Covid-19 Pandemic: Updates and live news from January 31, 2021

Photographer: Sarah Silbiger / Bloomberg

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The city of Perth, in Western Australia, will be blocked after a worker at a city quarantine hotel tested positive, while in Hong Kong it is reported that the government could impose small, small closures. South Korea extended social distancing measures two more weeks.

Starting Tuesday, travelers to the U.S. will be forced to wear masks, including on planes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and car-sharing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced. Coronavirus infections in the United States continued a downward trend, with 162,390 new cases added on Friday.

Main developments:

• Global Tracker: cases exceed 102.5 million; deaths exceed 2.2 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 94.4 million shots given worldwide
• Faced with a vaccine emergency, the EU made one enemy of all
• Covid mutations reduces optimism even as more vaccines approach
• Computer shy the elderly are spoiled in the vaccination race
• How does the nationalism of vaccines for scarce supplies occur: QuickTake

Subscribe to daily update of the Bloomberg Prognosis team virus here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on cases and deaths.

South Korea expands social distancing (15:28 pm HK)

South Korea will extend the social distancing restrictions imposed during its worst coronavirus spread for another two weeks, after new infections resurfaced last week and reversed a downward trend. There were another 355 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country on Saturday, with six new deaths.

Perth of Australia goes into blockade all week (12:54 pm HK)

The Western Australian city of Perth will go into “complete closure” starting this evening for five days after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive for what authorities believe could be the transmissible variant of Covid-19 in the UK. United.

The closure imposes a stay-at-home order, closes schools, pubs and churches, bans visitors to homes and makes masks mandatory when leaving home for essential reasons. There have been no cases of community transmission in the state surrounding Perth in nearly ten months.

State Prime Minister Mark McGowan announced the closure and details of the positive case at a press conference on Sunday, explaining that the hotel security guard worked last week in a hotel with four Covid cases -19 positives. McGowan said he had spoken to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other Australian leaders and urged them to stop traveling to the remote state.

More possible blockades in Hong Kong (12.13 pm HK)

There could soon be more closures in Hong Kong, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said, according to a report released Sunday by local RTHK media. Cheung He said the government’s goal is to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases to zero and that it could start several operations to impose mandatory testing in the future.

Hong Kong has been imposing stricter measures to curb the spread of the virus. It has recently been imposed short-term closures in small sections of the city and conducted mandatory testing on all residents.

Australia resumes flights from the green zone from New Zealand (10:15 hK)

The Australian Health Minister said flights in the green zone from New Zealand would resume this afternoon. The program of quarantined arrivals from New Zealand was suspended last week following a case of the South African variant of the Covid-19 in Auckland.

The governments of both nations are working to get a two-way travel bubble sometime this year, even when New Zealand plans keep its border closed to much of the world for most of 2021.

Protesters disrupt Los Angeles vaccination site (9:40 am HK)

Los Angeles Dodger Stadium, which became one of the largest vaccination sites in the country this month, yes closed nearly an hour at 1:50 p.m., local time Saturday due to a protest against vaccination, a city official said.

The protest was peaceful, according to the police department.

The rally took place as the Greater Los Angeles area reported its highest daily figures in three weeks. LA County reported 316 new fatalities, bringing the total to 16,647. Cases increased from 6,918 to 1.1 million. Los Angeles and the rest of California are relaxing on the sidewalk and will allow outdoor restaurants and some businesses to resume.

California breached 40,000 deaths from Covid-19, with 638 deaths and 18,427 new cases Saturday, according to the health department website. The state recorded more than 14,000 deaths in January alone.

The growing number of UK companies faces bankruptcy (8:08 am HK)

There are a number of listed companies in the UK at risk of insolvency they doubled as restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus continue to devastate the economy.

The UK will have to remain closed until the end of May, at best: vaccines will be 85% effective in stopping the transmission of the virus, the Daily Telegraph reported citing a University of Warwick document.

The document was commissioned by the government’s Sage committee and seen by the prime minister’s office. He also suggests that if Boris Johnson relaxed the blocking measures in mid-February (when the government is scheduled to review the vaccine launch), a third increase in infections and deaths would occur in April.

The UK reported 23,275 new cases on Saturday, more than 3,500 less than the average of the previous seven days and 30% less than a week ago. Another 1,200 people died within 28 days of the positive test, in line with the weekly average. More than 8.37 million people have received the first vaccination.

Brazil outbreak shows signs of slowdown (17:19 pm NY)

According to the Ministry of Health, the outbreak of Brazil’s second wave slowed as new cases and deaths slowed over the past week. data.

The nation reported 58,462 cases on Saturday, limiting the second week with a decline in new infections. However, the number of cases is almost as high as the peak of the first wave last summer. Total infections are approaching 8 million. Deaths decreased compared to the previous week, and 1,279 deaths were reported on Saturday. Brazil has the highest death toll after the United States, with a total of 223,945.

Brazil will receive from ten million to 14 million doses of AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccines from the international consortium Covax as of mid-February, the country’s Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

France cases rise slightly (2:38 pm NY)

France reported 24,392 new cases, a slight increase from the previous day and an additional 242 deaths from virus-related illness. The total death toll is 75,862. This comes a day after the French government said it was given the “possibility” of avoiding a third blockade by sealing the borders of travelers outside the European Union and closing large shopping malls.

On Saturday, Emmanuel Macron insisted on a shared responsibility to move away from tougher measures. “I have faith in us,” the French president said in a tweet. “We do everything to stop the epidemic together.”

Portugal continues to add patients to ICU (9:35 am NY)