What you need to know about the corona virus on Tuesday, December 22

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Biden’s vaccination came a week after the first doses of the injection were injected to US health professionals, and the same day a second vaccine developed by Moderna was given to Americans.

“We are still in the thick of it,” the president-elect said, urging Americans to listen to public health experts and wear masks and social distance and not travel unless absolutely necessary during the holiday season. “If you don’t have to travel, don’t travel.”

Meanwhile, countries around the world are imposing travel bans on the UK to prevent the transmission of a variant of coronavirus that health authorities believe could spread faster than others. The US government is considering requiring all travelers from Britain to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test as a condition of entry, two Trump administration officials told CNN.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday that the British coronavirus variant is likely already in the US, but “is not yet the most common.”
Regardless of the variant, the US has failed to limit the spread of Covid-19. Monday’s winter solstice marked the darkest day of the year in more ways than one: The US reported about 191,000 new Covid-19 cases, 1,700 new deaths, and a record 115,000 hospitalizations.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWER.

Ask: Do the vaccines work against the new variant?

A: Both the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine have demonstrated efficacy of approximately 95% in clinical studies. But many wonder if the vaccines would work on variants of the virus, such as a virus that is spreading in the UK.

“So far, I don’t think there is one variant that would be resistant to the vaccine,” said Moncef Slaoui, chief science adviser for Operation Warp Speed. “We can’t rule it out, but it’s not here now.” He said critical aspects of the virus, such as the spike protein involved in a vaccine, are highly specific to the novel coronavirus and are unlikely to mutate much.

Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna say they are currently testing their vaccines to see if they work against the new mutated version of the virus. BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said he has “scientific confidence” that the current Pfizer / BioNTech could work against the new variant, but full data will be available within two weeks.
Here’s what else you need to know about the variant.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TODAY

Congress approves the highly anticipated $ 900 billion Covid bailout package

Congress voted Monday night to approve a sweeping $ 900 billion Covid aid package that promises to accelerate vaccine distribution and provide much-needed relief to small businesses hard hit by the pandemic, Americans who have lost their jobs during the economic turmoil, and health workers at the forefront of the crisis.

It includes direct payments of up to $ 600 per adult, improved unemployment benefits of $ 300 per week, approximately $ 284 billion in loans for the Paycheck Protection Program, $ 25 billion in rental assistance, an extension of the eviction moratorium, and $ 82 billion for schools and colleges.

The White House has said that President Donald Trump will sign the legislation as soon as it reaches his desk.

On the hunt for “Disease X”

The patient shows early symptoms of haemorrhagic fever and sits quietly on her bed, two toddlers fleeing desperately to squeeze the cell-like hospital room in Ingende, a remote town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They are waiting for the results of a test for Ebola.

But the question in everyone’s mind is, what if this woman doesn’t have Ebola? What if instead she’s patient zero of “Disease X,” the first known infection of a new pathogen that could engulf the world just as quickly as Covid-19, but with a 50% to 90% death rate from Ebola?

This is not the stuff of science fiction. It’s a scientific fear based on scientific facts. According to Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, humanity is facing an unknown number of new and potentially deadly viruses emerging from the tropical rainforests of Africa, which helped discover the Ebola virus in 1976 and has been on the forefront of the hunt for new pathogens ever since. .

“We are now in a world where new pathogens will come out,” he told CNN’s Sam Kiley. “And that’s what threatens humanity.”

Trucks pile up at the British-French border amid a travel ban

Hundreds of trucks are piled up at the British border when a French travel ban due to a rapidly spreading corona virus went into a second day.

The crossing between the English port of Dover and the French city of Calais is a major European trade artery – and its closure just days before Christmas and the end of the Brexit transition period is raising concerns about food and drug shortages in the region. UK.

European truck drivers told CNN they did not know when they would be able to return home and were concerned that they would spend Christmas in their taxis. The British government said it provided food, drink and toilets for drivers.

ON OUR RADAR

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Francis Collins and Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, will be vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday.
  • The State Department is returning to Phase 1 Covid-19 guidelines, which include limiting travel to mission-critical travel, according to a department-wide memo reviewed by CNN.
  • Four cases of the UK’s Covid-19 variant have been discovered in Australia, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Monday.
  • Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is morally acceptable, the Vatican found, after some anti-abortion groups raised concerns about the way the vaccines were manufactured.
  • Taiwan, home to one of the most successful pandemic responses in the world, has recorded its first locally transmitted case of coronavirus since April.
  • South Korea limits Christmas gatherings during the holiday season by declaring a “special quarantine period”.
  • Eight medical associations of doctors and nurses in Japan declared “a medical emergency” Monday, as there were more than 200,000 cases of Covid-19.

BEST ADVICE

Imagine spending two weeks in strict quarantine, and not allowed beyond a small hotel room, not even for eating or exercising. Now imagine doing all that – with kids.

Three parents told CNN Travel how they turned forced quarantine time into opportunities to connect with their children in exceptional circumstances – and managed to survive without losing their sanity.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“The body needs that stimulation biologically, biochemically, and bioelectrically. So we have to get it from somewhere. And we may not get it from our friends or from our family as often as we normally would. So we need something like exercise. do. compensate. “ – Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute

Almost everyone in the world seems to experience less touch at this point. There is less hugging, less shaking hands. Even people living with others during the pandemic report very little physical involvement. Researchers know that touch can have important biochemical benefits for health and wellness. Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to Field about what these touchless months are doing to our bodies, and how we can reclaim some of the benefits of touch in the Covid-19 era. Listen now.

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