Risk Assessment Report – 25 September 2020
Risk Assessment Report – 25 September 2020
Rapid Risk Assessment
September 25, 2020
Risk Assessment Report – 25 September 2020
Time Period Covered September 25, 2020 - September 25, 2020
- Worldwide, there have been over 32.2 million cases and more than 984,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19. On September 24, authorities in Finland deployed coronavirus-sniffing dogs at Helsinki Airport, the country’s main international airport, on a four-month trial basis to assess whether this method can be used as a quick and effective method for identifying infected travellers. Finland is now the second country after the United Arab Emirates to employ dogs for this purpose. While other researchers in several countries, including Australia, France, Germany, and the United States, are also studying canines as coronavirus detectors, the Finnish trial is among the largest to-date. Passengers who agree to take a free test under this voluntary program will be asked to swipe their skin with a wipe which will then be given to a dog. If the result is positive, the passenger is urged to take a PCR test to check the dog’s accuracy.
- China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a subsidiary of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), said on Thursday (September 24) that the company will donate 200,000 doses of its candidate coronavirus vaccine to the central city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. The 200,000 shots of a vaccine developed by CNBG's Wuhan unit, enough to inoculate 100,000 people, will be used to protect medical workers in the city. CNBG has two experimental coronavirus vaccines in the final-stage of clinical trials and both are included in the emergency use programme. A CNBG executive said on Tuesday that the company hoped that the two candidate vaccines get conditional regulatory approval for general public use this year.
- The COVID-19 Response and Economic Recovery Committee said on Thursday (September 24) that the Indonesian government has made strides in expanding hospital capacity and improving treatment standards for COVID19 patients. “We have taken various strategic steps to increase the capacity of specimen testing, increase hospital beds and isolation rooms, increase the standardization of case handling and supply of medicines and accelerate the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine,” committee head Erick Thohir, who is also the state-owned enterprises minister, said on Thursday. He added that the efforts had seen positive results as the daily examination of specimens had reached 38,181 as of Wednesday (September 23), exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, with the ratio of patients having recovered reaching 73%. The committee has also been coordinating with state-owned hospitals to encourage standardization of clinical management in treating COVID-19 patients. Meanwhile, the Jakarta administration has extended the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in the capital until October 11, 2020. The country’s Health Ministry reported 4,634 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday (September 24), bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases nationwide to 262,022
Risk Assessment Report – 25 September 2020