i_need_contribute
|
Country, |
Total |
New |
Total |
|
World |
96,604,747 |
+587,932 |
2,064,119 |
|
24,809,841 |
+174,378 |
411,520 |
|
|
10,596,442 |
+13,795 |
152,754 |
|
|
8,575,742 |
+63,504 |
211,511 |
|
|
3,612,800 |
+21,734 |
66,623 |
|
|
3,466,849 |
+33,355 |
91,470 |
|
|
2,938,333 |
+23,608 |
71,342 |
|
|
2,400,598 |
+10,497 |
83,157 |
|
|
2,399,781 |
+6,818 |
24,328 |
|
|
2,370,742 |
+34,291 |
54,173 |
|
|
2,071,473 |
+12,159 |
49,244 |
|
|
1,939,071 |
+15,939 |
49,402 |
|
|
1,819,569 |
+12,141 |
46,066 |
|
|
1,649,502 |
+8,074 |
141,248 |
|
|
1,443,804 |
+4,835 |
33,698 |
|
|
1,356,716 |
+9,780 |
38,288 |
|
|
1,342,134 |
+5,917 |
56,973 |
|
|
1,167,655 |
+3,939 |
21,046 |
|
|
1,073,214 |
+4,412 |
39,044 |
|
|
927,380 |
+10,365 |
26,590 |
|
|
921,580 |
+4,272 |
13,162 |
|
|
899,573 |
+7,644 |
14,750 |
|
|
719,751 |
+4,679 |
18,266 |
|
|
697,898 |
+2,745 |
17,369 |
|
|
679,771 |
+932 |
20,472 |
|
|
677,151 |
+3,401 |
17,573 |
|
|
609,852 |
+823 |
12,962 |
|
|
566,958 |
+10,455 |
9,246 |
|
|
565,629 |
+7,380 |
4,080 |
|
|
529,031 |
+702 |
7,942 |
|
|
523,011 |
+1,800 |
11,055 |
|
|
504,077 |
+1,350 |
9,978 |
|
|
461,390 |
+1,246 |
8,011 |
|
|
396,425 |
+1,486 |
7,199 |
|
|
375,799 |
+1,688 |
3,791 |
|
|
365,325 |
+226 |
6,335 |
|
|
353,276 |
+573 |
11,520 |
|
|
334,328 |
+6,034 |
4,548 |
|
|
316,427 |
+883 |
4,170 |
|
|
301,534 |
+2,173 |
4,864 |
|
|
267,992 |
+348 |
1,969 |
|
|
260,315 |
+4,359 |
2,020 |
|
|
260,223 |
+3,491 |
756 |
|
|
249,465 |
+1,550 |
2,973 |
|
|
232,568 |
+924 |
14,382 |
|
|
228,716 |
+1,356 |
1,601 |
|
|
227,696 |
+305 |
3,032 |
|
|
226,294 |
+1,909 |
3,637 |
|
|
225,648 |
+520 |
4,684 |
|
|
212,927 |
+544 |
8,614 |
|
|
196,591 |
+1,625 |
2,461 |
|
|
190,619 |
+724 |
1,837 |
|
|
188,733 |
+1,550 |
9,680 |
|
|
186,877 |
+861 |
2,477 |
|
|
184,483 |
+2,598 |
5,844 |
|
|
176,839 |
+1,996 |
2,708 |
|
|
170,098 |
+999 |
2,349 |
|
|
165,371 |
+3,631 |
619 |
|
|
164,912 |
+236 |
3,007 |
|
|
158,822 |
+578 |
950 |
|
|
158,174 |
+899 |
8,696 |
|
|
153,506 |
+394 |
3,282 |
|
|
153,093 |
+538 |
1,741 |
|
|
151,137 |
+1,690 |
3,231 |
|
|
150,277 |
+1,131 |
5,313 |
|
|
149,462 |
+537 |
5,518 |
|
|
147,729 |
+225 |
248 |
|
|
135,243 |
+448 |
2,986 |
|
|
134,938 |
+827 |
3,368 |
|
|
132,146 |
+135 |
1,516 |
|
|
131,727 |
+181 |
2,037 |
|
|
123,359 |
+771 |
2,535 |
|
|
121,117 |
+673 |
1,116 |
|
|
113,305 |
+1,301 |
1,464 |
|
|
110,465 |
+596 |
1,700 |
|
|
104,341 |
+249 |
2,843 |
|
|
99,308 |
+81 |
1,734 |
|
|
98,260 |
+320 |
362 |
|
|
89,392 |
+400 |
2,726 |
|
|
88,454 |
+118 |
4,635 |
|
|
83,268 |
+90 |
1,390 |
|
|
78,091 |
+55 |
620 |
|
|
73,115 |
+386 |
1,283 |
|
|
68,568 |
+586 |
1,287 |
|
|
59,456 |
+422 |
525 |
|
|
59,157 |
+30 |
29 |
|
|
58,431 |
+366 |
358 |
|
|
56,720 |
+812 |
1,012 |
|
|
56,228 |
+425 |
749 |
|
|
12,594 |
+171 |
70 |
|
|
7,709 |
+85 |
146 |
|
|
6,523 |
+72 |
52 |
|
|
1,540 |
+1 |
35 |
Retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
From CNN's Jessie Yeung
An aerial view of the construction site of the quarantine camp in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China, on January 19. Ren Quanjun/VCG/Getty Images
China is rushing to build a massive quarantine camp that can house more than 4,000 people, after an outbreak of Covid-19 this month that has left tens of millions of people under strict lockdown.
The quarantine camp is located on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei province, which surrounds the country's capital, Beijing.
China has largely contained the spread of the virus, with much of the country returning to normal. However, a sudden rise in cases has alarmed officials and raised concerns ahead of the Lunar New Year, the county's most important annual festival, during which hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel to visit family members.
Officials in Shijiazhuang, where the outbreak is centered, have initiated mass testing and strict lockdowns, moving entire villages into centralized quarantine facilities in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
The new quarantine camp will house close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 patients, as authorities continue an extensive contact tracing and testing program.
Quick build: The camp was originally planned to house 3,000 people, but has since been expanded to a capacity of 4,160. More than 4,000 construction workers performed "six days' and nights' work" to complete the first phase, said Shijiazhuang Deputy Mayor Meng Xianghong on Tuesday.
Authorities began construction on January 13 and the first section of the camp is now complete and ready for use, while construction continues on the second phase, according to state-owned broadcaster CCTV.
Each prefabricated room is expected to measure 18 square meters (around 194 square feet), and will come with an en-suite bathroom and shower, desks, chairs, beds, Wi-Fi, and a television set, according to CCTV.
From CNN's Paula Newton
The first doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine are brought in a cooler to Trillium Health Partners in Ontario, Canada on December 21, 2020. Steve Russell/Toronto Star/Getty Images
Frustration visibly boiled over with some Canadian leaders Tuesday as Pfizer told Canada that it would not receive any vaccine doses next week due to the continuing manufacturing disruptions at its facility in Belgium.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to reassure Canadians that the vaccine deliveries would pick up again in a few weeks and that the overall goal, to have every willing citizen vaccinated by September, would remain on track.
But it was Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford, who bluntly voiced the frustration of many provincial leaders as Pfizer continues to cut its vaccine delivery schedule to Canada.
“We got to be on these guys like a blanket. I’d be outside that guy’s house. Every time he moved, I’d be saying, ‘Where’s our vaccines?.' Other people are getting them, the European Union is getting them, why not Canada? That’s my question to Pfizer, we need your support,” said Ford during a news conference Tuesday.
Ford's plea to US President-elect Biden: Canada’s supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine comes from the European allotment and not from nearby manufacturing facilities in the United States after the Trump administration made it clear vaccines would not be exported.
“There’s a plant, a Pfizer plant, six hours away in Kalamazoo, Michigan with the Americans. My American friends help us out, we need help once again as we did with the PPE. You have a new President, no more excuses we need your support, and we look forward to your support and that’s a direct message to President Biden, “help out your neighbor’,” said Ford.
Ford made a direct plea to President-elect Biden for a million vaccines for Canada.
From CNN's Maggie Fox
A medical worker handles samples at an express Covid-19 testing lab at Vnukovo International Airport on January 12. Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/Getty Images
To date, 60 countries across all six World Health Organization regions have reported either imported cases or community transmission of the UK coronavirus strain -- 10 more than a week ago, WHO said in a news release Wednesday.
Among the countries which have reported cases of the variant first identified in the United Kingdom are the United States, Russia, Brazil, India and Spain.
US cases: On Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that at least 122 cases of a the UK variant have been identified in 20 US states.
This includes at least 46 cases in Florida; 40 in California; six in Colorado; five in Minnesota; four each in Indiana and New York; two each in Connecticut, Maryland, and Texas; and one each in Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
CDC said this does not represent the total number of cases circulating in the US, but rather those that have been found by analyzing positive samples. The agency cautions that its numbers may not immediately match those of state and local health departments.
While the variant, known as B.1.1.7, appears to spread more easily, there's no evidence that it's any more deadly or causes more severe disease, according to CDC.
Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-20-21/index.html
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, receiving his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, M.D., last month.Credit...Pool photo by Patrick Semansky
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, received his second dose of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday morning at the National Institutes of Health’s vaccination center, a Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman confirmed, drawing him closer to full protection against Covid-19.
Joining Dr. Fauci were Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, and Dr. Francis Collins, the N.I.H. director, who also received their second shots. Scientists are still working to determine how long protection from Moderna’s second dose — which follows the first after 28 days — will last. In a recent study, the company found that volunteers were still making high levels of antibodies three months after the second dose. But it is unknown what levels are needed to maintain immunity.
Dr. Fauci’s second dose came at a time when the country is struggling — with a limited supply — to get every available dose of Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines into the arms of health workers and older Americans.
Scientists at N.I.H. and Moderna are now analyzing data to see if they can double the supply of the vaccine by cutting doses in half.
Dr. Fauci and other government scientists have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the second dose as a way to achieve long-term immunity. At an event sponsored by the Harvard Business Review on Tuesday afternoon, he reiterated that, but said protection that people might get from a first dose is insufficient for providing fuller immunity.
He also struck an optimistic note, saying that the U.S. may have enough protection against the virus to achieve “some form of normality” by the fall. To get there, he warned that the country would need to adhere much more closely to public health measures and to successfully implement a vaccine program that can reach the vast majority of Americans.
Tuesday functioned as something of a wind-down for the Trump administration’s top health officials who will leave their roles on Wednesday, when President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is sworn in. Mr. Azar delivered a final “state of the department” address in the morning, listing what he viewed as the administration’s accomplishments in funding and developing vaccines and tests for the virus, and thanking the department’s employees for working long hours and weekends during the pandemic.
On Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to oversee his final meeting with the White House coronavirus task force, which Mr. Azar and Dr. Fauci are members of. Dr. Fauci will cross over into the next administration as the chief medical adviser to Mr. Biden.
As of Friday, about 10.6 million people in the United States had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and about 1.6 million people had been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is far short of the goal set by federal officials to give at least 20 million people their first shots before the end of 2020.
The government district in Berlin this month. Chancellor Angela Merkel was meeting with state governors on Tuesday about new lockdown rules.Credit...Lena Mucha for The New York Times
On Tuesday Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors announced an extension and tightening of Germany’s lockdown rules, partially in response to the highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that is currently causing a spike in infections in Britain and elsewhere.
“Now is the time to prevent the danger that lies in this mutated virus,” said Ms. Merkel. “It’s all a matter of precaution.” Although the new variant has been detected in Germany, it is not yet believed to have spread widely.
The current lockdown rules will be extended to at least mid-February, mask rules will stipulate that “medical” grade masks must be worn on public transport or in the few shops allowed to remain open, and working from home will be mandated where possible. Schools will generally remain closed, although some states will continue to offer voluntary in-person classes and most will provide emergency child care for parents working in essential service jobs.
Even without the risk of the new variant, Germany’s recent infection figures, now at 132 per 100,000 people over a week, is much higher than the goal of 50 per 100,000, which authorities say is the rate at which lockdown rules can be suspended.
As of Monday, the seven-day average number of cases in the country was 16,886, according to a New York Times database, slightly higher than when the national lockdown began at the beginning of November.
Separately, some German states are planning guarded mandatory quarantine centers for the very few who repeatedly disobey quarantine rules, according to an investigation by Die Welt am Sonntag, a national Sunday paper.
States like Schleswig-Holstein in the north, Brandenburg around Berlin and Baden–Württemberg in the southwest are preparing such mandatory quarantine sites in hospitals, refugee centers and a youth detention center.
However, since there are very few known cases of people who repeatedly flout quarantine and isolation rules and fines — which are imposed because someone either has Covid, has had close and prolonged contact with an infected person, or has come back from a high-risk foreign country — the states are only planning for a few sites.
Stella Kyriakides, the European Union’s health commissioner, speaking during a plenary session on E.U. global strategy on coronavirus vaccinations at the E.U. parliament in Brussels on Tuesday.Credit...Pool photo by John Thys
The European Union’s executive arm on Tuesday set ambitious Covid-19 vaccination goals for its 450 million citizens, after a sluggish start to its inoculation efforts.
The European Commission said that the bloc’s 27 member states should aim to have at least 80 percent of their citizens over the age of 80, as well as at least 80 percent of their health care workers, vaccinated by March, and at least 70 percent of the whole population vaccinated by this summer.
“We are racing against time, but not against each other,” said Stella Kyriakides, the bloc’s health commissioner. “And we’re all racing together as one team.”
The commission’s call comes as E.U. countries face a resurgence of coronavirus cases, turbocharged by emerging new variants, as well as the grim reality of prolonged lockdowns. E.U. leaders are due to meet by teleconference on Thursday to endorse the Commission’s proposals.
The commission also urged the bloc's national governments to update their testing strategies, which remain the competence of member states, and urged them to genome sequence more positive coronavirus test results: 10 percent of them, up from the current rate of below 1 percent. Genome sequencing helps quickly identify new variants, while also keeping track of the progress of known ones.
“If we do not act now with determination, we might not be able to contain the risk of a potentially harsh third wave,” warned Ms. Kyriakides. “The numbers are already worrying across the E.U., and hospitals are under a lot of pressure. We cannot be complacent.”
In order to salvage border-free travel across the bloc, the commission also opened the debate over using so-called vaccination certificates, which could permit easier travel for people who’ve been vaccinated. The concept has been advocated by Greece and other smaller states, which heavily depend on tourism, but opposed by several larger E.U. countries such as France.
The bloc intends to determine a common approach by the end of January. For the moment, the commission recommended that all nonessential travel be strongly discouraged. Traveling restrictions, as well as testing and quarantine rules, are currently the prerogative of national governments, and have resulted in a patchwork of chaotic measures across the continent.
Bethan McKernan Middle East correspondent
The White Helmets, created in 2014, grew out of local efforts at urban search and rescue in the aftermath of shelling and airstrikes. Photograph: Muhammad Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images
Syria’s White Helmets, who rescue victims from the rubble of airstrikes, have added making personal protective equipment to their efforts saving lives in areas of the country outside Bashar al-Assad’s control.
The civil defence service’s uniform-making unit has recently pivoted to manufacturing PPE with the help of a £1.17m award from a nonprofit organisation funded by the UK, US, Canadian and Dutch governments.
The local facility has already produced more than 2m masks, as well as protective gowns and face shields, and is handling the safe disposal of used PPE for north-west Syria’s vulnerable population of more than 3 million people.
“The Covid-19 pandemic was the most difficult challenge the White Helmets faced in 2020. We witnessed the spread of the virus in north-western Syria among humanitarian workers and medical personnel while the global pandemic made cross-borders logistics almost impossible,” said Munir Mustafa, the White Helmets’ deputy general manager for humanitarian affairs.
While doctors and humanitarian workers in Syria are still working at great personal risk to respond to and treat the disease, with the help of Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge, the White Helmets have been able to scale up community efforts to keep people safe from coronavirus.
“Our volunteers and fellow humanitarians, healthcare providers, and other essential workers are safer now [thanks to the project] and can together continue caring for Syrian civilians and responding to the pandemic,” Mustafa added.
The White Helmets, created in 2014, grew out of local efforts at urban search and rescue and first aid in the aftermath of shelling and airstrikes. Since then the organisation has managed to save more than 120,000 lives despite sustained disinformation campaigns from Assad and his Russian allies to discredit their work.
After 10 years of war, the White Helmets, along with millions of civilians afraid to return to regime-held areas, the remains of the Syrian opposition, Turkish-backed rebel forces and dangerous Islamist groups, are now crammed into the north-west corner of the country.
Healthcare facilities have been decimated in bombings and millions of people who have fled violence elsewhere are living in tents and other inadequate shelter, leaving the area particularly exposed to the threat of coronavirus.
North-west Syria largely escaped the health crisis that engulfed the rest of the world until the winter months, when cases and deaths began to spike. Around 500 cases a day are now being recorded, although the true figure is likely to be much higher because of inadequate testing facilities.
While much of the international community prepares for the arrival of vaccines, fears are high in north-west Syria that another bitter winter will exacerbate the number of Covid-19 cases and compound the area’s existing humanitarian crises: severe flooding killed a six-year-old boy and displaced 41,000 people from camps on Monday.
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/syrias-white-helmets-awarded-117m-to-make-ppe
Here are the key developments from the last few hours.
· UK coronavirus strain detected in at least 60 countries:, says WHO. The UK coronavirus strain has been detected in at least 60 countries, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, 10 more than a week ago. With the global death toll now well past two million, and new variants of the virus causing deep concern, countries across the world are grappling with how to slow infections until vaccines become widely available.
· Sadiq Khan: London missed out on early share of vaccine. A simplistic formula used to distribute coronavirus vaccines that did not take into account the size of GP practices has meant fewer people receiving one in London, according to the mayor, Sadiq Khan.
· The new South African strain has now been reported in 23 countries and territories, the WHO also announced in its weekly update. Like the UK strain, it is believed to be more infectious.
· North Korean defector numbers plunge amid pandemic. The number of North Koreans defecting to the South plummeted last year after Pyongyang closed its border in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Seoul’s unification ministry said Wednesday.The figure has been on a steady decline for some time but slumped to just 229 last year, the ministry said, far below the 1,047 of 2019.
· Beijing steps up Covid measures. China’s capital Beijing said on Wednesday it will investigate all individuals who entered the city from abroad from 10 December and shut down a subway station after reporting the biggest daily jump in new cases in more than three weeks.
· China’s National Health Commission said on Wednesday that a total of 103 new cases were reported on 19 January, down from 118 a day earlier. Northeastern Jilin province reported 46 new cases, however, setting another record in daily cases, while Hebei province surrounding Beijing reported 19 new cases. Beijing reported seven new cases, matching the total reported on 28 December.
· Joe Biden memorialised the more than 400,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19 during a vigil in Washington DC late Tuesday afternoon, as many Americans took to social media in collective mourning.
· Mexico reported its highest daily death toll since the coronavirus pandemic began, with 1,584 deaths confirmed Tuesday. There was also a near-record one-day rise in new virus cases of 18,894. Mexico has seen almost 1.67 million confirmed coronavirus infections and almost 143,000 test-confirmed deaths related to Covid-19. With the country’s extremely low testing rate, official estimates suggest the real death toll is closer to 195,000.
Medicine
