January 6 coronavirus news

The European Union has authorized Moderna's vaccine for conditional use, the second Covid-19 inoculation to be given the green light.

The EU had secured the purchase of up to 160 million doses of the vaccine -- enough to vaccinate 80 million people of its 448 million citizens -- as part of a joint vaccine strategy aimed to ensure equitable access across the bloc.

The authorization comes as the region battles to slow the spread of a new variant of the virus, with several countries entering strict new lockdowns and shutting schools as the new year begins.

Emer Cooke, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director, said on Wednesday that "this vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency.

"It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO," she said.

Moderna submitted an application for authorization on November 30. The European Union has been conducting rolling reviews of data to expedite its approval processes.

Read the full story here.

More than 1,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Los Angeles County over the past week as California grapples with surging cases and overwhelmed hospitals.

The pandemic has devastated much of the US state.

On Tuesday, the state reported 368 new coronavirus deaths -- pushing the number of lives lost in the state to 27,000 since the start of the pandemic. Some 2.45 million have been infected.

The surge in cases has put California at the epicenter of the US's struggle against coronavirus.

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Portuguese health authorities have reported 10,027 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily increase since the pandemic started.

It is the first time the daily number of infections has gone above 10,000.

The previous daily record was 7,627 new infections, which were reported on December 31.

In total, 446,606 people in Portugal have been diagnosed with the disease since the global outbreak reached the country. 

The record daily increase comes as the 72-year-old Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was forced to go into isolation after a member of his staff tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from the Portuguese presidency on Wednesday. The president had been in contact with the staff member on Monday,

Portugal has also reported an additional 91 deaths from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

A total of 7,377 people in the country have died since the pandemic started.

The European Union drugs regulator has recommended granting Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine a conditional marketing authorization -- a move that paves the way for it to become the second coronavirus vaccine distributed in the bloc.

Following the recommendation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the drug must be formally authorized by the European Commission; this is expected to happen quickly.

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine is similar to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first Covid-19 vaccine approved for use in the EU.

But there are a few key differences. Most importantly, Moderna's vaccine can be stored in normal freezers and does not require a super-cold transportation network, making it more accessible for smaller facilities and local communities.

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The Swiss government plans to extend coronavirus restrictions -- including the shutdown of all restaurants, cultural and recreational sites -- by five weeks because of a "tense" epidemiological situation in the country.

A final decision on whether to extend the restrictions until the end of February will be taken on January 13, following consultations with Switzerland's cantons, or regions.

"The situation is not good, frankly it is bad," Federal Councillor Alain Berset said Wednesday during a news conference.

The epidemiological situation "remains tense: The number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths, as well as the pressure on health personnel are at very high levels," the government said in the statement, adding that the number of infections was unlikely to decrease significantly and sustainably in the coming weeks.

The Federal Council has revoked the option for cantons "with favourable epidemiological developments" to ease the restrictions.

Switzerland has reported 470,789 cases and 8,064 deaths so far, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Yesterday, Swiss health authorities said they had recorded 28 cases of the new, more contagious, variant of Covid-19 first identified in the UK.

Seychelles reported its first Covid-19 related death on January 3, according to the country's Ministry of Health. 

The patient was a 57-year-old Seychellois man who was hospitalized at the country's isolation and treatment center, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry reported 19 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases on the island to 373.

Of these cases, 142 are currently active. 

The total population of Seychelles is 96,762. 

Two new variants of the coronavirus have emerged that seem to make the virus more easily transmitted. But will they stymie vaccination efforts?

One, first identified in Britain, has popped up around the world. While researchers worried at first that it might have changed enough to evade the protection offered by coronavirus vaccines, the evidence suggests it has not.

But a second new variant first seen in South Africa may carry changes that would help the virus at least partly escape the immunity provided by some of the current vaccines.

It has to do with where the changes are, and how they affect the shape and function of the virus.

All the current vaccines target what is known as the spike protein -- the structure the virus uses to get into the cells it attacks.

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US civil rights icons have taken part in a coronavirus vaccination event at a historically Black medical school in Georgia.

The event was held to encourage Black Americans to be immunized, Atlanta's Morehouse School of Medicine said in a news release.

Former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, civil rights leader Xernona Clayton, former Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan and baseball legend Hank Aaron all received Covid-19 vaccinations Tuesday.

Campaigns to encourage confidence in the vaccines against coronavirus have had to contend with America's history of racism in medical research and a lack of trust in the federal government.

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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended granting a conditional marketing authorization for Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for its approval and distribution across the EU.

The European Commission is expected to now formally approve the vaccine.

The EU has already approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use across its 27 member states.

Earlier on Wednesday German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he hoped the country would receive the Moderna vaccine by early next week.