Covid-19 pandemic: live updates and news for January 31, 2021

Photographer: Sarah Silbiger / Bloomberg

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The west Australian city of Perth will be locked after an employee at a quarantine hotel in the city tests positive, while reports in Hong Kong say the government could impose further minor lockdowns. South Korea extended social measures for another two weeks.

As of Tuesday, travelers in the US will be required to wear masks, including on planes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis and ride shares, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced. Coronavirus infections in the US continue a downward trend, with 162,390 new cases on Friday.

Main Developments:

• Global Tracker: more than 102.5 million cases; deaths pass 2.2 million
• Vaccine Tracker: Over 94.4 million shots delivered worldwide
• Faced with a vaccination crisis, the EU has one enemy of everyone
• Covid mutations Undermine optimism even as more vaccines come close
• Computer shy the elderly are pushed aside in the vaccination race
• How vaccine nationalism flares up over scarce supplies: QuickTake

Subscribe to one daily update on the virus by Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for general data on cases and deaths.

South Korea Expands Social Distance (3:28 PM HK)

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

Perth in Australia will be locked for a week (12:54 pm HK)

The western city of Perth, Australia, will be “completely shut down” for five days starting tonight after a quarantined hotel worker tested positive for what authorities say could be the highly transmissible UK variant of Covid-19.

The lockdown imposes a restraining order, closes schools, pubs and churches, bans household visitors, and makes masks mandatory when leaving the house for essential reasons. There has been no community transfer in the Perth state for nearly 10 months.

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

More lockdowns possible for Hong Kong (12.13 hrs HK)

More lockdowns could happen in Hong Kong soon, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said, according to a report Sunday by local media RTHK. Cheung said the government’s goal is to reduce the number of covid-19 cases to zero and it may launch several operations to impose mandatory testing in the future.

Hong Kong has imposed stricter measures to stop the spread of the virus. Recently it has been imposed short-term lockdowns in small parts of the city and mandatory tests of all residents.

Australia resumes flights to green zone from New Zealand (10:15 am HK)

Australia’s health minister said flights to the green zone from New Zealand will resume this afternoon. The program of quarantine-free arrivals from New Zealand was suspended last week following a case of the South African variant of Covid-19 in Auckland.

The governments of both countries are working to get a two-way bubble off the ground sometime this year, even though New Zealand plans to keep the border closed to much of the world for most of 2021.

Protesters Disrupt LA Vaccination Site (9:40 AM HK)

Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, transformed this month into one of the largest vaccination sites in the country, was Closed for nearly an hour at 1:50 p.m. local time Saturday due to an anti-vaccination protest, a city official said.

The protest was peaceful, according to the police.

The demonstration took place when the Los Angeles area reported the highest daily death rates in about three weeks. LA County reported 316 new fatalities, bringing the total to 16,647. The number of cases increased from 6,918 to 1.1 million. LA and the rest of California are easing the curbs and will allow outdoor dining and some businesses to resume.

California crossed the 40,000 mark for Covid-19 fatalities, adding 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.

More and more UK companies are in danger of going bankrupt (8:08 am HK)

The number of UK listed companies facing insolvency risk is doubled as restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus continue to devastate the economy.

The UK will have to remain in lockdown until the end of May in a best-case scenario where vaccines are 85% effective in stopping the transmission of the virus, the Daily Telegraph reported, citing a paper from the University of Warwick.

The newspaper was commissioned by the government’s Sage Committee and has been viewed by the Prime Minister’s office. It also suggests that if Boris Johnson relaxed lockdown measures in mid-February – when the government overhauls vaccine introduction – a third spike in infections and deaths would follow in April.

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

Brazil Outbreak Shows Signs Of Slowing (5:19 PM NY)

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

The nation reported 58,462 cases on Saturday, closing the second week with a decline in new infections. Still, the caseload is almost as high as the peak of the first wave last summer. The total number of infections is approaching 8 million. The number of deaths fell from the week before, with 1,279 new fatalities on Saturday. Brazil has the most fatalities after the US, with a total of 223,945.

Brazil will receive 10 million to as many as 14 million doses of AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccines from the international Covax consortium from mid-February, the health ministry said 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 diseases. The total number of fatalities is 75,862. This comes a day after the French government said it was giving itself a “chance” to avoid a third blockade by instead closing borders to travelers outside the European Union and closing major shopping centers.

On Saturday, Emmanuel Macron urged a shared responsibility to refrain from tougher measures. “I have faith in us,” the French president said in a tweet. “Let’s do everything we can to stop the epidemic together.”

Portugal Continues to Add ICU Patients (9:35 am NY)