By Martin Belam
- Total number of cases recorded in US stands at 3,499,398
- Only Delaware and Maine are seeing new daily cases drop
- Fauci stands firm as Trump works to undermine him
- Experts warns young of risks and says crisis could match 1918 flu
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11.24am BST
One bright spot in the otherwise bleak coronavirus news is the promising details released this week about Moderna’s trail Covid-19 vaccine.
Jessica Glenza in New York has been reporting on it for us:
Moderna is one of five pharmaceutical companies that have received billions from the US government, in a vaccine development initiative called Operation Warp Speed. Later this month, Moderna and a handful of other laboratories will begin recruiting tens of thousands of volunteers to take the vaccine.
Coming studies must balance safety and efficacy. Moderna researchers abandoned a higher dose of the vaccine because it did not appear to provide a better immune response and produced worse side effects, including headache, chills, fever and fatigue.
Related: Moderna raises vaccine hopes but more trials are vital, say experts
11.03am BST
The Associated Press are reporting that early this morning the supreme court cleared the way for the second federal execution this week. The vote to allow the execution of Wesley Ira Purkey to go forward was 5-4, with the court’s four liberal members dissenting.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “proceeding with Purkey’s execution now, despite the grave questions and factual findings regarding his mental competency, casts a shroud of constitutional doubt over the most irrevocable of injuries.”
Source: Coronavirus US: Covid-19 cases rise in 41 states as total number nears 3.5m – live updates
Category: US news, World news, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Coronavirus outbreak
