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 The race for a vaccine
Scientists at Imperial College London will start the first clinical
trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine this week with funding from
the British government and philanthropic donors.
About 300 healthy volunteers will receive two doses of the vaccine
to test whether it is safe in people and whether it produces an
effective immune response.
In Singapore, scientists testing a vaccine from U.S. firm Arcturus
Therapeutics plan to start human trials in August after promising
initial responses in mice.
AstraZeneca’s potential coronavirus vaccine is likely to provide
protection against contracting COVID-19 for about a year, the
company’s chief executive said on Tuesday.
More than 100 potential vaccines are in development around the
world.
Travel curbs in China
Beijing banned high-risk people, such as close contacts of confirmed
cases, from leaving the Chinese capital and halted all outbound taxi
and car-hailing services as well as some long-distance bus routes to
stop the spread of a fresh outbreak.
The financial hub of Shanghai demanded some travellers from Beijing
be quarantined for two weeks, as 27 new COVID-19 cases took
Beijing's current outbreak to 106 since Thursday. The stakes are
high for Shanghai, which has been invited to host two Formula One
races this season. U.S. airlines are also poised to resume flights
there.
Russia rolls back restrictions
Residents of Moscow were able to return to museums and summer
terraces on Tuesday for the first time in more than two months as
the Russian capital rolled back more coronavirus curbs despite
continuing to record over 1,000 new daily infections.
Museums, libraries and zoos in the city of nearly 13 million are
reopening their doors, albeit with continued limits on the number of
visitors at any one time.
Kremlin critics have accused authorities of lifting restrictions too
fast to pave the way for a nationwide vote on reforms that would
allow President Vladimir Putin to run again for president twice
after 2024 when his current term ends.
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Making masks compulsory for plane travel
Major U.S. airlines may prevent anyone not wearing a mask during the novel
coronavirus pandemic from boarding and provide the coverings to passengers who
have none. Once onboard, however, flight attendants have had little power over
passengers who remove the face covering.
Each carrier will decide the appropriate consequences for passengers who fail to
comply, up to and including being put on that airline's no-fly list, the
industry's main lobby group said on Monday.
Carriers with the stricter policy include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines,
Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and
United Airlines, Airlines for America said in a statement.
Hollywood back in business
Universal Studios expects to resume production in early July on "Jurassic World:
Dominion" as Hollywood begins to emerge from a three-month coronavirus shutdown.
The movie will be shot at Pinewood Studios in England under stringent protocols
for the cast and crew.
Filming on James Cameron's "Avatar" sequel for 20th Century Studios resumed in
New Zealand on Monday.
Movie studios got the green light last week to restart production in the Los
Angeles area but are expected to need several more weeks for a mass return to
work.
The 2021 Oscars ceremony was moved to April from February on Monday because of
the pandemic.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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