• South Africa opens to all international travelers who can produce negative coronavirus test results, despite an increase in cases. Source
• Although coronavirus cases in India have decreased by half over the last two months, experts are concerned that Diwali celebrations, colder weather, worsening air pollution, and lack of mask-wearing could drive cases up to a million per day by the end of the year. Sources 1,2
• Russia’s Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology issues a press release with interim data from a 40,000-person ongoing phase III trial of Sputnik V, its experimental coronavirus vaccine. The analysis, which was based on 16,000 people who had been given two injections of vaccine or placebo, reported that there were 20 coronavirus infections split between the groups, claiming an efficacy of 92 percent without serious adverse events (although some study participants experienced short-term minor adverse events such as injection site pain, fever, weakness, fatigue, and headache). Source
• Fair Health, West Health Institute, and Marly Makary MD publish a White Paper on risk factors among 467,773 privately insured people in the US diagnosed with COVID-19 – which could inform vaccine distribution. They reported that an overall mortality rate of 0.59 percent, which was higher for men than women (60.07 percent versus 39.93 percent). People over age 69 accounted for 4.82 percent of cases and 42,43 percent of deaths; people with developmental disorders had a three-fold greater risk of dying than those without; people under age who had lung cancer were nearly seven times more likely to die than people without it, while people who had leukemia or lymphoma were nearly three times more likely to die. People with intellectual disabilities had the third-highest risk of death, followed by people with chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease and heart failure. Source
