U.S. Congressman-Elect Dies; Singapore Starts Jabs: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore began its Covid-19 vaccination program, starting with more than 30 health-care workers at the country’s National Centre for Infectious Diseases. That makes the city-state one of the first countries in Asia to begin inoculations. Meanwhile, a second cluster of infections emerged in Sydney, prompting authorities to further tighten restrictions on New Year’s Eve parties.

In the U.S., Louisiana Republican Representative-elect Luke Letlow died after a battle with Covid-19. He’s the first member or member-elect of Congress to die from the virus, according to Politico. The news came as the Covid-19 variant discovered in the U.K. was found in the U.S. for the first time. President-elect Joe Biden criticized vaccine-distribution efforts under Donald Trump as too slow, and repeated his pledge to deliver 1 million doses a day after he takes office.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has approved placing further swaths of the country into stricter Tier 4 restrictions, according to the Times, which will place millions of more people under stay-at-home orders on Wednesday.

Why the U.K.’s Mutated Coronavirus Is Fanning Worries: QuickTake

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U.S. Congressman-elect Letlow Dies After Covid Battle (11:30 a.m. HK)

Louisiana Republican Representative-elect Luke Letlow has died after a battle with Covid-19, according to a tweet from Louisana Governor John Bel Edwards. Letlow was elected to represent Louisana’s fifth district in the next Congress, and is the first member or member-elect of Congress to die from the virus, according to Politico.

Japan Deaths in 2020 Are Down Despite Pandemic (11:10 a.m. HK)

Japan’s total deaths fell by more than 14,000 in the year through October compared to 2019, as the nation’s largely successful efforts to quell the coronavirus pandemic seem to have prevented deaths from other causes.

Beijing Reports More Cases; Korean, India Infections Rise (11 a.m. HK)

The latest flareup in northern China continued to rise, with seven locally transmitted cases reported on Wednesday. Infections were reported in northeastern Heilongjiang province in addition to Liaoning and Beijing, where authorities have decided to start winter break early.

Meanwhile, South Korea reported 1,050 new cases, exceeding 1,000 for a second straight day. Infections in India increased by more than 20,000, with the country finding 20 cases of the variant first identified in the U.K.

Second Sydney Cluster Emerges (8:40 a.m. HK)

A second cluster of Covid-19 infections has emerged in Sydney, prompting authorities to further tighten restrictions on New Year’s Eve parties in an effort to prevent a wider outbreak.

The new cluster in a Sydney suburb involves six infections in an extended family group. A total of eighteen new local cases of the virus were reported overnight, New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. Household gatherings to celebrate the New Year will be limited to 5 people across Greater Sydney.

California Drives U.S. Hospitalization Surge (8 a.m. HK)

U.S. hospitalizations for the coronavirus jumped 9% to a record 122,638 in the 14 days through Dec. 29, data from the Department of Health and Human Services released Tuesday show. California accounted for two-thirds of the increase. The state had 20,530 Covid-19 patients in the hospital as of Tuesday, a 48% increase from the 13,920 hospitalizations reported on Dec. 15. Covid-19 cases now account for 32.4% of all hospital in-patients there, the highest proportion of any state.

Los Angeles County, the epicenter of California’s outbreak, reported a record 227 daily deaths. Some of those fatalities represent a backlog from prior days, the Department of Public Health said Tuesday. Earlier, stay-at-home orders for the southern part of the state and the San Joaquin Valley were extended as hospital-bed capacity continues to lag behind demand. Residents are urged to stay in their homes except for essential tasks.

Texas Cases Surge to Record (7 a.m. HK)

Texas posted a record 26,990 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, shattering the previous all-time high established less than a week ago.

The tally was 41% higher than the previous record reached on Dec. 23, state health department figures showed. The figure may include some cases that local health authorities failed to report over the holidays, the state said. Hospitalizations climbed to 11,775.

U.K. to Expand Areas Under Toughest Restrictions (6:30 a.m. HK)

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has approved placing further swaths of the country into the country’s toughest level of restrictions with the government is increasingly alarmed by the speed at which the new coronavirus variant is spreading, the Times reported.

Millions more people will be placed under stay-at-home orders on Wednesday, according to the report, with ministers considering imposing the Tier 4 measures on parts of the southwest and Cumbria, with rising rates in the West Midlands also a concern.

Covid Variant Is Found in U.S. (6 a.m. HK)

A man from Colorado is the first American known to be infected with the new variant of coronavirus that emerged in the U.K.

The man has no recent travel history, challenging health officials to find the possible source of infection and identify others who may be at risk.

Biden Says U.S. Needs Faster Response (5:45 a.m. HK)

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden slammed the slow rollout of the coronavirus vaccine by President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday, saying the plan was falling “far behind” where it needs to be.

“As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute the vaccine is not progressing as it should,” he said. “If it continues to move as it is now, it’s going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.”

Biden listed his plans to speed the project, what he called one of the biggest operational challenges in decades. He said he would invoke the Defense Production Act to help ramp up vaccine production and repeated his vow to distribute 100 million doses of the vaccine in his first 100 days in office.

More than 2 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the U.S. since the process began on Dec. 14, according to a nationwide tally by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

N.Y. Shortens Quarantine Period (3:50 a.m. HK)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shortened the state’s quarantine guidelines to 10 days from 14 to align with recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rule applies to people exposed to Covid-19 who have not tested positive. Those individuals can end their quarantine after 10 days without a testing requirement as long as they have no symptoms, Cuomo said Tuesday.

The state reported 11,438 new cases of Covid-19, or 7.14% of those tested on Monday, while the state’s total hospitalizations continued to climb to 7,814. That’s double the total at the start of December. At least 124 people died, continuing a more than weeklong string of 100-plus daily fatalities.

New York City had administered 67,116 Covid vaccine doses as of Monday night, about 17% of the total delivered to the most populous U.S. city.

France, Ireland Weigh Tighter Restrictions (3:35 a.m. HK)

The French government is considering earlier curfews in parts of four regions on Jan. 2, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on France 2 television Tuesday Curfew may be brought forward to 6 p.m. from 8 p.m. in areas where hospitals are full, the minister said.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s government will meet on Wednesday to weigh tighter restrictions to limit the virus’s spread, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told RTE Radio. New restrictions may include closing non-essential stores and further restricting house visits, he said.

And Denmark is extending a lockdown imposed before Christmas to fight the spread of the pandemic, which the government says is now more dangerous than during the spring. Shops, restaurants, gyms and schools will stay closed until Jan. 17, two weeks longer than initially planned, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

EU to Get More Pfizer Vaccine Doses (11:20 p.m. HK)

The European Union will take an additional 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet. That will bring the union’s total to 300 million.

Fauci Says U.S. Lags in Vaccination Levels (8:48 p.m. HK)

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said officials had hoped to have more people immunized by now. “We certainly are not at the numbers that we wanted to be at the end of December,” he told CNN. “I believe that as we get into January we are going to see an increase in the momentum, which I hope allows us to catch up to the projected pace.”

Moncef Slaoui, the Operation Warp Speed science officer, said on a call just prior to Christmas that shots weren’t getting into people’s arms as quickly as he’d thought. About 1 million doses had been administered as of Dec. 23, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, trailing the pace of distribution.

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