December 22 coronavirus news

A New Zealand pilot who has been linked to Taiwan's first locally-transmitted coronavirus case in 255 days could lose his job, EVA Air said Wednesday.

The Taiwanese airline said it will convene an investigation and disciplinary committee, which could recommend dismissal if the pilot is confirmed to have violated Covid control measures. According to news reports, the unidentified New Zealander failed to provide complete information to Taiwanese contact tracing authorities after he tested positive for coronavirus.

The foreign pilot is also facing fines from the government.

EVA Air added that it will continue to cooperate with authorities to improve its anti-epidemic measures and has disinfected its aircraft.

Read more about the situation in Taiwan:

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Taiwan reports first local Covid-19 case in more than 250 days

The Philippines will halt flights from the United Kingdom beginning on December 24 until the end of the year, the Southeast Asian country said Wednesday.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed off on the temporary suspension dates Tuesday, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).

Passengers who are in transit or arrive in the country before 12:01 a.m. on December 24 will be permitted to enter the Philippines but must undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival, the PNA report added.

The United States reported more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University -- the fifth time since the pandemic began that the country has added more than 3,000 Covid-19 fatalities in a day.

Tuesday marked the fourth-highest number of deaths in the country from Covid-19 reported in a single day, according to JHU data.

The top five days for new deaths are:

At least 18,217,159 cases of coronavirus and 322,585 deaths have been reported in the US, according to JHU data.

Like many of his own aides, Republicans on Capitol Hill were not given a heads up that US President Donald Trump was going to rail against the stimulus bill tonight on Twitter.

A Republican leadership aide told CNN “no” when asked if this was expected. The aide pointed out that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had negotiated this bill. He was the White House’s voice in the room, everyone assumed. Another aide said Trump seemed to be “coming unhinged.”

The President is upset about several provisions that were actually in the omnibus spending bill, not the Covid relief bill.

The omnibus spending bill that appropriates money for all the federal agencies for the rest of the fiscal year was combined with the stimulus bill, meaning there are numerous provisions unrelated to the pandemic relief that has also been voted on by Congress.

Multiple sources in Congress told CNN the President's threats would not lead to a renegotiation, given the measure was passed with big veto-proof majorities.

How this plays out is uncertain. It’s possible Trump could veto the bill, but if he waits the full 10 days, it could push it into the new Congress when the Democratic majority is smaller in the House. The bill hasn’t even been sent to the White House yet for his signature.

At the moment, the hope on the Hill is he doesn’t veto the bill since he never explicitly said he will.

Some opposition lawmakers reacted approvingly to Trump's calls for greater stimulus checks, and House Democrats will try to pass by unanimous consent on Thursday a bill to increase direct payments, though any one member can scuttle that effort.

It’s unclear what will happen when or if such a bill is blocked.

Government funding runs out on December 28.

Gladys Berejiklian, premier of Australia's New South Wales, has modified the state's social distancing restrictions in time for Christmas after reporting eight new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

From December 24 in greater Sydney, an unlimited number of children under the age of 12 can gather in a residential setting, adding to the rule of 10 that is currently in place, her office said in a statement.

The modified restrictions are from December 24 until December 26, the statement added.

Seven of the new local infections are linked to the Northern Beach cluster, which has now grown to 97 cases in total. New South Wales also reported eight new cases linked to returned travelers in quarantine.

Pregnant women are unlikely to pass coronavirus to their babies, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Tuesday.

However, they are also less likely to pass protective coronavirus antibodies to infants than expected, researchers from Harvard Medical School found.

Dr. Andrea Edlow, a maternal-fetal specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues studied 127 pregnant women admitted to three Boston hospitals earlier this year.

While 64 women tested positive for Covid-19, none of their babies tested positive. Among these women, the team found evidence of the virus in respiratory fluids, but not in the bloodstream or placenta.

Though some mothers had coronavirus antibodies, the levels of antibodies found in umbilical cord blood were lower than expected, which the team says may leave newborns at risk for infection. The researchers focused on women in their third trimester of pregnancy, which is “typically regarded as the time when highest placental antibody transfer occurs,” they write.

The United States reported 117,777 current Covid-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).

This is the 21st consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 current hospitalizations.

The highest hospitalization numbers according to CTP data are:

At least 18,202,019 cases of coronavirus and 322,345 deaths have been reported in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has reduced the prison sentences of a US teen and her boyfriend after she broke the British Caribbean territory’s quarantine rules by going to watch him take part in a jet ski competition, her attorney said.

Skylar Mack, 18, from Georgia and her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, had their prison terms reduced to two months after the court agreed the original term of four months was not appropriate in the circumstances of this case.

Mack left for the Islands on November 27 after testing negative for Covid-19 at home. When Mack landed, she was given another Covid-19 test, which came back negative and she was told to remain in isolation for two weeks. Instead, she decided to attend Ramgeet's jet ski competition two days later.

Race attendees, who knew Mack, reported her breach of isolation and officials arrested her. She was initially sentenced to four months in prison, as was Ramgeet for "abetting" her offence.

In a statement to CNN, attorney Jonathon Hughes said "whilst it was our hope that Skylar would be able to return home to resume her studies in January, we accept the decision of the court."

"Ms. Mack and Mr. Ramgeet continue to express remorse for their actions and ask for the forgiveness of the people of the Cayman Islands," he said.

US President Donald Trump signaled he will not sign the coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress unless it amends the massive spending legislation.

The extraordinary message came after Trump largely left negotiations over the measure to lawmakers and his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It leaves the future of the $900 billion stimulus package and its accompanying government funding measure in question.

Trump did not explicitly threaten to veto the bill, but said he was dissatisfied with its final state.

The statement was filmed by the White House and was not open to the media. Reporters did not have a chance to ask the President questions. It’s unclear when the message was recorded.

The President has in the past said he would sign the bill, and earlier Tuesday the White House publicly defended the proposal. But many of his allies have spoken out against the agreement passed by Congress.