<p>Global tensions simmered over the race for a <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_blank">coronavirus </a>vaccine Thursday, as the United States and China traded jabs, and France slammed pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi for suggesting the US would get any eventual vaccine first.</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-india-live-updates-total-cases-deaths-covid-19-tracker-worldometer-update-lockdown-latest-news-835374.html" target="_blank">For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here</a></strong></p>.<p>Scientists are working at breakneck speed to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide and pummelled economies.</p>.<p>From the US to Europe to Asia, national and local governments are easing lockdown orders to get people back to work -- while fretting over a possible second wave of infections.</p>.<p>Increased freedom of movement means an increased risk of contracting the virus, and so national labs and private firms are labouring to find the right formula for a vaccine.</p>.<p>The European Union's medicines agency offered some hope when it said one could be ready in a year, based on data from clinical trials already underway.</p>.<p>But Marco Cavaleri, the EMA's head of vaccines strategy, acknowledged that timeline was a "best-case scenario," and cautioned that "there may be delays."</p>.<p>The race for a vaccine has exposed a raw nerve in relations between the United States and China, where the virus was first detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan.</p>.<p>Two US agencies warned Wednesday that Chinese hackers were trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research -- a claim Beijing rejected as "smearing" its reputation.</p>.<p>US President Donald Trump, who has ratcheted up the rhetoric against China, said he doesn't even want to engage with Chinese leader Xi Jinping -- potentially imperilling a trade deal between the world's top two economies.</p>.<p>"I'm very disappointed in China. I will tell you that right now," he said in an interview with Fox Business.</p>.<p>"There are many things we could do. We could do things. We could cut off the whole relationship."</p>.<p>On Capitol Hill, an ousted US health official told Congress that the Trump government had no strategy in place to find and distribute a vaccine to millions of Americans, warning of the "darkest winter" ahead.</p>.<p>"We don't have a single point of leadership right now for this response, and we don't have a master plan," said Rick Bright, who was removed last month as head of the US agency charged with developing a coronavirus vaccine.</p>.<p>The United States has registered nearly 86,000 deaths linked to COVID-19 -- the highest toll of any nation.</p>.<p>World leaders were among 140 signatories to a letter published Thursday saying any vaccine should not be patented and that the science should be shared among nations.</p>.<p>"Governments and international partners must unite around a global guarantee which ensures that, when a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it is produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge," it said.</p>.<p>But a row erupted in France after drugmaker Sanofi said it would reserve first shipments of any vaccine it discovered to the United States.</p>.<p>The comments prompted a swift rebuke from the French government -- President Emmanuel Macron's office said any vaccine should be treated as "a global public good, which is not submitted to market forces."</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-india-update-state-wise-total-number-of-confirmed-cases-deaths-on-may-15-837778.html" target="_blank"><strong>Track coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 15</strong></a></p>.<p>Sanofi chief executive Paul Hudson said the US had a risk-sharing model that allowed for manufacturing to start before a vaccine had been finally approved -- while Europe did not.</p>.<p>"The US government has the right to the largest pre-order because it's invested in taking the risk," Hudson told Bloomberg News.</p>.<p>Macron's top officials are scheduled to meet with Sanofi executives about the issue next week.</p>.<p>The search for a vaccine became even more urgent after the World Health Organization said the disease may never go away and the world would have to learn to live with it for good.</p>.<p>"This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away," said Michael Ryan, the UN body's emergencies director.</p>.<p>The prospect of the disease lingering leaves governments facing a delicate balancing act between suppressing the pathogen and getting their economies up and running.</p>.<p>In the US, more grim economic data emerged Thursday, with nearly three million more Americans applying for unemployment benefits.</p>.<p>That takes the overall total to 36.5 million -- more than 10 percent of the US population.</p>.<p>Further signs of the damage to businesses emerged when Lloyd's of London forecast the pandemic will cost the global insurance industry about $203 billion.</p>.<p>European markets closed down, but Wall Street rallied despite the new jobless claims. In a sign of progress, the New York Stock Exchange trading floor was due to reopen on May 26.</p>.<p>The reopening of economies continued in earnest across Europe, where the EU has set out proposals for a phased restart of travel and the eventual lifting of border controls.</p>.<p>"Maybe it's a mistake, but we have no choice. Without tourists, we won't get by!" Enrico Facchetti, a 61-year-old former goldsmith, said of Venice's reopening.</p>.<p>Japan -- the world's third largest economy -- lifted a state of emergency across most of the country except for Tokyo and Osaka.</p>.<p>And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said national parks would partially reopen on June 1.</p>.<p>But in Latin America, the virus continued to surge, with a 60 percent leap in cases in the Chilean capital of Santiago.</p>.<p>Authorities said 2,000 new graves were being dug at the main cemetery.</p>.<p>South Sudan reported its first COVID-19 death on Thursday.</p>.<p>And in Bangladesh, the first case was confirmed in the teeming Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, which are home to nearly one million people.</p>
<p>Global tensions simmered over the race for a <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_blank">coronavirus </a>vaccine Thursday, as the United States and China traded jabs, and France slammed pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi for suggesting the US would get any eventual vaccine first.</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-india-live-updates-total-cases-deaths-covid-19-tracker-worldometer-update-lockdown-latest-news-835374.html" target="_blank">For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here</a></strong></p>.<p>Scientists are working at breakneck speed to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide and pummelled economies.</p>.<p>From the US to Europe to Asia, national and local governments are easing lockdown orders to get people back to work -- while fretting over a possible second wave of infections.</p>.<p>Increased freedom of movement means an increased risk of contracting the virus, and so national labs and private firms are labouring to find the right formula for a vaccine.</p>.<p>The European Union's medicines agency offered some hope when it said one could be ready in a year, based on data from clinical trials already underway.</p>.<p>But Marco Cavaleri, the EMA's head of vaccines strategy, acknowledged that timeline was a "best-case scenario," and cautioned that "there may be delays."</p>.<p>The race for a vaccine has exposed a raw nerve in relations between the United States and China, where the virus was first detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan.</p>.<p>Two US agencies warned Wednesday that Chinese hackers were trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research -- a claim Beijing rejected as "smearing" its reputation.</p>.<p>US President Donald Trump, who has ratcheted up the rhetoric against China, said he doesn't even want to engage with Chinese leader Xi Jinping -- potentially imperilling a trade deal between the world's top two economies.</p>.<p>"I'm very disappointed in China. I will tell you that right now," he said in an interview with Fox Business.</p>.<p>"There are many things we could do. We could do things. We could cut off the whole relationship."</p>.<p>On Capitol Hill, an ousted US health official told Congress that the Trump government had no strategy in place to find and distribute a vaccine to millions of Americans, warning of the "darkest winter" ahead.</p>.<p>"We don't have a single point of leadership right now for this response, and we don't have a master plan," said Rick Bright, who was removed last month as head of the US agency charged with developing a coronavirus vaccine.</p>.<p>The United States has registered nearly 86,000 deaths linked to COVID-19 -- the highest toll of any nation.</p>.<p>World leaders were among 140 signatories to a letter published Thursday saying any vaccine should not be patented and that the science should be shared among nations.</p>.<p>"Governments and international partners must unite around a global guarantee which ensures that, when a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it is produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge," it said.</p>.<p>But a row erupted in France after drugmaker Sanofi said it would reserve first shipments of any vaccine it discovered to the United States.</p>.<p>The comments prompted a swift rebuke from the French government -- President Emmanuel Macron's office said any vaccine should be treated as "a global public good, which is not submitted to market forces."</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-india-update-state-wise-total-number-of-confirmed-cases-deaths-on-may-15-837778.html" target="_blank"><strong>Track coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 15</strong></a></p>.<p>Sanofi chief executive Paul Hudson said the US had a risk-sharing model that allowed for manufacturing to start before a vaccine had been finally approved -- while Europe did not.</p>.<p>"The US government has the right to the largest pre-order because it's invested in taking the risk," Hudson told Bloomberg News.</p>.<p>Macron's top officials are scheduled to meet with Sanofi executives about the issue next week.</p>.<p>The search for a vaccine became even more urgent after the World Health Organization said the disease may never go away and the world would have to learn to live with it for good.</p>.<p>"This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away," said Michael Ryan, the UN body's emergencies director.</p>.<p>The prospect of the disease lingering leaves governments facing a delicate balancing act between suppressing the pathogen and getting their economies up and running.</p>.<p>In the US, more grim economic data emerged Thursday, with nearly three million more Americans applying for unemployment benefits.</p>.<p>That takes the overall total to 36.5 million -- more than 10 percent of the US population.</p>.<p>Further signs of the damage to businesses emerged when Lloyd's of London forecast the pandemic will cost the global insurance industry about $203 billion.</p>.<p>European markets closed down, but Wall Street rallied despite the new jobless claims. In a sign of progress, the New York Stock Exchange trading floor was due to reopen on May 26.</p>.<p>The reopening of economies continued in earnest across Europe, where the EU has set out proposals for a phased restart of travel and the eventual lifting of border controls.</p>.<p>"Maybe it's a mistake, but we have no choice. Without tourists, we won't get by!" Enrico Facchetti, a 61-year-old former goldsmith, said of Venice's reopening.</p>.<p>Japan -- the world's third largest economy -- lifted a state of emergency across most of the country except for Tokyo and Osaka.</p>.<p>And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said national parks would partially reopen on June 1.</p>.<p>But in Latin America, the virus continued to surge, with a 60 percent leap in cases in the Chilean capital of Santiago.</p>.<p>Authorities said 2,000 new graves were being dug at the main cemetery.</p>.<p>South Sudan reported its first COVID-19 death on Thursday.</p>.<p>And in Bangladesh, the first case was confirmed in the teeming Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, which are home to nearly one million people.</p>