Vaccinations in the US and UK are set to start this week, while inoculations in Russia are underway to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million people around the globe.
Vaccinations in the US, which notched a record number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours, reaching nearly 230,000 new infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, could begin as early as Friday, with the Food and Drug Administration set to vote on emergency-use authorization for the Pfizer Inc./BioNtech SE shot the day before, an FDA adviser told
NBC News.
In that same stretch, the US recorded 2,527 COVID-related deaths, according to real-time data provided by the Baltimore- based university at 8:30 pm (0130 GMT Saturday).
The United States has recorded more than 14.6 million COVID cases and more than 281,000 related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Queen Elizabeth to get COVID-19 vaccine
The UK plans to begin inoculations during the week of Dec. 14, as authorities worldwide move to a new stage in tackling the pandemic.
Moscow began jabs on Saturday.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, after UK regulators granted emergency approval and the world's first roll-out begins next week, reports late Saturday said.
The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The newspaper said Britain's most senior royals would reveal they have been given the inoculation "to encourage more people to take up the vital jab," amid fears so-called anti-vaxxers could dent enthusiasm for it.
Britain on Wednesday gave emergency approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, with health officials set to use criteria based on age and vulnerability to decide the order of people to receive it.
Elderly care home residents and their carers will be the very first to get inoculated, followed by those aged 80 and over and frontline health and care staff.
Other elderly people and the clinically extremely vulnerable will be next, with the rest of the population then prioritized by age.
The Daily Mirror also reported a string of high-profile figures in Britain had committed publicly to getting the vaccine in a bid to boost take-up.
They include Monty Python star Michael Palin and Bob Geldof, the tabloid said.
Britain has pre-ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine in total, and is set to receive an initial batch of 800,000 to begin next week's rollout.
Regulators were forced to defend their world-first approval on Wednes- day of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, insisting it met all safety standards after US and European officials queried the rapid process.
The vaccine will be manufactured at Pfizer's plant in Puurs, Belgium, and needs to be transported in temperature-controlled thermal shippers that use dry ice.
The Observer reported late Saturday that ministers have drawn up contingency plans to fly millions of doses into Britain on military aircraft in the event of Brexit-related disruption at UK ports.
"We will do this if necessary," a health department spokesperson told the newspaper.
South Korea may tighten curbs
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is scheduled to host a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures meeting in Seoul City Hall at 3 p.m. on Sunday at which the government could make a decision on tighter curbs.
South Korea confirmed 631 cases on Sunday, the highest in nine months, with 599 local infections. Total deaths rose by five to 545, according to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
Just two weeks ago, South Korea raised the social-distancing level to 2 from 1.5 in the greater Seoul area, limiting restaurant hours and social gatherings, as the surge in cases threatened to undermine efforts to contain the pandemic.
More than half of California to face new curbs
Southern California and San Joaquin Valley will be slapped with the state’s stay-at-home order after the capacity at their intensive-care units fell below the 15% threshold for more curbs.
ICU capacity in San Joaquin Valley, a relatively rural area in the the state’s central region that includes Fresno, dipped to 8.6%. In Southern California,
which has more than half of the state’s population in an area that includes Los Angeles and San Diego, the ratio fell to 12.5%.
Under the order, a list of sectors including bars, wineries, hair salons, and personal-care services would be shut.
California added a record 25,068 new cases, bringing the total to 1.3 million.
It also reported 209 new deaths for a total fatality count of 19,791.
France’s drop in new cases stalls, hospitalizations decline
France’s reported confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 12,923 on Saturday to 2.28 million.
The seven-day average of new cases rose by 0.5% to 10,397, climbing for the first time in more than two weeks.
The rate of positive COVID-19 tests remained at 10.7% for a third day, following three weeks of declines.
Hospitalizations and patients in intensive care for Covid-19 continued to fall from their mid-November peak.
Deaths linked to the virus increased by 214 to 54,981.
The government started easing some lockdown measures a week ago, allowing non-essential stores to reopen.
Russia starts vaccinations as cases hit record
Moscow started widespread vaccination of front-line workers and other high-risk people on Saturday, following an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
More than 5,000 people signed up in the first five hours of registration on Friday, Moscow’s mayor said on his blog.
The Kremlin has resisted a broad lockdown, putting the responsibility for imposing restrictions on regional governments.
Russia reported a record 28,782 cases in the past day, the government’s virus response center said Saturday.
That raises the total to 2.4 million, the fourth-most in the world.