Italy sees nearly 850 more Covid-19 deaths in one day – latest updates

Tuesday,  December 15, 2020

Italy reports 846 more fatalities

Italy has reported 846 coronavirus-related deaths against 491 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 14,844 from 12,030.

There were 162,880 swabs carried out in the past day, up from a previous 103,584, the ministry said.

The first Western country hit by the virus, Italy has seen 65,857 Covid-19 fatalities since its outbreak emerged in February, the highest toll in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.

It has also registered 1.871 million cases to date.

France adds 790 more deaths

French health authorities have reported 11,532 new infections over the past 24 hours, up from Monday's 3,063, but largely stable from Sunday's11,533, while the number of people hospitalised for the disease resumed its decline.

The number of people in France who have died from Covid-19 infections rose by 790 to 59,072 from 371 on Monday. The cumulative number of cases in France now totals 2,391,447, the fifth-highest in the world

Turkey's daily Covid-19 deaths at record high

Turkey's daily coronavirus deaths have risen to a record 235 in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's total death toll to 16,881, health ministry data showed.

Turkey also recorded 32,102 new coronavirus cases, including asymptomatic ones, in the last 24 hours. 

The government has imposed weekday curfews and weekend lockdowns to curb the surge in cases. 

Canada reaches deal to get Moderna vaccine

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce that the government has reached an agreement with Moderna Inc to receive the first deliveries of its Covid-19 vaccine within 48 hours of regulatory approval, the CBC said.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp gave no further details.

Moderna's vaccine is currently under review by Canada's drug regulator. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine received regulatory approval last week and Canada began inoculations on Monday.

Canada became just the third nation in the world to administer the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and Germany's BioNTech SE.

Germany may start vaccinations as soon as Christmas

Germany should start giving coronavirus shots 24 to 72 hours after the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine gets European Union regulatory approval and could begin as soon as Christmas, Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

Sweden registers 20,931 new cases

Sweden, whose soft-touch pandemic response has placed it in the global spotlight, has registered 20,931 new coronavirus cases since Friday, Health Agency statistics showed.

The increase compared with 18,820 cases recorded in the corresponding period one week ago.

Sweden registered 153 new deaths, taking the total to 7,667. The deaths registered on Tuesday could have occurred over the past several weeks.

UK reports more than 500 deaths

Britain has reported 18,450 new cases of the virus, alongside 506 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

Saudi announces three-phase roll out of vaccine

Saudi Arabia has announced a three-phase Covid-19 vaccination programme, as it began registering citizens and foreign residents after approving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

People aged over 65 as well as those with chronic ailments or at a high risk of infection will receive the vaccine in the first stage, and those aged over 50 in the second, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

Everyone else will be vaccinated in the third stage, SPA said citing the health ministry, without specifying the dates for each phase or how long the mass campaign would take.

The Gulf kingdom has a population of more than 34 million, according to official figures.

Sri Lanka reports prison outbreak, more than 3,000 cases

More than 3,000 cases have been detected in Sri Lanka's highly congested prisons as infections also surge in the capital and its suburbs.

Authorities said that 2,984 inmates and 103 guards have been confirmed to have the disease in seven prisons around the country.

Sri Lankan prisons are highly congested, with more than 26,000 inmates crowded in facilities with a capacity of 10,000.

French PM encourages self-confinement over testing

As the holiday season approaches, French Prime Minister Jean Castex is encouraging the French to self-confine for 10 days before Christmas rather than taking an automated test.

Speaking on Europe-1 radio on Tuesday, Castex said such an approach prevents laboratories and pharmacies from becoming clogged.

He also indicated that children can choose to skip school on Thursday and Friday so that they can begin self-containment.

France on Tuesday is lifting a lockdown imposed on October 28, but strict measures are still in place as infections are still high. There will be a nationwide curfew from 1900GMT to 0500GMT (8 pm to 6 am local), which will be lifted on Christmas Eve but not on New Year’s Eve. 

Theatres and cinemas will remain shut as will bars and restaurants.

Maldives discusses response to Sri Lanka burial request

The Maldives president’s office has said it is discussing how to provide a “humane response” to a request from neighbouring Sri Lanka to allow burials for Muslims who die from the virus.

Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Hood said Tuesday that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has received a request from Sri Lanka to look into the possibility of allowing such burials.

“The request has been received. At present we are considering and discussions are ongoing with regard to what would be the appropriate and humane response,” Hood said.

S Korea Celltrion's candidate drug gets special approval 

South Korean health authorities have said doctors can administer pharmaceutical maker Celltrion Inc’s candidate antibody treatment to patients with life-threatening conditions.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved CT-P59 under its patient treatment scheme on Friday, its website showed.

Under the scheme, patients with life-threatening conditions and with no other means of treatment can receive drugs still undergoing clinical trials, the ministry said.

Italy PM calls for new restrictions to avoid third wave

Italy's government has said it will need to impose new restrictions during the holiday season to rein in contagion and avoid a third, devastating wave of the virus.

"Further, new restrictions are now needed ... we must avert at all costs a third wave, because this would be devastating, also from the point of view of the loss of lives," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told La Stampa in an interview.

Conte's coalition government is considering more stringent nationwide rules for the Christmas and New Year holidays after crowds flocked to city centres over the weekend just after Rome had relaxed some restrictions put in place last month.

Russia reports 26,689 new cases, 577 deaths

Russia has reported 26,689 new cases over the last 24 hours, including 5,418 in Moscow, pushing the national tally to 2,707,945.

Authorities said 577 people had died overnight, taking the official death toll to 47,968.

Singapore to open business travel bubble for all countries

Singapore has said it will allow a limited number of business, official and other "high economic value" travellers from abroad under a "bubble" arrangement that offers a glimpse into what visitors for this year's relocated Davos conference might expect.

The annual World Economic Forum will make its debut in Asia in May after being moved from its usual home in the Swiss ski resort of Davos over safety concerns.

The new arrangement, announced on Tuesday, will keep visitors segregated to guard against infection while allowing for safe meetings between people from abroad and from Singapore.

Germany pushes for quick EU vaccine approval

Germany’s health minister has increased his pressure on the European Union’s regulatory agency and demanded that a vaccine be approved before Christmas.

The news agency dpa reported Tuesday that Health Minister Jens Spahn said “our goal is an approval before Christmas so that we can still start vaccinating this year, also in Germany”.

Spahn is pushing for a quick approval of a new vaccine developed by Germany’s BioNTech and American drugmaker Pfizer that has already been authorised for use in Britain, the US and other countries. 

But Germany cannot use it because it is still waiting for approval by the European Medicines Agency, or EMA.

India reports the lowest daily rise since summer 

India's Health Ministry has reported 22,065 new infections, taking its total to 9.9 million, making it the lowest daily rise since July 4, according to a Reuters tally.

India has recorded the second-highest number of cases in the world, after the United States, but daily infections have declined since hitting a peak in September.

Deaths rose by 354, the ministry said, taking the total to 143,709.

Half of Singapore’s migrant workers in dormitories infected

Nearly half of Singapore's migrant workers residing in dormitories have been infected, according to the government, indicating the virus spread much more widely among those living in these accommodations than the official case tally shows.

Singapore has reported more than 58,000 cases since the pandemic started, with the vast majority occurring in the cramped dormitories that house mainly South Asian low-wage workers.

But the government said on Tuesday that while a total of 54,505 workers had tested positive for the virus using polymerase chain reaction tests as of Sunday, an additional 98,289 had tested positive using serology tests.

Taiwan sets 60 percent vaccination goal

Taiwan has set a goal to vaccinate 60 percent of its population, or 15 million people, a health official said. 

Taiwan has signed an agreement with COVAX to purchase a vaccine, but is also actively in talks with vaccine companies who have candidates in phase 3 trials for a potential bilateral agreement as well, said Jing-Hui Yang, a deputy director at the Central Epidemic Command Center. COVAX, a global plan to distribute vaccines equally, has not yet started sending out shipments of vaccines.

US deaths top 300,000 just as vaccinations begin

US death toll from the coronavirus has topped 300,000 just as the country began dispensing shots in a monumental campaign to conquer the outbreak.

The number of dead rivals the population of St Louis or Pittsburgh. It is equivalent to repeating a tragedy on the scale of Hurricane Katrina every day for 5 1/2 months. It is more than five times the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. It is equal to a 9/11 attack every day for more than 100 days.

"The numbers are – the most impactful respiratory pandemic that we have experienced in over 102 years, since the iconic 1918 Spanish flu,” Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, said days before the milestone.

Canada administers first doses of vaccine

Canada has administered its first doses of a vaccine, becoming one of the first countries to do so in the effort to beat back the pandemic.

Five front-line workers in Ontario were among the first Canadians to receive the vaccine at one of Toronto’s hospitals.

Anita Quidangen, a personal support worker who worked throughout an outbreak at the Rekai Centre nursing home in Toronto, got the first dose in Ontario.

“It’s an honour, thank you very much,” she said. “I’ll continue to do my job as a PSW."

South Korea warns of tougher restrictions if rules ignored

South Korean officials said the country will impose stricter social distancing rules for the greater Seoul area a month after easing them, warning of an even bigger crisis if anti-virus efforts fail to dampen a spike in new cases.

Tighter curbs will ban public gatherings of 100 people or more, limit religious services and audiences at sporting events to 30 percent capacity, and require high-risk facilities including clubs and karaoke bars to broaden distance among guests.

Germany pressuring EU to speed up vaccine approval

Germany has been pressuring EU authorities to speed up the approval of a vaccine as it battles a surge in infections and Britain and the US begin mass inoculations, reports said.

Angela Merkel's office and Germany's health ministry want the European Medicines Agency to bring forward the approval date for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to December 23 from December 29, German newspaper Bild said, citing unnamed sources.

The delay in approval was raising questions over "the European Union's ability to act," Bild quoted a source as saying.

Argentina hits milestone

Argentina has now recorded 1.5 million cases of coronavirus, making it the ninth country in the world to reach the milestone.

The Latin American nation has managed to tame an explosion of cases, that reached a peak of 18,326 daily cases confirmed in October. It saw a steady decline in case numbers over recent weeks to 5,062 confirmed.

The Ministry of Health said there had been 1,503,222 people infected so far with Covid-19, 41,041 dead and 1,340,120 patients recovered from the disease.

S Korea sees 880 new cases

South Korea has reported 880 new coronavirus cases, as the daily numbers continue to hover at unprecedented levels, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

The latest figure was up from 718 reported on Monday a day after it hit a record daily spike of 1,030.

China reports 17 cases

Mainland China reported 17 new Covid-19 cases, up from 16 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said.

The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 14 of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. An additional three locally transmitted cases were also reported, two in Heilongjiang province and one in Sichuan.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, not classified by China as confirmed cases, fell to eight from nine a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in China now stands at 86,758. The death toll remains unchanged at 4,634.

Mexico reports 345 more deaths

Mexico's Health Ministry has reported 5,930 new cases of coronavirus and 345 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,255,974 cases and 114,298 deaths.

The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.