UK's total number of Covid-19 cases surpasses 3M – latest updates

Saturday, January 9, 2021:

UK tops 3 million cases

Britain reported 1,035 new coronavirus deaths from the virus, down from Friday's record toll of 1,325.

It marked the fourth consecutive daily toll – defined as deaths within 28 days of a positive virus test – of above 1,000.

The government figures also showed 59,937 new cases, down from 68,053 the day before. Britain said it had recorded over three million virus cases since the pandemic began last year.

Italy reports 483 deaths

Italy reported 483 virus-related deaths, down from 620 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 19,978 from 17,533.

Some 172,119 swab tests were carried out in the past day, the ministry said, against a previous 140,267.

Italy has registered 78,394 deaths since its outbreak came to light on February 21, the second highest toll in Europe and the sixth highest in the world. The country has also reported 2.258 million cases to date, the health ministry said.

Cuba to collaborate with Iran on vaccine

Communist-run Cuba said it had signed an accord with Iran to transfer the technology for its most advanced vaccine candidate and carry out last-stage clinical trials of the shot in the Islamic republic.

The allies are both under fierce US sanctions that exempt medicine yet often put foreign pharmaceutical companies off trading with them and as such they seek to be self-reliant.

India to start mammoth vaccination drive on January 16

India will launch one of the world's most ambitious vaccination drives next Saturday, aiming to reach 300 million people by July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced.

The vaccine is to be free for the country's population of 1.3 billion, and Modi said the January 16 start would be "a landmark step" in fighting the pandemic.

India is the world's second worst-hit country – behind the United States – with more than 10 million cases, though the death rate is one of the world's lowest.

Jordan to start vaccination programme on Wednesday – minister

Jordan will start its vaccination programme on Wednesday, the state news agency reported, citing the health minister. 

Jordan also said it has approved China's Sinopharm virus vaccine for emergency use, after previously giving the Pfizer-BioNTech jab the green light.

"Emergency use of the... Sinopharm vaccine against the novel coronavirus has been authorised," the head of the Jordanian Food and Drug administration, Nizar Mheidat, told state television.

Twitter removes Khamenei vaccine tweet for 'violating' rules

Twitter has removed a tweet by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggesting virus vaccines made in the United States and Britain are "untrustworthy", saying the post violated its rules.

"Importing vaccines made in the US or the UK is prohibited. They're completely untrustworthy. It's not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations," said a tweet posted on Friday on Khamenei's English-language Twitter account.

Queen Elizabeth and husband receive vaccines – palace

Britain's Queen Elizabeth and her husband Philip, both in their nineties, have received vaccinations against virus, Buckingham Palace said.

"The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have today received Covid-19 vaccinations," the palace said in a statement. The Queen is 94 years old and Philip 99, putting them in the priority category in Britain's vaccine rollout.

Stricter curfew imposed on French city of Marseille

A stricter evening curfew will be imposed on the major southern French city of Marseille as part of government measures to curb the spread of the virus, BFM TV and France 3 Provence TV reported, citing the local government body.

Marseille will join other French cities such as Strasbourg and Dijon in having its curfew moved forward to 1700GMT  from 1900GMT previously, and running through to 0500GMT the following morning. The stricter Marseille curfew will start on Sunday evening.

Pope Francis to have vaccine as early as next week

Pope Francis said he planned to have a vaccination as early as next week and urged everyone to get a shot, to protect not only their own lives but those of everyone else.

"I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine," the Pope said in an interview with TV station Canale 5. "It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others."

The Vatican City, the smallest independent county in the world, has said it will shortly launch its own vaccination campaign against the virus.

Iran bans foreign companies from testing vaccines on Iranians – president

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said foreign companies will not be allowed to test vaccines on the Iranian people.

The statement comes a day after Iran's Supreme Leader banned vaccine imports from the United States and Britain.

"Foreign companies wanted to give us vaccines so they would be tested on the Iranian people. But the health ministry prevented it," Rouhani said in televised remarks, without naming the companies or giving further details.

"Our people will not be a testing device for vaccine manufacturing companies," he added. "We shall purchase safe foreign vaccines."

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's highest authority, earlier said the US and Britain were "untrustworthy" and possibly sought to spread the infection to other countries.

Iran could obtain vaccines from other reliable places, he added, without giving details. China and Russia are both allies of Iran, the Middle East country hardest hit by the coronavirus.

French president's wife tested positive for in late December -media

The wife of French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for towards the end of December but resumed normal activities after a second test proved negative, French radios Europe 1 and France Info reported.

Europe 1 said Brigitte Macron tested positive on December 24. It said she presented no major symptoms and then had two further tests on December 30 and December 31 which proved negative.

President Macron himself tested positive on December 17, and was in self-isolation until a subsequent test on December 24 showed he no longer had symptoms.

Russia reports 23,309 new cases, 470 deaths

Russia has reported 23,309 new cases over the previous 24 hours, including 4,900 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,379,103.

Authorities said 470 people had died, taking Russia's official death toll to 61,381. 

Osaka seeks state of emergency as new Tokyo infections top 2,000

Osaka and its surrounding prefectures asked Japan to expand a state of emergency to the western cities in an effort to contain the latest outbreak, while Tokyo's new daily infections keep above 2,000 cases.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, the country's economy minister, told media the situation in the western cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo was severe and the declaration of a wider state of emergency was being considered after a request from the cities' governors.

Tokyo reported 2,268 new daily cases on Saturday, according to the public broadcaster NHK, the third straight day above 2,000.

China says shots will be free in country

Vaccine shots will be free in China, where more than 9 million doses have been given to date, health officials in Beijing said Saturday.

“Ordinary people will not need to spend a penny,” Zheng Zhongwei, a National Health Commission official, said at a news conference.

The announcement cleared up confusion from a news conference nine days ago at which Zheng said it would be affordable, and a more senior official, Vice Minister Zeng Yixin, jumped in to say it would be free.

The costs will be covered by a national medical insurance fund and government funds.

US sets new record with around 300,000 new cases 

The United States hit a new record for cases, notching around 300,000 more infections during the past 24 hours, the second alarming record this week, according to Worldometer tracker. 

The country, the hardest-hit in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, also recorded  3,914 virus deaths in the same day, the tracker said.

The day before, the US had recorded a record of nearly 4,000 deaths in 24 hours.

Some 131,000 people are currently hospitalised in the US for Covid-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

Australia on high alert after overseas travellers bring new strains

Australia's health officials have said they are on high alert after cases of highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus, discovered in Britain and South Africa, have made it into the country.

Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, went into a three-day strict lockdown after the discovery of a virulent strain of the virus, linked to Britain. A variant that emerged in South Africa was found in Sydney, Australia's largest city, in a hotel quarantine.

Australia has been more successful than most advanced economies in managing the pandemic, with total infections at around 28,600 and 909 deaths, while each state has at some point recorded zero transmissions.

But given the new variants, the government on Friday cut the number of travellers from overseas, and required negative tests from those boarding planes and more testing at local quarantine facilities.

Hebei capital suspends subway as China reports 33 new cases
Mainland China has reported 33 new cases on January 8, down from 53 reported a day earlier, the country's national health authority said.

The National Health Commission said in a statement that 14 of the 17 locally transmitted infections were in Hebei, the province surrounding Beijing which entered a "wartime mode" this week as it battles a new cluster of coronavirus infections.

Shijiazhuang, Hebei's capital, announced it would suspend service on its subway. Earlier this week, authorities banned people from leaving the city in an effort to curb the spread of the disease.

Shijiazhuang is launching mass testing across its population of 11 million. On January 8, municipal authorities told residents they must stay home for at least seven days even after they complete a nucleic acid test.

The commission also reported 38 new asymptomatic cases, down from 57 a day earlier. China does not classify these patients, who have been infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease but are not yet showing any Covid-19 symptoms, as confirmed cases.

Germany's confirmed cases rise by 24,694 - RKI

The number of confirmed cases in Germany has increased by 24,694 to 1,891,581 infections, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed. 

The reported death toll rose by 1,083 to 39,878, the tally showed.

Brazil's Bolsonaro asks India's Modi to speed vaccine shipment

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking to expedite a shipment of two million doses of AstraZeneca's  vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, the presidential press office said.

Brazil's total coronavirus cases top eight million

Brazil has reported 52,035 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 962 deaths from Covid-19, the Health Ministry said.

President Jair Bolsonaro has sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking to expedite a shipment of 2 million doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, the presidential press office said.

Bolsonaro's letter, released by his press office, comes amid growing pressure to speed up Brazil's vaccine rollout and end the world's second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak. Critics say the immunisation campaign is running behind regional peers, and they question why the government has not moved more quickly.

The South American country has now registered 8,013,708 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 201,460, according to ministry data, in the world's third-worst outbreak outside the United States and India. 

Mexico reports 14,362 new cases, 1,038 more deaths

Mexico's Health Ministry reported 14,362 new confirmed virus cases in the country and 1,038 more fatalities, bringing its total to 1,507,931 infections and 132,069 deaths.

It was one of the highest numbers for daily new cases.

The real number of infected people and deaths is likely significantly higher than the official count, the Health Ministry has said. 

Police enforce curfew in Colombia's Bogota amid virus rise

Bogota imposed a continuous multi-day curfew as local authorities worked to contain the increase of Covid-19 cases and reduce occupancy in intensive care units.

The occupancy of ICUs currently stands at 85 precent, with health authorities planning to extend the capacity.

People and vehicles will have restricted mobility until 4 am on January 12.

The curfew is being respected by the majority of Bogota's 7.4 million residents under the watchful eye of the police.

Colombia has suffered more than 45,000 deaths and over 1.7 million of its citizens have been infected by the coronavirus.

Greece extends coronavirus lockdown

Greece announced that lockdown measures will be extended one week until January 18.

Initially, the country was supposed to open stores January 11 but the government decided to impose tougher restrictions ahead of the opening of kindergartens, nurseries and elementary schools scheduled for Monday.

Retail stores will remain closed and store pick-ups will be suspended.
Hairdressing and beauty salons will remain shut.

Most Covid-19 patients have at least one remaining symptom 6 months on – study

More than three-quarters of people hospitalised with Covid-19 still suffer from at least one symptom six months on, according to a study that scientists said shows the need for further investigation into lingering virus effects.

The research, which was published in the Lancet medical journal and involved hundreds of patients in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is among the few to trace the long-term symptoms of Covid-19.

It found that fatigue or muscle weakness were the most common symptoms, while people also reported sleeping difficulties.

The World Health Organization has said the virus poses a risk for some people of serious ongoing effects – even among young, otherwise healthy people who were not hospitalised.

The new study included 1,733 Covid-19 patients discharged from Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan between January and May last year.

Saudi king receives first dose of virus vaccine

Saudi Arabia's king has received his first vaccine dose of the novel coronavirus, according to state media.

The official Saudi Press Agency posted two pictures and a short video on Twitter showing a healthcare professional injecting Salman bin Abdulaziz with the vaccine.

Saudi Arabia has reported a total of 363,582 infections and 6,282 fatalities linked to the coronavirus so far.