Many scientists have long assumed that moths and other flying insects were simply drawn to bright lights.

A new study shows that Britain’s COVID-19 vaccination program is beginning to break the link between infection and serious illness or death.

South Africa received its first 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week and was expected to begin giving jabs to health care workers in mid-February. The disappointing early results indicate that an inoculation drive using the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be useful. Preliminary data from a small study suggested that the AstraZeneca vaccine offers only “minimal protection against mild-moderate disease" caused by the variant in South Africa. Ad“The AstraZeneca vaccine appeared effective against the original strain, but not against the variant,” Mkhize said. The international COVAX initiative has bought the AstraZeneca vaccine in bulk from the Serum Institute of India.

U.K. researchers said Tuesday Oct. 20, 2020, they are preparing to begin a controversial experiment that will infect healthy volunteers with the new coronavirus to study the disease in hopes of speeding up development of a vaccine. This type of research, known as a human challenge study, is used infrequently because some question the ethics of infecting otherwise healthy individuals. Alastair Fraser-Urquhart, 18, of Stoke-on-Trent in northwestern England, said he wants to take part in the challenge study because he’s young and strong and can help move the vaccine research forward quickly. Challenge studies are typically used to test vaccines against mild infections to avoid exposing volunteers to a serious illness if the vaccine doesn’t work. Those steps include examining the ethics of a challenge study, and funding research to create lab-grown virus strains that potentially could be used.

The number of new hospitalizations for COVID-19 and virus deaths in Britain are rising again, although both remain far below their springtime peak. Dr. David Strain of the British Medical Association urged caution, as infection rates remain high among certain groups. Their study noted that rates of infection are increasing among all age groups in England, with the highest prevalence among 18 to 24-year-olds. Meanwhile, authorities tightened restrictions on people arriving in England from Turkey and Poland, ordering them to quarantine for 14 days because of a rise in coronavirus infection rates in those countries. Britain requires people to self-isolate for two weeks if arriving from anywhere except a list of “travel corridor” nations that have low infection rates.

A separate data system operated by state health officials has documented around 2,300 infections among school-age children since Sept. 1. ___MILAN — Italy has tallied 2,548 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily total in five months. — Maryland is reporting zero coronavirus deaths in a 24-hour period for the first time since March 28. That doesn’t necessarily mean no COVID-19 deaths occurred in that time frame, because sometimes there is a delay in the submission of a death certificate. ___LONDON — The European Medicines Agency has begun its first review process for an experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

Leon McFarlane a research technician handles a blood sample from a volunteer in the laboratory at Imperial College in London, Thursday, July 30, 2020. Imperial College is working on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Scientists at Imperial College London say they are immunizing hundreds of people with an experimental coronavirus vaccine in an early trial after seeing no worrying safety problems in those vaccinated so far. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)LONDON Scientists at Imperial College London say they are immunizing hundreds of people with an experimental coronavirus vaccine in an early trial after seeing no worrying safety problems in a small number vaccinated so far. The Imperial vaccine uses synthetic strands of genetic code based on the virus.

DETROIT Findings in a study conducted by researchers at Imperial College London and Oxford University show Michigan Gov. The study examines the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions to fight the coronavirus, including stay-at-home orders, bans on gatherings and business and school closures, which decrease mobility significantly. Researchers determined states with highly aggressive restrictions experienced more success with reducing the spread of coronavirus. The study also found that among the Great Lakes states mobility decreased the most under Michigans lockdown. Rapid testing, contact tracing and behavioural precautions are crucial to offset the rise of transmission associated with loosening of social distancing, the study found.