The United States marked the New Year on Friday by passing the extraordinary milestone of 20 million Covid-19 cases, after global celebrations welcoming in 2021 were largely muted by the pandemic.
The US has floundered in its efforts to quell the virus, which is spreading rapidly across the country and has already caused over 346,000 deaths -- by far the highest national death toll.
Worldwide hopes that Covid-19 vaccines will bring a rapid end to the pandemic in 2021 have been shaken by the slow start to the US vaccination program, which has been beset by logistical problems and overstretched hospitals.
Nearly 2.8 million people in the US have already received their first jabs, but the figure fell well behind the 20 million inoculations that President Donald Trump's administration promised by the end of 2020.
The desperate race to vaccinate is set to dominate the coming year, with the coronavirus already killing at least 1.8 million people since emerging in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
German firm BioNTech said Friday it was racing to ramp up production of its Covid-19 jab to fill a shortage left by the lack of other approved vaccines in Europe.
Countries including Britain, Canada and the United States approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier, and have since also greenlighted jabs by US firm Moderna or Oxford-AstraZeneca.
"The current situation is not rosy, there's a hole because there's an absence of other approved vaccines and we have to fill this gap," BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin told Der Spiegel weekly.
Waiting for the vaccine
Criticism of the slow pace of the vaccine rollout has grown louder in recent days.
In Germany, senior doctors have complained that hospital staff are left waiting for vaccines despite being in a priority group.
France has seen similar complaints, prompting the government to announce that health workers aged over 50 could get the shot from Monday -- sooner than originally planned.
The French government on Friday announced that a nationwide nighttime curfew would be lengthened in 15 regions where infections are high. The curfew will begin at 6:00 pm rather than 8:00 pm, including in the Mediterranean city of Nice.
"The virus is continuing to spread... but with a disparity between regions," said a French government spokesman, confirming that theaters, cinemas and concert halls would not be able to reopen on January 7, the most recent earliest date given.
Also in France, some 2,500 partygoers attended an illegal New Year rave near Rennes, clashing with police who tried to stop it, authorities said.
But worldwide, normally extravagant midnight celebrations in cities such as Sydney, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Edinburgh were scaled back or cancelled, and crowds banned from attending.
Rio saw one upside: 89 percent less garbage on Copacabana beach, which is left clogged with trash each year after its New Year party.
"We were ready for any scenario. But congratulations to the people of Rio, who listened to the authorities' calls to avoid large crowds and stay home," said municipal sanitation chief Flavio Lopes.
Post-holiday surge
Travelers braving trains between London and Paris on the first day after Britain's exit from the EU customs union experienced additional checks but appeared more worried by the extra rules required for travel due to Covid-19.
"I wasn't supposed to be home for the holidays but there was an emergency. I bought my ticket at the last minute, with a test (for Covid-19) costing 200 pounds (225 euros, US$270)," said Stephanie Bapes, a 35-year-old Frenchwoman who lives in London.
Britain said Thursday that it had vaccinated almost 950,000 people, as a surge in coronavirus cases prompted the reopening of field hospitals.
Experts believe the worst is yet to come globally, predicting a sharp rise in cases and deaths after weeks of holiday gatherings.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the US hit a record number of daily deaths on Wednesday when more than 3,900 people died of Covid-19.
President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20, has criticized the troubled vaccine rollout, and implored Americans to wear masks.
Under Trump, US authorities have given often mixed messages on mask-wearing, social distancing and shutdowns, and the outgoing president has repeatedly downplayed the risks.
But in his New Year's Eve message, Trump hailed his administration's response, saying "our most vulnerable citizens are already receiving the vaccine, and millions of doses are quickly being shipped all across our country."
The World Health Organization on Thursday granted emergency validation to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, paving the way for countries worldwide to quickly approve its import and distribution.
Elsewhere in the world
Meanwhile, Thailand’s capital will close entertainment venues, South Korea is extending social distancing measures and Hong Kong is working on an e-booking system for virus vaccines as authorities in Asia try to suppress recent outbreaks.
Sydney ordered residents to wear masks in many indoor settings as the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down in 2021. Tokyo’s governor is urging Japan to declare a state of emergency while Turkey, China and Brazil became the latest nations to report infections of the new, highly transmissible virus strain.
• Hong Kong will complete an e-booking system for COVID-19 inoculations this month and is in talks with other countries to allow the records to be used for travel, local media including Hong Kong Economic Times reported.
The electronic-registration system will record when and which type of vaccine has been received and will remind the user when to get a second
shot, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit was cited as saying in a radio interview.
Hong Kong has already reached agreements with Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE, AstraZeneca Plc and China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. to acquire 22.5 million potential doses of vaccines, and is seeking a further 7.5 million.
The government has said residents will be able to choose which type they receive, though the details are yet to be announced.
• South Korea extended its current social-distancing rules by two weeks as authorities continue to restrict private gatherings before nationwide vaccination is expected next month.
The government will maintain level 2.5 social distancing rules in the Seoul metropolitan area and level 2 in other parts of the country until Jan. 17, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said Saturday in a televised briefing.
Level 3 is the closest scenario to a lockdown in South Korea’s alert system.
Private gatherings for more than four people will continue to be banned although cram schools with less than 10 students for each class will be allowed to open, given the demand for childcare for working parents.
Ski resorts will also open with less than a third of visitors of maximum capacity.
• Tokyo’s metropolitan government is set to urge the central government to declare a state of emergency, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike will make that request directly to virus czar and economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Saturday afternoon, the paper said, citing multiple people with knowledge of the matter.
Japan’s capital reported a record 1,337 new coronavirus cases on New Year’s Eve, as infections fueled by the onset of cold weather showed no signs of abating even after the city stepped up its containment efforts.
• Bangkok will temporarily close entertainment venues such as water and amusement parks as well as gyms after new COVID-19 cases in Thailand’s capital were linked to such spots.
The move will also include playgrounds, flea markets, massage parlors and internet cafes from Saturday and follows an order to keep all schools in Bangkok closed until Jan. 17.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will decide later on Saturday if it should ban dining in at city restaurants after some cases were traced to them, it said on Twitter.
Thailand reported 216 new virus cases and one death on Saturday, with the majority of the infections locally transmitted, according to Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesperson for the national COVID-19 response center.
The country’s total number of COVID-19 cases jumped to 7,379 with the death toll rising to 64.
• People in Sydney and certain other areas of New South Wales will have to wear masks in shopping malls and on public transport as Australia’s most populous state tries to control a recent outbreak.
The new rules will also enforce masks in cinemas, salons and places of worship with violations incurring a fine of A$200 ($154), Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Saturday.
New South Wales has recorded 7 new locally acquired cases in the past 24 hours, with a cluster originally confined to the Northern Beaches region of Sydney spreading to other areas and infecting more than 150 people.
• Ireland expects to record over 9,000 cases in coming days, as a Christmas lag in reporting and testing tapers off. Over 1,700 cases were reported Friday, close to a record high.
Medical authorities warned of a surge in hospitalizations, with as many as 70 patients a day being admitted, adding to the 500-plus already being treated in the hospital.
Ireland has entered a third national lockdown as it awaits widespread vaccination.
• Turkey suspended all arrivals from the UK after it detected the new variant of the COVID-19 virus among 15 people who traveled from the country, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
All 15 patients had been in quarantine since they were screened and no other cases of the more-infectious mutant virus have so far been detected in the country, Koca said in a statement online.
Turkey announced 12,203 new infections on Friday, the lowest level since at least Nov. 25, when the ministry of health started announcing the number of everyone who tests positive for the virus, abandoning a controversial policy of excluding asymptomatic cases.
• The UK reported 53,285 new cases and 613 deaths on Friday. The latest
R number was estimated at 1.1 to 1.3., which means the virus continues to spread exponentially.