i_need_contribute
|
Country, |
Total |
New |
Total |
|
World |
77,707,334 |
+534,677 |
1,708,527 |
|
18,473,716 |
+200,109 |
326,772 |
|
|
10,075,422 |
+19,174 |
146,145 |
|
|
7,264,221 |
+25,621 |
187,322 |
|
|
2,877,727 |
+29,350 |
51,351 |
|
|
2,479,151 |
+5,797 |
60,900 |
|
|
2,073,511 |
+33,364 |
67,616 |
|
|
2,043,704 |
+19,103 |
18,351 |
|
|
1,964,054 |
+10,872 |
69,214 |
|
|
1,830,110 |
+7,503 |
49,260 |
|
|
1,547,138 |
+5,853 |
41,997 |
|
|
1,534,116 |
+19,333 |
27,297 |
|
|
1,518,067 |
+10,845 |
40,680 |
|
|
1,320,545 |
+6,870 |
118,202 |
|
|
1,207,333 |
+4,633 |
25,474 |
|
|
1,164,535 |
+6,151 |
53,816 |
|
|
998,475 |
+958 |
37,173 |
|
|
970,993 |
+6,545 |
16,665 |
|
|
930,711 |
+8,789 |
24,907 |
|
|
700,873 |
+11,168 |
10,519 |
|
|
671,778 |
+6,848 |
20,085 |
|
|
627,554 |
+3,387 |
10,507 |
|
|
625,930 |
+2,170 |
18,626 |
|
|
593,783 |
+2,489 |
14,481 |
|
|
587,488 |
+1,943 |
16,197 |
|
|
585,345 |
+1,200 |
12,710 |
|
|
515,314 |
+7,519 |
14,332 |
|
|
502,183 |
+1,470 |
7,312 |
|
|
461,505 |
+1,721 |
8,957 |
|
|
458,968 |
+1,792 |
9,392 |
|
|
418,002 |
+877 |
7,000 |
|
|
413,991 |
+10,002 |
6,781 |
|
|
378,259 |
+3,499 |
3,111 |
|
|
376,220 |
+2,099 |
6,191 |
|
|
361,178 |
+168 |
6,131 |
|
|
340,373 |
+1,519 |
5,435 |
|
|
305,130 |
+2,141 |
8,282 |
|
|
303,747 |
+3,685 |
2,733 |
|
|
277,448 |
+2,499 |
3,604 |
|
|
254,514 |
+742 |
1,795 |
|
|
214,038 |
+1,699 |
3,597 |
|
|
209,462 |
+824 |
2,140 |
|
|
206,329 |
+72 |
13,949 |
|
|
203,593 |
+1,505 |
2,253 |
|
|
198,523 |
+2,643 |
2,900 |
|
|
195,728 |
+766 |
3,257 |
|
|
194,652 |
+1,077 |
639 |
|
|
192,472 |
+1,277 |
6,765 |
|
|
175,416 |
+1,893 |
1,333 |
|
|
Dominican |
161,052 |
+666 |
2,385 |
|
159,893 |
+635 |
2,037 |
|
|
159,286 |
+1,182 |
1,294 |
|
|
154,065 |
+240 |
2,656 |
|
|
152,555 |
+1,219 |
1,618 |
|
|
150,023 |
+253 |
9,036 |
|
|
148,209 |
+230 |
922 |
|
|
147,236 |
+652 |
2,147 |
|
|
142,159 |
+158 |
243 |
|
|
137,632 |
+3,198 |
1,053 |
|
|
135,910 |
+703 |
2,777 |
|
|
132,867 |
+102 |
4,688 |
|
|
131,597 |
+525 |
4,257 |
|
|
127,931 |
+264 |
1,489 |
|
|
126,273 |
+718 |
7,130 |
|
|
123,945 |
+1,302 |
1,169 |
|
|
121,718 |
+1,031 |
4,199 |
|
|
120,348 |
+397 |
1,861 |
|
|
117,022 |
+162 |
3,027 |
|
|
116,982 |
+848 |
2,465 |
|
|
114,487 |
+2,130 |
1,039 |
|
|
110,513 |
+438 |
993 |
|
|
106,294 |
+395 |
2,379 |
|
|
100,612 |
+823 |
2,103 |
|
|
95,659 |
+456 |
2,675 |
|
|
95,327 |
+2,018 |
438 |
|
|
95,200 |
+640 |
1,369 |
|
|
94,614 |
+114 |
1,644 |
|
|
90,450 |
+168 |
350 |
|
|
86,852 |
+23 |
4,634 |
|
|
80,267 |
+725 |
2,158 |
|
|
79,254 |
+132 |
1,331 |
|
|
78,790 |
+356 |
1,227 |
|
|
78,434 |
+129 |
2,314 |
|
|
76,048 |
+115 |
612 |
|
|
58,432 |
+10 |
29 |
|
|
53,954 |
+98 |
333 |
|
|
53,425 |
+422 |
1,098 |
|
|
50,591 |
+926 |
698 |
|
|
44,582 |
+91 |
450 |
|
|
44,336 |
+431 |
405 |
|
|
44,284 |
+329 |
630 |
|
|
43,772 |
+295 |
1,257 |
|
|
5,583 |
+31 |
118 |
|
|
5,289 |
+382 |
60 |
|
|
5,176 |
+13 |
47 |
|
|
1,414 |
+1 |
35 |
Retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
From CNN's Chandler Thornton
A fire and rescue department member helps disinfect the facilities at Zoo Negara, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 19. Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua/Getty Images
Malaysia has signed an agreement with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for 6.4 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Tuesday, state news agency Bernama reported.
The country has now secured 40% of the supply needed to vaccinate its entire population of more than 32 million people.
Malaysia had previously signed agreements with COVAX and Pfizer for enough supply to vaccinate 30% of the population, according to Bernama.
The government is also negotiating with Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya to secure enough vaccines for 80% of the population -- or around 26.5 million people, Muhyiddin added in a video address.
Vaccine timeline: The prime minister said the government expects 1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be rolled out to target groups as early as February. Muhyiddin will be among the first individuals to receive Covid-19 vaccine injections, followed by frontline workers and high-risk groups, Bernama reported.
Malaysia has reported 95,327 total cases of Covid-19 and 438 deaths as of Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
From CNN Health’s Elizabeth Cohen
Pfizer and Moderna are testing their coronavirus vaccines to see if they work against the new mutated version of the virus that’s recently been found in the United Kingdom and other countries, according to company statements.
"Based on the data to date, we expect that the Moderna vaccine-induced immunity would be protective against the variants recently described in the UK," Moderna said in a statement.
"We will be performing additional tests in the coming weeks to confirm this expectation."
Pfizer said it is now “generating data” on how well blood samples from people immunized with its vaccine “may be able to neutralize the new strain from the UK.”
Pfizer and Moderna make the only two coronavirus vaccines that have been authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The novel coronavirus has mutated before, and both companies say they’ve found that their vaccines worked against other variations of the virus.
Some researchers who are examining the genome of the UK variant told CNN they have concerns that this variant’s mutations might possibly somewhat diminish the effectiveness of the vaccine.
“You could imagine some modest hit in vaccine efficacy, which wouldn’t be good, but I don’t think it would break the vaccine,” said Trevor Bedford, an associate professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
From journalist Angus Watson in Sydney
Four cases with the United Kingdom Covid-19 variant have been detected in Australia, the country's Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Monday.
"Even if someone from the UK came with that virus, and there have only been four so far, it would be controlled in the Australian context," he said at a news conference.
Kelly stressed that after assessing the risk of travel from the UK with a panel of medical experts, there was "no need for this to be a cause of us changing any of our arrangements here in Australia, or to be concerned about people coming from the UK."
The chief medical officer said that Australia had decided not to shut off transport links with the UK because it already had robust quarantine arrangements for international arrivals.
He described the quarantine rules as "our rings of containment, to protect the Australian public."
Strict immigration controls mean that only Australian citizens, permanent residents and people who reside in New Zealand have been permitted to travel to the country. International arrivals from places other than New Zealand need to spend 14 days in a state-run quarantine at their own cost.
Kelly said that medical experts in Australia had been monitoring mutations of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.
"There have been thousands of them. And there have been many mutations that have changed the particular part of the virus, the spike protein, that we're quite interested in because that's the way it enters cells. But none of them so far have really been of major concern."
Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-12-22-20/index.html
A market in Kandahar, Afghanistan, last month. Many Afghans have chosen to go about their daily lives as if Covid-19 does not exist.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
When the coronavirus pandemic first reached Afghanistan in March, the government struggled to shut down cities and persuade Afghans to wear masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing. The measures were haphazardly enforced for several weeks before citizens began to chafe under the restrictions.
Today, even as public health officials confirm a second deadly virus wave, Covid-19 is an afterthought. Afghans have embraced a culture of denial, where personal priorities triumph over public health experts whose pleas are drowned out by public apathy, skepticism and an enduring belief that Allah determines a believer’s fate.
“The mentality that Trump and his supporters have, it’s exactly the same for the Afghan people,” said Dr. Tariq Ahmad Akbari, until recently the head physician at Kabul’s only infectious disease hospital. “They think Covid is Western propaganda.”
But unlike in the United States, there is no political party or anti-government movement playing down the virus by spreading misinformation. Even the Taliban have distributed personal protection equipment and run public health information programs. They have allowed government health workers into areas they control, the health ministry said.
In cities across the country, people go about their daily lives as if the coronavirus never existed. Afghans cram into buses and taxis, eat shoulder to shoulder indoors in restaurants, pray in mosques, embrace in traditional Afghan greetings and cluster in sprawling bazaars.
On crowded city streets, few people wear masks. Ubiquitous public health posters warning of Covid-19 are routinely mocked as relics of a not-so-distant past when the coronavirus seemed terrifying and indomitable.
Afghans continue to contract the virus and die, but the scale of the epidemic is nearly impossible to measure. The Health Ministry’s reported coronavirus death toll is 2,074, with 50,677 positive cases, but Afghanistan’s testing capacity is severely limited — it has conducted just 180,000 tests since March. Its beleaguered health system cannot always distinguish Covid-19 from other causes of death in a country where disease and violence are endemic.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/21/world/covid-19-coronavirus/in-afghanistan-a-place-mired-in-war-the-virus-is-an-afterthought
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received the Covid-19 vaccine at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, on Saturday.Credit...Amir Cohen/Reuters
JERUSALEM — Israel said on Monday it would close its skies to foreign nationals on Wednesday and would require Israelis arriving from abroad to quarantine in government-run hotels, as part of an effort to keep a new mutation of the coronavirus out of the country. Local airlines were laying on extra flights to whisk Israelis back from vacations abroad before the new quarantine restrictions come into force.
Alarm over an outbreak of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus in Britain spread throughout Europe on Monday, prompting more than 30 countries to ban travelers from the country and suspend flights.
“We have, at the moment, a new pandemic that is spreading, with a virus which we do not yet know about,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding, “This mutation could also be coronavirus 2.” The decision to enforce new travel restrictions was difficult, Mr. Netanyahu said, “but we have no choice.”
With one main international airport in operation and a few land crossings that can easily be sealed, Israel is well placed to self-isolate as a country, though its first attempt in the early stages of the pandemic did not last very long.
People arriving from Britain were already being bused directly from the airport to government-run hotels where they will have to quarantine for up to 14 days. Beginning Wednesday, Israelis arriving from any country will also have to quarantine in the repurposed hotels.
While many countries have closed their borders to Israelis because of high infection rates, tens of thousands have traveled to Dubai this month and others are vacationing in the Seychelles. With many now wanting to beat the Wednesday deadline, local airlines said they were scrambling dozens of planes to bring them home.
Opponents of virus restrictions clashed with police officers outside the Oregon State Capitol on Monday, while legislators met for an emergency session.Credit...Brian Hayes/Statesman-Journal, via Associated Press
Armed protesters trying to force their way into Oregon’s State Capitol building on Monday were met by officers in riot gear, as lawmakers gathered for a one-day special session amid growing tension over coronavirus restrictions in the state.
The Oregon State Police declared the protest, which included dozens of people, an unlawful assembly, and officers fired pepper balls to drive the crowds away from the Capitol in Salem. Police arrested at least two people, including one person authorities said had used bear spray against officers. Later, some in the crowd smashed windows at an entrance to the Capitol.
Many in the crowd, which included people from far-right groups, carried weapons, wore body armor or held flags supporting President Trump.
Gov. Kate Brown had called a one-day special session of the Legislature to address issues related to the pandemic, including relief for landlords and tenants and funding for vaccine distribution, as well as efforts to address the state’s devastating wildfire season.
Protesters objected to restrictions imposed by Ms. Brown to limit the spread of the coronavirus, shouting about their impact on jobs and schools. “Arrest Kate Brown,” the crowd chanted at officers. One person carried a sign saying, “Politicians are the virus, revolution is the cure.”
Riot officers with batons, some wearing gas masks, later moved in large numbers to shove protesters out of an entranceway to the Capitol building. Many in the crowd yelled that they had long supported law enforcement officers, including at “Back the blue” rallies, but would no longer back them.
Oregon’s coronavirus infection numbers are at the highest point of the pandemic. Under the governor’s orders, many counties face mandatory restrictions, such as prohibitions on indoor dining at restaurants.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/world/oregon-coronavirus-protests.html
By Linah Alsaafin, Mersiha Gadzo and Jihan Abdalla
US President-elect Joe Biden receives a dose of a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a hospital in Newark, Delaware, US [Leah Millis/Reuters]
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. received the coronavirus vaccine on live television on Monday at the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del., sending a message to Americans across the country that the vaccine is safe to take.
“Left’s good,” he told the nurse practitioner who administered the vaccine, rolling up the sleeve of his black long-sleeve turtleneck and exposing his left arm. “You just go ahead anytime you’re ready.”
He credited the Trump administration for its work on Operation Warp Speed, which helped to deliver a quick vaccine.
“The administration deserves some credit getting this off the ground,” he said. “I’m doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it’s available to take the vaccine.”
Mr. Biden, however, warned Americans that vigilance in the coming months was still necessary.
“It’s going to take time,” he said, encouraging people to continue to wear masks and socially distance. “If you don’t have to travel, don’t travel,” he said. “It’s really important.”
He thanked health care workers, calling them heroes, and ended with an awkward elbow bump with Tabe Mase, the nurse practitioner who administered to him the first course of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, received the vaccine privately, earlier in the day on Monday, according to a spokesman, and joined him at the hospital.
Since March, Mr. Biden’s team has been taking public health guidelines about social distancing and masks seriously, as President Trump and his aides have willfully disregarded them. But even Mr. Biden’s more careful circle has been infiltrated by the virus. Representative Cedric L. Richmond, Democrat of Louisiana and one of Mr. Biden’s closest advisers, tested positive for the coronavirus last week, the transition team announced.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is expected to receive her vaccine after Christmas, a spokeswoman said, following advice from doctors who recommended Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris stagger their first shots rather than receive them together.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert who will also be Mr. Biden’s chief medical adviser, will be vaccinated at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at what the National Institutes of Health is billing as a “kick off” event showcasing Moderna’s vaccine, which received emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday.
Dr. Fauci’s vaccination has been long-awaited by public figures and health experts. Former President Barack Obama recently said that if Dr. Fauci endorses a coronavirus vaccine, that will be a signal to him that it is safe.
Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, all received the first dose of the vaccine on Friday.
Mr. Trump, however, has neither participated in nor supported the public health campaign to reassure vaccine skeptics worried about its dangers.
On Friday, he did nothing to promote Mr. Pence taking the vaccine, an event held at the White House that officials asked all of the television networks to carry live on TV for maximum exposure. Instead, Mr. Trump was tweeting out anti-mask claims minutes after Mr. Pence received his vaccine.
Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have defended his decision to put off his own vaccination, arguing that he still has the protective effects of the monoclonal antibody cocktail that was used to treat him for the virus in October.
But doctors have said it would set a good example to Americans who have recovered from Covid-19 that they still should receive the vaccine.
“We know that infection doesn’t induce a very strong immune response and it wanes over time,” Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser of Operation Warp Speed, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “So I think, as a clear precaution, it is appropriate to be vaccinated because it’s safe. I think people should be vaccinated, indeed.”
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/us/biden-coronavirus-vaccine.html
Here are the key developments – and UK flight bans – from the last few hours:
· UK freight plans to be released later today. Freight measures agreed by Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron will be announced later on Tuesday, the BBC reports, and will come into effect from Wednesday, according to French Europe Minister Clément Beaune. EU member states will also be meeting again to discuss a co-ordinated response.
· After months of Washington gridlock, Congress has passed a $900bn pandemic relief package, finally delivering long-sought cash to businesses and individuals as well as resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths. President Donald Trump is soon expected to sign the package into law.
· Antarctica, once the only continent not to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, has reportedly recorded its first confirmed cases. The 36 new infections are among people stationed at a Chilean research base and include 26 members of the Chilean army and 10 maintenance workers.
· Taiwan’s government on Tuesday reported its first locally transmitted case of Covid-19 since 12 April. The individual who tested positive for Covid-19 was a friend of a person who had already been confirmed to have been infected with the virus, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told a news conference.
· The US government is considering requiring that all passengers traveling from the United Kingdom receive a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of departure as a condition of entry, airline and US officials briefed on the matter said Monday.
· Virgin Atlantic to require negative Covid test. Starting on 24 December, the airline Virgin Atlantic will require proof of a negative coronavirus test for all passengers travelling from London to the US, the company announced.
· The Vatican has urged Catholics to get vaccinated against coronavirus and said it it “morally acceptable” to take vaccines that use cell lines from aborted foetuses. Cells derived from foetuses aborted decades ago have been used by some researchers working on vaccines against Covid-19.
· Ontario on Monday announced a province-wide shutdown because of a second wave of Covid-19 in Canada’s most populous province. The lockdown will be put in place for southern Ontario from 26 December until 23 January, but will lift for northern Ontario on 9 January. Ontario has had seven straight days of more than 2,000 cases a day.
· Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga reiterated on Tuesday that there was no need for the country to enter a national state of emergency, even as health groups declared their own state of emergency for the medical system as coronavirus infection rates continue to rise.
· South Korea on Tuesday moved to shut down all ski resorts and winter tourist spots in a bid to stop the novel coronavirus spreading as a third wave of the pandemic proves much tougher to contain in the densely populated region of the capital city.
· Australian state of New South Wales reports 8 new cases. In the Australian state of New South Wales, where residents are on edge as they await health restrictions – or the easing thereof – amid a new outbreak happening just before Christmas, eight new cases today, down from 15 yesterday.
· Denmark on Monday agreed on a temporary ban on mink breeding. The move by lawmakers retroactively creates the legal basis for its order to cull all mink in the country in November.
Medicine
