September 17 coronavirus news

More than a quarter of young adults infected with coronavirus have developed pneumonia, a study by South Korean researchers has found.

Their study of 315 patients aged 18 to 39 at six hospitals in February and March found 26% of them had pneumonia. In South Korea, everyone who tested positive for coronavirus, even those with no symptoms, were hospitalized early in the pandemic.  

Of the patients with pneumonia, 23% still had abnormal chest x-rays 10 days after their first diagnosis, the researchers said. And one patient who did not have symptoms at first later developed pneumonia.

While young adults are less likely than older people to develop severe coronavirus symptoms, the researchers said their findings show the infection can be serious even in healthy young adults.

More than half of coronavirus patients suffer persistent fatigue, no matter how sick they were, a team of researchers in Ireland has found.

According to their study of 128 former Covid-19 patients, 52% of respondents said they still suffered fatigue 10 weeks after they were clinically recovered.

It didn’t matter if the patients had been admitted to the hospital, needed oxygen or needed critical care treatment, the team at Trinity College in Dublin said in a summary written for next week’s meeting of the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Conference on Coronavirus Disease.

Just over half the patients studied were admitted to the hospital.

Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa has received a coronavirus vaccine injection as part of the phase 3 trials underway in the country, according to state media.

Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company, launched a phase 3 trial of its coronavirus vaccine in the United Arab Emirates in June in partnership with G42.

Al-Khalifa is among 6,000 volunteers participating in the trials "selected from those who meet the required medical criteria," according to the report.

"I was privileged to stand together with our vaccine volunteers, each one of them determined to play their part in working to protect others, not just at home in our Kingdom, but right across the globe," al-Khalifa was quoted as saying.

The United Nations estimates that millions of women and girls are "bearing the brunt" of the Covid-19 pandemic due to increases in cases of violence, disruptions in sexual and reproductive health services, income disruptions and stress faced by frontline workers.

At the beginning of the pandemic, UNPF projected that six months of interruptions in family planning supplies could lead to 47 million women in developing countries being unable to use modern contraceptives, "thereby leading to 7 million unintended pregnancies," Kanem said.

Rising domestic violence: Some shelters for women affected by violence also have been shuttered. UNFPA projections estimate 31 million additional cases of violence against women and girls during a period of six months. Rates of femicide -- the gender-based murder of a woman or girl by a man -- have doubled in certain countries, according to Kanem. 

"UNFPA sees gender-based violence as a crisis within the bigger crisis of the pandemic," Kanem said. "I'm sorry to tell you that in far too many places, those predictions have absolutely become a reality."

On the front lines: Additionally, "women are bearing the brunt of the Covid crisis in more ways than one because women are on the frontlines of the crisis. The heroes that we are celebrating, 70% of these human beings are female, and that's true across the health and social service workforce globally," Kanem said.

"These are the people who are more likely to lose their source of income and less likely to be covered by social protection measures," Kanem said, adding that the pandemic had laid bare "the very severe and systemic inequality that was under the tip of the iceberg."

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have led to a 15% increase in the number of children around the world living in poverty, according to a new report from UNICEF, the United Nations' Children's Fund, and the nonprofit Save the Children. 

The organizations noted on Thursday that this rise in poverty represents an additional 150 million children not having adequate access to education, housing, nutrition, health services, sanitation or water -- making the global number of children in poverty now nearly 1.2 billion. 

The report is based on data from almost 80 countries. 

Safety concerns: Additionally, poverty can have a significant impact on the wellbeing and safety of women and children.

"We shouldn't rush to think that only poor people face gender-based violence. That has been disproven over and over. But what is true is the availability of services, and the availability of space," Dr. Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, told reporters during a virtual meeting hosted by the UN Foundation on Thursday.

"Sometimes the situation turns volatile, because we're all cooped in there together," Kanem said. "The idea of a woman being in a stressful situation -- she may have lost her employment, her partner, whatever. The children too can be victimized by that type of a situation. That's the real worry."

At least 30,003,378 cases of Covid-19 have now been recorded globally, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases Thursday. 

The bleak milestone comes nine months after initial cases were first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in mid-December, before continuing to spread across the globe.  

The world recorded 1 million cases more than three months later, on April 2. The tally hit 10 million cases on June 28 and took just twelve weeks to triple the figure. 

The global death toll stands at 943,203. 

Grim distinction: The United States leads with the most Covid-19 infections and deaths worldwide. There are at least 6,669,322 cases and 197,554 deaths from the disease in the country, according to the university's count.

The US, India and Brazil together account for over 50% of the world's coronavirus cases, the university's figures show. 

There have been more than 6 million cases of Covid-19 in the United States as states work to get infections under control and pharmaceutical companies race to find a vaccine.

But, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said the country can aim to get the virus under control now — even before a vaccine is approved.

“Look at New York City. They've gone from worst in the world to a less than 1% positivity rate for several weeks, ongoing," he said during an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Adams said the country has seen more medical advances in the past eight months than in the last decade.

 “I'm hopeful that with what we've learned about the virus, with the resources we have in place, and with the prospect of a vaccine on the horizon, plus drugs like remdesivir, convalescent plasma already available, that we're getting a handle on this virus,” he said.

The surgeon general noted that he hopes the country can drive down hospitalizations and deaths through basic public health measures.

Here's what else he said the virus has taught us:

This flu season is going to be important: A surge in flu and Covid-19 cases at once could overwhelm health care system capacity, Adams said, adding that this period of time provides an opportunity to instill vaccine education and confidence in communities.

“We need to understand that, number one, the biggest predictor of who's going to get the Covid vaccine is going to be, I think, who gets the flu vaccine,” Adams said. “It's an opportunity to prime the pump and have that conversation.”

Adams noted that flu symptoms are similar to Covid-19 symptoms, making it hard to tell the two apart. 

“Every flu positive that is a Covid false alarm has the potential to disrupt your workplace,” he said.

Adams said employers can make sure people have access to the flu vaccine and encourage them to get it.

The pandemic has "exploited" health disparities: Adams said people of color have been hit harder by the Covid-19 pandemic, pointing to higher hospitalization rates for Hispanic people, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and African Americans compared to people who are White.

Adams said structural conditions contribute to the disparities.

“Social distancing and teleworking are critical to preventing spread of coronavirus, yet only one in five African Americans and one in six Hispanic Americans have a job that allows him to work from home,” said Adams. 

“We know people of color are more likely to live in densely packed urban areas, and in multi-generational homes. They're also more likely to use public transportation. Combined, these and other factors create a greater risk for spread of a highly contagious disease like COVID-19,” he added.

There’s no substantial disagreement between President Trump and the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the timeline for a coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.

Fauci said Trump and CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield were “essentially” right Wednesday when they each gave what seemed like a different timeline for a potential coronavirus vaccine said Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Redfield told a Senate hearing that it would likely be the second or third quarter of next year – that means late spring or summer – before widespread vaccination could be underway in the US. Asked about this during a news conference later in the day, Trump said Redfield “made a mistake” and was “confused.” He said a vaccine will be available soon, possibly as early as next month.

Fauci did not see a big conflict.

Fauci also addressed Trump’s claim that a Covid-19 vaccine would be available next month.

“What the President was saying is that it is entirely conceivable that we will have an answer by October,” he said. “My projection is that it would likely be November or December. We don't know. We're just going to have to wait to see.”

Read the latest on the race for a coronavirus vaccine here.

Congress has been trying to agree on a new federal stimulus plan to help Americans during the pandemic.

Here's what we know and where things stand:

The timeline: With fewer than two months until the election, the odds for a massive stimulus compromise sooner than that is very unlikely.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it this way: "I wish I could tell you we were going to get another package but it doesn't look that good right now."

With reporting from CNN's Alex Rogers, Phil Mattingly, Clare Foran and Manu Raju