November 17 coronavirus news

The World Health Organization's chief scientist said Monday that she was encouraged by early results suggesting Moderna's vaccine was nearly 95% effective, but that questions remain.

Moderna is the second vaccine in the US to have a stunningly high success rate. BioNTech and Pfizer announced last week that their jointly developed vaccine was more than 90% effective.

One of the major differences between the two vaccines is the temperature at which they must be stored, which will have a big impact on their distribution. Pfizer's vaccine has to be kept at minus 75 degrees Celsius — or about minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Moderna's vaccine can be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius, which is about minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

The coronavirus situation in Germany remains "serious, even very serious," Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday, adding that restricting contact between people was one of the toughest decisions she has had to make in office.

Speaking at an economic forum hosted by the German daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Merkel warned that 2021 was going to be "demanding."

The Chancellor also spoke about the vaccine jointly developed by German company BioNTech and American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which was shown to be more than 90% effective in early data released by the drugmakers last week. Merkel said she was happy to have vaccines that are making progress.

People in Austria will be banned from leaving their houses apart from a few specific reasons as the country imposes stricter lockdown measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 from Tuesday.

Here's what the restrictions mean:

The stricter lockdown measures are scheduled to run until December 6, according to the Interior Ministry.

Austria has reported more than 208,000 coronavirus cases, including 1,887 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Health authorities in Adelaide, South Australia have ordered 4,000 people into quarantine as the Australian state fights a new coronavirus outbreak.

South Australia reported five new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of the latest cluster to 21. More than 6,000 tests were conducted Tuesday, according to the state's Premier Steven Marshall.

The cases are all considered to be linked to a worker in a medi-hotel, where international arrivals into Adelaide are required to quarantine for 14 days.

The cluster broke South Australia's seven-month run without local transmission.

There are currently 34 active cases in the state, including imported cases.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued revised guidance on Monday for women who are breastfeeding while they have suspected or confirmed Covid-19, saying breast milk is "not a likely source of infection."

Previously, the CDC had said it was not known whether mothers could transmit the virus via breast milk.

In the latest guidance, the agency said a woman with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 should follow guidelines on home quarantine or isolation. The child being breastfed should be considered a close contact and be quarantined during the parent's recommended period of home isolation and for 14 days thereafter.

The guidelines also suggest precautions while breastfeeding for those with suspected or confirmed Covid-19:

If the mother prefers not to breast feed or bottle feed their child while sick, the CDC said a healthy caregiver who is not at risk for severe illness from Covid-19 may feed expressed breast milk to the child.

If the child has suspected or confirmed Covid-19, the agency recommends mothers wear masks while breastfeeding and wash hands frequently.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against using blood from people who have received experimental vaccine shots when taking convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus patients.

The FDA also extended the enforcement discretion for its emergency use authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma through the end of February. 

Some context: The agency issued an EUA in August for the use of blood plasma from people who have recovered from coronavirus infections to treat hospitalized patients with Covid-19. Their plasma is filled with antibodies against the virus and can kickstart a patient’s immune response -- although the levels of antibodies and other immune compounds varies depending on the donor. 

The limbs of a lifeless body hang off a stretcher in a hospital ward as coronavirus patients battle for their lives just a few feet away. An elderly woman gasps for breath, her desperate panting a grim soundtrack to one of many disturbing cell-phone videos emerging from hospitals across Russia.

"This is how our nights look: horrifying," says a male voice narrating the footage, given to CNN by a prominent opposition-linked Russian doctors' union, "Doctors' Alliance," which says it was recorded in mid-October by a hospital staff member in Ulyanovsk, a city around 500 miles east of Moscow.

This grisly video is just one of several obtained by CNN that reveal appalling conditions inside overcrowded facilities. Some footage shows morgues with bodies, stripped naked, piled on top of each other on grimy floors, in scenes that look like war zones more than hospitals.

As Russia struggles to get the pandemic under control, the videos are one of several signs pointing to an actual death toll far higher than official figures suggest.

Russia says as of November 16 more than 33,000 people have died of Covid-19. But that number is disputed by critics who say the Kremlin is underreporting the numbers.

Read the full story:

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How bad is Russia's Covid crisis? Packed morgues and excess deaths tell a darker story than official numbers suggest

The United States reported 166,045 new Covid-19 cases and 995 additional virus-related deaths on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US has now recorded at least 11,202,980 cases, including 247,202 fatalities.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

CNN is tracking US Covid-19 cases:

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Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US

The Seoul Metropolitan Area will strengthen social distancing rules from Thursday, South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, as the country reported more than 200 Covid-19 cases for a third consecutive day.

Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said at the same briefing that unlike previous waves of infections, recent trends show small but numerous clusters occurring in restaurants and gatherings.

The city’s social distancing measures have now been upgraded to level 1.5, the second highest of five levels. The new rules include:

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Moon Jae-in acknowledged the negative impact of these measures on small businesses, but urged the public to cooperate.

South Korea recorded 230 new Covid-19 cases for Monday, of which 137 cases were found in Seoul. The country has recorded a total of 28,998 cases and 494 deaths, according to the Health Ministry.