With input from Dr Monica Vasudev

1245: BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin expressed confidence that a COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by his company would be effective against a variant of the virus that has emerged in Britain. (Reuters)

1246: An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine proposed endothelialitis as the unifying mechanism for the extensive pathology of COVID-19. An alternative view indicates that virus-induced upregulation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is accountable for the diverse systemic effects of COVID-19. (Medscape)

1247: Taiwan on Tuesday reported its first case of local COVID-19 transmission in eight months, creating some anxiety on the island, which has so far avoided lockdowns and had only a handful of COVID-19 deaths. (The New York Times)

1248:  Preliminary results of a Phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating the investigative monoclonal antibody LY-CoV555 in hospitalized COVID-19 patients have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The antibody was found not to yield clinical benefit compared to placebo. (NIH)

1249: REGN-COV2, a neutralizing antibody cocktail, was shown to reduce viral load in nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19, with a greater effect seen in patients whose immune response had not yet been initiated or who had a high viral load at baseline, in an interim analysis of an ongoing phase 1-3 trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine. (DG Alerts)

1250: Three clinical trial platforms evaluating the effects of full doses of anticoagulants in COVID-19 patients have halted enrolment for one group of patients. Among critically ill COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care unit (ICU) support, therapeutic anticoagulation drugs did not decrease the need for organ support. Enrolment continues for moderately ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients though. (NIH)

1251: With 58 positive tests in Antarctica, no continent is untouched by the virus. Chilean authorities have announced that 58 people at two military bases in Antarctica or on a navy ship that went to the continent tested positive for COVID-19. (The Hindu)

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA