This week’s coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic from Research Professional News
UK
Applicants to UK Research and Innovation’s rapid response call for Covid-19 projects have complained of delays after some researchers waited three months for a verdict on their bids.
Thousands of health workers have signed up to take part in a trial to examine the risk of reinfection with Covid-19.
The UK’s largest public funder of research is under pressure to review how it makes funding decisions, following concerns over how it awarded grants to investigate the Covid-19 risk among ethnic minority groups.
The government is urging more people to volunteer for Covid-19 vaccine trials after more than 100,000 signed up to take part.
Europe
The European Commission has allocated another €200 million to the EU’s Erasmus+ mobility scheme for 2020, to boost the programme in response to Covid-19.
Africa
South Africa’s higher education minister has said that no current infrastructure projects at universities will fall victim to Covid-19 budget cuts.
US
The White House has told federal agencies and departments to prioritise public health research and innovation when they allocate their budgets for the next two years.
World
The director general of the World Health Organization has implored countries around the world to join a global initiative on equal access to Covid-19 vaccines, warning that “we need to prevent vaccine nationalism”.