Country,	Total	New	Total
Other	Cases	Cases	Deaths
World	101,412,451	590,946	2,182,509
USA	26,166,423	151,879	439,521
India	10,702,031	11,752	153,885
Brazil	9,000,485	63,895	220,237
Russia	3,774,672	17,741	71,076
UK	3,715,054	25,308	101,887
France	3,106,859	26,916	74,456
Spain	2,774,014	40,285	57,291
Italy	2,501,147	15,204	86,889
Turkey	2,449,839	7,489	25,476
Germany	2,179,679	15,611	55,358
Colombia	2,055,305	13,953	52,523
Argentina	1,896,053	10,843	47,435
Mexico	1,788,905	17,165	152,016
Poland	1,489,512	6,789	36,054
South Africa	1,430,648	7,070	42,550
Iran	1,392,314	6,608	57,651
Ukraine	1,200,883	3,776	22,202
Peru	1,113,970	6,731	40,272
Indonesia	1,024,298	11,948	28,855
Netherlands	961,593	4,726	13,733
Czechia	956,208	9,180	15,867
Canada	761,227	4,205	19,533
Romania	718,612	3,174	18,015
Chile	709,888	3,388	18,040
Belgium	696,642	1,784	20,879
Portugal	668,951	15,073	11,305
Israel	621,590	8,012	4,605
Iraq	616,259	879	13,018
Sweden	560,472		11,425
Pakistan	537,477	1,563	11,450
Bangladesh	533,444	528	8,072
Philippines	518,406	2,244	10,481
Switzerland	517,705	2,222	9,260
Morocco	468,383	890	8,207
Austria	408,781	1,641	7,564
Serbia	389,045	1,839	3,944
Japan	371,680	3,537	5,252
Saudi Arabia	367,023	216	6,363
Hungary	361,881	1,004	12,198
Jordan	323,111	870	4,262
Panama	315,400	1,566	5,176
Lebanon	289,660	3,906	2,553
UAE	289,086	3,939	811
Nepal	270,375	283	2,020
Georgia	255,564	742	3,108
Ecuador	243,535	1,389	14,704
Slovakia	241,392	2,775	4,361
Belarus	241,133	1,651	1,678
Croatia	230,359	857	4,913
Azerbaijan	229,584	226	3,105
Bulgaria	217,014	598	8,944
Dominican Republic	207,455	1,150	2,579
Bolivia	205,208	2,390	10,105
Tunisia	202,323	1,661	6,446
Denmark	196,540	592	2,050
Malaysia	194,114	3,680	707
Costa Rica	192,066	721	2,584
Ireland	191,182	1,331	3,120
Kazakhstan	181,117	1,397	2,476
Lithuania	179,217	1,283	2,713
Armenia	166,427	195	3,056
Egypt	163,761	632	9,115
Kuwait	162,862	580	957
Slovenia	161,684	1,872	3,425
Moldova	157,626	654	3,396
Palestine	156,996	603	1,808
Guatemala	156,497	1,038	5,513
Greece	154,083	857	5,724
Qatar	149,933	338	248
Honduras	142,880	896	3,486
Myanmar	138,802	434	3,089
Ethiopia	135,045	476	2,083
Oman	133,574	167	1,525
Paraguay	130,163	769	2,668
Nigeria	126,160	1,861	1,543
Venezuela	124,958	433	1,165
Bosnia and Herzegovina	120,864	332	4,643
Libya	116,064	765	1,802
Algeria	106,359	262	2,877
Bahrain	101,116	427	371
Kenya	100,323	130	1,751
North Macedonia	91,555	394	2,821
China	89,272	75	4,636
Kyrgyzstan	84,175	107	1,405
Uzbekistan	78,510	39	621
S. Korea	76,429	554	1,378
Albania	74,567	876	1,339
Latvia	63,027	1,103	1,138
Ghana	62,751	616	377
Norway	61,961	367	556
Suriname	8,243	69	152
Aruba	6,809	41	58
Vietnam	1,551		35

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

Millions of Americans at increased risk for more severe Covid-19 because of tobacco use 

From CNN’s Naomi Thomas

 

A person holds a cigarette out a car window while wearing a protective glove as large numbers of people take measures to protect themselves from the coronavirus pandemic on March 24, 2020 in Miami. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Millions of Americans are at increased risk for more severe Covid-19 because of tobacco use, according to a new report from The American Lung Association.

“Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in America, killing 480,000 people each year,” said the American Lung Association in their State of Tobacco Control 2021 report. 

The annual report, published Wednesday, added, “In addition, 16 million Americans live with a tobacco related disease.” 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that smoking can cause more severe symptoms of Covid-19. 

“With the threat of Covid-19 in addition to the numerous tobacco-caused diseases, it is imperative to prevent youth from starting to use tobacco and to help everyone quit,” said the report. 

The association makes the point that, similarly to the coronavirus, smoking also has disproportionate impacts on certain communities, particularly those of color. 

Some 50.6 million Americans are currently using tobacco products, the report says, with use of commercial products particularly high among Native Americans and Alaskan Natives -- 29.3% -- and Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual adults -- 29.9%.

Adults with mental illness and substance abuse also have higher rates of smoking, the report says. 

 

 

Germany considering further travel restrictions and dramatic reduction in air traffic 

From CNN's Claudia Otto

 

A medical worker in Schönefeld, Germany, takes a Covid-19 swab sample from a passenger at a testing station in Berlin Brandenburg Airport on November 26, 2020. Maja Hitij/Getty Images

 

Germany is considering further travel restrictions and a dramatic reduction in air traffic due to fears about new mutations of coronavirus, an Interior Ministry spokesperson told CNN.

The Interior Ministry is in talks with the German federal government to consider halting all unnecessary travel. 

"The threat posed by the numerous virus mutations requires us to also consider drastic measures and discuss them in the Federal Government," said Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer in a statement. "These include significantly stricter border controls, especially at the borders to high-risk areas, but also the reduction of air traffic to Germany to almost zero, as Israel is currently doing to prevent the introduction of the virus mutation."

"People expect us to protect them as best we can from an explosion in the number of infections," he added.

A decision at the national level could be considered if no satisfactory measures are decided at the EU level, according to the ministry. 

 

 

 

1 in 55 people in the UK has Covid-19, chief scientific adviser says

From CNN's Richard Greene in London

 

Roughly one in 55 people in the United Kingdom has coronavirus, England’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said Wednesday.

He was speaking at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who reiterated the announcement he made earlier in Parliament that schools would not reopen February 22 as planned, but could perhaps reopen starting March 8.

On Wednesday, Johnson also announced that the UK would be introducing government-provided accommodations, for example hotels, for 10 days for those who cannot be refused entry into the UK from high-risk countries. 

It comes as the UK surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths -- the first country in Europe to do so.

On Wednesday, the UK reported 25,308 new Covid-19 cases and 1,725 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.

 

 

 

South Africa approves AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use and expects 1 million doses to arrive Feb. 1

From CNN's Hannah Ritchie

 

A health worker holds up a vial of AstraZeneca-Oxford's Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine on January 27. Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images

 

South Africa is granting emergency use approval to AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine and will continue reviewing applications from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, the country’s health products regulatory authority (SAHPRA) said in a news conference Wednesday.

The approval was granted under Section 21 Authorisation, which grants emergency use of a health product that is unregistered in South Africa. 

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that the government expects the first 1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to arrive on February 1.

“I am pleased to announce that the flight carrying the first 1 million doses will leave India on Sunday, January 3, 2021, fly via Dubai and land at O.R. Tambo International Airport on Monday, February 1, 2021,” Mkhize told reporters. 

Upon arrival in South Africa, the vaccines will undergo a quarantine lasting a minimum of 10 days, in which they will be tested for quality assurance, Mkhize said.

The vaccines will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and 1.5 million doses in total will eventually be flown into South Africa to begin immunizing the country’s 1.25 million healthcare workers. 

South Africa has been battling an aggressive second wave of Covid-19 infections caused by a new variant of the virus, known as 501Y.V2, which was first discovered in November. With more than 1.4 million recorded cases and 41,000 fatalities to date, South Africa has recorded more infections and deaths than any other country in Africa.

 

Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-27-21/index.html

 

 

 

‘Tomorrow our fridges will be empty,’ one European health official says as vaccines dwindle.

 

Nurses preparing vaccines at a nursing home in Spain last week.Credit...Manu Brabo/Getty Images

The European Union has been besieged by problems since it approved its first coronavirus vaccine in December and rushed to begin a vast immunization campaign, but now its woes have snowballed into a full-blown crisis.

With the pain of supply shortages being felt across Europe, Spain on Wednesday became the first E.U. country to partly suspend immunizations for lack of doses. It announced that it would suspend the vaccination program in Madrid for two weeks, and warned that Catalonia may follow suit.

“Tomorrow our fridges will be empty,” said Josep Maria Argimon, a regional health official in Catalonia, referring to the dwindling supplies of vaccine.

Tensions were also raised by an escalating dispute with AstraZeneca over the drugmaker’s announcement that it would slash deliveries of its vaccine by 60 percent because of production shortfalls.

When the European Union approved its first vaccine, made by Pfizer and BioNTech, in December, it was already weeks behind rich nations like the United States and Britain.

While it is flush with cash, influence and negotiating heft, the bloc of 27 nations has found itself behind not just the U.S. and Britain, but also other countries like Israel, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

Across the world, many countries, particularly poorer ones, are struggling to secure any vaccine at all.

Last week, the E.U.’s executive branch, the European Commission, set a goal of having 70 percent of its population inoculated by this summer. Four days later the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, pronounced that “difficult.”

By this week, a mere 2 percent of E.U. citizens had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to numbers collected by Our World in Data. That figure was around 40 percent for Israel, 11 percent for Britain and just over 6 percent for the United States.

The vaccine shortages in the European Union come against a backdrop of crisis.

The second wave of the virus is still raging second wave of the coronavirus amid prolonged lockdowns in most member countries and anxiety over the spread of at least two highly infectious variants of the virus that are bringing national health systems to their knees yet again.

In a rare bit of good news, the French drugmaker Sanofi said Wednesday that it would help produce more than 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, starting this summer, but those doses will most likely come too late to salvage vaccination plans for the first half of 2021.

Some critics have blamed the European Commission for the mess. The commission struck deals on behalf of the member states to secure a total of 2.3 billion vaccine doses from several companies. But some of its agreements lagged behind those struck by the United States and Britain by weeks.

AstraZeneca and some European opposition politicians say the delay put the bloc at the back of the line for deliveries. The commission disagrees.

“We reject the logic of first-come first-served,” the bloc’s heath commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, said at a news conference Wednesday. “That may work at the neighborhood butcher, but not in contracts and not in our advanced purchase agreements.”

 

Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/27/world/covid-19-coronavirus#tomorrow-our-fridges-will-be-empty-one-european-health-official-says-as-vaccines-dwindle