— Australia has struck supply and production agreements with pharmaceutical companies worth $1.2 billion over two potential COVID-19 vaccines. Britain’s University of Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca and Australia’s University of Queensland working with CSL will provide more than 84.8 million vaccine doses for Australia’s 26 million people, almost entirely manufactured in Melbourne, a government statement said. Australians would have access to 3.8 million doses of the University of Oxford vaccine in January and February, it said. — Australia’s virus hot spot, Victoria state, on Monday recorded its lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in more than 10 weeks. Victorian Premier Danial Andrews said the average will have to fall below 50 before restrictions can be relaxed.

Source: Daily Sun September 07, 2020 04:13 UTC