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 UK needs tighter rules to avert new 'catastrophe'
Britain's government needs to bring in tighter lockdown rules to
avert a fresh wave of deaths from a new strain of coronavirus, a
leading epidemiologist and government advisor warned on Tuesday.
Britain reported 41,385 new cases on Monday, the highest number
since testing became widely available in the middle of 2020, and
English hospitals say they have more COVID patients than during the
first wave of the pandemic in April.
"We are entering a very dangerous new phase of the pandemic, and
we're going to need decisive early national action to prevent a
catastrophe in January and February," said Andrew Hayward, professor
of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London.
Renewed lockdowns likely in Southern California
The United States topped 19 million COVID cases on Monday as
hospital intensive care units were full to overflowing across much
of California, portending an extension of strict stay-at-home orders
imposed this month.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said mandatory constraints on
social gatherings and business activities would almost certainly be
renewed for at least three more weeks in Southern California -
encompassing the state's biggest metropolitan areas - and its
agricultural heartland, the San Joaquin Valley.
Newsom said a formal decision on continuing the stay-at-home orders,
among the most stringent in the United States, would be announced on
Tuesday.
Dutch death rate at highest level since WWII
The number of deaths in the Netherlands increased at the highest
rate since World War Two this year due to the coronavirus pandemic,
the Dutch national statistics office said on Tuesday.
Up to last week, around 162,000 deaths were reported in the country
of 17 million this year, 13,000 more than would have been expected
in a regular year.
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 Around 9,000 people more than
normal died during the first wave of infections
between early March and early May, while more
than 6,000 extra fatalities have been reported
since the start of the second wave
mid-September.
First U.S. troops vaccinated in South Korea
American troops stationed in South Korea received the first doses of
coronavirus vaccine to be administered in the country on Tuesday, as
health officials in Seoul reported a daily record of 40 deaths amid
a surge in new cases.
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), which includes around 28,500 American
military personnel as well as thousands of other workers and family
members, gave the first doses to military and civilian healthcare
workers and first responders in the force as well as top officers.
The vaccinations are voluntary, and will be provided to the rest of
the military command as more supplies arrive, USFK's commander, Gen.
Robert Abrams, said.
Iran starts human testing of first domestic vaccine
Iran launched human trials of its first domestic COVID-19 vaccine
candidate, state media reported on Tuesday, which Tehran says could
help it defeat the pandemic despite U.S. sanctions interfering with
its ability to import vaccines.
Setad, a giant state-affiliated conglomerate controlled by Iran's
supreme leader, said production of the vaccine developed by one of
its companies, Shifa Pharmed, could reach 12 million doses per
month, six months after a successful trial ends.
The first volunteers to take the vaccine were officials of the
conglomerate and the daughter of its head, in an apparent effort to
boost public confidence.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes, editing by Ed Osmond)
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