VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

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Head of the US Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn raised the possibility in an interview published on Sunday (30/8) that a future vaccine against the coronavirus might be given emergency approval before the end of trials designed to ensure its safety and effectiveness. A request for such extraordinary approval would have to come from the vaccine developer. Three Western drugs makers are well along with their Phase 3 clinical trials, involving tens of thousands of participants. The three are AstraZeneca, which is partnering with Oxford University in England; Moderna, collaborating with the US National Institutes of Health, and the Pfizer/BioNTech alliance. Half of the participants in such trials receive an experimental vaccine, while the other half are given a placebo//CNA

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India has set a record for the world's highest single-day increase in coronavirus cases. The nation, the world's third-most infected, on Sunday (30/8) reported that there are 78,761 new cases in 24 hours, passing the number posted in the US on 17 July. The rise comes as the government continues to lift restrictions in a bid to boost an economy that lost millions of jobs when the virus hit in March. An upsurge of Covid-19 in many rural areas continues to be a major concern. According to Johns Hopkins University research, on Sunday, global infections passed the 25 million mark, with 843,000 deaths. The US remains the most affected nation, closing in on six million infections//BBC

PHOTO : BBC 

People will again be encouraged to go back to their workplaces as part of a government campaign starting next week. Employers who have had staff working from home for months will be asked to reassure them that it is safe to return by highlighting measures being taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.MBusiness leaders have warned of damage being done to city centres as people stay away from offices. The campaign will launch as most schools in England and Wales reopen. It will predominantly be promoted through regional media, the BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson said. Whitehall sources insist the campaign will not suggest those who continue to work from home are at any greater risk of losing their jobs, he added. Labour's shadow business minister, Lucy Powell, said no one should be forced "to choose between their health and their job" and the government should "categorically rule out" any campaign suggesting people could lose their job if they refuse to return to the office. A BBC study found 50 major UK employers had no plans to return all staff to the office full-time in the near future. One of the main reasons given was that firms could not see a way of accommodating large numbers of staff while social distancing regulations were still in place//BBC

PHOTO : BBC

New Zealand's communications security bureau has been called in to help after its stock exchange was hit by cyber attacks for the fourth consecutive day. The exchange failed to open as planned on Friday due to so-called "distributed denial of service" (DDoS) attacks. The $135bn (£102bn) market, which is nearing a record high, has said the attacks came from overseas. The exchange's website was overwhelmed by the cyber attacks, forcing it to halt trading. The stock market operator NZX said its networks had crashed due to the cyber attacks, which originated overseas. DDoS attacks are designed to knock a website offline by flooding it with huge amounts of requests until it crashes. Such attacks are relatively simple in nature and rely on their sheer scale to be effective. Other than saying that the attacks were from overseas, NZX has yet to comment on their source or whether any demands have been made. The disruptions to trading in New Zealand have come at a particularly bad time for investors as it is currently in a busy company earnings season//BBC