What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Cuban artist Yulier Rodriguez talks to a child as he paints a mural amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Havana. Picture: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters

Cuban artist Yulier Rodriguez talks to a child as he paints a mural amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Havana. Picture: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters

Published May 26, 2020

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Here's what you need to know about the

coronavirus right now:

'Jump up at any time'

Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could

face an "immediate second peak" if they let up too soon on

measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organization

(WHO) said on Monday.

"We need also to be cognizant of the fact that the disease

can jump up at any time," said WHO emergencies head Dr Mike

Ryan. "We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease

is on the way down now, it is going to keep going down."

Vaccine prospects

Novavax Inc said on Monday it has started the Phase 1

clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine candidate with

preliminary results slated for July.

The Maryland-based firm in April said it identified the

candidate, NVX-CoV2373, with which it planned to use its

Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance immune responses.

Adjuvants are mainly used to make vaccines induce a strong

immune response and provide longer-lasting protection against

viral and bacterial infection.

     

Covid-19 guards

A loosely-knit volunteer group of data scientists and health

experts has emerged in Indonesia's West Java province as an

increasingly important source of information and guidance in the

face of patchy data and conflicting advice from the central

government over measures to fight coronavirus.

The group, Kawal Covid-19 (Guard against Covid-19), also

counters online misinformation, such as that smelling red onions

is effective against coronavirus, and uses crowdsourcing to help

hospitals find protective gear.

Suspending hydroxychloroquine tests

The WHO has suspended testing the malaria drug

hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19 patients due to safety concerns.

It has previously recommended against using

hydroxychloroquine to treat or prevent coronavirus infections,

except as part of clinical trials.

Not for kids under two

Children under the age of two should not wear masks because

they can make breathing difficult and increase the risk of

choking, a Japan medical group said, launching an urgent appeal

to parents as the country reopens from the coronavirus crisis.

"Masks can make breathing difficult because infants have

narrow air passages," which increases the burden on their

hearts, the association said, adding masks also raise the risk

of heat stroke for the young ones.

Cuba's Corona Town

A skeleton reaches up from the ground to clutch at a

fantastical winged creature. A hunched figure wearing a face

mask drags behind it an entangled mass of stricken faces and

lanky limbs. A butterfly flutters out of the mouth of a body

laid to rest.

Welcome to "Ciudad Corona" (Corona Town), a collection of

murals by Cuban artist Yulier Rodriguez in the backyard of a

friend's home in southern Havana.

Rodriguez is one of several urban artists who have taken to

Cuba's walls to express anguish but also hope regarding the

pandemic - some in public spaces, others, like his, in private

for fear of running into trouble with Communist authorities.

Reuters

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