(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Gilead drug trial ‘highly significant’
Preliminary results from a U.S. government trial showing that patients given Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental antiviral drug remdesivir recovered 31% faster than those given a placebo, have been hailed by Dr. Anthony Fauci as “highly significant.”
Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, said it will become the standard of care for COVID-19.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has been in discussions with Gilead about making remdesivir available to patients as quickly as possible, but the agency declined to comment on any plans to grant the drug regulatory approval.
The closely watched drug, given by intravenous infusion to hospitalized patients, has moved markets in the past few weeks following the release of data from several studies that painted a mixed picture of its effectiveness, and Fauci cautioned that the latest data still needs to be analyzed.
Lockdowns are ‘fascist’, says Elon Musk
Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk said it was “fascist” to say people cannot leave their homes.
“So the extension of the shelter-in-place or, frankly, I would call it, forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights, in my opinion, breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country,” he said on Tesla Inc’s earnings call, swearing to underscore his point.
“This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom,” said the outspoken Musk.
In contrast, Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed concern about easing lockdown measures.
“I worry that reopening certain places too quickly before infection rates have been reduced to very minimal levels will almost guarantee future outbreaks and worse longer-term health and economic outcomes,” Zuckerberg said.
Australia’s biggest drinkers get a date night
Australia’s remote Northern Territory became its first state or territory to detail plans to restart its local economy on Thursday after recording no new cases of the coronavirus for three weeks.
Social gathering limitations for non-contact sport, weddings and funerals will be halted on Friday, restrictions on restaurants and pubs will be eased mid-May and all remaining restrictions are to be removed on June 5.
“May 15 date night, June 5 Sunday sesh (pub session),” Chief Minister Michael Gunner said succinctly to reporters in the capital Darwin. The territory has the highest alcohol consumption per person in Australia.
Will people return to shops?
The eyes of the retail world are on Germany, the first major Western economy to have allowed bigger stores to reopen. Will consumers be too worried to go out shopping or primed to unleash pent-up demand?
Global chains including H&M, Adidas, IKEA and Puma are trialling pandemic procedures likely to be used in other markets. Issues include how best to protect staff and disinfect surfaces, as well as how to keep customers a safe distance apart, with changing rooms a particular headache.
Early signs after bigger stores reopened last week show some cause for optimism. Germany’s IfW economic institute said that within days shopper traffic in major cities bounced back to about half of what was usual for this time of year.
Happy Birthday ‘Colonel’ Tom
British World War Two veteran Captain Tom Moore, who has become a national hero after raising almost 30 million pounds for charities that help front-line National Health Service staff, celebrates his 100th birthday on Thursday with an honorary promotion and two military flypasts.
Moore was appointed the first Honorary Colonel of the Army Foundation College, based near the town where he grew up, a position that came with the approval of Queen Elizabeth, the defence ministry said.
He raised the money by completing laps of his garden with the help of a walking frame, having initially set out to raise just 1,000 pounds. That figure means he now holds the Guinness World Record title for the most money raised by an individual through a walk.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
