January 7 coronavirus news

Australia’s Greater Brisbane will enter a three-day lockdown to stop the spread of the United Kingdom strain of Covid-19 after a cleaner from a quarantine hotel tested positive for the UK variant, according to a statement from the Queensland government.

The cleaner was unknowingly infectious from last Saturday and tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, according to a media release from Queensland’s Department of Health.

From 6 p.m. Friday, January 8, until 6 p.m. Monday, January 11, people in areas of Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands and Logan will be required to stay at home, with some exceptions. More than 2.2 million people live in Greater Brisbane, with many of them living in Brisbane city, one of the country's most populous cities.

Exceptions include essential education and work, providing care to an immediate family member, essential shopping and exercising with no more than one other person. Masks will also need to be worn in those areas except if people are at home.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there are no second chances with this pandemic.

The United States doesn't have a problem with the supply of Covid-19 vaccines -- the issue is with the administration of them, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.

Changes to vaccine dosing won’t solve that, according to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“Right now, we don't have a problem that we need more vaccines,” Fauci said at an event hosted by BlackDoctor.org, an online health resource dedicated to African Americans. He said the problem lies in the effort to “logistically get the vaccine in the arm of people.”

With an eye to speeding up vaccine rollout in the US, some have suggested using half-doses of vaccines or delaying the time between first and second doses. 

Second dose: The science shows optimal protection is provided by administering a second dose 21 days after the first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine and 28 days after the first shot of the Moderna vaccine, said Fauci.

Second doses are on hold for people to complete their vaccinations, and some governors have asked the federal government to release those doses so more people can receive a first shot, potentially delaying the second one. Fauci dismissed the idea of letting people wait longer between doses.

Some have also suggested using a half dose of the vaccines, to vaccinate more people with some degree of protection. Fauci said this wouldn’t solve the problem either. The US Food and Drug Administration has also rejected that idea.

“You hear a lot about half dose. You hear a lot about extending one dose. Don't be concerned about that,” Fauci added. “Do what's recommended by the FDA.”

Colombia reported a record 17,576 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the Andean nation to 1,737,347, the country's Health Minister announced Thursday on Twitter. 

The total death toll is now 45,067. 

The announcement came as Colombia's two largest cities, Bogota and Medellin, both issued total lockdown measures for the next four days due to a resurgence of the pandemic. 

The United States reported 132,370 current Covid-19 hospitalizations on Thursday, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).

This is the second highest number of current hospitalizations reported in a single day and the 37th consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 current hospitalizations. 

The highest hospitalization numbers according to CTP data are: 

The United Kingdom has introduced mandatory Covid-19 testing for all international arrivals into the country, including British nationals, according to a statement by the UK’s Department of Transport on Friday.

In the statement, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the changes would take place from “next week.” Passengers will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test result 72 hours prior to departure for entry into the UK, along with a “passenger locator form.”

Passengers who fail to comply with pre-departure testing will be subject to a £500 ($680) fine and those arrivals not from countries on the government’s travel corridor list will still have to self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of test result.

The measures are intended to protect the country against emerging new variants of the coronavirus.

One new variant first identified in the UK prompted a wave of travel restrictions from other countries in December, and has been linked to a recent surge in cases in England.

A coalition of governors sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Operation Warp Speed Chief Operating Officer General Gustave Perna urging the federal government to distribute "reserved doses" of the Covid-19 vaccine to states that need them.

The coalition included Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (MI), Gov. Gavin Newson (CA), Gov. Laura Kelly (KS), Gov. J.B. Pritzker (IL), Gov. Tim Walz (MN), Gov. Andrew Cuomo (NY), Gov. Tony Evers (WI) and Gov. Jay Inslee (WA).

The UK government announced on Thursday it will extend its travel ban to include southern African countries, in an attempt to protect itself against the spread of a new coronavirus variant.

In a statement, the government said from 4am GMT on Saturday January 9, entry into England will be banned from countries including Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Lesotho, Mozambique, the Seychelles and Mauritius.

The ban does not apply to British and Irish nationals, long term visa holders or permanent residents, who will be able to enter but will have to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival.

The restriction adds to an ongoing travel ban on visitors who have been in or transited through South Africa in the past 10 days. 

Amid a surging second wave, Brazil registered a record number of new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday and the second-highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic began, pushing the total death toll over 200,000, according to the Brazilian Health Ministry.

The number of new daily infections was 87,843 while the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours stood at 1,524.

In a letter addressed to US Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Alex Azar, the American Hospital Association asked for help in eliminating barriers that are hindering the vaccine rollout. 

The letter says that the slow pace of the vaccine rollout in the country “has led to concern about whether the task of vaccinating all who are able to take the vaccine will happen as quickly as federal leaders have suggested it would.”

“In the first few weeks of administering vaccines, hospitals have seen a number of barriers to smooth and effective vaccinations,” said the letter. “We raise these to your attention so that you and your team can begin to eliminate the barriers and expedite vaccination.”

The letter also outlined the need for more transparency about the goals and expectations of the rollout, how to make data more accessible, improve communication and offer support to medical centers throughout the country: