COVID-19 World Updates
by Sriya Sadhu
VOL. 24 — published November 22, 2020 under COVID-19
- The FDA grants the emergency authorization of the COVID-19 antibody treatment given to Trump
- Shortly after Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19, he was provided an emergency antibody treatment. Just recently, the FDA granted the emergency authorization of this experimental treatment. Made by the biotech company Regeneron, this treatment is a cocktail of two powerful antibodies that seems to keep the infection in check- reducing medical visits. Similar treatments (like Eli Lilly’s) have also been given emergency approval.
- Europe’s handling of COVID-19
- Although the latest wave of COVID-19 in Europe seems to have mostly calmed down by the summer, records that prompted lockdowns and stretched hospital capacity limits were still set. From late September to early November, the rate of cases across the continent quintupled to about 300,000 a day. While countries are showing progress, many are recording new cases and deaths faster than the United States. Others have lower case rates but higher fatality rates.
- New nightly curfews as a result of record hospitalizations
- The United States continues breaking record after record, with over 198,000 new cases on a single day (Friday) and more than 82,000 hospitalized. Some states and cities hope that nightly curfews will help curb the spread of COVID-19 at bars and other nightlife activities. California has been the latest to issue a similar curfew- mainly to calm public unrest than for any significant public health purpose. These changes come as the virus has killed close to 2,000 people and infected an average of 170,000 people each day.
- G20 Summit discussions
- The 2020 G20 Summit, being hosted virtually by Saudi Arabia, is currently being dominated by discussions on tackling the pandemic and related economic damage. The G20 is a summit with the heads-of-state of the world’s 19 richest countries and the European Union. These influential headsof-state spoke about vaccine distribution and debt relief for poorer countries. “We must work to create the conditions for affordable and equitable access to these tools for all peoples,” King Salman of Saudi Arabia said of vaccines and treatments during his opening address.