Coronavirus News & Updates

[Scorpion]

I finally can go out for a walk but be ready to sprint back home once you hear a car engine.?

 

[space cadet]

Unfortunately there is no doubt in my mind that this virus is here to stay for a very long time. There is no treatment in sight.
People talk about vaccine as if like in movies one day everyone will get injection and things will be alright.
Vaccine development takes long time and proper clinical trials and long term studies are needed to make sure it’s safe. I don’t know anyone who would just get an without knowing the long term effects of such medications .

Expert report predicts up to two more years of pandemic misery | CNN

Covid-19 is not going away, a new report on the coronavirus pandemic says. The report from CIDRAP predicts 18 months to two more years of Covid-19 cases and deaths.

www.cnn.com

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Prognosis
Trump’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ Aims to Rush Coronavirus Vaccine
The Trump administration is organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort to drastically cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal of making enough doses for most Americans by year’s end.



Called “Operation Warp Speed,” the program will pull together private pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and the military to try to cut the development time for a vaccine by as much as eight months, according to two people familiar with the matter.



As part of the arrangement, taxpayers will shoulder much of the financial risk that vaccine candidates may fail, instead of drug companies.



The project’s goal is to have 300 million doses of vaccine available by January, according to one administration official. There is no precedent for such rapid development of a vaccine.




President Donald Trump’s top medical advisers, led by the infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, have repeatedly said that a coronavirus vaccine won’t be ready for 12 to 18 months at best. Until then, White House guidelines envision some economically damaging social-distancing practices maintained even as the U.S. begins to resume a more normal social and business life.

Read more: Fauci Calls Early Data From Gilead Virus-Drug Trial ‘Good News’

Last month, Trump directed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to speed development of a vaccine, and administration officials have been meeting on the effort for three to four weeks, one of the people said. A meeting on the project was scheduled at the White House on Wednesday.

The people familiar with the project and the administration officials asked not to be identified because it hasn’t yet been publicly announced.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Caputo, said the president refused to accept the timeline for standard vaccine development and encouraged a breakthrough process.

Speeding Up
Vaccine development is typically slow and high risk. The project’s goal is to cut out the slow part, the people said. Operation Warp Speed will use government resources to quickly test the world’s most promising experimental vaccines in animals, then launch coordinated human clinical trials to winnow down the candidates.

The best prospective vaccines would go into wider trials at the same time mass production ramps up.

The project will cost billions of dollars, one of the people said. And it will almost certainly result in significant waste by making inoculations at scale before knowing if they’ll be safe and effective -- meaning that vaccines that fail will be useless. But it could mean having doses of vaccine available for the American public by the end of this year, instead of by next summer.


The group is discussing which Americans might be vaccinated first, as the medicines would likely roll off production lines in batches, one of the people said. The project would be funded from money already available to the government and won’t require new authority from Congress, one of the people said.
There are at least 70 different coronavirus vaccines in development by drugmakers and research groups, according to the World Health Organization. But drugmakers have not coordinated their efforts to the extent they could through the Warp Speed project, one of the people said.
Read more: The drugs and vaccines that might end the pandemic
Under the effort, the Defense Department would make its animal research resources available for pre-clinical work on vaccines.
The group is also discussing the use of what’s known as a master protocol to test the vaccines. Instead of multiple clinical trials run by each drugmaker, competing for patients and resources, the government would organize one large trial to test several vaccines at once and advance the most promising ones.

Oxford Vaccine
The Trump administration isn’t alone in trying to fast-track a vaccine. One of the world’s most promising vaccine candidates has been developed by a team at Oxford University in London. Last month, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health innoculated six rhesus macaques with the Oxford vaccine and then exposed them to the coronavirus, the New York Times reported.

All six were healthy more than four weeks later, according to the Times. The researchers are currently testing their vaccine in 1,000 patients and plan to expand to stage two and three clinical trials next month involving about 5,000 more people.

The Oxford group told the Times they could have several million doses of their vaccine produced and approved by regulators as early as September.

In the U.S., the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has meanwhile shifted much of its research effort to the coronavirus virus.

One of the people familiar with Operation Warp Speed drew a distinction with the Oxford group, describing the U.S. effort as broader in scope. It’s unclear which vaccine candidates would be part of Operation Warp Speed, or whether it would include the Oxford vaccine.

More than 1 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the U.S., and at least 58,000 people have died from the illness it causes in the last two months. Widespread social-distancing measures have helped slow the spread, but at the cost of millions of jobs and losses to the economy that experts fear will take years to recover.

Along with wider diagnostic testing for the virus and an effective therapeutic drug, a vaccine is one of the key tools for reducing long-term risk from the virus. Testing can help contain an outbreak in its early stages, or after it’s been curbed enough to manage. A therapy can help those who get sick, reducing the risk of death and the burden on hospitals.

Gilead Sciences Inc. announced Wednesday that in a trial conducted by Fauci’s agency, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, its experimental coronavirus therapy remdesivir helped patients recover faster than under standard care.

Optimistic Timetable
Vaccines are one of the most effective tools against viral disease, as they can prevent people from becoming sick at all. They’re a shortcut to the immunity that most people acquire after they’re sickened by a virus and recover. During the illness, the immune system produces antibodies that it can subsequently use to fight off later exposure to the same pathogen.

Vaccines use a live, weakened virus, a dead one, or pieces of the pathogen to trick the body into building defenses without having to get sick.

But even Fauci’s prospective 12-to-18-month timetable would be years faster than typical vaccine development. A vaccine for the Ebola virus that went into clinical trials in 2014 received approval from U.S. regulators in December -- a five-year effort considered remarkable for its speed.

And the new coronavirus poses fresh challenges. How many people get immunity after exposure, how robust the pathogen is, and how long it lasts are all still questions. Some research has shown that immunity to other coronaviruses, including those that cause SARS, MERS and forms of the common cold, may be limited or only last for a relatively short time.

It’s not clear how much of Operation Warp Speed is new and how much will involve ongoing projects, such as investments made by BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

BARDA has already handed out hundreds of millions of dollars to drugmakers including Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. The money is meant to fund both research and large-scale manufacturing at the same time, hopefully to accelerate vaccine production.

But last week, BARDA’s director Rick Bright was removed and reassigned to the NIH. He has said he will file a whistle-blower complaint, alleging the White House retaliated against him because he resisted promoting widespread use of malaria drugs Trump has touted for coronavirus.

The drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, haven’t been proven effective against the virus and some clinical trials have been abandoned because of dangerous side effects. After directing the government to obtain more than 29 million doses of the drug, Trump has recently stopped promoting the medicine as a coronavirus treatment.

He claimed last week that he didn’t know Bright and was unaware of his removal.

 

[Falcon29]

In Gaza, Coronavirus Sparks Wedding Fever

For Gaza's broke grooms, the coronavirus crisis has been the perfect time to get married.

With wedding halls closed and public gatherings forbidden to prevent the spread of the virus, many couples have celebrated their marriage in alleyways and apartments — so grooms can save the fortune they're normally expected to spend on big parties.

Palestinian tradition dictates that the groom pay for the wedding, not the bride or her family.

"I have saved at least $5,000 on renting a wedding hall, having a banquet, two wedding parties, renting cars and other details," said Aziz Masoud, 26 and jobless, who was carried on his friends' shoulders in an alleyway of Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp earlier this month.



Officials do not collect statistics on wedding parties, but one hair and makeup salon for brides reported a 60% jump in business since Gaza imposed restrictions in March, and the chief justice of Gaza's Islamic court in charge of registering marriages said he'd noticed the unseasonable wedding boom.

Marriage is one of many financial burdens in beleaguered Gaza. The strip is sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, which imposed a blockade on the territory after the Islamist group Hamas took it over in 2007.

Most of the territory's 2 million residents live in poverty and 43% were unemployed at the end of 2019.

Many young men in Gaza delay marriage because they can't afford the two traditional parties they're meant to sponsor: a bachelor party with a traditional marching band for the groom and his male friends, and a big celebration in a wedding hall for the families and friends of the bride and groom, featuring a banquet during the day and dancing at night.

The newlywed Masoud signed a marriage contract a year and a half ago, but in Gaza's socially conservative society, he couldn't live together with his wife until he threw the requisite parties. He asked his father for cash, but he too is out of work.

In March, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ordered wedding halls, schools, mosques and some markets shut in the West Bank, and Hamas in Gaza imposed the same restrictions, despite its deep rivalry with the West Bank leadership.

"Use the coronavirus crisis to save money"

"I whispered in my son's ear to use the coronavirus crisis to save money, especially because I don't have work anymore," Sami Masoud, the groom's father, said.

His son's several dozen friends sang, danced and set off celebratory fireworks in the alleyway until neighbors complained, mistaking the booms for Israeli airstrikes. Outdoor parties aren't allowed anyway, due to coronavirus restrictions, so they moved the festivities indoors.

No one wore masks or was concerned about gathering. Officials warn of disaster should the virus spread in the small seaside territory with health services frayed from years of war and blockade. But the young men shared the confidence of many locals that the virus is contained in Gaza.

There have been only 17 confirmed virus cases, all were quarantined, and all but five have recovered, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. About 1,900 Palestinians who crossed into Gaza from Egypt have been held in quarantine centers to ensure they are not infected. Testing has not been widespread, but Gaza's suffocating blockade prevented an influx of travelers able to bring in the virus early on.

Dream wedding deferred

Couples rushed to hold wedding parties before the April 23 start of Ramadan, a month of prayer and fasting when weddings are not typically held. By the time Ramadan ends, many Gazans expect coronavirus restrictions to be lifted, wedding halls to be reopened and social pressure back again to throw lavish wedding parties.

One big hidden cost of a low-cost Gaza coronavirus wedding: Couples do not get the wedding of their dreams, perhaps in one of Gaza's fancy wedding halls with beach views of the Mediterranean Sea.

Mohammed Aqel, 24, called off the two parties he'd planned, canceled his wedding hall reservation and held a small gathering inside his house in March with plastic chairs and balloons.

"It's awesome that I saved at least $4,500," Aqel said. "But honestly, I have pain in my heart." His wife, Islam Abu Matar, was not happy.

"I lost the most important night in my life. It will not be repeated," said Abu Matar, 20. She compared herself to her married friends. "They did their night with lots of guests and a big wedding hall. But I had very limited number of guests with no hall."

...
...

In Gaza, Coronavirus Sparks Wedding Fever

With wedding halls closed, Palestinians have saved big money with low-key parties.

www.npr.org

 

[Falcon29]

Unfortunately there is no doubt in my mind that this virus is here to stay for a very long time. There is no treatment in sight.
People talk about vaccine as if like in movies one day everyone will get injection and things will be alright.
Vaccine development takes long time and proper clinical trials and long term studies are needed to make sure it’s safe. I don’t know anyone who would just get an without knowing the long term effects of such medications .

Expert report predicts up to two more years of pandemic misery | CNN

Covid-19 is not going away, a new report on the coronavirus pandemic says. The report from CIDRAP predicts 18 months to two more years of Covid-19 cases and deaths.

www.cnn.com

You think this shelter in place state of life will continue for another two years? Wonder if people can endure that, without a doubt some will go crazy.

 

[space cadet]

@Falcon29 it's good to here from you, I miss you, and was worried about your state.

 

[Zeeman]

You think this shelter in place state of life will continue for another two years? Wonder if people can endure that, without a doubt some will go crazy.

I can tell you about myself. I am absolutely going crazy at home. Yes spending time with family etc but it is actually very unhealthy to be locked up at home. Kids are out of school and online education is simply not the same .
I am used to working 12 hours straight and meet friends and socialize ..... this isolation is driving us crazy. Days come and go with no change. Even my wife is begging me to start work ASAP ? it is mentally and psychologically very damaging for the elders .
hope it ends aoon

 

[space cadet]

I can tell you about myself. I am absolutely going crazy at home. Yes spending time with family etc but it is actually very unhealthy to be locked up at home. Kids are out of school and online education is simply not the same .
I am used to working 12 hours straight and meet friends and socialize ..... this isolation is driving us crazy. Days come and go with no change. Even my wife is begging me to start work ASAP ? it is mentally and psychologically very damaging for the elders .
hope it ends aoon

I got a naked kid running around right now

 

[Falcon29]

@Falcon29 it's good to here from you, I miss you, and was worried about your state.

Good to see you too, Dad.

I can tell you about myself. I am absolutely going crazy at home. Yes spending time with family etc but it is actually very unhealthy to be locked up at home. Kids are out of school and online education is simply not the same .
I am used to working 12 hours straight and meet friends and socialize ..... this isolation is driving us crazy. Days come and go with no change. Even my wife is begging me to start work ASAP ? it is mentally and psychologically very damaging for the elders .
hope it ends aoon

Lol, I can empathize with you. If I'm an introvert and going crazy myself than I can't imagine what it is like for an extrovert. Ive exhausted everything I can do indoors and got bored of it. Have to deal with family too and their demands.

My whole state is outdoors today and I went outdoors too. Nice to finally enjoy some nice weather. Saw long ice cream lines so I can tell people are sick of it and not going to follow through too much anymore with the orders.

That with Ramadan can be tedious . I think I'm gonna order a punching bag to help me get through this.

 

[Zeeman]

Yes and no iftaaris either ....
me and my friends are planning a secret iftaar get together ...not worried about police giving tickets .... two of six friends are the police officers .

 

[Khafee]

Yes and no iftaaris either ....
me and my friends are planning a secret iftaar get together ...not worried about police giving tickets .... two of six friends are the police officers .

 

[Khafee]

Report: The COVID-19 pandemic could last up to two years
The first coronavirus case is believed to have surfaced around mid-November 2019
Published: May 02, 2020 17:30

File image used for illustrative purposes: A member of medical staff holds a swab tested during a drive-thru for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing, at a makeshift centre in Shah Alam, Malaysia April 20, 2020.Image Credit: Reuters

The pandemic that has brought businesses and lives globally to a standstill is believed to have started sometime around mid-November last year.

The South China Morning Post traced the first-known instance of the infection to a 55-year-old man, who may have contracted the disease around November 17.

While tracing back the origin and the beginning of the infections could help scientists find a way to combat the COVID-19 disease, a question on the minds of people affected by the pandemic is 'how long will all of this last?'

Past pandemics studied
A new report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota, focuses on answering this very question. Given how different other coronavirus epidemics such as SARS or MERS are in comparison to the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers used the influenza pandemics to analyse the possible scenarios that we might see in the future of this pandemic.

PANDEMICS
Since the early 1700s, at least eight global influenza pandemics have occurred, and four of these occurred since 1900: in 1918-19, 1957, 1968, and 2009-10.

Similarities
The report said, "Even though coronaviruses are very different from influenza viruses, the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic influenza share several important similarities." These similarities, according to the study, are as follows:

1. SARS-CoV-2 and a pandemic influenza virus are novel viral pathogens to which the global population has little to no pre-existing immunity.

2. SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses are predominantly spread via the respiratory route by large droplets, but also with a significant component of transmission by smaller aerosols.

3. Asymptomatic transmission occurs with both viruses as well, thereby contributing to the spread of each.

4. Finally, both types of viruses are capable of infecting millions of people and moving rapidly around the globe.

Differences
The report also focuses on a few key differences here; one is that influenza viruses have a shorter incubation period (1 to 4 days) vs. COVID-19.

The second one is that, based on reports released so far, 25 per cent of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic while the asymptomatic ratio for influenza is considerably lower.

Another key finding of difference is that the viral shedding rate for COVID-19 cases, before symptoms show, is higher than the influenza virus, This difference denotes a much higher rate of transmission in the pre-symptomatic phase amid chances of delayed diagnosis.

The number of people who can be infected by one coronavirus case is around 2 to 3 - in some cases as high as tens of people depending on extent of direct contact, asymptomatic stage of carriers etc. This is also significantly higher than any influenza virus pandemic that the world has seen as of now.

What did they find?
The COVID-19 pandemic could last for up to two years.

Based on the behaviour of virus in the influenza pandemics, and correlation with the SARS-CoV-2 virus markers. the experts concluded three possible scenarios. All three scenarios show one thing in common - the pandemic is not going anywhere soon.

The study said, "The length of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely be 18 to 24 months, as herd immunity gradually develops in the human population." The report added that achieving 60 to 70 per cent herd immunity in the population could take time given that the length of such immunity to this virus is not known as of now.

Scenarios - how will it play out

Scenario 1
The first scenario that the experts put forward in what the pandemic will look like sees this wave as the biggest infection wave, which could be followed by smaller waves of infection throughout summer. The first scenario assumes a gradual diminishing of the infections by 2021.

Scenario 2
The second scenario, if it happens, could mean that the worst is yet to come. The experts expect in this scenario that the infection wave will return stronger in fall (autumn) or winter in 2020, followed by one or more smaller waves in 2021. The researchers add: "This pattern is similar to what was seen with the 1918-19 pandemic."

Scenario 3
In this scenario the experts believe it is possible that the first wave of COVID-19 in spring 2020 is followed by a “slow burn” of ongoing transmission and case occurrence, but without a clear wave pattern. This scenario has no precedence in past influenza pandemics, however, could be a possible future for COVID-19 the experts found.

In all three scernarios, the pandemic is expected to last up to two years and well into 2021. The experts concluded, "As the pandemic wanes, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 will continue to circulate in the human population and will synchronize to a seasonal pattern with diminished severity over time."

Social distancing into 2022
Giving more credence to this outlook, Harvard scientists who modeled the pandemic's trajectory told AFP that a one-time lockdown won't halt the novel coronavirus and repeated periods of social distancing may be required into 2022 to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed.

The Harvard team's computer simulation, which was published in a paper in the journal Science, assumed that COVID-19 will become seasonal, like closely related coronaviruses that cause the common cold, with higher transmission rates in colder months.

But much remains unknown, including the level of immunity acquired by previous infection and how long it lasts, the authors said.

However, new facts and data are still being collected about the novel coronavirus - no data sheet about this disease is complete.

"This is an excellent study that uses mathematical models to explore the dynamics of COVID-19 over a period of several years, in contrast to previously published studies that have focused on the coming weeks or months," Mark Woolhouse, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh said.

"It is important to recognize that it is a model; it is consistent with current data but is nonetheless based on a series of assumptions - for example about acquired immunity - that are yet to be confirmed.

Report: The COVID-19 pandemic could last up to two years

The first coronavirus case is believed to have surfaced around mid-November 2019

gulfnews.com

 

[Scorpion]

Report: The COVID-19 pandemic could last up to two years
The first coronavirus case is believed to have surfaced around mid-November 2019
Published: May 02, 2020 17:30

View attachment 12569
File image used for illustrative purposes: A member of medical staff holds a swab tested during a drive-thru for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing, at a makeshift centre in Shah Alam, Malaysia April 20, 2020.Image Credit: Reuters

The pandemic that has brought businesses and lives globally to a standstill is believed to have started sometime around mid-November last year.

The South China Morning Post traced the first-known instance of the infection to a 55-year-old man, who may have contracted the disease around November 17.

While tracing back the origin and the beginning of the infections could help scientists find a way to combat the COVID-19 disease, a question on the minds of people affected by the pandemic is 'how long will all of this last?'

Past pandemics studied
A new report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota, focuses on answering this very question. Given how different other coronavirus epidemics such as SARS or MERS are in comparison to the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers used the influenza pandemics to analyse the possible scenarios that we might see in the future of this pandemic.

PANDEMICS
Since the early 1700s, at least eight global influenza pandemics have occurred, and four of these occurred since 1900: in 1918-19, 1957, 1968, and 2009-10.

Similarities
The report said, "Even though coronaviruses are very different from influenza viruses, the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic influenza share several important similarities." These similarities, according to the study, are as follows:

1. SARS-CoV-2 and a pandemic influenza virus are novel viral pathogens to which the global population has little to no pre-existing immunity.

2. SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses are predominantly spread via the respiratory route by large droplets, but also with a significant component of transmission by smaller aerosols.

3. Asymptomatic transmission occurs with both viruses as well, thereby contributing to the spread of each.

4. Finally, both types of viruses are capable of infecting millions of people and moving rapidly around the globe.

Differences
The report also focuses on a few key differences here; one is that influenza viruses have a shorter incubation period (1 to 4 days) vs. COVID-19.

The second one is that, based on reports released so far, 25 per cent of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic while the asymptomatic ratio for influenza is considerably lower.

Another key finding of difference is that the viral shedding rate for COVID-19 cases, before symptoms show, is higher than the influenza virus, This difference denotes a much higher rate of transmission in the pre-symptomatic phase amid chances of delayed diagnosis.

The number of people who can be infected by one coronavirus case is around 2 to 3 - in some cases as high as tens of people depending on extent of direct contact, asymptomatic stage of carriers etc. This is also significantly higher than any influenza virus pandemic that the world has seen as of now.

What did they find?
The COVID-19 pandemic could last for up to two years.

Based on the behaviour of virus in the influenza pandemics, and correlation with the SARS-CoV-2 virus markers. the experts concluded three possible scenarios. All three scenarios show one thing in common - the pandemic is not going anywhere soon.

The study said, "The length of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely be 18 to 24 months, as herd immunity gradually develops in the human population." The report added that achieving 60 to 70 per cent herd immunity in the population could take time given that the length of such immunity to this virus is not known as of now.

Scenarios - how will it play out

Scenario 1
The first scenario that the experts put forward in what the pandemic will look like sees this wave as the biggest infection wave, which could be followed by smaller waves of infection throughout summer. The first scenario assumes a gradual diminishing of the infections by 2021.

Scenario 2
The second scenario, if it happens, could mean that the worst is yet to come. The experts expect in this scenario that the infection wave will return stronger in fall (autumn) or winter in 2020, followed by one or more smaller waves in 2021. The researchers add: "This pattern is similar to what was seen with the 1918-19 pandemic."

Scenario 3
In this scenario the experts believe it is possible that the first wave of COVID-19 in spring 2020 is followed by a “slow burn” of ongoing transmission and case occurrence, but without a clear wave pattern. This scenario has no precedence in past influenza pandemics, however, could be a possible future for COVID-19 the experts found.

In all three scernarios, the pandemic is expected to last up to two years and well into 2021. The experts concluded, "As the pandemic wanes, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 will continue to circulate in the human population and will synchronize to a seasonal pattern with diminished severity over time."

Social distancing into 2022
Giving more credence to this outlook, Harvard scientists who modeled the pandemic's trajectory told AFP that a one-time lockdown won't halt the novel coronavirus and repeated periods of social distancing may be required into 2022 to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed.

The Harvard team's computer simulation, which was published in a paper in the journal Science, assumed that COVID-19 will become seasonal, like closely related coronaviruses that cause the common cold, with higher transmission rates in colder months.

But much remains unknown, including the level of immunity acquired by previous infection and how long it lasts, the authors said.

However, new facts and data are still being collected about the novel coronavirus - no data sheet about this disease is complete.

"This is an excellent study that uses mathematical models to explore the dynamics of COVID-19 over a period of several years, in contrast to previously published studies that have focused on the coming weeks or months," Mark Woolhouse, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh said.

"It is important to recognize that it is a model; it is consistent with current data but is nonetheless based on a series of assumptions - for example about acquired immunity - that are yet to be confirmed.

Report: The COVID-19 pandemic could last up to two years

The first coronavirus case is believed to have surfaced around mid-November 2019

gulfnews.com

Yes I agree because several countries are not implementing strict measures.

 

[Khafee]

Ivory Coast PM flies to France for medical checks
May 3, 2020

FILE PHOTO: Ivory Coast Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly wearing a protective face mask speaks during his visit at the first reception center built to hold coronavirus disease screening tests, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Abidjan, Ivory Coast April 15, 2020. REUTERS/Luc Gnago/File Photo

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the ruling party’s candidate in October’s presidential election, has flown to France for medical checks, the presidency said on Sunday.

The brief statement said Gon Coulibaly left on Saturday but gave no details about his state of health.

A source close to Gon Coulibaly, who had heart surgery in 2012, said the prime minister had missed a scheduled check-up in France in April because he was busy coordinating Ivory Coast’s coronavirus response.

“His intense activity these last weeks had an impact on his health, but it is nothing very serious. He is doing well,” the source said, adding that Gon Coulibaly would return to Ivory Coast in a few days.

Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko, who recovered from the coronavirus last month, will serve as interim prime minister in Gon Coulibaly’s absence, the presidency’s statement said.

Gon Coulibaly self-isolated in late March because of possible exposure to the coronavirus but did not test positive.

President Alassane Ouattara designated Gon Coulibaly in March as the ruling RHDP party’s candidate for the presidential election after saying he would not himself seek a third term.

Ivory Coast has recorded more than 1,300 cases of the coronavirus, one of the highest totals in West Africa, with 15 deaths.

Reporting by Ange Aboa; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Frances Kerry and Edmund Blair

 

[Scorpion]

Capitalism must be abolished.

 

[space cadet]

Capitalism must be abolished.

oh the communists, it fails everywhere but they still love it