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China reports most coronavirus cases since April: Live updates - Al Jazeera English

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  • Mainland China has reported 101 new cases of coronavirus - the highest number in more than three and a half months. Of the new cases, 89 are in the far western region of Xinjiang.
  • A $1 trillion coronavirus relief plan is under discussion in the United States Congress, but the only element the Republicans and Democrats can agree on is a one-time payout of $1,200 to all Americans. The country's death toll - the highest in the world - is closing in on 150,000. 
  • Nearly 16.7 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Some 9.7 million patients have recovered, and more than 659,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Here are the latest updates:

Wednesday, July 29

05:15 GMT - Sanofi, GSK reach deal to supply UK with COVID-19 vaccine

Sanofi and GSK have reached an agreement with the UK government to supply as many as 60 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine.

No vaccine has yet been found although many are in development.

The two drugs companies expect to start clinial trials of their vaccine in September. It will be developed by combining Sanofi's S-protein COVID-19 antigen with GSK's pandemic adjuvant technology.

05:10 GMT - Vietnam state TV says cases confirmed in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnamese state television is reporting that coronavirus cases have been found not only in Hanoi, but also in Ho Chi Minh City.

The country had been free of the virus for months, until an outbreak was detected in the central city of Danang at the weekend.

Eight cases were reported there this morning.

04:15 GMT - Hanoi warned on risk of coronavirus outbreak

The Vietnamese government is warning authorities in Hanoi to prepare for a potential coronavirus outbreak.

The warning follows local media reports that a person working at a pizza restaurant in the capital had tested positive for the virus.

"The city's health department should get ready with materials and equipment needed for the prevention nd fight against COVID-19," the government said in a statement.

Hanoi has a population of about eight million and hadn't reported a case of coronavirus for months. 

03:10 GMT - Virus behind pandemic has been in bats "for decades"

Another interesting study on the evolution of the coronavirus... this time published in Nature.

A group of scientists from around the world who have been tracing the virus's orgins say their findings indicate that "the lineage giving rise to the SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating unnoticed in bats for decades".

Writing on Twitter, award-winning science author Laurie Garrett says the study has a number of significant implications.

Horseshoe bat

In a new study, scientists say the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic has been circling in bats for decades [File: Menahem Kahana/AFP]

02:40 GMT - Moderna vaccine worked well in monkeys: study

Moderna's experimental COVID-19 vaccine worked well in monkeys and prevented the virus from replicating in their noses and lungs, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the Moderna study, three groups of eight rhesus monkeys received either the vaccine or a placebo at two different dosages. 

All those who were given the vaccine developed high levels of antibodies to attack parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Scientists said monkeys that got the vaccine even at the lower dosage produced more antibodies than people who had recovered from the virus, and that it appeared to stimulate an immune response from so-called T-cells.

The study also found that two days after the vaccinated monkeys were exposed to the COVID-19 virus through the nose and directly to the lungs, no replicating virus was found in the lungs of seven of the eight animals regardless of dosage while those that had been given the placebo all still had the virus.

None of the animals given the higher dose of the vaccine had detectable levels of the virus following their exposure.

"This is the first time an experimental COVID-19 vaccine tested in non-human primates has been shown to produce such rapid viral control in the upper airway," said the National Institutes of Health, which is co-developing the vaccine.  

02:10 GMT - Hong Kong warns on brink of large outbreak

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam is warning the city is on the brink of a large-scale outbreak of coronavirus.

Strict new measures to curb the spread of the virus came into force on Wednesday with a ban on gatherings of more than two people, the closure of restaurants for all but takeaway and mandatory mask wearing.

Quarantine measures for ship and airline crews have also been tightened.

Hong Kong

The Star Ferry arrives in Kowloon from Hong Kong Island. Masks are now mandatory in the territory [Anthony Wallace/AFP]

01:55 GMT -  Queensland closing border to people from Sydney area

Annastacia Palaszczuk, the premier of the northern Australian state of Queensland, says the state will be closed to people from the Sydney area from the early hours of Saturday.

Queensland residents returning home will also be required to spend 14 days in hotel quarantine at their own expense.

01:15 GMT - China reports most new cases since mid-April

China's National Health Commission has just announced the latest coronavirus data for the country.

It has reported 101 new cases - up from 68 previously - the highest since mid-April.

Of the new cases, 89 were found in the far western region of Xinjiang where mass testing is under way.

00:30 GMT - Australia deploys emergency response team to nursing homes

The Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) has been deployed to nursing homes in Melbourne, which are at the centre of the current coronavirus outbreak in the state of Victoria.

AUSMAT teams are usually sent to disaster zones and include doctors, nurses, paramedics, radiographers and pharmacists.

National Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth told ABC Television there were more than 679 active cases linked to care homes, and that it was crucial to "get these outbreaks under control as quickly as possible". 

Local media says Victoria is likely to announce about 295 cases on Wednesday.

00:00 GMT - Stark divisions in Congress over relief plan

Republicans and Democrats in the United States Congress are divided over a $1 trillion coronavirus aid package that Republicans announced on Monday.

Under the plan, unemployment benefits would be cut to just $200 a week, compared with an expanded $600 a week under earlier relief measures that are due to end on Friday. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has touted the proposal as a "tailored and targeted" plan, which  would give many Americans direct payments of $1,200 each, provide billions in loans to small businesses and help schools reopen.

While Democrats agree on the payment, they say the package itself is too limited, and too late. Some Republicans say it is too expensive.

You can read more here.

Congress

Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress are divided over a new coronavirus relief plan [Tom Brenner/Reuters] 

23:30 GMT (Tuesday) - MSF tells Cepheid to drop price of coronavirus test

The aid group Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) is urging the US diagnostics firm Cepheid to "refrain from profiteering off of the pandemic" and cut the price of its COVID-19 tests (Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2) to $5 per test, from the nearly $20 it currently charges in the world’s poorest countries.

“It is indefensible for Cepheid to profit in this pandemic,” Sharonann Lynch, Senior HIV & TB Advisor for MSF’s Access Campaign, said in a statement. “This is not the time to set the price based on what the market can bear. This critical test must be made accessible to all people who urgently need it at $5 per test to tackle this global health emergency.”

MSF said its research shows the tests could be sold at a profit for $5 each.

“As countries are struggling to deal with suspected COVID-19 cases, having an accurate rapid diagnostic test is essential for real-time management of people affected with the virus, in order to tackle this pandemic,” said Dr Greg Elder, Medical Coordinator for MSF's Access Campaign. “So many lives could be saved if corporations like Cepheid made their test available urgently and affordably in all countries.”

Cepheid developed the Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 cartridge with $3.7 million in public funding from the US government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. The test delivers results in less than an hour.

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera's continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I'm Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.

Read all the updates from July 28 (yesterday) here.

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