Covid-19 Pandemic: Updates and live news for December 22, 2020

Taiwan reported the first locally transmitted infection since April, ending the longest stretch in the world without an internal infection. A group in Sydney has grown to 90. Overcrowded hospitals in California are facing the prospect of an even larger number of patients, while hospitalizations in Texas have exceeded 10,000 for the first time in five months.

The US Senate has had a huge end to the year the spending bill that combines $ 900 billion in Covid-19 aid aid with $ 1.4 trillion in regular government funding and a series of tax exemptions for companies.

Pfizer Inc. Partner BioNTech SE is exploring options to increase capacity. The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech has won the support of a key European review group, paving the way for inoculation to begin before the end of the year. There were over 2.1 million people vaccinated.

Why the UKS Moved coronavirus Fanning worries: QuickTake

Key developments:

• Global Tracker: Cases exceed 77.3 million; deaths exceed 1.7 million
• US hotspots: Covid kills faster in rural areas than in cities
• Beer, restaurants and Nascar win tax exemptions in the virus exemption bill
• A new wave of virus is testing that of South Korea strategy without blocking
• Covid Wreaked Havoc on Airlines in 2020. Here’s how, in CHARTS

Subscribe to a daily virus update from Bloomberg’s forecast team here. Click CVID

Taiwan case ends longest virus-free series in the world (13:34 HK)

He was an unidentified patient confirmed that he caught Covid-19 in Taiwan, according to an official from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control. While he saw cases of travelers arriving from outside, Taiwan’s last infection in the community was April 12.

The resurgence of a local outbreak threatens to derail one of the remarkable success stories in the global fight against the pandemic. Taiwan has managed to keep the total number of cases at 766, with only seven deaths, through a combination of restricting travel to the island at the beginning of the outbreak and implementing a strict quarantine and contact tracking strategy.

Pfizer Partner BioNTech ready to increase vaccination capacity for 2021 (1:15 pm HK)

BioNTech SE pursues all its options makes more doses of the Covid-19 vaccine than the 1.3 billion the companies promised to produce next year, according to the German company’s chief executive.

Companies will likely know by January or February whether and how many additional doses can be produced, Ugur Sahin said on Monday. “I am confident that we will be able to increase the capacity of the network, but we do not yet have numbers,” he said in an interview.

Fire of Thailand (13.00 HK)

Thailand confirmed 427 new infections on Tuesday, most of them related to the Samut Sakhon outbreak, bringing the nation’s total infections to 5,716 cases, according to Covid-19 spokesman Taweesilp Witsanuyotin.

Of the total outbreak, 1,273 cases since Tuesday were migrant workers, according to Taweesilp.

Covid testing capacity in the UK decreased (12:18 pm HK)

Demand for coronavirus test kits in the UK will exceed supply in the coming weeks, the Financial Times reported, citing an internal government document it saw.

The demand for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests used by health authorities has estimated that it will exceed the supply number in the week before Christmas up to 50,000 tests a day, according to government estimates made last week, FT reported.

Malaysia signs agreement for 6.4 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine (11:37 am HK)

Malaysia has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca Plc to insure 6.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

The government is also in the final stages of negotiations with Sinovac, CanSino Biologics and the Gamaleya Research Institute, he said in a televised briefing on Tuesday. The agreements will provide enough doses to cover more than 80 percent of the population, he said.

Excess deaths in Mexico are 250,000 (10:58 am HK)

Mexico recorded 40% more deaths than expected this year, according to a report on the country’s excess mortality.

The country recorded 254,625 more deaths – for all reasons – than expected by the end of November, the report said. The amount is more than double the 118,598 confirmed deaths of Covid-19 in the country.

Excess deaths include people who have died because they have not been able to receive treatment at overcrowded hospitals or have never been tested even if they had the virus. The country’s management of the virus and the clarity of its data have been criticized for excessive deaths.

The first batch of vaccines arrives in Singapore (9:34 am HK)

The first batch of coronavirus fire arrived in Singapore on Monday, marking an important step in the city-state’s plan to vaccinate its population and serve as a global hub for corner distribution.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. delivered vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in Brussels, the airline said in a statement on Monday. The images were sent to the cold chain installation of the ground support operator SATS Ltd. for further storage and transport.

Airlines flying from United Kingdom to NY to test passengers (9:05 am HK)

All three airlines flying from the UK to New York have agreed to test for Covid-19, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.

British Airways, Delta and Virgin Airlines will all require passenger testing, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said on Twitter.

Cuomo said Monday that he had asked the three airlines to add the state to a list of 120 countries that require Covid tests before boarding.

Cuomo criticized the US government for not adopting a travel ban in the UK or requiring testing. The new strain of the virus discovered in Britain is “flying around the world,” he said.

Sydney Cluster Swells Like Lockdown Under Review (9:02 am HK)

Australia’s most populous state reported 8 new local cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday as authorities struggled to bring a outbreak in Sydney under control without the need to resort to Christmas blockages.

Seven of the cases are related to infections in the northern part of the city’s beaches, bringing that group to 90, New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. The other case was a medical worker who transported infected passengers from overseas from Sydney airport to quarantine at the hotel.

Ohio can run vaccination guard (8:50 AM HK)

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said new guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could lead to the deployment of the National Guard to help vaccinate people across the state, especially in rural areas.

“There will certainly be opportunities where we will want the Guard to come in and do the job,” he said in a news briefing.

He also said that a decrease in the expected number of doses of Pfizer Inc. vaccine. shipped this week to Ohio is less worrying than receiving additional vaccines developed by other companies.

South Korea will close ski resorts, tourist spots (7:51 am HK)

South Korea will close its ski resorts and tourist sites from December 24 to January 3, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, said Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun.

South Korea reported 869 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours compared to 926 a day earlier, according to data from the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency website.

Texas hospitalization increase (7:45 am HK)

State hospitals registered 10,009 patients with the virus on Monday, the highest since July 24, according to figures from the state health department. Almost half of the state’s 22 trauma areas have more than 15% of the capacity of hospitals occupied by patients with Covid-19.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Greg Abbott announced plans to reopen the state capital on Jan. 4 as lawmakers prepare to convene the half-yearly legislative session.

Southeast Asian companies find plant cases (7:40 am HK)

Karex Bhd., The World’s Largest Condom Manufacturer and Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd. Became the latest companies in the Southeast Asian country to say that some of their employees caught the coronavirus.

Karex said 35 gave positive results after a routine check of more than 2,000 employees, while Panasonic said it found 116 cases among its 2,137 workers, according to documents filed Monday.

Philippines expects to sign more vaccination offers soon (7:15 AM HK)

Philippines is expected soon signs agreements to deliver 60 million doses of coronavirus vaccine for delivery as early as the second quarter of 2021, said tsarist tsar Carlito Galvez.

The Southeast Asian nation will sign an agreement with AstraZeneca Plc next week for 20 million doses of vaccine and has been provided with 30 million doses by the Serum Institute of India, which will produce the Novavax Inc. vaccine. Galvez said in a televised briefing late Monday.

California sees a worsening crisis (7 am HK)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the state could see more than 90,000 people hospitalized with Covid-19 by mid-January if the current increase in cases does not slow.

The state reported a record 18,359 coronavirus patients in its hospitals on Monday, a 67% increase in two weeks. The intensive care units in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley are effectively full and only 2.5% of the capacity of the entire ICU state remains open.

In Los Angeles County, the center of the state crisis, hospitals are charged at the limit. Health services director Christina Ghaly urged everyone not to meddle with people outside their household and not to buy gifts or make plans for meetings.

California could begin quarantining travelers from the UK and testing them for the new strain of coronavirus if the federal government does not do so first, Newsom said. The state began discussing such a move with airlines over the weekend, he said, noting that the latest mutation in the virus has not yet occurred in California.

Bidens receives coronavirus vaccine (4:53 am HK)

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, received the coronavirus vaccine on Monday, joining a list of American political leaders who have tried to increase public confidence in the shooting.

Joe Biden received his first two-shot regimen on Monday at a public event at ChristianaCare Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. Jill Biden received the vaccine earlier that day. Both received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

– With the assistance of Dan Reichl, David R Baker, Christopher Palmeri, Ed Johnson, Flynn McRoberts, Samson Ellis and Debby Wu