S Korea warns of tough curbs after record cases as Brazil unveils vaccination plan

More than 71.7 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded worldwide with more than 1.6 million deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The following is a summary of the latest developments on the virus around the world:

South Korea

South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in warned on Sunday that Covid-19 restrictions may be raised to the highest level after a second day of record increases in cases as the country battles a harsh third wave of infection. Presiding over an emergency meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures headquarters for the first time since February, Mr Moon urged vigilance and called for an all-out efforts to contain the virus. “Unless the outbreak can be contained now, it has come to the critical point of considering escalating social-distancing measures to the third level,” he said, referring to the tightest curbs under the country’s five-tier system. Greater Seoul, home to about half of South Korea’s 52 million people, is under level 2.5 restrictions. Gatherings of more than 50 people are banned and restaurants are prohibited from serving customers after 9 pm. A country that had initial success controlling Covid-19, South Korea reported 1,030 new coronavirus infections on Sunday after 950 the previous day, bringing total infections to 42,766 with 580 deaths. Of the new cases, 1,002 were locally transmitted, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. “Our back is against the wall,” Mr Moon said. Level 3 curbs would essentially mean a lockdown for the first time in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Schools would switch to remote learning, companies could allow only essential workers in offices and gatherings of more than 10 people would be banned. South Korea was praised for its early success in containing the coronavirus without a lockdown by relying heavily on contact-tracing and testing after the country’s first case was confirmed in January. On Saturday, Mr Moon ordered the mobilisation of police, military personnel and public medical doctors to block the spread, which he called an “emergency.”

Japan

Japan’s daily coronavirus cases have exceeded 3,000 for the first time as the government delays stricter measures for fear of hurting the economy ahead of the holiday season. The 3,030 new cases, including 621 in Tokyo, took Japan’s national tally to 177,287 with 2,562 deaths, the health ministry said on Sunday. Experts say serious cases are on the rise around the country, putting a burden on hospitals and affecting the daily medical treatment for other patients. They urged authorities to take measures such as suspending out-of-town trips and requesting stores to close early. Recent media surveys show support ratings for the government of prime minister Yoshihide Suga have dropped about 20 points from around 70 per cent during his first three months in office amid public discontent over his coronavirus handling. Japan issued a non-binding state of emergency in the spring and has survived earlier infection peaks without a lockdown. Experts say the ongoing resurgence in the dry and cold season would be a bigger challenge.

Germany

Germany is planning to close most shops from Wednesday until January 10th as it tightens coronavirus restrictions and tries to rein in the spread of the disease, according to a draft government proposal.

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The draft was prepared head of a meeting later in the day between German chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders. It would allow only essential shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as banks, to remain open. Schools will also be basically closed during the period, and employers will be asked to close operations or have employees work from home, according to the draft. Germany has been in partial lockdown for six weeks, with bars and restaurants closed, while stores and schools have remained open. Some regions have already imposed tougher measures as infections grew. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 20,200 to 1,320,716, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 321 to 21,787, the tally showed.

Italy

Italy’s deaths blamed on Covid-19 rose by 649 to 64,036 and now exceed UK fatalities, which increased to 64,026 in Saturday data from both countries. Italy reported 19,903 new cases, an increase of more than 1,000 compared to Friday.

UK

The UK reported another 519 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, about 100 more than Friday and the previous seven-day average. New cases were also ahead of the average at 21,502 ,compared to slightly more than 17,000 in the past week.

Sweden

Sweden’s foreign minister Ann Linde said she won’t advise against travelling within the European Union over Christmas and new year. The emphasis should be on distancing and hygiene, because trips themselves aren’t the main issue, Ms Linde said in an interview with Swedish Radio P1 on Saturday.

US

California counted more than 35,000 new Covid-19 cases for the second straight day, New York’s infections quickened and New Jersey reported record cases on Saturday. US vaccinations against Covid-19 are set to begin next week after the government approved a shot by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE for emergency use. Record US deaths and cases on Friday underscored the urgency of deploying the shots. Officials in the US say the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine will begin arriving across the country on Monday morning. Shipping companies UPS and FedEx will deliver Pfizer’s vaccine to nearly 150 state locations, while another 450 sites will get the vaccine on Tuesday and Wednesday. Army general Gustave Perna, part of the Trump administration’s vaccine development programme Operation Warp Speed, said health workers will receive the jab first before then administering it to others.

New York recorded 11,129 new cases and 95 additional deaths statewide linked to Covid-19, governor Andrew Cuomo said on Twitter. New Jersey reported a record 6,247 new Covid-19 cases, putting the state on course to surpass 400,000 total cases within the next day or two.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico will begin receiving Covid-19 vaccines next week, though the general population might not get them until next summer, Governor Wanda Vazquez said Saturday. The US territory of 3.2 million people will have access to some 205,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the end of December, Ms Vazquez said. Medical professionals and nursing homes will have priority, followed by first responders, public school employees and essential workers. The National Guard, which is helping manage the effort, said it has five specialised freezers deployed across the island. On Monday, Puerto Rico tightened its nightly curfew, business restrictions and social distancing measures through January 7th. The territory has reported 108,485 Covid-19 cases and 1,266 deaths.

Brazil

The Brazilian government unveiled its long-awaited national vaccination plan against Covid-19 on Saturday with an initial goal of vaccinating 51 million people, or about one-fourth of the population, in the first half of 2021. In a document sent to the supreme court, which had given the government a deadline to draw up the plan, the health ministry said 108 million doses will be available for priority vaccination of vulnerable groups that include health workers, elderly people and indigenous communities. The plan says 70 per cent of the population - or about 148 million of Brazil’s 212 million people - need to be immunised to stop the virus spreading. The current plan covers just about one third of that goal. Researchers said the plan was hastily drawn up and had mistaken details about the potential vaccines. The plan, which says each person will need two doses, does not mention a starting date for vaccination of the population nor does it detail the supplies of vaccines that it will need. Brazil is in the midst of the world’s second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak after the United States, with more than 180,000 deaths. On Thursday, health minister Eduardo Pazuello pledged to vaccinate Brazil’s entire population against Covid-19 next year. The government of right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro has been under pressure from state governors and city mayors for failing to prepare in time for mass immunisation or secure a diverse enough supply of vaccines. Brazil reported 43,900 additional confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and 686 fatalities from Covid-19, bringing total cases to 6,880,127 and the death toll to 181,123, the ministry said on Saturday. Although Brazil has an enviable record for national vaccination campaigns and a strong public health system, Mr Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied the gravity of the virus and is a vaccine skeptic who has said he will not take a Covid-19 shot.

Mexico

Mexico’s health ministry on Saturday reported 12,057 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 685 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,241,436 cases and 113,704 deaths. The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. Mexico City’s government on Saturday said shops in the center of the capital and other busy areas would temporarily have to close at 5 pm to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection as authorities battle a surge in cases. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum says the city is now in a state of “emergency” but like president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, she has opted not to impose binding restrictions, instead urging residents to stay at home and reduce their socialising. Mexico City and its metropolitan area is the epicenter of the pandemic in Mexico, and new infections of coronavirus have reached record levels in recent weeks, with the government forecasting things will continue to get worse until January. The Mexican government’s medical safety commission approved the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Friday.

Panama

Panama registered a record 2,806 new cases of coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking the total number in the Central American country to 190,585, while deaths climbed by 22 to 3,331 overall, the health ministry said in a statement. The record surpassed a previous high of 2,447 new cases reported by the Panamanian government earlier this month.

China

China reported 24 new coronavirus cases in the mainland on Sunday, up from 13 cases a day earlier, while the authorities were monitoring possible contacts in the domestic tourism hotspot of Hainan. There were five local cases and 19 imported infections on Saturday, according to a statement by the National Health Commission. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 14 from 17 a day earlier. As of Saturday, mainland China had 86,725 confirmed coronavirus cases, the health authority said. The Covid-19 death toll remained at 4,634. Two tourists visiting Sanya in Hainan, China’s southernmost island province, were found to be in close contact with an asymptomatic case in Xian in northwest China, after they had lunch with this person on Wednesday. Hainan, known as the “Hawaii of China”, has been free of coronavirus for six months, drawing eager shoppers to duty-free malls, couples seeking a sub-tropical backdrop for wedding pictures, and surfers just looking to “breathe freely”. The two tourists and 43 other people who were in close contact are being quarantined in Sanya, according to a statement on the city’s official WeChat account. China’s far western region of Xinjiang saw a sharp increase in local cases of the coronavirus from mid-July to mid-August and another local wave from late October to early November. After National Day holidays in October, a new wave of the pandemic occurred with local cases first reported in Qingdao in China’s Shandong province in the north. In November sporadic cases in the districts of Shanghai and Tianjin and the Inner Mongolia region in the north have been reported, while in December more local cases were reported in the provinces of Sichuan in the southwest and Heilongjiang in the northeast.

Iran

The first human trial of Iran’s locally developed vaccine will get underway within two weeks, according to a statement by Setad, a state-controlled foundation in charge of the development, the official IRIB News reported. The vaccine requires three doses, with 56 volunteers set to receive injections in the first phase. Iran recorded the fewest daily infections in six weeks with 8,201 new cases since Friday. Deaths dropped for the fourth day in a row to 221, bringing the toll to 51,949 since the pandemic began, the health ministry reported. – PA, Bloomberg, Guardian, Reuters