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President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris say they plan to move the US Covid-19 pandemic response in a dramatically different direction.
“The pandemic is getting significantly more worrisome all across the country,” Biden said Friday. “I want everyone to know on day one, we’re going to put our plan to control this virus into action.”
There were dauntingly high new case numbers last week, and by the time Biden takes office January 20, the influential University of Washington Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation model projects there will be more than 372,000 Covid-19 deaths – that’s 135,000 more than the current total.
“By the time that the Biden-Harris administration takes over, this virus is going to have already run rampant through the communities across the United States,” Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University, said Sunday on CNN.
While President Donald Trump’s administration touted the end of the pandemic as one of its accomplishments, Biden laid out a pandemic plan on his campaign website which is now echoed on the Biden-Harris transition website that published Sunday.
There are five key ways Biden says the US coronavirus response will change when he’s President.
Read them here:
Residents of the Australian city of Melbourne can travel freely within the state of Victoria after a so-called “ring of steel” around the city was removed on Monday.
The “ring of steel,” as locals called the tough Covid-19 restrictions, consisted of checkpoints manned by police and other officials, and separated Melbourne from the rest of the state throughout the bulk of the city’s 112-day lockdown.
The state government has also dropped a previous restriction preventing Melbourne residents from traveling further than 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from their homes.
Movie theaters, galleries, museums and music halls will now be able to open, with 20 people allowed per space.
What happened this summer: Restrictive measures were put in this summer, when Melbourne and the rest of the state of Victoria were recording hundreds of cases per day – becoming the epicenter of Australia’s Covid-19 outbreak. Though the decision to lock down Victoria was unpopular with some people, by late September, cases had declined to low double digits, allowing the government to begin lifting restrictions.
Melbourne has not recorded a new Covid-19 case since October 29, the week its lockdown ended. Neighboring New South Wales on Monday also said it had not detected any new cases detected in the previous 24 hours.
As of Sunday, at least 95,027 people in Mexico have died from Covid-19, the country’s health ministry reported.
Only the United States, Brazil and India have reported more virus-related deaths than Mexico, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
Mexican authorities have identified 967,825 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.
The state of Idaho reported 1,403 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday – the highest number counted there in a single day since the pandemic began.
The previous record was set earlier this month, according to the Idaho Division of Public Health.
Since the pandemic began, Idaho has identified 72,961 cases in the state. At least 686 people have died.
With the US clocking its highest new coronavirus cases in a single day on Saturday, states across the country continue to report daily surges in the virus’ spread, along with diminishing hospital capacity. The country has the highest number of Covid-19 cases worldwide, with more than 9.9 million recorded since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.
Florida sees highest number of new daily cases since August
In Florida, health officials reported 6,820 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the most cases reported in a single day since August 12, according to the Florida Department of Health (DOH). It also marks the twelfth consecutive day the state reported more than 4,000 cases in a single day, CNN’s tally shows. This does not include high totals reported by the state due to lab or technical issues.
To date, Florida has recorded 843,897 Covid-19 cases statewide, and a total of 17,121 Covid-19 related deaths, DOH data shows.
Oregon surpasses 50,000 coronavirus cases
Oregon Governor Kate Brown says the state has surpassed the ‘alarming threshold’ of 50,000 coronavirus cases.
The Oregon Health Authority reported 874 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 50,448. They also reported the state’s 730th death, as hospitalizations reach an all-time high.
On Friday, Governor Brown ordered five counties in the state to take a two week ‘social pause’ as cases soar and hospitalizations reach an all-time high.
Wisconsin only has 12% of hospital beds available in the state
Wisconsin recorded 4,280 new cases of coronavirus Sunday and 11 new deaths, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
There are 112 more people hospitalized, with just 12 percent of hospital beds still available in the state.
Since the pandemic began, 2,312 people have died in Wisconsin from coronavirus.
Texas inches closer to 1 million cases
Texas is getting closer to reporting one million coronavirus cases as it announces 5,404 new cases Sunday, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
So far there have been 956,234 total cases reported in the state since the pandemic began.
The state reported 43 new deaths, bringing their total number of coronavirus deaths to 18,743.
There are currently 6,080 people in the state’s hospitals with the disease. Hospitals have 1,000 ICU beds available, and more than 7,000 ventilators.
Illinois has 3rd consecutive day of over 10,000 new daily cases
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported 10,009 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus in the state, making Sunday the 3rd consecutive day that Illinois has reported over 10,000 daily coronavirus cases.
IDPH is reporting a total of 487,987 cases across the state, including 10,196 deaths, 42 of which were tallied on Sunday.
Track Covid-19 cases across the US here:
It is critically important that President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden’s respective coronavirus task force teams work closely together during this time of transition, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said Sunday.
“First and foremost, I think we should demand that there be cooperation,” Jha told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield when asked if he’s concerned about the access Biden’s team will have to pertinent information without the cooperation of Trump’s team.
Biden is expected to announce a 12-member coronavirus task force, headed by former surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. David Kessler, and Yale University’s Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith.
Jha said it’s important for Biden’s team to include a breadth of expertise.
Watch the intervew :
At least 9,926,622 total cases of coronavirus have been reported in the US and at least 237,425 people have died across the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
As of 3pm ET Sunday, JHU had reported 66,064 new cases and 312 deaths in the US which has the highest number of infections worldwide.
The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
CNN is tracking the spread of coronavirus across the US here:
The coronavirus pandemic will have worsened by the time Joe Biden is inaugurated as US President in January, an emergency physician has told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield.
Ranney said she is optimistic about President-elect Joe Biden’s transition plans for leading the coronavirus response.
Ranney also said she hopes there is an emphasis on mask use and making personal protective equipment available to health care and frontline workers in the future. She stressed the importance of having increased access to data and testing facilities.
CNN is tracking the spread of coronavirus across the US here:
Reports about a strain of coronavirus infecting mink in Denmark are “concerning,” but more studies are needed to determine if the strain is more dangerous in any way, the World Health Organization has said.
While major mutations can affect the efficacy of vaccines and treatments, the WHO said scientists have not yet noted changes to the mink-related strain that affect how well the virus transmits, the severity of disease or the risk of reinfection in people.
At least 214 cases of Covid-19 have been linked with farmed minks in Denmark since June, the agency said.
The WHO noted that the minks were infected following human exposure. The animals can act as a reservoir, “passing the virus between them, and pose a risk for virus spill-over from mink to humans.”
“WHO advises all countries to enhance surveillance for Covid-19 at the animal-human interface where susceptible animal reservoirs are identified, including mink farms,” it added.
The Biden administration will need an “all hands on deck” approach to the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Jehan el-Bayoumi, a professor of medicine at George Washington University, said Sunday.
“We have to have all hands on deck,” added el-Bayoumi, who has treated White House staff, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a blood clot in 2012.
El-Bayoumi said she is “relieved” President-elect Joe Biden will soon be leading the nation’s coronavirus response.
El-Bayoumi added that there was already a “pandemic playbook,” which the Obama administration handed to the Trump administration.
“Simply dusting that off, updating it, tailoring it, will be important,” she said.
El-Bayoumi said it was crucial to employ a holistic strategy to the pandemic response that considers people of color, existing health conditions and the way the crisis is impacting non-Covid care.
Watch Dr. El-Bayoumi speak about Biden’s approach to the pandemic:
Belgium is monitoring and testing its mink population weekly after Denmark reported a widespread outbreak of a new variant of the novel coronavirus at its mink farms.
The Danish government this week announced it planned to cull the nation’s entire mink population of 17 million in order to contain the spread after it discovered evidence that the virus that causes Covid-19 had mutated in mink, after being passed on by humans.
Belgium has a smaller mink population, with 15 mink farms currently in operation in Flanders, the Flemish region in the country’s north, according to the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). Fur farming is banned in the rest of the country.
Steven Van Gucht, Head Virologist, at the Belgian Health Authority (Sciensano) told Belgian radio on Saturday: “Samples are collected every week at the mink farms to check if the new coronavirus strain has broken out at Belgian mink farms.
“So far, all tests have come back negative. If the new strain does show up here, all mink will have to be culled.”
However, he said he was “not that worried” about the new variant.
“It seems unlikely that the mink variant would have become more dangerous for people. On the contrary I suspect what has happened is that it has become better adapted to mink and so therefore it is probably less adapted to humans,” Van Gucht added.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday the decision to cull the minks had been made with a “heavy heart,” but it was necessary based on the recommendation of health authorities.
Coronavirus mutations are not expected to alter vaccine efficacy, a World Health Organization scientist said in June.
Speaking at a briefing on Friday, another WHO expert, Maria Van Kekhove, cautioned that “mutations are normal.”
Tackling the pandemic in the US is the first item on the Biden-Harris transition team’s website.
The US President-elect and Vice President-elect pledge to ensure free, reliable testing for all Americans, a better supply of personal protective equipment, clear and consistent guidance and a $25 billion vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan.
The Biden team also plans to appoint Harris to head a task force to tackle racial and ethnic disparities regarding the impact of the virus.
The team plans to draw up a “nationwide Pandemic Dashboard that Americans can check in real-time to help them gauge whether local transmission is actively occurring in their zip codes.”
The team also intends to restore the Obama-era White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which was disbanded in 2018.
The Trump Administration invested heavily in vaccine development and promised any approved coronavirus vaccine would be provided free of cost to all Americans. But the White House also struggled to deploy enough tests and PPE to those that needed it.
The current administration has also publicly battled with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about coronavirus guidance.
The US is approaching 10 million diagnosed coronavirus cases (the CDC says the majority of cases have gone undiagnosed) and a quarter of a million deaths.
On Saturday, Johns Hopkins University reported 126,742 daily new coronavirus cases in the US, the highest single daily count reported since the pandemic began.
The Trump administration needs a more aggressive strategy to battle coronavirus between now and January, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said Sunday.
Gottlieb said he did not think lockdowns were the only solution to control the virus.
Wisconsin health officials reported 7,065 confirmed cases on Saturday, the state Department of Health said. Another 45 deaths were reported on Saturday. On Friday, Wisconsin reported 12% of hospital beds available.
Gottlieb also had some advice for President-elect Joe Biden on how to implement a strategy over the next few months. Gottlieb said Biden should be working with the National Governors Association to execute his plan nationally.
The total number of reported coronavirus cases worldwide has exceeded 50 million according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
At 11:50am ET on Sunday, the number of cases was 50,052,204.
The country with the highest number of infections remains the US, followed by India, Brazil, Russia and then France.
Globally, there have been 1,253,110 deaths from Covid-19, according to JHU, almost 20% of which occurred in the United States.
CNN is tracking the worldwide spread of coronavirus here:
The European Commission has hailed the success of its cross-border Covid-19 contact tracing system.
In a tweet on Sunday, the Commission highlighted the work of Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia and Spain in using the system to ensure that “their contact and warning apps work across borders.”
As Europe continues to record significant coronavirus case numbers, there has been a push for greater cooperation between states regarding contact tracing.
A map accompanying the tweet depicted the status of contact tracing systems in place throughout the EU.
When an app user logs that they have tested positive for Covid-19, their phone only sends the user’s anonymized ID to a central database and it is the phone itself that downloads the database and carries out contact matching.
Presently, only decentralized apps work across borders using the EU system.
Members of the British royal family and political figures, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, laid wreaths at the war memorial in central London on Sunday as part of Remembrance Sunday commemorations, but the event was pared back this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The socially distanced wreath laying ceremony was preceded by a two-minute silence and was observed by the Queen watching overhead from the balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office building. Both the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall observed the ceremony from separate balconies above.
This year members of the public were asked to watch the celebrations from home, and the London ceremony was restricted to invited guests only.
UK Minister for Defence Ben Wallace said the government had left the responsibility for local ceremonies to local councils but encouraged members of the public to show their respect in alternative ways this year. Wallace said it was important to “get the balance right” for this year’s commemorations as “some of our veterans are very elderly and indeed the very people we need to protect against this awful infection.”
The Royal British Legion echoed this call to members of the public telling them on Twitter to “join the nation in Remembrance and observe the two minute silence from your doorstep.”
The Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge were among the first to pay their respects to the lost soldiers, laying crimson poppy wreaths at the Cenotaph shortly after 11 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET). They were followed by Johnson, Opposition Leader Keir Starmer, Home Secretary Priti Patel, Minister for Defence Ben Wallace, and representatives from Commonwealth countries.
Remembrance Sunday has been observed in the UK and Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I in 1918.
The UK government has reversed its decision not to extend free school meals for low-income families over the Christmas holidays during the coronavirus pandemic, following a campaign by Manchester United and England soccer player Marcus Rashford.
The forward had called for the UK government to extend a scheme to provide 1.5 million children with food vouchers during holidays until Easter 2021 but the proposal was voted down by lawmakers in the House of Commons in October.
The football star, who was recently awarded an MBE for his work tackling food poverty, promised to keep up the fight and urged politicians to unite behind the effort.
The government has now announced a £170 million ($223 million) winter grant to support low-income families struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic in England following Rashford’s campaign. Covid-19 response support for the devolved nations – Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – was previously announced.
The news came after Rashford spoke with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday. The footballer on Twitter called it a “great conversation” and said “now is the time for collaboration.”
“The funding will be ring-fenced, with at least 80% earmarked to support with food and bills, and will cover the period to the end of March. Local Authorities will receive the funding at the beginning of December,” a government statement on Sunday said.
The government announced the £170 million as part of a more than £400 million package to support low-income families, including £220 million for a holiday activities and food programme in England to cover Easter, Summer and Christmas in 2021 and an additional funding of £16 million for food distribution charities.
With Covid-19 cases rising exponentially, on October 26, Italy issued a decree closing bars and restaurants at 6pm. And the annual slump in visitors has been joined by tourists swerving the country.
The drop in visitor numbers led to an unprecedented 10-day period where, before their closure, Italy’s cultural attractions were offering pretty much private visits for tourists and locals alike.
On November 6, the restrictions were tightened once again. There is now a nationwide curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., shopping centers are closed at weekends, public transport is capped at 50% capacity and museums and galleries have now closed, too, hopefully to reopen December 3.
It means that some of Italy’s most famous sites are almost deserted. And, unlike the spring lockdown, where residents were confined to their houses, for those outside the red zones this time they can enjoy their cities – reclaim them, even – by being outside.
Hotels treating their few customers like royalty, empty art galleries where solo guests stand nose-to-nose with Renaissance art; and some of Europe’s most famous open spaces with just a handful of people in them. The Italy of November 2020 is unlike anything that has gone before in the age of mass tourism.
This week saw a record number of Covid-19 cases in countries across the world as the number of people infected approached 50 million.
On Saturday the United States hit the higest daily number since the pandemic began, with 126,742 new cases. It was the fourth day this week that new infections totaled more than 100,000, according to data from John Hopkins University.
Across the Atlantic, the UK government said some 24,957 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the country on Saturday and 413 died of the virus, a toll that continues to rise. On the same day Liverpool began mass testing the city’s population of 500,000 people in a bid to control the virus.
France passed the grim milestone of 40,000 coronvirus deaths after 306 were registered in a 24-hour period were registered, said the French Public Health Agency on Saturday. This comes after France had two consecutive days of record new daily coronavirus cases, with more than 60,000 announced on Friday alone.
Austria reported a new daily record of 8,241 infections on Saturday, according to data on the country’s interior ministry website. The landlocked European country entered its second national lockdown this week.
A number of countries banned travelers arriving from Denmark after a mutated strain of the coronavirus – connected to the country’s mink farms – was detected. According to the Danish government, the mutated form of the virus has been passed back to humans.
Greece, Latvia and Germany all implemented lockdowns this week.
In Japan, the health ministry said 1,329 new cases were reported on Saturday, their highest daily infection toll since August 14 and the third consecutive day in four figures. At least three people died, bringing the nationwide death toll to 1,825.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has worn a mask for the first time while appearing in public during the pandemic.
The 94-year-old monarch wore the mask during a commemorative ceremony in London earlier this week.
The event was held at Westminster Abbey ahead of Remembrance Sunday on November 11, the day the UK pays tribute to those who lost their lives in war.
“The Queen marked the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey this week, in a personal tribute ahead of Remembrance Sunday,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
The black mask, which was edged with white, is believed to have been made by Angela Kelly, the Queen’s personal adviser and curator, who designs many of the monarch’s outfits according to PA Media news agency.
Last week it emerged that Prince William, second-in-line to the throne, also tested positive for Covid-19 earlier in 2020, according to the BBC, citing palace sources.
