December 9 coronavirus news

Germany recorded 590 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, its highest single-day total of the pandemic, according to the country's disease control and prevention center, the Robert Koch Institute.

Tuesday's figure represents a daily increase of 167 deaths from the day before. Germany’s previous high was 487 confirmed deaths, reported on Dec. 2, according to RKI.

Germany is struggling to contain a surge in new coronavirus infections. RKI reported 20,815 new cases on Wednesday, around 3,500 more than the same day of the previous week.

The total tally of Covid-19 infections in the country is now 1,218,524 and at least 19,932 people have died, the public health agency's data showed. 

Tougher restrictions: Several German states will tighten lockdown measures to try to get the situation under control. The southeastern state of Saxony will go into what officials there call a “hard lockdown” next week, closing most shops and moving schools to online classes.

The United States reported 215,586 new coronavirus cases and 2,534 virus-related deaths on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The nationwide totals currently stand at 15,164,886 confirmed infections and at least 286,229 fatalities, per JHU's tally.

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

See CNN's tracker:

RELATED

Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US

In the United Kingdom, people are getting Pfizer's Covid vaccine. The idea that we've officially entered the vaccine stage of this thing in the Western Hemisphere actually made me do a fist pump this morning. This is huge.

The process looks very organized in the UK, where they're converting sports stadiums to vaccine delivery locations for the masses. That is in part because in the UK they have the National Health Service, which means structure for everyone, ultimately, to get stuck. (Prime Minister Boris Johnson is waiting for his place in line, he said today.)

Here in the US, there is second-guessing of a Trump administration decision not to buy more vaccine from Pfizer, which is first out of the gate in the UK. It's also likely to be first in the US, but did not take part in all of Operation Warp Speed, the US vaccine effort. (Note: A former board member for Moderna, a Pfizer competitor, leads Operation Warp Speed.)

And there is no clear idea who will get the vaccine when in the US, although an executive order should be coming from President Donald Trump on that.

Here, there's a profit motive to health care and it's not clear to me that everyone will get a dose for free. It's also not clear who will want to take it. An administration official said Monday that by the end of March, 100 million Americans could have a vaccination -- everyone who wants it. There are more than 300 million people in this country.

Read the full analysis:

RELATED

Analysis: Yes, there's a vaccine, but not enough to go around

Japan will send doctors and nurses from other prefectures to Osaka and Hokkaido, both of which have been hit hard by Covid-19, to help with the strain on medical staff, the National Governors' Association has announced.

The association said 46 nurses from several prefectures will be sent to Osaka and Hokkaido to help fight Covid-19.

The Ministry of Health on Monday also began sending 60 medical personnel to the areas to assist and on Tuesday, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi ordered the Japan Self-Defense Forces to send nurses to the coronavirus hotspot of Asahikawa city, Hokkaido to help deal with a surge in infections.

More than 70% of hospital beds are occupied in Osaka, with 160 people in critical condition on respirators, according to Osaka's prefectural government. The prefecture reported 258 new cases on Tuesday, bringing its total to 22,993. 

Hokkaido reported 204 new cases and nine deaths from Tuesday. Asahikawa city reported a record daily increase with 50 new cases and six new deaths.

Nationwide, Japan reported 2,154 new coronavirus infections and 38 deaths from Tuesday. The country's total number of cases stands at 166,552, including 2,433 fatalities.

The US Food and Drug Administration is warning against wearing face masks with metal parts during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams after a patient experienced facial burns.

The agency issued a safety communication Tuesday alerting patients and health care providers about the potential dangers.

The injury occurred during a scan of the neck.

“The report describes burns to the patient’s face consistent with the shape of the face mask,” the FDA said.

Some face masks, such as surgical or non-surgical masks and respirators, contain metal parts and coatings. Metal parts can include nose pieces, also called nose clips or wires, nanoparticles or antimicrobial coating that might contain silver or copper.

The metals can heat up during an MRI and burn the patient.

“Burns from metal objects worn by a patient during an MRI exam are a known issue and patients should not wear any metal during an MRI,” the agency said, but given the coronavirus pandemic, the FDA is urging patients to wear masks during an MRI.

The FDA is urging health care workers to make sure patients are wearing masks that do not have metal components during MRIs. 

Magnetic resonance imaging uses strong magnets and radio waves to take internal pictures of the body. MRIs help health care providers diagnose an injury or disease and monitor medical treatment, the FDA said.

China is resuming operations on two cruise lines to a group of disputed islands in the South China Sea following nearly a year of suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

South China Sea Dream, a ship run by Nanhai Cruises, will sail to the Paracel Islands from Sanya, Hainan on Wednesday. The trip is not open to foreign travelers.

Chang'le Princess, a Hainan Strait Shipping ship, will also start sailing again to the Paracels. It's resuming operations from Sanya with a chartered event on Thursday that will be formally open to domestic tourists from Dec. 15.

Competing claims in the South China Sea: Beijing has opened the Paracel Islands -- known as the Xisha Islands in China -- to domestic tourists since 2013, as a way to exercise its maritime claims in the disputed area. Both Vietnam and Taiwan also lay claim to the islands and have protested China's activities in the area.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister Kim Yo Jong has accused South Korea's foreign minister of making "reckless remarks" on the emergency anti-epidemic measures in North Korea, adding that she "might have to pay dearly for it."

Kim also accused South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha of speaking "without any consideration of the consequences."

Kim's statement, her first in public for several months, was made on the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday.

What did Kang say? The South Korean foreign minister's comments about the coronavirus situation in North Korea were made on Dec. 5 at a conference in Bahrain hosted by the International Institute For Strategic Studies.

North Korea has said it doesn't have any confirmed Covid-19 cases but many experts are doubtful. The country closed its borders in January and raised its anti-epidemic measures to the highest level again on Dec. 2, according to the KCNA.

In late November, South Korea’s spy agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered executions of at least two people due to Covid-19 and economic pressure, according to a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the country's spy agency.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday laid out his three-point plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic, an approach in dealing with the virus that continues to contrast with President Donald Trump.

The plan, announced as he introduced the team he has designed to get the pandemic under control, would aim to get at least 100 million Americans vaccinated in his initial 100 days in office, his pledge to sign a face mask mandate on his first day in office and efforts to get kids back to school safely.

Biden's plan came the same day that Trump signed a largely symbolic executive order aimed at prioritizing the shipment of the coronavirus vaccine to Americans before other nations.

Last week, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, the President-elect said he will ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days after he takes office.

Read the full story:

RELATED

Biden details plan to combat coronavirus pandemic in first 100 days

The United States reported 104,600 Covid-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

According to CTP data, these are the highest hospitalization numbers: