January 3 coronavirus news

India has formally approved the use of two Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use, one made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and the other developed locally, the country's Drugs Controller General said in a Sunday briefing.

Both vaccines will have to be administered in two doses and are to be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit), he added.

The Serum Institute of India has been producing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in India, while Indian biotech company Bharat Biotech developed Covaxin.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the announcement a "decisive turning point" on Twitter.

Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, said all the risks the Institute took with stockpiling the vaccine have finally paid off.

Last month, Bharat Biotech, the private company developing Covaxin with the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said that the vaccine "demonstrated acceptable safety profile and high immune response. . . No serious (grade 3-4) adverse events were reported."

The background: India has reported the second most coronavirus cases in the world, trailing only the United States.

The first phase of its vaccination plan covers 300 million people -- almost as many as the entire US population. India conducted a nationwide Covid-19 vaccine drill on Saturday ahead of plans for mass vaccinations, India's state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported.

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Bars and restaurants in Wyoming can return to “normal operating hours” on January 9, the state's governor announced Saturday. 

“Effective January 9, updated health orders permit bars and restaurants to resume onsite consumption from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.,” Governor Mark Gordon said in a press release, Saturday.

The decision was made after Covid-19 hospitalizations decreased across the state. 

Gyms are also allowed to increase the number of attendees from 10 to 25, according to the statement. 

Wyoming has 38,163 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 438 deaths, according to the state’s Department of Health.

Israel’s Health Minister says current lockdown restrictions need tightening if the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is to be slowed, even as the country continues to charge forward with its vaccination program.

Friday saw the administration of the one millionth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Israel, meaning that more than 10% of the country has now received the first of two doses of the vaccine.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election battle in March, hailed the announcement as record-breaking, exclaiming, “we are ahead of the entire world.”

But, as latest figures released Saturday evening showed the number of new Covid-19 cases at their highest level for nearly three months, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein warned of the more immediate need to control the disease’s spread.

"In view of a significant and alarming increase in morbidity and the number of serious patients, and the discovery of mutations, Health Minister Edelstein intends to bring forward a government resolution calling for a full closure for a short period of two weeks,” a statement from the Ministry said.

Even though Israel entered its third lockdown a week ago, there is a widespread sense that it is neither being closely adhered to, nor widely enforced. Among possible additional measures the government could take would be to increase the amount of schooling that takes place online.

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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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