June 4, 2020 — A roundup of the latest news about COVID-19

The coronavirus hasn’t mutated. The global race to develop a vaccine intensifies. And the number of new cases is growing faster than ever worldwide. Here’s the latest news on the pandemic:

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  The coronavirus has not mutated in any way that would meaningfully change how quickly it spreads or how severely it can harm humans, World Health Organization officials said Wednesday. 

• A malaria drug President Donald Trump took to try to prevent COVID-19 proved ineffective for that in the first large, high-quality study to test it in people in close contact with someone with the disease.

• Vaccine updates: The director of the National Institutes of Health hopes for at least one effective vaccine by 2021. The British government is hosting an international gathering today that aims to raise at least $7.4 billion for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. And with testing underway on five experimental vaccines in China and four in the U.S., the race to produce a vaccine has taken on political dimensions that echo jockeying for technological dominance during the Cold War, including the space race after the launch of Sputnik in 1957.

• Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he believes it’s a “bit of a reach” to keep schools closed in the fall because of coronavirus safety concerns for children.

• Home-bound Americans are seeking alternatives to bathroom tissue because of occasional shortages, while stepping up efforts to sanitize their dwellings and themselves. The result: Wastewater plant operators report a surge of stopped-up pipes and damage to equipment.

• The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected late last year, has tested nearly 10 million people in an unprecedented 19-day campaign to check an entire city. It identified just 300 positive cases, all of whom had no symptoms.