Germany is launching Europe’s first antibody testing programme.
Its national disease control centre plans to conduct a series of blood tests to determine how many people in the nation are immune to Covid-19 and how many were infected without knowing it.
Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, says starting next week antibody tests will be carried out on blood given by donors around the country.
His institute anticipates testing up to 5,000 samples conducted every 14 days, with results starting in early May.
A second survey will examine blood from about 2,000 people from each of four infection “hot spots” in Germany. And a third will look at a representative sample of some 15,000 people across the country, with results expected in June.
Germany has already emerged as a leader in testing for coronavirus itself, carrying out up to 100,000 tests per day
It has confirmed more than 113,000 infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
More than 2,300 people have died, a death rate lower than many countries.
In the UK, more than 2,700 infected people have signed up to take part in a trial called Recovery as the country races to find a vaccine.
Peter Horby, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Oxford, said no controlled clinical trial had ever expanded so quickly and on such a large scale.
"We need to recruit very fast while the epidemic is approaching its peak, so that we have enough patients to provide firm data," he told the Financial Times.
More than 100 hospitals are taking part and volunteers diagnosed with the virus are split into four groups, three are given one of the trial treatments and a fourth receives standard medical care.
Oxford University has also put out a call for hundreds of volunteers to test a possible new coronavirus vaccine.
It is recruiting 500 people to take part in clinical trials.
Volunteers need to be healthy and aged between 18-55.
The project, which is being run by the Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group, is expected to last six months.
Last week, Oxford University announced that three of their Covid-19 projects were among the first to receive a tranche of £20 million in government funding.
“The three projects include work on an effective vaccine, enabling pre-clinical and clinical vaccine trials, as well as supporting researchers to develop manufacturing processes to produce a vaccine at a million-dose scale," it said in statement.
"Another project will examine how existing treatments could be repurposed to treat coronavirus.”
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
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What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
