Search for coronavirus vaccine has “very high chance of succeeding” – Covid-19 round-up

The search for a coronavirus vaccine has a “very high chance” of succeeding, according to the scientist leading one of Britain’s two bids.

Imperial College London’s Professor Robin Shattock said the scientific community was “very confident” that a jab could be developed.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday morning Prof Shattock said: “There are so many groups [worldwide] working on different approaches and this virus is not as difficult a target as some of the things we have seen before.

“I think scientifically there is a very high chance of success of getting a vaccine, and we hope one of these might be one of the two approaches developed in the UK.”

Londoners are also being sought — with the offer of up to £625 in compensation — to enrol from today in a separate Oxford University trial, which Prof Sarah Gilbert, who is leading the efforts to produce that vaccine, saying she has “80 per cent confidence” her vaccine will work and could be available by the autumn.

 

Keir Starmer grilled the Government on its personal protective equipment (PPE) record at his first Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) yesterday.

The new Labour leader took Dominic Raab to task over failures to provide adequate equipment for healthcare workers tackling the coronavirus.

He also quizzed the Foreign Secretary, deputising for Boris Johnson, on testing figures.

Mr Starmer said: “Last week the Health Secretary said that every care worker who needed a test would get one. But the reality on the ground is very different, and there are very few tests indeed.”

A study by the Financial Times has estimated that the UK’s coronavirus death toll could be more than double the official figure – with more than 40,000 killed by the virus.

 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was looking to lift the country’s lockdown in the second half of May.

He said he was planning to lift the state of emergency in around four weeks while allowing children outside from this coming weekend after a backlash against a ban on outdoor exercise.

Spain recorded 4,211 new cases on Wednesday, more than Tuesday’s 3,968, bringing the total from 204,178 to 208,389.

There were also 435 more deaths, a marginal increase from yesterday’s 430, taking the Spanish death toll from 21,282 to 21,717.

 

Italy will at the end of this week announce a plan of gradual exit from its lockdown, according to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Mr Conte said in a Facebook post that it was “reasonable” to expect the plan would be applied from May 4.

However he said the country, which has the highest recorded death toll in Europe at more than 24,600, could not abandon its policy of “maximum caution” and said the country would reopen in line with “serious scientific policy”.

 

One of the world’s leading economists has warned the US is on course for a second Great Depression after President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis left the country looking like a “third world infection”.

Joseph Stiglitz said millions of Americans were turning to food banks, going to work due to a lack of sick pay and dying because of health inequalities.

He said: “The numbers turning to food banks are just enormous and beyond the capacity of them to supply. It is like a third world country. The public social safety net is not working.”