Coronavirus digest: US vaccinates 1 million

The United States announced it has already given 1 million Americans their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield said the US "achieved an early but important milestone today – jurisdictions have now reported that more than one million people have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine since administration began 10 days ago."

But Moncef Slaoui, chief advisor of Operation Warp Speed, said the goal of providing 20 million doses before the end of 2020 was "unlikely to be met."

Slaoui said the US was still aiming to immunize 100 million people by the end of the first quarter of 2021, and another 100 million by halfway through next year, as Pfizer agreed to give 100 million more doses to the US next year after March. That would be just under two-thirds of all Americans.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is given over two doses weeks apart, as are the Moderna vaccines.

Rest of Americas

Brazilian researchers said the SinoVac vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech was more than 50% effective, but would not release the full results of their research.

Brazil was the first country to complete a late-stage trial of the vaccine, but full results from the trial have now been delayed three times. The ongoing delays are likely to fan growing skepticism toward the vaccine in the country.

The first shipment of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines for Costa Rica was expected to arrive onshore on Wednesday. Inoculations are expected to begin on Thursday, said President Carlos Alvarado.

Canada approved Moderna's vaccine on Wednesday, the second country to approve the shot following the US. Canada will receive up to 168,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the end of the year, which officials said would be used in remote northern areas.

Canada expects to receive 6 million doses by the end of March. The country requires about 80 million doses to cover all residents.

Europe

France will begin its vaccination process on December 27 after its medical regulator, HAS, gave the go ahead for the rollout of the BioNTech-Pfizer inoculation.

HAS was reacting to the European Medicines Agency after it said the vaccine was safe to distribute.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, who was diagnosed with the virus last week, is leaving isolation after no longer displaying symptoms.

Nevertheless, he warned the French public to remain on their guard over the Christmas holidays, urging them to limit their contacts during the festive period.

Northern Ireland's Department of Health confirmed a positive test for the B.1.1.7 variant that was first detected in Great Britain.

In neighboring Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said the new variant was likely in the country as well, based on a preliminary sample of data from the previous weekend. They did not believe the recent spike in new cases was solely due to the variant.

The UK transport minister said Wednesday that all flights and arrivals from South Africa would be halted, after a new variant of the coronavirus was found in the African country.

"I've taken the decision to temporarily stop flights and arrivals entering England from South Africa from 9 a.m. tomorrow (0900 Thursday GMT) following an outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus," said Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps.

The new variant, known as 501.V2, was found last week in South Africa. It is different from the B.1.1.7 variant that has been reported in the UK, and appears to be more infectious than the original virus. Scientists are studying whether current vaccines could protect against the 501.V2 variant.

The Netherlands has required negative tests for travelers arriving by plane from other countries. The test must have been performed no more than three days before departure, the Dutch government said Wednesday. The order will go into effect on Tuesday.

The government said it would look into expanding the order to people arriving by train, bus and boat. Travelers are requested to self-quarantine for 10 days after they arrive in the country, even if they tested negative before their trip began.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's research institute for disease control and prevention, reported 32,195 new cases and 802 deaths from the virus in the country over the past 24 hours.

The number of new infections remains close to its record of 33,777 set on Friday despite strict new measures.

Asia

The Tokyo Olympics has secured a "basic agreement" with all 68 domestic sponsors to extend their contracts into next year to support the coronavirus-hit Games.

Japanese domestic sponsors have provided a record $3.3 billion (€2.7 billion) to the local operating budget but this contribution was cast into doubt following the postponement of the Games. However, Olympic officials have now confirmed these funds will remain in place for the event, set to begin on July 23, 2021.

China will suspend direct flights to and from Britain due to the emergence of a new coronavirus strain, Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesman has said.

"After much consideration, China has decided to take reference from other countries and suspend flights to and from UK," Wang told reporters.

Singapore confirmed its first case of the B.1.1.7 variant that was found in the United Kingdom.

The variant was found in a patient that came to Singapore from the UK on December 6. She was quarantined on arrival and tested positive two days later.

There are 11 others, who are also in quarantine that returned positive preliminary results for the new variant. Singapore's health ministry said late Wednesday that there was "no evidence that the B.1.1.7 variant is circulating in the community."

Africa

Another new strain of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, Africa's top public health official has revealed, albeit that further investigation is required before confirmation.

"It's a separate lineage from the UK and South Africa,'' the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, said.

Morocco has imposed a curfew, shut down restaurants across major cities and banned public and private gatherings until January 13.

The curfew, which occurs daily between 9 p.m and 6 a.m local time, came into effect Wednesday night.

World

Two new studies showed evidence that contracting COVID-19 may offer protection against future infections.

Dr. Ned Sharpless, director of the US National Cancer Institute, said researchers found that people with antibodies from natural infections were "at much lower risk…on the order of the same kind of protection you'd get from an effective vaccine" of getting the virus again.

The National Cancer Institute study followed more than 3 million people who had antibody tests from two private labs. It saw 0.3% of people who initially had antibodies later tested positive, while 3% who didn't have antibodies tested positive.

The New England Journal of Medicine conducted the other study involving health workers at Oxford University Hospitals in the UK. Among the 1,265 subjects who had antibodies at the start of the research, only two had positive results for active infection over the next six months and neither developed symptoms.

kbd, jsi/aw (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)