The total of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Japan surpassed 500,000 this weekend, according to official data. Infections have spread quickly, with an increase of 400,000 cases in early February. Vaccines remain largely unavailable in the country, which is now grappling with the emergence of more contagious variants.
On May 19, for the first time since the pandemic struck, the famous Shakespeare’s Globe theater on London’s South Bank hopes to open its doors to the public. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is launching a summer season live theater and the eerie calm that now hangs over this beautiful replica of the Elizabethan theater will be shattered by the sound of the audience members.
Demonstrators took to the streets of Bucharest to protest restrictive measures aimed at tackling the spread of Covid-19, as Romania recorded more than 4,000 new cases and 139 deaths on Saturday. About 1,000 people converged on Victory Square and University Square, opposite curfews and business closures.
Thailand reported 967 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, a single-day record, as the Southeast Asian country treats a third wave of infections. The new cases brought the total number of infections in Thailand to 32,625, with deaths remaining at 97, according to the kingdom’s disease control department.
British government-backed Covid-19 vaccine maker Valneva has applied for an initial public offering in the United States seeking to leverage the investor appetite for biotechnology during the pandemic. The Paris-listed company, with a market capitalization of over 1 billion euros, has filed a request to raise $ 100 million in American Depositary Shares.
London-listed Novacyt shares fell nearly 40% to 421.4 pence ahead of the weekend after issuing a income warning when the UK Department of Health and Social Affairs failed to extend its supply contract for Covid-19 testing. Novacyt said she took legal advice, adding “she had good reason to enforce her contractual rights.”
Vaccitech, the start-up that owns the technology behind the AstraZeneca vaccine, warned that concerns about rare blood clotting side effects could affect royalties and affect reputation of products in its pipeline. The Oxford University spin-out on Friday released its prospectus for an initial public offering of at least $ 100 million on Nasdaq.
China Center for Disease Control is considering mix vaccines and varying the dose sequence to increase effectiveness. Gao Fu, the head of the agency, said the health authorities “are considering how to solve the problem that the effectiveness of existing vaccines is not high,” according to local media.