China ramped up its vaccination rollout and warned about a possible winter spike in infections as people travel and gather for holidays. In Japan, a state of emergency may expand to the nation’s second-biggest metropolitan region.
U.S. daily fatalities surpassed 4,000 for the first time and President-elect Joe Biden said he’ll distribute more of the available vaccine doses. New York state will begin to expand eligibility for the shots and Utah’s new governor signed an order to speed distribution. Los Angeles County and Maine broke records for deaths.
London’s mayor declared an emergency as the U.K. reported record fatalities. Germany also reported the most daily deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Key Developments:
- Global Tracker: Cases pass 88.6 million; deaths surpass 1.9 million
- Covid testing is slow to bounce back from holiday lull in U.S.
- U.S. jobs recovery falters as virus surge snaps hiring streak
- Automakers are losing production as virus disrupts chip supplies
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 18.9 million shots given worldwide
- Altering vaccine regimens endangers effectiveness, according to the EU regulator
- Africa is being left behind as vaccinations begin worldwide
- Iran banned U.S. and U.K. vaccines.
- Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on coronavirus cases and deaths.
Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo Ask Government for State of Emergency: Kyodo (2:53 p.m. HK)
Japan’s prefectures of Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo have asked the government to declare a state of emergency in their respective regions, Kyodo News reported.
The three prefectures would be additions to the current state of emergency that covers Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba.
The report comes after Tokyo found 2,268 new virus cases Saturday, just shy of a record. It reported 129 serious cases. Hokkaido found 215 new virus cases, according to broadcaster FNN.
Pedestrians cross an intersection in the Shibuya district of Tokyo on Jan. 8.
Photographer: Kentaro Takahashi/Bloomberg
Indonesia Tightens Domestic Travel Restrictions as Virus Spreads (12:41 p.m. HK)
Indonesia tightened domestic travel restrictions to control soaring coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia’s biggest hotspot, the country’s Covid-19 taskforce said in a statement.
The tougher rules apply from Saturday through Jan. 25, requiring travelers to take polymerase chain reaction or antigen rapid tests before traveling on inter-city or inter-provincial routes on an airplane, bus or ship, and include a ban on talking or using mobile phones.
Indonesia set a fresh record in new coronavirus cases for the third day in a row after the government warned of a spike in infections following year-end holidays.
China Has Administered More Than 9 Million Vaccine Doses (11:15 a.m. HK)
China has administered more than 9 million anti-coronavirus vaccine doses as the country braces for a possible increase in infections during the winter.
Some 7.5 million doses have been given since Dec. 15, officials told a briefing in Beijing. Vaccines are free for all citizens and the costs will be covered by the medicare fund and fiscal budgets, they said.
A health worker administers a Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine at a temporary vaccination centre in Beijing on Jan. 8.
Source: STR/AFP/Getty Images
China sees a bigger risk of the virus spreading in winter as people travel and gather for holidays, National Health Commission Deputy Head Zeng Yixin told reporters.
The vaccination roll-out is focused first on high-risk population groups because production capacity can’t keep up, Zeng said. Capacity is steadily ramping up now and it will enable administration of doses to the general public, he said, without giving a timeline.
Japan to Fine People With Virus Who Refuse Hospitalization (10:25 a.m. HK)
Japan aims to revise its bill on infectious diseases to allow imposing penalties on people infected with Covid-19 who do not respond to requests for hospitalization or treatment, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing the government.
The government is discussing a fine of about 1 million yen ($9,621) or less, it said. While the current law enables prefecture governors to force infected people to be hospitalized, there are no penalties against those who refuse or run away.
Mexico Says AstraZeneca Vaccine Components Arrive in 10 Days (8:52 a.m. HK)
The “active” components of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in 10 days after Mexico’s regulator approved it for emergency use on Monday, Foreign Relations official Efrain Guadarrama said on Twitter.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said last month that Mexico would get AstraZeneca vaccines March-April 2021.
Australia’s Queensland State Rushes to Test Passengers on Flight From Melbourne (8:42 a.m. HK)
Australia’s Queensland state is rushing to test passengers on a flight from Melbourne after a traveler tested positive for a U.K. strain of Covid-19 thought to be highly infectious.
The traveler was allowed to fly to the state’s capital Brisbane on Tuesday after exiting mandatory isolation in Victoria with no symptoms, South Australia, the state’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said. A re-test in Queensland showed the woman was still shedding the virus some 15-days after first testing positive in hotel quarantine when she returned from the U.K. on Dec. 26, Young told reporters Saturday.
“The risk is extremely low because she is right at the end of her potential infectious period, and with a normal variant, we would not be at all concerned,” Young said. “But because of this new variant, we are just being ultra cautious.”
Queensland state recorded no local transmission of the coronavirus overnight. Brisbane was placed into a three-day lockdown Friday to prevent an outbreak after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel in the city was infected with the U.K. strain. Victoria state recorded no new cases of local-transmission overnight, while New South Wales state recorded one new case, which is linked to a known cluster.
Los Angeles Deaths at Record 318, Hospitals Struggle (8:22 a.m. HK)
Los Angeles County, the nation’s most-populous, set a record for daily Covid-19 deaths with some 318 reported on Friday.
The sad numbers come two weeks to the day since Christmas, a day health officials feared would cause a bump in cases as families gathered for the holiday. The numbers are now almost twice the 170 people a day who typically die of all other causes.
An emergency medical technician (EMT) directs an ambulance outside the East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital in Los Angeles on Jan. 6.
Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg
Area hospitals have been struggling to cope with the new surge in cases, converting rooms for intensive-care patients, bringing in additional staff and canceling elective surgeries. LA’s county coroner said he was adding a second facility with refrigerated storage trailers to help cope with the increase in bodies.
Utah Governor Expands Vaccine Eligibility (7:54 a.m. HK)
Utah’s new Governor Spencer Cox signed an executive order to speed up vaccine distribution amid a post-holiday virus surge. Among other changes, teachers will be eligible to receive doses starting Monday, and the minimum age will be dropped to 70 from 75 on Jan. 18. “The virus doesn’t sleep,” he tweeted. “The virus doesn’t take weekends off. And neither should we.”
Florida Reports More Than 19,000 Cases for Second Straight Day (7:23 a.m. HK)
Florida reported 19,530 new infections, slightly fewer than the record set the previous day for the entire pandemic. Amid a renewed surge around the South, the state reported another 185 deaths among residents.
New York to Open Up Vaccines to People Over Age 75 (5:46 a.m. HK)
New York will begin providing coronavirus vaccines to people age 75 and older on Monday, expanding eligibility beyond health-care workers on the front lines.
Hospitals and pharmacies still must prioritize health-care workers, but if they have extra capacity, “fine,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a briefing Friday.
A pharmacist draws a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in New York on Jan. 5.
Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg
New York will also allow private doctors, ambulatory centers and pharmacies to provide vaccines in order to speed a slower-than-expected rollout, Cuomo said. Also Monday, police officers, firefighters, and other first responders will be able to get shots, along with educators, transit and public-safety workers.
Hospitals have increased distribution, but it’s not enough, Cuomo said. Only 23% of 2.1 million health-care workers have received shots so far. “We’re not pleased with the rate,” he said.
New York reported 18,832 new cases on Friday, breaking a record for the second consecutive day. Another 161 people died.
Canada Running Short of Vaccines (4:15 a.m. HK)
Justin Trudeau’s government sought to assure the public it’s trying to speed up delivery of vaccines amid pressure from health authorities who say they’re running low on shots.
Canada has ordered more doses per capita than any other country -- reserving at least 214 million shots for 38 million people -- and was the second country after the U.K. to approve the Pfizer vaccine. It has also authorized Moderna’s shot.
France Cases at Highest Level Since Autumn (3:29 a.m. HK)
France reported 19,814 new cases on Friday, pushing the 7-day average to 15,337, the highest level since late November. Deaths rose by 590 to 67,431. While the government has boasted France is doing a better job of controlling a resurgence of infections than neighbors, including the U.K. and Germany, daily cases are about triple a target set by President Emmanuel Macron before the country can start to ease restrictions.
A nurse administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Cavale Blanche hospital in Brest, western France on Jan. 8.
Photographer: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images
Iranian Leader’s Tweet Blocked (2:57 a.m. HK)
Twitter hid a tweet by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that suggested the U.S. and U.K. might intentionally contaminate vaccines and decreed a ban on importing them.
The tweet on Friday, which said “French vaccines aren’t trustworthy either,” was labeled a violation of Twitter’s rules.
Iran’s Supreme Leader said he was banning the import of coronavirus vaccines made by U.S. and U.K. companies, including Pfizer, amid a feud with western nations.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society has canceled plans to deliver 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine with the help of U.S. philanthropists. The nation reported 6,251 new cases, bringing the total figures to almost 1.3 million. The number of fatalities rose by 85 to 56,018.
Ireland Breaks Record, Finds Variant Strain (2:46 a.m. HK)
Irish authorities reported the most new cases on record and confirmed three cases of the so-called South African variant of the virus had been found in the country. The nation’s health ministry reported 8,248 cases on Friday, with 20 deaths. Genome sequencing showed the South African variant in three cases “directly associated with recent travel” from that country, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said. The government this week imposed the strictest lockdown level since March to control the virus, with hospitals in danger of being overwhelmed.
Biden Says He’ll Release More Vaccine In Gamble On Second Doses (2:09 a.m. HK)
President-elect Joe Biden says he’ll distribute more of the available doses of coronavirus vaccines, reversing the Trump administration’s practice of holding back second doses to ensure they’re available for people who’ve already had their first shot.
Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware on Jan. 8.
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
The move, announced by Biden’s office Friday and supported by a group of Democratic governors, is a response to the sluggish vaccine rollout. Coronavirus cases and deaths have been surging in the U.S. for months.
Spain, Portugal Cases Break Record (1:34 a.m. HK)
Spain’s health ministry reported 12,327 new cases on Friday, the most since the start of the pandemic. That compares with 6,498 reported Thursday. Health Minister Salvador Illa said Friday that cases would continue to rise.
Police control people’s movement at a checkpoint at the city limits of Barcelona on Jan. 7.
Photographer: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
In Portugal, there were 10,176 new cases in a day, more than the previous record announced on Wednesday. The total number of deaths rose by a daily record 118 to 7,590. The nation may have to tighten restrictions on movement next week as it tries to contain the spread of the pandemic, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said.
Berlin, Romania Confirm First Cases of Virus Variant (1:02 a.m. HK)
The first case of the more transmissible U.K. variant of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Berlin, city health officials reported. The affected person, who had traveled to the U.K., has recovered.
Romania also confirmed its first case of the new variant. The patient hasn’t traveled abroad, which suggests that the variant -- first identified in the U.K. -- is already active in the country, epidemiologist Catalin Apostolescu told B1TV.
London Crisis Plan Invoked as U.K. Daily Covid Deaths Hit Record (12:40 a.m. HK)
London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” in the U.K. capital as the country’s daily death toll reached the highest level since the start of the pandemic.
The U.K. recorded 1,325 deaths within 28 days of a positive test and 68,053 new cases on Friday, according to official data.
Khan warned the state-run National Health Service in London is at risk of being overwhelmed by a surge in the virus.
Under Threat
Surging Covid-19 cases in London hospitals are well above April peak
Source: Public Health England
Meanwhile, the U.K. cleared Moderna Inc.’s vaccine for emergency use, making it the third shot to get authorization, with 7 million doses expected to be delivered later in the year. It has previously approved vaccinations from Pfizer and AstraZeneca Plc-University of Oxford.
Maine’s Deaths and Infections Hit New Highs (11:44 p.m. HK)
Maine reported 782 new cases and 41 deaths on Friday, both records for the entire pandemic, state data show. The state also hit a record 202 hospitalizations, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Iceland Bucks Trend by Loosening Virus Restrictions (9:24 p.m. HK)
Iceland plans to ease Covid-19 measures from Jan. 13, with cases having dropped significantly from an October peak.
Changes include doubling the cap on public gatherings to 20, and looser restrictions for gyms, sports and cultural events. The health minister announced the moves following a meeting with the country’s top epidemiologist.
Italy Among Europe Nations Tightening Virus Curbs (8:52 p.m. HK)
Italy, where daily deaths rose to 620 from 414 Thursday, will tighten coronavirus restrictions in Milan and its surrounding area, as well as four other regions, to curb the accelerating spread of the pandemic. Bars and restaurants will have to close as part of the toughened rules, which come into force on Jan. 10.
Croatia extended similar restrictions until Jan. 31. Hungary and France have also prolonged virus curbs. Cyprus tightened restrictions, including a requirement for people to send a text message when they plan to leave home. Sweden will quickly implement a new law enabling mandatory shutdowns previously shunned by the government, while Greece is extending until Jan. 18 all national lockdown restrictions with the exception of kindergartens and primary schools.
EU May Approve AstraZeneca-Oxford Shot by Month End (8:25 p.m. HK)
The European Union could approve the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford by the end of January.
An application for authorization will likely be made next week, the bloc’s drug regulator said in a tweet Friday. The U.K. gave the first shots of the vaccine on Jan. 4 in a race against a faster-spreading variant of the virus.
U.S. Breaks Death Record for Second Straight Day (8:20 p.m. HK)
The U.S. topped 4,000 daily fatalities for the first time on Thursday, also breaking a record for deaths for the second consecutive day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
Another 277,475 new cases were reported nationally on Thursday, among the highest numbers for the entire pandemic, as states report of a surge of cases following the holidays. Hospitalizations also hit a record of 132,370, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Europe Doubles Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Supplies (6:30 p.m. HK)
The European Union has secured an additional 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, doubling the total available for the bloc’s 27 member states to 600 million.
Of the new orders, 75 million will be available next quarter and the rest will arrive in the second half, according to Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU’s executive arm. The EU has come under pressure from governments due to the slow roll-out of vaccination programs.
Germany Reports Record Daily Death Toll (2:45 p.m. HK)
Germany’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by the most since the pandemic began, topping 1,000 for a third straight day after Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the toughest months still lie ahead.
Fatalities have more than doubled since the start of December and increased by another 1,152 in the 24 hours through Friday morning, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Total infections rose by 45,333, close to the daily record of 49,044 on Dec. 31, to 1.89 million.
— With assistance by Reinie Booysen
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