nose swab sample to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a seafood
market in Samut Sakhon on December 19, 2020 after some cases of
local infections were detected and linked to a vendor at the
market. Jack TAYLOR / AFP
The United States logged a record new daily virus
caseload as Joe Biden slammed the Trump administration’s vaccine
roll-out as a “travesty” and millions in Asia woke up to new
lockdowns.
Almost 1.9 million people have now died from the virus, with new
variants sending cases soaring and prompting the re-introduction of
curbs on movement even as some countries begin mass inoculation
campaigns.
Almost 290,00 new cases were reported in the US within 24 hours
Friday according to Johns Hopkins University, a day after the
world’s worst-hit country recorded a daily record of nearly 4,000
deaths.
“Vaccines give us hope, but the roll-out has been a travesty,”
Biden told reporters, warning distribution of the vaccine would be
“the greatest operational challenge we will ever face as a
nation.”
On Saturday the streets of the Australian city of Brisbane were
quiet as its more than two million residents were ordered back into
lockdown after authorities detected a single infection of a new
strain from Britain, which is thought to be more infectious.
“Quite surreal, like something from a movie set,” local man
Scott told AFP in Brisbane’s deserted downtown.
“It’s necessary. Hopefully we will get through the next few days
without any cases, that will allow us just to start to get back to
normal.”
In China, where the original coronavirus first emerged in late
2019, authorities also tightened restrictions on two cities near
Beijing to stamp out a growing cluster.
The new week-long stay at home orders affecting about 18 million
people in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai come as cases spike ahead of the
Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions criss-cross the country
to visit family and friends.
On Saturday Beijing’s National Health Commission said
authorities had so far given out more than nine million vaccine
doses, but warned the upcoming holiday would “further boost the
risk of transmission.”
As the race to inoculate heats up, the World Health Organization
urged rich countries to stop cutting their own deals with
manufacturers to snap up the first wave of vaccines.
“Fifty percent of the high- income countries in the world are
vaccinating today,” said Bruce Aylward, head of the WHO co-led
vaccine procurement and distribution effort.
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“Zero percent of the low-income countries are vaccinating. That
is not equitable.”
The comments came as the European Union said it had agreed an
option for a further 300 million jabs from Pfizer/BioNTech,
doubling its supply of the vaccine.
China also said Saturday that preparations were still ongoing
for a WHO mission to Wuhan to investigate the origins of Covid-19,
following a rare rebuke from the UN body over a delay to the
long-planned trip.
“As long as these experts complete the procedures and confirm
their schedule, we will go to Wuhan together to carry out
investigations,” National Health Commission vice minister Zeng
Yixin told reporters.
Records keep falling
Despite nearly a year of intermittent restrictions across the
globe, many countries are still recording record coronavirus
numbers, including Britain which on Friday announced new highs of
1,325 deaths and 68,053 cases over 24 hours.
Fears have been rising over the new virus variants that emerged
in Britain and South Africa, but BioNTech brought some relief on
Friday, saying its vaccine was effective against a “key mutation”
found in the strains.
In Brazil, which has the second-highest death toll after the US,
two vaccine makers — China’s Sinovac and AstraZeneca/Oxford —
applied for approval for their jabs.
Meanwhile Iran said it was banning the import of any US and
British-produced vaccines doses, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying
they were “completely untrustworthy”.
“It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other
nations,” he said.
Africa was spared the worst of the pandemic’s first wave, but
has seen a sharp surge in recent weeks, with Senegal recording its
highest death and infections figures — eight and 296, respectively
— on Friday.
At a hospital in Nigerian megacity Lagos, managing director
Ngozi Onyia likened the surge in cases there to a “tsunami”.
“I’m making tough calls — who to take into the treatment centre,
who to put on one of our four ventilators — ethical decisions I’ve
never had to make in 38-plus years,” she said.
But there was relief in Spain, where a baby — three-month-old
Petru — left the hospital after spending nearly all his short life
fighting Covid-19.
AFP