U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is set to unveil Thursday a coronavirus response plan that includes boosting the rate of vaccinations and helping counter the economic effects of the pandemic. Biden is scheduled to detail the program in an evening address. He has already set a goal of administering 100 million vaccine shots in the first 100 days after he takes office on January 20, and his plan is expected to include funding to expand the vaccination campaign. FILE – Florida Department of Health medical workers prepare to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to seniors in the parking lot of the Gulf View Square Mall in New Port Richey near Tampa, Florida, Dec. 31, 2020.The U.S. government has approved two different vaccines for emergency use.  Both require a two-shot regimen, and so far, more than 10 million people have received the first dose of vaccine. Biden’s plan is also expected to include a new round of direct payments to U.S. households.  A previous coronavirus relief bill was delayed last month amid disagreements about how big the stimulus payment should be. FILE – A stimulus check issued by the Internal Revenue Service to help combat the adverse economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic is seen in San Antonio, Texas, April 23, 2020.Biden’s incoming White House economic adviser, Brian Deese, said at a Reuters event Wednesday the proposal would feature aid for small businesses as well. Deese said Biden would ask Congress to focus first on passing the economic stimulus measures and then work on longer-term economic recovery areas such as healthcare and infrastructure. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has said passing a coronavirus relief bill would be the first priority when Democrats assume control of the Senate. The impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatens to crowd the Senate calendar, but Biden said he hopes the Senate can balance impeachment with other priorities. US House Impeaches Trump for Inciting Deadly Capitol RiotFirst US leader to be impeached twice now faces Senate trial after Biden inaugurationThe United States has recorded roughly 385,000 COVID-19 deaths, and for more than two months it has been dealing with its worst surge in infections. During the past week, the country has added an average of 245,000 new cases per day with 3,300 deaths.  Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are at record highs.  
…

After months of negotiations and accusations that China was obstructing an independent investigation, a team of World Health Organization experts has landed in Wuhan, China, where they will try to uncover the origin of the coronavirus that has killed nearly 2 million people globally.Chinese state media on Thursday reported the arrival of the WHO team, composed of researchers from top universities around the world, including experts in animal science and epidemiology. The 15-member team will spend about a month in China. At the insistence of Chinese authorities, the scientists will spend their first two weeks in quarantine.Its goals are to discover how the virus emerged, how it transferred to humans, and how such outbreaks can be prevented in the future. Those tasks won’t be easy; it has been more than a year since COVID-19 was first detected, with the initial outbreak linked to a Wuhan market selling wild animals for food.Their task will also be tricky from a diplomatic and political perspective. Though China has promised to give WHO officials adequate access, Beijing has often become defensive and sought to deflect blame for the devastation brought by the global pandemic.There have also been repeated delays in the arrival of the WHO experts. Earlier this month, the team was held up because of a visa issue that Chinese officials later attributed to a “misunderstanding.”Those delays continued Thursday. The WHO reported that two of its scientists are still in Singapore completing COVID-19 tests. Although it said all team members “had multiple negative PCR and antibody tests for COVID-19 in their home countries prior to traveling,” two members tested positive for IgM antibodies, which the body produces as its first response to a new infection. It is not clear when the two scientists will arrive in China.More than 120 countries have called for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, with many governments accusing Beijing of not doing enough to contain its spread. Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump has been especially outspoken, frequently speaking of the “China virus” and demanding the United Nations hold Beijing accountable.Won’t assign blameBut several members of the WHO team, as well as other officials in the global health agency, say their mission is not to assign blame.“This is not about finding China guilty or saying ‘it started here, give or take three meters.’ This is about reducing the risk. And the media can help by avoiding Trump style finger-pointing,” WHO team member Fabian Leendertz, a biologist at Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, told The Guardian newspaper.“Let this mission and let other missions be about the science, not about the politics,” WHO Health Emergencies Program chief Mike Ryan said at a Monday press briefing.” We are looking for the answers here that may save us in (the) future — not culprits and not people to blame.”China for months rejected calls for an international probe. In July, China and the WHO finally agreed on a framework for the investigation. As part of that plan, China insisted on allowing its scientists to do the initial research, including testing sewage and blood samples and interviewing the earliest known coronavirus patients.“It’s not like nothing’s been happening for the last 12 months. There’s a lot that’s been happening and a lot of evidence that’s been generated. So one of the tasks of the WHO team is to go to China and meet with the scientists and to look at the evidence,” said professor Archie Clements, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Australia’s Curtin University.So far, China has not revealed publicly what its scientists have found. But many experts hope the WHO team will gain access to that data during the trip.“A big part of this investigation is actually around developing relationships with people. Having that personal contact. Being able to ask questions privately in a safe environment. Building rapport. Having the sort of open-ended conversations that may bring out things that you hadn’t previously anticipated might be important,” Clements said.But WHO officials have cautioned the team may not conclusively trace the exact origin of the virus. That’s in part because, experts say, viruses change very quickly.Virus originThe coronavirus was first discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. Many experts believe the virus had long been present in bats but was transferred to humans via another wild animal sold at the Wuhan food market.Some U.S. officials, including Trump, have suggested the virus may have accidentally emerged from the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology, one of China’s top research labs that had been studying bat coronaviruses for years. U.S. officials have offered no proof of that hypothesis.China has been criticized for initially downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak and attempting to silence those who tried to speak out.Perhaps most notably, Li Wenliang, a doctor at the Wuhan Central Hospital, was investigated and chastised by police for “spreading rumors” after he tried to warn fellow medical professionals about the disease. Li later died of the virus.China also imposed strict controls on domestic conversation about the outbreak. A recent investigation by The Associated Press found that Chinese scientists have been barred from speaking to reporters and that the publication of any data or research must be approved by a task force managed by China’s cabinet, under direct orders from President Xi Jinping.In recent months, Beijing has repeatedly suggested the virus did not originate in China. Many state media reports now claim COVID-19 may have emerged in Italy, suggesting it was brought to China via frozen seafood. (The WHO says it is “highly unlikely that people can contract COVID-19 from food or food packaging.”)A team of Chinese scientists recently argued the virus originated in the summer of 2019 in India. In March, a Chinese foreign ministry official offered an unfounded theory the U.S. military may have brought the epidemic to Wuhan.With disinformation and speculation abounding, many public health experts hope the WHO team will soon be able to offer some credible answers.“What I would hope is that politicians, global leaders, give the investigative team some space to do their job, which is a scientific task,” Clements said. “It isn’t a political investigation.”
…

A team of experts from the World Health Organization arrived in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.The 10-member international team flew into Wuhan after a direct flight from Singapore and immediately entered a 14-day quarantine period. Two other members of the WHO team remained in Singapore after testing positive for COVID-19 antibodies, according to a series of tweets from the agency.They were tested again in #Singapore and were all negative for PCR. But two members tested positive for IgM antibodies. They are being retested for both IgM and IgG antibodies.https://t.co/3Yg9UoZ1mx— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 14, 2021The virus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019, and eventually spread to nearly every corner of the globe, leading to more than 1.9 million fatalities out of more than 92.3 million total infections, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus openly expressed “disappointment” with China last week after Beijing failed to grant final permission to the delegation to enter the country, although the plans had been jointly arranged between the two sides. Beijing defended the delay as a “misunderstanding.”The team’s arrival comes as China reports its first new COVID-19 death since last May, part of a surge of new coronavirus infections in the northern provinces of Hebei and Heilongjiang. The National Health Commission reported 138 new cases on Thursday, up from the 115 new cases posted just the day before, with Hebei province recording  81 new cases and 43 coming out of Heilongjiang. The other 14 came from outside the country.The surge of new infections has prompted officials in Hebei province to place several cities in lockdown, while authorities in northeastern Heilongjiang province have declared an “emergency state” for the entire province and its 37 million residents.The world appears to be on the verge of another effective COVID-19 vaccine. A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found that an experimental vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson generated a strong immune response in both young and elderly volunteer participants in early-stage trials.Unlike the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine only requires one dose, making it easier to both transport and refrigerate for long periods of time. The vaccine is currently undergoing late-stage trials involving 45,000 volunteers. Johnson & Johnson is expected to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sometime next month.The company has signed a $1 billion contract with the U.S. government to provide up to 100 million doses of the vaccine once it is granted approval.
…

Racing against a surging COVID-19 death toll, the United States is releasing all available doses of the coronavirus vaccine and has instructed states to immediately begin vaccinating Americans 65 and older and adults with medical conditions. Patsy Widakuswara has this story. 
…

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with willful neglect of duty after an investigation of ruinous decisions that left the city of Flint with lead-contaminated water and a deadly regional outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.The charges, revealed in an online court record, are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.The charges are groundbreaking: No governor or former governor in the state of Michigan’s 184-year history had been charged with crimes related to their time in that office, according to the state archivist.“We believe there is no evidence to support any criminal charges against Gov. Snyder,” defense attorney Brian Lennon said Wednesday night, adding that state prosecutors still hadn’t provided him with any details.FILE – Michigan Gov. Rick SnyderLennon said Tuesday that a criminal case would be “outrageous.” Snyder and others were scheduled to appear in court Thursday, followed by a news conference by Attorney General Dana Nessel and prosecutors.Besides Snyder, a Republican who was governor from 2011 through 2018, charges are expected against former officials who served as his state health director and as a senior adviser.The date of the alleged offense is April 25, 2014, when a Snyder-appointed emergency manager who was running the struggling, majority Black city carried out a money-saving decision to use the Flint River for water while a regional pipeline from Lake Huron was under construction.The corrosive water, however, was not treated properly and released lead from old plumbing into homes.Despite desperate pleas from residents holding jugs of discolored, smelly water, the Snyder administration took no significant action until a doctor reported elevated lead levels in children about 18 months later.“I’m sorry and I will fix it,” Snyder promised during his 2016 State of the State speech.Authorities counted at least 90 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Genesee County, including 12 deaths. Some experts found there was not enough chlorine in the water-treatment system to control legionella bacteria, which can trigger a severe form of pneumonia when spread through misting and cooling systems.The disaster made Flint a national symbol of government dereliction, with residents forced to line up for bottled water and parents fearing their children had suffered permanent harm. Lead can damage the brain and nervous system and cause learning and behavior problems. The crisis was highlighted as an example of environmental injustice and racism.More than 9,700 lead service lines at homes have been replaced. Flint’s water, which now comes from a Detroit regional agency, gets good marks, although many distrustful residents still use filters.Separately, the state, Flint, a hospital and an engineering firm have agreed to a $641 million settlement with residents over the water crisis, with $600 million coming from Michigan. A judge said she hopes to decide by Jan. 21 whether to grant preliminary approval. Other lawsuits, including one against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are pending.
…

The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would slash millions of acres of protected habitat designated for the imperiled northern spotted owl in Oregon, Washington state and Northern California, much of it in prime timber locations in Oregon’s coastal ranges. Environmentalists immediately decried the move and accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Donald Trump of taking a parting shot at protections designed to help restore the species in favor of the timber industry.  The tiny owl is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and was rejected for an upgrade to endangered status last year by the federal agency, despite losing nearly 4% of its population annually. “This revision guts protected habitat for the northern spotted owl by more than a third. It’s Trump’s latest parting gift to the timber industry and another blow to a species that needs all the protections it can get to fully recover,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity. FILE – A large fir tree heads to the forest floor after it is cut by a logger in the Umpqua National Forest near Oakridge, Ore., in this undated file photo.Timber groups applauded the decision, which will not take effect for 60 days. More thinning and management of protected forests is necessary to prevent wildfires, which devastated about 121 hectares (300 acres) of spotted owl habitat last fall, said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resources Council. Loss of the ability to log in areas protected for the spotted owl has devastated rural communities, he said. The 1.4 million hectares (4.4 million acres) removed from federal protections Wednesday includes all of Oregon’s so-called O&C lands, which are big timber territory. The more than 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) are spread in a checkerboard pattern over 18 counties in western Oregon. “This rule rights a wrong imposed on rural communities and businesses and gives us a chance to restore balance to federal forest management and species conservation in the Pacific Northwest,” Joseph said. 1990 federal protections The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a settlement with the timber industry to reevaluate the spotted owls’ protected territory following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a different federally protected species. The Trump administration has moved to roll back protections for waterways and wetlands, narrow protections for wildlife facing extinction, and open more public land to oil and gas drilling. But for decades, the federal government has been trying to save the northern spotted owl, a native bird that sparked an intense battle over logging across Washington, Oregon and California. The dark-eyed owl prefers to nest in old-growth forests and received federal protections in 1990, a listing that dramatically redrew the economic landscape for the Pacific Northwest timber industry and launched a decadeslong battle between environmentalists and loggers. Old-growth Douglas firs, many 100 to 200 years old, that are preferred by the owl are also of great value to loggers. 
…

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergencies chief warned Wednesday the second year of the coronavirus pandemic may be tougher than the first, at least in the first few months.During an online discussion with other WHO officials, Mike Ryan said given the transmission dynamics and other issues they have seen so far, 2021 is looking tougher, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.At least two variants of the virus, identified in Britain and South Africa, have shown to be more transmissible, if not more dangerous and raised concern in European countries.Patients are seen lying on hospital beds inside a temporary ward for possible COVID-19 coronavirus patients at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, Jan. 11, 2021.Ryan said it is important to learn from what has worked and not worked in every country to fight the virus in all aspects — science, public communication, governance and find the best combinations of all that learning. Ryan said at the end of last year, during the holiday period, there was a deceptive drop in reporting on the infection, creating an appearance of a lull in the pandemic. He said in the last week it picked up again, with 5 million cases added globally and 85,000 deaths.He said except for Southeast Asia, all regions of the world have shown increases in infections over the past week, with the Americas leading away, accounting for half of all cases globally and 45% of all deaths. Europe still accounts for one-third of new cases but showed a 10% drop from the previous week.WHO technical specialist Maria Van Kerkhove said she also expects the post-holiday surge in cases to make the situation much worse in some countries before it gets better. She said there are nations where the virus has been brought under control and the societies reopened. She urged those countries to do everything they can to maintain that situation.Van Kerkhove said the important thing to remember is that the world situation is much better than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. She said, “We know so much more than we knew a year ago. There is much to be proud of.” 
…

Aid workers this week confirmed several cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s camps for refugees who fled the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. The United Nations refugee agency and aid group Mercy Corps say an urgent intervention is needed to avoid a humanitarian disaster.Aid organizations reported four confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sudan’s Um Rakouba camp for Ethiopian refugees this week.  The camp houses 25,000 people who have arrived since November, living in very basic, overcrowded conditions that present an opportunity for the coronavirus to easily spread.FILE – Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, wait to receive aid at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Nov. 24, 2020.Mercy Corps is running a health clinic in the Um Rakouba camp and has treated nearly 5,000 refugees. The group’s regional director Sean Granville-Ross called for swift and decisive action to prevent further spread of the virus.“It’s a matter of great concern for all of us — the conditions of the camp, the vulnerability of the people, the population density which make social distancing very difficult,” said Granville-Ross. “And the lack of materials, PPE and equipment to enable us to really mange this outbreak and take care of people.”The four people confirmed to have COVID-19 have been quarantined, says UNHCR officer Guilia Raffaelli.“The confirmed positive cases undergo isolation and have contact tracing primary contacts pending their test results. Other activities are being stopped, like communications with communities and office relations centers, and more funding is needed in order to respond,” said Raffaelli.IRC Works With Sudanese Authorities to Expand Aid Delivery to Ethiopian Refugees Hundreds continue to flee Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region despite government assurances of safety back home Sudanese authorities received aid from UAE and other Arab countries to help the Ethiopian refugees in December. Health observers say more money is needed due to the increasing influx and the growing risk of COVID-19.Sudan has registered more than 23,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since late October, with more than 2,000 deaths.Meanwhile, Sudan’s government and aid organizations have finished preparations to move the refugees to a new camp west of Al-Qadarif. The government says the move will take refugees away from the tense border area and improve security.
…

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday he is hoping the nation’s current situation is the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as infection rates and hospitalizations are at or near record levels.
In televised interviews. Hancock said Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is facing intense pressure due to the high number of COVID-19 cases, treating 55 percent more people than during the first pandemic peak in April, with more than 30,000 patients across the country.
He said the government is considering many options to ease the strain on the NHS. Authorities have reopened temporary field facilities – known as “Nightingale Hospitals” in London and elsewhere and are even considering using hotels for patient overflow.  
The health secretary said if hotels were used it would only be “for step-down patients… who no longer need full hospital care.”
Britain on Monday launched an ambitious program to vaccinate 14 million people by the middle of next month. Hancock said that program is still on track to meet that goal, but as of now, it difficult to determine when enough people will be vaccinated to lift some of the COVID lockdown restrictions that are in place. He said they would remain “long as they are necessary.”
The government opened seven mass vaccination centers Monday as it moved into the most perilous moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, with exhausted medical staff reeling under the pressure of packed hospitals and increasing admissions.
Hancock said the single most important thing people can do to ensure the situation does not get worse is to stay home.  
Britain has so far had at least 3,180,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and more than 83,000 deaths the world’s fifth-highest official toll.
…

China has recorded its highest daily increase of new coronavirus infections since last July after a recent cluster of cases in northern Hebei province. The National Health Commission reported 115 new cases on Tuesday, with 90 cases located in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing.  The commission also said 107 of the new cases were local transmissions — the highest daily jump since July 30.   Officials in Hebei province have ordered a lockdown of several cities, while authorities in northeastern Heilongjiang province, which posted 16 new cases, have declared an “emergency state” for the entire province and its 37 million residents.   Meanwhile, Brazilian researchers say a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech was shown to be just over 50% overall effective after large-scale human trials in that country, far below the 78% efficacy rate against mild-to-severe cases announced just last week.   Researchers said the most recent data included results from a group of participants who reported “very mild” cases of infection, which explains the huge discrepancy between the two figures.   FILE – A worker performs a quality check in the packaging facility of Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech, developing an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, during a government-organized media tour in Beijing, China, Sept. 24, 2020.The Sinovac vaccine has been approved for emergency use by Indonesia, where President Joko Widodo received the very first inoculation Wednesday.  The shot launched the Southeast Asian nation’s drive to vaccinate its 181 million citizens, who are spread out across the vast archipelago.  Indonesia has one of the region’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, having recorded 858,043 total infections, including 24,951 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Wednesday the government is expanding a state of emergency to seven other prefectures in central and western Japan to curb an escalating surge of new coronavirus cases.  The new decree, which  takes effect Thursday and remains in effect until February 7, will cover Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Tochigi.  People wearing face masks due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak walk in Nagoya, Japan, Jan. 13, 2021. (Kyodo via Reuters)Wednesday’s declaration comes more than a week after Prime Minister Suga issued an emergency declaration for Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.  Japan has recorded a total of 302,740 total infections, including over 4,000 deaths.   The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that international travelers will have to prove they have tested negative for COVID-19 before flying to the United States.   Under the new rules that will take effect on January 26, travelers will have to test negative within three days of their departure.   FILE – Travelers walk through O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Nov. 29, 2020.FILE – President Donald Trump, left, listens as Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 15, 2020, in Washington.Cable business channel CNBC reported Tuesday that Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief advisor to the Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s COVID-19 rapid vaccine development program, has resigned his post at the request of the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.   Sources say Slaoui will remain in the role for a month after Biden takes office on January 20 to help with the transition.   Slaoui’s resignation comes as the Trump administration is changing strategies in distributing the available vaccines, announcing Tuesday that it will release millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses it was holding back for use as second shots to inoculate Americans older than 65, as well as Americans with underlying health conditions.  The U.S. set another single-day record in coronavirus deaths Tuesday with 4,327, increasing the nation’s overall death toll to a world-leading 380,670 people.  The U.S. also leads in the overall number of COVID-19 infections with 22.8 million out of the world’s 91.5 million total cases, including 1.9 million deaths.  
…

The United States is changing vaccine strategies, releasing millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses it was holding back for use as second shots to inoculate Americans older than 65, as well as those with underlying health conditions. Appearing on a morning news show, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said, “The administration (of vaccines) in the states has been too narrowly focused.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks during a news conference on Operation Warp Speed and COVID-19 vaccine distribution, January 12, 2021, in Washington.”We now believe that our manufacturing is predictable enough that we can ensure second doses are available for people from ongoing production,” Azar told ABC’s Good Morning America. “So, everything is now available to our states and our health care providers.” He said the new strategy would not interfere with Americans waiting for a first dose. While COVID-19 cases continue to spike across the United States, many state leaders are showing reluctance to order further lockdowns.  Most notable is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open,” Cuomo said this week.  Governors in other states were expressing similar concerns, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization is warning that mass vaccinations against the novel coronavirus will not produce herd immunity this year.FILE – WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan attends a press conference organized by the Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents in Geneva, July 3, 2020. WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan told reporters Monday that it takes time to produce and administer enough doses of a vaccine to finally stop the spread of COVID-19. Swaminathan stressed the need for countries to continue observing mitigation efforts such as mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing.  In a related development, Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine should provide immunity for at least a year. According to Reuters news agency, the company said during the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Monday it was confident the messenger RNA technology it used was well-suited to deploy a vaccine based on the new variant of the coronavirus, which has emerged in a handful of countries.  Dr. Bruce Aylward, a WHO senior adviser, said Monday the agency is hoping to begin providing COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest countries in February but said “we cannot do that on our own.” He urged vaccine makers to prioritize deliveries to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX.  COVAX is an alliance of WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries.  In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more than 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Monday morning. That is less than one-third of the total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government. States, not the federal government, are responsible for administering the vaccines to their citizens. FILE – Nurses prepare a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to a health care worker at a coronavirus vaccine center in Poissy, France, January 8, 2021.The CDC also said Monday that at least 72 cases of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain have now been discovered across 10 U.S. states. California has the most with at least 32 cases, followed by 22 in Florida. The remainder are spread across Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.  The British variant is one of three that have emerged from the original coronavirus, with the third just recently detected in Japan in travelers from Brazil. The Brazilian variant is different from the British and South African variants, but the three share a common mutation.  Russia announced Tuesday it was extending a ban on flights to and from Britain until February 1. Flights were suspended starting December 22, 2020.  Earlier, Britain said it has vaccinated 2.3 million people. In Japan, officials said they are going ahead with planning for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which are scheduled to start July 23. There are more than 91 million global coronavirus infections, including over 1.9 million deaths. The United States leads the world in both categories with 22.7 million infections and nearly 380,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. India is second in total COVID-19 infections with more than 10.4 million cases. 
…

The United States recorded a 10.3% decline in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for 2020 as economic activity contracted due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released Tuesday by the Rhodium Group, which noted the single largest drop in annual emissions in the post-World War II era.“The hardest-hit economic sectors — including transportation, electric power, and industry — are also the leading sources of US GHG emissions,” the report said.The transportation sector saw GHG emissions plummet 14.7% compared to 2019 levels, while the power sector saw a similar decline to the national average of 10.3%, the report said.Industry, on the other hand, saw mixed impact as activity levels fluctuated from the onset to the peak of the pandemic. Between April and March, emissions fell 16%, the researchers noted.The changes were attributed to reduced economic activity across America as a whole, including measures put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 such as shelter-in-place orders and travel restrictions.Additionally, changes in the demand for goods and services as well as record-high unemployment contributed to falling emissions levels, the report said.Last year’s decline in GHG emissions eclipsed a 6.3% drop recorded during the deep U.S. economic recession of 2009.The researchers underscored that the factors leading to the decline are temporary and driven by the pandemic, adding that the 2020 reduction does not constitute “a down payment toward the U.S. meeting its 2025 Paris Agreement target of 26-28% below 2005 levels.”President-elect Joe Biden has said the United States will rejoin the Paris Agreement once he takes office January 20 and that he intends to put America on a course to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.According to the Rhodium Group, even if the pandemic had not occurred and economic activities were at full throttle, U.S. emissions would have declined by around 3% during 2020, mainly driven by the decline of coal-fired power generation and in part by a reduction in heating demand due to warmer winter weather.
…

A top British police official Tuesday said officers have issued about 45,000 fines for violations of COVID-19 restrictions and that they will issue more to keep the infection from spreading. The chair of Britain’s National Police Chiefs’ Council, Martin Hewitt, made the comments at a news conference, along with Home Secretary Priti Patel. Hewitt said he makes no apology for the fines levied because too many people were still choosing not to abide by the rules. He warned there would be more officers out on patrol to catch those who he said were “endangering us all.” Britain is among the countries hardest hit by the pandemic and is in the midst of a third national lockdown to stop rapidly spreading infections. The nation reported 1,243 more deaths Tuesday, bringing the current number of fatalities to 83,203. Patel described the figures as “horrifying” and stressed the “absolutely critical” need for people to follow the rules. Patel said she supported the efforts of police officers, and that a minority of people were putting the entire nation at risk by not following the rules. She said, “Our ability to get through the coming weeks and months depends on each and every one of us contributing to what is truly a national effort.” 
…

Pakistan is concluding its phase three human trials of a Chinese company’s coronavirus vaccine. Health officials say the test of CanSinoBio’s vaccine are nearly complete and show promise. Pakistan is one of seven countries testing the Chinese vaccine. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.Camera:  Malik Waqar Ahmed   
…

The World Health Organization is warning that mass vaccinations against the novel coronavirus will not produce herd immunity this year. WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan told reporters Monday that it takes time to produce and administer enough doses of a vaccine to finally stop the spread of COVID-19.  Dr. Swaminathan stressed the need for countries to continue observing mitigation efforts such as mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing.   In a related story, Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine should provide immunity for at least a year.FILE – Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool)According to Reuters news agency, the company said during the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference Monday it was confident the messenger RNA technology it used was well suited to deploy a vaccine based on the new variant of the coronavirus which has emerged in a handful of countries. Dr. Bruce Aylward, a WHO senior advisor, said Monday the agency is hoping to begin providing COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest countries in February, but said “we cannot do that on our own” as he urged vaccine makers to prioritize deliveries to the  COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX. FILE – A woman wearing a face mask to protect against the novel coronavirus walks on a street in Lagos, Nigeria, Dec. 31, 2020.COVAX is an alliance of WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19 vaccination dose as of Monday morning. That is less than one-third of the total doses distributed to states by the U.S. government, signifying the sluggish distribution efforts across the nation which experts have blamed on a lack of a national strategy and a national distribution system.FILE – A public health information sign is seen with St. Paul’s Cathedral seen behind amidst a lockdown during the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, London, Britain, Jan. 7, 2021.The CDC also said Monday that at least 72 cases of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain has now been discovered across 10 U.S. states. California has the most with at least 32 cases, followed by 22 in Florida, with the remaining spread across Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New York state, Pennsylvania and Texas.   The British variant is one of three that have emerged from the original coronavirus, with the third just recently detected in Japan in travelers from Brazil. The Brazil variant is different from the British and South African variants, but the three share a common mutation.      While the variants are worrisome, they are not unexpected, according to scientists. The coronavirus has made thousands of tiny modifications since it was first discovered, researchers say.   Malaysia’s king has declared a national state of emergency as part of an effort to curb the growing numbers of novel coronavirus infections.    FILE – A doctor collects a swab sample from a man to be tested for the coronavirus disease outside Clinic Ajwa in Shah Alam, Malaysia.The royal palace announced Tuesday that King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued the decree after meeting with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Prime Minister Muhyiddin had issued a two-week lockdown for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, and five surrounding states Monday as the number of total COVID-19 cases has grown over 138,000, including 555 deaths, with the number of daily new cases rising to well over 2,000 in recent weeks.   And New Zealand will require that international travelers from most countries show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before boarding flights to the country.  Travelers from Australia, Antarctica and some Pacific island nations will be exempted from the rule.   There are nearly 91 million global coronavirus infections, including over 1.9 million deaths.  The United States leads the world in both categories with 22.6 million infections and 376,280 deaths.  India is second in total COVID-19 infections with more than 10.4 million cases and Brazil with 8.1 million, with both nations are in reverse order in fatalities — Brazil trails the U.S. with 203,580 deaths, followed by India with 151,327. 
…

China says a team of scientists from the World Health Organization will arrive this week in Wuhan to begin its investigation of the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Tuesday that the 10-member team will leave from Singapore this Thursday and fly directly to Wuhan, the central city where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019. The virus eventually spread to nearly every corner of the globe, leading to more than 1.9 million fatalities out of nearly 91 million infections.   
 
China has sought to change the narrative over the virus’s origins, with officials eagerly pushing theories that it first emerged in other nations.   
 
Dr. Mike Ryan, the head of WHO’s emergencies program, told reporters in Geneva Monday the agency is simply “looking for the answers here that may save us in the future. Not culprits and not people to blame.”  
 
Ryan said if blame exists, “we can blame climate change. We can blame policy decisions made 30 years ago about everything from urbanization to the way we exploit the forest,”  
 
A health expert affiliated with WHO has said that expectations should be “very low” the mission will lead to a conclusion about the origins of the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness.   
 
The United States, which has accused China of having hidden the original outbreak’s extent, has called for a “transparent” WHO-led investigation and criticized its terms, which allowed Chinese scientists to do the first phase of preliminary research. President Donald Trump has accused the agency of being a puppet of China.  
 
The WHO team’s journey to Wuhan comes a week after Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed disappointment with China’s failure to grant final permission to the delegation to enter the country, although the plans had been jointly arranged between the two sides.   
 
Beijing dismissed Tedros’s criticisms, calling the delay a “misunderstanding.” 
…

Parts of the world ravaged by outbreaks of Ebola can now heave a small sigh of relief thanks to the stockpile of vaccine, the International Coordinating Group (ICG) announced Monday. The single-dose vaccine will allow affected countries, particularly those in Africa, to better contain the deadly virus during future outbreaks. “This new stockpile is an excellent example of solidarity, science and cooperation between international organizations and the private sector to save lives,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said in a Tuesday FILE – Health workers begin their shift at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 16, 2019.The vaccine, which is recommended by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization for use in Ebola outbreaks, will be managed by UNICEF although the ICG will be “the decision-making body for its allocation and release,” the press release said. “We are proud to be part of this unprecedented effort to help bring potential Ebola outbreaks quickly under control,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, said in the press release. Fore said “when it comes to disease outbreaks, preparedness is key.” She said the vaccine stash is a “remarkable achievement” that will allow vaccines to be delivered to those who need them in a timely manner. Countries that make requests for vaccines should receive a response in 48 hours. The vaccines will then be shipped from Switzerland in temperature-controlled packages. The statement said the target is to make “overall delivery time from the stockpile to countries” in seven days. An initial 6,890 doses are now available for outbreak response with additional quantities to be delivered into the reserve this month and throughout 2021 and beyond. It could take between two to three years to reach the SAGE-recommended level of 500,000 doses in the emergency stockpile. Unlike COVID-19, Ebola is rare and unpredictable, hence the need to create a reserve in the absence of a “natural market for the vaccine.”   In this case, vaccines are available in limited quantities, and therefore they are reserved for health and front-line workers and when there is an outbreak. IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said in the release, “through each outbreak, our volunteers have risked their lives to save lives.” Chapagain hopes “the impact of this terrible disease will be dramatically reduced” with the vaccine. “An Ebola vaccine stockpile can increase transparency in the management of existing global stocks and the timely deployment of the vaccine where it’s most needed, something MSF has called for during recent outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Dr. Natalie Roberts, Program Manager, MSF Foundation, said in the release. Meanwhile, the WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, and vaccine manufacturers are continuously monitoring the situation and will increase supply should demand soar. The current vaccine is manufactured by Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD) Corp. and developed with financial support from the United States.
…