World Coronavirus Dispatch: Pandemic-driven changes a boon for Amazon

Moderna expects to make 3 billion doses by 2022, AstraZeneca struggles with data needed for vaccine's approval in US, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Amazon continued to benefit from the pandemic-driven changes like mass online shifting as it's earnings beat the estimates of Wall Street by some distance. The company reported a second straight quarter of $100 billion-plus revenue in the first three months of the year, that is a 44 per cent rise from the year-ago period. Almost half Amazon’s operating income — $4.2 billion — came from its cloud division, Aamazon Web Services, whose business customers have been forced to invest as a result of the shift to homeworking. The net income more than tripled to $8.1 billion. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 150,536,843

Global deaths: 3,165,999

Nations with most cases: US (32,288,909), India (18,762,976), Brazil (14,590,678), France (5,653,533), Russia (4,788,700).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center 

AstraZeneca struggles with data needed for vaccine’s approval

AstraZeneca's struggle to get its vaccine rolled out in United States continues as the officials are finding it hard to put together adequate data for its aproval by the drug regulator. The officials were said to have told the regulator that it needs time until mid-May to forward the application, delaying the earlier deadline of mid-April.Even though the US has more than enough approved vaccines to inoculate its citizens and doesn't have much need for AstraZeneca shot, the company hopes an approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will give boost to the confidence in vaccine in other countries across the world. Read here

Moderna boosting vaccine capacity

Moderna, one of the three vaccines approved in the United States, has raised its production capacity forecast for its coronavirus vaccine and expects to make 3 billion doses in 2022. This is more than double the previous estimate. It also said it is increasing its expectations for 2021 vaccine production to between 800 million and 1 billion shots. Moderna also said new data suggests its shots can be stored safely for up to three months at refrigerator temperatures, making it easier to get them to hard to reach areas that may not have access to freezers. Read here

Millions at risk from Covid surge in Syria

New wave of coronavirus infections are threatening the health systems in Syria, a country which was already devastated by 10 years of war, collapsing the infrastructure, economy and health care systems. The United Nations and other health agencies have warned that the rapidly accelerating new wave could put millions of lives at risk, as the country doesn't have enough resources to do enough testing, effective contact tracing and so on.. There are also similar concerns about the health infra and experts warn, if the new trend of infections doesn't flatten, there may be acute shortage of Oxygen. Read here