We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
Appearing with first lady Melania Trump in front of the White House, the president made brief remarks thanking healthcare workers and researchers working on a Covid-19 vaccine.
According to tradition, two turkeys named Corn and Cob stayed at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel before the official ceremony. After an online poll, Corn was chosen to be pardoned.
Trump did not take questions at the event, and ignored a shouted question about whether he was considering pardoning himself.
In the UK, three different households will be allowed to mix inside over the festive period under new plans announced today.
But leading scientists have sounded a note of caution. Here is what they plan to do to this Christmas.
Dr Julian Tang, clinical virologist and honorary associate professor in the respiratory sciences department at the University of Leicester
“We’ve agreed to just have Christmas via Zoom/telephone link as we think this is safest. We’re quite used to this now and have been doing it mostly this way for the past 10 months.”
Prof Susan Michie, director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London and member of the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behavioural Science (SPI-B)
With one household who usually joins us for Christmas Day we are planning to have drinks on the pavement before lunch.
We will probably spend more time outside and less inside, with more distancing, ventilation and lots of warm clothes!
Prof Christina Pagel, director of the Clinical Operational Research Unit at UCL and a member of the Independent Sage group of scientists
It all depends on the Covid situation in December but our plan is to be extra careful (no meetings outside the household) the 10 days before Christmas, so we can then celebrate with my parents who are both in the extremely vulnerable category.
Handling bank notes poses only a low risk of spreading Covid-19, the Bank of England has said, after it commissioned research to find out how long the virus lasts on cash.
The use of notes has dropped sharply in the UK since the pandemic hit in March, and the Bank said one reason could be fears that cash can carry the virus.
After reopening following the first lockdown, many shops and hospitality venues in the UK encouraged consumers to make contactless payments, while some refused to take any cash.
However, the Bank’s research found that the risk of getting coronavirus from handling bank notes was much lower than that of contracting it from breathing air particles in a shop, or from touching items like shopping baskets, door handles or self-checkout terminals.
Its study involved a very high dose of coronavirus, equivalent to someone coughing or sneezing directly on to the bank note, and included tests on paper and polymer £10 notes. After contamination, the notes were stored at room temperature and repeatedly tested.
The study found that the level of virus remained stable for an hour, but over the next five hours it declined rapidly, and after 24 hours it had dropped to less than 1% on both types of note.
Using blood plasma from Covid-19 survivors to treat patients with severe pneumonia caused by the coronavirus showed little benefit, according to data released from a clinical trial in Argentina.
The therapy know as convalescent plasma, which delivers antibodies from Covid-19 survivors to infected people, did not significantly improve patients’ health status or reduce their risk of dying from the disease any better than a placebo, the study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found.
Despite limited evidence of its efficacy, convalescent plasma, which US president Donald Trump touted in August as a “historic breakthrough,” has been frequently given to patients in the US.
In October, a small study from India suggested convalescent plasma improved symptoms in Covid-19 patients, such as shortness of breath and fatigue, but did not reduce the risk of death or progression to severe disease after 28 days.
The new Argentine study involved 333 hospitalised patients with severe Covid-19 pneumonia who were randomly assigned to receive convalescent plasma or a placebo.
After 30 days, researchers found no significant differences in patients’ symptoms or health. The mortality rate was nearly the same at 11% in the convalescent plasma group and 11.4% in the placebo group, a difference not deemed statistically significant.
It is still possible that convalescent plasma might help less-sick Covid-19 patients, study leader Dr Ventura Simonovich of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires said, but more studies would be needed and supplies of the treatment are not scalable.
For patients with severe disease, like the ones in this study, “other therapies based on antibodies could have a role,” he said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may soon shorten the length of self-quarantine period after potential exposure to the coronavirus, a top official has said.
Health authorities currently recommend a 14-day quarantine in order to curb transmission of the virus but an official said there is evidence the period could be shortened if patients are tested for the virus during their quarantine.
“Let me confirm that we are constantly reviewing the evidence and we are starting to have evidence that a shorter quarantine complemented by tests might be able to shorten that quarantine period from 14 days to shorter days,” a top US health official said on a press call, Reuters reports.
He added that the decision to change the guidance is not final and experts are still reviewing data to make sure such a change would not put people at risk.
The US government has been criticised by experts and public health officials for being slow to ramp up Covid-19 testing.
It has also distributed nearly 40m out of 150m rapid tests it agreed to acquire from Abbott Laboratories earlier this year, the officials said.
New coronavirus cases in the US are averaging nearly 172,000 a day and have exceeded 100,000 since early November, according to a Reuters tally.
US total deaths due to coronavirus reached nearly 259,000 on Tuesday with over 12.5 million cases.
Scientists have warned the UK’s Christmas coronavirus plans, which will allow up to three households form a “bubble” to meet over the festive period, will cause the virus to spread and lead to further deaths.
Martin McKee, the professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “We know that the virus spreads easiest where people mix together, close to each other, for long periods of time indoors. These are exactly the conditions the government seems to be encouraging.”
He urged the government to promote ways of celebrating outside and reducing risks when meeting indoors.
“There is almost no advice on imaginative ways of celebrating the festivities, despite the long history of outdoor seasonal events in this country, and only the briefest mention of ways to reduce the risks indoors, for example by increasing ventilation,” he said.
Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: “Any relaxation of the restrictions over the Christmas period will almost inevitably lead to some increase in transmission and therefore, illness, hospitalisations and sadly deaths.”
However, he said the benefits of allowing families to meet over Christmas may outweigh the risks, and the closure of schools over the holidays will also reduce transmission.
“The benefits on people’s mental health of being to meet up with family over this time should not be underestimated,” he said. “ My personal view is that some relaxation of the rules in line with what is currently being reported will have sufficient benefits to justify the additional risks for the Covid epidemic.
“After Christmas we will still have to live through a few more months of restrictions at least. Christmas, whether or not we celebrate the day as a religious festival, may be what we need to make it through the rest of winter.”
However, he also stressed the importance of a well-managed tier system before and after Christmas as essential for keeping cases down.
Brazil registered a further 31,100 confirmed Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours and 630 deaths, the health ministry said.
The South American nation has now registered 6,118,708 cases since the pandemic began and the official death toll has risen to 170,115, according to ministry data.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported a further 157,531 Covid-19 cases, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,058 to 257,016.
The total number of cases in the country now stands at 12,333,452.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Summary
Countries across Europe have started announcing their plans to allow people to celebrate during the festive season under coronavirus restrictions - here’s a quick summary:
-
Germany’s 16 federal states are likely to approve gatherings of a maximum of 10 people during the festive season, according to a draft proposal due to be discussed on Wednesday by state premiers and the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, said he was confident the measures would be adopted, while two state premiers said there was further broad agreement to extend a national “lockdown light” until 20 December to make family gatherings possible. - In France, president Emmanuel Macron announced a three-stage easing of the country’s month-long lockdown, beginning this weekend with the reopening of “non-essential” businesses such as hairdressers and clothes shops, which will have to observe strict distancing rules and close at 9pm.
Churches and some cultural venues will also be able to reopen from 1 December, with a maximum of 30 visitors, and people would be allowed to exercise within a 20km (12-mile) radius of their homes and for up to three hours, rather than the current 1km, one-hour limits.
Providing infection numbers have fallen to about 5,000 a day, lockdown will be formally lifted on 15 December, allowing holiday travel, Macron said – although a nationwide 9pm-7am curfew would be in force except on 24 and 31 December, and all private festive gatherings would be expected to observe strict distancing rules.
A third stage would begin from 20 January, Macron said, when bars, restaurants and clubs should be able to reopen. - In the UK, families will be able to gather in three-household groups of any size over Christmas, bringing warnings from scientists that the plan will almost inevitably see a rise in the number of coronavirus cases. Ministers said the “Christmas bubbles” would require people to make a “personal judgment” over risk for older relatives and others. The new rules will allow people to travel around freely from 23 to 27 December, irrespective of what local tier of Covid restrictions they live in. The relaxation ends on 28 December, and all areas will immediately revert to their previous Covid rules, including over new year.
- The Spanish government is planning to limit festive gatherings to six people and to set a 1am to 6am curfew for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, according to a leaked document seen by Spanish newspapers. “With respect to family gatherings, we recommend they be limited to members of the same household. Should there be an external guest who does not usually live with the family, gatherings should include a maximum of six people and preventive measures must be followed,” the draft says.
- The Finnish capital, Helsinki, meanwhile, is introducing tough new restrictions after a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus cases, with high schools, libraries and swimming pools to be closed and public events banned outright. The Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, warned on Monday that a new state of emergency could be declared if regional measures proved ineffective.
- In Sweden, whose light-touch anti-lockdown approach has attracted international attention, the country’s health watchdog criticised “serious shortcomings” in nursing homes, which account for nearly half of Sweden’s 6,400 Covid-19 deaths.
- Russia’s deputy prime minister, Tatiana Golikova, said on Tuesday the country’s coronavirus situation was becoming “more complicated” with the onset of autumn and winter. Russia recorded a record 25,173 new daily infections on Monday.
French president Emmanuel Macron has announced the start of a phased easing of lockdown restrictions.
The progression from one phase to the next will be contingent on coronavirus transmission rates staying on a downward trajectory, he said.
Here are details of the plan:
Phase One - From 28 November
- Lockdown will remain in place, but people will be able to exercise outside for three hours a day, versus the one hour at the moment, and within a 20 km radius of their homes, versus the 1 km radius allowed now.
- Shops selling non-essential good such as clothes, shoes and toys will be allowed to re-open
- Indoor religious services will be allowed to resume, but the number of worshippers will be capped at 30 people.
Phase Two - From 15 December (if new daily infections fall to 5,000)
- Lockdown is lifted
- A curfew will be in place between the hours of 9pm and 7am daily
- Cinemas and theatres will be allowed to re-open
Phase Three - From 20 January (if the number of new infections remains below 5,000 cases per day)
- Restaurants and cafes can re-open
- Lycées (secondary schools) to fully reopen and university courses to resume 15 days later
- Gyms can re-open
Updated
Winter sport resorts will not be able to reopen before the end of the year, French president Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address to the nation.
“The government has held talks with the industry, but it seems impossible to consider reopening for the year-end festivities,” Macron said, adding that it would be preferable to reopen in January under good conditions and in coordination with other European countries.
French president says worst of virus second wave is over and lockdown to ease
France will start easing its Covid-19 lockdown this weekend so that by Christmas, shops, theatres and cinemas will re-open and people will be able to spend the holiday with the rest of their family, French president Emmanuel Macron has said.
In a televised address to the nation, Macron said the worst of the second wave of the epidemic in France was over, but that restaurants, cafes and bars would have to stay shut until 20 January to avoid triggering a third wave.
“We must do everything to avoid a third wave, do everything to avoid a third lockdown,” Macron said.
After curfew measures in major French cities in mid-October failed to produce the results the government had hoped for, it enforced a one-month lockdown on 30 October, though it was less strict than a lockdown that ran from 17 March to 11 May.
Positive trends including a decline in hospitalisations for Covid-19 infections, combined with pressure from business lobbies who say they are facing ruin, have led to calls to start loosening the lockdown as soon as possible.
Macron also said he would start a vaccination campaign at the end of December or beginning of January, starting with the most vulnerable and older people. Vaccination won’t be mandatory, he said.
The Guardian’s foreign correspondent Kim Willsher has more information on the exact details of the eased restrictions:
From 15 December:
— Kim Willsher (@kimwillsher1) November 24, 2020
*lockdown lifted can travel between regions and spend Xmas with family
*inside extra curricular school activities can resume
•avoid unnecessary travel. Not Xmas holidays "as before"
*Cinema, theatres museums to open with extra health controls
Updated
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray taking over the liveblog for the next few hours.
As always, please do get in touch with any story ideas or personal experiences you would like to share.
Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_
Coronavirus live news: summary of key events
That’s it from me today. My colleague Jessica Murray will be taking over shortly. Here’s a summary of the major events so far:
•The number of new infections in France dropped sharply against the same day last week, with the figure dropping from 45,522 last Tuesday to 9.155 today.
•There were a further 853 coronavirus-related deaths in Italy on Tuesday – the highest daily toll since the end of March - and 23,232 new infections.
•A network of 13 African countries has joined forces with global researchers to launch the largest clinical trial of potential Covid-19 treatments on the continent
•Spain recorded 537 new Covid deaths, the highest daily toll seen so far in the country’s second wave. The government there is planning to limit Christmas and New Year gatherings to groups of six.
•Japan plans to pause its domestic travel campaign in two cities following sharp rises in Covid-19 cases, the minister handling the government’s coronavirus response said on Tuesday.
•Sweden’s health watchdog has reported “serious shortcomings” in Covid-19 care for residents of nursing homes where thousands of people have died.
•Cases of coronavirus were found in mink farms in Poland, after similar findings in Denmark led the government there to announce a cull of the 15-17 million animals on farms there.
•The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have claimed it has 95% efficacy and will cost less than $10 a dose internationally. Previous announcements from the Russian team have been met with scepticism.
Updated
Number of new infections drops sharply in France
The number of new coronavirus infections and the number of people in hospital with the virus in France again dropped sharply as a national lockdown went into its fourth week.
The health ministry reported the number of new cases rose by 9,155 to 2.15 million, compared to 4,452 on Monday - when numbers are usually low due to weekend reporting lags - and compared to 45,522 last Tuesday.
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 fell by 859 to 30,622, the sharpest drop since the start of the lockdown on 30 October and the number of people in intensive care dropped by 165 to 4,289.
Both series have been falling almost without interruption for 11 days.
France also reported 1,005 new deaths from coronavirus, pushing the total above 50,000 - it now stands at 50,237.
The tally included 454 deaths in hospital over the past 24 hours and 551 in retirement homes over several days. The country reported 500 hospital deaths on Monday.
French president Emmanuel Macron will speak to the country at 8pm (1900 GMT) and is expected to announce some loosening of lockdown regulations in response to the falling infection rates.
Updated
Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, has said that the country will have to wait for a vaccine because the very first ones that roll off assembly lines are likely to be given to citizens of the country they are made in.
Trudeau noted Canada does not have vaccine-production facilities. The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany do.
Trudeau said it is understandable that an American pharmaceutical company will distribute first in the U.S. before they distribute internationally.
“Shortly afterwards they will start honoring and delivering the contracts that they signed with other countries including Canada,” Trudeau said, in remarks reported by AP. “We’re expecting to start receiving those doses in the first few months of 2021.”
Updated
In the UK, my colleagues Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker have just published a story saying that up to three different households will be allowed to mix for five days over Christmas.
You can follow our UK live blog for more on this or read the full story here:
Updated
Spain daily death toll highest of second wave
Spain recorded 537 new Covid deaths on Tuesday, the highest daily toll seen so far in the country’s second wave. It comes a week after the country hit a record second wave death toll of 435.
Spain logged 12,228 news cases on Tuesday, bringing its total number to 1,594,844. To date, the virus has claimed 43,668 lives across the country.
Colombian first lady Maria Juliana Ruiz has tested positive for coronavirus, the government said on Tuesday, but is asymptomatic.
President Ivan Duque and the first lady have regular coronavirus tests due to their high levels of exposure and busy schedules, the president’s office said in a statement.
Ruiz, who along with her husband was tested on Monday, is following quarantine rules as established by the health ministry, the statement added. Duque received a negative result.
Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez tested positive for coronavirus a month ago and was also asymptomatic. The Andean country has reported more than 1.2 million cases of coronavirus, as well as 35,479 deaths due to COVID-19, the disease it causes.
Updated
Macron expected to set out plans to ease coronavirus restrictions
France is set to become the latest country to ease coronavirus restrictions in the run-up to Christmas.
In an evening television address, French President Emmanuel Macron is also expected to announce a strategy for procuring vaccines as world governments scramble to put together a complex and lengthy vaccination programme.
“We will see a slight relaxing of the lockdown,” Prime Minister Jean Castex told leaders of Macron’s LREM party hours before the president’s primetime appearance, participants told AFP.
Turkey’s daily death toll from the coronavirus hit a record high of 161 on Tuesday, according to data from the Health Ministry, after the country introduced nationwide measures last week amid a surge in cases.
The data showed 7,381 new COVID-19 patients were recorded in the country, Reuters reported, while the overall death toll rose to 12,672. Since July, Ankara has only reported symptomatic COVID-19 patients, a move critics say hides the true scale of the outbreak.
China recorded 22 new coronavirus infections on Nov. 23, up from 11 a day earlier, the country’s health authority said, while an official from the city of Tianjin said two confirmed cases this month caught the virus from pig heads from North America.
Reuters reported that the National Health Commission said on Tuesday 20 of the new cases were imported infections that originated overseas. One local transmission was reported in Shanghai and another in Tianjin.
The Shanghai case together with a second one reported earlier in the city have been traced to a container from North America, which the two men cleaned when it arrived at an airport, according to the Shanghai Daily.
A Tianjin health official said two confirmed cases in the northern port city earlier this month had caught the virus from pig heads arriving from North America.
Zhang Ying, an official at the Tianjin Center For Disease Control and Prevention, told a press conference that authorities had not tested the pig heads in question.
However, samples taken from the spots where the heads fell when they were being moved out of storage tested positive for the same strain of the virus as the two confirmed cases, who had both been exposed to the pig heads, Zhang said.
Italy reports highest daily death toll since March 28
There were a further 853 coronavirus-related deaths in Italy on Tuesday – the highest daily toll since the end of March - and 23,232 new infections.
Since the beginning of November, Covid-19 has been confirmed to have claimed the lives of over 12,000 people, with the total number of deaths since February now at 50,453.
Italy’s doctors’ federation said that 27 medics have lost their lives within the last 10 days while 27,000 health workers have become infected over the last month.
The highest daily death count so far was reached on 29 March, when 969 fatalities were registered.
New cases were up from 22,930 on Monday. There have been signs of the infection curve beginning to flatten: the highest number of daily infections reported in a single day was 40,902 on 13 November.
Updated
The German government’s international development minister has called on companies that have benefited from the coronavirus crisis, such as Amazon and drugmakers, to join the effort to fund vaccine access for the world’s poorest nations.
Gerd Mueller said it should not only be richer governments trying to make sure the developing world gets its fair share.
“Private companies that have particularly profited from the coronavirus crisis, like Amazon or the pharmaceuticals companies also have an obligation,” he told Reuters.
On Sunday, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she was concerned not enough had been done to ensure adequate supplies of the new vaccines were available to poorer states, even as European governments and the US snapped up supplies.
Pharmaceutical firms should offer the World Health Organization’s Covax initiative - designed to make available supplies to poorer countries – “the best possible conditions and good prices” for their vaccines, Mueller said.
Updated
The South African government is going with the Covax global Covid-19 vaccine distribution scheme, with a committed purchase for 10% of its population of 58 million, a senior health official told Reuters.
Khadija Jamaloodien, the director of affordable medicines at the health ministry, added that South Africa had not yet signed the commitment agreement to participate in the Covax facility as it was still working through administrative processes.
The country’s initial strategy is to protect the vulnerable, including healthcare workers and priority groups, she said.
Updated
In Egypt’s bustling capital, people pack shops, cafes and public transport, many of them disregarding the rules that they should wear face masks in these spaces and keep 1 metre apart. Official warnings about a second wave of coronavirus infections are widely being dismissed, Reuters reports.
Egypt’s first wave of Covid-19 subsided in the summer and restrictions on movement were gradually relaxed. Up to now the population of more than 100 million appears to have been spared the surge in infections seen in European countries.
However, officially confirmed infections, which give a partial picture due to limited PCR testing and the exclusion of private test results, have risen slightly in recent days to about 350 daily cases, prompting the government to stress again the importance of mask wearing and social distancing.
They face an uphill battle.
“When the government opened things up, people stopped being disciplined. Everyone became careless,” said Alaa Adel, a 26-year-old engineer buying a mask in downtown Cairo after forgetting to bring one from home.
Everyone keeps their mask in their pockets, and once the policeman comes by or if they stop at a checkpoint, they wear it.
The Egyptian health ministry could not be reached for comment on enforcement of physical distancing and other protective measures.
In March, airports, hotels, malls and cafes all closed, paralysing the vital tourism and hospitality sectors. Some restrictions on opening hours and capacity remain in place. Egypt responded with a stimulus package of 100bn Egyptian pounds ($6.4bn) to support its economy, where most are employed informally.
In a cafe in Cairo’s Moqattam neighbourhood, capacity is at a fraction of normal level, but only about half of the customers wear masks and hardly any follow physical distancing rules, said owner Mohamed Sabry, adding he is reluctant to challenge them.
Poor people don’t care about these things. People live day by day.
Despite the threat of 4,000 Egyptian pound ($255) fines for ignoring the rules, many in shops, public offices, buses and metro carriages still go bare-faced.
“People should be more disciplined. Most people don’t think about it, or do not understand how dangerous this disease is,” said a 45-year-old public servant Mohamed Mahmoud, one of the few customers wearing a mask at a café in downtown Cairo.
The Egyptian government has confirmed a total of 111,955 cases including 6,508 deaths.
Updated
A network of 13 African countries has joined forces with global researchers to launch the largest clinical trial of potential Covid-19 treatments on the continent, my colleague Peter Beaumont reports.
The study will test the efficacy of treatments in 2,000 to 3,000 mild-to-moderate patients in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Sudan, and Uganda.
The story quotes Dr John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention:
African countries have mounted an impressive response so far to Covid-19 and now is the time to prepare for future waves of the disease. It will help answer one of our most pressing questions: with limited intensive care facilities in Africa – can we treat people for Covid-19 earlier and stop our hospitals from being overwhelmed?”
You can read the whole piece here:
That’s it from me for now - my colleague Lucy Campbell will be on deck for the next hour.
Italy will get 16 million shots of the potential Covid-19 vaccine developed by British drugmaker AstraZeneca in the first months of 2021 under a supply deal agreed at a European Union level, Reuters repored.
This initial supply will immunize 8 million people as the AstraZeneca vaccine will require an initial shot followed by a booster, a government source told the agency.
Updated
Movie director Kambuzia Partovi, who scripted the only Iranian film to win a Golden Lion in Venice, died on Tuesday of the novel coronavirus, the Islamic republic’s film body said.
Partovi, one of the “most influential filmmakers of Iranian children’s cinema”, died in Tehran’s Dey hospital aged 64, the Farabi Foundation said in a message of condolence on its website.
In 2000, Partovi co-wrote “The Circle”, which tackles difficulties facing Iranian women. It was the first and so far only Iranian film to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
In 2013, Panahi and Partovi won the Silver Bear for best screenplay at the Berlin film festival for “Parde” (“Closed Curtain”), made secretly in defiance of a ban by the Tehran authorities.
Iran is the country worst-hit in the Middle East by the pandemic.
It has officially recorded 45,738 deaths and 880,542 virus cases, though some officials, including from the health ministry, have expressed concern that the real toll is likely to be higher.
In Spain, health minister Salvador Illa, outlined the government’s plans for the first round of vaccinations on Tuesday. He said the first people to get the vaccine would be carehome residents and staff, healthworkers, and those with serious disabilities.
The government hopes to vaccinate some 2.5 million people in those categories between January and the end of March next year.
Meanwhile, after the news that coronavirus had been found in mink in Poland, the acting head of Russia’s state fur company has told state TV that a vaccine that would work on the animals is being tested.
According to Reuters, he also noted that such action would be precautionary and said that Russia has no evidence as yet that the virus can be passed from mink to humans.
Updated
Here’s Andrew Roth and Shaun Walker’s full story on the Russian vaccine news mentioned earlier:
Airline revenues this year will plunge by 60% as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which threatens the survival of the industry, the International Air Transport Association has said.
“The Covid-19 crisis threatens the survival of the air transport industry,” with 2020 likely to go down in history as its worst year ever, IATA said.
It added that while airlines have been slashing costs by $1bn a day, grounding fleets and cutting jobs, they are still racking up huge and “unprecedented” losses.
The industry will likely chalk up net losses of $118.5bn, much worse than its June forecast for a loss of $84.3bn, IATA added.
Next year, the situation will improve but will still see airlines hit with a combined loss of $38.7bn, also worse than its previous estimate of $15.8bn.
“This crisis is devastating and implacable,” the IATA director general, Alexandre de Juniac said.
Updated
Limit of six people at Spanish Christmas gatherings
The Spanish government is planning to limit Christmas and new year gatherings to six people and to set a 1am to 6am curfew for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, according to a leaked document seen by several Spanish newspapers.
“With respect to family gatherings, we recommend they be limited to members of the same household. Should there be an external guest who does not usually live with the family, gatherings should include a maximum of six people and preventative measures must be followed,” says the draft.
Spain, which has been under a state of emergency since late October, is hoping to have what the government calls “a very substantial part” of the population vaccinated against the coronavirus by the end of March 2021, and will set up 13,000 vaccination points to facilitate the process.
It emerged on Monday night that King Felipe is self-isolating for 10 days after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19.
Updated
Coronavirus live news: summary of latest events
Here’s a summary of the major events of the last few hours.
• Germany’s 16 federal states plan to allow gatherings of up to 10 people for Christmas and new year festivities, and will set out their proposals in discussions with Angela Merkel tomorrow.
• Sweden’s health watchdog has reported “serious shortcomings” in Covid-19 care for residents of nursing homes where thousands of people have died.
• Cases of coronavirus have been found in mink farms in Poland, after similar findings in Denmark led the government there to announce a cull of the 15-17 million animals on farms there.
• Hong Kong will close bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues for the third time this year as authorities scramble to tackle a renewed rise in coronavirus cases.
• Japan plans to pause its domestic travel campaign in two cities following sharp rises in Covid-19 cases, the minister handling the government’s coronavirus response said on Tuesday.
• The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have claimed it has 95% efficacy and will cost less than $10 a dose internationally. Previous announcements from the Russian team have been met with scepticism.
Updated
An outbreak of coronavirus among mink in Denmark led the country to announce a mass cull of the 15-17m animals on fur farms there.
Now, for the first time, cases of novel coronavirus have been found in mink farms in Poland.
AFP reported that scientists at Gdansk Medical University said they had carried out tests for the Sars-CoV-2 virus on 91 mink from a farm in north-west Poland and eight of them had turned out positive.
“This is the first case of confirmed infection of farm animals with the Sars-CoV-2 virus in Poland,” the university said in a statement.
“The obtained results indicate the possibility of transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus from humans to mink,” it said, calling for mink farms to raise their biosecurity standards.
Poland is the world’s third largest fur producer after China and Denmark, according to animal rights groups which are campaigning for an end to breeding animals like mink for fur.
Updated
The European Union has reached a deal with US biotech firm Moderna for the supply of up to 160m doses of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, the president of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen has said.
The deal will be formally approved by the EU executive on Wednesday, Von der Leyen said.
Updated
Russian developers claim that Sputnik V vaccine has 95% efficacy
The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have claimed it has 95% efficacy and will cost less than $10 a dose internationally.
They also said the two-dose vaccine can be stored at between 2C-8C, instead of the temperatures below freezing required for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine can also be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
Previous announcements from the Russian team have prompted warnings from scientists internationally that they were being made prematurely without adequate data.
The latest calculations of the vaccine’s effectiveness were based on preliminary data obtained 42 days after the first dose, Russia’s health ministry, the state-run Gamaleya research centre and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement reported by AFP.
The statement said that 22,000 volunteers had been vaccinated with the first dose and more than 19,000 with both doses.
It added that the vaccine had shown 91.4% efficacy 28 days after the first dose, a figure based on 39 cases.Forty-two days later, after a second dose, data showed “an efficacy of the vaccine above 95%”.
The statement did not note the number of coronavirus cases used to make the final calculation, however.
The Sputnik V vaccine has not been universally trusted. EU leaders recently warned Hungary against importing the vaccine until it was authorised by the European Medicines Agency.
Svetlana Zavidova, the executive director at Russia’s association of clinical trials organisations, said of a previous set of promising results that the Gamaleya Insititute may have “looked at Pfizer’s results and just added 2%”.
Updated
'Serious shortcomings' in Swedish nursing homes, watchdog finds
Hi there – this is Archie Bland picking up the global liveblog, and starting in Sweden, where the country’s health watchdog has reported “serious shortcomings” in Covid-19 care for residents of nursing homes where thousands of people have died.
Nursing homes were ravaged by the initial wave of the coronavirus, prompting prime minister Stefan Lofven’s sombre admission in May that the country failed to protect its elderly.
Known for its rejection of lockdowns and masks, Sweden has suffered many times more Covid-19 deaths per capita than its neighbours – though fewer than countries such as Spain – a failure authorities have in part blamed on inadequate controls and care at nursing homes.
Reuters reports that Sofia Wallstrom, director general of the health and social care inspectorate (IVO), said: “In its investigation, IVO has identified serious shortcomings at regional level when it comes to the care provided to people living in nursing homes.”
The watchdog said none of Sweden’s 21 regions had taken sufficient responsibility for the treatment of infected nursing home residents, with a fifth of patients having received no individual assessment by doctors.
Nursing home residents account for nearly half of Sweden’s more than 6,400 deaths among Covid-19 patients.
The watchdog urged regional authorities to carry out measures to improve care and present them no later than 15 January next year and said it would be carrying out a further review of patient records.
Updated
And that’s it from me. Handing you over now to my inestimable colleague Archie Bland to take through the next few hours.
Prime minister Giuseppe Conte has warned Italians not to ski during the Christmas holidays to help curb a second wave of the new coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 in the country.
Italy’s ski resorts earn annual revenues of about €11bn, one third of which comes from the days Italians usually spend on the Alps and Dolomites at Christmas and new year.
But Conte said this year it would not be possible “to allow holidays on the snow. We cannot afford it.”
Italy reported 630 Covid 19-related deaths on Monday, becoming the sixth nation in the world to surpass 50,000 deaths, and the second in Europe after Britain. Many Italian regions are under partial lockdown to try to slow the outbreak, with restrictions due to stay in place until at least 3 December.
Most of the ski resorts are concentrated in the northern regions of Piemonte, Valle d*Aosta, Lombardy, Trentino, Alto Adige. In a desperate effort to keep their business alive, the regions have set a protocol that introduces restrictions on the number of passengers carried by ski lifts and on the daily ski passes.
“The protocol is one thing, but everything that revolves around holidays on the snow is uncontrollable,” Conte said late on Monday in an interview with La7 television.
Valeria Ghezzi, the president of the Italian lift association, told Reuters: “Conte should remember that an economy that supports entire mountain communities is at risk.”
Updated
South Korean delivery workers say the coronavirus boom has cast them into what they call a “legal blind spot”. They have told Reuters that it’s a deadly place to be as the coronavirus drives an unprecedented boom in online business.
Labour activists say they have compiled accounts from relatives of 14 people whose deaths this year they attribute to a system that means workers have to put in unreasonably long hours to make ends meet.
Labour minister Lee Jae-kap said this month delivery workers were paying the price for the explosive growth of the business and he promised help.
Parcel shipments surged 23% from February to October this year, compared with the same period last year, as the pandemic hit, according to government data.
But most of South Korea’s 54,000 delivery workers are hired under subcontracts that deny them the safeguards and benefits regular employees get.
Workers and union officials say legal loopholes leave them exposed to pressure to put in unsustainable hours – conditions, they say, that have contributed to deaths. There are 2.2 such workers, equivalent to 8% of the workforce, according to government data.
Following a public outcry over the recent deaths, the big logistics firms apologised for causing public concern and offered condolences to families of those who died. They also promised to ease the workload.
A spokesman for Hanjin said it would introduce annual check-ups for couriers and extra sorting staff from this month.
CJ announced a similar plan for health checks and more workers, a spokesman said.
Updated
More than 59.09 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,397,239 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
Click here for their interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus
Taiwan, Thailand, and increasingly Vietnam are showing the strongest recovery in the travel sector as most of the rest of the world still suffers under the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Agoda online travel platform.
Travel is recovering faster in Asia than in the west but most of it is domestic and located in countries where “they really have the best control over Covid,” John Brown, chief executive of the Booking Holdings subsidiary told CNBC.
While many of the Asian countries still have international travel bans in place or at least tough restrictions, their domestic travel business has been doing even better than the previous year, Brown said.
The Agoda executive pinned his hopes on the launch of travel bubbles, even though the highest-profile example, between Singapore and Hong Kong, was postponed for two weeks due to a surge in infections in the latter territory.
Despite the delay, he still expected the project to become a success and to inspire other cities and countries to introduce similar links.
Updated
The Hungarian airline Wizz Air has announced a Covid-19 testing partnership to allow its British passengers to take cheaper tests, Reuters is reporting, as a negative coronavirus certificate starts to re-open travel markets.
Wizz Air, whose primary market is in eastern Europe but increasingly serves western Europe, said on Tuesday that its passengers could pay £85 ($114) for a test before or after flying.
A negative test is a pre-requisite for some travel abroad and a rule change in England announced earlier on Tuesday means that a negative test after five days of quarantine means people do not need to spend 14 days in isolation.
That £85 cost is offered through a deal between the airline and partner, Confirm Testing, and is cheaper than the £110 cost without the Wizz discount.
Updated
Hong Kong to close bars and nightclubs amid renewed rise in cases
Hong Kong will close bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues for the third time this year, health secretary Sophia Chan said on Tuesday as authorities scramble to tackle a renewed rise in coronavirus cases.
Authorities are also reopening a temporary Covid-19 treatment hall near the city’s airport, Reuters are reporting.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong registered 80 new coronavirus cases, taking the total since late January to 5,782 Covid-19 infections and 108 deaths.
The Chinese-ruled financial hub has so far managed to avoid the widespread outbreak of the disease seen in many major cities across the world, with numbers on a daily basis mostly in single digits or low double digits in the weeks prior to the spike.
“There are multiple transmission chains in the community,” Chan told a news conference. “We need to tighten all social distancing measures, because the pandemic is severe.”
More than 180 of the latest cases have, however, been linked to dance clubs. Bars and nightclubs, as well as other types of venues such as karaoke and dance halls, will be closed initially for seven days until at least 3 December. They were first closed for several weeks in April and again from mid-July to mid-September, before restrictions were gradually eased again.
The latest jump in cases has caused a travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore, due to launch on Sunday, to be postponed for at least two weeks.
Updated
The South China Morning Post has posted a sombre video on Twitter about Covid-19 burials being delayed in US.
The bodies of 650 Covid victims in New York are still being stored in refrigerated trucks months after they died, the video explains. The trucks are parked at a makeshift morgue set up in April as the city’s death toll rose.
Many victims of New York’s first Covid-19 surge are still awaiting burial months after death. pic.twitter.com/SxfrkM5nrC
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) November 24, 2020
Bill de Blasion, the New York City mayor, has said: “Those who we lost, their families are still trying to determine the best way to provide services for them and just have been struggling because of the pandemic and other challenges. We’re trying to work with each and every family who are in that situation to make sure that they can have the right kind of services they want to have at the right time.”
The medical examiner’s office has been unable to contact some families of victims. In other cases, families of those who died cannot afford a proper burial.
In the US, at least 150,000 Covid-19 cases are being confirmed each day. The US remains the world’s worst-hit country by the pandemic. There have been 12,417,009 cases in total – and 257,657 deaths.
Updated
European shares gained on Tuesday after a possible easing of lockdowns in France added to a brighter mood created by encouraging developments related to coronavirus vaccines.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.8% at 0805 GMT, supported by gains in travel stocks and the oil and gas sector after global crude prices hit their highest levels since March.
France reported its lowest daily tally of Covid-19 infections since 28 September on Monday, with investors focused on a speech by President Emmanuel Macron later today when he is expected to announce a relaxation of lockdown rules.
Germany’s DAX rose 0.9%, with exchange operator Deutsche Boerse revealing that the blue-chip index will expand to 40 from the current 30 companies with tougher membership criteria.
Data showed Germany, Europe’s largest economy, grew by a record 8.5% in the third quarter but the outlook remains clouded by a second wave of virus infections and a partial lockdown to slow the spread of the disease.
Updated
Experts are voicing fears that Americans will ignore Covid-19 safety precautions over Thanksgiving, saying the the risk of a holiday spike is “extremely high”, putting greater stress on overburdened hospitals and leading to an even bigger rise in sickness and death after the holidays.
The nation is averaging 165,000 new virus cases per day, up over 70% in two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalisations, deaths and the testing positivity rate are also up sharply as the nation approaches Thanksgiving, say Associated Press.
In response, elected officials are imposing restrictions that, with some exceptions, fall short of the broad-based stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns seen in the spring.
Utah and Vermont have banned all social gatherings. So have local governments in Philadelphia and Dane County, Wisconsin. In Kentucky, no more than eight people from two households are permitted to get together; in Oregon, the gathering limit is six. California has imposed an overnight curfew. More states are requiring masks, including those with GOP governors who have long resisted them. The nation’s top health officials are urging Americans to avoid Thanksgiving travel.
Thanksgiving travel has been predicted to fall by at least 10%, which would be the steepest one-year plunge since the Great Recession in 2008. But that still means tens of millions of people on the road. On social media, people defiantly talk about their Thanksgiving plans, arguing that nothing will stop them from seeing friends and family.
The Russian deputy prime minister, Tatiana Golikova, has said the coronavirus situation is becoming more complicated with the onset of autumn and winter, Russian news agencies have reported.
Russia registered a record 25,173 new daily coronavirus infections on Monday as the Kremlin said it was up to regional authorities to decide what measures needed to be imposed in their regions to curb its spread.
Updated
More on the article below: the premiers of the states are due to discuss their plans with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday. The Berlin mayor, Michael Mueller, told ARD television he was confident the measures, agreed by the leaders late on Monday, would be adopted.
The premiers of two states also said there was broad agreement to extend a national “lockdown light” until 20 December to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, to make family gatherings over Christmas possible.
Germany closed bars, restaurants and entertainment venues on 2 November for a month. Schools and shops remain open while private gatherings have been limited to a maximum of 10 people from two households.
Under the new plans, private gatherings would be limited to a maximum of five people until the Christmas period. In addition, fireworks would be banned in public places on New Year’s Eve to avoid large numbers of people gathering.
But the relaxation over Christmas is aimed at bringing some relief to families.
Christmas and other end-of-year festivities should be possible as celebrations with family and friends even in this unusual year, albeit on a smaller scale,” the draft said.
The premiers also agreed to extend into December aid for firms hit by the restrictions introduced in November.
The daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 13,554 in the latest 24-hour period to 942,687, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Tuesday. The reported overall death toll was 14,361.
Updated
Germany could allow Christmas gatherings of up to 10 people
Germany’s 16 federal states plan to allow gatherings of up to 10 people for Christmas and New Year festivities, a draft proposal showed on Tuesday.
Reuters is reporting that the premiers of the states are due to discuss their plans with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday
Updated
An exhibition of press photos from across the world opened at a South Korean museum on Tuesday, offering visitors a glimpse of how the world is coping during the crisis.
The exhibition, titled At the Scenes of the Pandemic, features 120 photos taken by photographers at 47 news agencies around the world. It is taking place at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in central Seoul until 1 March.
The photos are split into four themes: A Beginning Without an End; Control vs Freedom; World in Standstill, Contact-free is New Norm; and Cooperation, Togetherness.
The photos taken in 70 cities around the world, from Prague to Marrakesh, portray how people are living their lives and engaging in acts of care and devotion despite the risks of infection and death.
Updated
The New Scientist is running a fascinating article on what it will take to get a Covid-19 vaccine to the world.
Once a vaccine is approved, the magazine points out, the race is on to overcome the biggest logistics challenge in history to distribute it around the globe.
The article looks past the hurdles of getting a vaccine is approved and distributed, and lands on a simple but easily overlooked fact: a vaccine by itself is useless. “Vaccines don’t save lives,” says Kelly Moore at the Immunization Action Coalition in the US. “Vaccination does.”
When a Covid-19 vaccine is approved, it will trigger a staggeringly complex chain of events. These events must occur in perfect lockstep using a global supply chain that needs to reach even the planet’s most remote areas – the same supply chain that left parts of the world in desperate need of things like disposable gloves and protective equipment just months ago.
“The scale and magnitude of what we’re talking about doing is just unparalleled,” says Orin Levine, director of vaccine delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The list of potential catastrophes has been keeping Levine up at night for months. But overcoming these logistical challenges is what it will take to end the pandemic. And “the key to overcoming complexity is planning and planning early”, says Levine.
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thank you for following along and thanks Ice T for this important message.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- International virus sleuths expected to go to China soon: WHO. The World Health Organization said Monday it had received reassurances from Beijing that international experts would soon be able to travel to China to help investigate the animal origins of Covid-19. “We fully expect and have reassurances from our Chinese government colleagues that the trip to the field... will be facilitated, and as soon as possible,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press briefing.
- The WHO also said Monday that avoiding family gatherings would be “the safest bet” over Christmas, insisting there is no zero-risk option for traditional holiday merry-making during the coronavirus pandemic.
- England to cut quarantine period for arrivals from abroad. Travellers arriving in England from abroad face a shorter spell in quarantine from mid-December if they test negative for coronavirus five days after their arrival, the UK government announced Tuesday. It hopes the new rules will revive the ailing travel industry, particularly aviation, which has suffered a steep drop in ridership because of restrictions imposed to fight the pandemic.
-
Japan’s government is preparing to pause its domestic travel campaign in two cities following sharp rises in Covid-19 cases, the minister handling the government’s coronavirus response said on Tuesday.
- Border restrictions ease in Australia. The border between NSW and Victoria (the worst affected state in the country) opened earlier this week, and this morning, Queensland has announced its barrier to NSW will come down on December 1. NSW and Queensland have been isolated for most of this year, the first time the country’s internal borders have been closed since the Spanish Flu.
- Daily Covid-19 cases in France at near two-month low. France reported 4,452 new Covid-19 infections on Monday, the lowest daily tally since 28 September, suggesting a second national lockdown is having an impact.
- UK aims to inoculate those most at risk from Covid by Easter. The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said he hoped almost all Britons at high risk from Covid-19 would be vaccinated against the disease by Easter. He also said people will not be forced to have vaccinations against Covid-19.
- Spain’s king self-isolating after virus contact. Spain’s King Felipe VI has started 10 days of quarantine after coming into close contact with someone who later tested positive for Covid-19, the palace said.
- Pope says anti-maskers stuck in ‘their own little world of interests’. Pope Francis has12taken aim at protests against coronavirus restrictions, contrasting them with the “healthy indignation” seen in demonstrations against racism after the death of George Floyd.
- New infections in Gaza spiralling out of control. The mounting number of coronavirus infections in densely populated Gaza is spinning out of control, Palestinian health officials warned. Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the health ministry “expects the worst if the epidemiological situation remains the same” citing “a health system at the end of its rope”, “severe drug shortages” and “extreme overcrowding”.
Global aviation body IATA, which represents many of the world’s major airlines, is developing a set of mobile apps to help passengers to navigate Covid-19 travel restrictions and securely share test and vaccine certificates with airlines and governments, it said on Monday. IATA plans to pilot the Travel Pass platform by year-end and deploy it for Android and Apple iOS phones in the first half of next year.
Passenger health and other data are not stored centrally but authenticated with blockchain, leaving consumers in control of what they share, IATA said. A new “Contactless Travel” app will combine passport information with test and vaccination certificates received from participating labs. It will also draw on global registries of health requirements and testing and vaccination centres.
Separately, Australia’s flagcarrier Qantas said it will insist in future that international travellers have a Covid-19 vaccination before they fly, describing the move as “a necessity”.
British ministers have been urged to set out plans to prevent travel chaos over Christmas as families race to see each other when Covid-19 restrictions are temporarily eased.
Boris Johnson is expected to detail a UK-wide relaxation of curbs on Tuesday to let a number of households gather for a period of up to five days, potentially starting from Christmas Eve.
On Monday the prime minister said families would need to make a “careful judgment” about visiting elderly relatives because “this virus is obviously not going to grant a Christmas truce – it doesn’t know it’s Christmas”.
Given the limited window for travel to see family, it raises the prospect of gridlocked roads and packed trains, risking further spreading of the virus. Planned railway upgrade works over the period could compound any problems.
Labour urged the government to come up with a plan to explain how the transport network would cope:
A brief but eruptive break from coronavirus news now – a group of geologists in Dunedin, New Zealand are hoping to reduce climate-damaging emissions by drilling deep into an extinct 11-million-year-old volcano below the South Island city to harness its heat:
In the UK, vaccines and wider testing will mean less reliance on social restrictions as the country returns to normal post-coronavirus, the government said.
PA: Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced proposals for the new tier system in England to replace the current lockdown on Monday, hours after the Oxford-AstraZeneca team announced its vaccine had proved 70% effective.
This followed similarly positive results from trials of a vaccine created by Moderna and another by Pfizer/BioNTech.
Under the Covid Winter Plan, published alongside Monday’s announcement, the Government warned a shift from economic and social restrictions to reliance on science “will not happen overnight”.
It added: “Recent developments on testing make it possible to reduce cases in the highest prevalence areas alongside the tiers. Together with the prospect of effective vaccines, these advances provide confidence that as we approach spring, life can begin to return closer to normal.”
The Government said it had secured access to more than 350 million doses of vaccines from seven developers between now and the end of 2021.
These include 100 million of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab and 40 million of the Pfizer/BioNTech innoculation.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 13,554 to 942,687, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday.
The reported death toll rose by 249 to 14,361, the tally showed.
India said on Tuesday it had recorded 37,975 new infections of coronavirus, with the daily increases, tallied by Reuters, remaining below the 50,000 mark for more than two weeks, having peaked in September.
The latest increase brought the total number of cases to 9.18 million, the health ministry said. Deaths rose by 480, with the total now at 134,218.
India has the second-highest number of cases in the world, after the United States.
Japan to suspend domestic travel campaign in two cities
Japan’s government is preparing to pause its domestic travel campaign in two cities following sharp rises in Covid-19 cases, the minister handling the government’s coronavirus response said on Tuesday.
Reuters: Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said he hoped a final decision on the temporary exclusion of western Osaka city as well as Sapporo in northern Japan could be made later in the day.
“Infections are spreading and medical care is becoming tense, so I think it’s good to act as soon as possible,” Nishimura told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Nishimura said the exclusion would initially be for three weeks, during which there would be a halt of new reservations under the programme.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Saturday the government would suspend new reservations under the Go To Travel programme for trips to hard-hit areas as new coronavirus cases have continued to rise nationally.
Suga has been attempting a balancing act of revitalising the hard-hit economy while keeping the spread of the coronavirus under control.
Osaka city reported 171 new cases on Monday after seeing a record 286 cases the previous day, a city official told Reuters.
Sapporo’s daily infection rate stood at 140 case
s on Monday, below a record 197 cases reported on Thursday last week, a city official said.
In Australia, the state of Queensland will reopen its border to Sydney residents in time for Christmas after the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced the state was “good to go” and travel restrictions will be relaxed from 1 December.
After months of pressure from the federal and NSW governments to lift border restrictions that have for months cut off greater Sydney from Queensland, Palaszczuk said on Tuesday that the restrictions would lift next Tuesday.
“We know how tough this has been on families. This is a great day. It’s exciting news,” Palaszczuk said.
“Queensland is good to go. We absolutely want to see our tourism industry continue to flourish and prosper.”
Residents of regional NSW have been allowed into the sunshine state since the beginning of November, but the newly elected Queensland government had insisted the border would remain closed to greater Sydney until it had recorded 28 days with no locally transmitted cases of Covid-19.
Tuesday marks 31 days since NSW last recorded a case with no known source:
But back to coronavirus news.
Andrew Cuomo won’t be having Thanksgiving with his mother after all, my colleague Maanvi Singh reports.
The New York governor had announced on Monday that he would be spending Thanksgiving with his 89-year-old mother and two daughters in Albany, New York, despite urging his constituents to refrain from gathering for the American holiday amid a rise in coronavirus cases.
But later in the day, his office issued a statement clarifying that “plans have changed” following a backlash.
“Given the current circumstances with Covid, [Cuomo] will have to work through Thanksgiving,” his senior adviser Rich Azzopardi told the Wall Street Journal’s Jimmy Vielkind.
Cuomo has been asking New Yorkers over the past few days to refrain from traveling or gathering with older relatives for Thanksgiving. “Next Thanksgiving, you’ll ask yourself: Did I do everything I could to keep my community safe?” he said, just on Sunday:
Hi, Helen Sullivan back with you on the blog.
I have been away doing something very important (looking for a picture of a shrimp in a towel), and was more successful than I could possibly have hoped to be: cartoonist Sara Lautman just drew one herself, after one could not be googled:
Seek a shrimp in a towel and ye shall find bc @saralautman is a god https://t.co/scGoDrT0yk pic.twitter.com/uD091IA3hp
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 24, 2020
Sarah Boseley and Ian Sample report:
The Covid vaccine developed in the UK by Oxford University and AstraZeneca can protect 70.4% of people from becoming ill and – in a surprise result – up to 90% if a lower first dose is used, results from the final trial show.
The Oxford vaccine is the third to produce efficacy results, following Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna whose vaccines were made with a different technology. Both of those reported almost 95% efficacy and Pfizer has applied for a licence in the US and UK.
Andrew Cuomo won’t be having Thanksgiving with his mother after all.
The New York governor had announced on Monday that he would be spending Thanksgiving with his 89-year-old mother and two daughters in Albany, New York, despite urging his constituents to refrain from gathering for the American holiday amid a rise in coronavirus cases.
But later in the day, his office issued a statement clarifying that “plans have changed” following a backlash.
China recorded 22 new Covid-19 cases on 23 November, up from 11 cases a day earlier, the national health authority said on Tuesday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that 20 of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. One local transmission was reported in Shanghai and another in Tianjin.
The Shanghai case together with a second one reported earlier in the city has been traced to a container from North America, which the two men cleaned when it arrived at an airport, according to the Shanghai Daily.
The commission also reported eight new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, compared with 10 a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 86,464, while the death toll remained at 4,634.
Mexico’s health ministry on Monday reported 7,483 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 250 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 1,049,358 and the death toll to 101,926.
Health officials have said the real number of infections is likely significantly higher.
South Korea’s delivery workers have fallen into what they call a “legal blind spot” and say it’s a deadly place to be as the novel coronavirus drives an unprecedented boom in online business.
Labour rights have made huge progress in South Korea over the past couple of decades but the couriers say they have seen little benefit.
“Work-life balance? That’s another world,” said Jeong Sang-rok, 51, a contract worker who delivers parcels for Hanjin Transportation, one of South Korea’s two big delivery companies.
Parcel shipments have increased 12% each year in South Korea since 2004 as online shipping grew, then surged 23% from February to October this year, compared with the same period last year, as the pandemic hit, according to government data.
The big delivery firms are enjoying strong profits. CJ Logistics reported a 21% rise in first-half operating profit and Hanjin Transportation posted a 35% increase. Those companies represent about a 64% of the delivery market.
Most of South Korea’s 54,000 delivery workers are hired under subcontracts that deny them the safeguards and benefits regular employees get.
Workers and union officials say legal loopholes leave them exposed to pressure to put in unsustainable hours - conditions, they say, that have contributed to deaths.
Labour activists say they have compiled accounts from relatives of 14 people whose deaths this year they attributed to a system that means workers have to put in unreasonably long hours to make ends meet.
One of those who died was Kim Won-jong who developed breathing difficulties at work. His father blamed the relentless demands of his job.
“He was running around, running around for 14 hours without time to eat,” his father, Kim Sam-young, said at a labour rally in October as he held a portrait of his son.
Another delivery worker, Seo Hyung-wook, suffered chest pains and breathing problems at work and died later of heart failure, his sister said. She too blamed the pressure of work.
One worker committed suicide after leaving a note about the hardships at work, a trade union said.
“Fifteen people already died, which is ironic, because we aren’t working to die but to live,” said Jeong.
Full-time workers in Asia’s fourth largest economy have a cap on weekly work hours, representation by powerful unions and holidays, under improvements over the past decade.
But delivery people and others working under subcontracts are regarded as self-employed and do not get the minimum hourly wage, nor overtime, and most have no insurance for on-the-job injuries.
There are some 2.2 million such workers, equivalent to 8% of the workforce, according to government data.
Belize’s Prime Minister Johnny Briceno has tested positive for Covid-19, and will remain in isolation for the following two weeks, after which he will be tested again, the prime minister’s office said in a statement on Monday.
Border restrictions ease in Australia
Hard borders are coming down across Australia’s populous east coast.
The border between NSW and Victoria (the worst affected state in the country) opened earlier this week, and this morning, Queensland has announced its barrier to NSW will come down on December 1.
NSW and Queensland have been isolated for most of this year, the first time the country’s internal borders have been closed since the Spanish Flu.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said health authorities in her state were satisfied it was safe to allow people from NSW to travel into the state.
Victoria, if it achieves another day of zero untraced community transmission tomorrow, is likely to have border restrictions lifted by Queensland (which imposes a rule of 28 days of no untraced community transmission).
Palaszczuk said she had let NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and Victorian premier Daniel Andrews know.
I hope this is welcome news. I think it’s great news in the lead-up to Christmas, but once again, that timely reminder for everybody: we need to make sure that we continue to keep up our social distancing.
In NSW, Berejiklian is under pressure after admitting she should have self-isolated after having a Covid-19 test. She said she did not change her schedule while waiting for her tests results, and met with people.
“In hindsight I should’ve closed my door and not had anything to do with anybody.”
She ultimately returned a negative test.
In South Australia, where a potential community cluster has been largely contained, the premier Steven Marshall said he intended to lift all restrictions on movement on December 1.
England to cut quarantine period for arrivals from abroad
Travellers arriving in England from abroad face a shorter spell in quarantine from mid-December if they test negative for coronavirus five days after their arrival, the UK government announced Tuesday.
It hopes the new rules will revive the ailing travel industry, particularly aviation, which has suffered a steep drop in ridership because of restrictions imposed to fight the pandemic.
Travellers arriving in England by air, ferry or train from December 15 will be able to end their quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19 at least five days after their arrival.
New arrivals currently have to self-isolate for 14 days.
Passengers will have to book a private screening and quarantine beforehand. Those who choose not to be tested will have to observe a two-week quarantine.
“Our new testing strategy will allow us to travel more freely, see loved ones and drive international business,” said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
“By giving people the choice to test on day five, we are also supporting the travel industry as it continues to rebuild out of the pandemic.”
The UK government sets transport policy for England. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own.
London changed course after seeing evidence that a test after five days of self-isolation “provides materially better results” than just having a test on arrival.
The new strategy is accompanied by a financial support plan for commercial airports in England.
Curtailed Christmas could be ‘safest bet’: WHO
The WHO said Monday that avoiding family gatherings would be “the safest bet” over Christmas, insisting there is no zero-risk option for traditional holiday merry-making during the coronavirus pandemic.
AFP:
World Health Organization officials said it was down to governments to weigh up the economic and social benefits of loosening pandemic restrictions over the festive period, while individuals would have to decide whether they might be putting more vulnerable relatives at risk.
Europe and the Americas are battling rising coronavirus caseloads that are pushing health systems to the brink, forcing governments to issue stay-at-home orders and close businesses heading into the crucial Christmas period.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said there were no “zero-risk” options.
“There’s lower risk or higher risk - but there is a risk,” she told a virtual media briefing.
“This is incredibly difficult because especially during holidays... we really want to be with family but in some situations, the difficult decision not to have that family gathering is the safest bet.”
She said everyone would have to take that decision for themselves, weighing up whether they could potentially be bringing the virus into the home of more vulnerable individuals with a higher risk of dying from the disease.
Van Kerkhove suggested that connecting virtually might be the way to go.
“Even if you can’t celebrate together this year, you can find ways to celebrate when this is all over,” the US expert said.
“We are doing that within our own family and we are going to have one heck of a celebration when this is all over.”
International virus sleuths expected to go to China soon: WHO
The World Health Organization said Monday it had received reassurances from Beijing that international experts would soon be able to travel to China to help investigate the animal origins of Covid-19, AFP reports.
“We fully expect and have reassurances from our Chinese government colleagues that the trip to the field... will be facilitated, and as soon as possible,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press briefing.
“We need to be able to have the international team join our Chinese colleagues... and look at the results and the outcomes of (their) studies and verify the data on the ground,” he said.
Ryan hailed the “tremendous amount of scientific investigation” done by the Chinese, but said international experts needed to go in “in order that the international community can be reassured about the quality of the science.”
“This is extremely important, and we are continuing to expect that that be the case.”
The WHO has for months been working to send a team of international experts, including epidemiologists and animal health specialists, to China to help probe the animal origin of the novel coronavirus pandemic and how the virus first crossed over to humans.
The UN health agency sent an advance team to Beijing in July to lay the groundwork for the international probe, but it has remained unclear when the larger team of scientists would be able to travel to China to begin epidemiological studies to try to identify the first human cases and their source of infection.
Scientists initially believed the killer virus jumped from animals to humans at a market selling exotic animals for meat in the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected late last year.
But experts now think the market may not have been the origin of the outbreak, but rather a place where it was amplified.
Summary
Hello and welcome to our rolling live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest global updates for the next few hours.
If you would like to say Hi, I’m on Twitter here.
The World Health Organization said Monday it had received reassurances from Beijing that international experts would soon be able to travel to China to help investigate the animal origins of Covid-19.
“We fully expect and have reassurances from our Chinese government colleagues that the trip to the field... will be facilitated, and as soon as possible,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press briefing.
“We need to be able to have the international team join our Chinese colleagues... and look at the results and the outcomes of (their) studies and verify the data on the ground,” he said.
Meanwhile the US suffered more than 10,000 deaths in the last seven days, according to Johns Hopkins. The death toll was 10,575.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- Daily Covid-19 cases in France at near two-month low. France reported 4,452 new Covid-19 infections on Monday, the lowest daily tally since 28 September, suggesting a second national lockdown is having an impact.
- UK aims to inoculate those most at risk from Covid by Easter. The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said he hoped almost all Britons at high risk from Covid-19 would be vaccinated against the disease by Easter. He also said people will not be forced to have vaccinations against Covid-19.
- Spain’s king self-isolating after virus contact. Spain’s King Felipe VI has started 10 days of quarantine after coming into close contact with someone who later tested positive for Covid-19, the palace said.
- Pope says anti-maskers stuck in ‘their own little world of interests’. Pope Francis has taken aim at protests against coronavirus restrictions, contrasting them with the “healthy indignation” seen in demonstrations against racism after the death of George Floyd.
- New infections in Gaza spiralling out of control. The mounting number of coronavirus infections in densely populated Gaza is spinning out of control, Palestinian health officials warned. Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the health ministry “expects the worst if the epidemiological situation remains the same” citing “a health system at the end of its rope”, “severe drug shortages” and “extreme overcrowding”.
Updated
