December 16 coronavirus news

Japan has reported a new high for the number of patients in intensive care since the pandemic began.

Five additional new cases are in critical care as of Tuesday, bringing the total number of ICU patients to 592, according to the country's Ministry of Health.

The ministry also reported 2,410 new coronavirus infections and 45 virus-related deaths for Tuesday.

The new figures raise the country's total to 184,754 cases and 2,701 fatalities.

Tokyo and Osaka are big hotspots: Tokyo reported 460 new cases on Tuesday, and has 78 ICU patients. Meanwhile, Osaka reported 306 new cases and has 158 ICU patients.  

The Frisco Bowl, the first scheduled game of college football’s postseason “Bowl Season" in the US, has been canceled due to Covid-19.

The game was scheduled to be played this Saturday in Frisco, Texas, between Southern Methodist University and University of Texas San Antonio. The cancellation was due to coronavirus issues within the Southern Methodist football program.

UT San Antonio will now play in the First Responder Bowl on Dec. 26 against an opponent yet to be determined. The Frisco Bowl is the 11th bowl game of the 2020-21 schedule to be canceled.

Congressional leaders in both parties expressed growing confidence Tuesday evening that Washington will be able to cut a last-ditch deal to provide relief to Americans hit hard by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic after setting aside months of partisan finger-pointing and bickering.

Democrats and Republicans sounded upbeat following the conclusion of in-person talks on Tuesday between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy.

Nothing has been finalized yet and the details are scarce about what may be agreed to, but all signs are pointing to the likely announcement of a deal that will include provisions with widespread bipartisan support, including an extension of jobless benefits, loans for hard-hit small businesses and money for vaccine distribution. Lawmakers may also extend the federal eviction moratorium and defer student loan payments.

While Hill leaders would not confirm what they have agreed to, both sides are likely to have made some significant concessions including potentially dropping demands for money for states and cities -- a priority Democrats have been pushing -- and a liability shield that the GOP had been seeking.

Read more about the talks:

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Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have scheduled meetings for this weekend to discuss Moderna’s candidate coronavirus vaccine and the next phases of vaccine distribution.

On Thursday, vaccine advisers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet to discuss Moderna's application for emergency use authorization. The application could be granted as soon as Friday.

If the Moderna vaccine receives authorization, on Saturday the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet to discuss the candidate vaccine, and whether to recommend that the CDC allows distribution. If that recommendation is accepted, the vaccine could begin delivery starting next Monday.

On Sunday, ACIP has a second meeting, to discuss the next phases of vaccine distribution.

The United States reported 112,816 Covid-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).

This is the 14th consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 hospitalizations.

According to CTP data, these are the days with the highest hospitalization numbers:

Just over half of all planned doses of coronavirus vaccines have been bought up by high-income countries such as the United States, Japan and Australia, which means as much as a quarter of the world’s population will be unable to get vaccinated until 2022, researchers reported Tuesday.

These rich countries have pre-ordered close to 7.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, enough to vaccinate 3.76 billion people, Anthony So of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues found.

“Just over half (51%) of these doses will go to high income countries, which represent 14% of the world’s population,” they wrote in their report, published in the BMJ.

At the time the report was written, the US accounted for one-fifth of all global Covid-19 cases but had reserved 800 million doses of vaccine. Japan and Australia accounted for fewer than 1% of cases but had options on 1 billion doses.

The researchers projected that the 13 major vaccine manufacturers working on coronavirus vaccines had the potential capacity for close to 6 billion courses of vaccine by the end of 2021. 

“High income countries have reserved just over half of these vaccine doses from 13 leading vaccine manufacturers. Low and middle income countries have the remainder, despite these countries comprising more than 85% of the world’s population,” they wrote.

There’s one effort that is trying to get around this -- COVAX, coordinated by the World Health Organization, global vaccines initiative Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The group is trying to build manufacturing capacity for 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine. 

“The COVAX Facility could play a key role in ensuring access to Covid-19 vaccines. However, its target of two billion doses by the end of 2021 is still short on premarket vaccine commitments and financing to deliver on this goal,” So’s team noted.

As the first Covid-19 vaccinations are being administered across the country this week, Black Americans remain among the groups that have the least confidence in the vaccine, according to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The findings come as the nation's top health leaders urge Black people to trust the vaccine, by hosting live events where Black health professionals are among the first to receive and administer it.

The Kaiser study found that 35% of Black Americans would probably or definitely not get the vaccine if it was determined to be safe by scientists and widely available for free.

Of the Black Americans who are hesitant to get the vaccine, the majority, or 71%, said they were concerned about possible side effects; half were worried they would get Covid-19 from taking the vaccine; and 48% said they have a general distrust in vaccines.

Other studies have noted that Black and Latino people cite distrust in the federal government and the nation's history of racism in medical research as key reasons for their hesitancy.

Read the full story:

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Nearly one third of Black Americans remain hesitant to get Covid-19 vaccine, study finds

London will return to a strict lockdown this week, after coronavirus cases soared in the British capital, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Monday.

Hancock said London will be moved from England's Tier 2 "high alert" local restrictions to the "very high" Tier 3 on Wednesday morning at 12 a.m., along with nearby areas in south and west Essex, and south Hertfordshire.

Under the highest restriction level, all hospitality venues including pubs, cafes and restaurants will close except for takeout and delivery.

People should avoid traveling outside their area and reduce the number of journeys they make wherever possible.

Read the full story:

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London returns to strict lockdown, following a sharp rise in coronavirus cases