November 9 coronavirus news

Members and observer states of the World Health Organization (WHO) met virtually for the 73rd World Health Assembly on Monday, with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying in his opening remarks that the world needed to work together to end the coronavirus pandemic.

But one of the governments with the best track record on containing Covid-19 wasn’t in attendance at the meeting. They weren’t even allowed to observe.

Taiwan, a self-governed island of 24 million people, has only recorded 578 infections and seven deaths from the novel coronavirus, despite its close proximity to the center of the initial outbreak in mainland China.

Only countries which are members of the United Nations can become members of the WHO, and Taiwan has not been represented at the UN since 1971.

Beijing still claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has repeatedly put pressure on international institutions for decades, including the WHO, to not give the island a country-level status. This is despite Taiwan being separately governed from the mainland since 1949.

Taiwan has been fiercely campaigning to be allowed into the WHO or at the very least to be given observer status. On Twitter, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been pushing the hashtag #TaiwanCanHelp.

But despite its best attempts, Taiwan was excluded when the WHO leaders met on Monday.

“The Foreign Ministry expresses strong regret and dissatisfaction at China’s obstruction of Taiwan participating in the WHO and the WHO’s continuing to neglect the health and human rights of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people,” Taipei said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has suspended phase 3 clinical trials of a Chinese-developed Covid-19 vaccine following an “adverse” incident involving a volunteer recipient, according to sources cited by CNN’s affiliate, CNN Brasil.

CoronaVac, developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, began phase 3 trials of CoronaVac in collaboration with the Brazilian Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo in late July.

According to CNN Brasil, the studies were suspended due to the “occurrence of serious adverse event in one of the volunteers in Brazil.” No further details were provided owing to privacy regulations.

The pause in testing marks a potential setback for one of China’s leading vaccine candidates and comes as US drugmaker Pfizer said Monday that early data from its own coronavirus vaccine showed more than 90% effectiveness.

In a note obtained by CNN Brasil, Anvisa mentions a case on October 29 for which the agency “determined the interruption of the clinical study,” adding that it “decided to interrupt the study to evaluate the data observed so far and judge on the risk/benefit of continuing the study.”

“With the study interrupted, no new volunteers can be vaccinated,” reads the Anvisa note published by CNN Brasil late Monday.

The CoronaVac trial vaccine uses inactivated virus cells to stimulate an immune response in patients. Testing began in late July, with 9,000 volunteers in five Brazilian states plus the capital. 

The Butantan Institute said it will hold a press conference Tuesday morning local time, according to CNN Brasil.

“No corners were cut” in the development of Pfizer’s 2-dose coronavirus vaccine, the company’s vice president of research and development, Dr. John Burkhardt, said at a news conference in Connecticut Monday.

“Pfizer has been in the vaccine business for quite a number of years with many products on the market, many also in development for other infectious diseases,” Burkhardt said. 
“So, with this particular vaccine no corners were cut. We followed this tried and true methodology that has worked so well for us in the past and continues to deliver really superior and safe products,” he added. 

Burkhardt said what’s been unusual in the development of its Covid-19 vaccine is that the company started the manufacturing process at the same time it was developing the vaccine, something that is not usually done.

“Normally you wouldn’t spend $1 billion to manufacture a product that may not work. You wait to see whether it works and whether it’s safe and then you do the manufacturing. So, we did that at risk,” he said. 

It was a decision made very early in the process to save time, Burkhardt said. He also credited “great volunteerism” in getting 43,000 people enrolled in the clinical trials as a time saver in the development process.

Pfizer announced Monday that early efficacy data on its Covid-19 vaccine appears to be more than 90% effective, much better than expected.

Almost half of the volunteers in Pfizer’s Phase 3 clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine are from diverse backgrounds, the company’s vice president of research and development, Dr. John Burkhardt, said at a news conference in Connecticut Monday.

“Our approach has been to really enroll lots of patients, gain lots of diversity in that population, go into the places where we can enroll diversity and then to learn from that data as it plays out in the study,” Burkhardt said.

Pfizer is studying 43,000 patients in its vaccine trials, he said, and 42% are from ethnic and racial backgrounds that are considered diverse.

It’s unclear whether the vaccine may not benefit some populations or if there might be side effects associated with it.

“We don’t have the sub-level of detail to answer those, but we believe we’ve got the kind of clinical trial design and some simple data set that will be very informative,” he said.

Pfizer announced Monday that early data on its Covid-19 vaccine shows it appears to be more than 90% effective at preventing infection.

The US state of New Mexico reported its highest number of new Covid-19 cases Monday, with 1,418 infections.

New Mexico previously reported its highest daily case load on Friday, with 1,287 new cases and recorded the exact same figure the following day.

The Department of Health said the state’s Intensive Care Units are at 66% capacity. That includes both Covid and non-Covid ICU patients.

The distribution of Pfizer’s two-dose coronavirus vaccine will be a “logistical challenge” because the shot needs to be stored at freezing temperatures, according to Dr. John Burkhardt, Pfizer’s vice president of Global Drug Safety Research and Development.

“We have to keep the product cold and shipped very much in sub-freezing temperatures, then there will be a short term instability, perhaps at refrigerated temperatures and that’s going to be a logistical challenge,” Burkhardt said Monday at a news conference held by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont.

“We’re working very hard on that,” he said. “There’s a whole suite of very experienced and talented people at Pfizer who are solely working on this, an army of people, and so it’s going to be important to work with the authorities with state governments and others to provide that supply chain.” 

State health officials have expressed concerns about the requirements for Pfizer’s vaccine, which must be stored at extremely cold temperatures of -94 Fahrenheit (-70 Celsius) – far below the capacity of standard freezers.

It’s unclear how long Pfizer’s vaccine will offer protection from Covid-19, Burkhardt said. Pfizer will follow the volunteers in the clinical trials for two years “with an emphasis on safety” but will also collect other types of data, he added.

“We just need some time for this to play out,” Burkhardt said when asked whether the vaccine might help prevent more severe cases of Covid-19 or asymptomatic cases.

He emphasized Pfizer’s years of experience in vaccine development and said “no corners were cut” with this one.

“We followed this tried and true methodology that has worked so well for us in the past and continues to deliver really superior and safe products,” he added. 

Burkhardt said what was unusual this time was that the company started the manufacturing process at the same time it was developing the vaccine – something that is not usually done.

“Normally you wouldn’t spend $1 billion to manufacture a product that may not work. You wait to see whether it works and whether it’s safe and then you do the manufacturing. So, we did that at risk,” he said. 

Burkhardt also credited “great volunteerism” in getting 43,000 people enrolled in the clinical trials as a time-saver in the development process.

“We also moved over 150 sites for clinical studies, and we were able to really emphasize locations where virus was spreading more quickly,” he said.

The US Food and Drug Administration said Monday it had issued an emergency use authorization for Eli Lilly and Co’s investigational monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab to treat mild to moderate coronavirus infections in adults and children.

“Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off harmful antigens such as viruses. Bamlanivimab is a monoclonal antibody that is specifically directed against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, designed to block the virus’ attachment and entry into human cells,” the FDA said in a statement.

“The FDA’s emergency authorization of bamlanivimab provides health care professionals on the frontline of this pandemic with another potential tool in treating COVID-19 patients,” Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the statement. “We will continue to evaluate new data on the safety and efficacy of bamlanivimab as they become available.”

Road to authorization: The FDA authorization was based on a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in October. It found that the treatment seemed to lower the risk of hospitalization and ease some symptoms in a small number of patients with mild to moderate case Covid-19.

The Phase 2 trial involved 452 patients, some of whom received the treatment and some of whom received a placebo.

Only 1.6% of patients who received the treatment had to be hospitalized or seek care at the emergency room. For patients who got the placebo, the rate of hospitalization was 6.3%. 

Eli Lilly announced it had struck a $375 million deal with the government for 300,000 vials of the antibody treatment, pending emergency use authorization, to be delivered in the two months after.

The company said it planned to have 100,000 doses ready to ship within days and would manufacture a million doses by the end of 2020. The treatment would be provided to patients at no cost.

The FDA said that based on its review of the evidence available, it was “reasonable to believe that bamlanivimab may be effective in treating non-hospitalized patients with mild or moderate COVID-19” and that “the known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks for the drug.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that he plans to remain in his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through the remainder of the Trump administration and into President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

“I have no intention of leaving,” Fauci told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “This is an important job. I’ve been doing it now for a very long time. I’ve been doing it under six presidents.”

“It’s an important job, and my goal is to serve the American public, no matter what the administration is,” he added.

Fauci warned that the United States was in a “serious situation” with cases exceeding 100,000 a day, but said the country “can turn it around.”

“Unfortunately, we predicted it when we were talking about the fact that as we enter into the coolest season of the fall and the upcoming coldest season of the winter, that you’re going to start seeing more indoor activity, and we never got down to a good baseline,” said Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.

He said “help is on the way with a vaccine,” following the announcement by Pfizer on Monday that early data shows its vaccine is 90% effective.

“The bottom line is as a vaccine, it’s more than 90% effective, which is extraordinary and will play a major role in what the outcome of this is going to be,” Fauci told Blitzer.

The Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent group that monitors vaccine trials, “has … told us that we now have a vaccine that is more than 90% effective,” said Fauci.

“Obviously, we need to go over the details of the data, but this is a highly reputable company that has extensive experience in the development of countermeasures, including vaccines,” Fauci said.

He said there were still questions about how long the vaccine would protect people for, and how effective it is in the elderly versus younger people, but that it was “good news” both in the immediate term and for other vaccines from companies such as Moderna, which work along similar lines.

He emphasized, though, that while Americans should feel good about the news, no one should let their guard down yet.

“We know there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to give up the important public health measures that we continually still have to do every single day,” said Fauci.

Ohio is seeing “an unprecedented spike in hospitalization, and it is impacting all areas of the state,” Bruce Vanderhoff, incoming chief medical officer at the Ohio Department of Health said in a news conference on Monday.  

Vanderhoff said waves of the virus in the spring and summer were much smaller and everyone was able to pull together and reduce spread and avoiding overwhelming hospitals.

While Ohio has more PPE and capacity than they did in the spring, cases are surging and the demands on staffing are increasing. “Every county in the state is feeling the brunt of rising Covid-19 hospitalizations,” he said. 

“If we don’t control the spread of the virus and our case numbers, we won’t be able to continue caring for the acutely ill without postponing important, but less urgent care,” Vanderhoff said. “We anticipate that this kind of shift could happen in a matter of weeks if trends don’t change.”

In the spring, Governor Mike DeWine worked with the Ohio Hospital Association to create a comprehensive statewide public health system, bringing together hospitals and healthcare providers to support each other during the pandemic.

Ohio is not the only state in which hospitals are under increased pressure.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said on Monday that hospitalizations there had doubled in the past few weeks. Fatalities have also been increasing monthly for the past three months.

But Lamont said that hospital capacity was not an issue at this time and that only 50% of the ICU is currently in use. 

Saturday’s college football game between Auburn and Mississippi State has been postponed due to Covid-19 cases within Mississippi State’s program.

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) announced the Bulldogs have had positive tests and are subsequently quarantining. 

The game has been tentatively rescheduled for December 12. 

Louisiana State’s head football coach Ed Orgeron admitted on Monday that several of the team’s players, including starters, have Covid and are quarantining.

When asked about the status of Saturday’s game against Alabama, Orgeron said it was “very fluid right now.”

No. 5 Texas A&M were forced to halt their football activities on Monday after receiving multiple positive coronavirus tests. 

There were nearly 74,000 new cases of Covid-19 among children in the US in the week ending November 5 – the highest weekly increase since the pandemic began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Children account for more than 11% of all coronavirus cases in the US. There has been a 17% increase in Covid-19 cases among children over the past two weeks.

The AAP said 73,883 new cases among children 17 and under were reported from October 29 to November 5, with about 927,518 children infected in the US in total. More than 10 million people have been infected in the US.

Severe illness and deaths from Covid-19 are still rare among children.

As of November 5, children represented between 1% and 3.4% of total hospitalizations, depending on the state. Between 0.6% and 6.4% of all child cases resulted in hospitalization and in states that reported the information, up to 0.13% of children with Covid-19 died. Sixteen states reported no child deaths.  

The count is not complete, because not all states report data in the same way. These numbers come from 49 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. A smaller subset of states report information about hospitalizations and deaths by age. 

The AAP said there was an “urgent need” to collect more data on the longer-term impact of Covid-19 on children, including the ways in which the virus may hurt children physically and emotionally over time.

Vaccine maker Novavax said Monday it had won fast-track designation for its experimental coronavirus vaccine from the US Food and Drug Administration – something that could help speed regulatory approval or emergency use authorization.

“Novavax expects to begin its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in the United States and Mexico by the end of November,” the company said in a statement.

That would make it the fifth coronavirus vaccine to enter late-stage clinical trials in the US. Vaccines being made by Moderna and Pfizer have also received FDA fast-track designation.

The Maryland-based company has been awarded $1.6 billion from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed to help it run clinical trials of the vaccine.

Like several other experimental coronavirus vaccines, Novavax’s would require two doses. It hopes deliver 100 million doses by the end of this year.

Novavax’s vaccine is made by growing synthetic versions of the coronavirus spike protein in armyworm moth cells. The vaccine combines these particles with the company’s adjuvant – a plant-based compound that helps boost the immune response to the vaccine.

Coronavirus rates are rising quickly in California with cases, positivity rate, hospitalizations, and the number of people in intensive care all climbing.

Hospitalizations are up 28.6% over the past two weeks and the number of patients in ICU has increased 27.3% over the past three weeks, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Monday.

The positivity rate has gone up significantly in that time frame, from a low of 2.5% on October 19 to 3.7% today.

Newsom said the reason for the increase was obvious. 

“People are letting their guard down by taking their masks off. They’re starting to get together, outside of their household cohorts. They’re starting to see businesses reopen, and we’re starting to get to see more people mixing,” he said. “As it gets colder, we’ll see more still.”

Testing for coronavirus is also climbing in California, with 194,000 tests conducted on Sunday. 

“We anticipated seeing more cases with increased testing, but the positivity rate is a better indicator of what’s actually happening,” Newsom said.

Newsom said he expects an announcement on Tuesday that some counties will move backwards in the state’s tier system. For some areas, that could include closing some non-essential business and reinstituting stricter health orders.

Michigan State’s men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo tested positive for coronavirus Monday morning, he said in a statement.

Izzo said he had “some minor symptoms,” but remained in good health.

“I’ve been extremely diligent for many months now, wearing my mask in public and around the office, while adhering to social distancing guidelines,” said the National Basketball Hall of Famer. 
“I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out if there was a time where I let my guard down for just an instance. And while I haven’t identified any area of exposure, what I have determined is that this shows the power of the virus.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a coach who’s taken more precautions than I have, following all the protocols put in place by our medical team, and yet I still contracted the virus.”

Izzo said technology would allow him to stay connected with his staff and players, and he would be following advice from medical staff, and taking all the steps necessary to return as soon as possible. 

He said he was “proof that no one is immune,” but urged people to listen to experts and take steps to reduce their chances of contracting the virus.

Despite promising early results from Pfizer’s trials, the coronavirus vaccine is “not a magic bullet,” Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician and CNN medical analyst, said Monday.

The drugmaker announced Monday that its vaccine appears to be more than 90% effective, based on early data. Wen said that efficacy figure refers to the vaccine’s ability to prevent any Covid-19 infection, as opposed to severe infection from the virus.

“I think what most of us care about is the endpoint of preventing severe infection – preventing somebody from getting very ill, from being hospitalized, from dying – and we just don’t have those data yet,” Wen told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.

Wen said she hopes Pfizer will make its data publicly available. The company is expected to do so when it applies to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.

“What we do know is that if you get the vaccine, it appears that you have a much lower likelihood of getting infected with Covid-19, but we don’t know whether getting this vaccine prevents you from the severe illness, and we also don’t know whether this vaccination will reduce the risk of your transmitting Covid-19 to others,” Wen added. 

Wen added that “there is a long road between actually getting the vaccine approved and getting it distributed to hundreds of millions of Americans,” emphasizing the importance of basic public health measures in the meantime.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert said Monday that the state’s hospitals were almost at capacity, explaining this was the reason a state of emergency and statewide mask mandate were declared yesterday.

Utah’s Covid-19 dashboard reports that 78.2% of the state’s ICU beds are currently occupied. The state hit record highs in its 7-day case average and test positivity percentage today, which reached 2,437.4 and 21.25% Monday.

“It’s at the point where we are now having to turn away people coming into our state from Nevada, turning away people have been coming to our state from Idaho, Montana,” Herbert said.

He laid the blame for the surge in Covid-19 cases largely with young people and “unstructured events.”

“It is coming from these casual gatherings where we get together with family and friends and, probably, our guard goes down – we’re a little more complacent,” the governor said.

He said the highest infection rates were among 15- to 24-year-olds, and said he would “accelerate the testing program today” to include college students, who he said should be tested once a week.

The Governor said this was “less about government mandates and us telling you what to do – it’s more about taking personal responsibility.”

“We all, as a society working together, should unite and do our part to do the right thing without having to have somebody come and say ‘we’ll find you if you don’t do it.’”

 Herbert also bemoaned the injection of politics into the pandemic response nationwide.

“I think it is, in fact, unfortunate that we’ve had this pandemic during a political year,” he said. “The politics has gotten in the way of really doing the right thing and the right way as soon as we can and uniting the public.”

Italy has declared five more coronavirus “orange zones” in which tighter restrictions will come into effect, starting Wednesday and lasting at least two weeks.

The regions of Abruzzo, Umbria, Toscana, Liguria and Basilicata will join Puglia and Sicily, which were declared orange zones last Wednesday.

The restrictions mean that:

Lombardy, Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont and Calabria were declared “red zones” last week – residents there face the tightest restrictions, including stay-at-home orders except for work, study, health and “essential needs.”

Small-scale street protests, by local residents angry at Italy’s central government, took place in several red zone areas on the eve of the lockdowns.

Stricter measures have also been imposed starting from Monday on the autonomous province of Bolzano – Alto Adige in northern Italy, because of an increase in cases there. 

Rezza said the average transmission (R) rate is 1.7 in Italy, which has more than 500 positive Covid-19 cases per 100,000 citizens. 

“We also notice an increase in hospitalizations and in people that required intensive care,” Rezza said, adding: “this situation justified the further restrictions.”

On Monday, Italy registered an increase of 100 patients needing intensive care, bringing the total ICU admissions to 2,849, Health Ministry daily figures show. 

There were 356 deaths, bringing the total to 41,750, and 25,271 new positive cases reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s total to 960,373.

An adviser for President Donald Trump’s campaign, David Bossie, has tested positive for coronavirus only days after he was tapped to oversee legal challenges contesting the outcome of the election, two sources confirmed to CNN. 

Bossie did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has been in the campaign headquarters in Virginia several times in the last week and has traveled extensively.

Bloomberg News first reported the diagnosis. 

Earlier Monday, CNN confirmed that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson had tested positive for coronavirus.

Read the full story here:

Related article Trump adviser overseeing campaign legal challenges gets coronavirus, sources say

The second wave of coronavirus has yet to peak in France, the country’s national health agency director Jerome Salomon said on Monday in Paris.

Salomon said the second wave was affecting all metropolitan areas, but he added that cities where a curfew and other restrictions were put in place early are now beginning to observe a slower progression of the epidemic.

On Monday, France reported 20,155 new coronavirus cases, with 551 deaths occurring in the last 24 hours in French hospitals. France has reported a total of 1,807,479 cases and 40,987 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to Salomon and the latest data from the National Health Agency.

Salomon noted that France ranks fourth highest in the world for total cases.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced 1,537 new hospitalizations across the state on Sunday – the first time the state has exceeded 1,500 hospitalizations since June 9.

Murphy also announced new restrictions for bars, restaurants and indoor youth sports across the state.

The governor said 2,075 new Covid 19 cases and 11 additional deaths had been recorded on Monday; the state’s positivity rate is 7.52%. Since the last news conference on Thursday, 9,524 new cases have been reported. Hospitalizations are up, but ventilator use is down overall, according to Murphy. 

New rules for bars and restaurants:

All interstate games and tournaments for indoor youth sports will be prohibited starting Thursday, Murphy said. 

Murphy told reporters that the state was “taking surgical steps to help mitigate the increasing spread” of Covid seen across the state.

He urged New Jersey residents to “shake off” Covid fatigue, encouraging the state to crush the curve, as it did in the spring. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a $1.75 billion CAD universal broadband fund to connect all Canadians to high speed internet, in light of changes to work and schooling during the pandemic.

The fund will be used to build infrastructure across the country, almost entirely in rural and remote communities, Trudeau said at a news conference on Monday.  

Trudeau addressed the changed landscape of working and learning from home, pointing to the importance of high speed internet and the government’s role in providing reliable internet connections to Canadian citizens.

The PM said that in the last five years, his government has invested to connect 1.2 million households to high speed internet. He said the previous government invested $700 million CAD in connecting people to the internet, and that his government has invested $6 billion CAD – nearly 10 times as much – over the past five years.

Illinois has reported more than 10,000 new Covid-19 cases for four days straight, according to the state’s health department. 

A statement from the Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) reported 10,573 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases and 14 additional deaths. 

“As of last night, 4,409 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with Covid-19. Of those, 857 patients were in the ICU and 376 patients with Covid-19 were on ventilators,” the IDPH statement said. 

IDPH said the “preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity” for the last week is 12.4%.

Pfizer will need to submit data on its vaccine candidate to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and wait for a review – two stages that will take several weeks each, US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Fox News.

The drugmaker said on Monday that early data shows its vaccine is 90% effective, but Azar said Pfizer needed to pull together the details and provide them to the FDA for an independent review process before authorization.

Azar said that thanks to Operation Warp Speed, the government has guaranteed receipt of an FDA-authorized vaccine from Pfizer – 100 million doses that were purchased for around $2 billion, Azar said. There is also an option for another 500 million. These will start in increments of about 20 million doses, which begin in late November and continue monthly, according to Azar. 

The timescale: In a news release on Monday, Pfizer said it plans to seek emergency use authorization from the FDA, soon after volunteers have been monitored for two months following their second dose of vaccine, as requested by the agency. Pfizer said it anticipated reaching that marker by the third week of November. 

Eight states have yet to distribute quick, cheap, on-the-spot coronavirus tests that were sent to them by the federal government to help speed coronavirus screening efforts, a top official said Monday.

The government has stopped shipping the Abbott BinaxNow tests to those states for now, Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, US Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for health, told reporters during a briefing.

“Even though many of these states have excellent plans on how to use them, we are pausing shipments to these states until they have started to distribute their tests, because given where we are in the outbreak, we cannot let tests sit unused,” Giroir said.

He said the states are: Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Nevada, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia, and New Mexico. 

CNN is reaching out to these states for comment.

Giroir said that by the end of the week, the federal government will have shipped more than 50.2 million of the BinaxNow tests. 

“That includes over 33 million to governors, over 11 million to nursing homes, over 3.2 million to assisted living, over 679,000 to home health and hospice, 450,000 to tribal nations, over 391,000 to HBCUs – historically black colleges and universities – and over 594,000 to disaster relief operations or surge surveillance testing sites,” he said.  

Giroir said schools were opening “quite successfully” across the country, with minimal transmission of coronavirus, but that there was not much screening going on.

“We do know that school testing – although it’s important – very few states or districts are actually screening students. There’s limited screening of staff,” Giroir said in a briefing with reporters. “So that priority is probably less than we thought before, but again we have to assess.” 

Nearly 10% of patients treated in hospital for Covid-19 had to be readmitted within two months of being discharged, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Readmissions were more common among patients sent to a skilled nursing facility or those who needed home care after they were hospitalized, compared to patients who were sent home to care for themselves, the report – published Monday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report – found. 

Almost 2% of Covid-19 patients had multiple readmissions to the hospital.

Readmission was most common among people who were 65 or older, had underlying health conditions, or had been hospitalized three months before getting sick with Covid-19. 

White people were more likely than any other demographic to be readmitted to hospital.

The CDC noted these trends by examining 126,137 electronic health records between March and July. Of those patients:

Researchers also found trends consistent with earlier studies of hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

More than 60% of patients who were hospitalized had one of five chronic conditions:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that he thinks the anti-vaccination argument “holds no water.”

“I think people need to remember that, in having a vaccination, you’re not just protecting yourself – you’re protecting anybody who could get infected by you or your family as a vector of the disease, so I hope very much that people won’t be listening to those types of arguments,” he added.

It came after Johnson confirmed that the UK had 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and was “ready to start using it” once it was approved. The drugmaker said Monday that early data showed its vaccine was more than 90% effective – a much better than expected level of efficacy, if the trend continues.

Johnson also announced that more than half a million rapid Covid-19 tests would be rolled out across England this week, in the next phase of his government’s plan to expand asymptomatic testing.

The 600,000 lateral flow tests sent by the National Health Service (NHS) Test and Trace to local public health leaders this week will enable increased testing of priority and high-risk groups in local communities, according to a UK government press release.

They will be followed by weekly local allocations.

‘Last week we rolled out mass testing in Liverpool using new, rapid technology so we can detect this virus quicker than ever before, even in people who don’t have symptoms,” said health secretary Matt Hancock. “Mass testing is a vital tool to help us control this virus and get life more normal.”

The number of new daily coronavirus infections in the Netherlands has dropped below 5,000 cases for the first time in a month.

The latest data from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) shows that 4,709 new cases were reported – the lowest since October 6, when 4,541 new infections were recorded.

Cases peaked in the Netherlands on October 30 with 11,094 cases recorded in one day. Since then, the number of new cases has fallen consistently, halving in the last ten days. 

This takes the country’s total number of coronavirus cases to 414,745.

It can take Dutch authorities up to seven days to finalize figures for new cases and deaths, to allow for delays in receiving data from regional centers.

Pennsylvania has reported more than 10,000 cases in three days, with a record-setting daily increase of 4,035 cases on Saturday, and another 6,311 since.

The statewide positivity rate stands at nearly 7%, a 1% increase from last week, according to Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. 

This “concerning trend” shows that the rise in cases is not just due to increased testing, Levine noted.  

“We are now seeing the highest case counts of the Covid-19 pandemic across Pennsylvania that we have seen since the beginning. This is a sobering look at our current reality, as Covid-19 continues to impact our state and our country,” she added.

The state’s Department of Health reported nine new virus-related deaths across Saturday and Sunday, bringing the total to 9,024 fatalities. 

There are 1,735 Pennsylvania residents currently hospitalized, Levine continued. That’s up from 1,267 hospitalizations reported last week, she said. 

US President-elect Joe Biden has hailed the “positive news in this fight” against coronavirus, after Monday’s announcement of “progress made toward a successful vaccine” — but added the process must “be grounded in science and fully transparent.”

“Soon, the expectation is the FDA will run the process of rigorous reviews and approvals. And the process must also be grounded in science and fully transparent so the American people can have every confidence that any approved vaccine is safe and effective,” he said during a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, after being briefed by his newly-formed coronavirus advisory board.

Biden added that even if a vaccine is approved, it “will not be widely available for many months yet to come.”

Drugmaker Pfizer announced Monday that an early look at data shows its vaccine is more than 90% effective – a much better than expected efficacy if the trend continues.

Other responses:

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on Twitter on Monday that the announcement was “encouraging” news.

“We welcome the encouraging vaccine news,” Tedros tweeted, adding that WHO salutes all scientists and partners around the world who are “developing new safe, efficacious tools” to beat Covid-19.

Tedros said the world was experiencing “unprecedented scientific innovation” and “collaboration” to end the pandemic. According to WHO, as of last week, there are at least 47 Covid-19 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation around the world.

Admiral Brett Giroir, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for health, also said he was encouraged, during a call with reporters.

“We are all very optimistic that this vaccine, and others also in clinical trials, can effectively end the pandemic. But until that vaccine is widely administered and distributed, we have much work to do,” Giroir said. “Our nation is in a critical phase of the pandemic, with significant community spread, cases averaging nearly 100,000 per day.”

Giroir emphasized that people in the United States must continue physical distancing, wearing masks and maintaining hand hygiene – and said that testing remains important.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called the results “great news,” adding that she was proud to see that Pfizer, “a Michigan business … will produce the vaccine.”

Whitmer cautioned that when the vaccine is ready “it will take time to distribute,” saying everyone needed to “continue doing their part” to protect each other from Covid-19, and that was why it was “so important that President-Elect Biden has announced a team of medical experts to lead our country’s COVID-19 response.”

“It is crucial that leaders across the country listen to science and the recommendations of health experts, and President-Elect Biden has made it clear that he shares that commitment,” she added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had signed a deal with the drug company in August to secure millions of doses, adding that other vaccine candidates were also progressing well.

“In Canada and around the world, scientists are working very hard and doing a great job. We hope to see vaccines landing in the early next year,” he said. “Between now and then, it’s really, really important that we double down on our efforts.”

He emphasized how important it was for Canadians to control the spread of Covid-19 in the coming months, so that when vaccines arrive the country can act quickly.

“We see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are hopeful we are getting there because our scientists are working incredibly hard,” Trudeau said. “But we need to do our part. We need to stay strong and hang in there a few more months – maybe more than that, but, we can see it coming.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that if the vaccine passes all the rigorous safety checks and is approved for use, “this country will be ready to start using it.”

Speaking at a news conference at Downing Street, Johnson said the vaccine had been tested on over 40,000 volunteers and interim results suggested it was 90% effective.

“But we haven’t yet seen the full safety data, and these findings also need to be peer-reviewed. So we’ve cleared one significant hurdle, but there are still several more to go before we know the vaccine can be used,” he said.

He said the UK government had ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine – enough for about a third of the population at two doses each “and that puts us toward the front of the international pack on a per capita basis.” The UK has also ordered more than 300 million doses from five other vaccine candidates, he added.

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The United States has passed 10 million coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

There have been at least 10,018,278 cases of Covid-19 in the US and at least 237,742 people have died. 

So far today, Johns Hopkins has reported 50,123 new cases and 172 reported deaths. The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

This is the fastest the United States has added one million new cases since the pandemic began. 

JHU recorded the first case of coronavirus in the United States on January 21. 

 Eight other countries in the world have reported over 1 million total Covid-19 cases:

Track Covid-19’s spread across the US here:

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said rates of coronavirus infection are expected to rise as winter approaches, and warned that micro-clusters will be “the constant for the foreseeable future.”

Cuomo said “the numbers are undeniable across the globe, across the country.”

He said that overall, New York state was “doing much better than any state in the country,” save for rural states such as Vermont and Maine, with a lower “relative index.”

New York reported a positivity rate of 2.8%, 26 new deaths and 1,400 hospitalizations on Monday. The positivity rate was last at 2.5% in early June.

Cuomo said that watching a small increase and attacking that area was the best mode of operation.

In Brooklyn, red zones will be “eliminated” and become lower tier orange zones.

He said the numbers in Staten Island were of concern, but that no restrictions would be implemented at this time.

Cuomo said parts of Eerie County, Monroe County, and Onondaga County would become “yellow zones,” with restrictions including a 25 person maximum for gatherings, four person maximum for dining, and bars and restaurants closing at midnight.

With reporting from Taylor Romine

Crowded nursing homes were linked to larger and more deadly outbreaks of Covid-19 according to a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. 

“In this study of nursing home crowding across 618 nursing homes in Ontario, Canada, we found that residents of highly crowded homes were more than twice as likely to develop infection with and die of Covid-19,” wrote authors Kevin Brown, from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. 

They looked at the nursing homes over the period from March 29 to May 20 and gave each a crowding index; homes with a value of two or greater were defined as high and those with a value below two were low.

The crowding index ranged from 1.3, where the homes mainly featured single occupancy rooms, to 4.0, for homes which were exclusively made up of quadruple occupancy rooms. 

The findings: Both Covid-19 cases and deaths were higher in crowded homes.   

Models suggested that “compared with a home with an index of 1.5, homes with an index of 3 had double the Covid-19 incidence.” There was a similar association between crowding and Covid-19 mortality. 

While crowding didn’t change the probability that Covid-19 would be introduced to the home, outbreaks in more crowded homes tended to be larger.

Only one outbreak involved more than 100 residents in less crowded homes, compared with nine outbreaks in more crowded homes.

The researchers also ran simulation analyses, which suggest that 998 infections and 263 deaths could have been prevented in Ontario nursing homes if rooms with four beds were converted to rooms with two beds.  

“Insights from this study, and the experience of Ontario, suggest that interventions targeting crowding may reduce Covid-19 in nursing homes,” wrote the authors. 

More than 600 people gathered in the center of Manchester, in northern England, at the weekend to protest a new national lockdown that requires the closure of bars, restaurants, and non-essential retail, and forbids household mixing until December 2. 

Greater Manchester Police condemned the demonstrations, on Sunday, which they said led to several officers getting injured. Four people were arrested.

“Both the organisers and attendees were irresponsible – increasing demand on police who are also responding to calls regarding serious incidents and people who are in immediate danger,” the police force said in a statement.

England is five days into its second nationwide lockdown, but with crowded parks, busy streets, and bustling markets, some residents told CNN it doesn’t feel like a lockdown at all. 

The first lockdown, in the spring, saw deserted streets and strict enforcement of masks and social distancing in supermarkets. Not this time around, said Mhairi Fletcher, who lives in Essex, in southeast England.

“I went to the shop the other day, and I wanted to avoid it because of how it was last time. I genuinely went in thinking it was going to be militant. But it was honestly like there was no lockdown,” Fletcher told CNN. “I’ve seen hardly any difference.”

Fletcher, who is expecting her second child, noted that during the first lockdown, maternity wards took her temperature, asked about symptoms and required her to wash her hands.

“Today I just had to sanitize and that’s it,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a lockdown.”

Ross Lennox, a trainee lawyer, spotted a bustling street market in Clapham, South London, over the weekend.

“Everyone had masks on that I could see, but not much social distancing at all and no one was enforcing it,” Lennox said. “Without masks, you wouldn’t know there was a pandemic.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced “a pretty massive expansion of testing” in his state on Monday, and a new public-private partnership that will make results available in 24 to 48 hours.  

Walz said the Minneapolis Convention Center was open for testing, and that the state was partnering with the National Guard to open 11 additional sites in the next seven days. It is also opening a site at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.  

The governor said his state has “reached a very dangerous phase in the pandemic” and said his focus on testing is based on “proven infectious disease control by testing, isolation, contact tracing, containment.” 

During the morning news conference, Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm displayed the saliva test kit that will be used at the newly-opened testing sites and called it “easy, quick, pain-free.”  

Malcolm said the state was partnering with private healthcare company Vault Health, which is opening a test processing site in Minnesota “to speed up the process.”  

Walz highlighted the records on infection rates, hospitalization and deaths set in the state last week and called the deaths “avoidable.”

He specifically implored 18-34 year-olds to stop gathering.  

Walz said 23 counties in the state are part of a pilot program for in-home saliva testing.  

Ben Carson, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary, tested positive for coronavirus Monday morning, his deputy chief of staff Coalter Baker confirmed to CNN.

Carson attended the election night party where White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and nearly every other attendee was not wearing a mask. Meadows and four others in President Donald Trump’s orbit subsequently tested positive for the virus last week.

Carson was also spotted maskless at a Trump campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan on October 30.

Carson’s diagnosis was first reported by ABC News.

Read the full story here:

Related article Ben Carson is the latest Trump official to test positive for coronavirus

Iraq’s Ministry of Health reported 3,184 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Monday, taking the total number of cases in the country to more than 500,000 – a total of 501,733 have been recorded.

The health ministry also reported 53 Covid-19 related deaths, bringing Iraq’s coronavirus death toll to 11,380.

Iran remains the worst-hit country in the Middle East, with 692,949 cases. It broke its daily record for infections again on Monday, with 10,463 new cases, according to the spokesperson for the Iranian health ministry.

The country recorded 458 deaths on Monday, bringing its death toll to 38,749, according to governmental statistics. On Sunday 459 deaths were recorded – the highest number of deaths in the country since the outbreak began in February.

On October 12, the Iranian Supreme Leader Imam Ali Khamenei said that the country was going through its third wave of the pandemic.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday published guidance for drugmakers on how to increase the enrolment of under-represented groups in their clinical trials.

“One important step that researchers and medical product sponsors can take to confront health care disparities is to make sure that clinical trials for medical products are more inclusive of multiple populations,” FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said in a written statement on Monday.

He said the guidance offered recommendations on how product sponsors can improve the diversity of trials by accounting for factors that could limit participation.

For example, logistical issues such as requiring frequent visits to specific sites “may place an added burden on participants,” Hahn said in the statement.

The guidance also provides recommendations on:

The guidance comes as trials for potential Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics continue across the United States, as well as globally.

In September, a group funded by the National Institutes of Health released a series of television ads asking Black and Latino volunteers to become study participants in clinical trials for coronavirus vaccines.

Tens of millions of US adults at increased risk for severe disease from Covid-19 were essential workers who couldn’t work from home, or lived with someone in that position, according to a research letter published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. 

Between 56.7 and 74.3 million increased-risk US adults lived with or were themselves essential workers who could not work from home, researchers from the Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Maryland, said in the letter.

They used the 2014 to 2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, federal guidance and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to come up with the figure.

“Policy makers seeking to make efficient and equitable decisions about reopening the economy and about vaccine distribution should consider the health risks not only of workers, but also of those with whom they live,” the authors suggested.

The research has some limitations, including that pre-pandemic data does not reflect current employment levels, local infection rates or changes in people’s ability to work from home. Risk factors were self-reported by MEPS participants, meaning that there was likely an underestimate of risk. 

Hydroxychloroquine does not work on patients hospitalized with Covid-19, according to research published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). It’s the latest of several studies to find the antimalarial does not work against the coronavirus.

“These findings do not support the use of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of Covid-19 among hospitalized adults,” wrote Dr. Wesley Self, of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine, and colleagues.

The randomized trial involved 479 Covid-19 patients at 34 US hospitals with respiratory illness. Some received hydroxychloroquine and some received a placebo.

The results found strong evidence that hydroxychloroquine is “not beneficial” for adults hospitalized with Covid-19, and “no significant difference between the hydroxychloroquine and placebo groups.”

The trial had several limitations, including that it only included hospitalized adults and only one dosage level of hydroxychloroquine. It did not consider whether patients used other therapies, such as azithromycin, zinc or remdesivir.

In a corresponding JAMA editorial, Dr. Michael Saag, a researcher with the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, noted President Donald Trump’s early support of hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment, and wrote that politicization was an important factor in promoting use of the drug.

“The clear, unambiguous, and compelling lesson from the hydroxychloroquine story for the medical community and the public is that science and politics do not mix,” Saag wrote. “The number of articles in the peer-reviewed literature over the last several months that have consistently and convincingly demonstrated the lack of efficacy of a highly hyped ‘cure’ for COVID-19 represent the consequence of the irresponsible infusion of politics into the world of scientific evidence and discourse.”

The US Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine on March 28 after a big push from Trump and his administration, but revoked it on June 15.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says that if Covid-19 trends continue and the city hits a “full blown second wave,” it would mean many more restrictions and “even having to shut down parts of our economy again.”

He said the city was seeing a “dangerous” rise in Covid-19 positivity, adding “we have one last chance” to stop a second wave.

“God forbid this continued and we had a full-blown second wave, it means a lot more restrictions, it means unfortunately it could mean even having to shut down parts of our economy again which would be horrible for this city, horrible for the livelihoods of people,” he added.

When asked about specifics on potential restrictions, he said he could not lay out a timeline and that it would depend on the actions of New Yorkers.

“It could mean having to shut down schools,” he warned.

The Mayor said he would “look at” all upcoming holiday events, when asked about the annual Rockefeller Tree Lighting ceremony, and whether any alterations would need to be made. 

The first priority is to avoid large indoor gatherings, he said, adding that there were not many outdoor events scheduled.

The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 citywide is 2.36%, which is “very worrisome,” De Blasio said, adding that the seven-day rolling average of 2.21% was the “highest we’ve seen in a long time.”

He said hospital admissions were still at a manageable level and there was not a problem in schools, but he warned earlier that the city was seeing household and community spread.

“We can fight these back,” De Blasio said, but he cautioned that the numbers should “all have us alarmed and ready to act with everything we got.”

The United States is edging closer to the grim milestone of 10 million coronavirus cases, with at least 9,982,054 infections reported, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

At least 237,608 people have died in the US from Covid-19. 

So far today, Johns Hopkins has reported 13,899 new cases and 38 further deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Track cases in the United States here:

Stocks were already set to soar Monday after Joe Biden was elected 46th US president – but Wall Street’s enthusiasm kicked into an even higher gear after Pfizer and BioNTech announced positive clinical data for their Covid-19 vaccine.

Shares in Pfizer and BioNTech skyrocketed about 15% and 25% respectively.

And so did the stocks of other companies working on vaccines, such as Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Meanwhile, shares of companies that make antibody and antiviral treatments (but not vaccines), including Regeneron, Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences, were lower.

Drug stocks and biotechs weren’t the only companies soaring on the hopeful vaccine news. The prospect of an effective coronavirus vaccine has people dreaming of a return to normalcy, so movie theater chain AMC, concert promoter Live Nation and various retailers also surged.

Yet there were also some notable market losers Monday: companies that have benefited from the work-from-home and stay at home trends.

Video conferencing giant Zoom plunged 15%. So did shares of interactive exercise equipment company Peloton.

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A lower school substitute teacher works from her home due to the Coronavirus outbreak on April 1, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. - Her role in the school changed significantly when Coronavirus hit. She was previously working part time to support teachers when they needed to be absent from the classroom and now she helps them to build skills with new digital platforms so they can continue to teach in the best way for their students and their families.The middle school (grades 6-8) has most regularly been using Zoom and the lower grades have been using Zoom with parents. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)

Related article The vaccine news is great for most stocks -- unless you're Zoom

The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the travel industry, as hotels, restaurants and airlines in destinations around the world find themselves going broke or dramatically cutting back costs as they try to survive.

But there’s one place on the planet where there are too many tourists right now: the Chatham Islands.

If you haven’t heard of them, you’re not the only one.

The remote Pacific Ocean archipelago near the international date line is technically part of New Zealand.

And as New Zealand’s borders remain mostly closed and locals are advised to not travel overseas at this time, the Chathams – about 500 miles east of the country’s South Island – have become 2020’s hottest getaway for tourists from New Zealand.

In a typical year, the Chathams – whose two main populated islands are Chatham Island and Pitt Island – get about 2,000 tourists. That compares to about 700 full-time residents, most of whom live on Chatham Island, the largest of the archipelago.

But 2020 is no typical year: The Chathams’ remoteness usually makes it a part of the country that New Zealanders never get around to visiting. Now, that remoteness is an advantage, with travel-starved Kiwis turning to the islands as a way to feel like they’re on a far-off holiday without having to quarantine or take a Covid test.

Elevated, panoramic view of a bay with red, sandstone cliffs in the Chatham islands, New Zealand.

Related article New Zealand's Chatham Islands might be the only place in the world experiencing overtourism right now

Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the news that Pfizer’s candidate vaccine is more than 90% effective bodes well for other Covid-19 vaccines in development.

Pfizer’s candidate uses a never-before-approved technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to produce an immune response in people who are vaccinated.

“This shows that the mRNA platform actually does work. And there’s another vaccine candidate, Moderna, that’s using the same platform,” Fauci told CNN in a telephone interview.

The US federal government has invested $1.95 billion in Pfizer and partner BioNTech’s vaccine but is not directly working to help its development. 

Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is working with Moderna and other companies to test their experimental vaccines. Four coronavirus vaccines are in advanced, Phase 3 trials in the US now.

Fauci told CNN that Pfizer was able to get results so quickly due to the pandemic being so bad.

“An answer depends on the size of the trial and how many infections there are in the community,” he said Monday.
“This was a trial that was geared to 44,000 people and we are in the middle of a major surge right now. Those two things together make it much more likely that you’ll get an answer quickly, which is what happened. We got an answer quickly.”

US stocks surged at the opening bell in New York on Monday in reaction to the news. The Dow opened up 1,600 points.

Oil prices also skyrocketed, with US crude spiking 11% to $41.22 a barrel.

But some voiced caution over the interim results.

The nonprofit group Public Citizen released a statement on Monday calling for more data.

“The release of preliminary and incomplete clinical trial data by press release to the public is bad science,” Michael Carome, director of the group, said in the statement.

The Chinese city of Tianjin has reported two Covid-19 cases related to a frozen food storage facility, health officials said at a Monday press conference.

The two infections involve one symptomatic and one asymptomatic case, authorities said, adding that both were “highly related” to cold storage facilities.

According to state-run news agencies, authorities have closed the cold storage facility at Hailian Frozen Food Co. Ltd and are conducting nucleic acid tests on nearby residents.

On Monday, China’s National Health Commission issued new guidelines on handling imported cold-chain foods.

It said that all items must undergo “preventive, thorough disinfection” before Chinese officials contact the goods.

European countries are monitoring a coronavirus outbreak on mink farms in Denmark as the continent continues to record significant Covid-19 case numbers.

Denmark

The Scandinavian nation will cull its entire mink population after it discovered evidence that the novel coronavirus had mutated in the animal before being passed on to humans. As of Friday there are 214 confirmed human infections.

The Danish government also announced restrictions for the seven municipalities where the new strain was detected.

There are between 15 million and 17 million mink in Denmark, whereas its human population stands at around 5.5 million. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was tracking the situation in Denmark.

Belgium

Belgium has seen its number of daily coronavirus infections fall by more than 16,000 in the last two weeks, with 6,047 new cases registered on Friday.

The country is also monitoring and testing its mink population weekly following news of Denmark’s outbreak.

England

England has banned visitors from Denmark over the mink outbreak. British nationals returning home from the country will be forced to quarantine for two weeks.

The country is currently under a second national lockdown until December 2.

Finland

While parts of Europe are struggling with second wave outbreaks, Finland has gone three weeks without a Covid-19 related death, according to the latest data from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. 

The country last reported a single death on Friday October 16, and it has recorded 356 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic.

EU celebrates cross-border success

The European Union has hailed the success of its cross-border Covid-19 contact tracing system.

In a tweet on Sunday, the European Commission highlighted the work of Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, and Spain in using the system to ensure that “their contact and warning apps work across borders.” 

Wales’ 17-day “firebreak” lockdown has come to an end as scheduled, with schools, gyms, bars and restaurants allowed to reopen from Monday.

National measures have now come into force instead of the lockdown and people will need a “reasonable excuse” to travel in or out of Wales, including to neighboring England, which entered a month-long nationwide lockdown on November 5.

Mass testing, like the scheme piloted in the English city of Liverpool, is also being considered for Wales. 

After being told to stay at home, people in Wales can now visit one other household and meet in groups of four in bars, pubs and restaurants, which can serve alcohol until 10pm. Small businesses can also reopen and supermarkets can once again sell non-essential items.  

Speaking at a Monday press briefing, First Minister Mark Drakeford admitted it will be “weeks” before we know if the “firebreak” was effective in suppressing the virus, but said there were “tentative positive signs” of success, with the rate of infection falling from 250 cases per 100,000 people to just under 220.
However, hospitalizations continue to rise, he added, with more than 1,400 patients currently being treated for Covid-19. The Merthyr Tydfil area had one of the highest infection rates in the UK last week. Its rate has now fallen from 700 cases per 100,000 to 520, which Drakeford said was still “far too high.” 

Asked whether the Welsh Government should extend the lockdown, Dr. Giri Shankar, from Public Health Wales, told Sky News on Monday: “We have always recognized that it’s a balancing act of trying to control the Covid harm versus the non-Covid harms.”

“Clearly coronavirus hasn’t gone away and once we come out of restrictions it isn’t going to be as normal as before, so people still have the duty to comply with the new guidance”, he added.

Wales has reported 59,981 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began with 2,033 deaths, according to Public Health Wales. 

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has called his company’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate “the greatest medical advance in the last 100 years.” 

Pfizer announced earlier on Monday that the vaccine is more than 90% effective according to early data.

“Emotions are very high,” Bourla told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

The drugmaker has no safety concerns so far, Bourla added.

“What we know right now – it is with very, very high level of confidence these are very highly effective vaccines. What we know so far, it means that we don’t have any safety concerns, but we need to wait until the results are there,” he said.

He added that the vaccine will be available free to all American citizens.

The CEO said Pfizer planned to have more than 1 billion doses available globally next year.

Around 10 million doses of the vaccine are to be manufactured and made available to the United Kingdom by the end of 2020 if approved by regulators, a Downing Street spokesperson said Monday.

According to the spokesperson, the UK has procured 40 million doses of the Pfizer candidate vaccine in total.

Bourla did tell CNN that it was unclear how long protection from the vaccine could last.

When asked if the timing of the announcement was related to the US election, Bourla said: “The science brought it exactly at this time. We announced it the moment we learned about it, and I said multiple times the election for us is an artificial timeline.”

US President-elect Joe Biden congratulated the scientists behind the vaccine in a statement Monday and thanked “the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough and to give us such cause for hope.”

US President Donald Trump also reacted on Twitter, writing: “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!”

Shanghai health authorities have detected a new locally transmitted Covid-19 case in the city’s Pudong district, officials said Monday.

A 50-year-old man who worked as a Pudong airport porter cycled to a local hospital on Sunday and reported symptoms. 

On Monday, the man’s positive result was confirmed and he was transferred to the city’s Public Health Clinical Center for isolation and treatment, health officials said. 

The man had no contact with anybody infected with the virus and had not visited any “medium- and high-risk areas” in China in the last 14 days.

Twenty-six of the man’s close contacts have been tested, and 23 tests have returned as negative, health officials said.

Shanghai’s Zhuqiao County is now marked as a medium-risk area and residents are advised not to leave the city. Those who need to leave will be required to submit a negative nucleic acid test certificate received in the last seven days. 

The risk levels of other areas in Shanghai remain unchanged.

One hundred and eighty people related to close contacts are being transferred or are already in isolation facilities.

Shanghai has recorded 1,254 cases in total, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Drugmaker Pfizer has said its coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective according to an early look at data – a much better than expected efficacy if the trend continues.

A so-called interim analysis from the company examined the first 94 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among the more than 43,000 volunteers who received either two doses of the vaccine or a placebo.

 “With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
“We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”

The analysis found fewer than 10% of infections were in participants who had been given the vaccine. More than 90% of the cases were in people who had been given a placebo. 

Pfizer said that the vaccine provided protection seven days after the second vaccine dose and 28 days after the initial dose.

The company’s final goal is to reach 164 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection.

In a press release, the pharmaceutical giant said it plans to seek emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) soon after volunteers have been monitored for two months after getting their second dose of vaccine, as requested by the FDA. 

Pfizer said it anticipated reaching that point by the third week of November. Its vaccine trial is conducted in partnership with German company BioNTech.

The Phase 3 vaccine trial has enrolled 43,538 participants since July 27. As of Sunday, 38,955 of the volunteers have received a second dose of the vaccine. The company says 42% of international trial sites and 30% of US trial sites involve volunteers of racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. 

 Pfizer’s study will also evaluate whether the vaccine protects people against severe Covid-19 disease and whether the vaccine can provide long-term protection against Covid-19 disease, even in patients who have been infected before.

The US FDA has said it would expect at least 50% efficacy from any coronavirus vaccine.

BioNTech’s shares rose sharply after the news.

CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen reports:

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European countries are rolling out increasingly strict coronavirus restrictions as the continent’s second wave continues.

In Hungary, the government has proposed a series of tougher lockdown measures, in an effort to curb the spread of cases.

“If coronavirus infections rise at the current pace, our doctors, nurses and hospitals will not be able to cope with the burden,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced Monday on Facebook.

The new measures – which will come into force as of midnight on Tuesday, pending parliamentary approval – will include the closure of restaurants, universities and leisure facilities.

A curfew will also be imposed on all citizens from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time, unless they are considered exempt for work. 

While Orban has said that all gatherings will be prohibited under the proposals, up to ten people will be permitted to participate in family gatherings, while a limit of 50 people will be placed on funerals.

In Italy, where a nationwide curfew is already in place, the association of doctors has called for a national lockdown.

“Drastic measures are needed, such as a total lockdown,” association president Filippo Anelli said Sunday, warning that Italy risks having 10,000 more deaths in a month’s time.

Meanwhile in France, a second nationwide lockdown has resulted in the country’s economic activity being 12% lower than normal in November, the governor of the Banque de France said Monday.

“This second lockdown has had a negative impact. We estimate that it is 12% (of GDP) lower than normal. But that’s almost three times less than the first lockdown,” Banque de France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on RTL radio Monday. 

The governor added that he expects economic activity will be down between 9% and 10% in 2020. 

Under the second national lockdown non-essential businesses in France such as bars and restaurants are closed.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel struck a more positive note Monday, when she congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden.

“The United States of America and Germany, as part of the European Union, must stand together to master the major challenges of our time,” Merkel said on Monday in Berlin, vowing to work with the US to fight the pandemic.
“Side by side in the difficult trials of the Coronavirus pandemic, side by side in the battle against climate change and its global ramifications and in the battle against terrorism, side by side for an open global economy and free trade, because those are the foundations of our welfare on both sides of the Atlantic,” she said.

And in Russia, the coronavirus response center said Monday that 21,798 new cases of coronavirus had been reported in 24 hours. That total is Russia’s highest daily tally since the pandemic began.

Iran has once again marked a record high day of Covid-19 cases, reporting 10,463 infections on Monday according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Iran recorded 458 deaths on Monday, bringing the total death toll to 38,749, according to governmental statistics. 

On Sunday, the country recorded 459 deaths, the highest tally since the outbreak began in February.

Iran is the worst hit country in the Middle East with a total number of 692,949 cases.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that the country was suffering through a third wave of the pandemic.

At least 237,570 people have died in the US from coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU.)

The US is nearing a landmark tally of 10 million reported cases.

At least 9,968,155 cases have been reported so far – the highest tally worldwide according to JHU.

On Saturday, the country marked yet another record high of infections – 128,412​ cases (the highest day total since the pandemic began).

Sunday also marked the fifth consecutive day of new coronavirus cases totaling more than 100,000.

CNN is tracking the spread of Covid-19 across the US here:

Even with President Donald Trump still refusing to concede the election, President-elect Joe Biden is launching an aggressive plan today to control the pandemic that is escalating at an alarming rate and will define his administration as soon as he takes office.

Biden’s announcement of a coronavirus task force is an acknowledgment of record new infection numbers in recent days that mean that the Covid-19 crisis will be far worse by the time he reaches the Oval Office in January. The initiative is a forceful statement of intent and makes clear that Biden will use an active transition period to mobilise against the staggering health and economic challenges he will face. And it indicates that he is already moving ahead with the business of assuming power after celebrating the achievement of his three-decades long quest for the presidency on Saturday.

Biden’s steps to set the tone of his administration come despite the unprecedented spectacle of a President who has lost the election declining to accept reality. Sources tell CNN that Trump campaign aides are considering their own aggressive strategy  – not to finally tackle the virus that has killed more than 237,000 Americans – but for the US President to possibly hold rallies to bolster his false claims that his second term has been stolen.

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US President-elect Joe Biden delivers remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7, 2020, after being declared the winner of the presidential election. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Analysis: Trump in denial over election defeat as Biden gears up to fight Covid

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have unveiled the group of public health experts that will make up their coronavirus advisory board.

The team is chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who served in the Obama administration and also includes Rick Bright, a whistleblower from the Trump administration who alleged that his early warnings about the pandemic were ignored.

Bright was the former director of the office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine. He said his early warnings about critical supplies shortages were met with skepticism from Trump administration officials.

The inclusion of Bright on the board signals Biden’s attempt to take the US’ Covid-19 strategy in a different direction to President Trump who has regularly downplayed the impact of the virus.

“The task ahead of the Biden-Harris administration is unlike any other in our history,” the Bien-Harris transition team tweeted on Sunday.
“Our transition will be led by experts, by science, and with character—ensuring that we will be ready to lead on Day One.”

Both Biden and Harris will receive a briefing from the advisory board on Monday afternoon.

The announcement comes as the US nears 10 million reported coronavirus cases.

The Italian association of doctors and surgeons has called for a national lockdown as the country grapples with an increase in Covid-19 cases, hospital admissions and intensive care unit (ICU) patients.

If the trend continues, Italy will record another 10,000 more deaths in a month’s time, the association’s president Filippo Anelli said on Sunday, warning that last week’s data “does not make us foresee anything good”. 

“On average last week we have recorded 1,000 hospitalized patients per day, 110 in intensive care, 25,000 in home isolation and over 300 deaths per day,” Anelli said.
He added: “In a month’s time, if this trend were to remain unchanged, we will have another 10,000 more deaths and we will exceed the threshold of 5,000 beds in intensive care.”
“The scenario that lies ahead is dramatic, not only for the treatment of Covid patients but above all for the treatment of all patients who have other diseases.”

Italy is already under a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nationwide curfew, with bars and restaurants closing at 6 p.m., while certain areas face harsher restrictions.

Residents in “red zone” regions – Lombardy, Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta and Calabria – may only leave home for necessities, health or work. Those in “orange zones” are banned from leaving their towns except for work or health reasons.

Anelli said further “drastic measures are needed, such as a total lockdown,” to avoid having hospitals being overwhelmed at the end of December, the beginning of January, with Covid-19 patients and those with flu.

Italy registered 32,616 new daily Covid-19 cases and 331 related deaths on Sunday, according to data from the country’s Health Ministry.

Russia reported 21,798 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest number of cases the country has ever reported in 24 hours, according to data from the country’s Covid-19 response center. 

Moscow, the nation’s worst-hit city, accounts for 6,897 new cases.

Russia has recorded 1,796,132 cases overall, the fifth highest tally globally, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU.)

Fall has brought regular records in cases, see more people hospitalized and growing daily deaths. Experts are encouraging measures to mitigate the spread, as they warn that the numbers may continue to climb in coming weeks.

The virus can be dealt with by targeted mitigation on a state by state basis, he said, but the US is not doing that currently, and the lack of intervention could spell trouble for December and January.

“It’s not just the cases; it’s the hospitalizations as well. That’s really the number to watch: 53,000 people hospitalized, 10,500 people in ICUs. That’s a lot, and it’s growing very quickly.”

Sixteen states reported record high Covid-19 hospitalizations Friday, according to the Covid Tracking Project, and 22 states have reported at least one record high day of coronavirus hospitalizations during November, so far.

On Sunday morning, the global number of cases topped 50 million, with the US, India, Brazil and Russia being hardest hit, in that order, accounting or more than half the cases, Johns Hopkins reports.

As the total number of cases in the US approaches 10 million, Texas alone is inching toward 1 million cases, with more than 5,000 reported Sunday.

Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University, said she’s optimistic about President-elect Joe Biden’s plans for leading the country’s response, but said the virus will “have already run rampant through communities across the United States” by the time he takes office.

“We’re just heading into the very worst of this pandemic,” Ranney told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield, adding that she is concerned about the expected social gatherings during late November and early December.
“We’re about to see all of these little epidemics across the country, crossed and mixed, and it’s going to be an awful lot like pouring gasoline on a fire,” she said.

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EL PASO, TX - OCTOBER 31: An attendant talks to a person waiting in their car at a coronavirus testing site at Ascarate Park on October 31, 2020 in El Paso, Texas. As El Paso reports record numbers of active coronavirus cases, the Texas Attorney General sues to block local shutdown orders. (Photo by Cengiz Yar/Getty Images)

Related article The US has hit the highest daily number of new cases since the pandemic began

South Korea reported 126 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, according to a press release by Korea Disease Control Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Of those cases, 99 were locally transmitted and 27 were imported.

South Korea has identified 27,553 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, killing at least 480 people, according to KDCA.

India’s Union Territory of Delhi, which includes the nation’s capital, New Delhi, reported 7,745 new coronavirus cases Sunday – a single-day record for the region, which is now the epicenter of the country’s pandemic.

Since the pandemic began, 438,529 cases have been identified in Delhi, killing at least 6,989 people. Nearly 42,000 cases are considered active, according to the Delhi Health Department.

On Friday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain tweeted the government will increase the number of beds for Covid-19 patients in Delhi government hospitals, a move he said was “paramount” to combating the spike in cases.

India’s previous epicenter was the western portion of the state of Maharashtra, which is home to the megacity of Mumbai.

Nationwide numbers: India recorded 45,903 new Covid-19 cases and 490 virus-related deaths on Sunday, according to figures released by the Indian Health Ministry.

Since the pandemic began, 8,553,657 cases have been confirmed. Nearly 92.5% of those patients have recovered, while about 6% are active cases. At least 126,611 people have died.

At least 9,968,015 Covid-19 cases have been diagnosed in the United States since the beginning of the global pandemic as of Sunday evening, killing at least 237,568 people, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Nationwide, 105,787 new cases and 455 new deaths were reported on Sunday. The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.

Track cases in the United States here:

The Japanese Health Ministry said 957 new coronavirus cases and six virus-related deaths were reported in the country Sunday.

To date, 108,796 people in Japan have been diagnosed with the virus since the pandemic began. More than 97,000 have recovered and at least 1,831 have died, while 196 are in serious condition.

Tokyo, the capital, counted 189 new cases on Sunday – its its sixth day in a row with 100-plus cases. Hokkaido, the northernmost prefecture, reported 153 cases.

Authorities rose the alert level in Hokkaido on Saturday, after reports that six new clusters had been traced back to hospitals, an elderly home and the city’s nightlife district.

Residents of the Australian city of Melbourne can travel freely within the state of Victoria after a so-called “ring of steel” around the city was removed on Monday.

The “ring of steel,” as locals called the tough Covid-19 restrictions, consisted of checkpoints manned by police and other officials, and separated Melbourne from the rest of the state throughout the bulk of the city’s 112-day lockdown.

The state government has also dropped a previous restriction preventing Melbourne residents from traveling further than 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from their homes.

Movie theaters, galleries, museums and music halls will now be able to open, with 20 people allowed per space.

What happened this summer: Restrictive measures were put in this summer, when Melbourne and the rest of the state of Victoria were recording hundreds of cases per day – becoming the epicenter of Australia’s Covid-19 outbreak. Though the decision to lock down Victoria was unpopular with some people, by late September, cases had declined to low double digits, allowing the government to begin lifting restrictions.

Melbourne has not recorded a new Covid-19 case since October 29, the week its lockdown ended. Neighboring New South Wales on Monday also said it had not detected any new cases detected in the previous 24 hours.

As of Sunday, at least 95,027 people in Mexico have died from Covid-19, the country’s health ministry reported.

Only the United States, Brazil and India have reported more virus-related deaths than Mexico, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Mexican authorities have identified 967,825 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.

With the US clocking its highest new coronavirus cases in a single day on Saturday, states across the country continue to report daily surges in the virus’ spread, along with diminishing hospital capacity. The country has the highest number of Covid-19 cases worldwide, with more than 9.9 million recorded since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

Florida sees highest number of new daily cases since August

In Florida, health officials reported 6,820 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the most cases reported in a single day since August 12, according to the Florida Department of Health (DOH). It also marks the twelfth consecutive day the state reported more than 4,000 cases in a single day, CNN’s tally shows. This does not include high totals reported by the state due to lab or technical issues. 

To date, Florida has recorded 843,897 Covid-19 cases statewide, and a total of 17,121 Covid-19 related deaths, DOH data shows.  

Oregon surpasses 50,000 coronavirus cases

Oregon Governor Kate Brown says the state has surpassed the ‘alarming threshold’ of 50,000 coronavirus cases.

The Oregon Health Authority reported 874 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 50,448. They also reported the state’s 730th death, as hospitalizations reach an all-time high.

Governor Brown tweeted, “This is a wake-up call. We have to slow the spread in our communities. Cancel your social plans, wear a mask, get a flu shot, and wash your hands.”

On Friday, Governor Brown ordered five counties in the state to take a two week ‘social pause’ as cases soar and hospitalizations reach an all-time high.

Wisconsin only has 12% of hospital beds available in the state

Wisconsin recorded 4,280 new cases of coronavirus Sunday and 11 new deaths, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

There are 112 more people hospitalized, with just 12 percent of hospital beds still available in the state.

Since the pandemic began, 2,312 people have died in Wisconsin from coronavirus.

Texas inches closer to 1 million cases

Texas is getting closer to reporting one million coronavirus cases as it announces 5,404 new cases Sunday, according to Texas Health and Human Services.

So far there have been 956,234 total cases reported in the state since the pandemic began.

The state reported 43 new deaths, bringing their total number of coronavirus deaths to 18,743.

There are currently 6,080 people in the state’s hospitals with the disease. Hospitals have 1,000 ICU beds available, and more than 7,000 ventilators.

Illinois has 3rd consecutive day of over 10,000 new daily cases

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported 10,009 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus in the state, making Sunday the 3rd consecutive day that Illinois has reported over 10,000 daily coronavirus cases.

IDPH is reporting a total of 487,987 cases across the state, including 10,196 deaths, 42 of which were tallied on Sunday.

Track Covid-19 cases across the US here:

The coronavirus pandemic will have worsened by the time Joe Biden is inaugurated as US President in January, an emergency physician has told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield.

“By the time that the Biden-Harris administration takes over, this virus is going to have already run rampant through the communities across the United States,” Dr. Megan Ranney said Sunday.

“We’re just heading into the very worst of this pandemic,” Ranney told CNN’s Whitfield, adding that she is concerned about the expected social gatherings during late November and early December.

“We’re about to see all of these little epidemics across the country, crossed and mixed, and it’s going to be an awful lot like pouring gasoline on a fire,” she said.

Ranney said she is optimistic about President-elect Joe Biden’s transition plans for leading the coronavirus response.

 “The folks that I know who are already leading the task force are absolute paragons of excellent science, excellent public messaging. They have a wealth of public health experience,” she said.

“I have really zero doubt that they are going to lead the Biden transition team and do the right thing for the country.”

Ranney also said she hopes there is an emphasis on mask use and making personal protective equipment available to health care and frontline workers in the future. She stressed the importance of having increased access to data and testing facilities. 

“I want to see it easy for every American to get tested quickly, to get their results quickly and then to make it easy for them to do the right thing if they have symptoms,” Ranney said.

Belgium is monitoring and testing its mink population weekly after Denmark reported a widespread outbreak of a new variant of the novel coronavirus at its mink farms.

The Danish government this week announced it planned to cull the nation’s entire mink population of 17 million in order to contain the spread after it discovered evidence that the virus that causes Covid-19 had mutated in mink, after being passed on by humans.

Belgium has a smaller mink population, with 15 mink farms currently in operation in Flanders, the Flemish region in the country’s north, according to the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). Fur farming is banned in the rest of the country.

Steven Van Gucht, head virologist at the Belgian Health Authority (Sciensano), told Belgian radio on Saturday: “Samples are collected every week at the mink farms to check if the new coronavirus strain has broken out at Belgian mink farms.

“So far, all tests have come back negative. If the new strain does show up here, all mink will have to be culled.”

However, he said he was “not that worried” about the new variant.

“It seems unlikely that the mink variant would have become more dangerous for people. On the contrary I suspect what has happened is that it has become better adapted to mink and so therefore it is probably less adapted to humans,” Van Gucht added.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday the decision to cull the minks had been made with a “heavy heart,” but it was necessary based on the recommendation of health authorities.

Coronavirus mutations are not expected to alter vaccine efficacy, a World Health Organization scientist said in June.

Speaking at a briefing on Friday, another WHO expert, Maria Van Kekhove, cautioned that “mutations are normal.”

Tackling the pandemic in the US is the first item on the Biden-Harris transition team’s website.

The US President-elect and vice president-elect pledge to ensure free, reliable testing for all Americans, a better supply of personal protective equipment, clear and consistent guidance and a $25 billion vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan.

The Biden team also plans to appoint Harris to head a task force to tackle racial and ethnic disparities regarding the impact of the virus.

The team plans to draw up a “nationwide Pandemic Dashboard that Americans can check in real-time to help them gauge whether local transmission is actively occurring in their zip codes.”

The Biden team said their White House will “immediately restore our relationship with the World Health Organization, which — while not perfect — is essential to coordinating a global response during a pandemic.”

The team also intends to restore the Obama-era White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which was disbanded in 2018.

The website also promises a national mask mandate but says it will get there by working with governors and mayors and “by asking the American people to do what they do best: step up in a time of crisis.”

The Trump Administration invested heavily in vaccine development and promised any approved coronavirus vaccine would be provided free of cost to all Americans. But the White House also struggled to deploy enough tests and PPE to those that needed it.

The current administration has also publicly battled with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about coronavirus guidance. 

The US is approaching 10 million diagnosed coronavirus cases (the CDC says the majority of cases have gone undiagnosed) and a quarter of a million deaths. 

On Saturday, Johns Hopkins University reported 126,742 daily new coronavirus cases in the US, the highest single daily count reported since the pandemic began.

The total number of reported coronavirus cases worldwide has exceeded 50 million according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

At 11:50am ET on Sunday, the number of cases was 50,052,204.

The country with the highest number of infections remains the US, followed by India, Brazil, Russia and then France.

Globally, there have been 1,253,110 deaths from Covid-19, according to JHU, almost 20% of which occurred in the United States.

CNN is tracking the worldwide spread of coronavirus here: