California governor declares state of emergency over coronavirus

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The proclamation is to help advance resources to help California prepare for a broader spread of the virus.

Newsom said during today’s press conference that the proclamation “is not about money, it’s about resourcefulness.”

“Money is not the issue,” Newsom added.

He also explained that the proclamation will loosen up regulatory environment, provide clarity, will also allow the state to preempt local land use. It will also help jurisdiction share information and data, advantageous to address the spread, Newsom said.

What is happening in California: Over 9,400 people are being monitored by 49 jurisdictions, Newsom said. It was previously reported that 8,400 people were being monitored. (CNN)

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Coronavirus vaccine timeline remains uncertain

US, A coronavirus vaccine won’t be widely available for a long time, several top pharmaceutical executives said Wednesday.

Early stage clinical trials likely won’t start until the end of the year or in 2021, they said, cautioning that vaccines for previous viral outbreaks, such as SARS and Zika, never made it “over the finish line.”

“It does take longer for vaccines. They are more complex, the manufacturing is more difficult, and because you’re going to be delivering them to otherwise healthy people for prevention, you have to make sure they’re very, very, very safe,” Dr. Julie Gerberding, executive vice president at Merck and former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a media briefing.

“So that’s why we are cautioning people not to overpromise on the timeline of the vaccine availability,” she said, adding that preventing the future spread of coronavirus will take “more than a year and potentially longer than that,” Gerberding said.

President Trump is pushing drug makers to develop vaccines swiftly, asking pharmaceutical executives on Monday if it could ready in the next few months. His comments came days after Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said a vaccine would hopefully be ready if the virus returns next year.

Johnson & Johnson will likely start phase one trials by the end of this year and begin larger-scale trials next year, said Paul Stoffels, the drug maker’s chief scientific officer.

Some outbreaks, such as Zika, disappear while vaccines are still in the clinical trial stage, Stoffels said.

Big money: Drug makers will likely get federal funding to help develop coronavirus vaccines, testing and treatment. The House of Representative on Wednesday passed a $7.8 billion spending package that includes more than $3 billion for such efforts.(CNN)

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California governor: 11 passengers and 10 crew members on cruise ship are “symptomatic”

There are 11 passengers and 10 crew members on the Grand Princess cruise ship that are “symptomatic,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press conference today.

The ship, which is currently off the coast, is holding hundreds of passengers, Newsom said.

The ship, which departed from San Francisco to Mexico from February 10-21, returned to San Francisco and left for Hawaii on February 21. 

Over 50% of the 2,500 passengers from the cruise to Mexico are Californians, Newsom said. Some of these passengers stayed and went on the second cruise to Hawaii on the same ship. 

They are sharing the list of passengers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health care partners to contact all individuals who were on the cruise ship.(CNN)

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There are now 158 cases of novel coronavirus in US

There are 158 cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and local governments. 

According to the CDC, there are 49 cases from repatriated citizens. According to CNN Health’s tally of US cases that are detected and tested in the United States through US public health systems, there are 109 cases in 14 states. 

This brings the total number of coronavirus cases in the US to 158.

This includes presumptive positive cases that tested positive in a public health lab and are pending confirmation from the CDC, and confirmed cases have received positive results from the CDC. (CNN)

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Coronavirus: WHO tracing 65 Italian’s co-passengers

NIGERIA, The Lagos State Commissioner for Health Prof. Akin Abayomi, has  confirmed  the World Health  Organisation is tracing   the passengers who boarded the Turkish Airlines  flight  with the Italian man   who brought coronavirus to the country.

The   European,  who arriving  in Lagos from Milan on February 24, is currently   undergoing treatment at the Infectious Disease Centre, Yaba.

“The 65 passengers who have travelled out of Lagos are being tracked by WHO and state epidemiologists because they are no longer under our jurisdiction,” Abayomi  said at a press conference in Lagos  on Wednesday.

 “Out of the 84 based in Lagos, 49 are reachable, 35 are unreachable. We are trying our best through other means to contact them.

“The 35 passengers are unreachable because of the abnormal data they might have provided for us in their forms; wrong information via telephone numbers, residential addresses and their next of kin.”

He added that 35 people who might have had contact with the Italian in Ogun State were still under the 14-day quarantine period.

He said, “I spoke with the Commissioner of Health there yesterday (Tuesday)  and so far nobody has developed the symptom.  Six people from the hotel he lodged in Lagos are also being monitored.

The drivers that were involved are also being monitored. We don’t have any case at the moment.

Nobody is in isolation except the index case. Four people have been tested so far, three were negative, one  positive.”

‘Why we  can’t  disclose the patient’s name’

The Commissioner said it was against the medical ethics to disclose the name of the coronavirus patient (Italian man).

He said, “We cannot give out information about the identity of the patient; it is against our practice as medical professionals, unless you get it from somewhere else, you won’t get it from me.

What value is it to you? Would you like me to give your own private information out to the public? It is against our ethical rules of engagement, we can’t do that, there is patient-doctor confidentiality.”

The commissioner added that out of the 149 passengers that boarded  the plane  with the Italian, 84 of them were based in Lagos, while 65 have travelled out of Lagos. (Vanguard)

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