German police break up protests by coronavirus sceptics – latest updates

Saturday, December 5, 2020

German police break up banned coronavirus demonstration

German police have intervened to break up a demonstration by opponents of coronavirus lockdown measures in the northern city of Bremen after the protest was banned by the country's highest court.

Germany's constitutional court upheld earlier rulings by lower courts that had already denied permission for 20,000 demonstrators to convene in the city centre of Bremen.

However, hundreds of people still gathered, some of the opponents of the government's coronavirus measures and others part of a counter-demonstration.

Bremen police said on Twitter they were trying to keep the groups apart and break up the banned gathering, as well as urging people to wear face masks.

Italy deaths climb by 662 

Italy has reported 662 more coronavirus deaths and 21,052 infections in the last 24 hours, according to the government data. 

The first Western country hit by the virus, Italy has seen 59,514 Covid-19 fatalities since its outbreak emerged in February, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain. 

It has also registered 1.71 million cases to date.

Turkey reports 31,800 new cases

Turkey has reported 31,896 more cases, including 6,128 symptomatic patients, over the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry data.

The country registered 4,100 more recoveries over the past day, bringing the tally to 427,242.


The new symptomatic cases raised the overall patient count to 533,198, while the death toll rose to 14,705, with 196 additions.

Nearly 179,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted across the country, pushing the total to over 19.51 million.

The number of patients in critical condition now stands at 5,800.

UK sees 15,539 new cases, 397 deaths

UK has reported 15,539 new cases and 397 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test result, both fall on the previous day's figures.

Saturday's number is the lowest since August, which means the number of new infections is actually decreasing.

UK government data released on Friday showed that there were 16,298 new cases of people testing positive for coronavirus across the country.

World must not overlook Covid vaccines for poorer nations – sponsor

Poorer countries risk being overlooked during the roll-out of coronavirus vaccines, a top official with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has warned.

"I'm very worried," said Frederik Kristensen, the deputy head of Oslo-based CEPI.

"If we have pictures going around the world now of how everybody in the wealthy part of the world are getting vaccines and nothing is happening in the (developing) part of the world, that is a big, big, big problem."

Kristensen was speaking as major nations such as Britain, France, and the United States geared up for vaccination programmes in their countries.

CEPI is a partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations launched in 2017 to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics in a way that is equitable.

Iran's deaths surpass 50,000

Iran's total death toll from the virus surpassed 50,000 on Saturday with 321 new fatalities recorded in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, as the number of cases in the Middle East's worst-affected country reached 1,028,986.

Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV that 12,181 people had been infected with the coronavirus since Friday. 

The death toll now stands at 50,016

Moscow opens dozens of vaccination centres

Thousands of doctors, teachers and others in high-risk groups have signed up for vaccinations in Moscow starting Saturday, a precursor to a sweeping Russia-wide immunisation effort.

The vaccinations come three days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a “large-scale” immunisation campaign even though a Russian-designed vaccine has yet to complete the advanced studies needed to ensure its effectiveness and safety in line with established scientific protocols.

The Russian leader said Wednesday that more than 2 million doses of the Sputnik V jab will be available in the next few days, allowing authorities to offer jabs to medical workers and teachers across the country starting late next week.

Russia records its highest daily Covid-19 tally

Russia reported a record high of 28,782 new cases, including 7,993 in Moscow, taking the national total to 2,431,731 since the pandemic began.

Authorities confirmed 508 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the official national death toll to 42,684. 

South Korea urges vigilance during third wave

South Korean authorities urged vigilance as small clusters emerged in a third wave, centred in the Seoul area, with infections near nine-month highs.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 583 new virus infections, down from the 629 reported on Friday, which was the highest since the first wave peaked in February and early March.

After implementing tighter restrictions on Saturday, the government is to decide on Sunday whether to further tighten curbs in a country that had seen initial success through aggressive contact tracing and other steps.

Infections of the virus that causes the virus averaged 487.9 this week, up 80 cases from the week before. 

This wave of infections is different from the first two, which were driven by large-scale transmission, said KDCA official Lim Sook-young. 

Indian minister tests positive

An Indian minister, who received the first dose of homegrown vaccine during its phase-III trial, said he has tested positive for the virus.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij had offered to be the first volunteer for Bharat Biotech's vaccine, Covaxin, last month. 

He was administered a trial dose of Covaxin at a government hospital in northern Ambala city on November 20.

"I have been tested Corona positive. I am admitted in Civil Hospital Ambala Cantt. All those who have come in close contact to me are advised to get themselves tested for corona," Vij wrote on Twitter.

However, Bharat Biotech said their trials were based on a two-dose schedule, given 28 days apart.

India faces 'challenges' in nationwide virus vaccination

As the UK becomes the first country to approve a vaccine for widespread use, India may have to battle several challenges before it completes its vaccination drive, health experts say.

With a population of 1.3 billion, India is currently battling the pandemic and is ranked second in infections. With fresh cases reported daily, it is now developing a strategy for effective vaccination.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said a vaccine is likely to be available in India by the first quarter of 2021.

“The main challenge is to work with a new vaccine and provide it across age groups, unlike the current vaccination program which focuses primarily on pregnant women and children. It will require working at scale across the country to reach all target populations, and ensure both the infrastructure and human resources are available to enable this,” Dr. Anant Bhan, a researcher at Global Health, Bioethics and Health Policy told Anadolu Agency.

He said India requires adequate resourcing and preparing the ground for the effective distribution of vaccines.

US firms gear up to distribute vaccines

With the imminent arrival of vaccines that will need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, US companies are gearing up for a massive logistical effort to aid their distribution.

Automaker Ford has ordered its own freezers while meat processing giant Smithfield said it is ready to put the cold room at its abattoirs at the disposal of vaccine rollout operations.

Companies specialising in insulating containers have been on a war footing for weeks after Pfizer and BioNTech said the vaccine they had jointly developed needs to be stored at -70 Celsius.

US logistics giant UPS is already producing 500kg of dry ice an hour in its depots and has developed portable freezers capable of storing the vaccines at temperatures of between -20 to -80 Celsius.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 23,318 

The number of confirmed virus cases in Germany increased by 23,318 to 1,153,556, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. 

The reported death toll rose by 483 to 18,517, the tally showed. 

Mainland China reports 17 new virus cases 

Mainland China reported 17 new Covid-19 cases on December 4, unchanged from a day earlier, the country's national health authority said.

The National Health Commission said in a statement 15 of the new cases were imported infections. 

It reported 12 new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, also unchanged from a day earlier.

The number of confirmed virus cases in Mainland China stands at 86,601. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634. 

Mexico reports 12,127 new cases

Mexico's Health Ministry has reported 12,127 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 690 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,156,770 cases and 108,863 deaths.

South Korea reports 583 new cases

South Korea has reported 583 new cases, slightly down from the previous day's 629, the highest in nine months.

This brings the country’s total tally to 36,915, with 540 deaths, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported. 

Canada surge sees 100,000 new cases in two weeks

Canada's second wave of Covid-19 infections has led to 100,000 new cases reported in just the last two weeks, data compiled by public broadcaster CBC showed.

There has now been a total of 400,031 cases in the country of 38 million people. The illness has been blamed for 12,470 deaths.

It took just 18 days to go from 300,000 to 400,000 cases in a second wave of Covid-19 that has prompted several regions to reintroduce measures to curb its spread.

San Francisco mayor announces stay-at-home order

The mayor of San Francisco has announced she and political leaders across the Bay Area were imposing new lockdown orders and business restrictions in the face of a surge in virus infections.

Mayor London Breed said she was unwilling to wait for a statewide clamp-down announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom, set to be triggered region-by-region based on hospital intensive-care unit admissions.

"What we're seeing now is a spike unlike anything we've seen so far in the pandemic," Breed said in announcing the restrictions during a live-streamed news conference.

The new rules apply across five Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara and San Francisco, as well as the city of Berkeley.

Breed said that 16,208 infections have been documented in San Francisco since the pandemic began. The city has recorded 162 deaths.

Brazil death toll reaches 175,964

Brazil has reported 46,884 additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 694 deaths, the Health Ministry said.

The South American country has now registered 6,533,968 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 175,964, according to ministry data