San Quentin prison in US has seven deaths and 1,500 positive tests; Serbia has record 18 fatalities; Australia caps incoming flights and charges for quarantine
Guardian reporter Eleanor Ainge Roy writes that the former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark has been told a vaccine for Covid-19 may be years away;
This isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I am told by informed sources in Geneva that it will be at least two-and-a-half years until there could be a widely available vaccine – at least. That’s not very encouraging really.
I’ve made it clear in accepting it that it will be virtual for the foreseeable future – which could be quite a long time.”
I think when we replay the record, most of the world sort of sat by and watched with almost a sense of detachment and bemusement. China was locking down Wuhan and Beijing and thinking back to January and early February it was kind of like that’s happening over there. Dr Tedros said to me, ‘There is a very narrow window to avoid a pandemic – but it’s closing fast’. And he said ‘I don’t know what else I can do – I am screaming every day but no one is listening’. That really chills me … this is the health nuclear accident.”
Related: Helen Clark: WHO coronavirus inquiry aims to 'stop the world being blindsided again'
My colleague Christopher Knaus has written about how Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest used his Chinese connections to help secure a remarkable quantity of diagnostic equipment for Australia.
But problems soon emerged, Knaus writes;
Related: The strange case of Australia's 10m Covid-19 tests: how Andrew Forrest's coup fell flat
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