January 24 coronavirus news

By Jenni Marsh, Joshua Berlinger and Rob Picheta, CNN

Updated 12:00 a.m. ET, January 25, 2021
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12:35 a.m. ET, January 24, 2021

About 10,000 people are locked down for the weekend in a dense Hong Kong district

From CNN's Pauline Lockwood

Police patrol the streets while wearing protective gear as authorities continue testing for the second day in the Jordan area of Hong Kong, on January 24.
Police patrol the streets while wearing protective gear as authorities continue testing for the second day in the Jordan area of Hong Kong, on January 24. Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

Hong Kong has imposed a temporary lockdown on residents in coronavirus hotspots -- a first in the city’s battle against Covid-19.

In a statement released early Saturday, the Hong Kong government made a "restriction-testing declaration," which requires residents from parts of the bustling neighborhood of Jordan to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing arranged by the government. 

Jordan, in the Kowloon peninsula, is a dense and thriving urban area with high-rise apartments, businesses and restaurants. The lockdown area includes Temple Street, home to the iconic night market popular with tourists. 

About 10,000 residents are affected by the lockdown, the government’s information office told CNN on Saturday.

Residents from buildings in the designated area are prohibited from leaving their homes until testing has been completed. The government says the compulsory testing is expected to take 48 hours. 

Hong Kong’s Secretary for the Environment, Wong Kam-sin, said in a news conference Saturday that water from the pipes of several buildings in the area was being tested to ascertain whether the coronavirus is spreading through sewage. 

In a separate statement Saturday, the Hong Kong government announced that roads in the “restricted area” would be closed to traffic. 

Hong Kong recorded 61 new Covid-19 on Friday, including 55 local transmissions. 

11:59 p.m. ET, January 23, 2021

The UK has the "highest death rate" in the world

From CNN’s Haley Brink and Rob Picheta

The United Kingdom currently tops the global list of highest deaths per 100,000 residents, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The country reported its highest ever single day death toll on Wednesday with 1,820 daily new deaths reported, and has been averaging about 1,240 daily new deaths over the last seven days.

Country-by-country comparisons are imperfect, given that they rely on data from each individual nation.

But the UK's recorded death toll, from a population of 66 million, far outweighs the record tolls in other major countries, including the US, on a per capita basis.

So far the United Kingdom has tallied 96,166 total deaths since the pandemic began. 

Countries with the highest deaths per capita

  1. United Kingdom: 142.53
  2. Czech Republic: 140.91
  3. Italy: 139.34
  4. United States: 125.35
  5. Spain: 117.80

12:35 a.m. ET, January 24, 2021

Biden administration has set a "strikingly different" tone on pandemic response, Fauci says

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas

Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives for an event with President Joe Biden at the White House on January 21.
Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives for an event with President Joe Biden at the White House on January 21. Alex Brandon/AP

The Biden administration has set a “strikingly different” tone on coronavirus pandemic response than the Trump administration, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Saturday.

During an MSNBC interview, Fauci said that after meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, it’s clear to him that “science will rule, and science will speak,” when it comes to coronavirus response.

Serving under the Trump administration, Fauci said he was often in the uncomfortable position of having to contradict Trump’s misinformation about Covid-19.

“I had to do it, because I felt that the only way that I could maintain, not only my own credibility, but the credibility of the scientific enterprise, was to speak the truth all the time,” he said. 

“There was the constant pressure that sometimes the truth would be upsetting to some people,” including Trump and those around him, said Fauci. 

He added that political appointees on the White House coronavirus task force were in an “even more difficult situation.”