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Kamis, 10 Desember 2020

US COVID-19 deaths smash daily record, spurring pleas to trim back Christmas - CNA

WASHINGTON: The daily US COVID-19 death toll has surpassed 3,000 for the first time, prompting pleas for Americans to scale back Christmas plans even with vaccines on the cusp of winning regulatory approval.

COVID-19 deaths reached 3,253 on Wednesday, pushing up the US total since the start of the pandemic to 289,740. A record 106,219 people were hospitalised with the highly infectious disease, threatening to overwhelm many healthcare systems.

Healthcare professionals and support staff, exhausted by demands of the pandemic, have been watching patients die alone as millions of Americans refuse to follow medical advice to wear masks and avoid crowds and smaller gatherings to contain the virus' spread.

In California's San Joaquin Valley agricultural region, less than 2 per cent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds remain unoccupied, the California Department of Public Health said Thursday.

A person uses her mobile phone at sunset from Griffith Observatory during a partial lockdown amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Los Angeles, California, on Dec 7, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)

The number of available ICU beds continued to drop throughout the most populous US state, with just 7.7 per cent availability in the heavily populated Southern California region.

Nursing home residents and staff have also felt the burden.

"This is a pandemic that no one has ever experienced in our lifetimes," Stephen Hanse, president of the New York State Health Facilities Association and the New York State Center for Assisted Living, told Reuters on Thursday.

The one-day death toll exceeded the number of lives lost from the attacks of Sep 11, 2001, underscoring the human toll and the call for Americans to redouble efforts.

"No Christmas parties. There is not a safe Christmas party in this country right now," Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of US President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, told CNN on Thursday.

"It won't end after that, but that is the period right now where we could have a surge upon a surge upon a surge," Osterholm said.

More than half of US states have recently introduced or resumed restrictions to try to curtail the rampant spread of the virus.

On Thursday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam imposed a midnight-to-5am curfew among other measures that will kick in on Monday and last through at least Jan 31.

"Case numbers have been rising for weeks, they're higher now than they've ever been during this entire pandemic, Northam told a news briefing.

A person walks by a window with mannequins adorned with protective face masks at The Grove shopping centre during a partial lockdown amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Los Angeles, California, on Dec 7, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)

Providing a ray of hope, a vaccine could start reaching healthcare workers, first responders and nursing home residents within days in what Hanse called "light at the end of the tunnel."

A panel of independent medical experts later on Thursday recommend that the US Food and Drug Administration authorise emergency use of a vaccine from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech.

FDA consent could come as early as Friday or Saturday, followed by the first US injections on Sunday or Monday, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed vaccine development program, told Fox News.

A second vaccine developed by Moderna will be reviewed by the advisory panel next week.

Biden, who succeeds President Donald Trump on Jan 20, has set a goal of vaccinating 100 million people within the first 100 days of his administration.

Meanwhile, as in California, ICUs at hundreds of hospitals across the country were at or near capacity, data from the US Department of Health and Human Services showed.

California reported just under 30,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 220 deaths, bringing the total of fatalities in there to 20,463.

The pandemic has also forced millions out of work, as state and local officials impose restrictions on social and economic life to contain the outbreak.

Congress, meanwhile, has struggled to end a months-long stalemate over economic assistance.

Disagreements remain over business liability protections demanded by Republicans and aid to state and local governments, whose budgets have blown up by the pandemic, sought by Democrats before a final deal is reached on pandemic assistance.

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2020-12-10 22:27:00Z
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In another universe, Trump beat Biden. Millions of Americans live there. - Yahoo Singapore News

South China Morning Post

Nato has joined US in regarding China as a ‘risk’ to security, US envoy says

America and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization arrived “late to the game” but now see clearly that China is a “risk”, Kay Bailey Hutchison, the US envoy to Nato, said on Wednesday, citing Beijing’s military build-up, its continued theft of intellectual property and its moves to stifle dissent in Hong Kong.Her comments were the latest from a senior Trump administration official highlighting the intense US distrust towards China during the Xi Jinping era, and its persistent efforts to persuade allies to regard China and its Communist Party the same way.“I think we‘ve been late to the game. We have been late in assessing China as a risk,” Hutchison said. “We either bring them in, as I said before, and give them every benefit of the doubt – but we are now, I would say, a little more clear-eyed.”Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.Speaking to a virtual audience hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank, Hutchison said that the world had tried to give Beijing a chance to participate in the “rules-based order”, but that it had shown it could not be trusted to play fairly.She cited Beijing’s moves to enforce the controversial national security law in Hong Kong and punish dissent in the city.“You can‘t look at what has been happening in the crackdown on Hong Kong, and the violations of what China agreed,” she said, referring to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, “and not realise that China is not playing by the rules that they agreed to.”Hutchison’s comments followed similar remarks on Monday at an event sponsored by Politico made by Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said that China’s rise “is really changing the security environment we face”.And a new report commissioned by Nato on the future of the alliance said: “The scale of Chinese power and global reach poses acute challenges to open and democratic societies, particularly because of that country’s trajectory to greater authoritarianism and an expansion of its territorial ambitions.” Not friends. Not enemies. Where to now for Nato on China?Carisa Nietsche, an associate fellow for the transatlantic security programme at the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank, told the South China Morning Post that while Europe and the US are starting to converge on how they see China, “assertions that the entire alliance sees the risk clearly are wishful thinking”.“There is also an illiberal convergence too,” Nietsche said. “Beijing has attempted to pick off Nato alliance members, such as Hungary and Turkey, who have leaders that share Xi’s strongman leadership style and are strengthening their own grips on power in their countries.”Some members of the alliance may also be hesitant to take on China because they were concerned it would distract from Nato‘s dealings with Russia, said Andrew Small, a senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund’s Asia programme.Nato “really lagged behind in basic analysis of China-related risks”, he said. “There is a clear list of areas … that should have been addressed by the alliance some time ago, and I think there has been a waking up to that in the period since the United States put it so firmly on the table.” US defence bill includes 5G rules to pressure Huawei, ZTEIn Washington, the Trump administration has been not alone in trying to convince US allies to take a harder line on China.The annual defence budget bill, which passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, would force the Pentagon to reconsider whether to send weapons or troops to allied countries overseas if those countries also use Chinese 5G communications technology.Hutchison cited 5G as an area of concern she had about China’s presence in Europe. She said that 25 of Nato’s 30 member states had committed to the State Department’s “Clean Network” initiative that avoids Chinese 5G technology. While the Trump administration has raised the alarm about China, Donald Trump has also criticised Nato throughout his presidency, typically focusing on how much money the other member states pay.“For four years, we’ve treated our friends as our foes, and that certainly has weakened the United States’ political capital to convince allies to address the China challenge,” said Nietsche.Hutchison insisted that the European allies were in line with the US.“I think Nato is on board with the position of what we‘re all trying to do,” she said. “Everyone is aware now that we must do what is necessary to bring China in, but be prepared for a great power competition.”More from South China Morning Post: * Biden may struggle to ‘restore’ US foreign policy to deal with China challenge, experts say * US to target more China officials over Hong Kong crackdown, sources sayThis article Nato has joined US in regarding China as a ‘risk’ to security, US envoy says first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020.

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2020-12-10 22:18:45Z
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States assail 'bogus' Texas bid to overturn US election at Supreme Court - CNA

WASHINGTON: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Thursday (Dec 10) urged the US Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by President Donald Trump seeking to undo President-elect Joe Biden's election victory, saying the case has no factual or legal grounds and offers "bogus" claims.

"What Texas is doing in this proceeding is to ask this court to reconsider a mass of baseless claims about problems with the election that have already been considered, and rejected, by this court and other courts," Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's Democratic attorney general, wrote in a filing to the nine justices.

Texas filed the long-shot suit against the four election battleground states on Tuesday directly with the Supreme Court. It asked that the voting results in those states be thrown out because of their changes in voting procedures that allowed expanded mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump's campaign and his allies already have been spurned in numerous lawsuits in state and federal courts challenging the election results. Legal experts have said the Texas lawsuit has little chance of succeeding and have questioned whether Texas has the legal standing to challenge election procedures in other states.

Biden, a Democrat, defeated Trump in the four states in the Nov 3 election. The Republican president won them in the 2016 election.

The Texas lawsuit, Shapiro wrote, was adding to a "cacophony of bogus false claims" about the election.

Trump has falsely claimed he won re-election and has made baseless allegations of widespread voting fraud. State election officials have said they have found no evidence of such fraud.

Dana Nessel, Michigan's Democratic attorney general, listed the many cases filed in that state that Trump and his backers have lost.

"The challenge here is an unprecedented one, without factual foundation or a valid legal basis," Nessel wrote in Michigan's filing.

Chris Carr, Georgia's Republican attorney general, said Texas cannot show it has been harmed by the election results in other states.

"The novel and far-reaching claims that Texas asserts, and the breathtaking remedies it seeks, are impossible to ground in legal principles and unmanageable," Carr wrote in Georgia's filing.

Josh Kaul, Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general, noted that Trump already had obtained recounts in the two most heavily Democratic counties in the state, showing no problems with the results.

"There has been no indication of any fraud, or anything else that would call into question the reliability of the election results," Kaul wrote in Wisconsin's filing.

TRUMP MEETS TEXAS OFFICIAL

Trump filed a motion with the court on Wednesday asking the justices to let him intervene and become a plaintiff in the suit filed by Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas and an ally of the president. Trump met on Thursday with Paxton and other state attorneys general who support the suit.

Twenty states joined the District of Columbia in filing a brief lodged by Democratic officials on Thursday backing the four states targeted by Texas. Seventeen other states on Wednesday filed a brief urging the justices to hear the case in filings by Republican officials. Arizona filed its own brief signalling an interest in the case without explicitly taking sides.

More than 100 US House of Representatives Republicans led by Mike Johnson of Louisiana also filed a brief backing Trump.

"The Supreme Court has a chance to save our Country from the greatest Election abuse in the history of the United States," Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday, repeating his unfounded allegations that the election was rigged against him.

The Texas lawsuit does not make specific fraud allegations. Instead, Texas said changes to voting procedures removed protections against fraud and were unlawful when the reforms were made by officials in the four states or courts without the approval of the states' legislatures.

Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of aiming to reduce public confidence in US election integrity and undermine democracy by trying to subvert the will of the voters.

One Republican state attorney general, Dave Yost of Ohio, filed a separate brief on Thursday disagreeing with the Texas proposal that votes be tossed out, saying that it "would undermine a foundational premise of our federalist system: the idea that the States are sovereigns, free to govern themselves."

Texas asked the Supreme Court to immediately block the four states from using the voting results to appoint presidential electors to the Electoral College and allow their state legislatures to name the electors rather than having the electors reflect the will of the voters. All four of the targeted states have Republican-led legislatures.

Biden has amassed 306 electoral votes - exceeding the necessary 270 - compared to Trump's 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the election's outcome. The four states contribute 62 electoral votes to Biden's total.

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2020-12-10 21:44:03Z
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The places that successfully contained Covid-19 and why others are not following their lead - South China Morning Post

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2020-12-10 14:33:26Z
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Hong Kong reports triple-digit Covid-19 spike for 3 consecutive days - The Straits Times

HONG KONG (XINHUA) - Hong Kong reported 112 additional confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Thursday (Dec 10), the third day in a row that the figure surpassed 100.

According to Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection, 102 cases were local infections, with 34 of unknown origin, and the other 10 were imported, taking its total tally to 7,291.

As many as 213 cases with unknown infection sources were seen among the 623 cases that were newly reported over the past seven days, showing silent transmission chains in communities, said Under Secretary for Food and Health Chui Tak Yi.

He warned that the outbreak in Hong Kong is continuing to be severe, with the number of confirmed cases climbing and colder weather allowing the virus to survive for longer.

According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 75 per cent of the negative pressure beds have been utilised so far.

Currently, 1,135 Covid-19 patients are being treated in 22 public hospitals and the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo. A total of 43 patients are in critical condition.

Stricter social distancing measures kicked in on Thursday and will run till Dec 23.

Apart from closure of bars, bathhouses, amusement game centres, swimming pools and theme parks under the anti-epidemic measures, business premises, including fitness centres, beauty parlours, massage establishments, are also shut.

Dine-in services in restaurants between 6pm and 4.59am the following day is banned.

Other existing measures such as group gatherings of no more than two people and mandatory mask-wearing in public areas remain in force, while more civil servants work from home.

Meanwhile, a legal framework has been adopted by the Executive Council to allow local health authorities to seal off high-risk premises to conduct Covid-19 testing, with the aim of minimising the chance of spreading the virus in the community.

South Korea scrambles to build container hospital beds to combat third COVID-19 wave - CNA

SEOUL: South Korean authorities scrambled on Thursday (Dec 10) to build shipping container hospital beds to alleviate medical facilities stretched by the latest coronavirus wave, which shows little sign of abating with 682 new cases.

The resurgence of infections has rekindled concerns about an acute shortage of hospital beds, prompting Seoul city to begin installing container beds for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

READ: South Korea to boost testing as COVID-19 surge threatens 'medical collapse'

Health authorities plan to step up testing by launching temporary sites at about 150 locations across the greater Seoul area.

"We're making all-out efforts to stop the spread in the Seoul metropolitan area by mobilising all available resources," Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a meeting.

"Above all, we will secure sufficient treatment centres and hospital beds for critical cases so that they can receive proper treatment in a timely manner."

READ: South Korea to buy millions of vaccine doses as COVID-19 cases surge

Thursday's 682 new infections came a day after the daily tally hit 686, the second-highest since the country's first case was confirmed in January, even as tougher social distancing rules took effect this week, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

New cases have been persistently around 600 over the past week, driven by smaller, harder-to-trace clusters around the densely populated capital city of Seoul, whereas the early two waves were centred on a handful of groups or regions.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and its developments

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2020-12-10 06:39:11Z
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Rabu, 09 Desember 2020

South Korea scrambles to build container hospital beds to combat third COVID-19 wave - CNA

READ: South Korea to boost testing as COVID-19 surge threatens 'medical collapse'

Health authorities plan to step up testing by launching temporary sites at about 150 locations across the greater Seoul area.

"We're making all-out efforts to stop the spread in the Seoul metropolitan area by mobilising all available resources," Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a meeting.

"Above all, we will secure sufficient treatment centres and hospital beds for critical cases so that they can receive proper treatment in a timely manner."

READ: South Korea to buy millions of vaccine doses as COVID-19 cases surge

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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Kamis, 10 Desember 2020

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Rabu, 09 Desember 2020