Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) Janssen unit will begin mid-stage trials for its coronavirus vaccine in Spain, the Netherlands and Germany next week, Spain’s health minister said on Friday, as the U.S. drugmaker expands testing for its experimental shot.The Phase II trial will last two months and include 550 participants across the three countries, including 190 people in Spain, Salvador Illa told a news conference in Madrid.“It’s a vote of confidence in our health system,” Illa said, adding it was the first human trial for a coronavirus vaccine to be approved in Spain.The study will focus on healthy people between the ages of 18 and 55 as well as people over 65.
UA Wastewater Testing Finds COVID-19 Cases in Dorm
The University of Arizona’s wastewater testing system alerted university officials to COVID-19 cases in an on-campus dorm this week. On Tuesday, the wastewater testing system at Likins Hall alerted the university that students or staff in the dorm may be positive for COVID-19.UA President Robert Robbins said during his weekly briefing that a team immediately went to the dorm and tested every resident and staff member.“We did test — I think there are 311 individuals in that dorm — and we did the antigen test, we did them all [Wednesday] and found two positive cases,” Robbins explained.Two asymptomatic students tested positive for the virus and were immediately sent to the quarantine dorm.
On-campus testing at the university had detected 47 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday morning. Five students are in the quarantine dorm. The other cases are quarantining off campus.On Monday, UA began classes for the fall semester. Currently, only a small number of essential classes, like labs, are allowed to meet in person. In the coming weeks more classes will be allowed to meet in person.Earlier this week, the university extended the amount of time that only essential classes will be allowed to meet.