December 1 coronavirus news

Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called an emergency meeting for today to vote on who they recommend should be the first to get a coronavirus vaccine once one is authorized.

What officials have said so far: The CDC has already recommended that the first group — designated as 1a — should include frontline health providers and support personnel. 

The 1a group likely should also include residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, who have been badly hit by the pandemic, the CDC has said.

Remember: There are not going to be enough vaccines for everyone at first, so choices have to be made.

The CDC estimates there are 21 million healthcare personnel, 87 million essential workers, 100 million adults with high-risk medical conditions and 53 million others 65 and older.

The federal government has said 40 million coronavirus vaccine doses could be available by the end of December.

In November, 47 US states saw growth in new Covid-19 cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

Looking at the seven-day average of new cases for each state on November 1 and comparing that to November 30, only three states saw a decline in average cases over the last month:

The other 47 states and Washington, DC all saw an increase in their seven-day average of new cases over the month, according to JHU.

November cases: The US added a total of 4,408,176 new coronavirus infections -- or nearly 33% of all Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began, the JHU data shows.

Hospitalizations: Thirty-four states and one US territory reported at least one record-high day of Covid-19 hospitalizations last month, according to The Covid Tracking Project. They were: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.  

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has urged the new Biden-Harris administration "to devote an additional $20 billion to the fight against COVID-19 globally" in its first 100 days.

This money will help "stem the immediate impact of the virus on lives and livelihoods amongst the world's most vulnerable," according to Elinor Raikes, regional vice president and head of program delivery at ICR, in a statement released Tuesday.

"President-Elect Biden must take urgent and expansive action to reverse these devastating trends, returning the US to global humanitarian leadership and galvanizing the international community into much-needed humanitarian action," Raikes added.

Ventilator use is up by almost 50% in Miami-Dade County in Florida and the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care has risen by 35% in the last two weeks, according to the county’s Covid-19 dashboard.

County records show 795 patients are currently hospitalized in Miami-Dade County, a 37% increase.

Florida is reporting that 4,162 patients are hospitalized state-wide, according to its Agency for Health Care Administration -- a 28% increase in the past two weeks, per data compiled by The Covid Tracking Project. 

A record-high 96,039 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in the US as of Monday evening, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday told reporters that the intensive care unit bed capacity in the state might reach 112% by Christmas Eve, if the trend of surging infections continues.

In Rhode Island, officials prepared to use field hospitals after telling residents their systems were already at capacity.

As the process of trialing and approving the multiple Covid-19 vaccines continues across the world, here's the latest on when they're expected to be available, and where:

North America:

BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna have both submitted requests for emergency use authorization to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their vaccine candidates. The FDA has called meetings of its advisers for December 10 to discuss Pfizer’s application and December 17 to discuss Moderna’s. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday that meant it’s possible people could begin receiving vaccines by Christmas. Pfizer has also initiated a rolling submission in Canada.

Europe:

Pfizer and Moderna submitted applications of their Covid-19 vaccine to the European Medicines Agency today that could enable their use before the end of the year. Pfizer also formally reported its data to the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The UK government has referred the vaccine candidate from AstraZeneca and Oxford University to the national medicines regulator for assessment on Friday, but questions over some of its data could delay the rollout.

South America

Several Covid-19 vaccines are undergoing clinical trials in Brazil, which has the second-highest number of virus deaths worldwide and the third-highest number of total cases. The Oxford/AstraZeneca trial has been conducted with the support of the Ministry of Health and public health federal research institute Fiocruz. Elcio Franco, the ministry's executive secretary, said the public may have access to that vaccine by January. Venezuela is taking part in Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine candidate's Phase 3 clinical trials, and Peru and Argentina in Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm's Phase 3 trials.

Asia-Pacific

Pfizer and BioNTech have initiated rolling submissions in Australia and Japan. Almost a million people have been given an experimental vaccine developed by Sinopharm as part of an emergency-use program authorized by Beijing, the Chinese pharmaceutical giant's chairman said. In June, Chinese company CanSino Biologics announced it had been given special authorization to administer its experimental vaccine to the People's Liberation Army. India is preparing to distribute "hundreds of millions of doses" of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in the first and second quarter of 2021, drug manufacturer Serum Institute of India's CEO Adar Poonawalla said at a news conference on Saturday. SII will apply for an emergency use license from India's drug authority in the next two weeks.

Middle East:

Sinopharm has carried out Phase 3 trials in 10 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt -- but it is not clear whether that means they will be first in line to receive the vaccine. Phase 3 trials for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine are also taking place in the UAE. Israel began the first phase of clinical trials earlier this month for vaccine candidate BriLife, developed at the Israel Institute for Biological Research. Phase 3 is expected to begin in April or May.

Africa:

Vaccinations against Covid-19 might not start in Africa until the middle of next year, the head of the continent’s centers for disease control John Nkengasong said Thursday.   Pfizer and Moderna's early supply of vaccines will be tied up in the US and Europe. AstraZeneca is the only company that has announced Phase 3 trial results that has so far promised to supply doses to Covax, the vaccine initiative that will roll it out in many low- and middle-income countries. It will do so on a non-profit basis. Current modelling suggests it could take until September 2023 for vaccines to reach all countries.

A record 235 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection next year, "a near-40% increase on 2020 which is almost entirely from COVID-19,” the UN’s emergency relief chief Mark Lowcock said statement Tuesday.

This number has risen to 1 in 33 people worldwide, a significant increase from 1 in 45 registered at the same time last year, which was already the highest figure in decades, the UN Global Humanitarian Overview 2021 reported.  

The global health crisis has "dramatically" impacted people already reeling from conflict, record levels of displacement and climate change shocks, Lowcock said, adding that this was “the bleakest and darkest perspective on humanitarian needs in the period ahead that we have ever set out"

He said that was a reflection of the fact that the pandemic "has wreaked carnage across the whole of the most fragile and vulnerable countries on the planet.”

Echoing Lowcock’s call for global solidarity, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the world to “stand with people in their darkest hour of need,” as the global pandemic continues to worsen, the statement reads.

A Texas doctor who was pictured cradling a distraught Covid-19 patient on Thanksgiving has spoken of the isolation of his elderly patients and pleaded with people to "do the basic things" to avoid infection.

Hospitalizations from Covid-19 reached another record high across the US Monday, with officials across several states expressing concern that health care facilities would be overwhelmed.

Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, told CNN's New Day on Monday that he had worked for 256 days nonstop in the pandemic so far and was frustrated by people not doing the right thing as coronavirus patients continue to fill his hospital beds.

He said the man he had been consoling had just wanted to see his family, but would not be able to see his wife until he tested negative and could be discharged.

Some 96,039 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized across the US as of Monday evening, according to the Covid Tracking Project and the virus's toll continues to climb.

Read the full story here:

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BioNTech and Pfizer have submitted an application of their Covid-19 vaccine to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that could enable its use before the end of the year, according to a news release. 

This submission completes a rolling review process that began on October 6. The vaccine candidate will now be assessed according to EMA’s normal stringent standards for quality, safety and efficacy, the drug makers said.

Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said it was an important step "as we continue to seek to enable a worldwide supply upon potential approval" of the vaccine.

Earlier this month, BioNTech and drug giant Pfizer submitted their mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidate to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The companies have now submitted to the EMA, FDA and UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, and have initiated rolling submissions in countries including Australia, Canada and Japan.

Drugmaker Moderna yesterday announced it will become the second pharmaceutical company to apply to the FDA for emergency use authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine.

The Dutch government is mandating the use of of face masks in all publicly accessible, covered places from today.

The mandate applies in stores, public transportation (including platforms), barbers, and schools (though not primary schools).

Those who do not adhere to the mandate face the possibility of a 95 euro ($114) fine.

The mandate does not apply to children under 13 years old, or to buildings not accessible to the general public and places of worship.