Global virus toll surpasses 1.5 million as nations plan vaccine

The world passed the grim milestone of 1.5 million coronavirus deaths on Thursday as several nations planned to deliver long-awaited vaccines early next year to break the cycle of lockdowns and restrictions.

US President-elect Joe Biden said that on his first day in office he would ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days to help reduce transmission of the virus that is increasing again in the country with the highest number of deaths. and world infections.

“I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Only 100 days to mask, not forever,” Biden said in excerpts from an interview that will air on CNN Thursday afternoon.

But even as the latest positive news about a vaccine was announced, and Moderna’s candidate showed that it confers immunity for at least three months, several countries marked new records of COVID-19.

The United States, for example, recorded an all-time high of more than 210,000 new cases in a 24-hour stretch through Thursday night, meanwhile, recorded more than 2,900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

And Italy recorded 993 deaths, beating its previous record of 969 at the beginning of the year, when it was the first European country affected by the pandemic.

To build confidence in the vaccines after their approval, the 78-year-old Biden said he was willing to get vaccinated in public, following similar commitments from former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Biden also used the interview to say that he had asked the government’s top infectious disease specialist, Anthony Fauci, to join his COVID team and serve as chief medical adviser.

But in a sign of the tough job ahead, California announced new statewide bans on nonessential gatherings and activities, as hospitals in the nation’s most populous state face the overwhelming.

Vaxx hack

The pandemic shows little sign of slowing down, with more than 10,000 new deaths recorded worldwide every day since Nov. 24, a rate never before achieved, according to an AFP tally.

As the world tires of financially crippling restrictions, attention has turned to the race for a vaccine.

Britain on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for general use, putting pressure on other countries to quickly follow suit.

But Fauci said Britain “rushed” its approval process.

“In fairness to a lot of my friends from the UK, you know, they ran around the corner from the marathon and joined it on the last mile,” he told CBS News.

He later backed off on his comments, saying he was “very confident in what the UK is doing both scientifically and from a regulatory point of view.”

Also Thursday, a study showed that the Moderna vaccine, which was recently shown to be 94 percent effective, causes the immune system to produce potent antibodies that last at least three months.

In anticipation of the approval of such vaccines, France announced that its vaccines will be free and will begin in January for one million elderly in nursing homes, in February for 14 million people at risk and in spring for the rest of the population.

France was also mourning the latest high-profile figure to succumb to COVID-19, former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who died at the age of 94.

The Belgian government also said it intends to start vaccinating the most vulnerable in January.

But the hopes raised didn’t just attract the attention of governments: IBM said Thursday that hackers are targeting the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain.

The tech giant said it was “unclear” whether a series of cyberattacks it uncovered against companies involved in the effort to distribute doses around the world had been successful.

IBM could not identify who was behind the attacks, but said the accuracy of the operation points to “possible characteristics of the commercial art of the nation-state.”

‘The vaccine cannot undo the damage’

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that even if vaccines are approved quickly, the world will continue to fight the aftermath of the pandemic.

“Make no mistake. A vaccine cannot repair the damage that will spread over the years, even decades to come,” Guterres said, opening a special UN summit on the virus.

Guterres reiterated his call for vaccines to be considered a “global public good” that is shared around the world.

More than 180 countries have joined Covax, a global collaborative initiative of the World Health Organization to work with manufacturers to distribute vaccines equitably.

A reminder of the society-altering effects of the pandemic came again Thursday with a landmark announcement from studio Warner Bros., which said it will release its full list of films for 2021 on HBO Max and in theaters simultaneously.

But some British football fans received a reminder of the days before the pandemic when Arsenal welcomed a crowd of 2,000 for Thursday’s Europa League victory over Rapid Vienna.

It was the first time in 270 days that fans re-entered a Premier League field.

© 2020 AFP