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 U.S. tops 21 million cases
More Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday than at
any time since the pandemic began, as total infections crossed the
21 million mark, deaths soared across much of the United States and
a historic vaccination effort lagged.
U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations reached a record 130,834 late on
Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally of public health data, while
3,684 reported fatalities was the second-highest single-day death
toll of the pandemic.
That toll meant that on Tuesday someone died from COVID-19 every 24
seconds in the United States. With total deaths surpassing 357,000,
one in every 914 U.S. residents has died from COVID-19 since the
pandemic began, according to a Reuters analysis.
Chinese city of 11 million stops people leaving
The capital and largest city in northern China's Hebei province
barred people from leaving on Thursday as the country reported the
biggest rise in daily infections in more than five months.
Hebei accounted for 51 of the 52 local cases reported by the
National Health Commission on Thursday. This compared with 20 cases
reported in the province, which surrounds Beijing, a day earlier.
Authorities in Shijiazhuang, home to 11 million people, have
launched mass testing drives and banned gatherings.
Japan declares state of emergency for Tokyo area
Japan declared a limited state of emergency in the capital, Tokyo,
and three neighbouring prefectures on Thursday, hoping that
less-stringent curbs than imposed earlier will stamp out infections.
The government said the one-month emergency would run from Friday to
Feb. 7 in Tokyo and Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures,
covering about 30% of the country's population. Restrictions would
centre combating transmission in bars and restaurants, which the
government says are main risk areas.
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 The curbs are narrower in scope
than those imposed in April under an emergency
that ran to late May.
London field hospital to reopen
A field hospital in London will be used if
necessary to relieve pressure on other hospitals
in the city, the British health minister said on
Thursday after leaked official documents
suggested London risked running out of beds
within two weeks. Projections
leaked to the Health Service Journal showed that even if the number
of COVID-19 patients increased at the lowest rate considered likely,
London hospitals would be short of nearly 2,000 acute and intensive
beds by Jan. 19.
England began a new national lockdown on Tuesday, with schools
closed and citizens under orders to stay at home.
Moderna vaccine likely to protect for 'couple of years'
Moderna's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is likely to offer protection of up
to a couple of years, its chief executive said on Thursday, even
though more data is still needed to make a definitive assessment.
The U.S. biotech company, which stunned the world last year by
coming up with a vaccine against the disease caused by the new
coronavirus in just a few weeks, received approval for its shot from
the European Commission on Wednesday.
Given vaccines development and pharmacovigilance usually requires
years, the protection duration of COVID-19 shots is a lingering
question for scientists and regulators.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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