Welcome to our weekly roundup of developments from the coronavirus pandemic. As new cases emerged in countries that relaxed their restrictions and businesses struggled to weather the storm, the World Health Organization warned that the disease may never go away.
Vaccine hopes and fears
An experimental vaccine that is being given to hundreds of people in an accelerated trial has passed an important milestone. A single shot of the Oxford University vaccine was found to protect a small number of monkeys from serious coronavirus infections. The six animals who received the jab produced antibodies to the virus within a month which appeared to prevent lung damage caused by the virus. The virus was still active in the nose, according to a preliminary report posted on the bioRxiv preprint server.
The news came days after the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, conceded that there was no guarantee a vaccine would work, though his chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, was more upbeat, saying: “I’d be surprised if we didn’t end up with something.”
A working vaccine is not enough if rich countries buy up all the shots and leave poorer countries unprotected. As a foretaste of the wrangling to come, Paul Hudson, the head of the French pharma company Sanofi caused an outcry when he told Bloomberg News that the US would have first dibs on any vaccine his firm discovered, since the US had funded much of the research. France’s minister of higher education, research and innovation, Frédérique Vidal, called the plan “disgraceful”.
The Science Weekly podcast asks whether we need more than one vaccine. Hannah Devlin speaks to Prof Andrew Pollard about the work being done by different teams around the world to create a vaccine for Covid-19, and where his team at Oxford University fit into this international effort.
Unease over easing
Disunity reigned in the UK as England broke ranks from the devolved nations over how to lift the lockdown. Johnson told people to return to work if they couldn’t work from home, even as the Office of National Statistics revealed that many of those in the PM’s sights – construction workers, cleaners, bus drivers and retail workers – were the most likely to die from Covid-19. The Trade Union Congress said the move put people’s health at risk as employers had only “vague and non-binding” guidelines on how to protect staff. The first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, led a chorus of disapproval and warned that the move was “potentially catastrophic”.
Bewildered experts lambasted Johnson for ditching the simple advice to “Stay at Home” for the more puzzling instruction to “Stay Alert”. A group of behavioural scientists who were convened to advise the government made it clear the slogan hadn’t come from them. “Who is advising on the current messaging? Unfortunately it’s not us,” said one.
As commuters packed on to trains and buses, David Hunter, a professor of epidemiology at Oxford University, warned that case numbers were not low enough to relax restrictions without risking a second wave of infections. Devi Sridhar, a professor of global public health at Edinburgh University, was similarly aghast, warning that without robust systems to test, trace and isolate those infected, the virus could spread through the population unchecked, resulting in “a Darwinian culling of the elderly and vulnerable”.
Every African country now affected
Health officials in Lesotho announced their first case of coronavirus, meaning the infection has now spread across the entire African continent. The virus was detected in one of 81 people tested after arriving from Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
Lesotho went into lockdown on 29 March to prevent the virus spreading from South Africa which entirely surrounds the kingdom and has the most recorded cases on the continent.
Trump v Fauci
The latest tiff between the US president and Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, erupted over the speed at which the country is reopening. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made clear that the virus was far from contained a day after Donald Trump declared that the nation had “prevailed” against the epidemic. In evidence to a Senate hearing, Fauci went on to warn of dire consequences if the US opened too soon and urged caution over reopening schools. President Trump did not approve. “To me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools,” he told reporters.
The president himself is taking no chances though. Staff in the West Wing, the operational centre of Trump’s administration, have been ordered to wear face masks except when at their own desks. Trump will not be wearing one. One of his valets and vice-president Mike Pence’s press secretary have both tested positive for the virus.
Airlines buckle up
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of the International Airlines Group, said British Airways would press ahead with cutbacks that could cost 12,000 jobs. Walsh told the chair of the transport committee, Huw Merriman, that despite furlough being extended until October, the financial support wouldn’t compensate for “the reality of a structurally changed airline industry in a severely weakened global economy”.
His comments came as Avianca Holdings, Latin America’s second biggest airline and one of the oldest in the world, filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure aid from Colombia’s government and with a bond payment deadline looming. Avianca would be one of the first major airlines to go under as a result of the pandemic which has caused a 90% decline in global air travel.
Meanwhile, Ryanair announced it aimed to restart 40% of its services in July under new rules that require passengers to have temperature tests at the airport, wear face coverings, use hand sanitiser in terminals and ask permission to use the toilet.
