November 13 coronavirus news

Germany is “not yet in the position” to ease Covid-19 restrictions, Steffen Seibert, a spokesperson for Angela Merkel's government, said Friday. 

The country's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said Thursday that Germany's Covid-19 infection rate was "flattening," and expressed "cautious optimism."

But Seibert told journalists at government press conference that Germany ''cannot talk about a turnaround in coronavirus infections.''

The number of daily cases in Germany on Friday hit a new record of 23,542, around 1,700 more infections than on Thursday.

According to RKI, Germany's total case tally now stands at 751,095. On Thursday, the number of Covid-19 patients admitted to German ICUs reached an all-time high, according to the Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine.

The country has been in partial lockdown since November 2. Merkel is expected to meet with the country's state leaders on Monday to review the lockdown but Seibert said "no easing of restrictions" was expected.

South Korean biotechnology company GL Rapha will produce over 150 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine per year, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said Friday.

The doses are set to be distributed around the world, the RDIF said.

Russia claims that Phase 3 clinical trials have shown the vaccine to be 92% effective against Covid-19, "based on 20 confirmed Covid-19 cases split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo."

The Phase 3 trial is yet to be completed and will continue for six more months. Scientists have reacted to the early Phase 3 data with caution, especially as Russia's claims are based on just 20 cases.

Moscow drew criticism from scientific circles when it announced the world's first approved coronavirus vaccine for public use in August -- even before the crucial Phase 3 trials had been completed.

Northern Ireland's weeks-long "circuit breaker" lockdown has been partially extended by a further week after the nation reported one of its highest pandemic death counts on Thursday. 

The lockdown began on October 16 and was due to end completely on November 20.

As of Friday the country's hospitality sector and close contact services have been closed for four weeks.

Shops, essential services and schools have remained open during the lockdown.

Circuit breakers are short, strict lockdowns designed to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases in a brief amount of time.

The Northern Irish government said Friday that the restrictions will be "extended and come to an end at midnight on November 26, leaving all elements of hospitality including hotels able to open on November 27.”

But some hospitality venues will be allowed to partially reopen from November 20.

The government statement said hospitality would reopen on a gradual basis, with "unlicensed premises such as cafes and coffee shops” reopening from November 20 with restricted hours.

Fifteen Covid-19 deaths were registered in Northern Ireland on November 12. The country has reported a total of 45,241 cases and 825 deaths.

November has already proven crippling for American communities battling Covid-19 spikes in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Experts warn it will likely get worse before it gets better.

For the tenth day in a row, the US has reported more than 100,000 infections. On Thursday, with its highest number yet at more than 153,000 new infections, the country inched closer to what one expert predicted could soon become a devastating reality -- 200,000 cases a day.

Two states this week surpassed one million total Covid-19 infections. For the third consecutive day, the country set a record for hospitalizations, which now total more than 67,000.

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India will celebrate its biggest festival, Diwali, this weekend, as it battles the world's second-highest coronavirus caseload and enters its annual air pollution season.

Experts fear those factors combined could lead to a surge in coronavirus cases, especially in the capital where infections are already rising rapidly.

Diwali is the five-day Hindu festival of lights, and beginning on Saturday, friends and family will come together to feast, set off fireworks and light colorful lamps. For many of the country's 1.3 billion people, it's the most important festival of the year and is equivalent in importance to Christmas in many Western countries.

But this year, it's being held during a global pandemic.

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People in England with learning disabilities died from Covid-19 at a far higher rate than the general population, according to new research from Public Health England (PHE).

Researchers at the agency examined data from The English Learning Disabilities Mortality Review (LeDeR) as well as data on deaths in hospital settings from NHS England.

They found that 451 people per 100,000 who had a learning disability died with Covid-19 in the spring wave. The deaths were recorded between March 21 and June 5.

That death rate is 4.1 times higher than that of the general population, but PHE said Friday that the real rate may be up to 6.3 times higher, as not all deaths are registered in the two databases used.

People with learning disabilities are more likely to have other physical health problems, including obesity and diabetes, PHE said Friday. People with underlying health conditions are most at risk from coronavirus.

"Certain kinds of learning disability, such as Down’s syndrome, can make people more vulnerable to respiratory infections, which can increase their risk of dying from Covid-19," the PHE statement said.

Among people with learning disabilities, those in residential care had a higher death rate from Covid-19. PHE noted that this difference was likely to reflect "the greater age and disability" of those in care, at least in part.

The UK's care homes were also hit hard by coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic, a fact which has since caused public outcry.

"There are now regular tests in care homes to make sure cases of coronavirus can be quickly identified and isolated, even if people do not recognise the symptoms themselves," Newton said, adding that it remained essential to practice rigorous infection control.

British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe has died in hospital aged 74 after contracting Covid-19, the UK Ministry of Justice said Friday.

Nicknamed the “Yorkshire Ripper” by UK press, Sutcliffe was convicted in 1981 for murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others throughout the 1970s across the North of England. He was serving a whole life term.

He had been suffering from underlying health conditions prior to testing positive for Covid-19, but the Prison Service could not confirm the cause of death as that is “rightly a matter for the coroner.” 

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP (Her Majesty’s Prison) Frankland prisoner Peter Coonan (born Sutcliffe) died in hospital on 13 November. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.”

Russia recorded 21,983 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the highest number of infections it has reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the country’s coronavirus response center. 

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Russia as of November 13 is 1,880,551 with an official death toll of 32,443.

The previous highest daily caseload was recorded on November 9, with 21,798 infections.

Some of the world’s largest generic drug manufacturers have pledged to help deliver potential Covid-19 treatments to low- and middle-income countries that otherwise might not have the same access as wealthier nations, according to the non-profit Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).

The executive director of MPP, Charles Gore, said the agreement is a “breakthrough” and represents “unprecedented cooperation” from 18 companies that are traditionally competitors.

 The drug makers have pledged to produce large volumes of potentially life-saving Covid-19 therapies, when and if they become available to those in need, MPP said in a statement.

The generic drug makers that have pledged to help are: Adcock Ingram, Arene, Aurobindo, Beximco, Celltrion, Desano, Emcure, Hetero, Langhua Pharma, Laurus Labs, Lupin, Macleods, Mangalam, Micro Labs, Natco, Strides Shasun, Sun Pharma, Zydus Cadila.

So far, the only authorized therapies available to treat Covid-19 in the United States are Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody treatment, the antiviral remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone.