Hong Kong Locks Down Area; N.Y. Vaccines Run Short: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong is locking down thousands of residents for the first time over the weekend in a bid to contain a worsening outbreak. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state would on Friday run out of all the vaccines that had been delivered.

President Joe Biden turned to executive action to help Americans with finances depleted by the pandemic, as his more ambitious legislative proposals face mounting opposition on Capitol Hill. Covid-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. fell by the most ever, the latest sign that relief may be coming to a health-care system that’s been fighting the virus for almost a year.

The U.K.’s new more contagious strain of coronavirus may be linked to higher mortality, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. France surpassed 3 million infections amid warnings of a third lockdown.

Key Developments:

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Philippines Finds 16 Cases of More Contagious Strain (10:58 a.m. HK)

The Philippines detected 16 additional cases of the more infectious Covid-19 strain that first emerged in the U.K., the health department said.

A total of 17 people in the Philippines have been found to be infected by the variant. Of the new cases, three patients have recovered, 13 are active, three are asymptomatic and 10 are exhibiting mild symptoms, the health department said.

Australia Domestic Restrictions Ease (9:22 a.m. HK)

Domestic border restrictions are gradually easing across Australia as the nation’s most populous state reported zero locally transmitted virus cases for a sixth straight day, a sign that authorities are successfully containing clusters which reared up in Sydney just before Christmas.

The Western Australian state government said it would soften its lockdown policy toward New South Wales and Queensland from Monday, but travelers would still be required to test and isolate for 14 days upon arrival. Meanwhile, Victoria, which notched its 17th consecutive day of zero locally acquired cases, relaxed restrictions to allow most Sydneysiders entry to the state, where further social distancing regulations limiting gatherings were also wound back.

AstraZeneca Deliveries Cut 60%, Reuters Says (8:16 a.m. HK)

AstraZeneca told European Union officials Friday it will cut first-quarter deliveries of its vaccine to the bloc by about 60% to 31 million doses in the first quarter, Reuters said, citing an unidentified senior official. The company plans to begin deliveries to the EU starting Feb. 15, in line with its original plans, the official said, according to Reuters.

AstraZeneca said earlier Friday in a statement that shipments would be lower due to “reduced yields” at a manufacturing site, without specifying the extent of the cut in deliveries. The company said it hadn’t delayed the start of shipments.

Hong Kong Imposes First Lockdown (8:06 a.m. HK)

Hong Kong is locking down thousands of residents for the first time over the weekend in a bid to contain a worsening outbreak. The unprecedented step for the Yau Ma Tei and Jordan areas -- known for their night markets -- was announced in a government statement early Saturday morning.

Authorities aim to complete the exercise within 48 hours. The lockdown would involve about 200 residential buildings in the core urban district of Kowloon, the South China Morning Post said.

L.A. Official Predicts Vaccinations to Take a Year (7:09 a.m. HK)

It may take until next year to inoculate all adults in Los Angeles if vaccine shipments continue at their current pace, according to Paul Simon, chief science officer for the county’s department of public health.

The county, the nation’s most populous, has given out 441,000 doses so far. More than 2 million seniors and health care workers alone need to get vaccinated. The county expects 150,000 new doses next week.

Bulgaria Reports First Cases of U.K. Variant (5:16 p.m. NY)

Bulgaria reported first 8 cases of the U.K. coronavirus variant, some with patients who recently returned from Britain, Todor Kantardzhiev, the head of the National Center of Infections and Parasitic Diseases, said in an interview with the public BNT TV channel.

San Francisco’s Vaccine Plan Faces Shortage, Mayor Says (4:30 p.m. NY)

San Francisco’s goal of vaccinating all residents against the coronavirus by June hinges on getting enough shots, which are currently in short supply, Mayor London Breed said.

“The biggest challenge we have right now is the number of vaccines that we have not received,” Breed said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The city can inoculate residents at a rate of at least 10,000 doses per day once the supply arrives, she said.

Biden Boosts Virus Aid as Opposition Grows to $1.9 Trillion Bill (3:48 p.m. NY)

President Joe Biden turned to executive action to help Americans with finances depleted by the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, as his more ambitious legislative proposals face mounting opposition on Capitol Hill.

Biden directed his administration to boost food assistance for needy Americans and leverage federal contracts to improve pay for low-wage workers in executive orders signed Friday at the White House.

“Families are going hungry. People are at risk of being evicted. Job losses are mounting again,” Biden said. “We need to act.”

Biden’s 100-Day Vaccine Goal Was Nearly Met Before He Arrived (3:17 p.m. NY)

The U.S. is close to administering Covid-19 vaccinations at a pace of a million doses a day, suggesting that the Biden administration’s 100-million-doses-in-100-days goal may be a modest aspiration.

As of Thursday, 940,000 shots a day were administered on average over a seven-day period, according to data from the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. The most recent two days topped a million doses.

South African Death Toll Breaches 40,000 (3:02 p.m. NY)

Almost 10 months after the first coronavirus case was detected in South Africa, the official death toll of those diagnosed with the disease has breached the 40,000 mark. The country now has almost 1.4 million confirmed cases -- more than triple the number of any other African nation. That may in part be due to the fact that it has conducted almost 7.9 million tests, way more than its continental peers. A second wave of infections has largely been driven by a new strain of the virus that studies show is about 50% more transmissible than earlier versions.

French Cases Hit 3 Million Amid Talk of New Lockdown (2:23 p.m. NY)

France passed the threshold of 3 million Covid-19 cases on Friday, as an acceleration in the spread of the virus prompted warnings from the government that a third lockdown is possible.

France’s second lockdown that began in late October reversed a spike in Covid-19 cases, but hospitalizations and intensive-care patients remain more than five times higher than in August, keeping pressure on the health system. As more contagious variants of the virus spread, Health Minister Olivier Veran has said a decision on another lockdown or tighter curbs could be made within days or weeks.

U.S. Sees Record Single-Day Drop in Covid Hospitalizations (1:57 p.m. N.Y.)

The number of people currently hospitalized with Covid dropped by 2,773 in a single day to 119,927, according to Covid Tracking Project data. The one-week drop of 9,020 was also a record, the data show. And the decrease is accelerating on a percentage basis.

The absolute number of people with Covid-19 in hospitals is still extraordinarily high: The virus remains dangerously prevalent in much of the country, and it’s still unclear how new variants will affect the arc of the pandemic. Deaths, a lagging indicator, are likely to continue mounting at a rapid pace for weeks to come.

CDC Finds One in 400,000 Had Anaphylaxis After Moderna Shot (1:04 p.m. NY)

About one in 400,000 recipients of the Moderna Inc. Covid-19 vaccine had a severe allergic reaction to the first shot, according to a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday.

The research, which tracked 10 cases of anaphylaxis among about 4 million doses administered through Jan. 10, concludes that such reactions to the vaccine still appear to be rare.

Cuomo Says N.Y. Running Out of Vaccine (12:32 p.m. NY)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state will on Friday run out of all the vaccines that have been delivered.

The state is beginning to receive deliveries of the 250,400 doses it will have for the next week. Providers should only schedule appointments for allocations they know they will receive, Cuomo said Friday during a press briefing.

New York is administering 80,000 doses a day and could easily ramp up to more than 100,000, Cuomo said.

U.K. Says New Variant May Be Linked to Higher Death Rates (12:14 p.m. NY)

The U.K.’s new more contagious strain of coronavirus may be linked to higher mortality, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

“In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears there is some evidence that the new variant” may be “associated with a higher degree of mortality,” Johnson said at a press conference in London. “All current evidence continues to show that both the vaccines we’re currently using remain effective against both the old variant and this new variant.”

Meanwhile, official data suggested the pandemic may no longer be spreading exponentially in the U.K., suggesting the country’s third lockdown is working. Still, the government said the case rates remain “dangerously high” and urged the public to keep to lockdown rules.

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