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World Roundup: ‘Superspreader’ leaves seven dead

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  • ‘Superspreader’ leaves seven dead
  • Fresh curbs in EU

A wedding in rural Maine became a coronavirus “superspreader” event that left seven people dead and 177 infected, renewing fear of the disease in the northeastern US state that had hoped the worst of the pandemic was behind it.

The nuptials in early August were attended by 65 people, breaking the official limit of 50 allowed at a gathering.

Ten days later, two dozen people associated with the wedding had tested positive for COVID-19 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Maine opened an investigation.

None of the seven people who died had actually attended the wedding.

Contact-tracers linked the wedding to several virus hotspots across the state – including more than 80 cases in a prison 370 kilometers away, where one of the guards had attended the ceremony.

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Another 10 probable cases were found in a Baptist church in the same area, while 39 infections – and six of the deaths – were at a nursing home 100 miles from Millinocket.

Moderna, Pfizer release vaccine study blueprints

US biotech firm Moderna, one of nine companies in the late stages of clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine, became the first to publish the complete blueprints of its study following calls for greater transparency.

Pfizer, the other American company currently carrying out Phase 3 trials in the US, followed suit a short time later and there is now added pressure for the remainder to do the same.

Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel said his company would know whether their vaccine works by November. October is possible but unlikely, he told CNBC.

EU imposes fresh curbs as cases top 30m worldwide

Large parts of Europe on Friday geared up for broad new restrictions to stop the coronavirus, after infections worldwide topped 30 million and the World Health Organization warned of “alarming rates of transmission.”

Britain is limiting gatherings and France is set to roll out new curbs for major cities as governments across the continent battle fresh spikes of the disease.

WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said a surge seen this month “should serve as a wake-up call” after the continent recorded 54,000 infections in a single day last week – a new record. 

COVID-19 patients report ‘persistent fatigue’

More than half of patients and staff with Covid-19 monitored by an Irish hospital suffered persistent fatigue in the aftermath of the initial disease, according to a new study Friday highlighting the “significant burden” of lingering symptoms.

“Whilst the presenting features of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been well-characterized, the medium- and long-term consequences of infection remain unexplored,” said Liam Townsend, of St James’s Hospital and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute at Trinity College Dublin.

The study, which tracked 128 participants at St James’s Hospital, found that 52 percent reported persistent fatigue when they were assessed an average of 10 weeks after “clinical recovery” from infection, regardless of how serious their initial infection was. 

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