Country, |
Total |
New |
Total |
World |
55,341,629 |
+504,764 |
1,331,752 |
11,538,280 |
+162,346 |
252,652 |
|
8,874,172 |
+28,555 |
130,559 |
|
5,876,740 |
+13,647 |
166,067 |
|
1,991,233 |
+9,406 |
45,054 |
|
1,948,603 |
+22,778 |
33,489 |
|
1,521,899 |
+12,758 |
41,253 |
|
1,390,681 |
+21,363 |
52,147 |
|
1,318,384 |
+7,893 |
35,727 |
|
1,205,881 |
+27,354 |
45,733 |
|
1,205,217 |
+6,471 |
34,223 |
|
1,006,522 |
+3,269 |
98,542 |
|
938,268 |
+1,257 |
35,271 |
|
817,526 |
+14,582 |
12,891 |
|
775,121 |
+13,053 |
41,979 |
|
752,269 |
+1,245 |
20,314 |
|
733,788 |
+20,816 |
10,491 |
|
545,689 |
+9,832 |
9,697 |
|
535,939 |
+4,659 |
14,421 |
|
532,604 |
+1,331 |
14,863 |
|
521,542 |
+2,390 |
11,712 |
|
470,648 |
+3,535 |
15,296 |
|
465,523 |
+5,407 |
6,416 |
|
452,701 |
+4,830 |
8,530 |
|
434,472 |
+2,139 |
6,215 |
|
417,594 |
+3,316 |
11,601 |
|
409,574 |
+1,738 |
7,839 |
|
365,212 |
+4,931 |
9,075 |
|
359,032 |
+2,128 |
7,160 |
|
353,556 |
+301 |
5,676 |
|
324,755 |
+1,014 |
2,735 |
|
302,192 |
+6,115 |
11,027 |
|
296,189 |
+3,012 |
4,850 |
|
225,672 |
+3,996 |
3,472 |
|
210,973 |
+1,197 |
1,230 |
|
208,613 |
+4,657 |
1,887 |
|
180,676 |
+381 |
13,016 |
|
151,554 |
+1,209 |
534 |
|
149,539 |
+5,861 |
1,843 |
|
147,667 |
+1,014 |
2,881 |
|
147,456 |
+6,495 |
3,190 |
|
143,246 |
+65 |
8,849 |
|
137,329 |
+489 |
842 |
|
136,028 |
+243 |
235 |
|
Dominican |
134,203 |
+479 |
2,286 |
124,592 |
+643 |
1,566 |
|
121,051 |
+588 |
1,899 |
|
120,718 |
+329 |
1,350 |
|
118,136 |
+1,459 |
1,885 |
|
117,886 |
+549 |
1,788 |
|
115,448 |
+1,263 |
1,053 |
|
115,032 |
+147 |
3,938 |
|
111,009 |
+242 |
6,465 |
|
106,446 |
+1,016 |
827 |
|
103,102 |
+547 |
2,823 |
|
103,056 |
+336 |
1,581 |
|
101,770 |
+3,519 |
2,282 |
|
97,739 |
+387 |
855 |
|
89,843 |
+564 |
2,035 |
|
87,381 |
+2,813 |
1,030 |
|
87,276 |
+509 |
526 |
|
86,346 |
+8 |
4,634 |
|
85,519 |
+1,313 |
1,082 |
|
84,882 |
+179 |
337 |
|
82,835 |
+3,157 |
733 |
|
81,003 |
+599 |
2,396 |
|
77,083 |
+1,395 |
985 |
|
76,403 |
+2,198 |
1,165 |
|
74,324 |
+722 |
1,025 |
|
72,099 |
+525 |
1,602 |
|
70,804 |
+559 |
1,287 |
|
70,299 |
+118 |
598 |
|
70,161 |
+1,167 |
1,599 |
|
68,589 |
+910 |
2,168 |
|
68,356 |
+453 |
1,984 |
|
66,983 |
+479 |
1,203 |
|
65,305 |
+157 |
1,163 |
|
63,867 |
+836 |
572 |
|
63,331 |
+1,195 |
764 |
|
58,124 |
+5 |
28 |
|
55,544 |
+502 |
831 |
|
50,376 |
+253 |
323 |
|
48,520 |
+1,103 |
313 |
|
47,636 |
+586 |
1,345 |
|
36,669 |
+153 |
1,047 |
|
35,911 |
+1,152 |
285 |
|
29,514 |
+548 |
294 |
|
28,769 |
+223 |
494 |
|
28,432 |
+602 |
631 |
|
27,773 |
+596 |
396 |
|
27,750 |
+22 |
907 |
|
27,256 |
+164 |
236 |
|
20,988 |
+12 |
128 |
|
19,419 |
+104 |
371 |
|
17,674 |
+387 |
61 |
|
17,187 |
+64 |
353 |
|
16,257 |
+237 |
150 |
|
15,801 |
+8 |
329 |
|
14,728 |
+102 |
1,119 |
|
7,285 |
+107 |
40 |
|
5,275 |
+1 |
115 |
|
4,668 |
+6 |
44 |
|
3,875 |
+1 |
60 |
|
1,283 |
+2 |
35 |
Retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
From CNN Health’s Maggie Fox
Drugmaker Pfizer announced on Monday it would test distribution of its coronavirus vaccine candidate in four US states: Rhode Island, Texas, New Mexico, and Tennessee.
Pfizer said last week that preliminary data indicated its experimental vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing symptomatic infections in people. The company still has to gather more data before it can apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for the vaccine.
Temperature testing: A key part of this testing will gauge how hard it is to deal with a product that has to be kept at temperatures well below the capacity of standard freezers.
State and local health officials, hospital representatives and others have expressed concern about the difficulty of distributing a fragile vaccine that needs constant, ultra-cold refrigeration. Careful records will also have to be kept, to ensure that everyone who gets the vaccine receives two doses, spaced three weeks apart.
The four states: “To build on our coordination with the relevant U.S. agencies, Pfizer launched this pilot program to help better support the states’ planning, deployment, and administration of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate,” the company said in a statement.
It did not say what, precisely, would happen in the pilot program but said it would learn from the scheme to help create plans for other states.
The four states were selected because of their differences in size, population diversity, and their varied urban and rural settings, Pfizer said.
From CNN's Chandler Thornton
Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) is testing a clerk robot in Osaka that detects if customers are not wearing masks. Advanced Telecommunications Research
A store in Japan's Osaka prefecture is experimenting with a new "clerk robot" that can detect if a customer is not wearing a mask.
The robot is designed to move around the store and provide customer service such as guiding customers to products, according to a news release from the developer, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR).
It also uses an attached camera to monitor customers for "unsuitable actions" like not wearing a mask or social distancing.
"If such behavior is discovered, the clerk robot will approach the customer and alert them," the news release said.
ATR developed the robot in November, and is testing it at J-League soccer club Cerezo Osaka's mega store in Osaka.
The release added that robot development is essential for tasks because of labor shortages from a declining birthrate and ageing population in Japan.
"Demonstration experiments of a clerk robot that simultaneously provides customer service and alert service while moving in a small environment such as inside a store is the most advanced attempt in the world," ATR said.
Japan reported 952 new Covid-19 cases on Monday after a run of seven consecutive days with more than 1,000 new infections. The nationwide total stands at 120,038.
From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman
In this December 12, 2019 file photo, a 3-ounce serving of breast milk is ready to be shipped out to nearby hospitals from the Mountain West Mothers Milk Bank in Salt Lake City. Natalie Behring/AFP/Getty Images
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued revised guidance on Monday for women who are breastfeeding while they have suspected or confirmed Covid-19, saying breast milk is "not a likely source of infection."
Previously, the CDC had said it was not known whether mothers could transmit the virus via breast milk.
In the latest guidance, the agency said a woman with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 should follow guidelines on home quarantine or isolation. The child being breastfed should be considered a close contact and be quarantined during the parent's recommended period of home isolation and for 14 days thereafter.
The guidelines also suggest precautions while breastfeeding for those with suspected or confirmed Covid-19:
· Wash hands before touching child or expressing breast milk
· Wear a mask when less than 6 feet from the child
· Clean and sanitize breast pumps
If the mother prefers not to breast feed or bottle feed their child while sick, the CDC said a healthy caregiver who is not at risk for severe illness from Covid-19 may feed expressed breast milk to the child.
If the child has suspected or confirmed Covid-19, the agency recommends mothers wear masks while breastfeeding and wash hands frequently.
Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-11-17-20-intl/index.html
Demonstrators hold signs demanding a mask mandate from the City Council on Monday outside Carnegie Town Hall in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Erin Bormett/Argus Leader/AP)
Jodi Doering, an emergency room nurse in South Dakota, was overwhelmed Saturday night. Her patients were dying of covid-19, yet were still in denial about the pandemic’s existence.
It’s like “horror movie that never ends,” Doering wrote on Twitter.
Her anxiety and despair is shared by many health-care workers who are facing a dramatic surge in covid-19 patients. But some front-line workers, like Doering, also face the emotional toll of treating patients who, despite being severely ill, are reluctant to acknowledge that they have been infected with a virus that President Trump has said will simply disappear.
Doering said she has covid-19 patients who need 100 percent-oxygen breathing assistance who will also swear that they don’t have the illness that has ended the lives of nearly a quarter-million people in the United States since February.
“I think the hardest thing to watch is that people are still looking for something else and a magic answer and they do not want to believe covid is real,” Doering told CNN in an interview Monday.
“Their last dying words are, 'This can’t be happening. It’s not real,” Doering said, adding that some patients prefer to believe that they have pneumonia or other diseases rather than covid-19, despite seeing their positive test results.
Doering’s weekend tweets went viral and prompted reaction from residents, health-care workers and local officials.
“COVID is amplifying the feeling of frustration and helplessness our front-line healthcare workers are experiencing,” Brookings, S.D., City Council member Nick Wendell wrote on Twitter. “We are in the midst of the storm right now. When we see our way through to the other side, the accumulated grief of healthcare workers in our state will be among the debris."
Worsening coronavirus crisis pushes leaders to take new measures
The United States surpassed 11 million coronavirus cases Sunday, and health experts warn of even bleaker weeks ahead, urging the public to take the pandemic seriously and abide by strict social-distancing rules. They have also urged public officials to implement more restrictions, such as statewide mask mandates, to stem the spread.
Coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly across the country, but North and South Dakota led the nation in new cases and deaths per capita last week, according to Washington Post data.
In North Dakota, where cases have rocketed in the past month, Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has also acknowledged the phenomenon of disbelief among the population. Burgum pleaded with fellow residents late last week to take precautions as the state’s hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.
Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/16/south-dakota-nurse-coronavirus-deniers/
On Monday, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. delivered a briefing on his economic agenda, focusing on his plans for unveiling a vaccine and fighting the coronavirus
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Monday that “more people may die” from the coronavirus as a result of President Trump’s refusal to begin a transfer of power and allow coordinated planning for the mass distribution of a vaccine early next year.
Trying to increase the pressure on Mr. Trump, who continues to falsely proclaim himself the election winner, Mr. Biden criticized the president as an obstacle to the daunting logistical challenges of delivering vaccines around the country and injecting hundreds of millions of Americans, work that won’t begin in earnest until after Mr. Biden is sworn in.
“The vaccine is important. But it’s of no use until you’re vaccinated,” Mr. Biden said, taking questions from reporters after remarks on the virus and the economy. “It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking.”
“If we have to wait until January 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind,” he added. “More people may die, if we don’t coordinate.”
Mr. Biden’s grim warning about the potentially deadly consequences of a delayed transition was a striking rebuke to the sitting president at a time when most of the country is suffering through a surge in infections from the worst pandemic in 100 years. The message to Mr. Trump was clear: You have failed, and now it’s my turn.
Delivering remarks about the economy and the virus after a virtual meeting with business and labor leaders, Mr. Biden offered a grim assessment of the coming months as the epidemic continues its rapid spread, and criticized Mr. Trump for mismanaging the epidemic, which he promised to “shut down.”
“We are going into a very dark winter. Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier,” Mr. Biden said. He urged Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving next week in groups of 10 or fewer, wearing masks and after quarantining. He said his own family plans were uncertain.
Mr. Biden called on Congress to pass an economic stimulus package immediately to help workers struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
“For millions of Americans who’ve lost hours and wages or have lost jobs, we all agreed on our call that we can deliver immediate relief and it need be done quickly,” Mr. Biden said.
He added that “Congress should come together and pass a Covid relief package” along the lines of the $3 trillion bill that House Democrats passed earlier this year.
Mr. Biden said that combating the virus remained the most urgent matter, however, and said that he would “set an example” for Americans who may be wary of getting vaccinated by accepting it himself. If promising vaccines now in the pipeline continue to prove safe and effective, he said, “I would take the vaccine.”
“Look, the only reason people question the vaccine now is because of Donald Trump,” Mr. Biden said. “That’s the reason why people are questioning the vaccine, because of all the things he says and doesn’t say, is it truthful or not truthful, the exaggerations?”
Mr. Biden also said he favors a national mask mandate, and he criticized Mr. Trump and his allies for attacking state and local officials, like Michigan’s governor, for imposing new restrictions to try to contain the skyrocketing case numbers.
“What is the matter with these guys?” Mr. Biden said. “It’s totally irresponsible.”
“There is nothing macho about not wearing a mask,” he added.
Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/16/world/covid-19-coronavirus-updates/more-people-may-die-biden-says-as-trump-delays-transition
An ambulance during the Coronavirus outbreak Coronavirus outbreak, Brussels, Belgium, 16 November 2020. Photograph: Isopix/REX/Shutterstock
The Belgian government said Monday it intends to make any coronavirus vaccine available to around 70% of the population, some eight million people, and free of charge, AFP reports.
The jab will not be compulsory, added Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke as he and regional counterparts attended an interministerial health conference.
“The objective is to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the population. Priority groups will be determined on the basis of scientific opinion and social debate,” Vandenbroucke stated.
“Vaccination will be free for every citizen” receiving it, he added.
Belgium, population 11.5 million, has registered almost 540,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 14,000 deaths to date. Its death rate per million residents is one of the worst in Europe.
As an EU member state Belgium is engaged in bloc-wide procedures for bulk purchases of anti-Covid-19 vaccines once they emerge in the coming months.
Earlier Monday, Brussels indicated it was signing a contract with German pharmaceutical company CureVac for another potential Covid-19 vaccine, bringing to five the number of vaccines in the bloc’s portfolio and a sixth on the way from US firm Moderna.
Belgium itself has so far signed up to receive 7.7 million doses from AstraZeneca (administered in two doses) and a further 5.5 million from Johnson & Johnson, national news agency Belga reported.
Here are the key global developments from the last few hours:
· Mainland China reported 15 new Covid-19 cases on 16 November, up from eight cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Tuesday. The National Health Commission said in a statement all new cases were imported infections originating from overseas.
· India’s daily cases fall to lowest number since mid-July. Daily coronavirus infections in India fell to their lowest since mid-July, with 29,163 new cases reported for the last 24 hours, taking the total to 8.87 million, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
· Parts of west Scotland braced for Level 4 restrictions, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to announce her decision on Tuesday. On Monday, Ms Sturgeon said at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing that rates in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Lanarkshire health board areas are “stubbornly high”.
· Virus vaccine to be free in Belgium. The Belgian government said Monday it intends to make any coronavirus vaccine available to around 70% of the population, some eight million people, and free of charge.The jab will not be compulsory, added Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke as he and regional counterparts attended an interministerial health conference.
· Philadelphia bans indoor gatherings. In one of the most aggressive actions taken in the US to confront the looming crisis, Philadelphia officials on Monday ordered a ban on “indoor gatherings of any size in any location, public or private,” except among individuals who live together.
· WHO hails ‘encouraging’ virus vaccine news. Reported breakthroughs in Covid-19 vaccine research are “encouraging”, the World Health Organization’s chief said on Monday, but voiced concern about surging cases and warned against complacency.
· California will dramatically roll back its reopening efforts, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced on Monday, saying he was pulling the “emergency brake” amid a troubling surge in cases. The changes, which take effect Tuesday, will see more than 94% of California’s population and most businesses across the state return to the most restrictive tier of rules aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
· The US biotech firm Moderna has claimed that its Covid-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective, according to an interim analysis released on Monday and based on 95 patients with confirmed Covid infections. The company plans to apply to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use authorisation.