China vaccine test halted due to ‘serious event’

Sinopharm, which is conducting its trials in Peru with some 12,000 volunteers, was about to complete the first stage of the trials in the next few days.

Peru suspended trials for China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine due to a “serious adverse event” that occurred with one of the volunteers for the study, the Peruvian government said in a statement on Saturday.

Healthcare workers collect blood samples at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing site in Lima, Peru. (REUTERS)

The health ministry said the event is “under investigation to determine if it is related to the vaccine or if there is another explanation.” Sinopharm, which is conducting its trials in Peru with some 12,000 volunteers, was about to complete the first stage of the trials in the next few days. German Malaga, chief researcher at the local Cayetano Heredia University, which is involved with the study, said one volunteer had experienced decreased strength in his legs among other symptoms.

Meanwhile, China has put one northern city in lockdown and launched citywide coronavirus testing in another, after two local infections involving workers at a port and trade zone respectively, authorities have said.

There was one new case each in Dongning and Suifenhe, which both sit on the country’s border with Russia.

Japan saw more than 3,000 new infections of the novel coronavirus for the first time in one day on Saturday, public broadcaster NHK reported, while South Korea has reported another 950 cases, its largest daily increase since the emergence of the pandemic, as fears grow about overwhelmed hospitals in the greater capital area.

President Moon Jae-in in a Facebook message apologised for his government’s failure to contain the outbreak despite months of measures that hurt the economy.