Deaths in the US from Covid-19 surpassed 3,000 a day for the first time, while Germany’s latest measures have so far failed to contain the spread in Europe’s largest economy. The UK’s vaccination campaign hit a stumbling block after two people with allergies experienced reactions to the Pfizer shot.
Pfizer said a cyberattack had exposed some documents filed with a European regulator relating to its vaccine review. India’s largest hospital chain said it’s ready to administer 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses a day. Passengers disembarked a cruise ship in Singapore after a Covid-19 scare on board.
California’s average rate of positive tests over 14 days reached 8.8%, the highest since the spring as cases surged to another record. US health and human services secretary Alex Azar warned Americans to avoid crowded indoor social gatherings.
South African cases surge
South Africa’s government declared a second wave of coronavirus infections as the number of cases surged.
The wave is being driven by the provinces of Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the economic hub Gauteng, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement Wednesday. A seven-day moving average graph shows that the increases in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are exponential, he said.
South Africa registered a record 6,709 infections on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 828,598, with 22,574 deaths.
New cases in Tokyo hit record
New coronavirus cases in Tokyo hit a record 602 on Thursday, breaking above 600 for the first time.
Some observers have blamed a campaign to promote domestic travel for the resurgence in Covid-19 infections, but Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga this week unveiled a six-month extension of the measure to support the economy.
Germany’s lockdown light fails to quell cases
Germany is still struggling to contain the coronavirus pandemic. There were 458 fatalities in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, taking the total to 20,460, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Confirmed cases in Europe’s biggest economy rose by 25,089 to 1,254,358. Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Germans to rein in Christmas celebrations and called for tougher measures to slow the spread, in an unusually emotional appeal on Wednesday in Berlin.
India drug panel asks for more vaccine data
A drug approval panel in India has asked the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to submit more data on the safety and efficacy of their coronavirus vaccines before it can consider their applications for accelerated approvals of their shots.
An expert committee of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on Wednesday said that Serum, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has so far only provided safety data up to Nov 11 and asked for additional safety data of phase-II and phase-III clinical trials in the country, immunogenicity data from clinical trials in the UK and India and the assessment of the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
The company, expected to produce the country’s front-runner vaccine, is conducting trials of AstraZeneca Plc’s shot locally as part of a manufacturing agreement. India’s Bharat Biotech has also been asked for more data before the emergency use application for its Covaxin shot can be considered.
Cabin crew told to wear diapers on risky flights
China’s aviation regulator is recommending cabin crew on charter flights to high-risk Covid-19 destinations wear disposable diapers and avoid using the bathroom to reduce the risk of infection.
The advice comes in a 38-page list of guidelines for airlines to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The sixth edition echoes similar instructions in previous, less lengthy versions.
White House panel backs inbound travel
The White House coronavirus task force recommended to President Donald Trump that the US start allowing in travelers from Brazil, the UK and 27 other EU countries, CNBC reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Travel restrictions on travelers from China and Iran wouldn’t be relaxed, according to the recommendation, which wasn’t unanimous.
US daily deaths top 3,000
US deaths from Covid-19 exceeded 3,000 a day for the first time, according to Johns Hopkins University data. That surpasses record fatalities set last week, and is more than the number of lives lost in the U.S. during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Coronavirus is infecting Americans at an ever-increasing clip in the final weeks of 2020. And that trajectory is beginning to show in fatalities: In just over a week of December, deaths were more than double the rate of the same week in November, according to Covid Tracking Project data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention forecasts the US will rise above 300,000 deaths by Christmas.
Seoul offers free virus tests
Citizens in greater Seoul area can take virus tests for free for the next three weeks regardless of their symptoms, South Korean Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a government meeting Thursday.
The nation reported 682 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours compared with 686 a day earlier, according to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s website.
US hospitalisations slowing
The pace of Covid-19 hospitalisations appears to be slowing in the US, with the average number of in-patients increasing by fewer than 500 a day from Dec 4 to 9, data from the Department of Health and Human Services show.
There were 105,035 coronavirus patients hospitalised as of Wednesday, up 2.4% from 102,579 on Friday. California accounted for about half of the national increase, with 1,289 additional Covid-19 hospitalizations over the period. It had 10,230 coronavirus cases in hospitals as of Wednesday, more than any other state.
New Mexico recorded 100% utilisation of its intensive-care beds, with 23.4% of all hospitalised patients in the states suffering Covid-19. Coronavirus cases accounted for at least a fifth of all hospitalised patients in Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota and Rhode Island.
India’s hospital chain ready to vaccinate 1m daily
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, India’s largest hospital chain, says it’s ready to administer 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses a day, but the government has not made clear how vaccines will be distributed and whether private health-care networks will be involved.
The chain has so far trained 6,000 staff to give out jabs across its network of 71 hospitals, hundreds of clinics and thousands of pharmacies, according to Managing Director Suneeta Reddy, who said the company’s talks with officials in New Delhi had yet to provide any firm guidance.
California continues to set record
California reported 30,851 new virus cases, topping the record of 30,075 set over the weekend. The average rate of positive tests over 14 days reached 8.8%, the highest since the spring.
Hospitalisations jumped 3.8% in the past 24 hours to a record to 11,965 patients. With cases soaring, much of the state is now in lockdown as officials warn of intensive-care units becoming overwhelmed.
CDC: Covid was in Italy in November 2019
The coronavirus was circulating in Italy as early as the end of November 2019, according to a new report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lending weight to other studies that have suggested an earlier appearance of the disease in Europe.
US in talks With Merck on treatment
Operation Warp Speed, the US programme to accelerate drugs and vaccines to thwart the pandemic, is in negotiations with Merck & Co to secure supply of a treatment for the deadliest cases of Covid-19.
As hospitalisations top all-time highs in the US, Warp Speed’s chief scientific officer, Moncef Slaoui, told Bloomberg that talks with Merck for the under-the-radar drug, CD24Fc, ensued after the drug giant acquired a 10-person biotechnology company that had spent decades developing it.
Within months, patients with severe and critical cases of Covid-19 could get access to the intravenous treatment that appears to halve the risk of both respiratory failure and death.
