• China’s CDC director George Gao backtracks, saying that his comments about the low efficacy of domestically produced coronavirus vaccines were misunderstood, and that he meant to offer suggestions for improving coronavirus vaccines. Source
• Lancet Infectious Diseases publishes a study describing the emergence of the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, viral load and clinical severity among 341 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 58% of whom had the variant. Although the B.1.1.7 variant was associated with higher viral loads, there was no association between B.1.1.7 and severe disease or death. Source
• Regeneron issues a press release with results from a 1,505-person, placebo-controlled phase III trial (conducted in partnership with NIAID) of casirivimab with imdevimab (REGEN-COV) in household contacts of people with COVID-19. The risk of symptomatic COVID-19 was reduced by 81 percent among people who received 1,200 mg of administered subcutaneous REGEN-COV. In addition, REGEN-COV speeded up recover among people developed symptomatic COVID-19 ( one week, versus three weeks among people who received placebo). Source