December 15 coronavirus news

Moderna has reached an agreement with Singapore's Ministry of Health to supply its Covid-19 vaccine to the country, according to a news release from the drugmaker on Tuesday. 

The company will supply approximately 500 million to “possibly up to 1 billion doses” of its Covid-19 vaccine starting 2021, the release said. 

It added that Moderna is scaling up global manufacturing to be able to deliver on the agreement. 

No financial details were made available in the release. 

The agreement will "support ongoing efforts to secure access to a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine for the people of Singapore," the biotechnology company said.

Singapore also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, with the first shipment due to arrive in the country by the end of this year.

More than 100 students and staff at a prominent Indian university tested positive for Covid-19 this week. 

Out of 449 people tested at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), 104 tested positive, according to Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan of Tamil Nadu state. A total of 87 were students. 

The Tamil Nadu state government is now testing more than 950 other students and employees who shared student hostels and cafeteria facilities with members of the infected group.

District authorities have traced the outbreak to nine hostels and a guest house on campus, and have scheduled more than 530 tests on Tuesday, Radhakrishnan said.

IIT Madras is a top engineering institute in India, and has been working at a limited capacity due to the pandemic, with only 10% of students in the hostels. 

With the cluster investigation ongoing, all students have been asked to stay in their rooms, according to the university. Packed food is being supplied to students in the hostels.  

All the people who have tested positive have been admitted to a Covid-19 care center in the city of Chennai. 

Singapore is set to launch a new segregated travel program for business travelers on short-term stays, the country’s Minister for Trade and Industry announced on Tuesday.

Applications for this initiative will open in mid-January.

“We will ensure that strict health and testing protocols are put in place,” Chan said.

Those participating in the program will have to stay at an appointed facility, undergo regular testing, and follow safety measures, he added.

Chan said the initiative is aimed at boosting Singapore’s global reputation and supporting the eventual economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more about the scheme:

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Singapore announces plans to allow entry to business travelers from all countries

By Akanksha Sharma, CNN

More than 30% of poll respondents in Japan say next year's Olympics and Paralympics should be canceled, according to a survey conducted by public broadcaster NHK.

Some 31% of the respondents said they believed the Olympics and Paralympics should be postponed further.

Only 27% say the Games should be held as planned in 2021 in Japan. That’s a steep drop from a 40% support for the Games from a similar poll conducted in October, before the third wave of coronavirus hit Japan.

NHK’s telephone survey was conducted over the weekend. More than 1,200 people participated.

In October, the same poll revealed that 23% wanted the Games to be canceled while 25% said they should be postponed.

For those confused or concerned about how the coronavirus vaccine actually works, here's one medical expert's explanation: it's like Snapchat.

Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna use mRNA (messenger RNA) for their vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine began distribution in the United States on Monday.

Unlike most vaccines, the mRNA vaccines do not contain a live virus, meaning they do not carry a risk of causing disease in the vaccinated person. The mRNA technology has been studied for about a decade.

Scientist Katali Karikó, senior vice president of BioNTech and a pioneer in mRNA vaccine technology, said she knew the technology would work for the new vaccines. She is receiving her vaccination later this week.

“I expected that it would work because we already had the experiments,” Karikó told CNN. “I was confident that it would work.”

“Now we are very excited it became a vaccine, part of this vaccine for both companies, and really we will celebrate when this human suffering is over.”

Japan now has the highest number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care since the pandemic began.

A record 588 people are in critical condition from Covid-19 and have been admitted to the ICU, the country's Ministry of Health announced on Monday.

Japan recorded 1,677 new cases and 58 additional virus-related deaths on Monday.  

That brings the national total to 182,582 infections and 2,656 fatalities.

New measures: In response to the surge in cases and hospitalizations, local governments have strengthened their anti-Covid-19 procedures. 

Tokyo announced late Monday it has requested the 10 p.m. closure of restaurants and bars to be extended through to Jan. 11. 

Osaka prefecture also requested early closures for all restaurants and bars serving alcohol in Osaka city through Dec. 29. 

South Korea recorded 880 new coronavirus cases on Monday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Of the new cases, 32 were imported. The country also recorded 13 additional virus-related deaths.

The new figures raise the country's total to 44,364 confirmed cases and 600 fatalities.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the government was now weighing up whether to introduce the highest level of coronavirus restrictions.

Alert levels in South Korea range from 1 -- the least concerning situation -- to 3, signifying the toughest measures necessary. Levels rise in increments of 0.5.

Currently, the country is at Level 2 national alert, but the greater Seoul area and the southeastern port city of Busan are at Level 2.5 -- the second-highest level.

If the government raises the alert to the highest level, that means a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people, work from home for all non-essential employees, and a shift to online for all schools and church services. 

“Considering the gravity and impact of Level 3 measures, there is a need to calmly check on ourselves first -- if we’re abiding by the current measures properly," Chung said, adding that raising the alert to Level 3 would "come with irreversible pain."

US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Monday he is worried about vaccine skepticism among minority communities, but is working to help overcome it.

“Nothing has been in my heart more than this issue over the past several weeks to months,” Adams told CNN. “I’ve been working with Pfizer, with Moderna, with AstraZeneca, with Johnson & Johnson to make sure we have appropriate numbers of minorities enrolled in these vaccine trials so that people can understand that they are safe.”

Adams said he’s working with leaders in the minority community, including faith leaders and fraternities and sororities.

Adams said he’s heartened to see the numbers increasing among Americans who say they’ll get the vaccine when it becomes available. That figure is close to 80% today, a sharp rise from just 30% four weeks ago.

History behind mistrust: Adams emphasized that there are now independent review boards and regulations to protect against incidents like the Tuskegee experiment.

Between 1932 and 1972, Black men in the Tuskegee syphilis study were deliberately left untreated so doctors could study the “natural course” of the disease, which can damage the organs as it progresses, including the brain, other nerves, eyes and heart.

California is expected to receive an additional 393,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine early next week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a short video posted on his Twitter account Monday.

California received its first vaccine shipment of 33,150 doses on Monday, and expects a total of 327,000 doses this week.

The first vaccines were distributed to four locations in the state, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Eureka, and San Francisco, Newsom said.

He added that 24 additional locations will have received vaccines by Tuesday, and five more locations on Wednesday. 

Surging infections: This comes as California recorded more than 30,000 new Covid-19 cases for the fourth straight day on Monday, continuing an unprecedented surge of infections and hospitalizations that is stretching health care facilities to the brink.