January 3 coronavirus news

A phone line set up for members of the public to schedule vaccination appointments in Houston was temporarily overwhelmed Saturday after it was inundated with hundreds of thousands of calls.

Around 250,000 people called the Houston Health Department Covid-19 call center to make an appointment to receive the Moderna vaccine, according to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The high volume of calls led to technical issues forcing the health department to switch to an on-site appointment system. The call center has since re-opened, according to Turner.

The State of Texas' distribution plan prioritizes people 65 and older and people 16 and older who have at least one chronic medical condition, putting them at increased risk. 

The United States has now surpassed 350,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

So far today the US has reported 2,398 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 350,186 deaths, according to JHU.

Saudi Arabia will lift a ban on travelers first put in place following the identification of a new Covid-19 variant in the United Kingdom last month, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

Air and sea travel will resume on Sunday, January 3, according to SPA, which said that travelers from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and other countries where the variant has been detected will need to have been out of those countries for 14 days and present a negative PCR test to enter Saudi Arabia.

New Zealand will require all travelers from the United States and the United Kingdom to obtain a negative Covid-19 test result before departing for the country, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Sunday.

The new measures, which will be implemented from January 15, will "provide another layer of protection for New Zealand from Covid-19," the ministry said.

Currently, passengers arriving from both countries are required to be tested within 24 hours of their arrival, it added.

As of Saturday night Eastern Time, New Zealand has reported 2,162 Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Universi ty.

Talk show host and former CNN interviewer Larry King has Covid-19, according to a source close to the family.

King, 87, has been hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for more than a week, the source said. Due to protocols at the hospital, King's three sons have been unable to visit him, according to the source.

King, who has Type 2 diabetes, has confronted a series of medical issues over the years, including several heart attacks and quintuple bypass surgery in 1987. In 2017, King revealed he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and successfully underwent surgery to treat it. He also underwent a procedure in 2019 to address angina.

His own medical issues inspired him to start the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, a non-profit aimed at helping those without health insurance afford medical care.

King hosted CNN's "Larry King Live" for 25 years, interviewing presidential candidates, celebrities, athletes, movie stars and everyday people. He retired in 2010 after taping more than 6,000 episodes of the show.

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Larry King has been hospitalized with Covid-19

Five people have been arrested and more than 1,000 fines have been issued after an illegal New Year's rave in the French countryside ended on Saturday, local authorities said.

More than 2,500 partygoers attended the illegal party in the region of Brittany in France, despite the government's strict coronavirus restrictions and a national night-time curfew.

About 1,600 fines were issued as of Saturday following the rave, which started on Thursday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said via his official Twitter profile.

Trucks, sound systems and generators have been seized and Gendarmes officers "are continuing their investigation and checks so that this illegal event is harshly sanctioned," Darmanin added.

Of the 1,200 fines, 800 are related to coronavirus restrictions, Emmanuel Berthier, prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine, said.

Up to 20 vehicles including trucks which may be carrying sound equipment managed to escape the police block, Sauvegrain added.

"There is a judicial investigation which will allow us to identify the main perpetrators and to arrest them," Sauvegrain added.

Local police said they had tried to shut down the rave, but "faced violent hostility," with a police vehicle set on fire, other vehicles damaged, and soldiers sprayed with bottles and stones, causing minor injuries.

"No new violence" occurred since Thursday, a Gendarmerie Nationale spokesperson told CNN on Saturday, adding that partygoers were "leaving the premises voluntarily."

Local authorities said the number of partygoers was "estimated at 2,500, coming from different French departments and from abroad."

A national curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. has been in place since December

Mixing Covid-19 vaccines is not recommended, Public Health England’s Head of Immunisations Dr. Mary Ramsay said Saturday, after government guidance was updated this week to say the interchangeability of Covid-19 vaccines was a "reasonable" option.

“There may be extremely rare occasions where the same vaccine is not available, or where it is not known what vaccine the patient received. Every effort should be made to give them the same vaccine, but where this is not possible it is better to give a second dose of another vaccine than not at all,” she added.

Ramsay clarified the UK’s position on vaccine mixing after an update to the government’s vaccine playbook on Dec. 31. 

What did the updated guidance say? Thursday's guidance said if the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, “it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule."

“This option is preferred if the individual is likely to be at immediate high risk or is considered unlikely to attend again,” it added.

Which vaccines are the UK using? The UK authorized emergency use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on December 2 and the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine on Dec. 30.

The guidance recommends both vaccines to be administered in two doses, a minimum of 21 days apart for Pfizer/BioNTech and 28 days apart for AstraZeneca, with longer term protection provided by the second inoculation.

UK guidelines contradict US approach: The updated UK guidance contradicts guidelines in the United States for the two vaccines it has authorized, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that the authorized Covid-19 vaccines “are not interchangeable with each other or with other Covid-19 vaccine products,” and that “the safety and efficacy of a mixed-product series have not been evaluated. Both doses of the series should be completed with the same product.”

The CDC adds, however, that “if two doses of different mRNA COVID-19 vaccine products are inadvertently administered, no additional doses of either product are recommended at this time.”

We’re not out from under the coronavirus pandemic yet, but a Roaring ’20s-type rebound is on the horizon, according to sociologist, physician and Yale professor Nicholas Christakis.

This will take time, Christakis told CNN.

“Plagues are not new to our species; they're just new to us,” he said.  

By the beginning of 2022, we will reach herd immunity and a majority of the population will be vaccinated, he predicts, but “it's still going to take some time to recover from the social and psychological and economic shock,” he said. 

“If history is a guide, what's going to happen is all of us that have been cooped up -- have been saving our money, have become more religious…more risk-averse -- all of those trends will unwind and people will relentlessly seek out social opportunities in nightclubs and bars and political rallies and sporting events and musical concerts and so on. There might be…some sexual licentiousness, people with a lot of pent-up desire…[and] more liberal spending, for example,” he added.

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The governors of Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures on Saturday urged Japan's central government to declare a state of emergency amid a surge in new coronavirus cases. 

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike and the governors of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa made the request during a meeting with Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of the government's coronavirus response.  

They argued measures need to be strengthened immediately and further cooperation with the national government is necessary under a special anti-coronavirus law. 

Nishimura said at a press conference after the meeting that the government will consider the request the governors made after consulting with health experts. He said he shares the view that the situation in the country's metropolitan areas is "severe" and the "issuance of a state of emergency is in sight." 

Tokyo reported 814 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday after it reached an all-time high of 1,337 on Thursday, exceeding 1,000 for the first time.