November 11 coronavirus news

A blood sample is prepared for analysis by a laboratory technician at Accel Research Sites on August 4, in DeLand, Florida, during the Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial sponsored by Moderna.

Moderna has finished accumulating data for a first analysis of its Covid-19 vaccine and expects to have an announcement on the vaccine’s efficacy by the end of the month, according to a company statement. 

Pfizer announced Monday that its coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective. 

How it works: Moderna is conducting a clinical trial of 30,000 participants, with half receiving the vaccine and half receiving a placebo, which is a shot of saline that does nothing. 

What they need: For Moderna’s vaccine to be considered for authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration, at least 53 study participants need to become ill with Covid-19. The trial hit that 53 mark Wednesday, but Moderna doesn’t know if the participants who became ill received the vaccine or the placebo.

What happens now: The company is preparing data to send to the trial’s Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent panel of experts. That board will look to see how many of the participants who became ill received the vaccine and how many received the placebo. If a statistically significant number received the placebo, that means the vaccine is effective against the virus. 

Moderna thinks the board will report their efficacy results before the end of the month. Moderna expects that by the time the announcement is made, more than 53 participants will become ill with Covid-19, since cases are rapidly rising in the US. 

Pfizer’s interim analysis looked at the first 94 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among more than 43,000 volunteers who got either two doses of the vaccine or a placebo. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine interim analysis came after just 20 confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that Moderna’s vaccine could soon follow in Pfizer’s footsteps.

“Moderna has an almost identical mRNA,” Fauci told Financial Times correspondent Hannah Kuchler. “We hope we’re going to see a similar kind of result from Moderna. If we do, then we’ll have two vaccines in play.”

He said he would “really be surprised if we did not see a high degree of efficacy.”

A medical worker along with a policeman sort out swab samples collected for Rapid Antigen Tests for Covid-19 at a dispensary in New Delhi on November 10.

Delhi’s High Court on Wednesday criticized the government’s decision to ease more restrictions even as the capital region reported a steep rise in the number of Covid-19 cases for the past two weeks.

The Delhi government reported 7,830 new cases Tuesday evening. India recorded 44,282 new cases Wednesday morning, bringing the country’s total to more than 8.6 million cases, including 127,571 deaths. 

The court asked the Delhi government to propose a legislation making masks mandatory in the city.

In a statement last week, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the city was experiencing a third wave of Covid-19 infections. 

Brian Jack, White House political affairs director

White House political affairs director Brian Jack has tested positive for coronavirus, an official confirmed.

The White House declined to comment on Jack specifically, but said in a statement:

Jack attended the White House election night party held indoors over a week ago. A number of people in Trump’s orbit, including his chief of staff, have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days.

Jack’s diagnosis was first reported by the New York Times. 

A public service notice encouraging people to stay home is displayed over Picadilly Circus on November 9 in London.

The United Kingdom has recorded more than 50,000 deaths from Covid-19, as the British government reported an additional 595 deaths in the past 24 hours.

The total death toll in the UK now stands at 50,365, the UK government reported on Wednesday. 

The country reached the grim mark as England, where most deaths were reported, completed the first of four weeks of a national lockdown, which came into effect last Thursday, in an attempt curb the spread of Covid-19 across the country. 

British authorities reported 22,950 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, which bring the total number of cases in the UK to 1,256,725. 

The UK has the fifth highest number of deaths in the world, after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to Johns Hopkins University figures. It has the eighth highest number of cases in the world, after the US, India, Brazil, France, Russia, Spain and Argentina.

People in cars wait in line for COVID-19 testing in Reading, Pennsylvania, outside FirstEnergy Stadium on October 13.

West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Illinois set records for their highest number of coronavirus cases reported in a single day so far in the pandemic.

West Virginia reported new 885 cases, according to its Department of Health website, bringing its total number of confirmed and probable cases to 30,201.  

There were seven reported fatalities yesterday, bringing the death toll to 553. The daily percentage of positive tests is 5.90% and the cumulative percent of positive is 3.11%.

Illinois on Wednesday reported its highest daily increase with 12,657 new cases, plus 145 deaths, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). 

As of Tuesday night, 5,042 people in the state were reported to be in hospital with Covid-19, including 951 patients in intensive care units and 404 on ventilators, the IDPH statement said. 

The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from November 4-10, 2020 was 13.6%, the statement added. 

Illinois has seen 523,840 total cases, including 10,434 deaths, in 102 counties, according to IDPH.%. 

Pennsylvania announced on Tuesday its highest daily increase in cases at 4,711, according to a Department of Health news release.

Covid-19 cases trended higher in the state over the past several days, with a total of 243,368 infections to date. Pennsylvania also reported 59 new deaths, bringing it to 9,145 deaths linked to the coronavirus.

The Department of Health said it had seen a significant increase in cases among younger age groups, specifically i19- to 24-year-olds.

As of Wednesday, 1,948 people are hospitalized, with 417 people currently in intensive care. Most of those hospitalized are 65 and older, the department said.

CNN is tracking US cases here:

Doctors from Harvard University have shared serious reservations about the Trump administration’s Covid-19 antibody treatment rollout, in an editorial published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The editorial – written before the announcement that Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody treatment won emergency use authorization on Monday and would be sent out to clinics as early as this week – focuses on Regeneron’s treatment. It has not yet been given an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration. 

Dr. Robert Goldstein, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, said he believed Regeneron is likely to get the nod soon, and what he knows about the rollout plans for both could put a serious strain on the system and potentially worsen inequities in treatment.

Goldstein said doctors still don’t have a lot of detail about which patients best benefit from the treatments. Much of what doctors know comes from news releases. 

News releases may reassure investors, he said, but they leave doctors with too many questions about who to treat – especially in cases like this one, when treatments are in such limited supply. 

Goldstein is also concerned about how the antibody treatments need to be administered – in a health care office with space for someone to be infused for an hour and observed for another hour. Many safety net and rural health care systems do not have this kind of capacity, he said.

The editorial’s final concern is that there is no obligation for doctors to document how well the therapy works. 

Goldstein said he understands the US needs to move forward quickly in a public health crisis, especially if treatments can reduce hospitalizations, which reached an all-time high Tuesday.

“But we can do this better,” he said. “We know that we can do this better and we should be doing it better.”

Actors Richard Schiff, right, and Sheila Kelley attend For Your Consideration Event for ABC's 'The Good Doctor' at Sony Pictures Studios on May 22, 2018 in Culver City, California. 

Richard Schiff and his wife Sheila Kelley have both tested positive for Covid-19, the actor revealed on Twitter.

“On Election Day I tested positive for Covid-19. This has been the most bizarre week of our lives,” Schiff wrote. “@thesheilakelley is also positive.”

“The Good Doctor” and “West Wing” star ended the post with: “This is tough. We are determined to find a way to health again. We root for everyone out there who are struggling with this thing. Love from here.”

The couple is currently in isolation at their home in Canada, where “The Good Doctor” is filmed.

Read more on this story here.

Medical workers at a triage check point that was set up to ease the pressure on hospital emergency wards, following a surge in Covid-19 case numbers, in Milan, on Tuesday, November 10.

The United Kingdom has recorded more than 50,000 deaths from Covid-19, with the British government reporting an additional 595 deaths in the past 24 hours.

The official total death toll in the UK now stands at 50,365.

The country reached the grim milestone as England, where most deaths were reported, completed the first of four weeks of a national lockdown, which came into effect last Thursday.

British authorities also reported 22,950 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, which bring the total number of cases in the UK to 1,256,725.

In Italy more than one million Covid-19 cases have now been recorded, with 32,961 new cases reported on Wednesday.

The total number of cases stands at 1,028,424 according to the Italian ministry of health. 

The country also recorded its highest daily death toll since April today, saying that 623 people had died.

Health authorities in Portugal marked the worst daily increase in its death toll since the pandemic began, with 82 Covid-19 deaths reported in the past 24 hours,

There have been 3,103 fatalities in the country in total, according to the Portuguese Health Directorate. And the second wave is showing no current signs of slowing down, with 4,935 new cases reported on Wednesday.

Portugal introduced a two-week state of emergency on Monday in 121 municipalities which are mostly concentrated around the country’s two largest cities, Lisbon and Porto.

In those areas, it’s now compulsory to wear a face mask in public, including outside spaces if social distancing is impossible to maintain. A weekday curfew from 11pm and 5am local time is also now in force, with a 1pm-5am curfew in effect on the weekend.

The government said it doesn’t rule out stricter restrictions – such as closing roads and railways – if the situation does not improve.

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks during an interview on November 11.

Even with a vaccine in sight, we’re still going to be dealing with Covid-19 through most or all of 2021 and “quite possibly beyond that,” the former director of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN Wednesday.

Dr. Tom Frieden, now CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, said that older people and those with underlying health conditions will continue to be at higher risk for severe illness or death from Covid-19, even if a highly effective vaccine comes available soon.

However, Frieden said the pandemic plan from President-elect Joe Biden’s team is encouraging.

“The President-elect is clear about three things that we’ve been lacking so far in this response,” said Frieden. “First, base it in science, second, communicate clearly openly, honestly, and third, make sure that we have an approach that is organized, so that it’s clear who’s in charge, what the role of different parts of government is and how we can minimize deaths while also minimizing harm to education to our societal and economic progress.”

Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jonathan Van-Tam speaks during a press conference on the coronavirus pandemic inside 10 Downing Street on November 9, 2020.

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, has said despite there being an acceleration on a potential Covid-19 vaccine “standards are no lower just because this is a public health emergency,” during a Downing Street news conference on Wednesday.

Van-Tam also said he believes people should not be able to skip the queue for any potential vaccine by paying for it privately. “I don’t know of any plans from any manufacturers, and certainly don’t have any inkling that we would contemplate that kind of arrangement for the UK. Of course, that is a ministerial decision. It is not a clinicians’ decision,” he added.

Van-Tam said he has urged his 78-year-old mother to take a coronavirus vaccine as soon as it is available.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, said phase one of the UK government’s vaccine program is protecting the most vulnerable and the top of the list would be “care home residences and people who work in care homes. This reflects the devastating impact of Covid-19 in our care homes.”

Following care home residence and carers, those who are age 50 and above will be prioritized.

People with suspected cases of Covid-19 are treated in their cars at Cotugno hospital in Naples, Italy, on November 7.

People with suspected cases of coronavirus were treated with emergency oxygen inside their cars while waiting to be admitted into an overcrowded hospital in the southern Italian city of Naples over the weekend.

A row of vehicles outside the Cotugno hospital proved a particularly distressing sight for people who had rushed to the hospital on Saturday and Sunday displaying symptoms of the virus.

Marta Cattaneo, spokesperson for the Cotungo hospital told CNN that the lines were nearly “back to normal” on Wednesday. She added that the hospital’s coronavirus unit, which comprises of 290 beds, including 28 for intensive care and 56 for sub-intensive care patients, remained completely full.

Maurizio Di Mauro, the hospital’s director attributed the long lines outside the hospital over the weekend to the fact that people can’t access their general doctors during that time and that a rise in cases across the country had instilled a certain amount of fear in the general population.

“People are scared,” he said. “At the first cough they rush to the hospital, especially over the weekend when they feel lonelier and their GPs are not available.”

Last Wednesday, facing a surge of infections across the country, Italy’s government announced that four regions would become coronavirus “red zones,” areas where the harshest restrictive measures would be enacted. In those regions, people may only leave home for necessities, health or work.

Seven other regions were also designated “orange zones,” banning people from leaving their towns except for work or health reasons. In those area, bars and restaurants have been closed except for delivery and takeout.

The region of Campania, where Naples is located, has been given the less-restrictive designation of “yellow zone.”

But in order to fully counter a spike in infections, Di Mauro said that nationwide restrictions should be applied.

“It’s the only way not to vanish the incredible effort that the health workers are doing,” he said.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla 

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla filed to sell millions of dollars of his company’s stock Monday – the day the pharmaceutical giant announced positive data about its coronavirus vaccine. 

The company’s shares soared after Pfizer and German lab BioNTech said early data suggests the vaccine could be more than 90% effective.

The transaction was part of a regularly scheduled plan set up by Bourla to periodically sell some of his Pfizer shares.

Bourla sold 132,508 Pfizer shares at a price of $41.94, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That works out to proceeds of nearly $5.6 million. 

A Pfizer spokeswoman said in an email to CNN Business that the sale took place because Pfizer shares hit a predetermined price as part of a plan authorized by Bourla on August 19. 

When asked if Pfizer and Bourla thought to cancel the stock sale due to the perception that Bourla might be cashing in on good news, the spokeswoman said that “these are predetermined plans managed through a third-party stock administrator.”

Many executives sell stock at predetermined intervals to diversify their portfolios. But they can delay the sales to avoid appearances of capitalizing on one-off events that can boost company’s shares.

Bourla told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta that he learned of the trial’s results Sunday, a day before they were made public.

Shares of Pfizer surged nearly 8% Monday and were flat Tuesday.

BioNTech’s stock has rallied even more sharply, rising 15% Monday and another 8% Tuesday. Pfizer’s stock fell 1% Wednesday.

A nurse inoculates a volunteer with Russia's new coronavirus vaccine in a post-registration trials at a Moscow clinic on September 10.

Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said Wednesday that early analysis of data from its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine suggests it is 92% effective.

The interim analysis came after 20 confirmed Covid-19 cases among Phase 3 trial participants who received the vaccine or a placebo, according to a press release from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). 

The RDIF, which funded vaccine production and is responsible for selling it globally, said more than 20,000 people have received their first dose of the vaccine as part of the Phase 3 trial, and 16,000 participants have received the second dose. 

Russia’s announcement follows Pfizer and BioNTech’s announcement on Monday that their Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective. However, Pfizer’s interim analysis was based on more than 90 confirmed coronavirus cases among trial participants. Pfizer said Monday it had enrolled 43,538 participants in its Phase 3 trial and 38,955 volunteers have received a second dose. The vaccines are different; while Pfizer’s is based on a messenger RNA platform, Russia’s is based on an inactivated adenoviral vector. 

According to RDIF’s news release, no unexpected adverse events were identified during the Phase 3 trial. Some who received the Russian vaccine had short-term minor adverse events such as pain at the injection site, flu-like syndrome including fever, weakness, fatigue and headaches. 

The Russian Phase 3 trial will continue for six more months and data from the trial will be published in an international medical journal following a peer review, RDIF said in a statement. 

The RDIF told CNN that Russia will publish clinical trial protocol for Sputnik-V in November and the next interim analysis will be at 39 coronavirus cases. 

Separate from the ongoing Phase 3 trials, in September the vaccine was first administered to a group of volunteers from the “red zones” of Russian hospitals. Ten-thousand vaccinated volunteers, including medics and other high-risk groups, were observed, RDIF said, and “confirmed the vaccine’s efficacy rate of over 90 percent.” 

Russia drew criticism when it announced the world’s first approved coronavirus vaccine for public use in August – even before crucial Phase 3 trials had been completed.  

Results from the first human tests of Sputnik V were published in The Lancet in September. Only 76 people were involved in the trial – too few to determine if the Russian vaccine was safe and effective. But the peer-reviewed report said there were only mild adverse effects reported and the vaccine triggered an immune response in trial participants. 

Stefano Bozzini, 81, serenades Carla Sacchi, his wife of 47 years, from beneath her hospital window in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Covid-19 restrictions prevented him from visiting her.

Stefano Bozzini, 81, couldn’t visit his wife in the hospital due to coronavirus restrictions. But instead of just heading home, he grabbed his accordion instead.

Wearing a red sweater, navy pants, a feathered hat and a mask, Bozzini serenaded Carla Sacchi, his wife of 47 years, with a medley of love songs from the street below.

Bozzini opened his performance with Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Spanish Eyes” before moving onto a selection of his wife’s favorites as she watched on from the first floor of the hospital in Castel San Giovanni, a town in Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region.

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, Bozzini is a retired member of the Italian army’s Alpini mountain infantry, whose unit nicknamed him “Gianni Morandi of the Alpines” after the famed Italian singer.

The uplifting moment has gone viral in Italy, with Bozzini’s daughter writing on Facebook: “That is my daddy… the one and only.”

Read the full story here.

Stella Kyriakides, European commissioner for health and food safety, speaks at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, on November 11.

The European Union is following reports of coronavirus outbreaks in mink farms “extremely closely,” Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said Wednesday during a press conference.

Last week, the Danish government ordered a cull of its entire mink population due to concerns about a virus mutation that had arisen in infected mink.

On Tuesday, it backtracked on the order, after realizing it had no legal authority to mandate the killing of mink on farms unaffected by coronavirus. It will now merely “recommend” that farmers kill all mink, according to an email sent to breeders Tuesday morning. New legislation is being put to parliament to legally mandate a cull. It normally takes 30 days to pass new legislation.

“We’re very aware of the situation of the mink farms in Denmark, it’s a situation that as the Commission and with the ECDC (the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) we are following very carefully. I would also say that infection in mink has been reported in other member states, and in other third countries,” Kyriakides said. 

“Of course, the measures taken in Denmark are national competence, but I would like to tell you that we are expecting a risk assessment from the ECDC in the coming days, so we’ll be able to have more details on that, but we are following the situation extremely closely,” she added. 

Read more about the Danish mink farms here.

Nursing homes in the United States are still taking days to get back Covid-19 test results as many shun the Trump administration’s central strategy to limit the spread of the virus among old and sick Americans.

In late summer, federal officials began distributing to nursing homes millions of point-of-care antigen tests, which can be given on-site and report the presence or absence of the virus within minutes. By January, the Department of Health and Human Services is slated to send roughly 23 million rapid tests.

But as of October 25, 38% of the nation’s roughly 15,000 nursing homes have yet to use a point-of-care test, a KHN analysis of nursing home records shows.

The numbers suggest a basic disagreement among the Trump administration, state health officials and nursing home administrators over the best way to test this population and how to strike the right balance between speed and accuracy. Many nursing homes still primarily send samples out to laboratories, using a type of test that’s considered more reliable but can take days to deliver results.

As a result, in 29% of the approximately 13,000 facilities that provided their testing speed to the government, results for residents took an average of three days or more, the analysis found. Just 17% of nursing homes reported their average turnaround time was less than a day, and the remainder tended to get results in one or two days. Wait times for test results of staff members were similar.

Read the full story here.

The first patient enrolled in Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial is pictured at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore on May 4.

The European Union has formally authorized a fourth contract with US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and German lab BioNTech to procure up to 300 million doses of their candidate coronavirus vaccine, should it be proven to be safe and effective against the virus. 

“In the wake of Monday’s promising announcement by BioNTech and Pfizer on the prospects for their vaccine, I’m very happy to announce today’s agreement … to purchase 300 million doses,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in a statement on Wednesday.

According to BioNTech, the contract will guarantee the supply of 200 million doses, with an option to procure an additional 100 million doses. The pharmaceutical company says it expects deliveries to begin by the end of 2020, pending approval of the vaccine by the European Medical Agency. 

“As a company founded in the heart of Europe, we are looking forward to supplying millions of people upon regulatory approval,” BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said in a company statement Wednesday. 

“Our aim is to develop a safe and effective vaccine to contribute to bringing this pandemic to an end. Only through joint efforts will we be able to do so,” Sahin added. 

Read more about the Turkish-German power couple who developed the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine here.

Staff at Changi Airport in Singapore are stationed at an arrival hall on November 11.

Hong Kong and Singapore will launch a new “air travel bubble,” on November 22, a scheme that will allow residents to travel between the two Asian hubs without requiring quarantine or restrictive control measures.

At first, the air travel bubble, or ATB, will allow one flight a day into each city, with a maximum of 200 travelers per flight, Singapore’s civil aviation authority said Wednesday.

By December 7, the bubble will allow two flights a day into each city, with each flight carrying a maximum of 200 travelers, they said.

People hoping to fly between the two cities will have to meet certain parameters before doing so, such as no travel history in the previous 14 days. They will also have to undergo compulsory Covid-19 testing before flying.

The Civil Aviation of Singapore called the program a “milestone arrangement” that “seeks to revive air travel in a safe and progressive way.”

They did, however, caution that should the situation deteriorate in either city, the ATB will be suspended.

The launch of the ATB, coupled with the small amount of Covid-19 infections in Singapore and Hong Kong reflect a remarkable turnaround after both places had both experienced soaring infection numbers earlier this year.

Read the full story here.

Empty seats at London's Heathrow Airport in October.

The UK government will issue new guidance to allow university students a seven-day window in which they will be able to travel home for Christmas, its universities minister said Wednesday. 

Speaking to Sky News, the universities minister said that the current four-week national lockdown in England – which is due to end on December 2 – will ensure that “students pose a much reduced risk” to their families and communities. 

“Universities will stagger that date to stagger the flow around the country and ease the pressure on public transport,” she added. 

In an interview with LBC Radio on Wednesday, Donelan also confirmed that the government will be working with universities to “roll out rapid testing” for students, but cautioned that testing will not be guaranteed for all students. 

“This plan is not relying on testing, this plan is relying on the period of national restrictions reducing the risk of infection and that window that we have created for them to go home, complemented with testing targeting the most at-risk universities and the most at-risk areas,” Donelan said. 

The small South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has reported its first coronavirus infection since the pandemic began.

The asymptomatic case was a 23-year-old man who returned to the island on November 4 after traveling to the US, Vanuatu’s health ministry said Tuesday.

He tested positive during a routine screening on the fifth day of his quarantine.

“Physical distancing and personal protection measures were applied and maintained during the flight, throughout the arrival process, during transport to and during registration at the quarantine facility,” the ministry said in a press release. 

The patient will remain in isolation until health clearance is given, the ministry added. 

Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh is photographed in the garden of her office on December 9, 2014 in Tehran, Iran.

Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has tested positive for Covid-19 after being released from jail, according to her husband Reza Khandan.

Khandan said in a Facebook post Tuesday that the couple were screened for coronavirus when they went to the hospital for Nasrin’s cardiological test.

“Today, it has been announced Nasrin’s test was positive and my result has not come yet,” the post read.

Sotoudeh is well known for representing human rights defenders, dissidents and women who protested against the compulsory wearing of a headscarf in Iran. 

The human rights lawyer was temporarily released from Gharchak Prison on Saturday in the city of Varamin, south of Tehran, due to deteriorating health, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). 

Sotoudeh is serving a 38-year sentence, 12 years of which she must fulfill before becoming eligible for parole, according to previous CNN reporting citing her family.

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak during a press briefing on November 11.

Following weeks of devastating records and rapid climbs in Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, more state leaders have begun asking residents to stay at home in hopes of helping curb an already rampant spread of the virus.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak is asking people to commit to a voluntary plan he calls “Stay at Home 2.0” in the next two weeks, in efforts to push a “significant reversal of the current trends” in the state.

“We have to go back to the basics,” the governor said, encouraging businesses to return to telecommuting as much as possible and asking residents to avoid hosting groups of people over for dinners, parties and other gatherings.

Wisconsin’s governor announced Tuesday he’s signed a new order advising people to “stay home to save lives.”

The governors join a chorus of other officials across the country who have moved to encourage more residents to stay home and limit socializing. A stay-at-home advisory went into effect last week in Massachusetts, where residents are advised to stay at home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. A stay-at-home advisory also took effect Sunday in Rhode Island, where the governor warned last week there’d be an upcoming shutdown if large house parties that were helping to fuel the spread didn’t stop.

Read more:

HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 10: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Medical staff members treat a patient suffering from coronavirus in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) on November 10, 2020 in Houston, Texas. According to reports, COVID-19 infections are on the rise in Houston, as the state of Texas has reached over 1,030,000 cases, including over 19,000 deaths. (Photo by Go Nakamura/Getty Images)

Related article Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations are higher than ever before, and more state leaders are urging residents to stay home

Another 136,325 Covid-19 cases and 1,420 virus-related deaths were reported in the United States on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

That marked a new single-day record for the number of new cases identified in the US – and the eighth day in a row that more than 100,000 people were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

Since the pandemic began, there have been at least 10,252,129 Covid-19 cases in the US. At least 239,671 people have died.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

CNN is tracking US cases here: 

Minister for Health Greg Hunt during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House on August 26, in Canberra, Australia.

Australia is on track to deliver vaccines in March 2021, its health minister, Greg Hunt, said on Wednesday. Hunt said Australia has secured 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and a national cold chain distribution program as part of its agreement with the drug maker. 

John Skerritt, the head of of Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration, said he hopes Australia will be in a position to approve the vaccines for public consumption in January.

Australia has confirmed 27,678 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, according to government figures. At least 907 people have died.

As of Monday evening, Australia has 27,678 total confirmed Covid-19 cases and 907 deaths from the virus.

Three days of no cases: After a winter spike, authorities throughout the country now appear to have the pandemic under control. Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted Tuesday that the country went three days in a row without recording a case of Covid-19.

Vehicles travel along Interstate 10 highway in El Paso, Texas on November 9.

Texas has become the first state in the United States to record 1 million coronavirus cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The Lone Star State has now identified 1,010,364 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began. At least 19,337 people there have died, according to the university.

California has the second-highest number of cases in the US, with 989,432.

If Texas, which has a population of about 29 million people, were its own country, it would now be ranked 10th in terms of total identified cases of Covid-19.

These are the countries that have identified more than 1 million cases of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins’ data:

The international terminal of Havanas airport Jose Marti is seen with passengers of two flights, one to Paris and one to Ghana, waiting to be able to board, on July 31, in Havana, Cuba.

Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport will reopen November 15, more than seven months after the airport was closed to all commercial flights because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cuban Civil Aviation Institute announced Tuesday.

Travelers will be required to submit a health declaration and take a PCR test upon arrival, Cuban state media reported.

Cuba has reported 7,392 Covid-19 cases and at least 130 virus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. However, the near-total ban on tourism greatly impacted the already struggling Cuban economy. 

Pedestrians wearing protective masks walk past Pfizer Inc. headquarters on July 22 in New York City, New York.

As Molly Howell, a state health official in North Dakota, watched a webinar on how to distribute what’s expected to be the US’s first Covid-19 vaccine, her head began to spin.

“How are we going to do this?” she texted a colleague who was also on the webinar.

Her colleague responded with an exploding head emoji.

On Monday, Pfizer announced that initial Phase 3 clinical trial results show its vaccine is more than 90% effective. If approved, Pfizer’s vaccine will also be the most fragile vaccine used in the United States, and the state health officials charged with its distribution worry the process will not go smoothly.

Pfizer’s vaccine needs to be stored at about minus 75 degrees Celsius, which is about 50 degrees colder than any vaccine currently used in the United States. Doctors’ offices, pharmacies and state labs don’t have freezers that go nearly that low.

The solution is a set of handling and storage requirements that a doctor at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described as “very complex.”

The CDC has asked states to be ready to receive Pfizer’s vaccine by November 15, but state officials say the first time they heard the specific requirements was on October 15, giving them weeks to prepare.

State health officials were “shocked” when they heard the storage requirements for the new vaccine, according to Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, which is supporting the frontline workers who will administer the coronavirus vaccine. Those requirements include procuring and handling large amounts of dry ice, which is in short supply in many parts of the country.

“We all are going into this expecting that there are going to be major glitches,” she said.

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NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 09: People walk by the Pfizer headquarters on November 9, 2020 in New York City. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced positive early results on its COVID-19 vaccine trial and has proven to be 90% effective in preventing infection of the virus. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

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People are silhouetted against Singapore Airlines Airbus planes at Changi International Airport in Singapore on October 24.

The first flights transporting passengers between Hong Kong and Singapore as part of the two cities’ travel bubble will begin on November 22, authorities in Hong Kong said.

The bubble will allow residents of both places to travel back and forth without undergoing quarantine or restrictive control measures.

Open travel in both the Chinese city and the Southeast Asian country has been suspended for months. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, both governments shut borders and denied entry to most non-residents and short-term visitors. Currently, those who are allowed to enter either city must quarantine for 14 days after arrival.

The bubble was announced last month.

Read more about the travel bubble here:

A Cathay Pacific passenger airplane takes off from Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok International Airport on March 10, 2020.

Related article Hong Kong and Singapore to set up a 'travel bubble' as Covid cases fall

Wearing a mask can help protect you – not just those around you – from coronavirus transmission, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in new guidance Tuesday.

Previous guidance from the CDC suggested the main benefit of mask wearing was to help prevent infected people from spreading the virus to others. 

Cloth masks act as “source control” to block virus particles exhaled by the wearer and provide “filtration for personal protection” by blocking incoming infectious droplets from others, the CDC said in its new guidance.

The new guidance cites a number of studies showing that masks reduce the risk of transmitting or catching the virus by more than 70% in various instances. And when officials told people to wear masks, infections and deaths fell significantly, the CDC pointed out.

The agency cited an economic analysis that found a 15% increase in universal masking could prevent losses of up to $1 trillion. It also said that some cloth masks are nearly as good as surgical masks at blocking droplets.

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Related article CDC says masks protect wearers from Covid-19

In this Oct. 27, 2020, file photo, a tester prepares to administer a swab test at a drive-in Covid-19 testing site in Federal Heights, Colorado.

Colorado authorities identified 3,890 Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, a new daily record for the US state.

Since the pandemic began, 138,427 people in Colorado have contracted the novel coronavirus. At least 2,427 of those have died.

Some 1,116 Covid-19 patients are being treated in the hospital, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and 84% of the state’s intensive care unit beds are occupied.

More people are being hospitalized in the United States with Covid-19 than at any time during the pandemic, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP). 

Some 61,964 people are currently receiving hospital care due to Covid-19 as of Tuesday, according to CTP. The nation has never before topped 60,000 hospitalizations. The US currently averages roughly 1,661 new hospitalizations per day, CTP data shows.

These are the highest hospitalization day records according to CTP data:

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More than 18,000 Californians have now died due to complications from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, state health officials announced Tuesday, a grim new milestone as cases of Covid-19 surge once again at an alarming rate.

The California Department of Public Health reported 24 new deaths on Tuesday, raising the statewide death toll to 18,001. The US state has reported 977,218 confirmed cases of Covid-19 to date. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom warned residents that the state’s coronavirus cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations are all on the rise.

San Francisco’s uptick: San Francisco is temporarily closing indoor dining and will reduce the capacity of fitness centers and movie theaters to 25% to a rapid and significant increase in Covid-19 cases, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Tuesday.

Indoor instruction at some high schools will also be paused because the transmission rate among high school students is similar to adults, Breed said. All of the new changes go into effect at 11:59pm Pacific Time on Friday, November 13.

Since October 2, San Francisco has experienced a 250% increase in Covid-19 cases, according to county health data. The city is averaging nearly 80 new cases a day compared to approximately 32 new daily cases at the end of October.

In a warning to all San Francisco residents, Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax said the current surge in cases is greater than the rate of increase from the last major surge in the summer when cases peaked on July 19. Colfax said the city’s current fall surge will exceed the summer surge if residents are unable to help turn things around.

Medical workers put on personal protective equipment (PPE) before starting shifts at a Covid-19 drive-thru testing site in El Paso, Texas, on Monday, November 9.

The state of Texas reported 10,865 Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, a new single-day record for the Lone Star state. Authorities there have now identified 974,230 novel coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.

Some 94 virus-related deaths were reported Tuesday, bringing the state’s death toll to 18,863. 

According to the state’s Covid-19 dashboard, there are currently 6,170 lab-confirmed coronavirus patients in Texas hospitals. 

Health Secretary Mark Ghaly.

San Diego and 10 other California counties were forced to move back into more restrictive tiers of the state’s coronavirus reopening system Tuesday as rates of infection continue to increase statewide, Health Secretary Mark Ghaly has announced.

Sacramento, San Diego and Stanislaus are moving back into the most restrictive, purple tier – which requires the closure of many non-essential indoor businesses – joining counties including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Monterey and Sonoma.

Amador, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Placer and Santa Cruz are moving into the second-most restrictive red tier, which indicates substantial spread of infection. Counties in rural parts of the state, including Modoc, Siskiyou, and Trinity, are moving backward to the orange tier, which shows a moderate infection rate.

California’s reopening system: There are four tiers based on metrics including case rate and test positivity. Before moving forward, counties must remain in a tier for at least three weeks and must meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks. 

California’s seven-day average of new cases is 6,078, according to state data. The 14-day test positivity rate stands at 3.7%.