November 10 coronavirus news

Workers wearing personal protective equipment prepare to clean and disinfect a mink company in Ospel, Netherlands, on July 10.

Humans carried coronavirus onto mink farms in the Netherlands, starting a viral back and forth that ended up with 68% of fur farm workers and their associates infected, researchers reported Tuesday.

They said it was “imperative” that the fur trade should not fuel further spread of the virus into the human population, noting that densely packed conditions on such farms are ripe for amplifying the virus in ways that could help it mutate.

A team in the Netherlands ran whole genome analyses of virus samples taken from animals and people on 16 mink farms in the country – looking at the full genetic sequence of the virus for clues about where it may have come from, how it spread and whether it was mutating.

“Despite enhanced biosecurity, early warning surveillance and immediate culling of infected farms, transmission occurred between mink farms in three big transmission clusters with unknown modes of transmission. Sixty-eight percent of the tested mink farm residents, employees and/or contacts had evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” they added.

People infected the animals, and the animals infected people, they found. The virus has not yet spread from the farms into the wider community and no troubling mutations have turned up so far, they added.

Danish authorities have seen spread on mink farms and mutations that are not necessarily harmful, but whose significance is not yet fully understood.

“It is imperative that fur production and trading sector should not become a reservoir for future spillover of SARS-CoV-2 to humans,” the Dutch researchers wrote.

Medical staffers stand by an ambulance at a triage checkpoint set up to ease the pressure on hospital emergency wards following the surge in Covid-19 case numbers, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday.

Italy recorded its highest number of daily coronavirus deaths since April 14, with 580 fatalities reported Tuesday, according to the latest Italian Health Ministry data. That brings the country’s death toll to 43,233.

It also recorded a further 35,098 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to nearly one million cases, with 995,463 positive infections since the pandemic began. 

The country has 2,971 coronavirus patients in intensive care – an increase of 122 compared to the previous day. 

Hospitals at risk: Intensive care unit (ICU) capacity is one of the parameters the Italian Health Ministry considers when declaring regions “red zones” or “orange zones” – meaning they face tighter restrictions. Hospitals should not exceed 30% of their ICU capacity.

President of the National Health Council Franco Locatelli said during a weekly Covid-19 update that two regions – Lombardy and Umbria – have surpassed the 30% threshold of ICU capacity and the regions of Tuscany and Valle d’Aosta are at 29% capacity.

Virologist Giorgio Palù of Padua University said in a TV interview on Tuesday that, as Europe’s second wave continues and ICUs are pushed to their limits, anesthetists are required to make difficult choices.

The head of Italy’s National Institute of Health Silvio Brusaferro, said on Tuesday that the transmission rate was “stable.” Brusaferro said the epidemic curve was still growing but at a slower rate, as a result of the government’s successful restrictive measures.

A federal appeals court on Monday denied Catholic and Jewish houses of worship’s request to halt the enforcement of New York State restrictions on gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic while it considered appeals cases related to the matter.  

Eight separate appeals were filed against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who issued an executive order to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which has caused more than 25,000 deaths in the state. 

The Jewish and Catholic institutions challenged the order that limits non-essential gatherings based on the severity of the outbreak in each area.

“Red zone” rules:

The executive order allows houses of worship to hold services but only at 25% capacity, for a maximum of 10 people. The plaintiffs claim the executive order violates the “Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” the appeals court decision states. CNN has reached out to both sets of plaintiffs for comment.

The panel of judges denied the motion for an injunction while an appeal is pending in the case filed by Agudath Israel. The panel also denied the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn’s request for an injunction.

The ruling acknowledged that the executive order “burdens” the plaintiffs’ religious practices, but that the order has “greater or equal impact on schools, restaurants, and comparable secular public gatherings.” The panel said that the order treats the religious institutions “on par with or more favorably” than the secular gatherings.

The decision does not address the plaintiffs’ overall appeals cases – only their requests to halt the restrictions while the appeals cases are considered. Arguments in the cases may be heard as early as the week of December 14, according to the ruling. 

The National Football League and NFL Players Association report 15 players have tested positive for Covid-19 during the latest round of league-wide testing.

The previous testing window reported just eight players testing positive for the virus. There was also a significant increase in coronavirus cases among team staff members with 41 positive tests – up from 17 during the previous monitoring period. 

The background: The NFL’s latest monitoring window ran from November 1-7 with 42,978 tests administered to 7,922 players and personnel. Since testing began on August 1, a total of 78 players and 140 personnel have tested positive for the virus. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that the government is providing $61 million to support First Nations’ efforts to fight Covid-19 in Manitoba as the country faces “a resurgence” of infection.

The Manitoba First Nations funding “will support public health measures, food security, and other surge-capacity needs,” Trudeau said.

He called on provincial and territorial governments to take steps to limit the spread, including shutdowns of businesses. 

Trudeau added that he had spoken by phone with US President-Elect Joe Biden on Monday, and that the two had talked primarily about Covid-19.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds told reporters Tuesday that capacity was “at risk” in the state’s healthcare system following a surge in Covid-19 cases. 

Reynolds said there have been more than 21,000 new cases in the past week and the percentage of people testing positive is more than 19%, with 1,131 patients in hospital. 

While there are surge plans in place and there are still beds available, the governor said staffing had become “increasingly challenging.” 

She said 42% of new cases were among 14 to 18-year-olds.  

Reynolds said she had signed a proclamation, which goes into effect Tuesday at midnight, extending the public health emergency for 30 days and imposing new restrictions.

The restrictions:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that he hopes US President Trump is not planning to fire him.

Trump recently suggested that he might fire Fauci after the election. Asked by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell whether he is concerned that the President may pressure the National Institutes of Health director to fire him, Fauci said, “I hope not.”

He said that would not help with the common goal: “No matter who you are, regardless of what administration, we all want this pandemic to end.”

He said he attended a “good meeting” of the White House coronavirus task force on Monday and was now “focusing like a laser beam on the job I have of ending this epidemic and really preserving the health and the welfare of the American public.”

He said the Pfizer vaccine, along with continued public health measures, has the potential to end the pandemic.

If the vaccine is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use, Fauci said he believes doses will be available for “highest priority” people by December. 

He said he hoped that a vaccine will be given to everyone who wants and needs it “after a reasonable period of time.”

Fauci said that “a vaccine that has this potential, this together with the continuation of the public health measures, really should get us out of this very difficult situation we’re into.”

He said he trusted Pfizer and the FDA to make the right decision.

Fauci said Eli Lilly’s antibody treatment was an “important first step in the development and distribution of interventions that are given early in the course of disease.”

“We need more of those interventions that prevent people from going in the hospital,” Fauci added.

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that cases were rising across the country on Tuesday – but he said the news about a potential vaccine showed the “finish line is in sight.”

Adams, who spoke in South Dakota on Tuesday, said that “unfortunately we know right now the cases are going up across the nation – they’re rising particularly quickly here in South Dakota.” 

Adams said it “seems like it’s been going on for forever.”

“Our intention, our hope, that we will start injecting people with vaccinations, before the end of this year, before the end of 2020,” he added. 

The mask debate: Despite South Dakota not having a statewide mask mandate, residents should do the right thing and wear a mask, Adams said.  

“You don’t have a mask mandate here,” he said. “But what I would say to the people of South Dakota is, you really shouldn’t need a mandate to do the right thing for your community, for your family, and for your friends.”

“There’s been a lot of politics around the wearing of masks. As many of you know, even I have changed my position on masks, but that’s because the science has changed.”  

He said that masks were “one of the most effective tools we have” in preventing asymptomatic spread of coronavirus.

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

Pennsylvania again broke its record for new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, reporting an additional 4,361 in a news release Tuesday. 

The state also added 62 new deaths, according to the department of health release. Pennsylvania has now reported 238,657 cases and 9,086 deaths.

There are 1,827 coronavirus patients in state hospitals, with 393 of them in intensive care. 

Behind the numbers: Mask-wearing is mandatory in Pennsylvania outside the home. The state has seen significant increases in the number of Covid-19 cases among younger age groups, particularly 19 to 24-year-olds, according to the department.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf commended President-elect Joe Biden and his coronavirus task force in a statement Tuesday.

The governor praised Biden for “the team he has put together to lead the country out of this very difficult period,” which Wolf said included some of the country’s most respected public health experts, including two Philadelphia-area physicians.

“We need leadership that is consistent and committed to ending this pandemic, to saving lives and livelihoods, and to making decisions based on facts and science,” Wolf said.

Eli Lilly, AbCellera, and NIAID have worked together to create an antibody they think may help treat Covid-19.

A lower dose of Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody treatment will work just fine to help coronavirus patients, a top government official said Tuesday.

Dr. Janet Woodcock said she was confident that the dose to be distributed to Covid-19 patients will be enough to help them.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a 700 milligram dose – the lowest dose given to patients in a trial used as the basis for the EUA.

The results of the trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in October, showed that patients on all doses were less likely to need hospital treatment and had fewer symptoms than patients given placebos. But it also showed patients given a middle dose of 2,800 mg cleared the virus more quickly than those given higher or lower doses.

Woodcock, a former top FDA official who is now therapeutics lead for Operation Warp Speed, said that did not matter.

She told a news conference that the dose level was the FDA’s decision, but said that the study showed that patients had fewer hospitalizations at every level.

The goal with these treatments is to stop the progression of the disease, Woodcock said. Intervening early with monoclonal antibodies should keep patients out of hospital. 

The US government anticipates “challenges” in distributing Eli Lilly and Company’s cutting-edge Covid-19 monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab, Dr. Janet Woodcock, therapeutics lead for Operation Warp Speed, said Tuesday. 

The therapy was given emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration on Monday.

The drug doesn’t come in pill form but requires an IV infusion over an hour, with another hour needed afterwards to observe the patient for poor reactions. The government requires it to be given to patients in settings where they can be monitored and emergency drugs are available.

Woodcock said Lilly and HHS have been making plans to help set up infusion centers and that distribution will require multiple different solutions.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar said that distribution will begin this week and the treatment will be free of charge.

The US government has a contract for 300,000 doses of the therapy through December with the option to purchase another 650,000 through next June. There are 80,000 doses currently available, Azar said.

How the treatment will be allocated: A HHS Public Health Emergency dashboard shows where the first shipments are going. States with the most confirmed Covid-19 patients, and those with the most hospitalized patients, will be given priority.  

Bamlanivimab will be allocated in two phases, Dr. John Redd of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. 

In phase one, states and territories will allocate the antibody treatment to hospitals and hospital-affiliated locations, Redd said. Phase two will include more outpatient sites. 

The treatment will also be allocated in phase one to the Department of Defense, the Veterans Health Administration, the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Prison and the Department of State.

Estonia has recommended canceling “all joint events,” including Christmas parties, as part of coronavirus measures that take effect from Thursday, according to a government statement. 

Some of Europe’s Christmas markets have been canceled, while others will go ahead:

New Estonian measures also include mandatory face coverings in public places and a recommendation for all employees to work remotely, if possible. 

From Monday, November 16, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues must close at midnight and can have a maximum of 10 people per group.

The Health Board of Estonia reported 128 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours on Monday, bringing its total to 6,376 cases. The country has recorded 76 deaths since the pandemic began.  

A closed restaurant stands in New York City on October 15.

A small minority of places people frequent account for a large majority of coronavirus infections in big cities, according to a new modeling study.

The study, published in the journal Nature on Tuesday, suggests that reducing maximum occupancy in such places – including restaurants, gyms, cafes and hotels – can substantially slow the spread of illness.

The model also found significant racial and socioeconomic disparities in infections.

The researchers from Stanford University and Northwestern University used cellphone location data to model the potential spread of Covid-19 within 10 of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington DC. The data, representing the hourly movements of 98 million people, included mobility patterns from March to May.

The researchers examined Covid-19 case counts for each area and how often people traveled to “points of interest” including grocery stores, fitness centers, cafes, snack bars, doctor’s offices, religious establishments, hotels, motels and restaurants. 

The model predicted that “infections are happening very unevenly – that there are about 10% of points of interest that account for over 80% of all infections, and these are places that are smaller, more crowded and people dwell there longer,” Leskovec said at the briefing.

The model showed that people living in areas with the lowest income, based on Census data, were more likely to be infected – partly because of places in their areas tending to be smaller, leading to crowding.

The study comes with limitations, including that the model is a simulation – not a real-life experiment – and the data is based on 10 metropolitan areas and does not capture all places someone could frequent.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks during a press briefing in New York City on November 10.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the continued increase in the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 was “very worrisome.”

The positivity rate was up 2.8% Tuesday, with a seven-day rolling average of 2.31%, which de Blasio said was “not someplace we want to be.” 

If the seven-day average goes above 3%, schools will go remote for a period, he said. If it continues climbing, some businesses could face “full scale closures,” or “limits on hours.”

“We believe we can still fight back the second wave,” he added later.

The mayor said one area of “tremendous concern” was new cases on a seven-day average. NYC had set a threshold of 550 cases, which it has “far surpassed” with 795, de Blasio said.

While some of the extra cases is indicative of more testing, “some of it obviously indicates a problem,” he said.

“We have not had major events or major gatherings be the cause … of spread that we’ve been able to identify,” added de Blasio.

Dr. Jay Varma, health advisor to the city, said about 5% of cases were associated with gatherings, and around 10% were due to travel.

For more than half, “we don’t have a way to directly attribute the source of infection and that’s a concern,” Varma said.

Lebanon’s lockdown will include the closure of government departments, schools, universities, and retail stores – but some key institutions will remain open, the government said on Tuesday. 

Beirut’s Rafic Hariri airport will stay open, as will security directorates, telecommunication departments, banks, and private and public health sectors. 

It is unclear if the lockdown will affect movement on the streets. 

What else? The lockdown includes suspension of work in companies, private institutions, stores of all kinds and offices of self-employed workers.

Exceptions to the lockdown include mills, bakeries, everything related to the manufacturing, storage and sale of basic food, and delivery services in restaurants, the government said. 

The reconstruction of the area damaged by the August blast in Beirut’s port will continue, the government added.

The Director of the Butantan Institute Dimas Covas speaks during a press conference at Butantan's headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 10.

The director of Brazil’s biomedical Butantan Institute, Dimas Covas, has said that a “serious, adverse event” suffered by a Sinovac vaccine trial volunteer was unrelated to the trial itself.

Brazilian health authorities halted the clinical trials of the Chinese vaccine on Monday after the event.

But he could not provide more details about the event or the volunteer, citing privacy reasons, insisting that regulators had all the information showing that the event was unrelated to the trial.

Chinese firm Sinovac began the Phase 3 clinical trial of its CoronaVac vaccine in collaboration with the Butantan Institute and the state of Sao Paulo in late July.

CoronaVac has been at the heart of a political feud between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and the governor of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria, who is expected to run against him in the country’s next presidential elections in 2022.

While Doria said he hopes to eventually vaccinate Sao Paulo state residents with CoronaVac, Bolsonaro has disparaged the vaccine and has backed a vaccine candidate produced by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

Covas said Tuesday that there was no reason to interrupt Sinovac’s trial.

On Tuesday, Bolsonaro said on social media that with the suspension of the Sinovac trial the “president wins one.”

Separately, Sinovac said Brazil’s decision to halt clinical trials was not due to the vaccine itself.

Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University John Bell speaks during a parliamentary committee hearing on November 10.

Britain has a “70 to 80% chance” of life getting back to normal by Easter if the UK doesn’t “screw up” the distribution of a potential Covid-19 vaccine, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University John Bell said Tuesday.

Bell is a member of the government’s vaccine taskforce. He appeared at a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday where he discussed Pfizer’s promising Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Pfizer said Monday that the vaccine had more than 90% efficacy, based on early data.

Bell said that Monday’s announcement by Pfizer was “a massive step forward” and that he’s optimistic of getting enough vaccinations done in the first quarter of 2021. But he cautioned that obstacles to approving and distributing the vaccine remained.

However, he said it signals that many of the other vaccines “that have the same immunogenicity are likely also to be efficacious so I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit the new year with two or three vaccines, all of which could be distributed.”

“That’s why I’m quite optimistic of getting enough vaccinations done in the first quarter of next year that by spring, things will start to look much more normal than they do now,” he added.

The chair of parliament’s Health Committee Jeremy Hunt tweeted that the UK could at least start feeling “more optimistic.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Tuesday that the UK government doesn’t yet know “whether or when the vaccine is approved,” but that it has asked the National Health Service (NHS) “to be ready from any date from the 1st of December.” 

“The logistics are complex, the uncertainties are real and the scale of the job is vast. But I know that NHS brilliantly assisted by the armed forces will be up to the task,” Hancock said during a Covid-19 statement in the House of Commons.

A healthcare worker holds a syringe from the Phase 3 vaccine trial by Pfizer and BioNTech, at the Ankara University Ibni Sina Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, on October 27.

The European Union will authorize a contract on Wednesday for up to 300 million doses of a candidate vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced. 

“Once this vaccine becomes available, our plan is to deploy it quickly, everywhere in Europe,” von der Leyen said in a statement on Tuesday. 

“This will be the fourth contract with a pharmaceutical company to buy vaccines. And more will come. Because we need to have a broad portfolio of vaccines based on different technologies.” 

The EU’s announcement comes after drug giant Pfizer announced Monday that an early look at data from its coronavirus vaccine shows it is more than 90% effective – a much-better-than-expected efficacy.

“This is the most promising vaccine so far. A safe and effective vaccine is our best chance to beat coronavirus and return to our normal lives,” von der Leyen said, highlighting that the EU had already begun working with member states to prepare national vaccine campaigns. 

The European Commission has also signed contracts for vaccines with drug giants Sanofi-GSK, Astra Zeneca and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.

Wales has cancelled end-of-year school exams for students in 2021 out of “fairness,” the country’s Education Minister Kirsty Williams said on Tuesday, following controversy over an an algorithm that was used to determine results in Wales, England and Northern Ireland.

The pandemic has disrupted school life across the United Kingdom, and many students responded with anger over the algorithm, which was used for A-levels, final high school exams that help determine student’s eligibility for university courses.

The changes affect students set to take three types of high school exams, known as GCSEs, AS levels and A levels, next summer.

The decision follows Scotland’s announcement on October 7 to cancel National 5 exams - the first set of exams high school students are required to sit.

England maintains that its exams will go ahead in 2021, but the government plans to delay them by three weeks to give students more time to prepare

Drug giant Pfizer sparked a stock market rally with its Monday announcement that its coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective, based on early data. It also kicked off a battle over who deserves credit for the preliminary good news.

US President Donald Trump’s administration was quick to applaud itself.

Others, however, pointed to the fact that Pfizer’s senior vice president and head of vaccine research and development, Kathrin Jansen, publicly distanced the company from the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine initiative. Jansen was quoted Monday by The New York Times as saying: “We were never part of the Warp Speed. We have never taken any money from the US government, or from anyone.”

The real story is more nuanced than both Pence’s tweet and Jansen’s comment made it sound.

Facts First: Pfizer’s vaccine progress is certainly not solely attributable to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed public-private partnership program. But it was not accurate for Pfizer to suggest that it is operating entirely apart from Operation Warp Speed; the company has a major agreement to sell at least 100 million doses to the federal government, and Pfizer acknowledged in a Monday statement to CNN that it is in fact “participating” in Operation Warp Speed through this deal. Also, at least some independent experts say the Trump administration deserves partial credit for Pfizer’s progress.

But there’s more to the story. Read here for the facts:

This May 4, 2020, file photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, shows the first patient enrolled in Pfizer's COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. On Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, Pfizer said an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. (Courtesy of University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP)

Related article Fact-checking the battle for credit over Pfizer's vaccine announcement

Medical workers treat a coronavirus patient in the intensive care unit of a temporary hospital in Moscow, on November 9.

Moscow is introducing a new set of coronavirus restrictions amid a record-breaking surge in new infections, the city’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced Tuesday in a blog post.

The measures will be in force for two months, from November 13 until January 15, 2021. They impose significant restrictions on the city’s social scene.

Under the new rules, entertainment venues, bars, and restaurants will close between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Takeout and food delivery can still operate 24 hours a day, the statement added.

Sobyanin said that university and college students would switch to distance learning, bringing them in line with middle and high school students, who have been taking classes online for the past several weeks.

Most indoor venues for children, such as entertainment centers in malls, will be closed for the time being.

Theaters, concert halls and cinemas will be required to cap audiences at 25% capacity, while the organizers of mass sports events will need to secure special permission from local health authorities to host spectators.

On Monday, Moscow officially reported 6,897 new cases of coronavirus, the highest increase since the start of the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the city accounted for 5,902 cases among 20,977 new infections registered across Russia.

Hospitals in the Swedish capital Stockholm are struggling to cope with a sharp increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations, according to the regional health authority. 

Björn Eriksson, Stockholm’s regional healthcare director, said that hospitals were having to postpone certain planned procedures, but he assured the public that they were ready to take care of all Covid-19 patients.

Sweden took a sharply different approach to its European neighbours in its Covid-19 response in the spring. The country did not enter lockdown and instead issued guidance to citizens, urging them to practice social distancing and personal hygiene. Its coronavirus death toll during the spring was one of the highest in the world per capita.

The regional health authority reports that 349 patients are in hospital in Stockholm, an increase of 76 from the end of last week. The numbers may appear low, but Sweden currently has an infection rate of approximately 346 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than Finland (53), Denmark (254) and Norway (112), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)’s latest data. 

Sweden has tightened its guidance this month, limiting the number of people gathering in restaurants and bars as cases surge.

As of Friday, Sweden has registered 6,022 Covid-19 related deaths and a total of 146,461 cases, according to official health data. 

A couple walk by The Louvre Museum during a government-imposed lockdown on November 6 in Paris .

European countries have welcomed Pfizer’s announcement that it believes its vaccine is more than 90% effective with relief, as much of the region remains under lockdown. Here’s what’s happening in some countries:

Germany

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Pfizer’s announcement, based on early data, was “very encouraging” and that he was “very pleased” that a German research and development team played a role. German company BiOnTech has been Pfizer’s partner in the vaccine’s development.

Germany has registered 15,332 new coronavirus cases since Monday, as well as 154 further coronavirus-related deaths. The country’s total death toll now stands at 11,506 according to Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI). 

France

A French government spokesperson said Tuesday that it was too early to propose a “loosening of the rules” on coronavirus restrictions in France. The spokesperson added that while there is some evidence that restrictive measures imposed by the government “might be having an impact,” the country must remain “cautious.”

The spokesperson’s remarks come just a day after France’s National Health Agency Director Jérôme Salomon said that the country’s second wave of Covid-19 had yet to peak.

Italy

Five more local regions in Italy have been declared “orange zones,” meaning tighter restrictions will come into effect in the areas starting Wednesday and last for at least two weeks.

The regions of Abruzzo, Umbria, Toscana, Liguria and Basilicata will see “non-essential” shops close, and bars and restaurants will be limited to serving takeaway only. People will also be restricted from leaving their towns of residence.

Portugal

The government of Portugal imposed a two-week state of emergency in 121 municipalities on Monday, mostly concentrated around the country’s two largest cities, Lisbon and Porto. In those municipalities, a mandatory curfew between 11p.m. and 5a.m. local time has been introduced, with an extension from 1p.m. – 5a.m. over the weekend. 

Mandatory body temperature checks will be carried out when accessing workplaces, schools, universities and public transport, as well as commercial, cultural and sports venues.

It is now also compulsory to wear a face mask in all public areas, including outside if social distancing is impossible to maintain.

Minks sit in a cage at a farm where a government order required all minks to be culled on November 7 in Bording, Denmark. 

Denmark’s government has backtracked on an order to kill all mink in the country after conceding it had no legal authority to order a mass cull.

Denmark ordered the cull, which included killing healthy mink, after finding that a coronavirus mutation had spread widely across more than 200 Danish mink farms. The mutated virus has also spread to 12 humans.

Though healthy minks may have been saved from the cull for now, a prior government order requiring the killing of all infected mink herds, as well as herds within a radius of 7.8 kilometers (4.8 miles), appears to still be in place.

Prior to the culls, Denmark was home to more than 15 million mink, which are raised for their pelts. The country’s human population stands at around 5.5 million.

The cull of uninfected mink was thrown into doubt when questions were raised about the order’s legal basis, according to state broadcaster TV2.

After facing questions from the opposition, the government admitted that it did not have the legal authority to order the cull of healthy mink on farms unaffected by the outbreak.

Covid-19 mutations are normal, and it is not yet clear if this mutation was significant.

“There are huge doubts relating to whether the planned cull was based on an adequate scientific basis,” Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, the leader of the Liberals opposition, told broadcaster TV2.

“At the same time, one’s depriving a lot of people of their livelihoods.”

Europe’s CDC has said that the mutation “may have implications for immunity, reinfections and the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines,” but that “there is currently a high level of uncertainty over this.”

US drugmaker Pfizer’s announcement Monday that it believes its Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective has triggered a wave of optimism around the world, parts of which are under a second round of lockdown, desperately looking for a way out.

Pfizer’s announcement, based on early data from its Phase 3 trial, was much better than expected and some experts are saying doses could be produced and distributed in the next month. The trial of the vaccine, made in partnership with Germany’s BioNTech, has enrolled more than 43,500 participants since July 27.

A patient participates in Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on May 4 in Baltimore, Maryland. 

State health officials in the US have told CNN that they are feeling “overwhelmed” and “daunted” at the prospect of distributing Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, should it become widely available soon.

On Monday, Pfizer announced that early data from its Phase 3 trial showed its vaccine was more than 90% effective. The drug giant could apply for authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as early as this month. 

The vaccine’s handling requirements are stringent — it has to be stored at about minus-75 degrees Celsius (minus-103 Fahrenheit), more than 50 degrees Celsius lower than any other vaccine currently on the market in the US.

The required conditions are far colder than the temperatures in freezers kept in doctors’ offices, pharmacies and public health clinics.

Molly Howell, who’s in charge of the immunization program in North Dakota, said she felt “overwhelmed” and “daunted” while watching a webinar last month on how to distribute Pfizer’s vaccine. 

“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.

Pfizer has offered “thermal shippers” about the size of a suitcase to keep the vaccine cold. They’re only temporary, and need to be replenished with dry ice every five days. 

“It would be hard to with a straight face say, ‘Oh, we’re all set,’” said Christine Finley, Vermont’s immunization program manager. 

“[This] equals a challenge I don’t think we’ve ever seen before.” 

People gather to protest against a coronavirus vaccine and restrictions on October 17 in London.

Misinformation, mistrust and public hesitancy to take a coronavirus vaccine could undermine the fight against Covid-19, British scientists said, warning that the UK may not meet the threshold of vaccine uptake to protect the community.

If a vaccine is released, 80% of the population will likely need to be vaccinated to offer widespread protection, according to a report published Tuesday by The British Academy and The Royal Society.

But it found that around 27% of people in Britain felt uncertain about receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, while 9% said they were “very unlikely” to be vaccinated.

The report urges the UK government to address public concerns over vaccine safety and efficacy. But in order to ensure such widespread uptake, scientists have urged the British government to tackle the public’s concerns about vaccines.

“There needs to be a frank conversation with the public about just how long it will take and that things will not immediately go back to normal when vaccines arrive.”

She added: “We must learn from lessons of history and move away from the one-way provision of information and instead generate an open dialogue that addresses misinformation and does not dismiss people’s real vaccine concerns and hesitancy.”

A classroom at Vaughan Primary School in London sits empty on May 12, as part of the Covid-19 mandatory lockdown.

School closures and restrictions on movement have caused children in England without strong support structures to regress in key skill areas, including numeracy, reading and writing, and even how to use a knife and fork.

The findings were laid out in a report Tuesday by Ofsted, an education standards watchdog which monitors schools in England. Ofsted employees carried out the assessment by visiting more than 900 education and social care providers during September and October. 

Some children in the earliest years of education had to return to nappies despite having been potty-trained, according to the report, while many in the same age group also lost early progress with words and numbers.

“Among older children, inspectors heard that many now lack stamina in reading and writing; some have lost physical fitness; and others are showing signs of mental distress, manifesting in an increase in eating disorders and self-harm,” the report added.

Chief Education Inspector Amanda Spielman said the decision to keep schools open during England’s second national lockdown in November was “very good news indeed.”

Despite educational institutions reopening this autumn, an increasing number of parents are choosing to homeschool. Teachers say parents are motivated by virus fears, as opposed to a commitment to delivering robust home education.

Ofsted said it was also concerned about a fall in referrals to social services, which raises alarm bells that abuse may be going undetected.

A municipal worker disinfects the empty Monastiraki square in Athens, Greece, on November 7, the first day of a three-week lockdown.

Collins Dictionary’s word of the year is typically a sign of the times — previous winners include Gangnam Style (2012), photobomb (2014) and binge-watch (2015). But in 2020 the dictionary’s pick is decidedly bleaker: “Lockdown.”

Collins said it has registered over 250,000 usages of “lockdown” this year so far, compared to just 4,000 usages in 2019.

Collins selected the term from a longlist dominated by pandemic-related terms, including “coronavirus,” “furlough” and “key worker.”

According to Collins, the dominance of words linked to Covid-19 was “no surprise.”

“Our lexicographers chose ‘lockdown’ as Word of the Year because it is a unifying experience for billions of people across the world, who have had, collectively, to play their part in combating the spread of Covid-19.”

On its website, Collins described lockdown as “the condition we’ve most dreaded in 2020 – a state of national stasis, where almost everything that constitutes normal public life is suspended.”

People shop at Bourke Street mall in Melbourne, Australia, on November 7.

Australia has recorded three consecutive days of zero locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases for the first time since March.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement Tuesday on Twitter, while urging Australians to continue following safety measures and to not become complacent.

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

Piccadilly Circus on November 9, the start of the first full week of England's four-week lockdown.

A coronavirus vaccine, if successfully developed, will not be made mandatory in the United Kingdom, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC News on Tuesday.

Hancock’s comments come a day after the Prime Minister’s spokesperson confirmed that 10 million doses of Pfizer’s candidate vaccine would be manufactured and made available to the UK by the end of 2020, if approved by regulators. The UK has procured 40 million doses of the candidate vaccine, the spokesperson said.

When asked if children will need to be vaccinated, Hancock said that the vaccine “is not for children” as they have a “very low susceptibility” to the virus. 

In a separate interview with Sky News, Hancock added that those “most vulnerable” will be prioritized, such as those who live or work in care homes and healthcare workers. 

“The faster we can protect those who are most at risk, the easier it will be to be able to have confidence, to be able to take the steps that will allow life to get back to normal,” Hancock said.

A nurse shows a COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech at the Sao Lucas Hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil on August 08.

Chinese biotechnology firm Sinovac says that Brazil’s decision to halt clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine CoronaVac is not due to the vaccine itself.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman read the company’s statement to reporters when asked to comment on the development at the ministry’s daily press briefing Tuesday.

The halted trials: Brazil’s health regulator suspended clinical trials of CoronaVac following a “serious adverse event” involving a volunteer recipient on October 29, according to sources cited by CNN’s affiliate, CNN Brasil.

The note from Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency did not elaborate on the specific nature of the event or where it took place, citing privacy concerns.

Race for a vaccine: Sinovac’s Phase 3 trials began in late July, with an aim to recruit 130,000 volunteers. Phase 3 trials represent the final and most important testing stage before regulatory approval is sought.

This pause in testing marks a potential setback for one of China’s leading vaccine candidates and comes as US drugmaker Pfizer said Monday that early data from its own coronavirus vaccine showed more than 90% effectiveness.

Read the full story:

Health worker and volunteer Fabiana Souza receives a COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech at the Sao Lucas Hospital, in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil on August 08, 2020. - The vaccine trial is being carried out in Brazil in partnership with Brazilian Research Institute Butanta. (Photo by SILVIO AVILA / AFP) (Photo by SILVIO AVILA/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Brazil suspends trials of China's Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, citing 'serious adverse event'

Asian markets were muted in Tuesday trade, as investors weighed the effect that promising news about Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine could have on the post-pandemic global recovery. Tech stocks sputtered.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.4%, losing some of the momentum it had built earlier in the morning. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5%, also paring earlier gains. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.2%. But China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.5%, pulling back from early gains.

On Monday, stocks soared as drugmaker Pfizer announced that an early look at data from its Covid-19 vaccine shows a 90% efficacy rate. Investors also reacted positively to greater political certainty following Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election.

Read more here:

Pedestrians cross a road in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), operated by Japan Exchange Group Inc. (JPX), in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020.

Related article Asian stocks and US futures are running out of steam

People in vehicles wait in line at a Covid-19 drive-thru testing site in El Paso, Texas on November 9.

The United States reported 119,944 new Covid-19 cases and 472 deaths on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The total number of reported cases in the US stands at 10,110,552 and at least 238,251 people have died.

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

Surging cases: On Monday, the US passed 10 million total cases. The most recent 1 million infections happened faster than any previous million – in just 10 days.

The virus is now spreading exponentially in all regions of the country. As of Monday, 43 states reported at least 10% more new Covid-19 cases compared to last week, according to Johns Hopkins.

And the rate of new infections is far outpacing the rate of testing.

Read more on the outbreak in the US:

EL PASO, TX - OCTOBER 31: An attendant talks to a person waiting in their car at a coronavirus testing site at Ascarate Park on October 31, 2020 in El Paso, Texas. As El Paso reports record numbers of active coronavirus cases, the Texas Attorney General sues to block local shutdown orders. (Photo by Cengiz Yar/Getty Images)

Related article Coronavirus cases are on the rise in more than 40 states

If Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is authorized for emergency use, it’s “very likely” people will be receiving doses by the end of this year, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday. 

Drugmaker Pfizer announced that its coronavirus vaccine appears to be more than 90% effective, based on early data. 

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he’s certain Pfizer will apply for emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine within the next week and a half or so.

“Which means if that goes along smoothly, that we may have doses that we’re able to give to people by the end of November, the beginning of December, probably well into December,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

 Fauci said that all the safety and regulatory checks must be completed.

“But we would be giving vaccines to people very likely before the end of this year,” said Fauci. “That is good news.”

Fauci also said that the last time he spoke to President Donald Trump was when he was hospitalized with coronavirus in early October.

Trump was treated for coronavirus at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center from October 2 to October 5. Fauci is a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force but has said Trump has taken less interest in what he and other members of the Task Force have to say in recent weeks in favor of Dr. Scott Atlas, a more recent member of the group.

In this March, 12, 2020, file photo, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer takes questions at a news conference in Los Angeles.

Anyone who participated in recent celebrations or protests without wearing a face covering or practicing social distancing should get tested and quarantine for 14 days, Los Angeles Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during a news conference Monday.

Ferrer issued this recommendation after reporting “real and alarming increases” in Covid-19 cases following numerous large gatherings that occurred over the weekend in the US city.

Los Angeles county added 1,413 new cases today, bringing the total number of cases to 323,625. There are 855 people hospitalized due to the virus, Ferrer said. 

Members and observer states of the World Health Organization (WHO) met virtually for the 73rd World Health Assembly on Monday, with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying in his opening remarks that the world needed to work together to end the coronavirus pandemic.

But one of the governments with the best track record on containing Covid-19 wasn’t in attendance at the meeting. They weren’t even allowed to observe.

Taiwan, a self-governed island of 24 million people, has only recorded 578 infections and seven deaths from the novel coronavirus, despite its close proximity to the center of the initial outbreak in mainland China.

Only countries which are members of the United Nations can become members of the WHO, and Taiwan has not been represented at the UN since 1971.

Beijing still claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has repeatedly put pressure on international institutions for decades, including the WHO, to not give the island a country-level status. This is despite Taiwan being separately governed from the mainland since 1949.

Taiwan has been fiercely campaigning to be allowed into the WHO or at the very least to be given observer status. On Twitter, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been pushing the hashtag #TaiwanCanHelp.

But despite its best attempts, Taiwan was excluded when the WHO leaders met on Monday.

“The Foreign Ministry expresses strong regret and dissatisfaction at China’s obstruction of Taiwan participating in the WHO and the WHO’s continuing to neglect the health and human rights of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people,” Taipei said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Vials of Sinovac Biotech Ltd.'s CoronaVac SARS-CoV-2 vaccine are displayed at a media event in Beijing, China, on September 2020.

Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has suspended phase 3 clinical trials of a Chinese-developed Covid-19 vaccine following an “adverse” incident involving a volunteer recipient, according to sources cited by CNN’s affiliate, CNN Brasil.

CoronaVac, developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, began phase 3 trials of CoronaVac in collaboration with the Brazilian Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo in late July.

According to CNN Brasil, the studies were suspended due to the “occurrence of serious adverse event in one of the volunteers in Brazil.” No further details were provided owing to privacy regulations.

The pause in testing marks a potential setback for one of China’s leading vaccine candidates and comes as US drugmaker Pfizer said Monday that early data from its own coronavirus vaccine showed more than 90% effectiveness.

In a note obtained by CNN Brasil, Anvisa mentions a case on October 29 for which the agency “determined the interruption of the clinical study,” adding that it “decided to interrupt the study to evaluate the data observed so far and judge on the risk/benefit of continuing the study.”

“With the study interrupted, no new volunteers can be vaccinated,” reads the Anvisa note published by CNN Brasil late Monday.

The CoronaVac trial vaccine uses inactivated virus cells to stimulate an immune response in patients. Testing began in late July, with 9,000 volunteers in five Brazilian states plus the capital. 

The Butantan Institute said it will hold a press conference Tuesday morning local time, according to CNN Brasil.

“No corners were cut” in the development of Pfizer’s 2-dose coronavirus vaccine, the company’s vice president of research and development, Dr. John Burkhardt, said at a news conference in Connecticut Monday.

Burkhardt said what’s been unusual in the development of its Covid-19 vaccine is that the company started the manufacturing process at the same time it was developing the vaccine, something that is not usually done.

“Normally you wouldn’t spend $1 billion to manufacture a product that may not work. You wait to see whether it works and whether it’s safe and then you do the manufacturing. So, we did that at risk,” he said. 

It was a decision made very early in the process to save time, Burkhardt said. He also credited “great volunteerism” in getting 43,000 people enrolled in the clinical trials as a time saver in the development process.

Pfizer announced Monday that early efficacy data on its Covid-19 vaccine appears to be more than 90% effective, much better than expected.

Almost half of the volunteers in Pfizer’s Phase 3 clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine are from diverse backgrounds, the company’s vice president of research and development, Dr. John Burkhardt, said at a news conference in Connecticut Monday.

“Our approach has been to really enroll lots of patients, gain lots of diversity in that population, go into the places where we can enroll diversity and then to learn from that data as it plays out in the study,” Burkhardt said.

Pfizer is studying 43,000 patients in its vaccine trials, he said, and 42% are from ethnic and racial backgrounds that are considered diverse.

It’s unclear whether the vaccine may not benefit some populations or if there might be side effects associated with it.

“We don’t have the sub-level of detail to answer those, but we believe we’ve got the kind of clinical trial design and some simple data set that will be very informative,” he said.

Pfizer announced Monday that early data on its Covid-19 vaccine shows it appears to be more than 90% effective at preventing infection.

Dr. Anthony Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that he plans to remain in his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through the remainder of the Trump administration and into President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

“It’s an important job, and my goal is to serve the American public, no matter what the administration is,” he added.

Fauci warned that the United States was in a “serious situation” with cases exceeding 100,000 a day, but said the country “can turn it around.”

He said “help is on the way with a vaccine,” following the announcement by Pfizer on Monday that early data shows its vaccine is 90% effective.

The Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent group that monitors vaccine trials, “has … told us that we now have a vaccine that is more than 90% effective,” said Fauci.

“Obviously, we need to go over the details of the data, but this is a highly reputable company that has extensive experience in the development of countermeasures, including vaccines,” Fauci said.

He said there were still questions about how long the vaccine would protect people for, and how effective it is in the elderly versus younger people, but that it was “good news” both in the immediate term and for other vaccines from companies such as Moderna, which work along similar lines.

He emphasized, though, that while Americans should feel good about the news, no one should let their guard down yet.

“We know there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to give up the important public health measures that we continually still have to do every single day,” said Fauci.