South Africa plans to roll out the continent’s first coronavirus vaccine trial this week. The pilot will involve 2,000 people, including 50 who have HIV. The vaccine candidate was developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute in the United Kingdom. Brazil is planning its own pilot, while the U.S. is preparing to test another vaccine in a mass trial of up to 30,000 participants.
More than 3,500 doctors and nurses in the country have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in March. At least 34 people have died from the virus, which is caused by a novel strain of coronavirus. South Africa’s health minister says there are now more than 27,000 beds for patients and more than 400 quarantine sites across the country.
At the opening of a field hospital in the Eastern Cape province, Zweli Mkhize said there were now more than 26,000 hospital beds for the virus patients. The new field hospital was built in collaboration with the German development agency and carmaker Volkswagen.
Data Source: RTE
