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 U.S. tops 15 million cases
U.S. coronavirus cases crossed the 15 million mark on Tuesday as
regulators moved a step closer to approving a vaccine.
Leading health officials are once again sounding the alarm of
further spread when people gather for the year-end holidays. "We're
in for a very challenging period," top infectious disease expert Dr.
Anthony Fauci told a virtual summit on Tuesday.
Pfizer cleared another hurdle when the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration released documents that raised no new red flags over
the safety or efficacy of the vaccine it developed with Germany's
BioNTech.
Allergy warning over Pfizer vaccine
Britain's medicine regulator has advised that people with a history
of significant allergic reactions do not get Pfizer-BioNTech's
COVID-19 vaccine after two people reported adverse effects on the
first day of rollout.
Britain began mass vaccinating its population on Tuesday in a global
drive that poses one of the biggest logistical challenges in
peacetime history, starting with the elderly and frontline workers.
National Health Service medical director Stephen Powis said the
advice had been changed after two NHS workers reported anaphylactoid
reactions associated with getting the shot.
Merkel pushes for tougher German lockdown
Chancellor Angela Merkel threw her weight behind calls for a fuller
lockdown in Germany that would include closing shops after
Christmas, telling legislators that vaccines alone would not majorly
alter the pandemic's course in the first quarter.
Europe's largest economy has been in partial lockdown for six weeks,
with bars and restaurants closed but shops and schools open. That
has stopped the coronavirus's exponential growth but infection
levels remain at a high level.
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Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Merkel said regional leaders should follow
scientific guidance, which has called for people to further reduce their contact
with others.
Rich countries have bought too many vaccines, says Amnesty
Rich countries have secured enough coronavirus vaccines to protect their
populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021, Amnesty International
and other groups said on Wednesday, possibly depriving billions of people in
poorer areas.
Amnesty and other organisations including Frontline AIDS, Global Justice Now and
Oxfam, urged governments and the pharmaceutical industry to take action to
ensure intellectual property of vaccines is shared widely.
The World Health Organization has backed a global vaccine programme scheme known
as COVAX, which seeks to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines and 189
countries have joined. But some countries such as the United States have not
signed up, having secured bilateral deals.
COVID case on 'cruise-to-nowhere'
Nearly 1,700 passengers on a Royal Caribbean 'cruise-to-nowhere' from Singapore
remained confined in their cabins for more than 14 hours on Wednesday after a
COVID-19 case was detected on board, forcing the ship back to port.
All passengers aboard the Quantum of the Seas vessel had cleared a mandatory
polymerase chain reaction test for the virus up to three days before the
four-day cruise started on Monday.
The cruise in waters off Singapore is open only to Singapore residents and makes
no stops.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes)
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