Coronavirus Global Updates, Jan 04: Global coronavirus infections climbed above 85 million, after daily cases in the U.S. soared to a record of nearly 300

Mon Jan 4 11:46:00 CAT 2021

Zimbabwe COVID19 Update

COVID-19 update: As at 03 January 2021, Zimbabwe had 15 265 confirmed cases, including 11 574 recoveries and 380 deaths.

U.K. to Start Astra Shots; Tokyo Emergency Mulled: Virus Update
Global coronavirus infections climbed above 85 million, after daily cases in the U.S. soared to a record of nearly 300,000 following the New Year holiday.

The U.K. is poised to give the first shots of AstraZeneca’s vaccine on Monday, in a race against a faster-spreading variant that’s prompted lockdowns across the country. Anthony Fauci said the U.S.’s vaccine rollout is picking up speed after a slow start.

Japan’s prime minister is considering another state of emergency for the Tokyo area, with cases at records and a vaccine rollout more than a month away. Thailand imposed fresh curbs amid record infections. China’s foreign minister said outbreaks outside the country may have caused the pandemic, as scrutiny grows over the pathogen’s origins.

 <https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/> 

Tokyo’s Serious Cases Hit Record; Suga Mulls Emergency 
Serious Covid-19 cases in Tokyo rose to a record 108, surpassing a previous high of 105 in April during Japan’s initial wave of infections. The Japanese capital added 884 coronavirus cases on Monday, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called the situation “extremely severe.”

Suga told a news conference he is considering a state of emergency in Tokyo and surrounding areas. He urged people to avoid unnecessary outings and said a strengthened law on virus management would be submitted to parliament when it convenes this month.

Bulgaria Receives More Pfizer Vaccines 
Bulgaria received a second delivery of about 25,000 Pfizer vaccines, which will be distributed among medics. The Balkan country started vaccination along with other EU countries on Dec. 27 and has so far vaccinated about 4,700 medics. The vaccinaiton of teachers and people in nursery homes will start in about two weeks, Health Minister Kostadin Angelov said.

Bulgaria registered 171 positive cases Monday, the lowest result in two weeks, with 34 deaths, after entering a partial lockdown on Nov. 23 to try to contain one of the highest death rates in the EU. “We’ve managed to break the curve of contamination,” Angelov said.

AstraZeneca Files for Approval of Vaccine in Korea 
AstraZeneca’s Korean unit submitted an application for approval of its coronavirus vaccine in South Korea, according to an emailed statement from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

South Korea’s medicine regulator aims to complete a review of the vaccine within 40 days. Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun said earlier that the nation will start vaccinations as early as February. South Korea signed a deal to buy 20 million doses from AstraZeneca.

Metro Manila Mayors Tout Free Vaccines 
Several mayors in the Philippine capital region have vowed to provide free coronavirus vaccines to their constituents. Makati City, the nation’s main financial district, has allotted 1 billion pesos ($21 million) to purchase vaccines which will be made available to all its residents. The cities of Manila and Paranaque have announced vaccine budgets of 250 million pesos and 1 billion pesos, respectively.

Thailand Reports Record Cases as More Curbs Imposed 
Thailand reported 745 new coronavirus cases on Monday as a surge in infections prompted authorities to impose fresh curbs in some of the most-populous regions including capital Bangkok.

The latest tally, which included 729 local transmissions, took the nation’s total caseload to 8,439, according to the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration. More than 4,000 of those infections have been reported since the middle of December, when the new virus cluster was first detected among migrant workers, official data show.

HK May Delay Resumption of Classes: RTHK 
Hong Kong is leaning toward extending in-person class suspension at primary and secondary schools beyond Jan. 10, Radio Television Hong Kong reported, citing unidentified people. The report didn’t mention a time frame for a possible extension.

Vietnam to Buy 30 Million AstraZeneca Doses 
Vietnam signed a deal with AstraZeneca to acquire about 30 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, Deputy Health Minister Truong Quoc Cuong said during a government briefing webcast on the government’s Facebook page. Vietnam has also been negotiating to buy vaccines with companies from the U.S., Russia and China, Cuong said.

China Diplomat Ties Global Outbreaks to Pandemic Origin 
China’s foreign minister said outbreaks outside of the country may have caused the Covid-19 pandemic, as Beijing steps up efforts to recast the virus narrative amid growing scrutiny over the pathogen’s origins.

“More and more research suggests that the pandemic was likely to have been caused by separate outbreaks in multiple places in the world,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in comments published over the weekend from an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency and state broadcaster CCTV.

Thailand to Get Two Million Doses of Sinovac Shots 
Thailand will get its first lot of vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. next month, allowing the country in the middle of a resurgence of cases to begin inoculating people with the highest risks.

The Southeast Asian nation will receive the Chinese vaccine in three batches, with the first 200,000 doses arriving in February, 800,000 in March, and another 1 million in April, according to the Health Ministry. Thailand has also started local production of vaccines developed by AstraZeneca under a technology transfer agreement, which is expected to be ready for distribution in May, the ministry said.

Concern Grows Over Sydney Supermarket Cluster  
Australian authorities are concerned about a growing cluster of cases linked to a liquor store and supermarket in western Sydney, and are urging people with even the mildest of symptoms to come forward and get tested.

Two new local cases were detected overnight in the suburb of Berala, where potentially thousands of people who visited the stores in the past two weeks have been urged to isolate until they test negative. Mask-wearing across Sydney, a city of 5 million people, is now mandatory in most indoor venues, as authorities try to contain other clusters across the city.

The Sydney cases are a blow to Australia, which had largely contained community transmission, and have prompted other states and territories to restrict entry to Sydneysiders or residents from the New South Wales state.

South Korea’s Cases Rise Above 1,000 Again 
South Korea reported 1,020 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, rising above 1,000 again after infection levels eased over the previous two days. Over the weekend, South Korea extended its current social-distancing rules by two weeks as authorities continue to restrict private gatherings before nationwide vaccination is expected next month.

NYC Positive Test Rate Again Above 9% 
New York City’s rolling seven-day average of positive tests topped 9% for the third consecutive day, a level that compares with less than 2% in November. New hospitalizations increased to 213 and new cases rose to 3,885, based on a seven-day average, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted.

California Hospitalizations Add to Health-Care Burden  
California’s hospitalizations remained at one of the highest levels as an increase in infections following Christmas further strained the health-care system.

The state added 45,352 new cases, bringing the total to almost 2.4 million. An additional 181 new deaths were reported, with the total at 26,538. Intensive-care capacity stands at zero across Southern California as hospitals strain to add space to cater to an increased patient load.

The test positivity rate of 12.3% is also at one of its highest levels since the initial peak of the outbreak. Hospitalizations increased by 307 to 21,510. California has a stay-home order for most of the state.

New Strain to Expand Quickly in U.S., Gottlieb Says 
Incidence of the new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus will rise sharply in the U.S. over the next few months, said former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb.

“There are some estimates that the new variant probably represents about 1% of all infections in this country. By March, it’s going to be the majority of infections. It’s going to grow quickly,” Gottlieb said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The new variant has been found in at least three states after emerging in the U.K.

Moderna Vaccine Dose May Be Cut in Half  
Officials from Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s vaccine drive, are asking Moderna Inc. and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to cut in half the dose of the company’s Covid-19 vaccination for people ages 18 to 55 after finding that it induces the same immune response, Chief Scientific Adviser Moncef Slaoui.

That would double the amount of vaccine available for the age group, while providing the same level of protection, he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Fauci Says Vaccine Pace Picking Up After Slow Start 
The U.S. government’s top infectious-disease doctor said the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines is picking up speed and could be fully on track within a week or so. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that in the past 72 hours, about 1.5 million vaccine doses have been administered, or about 500,000 per day, a substantial pickup in pace.

Ontario reports 2,964 new coronavirus cases, 25 more deaths

Ontario reported 2,964 new cases of the novel coronavirus Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 190,962.

“Locally, there are 786 new cases in Toronto, 346 in Peel, 308 in York Region, 197 in Durham and 187 in Windsor-Essex County,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said.

A total of 162,701 COVID-19 cases are considered resolved, which is 85.2 per cent of all confirmed cases.

Twenty-five additional deaths were also announced, bringing the provincial death toll to 4,650.

Over 49,800 additional tests were completed. Ontario has now completed a total of 8,103,832 tests and 27,769 remain under investigation.

The province indicated that the positivity rate for the last day was 5.6 per cent, which is down from Saturday, when it was six per cent, and up from last Sunday, when it was 5.1 per cent.

Provincial figures showed there are 998 people hospitalized with the virus (down by five), with 329 in intensive care (up by seven), and 228 on a ventilator (up by eight).

However, the province noted that more than 10 per cent of hospitals did not submit their daily bed census for Sunday’s report — as is often the case on weekends — likely causing the reported number of hospitalizations to be lower than it actually is.

Here is a breakdown of Ontario’s cases by age and gender:

*         93,434 people are male

*         96,342 people are female

*         24,713 people are 19 and under

*         69,474 people are 20 to 39

*         55,118 people are 40 to 59

*         27,617 people are 60 to 79

*         13,991 people are 80 and over

The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.

The province also notes that the number of cases publicly reported each day may not align with case counts reported by the local public health unit on a given day. Local public health units report when they were first notified of a case, which can be updated and changed as information becomes available. Data may also be pulled at different times.

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 2,781 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario, which is an increase of 12. There are currently 207 outbreaks in long-term care homes.

There are 1,140 active cases among long-term care residents and 1,130 among staff.

As of 8 p.m. Saturday, 37,551 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario, marking an increase of 4,361 from the previous day.

 <https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/> 

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