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LONDON, December 18 – Coronavirus vaccine approvals and launches have brought comfort and joy to many this Christmas, but failed to stop new restrictions on travel and family gatherings as Covid-19 cases rise all over the world.
More than 73.68 million people are reported to be infected by the coronavirus worldwide and 1,655,424 have died, according to a Reuters tally, with the United States leading the number of deaths and infections.
A rapid rise in the United States is pushing hospitals to the brink, weeks after millions of people took to the air and the highways for the Thanksgiving holiday, and admissions rose to record levels for the 19th day in a row. .
Now, many countries are preparing for Christmas fever, with the travel plans of thousands of Australians thrown into chaos as states and territories imposed border restrictions after 28 cases of Covid-19 were detected in Sydney.
Large areas of England will be added to the Covid-19 level category of ‘very high alert’ this weekend, putting residents under the tightest curbs even as the government tries to advocate a plan to relax the curbs for five days in Christmas.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the tiered system is slowing the epidemic wave,” John Edmunds, a member of the government’s Emergency Scientific Advisory Group, told Sky News.
“I think we will have to look at these measures and maybe strengthen them.”
South Korea, lauded around the world for its handling of the pandemic in its early stages, reported 1,062 new cases today, its second-highest daily count, as the government agonized over tougher restrictions.
Austrians abroad were heading home early for Christmas ahead of new quarantine rules coming in tomorrow. The country will enter a third blockade after Christmas, the national news agency APA reported today.
‘There is no safe place’
Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset today will ask cabinet colleagues to close restaurants for a month, two newspapers reported.
The Spanish capital of Madrid, one of the worst Covid-19 hot spots in Europe at the start of the pandemic, has progressively reduced its spread without closing clubs or stores.
But with an average notification rate of 244 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past 14 days, the region has returned to the levels seen before the second wave began.
Lithuanian police were planning to set up barricades to enforce the closure.
“There is no safe place in Lithuania,” Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte told reporters last week.
As government leaders from around the world speak to their countries on how to fight the pandemic, US President Donald Trump has remained largely silent, and his critics accuse him of abrogating his responsibilities as that increase the cases.
French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday, prompting a track and trace effort across Europe following his numerous meetings with EU heads of government.
EU states will begin vaccinations against Covid-19 on December 27, as Europe tries to catch up with Britain and the United States after what some have criticized as a slow process of approval of the vaccines by the EU.
The European Union has been waiting for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve a vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE. The EMA is expected to make an announcement on December 21.
The US Food and Drug Administration will work “quickly” to grant emergency approval of Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 candidate vaccine, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said yesterday.
A panel of outside FDA advisers overwhelmingly supported emergency use of the vaccine, virtually guaranteeing a second option for protection.
Last week, the same panel endorsed the Pfizer vaccine, leading to an emergency use authorization from the FDA a day later. – Reuters
