Italy, London Face Curbs; New York Risks Shutdown: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) -- Coronavirus restrictions aren’t letting up in Europe. London will be placed under England’s toughest measures from Wednesday, the same day Germany starts a hard lockdown. Italy’s prime minister said he plans further curbs to slow cases during the festive season, and the Dutch government is imposing stricter rules for five weeks.

South Africa will restrict alcohol sales and close some beaches at the height of the summer-holiday season. Hong Kong plans to introduce new virus relief measures before Christmas, and Singapore is creating a new “bubble” facility near the airport.

In the U.S., New York risks a second full shutdown should the number of cases and hospitalizations continue at the current pace. The first Covid-19 vaccine shots were administered by hospitals Monday, as deaths in the country passed the grim milestone of 300,000.

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Italy’s Conte Mulling Tighter Curbs for the Holiday Season (3:52 p.m. HK)

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he plans further curbs to slow the pandemic during the festive season.

“Some further restrictive measures are now necessary,” the premier told newspaper La Stampa. “We have to avoid a third wave at all costs, because the loss of lives would be devastating.”

Conte didn’t specify the measures under consideration, but his ministers are divided over the extent of restrictions during the Christmas and New Year period. Options include closing bars and restaurants, as well as non-essential shops, and strict limits on people leaving their homes.

London Landlord Sees West End Property Values Plunge (3:34 p.m. HK)

Landlord Shaftesbury Plc wrote down the value of its London restaurants, bars and stores by almost 700 million pounds ($934 million) as it braces for further pandemic restrictions to hit the capital’s West End. The company, which owns properties in Soho, Covent Garden and Chinatown, said vacancies surged 10.2% in the year through September, almost tripling from a year earlier.

Millions of Londoners will be ordered to comply with England’s toughest rules from Wednesday, as U.K. authorities warned a “new variant” of the disease may be driving a rapid rise in cases. The switch to tier 3 rules from tier 2 in London and parts of southeast England will see pubs, bars and restaurants closed, except for serving takeaway meals. Theaters and museums will also shut to the public.

U.K. Jobless Rate Hits Highest Since 2016 on Virus Impact (3:34 p.m. HK)

U.K. unemployment surged in the three months through October, exposing the brutal impact of the coronavirus on the economy. The figures will revive criticism that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak acted too late when he expanded programs to support jobs and businesses. The number of people looking for work jumped climbed by 241,000 in the period, taking the jobless rate to 4.9%, the highest since 2016, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.

South Africa Limits Alcohol Sales, Closes Beaches (3:30 p.m. HK)

South Africa’s government will curb alcohol sales and close some beaches at the height of the summer-holiday season as part of a series of new restrictions in response to surging infections. The number of daily new cases doubled this month. The country is fast-approaching 1 million infections, with 866,127 people having contracted the disease so far, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.

Japan to Commit Additional Money (1:44 p.m. HK)

Japan’s government will set aside an additional 1 trillion yen ($9.6 billion) to extend the “Go To” subsidized travel campaign in its third extra budget and have the program run through June, broadcaster NTV reported, without attribution. The government had already budgeted 1.4 trillion yen for the domestic travel campaign, which was scheduled to run through end-Jan., in its first extra budget.

South Korea to Import Vaccines (1:36 p.m. HK)

South Korea will import vaccines in the first quarter and secure more beyond the current plan to buy enough vaccines for 44 million people, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a meeting. The country will also make best efforts to deploy virus treatments, which are in last stage of development by South Korean companies.

India’s New Cases Slow Down (1:00 p.m. HK)

India added 22,065 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the federal Health Ministry reported Tuesday, the lowest number since early July. With more than 9.9 million cases, the country remains the world’s second-most affected nation after the U.S. As many as 143,709 people have died from the virus in the country, the third-highest in the world.

While new infections have been on a steady decline since they hit a high of more than 97,000 daily cases in mid-September, some experts have cautioned that the testing regimen -- relying heavily on less-accurate rapid antigen tests -- may understate scale of the epidemic.

Singapore’s New Bubble (11:30 a.m. HK)

Singapore will start a new travel lane for “business, official and high economic value travelers” that will allow people to come to the city-state without quarantine for short-term stays and reside in a dedicated “bubble” facility near the airport.

The segregated travel lane, announced by Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing on Tuesday, builds on Singapore’s efforts to reopen its borders in a controlled manner. The Southeast Asian nation, which has largely beaten back the coronavirus, announced Monday that it will progress to the third and final phase of its national Covid-19 response strategy on Dec. 28.

Philippines to Reopen Schools (10:24 a.m. HK)

The Philippines will test a return to in-person classes next month in areas with low Covid-19 risk, even as it warned of a possible post-holiday surge in infections.

President Rodrigo Duterte and his cabinet approved the Department of Education’s recommendation to hold a dry run of face-to-face classes in some schools through January, spokesman Harry Roque said Monday night. Health measures will be observed, and students won’t be required to go to schools unless permitted by their parents.

Hong Kong to Introduce Relief Measures (10:18 a.m. HK)

Hong Kong’s government plans to submit a funding proposal to the Legislative Council before Christmas for a new round of virus relief measures to support industries affected by social distancing restrictions, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a briefing. She offered no further details.

China Recovery Strengthens (10:00 a.m. HK)

China’s recovery gathered pace in November, supported by strong demand from home and abroad, putting the economy further ahead of its peers as the only major one likely to expand this year.

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Moderna Vaccine Documents Accessed in Hack: Reuters (8:44 a.m. HK)

Moderna was informed by the European Medicines Agency that pre-submission talks of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate were unlawfully accessed in a cyberattack on the regulator, Reuters reported, citing the company. EMA said earlier this month it was targeted in a cyberattack. Moderna said its submission to the EMA didn’t include any data identifying individual study participants and there is no information currently that any participants have been identified.

N.Y. on a Path Toward Second Full Shutdown (8:30 a.m. HK)

New York is moving toward a second full shutdown if Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continue at their current pace, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

“If we do not change the trajectory, we could very well be headed to shut down” all non-essential businesses, Cuomo said Monday at a virus briefing.

The state reported 5,712 hospitalizations, an increase of more than 1,000 in the past week. If that pace continues, it will be at 11,000 in a month, and some regions may be overwhelmed, Cuomo said.

In New York, the original epicenter of the U.S. pandemic, critical-care nurse Sandra Lindsay received the first shot in that state at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens.

Vaccine Meets New Cases in California (6:10 a.m. HK)

California Governor Gavin Newsom looking on, a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Los Angeles began vaccinating health-care workers Monday, as the first 33,150 doses arrived in the state. The first round of Pfizer vaccine doses went to four California hospitals -- in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Eureka -- with 29 more facilities scheduled to receive shipments in the next two days, News om said.

The pandemic continues to rage across the state, and Newsom noted that the number of doses that arrived Monday was roughly equal to the number of new cases recorded in the state on Sunday.

California will vaccinate its roughly 2 million health-care workers first, and hasn’t released its plan for giving doses to anyone else, except for residents of nursing homes.

Munger Sees Virus Impact Fading (4:45 p.m. NY)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Vice Chairman Charlie Munger said he expects the Covid-19 pandemic to shrink to insignificance in about a year as the vaccines are widely distributed.

“It’s amazing, I watched the polio get totally killed by vaccinations,” Munger, 96, said Monday at a California Institute of Technology event held online. “They’ll spread these vaccines over the world so fast, it’ll make your head spin.”

Czechs Close Bars, Restaurants Again (2 p.m. NY)

The Czech Republic reintroduced measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases, reversing a decision two weeks ago to relax restrictions as neighbor Germany imposed a hard holiday lockdown.

The government shut hotels and restaurants, prolonged Christmas school holidays and imposed an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, according to Health Minister Jan Blatny. Shops and services will remain open. The cabinet approved an additional 10 billion-koruna ($460 million) aid package to cover rent and wages of the affected businesses for three months.

WHO Says It’s Aware of Virus Variant (12:50 p.m. NY)

The World Health Organization is aware of a genetic variant of the virus identified in about 1,000 individuals in the U.K., Executive Director Michael Ryan said during a press briefing on Monday.

“This virus evolves and changes over time, and we’ve seen different variants emerge,” Ryan said. “The question is whether there is significance in public health terms,” since mutations of the virus are “quite common.”

The WHO is working with an international laboratory network to see if the variant is becoming more prevalent internationally, he adds.

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