October 23 coronavirus news

Drugmaker AstraZeneca will resume the trial of its experimental coronavirus vaccine in the United States, which has been on hold since September.

The company said the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the restart Thursday after reviewing all of the global safety data and concluding it was safe to resume. The trial had already resumed in other countries.

The trial was paused after a volunteer in Britain developed a neurological condition suffered by one of the participants in its coronavirus vaccine clinical trials around the world.

Government health officials, as well as outside experts, have said the hold is an example of how the safety process is working and protecting Americans from any potentially dangerous vaccines. Regulators wanted to check to make sure any problems could not have been caused by the vaccine. 

The company has been working with Britain’s University of Oxford to develop the vaccine, one of four that started late-stage, Phase 3 trials in the US.

An internal AstraZeneca safety report obtained by CNN last month showed the study volunteer, a previously healthy 37-year-old woman, “experienced confirmed transverse myelitis” after receiving her second dose of the vaccine, and was hospitalized on Sept. 5. The woman was enrolled in the UK arm of the trial, which is run by the University of Oxford.  

The document, labeled an “initial report,” described how the study participant had trouble walking, weakness and pain in her arms, and other symptoms. 

The company said in the release Thursday that results from late-stage trials are expected later this year, depending on infection rates where the trials are being conducted.

The percentage of Americans willing to take a Covid-19 vaccine appears to be falling – and if only half of the country is willing to get vaccinated, Covid-19 could stick around for years, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, warned on Friday.

"When I look at the attitudes that are out there now about this vaccine and about who would be interested in taking it – it's really, really troubling," Collins said, speaking at a National Press Club in a virtual event.

Only 51% of Americans said they would try to get a Covid-19 vaccine once one is widely available at a low cost, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS earlier this month, and that percentage has dropped since May.

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Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez confirmed she tested positive for Covid-19 on her Twitter account Friday.

"Yesterday I took the #COVID19 test," she tweeted. "I inform all Colombians that the test result was positive. Thank God, I am in a good state [of health] and I am complying with a thorough quarantine."

The vice president called on all Colombians to remain steadfast in following the biosecurity measures put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19, adding that the "pandemic is a reality, which can affect us all."

Colombia has 990,373 confirmed cases and 29,637 deaths as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. This is the third highest case tally in Latin America after Brazil and Argentina.

France reported a new daily record for coronavirus infections with 42,032 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to numbers released by country's health agency on Friday.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in France to 1,041,075, according to French government statistics, and marks the first time the government's coronavirus case tally has surpassed 1 million. 

France also recorded 298 additional coronavirus deaths, bringing the death toll to 34,508, according to the French Health Agency. 

According to government data, an additional 976 coronavirus patients have been admitted to the hospital, and a further 122 coronavirus patients entered intensive care in the last 24 hours. 

Speaking at a health center this afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron said he expects France will have to live with the virus until at least the summer of 2021.

Macron added that the government aims to implement new restrictions in the most targeted way possible. 

From midnight on Friday, France's nighttime coronavirus curfew will be extended more widely, with 46 million French people affected, announced French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday. 

To note: According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, France has recorded 1,048,924 coronavirus cases and 34,236 deaths. CNN's Paris Bureau is working on clarifying the discrepancy between state statistics and the university's numbers.

The number of Covid-19 cases tied to a church convocation event in Charlotte, North Carolina, now stands at 101, according to a news release from the Mecklenburg County Department of Health. 

In the release, the county said 99 coronavirus cases are in Mecklenburg County and two additional cases in Iredell County are linked to convocation events at the United House of Prayer for All People on Oct. 4 through Oct. 11.

The county says at least three deaths and one cluster of 12 residents at a senior living community are also connected with this outbreak. 

Public health officials have also attempted to contact more than 137 close contacts of the 99 confirmed cases, the release stated. 

There are at least 8,440,895 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 223,381 people have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases.

So far today, Johns Hopkins has recorded 33,193 new cases and 349 reported deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $214 million Friday toward efforts to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

Of that money, Trudeau said his administration is providing "up to $173 million" toward Quebec-based Medicago Inc.'s vaccine candidate, and their Quebec City-based factory.

Trudeau also announced $18.2 million for Vancouver-based Precision NanoSystems, and an additional $23 million towards various early-stage vaccine candidates. 

The prime minister said the Canadian government had begun distributing hundreds of thousands of rapid Covid-19 tests to provincial governments. 

The investment comes as Covid-19 cases in Canada are on the rise. 

"Yesterday, Canada had the highest ever number of new cases of Covid-19," Trudeau said. "We have to get these numbers down. This is serious, and everybody must do their part."

President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during an Oval Office meeting on Friday that some significant differences between the Trump administration and Democrats still need to be resolved before reaching a stimulus deal.

Asked for an update on the stimulus talks, Mnuchin told reporters, “The President’s been very clear in his instructions to me. That if we can get the right deal we’re going to do that.” 

The President, speaking from the Resolute Desk for an announcement on the normalization in relations between Israel and Sudan, claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “wants to bail out poorly run Democrat states.” 

“We just don’t want that. We want Covid-related,” Trump said, later adding, “We don’t want to reward areas of our country who have not done a good job.” 

The President also asserted that Pelosi wants to wait until after the election to strike a stimulus deal. “I don’t think she wants the people to get the money before the election,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, Pelosi on Friday continued to express optimism about a potential coronavirus stimulus package, saying negotiators “could be very close.”

“We’re writing the bill, and hopefully we’ll be able to resolve some of the differences,” she said during an interview on MSNBC.

“I think the President wants a bill. I really do,” she said, adding that it’s still possible lawmakers could approve the legislation before the election, depending on how the GOP Senate reacts.

“We could be very close,” Pelosi said. “As I say, we’re close enough to put pen to paper.” 

As the number of active Covid-19 cases in Tennessee continue to rise, hospitals in metro Nashville are reporting a 40% increase in patients admitted for the virus.

In a joint news release, Vanderbilt Health, Ascension St. Thomas, Tristar Health and Meharry Medical College say new cases of coronavirus have increased by 50% over the last two weeks.

Over the same two-week period, hospitals in the Nashville area have experienced a 40% increase in patients admitted for Covid-19, the release stated. 

Hospital officials say a major surge of new Covid-19 cases could threaten their ability to serve patients with many diagnoses requiring hospitalization.

Officials caution that the surge in cases along with the annual flu season would add more strain, potentially overwhelming hospitals. They are strongly urging residents to wear masks, wash hands, and stay socially distant. 

"We must do everything we can to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed and safeguard the reopening of our economy," Vanderbilt University Medical Center said in the release.

On Friday, Metro Nashville Health Department recorded 32,722 Covid-19 cases. The statewide total as of Thursday was 237,907, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.