A San Francisco Fire Department paramedic wearing protective mask push a patient to the entrance of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, California, on Dec 29, 2020. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

WASHINGTON / LONDON / PARIS / DUBLIN / LISBON / ADDIS ABABA / LJUBLJANA / QUITO / SANTIAGO / DAKAR / RABAT / BERLIN / ROME / SAO PAULO / MEXICO CITY / MOSCOW - US coronavirus cases crossed the 20 million mark on Friday as officials seek to speed up vaccinations and a more infectious variant surfaces in Colorado, California and Florida.

That number is almost twice as many as in India, the second-worst-hit country. The US tally reached 10 million on Nov 9, and the number doubled in less than two months.

More than 346,000 deaths had been recorded so far in the country.

The US tally reached 10 million on Nov 9, and the number doubled in less than two months

New York state’s infections remained high, just below the record set Wednesday, as the rate of positive tests in New York City rose toward 10 percent. California fatalities reached a record.

ALSO READ: US House approves US$2,000 virus aid checks sought by Trump

Hospitalizations climbed to a new high, with 125,379 people admitted, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project. 

To slow the death toll, Senator Mitt Romney on Friday urged the US government to enlist veterinarians and combat medics to give out coronavirus vaccinations.

A Wisconsin hospital pharmacist was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of sabotaging more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine by deliberately removing them from refrigeration to spoil, police and medical authorities said.

Those who received the ineffective doses have been notified and will need to be re-vaccinated. The episode means that immunization will be delayed for 570 people who should by now have received their first shot of the two-dose vaccine.

Global tally

Over 84 million coronavirus cases have been recorded worldwide while the global death toll topped 1.82 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

UK

Britain reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the pandemic and shut primary schools in London on Friday to counter the rapid spread of a much more infectious variant of the coronavirus.

With more than 50,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the last four days, the health service said it was preparing for an anticipated rush of patients and needed more beds.

The announcement comes just days after the Royal London Hospital told staff in an email it was now in “disaster medicine mode” and unable to provide high standard critical care.

With the capital one of the areas worst-hit by the new variant, which is up to 70 percent more infectious, the government also decided to close all London primary schools, reversing a decision made just two days ago.

The UK reported 53,285 new cases and 613 deaths on Friday, bringing the tally to 2,542,065 and the death toll to 74,125, according to official figures.

A member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine team expects 2 million doses will be ready each week from about the middle of January, the Times of London reported.

Ambulances are parked outside the NHS Nightingale hospital, a temporary hospital that treats COVID-19 patients,  at the Excel centre in east London on Jan 1, 2021. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

Ireland

Ireland said on Friday it had under-reported coronavirus cases in recent days by thousands more than previously known as its system came under strain, suggesting the EU’s fastest growing outbreak is worsening even more rapidly than figures showed.

More than 9,000 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have yet to been added to the official tally of confirmed cases, the National Public Health Emergency Team said. A day earlier it had estimated the number of positive tests still pending registration at just 4,000.

Ireland has gone from having the lowest infection rate in the European Union just two weeks ago to having the fastest rate of deterioration, after shops and large parts of the hospitality sector were allowed to reopen for most of December.

A very large volume of positive tests since Christmas has led to a delay in positive swabs being formally confirmed as new individual cases. Ireland formally reported a daily record 1,754 confirmed cases on Friday, surpassing 1,500 daily cases for the fourth day in a row.

France

France will impose an earlier curfew in 15 northeastern and southeastern departments from Saturday to combat the spread of the coronavirus, starting at 6 pm instead of 8 pm, the government said on Friday.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal reiterated that theaters, cinemas and concert venues would not reopen on Jan 7.

Meanwhile in northwestern France, some 2,500 people attended an illegal New Year rave party in Lieuron, Brittany, in breach of current curfew rules and clashed with police who failed to stop it, local autorities said.

Prosecutors have opened a probe into the illegal organisation of a musical event and violence on persons of authority, the Ille-et-Vilaine prefecture said in a statement.

Later in the day, the French health ministry reported 19,348 new infections over the past 24 hours, slightly less than Thursday’s 19,927.

France’s cumulative total of cases now stands at 2,639,773, the fifth highest in the world.

The COVID-19 death toll was up by 133 at 64,765. 

Pfizer-BioNTech

BioNTech is working flat out with partner Pfizer to boost production of their COVID-19 vaccine, its founders said, warning there would be gaps in supply until other vaccines were rolled out.

“At the moment it doesn’t look good - a hole is appearing because there’s a lack of other approved vaccines and we have to fill the gap with our own vaccine,” BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told news weekly Spiegel.

“We are in productive discussions with the European Commission on how to make more of our vaccine in Europe, for Europe,” a spokeswoman for BioNTech said after publication of the interview.

BioNTech hopes to launch a new production line in Marburg, Germany, ahead of schedule in February, with the potential to produce 250 million doses in the first half of 2021, said Sahin.

Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech plan to give volunteers who received a placebo in its vaccine trial an option to receive a first dose of the vaccine by March 1, 2021 while staying within the study.

Trial participants who received the placebo will have two doses of the investigational vaccine reserved for them within the study, the companies said on the website.

The US Food and Drug Administration and a panel of its outside advisers have expressed concerns over Pfizer’s “unblinding” plan, saying it could make it harder to continue collecting data on safety and effectiveness needed to win full FDA approval of the vaccine.

READ MORE: WHO approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Chile

Chile's Ministry of Health on Friday reported 3,588 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily tally since July 5 (3,685), raising the total caseload to 612,564.

The death toll rose to 16,660 as 52 more patients have died, Minister of Health Enrique Paris said.

Chile has seen a 14 percent rise in new cases in the last week, and a 31 percent rise in 14 days, with a second wave of outbreaks forecast for January potentially seeing a peak of up to 9,000 new cases a day, said Paris.

Currently, 794 people are hospitalized in intensive care units, including 611 on ventilators and 68 in critical condition.

Ecuador

Ecuador's Ministry of Public Health on Friday reported 866 new infections and 14 more deaths, raising the total caseload to 213,378 and the death toll to 9,487.

According to the ministry, the actual death toll could be around 14,000 as another 4,564 deaths were likely caused by the coronavirus but had not been verified.

EU

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said on Friday that priorities during his country's presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) would be the "success of the vaccination" against COVID-19 and the "economic and social recovery of Europe".

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in her tweet, wished "good luck to António Costa and the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU," saying she looks forward to working with the prime minister for the recovery of Europe and for the health of the citizens. 

Africa tally

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded across the African continent reached 2,759,313 as of Friday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The death toll stood at 65,480, it added.

ALSO READ: 'World risks moral catastrophe' if virus shots delayed in Africa

Spain

Spain announced on Friday that entry for passengers travelling from the UK by air and sea will be prohibited till Jan 19 due to concerns over the new UK variant, according to the Official State Gazette.

Spanish nationals and those with legal residency in Spain, however, will be allowed entry.

Portugal

Portugal has reported 6,951 new COVID-19 cases, below the record of 7,627 announced the previous day and taking the country's tally to 420,629. 

The number of hospitalizations fell by 34 to 2,806.

Morocco

Morocco registered 1,777 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the tally to 440,970, the health ministry said in a statement.

The total number of recoveries rose by 2,134 to 409,638 while the death toll rose by 37 to 7,425.

Slovenia

Slovenia on Friday logged 1,752 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 123,777, according to official figures.

The death toll rose by 31 to 2,735.

The national COVID-19 tracker site Sledilnik shows that there were currently 20,354 active cases. A total of 1,110 patients were in hospital for COVID-19, of whom 188 were in intensive care.

Schools and kindergartens will not reopen next week, with pupils in grades one to three and preschoolers perhaps returning on Jan 11, Education Minister Simon Kustec said Thursday.

Eritrea

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on Friday urged the public to practice vigilance against the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

In his New Year message, Afwerki said that the pandemic will continue to pose a formidable health challenge in 2021 as it did for most of 2020, according to a press release.

The threat posed by COVID-19 can be defeated by self-reliance, patience and resilience as Eritrea continues on its path of economic development, Afwerki said.

As of Friday, Eritrea has reported 1,320 confirmed COVID-19 cases and three related deaths.

Senegal

Senegal reported 224 new cases of COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours on Friday, the highest daily tally since last March.

The new cases took the country's tally to 19,364, the Ministry of Health and Social Action said.

Among the new cases, community transmission remains the biggest source, at 136. The other 88 were contact cases.

The death toll remained at 410.

Germany

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 12,690 to 1,755,351, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. 

The reported death toll rose by 336 to 33,960, the tally showed.

According to a separate tally by Johns Hopkins University, Germany saw 21,580 new infections and another 915 deaths.

Friedrich Merz, one of the contenders to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor, said schools in the country should reopen as soon as possible. 

Brazil

Brazil's COVID-19 death toll totaled 195,411 after 462 more patients died in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

Meanwhile, tests detected 24,605 new cases, bringing the country's total caseload to 7,700,578.

Brazil’s Health Regulatory Agency Anvisa said it has concluded the analysis of the phase III trial data of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, according to information posted on its website.

Italy

Italy reported 462 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 555 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally fell to 22,211 from 23,477.

Italy has seen an official total of 74,621 COVID-19 deaths, the highest toll in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.

Italy has also reported 2.129 million cases to date, the health ministry said.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 stood at 22,822 on Friday, down by 329 on the day before. There were 145 admissions to intensive care units, compared with 202 on Thursday.

The current number of intensive care patients fell by two to 2,553, reflecting those who died or were discharged after recovery.

Mexico

Mexico’s health ministry reported 11,091 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 700 additional fatalities on Friday, bringing its total to 1,437,185 infections and 126,507 deaths.

The real number of infected people and deaths is likely significantly higher than the official count, the health ministry has said.

Russia

Russia on Saturday reported 26,301 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 5,452 in Moscow, pushing the national tally to 3,212,637.

Authorities said 447 people had died in the past 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 58,002.