Program boosts effort by the mRNA therapy pioneer to be first with a coronavirus vaccine

A member of US Vice President Mike Pence's staff has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, briefly delaying his Friday flight to Iowa and prompting some fellow passengers on Air Force Two to disembark, according to a White House official.

An aide to Vice President Mike Pence has the coronavirus, marking the second person in the White House complex known to test positive this week. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Friday confirmed the latest positive testing. She insisted the White House continues to operate safely despite two cases cropping up in two days.

President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide, said he was "not worried" about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.

"Even before the COVID-19 crisis we assessed a certain level of coordination between Russia and the PRC in the realm of propaganda," said Lea Gabrielle, coordinator of the State Department's Global Engagement Center, which tracks foreign propaganda.

Ivanka Trump's personal assistant has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus, making her the third White House staff member to be infected from Covid-19, a media report said on Saturday. The assistant, who works in a personal capacity for Ivanka, has not been around her in several weeks. She has been teleworking for nearly two months and was tested out of caution.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its order on Friday which extended the lockdown till May 17, mandated that the local authority shall ensure 100% coverage of Aarogya Setu app of residents within the Containment Zone.

Durham : Duke University Press, 2020.

Worries about job losses are the highest in the country as 86 per cent being worried about losing their jobs and livelihood post-COVID-19 lockdowns. In comparison, this is only 31 per cent in Britain, 33 per cent in Australia and 41 per cent in the US and a high 71 per cent Hongkongers fear job loses, says the survey.

With Gujarat reporting a large number of coronavirus COVID-19 cases and fatalities, medical experts from AIIMS, including its director Dr Randeep Guleria, have rushed to Ahmedabad to provide expert guidance to doctors there on COVID-19 management.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020

On the impact of the outbreak, the company said: "COVID-19 has affected the supply of some components to our manufacturing facilities and volume of business in 'Servicetec' segment. This is likely to impact our planned production and volume of business in excess of 10 per cent for the month of March."

Some farmers told ANI that they are facing problems as there is shortage of labour and they are not able to send their produce to the market due to the lack of transport facilities

Record high local prices, coupled with short-term pressure on household finances, could encourage people to sell gold

Coca-Cola said its financial contribution will be utilised for various purposes, which include activation of over 50 locations across 10 states in partnership with its bottlers to support the hydration needs of the underserved communities through distribution of beverages during the lockdown period.

Officials said the equipment will be installed in market areas, Amma canteens and public toilets.

The first flight that was to land around 8 p.m. on Friday was delayed by five hours and has been scheduled to land at 1.30 a.m. on Saturday, while the other flight is expected to land at 12.30 a.m.

As part of the UberMedic service, the car aggregator has allotted ₹25 lakh for the purpose.

Packed settlements and common toilets make physical distancing an impossibility in Dharavi. Jyoti Shelar and Ajeet Mahale report on the efforts to stop COVID-19 from spreading in a 2.5-sq km area that has recorded more than 800 cases and 25 deaths

The connection between washing with clean water and avoiding coronavirus is an important one.

Bats, which make up a group of more than 1,200 species, are the only mammals capable of flight. They are important pollinators and seed dispersers, and they provide pest control by eating insects. A number of species also carry viruses that can sicken livestock and human beings---and they likely played some role in the SARS outbreak in 2002. Although much more evidence needs to be collected, researchers suspect that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus at the center of the coronavirus pandemic) originated in bats, and wildlife officials fear that they may become targets of human persecution. 

It was previously reported that lions and tigers in New York’s Bronx Zoo had become infected with SARS-CoV-2, and they were displaying symptoms of COVID-19. Now, it seems that there is evidence that other species, namely cats and dogs, can become infected with the virus, though they respond differently to it than humans do. This week's blog post below discusses the possibility of catching COVID-19 from a dog or a cat.

Anil Kumble thanked all the health care workers and others who are going on with their work so that everyone else can stay safe at home.

The ancient Pompeii ruins house several evidences of long-standing trade ties between the two countries

Two of the sisters were nurses for the Mexican Social Security Institute and the third was a hospital administrator, but there was no immediate evidence the attack was related to their work.

The United States and China have been engaged in a series of retaliatory actions involving journalists in recent months.

India's recovery rate currently stands at 29.36%, according to the Union Health Ministry.

If successful, Pfizer said it hopes to receive emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as early as October

While the Delhi government’s statement says 68 coronavirus-related deaths have occurred in the national capital till Friday, the number of such deaths in just two hospitals in the city that The Hindu accessed was 107

An international rights group condemned the amendments, saying the government has used the global pandemic to expand, not reform, Egypt’s abusive Emergency Law.

Those without domestic pass would be sent back, say authorities

This year’s observance had been expected to be especially large because it is the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Curbs will lead to ‘grave’ revenue loss, says State govt. plea

Maken also came down heavily on the Arvind Kejriwal-led government and asked it to be more transparent in reporting cases of the novel coronavirus.

‘The stranded people are mostly migrant workers, patients and their attendants, students, pilgrims and tourists from West Bengal’

More than 3,946,130 cases were registered in 195 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,293,700 are now considered recovered.

Asks officers to fact-check and refer to reliable sites to verify news reports

The pending board exams will be held from July 1 to 15.

Harsh Vardhan flagged the large prevalence of non-smoking tobacco usage in some of the States and the problem of spitting in public places.

Two of its top health officials, Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx, would continue to be members of the task force, Trump told reporters

It's already May, and parts of the country hit 40 degrees Celsius a few days ago, making situations worse for people living in cramped quarters to stay indoors

The reports support many economists' belief that the economic slump could persist for a while

The BoE said Britain's economy might be on course to shrink by 25% in the three months to June and unemployment could more than double to 9% of the workforce

Economists had forecast that exports would shrink by 11% while imports would contract by 10%.

From WHO planning mission to find virus source in China, to Europe's richest man losing $30 billion, and the impact of coronavirus on indigenous people - read these and more in today's world dispatch