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The good coronavirus news, including Italian cases slowing and a newborn beating it
Here’s the positive news…
With all the doom and gloom at the moment as the world deals with the coronavirus crisis, it’s time we shone a light on some positive messages out there.
This includes the news that several of the countries that were worst hit are now reporting a slowing in the number of new cases.
Across the world over 82,760 people have successfully recovered from the virus, with mainland China, where coronavirus began, only seeing 13 new cases on Tuesday – with just one of those being a domestic transmission, according to officials.
Although the death toll in Italy is sadly rising for the time being, the number of confirmed cases is slowing, hopefully meaning the world’s second biggest coronavirus hotspot is nearly past the worst of it.
Over in South Korea, another country badly affected, new cases are also declining, with just 74 yesterday – down significantly from the 909 it was getting at the peak around two weeks ago.
Dipartimento Protezione Civile / Flickr
A newborn baby at North Middlesex Hospital who sadly tested positive for the virus has now been confirmed to be ‘out of danger’, with doctors saying the baby is ‘recovering’.
In terms of finding a cure or vaccine, Indian doctors have been using a cocktail of different drugs to cure patients at the Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipar, mixing a combination of HIV, swine flu and Malaria medication to cure people with Covid-19.
Canadian researchers have managed to replicate the virus, which could be massive when it comes to tests, and the Japanese company Takeda Pharmaceutical Co announced it’s working on a new coronavirus drug using blood plasma from recovered patients – a technique the Chinese have already been utilising.
Meanwhile, over in the US a vaccine trial has begun, with the first person injected this week at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
The phase 1 trial is now officially underway, with the woman in Seattle becoming the first human to receive a shot of the potential vaccine.
Chutian Metropolis Daily
You might also remember we recently brought you the news of a 103-year-old grandmother in China who recovered from coronavirus in less than a week.
It took the woman just six days of treatment to overcome the illness, making her the oldest person to recover from coronavirus.
This came after the news that a 100-year-old man also recovered from the illness. The patient suffered from Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure and heart failure, but managed to survive thanks to being treated with blood donated by former patients, Chinese media reported at the time.
Cai Chen, a doctor from the hospital in Wuhan where he was treated, told the media: “Considering the patient was very old and he had a relatively weak immune system, we decided to use recovered coronavirus patient’s blood plasma as the main treatment”.
Chinese hospitals have been trialling the treatment, which scientists believe works by infusing sick people with disease-fighting proteins from recovered patients – they then use these antibodies like they were their own, instead of making them from scratch.
Commuters could be facing the steepest rise in the cost of train travel in more than a decade just months after prices were already increased.
It has been predicted today that train prices across England and Wales could rise by nearly 5% before the New Year.
The 2021 rise in prices was delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic when train travel was at an all-time low, however, tickets still saw a price rise of 2.6% in March.
Abhijit Tembhekar / Flickr
And this morning, the Retail Prices Index for July 2021 was confirmed as 3.8% by the Office for National Statistics, meaning passengers could see fares rise by 4.8% in 2022, which would be the largest hike since 2012.
This means that the cost of rail travel could increase twice within ten months, and would see a Manchester-Glasgow off-peak return rise by £6.30 to £94.90, according to Metro.
Though all hope isn’t yet gone – changes to the fares in 2022 are still yet to be confirmed.
Jon David Houghton / Wikimedia Commons
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “No decision has been made on national rail fares.
“The government is considering a variety of options and we will announce our decision in due course.”
This news has come as train travel in Manchester and beyond is on the rise – earlier this month, we reported that zero cases of Covid were found in Manchester Piccadilly Train Station, despite thousands of commuters using the station’s services as offices reopen.
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