Coronavirus live news: Gaza in lockdown following first local cases; Hong Kong man re-infected | World news

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, is warning that distributing a Covid-19 vaccine under special emergency use guidelines before it has been proved safe and effective in large trials is a bad idea that could have a chilling effect on the testing of other vaccines, Reuters reports.

Scientists and health experts have expressed concern that President Donald Trump will apply pressure on the US Food and Drug Administration to deliver a vaccine before November to boost his chances of re-election.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, declined to comment on the president, but said there are risks in rushing out a vaccine despite the urgent need.

“The one thing that you would not want to see with a vaccine is getting an EUA (emergency use authorisation) before you have a signal of efficacy,” Fauci told Reuters in a phone interview.

“One of the potential dangers if you prematurely let a vaccine out is that it would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the other vaccines to enroll people in their trial,” Fauci said.

In case you missed this in the earlier blog:

Donald Trump on Sunday announced the emergency authorisation of convalescent plasma, a method involving taking plasma from people who have recovered from Covid-19, for coronavirus patients.Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the WHO, stressed that it was still unproven and that there was “very low evidence” it was safe and effective.

“There are a number of clinical trials going on around the world looking at convalescent plasma … but only a few of them have reported on results. The results are not conclusive. The trials have been relatively small and the results in some cases point to some benefit but have not been conclusive. We have been tracking this and do ongoing … reviews to see where the evidence is shifting or pointing at and the moment it is still very low evidence,” she said.

Dr Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the director general of the WHO, warned that the side-effects of convalescent plasma ranged from mild chills and fevers to more severe lung problems and circulatory overload.”

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

I’ll be bringing you the latest news from around the world. Get in touch:

Twitter: @helenrsullivan
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The first cases of coronavirus have been detected outside of quarantine facilities within the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials have announced, a potentially disastrous development given the enclave’s fragile health system.

Four people from the same family have so far tested positive for coronavirus, Gaza’s interior ministry said, as authorities imposed a 48-hour lockdown.

The immediate shutdown includes the closure of workplaces, schools and mosques.

Gaza has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007 and access to the enclave was further restricted following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Those granted permission to enter the strip have been held in special quarantine centres for three weeks.

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

• Gaza reported its first Covid-19 cases outside quarantine areas and declared lockdown. The first cases of coronavirus have been detected outside of quarantine facilities within the Gaza Strip, a potentially disastrous development given the enclave’s fragile health system.
• A Hong Kong man has been re-infected with Covid-19 after four-and-a-half months, leading to immunity concerns. A Hong Kong man who recovered from Covid-19 was infected again four-and-a-half months later in the first documented instance of human re-infection, researchers at the University of Hong Kong said on Monday.
• Sweden is not expecting big second wave: chief epidemiologist. Sweden is likely to see local outbreaks but no big second wave of Covid-19 cases in the autumn, such as inundated hospitals a few months ago, Sweden’s top epidemiologist and architect of its unorthodox pandemic strategy said.
• Usain Bolt is in quarantine after taking Covid-19 test following birthday party. The world’s fastest man Usain Bolt is in quarantine after taking a Covid-19 test just days after a party for his 34th birthday, which was attended by England footballer Raheem Sterling and several other sports stars.
• Brazil’s Bolsonaro said journalist “wimps” are more likely to die of Covid-19. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro continued his attack on journalists during a public event on Monday, describing reporters as “wimps” and saying they have a heightened chance of dying of Covid-19 because they are not athletic.
• KFC dropped its Finger Lickin’ Good slogan as it “doesn’t quite fit” in age of Covid-19. KFC has admitted its famous Finger Lickin’ Good slogan is not quite right for the era of face masks and official hand-washing advice, as it launches a new advertising campaign with a change of focus.
• Zoom apologised after a partial global outage. Zoom, the video-conferencing app that has proved popular with people working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, suffered a partial failure that left thousands of people in the US, UK and across the world unable to connect to work meetings or classes.