Coronavirus - 5th and 6th December

Summary for Saturday, 5th and Sunday, 6th December

Here are the latest developments from The Guardian:

• Coronavirus infections across the US continue to rise as the country moves deeper into a holiday season. Swathes of California will be under stay-at-home orders by Sunday night to ease the strains on hospitals.
  
• The Australian state of Victoria has announced a significant easing of its Covid-19 restrictions, opening up the state in time for summer. Victoria, once the worst hit state in the country, has enjoyed 37 straight days free from Covid-19.
  
• Argentina has passed a one-time wealth tax in order to raise money to help pay for medical supplies and financial relief packages during the coronavirus pandemic. The “millionaire’s tax” targets people with assets worth more than 200m pesos (£1.8m).
  
• The British health secretary Matt Hancock said on Saturday that the coronavirus vaccine could bring the loosening of restrictions before the end of March.
  Britain reported 15,539 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday and 397 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test result, both falls on the previous day’s figures.
  
• In London, 2,000 football fans watched the first Premier League game to allow fans into a ground since March.
  
• Portugal will ease coronavirus rules over the Christmas period to allow people to visit friends and family but measures will be reinforced again a few days later to crack down on New Year’s Eve parties, the government said on Saturday.
  
• France recorded 12,923 new infections on Saturday, up from Friday’s 11,221 and bucking a general month-long downward trend.
  
• Iran’s total death toll from coronavirus surpassed 50,000. The worst-hit Middle Eastern country recorded 321 new deaths recorded on Saturday.
  
• Russia began vaccinating the Moscow’s exposed groups with the country’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab. It marked the country’s first large-scale immunisation against the disease, the city’s coronavirus taskforce said. Full safety and efficacy trials have not yet been completed.
  

Britain prepares to roll out vaccine

Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics, Reuters has reported.
The first doses are set to be administered on Tuesday, with the National Health Service (NHS) giving top priority to vaccinating the over-80s, frontline healthcare workers and care home staff and residents.
Britain gave emergency use approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week - jumping ahead in the global race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.
In total, Britain has ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million. About 800,000 doses are expected to be available within the first week.
Initial doses that have arrived from Belgium are being stored in secure locations across the country, where they will be quality checked, the health ministry said.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has onerous storage requirements. It needs to be kept at -70C (-94F) and only lasts five days in a regular fridge. For that reason, the health ministry said the vaccine would first be administered in 50 hospitals. It said it would take a few hours to defrost each vaccine and prepare it for use.

Stranded Australians are being reclassified to avoid embarrassing PM, Labor says

Paul Karp - The Guardian
In Australia, the opposition Labor party says Australians who are stranded overseas due to Covid and want to come home are being quietly reclassified in an attempt to avoid “bad headlines” over Scott Morrison’s failure to return them by Christmas.
Australia has struggled with the number of returning citizens and permanent residents since its national cabinet capped arrivals in July in response to the second coronavirus wave in Victoria and suspension of hotel quarantine in Melbourne.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has warned Australia’s travel cap may breach international law obligations regarding reunifying children with their families and allowing citizens to travel home.
Read more

Indonesia minister named suspect in million-dollar bribery case linked to Covid relief

Indonesia’s anti-graft agency on Sunday named social affairs minister Juliari Batubara as a suspect in a million-dollar bribery case linked to the procurement of goods to be distributed as Covid-19 social assistance packages.
Reuters news agency has reported that Juliari is the second Indonesian cabinet minister to be named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in recent few weeks. He and two other officials are suspected of accepting bribes in connection with the procurement of 5.9 trillion rupiah ($420 million) worth of goods. The other two suspects are private citizens.
Juliari was being questioned at KPK headquarters and will be taken into custody. The social affairs ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Some of the suspects were arrested in a sting operation in Jakarta on Saturday, where KPK found the cash, said KPK spokesman Ali Fikri. “The money was stored in seven suitcases, three backpacks, and in envelopes, amounting to around 14.5 billion rupiah,” or$1.03 million, he said. The online briefing displayed suitcases containing cash.
Last month, KPK named Maritime and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo as a suspect in a separate corruption case.

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• Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics. Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine manufactured in Belgium will be flown by military aircraft to avoid delays at ports caused by Brexit.
  
• The US has seen a record number of coronavirus cases for the third day running. Nearly 230,000 new infections and 2,527 Covid-related deaths were recorded on Saturday alone. Areas across California will be under stay-at-home orders by Sunday night to ease the pressure on hospitals.
  
• In South Korea, social distancing requirements were tightened in the capital Seoul on Sunday. Health authorities recorded 631 new cases as of midnight Saturday - the largest daily tally since a peak in February and early March.
  
• The Australian state of Victoria has announced a significant easing of its Covid-19 restrictions, opening up the state in time for summer. Victoria, once the worst hit state in the country, has enjoyed 37 straight days free from Covid-19.
  
• Portugal will ease coronavirus rules over the Christmas period to allow people to visit friends and family but measures will be reinforced again a few days later to crack down on New Year’s Eve parties, the government said on Saturday.
  
• In China, provincial governments are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work.
  
• Russia has begun vaccinating vulnerable groups with the country’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab. Full safety and efficacy trials have not yet been completed
  

Mexico reports 11,625 new coronavirus cases and 593 more have died

Mexico’s health ministry on Saturday reported 11,625 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and an additional 593 fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,168,395 cases and 109,456 deaths.
The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

Russia records most cases in a day

Russia has reported 29,039 new cases on Sunday – its worst daily total since the pandemic began – taking the cumulative national total to 2,460,770. Authorities confirmed 457 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the official national death toll to 43,141.

England tour in doubt after first ODI abandoned and 'unconfirmed' Covid positives

England’s tour of South Africa lurched back into crisis mode on Sunday after two unnamed members of Eoin Morgan’s touring party tested positive for Covid-19 following the abandonment of the first one-day international in Paarl.
The match had already been called off 30 minutes before the start of play as a result of two members of staff at the Vineyard hotel testing positive, news which led to the England team and staff being tested again on Saturday evening.
And now a tour that has already seen three South African players emerge has positive cases – and forced Friday’s initial series-opener to be called off – is in danger of being ended altogether following this latest development.
Read more

Here’s a summary of the latest developments:

• Russia reported 29,039 new cases – its worst daily total since the pandemic began – taking the cumulative national total to 2,460,770. Authorities confirmed 457 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the official national death toll to 43,141.
  
• Moscow has begun vaccinating vulnerable groups with the country’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab. Full safety and efficacy trials have not yet been completed.
  
• Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics. Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine manufactured in Belgium will be flown by military aircraft to avoid delays at ports caused by Brexit.
  
• The US has seen a record number of coronavirus cases for the third day running. Nearly 230,000 new infections and 2,527 Covid-related deaths were recorded on Saturday alone. Areas across California will be under stay-at-home orders by Sunday night to ease the pressure on hospitals.
  
• In South Korea, social distancing requirements were tightened in the capital Seoul on Sunday. Health authorities recorded 631 new cases as of midnight Saturday - the largest daily tally since a peak in February and early March.
  
• The Australian state of Victoria has announced a significant easing of its Covid-19 restrictions, opening up the state in time for summer. Victoria, once the worst hit state in the country, has enjoyed 37 straight days free from Covid-19.
  
• Portugal will ease coronavirus rules over the Christmas period to allow people to visit friends and family but measures will be reinforced again a few days later to crack down on New Year’s Eve parties, the government said on Saturday.
  
  
• In China, provincial governments are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work.
  

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At least six Covid-19 patients died after “criminal negligence” resulted in a delayed supply of oxygen to a hospital in north-west Pakistan, officials said Sunday, as the country battles a second wave of the epidemic.
AFP reported that more than 200 patients – including nearly 100 with coronavirus – were left for hours with limited supplies of oxygen at a government-run hospital in Peshawar.
“The sad incident happened due to lack of central oxygen supply in the hospital,” provincial health minister, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, told a press conference, confirming the deaths.
“We will hold an inquiry and get to the bottom of the incident,” he added, promising action against those responsible “for this criminal negligence”.
Hospital spokesman Farhad Khan told AFP a disruption in oxygen supplies affected some 200 people, “including 96 Covid-19 patients”.
He blamed a private supplier, saying the Rawalpindi-based company had “failed to meet the growing demand”.
Pakistan has reported more than 400,000 cases of coronavirus – including over 8,000 deaths - since the virus arrived in late February.

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Bavaria, which has so far recorded the country’s highest death toll, has announced it will impose a tougher lockdown from Wednesday until 5 January.
People in the southern German state will only be able to leave their homes with good reason, its premier Markus Söder said, adding that there would be some relaxation in the rules for Christmas, but none for New Year celebrations.
While Germany brought its epidemic under control in March and April, it is now dealing with a more deadly second wave and imposed a “lockdown light” at the start of November, closing restaurants and bars and limiting public gatherings.
While daily infections are no longer rising as sharply as before, case numbers have stagnated at a high level, and Germany reported its highest single-day death toll on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the number of confirmed cases rose by 17,767 to 1,171,323, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed, while the reported death toll rose by 255 to 18,772, including 4,289 deaths in Bavaria.
On Wednesday, the chancellor Angel Merkel and state leaders agreed to extend national restrictive measures, which include limiting private gatherings to five people from two households, until 10 January.

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Indonesia has received its first shipment of vaccine from China, its president Joko Widodo has said, as the government prepares a mass inoculation programme.
Jokowi, as the president is widely known, said in an online briefing that the Southeast Asian country received 1.2m doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd, a vaccine Indonesia has been testing since August.
He added that the government plans to receive another 1.8m doses in early January.
Late-stage trials of the Sinovac vaccine are also under way in Brazil and Turkey, with interim results on efficiency from Brazil expected by mid-December.
Indonesia is also expected this month to receive shipments of raw materials to produce 15m doses and materials for 30m doses next month, the president said.
The vaccine still needs to be evaluated by the country’s food and drug agency (BPOM) while his administration continues to prepare for distributing the vaccine across the vast archipelago of 270m people, Jokowi said.

We have been preparing for months through simulations in several provinces and I am sure that once it is decided that we can begin the vaccination, everything will be ready.

Indonesia’s daily number of infections have accelerated in recent weeks, with total confirmed cases reaching 575,796 on Sunday with 17,740 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia.

Italy's death toll passes 60,000

Italy has reported 18,887 new coronavirus cases, compared to 20,646 last Sunday. A total of 1.728 million cases have been registered to date.
A further 564 coronavirus-related deaths were also registered, taking the country’s toll to 60,078 – the sixth highest globally.

UK reports 17,272 infections, 231 deaths

There have been a further 17,272 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data . This compares to 12,155 cases registered last Sunday.
A total of 1,723,242 people have tested positive.
A further 231 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were also reported, bringing the total to 61,245. There were 215 last Sunday.
Sunday figures are often lower because of reporting delays over the weekend.

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Turkey recorded 30,402 new coronavirus cases, including asymptomatic ones, over the past 24 hours, the health ministry has announced.
Turkey started reporting all cases on 25 November, after four months of only reporting daily symptomatic cases. Historical data for all positive cases and the cumulative total are still not available.
The Covid-19 death toll rose by 195 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 14,900, the ministry data also showed.
The country was in lockdown over the weekend to fight a recent spike in daily deaths, which hit a record of 196 on Saturday, and new infections. On Friday, Turkey had 32,736 new infections – the highest number the country has reported.

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The South African government has urged school students who attended a series of end-of-year “Rage” parties to quarantine for 10 days after identifying four such parties as coronavirus “super-spreader events”.
South Africa is experiencing a resurgence of infections in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announcing new restrictions in the Eastern Cape but stopping short of a wider crackdown.
The parties are popular with thousands of school leavers every year and can last several days.
“We confirm that we have now identified a number of Covid-19 confirmed cases arising from these super-spreader events,” Zweli Mkhize, the health minister, said. “We now urge all the Rage attendees to immediately go into a 10-days quarantine... We also urge that Rage attendees test for COVID-19.”
South Africa has recorded more than 800,000 coronavirus infections and more than 21,000 deaths related to Covid-19, the most in Africa.

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Individual US states scrambled on Sunday to impose lockdowns to stem coronavirus spikes amid a lack of national leadership as cases, deaths and hospitalisations hit record levels across the country.
Dr Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, expressed frustration on Sunday over the mixed messages coming from the Trump administration that are reflected in some Americans’ perception about masks, social distancing and super-spreader events.
“Right now, across the Sun Belt, we have governors and mayors who have cases equivalent to what they had in the summertime yet aren’t putting in the same policies and mitigations that they put in the summer, that they know changed the course of this pandemic across the South,” she told NBC.
“So it is frustrating because not only do we know what works, governors and mayors used those tools to stem the tide in the spring and the summer,” Birx said.
Only about half of the 50 US states have enacted new restrictions during the resurgence of the last month. Fourteen states do not mandate masks.

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Pfizer Inc has applied for emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine in India, a top government health adviser has said, the first company to do so in the country with the world’s second-highest number of infections.
The US firm, whose vaccine was recently approved in the UK, approached Indian authorities on Saturday, V.K. Paul, who is advising the government on Covid-19 matters, said.
India’s drugs regulator usually takes up to 90 days to reach a decision but an verdict may be reacher much faster than that in this case, Paul said.