Total Covid-19 cases
View charts and mapsConfirmed
98,317,142Deaths
2,109,584US to add South Africa to entry ban list
James Politi in Washington
The US is imposing an entry ban on foreign citizens who have recently been in South Africa and is set to reimpose travel restrictions on citizens from many parts of Europe and Brazil, an administration official said on Sunday.
The South Africa move was motivated by concerns about the new coronavirus strain in the country.
“We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa,” Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, told Reuters on Sunday.
The Europe and Brazil restrictions were lifted under former president Donald Trump days before he left office.
Philippines to ease stay-at-home curbs
George Russell in Hong Kong
The Philippines will allow people aged 10-65 to leave their homes for nonessential reasons from February 1 under a lifting of some coronavirus restrictions.
Failure to relax age restrictions for people who can leave their residences risks an “economic deterioration”, said a spokesman for Rodrigo Duterte, the country's president.
Harry Roque, Mr Duterte’s chief spokesman, said the decision by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases “forms part of the overarching goal of reopening the economy, thus promoting recovery”.
Mr Roque said allowing school-age children to leave their homes would be different from letting them attend face-to-face classes, a decision on which has not been reached.
Russian hospital admissions at 3-month low
George Russell in Hong Kong
Russian health authorities say hospital patients are at a near three-month low, although mortality rates continue to rise.
The official Tass news agency said on Monday that there had been 21,127 new cases identified in the previous 24 hours.
Russia has recorded a total of 3,719,400 Covid-19 cases.
Moscow confirmed 4,203 new cases in the city and surrounding region, while 2,929 coronavirus cases were recorded in St Petersburg.
There are 518,178 active cases in Russia, Tass reported, but only 125,697 patients are undergoing treatment in hospital, the lowest level since early November.
The mortality rate grew to 1.87 per cent, up from 1.79 per cent at the end of 2020.
Portugal’s president wins pandemic-hit election
Peter Wise in Lisbon
Portugal’s centre-right president was re-elected to a second five-year term on Sunday after a campaign fought amid one of the world’s worst outbreaks of coronavirus.
Exit polls by three national broadcasters gave Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a former leader of the opposition Social Democrats, 55-62 per cent of the vote, enough to win an outright victory without having to face a runoff ballot.
Ana Gomes, a member of the governing Socialist party running as an independent, was projected to win 13-17 per cent, the second-largest share of the vote.
Read more here
Canadian researchers say they find an oral remedy
A woman wears a mask as she crosses boulevard René-Lévesque in Montreal
George Russell in Hong Kong
A team of Canadian researchers believe they have found the first oral weapon against Covid-19 in a drug already used for other diseases.
Colchicine, a remedy for gout, is the first “effective oral drug to treat out-of-hospital patients”, said Jean-Claude Tardif, director of the Montreal Heart Institute and professor of medicine at the Université de Montréal.
A study showed that colchicine tablets reduced the risk of death or hospitalisation in patients with Covid-19 by 21 per cent, compared with a placebo.
“Our research shows the efficacy of colchicine treatment in preventing the ‘cytokine storm’ phenomenon,” said Prof Tardif, referring to the immune system overreacting to inflammation and releasing potentially deadly molecules.
Hedge fund warns of blow from new strains
Eric Platt in New York
Investors and policymakers are failing to grasp how deeply the new variant of coronavirus will damage the European economy, Element Capital, one of the world’s largest macro hedge funds, has warned.
Expectations for economic growth need to be cut as the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant spreads beyond UK borders, and lockdowns across the continent could extend months beyond current estimates, the fund’s head of markets Colin Teichholtz said in an interview.
“What you are seeing in the UK today you will see over much of continental Europe, and I don’t think markets [and] . . . policymakers are really grasping that,” Mr Teichholtz said.
Read more here
Australia approves first Covid-19 vaccine
George Russell in Hong Kong
Australia’s drug regulator said on Monday it has approved a Covid-19 vaccine, giving a two-year provisional nod to Pfizer Australia for its Comirnaty product.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the first to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
“Following a thorough and independent review of Pfizer’s submission, the TGA has decided that this vaccine meets the high safety, efficacy and quality standards required for use in Australia,” the regulator said in a statement.
TGA said approval is subject to “certain strict conditions”, such as the requirement that Pfizer continue providing information on longer-term efficacy and safety from “ongoing clinical trials and post-market assessment”.
The regulator said Comirnaty has been shown to prevent Covid-19 but it is not known whether it prevents transmission or asymptomatic disease.
Germany tightens borders over surges
People place candles at a makeshift memorial for Covid-19 victims in Berlin’s Arnswalder Platz on Sunday
Erika Solomon in Berlin
Germany tightened entry restrictions on Sunday for visitors from almost 30 countries with particularly high infection rates or dangerous virus variants, making tests mandatory before entry.
High-risk areas include the US, the neighbouring Czech Republic and several holiday destinations such Portugal, Spain and Egypt.
The new regulations will make cross-border travel in Europe increasingly more difficult, as many countries across the continent grapple with high infection rates and fast-spreading coronavirus mutations.
The tightening comes as the EU faces criticism over its vaccine campaign, from slow rollouts to production bottlenecks.
To bolster Germany’s response, Jens Spahn, health minister, told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that Germany would be the first EU country to purchase monoclonal antibodies, the same treatment used on former US president Donald Trump.
Berlin spent €400m to purchase 200,000 doses of the drug, which helps prevent the disease from taking a more severe course when administered early to infected patients.
Boohoo set to acquire Debenhams brand
Jonathan Eley in London
Online fashion retailer Boohoo is set to acquire the Debenhams brand in a cut-price deal that will result in the closure of the group’s remaining department stores, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction.
They said that a transaction could be announced in the next few days.
Debenhams went into administration in December last year after the enforced store closures that formed part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the group’s already-fragile finances.
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Locked-down Hong Kong area reopens transit
Health workers walk along a street in the Hong Kong neighbourhood of Jordan
George Russell in Hong Kong
Transport links have been resumed in a busy area of Hong Kong caught in the Chinese city’s first lockdown of the pandemic, requiring thousands of residents to stay home and undergo compulsory testing in an effort to control an outbreak.
The government said on Monday that stops for buses and minibuses, as well as car parks, had been reopened, as it had concluded testing a day earlier. “With the cooperation of the residents under restriction … the exercise finished earlier, at midnight of January 25.”
Authorities have been concerned about a surge in cases in densely populated city blocks around Jordan, an area of the Kowloon peninsula including the well-known Nathan Road.
In a statement on Monday, the government said “outbreaks in the district remained severe”, prompting the decision to require residents in the affected area to undergo compulsory testing.
Chicago schools delay return of teachers
George Russell in Hong Kong
Chicago teachers and other staff will not return to school until Wednesday, although the city plans to still reopen its education system to students on February 1.
They were originally expected to return on Monday to prepare schools for resuming in-class learning for tens of thousands of kindergartners to eighth-graders.
The delay follows a vote by the Chicago Teachers Union on Sunday to continue working from home on Monday because of health and safety concerns.
The CTU and the nation’s third-largest school system have been at odds over how and when to reopen schools during the pandemic.
“It’s our goal to reach an agreement with CTU as soon as possible,” the Chicago Public Schools agency wrote on Twitter.
“While we agree ... on many aspects of a smooth expansion of in-person learning, our discussions are ongoing.”
US hospital admission rates ease as new cases decline
George Russell in Hong Kong
US states recorded a total of 114,000 people in hospital, significantly down from the 131,000 recorded two weeks ago.
The most recent Covid Tracking Project data reported 174,000 cases, and 3,577 deaths, down from 189,000 cases and 3,980 deaths the previous day.
The weekly view showed a 21 per cent fall in new cases, with more modest falls in hospital admissions and deaths.
There are 113,609 hospital patients with Covid-19, almost twice as many people as at the peak of the previous two surges, but admissions are “dropping very quickly”, the CTP said in its weekend analysis.
“The drop we’re seeing now is very encouraging, although we’re still seeing almost three times as many new cases each day as we did at the summer peak,” CTP added. “The number of people currently hospitalised ... declined by more than 10 per cent from a week ago in 24 states.”
Testing totals are at about 2m per day. “Tests are slightly down, possibly because most of the backlogs have now been resolved,” the analysis noted.
Among the hardest-hit states, California recorded 22,972 new cases and 593 deaths. Texas identified 13,717 new cases and 407 fatalities. New York reported 12,720 new cases and 160 deaths.
Pandemic price rises rampant on Amazon, says study
Dave Lee in San Francisco
Hundreds of the essential products that have come to define pandemic living have sustained significant price increases on Amazon this year, with some jumping to many multiples of their original price, research suggests.
Analysis published by the US Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organisation, looked at 750 “essential” items sold on Amazon’s marketplace, comparing their pre-pandemic prices to what customers paid for them by the end of 2020.
The items monitored ranged from essential products such as face masks and toilet paper to those that have become suddenly popular in lockdowns such as computer monitors.
Read more here
Bolsonaro approval falls to 26% as virus rages
Drivers gesture during a protest against Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president, in São Paulo on Sunday
George Russell in Hong Kong
The approval rate for the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president, has fallen 11 points — the biggest weekly drop since he was elected in 2018 — to 26 per cent, a poll has shown.
The joint poll by Exame Research, an investment analysis unit, and Ideia, a research institute, showed greater disapproval rates for the president among those with higher income and education.
A surge of coronavirus cases in Manaus, the gateway city to the heart of the Amazon, and a delayed vaccine rollout have undermined support for Mr Bolsonaro, according to the poll, published in the business magazine Exame.
The president maintains significant support in the country’s centre-west — the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul as well as the Brasília federal district — and among evangelical Christians.
“The dynamics of the serious problems in Manaus, together with the lack of perspectives on a vaccination schedule and the end of emergency aid, are the main factors that lead to the drop in popularity of the president,” Maurício Moura, founder of Ideia, told Exame.
News you might have missed …
Joe Biden’s administration has taken its first steps to revive the flagging US economy but warned the moves were “not a substitute” for a large stimulus package, as it increased pressure on Congress to pass a $1.9tn Covid-19 relief bill. Mr Biden on Friday signed two executive orders to broaden access to food stamps and unemployment benefits.
US equities slipped on Friday as euphoria over Mr Biden’s spending plans gave way to concerns that the final package may be pared down in order to pass through Congress. On Wall Street, the blue-chip S&P 500 slipped 0.3 per cent, the first time in a week that the index has closed lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, traded flat.
Switzerland’s drug regulator said it has received 42 reports of suspected adverse reactions in connection with Covid-19 vaccinations. “So far this analysis has not resulted in any change in the positive benefit/risk ratio of the vaccines,” the federal council said in a statement. Switzerland has approved both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
New Zealand has instituted a “one-way travel bubble” with the coronavirus-free Cook Islands, a self-governing Pacific Island territory. Cook Islanders will now be able to skip quarantine requirements on Auckland-bound flights after a 10-month pause, enabling family reunions with the 60,000 islanders who work in New Zealand.
The Carnival cruise ship Panorama is docked in Long Beach, California
Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator, has extended its suspension of all US departures until the end of April and cancelled its Australian operations until mid-May in response to rising Covid-19 cases around the world. It has also cancelled European cruises on its Carnival Legend ship and pushed back the launch of its Mardi Gras ship.
Morgan Stanley’s chief executive, James Gorman, will receive $33m in total compensation for 2020, a 22 per cent increase over 2019’s $27m. In a regulatory filing, the US investment bank said 2020 “was a record year ... in terms of financial performance and in terms of advancement of the firm’s long-term strategic goals”, despite the global pandemic.
Shares in GameStop went on a wild ride on Friday, surging nearly 80 per cent after the struggling US video games retailer found itself at the centre of a battle between short-sellers and amateur online traders. The company, which has struggled for sales in the pandemic, has been a favourite of day traders, which has helped double the value of the stock since the start of the year.
UK bowling alley chain Hollywood Bowl has endured a bruising pandemic. Its chief people officer Melanie Dickinson has sold £181,420 worth of shares “for the purpose of settling personal tax liabilities”. This follows chief executive Stephen Burns, chief financial officer Laurence Keen, and their spouses offloading a little over £800,000 worth of shares.
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