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.