the decision will support, “lower-income countries’ ability to maintain routine immunization programmes and protect against the threat of other infectious diseases.”
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced earlier this week it had so far secured 200 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccines for the world’s poorest countries.
The vaccines will have a ceiling price of US$1.60 to US$2 per dose for the 92 of the world’s low income countries.
Through the COVAX facility coordinated by Gavi, 75 countries have formally committed to providing funding to provide at least part of the cost for procuring the vaccine for poorer nations.
