Live Coronavirus News Updates – The New York Times

Britain, struggling to include an outbreak of what officers mentioned was a extra contagious variant of the coronavirus, discovered itself more and more remoted on Monday as nations raced to ban vacationers from the nation, suspending flights and slicing off commerce routes.

France imposed a 48-hour suspension of freight transit throughout the English Channel, leaving hundreds of truck drivers stranded of their autos on Monday because the roads resulting in England’s ports have been became parking heaps. A few quarter of all meals eaten in Britain is produced within the European Union. Stocks slid on the news.

The fast sequence of occasions and escalating variety of international locations that all of the sudden closed their borders was paying homage to the early frenzied days of the pandemic, when worldwide journey floor to a halt. Whereas most international locations directed their restrictions on Britain, Saudi Arabia went even additional in making an attempt to halt the variant from gaining traction, asserting a one week ban on all worldwide journey, in response to the Saudi Press Company.

European Union leaders deliberate to satisfy on Monday to plot a “widespread doctrine” for coping with the variant’s risk. And Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain was planning to convene the federal government’s emergency committee.

The French transportation minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, mentioned on Twitter on Monday that France was working to “arrange a sturdy well being protocol” enabling site visitors leaving Britain to renew however that it was unclear how quickly such an answer may very well be discovered.

The disruption comes at a time of heightened uncertainty, with site visitors on the ports already swelling earlier than the Dec. 31 Brexit deadline. With time working out for a commerce deal, Mr. Johnson and his European counterparts proceed to have interaction in frantic last-minute negotiations.

The swift motion taken by France and different nations mirrored the alarm sparked by the British authorities’s announcement {that a} new variant of the virus was spreading uncontrolled in London and surrounding areas.

Mr. Johnson, talking to the nation on Saturday night time as he announced draconian restrictions on movement, mentioned that the variant had been proven to be 70 p.c extra contagious than different variants.

Viral mutations are not uncommon, and British officers mentioned this variant had been detected in a handful of different international locations. The estimate of better transmissibility for the variant is predicated on modeling and has not been confirmed by lab experiments, mentioned Muge Cevik, an infectious illness professional on the College of St. Andrews in Scotland and a scientific adviser to the British authorities.

“Over all, I feel we have to have a bit of bit extra experimental information,” she mentioned. “We will’t solely rule out the truth that a few of this transmissibility information could be associated to human conduct.”

British officers mentioned there was no cause to consider that the brand new variant triggered extra critical sickness.

Even with a lot concerning the variant unsure — together with how broadly it was already circulating all over the world — nations wasted no time in in search of to primarily quarantine England.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Eire, Italy and the Netherlands all introduced restrictions on journey inside hours of Mr. Johnson’s speech. Poland mentioned it could droop flights between the 2 international locations beginning Monday night time.

Past the European Union, Canada, India, Iran, Israel and Russia have been among the many locations issuing their very own restrictions.

Hong Kong on Monday additionally closed its borders to travelers from Britain, saying all passenger flights from the nation can be barred beginning at midnight. The ban shall be prolonged for the primary time to Hong Kong residents, in addition to transit passengers who spent greater than two hours in Britain over the previous two weeks.

Sophia Chan, Hong Kong’s well being secretary, acknowledged that the journey ban comes as many college students are returning to Hong Kong for the vacations. “Now we have by no means imposed such extreme restrictions on any area up to now, however the variant in Britain is spreading so quickly that it’s obligatory to dam the unfold of this mutation from its supply,” she mentioned at a information convention.

As well as, anybody who arrived in Hong Kong from Britain up to now three weeks shall be required to quarantine for a further week and submit additional samples for testing.

In the US, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York urged the federal authorities to take motion, saying that “proper now, this variant within the U.Okay. is getting on a aircraft and flying to J.F.Okay.,” whereas additionally acknowledging that it could be too late. The State Division mentioned that its journey advisory for Britain remained unchanged at Stage 3.

A week after planes and trucks carried the first Covid-19 vaccine across the United States, inching a weary public toward hope, the second was shipped to sites around the country. The Moderna vaccine, like Pfizer’s, requires two photographs, spaced weeks aside. The Meals and Drug Administration authorized its emergency use on Friday.

The rollout comes because the virus reveals no indicators of abating in the US — components of California are all the way down to their last I.C.U. beds and a few hospitals in different states are at or over capability — or all over the world, as a brand new mutation prompted chaotic lockdowns in Britain and bans on travel from the United Kingdom in lots of international locations.

The numbers are nonetheless as excessive and alarming as they’ve ever been: At the least 317,800 people have died in the US, greater than anyplace on the earth.

Most of the first vaccine photographs went to well being care employees. Becoming a member of them Monday shall be residents and workers members of hard-hit nursing homes, set to start inoculating their residents by way of Walgreens or CVS this week, a part of a deal struck with the federal authorities. These services have felt the brunt of the pandemic: At the least a 3rd of the nation’s deaths have been reported in nursing houses and long-term-care services, and plenty of residents have been remoted from family members for a lot of the yr.

The 2 vaccines, from Moderna and from Pfizer and BioNTech, have been developed and authorized on a historic timeline and promised to nations all over the world. Britain has already begun vaccinations, beginning a number of days earlier than the US. The European Union’s drug authority, the European Medicines Company, granted authorization on Monday for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The European Fee, the bloc’s govt arm, was anticipated to rubber-stamp the choice later within the day, paving the way in which for hundreds of thousands of doses to be transferred by Pfizer to all 27 European Union member states.

On the similar time, a big portion of individuals in the US have mentioned they will not get vaccinated. Partially to influence the general public of the protection of the vaccines, some world leaders have broadcast themselves getting the injections.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the most recent, scheduled to get vaccinated on Monday. He and his spouse, Jill Biden, will obtain their photographs throughout a reside tv occasion in Delaware. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will get vaccinated after Christmas, a spokeswoman mentioned. Medical doctors advisable Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris stagger their first photographs reasonably than obtain them collectively.

Monetary markets reeled on Monday, as a brand new, fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus led to the suspension of some commerce and journey ties with Britain and a brand new lockdown in London.

Shares in Europe have been sharply decrease, together with power costs and the British pound. On Wall Avenue, the decline was tempered barely by the information that lawmakers reached a deal on a $900 billion stimulus package, which is anticipated to incorporate $600 stimulus funds to hundreds of thousands of People and strengthen unemployment advantages, and will cross each homes of Congress as quickly as Monday.

The S&P 500 fell about 1 p.c in early buying and selling, with shares of cruise strains, airways, and different corporations whose companies have been hardest hit by journey restrictions and virus-containment efforts faring significantly poorly.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 2.7 p.c, with economically delicate monetary and power shares main the decline. The FTSE 100 in Britain fell 2.7 p.c, whereas the FTSE 250, which incorporates corporations which can be extra oriented to the British economic system, declined 3.6 p.c. Vitality costs fell, with crude oil futures down about 4 p.c.

Over the weekend, nearby countries shut their borders to vacationers from Britain — and a few instances, British freight — as London and the encompassing space have been put into a lockdown after the federal government’s well being secretary mentioned a brand new pressure of the coronavirus was “uncontrolled.”

The British pound fell in opposition to all different main currencies. It declined 1.8 p.c in opposition to the greenback, the sharpest one-day fall in 9 months. The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and France have been amongst international locations to ban vacationers from Britain. France additionally stopped freight imports from Britain, a transfer that can worsen border disruptions and has raised issues concerning the provide of contemporary meals.

The extra contagious variant of the virus is anticipated to imply social restrictions will last more in Britain, presumably many months whereas the vaccine is being rolled out. Analysts at Berenberg, a personal financial institution, lower their forecast for the British economic system early subsequent yr, saying it was prone to develop solely 3 p.c within the first quarter, down from 5.5 p.c.

Nonetheless, merchants centered on the US had some excellent news to contemplate. The congressional spending bundle is anticipated to incorporate a lot of the parts that economists have lengthy mentioned have been essential to avoiding additional calamity and aiding a restoration. It extends unemployment advantages for hundreds of thousands vulnerable to dropping them, and provides cash to their checks to assist pay their payments. It revives the Paycheck Safety Program, which stored many small companies afloat final spring.

China is getting ready to vaccinate 50 million individuals in opposition to the coronavirus earlier than Feb. 15, the Lunar New Yr vacation when tons of of hundreds of thousands of individuals are anticipated to journey, in response to a Chinese language vaccine professional.

China’s Nationwide Well being Fee set the formidable goal with provincial officers in a teleconference with them on Dec. 15, Tao Lina, a vaccine professional primarily based in Shanghai and a former immunologist with town’s Heart for Illness Management and Prevention, mentioned in a phone interview. He cited data given to him from officers who have been on the decision and minutes of the assembly that have been offered to him. The Nationwide Well being Fee didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Mr. Tao mentioned the 50 million determine was an estimate primarily based on an preliminary evaluation of the “key inhabitants targets” that might be first in line for the vaccines. He added that the provinces have been within the means of tallying the full variety of individuals. This month, the federal government mentioned that it was prioritizing health care professionals, pilots, people who work in the food import industry and others at an elevated threat for contracting the virus.

China has not disclosed security and efficacy information for any of its 5 vaccines which can be in late-stage testing, however officers say a number of are on observe for authorization. The state-run firm Sinopharm, which has two vaccines in late-stage trials, has utilized to China’s regulators for approval. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain just lately authorized a vaccine made by Sinopharm after an early evaluation discovered that it was efficient.

The fast rollout in China may trigger some discontent amongst people who find themselves reluctant to be vaccinated. Mr. Tao mentioned he knew of a number of medical employees who weren’t desperate to be inoculated as a result of they have been nervous concerning the novel photographs. A few of them are additionally much less afraid of contracting Covid-19 as a result of the pandemic seems to have been principally stamped out in China, he mentioned.

In different international developments:

• Gatherings of greater than 5 individuals shall be banned in South Korea’s capital area as an elevated step to suppress what the authorities name an “explosive” surge in coronavirus infections, The Related Press reported. The area across the capital, Seoul, is dwelling to half of South Korea’s 51 million individuals and has been on the middle of a latest viral resurgence. . The performing mayor of Seoul, Website positioning Jung-hyup, mentioned on Monday that the ban would apply to any kind of gathering, together with year-end events, workplace dinners, birthday celebrations and picnics. Solely weddings and funerals can observe the present rule of not more than 50 individuals.

After congressional leaders struck a long-sought agreement on a $900 billion pandemic aid bundle, lawmakers in each chambers on Monday will race to finalize legislative textual content and ship the measure to President Trump’s desk earlier than authorities funding lapses.

An settlement in precept was reached late Sunday afternoon, hours earlier than a midnight deadline to keep away from a authorities shutdown. With extra time wanted to rework their settlement into legislative textual content, each chambers needed to approve a one-day stopgap spending invoice, giving them a further 24 hours to finalize the deal.

Lawmakers may have only a few hours to evaluation the tons of of pages of textual content that can embody about $2.3 trillion in aid laws and a catchall omnibus to maintain the federal government funded for the rest of the fiscal yr. However after months of gridlock and debate, each chambers are anticipated to approve the spending measures on Monday and ship them to the president for his signature.

The $900 billion settlement is about to offer $600 stimulus funds to hundreds of thousands of American adults incomes as much as $75,000. It might revive lapsed supplemental federal unemployment advantages at $300 every week for 11 weeks — setting each at half the quantity offered by the first pandemic relief package in March.

The ultimate proposal will even embrace $69 billion for the distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine and greater than $22 billion for states to conduct testing, tracing and coronavirus mitigation packages.

The settlement can be anticipated to:

• Proceed and develop advantages for gig employees and freelancers, and prolong federal funds for individuals whose common advantages have expired.

• Present greater than $284 billion for companies and revive the Paycheck Safety Program, a well-liked federal mortgage program for small companies that lapsed over the summer season.

• Develop eligibility underneath that program for nonprofit organizations, native newspapers and radio and TV broadcasters and allocate $15 billion for efficiency venues, impartial film theaters and different cultural establishments devastated by the restrictions imposed to cease the unfold of the virus.

• Present $82 billion for faculties and faculties, $13 billion in elevated diet help, $7 billion for broadband entry and $25 billion in rental help.

• Lengthen an eviction moratorium set to run out on the finish of the yr.

When the coronavirus pandemic first reached Afghanistan in March, the federal government struggled to shut down cities and persuade Afghans to put on masks, wash their palms and observe social distancing. The measures have been haphazardly enforced for a number of weeks earlier than residents started to chafe underneath the restrictions.

As we speak, whilst public well being officers affirm a second lethal virus wave, Covid-19 is an afterthought. Afghans have embraced a tradition of denial, the place private priorities conquer public well being consultants whose pleas are drowned out by public apathy, skepticism and a permanent perception that Allah determines a believer’s destiny.

“The mentality that Trump and his supporters have, it’s precisely the identical for the Afghan individuals,” mentioned Dr. Tariq Ahmad Akbari, till just lately the pinnacle doctor at Kabul’s solely infectious illness hospital. “They suppose Covid is Western propaganda.”

However not like in the US, there is no such thing as a political celebration or anti-government motion taking part in down the virus by spreading misinformation. Even the Taliban have distributed private safety tools and run public well being data packages. They’ve allowed authorities well being employees into areas they management, the well being ministry mentioned.

In cities throughout the nation, individuals go about their each day lives as if the coronavirus by no means existed. Afghans cram into buses and taxis, eat shoulder to shoulder indoors in eating places, pray in mosques, embrace in conventional Afghan greetings and cluster in sprawling bazaars.

On crowded metropolis streets, few individuals put on masks. Ubiquitous public well being posters warning of Covid-19 are routinely mocked as relics of a not-so-distant previous when the coronavirus appeared terrifying and indomitable.

Afghans proceed to contract the virus and die, however the scale of the epidemic is almost not possible to measure. The Well being Ministry’s reported coronavirus demise toll is 2,074, with 50,677 optimistic instances, however Afghanistan’s testing capability is severely restricted — it has carried out simply 180,000 exams since March. Its beleaguered well being system can not all the time distinguish Covid-19 from different causes of demise in a rustic the place illness and violence are endemic.

As People rejoice the rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine, lots of the docs and nurses first in line for inoculation say a victory lap is untimely.

They worry that the optimism stirred by the vaccine will overshadow a disaster that has drawn scant public consideration in latest months: the alarming shortage of non-public protecting tools, or P.P.E., that has led frontline medical employees to ration their use of the disposable gloves, robes and N95 respirator masks that scale back the unfold of an infection.

At St. Mary’s Medical Heart in Duluth, Minn., well being care employees who deal with Covid-19 sufferers are required to reuse their tightfitting respirator masks as much as six instances earlier than throwing them away. Though dirty N95s are sterilized every day with ultraviolet gentle, Chris Rubesch, 32, a cardiac nurse, says the masks invariably sag after two or three shifts, leaving gaps that may permit the virus to seep by way of.

“Our days are full of worry and doubt,” Mr. Rubesch mentioned. “It’s like driving a automotive with out seatbelts.”

Most of the shortages are the results of skyrocketing international demand, however provide chain consultants and well being care suppliers say the Trump administration’s largely hands-off approach to the manufacturing and distribution of protecting gear over the previous 9 months has worsened the issue. That has left states and hospitals to compete for restricted provides. Worth gouging has turn out to be the norm, and scores of determined establishments have been duped into shopping for counterfeit merchandise.

President Trump has made solely sparing use of the Defense Production Act, a Korean Battle-era regulation that permits federal companies to coordinate the distribution of scarce items and power corporations to prioritize authorities orders. The D.P.A. may also present grants to corporations that need assistance ramping up manufacturing.

With the White Home largely disengaged from the crisis, medical employees, provide chain specialists and public well being consultants are urging President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to make good on his campaign promises to make use of the Protection Manufacturing Act to increase domestic manufacturing of non-public protecting tools, take a look at kits, vaccines and the medical provides wanted to immunize tons of of hundreds of thousands of People. They’re additionally hoping the incoming administration will take over the distribution of scarce items and put an finish to profiteering and the mad scramble for P.P.E. that has pitted states and deep-pocketed hospital chains in opposition to nursing houses and small rural hospitals.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and the incoming first girl, Jill Biden, are set to obtain the coronavirus vaccine on reside tv on Monday in Delaware, sending a message to People throughout the nation that the vaccine is secure to take.

Since March, Mr. Biden’s crew has been taking public well being tips about social distancing and masks severely, as President Trump and his aides have willfully disregarded them. However even Mr. Biden’s extra cautious circle has been infiltrated by the virus. Consultant Cedric L. Richmond, Democrat of Louisiana and one in every of Mr. Biden’s closest advisers, examined optimistic for the coronavirus final week, the transition crew introduced.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is anticipated to obtain her vaccine after Christmas, a spokeswoman mentioned, following recommendation from docs who advisable Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris stagger their first photographs reasonably than obtain them collectively.

Vice President Mike Pence, Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Mitch McConnell, the bulk chief, all acquired the primary dose of the vaccine on Friday.

Mr. Trump, nevertheless, has neither participated in nor supported the general public well being marketing campaign to reassure vaccine skeptics nervous about its risks.

On Friday, he did nothing to advertise Mr. Pence taking the vaccine, an occasion held on the White Home that officers requested all the tv networks to hold reside on TV for max publicity. As an alternative, Mr. Trump was tweeting out anti-mask claims minutes after Mr. Pence acquired his vaccine.

A few of Mr. Trump’s advisers have defended his resolution to place off his personal vaccination, arguing that he nonetheless has the protecting results of the monoclonal antibody cocktail that was used to deal with him for the virus in October.

However docs have mentioned it could set a very good instance to People who’ve recovered from Covid-19 that they nonetheless ought to obtain the vaccine.

“We all know that an infection doesn’t induce a really robust immune response and it wanes over time,” Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser of Operation Warp Pace, mentioned on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “So I feel, as a transparent precaution, it’s acceptable to be vaccinated as a result of it’s secure. I feel individuals ought to be vaccinated, certainly.”

Citing poor pay, lack of medical insurance coverage and insufficient protecting tools, docs throughout Kenya went on strike on Monday, setting off a public well being disaster as coronavirus instances continued to rise nationwide.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, which represents all Kenyan docs, began the 21-day strike after eight months of negotiations with the federal government failed. An analogous strike in November was suspended to continue deliberations.

For a number of months, medical practitioners have been asking the federal government to offer them with complete medical insurance coverage protection, pay their salaries, enlist 2,000 docs on “everlasting and pensionable phrases” and supply a devoted facility to deal with those that contract the coronavirus. However they accused the federal government of pressuring them to return to work or be fired reasonably than listening to their calls for.

The newest strike comes simply months after docs in a number of counties, together with the capital, Nairobi, put down their tools simply as a neighborhood tv investigation uncovered the theft from authorities coffers of tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of funds allotted to combat the pandemic.

Kenya has up to now recorded 94,500 coronavirus infections and 1,639 deaths. The East African nation has seen an increase in instances since easing restrictions in October, elevating fears that the nation was experiencing a second wave.

Greater than a dozen Kenyan docs have died of Covid-19. Amongst them was Dr. Stephen Mogusu, a 28-year-old who on the time of his demise in early December had no insurance coverage and had not acquired a paycheck for 5 months.

“Too steep a value for patriotism,” the docs’ union tweeted on the time.

A 63-year-old coronavirus affected person has been arrested in Hong Kong after his escape from a hospital isolation ward set off a frantic manhunt throughout town.

Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese language territory that’s at the moment battling a fourth wave of infections, has strict quarantine and isolation necessities for individuals who contract the virus and their shut contacts. Those that take a look at optimistic, whether or not they’re symptomatic or not, are despatched to a hospital for remedy and monitoring till they take a look at unfavorable, whereas their shut contacts are despatched to quarantine camps for as much as two weeks. Unbidden departures from quarantine and isolation services are unlawful and can lead to a two-month jail sentence and $645 advantageous.

The affected person, Li Wan-keung, slipped away on Friday whereas docs and nurses have been occupied with different sufferers, the well being authorities mentioned. He evaded detection for 54 hours, even after the police launched his title and {photograph} on their social media accounts.

Mr. Li was arrested on Sunday night time and brought again to the hospital. A police consultant mentioned on Monday that the power acquired a tip about Mr. Li’s whereabouts and dispatched officers to arrest him.

Hong Kong courts have, as of Dec. 1, imprisoned or fined 76 individuals discovered responsible of violating quarantine orders. Authorities officers say that the jail sentences are meant to obviously sign their place of zero tolerance.

Hong Kong, a metropolis of about 7.5 million individuals, has reported a complete of 8,237 coronavirus instances and 130 deaths for the reason that outbreak started.

With Germany in its first week of full lockdown, animal rights activists are drawing consideration plight of city-dwelling pigeons, which have a tougher time discovering meals scraps in empty metropolis facilities.

“We will’t permit pigeons to starve miserably on this acute emergency scenario,” mentioned Lea Schmitz, the spokeswoman for the German Animal Welfare Federation, an umbrella group for smaller native animal welfare associations, mentioned in an interview.

“We not saying personal residents ought to run out to feed the pigeons,” Ms. Schmitz mentioned. “We’re asking for expert-led initiatives to get particular permission to offer acceptable and managed feedings.”

Underneath Germany’s new lockdown measures, outlets that promote nonessential objects are closed, which means that procuring districts — lengthy the favourite searching grounds for feral pigeons — are abandoned.

As a result of pigeons usually keep in a single place and can’t discover meals in surrounding fields or forest, as they could do in summer season, they’re vulnerable to hunger, except longstanding metropolis bans on feeding are quickly suspended, Ms. Schmitz mentioned.

Germany’s present lockdown is anticipated to run till a minimum of Jan. 10.

Greater than 1,000,000 vacationers a day handed by way of airport safety checkpoints on every of the final three days in the US.

With Christmas on Friday, the numbers present that, regardless of warnings from the C.D.C., individuals are on the transfer. On Friday, 1,066,747 individuals traveled by way of the Transportation Safety Administration checkpoints, in response to the company. On Saturday, the determine was 1,073,563 and on Sunday, it was 1,064,619.

The final time passenger figures topped a million was across the Thanksgiving vacation: On Nov. 25, a Wednesday, 1,070,967 individuals handed by way of checkpoints, and on Nov. 29, a Sunday, there have been 1,176,091 passengers. The numbers have been lower than half of what they’d been for a similar days in 2019, when greater than two million individuals handed by way of airport safety checkpoints.

The spikes in vacation journey this yr come regardless of warnings from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, which has urged individuals to not journey as Covid-19 instances proceed to rise. The company issued an advisory this month that “suspending journey and staying house is one of the simplest ways to guard your self and others.” It added, “you and your journey companions (together with kids) could really feel properly and never have any signs, however you’ll be able to nonetheless unfold Covid-19 to household, associates, and neighborhood after journey.”

The C.D.C. encourages anybody who decides to journey to get a flu shot, maintain a distance of six toes on the checkpoint, put on a masks all through the journey, convey further hand sanitizer and wash their palms recurrently.

United Airways mentioned on Friday that it was working with well being officers to contact passengers who could have been uncovered to the coronavirus by a person who died on a latest flight. 4 flight attendants who responded to the emergency onboard the flight, United 591, went into quarantine for 14 days after the aircraft reached Los Angeles, the flight attendants’ union mentioned.