New Vaccine Breakthrough Raises Hopes Against Virus

Moderna vaccine found to be nearly 95% effective in trial; UAE reports 1,209 new cases, 4 deaths; vaccine on its own won’t end pandemic, warns WHO; UK PM goes into isolation; Biden hails progress; India sees over 30,000 new cases.

WASHINGTON

Global hopes of overcoming the coronavirus pandemic were boosted on Monday after a second vaccine was found to be nearly 95 per cent effective in a trial, bringing much-needed optimism to a world facing surging infections and gruelling new restrictions.

The news from the US biotech firm Moderna comes after similar results were announced last week for a vaccine candidate developed by pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, (MoHAP) announced on Monday that it conducted 84,154 additional COVID-19 tests and detected 1,209 new cases.

MoHAP also announced 4 deaths due to COVID-19 complications.

It also noted that an additional 680 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19.

Moderna, whose results stem from a clinical trial of more than 30,000 participants, expects to have approximately 20 million doses ready to ship in the US by the end of the year.

Yet with the widespread availability of any vaccine still a long way off, governments around the world are clamping down with unpopular but life-saving restrictions on free movement, gatherings and business.