Record 200,000 new cases in US as COVID-19 vaccine offers glimmer of hope
11 November, 2020
AMERICA on Tuesday (Nov 10) registered a record 200,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, highlighting the desperate dependence on a vaccine after results in one medical trial fuelled optimism all over the world.
The vaccine news brought some rest from an otherwise grim picture, with tighter restrictions imposed in Europe and the center East, and a surge in the US claiming 1,535 lives in a day.
Stocks in a few industries hit hardest by travel curbs, social distancing and lockdowns rebounded on hopes that the world may return to normal, after pharma giant Pfizer and its own German partner BioNTech announced on Monday that their vaccine applicant was 90 % effective.
A vaccine sometimes appears as the very best chance to break through the cycle of deadly virus surges and serious restrictions across a lot of the world since COVID-19 first emerged in China late this past year and ballooned right into a pandemic.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they could supply up to 50 million doses of the vaccine globally this season and up to 1 1.3 billion next year if it receives approval.
The scientific community reacted positively overall - although the trial continues to be ongoing and the vaccine candidate would have to be stored in expert deep freezers, creating huge supply chain complications.
The vaccine applicant is one of more than 40, but no other developer has yet made similar claims about effectiveness.
There is also promising news from Brussels, where in fact the EU parliament and member states struck a deal to pass the bloc's multi-annual budget, unblocking €750 billion (US$886 billion) in coronavirus recovery funds.
Dacian Ciolos, head of the parliament's centrist Renew Europe Group, called the agreement "a game-changer" for Europeans facing adversity from the pandemic.
"AN EXTREMELY DARK WINTER"
The novel coronavirus has infected near to 51 million persons worldwide, with an increase of than 1.2 million deaths.
On Tuesday, 6,867 new deaths were recorded worldwide, with the highest daily tolls in France, Spain and the United States.
The US remains the hardest-hit nation at a lot more than 10 million cases and practically 240,000 deaths, with shocking new data now including an archive 60,000 current hospitalisations.
The pandemic was one of the top issues for voters in last week's presidential election.
Joe Biden, who had slammed President Donald Trump's handling of the crisis, spared no time in announcing a COVID-19 taskforce on Monday after being declared president-elect.
"We're still facing a very dark winter," Biden said.
Trump had clashed repeatedly along with his own government experts, often refusing to back restrictions and even wear a mask in public. After the Pfizer announcement, he claimed - without evidence - that the news was delayed until following the election to damage him.
There was a separate breakthrough when the US Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted emergency approval to a synthetic antibody treatment developed by the pharma company Eli Lilly.
Bamlanivimab, which was displayed to reduce the chance of hospitalization and emergency room visits, may be the first major drug to be approved that was designed particularly for the coronavirus.
"STAGE OF CRITICAL DANGER"
Despite encouraging news on the medical front, rising infection and death rates have gone many governments struggling to cope.
Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro - who has downplayed the virus even while it has killed 163,000 people in his country - lashed out with a homophobic rant.
"I regret the deaths. I really do. But we are all going to die someday. There's no use fleeing reality. We need to stop being a country of fags," he said in a speech. "We have to confront it and fight. I hate this faggot stuff."
In Italy, virus restrictions were increased in five of the country's 20 regions on Tuesday.
Hungary, one of the hardest-hit countries regarding deaths compared to the population, has also announced new measures to come into force on Wednesday.
Elsewhere on the continent, Albania imposed a night-time curfew and Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid went into self-isolation after getting into contact with someone identified as having Covid-19.
In Greece, the federal government stopped supermarkets from selling "non-essential goods" to avoid unfair competition against smaller shops that contain been forced to close, carrying out a similar move around in France.
In the Middle East, Lebanon on Tuesday announced a brand new two-week lockdown despite a grinding monetary crisis which has already battered businesses.
"We've reached a stage of critical danger as private and public hospitals don't have the capacity to get extreme cases," the country's caretaker prime minister, Hassan Diab, said in a televised address.
The spot also mourned the death from coronavirus issues of veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat - a long-time architect of plans to end the conflict with Israel through the creation of an unbiased Palestinian state.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called the passage of "a brother and friend ... a great loss for Palestine and our people".
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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