New Jersey reports more than 6,000 new Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Laura Ly
Healthcare workers administer Covid-19 tests at Bergen Community College in Paramus, New Jersey on December 3. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
New Jersey reported 6,046 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, marking a new record for the highest new daily case count for the state since the pandemic began, according to Gov. Phil Murphy.
The previous all-time high was recorded on Friday. To date, New Jersey has reported 368,016 total cases of Covid-19, state data showed.
The deaths of 16 more New Jersey residents due to Covid-19 was announced on Sunday, bringing the state’s death toll to 15,485.
There are currently 3,214 hospitalizations with 622 patients in intensive care, according to the state’s Covid-19 data dashboard.
To note: These numbers were released by the state of New Jersey, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
10:50 a.m. ET, December 6, 2020
Democratic senator says there could be a stimulus agreement "as early as tomorrow"
From CNN's Lindy Royce
Sen. Mark Warner speaks alongside a bipartisan group of Democrat and Republican members of Congress on Capitol Hill on December 1 in Washington, DC. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, told CNN there could be an agreement on a stimulus bill as early as Monday.
Warner, who is part of a bipartisan group of eight senators hashing out a compromise on a stimulus bill, said they are close to an agreement.
“I think we have got the top line numbers done. We are working right now on language so that we can have – as early as tomorrow – a piece of legislation," he said.
The Democratic Senator from Virginia says it will be a four-month emergency relief package with a $908 billion price tag.
The agreement “will give targeted relief for the unemployed; for people in food insecurity; rental assistance; small businesses that have run out of their PP funds and additional funds to those minority businesses that have been extraordinarily hit hard,” Warner said.
“We put additional assistance in finally for broadband, which we all know is an academic necessity and additional dollars around the vaccine distribution; assistance for hospitals," he added.
Warner predicts, despite the fact that neither Republicans nor Democrats are getting everything they would like in the bill, there will be enough votes to support passage of the measure.
“I have pretty high assurance that it would get way beyond 60 votes," he said.
10:56 a.m. ET, December 6, 2020
Scientific advisor hopes for a significant decrease in mortality in the elderly by end of January
From CNN Health’s Naomi Thomas
Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific advisor for Operation Warp Speed, speaks with CNN on Sunday, December 6. CNN
Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific advisor for Operation Warp Speed, told CNN on Sunday that he is hopeful that by the end of January, there should be a “quite significant” decrease in morbidity and mortality associate with the elderly population.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its advisory committee, ACIP, have recommended that the vaccine be used in health care workers and those in long term care facilities, Slaoui said, adding that, unfortunately, about 40 to 50% of deaths are happening in the elderly population in care homes.
“We should be able to have immunized that full population, and the healthcare workers that take care of them by the end of the month of December or by the middle of the month of January,” he said.
The vaccine efficacy as it has been seen, he said, “actually starts reasonably quickly” after the first dose and is then maintained further with the second dose.
“Therefore I’m hopeful that by the end of the month of January, we should already see quite a significant decrease in the mortality and severe morbidity associated in the elderly population” said Slaoui.
He added that there are many other people who have comorbidities that live outside these facilities and that it will take more time to immunize them.
“By the month, the middle of the month of March, we should have really covered most of the highly susceptible population, about 100 million people,” Slaoui said.
10:04 a.m. ET, December 6, 2020
Operation Warp Speed official praises Biden's plan for Americans to mask up for 100 days
From CNN Health’s Naomi Thomas
Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific advisor for Operation Warp Speed, told CNN that he thinks President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to ask all Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office is a good idea.
“I think it’s a good idea, it’s never too late,” Slaoui said. “This pandemic is ravaging the country.”
Slaoui said that everyone needs to take precautions, wear masks, wash their hands, keep their distance and “remain aware that this virus is a killer.”
“We have a vaccine, there is light at the end of the tunnel but we will not all have the vaccine in our arms before May or June so we need to be very cautious and vigilant,” he added.
More background: Biden told CNN on Thursday that he will ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days after he takes office, in a sign of how Biden's approach to the virus will be dramatically different from President Trump's response.
"Just 100 days to mask, not forever. One hundred days. And I think we'll see a significant reduction," Biden said Thursday.
9:11 a.m. ET, December 6, 2020
UK to have 4 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by end of year
From CNN's Mia Alberti and Niamh Kennedy
Specialist Covid-19 vaccine freezers in a secure location, awaiting distribution of the vaccines to the NHS. Public Health England
Health officials in the United Kingdom expect to have up to 4 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine available by the end of December.
The UK became the first Western country to authorize a Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, marking a pivotal moment in the global fight against coronavirus.
"We know the first batch of 800,000 [doses] is making its way to the country now... and we are expecting in the low millions, so up to 4 million doses, to be with us by the end of December," Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers told Sky News on Sunday.
Vaccinations to begin next week: The health official said 50 hospital hubs across the UK have already received their allocation of the vaccine, and that the distribution of the vaccine is "really well underway now." Covid-19 vaccinations are set to begin on Tuesday in England, Wales and Scotland.
The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people or one-third of the UK population.
“Despite the huge complexities, hospitals will kickstart the first phase of the largest scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history from Tuesday. The first tranche of vaccine deliveries will be landing at hospitals by Monday in readiness," professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, said in a news release on Sunday.
"Robust" authorization process: Cordery also addressed concerns regarding the safety of the jab, saying its "authorization and approval process has been incredibly robust."
"Yes, it has been shorter than other vaccine approval processes, but that's because everything all has been thrown at this all in one go, rather than the much more bureaucratic process we've been seeing with other vaccine approvals where perhaps the need has been less pressing," she added.
The head of Britain's medicines regulator also put out assurances on Sunday, saying the Pfizer/BioNTech jab is "as safe as any general vaccine."
"My main message is that the safety profile of the Covid-19 vaccine is really no different than any other vaccine -- you might have a mild symptom but it will probably disappear in a day or two, and nothing at all of serious nature," June Raine, head of the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), told the BBC.
Raine also explained health officials will carefully monitor people after having the vaccine.
7:43 a.m. ET, December 6, 2020
They couldn't say goodbye in person, so ICU patients are using tablets instead
From CNN's Giulia Heyward and Douglas S. Wood
Some hospitals are stocking enough iPads to rival a modest Apple store. But the reason for this reflects a grim reality: They're being used to connect Covid-19 patients with their families -- sometimes, for the last conversation they'll ever have.
When Dr. Mark Shapiro posted about a patient saying goodbye to his family via an iPad, he wanted to communicate to others the severity of this pandemic.
"As the ICU (intensive care unit) team makes ready, there's a key step we mustn't forget," Shapiro, who is a hospitalist at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in California, wrote on Twitter. "At first he says "No," but we encourage him. The nurse brings in the iPad. With the last air in his shattered lungs, he says goodbye to his family. Over an internet connection."
Hospitals have been overwhelmed by the thousands of patients coming in every day after contracting coronavirus. Across the US, there's been a shortage of hospital supplies for medical staff and beds for patients.
And the contagious nature of the illness has forced hospitals to limit, and often forbid, visitation rights to mitigate its spread. The latest solution has been the implementation of iPad stations and other virtual technology so patients can communicate with their friends and family -- often, for the last time.
1 million new coronavirus cases have been added to the US total -- in just 5 days
From CNN's Madeline Holcombe
People come to be tested for Covid-19 at a test site at Bergen Community College in Paramus, New Jersey, on December 3. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
After the first cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the United States on January 20, it took almost 100 days to reach 1 million infections. Now, the country has added more than 1 million cases to its grim total in just five days.
The month of November registered frightening peaks in the daily number of new coronavirus cases -- reaching 100,000 for the first time, as well as spikes in hospitalizations and deaths. On the second day of December, more than 200,000 new cases were reported for the previous 24 hours.
A grim prognosis: And as the impacts of Thanksgiving travel and gatherings begin to reveal themselves, and hospitals fill to capacity, experts say it is likely to get worse.
"Every single day, thousands more people are getting this virus, and we know that means that in a few days, in a week, hundreds of people are going to be coming to the hospital and hundreds of people are going to die," Dr. Shirlee Xie, a hospitalist and associate director of hospital medicine for Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, told CNN's Ana Cabrera, her voice breaking with emotion.
"I think that sometimes when you hear statistics like that, you become numb to what those numbers mean," she said. "But for us, the people that are taking care of these patients, every single number is somebody that we have to look at and say, 'I'm sorry, there's nothing more I can do for you.'"
More than 100,000 Covid-19 patients have been hospitalized nationwide for the past four days, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
South Korea to toughen distancing measures as coronavirus cases continue to rise
From CNN's Jake Kwon in Seoul
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo speaks during a meeting of the Central Disease Control Headquarters at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, on July 20. YONHAP/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
South Korea's Minister of Health Park Neung-hoo announced the country will raise its social distancing measures from this Tuesday, as the capital city area has entered a "widespread stage."
South Korea was widely praised as a Covid-19 success story, and had managed to keep the pandemic largely under control.
But there are now more active Covid-19 cases in South Korea than at any other point through the pandemic, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
Pandemic is on the brink of spreading: The Seoul Metropolitan Area will enter the fourth-highest level of social distancing restrictions in a five-level system for three weeks starting on Tuesday at 12 a.m. local time, Park said Sunday.
Park noted that past distancing measures had not yielded a clear result and that the pandemic is at the brink of spreading to the rest of the country.
There are currently 7,873 Covid-19 patients in the country, which has recorded a total of 37,546 cases and 545 deaths since the pandemic began.
Seoul restrictions: From Tuesday in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, gatherings including those at weddings and funerals must not exceed 50 people. Karaoke businesses and gyms must close, and spectators will be banned at sports events.
Hair salons and movie theatres must close after 9 p.m. The government will strongly recommend private businesses transition to work from home so only one-third of workers are in the workplace.
Masks mandatory as Covid-19 hospital beds could run out: In the rest of the country, masks will become mandatory in all indoor facilities, and gatherings must not exceed 100 people. Bars and clubs will be closed, and restaurants will only be allowed to serve takeout and deliveries past 9 p.m.
If the current trend persists, beds dedicated to critical care of Covid-19 patients will run out in about a week, Park said. Park said the health authority will work to secure more critical care beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients from 177 beds currently, to 274 beds by December 15.
"We are no longer recommending refraining from having gatherings. Please cancel all of them and reduce all activity for these three weeks," Park said.
5:59 a.m. ET, December 6, 2020
Tokyo records highest daily spike in Covid-19 cases
From CNN’s Junko Ogura in Tokyo
Tokyo reported its highest daily increase in Covid-19 infections on Saturday, with 584 new cases, according to Japan’s Health Ministry.
On Saturday, 2,514 new Covid-19 cases and 32 deaths were registered throughout the country.
The southwestern city of Osaka recorded 399 new cases, its fifth straight day with more than 300 new infections.
The number of people suffering severe symptoms is rising in Japan, with 520 people currently in intensive care.
There have been 160,810 Covid-19 cases reported in Japan and at least 2,318 people have died of the virus.