Summary:
- France approves Europe's largest national rescue program worth $118 billion
- Europe recovery falters
- Pfizer says vaccine results will be in by Nov. 1
- Dr. Fauci names 7 vulnerable states
- Thailand breaks 100 day streak of no local infections
- India also notched record single-day testing
- Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline have more optimistic vaccine news
- CDC warns states to prepare for vaccines by November
- First COVID vaccine results due later this month
- India posts another record daily jump in cases
- Victoria sees cases pop back above 100
- China sees first international flights from countries after dropping travel restrictions
- Brazil nears 4 million confirmed cases
- "The Rock" reveals COVID diagnosis for himself, family
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Update (0920ET): Following on from the Bloomberg report we cited earlier, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla confirmed Thursday morning that results from its large-scale, late-stage trial of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2 should be available next month.
If positive, it will immediately file for emergency use authorization with the FDA, which FDA chief Dr. Stephen Hahn has suggested would be immediately approved. As of Wednesday, 23K people have been enrolled in the 30K-subject trial.
In other news, France has launched a €100 billion ($118 billion) plan to rescue its economy from the coronavirus crisis with big investments in green energy and transportation, as well as a push for more "industrial innovation." Announcing the "France Relance" (France Recovery) plan in Paris on Thursday, new PM Jean Castex praised the program's "historic ambition and size", noting that it's 4x larger than the fiscal stimulus launched...