Officers of the German Federal Police patrol Berlin's central station to ensure commuters adhere to a mandatory mask wearing requirement. At the German Railway in Berlin, Germany, Dec 7, 2020. (KAY NIETFELD / DPA VIA AP)
TUNIS / RIO DE JANEIRO / ALGIERS / SANTIAGO / LONDON / ROME / ADDIS ABABA / CAPE TOWN / PARIS / VIENNA / LIMA / QUITO / WARSAW / BUENOS AIRES / TORONTO / BERLIN / SOFIA / LISBON / BOGOTA / THE HAGUE / BRUSSELS / MEXICO CITY / BELGRADE / HELSINKI / BUCHAREST / MOMBASA / MOSCOW / LA PAZ / RABAT - Brazil’s leader Jair Bolsonaro is moving to assert control of the nation’s independent health regulator, Anvisa, a move some health experts fear will politicize the agency and give the president, one of the world’s most prominent coronavirus skeptics, free rein over vaccine approvals.
Bolsonaro on Nov. 12 nominated a retired soldier, Jorge Luiz Kormann, to take one of Anvisa’s five director posts. Kormann, a former lieutenant-colonel with no background in medicine or vaccine development, would lead the unit charged with greenlighting vaccines. If he is confirmed by Brazil’s Senate, as is expected, Bolsonaro allies would occupy three of Anvisa’s five directorships, giving them a majority in all decisions taken by the agency.
Brazil registered 26,363 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the national count to 6,603,540, the Health Ministry said Sunday.
The death toll climbed by 313 to 176,941, the ministry said.
Currently, 18 out of the 27 Brazilian states have registered an increase in average daily deaths from the disease.
The comments come after Bavaria implemented a state of emergency, mostly banning people from leaving their homes starting from Dec 9 and formally declaring a “disaster situation”.
Previous and existing measures haven’t sufficiently brought down infections in the region, the Bavarian government said in a statement on its website on Sunday. Under the new rules, people will only be allowed to leave their homes if they have a valid reason.
In communities that have more than 200 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days there will be a nightly curfew from 9 pm to 5 am with fewer exceptions. The consumption of alcohol will also be banned outside of buildings.
Germany has reported 12,332 new cases of COVID-19 by Monday, bringing the tally to 1,183,655, according to RKI. Deaths rose by 147 to 18,919.
Global tally
Coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 67 million while the global toll topped 1.53 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As of 10:45 pm Sunday (0345 GMT Monday), the global tally reached 67,027,780, along with 1,535,492 deaths recorded worldwide, according to the data.
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Africa tally
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded across the African continent reached 2,248,269 as of Sunday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Sunday.
The death toll stood at 53,543, the Africa CDC added.
Algeria
Algeria's flag carrier airline Air Algeria Sunday resumed domestic flights after more than eight months of shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the official APS news agency reported.
The Algerian Transport Ministry said in a statement Saturday that international commercial flights to and from Algeria will "remain suspended until further notice".
A nurse arranges antigen COVID-19 tests in a private laboratory of Algiers, Algeria, on Dec 6, 2020. (FATEH GUIDOUM / AP)
Argentina
Argentina reported 3,278 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 1,463,110, the country's health ministry said on Sunday.
The country also saw 138 more fatalities, taking the death toll to 39,770, according to the ministry's daily report.
Austria
Austria reported on Monday 2,263 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country's total caseload to 305,693, according to data published by the Austrian Interior Ministry.
To date, the total COVID-19 death toll in Austria reached 3,897, said the ministry.
Belgium
Belgium has reported 2,503 new coronavirus cases by Monday, bringing the tally to 591,756, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The country also saw 112 more deaths related to the virus, taking the country's death toll to 17,320.
The number of new daily cases has been steadily decreasing amid a second wave in the country, according to the tally.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Sunday that Belgium's COVID-19 figures would be good enough for current restrictions to be eased "in mid-January".
But, he told VTM News that the situation is still serious.
Bolivia
Bolivia has reported 68 new COVID-19 cases by Sunday, bringing its national caseload to 145,560, according to the Ministry of Health.
The country also reported three more deaths, taking its death toll to 8,995.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria is suffering the second highest COVID-19 death rate in the European Union (EU), at 27.3 per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days, official data from the bloc showed on Sunday, while the country's health system is already on the brink of collapse.
"The (health) system is overwhelmed and that's why such incidents occur," said Katya Sungarska, a spokesperson for the Center for Emergency Medical Services in the country's capital Sofia, adding that the system "cannot respond the way it should".
She said Sofia should have 80 emergency teams to cover the population adequately. However, the number now stands at 15-17 for each 12-hour shift.
Bulgaria recorded 2,037 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 160,844, according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The country's tally and toll have more than doubled in the last three weeks, and in the last week of November alone, the country reported more 20,000 new cases, according to the ECDC.
Canada
Shipment of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada could start within 24 hours after Canadian health authorities approve the shots, a top official of pharmaceutical company BioNTech told CBC on Sunday, comparing it with the timeline achieved in Britain.
A vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is expected to be the first to secure approval in Canada, though the country has signed supply deals with seven manufacturers.
Health Canada is expected to approve the vaccine within “the next week”, a top official said on Thursday. Canada expects the first 6 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna Inc to arrive in the first quarter of 2021, enough for three million of Canada’s 38 million population.
Canada reported 6,261 new cases on Sunday, bringing the tally to 415,182, according to a report by the Canadian Press. The toll rose by 76 to 12,665, according to the report.
Chile
Chile on Sunday registered 1,710 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the national tally to 560,382, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry also reported 36 more COVID-19 fatalities, raising the toll to 15,628.
Currently, 658 people were in intensive care units, including 507 on ventilators and 68 in critical condition.
Colombia
Colombia registered 8,854 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 1,371,103, health authorities said on Monday.
The country also confirmed 175 additional fatalities, lifting the death toll to 37,808, according to the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
Denmark
Denmark imposed new lockdown measures across much of the country, including the partial closure of schools. From Dec. 9, restaurants, bars and cinemas will be shuttered in Copenhagen and in areas where infection rates are a threat, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday.
Denmark registered more than 3,800 new coronavirus cases over the weekend, with Saturday’s tally marking the highest number of daily infections since the country was first hit by the pandemic.
On Sunday, the country reported 1,745 new cases and seven deaths. As of Sunday, the country's tally stood at 90,603 and the death toll stood at 885, according to the Danish Statens Serum Institute (SSI).
According to broadcaster TV2, the new restrictions entail closing all restaurants, bars, cinemas and theaters in large parts of the country. The partial lockdown will affect 38 of Denmark’s 98 municipalities, TV2 said, without identifying its sources.
Ecuador
Ecuador registered another 607 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 197,998, the Ministry of Public Health reported Sunday.
The country also registered 16 more deaths, taking the death toll to 9,268, the ministry said.
Another 4,510 deaths are suspected of having been caused by the virus, but have not been confirmed, according to the ministry.
The ministry added that all 24 provinces have shown an increase in infections, with the greatest increases in Azuay, Galapagos, Imbabura, Manabi and Pichincha.
According to official statistics, the city of Quito, the capital of the country located in the province of Pichincha, remains the epicenter of the outbreak, with 65,356 cases.
Finland
Finland recorded 460 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its national count to 27,218 as of Sunday, the lowest caseload recorded in the Nordic region so far, according to a tally by the World Health Organization (WHO).
No additional deaths were reported during the same period, keeping the death toll at 415, according to the WHO data.
In comparison, Denmark, one of the four Nordic countries with a population of around 6 million, similar to that of Finland with 5.5 million, currently has 88,858 cases, more than three times that of Finland, and 878 deaths, according to the WHO.
Sweden, which has twice as many inhabitants, has recorded 278,912 infections, more than 10 times as many cases. Meanwhile, Norway, with a population of 5.3 million, has logged 37,371 cases, according to the WHO.
France
France probably won’t meet a target for an average of 5,000 daily infections by mid-December, set by President Emmanuel Macron as a condition to lift lockdown measures, said Professor Eric Caumes, head of infectious diseases at Paris hospital Pitie-Salpetriere.
France’s seven-day average of new cases has remained between 10,000 and 11,000 for the past six days.
More than 55,000 people have died from COVID-19 in France, the country's national public health agency, Sante Publique, said in a statement on Sunday.
French health authorities reported 11,022 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, down from the 12,923 new infections detected the previous day.
The death toll in French hospitals rose by 174, the health ministry said, a smaller increase than Saturday’s 216.
In total, France has recorded 2,292,497 confirmed cases and 55,155 deaths.
The number of COVID-19 patients rose by 223 to 26,293, while the number in intensive care declined by 10 to 3,220.
Georgia
Georgia reported 2,501 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing its total to 164,776, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health said.
Among the new cases, 1,060 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi.
As of Monday, 137,499 patients have recovered while 1,540 others have died, said the center.
Germany
Germany aims to vaccinate 10 million people in the first quarter of 2021, Bild reported, citing a draft of the federal government’s vaccination plan. At two vaccinations per person, this would translate to 20 million doses. Medical staff in ICUs and Covid testing facilities, nursing home staff, and older, at risk patients would be first in line to receive the vaccine in the nation of 83 million people.
The coutry is looking to impose tougher restrictions on movement after a nationwide partial shutdown failed to bring contagion rates down to manageable levels.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff called for a meeting between the federal government and heads of the country’s 16 states, which could be convened before Christmas, to decide on a plan.
“Because a lockdown of this kind doesn’t work in the long run, we have to really tighten things up again, at least in the hot spots,” Helge Braun, said in an online interview with Bild newspaper.
Braun favors a return to distance learning for older school children in areas with contagion rates of more than 200 cases per 100,000 people over seven days. The current rate nationwide stands at 146.2, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Germany needs to bring the seven-day incidence rate down to under 50 cases as quickly as possible, according to Braun.
Italy
Italy reported 564 deaths related to COVID-19 on Sunday, down from 662 a day earlier and taking the official toll since the outbreak began in February above 60,000, the health ministry said.
The health ministry also reported 18,887 new infections over the past 24 hours, down from 21,052 the day before.
Overall, Italy has registered 60,078 deaths and 1.728 million infections to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 stood at 30,391 on Sunday, up 233 from the day before.
There were 150 new admissions to intensive care units, while the number of intensive care patients decreased by 63 to 3,454.
Italy may receive first 3.4 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech as soon as Jan 15, one week earlier than expected, Il Messaggero daily reported.
Italian pharmaceutical regulator AIFA may be able to give approval for the vaccine’s distribution in early January if the European Medicines Agency gives regulatory clearance for EU distribution by Dec 31, Messaggero reported.
A man wearing a face mask walks past a shop selling Christmas decorations in Rome, Italy, Dec 2, 2020. (ANDREW MEDICHINI / AP)
Kenya
Nearly three quarters of Kenya’s intensive care unit (ICU) beds are in the two largest cities, Nairobi and Mombasa.
Yet the coronavirus is spreading into rural areas where the public health system is creaking and scarce ICU units are full and turning patients away, medics round the nation told Reuters.
After measures were softened, Kenya had record daily cases and deaths in November, taking the totals to nearly 90,000 infections and 1,500 fatalities. Experts say the real tally is much higher due to inadequate testing and a policy of only counting hospital deaths.
Kenya’s 51 million people have only 537 ICU beds and 256 ventilators, according to a July 2020 study.
In the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya’s remote north west, ICU care is a nine-hour drive away. That has led to six COVID-19 deaths in a camp clinic due to lack of equipment like a ventilator, a doctor there told Reuters. A 40-year-old South Sudanese woman was the latest.
In the Indian Ocean coastal county of Kilifi, critical patients are referred to ICU wards in Kwale, two hours by ferry, or Mombasa, a one-hour drive away.
Even in Mombasa, though, ICU wards at both the biggest public and private hospitals have been full since early November.
Mexico
Mexico on Sunday reported 7,455 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nation's tally to 1,175,850, according to the country's health ministry.
The death toll rose by 261 to 109,717, according to the ministry.
Morocco
Morocco reported 2,919 new cases of the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 379,657, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday.
The country also reported 61 additional fatalities, bringing the death toll to 6,245, the ministry said, adding that the number of recoveries has risen to 331,301.
Namibia
Namibian President Hage Geingob on Monday announced that the country's Founding President Sam Nujoma has been hospitalized after testing positive to COVID-19.
"I hereby wish to inform the Namibian people that Sam Nujoma, the Founding President of the Republic of Namibia was admitted to hospital on Dec. 6, 2020, after testing positive for COVID-19," he said.
Netherlands
The Netherlands recorded on Sunday 6,814 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 557,224, according to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).
The country also recorded 25 more deaths, raising the total death toll to 9,687, according to the RIVM.
Peru
Peru has confirmed 647 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, bringing its total caseload to 973,912 as of 10 pm Saturday (0300 GMT Sunday), according to the country's health ministry.
The ministry also reported 43 new deaths from the coronavirus, with the death toll in the country hitting 36,274.
There have also been 92 people discharged from hospitals in the 24-hour span, it said.
Poland
Poland on Sunday confirmed 9,176 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national tally to 1,063,449, according to the country's health ministry.
Another 228 more deaths were logged, taking the death toll to 20,089.
Portugal
Portugal reported 3,834 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 322,474 as of Sunday evening, the country's health ministry said.
Deaths rose by 87 to 4,963, the ministry said.
It added that the number of recoveries has increased by 2,852 to 243,055.
Romania
Romania reported on Sunday 5,231 new cases of COVID-19, bringing its total caseload to 513,576, according to official statistics.
The country also saw 134 additional deaths from the disease, raising the death toll to stands at 12,320, said the Strategic Communication Group, the official novel coronavirus communication task force.
Russia
Russia registered 28,142 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total caseload to 2,488,912, the country's COVID-19 response center said in a statement on Monday.
An additional 456 deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 43,597.
Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, reported 7,279 new cases, taking its tally of infections to 654,841, the response center said.
Russia may consider limiting travel between regions due to the second wave of infections, Ria Novosti reported, citing Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.
Serbia
Serbia recorded on Sunday 5,809 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 219,652, the country's health ministry said.
The country also logged 58 more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,949, according to the ministry.
South Africa
South Africa on Sunday urged school students who attended a series of end-of-year “Rage” parties to enter 10 days of quarantine after identifying four such parties as COVID-19 “super-spreader events”.
Hosted annually, the Rage parties are popular with thousands of school leavers eager to let their hair down at events that can last several days.
“We confirm that we have now identified a number of COVID-19 confirmed cases arising from these super-spreader events,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement.
South Africa confirmed 4,116 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 814,565, according to the country's health ministry.
Meanwhile, 139 more COVID-19 related deaths were reported, as the death toll nationwide rose to 22,206.
Tunisia
Tunisian authorities on Sunday announced that the nationwide curfew has been extended to Dec 30 amid a rapid spread of COVID-19 across the country.
A nighttime curfew will be applied from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am local time from Dec 7-30, according to a statement released by the health ministry.
The measures also include the continuation of a ban on fairs and meetings and the closure of cafes at 7 pm. The authorities have also decided to limit attendance in private parties and funerals to 30 people.
Meanwhile, travelers coming to Tunisia for less than five days should present a negative PCR test conducted within 72 hours before boarding.
Tunisia has recorded 104,002 cases, including 1,011 fresh cases reported on Sunday night.
UK
The United Kingdom is gearing up to deploy its first COVID-19 vaccine with plans to provide the shot at more than 1,000 centers across the country over the coming weeks with the first jab expected to be given on Tuesday.
The vaccine, created by Pfizer and BioNTech, has arrived at secure locations in the UK from Belgium, the Department of Health and Social Care said Sunday.
Footage posted by the National Health Service (NHS) showed boxes containing doses of the vaccine being delivered to Croydon University Hospital in south London and being stored in a special, securely locked fridge.
A pharmacy technician from Croydon Health Services stores the first delivery of COVID-19 vaccine at Croydon University Hospital in Croydon, England, Dec 5, 2020. (GARETH FULLER / POOL PHOTO VIA AP)
Following quality checks to ensure the jabs have been kept at the correct temperature, the shots will be made available to 50 hospital hubs around the country, before being distributed to doctor-run vaccination centers that will administer the jabs.
READ MORE: UK prepares for national deployment of virus vaccine
Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and her husband, Prince Philip, 99, will likely receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine within weeks, the MailOnline reported Sunday. The royal couple will then make their vaccination public, the paper reported.
The news came on the same day official figures showed that the UK recorded 17,272 new COVID-19 cases, the highest since Nov 26 and bringing the tally to 1,723,242.
The death toll rose by 231 to 61,245, the data showed.
US
The United States added 213,877 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the fourth consecutive day of infections above 200,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
At least 2,301 more people have died, the fifth consecutive day above 2,000.
Los Angeles County, which has the most number of cases and deaths in the US, added a record 10,528 new cases, hitting a high for a fourth straight day.
Nationwide, the US has recorded more than 14.7 million confirmed cases and 282,000 deaths to date, according to a Johns Hopkins University's count.
US President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for COVID-19, Trump said on Sunday
US President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for COVID-19, Trump said on Sunday.
The US is hospitalizing almost 2,000 coronavirus patients a day, data released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) show.
All Americans who want to get a COVID-19 vaccine should be able to do so by the second quarter of next year, Alex Azar of the HHS said.
With the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to decide as early as Thursday on emergency authorization for a shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Azar and Moncef Slaoui, the head of the government’s program to accelerate a vaccine, expressed confidence that the FDA would clear the way.
Slaoui said he planned to meet with President-elect Joe Biden’s team this week to discuss the program before the expected first round of vaccinations this month.
