Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

Covid-19 cases continue to surge around the globe, with 93,3 million cases having been reported and nearly 2 million deaths registered.

Zimbabwe recorded 1,112 cases of the virus to bring the total cases to 25,368. 47 more deaths were registered and the death toll is now at 636.1056 recoveries were reported and the national recovery rate is now at 58%.

There have been more than 23m confirmed Covid-19 cases in the US and 385,503 deaths, Johns Hopkins University’s most recent data revealed. As coronavirus continues to tear across the US without any sign of slowing down, officials have warned there is a “full resurgence” in most major population centres – and that the country could see an additional 92,000 deaths in less than a month.

Britain reported 1,248 new deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test on Thursday, down from a record high of more than 1,500 seen the previous day. Travellers from South America and Portugal will be banned from arriving in the UK from Friday morning as a precautionary measure aimed at preventing the new Brazilian Covid variant from reaching the country. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said arrivals from more than a dozen countries including Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru would be halted. He said Portugal had been included because of its close travel links with Brazil.

Germany recorded a new record number of deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, prompting calls for an even tighter lockdown after the country emerged relatively unscathed in 2020. Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted a “mega-lockdown”, mass-selling newspaper Bild reported, shutting down the country almost completely for fear of the fast-spreading variant of the virus first detected in Britain. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 25 164 new coronavirus cases and 1 244 fatalities, bringing Germany’s total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 43 881.

Covid-19 cases in Africa have now topped 3 million and daily cases have surpassed the peak of the first wave, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  The continent is now faced with “emerging variants” of the virus, WHO Africa said in a statement on Thursday. On average, 25,223 cases were reported each day across the continent from December 28 to January 10, according to the release. These numbers are “nearly 39% higher than the July 2020 two-week peak of 18,104 daily average cases,” it added.  The UN body cautioned that the worst may be yet to come, saying that Africa’s numbers “may rise further in the coming days in the wake of travelling, gathering and festivities over Christmas and New Year holidays.” The WHO said that the new variant of the virus first discovered in South Africa is “accounting for most of the new infections during the second wave.”

South Africa reported another record number of cases in the last 24-hour cycle. 18 503 new coronavirus infections have been recorded, taking the total number to 1 296 806. The country has also recorded 712 new COVID-19 related fatalities on Thursday. In a statement, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says most of the new deaths were recorded in the Western Cape. 712 more COVID-19 related deaths were related and this brings This brings the total number of deaths to 35 852. Recoveries currently stand at 1 049 740. KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu says it remains unclear what has led to the decline in the number of active COVID-19 cases in the province in recent days. There are currently 66 000 active cases in the province and over 206 000 active cases nationally. The number of infections in the past 4 or 5 days has dramatically gone down.

African Union secures 270m Covid-19 vaccine doses from manufacturers

The African Union has secured a provisional 270m Covid-19 vaccine doses from manufacturers for member states to supplement the COVAX programme, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said. African nations are grappling with a second wave of the coronavirus, as the total number of cases rose to at least 3.1 million, and deaths to 74,600, according to a Reuters tally. The vaccines will be supplied by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, through the Serum Institute of India, and Johnson & Johnson, said Ramaphosa, who chairs the African Union. On financing, Ramaphosa said arrangements had been made with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to support member states who want access to the vaccines. Afreximbank would, upon receipt of firm orders from member states, provide advance procurement commitment guarantees of up to $2bn to the manufacturers. The Guardian

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1/14/2021

(Source: Kitco)