Month: December 2020

An expert committee put people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers next in line for COVID-19 shots as a second vaccine began rolling out Sunday to hospitals, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.The developments occurred as the nation seeks to ramp up a vaccination program that only began in the last week and so far has given initial shots to about 556,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech, as well as the one from Moderna Inc., which was approved by regulators last week go first to health care workers and residents of long-term care homes, based on the advice of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.The committee voted 13-1 on Sunday to put people 75 and older as well as certain front-line workers next in line for the vaccines.Those essential workers include firefighters and police officers; teachers and school staff; food and agriculture workers; manufacturing workers; corrections workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; public transit and grocery store workers.The committee also voted that behind those groups should be other essential workers; people ages 65 to 74; and those aged 16 to 64 who have certain medical conditions — like obesity and cancer — that put them at higher risk for severe disease if they get infected with COVID-19.The expert panel’s recommendation next goes to the CDC director and to states as guidance to put …

Because the first coronavirus vaccine approved for use in the U.S. needs to be transported in ultra-cold conditions using dry ice, that has created some unique challenges. As Lesia Bakalets reports in this story narrated by Anna Rice, transporting the Pfizer vaccine has led to a huge demand for dry ice. Camera: David Gogokhia …

As COVID-19 cases skyrocketed before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, warned Americans to “be vigilant” and limit celebrations to “your immediate household.”For many Americans that guidance has been difficult to abide, including for Birx herself.The day after Thanksgiving, she traveled to one of her vacation properties on Fenwick Island in Delaware. She was accompanied by three generations of her family from two households. Birx, her husband Paige Reffe, a daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren were present.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked Americans not to travel over the holidays and discourages indoor activity involving members of different households. “People who do not currently live in your housing unit, such as college students who are returning home from school for the holidays, should be considered part of different households,” the CDC said.  Even in Birx’s everyday life, there are challenges meeting that standard. She and her husband have a home in Washington. She also owns a home in nearby Potomac, Maryland, where her elderly parents, and her daughter and family live, and where Birx visits intermittently. In addition, the children’s other grandmother, who is 77, also regularly travels to the Potomac house and returns to her 92-year-old husband near Baltimore.Birx’s own experiences underline the complexity and difficulty of trying to navigate the perils of the pandemic while balancing a job, family and health, especially among essential workers like her.  Yet some of Birx’s peers in public health say …

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Sunday there are 76.3 million global COVID-19 cases.The U.S. continues to lead the world in case numbers at 17.6 million, followed by India with 10 million and Brazil with 7.2 million.U.S. lawmakers are expected to vote Sunday on a nearly $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. The package includes, among other things, $300 supplemental unemployment benefits and $600 direct stimulus payments to many Americans.“We can’t continue with Christmas as planned,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday as he announced new restrictions for London and southern England, where a mutant strain of the coronavirus is spreading and where there is now a virtual lockdown, with people urged to stay home.All nonessential stores in the region are set to close, and people should not enter or leave the British capital or large parts of southeastern England.South Korea recorded 1,097 new infections Sunday, the fifth consecutive day it recorded more than 1,000 new cases.A South Korean Justice Ministry official said an outbreak at a prison in Seoul has infected 184 prisoners and one worker.Starting Monday, the Australian states of Victoria and Queensland are banning people arriving from Sydney, where a 70-person coronavirus cluster has emerged in its northern beach suburbs which have now been placed under a strict lockdown until Christmas Eve.Thailand said Sunday it will test more than 10,000 people in the southwestern province of Samu Sakhon after a daily surge of more than 500. …

A brief surge of coronavirus infections in Atlantic Canada – one of the least-affected places on Earth – has been tamped down just in time for residents to enjoy something resembling a normal Christmas. But most say they will continue to observe the social distancing and other measures that have helped to keep the pandemic at bay.“We are heading into the holiday season with very low active cases of COVID-19 in our province because Nova Scotians have worked hard to follow the protocols and slow the spread of the virus,” said Premier Stephen McNeil of Nova Scotia, the most populous of the region’s four provinces with a little under 1 million residents.“The people of our province will still be able to get together with family,” McNeil told VOA. “It will just have to be in a smaller group.”American media took note earlier this fall of the “Atlantic Bubble,” a large region just a few hundred kilometers from New York City where cases of the world-spanning viral disease were so low that new cases could be counted on the fingers of one hand.Free movement was permitted within the region comprising Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, while outsiders – even from other parts of Canada – could not visit without submitting to a two-week quarantine.Within weeks of that wave of publicity, the tranquility was shattered by an outbreak of new cases that, while still small by global standards, set off alarms. The free travel zone was temporarily disbanded, …

In China’s Wuhan, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, the city’s residents are returning to normal life, even as they continue to grapple with memories of the early outbreak, which struck fear in the city.It’s been almost seven months since the city recorded a locally transmitted case of the disease due to a strict city-wide lockdown and a mass testing event of almost all the city’s 11 million residents.Today, restaurants, shopping streets and bars are crowded, but locals are still experiencing the lasting impact of the lockdown on mental health and work.Reuters asked people throughout Wuhan to share images and videos they took during their outbreak, as well as their hopes for 2021, as the city approaches the one-year anniversary of the outbreak. City health officials released the first public notice of the then-unknown virus on Dec. 31, 2019.Like the city itself, most people are enduringly optimistic, even as they reflect on the city’s toughest year in recent memory.An Junming, Wuhan volunteerAn worked as a volunteer during the city’s strict 76-day lockdown, delivering food to people trapped in their homes.“At that time, I could only eat one meal a day, because there was indeed a lot of work to do, but there were very few people doing this, so I was very anxious.“I hope that the entire city will prosper in 2021.“It can be said that in 2020 there were no people on the streets of the whole Wuhan – only animals were active outside.”An Junming poses for a …

In October, Indonesian diplomats and Muslim clerics stepped off a plane in China. While the diplomats were there to finalize deals to ensure millions of doses reached Indonesian citizens, the clerics had a much different concern: Whether the COVID-19 vaccine was permissible for use under Islamic law.As companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products — banned by some religious groups — has raised concerns about the possibility of disrupted immunization campaigns.Pork-derived gelatin has been widely used as a stabilizer to ensure vaccines remain safe and effective during storage and transport. Some companies have worked for years to develop pork-free vaccines: Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has produced a pork-free meningitis vaccine, while Saudi- and Malaysia-based AJ Pharma is currently working on one of their own.But demand, existing supply chains, cost and the shorter shelf life of vaccines not containing porcine gelatin means the ingredient is likely to continue to be used in a majority of vaccines for years, said Dr. Salman Waqar, general secretary of the British Islamic Medical Association.Spokespeople for Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have said that pork products are not part of their COVID-19 vaccines. But limited supply and preexisting deals worth millions of dollars with other companies means that some countries with large Muslim populations, such as Indonesia, will receive vaccines that have not yet been certified to be gelatin-free.This presents a dilemma for religious communities, including Orthodox Jews and Muslims, where the consumption of …

U.S. distribution of Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine began Saturday, with more than 3,700 sites scheduled to start receiving and administering shots as soon as Monday, vastly widening the rollout started last week by Pfizer Inc.Amid record coronavirus infections and deaths, Moderna has moved vaccine supplies from its manufacturing plants to warehouses operated by distributor McKesson Corp.Workers on Saturday were packing vaccines into containers and loading them onto trucks, U.S. Army Gen. Gustave Perna said during a news conference. Trucks will set out Sunday and shipments will start reaching health care providers as soon as Monday, he said.Doses of vaccine must travel with security guards, including U.S. Marshals, and will be stored in locked refrigerators. U.S. plans call for at-risk groups, such as elderly people in nursing homes and medical workers, to receive injections first.The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s vaccine, the second COVID-19 vaccine to receive approval.Moderna said a panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Saturday to recommend its vaccine for use in people age 18 and older. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices panel voted 11-0 in favor of the vaccine.The shot developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE was authorized Dec. 11.Pharmaceutical services provider Catalent Inc.’s facility in Bloomington, Indiana, is filling and packaging vials with Moderna vaccine and handing them to McKesson. The company is shipping them from its facilities, including those in Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, Tennessee, which are …

California hospitals are battling to find beds for patients amid fears the explosion of coronavirus cases will exhaust staffing resources.As of Saturday, nearly 17,400 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections — more than double the previous peak reached in July — and a state model that uses current data to forecast future trends shows the number could reach 75,000 by mid-January.More than 3,600 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units. All of Southern California and the 12-county San Joaquin Valley to the north have exhausted their regular intensive care unit capacity, and some hospitals have begun using surge space, meaning space converted for intensive care. Overall, the state’s ICU capacity was just 2% Saturday.The enormous crush of cases in the last six weeks has California’s death toll spiraling ever higher. Another 272 fatalities were reported Saturday and in the last week nearly 1,600 people died.In hard-hit Los Angeles County, Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer implored people to stay home as much as possible, not mingle with others outside their household and wear a mask and social distance when around others.”Places where people from different households gather and do not follow safety directives contributes to unnecessary COVID-19 spread that results in hospitalizations and deaths that could have been avoided,” she said. “Following the safety measures saves lives and is our only way to protect essential workers and our hospitals.”LA County health officials announced Saturday they had modified their health orders to comply with recent …

Even as new infections slip to the lowest levels in three months, on Saturday, India crossed the 10 million mark of total infections since the pandemic began, second behind the U.S. mark of 17 million, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.India’s falling infections, down from its record of about 100,000 new cases daily to about 25,000 cases reported Saturday, give health experts some reason to hope. India has suffered more than 145,000 deaths, Johns Hopkins says.”If we can sustain our declining trend for the next two to three months, we should be able to start the vaccination program and start moving away from the pandemic,” Dr. Randeep Guleria, a government health expert, told The Associated Press.Some of the world’s biggest vaccine makers are located in India, and there are five vaccines in clinical trials. Two vaccines, by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and India’s Bharat Biotech, are nearing authorization for emergency use. The South Asian nation with a population of 1.3 billion people hopes to vaccinate 250 million people by July.As India’s cases are waning, Canada was approaching 500,000 cases Saturday, an increase of 25% since two weeks ago, when the North American country surpassed 400,000 cases.”COVID-19 is spreading among people of all ages, with high infection rates across all age groups,” Canada’s chief medical officer Theresa Tam said.Cases surging in CanadaCanada is to receive 500,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. And about 168,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine should arrive soon. It is expected …

The Swiss government Friday ordered all bars, restaurants, cultural venues and sports facilities to close next week because of a surging number of coronavirus cases.At a news conference, Health Minister Alain Berset said the new restrictions, which take effect Tuesday, are necessary because the situation in health facilities ”is not tenable in the long term.”The government will also restrict the number of people who can be inside stores, which must close after 7 p.m. and on Sundays and public holidays.While the closures include restaurants and bars at ski resorts, the federal government is leaving it to Switzerland’s 26 cantons — or states — to decide whether to close skiing facilities.But Berset cautioned they should “think carefully” about their decision “because hospitals are full and putting a lot of people on snow slopes can lead to an increase in accidents and we need to be very careful.”The Swiss health minister’s cautionary stance is a reversal from earlier this month. As other European nations announced plans to close their ski facilities for at least the first several weeks of the season, he said Swiss resorts would be allowed to stay open if they put in place safety measures such as masks, proper hygiene, social distancing and limited capacity for bars and restaurants.At the time, he said he realized the stance could raise regional tensions, but said “We are a sovereign country and can decide ourselves what the facts are on our territory.”The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Switzerland has risen …

Thailand says a local laboratory’s pact with Britain’s AstraZeneca will make the Southeast Asian country the regional hub for supplies of what’s likely to be one of the leading vaccines against COVID-19 as governments scramble to lock in supplies.Bangkok-based Siam Bioscience signed a letter of intent with AstraZeneca late last month to make 200 million doses of the British pharmaceutical firm’s COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, said Nakorn Premsri, director of Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute.Thailand’s Public Health Ministry and the local conglomerate SCG, with its packaging and chemicals divisions, also joined the deal.Nakorn said most of the doses would head abroad.”Thailand will secure only 26 million doses. We may ask for more, but it will not be a big part, so maybe more than half of that [200 million] can be exported,” he told VOA.”It’s in the letter of intent that we made together with Siam Bioscience, AstraZeneca, SCG and Ministry of Public Health that it will be distributed within the ASEAN region,” he added, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.In a brief statement to VOA, AstraZeneca’s Thailand office confirmed the broad outlines of its plans.”The Ministry of Public Health, SCG, Siam Bioscience and AstraZeneca share the focus on broad, equitable and timely access to an effective COVID-19 vaccine in Thailand and Southeast Asia region. AstraZeneca has been working with Siam Bioscience through technology transfer to expand AZD1222’s global manufacturing capacity,” it said.AstraZeneca’s vaccine, developed in collaboration with Britain’s Oxford University, is still pending approval in Britain. Officials there …

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was administered the coronavirus vaccine on live television Friday. His vaccination comes as surveys reveal some Americans are reluctant to receive the vaccine because of safety and efficacy concerns.The coronavirus surge in California’s Los Angeles County is so dire that the county’s public health department posted on Twitter: “Every hour, on average, 2 people are dying of COVID-19 in LA County.”The U.S. television network CBS reported there are so few hospital beds available in intensive care units in Los Angeles that some coronavirus victims are waiting up to seven hours in ambulances for beds.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 33 MB1080p | 70 MBOriginal | 85 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioUNICEF UK, for the first time in its 70-year history, is giving food assistance to Britain’s children whose families have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.A little more than $1 million will be distributed to 30 organizations.UNICEF UK’s action has angered a British politician, accusing the United Nations Children’s Fund of playing a “political stunt.”Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said Thursday in the Commons: ““I think it’s a real scandal that UNICEF should be playing politics in this way when it is meant to be looking after people in the poorest, the most deprived countries in the world, where people are starving, where there are famines and there are civil wars … …

The head of the U.N. Migration Agency said the coronavirus pandemic has affected people worldwide, including migrants — many of whom have gotten ill, lost jobs or been stranded in destination countries.  “As usual in all crises, migrants are the first ones to lose jobs,” International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Antonio Vitorino told VOA ahead of International Migrants Day on Friday. “The World Bank forecasts, for instance, a drop in remittances to the countries of origin of around 20% this year, which will have a terrible impact in the living conditions of the countries of origin of those migrants.”  FILE – Antonio Vitorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration, attends a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 29, 2019.He said virus-related lockdowns, travel restrictions and border closures have also stranded about 3 million migrants all over the world.  The IOM estimates there are 272 million migrants globally. A little less than half are women. The United Nations considers a migrant to be anyone who changes their country, regardless of the reason. But most move to seek economic improvement.  According to IOM data, India has the largest number of migrants living abroad — 17.5 million — followed by Mexico (11.8 million) and China (10.7 million). The United States remains the top destination country, home to more than 50 million migrants. FILE – Migrant laborers returning to the city for work undergo COVID-19 tests in New Delhi, India, Aug. 18, 2020.Migrants are often thought of as being undocumented workers, …

The United States is expanding its rollout of the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine to hundreds of distribution centers where thousands of health care workers are expected to be vaccinated. More from VOA’s Mariama Diallo. …

A U.S. panel endorsed emergency use of a second COVID-19 vaccine Thursday.A committee of independent expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted, after seven hours of discussion, to recommend the use of a vaccine developed by U.S. drug manufacturer Moderna, one week after federal regulators authorized the first vaccine for emergency use. “The evidence that has been studied in great detail on this vaccine highly outweighs any of the issues we’ve seen,” Dr. Hayley Gans, Stanford University Medical Center, said Thursday. FILE – Biotechnology company Moderna protocol files for COVID-19 vaccinations are kept at the Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Florida, Aug. 13, 2020.The news comes as the United States has recorded nearly 310,000 deaths from the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. There are more than 17 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in the U.S. FDA authorization of emergency use of the vaccine could come as soon as Friday. Once approved, Moderna would then begin shipping nearly 6 million doses, with the first planned for health workers and nursing home residents. Last week, after the advisers endorsed the use of the first vaccine, the FDA authorized it for emergency use a day later. That vaccine, developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, is being distributed throughout the U.S.  The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine’s distribution was threatened Wednesday and Thursday in Northeastern U.S. states by the region’s first major snowstorm, which forecasters said might leave more than 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow …

Lawmakers in the lower house of Spain’s parliament approved a bill Thursday, amid ongoing protests, that would allow people to lawfully end their lives if they suffer from serious or incurable diseases.The bill, which is awaiting Senate approval, passed 198-138, in the face of staunch opposition from the conservative People’s Party, its supporters and religious groups.FILE – Santiago Abascal, leader of far-right party Vox, speaks at parliament in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 22, 2020.Many of the protesters who gathered outside parliament Thursday held banners that read “Government of death.”“The euthanasia law is a defeat for civilization and a victory for the culture of death, for those who believe that some lives are more worthy than others,” far-right Vox leader Santiago Abascal said in a video on social media.But Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa told lawmakers the society “cannotFILE – Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa speaks at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 12, 2020.remain impassive when faced with the intolerable pain that many people suffer.”Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma.The practice is illegal in most countries but has received favorable consideration in the European Union. If passed by the Senate, Spain would become the fourth European country after Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium to allow people to legally end their lives because of medical conditions.Without any amendments, the law could go into effect as early as next spring.After that point, patients who choose to die because of …

People in the Northern Hemisphere are in for a once-in-a-millennium treat on December 21 — the winter solstice and the longest night of the year — when Jupiter and Saturn will meet in a “great conjunction,” the closest they will be seen in the sky together for nearly 800 years.Astronomers use the term “conjunction” to describe any time two celestial bodies appear to meet in the sky, as viewed from Earth. But when Saturn and Jupiter, the two largest planets in the solar system, appear to meet in the sky, they call it a “great” conjunction.Astronomers say the two planets regularly appear to pass each other in the solar system from Earth’s perspective, with their positions being aligned in the sky about once every 20 years.What makes this year’s great conjunction so significant is that the two planets have not passed this close to one another in 400 years, and it has been nearly 800 years since the alignment occurred at night, as it will this year, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness it.Astronomers recommend finding an unobstructed view of the western sky about an hour after sunset. Jupiter will appear first and then Saturn; Jupiter will look like a bright star, and Saturn will be slightly fainter and will appear slightly above and to the left of Jupiter. Astronomers say the conjunction will be bright enough to be seen in cities.The conjunction will be the climax, but astronomers say observers do not have to wait until then. …

In Tanzania, female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation, is still practiced among some ethnic groups as a rite of passage into womanhood. Many girls are forced or coerced into it by their family to avoid being shunned, and end up scarred for life. To bridge the gap between health and tradition, health care nonprofit Amref has been promoting an alternative rite of passage for girls. Charles Kombe reports from Tanga, Tanzania.Camera: Rajabu Hassan Video editor: Jon Spier   …

California expects to receive a little over two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in December, which would be enough to vaccinate half of the state’s health care workers. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetyan …

World Health Organization regional officials said Thursday China will welcome an international team of WHO experts to investigate the origins of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.At a news conference in Manila, WHO Regional Emergencies Director Dr. Babatunde Olowokure told reporters the agency has been in contact with China and is discussing places they will visit.    The WHO announced Wednesday it was sending a team of researchers to China in the first week of January to study what led to the global pandemic that has so far killed more than 1.6 million people out of a total of more than 74.2 million cases.In an interview with the Associated Press news agency earlier this week, a member of the WHO team traveling to China, German biologist Fabian Leendertz, said the visit will likely start in the city of Wuhan where COVID-19 was first detected late last year. Most researchers believe the infection originated in bats.China has previously opposed calls for an international inquiry into the origins of the ailment, saying such calls are anti-China, but has been open to a WHO-led investigation.  The United States, which has accused China of having hidden the outbreak’s extent, has called for a “transparent” WHO-led probe and criticized its terms, which allowed Chinese scientists to do the first phase of preliminary research.Chinese state media have suggested the coronavirus existed abroad before it was discovered in Wuhan, citing its presence on imported frozen food packaging and scientific papers claiming it had been circulating in Europe …

The French government says President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.”The president tested positive for COVID-19 today,” a statement from the presidency said Thursday. It said Macron had been tested after the “onset of the first symptoms.”The government said Macron will self-isolate for seven days, in accordance with national regulations, and will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely.The French president adds to the list of heads of state and government around the world who have contracted COVID-19, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Donald Trump.The World Health Organization announced Wednesday it was sending a team of researchers to China in the first week of January to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus that led to the global pandemic that has so far killed more than 1.6 million people out of a total of 74.2 million total cases.The 10-member team will examine medical data and test samples to determine how the virus that causes COVID-19 jumped from animals to humans, and where it originated. Most researchers believe the virus, which was first detected in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan, originated in bats.People wearing protective masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus use a pedestrian crosswalk at the Ginza shopping street Dec. 17, 2020, in Tokyo.Trump has accused the Chinese government of covering up information about the pandemic.Meanwhile, the formal approval process for a second COVID-19 vaccine in the United States begins Thursday.The Food and Drug Administration’s …

The Inter-American Development Bank pledged $1 billion Wednesday to help Central American and Caribbean nations fight the coronavirus pandemic.The IDB will devote the money to purchasing vaccines, strengthening national institutions distributing the shots and building immunization capacity.The pledge is in addition to $1.2 billion the bank already mobilized in the region to pay for testing and treatment.Wednesday’s announcement came as Latin America reported surges in COVID-19 cases and deaths. According to the Reuters news agency, roughly 33% of the world’s COVID-19 deaths were recorded in Latin America, though the region accounts for only 9% of the global population.Around the worldAbout a quarter of Mexico’s population has been exposed to the virus, officials said. Over 115,000 Mexicans have died of the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.A new set of tight restrictions took effect Wednesday in Germany to try to curb a rising number of coronavirus infections and deaths.The hard lockdown mandated the closing of all nonessential businesses and limiting private gatherings to no more than five people. The restrictions, which will remain in effect until January 10, were imposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday after talks with Germany’s 16 regional governors.The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s central disease control center, reported 952 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, shattering the previous single-day record of 598 posted just last Friday.Germany’s seven-day incidence of new cases has also set a record, rising to nearly 180 per 100,000 people.Health Minister Jens Spahn called on the European Union’s regulatory agency late Tuesday to give final approval of …

The Czech Republic Wednesday launched nationwide COVID-19 testing in hopes of slowing the spread of virus in the country, which, like much of Europe, has seen a surge of infections in recent weeks.The Czech Health Ministry is offering the free antigen tests at about 170 testing sites around the country. The antigen tests are cheaper and faster but somewhat less accurate than standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory tests with results taking about 15 minutes. If someone tests positive, the ministry will administer a PCR test.The Health Ministry hopes to conduct 60,000 tests per day. The ministry’s web site says people can get tested repeatedly, every five days. Thousands registered for the first day of tests Wednesday.The Czech Republic experienced Europe’s biggest per-capita spikes in cases in October and November, and nearly 10,000 deaths in the country of 10.7 million. Criticized for its slow response to the pandemic, the government recently implemented COVID-19 restrictions, closing bars, restaurants and hotels, and imposing an overnight curfew.The country reported 5,315 new cases a day on average in the past week using the standard PCR tests, while the number of hospitalized patients grew to 4,632 from 4,475 a week ago.   …