First two cases of new variant recorded in São Paulo; NHS doctors compare hospitals to war zones; UK becomes the first country to administer the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine
- New York confirms state’s first case of more contagious Covid strain
- England to enter toughest Covid lockdown since March
- Outcry after Canadian politicians ignore holiday travel advice
- Germany and Denmark consider delaying second Covid vaccine dose
- See all our coronavirus coverage
4.14am GMT
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders are expected Tuesday to extend a shutdown in Europe’s top economy as coronavirus deaths continue to mount despite tough restrictions in the run-up to the holidays.
After Germany’s daily deaths surpassed the 1,000-mark for the first time on December 30, pressure escalated to slow the spread of the disease which has claimed more than 34,000 lives.
4.01am GMT
More than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped within the United States have gone unused, US health officials said on Monday, as the governors of New York and Florida vowed to penalise hospitals that fail to dispense shots quickly, Reuters reports.
In New York, hospitals must administer vaccines within a week of receiving them or face a fine and a reduction in future supplies, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, hours before announcing the state’s first known case of a new, more infectious coronavirus variant originally detected in Britain.
New York hospitals on the whole have dispensed fewer than half of their allocated doses to date, but performance varied from one group of hospitals to another, Cuomo said. The NYC Health + Hospitals system, the city’s main public hospital network, has only administered 31% of its allotment, compared with 99% for a few private hospitals in the state.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an even lower vaccine uptake for New York overall, saying fewer than one in five of the 896,000 doses shipped to the state since mid-December have been given.
In Florida, where officials have put senior citizens ahead of many essential workers for getting the vaccine, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a policy under which the state would allocate more doses to hospitals that dispense them most quickly,
Continue reading…First two cases of new variant recorded in São Paulo; NHS doctors compare hospitals to war zones; UK becomes the first country to administer the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccineNew York confirms state’s first case of more contagious Covid strainEngland to enter toughest Covid lockdown since MarchOutcry after Canadian politicians ignore holiday travel adviceGermany and Denmark consider delaying second Covid vaccine doseSee all our coronavirus coverage 4.14am GMT German Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders are expected Tuesday to extend a shutdown in Europe’s top economy as coronavirus deaths continue to mount despite tough restrictions in the run-up to the holidays.After Germany’s daily deaths surpassed the 1,000-mark for the first time on December 30, pressure escalated to slow the spread of the disease which has claimed more than 34,000 lives. 4.01am GMTMore than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped within the United States have gone unused, US health officials said on Monday, as the governors of New York and Florida vowed to penalise hospitals that fail to dispense shots quickly, Reuters reports. In New York, hospitals must administer vaccines within a week of receiving them or face a fine and a reduction in future supplies, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, hours before announcing the state’s first known case of a new, more infectious coronavirus variant originally detected in Britain.New York hospitals on the whole have dispensed fewer than half of their allocated doses to date, but performance varied from one group of hospitals to another, Cuomo said. The NYC Health + Hospitals system, the city’s main public hospital network, has only administered 31% of its allotment, compared with 99% for a few private hospitals in the state.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an even lower vaccine uptake for New York overall, saying fewer than one in five of the 896,000 doses shipped to the state since mid-December have been given.In Florida, where officials have put senior citizens ahead of many essential workers for getting the vaccine, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a policy under which the state would allocate more doses to hospitals that dispense them most quickly, Continue reading…