LONDON – Thousands of people over the age of 80 have begun receiving invitations to get the coronavirus vaccine in England, officials said on Sunday as Britain step up its national vaccination program in a bid to achieve its goal. to inoculate about 15 million people by mid-February.
More than 600,000 guests are expected to arrive at doors across England this week, asking seniors to sign up for jabs at the new mass vaccination centers near them.
The government has so far given a first dose of the vaccine to more than 1.2 million people.
The seven new large-scale vaccination centers join 1,000 other sites across the country, including hospitals, general medicine clinics and some pharmacies.
Officials hope that the rapid launch of mass vaccination will help lift Britain out of the third national deadlock, which was ordered this month to reduce an alarming wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths. The UK has recorded 81,000 deaths from the pandemic, according to a Johns Hopkins University report.
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VIRUS FIRE:
– California reports record a total of one day of 695 coronavirus deaths
– British Prime Minister Boris Johnson under fire while Britain faces the COVID-19 attack again
– Overwhelmed hospitals in Ukraine see the consequences of widespread New Year festivities
– Israelis are protesting on Netanyahu amid the blockade of the third virus
– Extinguishing the night for the pandemic comes into force in Quebec
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Follow the AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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Here’s what happens:
BERLIN – More than 40,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Germany.
The sad record of 40,343 deaths was reached on Sunday, when the country’s disease control center reported 465 new deaths.
Germany initially managed to keep the death toll low compared to its European neighbors, but since October, both new infections and deaths have risen steadily. On Sunday, Germany registered 16,946 new infections.
The country entered a second heavy blockade last month, which was recently extended until the end of January. Schools and most shops are closed, hospitals in the country are on the edge and some morgues do not have enough space to cool the incessant flow of bodies received.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the coming weeks will be the most difficult in the pandemic. However, the chancellor also said that mass vaccinations, which began in late December, will eventually bring relief.
“Several hundred thousand have been vaccinated and it will become more every day. The speed will increase, “Merkel said in the weekly podcast.
Germany and the European Union have so far approved the vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. More than 530,000 people, mostly elderly and medical staff, had been vaccinated by Saturday.
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LVIV, Ukraine – A medical college in western Ukraine has been turned into a temporary hospital as the coronavirus floods the Eastern European country.
The foyer of the Lviv city college houses 50 beds for patients with COVID-19, and another 300 are placed in classrooms and auditoriums to accommodate the overflow of people seeking care at a nearby full emergency hospital.
The head of the hospital’s therapy division, Marta Sayko, said the college space had doubled its treatment capacity. She hopes a broad blockade ordered on Friday will reduce the burden on Ukraine’s health care system.
Many health workers have criticized the government for ordering the blockade only after the Christmas and New Year holidays, rather than risking annoying the public.
“We have seen large-scale New Year’s festivities in almost every city,” said Borys Ribun, head of the Lviv regional pathology office. “I think there will be consequences. We’ll see them in a week or two. “
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BEIJING – More than 360 people tested positive in a growing coronavirus outbreak south of Beijing in neighboring Hebei Province.
China’s National Health Commission reported on Sunday that 69 new cases had been confirmed, including 46 in Hebei.
The outbreak raised particular concerns over Hebei’s proximity to the nation’s capital. The trip between the two was restricted, with Hebei workers having to show employment in Beijing to enter.
Hebei recorded 183 confirmed cases and another 181 asymptomatic cases in the last eight days. China does not include those who tested positive, but has no symptoms in its official number of cases.
Almost all cases are in Shijuazhuang, the provincial capital, which is 260 kilometers southwest of Beijing. A hand was also found in Xingtai. Both cities conducted mass tests of millions of residents, suspended public transportation and restricted residents to their communities or villages for a week.
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MEXICO CITY – Mexico posted another daily record for newly confirmed coronavirus cases, with 16,105 new infections reported on Saturday and a record nearly 1,135 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The country has now surpassed 1.5 million total infections and more than 133,000 deaths so far in the pandemic. Given Mexico’s extremely low level, official estimates suggest that the actual death toll is over 180,000.
Health officials said 6,722 coronavirus vaccines were administered on Friday, for a total of about 75,000. In Mexico City, the current center of Mexico’s pandemic, 90 percent of hospital beds are full.
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MONTREAL – An evening to reduce the rising tide of cases COVID-19 went into effect in Quebec on Saturday night.
Prime Minister Francois Legault says the measure is needed to prevent rallies that have fueled the rampant spread of the virus. The French-speaking Canadian province has a population of over 8.4 million
The rules will cause most residents to face police questions or fines of up to C $ 6,000 (US $ 4,728) if they leave between 8pm and 5am in the next four weeks. There are exceptions for essential workers, people who walk dogs and those who have medical reasons to be out, such as scheduling a doctor.
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TOKYO – Japanese opposition lawmakers on Sunday criticized the government’s declaration of urgency as being too late to stop the growing case of coronavirus.
They also pressed for more tests, which remained in Japan, being expensive and difficult to obtain, unless they are seriously ill.
“It is essential to consider the worst-case scenario possible, but the answer has always been based on an overly optimistic outlook,” Yukio Edano, a former economy minister, told NHK TV.
Opposition lawmakers Toranosuke Katayama and Kazuo Shii also criticized the state of emergency as being too limited in scope, area and duration. The statement, released on Friday, calls for restaurants to close at 8 p.m., lasts a month and focuses on the Tokyo area.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga defended the statement’s emphasis and said the upward curve in the spread of the infection would flatten in a month.
Deaths related to COVID-19 have totaled about 4,000 nationwide so far. There is growing concern about hospitals that are thin. Tokyo cases have recently risen to over 2,000 a day.
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PROVIDENCE, RI – Lt. Rhode Island Government Daniel McKee is in quarantine at home after coming into close contact with someone who later tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Saturday.
The lieutenant-governor found out about the close contact on Saturday morning, since then he gave negative results and shows no symptoms, officials said. He will continue to be tested and will remain in quarantine until midnight on January 12, officials said.
McKee is set to serve the remaining two years of Governor Gina Raimondo’s term after Raimondo was named Biden’s secretary of commerce, Democrat Joe Biden.
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LAS VEGAS – Nevada reports one of the state’s largest daily increases in coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began and the worst week to date.
The state reported on Saturday 2,648 additional known cases of COVID-19 and 56 additional deaths. It is close to the record 60 deaths reported only on Wednesday. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the total number of 299 deaths in the state’s COVID-19 was the worst so far.
Nevada has now had 246,309 known cases of COVID-19 and 3,450 deaths since the pandemic began.
The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases in Nevada rose from 2,115.3 on Dec. 25 to 2,373.6 on Friday, while the rolling average of daily deaths rose from 33.6 to 35.4, according to data from at Johns Hopkins University and The COVID Tracking Project.
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LOS ANGELES – California health authorities reported a record 695 coronavirus deaths on Saturday as many hospitals underwent unprecedented pregnancies.
The Department of Public Health said the number has increased the state’s death toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 29,233.
A wave of cases after Halloween and Thanksgiving has produced record hospitalizations in California, and now the most seriously ill of these patients are dying in unprecedented numbers.
Already, many hospitals in Los Angeles and other severely affected areas are struggling to keep up and have warned that they may need rational care as intensive care beds dwindle.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma judge has extended a temporary restraining order, allowing bars and restaurants in Oklahoma to remain open, past a 11 p.m. landmark, issued in November by Gov. Kevin Stitt, in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.
District Judge Susan Stallings heard arguments in the case on Friday and extended the order on Dec. 29, while considering the ruling in the case of bar owners who claim the governor has no legal authority to impose time, according to court records .
The governor’s lawyers say state law gives Stitt “the necessary broad and flexible authority” to combat the spread of the virus.
On Saturday, Oklahoma has the sixth-most per capita case in the country, with 1,218.16 per 100,000 population, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The state health department reported 2,738 deaths since the pandemic began on Saturday.
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JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received his second dose of coronavirus vaccine on Saturday after becoming the first Israeli to be inoculated last month.
Israel is in the midst of a third nationwide stalemate after an increase in cases, despite the launch of one of the fastest vaccination campaigns in the world. The country administered the first of two vaccine doses to almost 20% of its population. Netanyahu said on Saturday that he had provided enough vaccines to inoculate the entire adult population by the end of March.
Netanyahu has placed the volume of vaccination at the center of his re-election campaign in March, when Israel will hold its fourth nationwide vote in less than two years. Meanwhile, he called on the Israelis to make “one last great effort” to stop the transmission by tightening restrictions.
Most schools and businesses have been closed since Friday, with people being forced to stay 1,000 meters from home, except for basic needs. Public meetings are severely restricted and public transport is limited. The restrictions will last at least two weeks.