February 16 coronavirus news

Elementary schools in California's Los Angeles County have been cleared to reopen for in-person learning starting Tuesday, after county health officials announced they expect to reach the state's Covid-19 case threshold for reopening those campuses.

County health officials say that while Covid-19 numbers are declining, "the virus is still very much present and circulating widely" across the county and they urged residents to remain cautious.

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The government in the Netherlands must “immediately” lift a nightly curfew designed to reduce coronavirus infections, a court in the country has ruled.

A judge in The Hague upheld a claim from the foundation viruswaarheid.nl, which means “virus truth."

The curfew has has been in effect nightly from 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. since January 23. The Dutch government earlier this month extended the curfew to remain in place until at least March 3, claiming that the restrictions have been successful in reducing social interaction.

The judge said Tuesday that the implementation of the curfew did not meet the requirements of “special urgency” required to bypass the normal legislative process. The judge also ruled that the government's use of the “extraordinary powers of civil authority" act was “not legitimate."

In response, the Dutch Ministry of Justice said it was "studying” the ruling.

“We cannot say more about it yet,” spokesperson Anna Sophia Posthumus told CNN in a statement Tuesday.

The Netherlands has reported more than 1 million total Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began and almost 15,000 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.

The Israeli Cabinet has approved a further loosening of the restrictions on economic activity as coronavirus infection rates continue its gradual downward trend.

From Sunday, shopping malls, markets, museums, and libraries will re-open to everyone. But Israelis will need to show proof they have been vaccinated, or have recovered from the disease, to gain access to gyms, sports, cultural venues and hotels, all of which have also received permission to re-open.

Schools will also be allowed to welcome back more students.

The number of new cases of Covid-19 stood at 5,138 on Monday -- by comparison, the figure two weeks ago stood at 8,909.

Israel has been making rapid progress in its vaccination program and is on track to be the first country in the world to inoculate its entire population, of about 9 million people.

Health Ministry data suggests more than 4 million people in Israel will have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of Tuesday, with more than 2.6 million people having received a second dose as well.

For the first time in a long time, the US is reporting encouraging Covid-19 trends.

While more than 64,900 new infections were reported on Sunday, it was the country's lowest case count since October. Just last month, reported infections were topping 200,000 a day.

And California, one of the states hit hardest by the pandemic, reported its lowest daily case increase since early November. That comes amid a steady decline not only in new infections, but in hospitalizations and deaths as well.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported a decline in infection and hospitalization rates, saying the state was now past a "post-holiday surge."

It is good news to see the Covid-19 numbers heading in the right direction. But numbers are still high.

And experts worry that if Americans let their guards down -- especially now with variants circulating -- there could be another surge coming.

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UK vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi has warned of a "tsunami of disinformation and misinformation" around Covid-19 vaccines and said that the UK government is in contact with technology companies in an effort to "take down some of this fake news."

When asked about reports of vaccine hesitancy in ethnic minority communities, Zahawi told British broadcaster Sky News on Tuesday that “it's very important that we continue to deliver accurate information in people's own languages."

He added that the government is translating its guidance into 20 languages “to reach those hard to reach groups.”

The minister also said that around 89% of the UK's adult population are prepared to take a Covid-19 vaccine.

Greenland has extended its ban on travelers entering the country until April 18. The restrictions on most people entering the country came into force on January 1 and were due to end on February 28.

Only critical workers will be able to travel to the Arctic nation and even they need to secure special permission to travel from Greenland's government before making the trip.

People entering the country need take a Covid-19 test no earlier than 72 hours before travel. They are also required to isolate for 14 days on arrival and to take a test on day five.

Greenland has a population of around 56,500 people. It has reported 30 coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic and zero deaths.

New German border controls meant to stop the spread of Covid-19 could imperil the country's supply chains and wreak havoc on the economy, multiple prominent German business leaders said.

Joachim Lang, the managing director of BDI, the Federation of Germany Industry, said in an interview with Funke Mediengruppe newspaper group that more thorough checks at Germany's borders with Austria and the Czech Republic could slow regional commerce.

The president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, Hildegard Muller, shared a similar opinion.

Germany's Minister for Economic Affairs and Industry Peter Altmaier is expected to hold a summit with 40 representatives of German industry on Tuesday to discuss the new public health measures and their potential impact on the country's economy.

The bitter Cardiff cold, the dawn half-light, and the radio-static pulse of callouts are the same as every shift over the past year, but as paramedic Angie Dymott and her colleague Lynda Stephens climb into their ambulance one recent morning, something small, but vital has changed.

There have been very few Covid-19 emergency calls in the past two days, and they are wondering why.

Cardiff, in south Wales, has been hit hard by the virus. But during the two days CNN spent with its teams, suspected Covid callouts fell dramatically.

Dymott and Stephens get two: One definite positive middle-aged woman, who isn't that sick, and another 75-year-old woman, who is waiting for a clearer test result. On Thursday there were only four callouts across all of Cardiff's 400,000 population.

Wales once had the distinction of being home to some of the worst-hit areas in the United Kingdom, which itself has one of the worst death rates globally.

But last Friday, it had a new focus: Completing its rollout of vaccines to the most vulnerable ahead of schedule -- with greater efficiency than the already fast UK. It's left some wondering if the vaccines might be playing a role -- finally -- in the drop in elderly patients in need.

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Is it possible to make bars safe in a pandemic? One experiment in Scotland last summer went flat, according to new research published Monday in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Despite guidance from the government and efforts on the part of bar owners to implement safety measures, customers and staff alike failed to stick to even the simplest measures aimed at preventing spread -- especially when customers were intoxicated, researchers found.

With some venues back in business for indoor dining in places like New York and Portland, many US business owners are working to make the experience as safe as possible -- something the Scottish researchers found may not be so easy.

After a lockdown in the UK, bars in Scotland were allowed to reopen in July under new guidelines, including keeping groups of customers at least one meter (a little over three feet) apart, keeping all customers seated and requiring staff to wear face coverings.

Niamh Fitzgerald, a professor with the University of Stirling in Scotland, and colleagues visited 29 bars to observe how these safety measures worked in actual practice.

"It was essentially about understanding, what are the risks and how successful are our bars and pubs in controlling those risks?" said Fitzgerald.

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