clinical trials for covid-19 Archives - Iran News Daily

Philippines Planning for Russian Vaccine Clinical Trial in October

reporter 1222 — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 09:03:57 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Philippines plans to launch clinical trials for a Russian coronavirus vaccine in October, with President Rodrigo Duterte expected to be inoculated as early as May next year, the presidential spokesman said on Thursday.

Harry Roque, Duterte’s spokesman, made the announcement a day after the Philippines met with representatives of the Russian vaccine developer, research facility Gamaleya, to discuss trials and information about the inoculation.

Russia on Tuesday became the world’s first country to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine, to be named “Sputnik V” in homage to the Soviet Union’s launch of the world’s first satellite.

But its decision to grant approval before completing trials has raised concerns among some experts, who fear it may be putting national prestige before safety.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told Reuters that all clinical trials would need to go through the regulatory process.

Phase three clinical trials in the Philippines are due to run from October to March 2021, after a panel of vaccine experts completes its review on Russia’s phase one and two trials in September, Roque told a media briefing.

Duterte is keen to access a vaccine and in July made a plea to China to make the Philippines a priority if it develops one.

The president has pledged that the Philippines, which suffered its biggest economic contraction in nearly three decades, would be “back to normal” by December even as it has been reporting record numbers of daily coronavirus infections since July.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 143,000 people and killed 2,404 in the Philippines. A strict coronavirus lockdown recently reintroduced in and around the capital Manila is unlikely to be extended beyond August 18, the presidential spokesman said.

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Exhaustion of Health Workers Urges Observing Protocols

reporter 1222 — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 04:32:02 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Health Ministry seriously expressed concern about the exhaustion of the health workers who are at the frontline of fighting the coronavirus, calling on people to observe health protocols.

Speaking during a daily press conference on Wednesday, the ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the country’s medical staff and health workers are tired and worn out, and the growing fatigue is one of the ministry’s serious concerns, IRNA reported.

She urged people to observe the principles set by the Health Ministry in order to reduce the pressure on the country’s medical staff.

Iran, the worst-hit country from the coronavirus in West Asia, has been battling a resurgence of the virus, with official figures showing a rise in both new infections and deaths since a two-month low in May.

This has prompted Iran to make wearing masks mandatory in enclosed spaces and reimpose restrictions lifted gradually since April to reopen the country’s sanctions-hit economy.

On Tuesday, Iran confirmed over 2,700 new COVID-19 infections, its highest single-day count in more than a month.

The ministry’s spokeswoman said on Wednesday the number of people tested positive for COVID-19 infection rose to 317,483 following the detection of 2,697 new cases from Tuesday to Wednesday.

She put the death toll from the novel coronavirus in Iran at 17,802, saying the disease took the lives of 185 patients since Tuesday.

She also noted that at least 274,932 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across the country.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 4,129 patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari said.

She went on to say that more than 2,587,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

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WHO: Iran, third in clinical trials ranking for COVID-19 treatment

reporter 1222 — Mon, 11 May 2020 10:32:22 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – According to the latest statistics of World Health Organization (WHO), Islamic Republic of Iran stood at the third rank after China and the United States in the field of clinical research and trials with the aim of examining the effectiveness of treatment strategies against the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19.

China, United States, Iran, and Spain stood at 1st to 4th ranks respectively in terms of clinical trials for the treatment of the COVID-19.

With the growing trend of the spread of COVID-19 around the world, researchers are trying to find new treatment methods including plasma therapy or producing vaccines and drugs needed in clinical trials.

This is while the world has not yet developed a specific drug for the treatment of COVID-19.

Dr. Christoph Hellmann Representative of WHO in Iran on the sidelines of his recent visit to the Pasteur Institute of Iran said, “the measures taken in Iran in the last few weeks regarding the increase of testing and diagnosing outpatients are in tandem with the policy proposed by the World Health Organization.”

More than 4,181,000 people in the world have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 and over 283,800 people have lost their lives due to the pandemic.

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