WHO raises risk assessment of coronavirus to “very high” at global level WHO officials are increasing the risk assessment of the coronavirus, which has spread to least 49 countries, to “very high” worldwide. “We have increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, … [Read more...]

Most U.S. hospitals will experience month-long disruption in N95 masks Most U.S. hospitals are experiencing delays of three to five days on orders of N95 respirators, according to Chaun Powell, group vice president for strategic supplier engagement with Premier Inc., in a webinar. U.S. health systems typically purchase more than 2 million N95 respirators per month, and the … [Read more...]

Americans should prepare for coronavirus spread in U.S., CDC warns Top U.S. public health officials with the CDC said that Americans should prepare for the spread of coronavirus across the country. “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe … [Read more...]

Moderna first to start drug trial against COVID-19 Moderna (Cambridge, MA), a biotechnology company focused on discovery and developed based on messenger RNA, is the first biopharma to launch a drug trial on humans for an investigational drug against COVID-19. Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, mRNA-1273, has been shipped to the National Institute of Allergy and … [Read more...]

Global outbreak causes pandemic fears as cases jump outside of China Fears of a global pandemic grew over the weekend as cases jumped in countries outside of China. Fifty people have died in the Iranian city of Qom from the coronavirus this month, according to Iran’s ILNA news agency. Iran had originally reported its death toll at 12. The 50 deaths date back to Feb. 13. Also, … [Read more...]

Infected Americans from quarantined Japanese cruise ship were flown to U.S. against CDC advice On Monday, 328 Americans were flown back to the U.S. wearing surgical masks and gloves after weeks in quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. However, test results showed that 14 of them were infected with the novel coronavirus and the U.S. State Department had … [Read more...]

China reports sharp drop in new cases, but doubts re-emerge over data The Hubei province at the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak reported a steep drop in new cases. However, another change in how China diagnoses infections raised concerns about the reliability of the data. The China death toll tops 2,000 and cases top 75,000. Initially, Chinese authorities were using … [Read more...]

Texas manufacturer caught in coronavirus supply chain panic Prestige Ameritech (Fort Worth, TX), a full-line domestic surgical mask manufacturer, was producing 600,000 masks each day but struggling to meet demand as the number of coronavirus cases in China skyrocketed in the past week. CEO Mike Bowen was receiving cold calls on his cell phone from people saying they … [Read more...]

Premier Inc. to host webinar tomorrow: "State of Supply Chain and COVID-19" Premier Inc. (Charlotte, NC) announced it will host a webinar tomorrow, Feb. 19, 2020, “State of Supply Chain and COVID-19,” at 11 a.m. ET. The Premier Disaster Response and Disruption Team, as well as the Premier Safety Institute will provide an executive briefing on the state of supply chain … [Read more...]

FDA response to active supply chain surveillance amid outbreak The FDA states that it is aware of the likely impact on the medical product supply chain, including potential disruptions to supply or shortages of critical medical products in the U.S., due to the coronavirus outbreak. The FDA states that it is not waiting for drug and device manufacturers to report shortages, … [Read more...]