November 20 coronavirus news

White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Deborah Birx speaks during an interview on November 20.

With most of the United States in the “red zone,” the country faces an increasingly dire coronavirus spread situation than before, White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Deborah Birx said in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

In a public briefing by the task force Thursday — its first since July — Birx also showed a series of graphs showing the current increase in cases is sharper and steeper than at any other time during the pandemic. 

This comes as the US hits increasing numbers, including a record-setting number of cases cases on Thursday, as well as more than 2,000 deaths. Birx made clear that it’s our collective responsibility to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“I’m making the personal sacrifices not to infect my parents and my pregnant daughter,” she said. “There’s a lot of people out there who know how to protect one another. And we just need to make sure we’re all doing that.”

The Paso Del Norte International Bridge between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico is seen on November 16.

The US is extending travel restrictions on the northern and southern borders until Dec. 21, according to soon-to-be-published notices in the Federal Register. 

The Department of Homeland Security has extended the restrictions with the US shared borders every month since they were first implemented in late March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The restrictions apply to nonessential travel. 

The notices are expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday. 

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is pictured in Washington, D.C. on November 11.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said he learned this morning he has tested positive for Covid-19. Scott’s test was administered on Tuesday, according to the news release from his office.  

Scott’s office said that he had already been quarantining at home after being exposed to someone last Friday, Nov. 13, who tested positive for Coronavirus. He will now self-isolate and work from home. 

A volunteer receives an injection during the Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial sponsored by Moderna at Accel Research Sites in DeLand, Florida, on August 4.

The race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine could leave a lasting impact on how vaccines are developed in the future — and one way is by showing how mRNA technologies can be used, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a Johns Hopkins University symposium on Friday morning.

Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine candidates are mRNA vaccines.

Now it appears mRNA technologies “are here to stay,” Fauci said. “Certainly mRNA is because we had not only one but two — and that’s really great.”

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Americans should limit indoor gatherings to immediate households this Thanksgiving.

“I don’t like it to be any number,” she said. “Because you know, if you say it can be 10, and it’s eight people from four different families, then that probably is not the same degree of safe as 10 people from your immediate household.”

Birx said she understood why the lack of uniformity in open and close spaces across the country can make social distancing messaging confusing for Americans.

“I worry about that,” she told CNN. “[People] say, ‘Well, bars and restaurants are open, then I can have 20 people over for Thanksgiving.’”

She also said Americans need to look at their choices when all this is over.

Birx said it’s on every American to protect each other.

“I’m making the personal sacrifices not to infect my parents and my pregnant daughter, and there’s a lot of people out there who know how to protect one another, and we just need to make sure we’re all doing that.”

Watch more:

Covid-19 is spreading faster than ever before in the United States, with hospitals in some states running at capacity. The country is now in the same situation that France, Belgium and the Czech Republic were last month, when rapidly rising infections put their health care systems within weeks of failure.

But these countries have managed to avert, for now, the worst-case scenario, in which people die because hospitals are full and they can’t access the care they need to survive. They slowed down the epidemics by imposing lockdowns and strict mask mandates.

Despite the clear evidence from Europe, the White House is still opposing new restrictions. “President Trump wanted me to make it clear that our task force, this administration and our President, does not support another national lockdown. And we do not support closing schools,” Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday, at the first White House coronavirus task force briefing since July.

“They need to look at the European situation,” said Mike Tildesley, an infectious disease modeling expert at the University Warwick and a UK government scientific adviser.

“And I mean, by no means what we have done in Europe is perfect, these governments are probably reacting a little bit slowly, but they are at least reacting, they are doing what they can to make sure that health services are not overwhelmed… and I think this is clearly what’s needed in the US.”

Read the full story here:

French Gendarmes patrol in Montmartre, on November 14, 2020 in Paris, as France is on a lockdown to tackle the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus.

Related article Europe averted a Covid-19 collapse -- here's what the US could learn

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its guidance in late summer to focus on testing symptomatic people, which “put a pale on testing for a number of weeks,” White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx says 

Some background: On Aug. 24, the CDC website said: “If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one.”

However, on in September, it updated its guidelines to stress that anyone who has been in contact with an infected person should be tested for coronavirus.

Birx has been a proponent of testing and says she believes “testing alone is a public health intervention.”

Her big worry is whether the messaging and communication went wrong. That is why, she says, she started to travel around the country to understand what people were “hearing when we were speaking” and improve dialogue and partnership to tackle the pandemic.

Watch more:

A healthcare worker prepares to perform a Covid-19 swab test at a testing facility in Bolzano, Italy, on November 20.

If you are just joining us, there’s a lot going on in Europe. Here the latest:

But it’s not all good news:

Pfizer and BioNTech said they will request an emergency use authorization for their coronavirus vaccine from the US Food and Drug Administration today.

This is the first coronavirus vaccine to seek a regulatory OK in the United States. The companies said in a statement that their vaccine candidate, known as BNT162b2, will potentially be available for use in high-risk populations in the United States by the middle to end of December.

The submission to the FDA is based on results from the Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer’s vaccine, which began in the United States on July 27 and enrolled more than 43,000 volunteers. The final analysis from the trial found the coronavirus vaccine was 95% effective in preventing infections, even in older adults, and caused no serious safety concerns, Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, announced this week. The submission also includes safety data on about 100 children ages 12 to 15.

About 42% of global participants and 30% of US participants in the Phase 3 study have racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, the companies said in a news release, and 41% of global and 45% of U.S. participants are ages 56 to 85. 

Dr. Paul Offit, who is on FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, explains how the approval process works:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks in Agoncillo, Spain, on Friday, November 20.

A “very substantial” part of the Spanish population could be vaccinated in the first half of 2021, according to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

His comments follow German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s announcement that she expects a coronavirus vaccine to be approved in Europe in December, or “very soon after the turn of the year.”

The Prime Minister added that a large majority of the vaccines would be acquired through the European Union. The bloc has been moving towards coordinating the purchase and delivery of vaccines, to be shared equally among its member states, based on population numbers.

“The EU has already signed three contracts with pharmaceuticals. Our country would be entitled to 10% of contracted doses. We have a hopeful horizon,” he said, adding that “any euphoria must be compensated by caution.”

Medical workers treat a patient inside a temporary Covid-19 hospital at the Krylatskoye Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, November 17.

Russia reported a new record of daily coronavirus infections Friday, confirming 24,318 new cases, according to data from the country’s coronavirus response center.

The data shows that Moscow is the worst affected city, with 6,902 cases, which is also a new record. The center also reported the overall death toll to be 35,311.

A CNN investigation earlier this week, however, revealed that official Russian coronavirus death figures may be grossly understating the real toll by excluding people whose cause of death is attributable to other conditions. Most countries count a death from other conditions, such as pneumonia, as a Covid-19 death if the coronavirus infection triggered the person’s deteriorating health.

Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Wednesday that the coronavirus situation in the country remains “challenging but controllable” and urged regional governors not to “conceal” the real scale of the problem.

In this file photo, Serbian Patriarch Irinej speaks during a statement with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Serbia, on March 15.

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej, died in a Belgrade hospital on Friday after contracting coronavirus, according to a statement by the church. 

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić confirmed the death on Instagram, posting a photo of Irinej with the caption: “I was honored to know you. People like you never depart.”

Irinej was admitted to hospital on November 4 after he tested positive for Covid-19. An earlier statement from the Serbian Orthodox Church said he was intubated after his condition deteriorated Thursday. 

He had been at the funeral of the late Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Amfilohije Radović, in Podgorica, Montenegro, on November 1, who also died of coronavirus-related ailments.

According to CNN affiliate N1 Serbia, Radović’s body was in an open casket during the service before being interred in the crypt of the church. N1 reported that a large crowd gathered in front of the crowded church, with few of the people in the church and none of the priests wearing masks.

Born Miroslav Gavrilović on August 27, 1930, Irinej was enthroned as the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Serbs in 2010.

People pass by a restaurant in central Stockholm, Sweden, on November 12.

Starting today, restaurants and bars in Sweden will no longer be able to serve alcohol after 10 p.m. local time.

The measure, announced last week, is an effort to tamp down a spike in coronavirus cases.

Sweden has now recorded more than four times as many Covid-19 deaths than its three Nordic neighbors combined – 6,340 as of Thursday.

But the Swedish government has largely relied on recommendations, not rules, to promote social distancing measures and coronavirus restrictions.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said this week: “Don’t go to the gym, don’t go to the library, don’t have dinner, don’t have parties. Cancel.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock holds a virtual press conference on the latest coronavirus (Covid-19) developments at Downing Street in London, on November 16.

There are “encouraging signs” the number of coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom are starting to flatten, the country’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

But he warned it won’t be a normal Christmas.

The four nations of the UK have all tightened restrictions in recent weeks as a second wave of infections took hold.

Asked about plans to ease restrictions for Christmas, Hancock said the government was hoping to come up with a uniform set of rules across the UK.

“It of course won’t be like a normal Christmas, there will have to be rules in place. But we hope that they’ll allow for a bit more of that normal Christmas that people really look forward to,” he said.

The UK has recorded more than 1.4 million virus cases and 53,870 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to the media following a virtual meeting with the European Council in Berlin, on November 19.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expects a coronavirus vaccine to be approved in Europe in December or “very soon after the turn of the year.”

Following a virtual meeting with European Union leaders late Thursday, Merkel told journalists that the Commission asked all members to make their vaccination plans available.

Merkel added that the ethical basis of vaccinating is being discussed among all EU member states, adding that “vaccination priorities are similar in most member states – first medical staff, then vulnerable persons, and I think the EU path will be similar.”

South Australia Police have clarified what restrictions will be eased after the state’s premier said a six-day lockdown would be lifted early.

South Australia Premier Steven Marshall said on Friday that the statewide lockdown would be lifted on Saturday – a few days before it was originally scheduled to – after health authorities found that a person lied to contact tracing officials.

“We understand this may cause some confusion and we’ll endeavour to provide you with information as it becomes available,” South Australia Police said in a Facebook post.

Here’s what they said:

As of 12:01 a.m. on November 22, South Australia will revert back to similar restrictions that were in place before the six-day lockdown.

That includes:

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, a top US Pentagon official, has tested positive for Covid-19 after meeting with the Lithuanian minister of defense, according to a Pentagon statement.

Tata will isolate at home for the next 14 days.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement that Tata met with Lithuanian Minister of Defense Raimundas Karoblis last Friday. Karoblis has since tested positive for Covid-19 and the Lithuanian Embassy told the Pentagon on Thursday of his infection.

Karoblis also met with multiple senior Pentagon leaders, including acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, the secretaries of the Army and Air Force and the secretary of the Navy. Each of those officials have been tested since their meeting, Hoffman said. He did not say how those leaders had tested.

Read the full story:

Related article Top Pentagon official Anthony Tata tests positive for Covid-19

Germany reported 23,648 new Covid-19 cases for the past 24 hours in its highest daily increase to date, according to data from the country’s infectious disease agency, the Robert Koch Institute.

That’s 1,039 more cases than the previous day and it also overtakes the previous daily high of 23,542 cases announced last Friday.

Germany’s official death toll also increased by 260, bringing the nationwide total to 13,630, the tally showed. The country’s total coronavirus case count now stands at 879,564. 

According to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) the number of patients in intensive care is now 3,588 – the highest number since the pandemic began. 

Around 57% of patients in ICUs need ventilation, the data showed. When taking into account patients admitted to ICUs in Germany for other diseases, 21,934 intensive-care beds in the country are currently occupied; 6,273 intensive-care beds are vacant. 

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to discuss further measures to curb the spread of the virus next Wednesday in a meeting with the leaders of the country’s 16 federal states.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases looks on during a White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Thursday, November 19 in Washington.

Schools need to remain open, even amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday.

It’s important to be sensitive about the safety and the health of the children, he said, but it’s also important to keep children in school, Fauci told CNN’s Chris Cuomo.

New York City just closed down its school system to in-person learning and others have, too, as coronavirus cases spike again.

Fauci said he and many of his colleagues believe schools need to remain open despite the pandemic.

Part of the problem in trying to have a uniform policy for handling US schools during the pandemic is the vastness of the country and the cultural and geographical differences, the White House Coronavirus Task Force member said. Earlier Thursday, the task force held its first public briefing since July and members stressed that the official federal policy is to keep schools open.

Fauci said the patchwork of policies seen across the US, with some school systems closed and others open, does not help.

“Everybody’s got to be in it together. You’ve got to pull together. We can’t have people doing this this way, that that way. It doesn’t work,” he said. “We’ve got to do it in a unified way,” he added.

Doctors in Uppsala, the Swedish region hit hardest by Covid-19, tell CNN they are frustrated with the lack of tougher coronavirus measures, and Swedes not adhering to government recommendations.

“Forceful measures in other places, other countries, it’s effective in reducing spread,” Dr. Rafael Kawati, head of intensive care at Uppsala University Hospital, told CNN.

Sweden is well into a second wave of cases: It’s a scenario that health authorities said in the spring they hoped to avoid, by emphasizing personal responsibility over mandatory lockdowns.

Comparatively more deaths: The country has now recorded more than four times as many Covid-19 deaths than its three Nordic neighbors combined – 6,340 as of Thursday.

The second wave “is not a surprise,” Kawati said. “We should have been able to do much better than that, regarding spread in the society.”

What are the authorities doing: The Swedish government has moved closer to advocating a de-facto lockdown – but in recommendation only, not mandate.

At a news conference this week, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven could hardly have been clearer: “Don’t go to the gym, don’t go to the library, don’t have dinner, don’t have parties. Cancel.”

Advice not followed: At a central Stockholm gym this week, it was plain for a CNN crew to see that many were happy to ignore that advice, filling a room for a dance aerobics class. Participants kept their distance, but were mask-less for the hour-long class.

Dr. Fredrik Sund, head of the infectious diseases department at the hospital, was one of the first to raise the alarm about the November surge.

“I think if people were to follow the recommendations, it would be sufficient, because then more or less we would have a lockdown,” he said. “But since we are in this situation we are now – no, it’s not enough.”

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The United States reported 187,833 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University, the highest one-day total since the pandemic began.

The previous daily high was on November 13, with 177,244 cases.

A further 2,015 virus-related fatalities were also reported Thursday.

At least 11,715,316 Covid-19 cases, including 252,535 deaths, have now been reported nationwide.

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

Background: The US is seeing the fastest spread yet of the coronavirus, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said in its first public briefing in four months on Thursday. Earlier Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving. But other members of the task force said they would not support a nationwide lockdown.

Read more about the virus’ spread in the US:

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx speaks during a news conference with the coronavirus task force at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Related article US seeing unprecedented coronavirus spread, White House says

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during a news conference with the coronavirus task force at the White House in Washington on Thursday, November 19.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention knows how to get people vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday.

The infectious diseases expert said he’s confident that the agency can get Americans vaccinated once a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, even if the presidential transition of power hasn’t started.

The CDC vaccinates 80 million people a year, Fauci said.

Fauci, who has been part of five transitions of presidential power over his 36 years as a federal scientist, wouldn’t talk directly about President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden and whether that would impact potential coronavirus vaccinations.

“Transitions are obviously important,” he said. “You do better with transitions. I’ve been through them and I know.”

Fauci likens presidential transitions to a relay race. 

“When you’re running in a relay race, you have the baton, you give it to somebody who’s not standing still. You give it to somebody that’s actually starting to run. That makes the smooth transition,” he said.

“Of course, that’s better than not doing it that way.”

India reached 9 million coronavirus cases Friday after reporting 45,882 new infections in the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of reported cases in the country now stands at 9,004,365, with 132,162 people dying from the virus.

India, which has a population of 1.3 billion, has the second highest number of virus cases in the world, behind the United States.

Despite reaching the bleak milestone, India has seen a steady decline in the number of reported infections over the past few weeks.

It took India 23 days to go from 8 million recorded cases to the 9 million tally. Whereas it took 18 days to reach 7 million and 11 days to top 8 million, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Health Ministry.

More than 129.5 million tests had been conducted in the country as of Thursday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Cases are surging in the capital: On Thursday Delhi passed 500,000 Covid-19 cases, when it recorded 7,546 new infections.

The Delhi government has reissued restrictions on social gatherings and increased fines for people who leave their homes without wearing a mask.

In a statement Thursday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his administration was working to ensure medical infrastructure could cope with the rise in cases.

The capital currently has reported a total of 510,630 Covid-19 cases and 8,041 deaths.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is confident about the two potential Covid-19 vaccine candidates that could be ready for use by next month.

“I’ve seen the numbers. They’re going to hold,” Fauci told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday.

Both Pfizer and Moderna’s coronavirus vaccines showed a 95% efficacy rate in clinical trials.

Vaccine maker Pfizer has reported the results from its Phase 3 trial and its partner, Germany’s BioNTech, said the companies will file for Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization on Friday.

Fauci said it was clear that the vaccine “prevents severe disease and it prevents symptomatic disease. Whether or not it prevents infection we’re going to find out.”

But he said both did well enough. “I’ll take a vaccine that prevents people from getting seriously ill any day of the year,” he said.

As the coronavirus resurgence causes a steep increase in daily deaths and infection rates across the United States, Bill Gates is banking on a coronavirus vaccine to end the pandemic.

“We’ll look back and wish that we had done more before the epidemic hit and done a better job during the epidemic,” Gates, the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

“The only good news is that the private sector innovation is going to come along with better therapeutics and the vaccine,” he said. 

The US topped more than 185,000 daily Covid-19 cases on Thursday, its highest one-day total. The death toll has surpassed 252,000.

“It’s an incredible tragedy,” Gates said.

“In fact, it could have been even worse if the pathogen had been even more fatal.”

South Australia will lift its six-day lockdown on Saturday – a few days before it originally planned to – after health authorities found that a person lied to contact tracing officials.

Marshall said the state, home to more than 1.7 million people, will lift the strict “circuit breaker” restrictions announced earlier this week sooner than advised.

As of midnight Saturday, the stay-at-home order will be repealed, and South Australians will be permitted to exercise outdoors and go back to previous restrictions. 

What happened: The person who misled authorities claimed they bought a pizza from the Woodville Pizza Bar, which authorities identified as a potential hotspot earlier this week.

But the person was actually an employee and had been working there for some time, South Australia Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said.

Stevens added that they would not have gone into lockdown had the person told the truth, and authorities are now working to identify and locate another group of the employee’s associates.

Officials defend lockdown decision: The premier and police commissioner defended the decision to go into lockdown and said it was the right move at the time based on the information they had. The person who lied will not be fined or penalized, Stevens added.

“This has had a massive impact on our community,” Stevens said. “People’s lives have been upended as a result of information that lead us to a course of action that now was not warranted in the circumstances. We’re now taking action to amend that.”

The coronavirus pandemic is getting so bad, so quickly, across the United States that an influential academic modeling group has hiked its forecast of deaths considerably.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine now predicts 471,000 people will die from Covid-19 by March 1.

That’s up from its forecast of 438,941 just a week ago.

The group said their forecast “assumes that 40 states would reimpose social distancing mandates as the daily death rate exceeds 8 per million.”

If states do not do this, the “death toll could reach 658,000 by March 1,” they added. 

This increased death forecast is even taking into account that the US has improved the infection-fatality ratio with better treatments.

“Our analysis suggests that after controlling for age, sex, comorbidities, and disease severity at admission, the hospital-fatality rate has declined by about 30% since March/April,” it said. Obesity is a major factor in the fatality rate, it said.

Japan reported its highest number of daily Covid-19 cases for the second consecutive day, with 2,397 infections on Thursday, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

There were 21 deaths also reported, the Health Ministry said.

Despite the continued spike, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said imposing a state of emergency is not necessary.

Kato added that the weekly infection average has doubled in the past two weeks and said the government needs to be at maximum alert.

“We would like to pursue the economic and social activities while taking thorough implementation of basic prevention measures,” the secretary said.

The total number of virus cases nationwide now stands at 125,979 and 1,956 deaths.

Rising cases: Tokyo, Osaka and six other prefectures also posted record high numbers from Thursday. 

Tokyo reported 534 new cases Thursday – surpassing the 500 mark for the first time. Osaka reported 338 new cases.

The data Pfizer and BioNTech have released so far on their Covid-19 vaccine candidate “are really exciting and give us great hope,” US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said Thursday.

The companies said this week the data from the clinical trials show the potential coronavirus vaccine is 95% effective in preventing disease and that they plan to file for an emergency use authorization from the FDA on Friday.

Hahn said the agency needs to see the raw data on the vaccine.

“So what will be submitted to us is raw data around the clinical trial that would support a claim for safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, which of course is our primary responsibility here, with an emergency use authorization or an outright approval,” he said.

That’s not the only thing the agency reviews.

After the FDA receives the application, Hahn said the agency will set a date for a meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC. A source told CNN this week the date had already been set, for December 8, 9 and 10. But Hahn said a date has not yet been set. 

Once the application is submitted to the FDA, agency scientists review it and come to their own conclusions, Hahn said.

Vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna could be given approval for market by mid-December, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday.

She added that this is the “very, very first step to be able to go on to the market” with both of these vaccines.     

The Commission president said that all vaccines are properly assessed by the EMA and authorized in cooperation with other authorities. They worked closely with the FDA on authorization of the BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

The European Commission now has contracts with Pfizer/BioNTech, Curevac, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi and continue negotiations with Moderna. They are also still in talks with Novavax.

The World Health Organization has updated its ongoing guidance on Covid-19 medications to advise against using the antiviral drug remdesivir to treat hospitalized patients, no matter how severe their illness may be.

According to the update, published in the medical journal the BMJ on Thursday, current evidence does not suggest remdesivir affects the risk of dying from Covid-19 or needing mechanical ventilation, among other important outcomes.

WHO’s new update comes about a month after the company Gilead Sciences, the maker of remdesivir, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration approved remdesivir for the treatment of coronavirus infection. The drug became the first coronavirus treatment to receive FDA approval. 

Remdesivir may have received FDA approval but not WHO’s recommendation because of emerging research – which initially showed some benefit against Covid-19, but as more data accumulate, that appears to be changing, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who was not involved in the WHO guidance. 

“The fact that it was an antiviral that showed some benefit in certain trials — but not in all trials – was enough to push people to want to use it because we had no tools, but I do think it probably will be supplanted shortly,” Adalja said, adding that the indication for drugs can change over time.

Some context: WHO convened an international panel of 24 experts and four survivors of Covid-19 to review data and make recommendations. The recommendation against remdesivir was based on data from four randomized trials including 7,333 people hospitalized with Covid-19.

“The panel concluded that most patients would not prefer intravenous treatment with remdesivir given the low certainty evidence,” researchers from various institutions around the world wrote in the updated WHO guideline.

With 5,031 new Covid-19 cases reported Thursday, Los Angeles County has reached a daily case count not seen before in the pandemic.

The previous daily case high, recorded just Wednesday, was 3,994. The summertime peak in Los Angeles averaged just over 3,000 cases per day.

The increase in cases is climbing at an alarming rate.

“From Oct. 28 to Nov. 10, the average daily cases have increased 68%,” County Health Officer Muntu Davis reported. “We are seeing a much more rapid surge in cases than we saw in the summer.”

Late June to early July saw a steep incline of a 43% case increase in Los Angeles. 

Davis was unable to identify the exact cause of the sudden surge.

“I think we have seen, based on interviews, a number of different activities that people have done it’s been very hard to pinpoint unless they know exactly, if they were around someone who became sick or found out later that someone was sick and did have the virus. You know, that’s where their exposure was,” he said.

Los Angeles health officials are encouraging people to stay with their households, wear face coverings when outdoors, and opt out of unnecessary travel.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans should not travel for Thanksgiving, and has posted updated guidelines for safely celebrating the holiday.

“The reason that we made the update is that the fact that over the week we’ve seen over a million new cases in the country,” Dr. Erin Sauber-Schatz, the CDC’s lead for Community Intervention and Critical Population Task Force, said during the briefing.

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 250,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States. More than 11.5 million people have been diagnosed with the virus and the United States has set several new daily records for hospitalizations.

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DUNN LORING, VA - NOVEMBER 23: Slow automobile traffic on I-66 November 23, 2016 in Dunn Loring, Virginia. AAA has predicted that it will be more crowded than usual to travel this Thanksgiving with nearly 49 million Americans driving or flying to their destinations. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Related article CDC recommends against travel for Thanksgiving