Coronavirus Live News: US Cases Rise 14% in One Week, France Reopen UK Border | World news

In the United States, In the week to December 20, 1.6 million new cases of Covid were reported, according to the World Health Organization, the highest number of new cases for any country. That weekly US increase was up 14%.

The weekly update from the WHO came as California registered half a million cases of coronavirus in the past two weeks, with overwhelming emergency rooms in the state. You can read our full story on that here.

Joe Biden, meanwhile, said his government will propose another Covid-19 aid package next year, including another round of stimulus payments.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Biden said a $ 900 billion aid package passed by Congress this week was a “first step,” but the government will need to do more.

“Here’s the simple truth: our darkest days in the fight against Covid are ahead of us, not behind us,” he said.

A large-scale Covid-19 testing program for British truck drivers is on track to ease congestion in UK ports following an agreement to reopen the border between France and the UK.

The UK Department of Transport made the announcement late Tuesday, hours after Paris said passengers from Britain could enter France after a 48-hour blockade to stop the spread of a new variant of coronavirus, leaving thousands of trucks outside UK ports for Christmas. stranded.

Rail, air and maritime transport would resume from Wednesday morning, the DfT said, requiring all people traveling to France from the UK to show proof of a negative test taken in the last 72 hours.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said that lateral flow tests, which take about 30 minutes, can be used to test those who are eligible to cross the French border, but he urged transporters not to Kent to travel before the test program was operational.

You can read our full story below:

China reported 15 new Covid cases on Dec. 22, the same as the day before, the country’s national health authority said Wednesday.

The National Health Commission said in a statement that 14 of the new cases were imported infections that came from abroad. The commission also reported a local transmission in Liaoning province.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell from 17 cases a day earlier to 14.

The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 86,882, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

We’ll be crossing live to Australia, where the New South Wales premiere will provide an update on how Christmas will fare for greater Sydney, following a serious outbreak on the city’s northern beaches.

Gladys Berejiklian says the current restrictions for greater Sydney will remain the same over Christmas – that is, you can only have 10 visitors in your home. However, Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian says there is one “minor adjustment”: children under 12 are not counted. This applies to December 24, 25, 26 and 27.

“May I emphasize that you cannot have different groups of 10 people during the day. It’s a group of 10 and you have to keep that group of 10 plus kids under 12. “

“But on December 27 for Greater Sydney, we’re going to go down to just 10 per household,” says Berejiklian.

“Every other restriction remains in place, except for that addition during the Christmas season,” she says.

Sydney registered eight new cases of the corona virus on Wednesday.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, with me, Alison Rourke.

The World Health Organisation says weekly coronavirus cases through December 20 were the highest since the start of the pandemic. New cases were up 6%, or 4.6 million, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update. The number of new deaths increased by 4% or about 79,000 over the same period. Europe responsible for the highest number of new deaths or more than 36,000, which was nearly half of the weekly global total, the WHO said.

Other important developments are:

• Britain will begin mass testing of truck drivers as France reopens the border. A large-scale Covid-19 truck driver test program is to be launched to ease congestion in UK ports following an agreement to reopen the France-UK border. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said lateral flow tests, which take about 30 minutes, can be used to test those who can cross the French border.
• Family members of Italian Covid victims to file lawsuit against prominent politicians. Family members of coronavirus victims in Italy are taking legal action against the Prime Minister, Minister of Health and the President of the Lombardy Region for alleged criminal negligence in dealing with the pandemic.
• Biden will look for a new aid package for Covid-19 next year and says the “darkest days” are ahead. US President-elect Joe Biden said his administration will propose another Covid-19 aid package next year, including another round of stimulus payments. “Here’s the simple truth: our darkest days in the fight against Covid are ahead of us, not behind us,” he said.
• South Africa is struggling to contain the second wave of Covid with a new variant. South Africa is struggling to contain a second wave of Covid-19 infections, which appears to be caused by a new and more contagious variant of the disease, similar to the one in the UK.
• NHS leaders are expressing concern about the pace of Covid vaccine rollout. NHS leaders in England have expressed concern about the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, with more than half of hospital representatives and two-thirds of GPs not yet receiving supplies, amid growing alarms about the new fast-spreading variant.
• According to experts, Covid could shorten life expectancy in the US by as much as three years. US life expectancy could drop by two to three years in 2020 due to the coronavirus, the strongest drop since World War II and with Covid-19 on the verge of becoming the third leading cause of death in America.
• California registers half a million cases of Covid in two weeks. The state could be faced with a once-unimaginable scenario of nearly 100,000 hospitalizations within a month, with overwhelming emergency care across the state.
• Weekly Covid-19 cases have hit a record fueled by America. Weekly Covid-19 cases were up by the highest number since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization said, with half of them in America.
• Nicola Sturgeon apologizes for breaking Covid rules. Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has apologized after breaking Covid’s rules by removing her face mask at a funeral.
• AstraZeneca says its vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant. British drug company AstraZeneca told Reuters that its Covid-19 vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant, and additional studies were underway to fully investigate the impact of the mutation.