The UK reported the most deaths in one day since the pandemic began. Germany agreed on stricter rules for travellers arriving from high-risk nations to curb the spread of more transmissible Covid-19 strains. Turkey granted emergency approval to the vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech of China.

Japan expanded its state of emergency beyond the Tokyo region, encompassing an area that accounts for more than half of its economy. The worsening outbreak is casting doubt on the fate of the postponed Olympics, which are set to be held in the nation’s capital in less than 200 days.

Key developments:

• Global Tracker: Cases top 91 million; deaths surpass 1.96 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 30.5 million shots given worldwide
• US vaccine shift stirs fresh unease as 128 million join line
• UK promises to crack down on people flouting lockdown rules
• Visitors to the US will require proof of a negative Covid-19 test
• How Covid-19 has turned the spotlight back on obesity

J&J decision on vaccine clearance delayed 

Johnson & Johnson’s highly anticipated single-dose Covid-19 vaccine may not be authorised for use until March, weeks later than US officials have suggested.

Operation Warp Speed officials have said they believe that the shot could receive emergency clearance from US regulators as soon as the middle of next month. But that timeline may be aggressive, based on the drugmaker’s expectations for when it will have reliable data in hand demonstrating the one-shot vaccine’s efficacy.

J&J will first have its chance to analyse late-stage data in the last week of January or the first week of February, Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels said on Tuesday in an interview. From that point, the company will need one to two weeks to analyse the data and prepare documents for regulators in the US and elsewhere, he said.

“We hope and trust that somewhere in March, we may get that approval,” Stoffels said.

US hospitalisations near first decline in months 

The number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients was roughly flat in the US this week, and likely will begin declining for the first time since September.

The numbers are now dropping compared with a week earlier in both the Northeast and Midwest, according to the Covid Tracking Project. In the West, they were up 0.8%, the least since 1 October on a percentage basis. The South has the most alarming momentum, with an increase of 4.2% from seven days earlier.

The most recent pandemic wave has packed medical facilities, which are desperate for a reprieve. Hospitals across the country are caring for more than 130,000 Covid-19 patients, according to Tracking Project data, more than double the load at any earlier point.

Outbreaks not driven by in-person classes, CDC says 

The return to in-person classes in nearly two thirds of the US hasn’t led to a rash of community outbreaks, federal scientists said in a study of 2.87 million cases among those under 24.

Disease rates in counties where in-person learning is available for school-age children and adolescents are similar to areas where classes are entirely online, according to a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It concludes schools should be the last to close and the first to reopen.

NBA postpones seventh game of the season 

The National Basketball Association is struggling to keep its games on schedule as Covid-19 contact tracing forces more players to the sideline, leaving teams without enough players on their rosters.

The league postponed its seventh game of the season, which began shortly before Christmas, with Wednesday’s matchup between the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns called off.

French vaccine scepticism wanes 

French citizens are increasingly willing to get a Covid-19 shot as the alarming spread of the coronavirus overcomes their scepticism of the vaccines.

The share of the population that plans to be vaccinated has increased to 47%, up nine points from a week earlier, according to an Elabe survey on Wednesday. While vaccine resistance is a “French specificity”, acceptance of the Covid shot is growing, Prime Minister Jean Castex said in response to Senate questions.

Turkey approves Sinovac vaccine 

Turkey has granted emergency approval to the vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech of China.

Safety tests have been completed and the vaccine is “sufficiently safe”, said Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who became the first person to be officially inoculated in the country. He urged Turkish citizens to get the shots.

Turkey has received three million doses of CoronaVac, the official name of Sinovac’s vaccine, and expects to receive 10 million new doses over the next two weeks. In all, Turkey has contracted to buy 50 million doses from Sinovac. Chinese-developed vaccines have faced scepticism over a lack of safety and efficacy transparency.

On 24 December, Turkey reported a 91.25% efficacy rate for CoronaVac in a trial involving thousands of volunteers. That’s a significantly higher level than findings in Brazil and Indonesia. The lower efficacy ratios in Brazil were due to trial participants being medical workers facing a high risk of contracting Covid-19, Sinovac said on Wednesday.

Denmark set to expand restrictions 

Denmark’s government will extend the country’s near-total lockdown until 7 February amid concerns that the more infectious British variant of Covid-19 may take hold in the Nordic country, according to local media.

The current restrictions, which include the shutting of restaurants, bars and non-essential shops, as well as schools, apply until 17 January. An announcement is expected after an afternoon meeting between the government and party leaders, TV2 and other media reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to the decision-making process.

UK has most deaths since pandemic began 

The UK reported a further 1,564 deaths within 28 days of a positive test on Wednesday, the most since the pandemic began, as England enters week two of its third coronavirus lockdown.

It comes as the country’s hospitals are filling up with patients suffering from the disease and amid growing concerns that its lockdown may not be strict enough to control the spread of the new strain of the virus.

On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there were early signs the current measures were working, but did not rule out tougher restrictions.

Two more UK strains in NYC 

Two new Covid-19 cases with the UK variant were found in New York City, bringing the state’s total to 12, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a briefing on Wednesday.

The city reported 279 new hospitalisations with Covid-19 symptoms, above the 200 public threshold, with hospital use in the city running at 4.62 persons per 100,000 in the population. The seven-day average positivity rate reached 8.89%, exceeding the public health standard of 5%.

Meanwhile, De Blasio said the city was on track to reach its goal of vaccinating a million New Yorkers by the end of the month. He said the city is talking to the New York Yankees to add Yankee Stadium to the city’s growing list of vaccine distribution sites, a day after the New York Mets offered Citi Field as a venue.

The city has administered more than 250,000 shots, De Blasio said. Eligibility was expanded this week for those 65 and older. The mayor said he expected immuno-compromised individuals would be eligible soon.

“The vast majority of appointments have already been booked. The key thing here is we need more vaccine,” he said.

France says earlier curfew is working

French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said that bringing forward the curfew to 6pm from 8pm in certain parts of the country had been effective against the spread of the virus.

Where the earlier curfew is in place, “the growth dynamic of the virus isn’t as speedy as in other areas,” he told reporters in Paris following a weekly cabinet meeting.

Astra to boost vaccine deliveries for UK effort 

AstraZeneca pledged to deliver two million doses a week of its coronavirus vaccine for the UK before mid-February as it ramps up production to help fuel the country’s immunisation campaign.

“It does need to become a national priority to ensure that we have the right capacity and capability for vaccine manufacturing onshore here,” Tom Keith-Roach, president of Astra’s UK operations, said at a hearing at the House of Commons.

Switzerland to close shops 

Switzerland will close shops and toughen social distancing restrictions in a bid to prevent a surge of a faster-spreading strain that has already swamped UK hospitals.

Non-essential shops will be closed from 18 January until the end of February. Restaurants and fitness centres will also have to stay shut until then, and private gatherings will be restricted to five people, according to the government on Wednesday.

New Jersey to expand vaccine eligibility 

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he was “gratified to hear” that the CDC recommended that states expand eligibility to seniors. The 65-and-over population will be eligible “effective almost immediately, in the next day or two,” Murphy said on Wednesday in a CNBC interview.

The state has administered 243,734 doses, according to the latest data. That’s about 37% of the vaccines distributed to New Jersey. The state so far has limited vaccines to healthcare workers, long-term care residents and first responders.

Scotland toughens lockdown restrictions 

Scotland’s 5.5 million people, already subject to nationwide lockdown rules, will from Saturday face a series of additional restrictions intended to curb the spread of the virus, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

The country’s devolved government, which is responsible for health, is imposing the extra restrictions in areas ranging from click-and-collect shopping to takeaways and the consumption of alcohol outdoors to limit social interactions, Sturgeon told lawmakers in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

More countries find patients with UK variant 

The Philippines said it detected the Covid-19 variant first reported in the UK in the samples of a male citizen who arrived from the United Arab Emirates on 7 January via an Emirates flight.

Hungary, in the meantime, registered the first three cases of the strain, Chief Medical Officer Cecilia Muller said at a briefing on Wednesday. The mutated virus is considered much more transmissible than earlier strains.

Putin expands vaccinations 

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to expand vaccination against Covid-19 to all adults, starting next week, lifting the last remaining restrictions on who could get the shots. The inoculation campaign Putin kicked off last month had initially been limited to medical workers and other groups seen as especially in need, before expanding amid reports of limited demand.

The state-run fund behind Russia’s main Sputnik V vaccine said on 10 January that more than 1.5 million people had already received at least one shot of the two-injection regimen. A total of 2.1 million doses will be produced for public use by the end of January, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova told Putin Wednesday.

African Union secures vaccine doses 

The African Union secured almost 300 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for the continent, a step toward starting the complex task of inoculating more than 1.2 billion people with limited logistical and financial resources.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also the AU chairman, was expected to give more detail on the vaccines later, according to Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, deputy director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The order would be by far the largest on the continent to date.

Ireland relaxes isolation rules for hospital staff

Ireland will allow hospital staffers deemed close contacts of coronavirus cases to keep working, as pressure on the nation’s health system increases. Previously, employees in those circumstances were required to self isolate, but they will now be monitored at work for any symptoms.

The country should brace for “rough” weeks ahead, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said on Wednesday, with deaths likely to increase. The country yesterday saw the most coronavirus fatalities since April, even as cases fell.

Germany restricts entry over mutation fears 

Germany agreed on stricter rules for travellers arriving from high-risk countries, including those where potentially more dangerous virus mutations have been detected.

“Foreign trips to risk areas are not compatible with the pandemic situation,” Health Minister Jens Spahn said in an emailed statement after the cabinet signed off on the measures. “Virus mutations are an additional threat to our health,” he said. “We must prevent them from spreading in Germany as much as possible.”

The new rules, which take effect on Thursday, require travellers from high-risk countries to prove they are free of the virus within 48 hours of arrival. Those from particularly hard-hit areas must provide a negative test before beginning their journey.

Japan expands virus state of emergency 

Japan expanded its state of emergency beyond the Tokyo region to encompass the country’s other main economic hubs as it battles to contain a record surge in coronavirus cases.

The government is adding seven more prefectures to the existing emergency declaration, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told his virus task force on Wednesday.

With the capital and three neighbouring prefectures that came under the state of emergency last week, the areas account for more than half of the nation’s output. The expansion would further strengthen the likelihood of the world’s third-largest economy slipping back into reverse this quarter.

Lunar New Year poses ‘big test,’ China health official says

China’s coronavirus response faces a “big test” in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday, Wang Bin, an official with the National Health Commission, said at a briefing. More gatherings, the transport of goods and people returning from overseas during the holiday could amplify risks, Wang said.

Meantime, a team of World Health Organisation scientists set to arrive in Wuhan on 14 January to look into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic will be quarantined like other inbound travellers, said Mi Feng, a spokesman for the National Health Commission. DM

— With assistance by Mark Schoifet, Charles Capel, Morten Buttler, and Tugce Ozsoy.