the world health organization says it's
investigating the u.s
buying up global suppliers of rem
deserve for the next three months
it's a drug shown to work against covin
19.
here's dr michael ryan from the who
there are many people around the world
who are very sick
with with this disease and we want to
ensure that everybody
has access to the necessary life-saving
interventions
but as i said we will reserve our
coventry until we have verified the
exact nature of the of the contracts but
also
we are also aware of other arrangements
we put in place for sub-licensing and
manufacturing into the country so
let us look at the at the issues let us
look at the implications of this
but certainly yes we can restate we are
come fully committed as an organization
and with our partners to equitable
access to life-saving interventions
more than 500 000 treatment courses for
american hospitals have been secured
the vice president explained the steps
us are taking to treat those with the
illness
we're in a much better place because of
the availability of what's known as
therapeutics or medicines to treat
people that have contracted the
coronavirus and are experiencing
severe symptoms dr steve hahn of the fda
is here and he will speak about
the progress that that we are making
whether it be the availability of rem
desevere which we're distributing
another tranche this week
the use of blood plasma steroid
treatments and
and also we continue to hear very
hopeful signs about the continuing
continuing progress for developing a
vaccine for the american people
so what do we know about the drug here's
our global health correspondent naomi
grimley with more
so remember is not exactly a wonder drug
when it comes to covid19
it has been proven in some trials to
reduce the
length of stay in hospital by about four
days so it helps some very sick patients
reduce their recovery time but it
doesn't cut mortality
nevertheless the importance of this
story is that of course it shows a sort
of
path of intention that the us may well
try to use its economic and financial
fire power
to buy up drug supplies and that worries
many other countries
including the uk the u.s continues to
struggle to contain its coronavirus
outbreak
america's top diseased researcher dr
anthony fauci has told the u.s senate
that he would not be surprised if new
virus cases in the country reached a
hundred thousand per day
there are currently around forty
thousand meanwhile the eu will open its
borders to a number of countries outside
of the block and the u.s
isn't on that list both the u.s and
brazil are still dealing with worsening
virus outbreaks and are being kept off
that list
china is on the so-called safe list but
only with a reciprocal agreement that is
still
pending the uk and for other non-eu
states switzerland iceland lichtenstein
and norway are automatically
included as safe and here's a quick
roundup of some other coronavirus
developments for you today
first to spain and portugal they have
reopened the border between them
more than three months after it was
closed due to the coronavirus pandemic
the border was reopened with a ceremony
that included king felipe of spain
the portuguese president and two
countries prime ministers were also
there
the travel restrictions elsewhere in the
eu were lifted last week
the palestinian authorities have ordered
a complete lockdown of the west bank
following a surge in corona virus
infections there
all activity across the territory will
halt for five days from
friday only pharmacies bakeries and
supermarkets will be allowed to stay
open
the number of new virus cases detected
in the west bank has quadrupled in
recent weeks
one of the world's highest rates of
infection
you