UK study finds ethnic minorities up to 50 per cent more likely to die from COVID-19

A study out of the UK has found that COVID-19 is more likely to be fatal in people of racial minority while a test could be developed to predict the severity of the disease in those who contract it.

Black and Asian people in England are up to 50 per cent more likely to die after being infected with COVID-19, according to an official study out of the UK.

It reinforces previous reports which indicated ethnic minority groups were more at risk from the virus.

“Death rates from COVID-19 were higher for black and Asian ethnic groups when compared to White ethnic groups,” the Public Health England (PHE) report said.

The report said that people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had approximately twice the risk of death than people who were white British.

Those who are of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ethnicity, as well as those who are Caribbean or other black ethnicity, had between a 10 to 50 per cent higher risk of death than those in the white British group, PHE said.

The findings echo a previous study by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) released last month, as well as other reports from Finland to the United States.

The report comes as a United Nations human rights official highlighted the “devastating impact” of the disease on those communities in Britain and other countries.

Rome flooded with anti-Government protesters flouting distancing rules

Italian opposition parties and hundreds of supporters have defied social distancing rules to pack Rome’s central streets in an anti-Government protest rally.

With more than 233,000 confirmed cases, Italy is one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic and the Government only recently decided to gradually lift severe restrictions it had imposed in early March to rein in contagion.

The demonstration was organised by the right-wing League, the far-right Brothers of Italy and the centre-right “Go Italy” parties to protest against the coalition Government led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Live streaming on social media showed protesters marching next to each other with a large Italian flag along Via del Corso, leading to the Piazza del Popolo in Rome’s historic centre.

Some protesters were not wearing face masks, made compulsory in Italy when sufficient distancing between people is not possible.

League leader Matteo Salvini took selfies with supporters and spoke to reporters wearing an Italian flag-coloured face mask under his chin, images showed.

“I’ve have got a mask but experts say that the virus is dying,” Mr Salvini said, referring to recent declarations by Italian professors that the coronavirus is losing its potency.

Tests could predict how severely COVID-19 will affect a patient

Scientists have found 27 key proteins in the blood of people infected with COVID-19 which they say could act as predictive biomarkers for how ill a patient could become with the disease.

In research published in the Cell Systems journal, scientists at Britain’s Francis Crick Institute and Germany’s Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin found the proteins are present in different levels in COVID-19 patients, depending on the severity of their symptoms.

The markers could lead to the development of a test that would help doctors predict how ill a patient might get when infected with COVID-19, they said, and could also provide new targets for the development of potential treatments for the disease.

Doctors and scientists say the coronavirus affects people in varying degrees — with some developing no symptoms at all, while others need to be hospitalised and others suffer fatal infection.

“A test to help doctors predict whether a COVID-19 patient is likely to become critical or not would be invaluable,” said Christoph Messner, an expert in molecular biology at the Crick Institute who co-led the research.

300 asymptomatic carriers identified after widespread testing in Wuhan

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak first emerged, found no new cases of COVID-19 and 300 asymptomatic carriers after testing most of its 11 million residents, according to city officials.

Authorities launched the ambitious, city-wide testing campaign on May 14, and reached 9.9 million people, after a cluster of new cases raised fears of a second wave of infections.

But they found no new cases of COVID-19 in the campaign, that ran until June 1, officials told reporters in a briefing.

They said the asymptomatic carriers had been found not to be infectious, with no traces of virus detected on items used by the 300 people, such as masks, toothbrushes and phones, or on door handles and elevator buttons they touched.

China does not count asymptomatic carriers — people who are infected with the virus but do not exhibit symptoms of the disease — as confirmed cases.

The central city, capital of Hubei Province, was placed under a lockdown on January 23. It was lifted on April 8.

Drug companies pursuing more accessible versions of virus treatment

The maker of remdesivir, Gilead Sciences Inc, is developing easier-to-administer versions of its antiviral treatment that could be used outside of hospitals.

Currently, remdesivir is only available is an IV formula, meaning it can only be administered in hospitals.

Gilead is studying how its existing IV formulation of remdesivir can be diluted for use with a nebuliser — a drug delivery device used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs.

The idea is that a nebuliser would make remdesivir more directly available to upper airway and lung tissue as the coronavirus is known to attack the lungs. It would also allow for early treatment of coronavirus patients who are not hospitalised.

The company says it is also exploring different formulas to be used in the future, such as an injection formulation, as well as dry powder versions to be inhaled. Remdesivir cannot be given as a pill because it has a chemical makeup that would degrade in the liver.