Pandemic death toll exceeds 2 million people worldwide – as it happened

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Pfizer’s reduction of its COVID-19 vaccine shipments will not delay Canada’s goal of getting most people inoculated by the end of September, the country’s procurement minister said as the country battled a second surge in infections.

“This is a temporary delay and we remain on track to have enough approved vaccines for everyone who wishes to get vaccinated by the end of September 2021,” Procurement Minister Anita Anand said.

Pfizer said it would slow production in late January and early February due to changes to manufacturing processes aimed at boosting production, but would provide a “significant increase” in doses in late February and March.

Canada’s Major-General Dany Fortin, who is in charge of coordinating the country’s vaccine rollout, told reporters Canada will receive about half the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine over the next four weeks than had been previously expected.

However, Pfizer/BioNTech will “offset” the shortfall and still deliver - as had been planned - some 4 million by the end of March, he said.

Canada is struggling to contain a second wave of the novel coronavirus. On Friday, the health ministry said there could be a spike of more than 100,000 new cases in just the next nine days.

That means almost 12,000 new cases per day, compared with the 7,565 new cases reported on Thursday.

The incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden will seek to vaccinate all people over 65 and frontline workers, as Biden seeks to administer 100 million Covid-19 vaccines during his first 100 days in office.

The Biden team said that after he takes office on January 20th, Biden will use the Defense Production Act to increase supply of vaccine vials, syringes, needles and related equipment to try and speed up the vaccination of Americans.

• The number of people who have lost their life after having Covid now exceeds two million as another grim pandemic milestone was passed. John Hopkins University data shows that the US remains the worst affected country by the virus – followed by Brazil, India, Mexico and the UK – across the world in which more than 7.5 billion people reside.
• Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro said a plane would be sent to India to pick up COVID-19 vaccines in two or three days at most, after the government had announced the flight would leave on Friday. Bolsonaro added there was little he could do about the pandemic in Brazil as a second wave tears through the country and that he “should be at the beach.”
• US president-elect Joe Biden’s incoming chief of staff Ron Klain has said he expects the country to hit 500,000 Covid deaths next month. In an online interview with the Washington Post, Klain added that he was confident that law enforcement would ensure a safe inauguration for Biden on 20 January.
• Spain has logged a record 40,197 new Covid cases over the past 24 hours, bringing its total number of confirmed cases to 2,252,164. The health ministry said 235 people had died between Thursday and Friday, taking the country’s death toll to 53,314.
• Tunisia said on Friday it recorded 4,170 new confirmed coronavirus cases, a record since the start of the pandemic. Tunisia on Thursday imposed a four-day national lockdown and closed schools until Jan. 24 to combat a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.
• European governments have said the credibility of their vaccination programmes is at risk after US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer announced a temporary slowdown of deliveries of its Covid vaccines. Shots developed by Pfizer with its German partner BioNTech began being delivered in the EU at the end of December, but around nine of the 27 EU governments complained of “insufficient” doses at a meeting this week, a participant told Reuters
• The World Health Organization has refrained from advising proof of Covid vaccination or immunity as a condition for international travel, citing “critical unknowns” regarding their efficacy in reducing transmission and limited availability.
• Businesses closed and most people were confined to their homes in Portugal on Friday, as the country began the first day of a new lockdown – although parents were still able to take their children to school. All non-essential businesses must remain closed with remote working compulsory where possible. Fines for breaking the rules will double. Restrictions on movement will be eased on 24 January so voters can go to the polls for the presidential election.

15 Jan 202115.56 EST

Emirates indefinitely suspends flights to and from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

Stuart MacFarlane

In Australia, the airline Emirates has abruptly suspended flights to and from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane indefinitely, leaving hundreds of Australians stranded.

On Friday evening, the airline announced its last flight into Brisbane from Dubai would be on Saturday, while the last flights into Sydney and Melbourne would be on Tuesday.

The airline says their last flights in and out of each city are as follows:

Dubai-Brisbane (EK430), 16 January
Brisbane-Dubai (EK431), 17 January
Dubai-Sydney (EK414), 18 January
Sydney-Dubai (EK415), 19 January
Dubai-Melbourne (EK408), 19 January
Melbourne-Dubai (EK409), 20 January

“Customers holding tickets with final destinations Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will not be accepted for travel at their point of origin after the completion of the above flights,” the airline said.

“Emirates regrets any inconvenience caused. Affected customers should contact their travel agent or Emirates contact centre for rebooking options.”

An estimated 37,000 Australians are stuck overseas wanting to get home.

Australia’s international arrival caps will be cut by almost 50% from today.

Tunisia said on Friday it recorded 4,170 new confirmed coronavirus cases, a record since the start of the pandemic.

Tunisia on Thursday imposed a four-day national lockdown and closed schools until Jan. 24 to combat a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.

Other measures included rotating staffing in state jobs to reduce people in offices and transport, longer curfew hours and the removal of all chairs from cafes.

Coronavirus cases have been rising fast in Tunisia, which had managed to contain the virus last year. They have now reached 175,065 cases and 5,528 deaths.

With intensive care units in most public hospitals full and the sharp rise of infections and deaths, officials suggested extending the lockdown for at least two more weeks.

An experimental Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson produced protective antibodies against the novel coronavirus in 90% of 805 volunteers by 29 days, and that increased to 100% by day 57, according to data from an ongoing mid-stage study.

Side effects such as fever, muscle aches and injection site pain resolved quickly, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Yet to be approved by regulators, the J&J vaccine must show efficacy as reflected by a lower risk of infections and severe disease in study participants who receive it compared to those who do not.

Efficacy data from a large late-stage trial on the vaccine is due by February.

Experts expect the vaccine to show efficacy at or above 80%, which would exceed the 50% benchmark for regulatory approval but trail the roughly 95% achieved in trials of already-authorised vaccines from Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc with BioNTech SE.

The J&J vaccine requires just a single dose, and it does not have the cold storage requirements of the other vaccines.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro said a plane would be sent to India to pick up COVID-19 vaccines in two or three days at most, after the government had announced the flight would leave on Friday.

Bolsonaro added there was little he could do about the pandemic in Brazil as a second wave tears through the country and that he “should be at the beach.”

The French government said 389,000 people have received the coronavirus vaccine thus far, Reuters is reporting.

Scattered vaccine shortages cropped up on the front lines of the US battle against the pandemic, prompting at least one large healthcare system to cancel a slew of appointments of people hoping to be inoculated.

The supply-chain blips arose as the country struggles to speed up the pace of vaccinations, which totaled 12.3 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In New York, mayor Bill de Blasio said the city has vaccinated about 300,000 of its more than 8 million residents, but was on course to run dry next week because it was burning through vaccines faster than they were being replenished.

“We’ve been getting resupply right now at a very paltry level of about 100,000 doses a week,” de Blasio said on WNYC radio.

“We went through 125,000 in the first four days of this week, and our numbers are increasing every day.”

De Blasio has said the city would be on track to meet its goal of vaccinating 1 million New Yorkers by the end of January if it is able to get supplies.

If there’s no supply, we’re going to have to freeze the appointment system,” he said.

That would be insane after all the progress has been made.”