February 17 coronavirus news

The Biden administration is announcing more federal funding to expand Covid-19 testing in different sectors and “better prepare for the threat of variants.”

President Biden said his administration will invest:

Health and Human Services will establish “regional coordinating centers” to organize the distribution of testing supplies and “partner with laboratories across the country, including universities and commercial labs, to collect specimens, perform tests, and report results to the relevant public health agencies,” according to a White House statement on the funding.

The statement noted that often testing can “be hard to implement in non-medical settings or it can be hard for schools or other congregate settings to find the right partner to make testing work.”

A man is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at La Colaborativa in Chelsea, Massachusetts on February 16, 2021.

Individuals over the age of 65 and those 16 and older with two or more of certain medical conditions, including asthma, can begin booking appointments Thursday for vaccinations in the state of Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker’s office said in a release.

Almost 1 million individuals are now eligible for vaccines, Baker’s office said.

The governor’s office said that due to the “extremely high” demand for a vaccine it could take “more than a month” for all eligible individuals to secure an appointment “unless federal supply significantly increases.”

The governor’s office said that the state is receiving approximately 110,000 first doses per week from the federal government.

Two new reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that new coronavirus variants could lead to a rapid rise in the numbers of Covid-19 cases.

In one report released Wednesday, researchers from the CDC and Minnesota health department detailed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom. Earlier modeling data suggested this variant, which may be more transmissible, could become the predominant variant in the United States in March, and the CDC has urged people to take action to reduce spread.

The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report described identified B.1.1.7 cases in specimens collected from eight Minnesota residents, ages 15 to 41, from mid-December through mid-January. Five reported Covid-19-like symptoms and three were asymptomatic.

Three of the people had a history of international travel in the two weeks before they became ill, including two who traveled in West Africa and one who traveled to the Dominican Republic, and three others had traveled to California, including one who received a positive test while in California and isolated before returning to Minnesota. None had a history of travel to the UK.

Identification of these variants in Minnesota “highlights the importance of mitigation measures such as mask use, physical distancing, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces, isolation of persons with diagnosed COVID-19, quarantine of close contacts of persons with COVID-19, and adherence to CDC travel guidance,” the report says.

On Tuesday, the CDC reported at least 1,299 cases of coronavirus strains first spotted in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been reported in the United States. The vast majority of these cases — 1,277 — are the B.1.1.7 variant originally detected in the UK. This variant has been found in 41 states and Washington, DC. Roughly a third are in Florida. Nineteen of those 1,299 are the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.

These numbers do not represent the total number of such cases circulating in the United States, but rather, only those found by analyzing positive samples.

In a separate report released by the CDC on Wednesday, researchers from Zambia described how the detection of the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa coincided with a rapid rise of cases in Zambia – and this variant might have become the dominant strain there.

The B.1.351 variant might be circulating elsewhere in southern Africa, where many countries are reported rapid increases in Covid-19 case numbers in December and January, the report said.

“Spread of the B.1.351 variant is of public health concern because of the potential for increased transmissibility and, thus, increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths,” researchers wrote.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has identified 90 cases of the B.1.1.7 Covid-19 variant – the variant first identified in the UK – at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility (IBC) in Ionia, Michigan, according to a news release from the state’s emergency management.   

The cases have been identified as “88 prisoners and two employees,” the release said. 

Daily testing at IBC began this month after an employee there “was found to have the variant and the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) immediately began to test” all prisoners and staff, the release said.  

Of the first set of samples provided to MDHHS labs, 90 out of 95 “were found to have the variant,” according to the release.  

“There are more than 100 lab results still pending,” the release said. 

 “The MDOC will be taking extra steps to identify where this variant is present amongst staff and the prisoner population and we will continue to do everything we can to keep the prisoners, our staff and the community safe,” MDOC Director Heidi Washington said in a Feb. 10 statement about the initial variant case.  

IBC is a multi-level facility, which opened in 2001, and houses male prisoners, according to the MDOC website. 

Some more context: Michigan has 67 B.1.1.7 cases, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC cautions that its numbers may not immediately match those of state and local health departments. CNN has reached out to the state health department for more information but has not yet heard back. 

CNN’s Ben Tinker contributed reporting to this post.

A terminal at Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD) on November 10, 2020

Two airports near the nation’s capital will soon become the latest to host coronavirus testing on-site.  

The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority said Tuesday it will launch testing sites at Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport in March.  

The sites will be located before the security checkpoint and will “offer both PCR and rapid testing,” the airport authority said. 

CNN is contacting XpresCheck, the company that will run the service, for further details.  

The airport authority said it would soon announce further details including pricing. 

Six cases of the P.1 Covid-19 variant, which was first linked to Brazil, have been detected in Belgium, the Brussels Regional Health Inspectorate Igen Neven told CNN on Wednesday. 

“We found last week, on Friday, a case that was confirmed as the Brazilian variant,” Neven said, adding it was from a patient, “that tested positive on 28 January.”

The case, “was discovered through in-depth analysis of the tests we perform on different variants,” she said.

Neven confirmed in total there are, “6 for Belgium of which 2 are in Brussels and at least 1 with a link to the Brussels region.”

“We are now conducting intensive contact tracing and will also be testing more widely.”

Europe’s Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said P.1 infections, and other potential variants, “may contribute to rapid epidemiological changes.”

A medical worker prepares the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination at a vaccination site at Stevenson Family Health Center in the Bronx on February 10, 2021 in New York City.

New York City has fewer than 30,000 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine on hand according to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who adds that the weather has caused delays in shipments.

“That means we’re going to run out, today, tomorrow, we’re going to run out,” he said of the limited supply.

Shipments of vaccine that were expected by Tuesday and Wednesday are delayed, he said. “That means we’re going to have to hold back appointments that New Yorkers need,”

de Blasio noted.

He said as many as 30,000 to 35,000 appointments or more might not be scheduled because the city does not have supply.

New York City has administered at least 1,395,956 doses, more than the total population of Dallas, Texas.

De Blasio stressed that it’s all about “supply supply supply,” adding it is “not growing the way we need it to.”

He said he appreciative of the federal government “aiming high” in its pursuit of assisting in vaccination, but added the city is going to need “a hell of a lot more help.”

In this image from UNTV video, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a U.N. Security Council high-level meeting on COVID-19 recovery focusing on vaccinations, chaired by British Foreign Secretary Dominc Raab, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, at UN headquarters, in New York.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on the international community to help ensure that everybody in the world is vaccinated as soon as possible.

Speaking at a virtual UN Security Council Wednesday, Guterres said although the vaccine is generating hope, “progress on vaccinations has been wildly uneven and unfair.”

Guterres said: “Just ten countries have administered 75% of all Covid-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, more than 130 countries have not received a single dose.”

Guterres said, “the world urgently needs a Global Vaccination Plan to bring together all those with the required power, scientific expertise and production, and financial capacities.”

He concluded by saying the world can defeat coronavirus if all nations work together to “ensure sufficient, supply, fair distribution and vaccine confidence.”

A nurse takes a Moderna Covid-19 vaccine ready to be administered at a vaccination site in South Central Los Angeles, California on February 16.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Wednesday that “discrepancies and difficulties” in vaccine distribution from state to state are going to disappear as more vaccine supply becomes available. 

During the interview, CBS’s Gayle King pointed out how every state is handling who gets the vaccine differently and asked if there should be a uniform process.

Fauci said there’s a need “to respect the ability and the right of the states who know their own situation well to make their own decisions,” and avoid dictating from above, but “there should be some sort of consistency, not necessarily identical, from state to state.” 

Fauci said that who can get a vaccine differs greatly from state to state.

An 8-year-old who President Biden addressed during CNN’s town hall last night said he made her feel better about the pandemic. 

“I was really nervous” to speak with the President, second-grader Layla said on CNN’s “New Day,” but Biden “made me feel better that I would be safe in this pandemic.” 

During the town hall, Layla Salas’ mother, Jessica Salas, told Biden that her two young children often ask her about whether they will get Covid-19 and die.

Salas said her children would like to know when they will be able to get the vaccine. She called Biden’s answer to her question “so-so.” 

Biden told Layla “don’t be scared” and reassured her that children do not usually die from Covid-19, but said, “We haven’t even done tests yet on children as to whether or not the certain vaccines would work or not work or what is needed.”

Layla and her younger brother have been virtually learning since last March, and she said she misses being in school in person. 

Watch more:

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen looks on as she arrives at the European Parliament to explain the European Union's vaccine strategy, in Brussels, Belgium, on February 10.

The European Union has announced a plan called the “HERA Incubator” to combat the increased threat from coronavirus variants. 

The core function of the HERA Incubator will be to “boost preparedness, develop vaccines for the variants and increase industrial production.” It will receive €75 million in funding to develop specialized tests for new variants, and to support genomic sequencing across the EU. 

In addition, a clinical trial network which brings together 16 EU member states and five other countries including Switzerland and Israel will be created to exchange data and findings from trials. 

The rapid spread of Covid-19 variants has raised concerns about the effectiveness of current approved vaccines against these mutations. With the emergence of the UK and South Africa variants that have been linked to a faster spread of infection, several vaccine makers and independent researchers ran additional tests to find out whether their shots are still efficient. For example, early results suggested the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines protect against the new variants, but are slightly less effective.

But a variant of Covid-19 that emerged in South Africa forced the country to pivot from using AstraZeneca vaccine to the Johnson & Johnson shot. The decision was made after preliminary trial data showed AstraZeneca’s shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by that variant.

A potential issue that may arise as the world tries to end the pandemic is having to go through months of approval processes for adapted vaccines, in attempts to catch up with emerging variants that could cause more severe illness.

The European Commission has proposed changing current regulations to allow “the approval of an adapted vaccine with a smaller set of additional data” and is considering a new category of emergency authorization of vaccines at EU level.

The HERA Incubator will also serve as a blueprint for the EU’s long-term preparedness for health emergencies. 

European leaders will meet on February 25, when the Commission hopes they will endorse and mandate the HERA Incubator.

A South African health care worker has been given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against Covid-19 at the Khayelitsha District Hospital in Cape Town, becoming the first person in the country to receive a jab against the coronavirus. 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single dose jab that has been proven to have an average efficacy of 66% against the virus and is being rolled out to health care workers as part of a research study.

Aside from frontline staff being vaccinated on Wednesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also received his shot, in an effort to fight hesitancy among the population about taking the vaccine. 

South Africa initially banked on the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine but has since pivoted to using shots developed by Johnson & Johnson instead and offered its stock of AstraZeneca vaccines to the African Union.

The country paused its rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after preliminary trial data showed it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the variant of the virus that emerged in South Africa last year.

Read more on this story:

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 24, 2020 file photo, a volunteer receives an injection at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, as part of Africa's first participation in a COVID-19 vaccine trial developed at the University of Oxford in Britain in conjunction with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. On Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, AstraZeneca Inc. announced that the Food and Drug Administration is letting it resume testing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the U.S. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Pool via AP)

Related article South Africa scraps AstraZeneca, pivots to Johnson & Johnson vaccine

German Health Minister Jens Spahn addresses a press conference on coronavirus mutations and rapid tests in Berlin, Germany, on February 17.

The number of infections with the UK coronavirus variant is doubling approximately every week in Germany, the country’s health minister, Jens Spahn, said in a press conference Wednesday.

The Robert Koch Institute analyzed a representative sample of over 23,000 positive PCR tests and established that Covid-19 mutations are spreading fast in Germany.

For comparison, the incidence of South African variant was much lower, standing at about 1.5%. Overall, the numbers of infections in Germany have been in decline, Spahn said.

Germany is pushing ahead with its vaccine rollout. To date, 3.5% of the population have received a first dose and almost 2% of the population have been administered both shots.

So far, 6.8 million doses have been delivered to health authorities around the country, and by the end of next week 10 million doses will have been delivered, Spahn said, projecting that the speed of the vaccinations would pick up markedly. 

Speaking on Wednesday, Spahn addressed the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccine after a bitter spat between the European Union and the drugmaker over delayed supplies as well as efficacy debates.

The vaccine has been approved in the EU by the European Medical Agency, which said the vaccine demonstrated around a 60% efficacy in clinical trials. That was somewhat lower than the efficacy rate of at least 70% – rising to over 80% after a second dose at least 12 weeks later – in a wider analysis of clinical trials published as a pre-print in The Lancet medical journal.

The EMA approved the vaccine’s use in older patients as well, in contrast with the evaluation by the Germany’s vaccine commission, which said last month it should not be given to people older than 65 years due to lack of data. 

Spahn defended the AstraZeneca vaccine amid reports that some people were hesitant to take it, going as far as saying he would take the shot himself. 

The world’s first Covid-19 human challenge study will begin within a month in the UK, the country’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said Wednesday in a statement.

During this trial, up to 90 volunteers aged 18-30 years will be exposed to Covid-19 in a safe and controlled environment to increase understanding of how the virus affects people, the ministerial department said, adding that the study will play a “key role in developing effective Covid-19 vaccines and treatments”.

What is a challenge trial? In regular Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials tens of thousands of volunteers are given an experimental vaccine and then released to live their everyday lives; researchers assume that a certain percentage of them will be exposed to the virus naturally.

In a challenge trial, by contrast, participants are deliberately dosed with virus.

Proponents of challenge trials say that they are more efficient, requiring far fewer volunteers because researchers know for certain that everyone will be exposed to the virus, and that they can deliver scientific data more quickly. 

Critics worry about exposing people to a virus for which there is no fail-safe treatment, and say that the young, healthy volunteers are not representative of the wider population.

BEIS said the version of the virus used would be the one in circulation since March 2020 – rather than any new strains – emphasizing that it “has been shown to be of low risk in young healthy adults.”

After the initial trial, vaccine candidates which had been proved safe in clinical trials could be given to small numbers of volunteers, the department said.

Earlier this week the UK hit its target of offering a first dose of vaccine to 15 million people by mid-February.

Read more on this story:

The Royal Free NHS hospital is pictured in London on February 10, 2020, where some of the UK nationals that have been confirmed to have the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus have been taken. - The British government on Monday warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a "serious and imminent threat" and reported four new cases that brought the total recorded in the country to eight. Two hospitals The Royal Free and Guys and St Thomas', have both been designated as "isolation" facilities, with both currently housing Britons who have returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article UK government signs contract for first coronavirus human challenge studies

The Lombardy region in northern Italy has imposed “red zone” restrictions on four towns due to the spread of Covid-19 variants, its governor, Attilio Fontana, announced Tuesday on Facebook.

Fontana signed a new ordinance that introduces new restrictions starting Wednesday at 6pm CET (12pm ET), until February 24, on the municipalities of Bollate, Castrezzato, Mede and Viggiù. The restrictions could be extended further “based on the evolution of the epidemiological context,” according to a statement on the website of the Lombardy regional government.

In these four towns, all school and educational activities will be carried out remotely.

Red zones are the most stringent classification of coronavirus restrictions in Italy and limit people’s movement the most. 

Lombardy was the Italian region hardest hit by the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, reporting over 565,000 cases to date, according to the country’s Department of Civil Protection.

The Froneri factory is pictured on February 16 in Osnabrück, Germany.

An ice cream factory in northern Germany has been hit by an outbreak of the coronavirus, the manufacturer said in a press release Wednesday. 

Froneri said it is investigating how the virus made it into its plant in Osnabrueck.

So far, 670 staffers – all those who had access to the plant since January 25 – have been tested, with 210 results returning positive. Some of those cases are the UK coronavirus variant, Froneri said, without specifying a number. 

The plant will stay shut till February 26, and all plant workers are to be tested one more time.

Froneri added that there have not been physical visits to its headquarters in the UK in months, and therefore, the outbreak has not spread to the facility there.

The Republic of Ireland is under some of the most restrictive lockdowns in Europe at the moment, but priests in the country have gotten creative to ensure that the restrictions don’t hinder Ash Wednesday celebrations.

Under the country’s level 5 restrictions, masses are being held online, so some churches are providing “takeaway ashes,” for its parishioners.

In northwest County Donegal, Clonmany Parish Priest Fr Brian Brady said that people would be able to pick up blessed, pre-packaged ashes to take to their own homes to put on their foreheads.

On Monday, the church had already run out of the 200 containers of ashes they had provided for their parishioners, and said that they were looking for more containers, given the high demand.

Speaking on national broadcaster RTE on Monday, Fr Brady said that he had initially “resigned myself to an ‘ashless’ Ash Wednesday,” before the idea, which was presented to him by a local convenience store owner, “caught on with me.”

“It seems to have caught on with the parishioners because we have left out the little containers and they all seem to be gone,” he told RTE.

It’s a scheme that’s taken off at other churches across the country. At the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Clonakilty in southwest County Cork, people will be able to collect ashes from a table set up outside the church doors on Wednesday.

In a Facebook post, the church said that envelopes of Holy Ashes will also be available at the local Centra – a convenience store – for pickup.

“We are asking people to take one envelope per household as there are a limited number of envelopes available,” the church said. It also included instructions on how to use the ashes properly.

“Please remember to wet the Holy Ashes with Holy Water before making the sign of the cross on an individual’s forehead,” it said.

Ireland has been in a full level 5 lockdown since December 30.

A nurse prepares a syringe with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine, at a vaccination centre in Quimper, France, on February 16.

Pharmaceutical company BioNTech announced Wednesday it had agreed to supply additional 200 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the European Commission, which also has the option to request a further 100 million doses. 

The current agreement brings the total number of vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech is slated to supply to 500 million doses, with the potential to increase to 600 million.

BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin told CNN in December that the joint effort with Pfizer aimed to produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021, but on Wednesday the company announced it has increased its manufacturing capacity to two billion doses this year.

A study published by Israeli researchers last week suggested that Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine appears to reduce symptomatic coronavirus infections by more than 90% in the real world.

The findings, while preliminary, indicated that the vaccine remains remarkably effective in a mass vaccination campaign – outside the carefully controlled conditions of a clinical trial. 

Vaccine rollout in the EU has been off to a rocky start. Despite being part of the world’s biggest single market, European Union countries have vaccinated only a small fraction of their combined population of 450 million. Meanwhile Israel, the US and the UK, who were much quicker to approve Covid-19 shots, are making rapid advances in inoculating their populations. The bureaucratic lags and production issues led to growing frustration among EU residents desperately awaiting the vaccine. 

The EU secured 2.3 billion doses of vaccine from six manufacturers but only three have been approved: The United States’ Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech as well as the shot produced by UK-Swedish company AstraZeneca. The Union has been in an escalating dispute with AstraZeneca after EU officials said the company intended to supply “considerably fewer” doses than had been agreed because of production problems. 

AstraZeneca responded that it was not contractually obligated to meet the EU schedule. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, CEO Pascal Soriot said the company had not been able to guarantee the timing of EU deliveries because countries such as the United Kingdom were quicker to finalize orders.

Earlier this week Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was dragged before the European Parliament to explain herself and told to resign multiple times. She admitted to MEPs that the EU had made errors in its procurement of vaccines, saying that they had been “late with the approval” and were “too optimistic” on mass production.

Several members of President Joe Biden’s former coronavirus advisory board are urging his administration to more widely recommend and mandate the use of N95 masks, citing a “pressing and urgent need for action” driven by the threat of new coronavirus variants.

In a memo to Biden’s top coronavirus advisers obtained by CNN, a dozen health and safety experts – including four members of Biden’s former advisory board – called on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to “recommend and require the use of respiratory protection, such as N95 FFRs (filtering facepiece respirators), to protect all workers at high risk of exposure and infection.”

The authors call on the CDC to adopt the first national consumer mask standard to protect American workers and general public. Published Tuesday by ASTM, an international technical standards organization, it outlines minimum fit, design, performance and testing requirements for consumer face masks. The standard will soon allow the American public to be able to choose between two levels of mask protection seen on package labeling.

The letter also asks OSHA to utilize the ASTM standard and offer high-performing face masks with at least 80% filtration efficacy to non-health care workers at lower exposure risks.

Read the full story:

Related article Former Biden coronavirus advisers push White House to more widely recommend use of N95 masks

The United States reported 59,598 new coronavirus cases and 1,602 additional related deaths on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.    

That raises the national total to at least 27,753,824 cases and 487,927 deaths.

At least 71,657,975 vaccine doses have been distributed and 55,220,364 doses have been administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medical worker Robert Gilbertson loads a syringe with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Los Angeles on February 16.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it’s “possible” that the Covid-19 vaccine could become a yearly vaccine, like the flu shot.

Fauci also said that it’s “entirely conceivable” that scientists are already working on a universal coronavirus vaccine that would address all the variants. 

There are a number of new variants that have emerged recently. Here are the top four that are most worrying:

A health care worker places a vial containing a Covid-19 test swab into a box at a testing site in San Francisco, California, on January 9.

At least 1,299 cases of coronavirus variants that were first spotted in other countries have been reported in the United States, according to data by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC says this does not represent the total number of variant cases circulating in the US, but rather just those that have been found by analyzing positive samples.

UK variant: The vast majority of these cases are the B.1.1.7 variant first spotted in the UK, a more contagious strain. It has been found in 41 states and Washington, DC. 

South Africa variant: 19 cases of this strain, called B.1.351, were reported across nine states and Washington, DC.

Brazil variant: There have been three cases of the P.1 strain, first linked to Brazil – two in Minnesota and one in Oklahoma.

President Joe Biden said the United States might be in a “very different circumstance” by Christmas.

Speaking at CNN’s town hall Tuesday night, Biden noted that with vaccinations, the ability to continue spreading coronavirus “is going to diminish considerably” due to herd immunity.

“A year from now, I think that there will be significantly fewer people having to be socially distanced, have to wear a mask, but we don’t know,” Biden said.

His vaccine plan: Biden promised that 600 million doses of vaccines would be available to the country by the end of July.

Not every vaccine will be administered by that time, Biden noted. “They’ll be available,” he said. “A lot will be being vaccinated in the meantime,” he said. “In other words, this is not all of a sudden 600 million doses are going to appear.”

New Zealand will lift social distancing restrictions across the country from Thursday, officials have announced.

Auckland will reduce restrictions to Level Two, its second-lowest level, while the rest of the country will be reduced to Level One. 

The Wednesday announcement comes as testing uncovered three new Covid-19 cases – including two locally transmitted infections, linked to a family cluster in Auckland.

A mother, father and daughter from the same household tested positive for the virus, authorities announced Sunday.

Restrictions were increased Sunday in a snap lockdown following the discovery of a cluster of cases of the UK variant.

New Zealand has recorded a total of 1,984 confirmed cases, 49 of which are still active.

El Salvador will receive its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines on Wednesday, with vaccinations to start the same day, according to President Nayib Bukele.

Bukele did not specify how many doses are expected to arrive on Wednesday.

The vaccines are part of a government purchase from AstraZeneca, according to Bukele. The country approved the emergency use of the vaccine on December 30.

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference on August 6, 2020, in New York City.

New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Amazon on Tuesday, accusing the company of a “deficient” response to the pandemic in its workplace facilities. 

In a complaint filed in state court, James alleged Amazon violated labor law by failing to provide sufficient worker protections.

According to the lawsuit, the company failed to close its facilities for cleaning when it discovered worker infections; failed to notify workers who had been in contact with infected colleagues; and failed to give employees enough leeway on the job to conduct cleanings, practice social distancing and other preventive measures. 

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last week, the company filed a preemptive lawsuit in New York state asking a court to block James from filing a complaint under state law.

Cafes and retail shops are closed during lockdown in Melbourne, on February 16.

The Australian state of Victoria will end its five-day “circuit breaker” lockdown on Wednesday night after detecting no new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, Premier Daniel Andrews announced.

A record 39,258 coronavirus tests were conducted in Victoria on Tuesday, Andrews said. All six cases of community transmission detected during the lockdown period were clustered together and identified as the UK variant of Covid-19.

Andrews said his government was continuing discussions over spectator limits at the Australian Open, which is underway in Melbourne, the state capital.

Starting 11:59 p.m. local time Wednesday:

South Africa has received its first shipment of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, the country’s health minister announced Tuesday, putting it on target to become the first in the world to administer the shot. 

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Twitter that South Africa had secured a total 9 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with the first delivery containing 80,000 shots.

Vaccinations are due to begin this week, he added.

About the vaccine: Developed by Janssen, Johnson & Johnson’s Belgium-based vaccine division, the single-dose vaccine has shown to be effective in preventing moderate and severe disease from South Africa’s coronavirus variant.

The AstraZeneca vaccine: South Africa said it plans to share 1 million unwanted doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with other countries in the African Union, after early data suggests it provided only “minimal protection” against mild and moderate infections from the South African variant.

North Korea successfully hacked US drug maker Pfizer in an attempt to steal technology related to coronavirus vaccines and treatments, a South Korean lawmaker said.

Ha’s office confirmed the remarks to CNN on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Ha’s office told CNN that North Korea tried to hack pharmaceutical companies or companies that developed Covid-19 vaccine or treatments in a number of ways, including through the South Korean local government’s administration network. 

It is not clear when the attack happened. Pfizer told CNN Tuesday it would not comment on the matter.