COVID-19 UPDATE: NHS ENGLAND PLANS TO VACCINATE ALL FRONT-LINE STAFF, AUSTRALIA ON HIGH ALERT

Sat 09 January 2021:

COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Last updated: January 09, 2021, 10:23 GMT

Coronavirus Cases:

89,451,806

Deaths:

1,924,037

Recovered:

64,103,954

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Brazil’s Bolsonaro asks India’s Modi to speed vaccine shipment

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking to expedite a shipment of two million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, the presidential press office said.

Brazil has reported 52,035 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 962 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said.

The South American country has now registered 8,013,708 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 201,460, according to ministry data, in the world’s third-worst outbreak outside the United States and India.

NHS England plans to vaccinate all front-line staff

All NHS health and social care staff will be offered a Covid vaccine as an “immediate” and “critical” priority amid growing anxiety from frontline workers and concerns over absence rates.

In an announcement today, NHS England said hospitals would play the lead role in vaccinating millions of staff and that most should have been inoculated by early February.

Saudi king receives first dose of virus vaccine

Saudi Arabia’s King received his first vaccine dose of the novel coronavirus, according to state media.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) posted two pictures and a short video on Twitter showing a healthcare professional injecting Salman bin Abdulaziz with the vaccine.

Saudi Arabia reported a total of 363,582 infections and 6,282 fatalities linked to the coronavirus so far.

Greece extends coronavirus lockdown

Greece announced that lockdown measures will be extended one week until January 18.

Initially, the country was supposed to open stores January 11 but the government decided to impose tougher restrictions ahead of the opening of kindergartens, nurseries, and elementary schools scheduled for Monday.

Retail stores will remain closed and store pickups will be suspended.
Hairdressing and beauty salons will remain shut.

Harder lockdown would be counterproductive, SA Medical Association says

The South African Medical Association (Sama) on Saturday said a return to a harder lockdown would be counterproductive and would not achieve meaningful results in the ongoing fight against COVID-19, EWN reported

Dr Angelique Coetzee, Chairperson of Sama, said, “The coronavirus is out there, and returning to lockdown Level 5 will only harm our already fragile economy, and place businesses who are already struggling in further jeopardy.

South Africa is back under an adjusted level three of the lockdown as a second wave pummels the country. Read Full Article Here

Australia on high alert after overseas travellers bring new strains

Australia’s health officials have said they are on high alert after cases of highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus, discovered in Britain and South Africa, have made it into the country.

Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, went into a three-day strict lockdown after the discovery of a virulent strain of the virus, linked to Britain. A variant that emerged in South Africa was found in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in a hotel quarantine.

China tightens COVID-19 restrictions near Beijing

Chinese authorities told residents in two cities south of Beijing to stay home for seven days as they try to stamp out a COVID-19 outbreak in which more than 300 people have tested positive in the past week.

Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province which surrounds Beijing, suspended service on the city’s subway, then extended the ban to all public transport, including taxis. The province entered a “wartime mode” this week to battle the infections.

Authorities are racing to roll out vaccines with more than nine million doses given so far.

Health authorities recently gave conditional approval to a vaccine candidate by Chinese pharma giant Sinopharm, with emergency use jabs already administered in the later part of 2020.

India’s count of UK mutant virus cases rises to 90

The health ministry on Saturday said that the total number of cases of the mutant strain of Covid-19 in India, first found in the United Kingdom, has gone up to 90.

As per reports, eight of these cases of the mutant Covid-19 strain, believed to be more infectious, are new, the data showed.

The health ministry on Saturday said that the total number of cases of the mutant strain of Covid-19 in India, first found in the United Kingdom, has gone up to 90.

Biden plans stimulus aid worth trillions, pushes $2,000 cheques

United States President-elect Joe Biden plans to roll out an economic stimulus package worth trillions of dollars on Thursday that includes relief for unemployed Americans and rent forbearance for tenants.

The president-elect said Friday’s dismal jobs report — which saw the economy shed 140,000 jobs in December — makes it clear that Americans need more immediate and direct relief from the coronavirus pandemic and that taking action now will help the economy even with deficit financing.

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