tests

Reuters reports during the drill, the new North Korean drone cruised underwater at a depth of 80 to 150 metres for over 59 hours and detonated in waters off its east coast on Thursday, North Korean state news agency KCNA said.

Dubbed 'Haeil', or tsunami, the drone system is intended to make sneak attacks in enemy waters and destroy naval striker groups and major operational ports by making a super-scale radioactive wave through an underwater explosion, the KCNA said.

According to a statement, lab evaluations of samples in Vanuatu and Australia to date indicate a very low level of virus meaning that it is unlikely the case would have been able to transmit the disease.

A 23-year-old man repatriated from the US is Vanuatu’s first confirmed Covid-19 case.

The case identified during routine day 5 testing with a re-testing to confirm.

The man remains in isolation at Vila Central Hospital.

A total of 2290 passengers have arrived in Vanuatu since repatriation flights began on 1 August.

Testing of 253 people in quarantine is ongoing.

A total of 2185 persons quarantined and provided daily health checks in Phase 2; 1932 completed 14-days of quarantine and were cleared to join their families and communities.

Surveys and psychosocial assessments of those in quarantine indicate no/low or mild levels of distress (100%) with quarantine viewed by most as being easy (71%) or a little bit difficult (25%).

There is no indication of increased influenza-like illness or acute respiratory infection in the community.

Moderna said neutralising antibodies were found in the first eight people who took part in their safety trials.

It also said the immune response was similar to that in people infected with the actual virus.

Larger trials to see whether the jab protects against infection are expected to start in July.

Work on a coronavirus vaccine has been taking place at unprecedented speed, with around 80 groups around the world working on them.

Moderna was the first to test an experimental vaccine, called mRNA-1273, in people.