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A New Zealand pilot who has been linked to Taiwan’s first locally-transmitted coronavirus case in 255 days could lose his job, EVA Air said Wednesday.
The Taiwanese airline said it will convene an investigation and disciplinary committee, which could recommend dismissal if the pilot is confirmed to have violated Covid control measures. According to news reports, the unidentified New Zealander failed to provide complete information to Taiwanese contact tracing authorities after he tested positive for coronavirus.
The foreign pilot is also facing fines from the government.
EVA Air added that it will continue to cooperate with authorities to improve its anti-epidemic measures and has disinfected its aircraft.
Read more about the situation in Taiwan:
The Philippines will halt flights from the United Kingdom beginning on December 24 until the end of the year, the Southeast Asian country said Wednesday.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed off on the temporary suspension dates Tuesday, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Passengers who are in transit or arrive in the country before 12:01 a.m. on December 24 will be permitted to enter the Philippines but must undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival, the PNA report added.
The United States reported more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University – the fifth time since the pandemic began that the country has added more than 3,000 Covid-19 fatalities in a day.
Tuesday marked the fourth-highest number of deaths in the country from Covid-19 reported in a single day, according to JHU data.
The top five days for new deaths are:
At least 18,217,159 cases of coronavirus and 322,585 deaths have been reported in the US, according to JHU data.
Like many of his own aides, Republicans on Capitol Hill were not given a heads up that US President Donald Trump was going to rail against the stimulus bill tonight on Twitter.
A Republican leadership aide told CNN “no” when asked if this was expected. The aide pointed out that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had negotiated this bill. He was the White House’s voice in the room, everyone assumed. Another aide said Trump seemed to be “coming unhinged.”
The President is upset about several provisions that were actually in the omnibus spending bill, not the Covid relief bill.
The omnibus spending bill that appropriates money for all the federal agencies for the rest of the fiscal year was combined with the stimulus bill, meaning there are numerous provisions unrelated to the pandemic relief that has also been voted on by Congress.
Multiple sources in Congress told CNN the President’s threats would not lead to a renegotiation, given the measure was passed with big veto-proof majorities.
How this plays out is uncertain. It’s possible Trump could veto the bill, but if he waits the full 10 days, it could push it into the new Congress when the Democratic majority is smaller in the House. The bill hasn’t even been sent to the White House yet for his signature.
At the moment, the hope on the Hill is he doesn’t veto the bill since he never explicitly said he will.
Some opposition lawmakers reacted approvingly to Trump’s calls for greater stimulus checks, and House Democrats will try to pass by unanimous consent on Thursday a bill to increase direct payments, though any one member can scuttle that effort.
It’s unclear what will happen when or if such a bill is blocked.
Government funding runs out on December 28.
Gladys Berejiklian, premier of Australia’s New South Wales, has modified the state’s social distancing restrictions in time for Christmas after reporting eight new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.
From December 24 in greater Sydney, an unlimited number of children under the age of 12 can gather in a residential setting, adding to the rule of 10 that is currently in place, her office said in a statement.
The modified restrictions are from December 24 until December 26, the statement added.
Seven of the new local infections are linked to the Northern Beach cluster, which has now grown to 97 cases in total. New South Wales also reported eight new cases linked to returned travelers in quarantine.
Pregnant women are unlikely to pass coronavirus to their babies, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Tuesday.
However, they are also less likely to pass protective coronavirus antibodies to infants than expected, researchers from Harvard Medical School found.
Dr. Andrea Edlow, a maternal-fetal specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues studied 127 pregnant women admitted to three Boston hospitals earlier this year.
While 64 women tested positive for Covid-19, none of their babies tested positive. Among these women, the team found evidence of the virus in respiratory fluids, but not in the bloodstream or placenta.
Though some mothers had coronavirus antibodies, the levels of antibodies found in umbilical cord blood were lower than expected, which the team says may leave newborns at risk for infection. The researchers focused on women in their third trimester of pregnancy, which is “typically regarded as the time when highest placental antibody transfer occurs,” they write.
The United States reported 117,777 current Covid-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).
This is the 21st consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 current hospitalizations.
The highest hospitalization numbers according to CTP data are:
At least 18,202,019 cases of coronavirus and 322,345 deaths have been reported in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has reduced the prison sentences of a US teen and her boyfriend after she broke the British Caribbean territory’s quarantine rules by going to watch him take part in a jet ski competition, her attorney said.
Skylar Mack, 18, from Georgia and her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, had their prison terms reduced to two months after the court agreed the original term of four months was not appropriate in the circumstances of this case.
Mack left for the Islands on November 27 after testing negative for Covid-19 at home. When Mack landed, she was given another Covid-19 test, which came back negative and she was told to remain in isolation for two weeks. Instead, she decided to attend Ramgeet’s jet ski competition two days later.
Race attendees, who knew Mack, reported her breach of isolation and officials arrested her. She was initially sentenced to four months in prison, as was Ramgeet for “abetting” her offence.
In a statement to CNN, attorney Jonathon Hughes said “whilst it was our hope that Skylar would be able to return home to resume her studies in January, we accept the decision of the court.”
“Ms. Mack and Mr. Ramgeet continue to express remorse for their actions and ask for the forgiveness of the people of the Cayman Islands,” he said.
US President Donald Trump signaled he will not sign the coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress unless it amends the massive spending legislation.
The extraordinary message came after Trump largely left negotiations over the measure to lawmakers and his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It leaves the future of the $900 billion stimulus package and its accompanying government funding measure in question.
Trump did not explicitly threaten to veto the bill, but said he was dissatisfied with its final state.
The statement was filmed by the White House and was not open to the media. Reporters did not have a chance to ask the President questions. It’s unclear when the message was recorded.
The President has in the past said he would sign the bill, and earlier Tuesday the White House publicly defended the proposal. But many of his allies have spoken out against the agreement passed by Congress.
Arkansas reported on Tuesday 1,103 people are currently hospitalized for Covid-19, the highest number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said during a news briefing.
Hutchinson announced the state is partnering with Baptist Health Systems to add 124 additional hospital beds in Little Rock and Van Buren to accommodate Covid-19 patients.
The governor explained that while the state’s health care system has been able to manage the current caseload, “we don’t know what the rest of December is going to be like.”
“We don’t know what January is going to be like because we don’t know what Christmas is going to be like… If we’re not successful, then we’re going to see another spike after Christmas and we have to be prepared for it,” Hutchinson said.
Note: These numbers were released by the Arkansas Department of Health and may not line up exactly in real-time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
If Americans disregard the dire situation already underway as the coronavirus rages across many regions of the country and travel for the holidays anyway, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is warning of a “difficult” time next month.
“As you might imagine, it’s quite concerning to me,” Fauci told CNN on Tuesday.
The Transportation Security Administration is reporting record-high pandemic travel and said that it screened more than 4 million air travelers between Friday and Monday.
“I’m afraid that if, in fact, we see this happen, we will have a surge that’s superimposed upon the difficult situation we are already in,” Fauci warned. “So, it could be a very difficult January coming up if these things happen.”
The United States is still handling the increased surge that occurred after Americans ignored public health officials’ advice on Thanksgiving travel and gatherings.
Watch here:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he feels fine after getting a Covid-19 vaccine Tuesday morning.
Fauci said he expects to develop some soreness in his arm.
“That’s very common in any kind of vaccination so I’m anticipating that, but in general I feel fine,” he said.
Fauci, along with National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, all received the Moderna vaccine Tuesday.
Fauci said they didn’t choose the Moderna shot, but that it was simply the vaccine that was made available to them.
Fauci, who will serve as chief medical adviser for the incoming Biden administration, said he has every confidence in the two vaccines now being administered across the country.
Fauci said, even though the authorization process has been done quickly, “the speed will not sacrifice the integrity of the science nor did it sacrifice safety.”
“The speed was a reflection of the extraordinary advances that were made in the science of the vaccine platform technology,” he said. “On the basis of all of that, I feel very confident about what we’re doing and that’s the reason why I strongly recommend to everybody and everyone that when the vaccine becomes available to them to get vaccinated.”
“That is how we’re going to put this pandemic behind us,” he added.
Watch the moment:
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday announced he signed a proclamation extending the state’s modified phase 2 restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Speaking during a news briefing, Edwards said the restrictions, which include limits on gatherings and a mask mandate, will remain in place for another 21 days starting tomorrow.
Edwards explained that while new data suggests the state is starting to plateau when it comes to new coronavirus cases, “we’re plateauing at a very high level. That is concerning.”
“It remains a very perilous situation for the state with respect to Covid,” Edwards added. “Even if we’re doing better, the caseload, the hospitalizations, the deaths are at a very high level.”
The restrictions were originally set to expire on Dec. 23.
Pennsylvania reported 7,962 new positive Covid-19 cases and 231 additional deaths, according to a release by the Department of health.
There are currently 6,090 hospitalizations in the state with 1,217 of those patients are in the intensive care unit.
The hospitalizations are double the amount as the Covid-19 peak in the spring, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
The positivity rate for the week of Dec. 11 -17 stood at 15.8% statewide, according to the department of health.
There have now been 571,551 total cases of Covid-19 and 14,212 deaths related to coronavirus in the commonwealth since the pandemic began.
From Dec.14- 21, Pennsylvania has received 127,755 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, and 26,563 doses of those vaccine shipments have been administered, according to the department of health.
NOTE: These numbers were released by the Pennsylvania dept of health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
Scientists from the UK’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) say they are now “highly confident” the new variant of coronavirus is more infectious than others, with a “hint” that it could be more transmissible in children.
According to NERVTAG, the new variant — which is believed to have originated in southeast England — could be around 71% more transmissible than other variants.
“As of last Friday, we felt we had moderate confidence because the data was coming in, but some of the analysis had been done very quickly,” Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the University Oxford and chair of NERVTAG, said during a virtual press briefing on Monday.
Speaking alongside Horby, Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London noted that there is a “hint” that this variant “has a higher propensity to infect children,” compared with earlier strains. But he cautioned that “we haven’t established any sort of causality on that, but we can see that in the data,” he added.
Another NERVTAG member, Wendy Barclay, head of the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, said earlier strains of the virus may have had a “harder time” getting into human cells using a receptor called ACE2. Adults, who have a lot of this receptor in their noses and throats, are “easy targets” compared to children. But under this hypothesis, a virus that can more readily use this receptor to enter cells may make children just as susceptible to the virus as adults, she said.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some research suggests the UK strain may “bind more tightly” to the ACE2 receptor, but “it is unknown whether that tighter binding, if true, translates into any significant epidemiological or clinical differences.”
Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, said on Tuesday that she plans to retire, but she’s willing to help President-elect Joe Biden’s team as needed.
In a tweet shared by reporter Amber Strong from the news site Newsy, Birx said she would serve as a resource to the Biden administration as needed.
“I will be helpful in any role that people think I can be helpful in, and then I will retire. I will have to say as a civil servant, I will be helpful through a period of time,” she said.
Additionally, Birx said that she wants the “Biden administration to be successful.”
Her comments come days after The Associated Press reported that she traveled out of state for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many health officials warned the American public to not travel or attend any gatherings if possible.
CNN has reached out to the White House for more details.
Germany has extended its travel ban from the UK until January 6 – despite the European Commission on Tuesday recommending member states scrap the ban.
“From December 22nd, 2020 until January 6th, 2021 inclusive, there is a transport ban for travelers from the United Kingdom to Germany, i.e. transport companies are prohibited from transporting travelers to Germany,” the updated travel advisory said on Tuesday.
The advisory clarified that “a German citizen who wants to enter Germany at the border will not be refused.”
“From January 1, 2021, people with residence and right of residence in Germany can be transported again. The federal government must approve the flights individually. The airline will obtain this approval. Travelers do not need individual permits,” the note added.
Earlier on Tuesday, the European Commission said: “While it is important to take swift temporary precautionary action to limit the further spread of the new strain of the virus and all non-essential travel to and from the UK should be discouraged, essential travel and transit of passengers should be facilitated.”
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced new statewide restrictions on capacity for businesses and lowered limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings amid rising Covid-19 cases numbers.
Beginning on December 26, businesses in “most industries” will need to limit their capacity to 25%, Baker said, calling the decision to institute the new measures “enormously difficult.”
Additionally, indoor gatherings are now limited to 10 people and outdoor gatherings are limited to 25 people, Baker said.
The new restrictions will be in place for at least two weeks and do not affect K-12 schools, Baker said.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said the aim is to keep the new measures temporary and said the 25% capacity restriction applies to industries including restaurants and personal services, theaters and event venues, casinos, offices, places of worship, retail stores, libraries, fitness centers, museums, indoor recreation, driving and flight schools, indoor golf facilities, and lodging common areas.
The latest numbers: On Tuesday, Baker announced that the state had at least 3,760 new cases, with 1,991 people hospitalized and 410 people in the ICU, stating that the state’s hospitals “are now under significant pressure.”
The Massachusetts Department of Health also released updated guidance on Tuesday to hospitals, directing them to “postpone or cancel all nonessential inpatient elective invasive procedures in order to maintain and increase inpatient capacity” beginning on December 26, according to a statement from the governor’s office.
The first senior citizens who are not living in long-term care facilities were vaccinated in Florida on Tuesday during a news event hosted by Gov. Ron DeSantis at UF Health in the Villages.
DeSantis did not provide a timeline for when more senior citizens will have access to the vaccine, but said it “is coming soon.”
Where things stand: So far, tens of thousands of senior citizens and frontline health workers in the state of Florida have been vaccinated against Covid-19, per DeSantis.
That includes seniors in 100 long-term care facilities in Broward and Pinellas counties and health care workers in five hospitals across the state.
DeSantis said Florida received 179,400 doses of Pfizer last week and 127,000 additional doses this week. And by the end of the day, DeSantis expected the arrival of 367,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
The Moderna vaccine — which does not require ultra-cold storage — will be distributed more widely, at 173 hospitals throughout the state, DeSantis said.
As for who will be the first in line to get the vaccine as more doses become available, DeSantis said elderly will have priority.
American Airlines is telling workers who were furloughed because of the pandemic that they will get retroactive pay by Christmas.
In a new letter to employees on Tuesday, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom say that American’s 19,000 furloughed workers will be re-hired over time.
The $900 stimulus bill in Congress includes $16 billion for commercial airlines that have been struggling in the pandemic. It also bars them from making any new furloughs until March 31, 2021.
“With this support, we will be recalling furloughed team members in order to reinstate pay and benefits effective Dec. 1, 2020,” says the letter. “We have taken steps to expedite payments to all furloughed team members.”
US airlines furloughed roughly 50,000 employees when restrictions attached to the first round of emergency coronavirus relief expired October 1.
“Bringing nearly 19,000 team members back to work is a complex process and will take time,” American says. “While pay and benefits will be restored right away, people will be asked to return to the operation in phases.”
