Day: July 22, 2020

A report by the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre this month accused hackers with links to Russian intelligence of attacking organizations developing a vaccine for COVID-19.  The report has raised diplomatic tensions and opened a window into the world of pharmaceutical intelligence. VOA’s Tatiana Vorozhko has the story.
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The European Southern Observatory on Wednesday released the first image ever captured by a telescope of multiple planets orbiting around a sunlike star.In a statement, the ESO said the image was taken by its Extremely Large Telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert.This image from the European Southern Observatory, July 2020, shows the star TYC 8998-760-1, upper left, and two exoplanets. The image was captured by blocking the light from the star, allowing for the fainter planets to be detected.The researchers who discovered the solar system said it was 300 light-years away, relatively close by galactic standards. They said the star was officially known as TYC 8998-760-1 and located in the Musca constellation (the Fly). They have determined it is barely 17 million years old, compared with our sun, which is believed to be 4.5 billion years old.Research behind the discovery was published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Lead researcher Alexander Bohn, a doctoral candidate at Leiden University, said what makes the discovery so exciting is that the star is “a very young version of our sun. He said it provides “a snapshot of an environment that is very similar to our solar system but at a much earlier stage of its evolution.”Bohn said the observations can help scientists better understand the evolution of our own solar system. Taking direct images, he said, provides the best chance to detect life outside our solar system, if it exists.He said that in observing light from the planets themselves, “the atmospheres can be analyzed for molecules and elements that might suggest life.”Astronomers typically confirm worlds around other stars by observing brief but periodic dimming of the starlight, indicating an orbiting planet. Such indirect observations have identified thousands of planets in our Milky Way galaxy.The ESO is considered the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by a consortium of European nations and Chile, as well as other member nations.
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The U.S. government will pay $1.95 billion to American drug maker Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech SE for 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, if it proves to be safe and effective. The companies said Wednesday they finalized a deal with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department to supply the agencies with a vaccine they are developing jointly, the latest in a number of comparable agreements with other vaccine companies. FILE – Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing in Washington, July 8, 2020.HHS Secretary Alex Azar told Fox News on Wednesday the U.S. could buy 500 million additional doses of the vaccine provided they are “safe and effective.” The deal announced Wednesday is part of President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed initiative, which hopes to deliver 300 million doses of an approved vaccine by January 2021. Pfizer and BioNTech said they hope to be ready to pursue some form of regulatory approval as early as October if ongoing studies of the vaccine are successful and that it currently expects to deliver up to 100 million doses by the end of the year. The deal was announced one day after more than 1,000 people in the U.S. died of COVID-19, the first time since early June the U.S. reached the grim single-day milestone, and Trump acknowledged the coronavirus crisis in the country  “will … get worse before it gets better.” The U.S. continues to lead the world in COVID-19 fatalities with more than 142,300, far greater than the 81,487 deaths in second-ranked Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The U.S. also remains the world leader in infections, with 3.5 million of the world’s 15 million coronavirus cases. Data released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say, however, the actual number of coronavirus infections in some parts of the U.S. is anywhere between two to 13 times higher than what has been officially reported. The CDC based its conclusions on blood samples collected from people who were given routine clinical tests across 10 geographic regions, including New York City, south Florida, Missouri and the western states of Utah and Washington. In Missouri, for example, the estimated number of actual infections was 13 times higher than the number of confirmed cases, while in Utah, the actual number was at least twice as high.   FILE – A Salt Lake County Health Department public health nurse performs a coronavirus test outside the Salt Lake County Health Department in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 10, 2020.The authors of the study, which was also published on the website of JAMA Internal Medicine, said many infected people did not seek medical care or get tested because they likely had mild symptoms or none at all, and likely spread the virus among the population. At least 40% of people who are infected do not develop symptoms.   The CDC researchers also found that only a small number of people in many parts of the United States were carrying the coronavirus antibodies as of late May, indicating that most of the population remains highly at risk of infection.Across the globe Meanwhile, South Africa is now a global COVID-19 hotspot with more than half of the confirmed cases on the African continent. South Africa’s health ministry said there were nearly 382,000 cases and nearly 5,400 deaths in the country. Nepal’s government announced an end to lockdown measures 120 days after they were first imposed in March. The information ministry said despite the decline in the number of infections in Nepal, schools and colleges would remain closed until further notice. FILE – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who is infected with COVID-19, wears a protective face mask as he waves to supporters outside his official residence the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, July 20, 2020.The Brazilian government said Wednesday that President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for the coronavirus for the third time. The government said he tested positive again Tuesday after a follow-up test on July 15 and after announcing he first had COVID-19 on July 7. Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus as a “little flu” and frequently mingled in crowds, sometimes without wearing a mask. The World Health Organization said the median period from the beginning to recovery for mild cases is about two weeks.  Wayne Lee, Richard Green and Mia Bush contributed to this report.
 
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COVID-19 tests that take an hour or less and can be done at doctors’ offices, workplaces, or even at home are under development. They could have a big impact on the course of the pandemic in the United States, where long lines for tests and long waits for results are undermining efforts to control the disease.  People who get tested for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 have been waiting for days, up to a week in some places, to find out if they are infected, as overloaded labs struggle to keep up with demand. Patients can spread the virus while they are waiting for test results. That’s also a setback for public health workers who need to identify patients’ contacts and isolate them before the virus spreads further. Plus, patients tested one day can be infected the next, while they are waiting for results.  “If you get the results back a week later, those results are effectively a historical record. They’re not actionable information,” said Zev Williams at Columbia University.  Testing has taken on extra urgency in the COVID-19 pandemic because roughly half of infections may be spread from people with no symptoms, according to some estimates. Frequent, widespread and fast Current assays require certified laboratories with expensive, specialized equipment and trained personnel. Labs have run into shortages of chemicals, the special cartridges some machines use, and even the long swabs that health workers insert deep into patients’ noses to get samples.  “Testing has to be frequent, widespread and fast,” Williams said. It should be fast enough so people can take a test and get results before they get on an airplane, enter a nursing home, or go to school, he said. Some companies are aiming to develop simple tests patients could do at home. That would eliminate many of the supply issues, as well as keep patients safe and prevent them from exposing anyone else. “Bringing testing home can help solve just about every aspect of how we manage this pandemic,” said Sherlock Biosciences CEO Rahul Dhanda, “as long as a test can be accurate and dependable.” Sherlock is developing a test called INSPECTR that looks and functions like a home pregnancy test. The user applies a bit of saliva to a strip of paper in a plastic holder. In about half an hour, the paper changes color if the user is infected. Dhanda says it should cost no more than $30. The company hopes to have the test on the market in the first half of next year. Sherlock is also working on a system that could run in pharmacies, grocery stores, nursing homes or just about anywhere else with a power supply. It runs on a machine developed by medical device company Binx that is currently used in clinics and doctors’ offices to test for sexually transmitted infections. Patients would spit in a tube and get results in half an hour.  Sherlock hopes to have the system up and running in the fall. It’s based on an approach the company is using in a Food and Drug Administration-approved test. That test uses CRISPR, a system best known for gene editing, to identify specific genetic fingerprints of the virus. The scientists behind the technology, including Sherlock’s co-founders, put a low-cost open-source version online at STOPCovid.science. All the reaction components are contained in one tube. Saliva or a mouth swab go in the tube, which then sits at 60 degrees Celsius for half an hour. Dip a paper test strip in the tube, and yes-or-no results show up in a few minutes. It is not FDA approved, and it is not intended for clinical testing, but the researchers say the aim is to help move the technology forward.Repurposed fertility test Columbia’s Williams helped develop a similar assay. In an example of how COVID-19 has scrambled everyone’s priorities, Williams is not an infectious disease doctor. He heads the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the university medical center.  He said one way to test prospective parents who are having trouble conceiving is to look for genetic defects that can cause infertility.  “In terms of the underlying molecular biology, it’s not that different” to look for a fertility gene or the genes of a virus, he said. But overhauling the fertility test to look for the coronavirus in saliva, and doing it in such a way that it could be done easily without special equipment or training was a challenge. “It actually took an enormous amount of work to make it very simple,” he said. Like the STOPCovid test, all the reactions take place in one tube. The only special equipment they need is a heating block or hot water kept at 60 degrees Celsius. But instead of getting results on a strip of paper, this test is based on color. The red test solution turns yellow if the sample contains virus.  All of the test makers say their assays are as accurate as those done at major labs today, but the FDA has not yet evaluated any of them. Only one test, Sherlock and Binx’s, has a commercial partner to scale up manufacturing.  Williams said his group is working to get their test to market “as quick as possible. I’ll tell you, it’s something we push on every single day.” “You just see how the problems are not getting less,” he said. “They’re growing and growing, and the need for this is growing.” 
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COVID-19 tests that take an hour or less and can be done at doctors’ offices, workplaces, or even at home are under development. They could have a big impact on the course of the pandemic in the United States, where long lines for tests and long waits for results are undermining efforts to control the disease.  People who get tested for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 have been waiting for days, up to a week in some places, to find out if they are infected, as overloaded labs struggle to keep up with demand. Patients can spread the virus while they are waiting for test results. That’s also a setback for public health workers who need to identify patients’ contacts and isolate them before the virus spreads further. Plus, patients tested one day can be infected the next, while they are waiting for results.  “If you get the results back a week later, those results are effectively a historical record. They’re not actionable information,” said Zev Williams at Columbia University.  Testing has taken on extra urgency in the COVID-19 pandemic because roughly half of infections may be spread from people with no symptoms, according to some estimates. Frequent, widespread and fast Current assays require certified laboratories with expensive, specialized equipment and trained personnel. Labs have run into shortages of chemicals, the special cartridges some machines use, and even the long swabs that health workers insert deep into patients’ noses to get samples.  “Testing has to be frequent, widespread and fast,” Williams said. It should be fast enough so people can take a test and get results before they get on an airplane, enter a nursing home, or go to school, he said. Some companies are aiming to develop simple tests patients could do at home. That would eliminate many of the supply issues, as well as keep patients safe and prevent them from exposing anyone else. “Bringing testing home can help solve just about every aspect of how we manage this pandemic,” said Sherlock Biosciences CEO Rahul Dhanda, “as long as a test can be accurate and dependable.” Sherlock is developing a test called INSPECTR that looks and functions like a home pregnancy test. The user applies a bit of saliva to a strip of paper in a plastic holder. In about half an hour, the paper changes color if the user is infected. Dhanda says it should cost no more than $30. The company hopes to have the test on the market in the first half of next year. Sherlock is also working on a system that could run in pharmacies, grocery stores, nursing homes or just about anywhere else with a power supply. It runs on a machine developed by medical device company Binx that is currently used in clinics and doctors’ offices to test for sexually transmitted infections. Patients would spit in a tube and get results in half an hour.  Sherlock hopes to have the system up and running in the fall. It’s based on an approach the company is using in a Food and Drug Administration-approved test. That test uses CRISPR, a system best known for gene editing, to identify specific genetic fingerprints of the virus. The scientists behind the technology, including Sherlock’s co-founders, put a low-cost open-source version online at STOPCovid.science. All the reaction components are contained in one tube. Saliva or a mouth swab go in the tube, which then sits at 60 degrees Celsius for half an hour. Dip a paper test strip in the tube, and yes-or-no results show up in a few minutes. It is not FDA approved, and it is not intended for clinical testing, but the researchers say the aim is to help move the technology forward.Repurposed fertility test Columbia’s Williams helped develop a similar assay. In an example of how COVID-19 has scrambled everyone’s priorities, Williams is not an infectious disease doctor. He heads the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the university medical center.  He said one way to test prospective parents who are having trouble conceiving is to look for genetic defects that can cause infertility.  “In terms of the underlying molecular biology, it’s not that different” to look for a fertility gene or the genes of a virus, he said. But overhauling the fertility test to look for the coronavirus in saliva, and doing it in such a way that it could be done easily without special equipment or training was a challenge. “It actually took an enormous amount of work to make it very simple,” he said. Like the STOPCovid test, all the reactions take place in one tube. The only special equipment they need is a heating block or hot water kept at 60 degrees Celsius. But instead of getting results on a strip of paper, this test is based on color. The red test solution turns yellow if the sample contains virus.  All of the test makers say their assays are as accurate as those done at major labs today, but the FDA has not yet evaluated any of them. Only one test, Sherlock and Binx’s, has a commercial partner to scale up manufacturing.  Williams said his group is working to get their test to market “as quick as possible. I’ll tell you, it’s something we push on every single day.” “You just see how the problems are not getting less,” he said. “They’re growing and growing, and the need for this is growing.” 
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Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it would permanently suspend accounts that violate its policies while tweeting about QAnon, a fringe group that claims “deep-state” traitors are plotting against President Donald Trump. Twitter, which announced the change on its Twitter Safety page, said it would not serve content and accounts associated with QAnon in trends and recommendations, and would block URLs associated with the group from being shared on the platform. The suspension, which will be rolled out this week, is expected to impact about 150,000 accounts globally, Twitter said. It said that more than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks for violating the company’s rules against spam, platform manipulation and ban evasion. The suspensions will be applied to accounts “engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks,” Twitter said. Last year, the FBI issued a warning about “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” and designated QAnon as a potential domestic extremist threat. QAnon also claims Democrats are behind international crime rings. 
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