More than 10
million people are infected with COVID-19, and more than half a
million people have died so far. Luckily, the number of cases with
positive outcomes surpassed five million. Still, the grip
that coronavirus has on the
world remains strong. Some countries are dealing with the second
wave, yet others are easing their measures. These are the latest
updates around the globe.

Economy Can’t
Suffer

The economy took
a hit, as many businesses had to close their doors and let the
workers go. But the world can’t stand still forever, and many
countries
are aware of that. For European
states, the reopening is happening in phases.

Germany reopened
smaller shops back in April while Italy entered phase three of
reopening on June 15. France declared the first victory against the
virus on June 14. Belgium was another country that reopened its
borders on June 15, joining Denmark. The state of emergency in Spain
officially ended on June 21, and Greece opened the tourism season.
Russians started going back to work, even though the number of cases
is higher than in other European countries.

Dexamethasone as a
Treatment Option

According to the
newest research, dexamethasone
could be another treatment option for patients with severe symptoms.
Dexamethasone is a steroid that is often prescribed in low-doses as
an anti-inflammatory medicine. When it comes to COVID-19 cases, some
people are asymptomatic, while others tend to overreact to the
infection, which makes their body enter a so-called cytokine storm.

Cytokine storm
happens when the chemical called cytokine gets released by the immune
system and causes severe inflammation. Dexamethasone can then be used
to soothe the cytokine storm and ease the inflammation.

Is There a Vaccine in
Sight?

Sinopharm,
China’s National Pharmaceutical Group, recently announced
that it achieved positive results
regarding a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The Beijing Institute stated
that all 1,120 volunteers from the first and second phase of clinical
trials successfully developed high-titer antibodies against
coronavirus after two doses of the vaccine. The institute also claims
that the vaccine is safe.

Sinopharm is
expanding the manufacturing capacity, intending to produce about 200
million vaccines annually. The only issue is that each individual
would need two doses to develop immunity. This means that 200 million
vaccines can provide immunization to 100 million people, which is
still a small number for the global population.

How Is the US Holding
Up?

The southern and
western states
of the US see another surge of
the infected, due to premature reopening. Officials state that the US
is in a better overall position, since they are running more tests,
but they still warn that the number of deaths and hospitalizations
could rise. The US workforce is still affected. Another 1.48
million people filed for
unemployment benefits, reaching a total of 47 million filed claims.

Summary

When it comes to
coronavirus pandemic, the uncertainty remains, mainly because there’s
very little news about vaccine development. What scientists have
discovered so far is excellent, but humanity still has to wait for
final results. While European countries are slowly easing their
measures and hoping to go back to normal, the US still suffers from
the highest unemployment rate ever.