February 14 coronavirus news

The United Kingdom has administered 15 million first doses of Covid-19 vaccine, the minister in charge of the program, Nadhim Zahawi, tweeted Sunday.

"We will not rest till we offer the vaccine to the whole of phase 1," Zahawi wrote, referring to priority groups set out by the government.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it a "significant milestone" and an "extraordinary feat." 

The British government also plans to give a first dose to the remaining risk groups and adults over 50 by the end of April.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on “Fox News Sunday” that she anticipates every American who wants a Covid-19 vaccine will be able to get one by the end of summer.

Once there is enough vaccine, Walensky said, “we very much need to make sure that everybody rolls up their sleeves when it’s their turn, when they’re eligible.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Thursday said that “open season” for vaccination could begin in April, and the majority of Americans could be vaccinated by the middle or the end of the summer.

Despite declining Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, experts warn: when it comes to the pandemic, the US is not yet out of the woods.

According to the latest model from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, another 130,000 Americans are projected to die of the virus over the next three and a half months,

And while Covid-19 numbers may be trending in the right direction now, there are four key factors that will determine how the next months unfold, the IHME said in a briefing accompanying its model.

The two first factors are things that will help drive pandemic numbers down. They are increasing vaccinations and declining seasonality – referring to the pattern of lower transmission that's likely in the US during the spring and summer months.

"Two factors, however, can slow or even reverse the declines that have begun," the IHME team said.

The first factor is the spread of the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the UK and experts warned could become the dominant strain in the US by spring. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows more than 980 cases of the variant have so far been detected across 37 states.

The second factor, according to the IHME team, is "increased behaviors that favor COVID-19 transmission."

That's why experts say now is not the time for the US to let down its guard, even as a growing list of governors loosen Covid-19 restrictions.

Read the full story here.

As of Sunday morning, there have been more than 27.5 million confirmed Covid-19 cases in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. While the seven-day average of new cases is down significantly week over week, there is still sustained community transmission of the virus across the country.

“Do you think that, by the end of this year, you and I will be able to walk down the street without a mask?” Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on “Fox News Sunday.”

Iran reported 7,390 new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the country's total number of Covid-19 related cases to 1,518,263.

The new Covid-19 related case infection numbers were announced by Iran’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadaat Lari in a news conference on state TV. 

The country also reported 62 new Covid-19 related deaths, bringing the country's death toll to 58,945 on Sunday.

The Health Ministry said 3,709 patients remain hospitalized in ICU. 

Iran is the hardest hit Middle East country by the coronavirus pandemic in total cases and deaths. 

On Tuesday, Iran began its rollout of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, according to a live broadcast on state television. 

Health Minister Saeed Namaki said the top priority groups for vaccination are doctors and nurses working at intensive care units of the hospitals.

The country continues to keep restrictions in place to try to avoid a larger outbreak of cases. 

Japan has officially approved Pfizer/BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, the nation’s Health Ministry said on Sunday.

This is the first coronavirus vaccine approved in Japan.

The country received a shipment of roughly 400,000 doses of the vaccine from Belgium on Friday, the Health Ministry added.

Japan is currently witnessing its third wave of coronavirus and has recorded 415,184 confirmed cases as of Saturday.

The country is set to host the Summer Olympic Games in July. 

Dozens of politicians from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's own Conservative party have called for an end to lockdown measures at the end of April, when the country’s nine top-priority groups are due to have had a first dose of coronavirus vaccine. 

Lawmaker Steve Harvey posted a letter on Twitter Saturday which he said was signed by 63 Conservative lawmakers.

"Once all nine priority groups have been protected by the end of April, there is no justification for legislative restrictions to remain," the letter says.

The letter argues that the "national priority" of reopening UK schools to students "must be achieved by March 8." 

Responding on Sky News Sunday, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he didn't think "you could set an arbitrary target and not be evidence led."

The UK has helmed one of the world's fastest vaccination efforts, with Raab saying it "is on course to hit the first milestone" on Monday of giving a first dose to its four top priority groups. The UK has decided to focus on giving a first dose to as many people as possible, then give the second dose when supplies allow.

England and Scotland have been under lockdown since early January, with Wales and Northern Ireland under lockdown since late December.

The group, while commending the "tremendous pace of the vaccine rollout," stressed that the government's "roadmap must demonstrate how the vaccine rollout translates into a return to normal life." 

The group called for the reopening of pubs, restaurants, and other hospitality venues by Easter, "in a way which enables them to be Covid secure but also to operate in a commercially viable manner."

The vaccine should not only provide "us with immunity from Covid but it must also give us permanent immunity from Covid-related lockdowns and restrictions," they concluded.

Investigators from the World Health Organization looking into the origins of coronavirus in China have discovered signs the outbreak was much wider in Wuhan in Dec. 2019 than previously thought. They are urgently seeking access to hundreds of thousands of blood samples from the city that China has so far not let them examine.

The lead investigator for the WHO mission, Peter Ben Embarek, told CNN in a wide-ranging interview that the mission had found several signs of the more wide-ranging 2019 spread, including establishing for the first time that there were over a dozen strains of the virus in Wuhan already in December.

The team also had a chance to speak to the first patient Chinese officials said had been infected, an office worker in his 40s with no travel history of note, reported infected on Dec. 8.

The slow emergence of more detailed data gathered on the WHO's long-awaited trip into China may add to concerns voiced by other scientists studying the origins of the disease that the virus may have been spreading in China long before its first official emergence in mid-December.

Ben Embarek, who has just returned to Switzerland from Wuhan, told CNN:

He explained that Chinese scientists presented his team with 174 cases of coronavirus in and around Wuhan in Dec. 2019. Of these, 100 had been confirmed by laboratory tests and another 74 through the clinical diagnosis of the patient's symptoms.

Ben Embarek said it was possible this larger number – of likely severe cases that had been noticed by Chinese doctors early on – meant the disease could have hit an estimated 1,000-plus people in Wuhan that December.

Ben Embarek said the mission – which comprised 17 WHO scientists and 17 Chinese – had broadened the type of virus genetic material they examined from early coronavirus cases that first December. This allowed them to look at partial genetic samples, rather than just complete ones, he said. As a result, they were able to gather, for the first time, 13 different genetic sequences of the SARS-COV-2 virus from Dec. 2019. The sequences, if examined with wider patient data in China across 2019, could provide valuable clues about the geography and timing of the outbreak before December.

Ben Embarek said: "Some of them are from the markets... Some of them are not linked to the markets," which includes the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, thought to have played a role in the virus' first spread. "This is something we found as part of our mission... part of the interaction we had all together."

 Read more of this CNN exclusive report here.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Peter Ben Embarek’s name on second and subsequent references. It’s been updated.

Iraq has announced a number of restrictions "in light of the increasing number of infections among citizens" to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The country will impose a curfew between Feb. 18 and March 8, according to a statement released by the Iraqi cabinet Saturday night.

Muslim worshippers are not allowed to pray inside mosques starting Feb. 18, the statement said.

Restaurants and cafes will be closed for dining but will allow pick-up services. All entertainment places will be closed for two weeks, including indoor parks, cinemas, sports halls, and swimming pools.

What the numbers show: Iraq has reported a total of 641,628 cases and 13,164 coronavirus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.