Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: The Serum Institute of India on Sunday became the first indigenous company to apply to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation for the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine in the country citing unmet medical needs due to the pandemic and in the interest of the public at large, official sources said. A day earlier, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer became the first to seek a similar approval from India's drug regulator for its own Covid-19 vaccine in the country, after securing such clearance in the UK and Bahrain. The phase-three clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, is being conducted by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India on Sunday (SII), co-sponsored by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in various parts of the country in addition to clinical studies being carried out by Oxford-AstraZeneca in the UK and Brazil. Based on phase two and three clinical trial results, the SII with the help of the ICMR will pursue early availability of the vaccine for India, the country's apex health research body had said last month.
Here are the latest updates on coronavirus:
• According to the ICMR, the SII has already manufactured 40 million doses of the vaccine under the at-risk manufacturing and stockpiling license it obtained from the DCGI. Official sources, citing the SII application, said the firm has stated that data from four clinical studies, two in the UK and one each in Brazil and India, shows that Covishield is highly efficacious against symptomatic and most importantly against severe COVID-19 infections. The results are in line with other anti-coronavirus vaccines and because of the huge disease burden, Covishield is predicted to alleviate substantial COVID-19 mortality and morbidity, the firm is learnt to have said.
• Donald Trump said Sunday his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for Covid-19, the latest member of the president's inner circle -- where mask wearing is rare -- to contract the disease. Giuliani's diagnosis comes after he has been crisscrossing the country, leading the president's defiant -- and unsuccessful -- effort to undo Joe Biden's victory in the November 3 presidential election.
• A gauge of Asian shares hit a record peak on Monday on hopes of a much-needed U.S. stimulus package before year-end just as coronavirus vaccines roll out, while oil prices hovered near their highest since March. Japan's Nikkei added 0.1% while Australian shares climbed 0.8%.
• China's Sinovac Biotech has secured $515 million in funding from a local firm to double production capacity of its coronavirus vaccine, the companies said on Monday, as it expects efficacy data of its experimental shot this month. The investment deal also comes as Sinovac expands supply deals and trials of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine CoronaVac with more countries following positive results from early to mid-stage clinical trials.
• With a COVID-19 vaccine perhaps just days away in the U.S., most of California headed into another lockdown Sunday because of the surging outbreak and top health officials warned Americans that this is no time to let their guard down. “The vaccine’s critical,” Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said on NBC's “Meet the Press.” “But it’s not going to save us from this current surge. Only we can save us from this current surge.”