WHO needs $31.3bn over 12 months for vaccines; France plans 1.3m tests to find ‘hidden clusters’; Mike Pence to hold first taskforce briefing in weeks
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The Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) is in talks to test a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by Italian researchers, the dean of the Brazilian university told Reuters.
With the world’s worst outbreak outside the US, Brazil has become a leading front in the global race for a vaccine, as clinical trials are likely to yield results faster in places where the virus is widespread.
Soraya Smaili, the president of Unifesp, said on Wednesday: “We are already in advanced discussions with Italy’s Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute. We expect to bring it here, the accord is already moving forward and we’ll be able to do a lot of studies with this vaccine.”
The Italian researchers want to conduct midstage trials and final phase three studies involving thousands of subjects in Brazil, Smaili said.
Around the world at a glance:
Some powerful US senators are pushing back against an attempt by the Trump administration’s Treasury Department to weaken a watchdog panel involved with overseeing $2.4tn in pandemic aid, according to three congressional aides. The Trump administration has petitioned the US supreme court to invalidate the Obamacare law, which added millions to the healthcare safety net, seeking to scrap coverage during the novel coronavirus crisis.
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More than 9.62 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 489,208 have died, a Reuters tally showed as of 1222 GMT on Friday.
Russia reported on Friday 6,800 new coronavirus cases, the first daily rise below 7,000 since late April, taking its nationwide tally of infections to 620,794.
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Trump administration asks supreme court to axe Obamacare
Democrats call legal push amid coronavirus crisis an ‘act of unfathomable cruelty’
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The Trump administration has asked the US supreme court to invalidate the Obamacare lawthat added millions to the healthcare safety net but has been at the centre of political controversy.
The government advocate, Noel Francisco, argued in a filing late on Thursday that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), one of Ba...
Coronavirus US live: death toll nears 80,000 as Trump rages over Russia
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Precautions against Covid-19 infection have been stepped up at the White House but are hampered by the cramped and poorly ventilated conditions in the West Wing, Kevin Hassett, a special adviser to Donald Trump on the pandemic response, said on Sunday.
Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has been talking to Fox News Sunday about the Trump administration’s attempts to reopen and restart the stalled US economy, and whether there will be another huge stimulus bill. Democrats who control the House want one of those but the White House doesn’t – that’s the short version.
The White House is “absolutely pushing for a payroll tax cut”, Mnuchin says. Most observers think that is a non-starter, because Democrats won’t let it. Payroll taxes, meaning deductions from regular paychecks, include funds for Social Security and Medicare, vital social benefits.
Related: US job losses have reached Great Depression levels. Did it have to be that way?
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Coronavirus has destroyed the myth of the deficit | Yeva Nersisyan and L Randall Wray
No, federal government spending doesn’t have to be ‘paid for’. The crisis shows providing for our society is not a financial issue
Only a month ago, a stimulus bill of $2tn would have been unthinkable. Indignant deficit scolds would have asked how one planned to pay for it, and complained about burdening our grandchildren with debt and bankrupting our country. Bernie Sanders bent over backwards to explain how he was going to pay for a Green New Deal or Medicare for All. These program...
So merch for all that: how Bernie Sanders became politics’ least likely style icon
Never has one man in inexpensive rumpled suits been so loved by the style set - but Sanders’ clothes signal an authenticity other politicians can only dream of
Of all the things we’ll miss about Bernie Sanders, now that he has dropped out of the Democratic race, his style should be the least of it. Not only because his politics are so right on – this is the man who believes in free education and Medicare for all and who has had many Americans, who until recently felt disenfranchised ...
Democratic primaries: three states head to polls amid coronavirus crisis – live
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11.43pm GMT
Bernie Sanders delivered remarks on the coronavirus crisis, predicting it would cost the US up to $2 tri...
Top US health agency hit by cyber-attack amid coronavirus outbreak – live
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- Biden and Sanders confront coronavirus crisis in debate
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2.33pm GMT
The White House, exercising “an abundance of caution”, announced Monday it had cancelled its annual Easter E...
Ex-Obama official warns US health system faces ‘tsunami’ over coronavirus
Andy Slavitt, formerly Medicare and Medicaid administrator, tweets outline of threat after ‘Trump’s months-long denial’
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Hospitals in the US could be overrun by coronavirus cases in little more than a week, a former Obama administration senior health official has warned, fearing a “tsunami-like” escalation that would leave tens of thousands in need of inpatient medical care but unlikely to receive i...
Trump administration reportedly won’t let states use Medicaid to respond to crisis – live
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State and local officials have postponed the Boston Marathon until 14 September over fears of the coronavirus outbreak. The race was originally scheduled for 20 April.
States experiencing dramatic coronavirus outbreaks are unable to use Medicaid more freely to respond to the outbreak by expanding medical care, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.
The White House has tools it can use to assist states looking to bolster their healthcare efforts, but so far, the Trump administration has not made any moves to ease the burden on states.
Months into the current global disease outbreak, the White House and senior federal health officials haven’t taken the necessary steps to give states simple pathways to fully leverage the mammoth safety net program to prevent a wider epidemic.
That’s making it harder for states to quickly sign up poor patients for coverage so they can get necessary testing or treatment if they are exposed to coronavirus.
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Biden and Sanders cancel rallies over coronavirus concerns – live
- Sanders and Biden call off Ohio events to heed public warnings
- Joe Biden aims to cement lead in crucial Democratic primaries
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10.28pm GMT
Asked whether Trump — a self-described germaphobe — would continue to shake hands with people amidst the spread of coronavirus, the vice president said he expects so.
“Well, ...