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Without festivities, with strong restrictions on movement and gathering, and without people on the streets, the new year is celebrated in various parts of the world. In Colombia, the Ministry of Health reported 16,314 new cases of coronavirus and 304 deaths this Thursday 31.
Today, December 31, the Ministry of Health reported 16,314 new cases of coronavirus and 304 deaths. With these figures, the country reaches a total of 1’642,775 confirmed cases since the pandemic began and 43,213 deaths. The number of people recovered is 1’508,419.
Without celebrations, the coronavirus forces a New Year’s Eve with many restrictions
Without festivities, with strong restrictions on movement and gathering and without people in the streets, on New Year’s Eve 2020 the year of the coronavirus will end, which has infected more than 80 million people and has left more than 1,770,000 dead .
In New York, the famous Times Square ball that traditionally greets the New Year will only have the company of the event’s production staff and a small group of essential workers as the authorities banned the public. The UK will spend Brexit New Year’s Eve under severe social restrictions to avoid contagion. France also deprived itself of the fireworks over the Eiffel Tower, which draw tens of thousands of people each year to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Instead, two great concerts have been called on social networks and on television. (You can see: The coronavirus leaves the world without New Years celebrations)
Moderna vaccine has an efficacy of 94.1%
2020 closes with good news. This December 30, an article that the scientific community was waiting for was published in The New England Journal of Medicine: the one that shows the results of phase III of the vaccine developed by Moderna.
In short, the publication notes that this vaccine, technically called mRNA-1273, is 94.1% effective. It is a hopeful announcement that the US FDA had already advanced a couple of weeks ago when it authorized its application in that country under “emergency use.” In fact, Kamala Harris, vice president-elect, already applied it this week. (You can read the full story here: Moderna vaccine has an efficacy of 94.1%)
WHO approves emergency use of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today its first authorization for emergency use of a vaccine against COVID-19, specifically the one developed by the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech.
The green light for the vaccine, which had already obtained this type of authorization in markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom or the European Union, is used for countries that do not have approval entities for this type of product, so it opens the door to its use especially in developing countries.
London reactivates a huge field hospital against coronavirus
The British public health service (NHS), under heavy pressure from the increase in the number of covid-19 patients, announced on Thursday the reactivation of a gigantic field hospital created in London in a hurry during the first wave of the pandemic in April.
The United Kingdom has registered a record number of infections in recent days, raising concerns that hospitals in some areas will be overwhelmed in the coming weeks.
This huge field hospital, installed in a congress center in the capital in less than ten days to cope with the increasing influx of patients during the first wave of the virus, opened on April 3.
Raised with the help of the army, it had an initial capacity of 500 beds, with the possibility of expanding to 4,000, the equivalent of 10 conventional hospitals. But it was used relatively little, in part due to the lack of available health personnel.
The Pope thanks health workers and teachers for their work in the pandemic
Pope Francis today thanked the health and teaching staff for their work during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, in a homily that was read by an Italian cardinal, who replaced him at the end of the year mass in the Vatican, as the pontiff suffers a painful sciatica.
Francis was scheduled to preside over the end of the year mass this Thursday at the Vatican, but was eventually replaced by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
The sciatica that Francis suffers, according to the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, also prevents him from presiding over the Mass tomorrow, January 1, New Year, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin will.
The pope, however, will pray the Angelus tomorrow, as planned.
