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The US has seen more than 250,000 deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic as a new swathe of data was released that pushed the stricken country over the grim landmark on Wednesday.
Latest figures from Johns Hopkins University showed that the number of people killed by Covid-19 is now 250,029.
The news comes amid record infections across the US with the Trump administration repeatedly failing to get a grip on the Covid-19 crisis. Most recently Trump has refused to concede he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden who this week said “more people may die” if he continues to hamper his transition.
A grim dispatch by Associated Press from a hospital in Tennessee where staff are struggling to cope:
Overwhelmed hospitals are converting chapels, cafeterias, waiting rooms, hallways, even a parking garage into patient treatment areas.
Staff members are desperately calling around to other medical centers in search of open beds. Fatigue and frustration are setting in among front-line workers.
Conditions inside the nation’s hospitals are deteriorating by the day as the coronavirus rages across the U.S. at an unrelenting pace and the death toll closes in on a quarter-million.
“We are depressed, disheartened and tired to the bone,” said Alison Johnson, director of critical care at Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee, adding that she drives to and from work some days in tears.
The number of people in the hospital with Covid-19 in the U.S. has doubled in the past month and set new records every day this week. As of Tuesday, nearly 77,000 were hospitalized with the virus.
Updated
The front page of Thursday’s Guardian in the UK covers the possibility of relaxed lockdown rules over the Christmas period.
GUARDIAN: PM finds £16.5bn for defence as foreign aid budget faces huge cut #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Ng6Y1SXI8s
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) November 18, 2020
As tense South Australians swirled around Unley Shopping Centre on Wednesday afternoon trying to figure out what to buy for their first full lockdown – “screw essentials, I need ice-cream!” – council worker Anne Ross was standing in the long queue for the supermarket, calmly preparing for her third time around.
Ross had secured an exemption to enter SA from her home state of Victoria several weeks earlier, escorted by police to Adelaide, so she could grieve with relatives after her mother died.
Little did she anticipate how the tables would turn. “Now I’m stuck here,” she tells Guardian Australia with a laugh.
Uruguay is starting to see a worrying rise in cases, sparking concern among government officials that the country could reverse course after a long period of containing the pandemic.
The South American nation has confirmed just 4,208 positive cases and 68 deaths since the pandemic began, with voluntary quarantines, widespread tracing programs and random testing helping keep infection rates far lower than its South American neighbors.
However, cases have jumped in the last month, crossing 100 daily cases for the first time.
Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou has now opted for a government campaign to promote “responsible freedom,” with officials targeting young people ahead of the tourist season, calling on them to limit social gatherings and not share drinks.
“The health authorities make a special request to the population to reduce the circles of social contact and meeting times, the permanent use of face masks, physical distancing, ventilation and hygiene,” Uruguay’s national emergency system said.
Officials in the capital, Montevideo, where there are currently 449 active cases, are considering suspending celebrations for carnival, the country’s major festival set to begin in January.
Health Ministry officials have asked laboratories to increase their analysis capacity for coronavirus testing, potentially doubling the current rate of about 4,000 test per day if cases continue to rise.
Brazil records further 756 deaths
Brazil recorded 34,091 further confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 756 deaths, the country’s health ministry said.
Brazil has registered more than 5.9 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 167,455, according to ministry data.
Canada is in talks with other governments about a plan to donate coronavirus vaccine shots to lower-income countries, sources told Reuters.
Canada has made deals to buy more doses per capita than any other nation, according to researchers at the Duke Global Health Innovation Center in North Carolina.
It is among a handful of wealthy nations that reserved billions of doses between them before late-stage trial data came in, ensuring they would get access even if only one or two vaccines worked.
Canada could donate extra doses through the World Health Organization-backed COVAX facility, which would distribute them among recipient countries, said a Canadian government source.
Separately, a COVAX source confirmed discussions were going on between Canada and other governments and organizations involved with COVAX, a facility created to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Sources declined to be identified as the discussions are confidential.
Asked about the issue in a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday, Deputy Procurement Minister Bill Matthews said Canada “would have options” if all seven suppliers had their vaccines approved but that it was “too early” for a plan.
A summary of today's developments
- France has reported 28,383 new confirmed coronavirus cases, compared to 45,522 on Tuesday. The country has also reported a further 425 deaths compared to 428 yesterday.
- US coronavirus death toll nears 250,000. According to Johns Hopkins University, 248,707 Americans have now died of the virus, and the country is expected to soon surpass more than 250,000 deaths. President-elect Joe Biden will virtually speak with frontline health care workers today, as the US coronavirus death toll continues to climb.
- Italy registers 753 deaths and 34,282 new infections. The critical threshold of Covid patients taking up 30% of intensive care has been exceeded in 17 Italian regions, according to figures on Wednesday. The central region of Abruzzo is the latest to be upgraded to a red zone as the situation deteriorates there, while doctors in the southern region of Puglia have asked for the region to also be upgraded. While Italy has almost doubled the availability of intensive care beds to 9,931 and increased the number of ventilators, just 625 more anaesthetists and resuscitators have been hired since the beginning of the pandemic.
- Scottish police submit assessment on Margaret Ferrier MP. Scottish police have handed the results of an initial investigation to prosecutors into whether MP Margaret Ferrier broke the law when she took a train from London to Glasgow after testing positive.
- Switzerland: intensive care beds at full capacity. In a press statement on Tuesday, the Swiss Society for Intensive Medicine said all of the 876 certified ICU beds in Switzerland were occupied, advising vulnerable people to write down in a will whether they would like to receive life support in the event of a severe illness.
- Pfizer vaccine reports 95% efficacy. Pfizer had reported that its coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy of 95% effective and that it has passed its safety checks, according to further data from the firm.
Seven out of 10 pubs and restaurants in the UK fear they will become financially unviable and forced to close next year as a result of damaging Covid-19 restrictions, a poll has revealed.
The main trade bodies representing the beleaguered sector – the British Beer and Pub Association, the British Institute of Innkeeping and UKHospitality – said the new findings revealed that 72% of members expected to operate at a loss and to be unable to survive because of the collapse in trade.
Air France-KLM is among the airlines gearing up for the challenge of transporting millions of doses of temperature-sensitive Covid-19 vaccines in the midst of a travel slump.
Breakthrough vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna have yet to win final approval, but the drugmakers, their logistics and cargo providers are not waiting for a green light to activate freight plans.
“It’s going to be a major logistics challenge,” said Air France cargo chief Christophe Boucher, citing the “massive” volume of vaccines to be distributed globally.
“Another difficulty is the temperature control,” Boucher said in an interview at ParisCharles de Gaulle airport - where cargo specialists were preparing to load consignments of super-cooled rabies vaccines bound for Brazil.
The Covid-19 airlift is being planned amid a partial shutdown of global air travel. Airlines have warned that travel curbs could hamper the effort, since around 45% of global cargo typically travels in passenger plane holds.
Meanwhile, Pfizer Inc said it had offered to provide Brazil with millions of doses of the vaccine in the first half of 2021, amid evidence the coronavirus is spreading more rapidly in South America’s largest country.
The WHO’s emergencies director has warned that vaccines would not arrive in time to defeat the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pfizer said a completed study of its experimental vaccine showed it was 95 per cent effective, while fellow US firm Moderna said this week that its own candidate was 94.5 percent effective. Russia claims its candidate is more than 90 percent effective.
The WHO’s Michael Ryan said vaccines should not be seen as a “unicorn” magic solution - and countries battling a resurgence of the virus would once again have to “climb this mountain” without them.
“I think it’s at least four to six months before we have significant levels of vaccination going on anywhere,” he said.
Despite recent promising announcements from final-phase candidate vaccine trials, “We’re not there with vaccines yet,” said Ryan.
“Many countries are going through this wave, and they’re going to go through this wave, and continue through this wave, without vaccines.
“We need to understand and internalise that, and realise: we have got to climb this mountain this time, without vaccines.”
The vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc could be ready for US authorisation and distribution within weeks, setting the stage for inoculation to begin as soon as this year, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
“We now have two safe and highly effective vaccines that could be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration and ready to distribute within weeks,” Azar said.
Updated
The World Health Organization has given its reaction to the latest developments regarding a potential vaccine.
Safe & effective vaccines are a powerful tool in fight against #COVID19 virus.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) November 18, 2020
WHO welcomes announcement on the efficacy results of @pfizer @BioNTech_Group vaccine candidate - especially on its effectiveness in elderly, a group at high risk of falling ill or dying of the disease
New York City is closing schools to try to stop the renewed spread of coronavirus, mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The nation’s largest public school system will halt in-person learning on Thursday, the mayor said.
The city’s authorities had previously said school buildings would close if 3% of all the coronavirus tests performed citywide over a seven-day period came back positive.
Updated
France reports a further 425 coronavirus deaths
France has reported 28,383 new confirmed coronavirus cases, compared to 45,522 on Tuesday. It is also below the nearly 36,000 cases last Wednesday as pressure on the hospital system continued to ease.
The country has also reported a further 425 deaths compared to 428 yesterday.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has tweeted the latest number of coronavirus cases and fatalities in the city.
Today's update on the numbers:
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) November 18, 2020
Of the 154,434 tests reported yesterday, 5,294 were positive (3.43% of total).
Total hospitalizations are at 2,202.
Sadly, there were 35 COVID fatalities yesterday. pic.twitter.com/NKuQzcFMC7
Each day of greater freedom around Christmas could require an extra five days of coronavirus restrictions in the UK, scientists have said.
It has been reported households could be allowed to mix indoors for a five-day period starting on Christmas Eve - meaning a potential 25-day period of tighter measures into January if such advice was implemented.
The public will need to make “every effort” to keep coronavirus cases low in December in order to gather during the festive season, a Public Health England (PHE) director said.
Dr Susan Hopkins, a senior medical adviser to the government’s Covid-19 response, suggested tougher restrictions could be needed either side of Christmas if curbs are to be eased for a time.
She said: “We are very keen that we have a Christmas as close to normal as possible.
“That requires all of us to make every effort over this national restriction period and even in early December to get the cases as low as possible and to reduce the risk of transmission within households and between families.
“A final decision will rest with the Government and we look forward to hearing what those plans are.”
Updated
Summary
- US coronavirus death toll nears 250,000. According to Johns Hopkins University, 248,707 Americans have now died of the virus, and the country is expected to soon surpass more than 250,000 deaths.President-elect Joe Biden will virtually speak with frontline health care workers today, as the US coronavirus death toll continues to climb.
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Italy registers 753 deaths and 34,282 new infections. The critical threshold of Covid patients taking up 30% of intensive care has been exceeded in 17 Italian regions, according to figures on Wednesday. The central region of Abruzzo is the latest to be upgraded to a red zone as the situation deteriorates there, while doctors in the southern region of Puglia have asked for the region to also be upgraded. While Italy has almost doubled the availability of intensive care beds to 9,931 and increased the number of ventilators, just 625 more anaesthetists and resuscitators have been hired since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Scottish police submit assessment on Margaret Ferrier MP. Scottish police have handed the results of an initial investigation to prosecutors into whether MP Margaret Ferrier broke the law when she took a train from London to Glasgow after testing positive.
- Switzerland: intensive care beds at full capacity. In a press statement on Tuesday, the Swiss Society for Intensive Medicine said all of the 876 certified ICU beds in Switzerland were occupied, advising vulnerable people to write down in a will whether they would like to receive life support in the event of a severe illness.
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Pfizer vaccine reports 95% efficacy. Pfizer had reported that its coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy of 95% effective and that it has passed its safety checks, according to further data from the firm.
A further 529 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 in the UK as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 53,274.
Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has warned scientists to treat “long Covid” with a “degree of humility” until it is fully understood, PA reports.
Speaking remotely at global healthcare summit Wish 2020, Dr Fauci said:
Even on people without symptoms who have recovered virologically, you do MRIs on them on their hearts, you see there’s a degree of inflammation that might even be asymptomatic.
But you’ve got to ask yourself, an asymptomatic inflammatory process now, six months or a year from now, does that lead to arrhythmias, to cardio myopathies? We don’t know that.
That’s why I think we need to take this disease with a degree of humility that we don’t know everything about it yet, that’s why we’ve got to be really committed to preventing infection and the spread of disease
US coronavirus death toll nears 250,000
According to Johns Hopkins University, 248,707 Americans have now died of the virus, and the country is expected to soon surpass more than 250,000 deaths.
President-elect Joe Biden will virtually speak with frontline health care workers today, as the US coronavirus death toll continues to climb.
Follow the US liveblog for more information
Updated
Greece plans to set up more than 1,000 vaccination centres as it awaits a successful vaccine against COVID-19, its health minister said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports:
Greece has seen an aggressive spike in novel coronavirus cases since early October that forced it to impose a nationwide lockdown, the second since the pandemic broke out.
“Just a little bit more patience, let’s hang on together, united,” health minister Vassilis Kikilias said as he detailed the country’s immunisation programme.
Greece will get vaccine doses under an EU plan. The country expects the first deliveries in early 2021, the government has said.
Britain’s medicines regulator was encouraged by the final late-stage trial results from Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate, but said it would need to see the full data before making an assessment of the shot, Reuters reports
Pfizer Inc will seek emergency US approval for its Covid-19 vaccine within days.
June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said in a statement:
The results reported by Pfizer today are very encouraging and add to their announcement from last week,
We look forward to receiving the full results of the trials as soon as possible, after which we will rigorously assess the evidence of safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
Raine did not give a precise timeframe for UK regulatory approval.
Uruguay, a relative coronavirus-free zone in hard-hit Latin America, is starting to see a worrying rise in cases, sparking concern among government officials that the country could reverse course after a long period of containing the pandemic.
Reuters reports:
The South American nation of 3.5 million people has confirmed just 4,208 positive cases and 68 deaths since the pandemic began, with voluntary quarantines, widespread tracing programs and random testing helping keep infection rates far lower than its South American neighbours.
However, cases have jumped in the last month, crossing 100 daily cases for the first time on Tuesday, putting at risk the country’s reputation as the “New Zealand” of the region. That’s still magnitudes lower than neighbours like Argentina or Brazil.
Italy registers 753 deaths and 34,282 new infections
Italy registered another 753 Covid fatalities on Wednesday, up from 731 on Tuesday, and 34,282 more infections.
The critical threshold of Covid patients taking up 30% of intensive care has been exceeded in 17 Italian regions, according to figures on Wednesday.
The central region of Abruzzo is the latest to be upgraded to a red zone as the situation deteriorates there, while doctors in the southern region of Puglia have asked for the region to also be upgraded.
Italy ranks third in the world for lethality of the virus, with four deaths per 100 infections, according to a study by John Hopkins University in the US.
Updated
A series of trials against Italy’s most powerful mafia, the Calabria-based ‘Ndrangheta, are under threat due to the Court’s inability to set up video conferences with jailed mafiosi who tested positive for Covid-19, said prosecutors in Turin.
Magistrates warned that, due to the lack of videolinks, hearings have suffered long delays which are threatening to allow convicts, who are Covid positive but asymptomatic, out of jail as their preventive custody terms are about to expire.
An ongoing trial against the ‘Ndrangheta in Asti has already been derailed.
‘’The problems are serious’’, chief prosecutor Anna Maria Loreto told the news agency ANSA Turin, as she called for new norms on preventive detention of mobsters.
At one time derided by the Sicilian and Campanian mafias, today the ’Ndrangheta is by far the most powerful criminal group in Italy and one of the richest in the world.
A study by the Demoskopita Research Institute in 2013 estimated that it was more financially powerful than Deutsche Bank and McDonald’s combined, with an annual turnover of €53bn (£44bn).
The authorities in France are unlikely to lift a partial coronavirus lockdown any time soon, AFP reports citing a government spokesman.
President Emmanuel Macron and top ministers discussed the crisis, including whether to ease some restrictions from 1 December “if conditions allow it,” spokesman Gabriel Attal said.
But Attal insisted: “We’re not at all near ending the lockdown, we’re still far from it even.”
Declines in daily new Covid-19 cases since a second nationwide lockdown began on 30 October have sparked a chorus of calls from business associations to let stores open as soon as 27 November for the “Black Friday” sales that kick off the holiday shopping season.
If not, they fear losing out to internet giants such as Amazon, expected to target stuck-at-home shoppers.
“Our fear is simple: The loss of many of our businesses, both small and large, and with them hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country,” dozens of business leaders wrote to Prime Minister Jean Castex this week.
The French mayors’ association AMF also called Wednesday for a gradual reopening of stores soon, “to avoid a rush of clients ahead of Christmas, when allowing them to resume operations will be inevitable.”
But Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called on retailers - including e-commerce firms - to postpone the Black Friday bargain extravaganza.
Macron himself is again expected to address the nation on the virus crisis next week, in particular on prospects for travel and family gatherings for the fast-approaching holiday break.
But officials are wary of taking a “stop and go” approach to fighting the outbreak even if the pandemic slows, since hospitals remain packed with Covid-19 patients.
Health authorities reported Tuesday 437 coronavirus deaths in the preceding 24 hours, and a total of 4,854 patients in intensive care.
This meant nearly 96 percent of intensive care beds available before the crisis erupted are now full - though the government has scrambled to make new ones available.
The number of daily new infections on Tuesday stood at 12,587, far below the 50,000 to 60,000 when Macron announced the new partial lockdown last month.
But Macron said the number of daily cases must fall below 5,000 before the government could start significantly easing the latest restrictions.
Scottish police submit assessment on Margaret Ferrier MP
Scottish police have handed the results of an initial investigation to prosecutors into whether MP Margaret Ferrier broke the law when she took a train from London to Glasgow after testing positive.
“We have submitted an initial assessment of the circumstances to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and are carrying out further enquiries under their direction,” Police Scotland said in a tweet.
Margaret Ferrier update: We have submitted an initial assessment of the circumstances to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and are carrying out further enquiries under their direction. pic.twitter.com/rpHPU0XywL
— Police Scotland (@policescotland) November 18, 2020
Ferrier learned that her test was positive at the end of September after she had spoken in Parliament. She has apologised for then taking the train more than 400 miles back to Scotland, a move for which her Scottish National Party (SNP) suspended her.
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, led calls for Ferrier to resign as an MP. She has refused to do so.
Italy's shortage of intensive care staff exposed
Italian hospitals are struggling with a shortage of intensive care specialists as the country battles a severe coronavirus second wave, while some citizens are also turning against health workers.
Covid-related deaths surged by 731 on Tuesday – the highest daily toll since early April, when Italy was in complete lockdown – as weaknesses in the healthcare system across the country become more exposed.
Italy has the third highest Covid death rate in the world, with four deaths per 100 infections, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University in the US. Tuesday’s count equated to one death every two minutes.
Admissions to intensive care units have almost doubled to 3,612 since 1 November and the current number of people in hospital with coronavirus – 33,074 – has eclipsed numbers reached during the first wave.
But while Italy has almost doubled the availability of intensive care beds to 9,931 and increased the number of ventilators, just 625 more anaesthetists and resuscitators have been hired since the beginning of the pandemic.
Read the full report here:
The WHO has launched a slightly creepy augmented reality “PPE buddy” to help health workers with protective equipment.
A 20-minute video demonstrates the proper techniques and order for putting on and removing PPE.
Here’s my #WHOAcademy #AugmentedReality #PPE instructor in my kitchen.
— Dr Tana Wuliji (@TanaWuliji) November 13, 2020
He’s an awesome learning buddy but unfortunately he doesn’t offer dish washing support. 😂 pic.twitter.com/8jaIWXccj7
Portugal has set up a taskforce to come up with vaccination strategy and hopes to start distributing shots as early as January, Reuters reports citing the health minister Marta Temido.
Temido said experts were working to decide which groups should get the vaccine first as well as distribution logistics from transport to storage.
“There’s a possibility one of the first vaccines will arrive in January,” Temido told reporters. “What we want is for the country to be prepared to ensure storage, distribution and safe use.”
Without elaborating, Temido said vaccines that could arrive in January were part of one of several agreements made between the European Commission and pharmaceutical companies.
Portugal has recorded a comparatively low 246,015 coronavirus cases and 3,623 deaths but, like most European countries, infections have been rising and are putting the health system under pressure.
A new record of 3,051 Covid patients were in hospital on Wednesday, with 432 in intensive care units - more than the first wave peak of 271 in April.
(This is Matthew Weaver taking over from Aamna while she takes a break).
Pfizer Inc on Tuesday updated its analysis of the safety profile of its Covid-19 vaccine seen during its large, late-stage trial, saying that 3.8% of participants experienced fatigue after receiving a second dose of the shot.
Reuters reports:
It said the updated analysis was based on 8,000 trial participants. Pfizer said in a previous analysis that 3.7% of 6,000 volunteers had experienced fatigue.
Pfizer also added that there was a second adverse event with a frequency of at least 2% in the trial. The US drugmaker said 2% of participants experienced headaches after the second shot.
Updated
Sweden has registered 96 new deaths among people diagnosed with Covid-19 on Wednesday, the highest for at least three months, Health Agency statistics showed, Reuters reports.
Sweden has recorded a total of 6,321 deaths, several times higher per capita than that of its Nordic neighbours but lower than some larger European countries such as Spain and the UK.
The German government will make every effort to ensure that retailers can keep their shops open in the course of the second wave of the pandemic, German economy minister Peter Altmaier said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
In a video statement at a retail congress, Altmaier said he hoped for catch-up effects for the current partial lockdown in December.
Updated
The European commission recommended on Wednesday the use of rapid Covid-19 antigen tests mostly on people already showing symptoms because it said the kits were deemed less accurate in detecting the virus in asymptomatic cases.
Reuters reports:
Rapid antigen kits are less precise than standard PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, but can offer results in a few minutes, as opposed to days, in what could prove a crucial tool in fighting large outbreaks.
“Rapid antigen tests should be used within five days after the onset of symptoms or within seven days after exposure to a confirmed Covid-19 case,” the EU executive said in a non-binding recommendation to the 27 EU governments.
It also urged states to mutually recognise rapid tests and share their testing strategies “with the aim of aligning them as much as possible”.
EU governments have differing rules for antigen tests and many are reluctant to adopt common standards, according to an internal EU document seen by Reuters.
Updated
Switzerland: intensive care beds at full capacity
Doctors in Switzerland say intensive care beds are at full capacity as the Alpine country continues to resist a second lockdown.
In a press statement on Tuesday, the Swiss Society for Intensive Medicine said all of the 876 certified ICU beds in Switzerland were occupied, advising vulnerable people to write down in a will whether they would like to receive life support in the event of a severe illness.
Andreas Stettbacher, surgeon general of the Swiss armed forces, said there were a further 240 non-certified beds that could offer intensive care for patients in need of specialised, complex care.
Of 22,211 available acute care beds, Stettbacher said, 16,889 were occupied.
While the wealthy Alpine country emerged almost unscathed from the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, per capita infections this month have been roughly double the average of the European Union.
While neighbouring Austria this week chose to head into a second hard lockdown with daytime curfews and school closures, Switzerland has so far resisted to reimpose restrictions it was quicker to lift than other European countries.
A recent article in Foreign Policy journal accuses politicians in the country of indulging the “widely held perception of Switzerland as a ‘special case’ – a unique country divorced from the world’s woes”.
Former Swiss president Ueli Maurer has asked citizens to be responsible and stick to lockdown rules, saying “Switzerland cannot afford a second lockdown”.
Updated
Pfizer vaccine reports 95% efficacy
Pfizer had reported that its coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy of 95% effective and that it has passed its safety checks, according to further data from the firm.
PA Media reports:
The pharmaceutical giant and its partner BioNTech published interim results last week showing the jab could prevent more than 90% of people developing Covid-19.
That data was based on the first 94 volunteers to develop Covid-19, but further figures released on Wednesday are based on the first 170 cases of the virus in the clinical trial.
The vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.
Another jab, from US firm Moderna, was reported to have an efficacy of 94.5%.
We are still waiting for the results of the Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine study
Updated
Just in case you missed it, the Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine announced yesterday that its 876 adult intensive care beds are practically filled.
Science reporter Kai Kupferschmidt tweeted:
The announcement spells out that it had only been possible to avoid an overload until now by increasing the number of beds, postponing elective surgeries and transferring patients to other cantons. https://t.co/VSebNZIluX
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) November 17, 2020
Berlin police on Wednesday lunchtime revoked permission for a large protest against new coronavirus restrictions due to demonstrators refusing to wear masks, using water cannon to disperse crowds outside the Brandenburg Gate.
An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people had gathered in central Berlin, where the German parliament is due to vote on a new law designed to help enforce coronavirus restrictions and curb the spread of the pandemic.
Demonstrators banged pans, blew whistles and wore goggles rather than face masks as they walked down the Straße des 17 Juni boulevard leading up to the Brandenburg Gate.
Protests directly outside the Reichstag building that houses Germany’s parliament were banned. Berlin police are fearful of a repeat of scenes from August, when protesters had stormed the steps of the Reichstag building.
Delegates of the far-right part Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) also took part in Wednesday’s protests. One MP, Hansjörg Müller, likened the new law to the Nazis’ 1933 Enabling Act, the cornerstone of Adolf Hitler’s seizure of power.
Neonazi groups were also present among the protests, where people waved placards likening the treatment of anti-maskers to that of German Jews during the Third Reich.
The upper and lower houses of the Bundestag will vote at noon on a revision of the Infektionsschutzgesetz or “infection protection law”, which hands the health ministry special powers to impose hygiene and social distancing rules if parliament agrees that the country is facing a serious epidemic.
Contrary to claims made by some protesters, today’s revision of the law is designed to hand back more control to parliament: it forces state parliaments to publicly justify restrictions and time-limit most of them for up to four weeks.
Opposition parties that include not just the AfD but also leftwing Die Linke and the pro-business FDP want the revised law to involve parliament even further and may vote against it in parliament today.
Updated
England’s deputy chief scientific adviser Dame Angela McLean said that the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the community had risen steeply in September and October but had slowed down, PA reports:
She told a Downing Street briefing:
What you see is even before national restrictions were brought in, in the parts of the country where the amount of infections was already very high the progress of the epidemic had already flattened off, that’s the north west and Yorkshire and Humber.
Those also happen to include the parts of the country that were under tier 3 restrictions so that’s good news that some parts of the country have already flattened off.
Sweden’s high schools will be able to conduct more distance learning from next week to help control the pandemic, the government said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports:
Sweden has taken a mainly voluntary approach in ensuring social distancing during the pandemic and has kept most schools open, though high schools and universities switched to on-line classes during the spring.
But new cases of COVID-19 infection have hit record levels in recent days and the government has introduced tighter rules on public gatherings and doubled down on calls for citizens to avoid social contact.
The government said it would give high schools more flexibility in determining the extent to which they could switch to distance learning to further social distancing.
Anna Ekstrom, the education minister, told reporters:
The change means that high schools can switch, partly, to online and distance learning if it is necessary to avoid overcrowding on school premises.
We know from the spring that many students struggled with motivation while they were learning online or at a distance, and we know that it was particularly tough for students who need school most - those with special needs, who are at risk, or live in poverty.
France prepares for mass vaccination programme from January
France is preparing for a massive nationwide anti-Covid-19 vaccination programme as early as next year. The government says it is “in the starting blocks” to begin distributing any tested and available vaccine from January 2021 and has budgeted €1.5bn to buy the first available on the market.
For the moment, no vaccine has been approved but several are said to be nearing the end of testing. The French government says the vaccination campaign will be coordinated at European Union level and could begin in the most “optimist” scenario in the first quarter of next year.
“We’re preparing a campaign to be ready the moment a vaccine is approved by the European and national health authorities,” Gabriel Attal from the health ministry has said.
Jérôme Salomon, head of the French public health authority Santé Publique France, said the virus was making people psychologically as well as physically ill.
“The good news is the virus is slowing...but this epidemic is making people stressed and anxious,” Salomon said.
More than two weeks after a second national lockdown was introduced, Salomon claimed the number of people suffering from depression between the end of September and the beginning of November had doubled and was affecting all the population but particularly those in a “difficult financial situation, the vulnerable, the inactive and the young.
“We can all feel stressed, anxious or depressed,” he said advising people to keep a careful eye on family and friends for signs of depression. He also advised those feeling stressed or anxious should avoid continuously following news reports and to limit their consumption of tobacco and alcohol.
France topped two million confirmed cases of Covid-19, Salomon announced at a press conference on Tuesday, making it the fourth worst for infections in the world behind the United States, India and Brazil. He said there was an “unprecedented” number of hospital admissions of around 33,500. There were 437 hospital deaths in the previous 24 hours and 45,422 new confirmed contaminations, according to official figures.
France’s lockdown is set to end on 1 December, but the government has warned that the easing of restrictions will be progressive and it may be extended. Ministers have already stated that shops and businesses are likely to be allowed to open on 1 December but that bars and restaurants will remain closed until at least the start of the Christmas holidays and possibly later.
A special Defence Council meeting took place Wednesday morning to discuss what shops and business should be allowed to open and when. Among the measures being considered are a return of the nightly curfew and whether to allow special authorisations for people to travel to see relatives at Christmas.
Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce how the lockdown will be progressively lifted in a nationwide address next week.
“Restrictions will continue after the end of lockdown,” Jean Castex said adding that lockdown easing would happen in stages.
Updated
Hello, I’m Aamna Mohdin and I’ll be taking over the blog for the rest of the day. If you want to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) or message me on Twitter (@aamnamohdin)
That’s it from me for today, I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my colleague Aamna Mohdin.
Thousands gather for protest in Berlin
In Germany several thousand people have gathered in the capital Berlin to protest against Angela Merkel’s plans to give her government more powers to enforce restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Am Brandenburger Tor fordert die Polizei die Demonstranten gerade auf, sich in Richtung Siegessäule zu entfernen. #b1811 pic.twitter.com/BomdBOn3PN
— Felix Huesmann (@felixhuesmann) November 18, 2020
Banging saucepans and blowing whistles gathered in central Berlin protestors were not wearing masks or socially distancing.
One protestor wore a face mask with the words “Merkel-Muzzle”, while others held banners with slogans such as “For Enlightenment. Peace and Freedom”.
Berlin police have warned anti-lockdown demonstrators they’ll end today’s protest unless people stick to the mask-wearing and distancing rules.
Berlin police have warned anti-lockdown demonstrators they'll end today's protest unless people stick to the mask-wearing and distancing rules.
— DW Politics (@dw_politics) November 18, 2020
Over 30 charges have already been brought against protestors for refusing to wear a mask or providing a fake exemption certificate. https://t.co/ouMeuVOHIO
Insurers in Australia have lost a test case on coverage for businesses that closed due to coronavirus, potentially opening the door to hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts.
The NSW court of appeal on Wednesday ruled that clauses in insurance policies that worked to exclude damage from viruses declared to be quarantinable under the Quarantine Act were invalid because the law was repealed in 2015 and replaced with a new one.
However, the Insurance Council of Australia, which funded the case, said it was considering appealing to the high court. The council said in a statement:
The ICA, in consultation with its members and legal representatives, will urgently review the determination and specifically the grounds on which it could seek special leave to appeal against the decision to the high court of Australia.
The head of the NHS test-and-trace service in the UK, Dido Harding, is self-isolating after receiving an alert from her service.
The Conservative peer posted an image of the “you need to self-isolate” app notification, and wrote:
Nothing like personal experience of your own products ....got this overnight. Feeling well. Many hours of Zoom ahead. pic.twitter.com/Ims9W9gbQh
— dido harding (@didoharding) November 18, 2020
Prime minister Boris Johnson is also isolating, along with a string of Tory MPs following a meeting in Downing Street.
Johnson, who was seriously ill with coronavirus in April, has insisted he is fine and that his body “is bursting with antibodies” after he was ordered to self-isolate following a 35-minute meeting with a group of his party’s MPs from the Midlands and north of England on Thursday.
Today he will face questions from the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, and other MPs during the weekly prime minister’s questions (PMQs) via videolink.
Updated
In the UK, the business secretary, Alok Sharma, has said it is too early to set out Covid rules for Christmas, following several newspaper reports that the government has plans to let families mix for five days.
The Sun reports that the government is considering relaxing restrictions from Christmas Eve.
England is currently in lockdown – with all non-essential shops and leisure closed – officially until December 2, when the government has said it will return to a tier system.
Sharma said he wanted life to be as “normal” as possible, but it was too early for any decisions to be made, saying everyone had to “do our bit”.
Asked when a decision would be made, he told BBC Breakfast:
We just have to see where we get to. I certainly would like to have as normal a Christmas as possible,” he said, but warned it may not be “as normal” as previous years.
On Monday, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the government hoped the national lockdown would be replaced on 2 December with a tiered system “similar to what we had before”,
Dr Susan Hopkins, an epidemiologist, told the Downing Street press conference on Monday that tier 1 coronavirus restrictions had “little effect”, while the impact of tier 2 varied in different places.
Hopkins, a Public Health England director advising the government’s coronavirus response, said:
We have recognised that the tiering of the country has had a different effect in each area.
Tier 3, and especially tier 3 plus in the north, has had an effect in reducing the numbers of cases in the north-west and we can see the north-west’s declining number of cases now.
Tier 2 seems to hold in some areas and not so well in others, and so really it depends on how fast transmission is occurring and how well the individuals in the population are taking that advice in.
We see very little effect from tier 1 and I think when we look at what tiers may be there in the future, we will have to think about strengthening them in order to get us through the winter months until the vaccine is available for everyone.
Updated
Taiwan, often cited as a success story in the fight against Covid, is set to impose new travel restrictions, Reuters reports.
From next month, Taiwan will require almost all visitors to have negative Covid-19 tests before arriving, tightening rules after an uptick in imported cases, the government said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports:
The government will also increase the number of places where people must wear masks.
Taiwan has not reported any domestic transmissions of the virus for more than 200 days, and has the pandemic well in hand thanks to early and effective prevention.
But the island’s government has watched nervously as imported cases rise, albeit at a far lower rate than in many other places. Taiwan reported eight new cases on Friday, all imported, the most in a single day since 19 April.
Health minister Chen Shih-chung said that between 1 December and 28 February virtually everyone entering Taiwan will be required to have a negative Covid test, taken within three days of setting out to travel, though exceptions will be made for international mariners and in individual humanitarian cases.
The enforcement period may also be extended, he told reporters.
Previously, Taiwanese citizens and Taiwan residence permit holders did not need to present negative coronavirus tests before being allowed in, though most other travellers did.
The government will also mandate people wear masks in a larger number of places, including temples, art galleries and bars, Chen said, also from 1 December, or risk fines of up to T$15,000 ($526).
Masks are already widely worn in Taiwan.
Updated
The US has issued an emergency use authorisation for the first self-administered rapid coronavirus test, as more parts of the country increase restrictions in an attempt to halt a Covid-19 surge, AFP reports:
The Food and Drug Administration approved a testing kit for people age 14 and older whom a doctor suspects to have Covid-19. The test, which is by prescription only, delivers results in 30 minutes. FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn said:
We continue to demonstrate unprecedented speed in response to #COVID19. FDA authorized the first #COVID19 test that’s fully self-administered & provides results at home. It’s an important advancement, underscoring our commitment to expanding test access.
We continue to demonstrate unprecedented speed in response to #COVID19. FDA authorized the first #COVID19 test that’s fully self-administered & provides results at home. It’s an important advancement, underscoring our commitment to expanding test access. https://t.co/pgoSbvTLYy pic.twitter.com/cF75XHcNMg
— Dr. Stephen M. Hahn (@SteveFDA) November 18, 2020
Hahn continued:
The EUA is for a molecular single-use test intended to detect the virus that causes #COVID19. The home test kit is authorized for use with a self-collected nasal swab sample from individuals ages 14 and older who are suspected of #COVID19 by their health care provider.
The test is also authorized for use in point-of-care settings such as doctor’s offices, hospitals, urgent care centers and emergency rooms for all ages, but the healthcare provider must collect the sample from any individual under age 14.
The UK’s business secretary, Alok Sharma, refused to apologise for a lack of transparency in spending millions of pounds of taxpayer money to secure personal protection equipment, saying the government was under huge pressure to supply the frontline.
He told BBC television:
The NAO (National Audit Office) report has acknowledged that we had to do things at a great deal of pace. The key pressure was to get PPE. We had to do an enormous amount, work very fast to secure the PPE and that’s what we did.
The NAO said PPE suppliers with political connections were directed to a “high-priority” channel for UK government contracts where bids were 10 times more likely to be successful.
The parliamentary spending watchdog found that almost 500 suppliers with links to politicians or senior officials were referred to the channel, where their pitches for contracts were automatically treated as credible by government officials charged with procuring PPE.
The NAO said there had been a lack of transparency and a failure to explain why certain suppliers were chosen, or how any conflict of interest was dealt with, over £18bn ($24bn) in procurement deals made between March and the end of July, often with no competition.
You can read the full story here:
Alok Shah is due to be speaking on the BBC’s flagship morning radio show, the Today programme on radio 4. But he’s late, apparently.
Updated
Fascinating, and rather heartening report, from Prof Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology and immunology at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, boldly entitled: How We Can Stop the Spread of Covid-19 By Christmas.
The key, argues Mina, is mass-testing via very frequent, cheap antigen tests at home on a vast scale. It is really powerful stuff:
We are at war with a virus that is currently winning by taking two 9/11’s worth of victims every week—by Christmas it could be three. There is no question that if 1,000 Americans were dying each day in a war, we would act swiftly and decisively. Yet, we are not. This should not be about politics – it is about human beings – and we should be acting like it.
So far, the US government has put most of our eggs in the vaccine basket, and despite the vaccine always being “one more month away”, we have a long road ahead before a vaccine is safe, effective and, most crucially, widely available. To win the war on Covid-19, we need a multi-pronged public health strategy that includes a national testing plan that utilizes widespread frequent rapid antigen tests to stop the spread of the virus. We need to think strategically and creatively, be bold, and most importantly, not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.
Widespread and frequent rapid antigen testing (public health screening to suppress outbreaks) is the best possible tool we have at our disposal today—and we are not using it.
You can read the whole piece here.
Updated
My colleague Helen Pidd has been reporting from Hull in the UK. Gipsyville west of Hull, has reported 1,129.5 infections per 100,000 people in the last week.
The ward of Newington and Gipsyville is one of the most deprived in England. In 2015, 18% of households were living in fuel poverty, compared with the England average of 11%, and 31% of dependent children were classed as living in child poverty, compared with the England average of 17%.
Helen Pidd reports:
The sign on the door at the One Stop Shop on Hessle Road is clear that face masks are required, but many customers ignore it. “Half of them don’t wear masks. There’s no point getting stressed about it,” said Andrew Sanderson, one of the cashiers, on his break.
Hull is currently the UK’s Covid hotspot, with an infection rate of 776.4 per 100,000 people, nearly triple England’s average. But in Gipsyville, a suburb to the west of the city, there were the equivalent of 1,129.5 infections per 100,000 people in the last seven days.
“There’s no sense people are limiting their shopping trips,” said Jean-Luc Sinclair, another One-Stop worker. “During the first lockdown people would queue patiently outside but now people just barge in.”
Customers come in several times a day to buy non-essential items, said Sanderson: “The bookies are closed so people are buying so many scratch cards. They buy one, go outside, scratch it, come in to claim the cash and buy another.” A few doors down, on the shutters of Coral, a betting shop, someone has graffitied: “Spread lov not Covid.”
Updated
Harvey Weinstein is unwell and is being “closely monitored” in prison in the US, a representative for the disgraced Hollywood mogul said.
The spokesman said they could not “confirm nor deny” the 68-year-old had tested positive for Covid-19 inside Wende Correctional Facility in New York.
Weinstein, who is serving a 23-year sentence for rape, has a fever, his representative confirmed to the PA Media news agency.
The once all-powerful film producer is considered vulnerable to coronavirus due to his age, weight and other medical issues, including a heart condition and high blood pressure.
Updated
Ukraine has registered a record 256 new Covid-19-related deaths in the past 24 hours and the total toll reached 10,112, the health minister said on Wednesday. Maksym Stepanov also said that 12,496 new confirmed infections had been registered and it had taken the total cases to 570,153.
Updated
Summary
I am handing over the blog to my colleague Alexandra Topping in the UK.
Thanks for reading but if you’re just joining, here are the main developments of the past few hours:
-
The US medical establishment has urged Donald Trump to share crucial data with the president-elect, Joe Biden, in order to save lives and prevent the country’s healthcare system from being overwhelmed.
- Several US states including Iowa have backtracked on earlier policies and recommended that people wear masks as cases in the US continue to spread. Senator Chuck Grassley, at 87 the oldest member of the US upper house, has become the latest high-profile figure in Washington to test positive.
- Almost half the headtechers in England are considering quitting after the virus is brought under control, according to a union survey. It comes as 598 more people died on Tuesday within 28 days of testing positive for Covid 19, bringing the UK total to 52,745. This represents the highest daily increase since 12 May.
- Businesses in Tokyo could be asked to shorten opening hours in order to contain a worsening outbreak of the virus that has seen cases in the Japanese capital reach a record daily high of 472 on Wednesday.
- Turkey is imposing fresh restrictions in the wake of a sharp rise in cases. Restaurants and cafes will be asked to close at 5pm from Friday, and a parital lockdown will be imposed on the country at weekends.
- British Airways is to launch a voluntary coronavirus test for passengers travelling to the UK from three American airports. The airline said it will trial a testing regime, which will involve hundreds of travellers on particular routes from the US to Heathrow.
- South Australia has imposed a six-day “circuit-breaker” lockdown to beat an outbreak of cases in the state’s capital, Adelaide. Most schools will be closed, as will universities, pubs, cafes and food courts.
Businesses in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, could be asked to shorten their opening hours in order to contain an outbreak of the virus that has seen cases in the city reach a record daily high of 472 on Wednesday.
The business news outlet Nikkei said the city authorities were considering raising its alert level for infections to the highest of four stages. As part of that move, some businesses could close more often, Nikkei said, citing multiple unnamed sources, Reuters reports.
The announcement will be made on Thursday, it said.
The highest alert level indicates that “infections are spreading” versus the current alert of “infections appear to be spreading”.
Tokyo is hoping to stage the Olympic Games in the summer of next year.
Our columnist John Harris has been investigating how Amazon has benefited hugely from the pandemic as households all over the world increased their shopping online. he asks how it became so powerful – it doubled quarterly profits in July to $5.2bn (£3.95bn), compared with $2.6bn at the same point in 2019 – and whether governments should think about clipping its wings.
Read his full report here:
Almost half of the headteachers in England are considering quitting their jobs after the pandemic, according to a union survey. A poll by the National Association of Head Teachers found that 47% said they were likely to leave their jobs prematurely, once they had steered their schools through the Covid crisis.
Heads interviewed by the Guardian said they were stressed and exhausted because of the enormous pressures of dealing with Covid.
You can read the full report by Sally Weale, our education correspondent, here:
As we mentioned earlier, the Australian state of South Australia has gone into a six-day lockdown to contain an outbreak in the suburbs of Adelaide, the capaital of the state. It is the biggest outbreak in the country for weeks.
You can read our full report here.
Updated
The UK music industry will halve in size because of the pandemic, according to a new report.
UK Music, the industry’s umbrella organisation, says the sector grew by 11% last year to be worth £5.8bn to the UK economy. But that will be reversed in 2020 thanks to the shutdown of the live music scene.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, the chief executive of UK Music, said that the pandemic has dealt a “catastrophic blow” with thousands of jobs at risk.
“Our music industry is a key national asset,” said Njoku-Goodwin. “As this report shows, it contributes £5.8b a year to the economy, generates £2.9bn in exports and supports almost 200,000 jobs. The UK music industry was a vibrant, fast-growing and commercially successful sector before the pandemic hit.”
Read the full story here:
Turkey has joined the growing list of countries that are imposing another lockdown in the wake of a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
The interior ministry said on Wednesday that new measures limiting the working hours of restaurants and cafes, malls and hairdressers to 7am to 5pm will take effect from Friday evening. A partial lockdown will be imposed at weekends until further notice, while cinemas will be closed for the rest of the year.
Ankara reported 3,819 new symptomatic cases on Tuesday and 103 COVID-19 deaths in the country, taking the total death toll to 11,704.
Record daily cases recorded in Tokyo, media reports
Daily coronavirus cases in Tokyo have hit a record of 493, local media reported on Wednesday. The previous high was on 1 August.
Last week officials in Japan warned of a rising tide of infections that cause cause a third wave of the virus.
Regulators in the US have given the go ahead for the emergency use of the first rapid coronavirus test that can be performed entirely at home and delivers results in 30 minutes.
Today, we issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first #COVID19 diagnostic test that allows for self-collection & testing at home and provides test results in 30 minutes or less. The test kit for home use is available by prescription only. https://t.co/EXzSa8JyFR pic.twitter.com/Wooy5YBIbZ
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) November 18, 2020
The announcement by the Food and Drug Administration represents a major step in efforts to expand testing options for Covid-19 beyond health care facilities and testing sites. However, the test will require a prescription from a doctor which could limit its uptake.
There have now been 11.34 million cases of coronavirus in the US and almost 250,000 deaths. Forty-one U.S. states have reported daily record increases in Covid-19 cases in November, 20 have registered new all-time highs in coronavirus-related deaths from day to day, and 26 have reported new peaks in hospitalizations, according to a Reuters tally of public health data.
US doctors urge Trump to cooperate with Biden
The US medical establishment has joined forces to urge Donald Trump to share crucial data with the president-elect, Joe Biden, in order to save lives and prevent the country’s healthcare system from being overwhelmed.
An open letter from three leading healthcare organizations says action is needed to help the Democrat’s new administration to ramp up its coronavirus plans as state and local governments scramble to fight the virus in the absence of a coordinated national strategy, Reuters reports.
“Real-time data and information on the supply of therapeutics, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, ventilators, hospital bed capacity and workforce availability to plan for further deployment of the nation’s assets needs to be shared to save countless lives,” said the letter, signed by heads of the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Hospitals Association.
It comes after Biden warned “more people may die” if the incumbent president keeps blocking a smooth succession to the next administration in January.
Dr Vivek Murthy, co-chair of Biden’s Covid-19 taskforce, said on Tuesday that he and other medical advisers had been unable to discuss the pandemic with current administration officials, an obstacle that could compromise theUS response to the virus.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has increased by 17,561 to 833,307, figures from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday. Deaths rose by 305 to 13,119, the tally showed. China said on Wednesday it had recorded eight new cases on Tuesday, down from 15 cases a day earlier.
Earlier, Mexico’s health ministry reported 1,757 new infections and 165 further deaths, bringing the official totals to 1,011,153 cases and 99,026 dead.
The Philippines is crazy about Christmas, with celebrations usually cranking up from September and lasting through to February for some people. The pandemic and the ravages of three powerful tropical storms in recent weeks have inevitably put a dampener on things but the enthusiasm for festivities cannot be entirely subdued in the predominantly Catholic country.
Our south-east Asia correspondent, Rebecca Ratcliffe, and Carmela Fonbuena in Manila report on why it means so much to Filippinos.
Updated
Swiss ski resorts are banking on tighter precautions against Covid-19 and the national love of the outdoors to boost the industry this winter.
Didier Defago, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion who is now president of the Wallis ski lift association, told Agence France-Presse that his region has made wearing masks mandatory everywhere except on the slopes and cable cars must keep the windows open the whole day to help air to circulate despite the cold.
In Verbier, one of the biggest resorts, police patrol the lift departure area to make sure everyone is respecting the anti-Covid measures.
Switzerland has recorded more than 274,000 cases and 3,664 deaths from coronavirus.
I’m Martin Farrer, picking up blogging duties from Ben Doherty.
The surge seen on global stock markets in the wake of positive news about potential vaccines against Covid-19 has subsided a little thanks to renewed concerns about the wider impact of the disease on world econmies.
The Nikkie in Tokyo has slipped 0.8% in Wednesday trade after the S&P500 fell on Wall Street in the preceding session. Some bourses have climbed into pisitive territory in Asia such as Sydney and Seoul but overall the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares was flat. The S&P is seen falling 0.3% when it opens on Wednesday while the FTSE100 is London is expected to slip into the red by 0.1%.
“Given the rapid gains over the last 10 days or so, a correction was inevitable,” said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Also in the US, doctors and nurses in North Dakota say an order to keep working even after testing positive to Covid-19 puts lives in danger, as the state is caught between a Covid surge and a statewide shortage of healthcare workers.
US states flip-flop on restrictions as cases surge
In the US, the deadly rise in Covid-19 cases across the country is forcing state and local officials to adjust their blueprints for fighting the virus, with Republican governors adopting mask mandates — skeptically, in at least one case — and schools scrapping plans to reopen classrooms. The US, the most infected country on earth, is approaching a quarter of a million deaths.
The steps face blowback from those who question the science behind mask wearing and social distancing and fear the new restrictions will kill off more jobs and trample on their civil liberties.
In Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds had pushed back against a mask mandate for months but imposed a limited one Tuesday, becoming the latest GOP holdout to change course on face coverings. At the same time, she claimed “there’s science on both sides” about whether masks reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
With Thanksgiving coming up next week, public health officials are bracing for a holiday-fuelled surge. Doctors are urging families to stick to small gatherings.
Governors in Ohio, Maryland and Illinois imposed restrictions on business hours and crowd sizes Tuesday, and their counterparts in Wisconsin and Colorado proposed economic relief packages.
Los Angeles County, with a population of 10 million, ordered similar business restrictions.
Updated
More on Moderna.
The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has refused to disclose whether he will profit from a surge in the share price of the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna, one of the biggest investments held by the hedge fund he co-founded before entering parliament.
Substituting the word ‘vaccine’ for ‘Jolene’ doesn’t quite work. But this is still somethin’
Professor Brendan Crabb is the chief executive of the Burnet Institute, microbiologist and infectious diseases researcher.
(SA in this context is South Australia for our international readers)
Going hard, early! Admire the SA attitude. Attitude is more important than anything else. 'Don't wait, just act quickly and strongly' seems to be the mantra.
— Prof Brendan Crabb AC (@CrabbBrendan) November 18, 2020
Over-analysis of the specifics of the public health response leads to delay, and delay ends badly. Go for it SA!
South Australia imposes six-day lockdown
To Australia (from where your correspondent pens these words). There have been flaws in Australia’s Covid response, but, by international standards, the country has largely done a remarkable job in suppressing the virus (aided by some inherent advantages: distant island nation, large landmass/small(ish) population, strong public health systems). Nationwide, there have been fewer than 28,000 cases, and just over 900 deaths.
But South Australia, after more than seven months without a single case of community transmission, has had an outbreak linked to hotel quarantine in the past few days. Twenty cases have been confirmed, and about 4000 people have been ordered to isolate. Other Australian states have closed their borders to South Australia.
The premier, Steven Marshall, has ordered a six-day “circuit-breaker” to halt the spread of the disease, followed by eight days of lesser restrictions across the state.
We need this circuit breaker, this community pause. This is about South Australia pausing so that we stay ahead of the virus.
Closures in the first six days include:
- All schools except for children of the essential worker and vulnerable children
- Universities
- Takeaway food
- Pubs, cafes, coffee shops and food courts
- Elective surgery except for urgent operations and cancer treatment
- Open inspections and auctions for real estate.
- Outdoor sport and physical activity - people cannot leave you home for exercise
- Regional travel
Updated
South Korea reported on Wednesday 313 new daily Covid-19 cases, the highest since August, as cluster infections continued to emerge from offices, medical facilities and small gatherings, prompting authorities to tighten social distancing rules.
The daily tally has been above 200 for a fifth consecutive day and surpassed 300 for the first time since late August, when a large outbreak erupted from a church whose members attended a political rally, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The government decided on Tuesday to impose stricter social distancing measures for the greater Seoul area a month after easing them, warning of an even bigger crisis if its current anti-COVID-19 efforts fail to blunt a spike in new cases.
Of the new cases, 245 were locally transmitted and 68 were imported. Nearly 74% of the domestic infections came from the greater Seoul area, home to around half of the country’s 52 million population.
The latest numbers brought the country’s total infections to 29,311, with 496 deaths.
The economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic are unequal and uneven. Covid-19 has made some places more expensive to live in, others cheaper.
AFP reports:
Paris and Zurich have joined Hong Kong as this year’s costliest cities worldwide, while Singapore and Osaka have slipped from their joint-top spot after the Covid-19 pandemic weakened the dollar, a survey published Wednesday showed.
The biggest mover was Tehran, which jumped 27 places on US sanctions, The Economist Intelligence Unit added in its Worldwide Cost of Living 2020 report.
The pandemic’s effect on the dollar was however the biggest factor for places switching, the financial research group noted.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the US dollar to weaken while western European and north Asian currencies have strengthened against it, which in turn has shifted prices for goods and services,” said Upasana Dutt, head of worldwide cost of living at The EIU.
The EIU said “Singapore and Osaka, which have been dislodged from their joint-first with Hong Kong, find themselves at fourth and fifth ranks, respectively, with Osaka tying with Tel Aviv.
“The movement of Paris and Zurich to join Hong Kong at the top spot was spurred on by the rise of the euro and Swiss franc against the US dollar, as well as the comparative decline in the cost of living in the two Asian cities that previously sat at the top of the table,” it added.
The report noted that prices in Singapore fell on an exodus of foreign workers.
“With the city state’s overall population contracting for the first time since 2003, demand has declined, and deflation has set in.
“Osaka has seen similar trends, with consumer prices stagnating and the Japanese government subsidising costs such as public transport.”
New York, the city the index is benchmarked against, fell to joint-seventh with Geneva, and Los Angeles fell to ninth, equal with Copenhagen.
“The coronavirus pandemic has impacted spending habits all over the world, with the prices of essential goods proving more resilient than those deemed non-essential,” the report said.
“However, this translates to prices for staples, such as coffee, cheese, rice and orange juice, remaining flat, rather than necessarily increasing.
“Clothing was the only category to see an average fall in the index... (as) many consumers delayed wardrobe changes.”
With office workers doing their jobs from home, consumer electronics saw the largest price rises on production shortages, the EIU added.
The UK’s parliamentary spending watchdog has found the government failed to account properly for all of the $24 billion it has spent on Covid-19 supplies and services, with political connections helping contractors win multi-million dollar deals without adequate scrutiny or transparency.
David Pegg, Felicity Lawrence and David Conn report:
PPE suppliers with political connections were directed to a “high-priority” channel for UK government contracts where bids were 10 times more likely to be successful, according to a report by the parliamentary spending watchdog.
Almost 500 suppliers with links to politicians or senior officials were referred to the channel, where their pitches for contracts were automatically treated as credible by government officials charged with procuring PPE.
More from the United States, where the number of deaths is approaching a quarter of a million (currently 248,424 according to Johns Hopkins University).
Experts say the federal government, led by the lame duck president Donald Trump, has “checked out”, weeks away from what would be early vaccine approvals.
On Tuesday, a coronavirus taskforce update from the office of Mike Pence made no mention of transition efforts involving the president-elect, Joe Biden, as Trump has refused to concede defeat. Last weekend, leading public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci said Trump had not attended a taskforce meeting in five months.
Fiji rugby tour in disarray as 29 out of 32-man squad test positive
The Fijian rugby team’s European tour is in disarray with almost the entire playing squad testing positive to Covid-19.
29 players and support staff - out of 32 - have now tested positive to the novel coronavirus, leading to the cancellation of their Test against Italy.
A preliminary match against Portugal was called off earlier this month after three members of the Flying Fijian squad tested positive, while the Nations Cup clash against France was abandoned when five players tested positive.
France was awarded a 28-0 victory, and a bonus point, after Fiji was unable to safely field a side for the Test in Vannes.
In a statement, tournament organisers Six Nations Rugby said they remain in constant contact with the Fijian squad to address the situation.
Ben Morel, chief executive of Six Nations Rugby, the organiser of the Nations Cup tournament, said the decision to cancel the French test was “a difficult and disappointing decision, but it was the only possible outcome”.
“The welfare of our players and their support teams remain our number one priority.”
Updated
Chuck Grassley, oldest US senator, tests positive
Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator, announced Tuesday he had tested positive for coronavirus.
Grassley, 87, the senior senator from Iowa, said earlier in day that he was quarantining after being exposed to the virus and would work virtually as he waits for results of a test. He did not say how he was exposed.
Then later in the afternoon he confirmed that he had been infected.
Updated
Good morning/afternoon/evening whenever and wherever this missive finds you. Ben Doherty here in Sydney helming our coronavirus live coverage for the next few hours. My thanks to my indefatigable colleagues all around the world who’ve been keeping us all up to date.
Correspondence, contributions and comments welcome. You can find me on twitter @BenDohertyCorro or by email ben.doherty@theguardian.com.
A summary of the latest developments:
- Republican senator Chuck Grassley, 87, of Iowa has tested positive for Covid-19.
- In the UK, 598 more people on Tuesday died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid 19, bringing the UK total to 52,745. This represents the highest daily increase since 12 May.
- British Airways is to launch a voluntary coronavirus test for passengers travelling to the UK from three American airports. The airline said it will trial a testing regime, which will involve hundreds of travellers on particular routes from the US to Heathrow.
- A Brazilian politician has died of Covid-19 just hours after being elected the mayor of his town. Edilson Filgueira won the race to become the next mayor of Itaguaru, a small town in the midwestern state of Goiás, during Brazil’s municipal elections on Sunday. But less than 24 hours later the 60-year-old politician was dead.
- Spain recorded 435 new Covid deaths on Tuesday, the highest daily toll seen so far in the country’s second wave of the coronavirus. Its total number of cases has now passed the 1.5 million mark and stands at 1,510,023.
- German officials have cited security concerns in their decision to ban a series of protests planned Wednesday outside the federal parliament by people opposed to coronavirus lockdown measures. The unusual move comes amid fears that extremist groups could try to use a rally initially planned for Wednesday to attack the Bundestag, echoing an unsuccessful attempt to storm the parliament building during a similar demonstration in August.
- Italy has registered 32,191 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday, up from 27,354 the day before. The ministry also reported 731 Covid 19-related deaths, up from 504 the previous day and the highest daily toll since 3 April, when the country was in full national lockdown.
- Top US virus scientist Anthony Fauci hails a Moderna vaccine found to be nearly 95% effective in a trial as “stunningly impressive”, saying it validates experimental mRNA technology that some had doubted.
- Iran’s daily new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours hit 13,352 on Tuesday, a new record, the government announced. The number of deaths in the previous 24 hours reached 482. The total death toll has now reached 42,461, the highest in the middle east.
Updated
