What you need to know about coronavirus on Friday, January 8th

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In the United States, the daily death toll has hit a new record in three consecutive days. Yesterday, that number surpassed 4,000 for the first time.

Yesterday, Germany, South Africa and Sweden reported their deadliest days, while the UK experienced its worst day since April. Switzerland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Panama, Slovakia and Lithuania are some of the countries that recorded their highest daily casualties earlier this week.

The new, more contagious strains of the virus appear to be responsible for some of the rise in cases. South Africa, where one of the variants was first identified, has seen more than 200,000 new cases in the past two weeks. At the same time, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding on the country’s border with Zimbabwe, where hundreds of workers have been blocked by a national closure banning cross-border travel.

Public health officials around the world are desperately urging citizens to adhere to well-known safety precautions. It is essential to avoid large meetings, limit contacts with those who do not belong to your home and wear a mask.

This applies even if you don’t feel bad. A study published yesterday found that more than half of Covid-19 cases could have been transmitted by asymptomatic people.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED

Q: Does the Covid-19 vaccine work against new mutations?

A: One study provides early evidence that the Pfizer vaccine could be effective against two new variants of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The two viruses share a mutation known as N501Y that scientists feared could allow the virus to evade immunity generated by a vaccine. The researchers made a version of the virus that carries this mutation and then tested it against the blood drawn from 20 people who had received two doses of the Pfizer shot as part of a clinical trial. In an investigation released yesterday, they said they found “no reduction in neutralizing activity” against the mutated virus.

The study, conducted by researchers at Pfizer and the medical branch of the University of Texas, does not test the full range of these mutations. Nor has it been peer-reviewed.

Submit your questions here. Are you a healthcare worker fighting Covid-19? Send us a message on WhatsApp about the challenges you face: +1 347-322-0415.

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY

Two anti-arthritis medications can help sicker Covid-19 patients

Early research has shown that administering infusions of tocilizumab or sarilumab, two drugs typically used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, in patients with critical Covid-19 disease, was associated with an 8.5% improvement in disease survival and discharge from a hospital’s intensive care unit. from one week to 10 days faster.

“This is a big change in survival,” said Anthony Gordon, chief researcher at the REMAP-CAP trial and a professor at Imperial College London. “We also saw that patients were recovering faster. They were getting better and could be discharged from the ICU faster, and that was on average and each patient is slightly different.”

A year after Wuhan, China closes another city

China has shut down a city of 11 million people in northern Hebei province in an effort to contain the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak in months. Residents of Shijiazhuang, a provincial capital near Beijing, have been barred from leaving, with major highways blocked, train and bus stations closed and flights canceled.

The blockade occurs in Shijiazhuang on Wednesday a total of 117 Covid-19 infections, including 67 asymptomatic cases. The city identified another 66 positive cases yesterday, according to the Hebei Provincial Health Commission. The outbreak in this city comes just weeks before the Lunar New Year holidays, China’s most important annual festival, which often sees millions of people traveling home to reunite with family.

LA County sees a virus death every eight minutes

The number of people dying from Covid-19 in Los Angeles County in a day is equivalent to the number of homicide deaths the city has seen in an entire year, Mayor Eric Garcetti said yesterday during a news conference.
The county is the epicenter of the epidemic in California, with one person dying of the virus every eight minutes. “People who on the other hand led healthy and productive lives are now dying from a chance encounter with the Covid-19 virus,” health officials said earlier this week. “It only ends when everyone makes the right decisions to protect each other.”
A patient waits in a cart for a room at the Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California on January 3, 2021.

ON OUR RADAR

  • Australia and the UK will require international arrivals to show negative Covid-19 test results.
  • Coronavac, the vaccine candidate developed by Chinese laboratory Sinovac, has been shown to be 78% effective during phase 3 trials in Brazil.
  • A Philadelphia 76ers player is positive, forcing the team to stay in New York overnight.
  • The Australian Greater Brisbane region is closed to stop the spread of the Covid-19 strain from the UK.
  • Iran’s supreme leader calls for a ban on Western Covid-19 vaccines.
  • Taking social distancing to a whole new level, the Gothenburg Film Festival of Sweden invites a film fan to spend a week on an isolated lighthouse island, with only movies and the North Sea for company.
  • The World Health Organization urges European countries to intensify pandemic measures as the region deals with a new variant.

SUPERIOR COUNCIL

This year will be marked as a year of uncertainty, anxiety and, if like many people, a lot of stress-related eating.

However, you don’t have to stress about eating under stress. Since most of us look forward to the arrival of new vaccines and a healthier way of life, here are some tips on how to better feed your body in 2021.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“After half an hour of landing, I had my luggage, they put me on a bus and took me to the hotel where I would be quarantined.” – Emily Liu, CNN associate producer

Imagine a country that is not subject to strict closure or looking for trouble finding hospital beds for Covid patients; where people dine and drink regularly indoors. This country exists, it is Singapore. One of our associate producers, Emily Liu, is there now and today takes us to a place where life becomes almost normal. Listen now.

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