Coronavirus Watch.

Global Statistics

Recorded cases of the Covid-19 pandemic are now over 72million, while the death toll is now 1,61 million. 

The number of Covid-19 cases reported in the United States reached more than 16 million on Saturday after the country added 1 million cases in just four days, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

 It took the nation more than 8-and-a-half months to reach 8 million cases but less than two months to double that, as the number of new cases continues to soar. On Friday, as the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use, the US recorded more than 3,300 Covid-19 deaths — the most ever in one day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

More than 231,700 new cases were reported, another pandemic high.

Brazil reported 43,814 additional confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and 686 fatalities from Covid-19, its Health Ministry said on Saturday. 

The South American country has now registered 6,781,799 cases since the pandemic began, while its official death toll has risen to 179,765, according to ministry data. Brazil has the world’s second highest death toll behind the US and the third highest case count behind the US and India.

Europe is in meltdown again as daily Covid death tolls reach record highs and countries scramble to expand testing and rescue hospital systems that are buckling under the pressure.

Russia and Germany reported record daily Covid-19 deaths on Friday, and October was Russia’s deadliest month in a decade. Stockholm’s intensive care units hit 99% capacity as Sweden proposed a spring “pandemic law” to potentially force closures of certain public spaces.
And France said its lockdown would not be eased as planned on Tuesday after daily case numbers rose on Thursday compared with last week.

Italy on Saturday became the European country with the highest official number of Covid fatalities, as its new total of 64,036 deaths overtook Britain, according to an Agence France-Pressetally.
The Italian health ministry said that 649 people had died from the virus in the previous 24 hours and that 19,903 new cases had been diagnosed. 

According to the AFP tally for Europe, Italy overtook Britain, which has reported 64,026 deaths and is followed by France with 57,567 and Spain with 47,624.

Italy was the first European country to suffer a wave of infections earlier this year. The UK’s toll overtook that of Italy on 6 May, with close to 30,000 fatalities, and for a while over the summer the southern European nation appeared to have weathered the storm.

France has decided the easing of restrictions scheduled for December 15 will not happen in the light of recent Covid-19 infection figures, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said at a news conference on Thursday.

Russia also reported its highest ever single-day death toll with 613 deaths on Friday, according to data published by the country’s coronavirus task force.

 It reported 28,585 new cases, bringing its total to 2,597,711 cases with 45,893 deaths. CNN and other media previously reported that Russia’s counting method of coronavirus fatalities has been questioned by independent observers and the real toll could be much higher.

The Health Ministry in South Africa says as of Saturday, December 12, a cumulative total of 852 965 have been reported with 7 882 new cases identified since the last report.

 154 more COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, this brings the total number of coronavirus deaths to 23 106. The recoveries now stand at 760 118. KwaZulu-Natal has been named as one of four provinces where new infections are rising rapidly.

Zimbabwe recorded 57 new cases of the virus to bring the total number of cases to 11,219.
Another death was recorded and the death toll is now at 307. There are 9,359 recoveries that have been registered and the national recovery rate is approximately 82%

US FDA authorises Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

The US Food and Drug Administration said it authorised the use of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, with the first inoculations expected within days, marking a turning point in the United States where the pandemic has killed more than 295 000 people.
 The US Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for the vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech, which was shown to be 95% effective in preventing the disease in a late-stage trial. 

The FDA said the vaccine can be given to people aged 16 and older. Healthcare workers and elderly people in long-term care facilities are expected to be the main recipients of a first round of 2.9 million doses. SABC News

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13/12/2020

(Source: Kitco)