HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and its effects.
Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)
UK To Face 50,000 COVID-19 Cases A Day Within Weeks, Top Scientist Says — 9/21/20 7 a.m. ET
Britain could see 50,000 daily cases of COVID-19 by mid-October and 200 deaths a day by mid-November if the current rate of infection is not halted, Chief Scientific Officer Patrick Vallance said at a snap public briefing in Downing Street on Monday.
The news comes after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Friday that a second wave “is coming” to the U.K. Last week, the R0 rate of the virus, which shows whether the pandemic is growing, jumped to between 1.1 and 1.4, HuffPost U.K. reported.
On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock refused to guarantee that pubs would be open this weekend. However, he also said the country would not return to the full lockdown seen in March, stressing that restrictions would be “different to last time.”
Nearly 42,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the U.K., the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. New cases are rising by at least 6,000 per day in Britain, and hospital admissions are doubling every eight days.
— Rachel Wearmouth and James Martin
W.H. Task Force Member: A Few Million Early Doses Of Vaccine Could Make ‘Enormous Impact’ — 9/20/20, 3:30 p.m. ET
A coronavirus vaccine likely won’t be available to all Americans until mid-2021, but even a few million doses in November or December could have an “enormous impact” on the number of hospitalizations and fatalities, Assistant Health Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir said Sunday.
“From my perspective, even a few million doses early in November or December, if we have 5 or 10 percent of the population that we can vaccinate, we can get 80 or more 90 percent of the benefit,” Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“For example, if we could vaccinate workers in nursing homes, we could protect the elderly and the vulnerable from disease,” he added. “That would make an enormous impact on mortality, if we could vaccinate our teachers and those with preexisting conditions or those surrounding those people. … A vaccine as early as possible, even in a few million doses, will be a godsend in terms of outcomes, hospitalizations, morbidity and deaths.”
Credit: Source link