U.K. Reaches Key Vaccine Goal; U.S. Cases Ease: Virus Update

The coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. continued to ease as the average daily increase dropped about 20% from the week before. The White House issued its strongest criticism yet of the World Health Organization’s handling of the investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 virus and China’s involvement in the probe’s findings.

The U.K. has passed its target to vaccinate almost 15 million of its most vulnerable citizens against coronavirus.

Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, found two new cases of the virus Saturday, though it’s still too early to tell whether a snap five-day lockdown to contain the latest outbreak will end as scheduled on Wednesday.

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There was two new cases of community-transmitted virus detected in Victoria in the 24 hours to midnight Saturday, the state health department said Sunday. Ther’s 21 active cases in the state.

“It is too early to say whether we have been successful,” Health Minister Martin Foley told reporters Sunday.

The state, whose capital Melbourne endured one of the world’s longest and strictest lockdowns last year, has been plunged into a five-day shutdown to contain an outbreak of the virulent U.K. strain of the virus that’s spread from a quarantine hotel.

Neighboring New South Wales, the nation most-populous state, recorded its 28th straight day with no new cases, the longest streak since the pandemic began.

New Zealand has detected three cases of the virus outside quarantine. A mother, father and daughter from the same household in Auckland tested positive, the health ministry said in a statement Sunday.

New Zealand has been one of the most successful countries in containing the virus, at one stage last year going 100 days without a case thanks to border closures and a strict nationwide lockdown.

The U.K. has passed its target to vaccinate almost 15 million of its most vulnerable citizens against coronavirus, cementing a record of delivering one of the most successful immunization programs in the world.

According to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker, the U.K. administered 15.1 million doses as of Saturday. Almost 22% of the population has been given one dose, with less than 1% getting two shots.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson set the target at the start of the year with the aim of immunizing everyone over the age of 70, along with people who live or work in care homes, health service workers and those who are most vulnerable to Covid-19. These groups are estimated to account for about 88% of deaths from the disease in the U.K.

Brazil reported a fourth straight week of falling cases, though infections remain as high as the peak of last summer’s surge, according to Health Ministry data. Another 44,299 cases were reported on Saturday, for a total of 9.8 million, the most after the U.S. and India.

The nation reported 1,043 deaths on Saturday, at the end of a week in which fatalities rose to the highest point since July, the data show. Brazil has recorded 238,532 total deaths, the most after the U.S.

France has the fastest pace of immunization against the Covid-19 virus among the four most populous European Union countries, according to the latest snapshot by Bloomberg’s vaccination data tracker.

France stepped up its vaccination pace this week, putting it on track to cover 75% of the population with a two-dose vaccine in an estimated two-and-a-half years. Germany is estimated to reach the goal in 2.8 years, Spain in three years and Italy in three-and-a-half years, according to the calculations.

The U.K.’s rolling daily average of shots rose to 438,000 on Friday from 431,000 on Monday, which would allow Britain to reach 75% coverage in an estimated six months. For the U.S. — now administering an average of 1.7 million shots daily — the estimate is eight months.

The coronavirus variant first discovered in the U.K. is likely “associated with an increased risk of hospitalization and death,” British government scientists concluded.

In January, as the variant known as B.1.1.7 raised increasing alarms, the same group of scientists said the variant appeared to cause more severe disease and that “more data will accrue in the coming weeks.” The follow-up paper raised cautions about the limitations of further studies from around the U.K. But the scientists concluded “it is likely” the variant increases the chances of hospitalization and death, even if “the absolute risk of death per infection remains low.”

The variant has been found in more than 30 U.S. states, and goverment public health researchers predicted it could become the dominant strain by March.

Venezuela received the first 100,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine on Saturday, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on state television.

Rodriguez said U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have prevented the purchase of more vaccines. This first batch will be used on “the most vulnerable sectors, the health workers,” Rodriguez said. The Sputnik shipment is a symbol of friendship and cooperation between Russia and Venezuela, said Russian ambassador Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov.

California reported fewer new cases and fatalities than its 14-day rolling average, according to the health department’s website. The state said there were 9,421 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, below the average of 11,904, and 433 deaths, fewer than the 442 average. The state’s 14-day positive test rate dropped to 4.9%, the lowest since Nov. 17. California has administered 45.4 million tests in total.

France added 21,231 new cases, as the country remains on the flat-to-slightly-declining plateau described by Health Minister Olivier Veran this week. Deaths rose by 199 to 81,647. Vaccinations, the pace of which regularly slows over weekends in France, totaled 49,953 on Saturday, according to Health Ministry figures.

The White House issued its strongest criticism yet of the World Health Organization’s handling of the investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 virus and China’s involvement in the probe’s findings.

“We have deep concerns about the way in which the early findings of the Covid-19 investigation were communicated and questions about the process used to reach them,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement Saturday. “It is imperative that this report be independent, with expert findings free from intervention or alteration by the Chinese government.”

Calling for transparency, Sullivan said “China must make available its data from the earliest days of the outbreak.”

New York’s virus hospitalizations continued to fall, to 6,888, the lowest since Dec. 25, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. While the state’s hospitalizations are among the nation’s highest, Cuomo said that number has dropped by more than 900 in the last week.

The state reported 8,763 new cases, in line with the far slower pace of infection compared to a month ago. The positive test rate, measured over seven days, fell to 4.63%, also the lowest since Christmas, Cuomo said. Another 125 people died.

The U.S. added 99,575 new cases Friday, a daily decrease amid a continuing trend of rapidly falling infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. That brings to 101,980 the average daily increase from the previous seven days, a 22% drop from the seven days before. Daily increases regularly neared 300,000 around the New Year.

Another 5,476 deaths were reported, though that number is skewed because Ohio has been adding some 4,000 newly discovered fatalities. Ohio alone added 2,559 deaths on Friday. Still, the national drop in deaths is accelerating, with average daily fatalities from the previous seven days falling 14% compared with the week before.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have administered 103,469 doses in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of inoculations to 5,005,264. This compares with 109,587 doses on Friday and 107,550 on Thursday.

The country reported 2,631 new cases and 15 fatalities in the last 24 hours. Cases in the UAE had quadrupled to almost 4,000 per day by the end of January.

The University of Oxford will begin testing the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with AstraZeneca Plc on children, a potentially key step in ending the global pandemic.

The Oxford trial plans to enroll 300 children aged 6 to 17, the university said in a statement Saturday. The first vaccinations will take place this month, with as many as 240 kids receiving the coronavirus vaccine and the remainder a meningitis shot, which should produce similar side effects. A larger trial involving thousands of children is expected to be conducted by Astra in the U.S. later.