Uk to begin trial of coronavirus vaccine Thursday as death toll rises

Human trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed at Oxford University are to begin on Thursday in the United kingdom, health secretary Matt Hancock has announced.

Speaking at the daily 10 Downing Street press conference, Mr Hancock announced he was providing £20 million to the Oxford team to help fund their clinical trials, with a further £22.5 million going to researchers at Imperial College London.

Oxford vaccinology professor Sarah Gilbert has said that the inoculation being developed by her team could be ready for use as early as September.

Prof Van Tam said there is more of a “plateau than anything else” in other regions of the UK.But, he added: “It is not absolutely clear that there have been peaks, nor is it absolutely clear that the number of cases is dropping in the same way we can illustrate for London.”I’m sure it will go down in the days and weeks that follow.

The coronavirus death toll in UK hospitals has risen by more than 828 in one day.

Some 17,337 hospital patients who tested positive for Covid-19 had died as of 5pm on Monday, according to the Department for Health and Social Care’s latest figures.

That total does not include thousands of victims who have died in care homes.

At least 70 NHS workers are among the dead, according to a tally by PA news agency, although the true figure is thought to be far higher.

Some 18,206 people were tested for the virus on Monday, the government said, bringing to total number of tests carried out to 535,342.

-Report Afrique