Covid live updates: UK to announce lockdown exit plans; Biden expands reach of PPP loans to minority firms
As new Covid-19 cases and deaths trend lower in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday encouraged Americans to steel themselves against a sense of complacency. Dr. Fauci, a top pandemic advisor to President Joe Biden, said the baseline of daily infections is still very high. He also said not enough people have been vaccinated to create herd immunity, the phenomenon in which a critical number of people become resistant to the virus due to prior exposure or vaccination.
The U.S. is recording at least 69,900 new Covid-19 cases and at least 1,800 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data.
The following data was compiled by Johns Hopkins University:
- Global cases: More than 111.43 million
- Global deaths: At least 2.46 million
- U.S. cases: More than 28.13 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 498,901
GSK, Sanofi launch new Covid-19 vaccine trial after last year’s setback
GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi started a new clinical trial of their Covid-19 vaccine candidate and expect to reach the final testing stage in the second quarter, Reuters reported.
The drugmakers hope to see the vaccine approved by the fourth quarter after having initially targeting the first half of this year, Reuters reports.
The drugmakers said in December they would launch a new study after clinical trials showed an insufficient immune response in older adults.
The vaccine candidate uses the same recombinant protein-based technology as one of Sanofi’s seasonal influenza vaccines. It will be coupled with an adjuvant, which acts as a booster to the shot, made by GSK, according to the Reuters report.
The study will test two injections given 21 days apart.
—Melodie Warner
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce how and when England will start to lift lockdown restrictions, reports CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt
Government ministers are expected to discuss the details Monday morning and the prime minister will then outline the proposals to parliament later this afternoon.
Johnson is also expected to confirm that schools in England will reopen on March 8.
The lifting of the country’s third lockdown, in place since early January, “will seek to balance health, economic and social factors with the very latest epidemiological data and advice,” the government said in a statement.
—Melodie Warner
U.S. President Joe Biden will enact changes to the U.S. coronavirus small business aid program in an effort to reach much smaller companies, minority-owned firms and sole proprietors, Reuters reports.
For two weeks beginning on Feb. 24, the Small Business Administration will only accept applications for forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from companies with fewer than 20 employees, a government official told Reuters.
The SBA plans to revise the PPP rules to match the approach it used to get small farmers and ranchers access to financial aid. The program also plans to set aside $1 billion for business owners with no employees in low- and moderate-income areas, which are majority owned by women and people of color, according to Reuters.
—Terri Cullen
Sumber : www.cnbc.com