Name: Sweden limits public gatherings to eight people – as it happened
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Sweden limits public gatherings to eight people – as it happened

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This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldThis blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest: will dramatically roll back its reopening efforts, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced on Monday, saying he was pulling the “emergency brake” amid a troubling surge in cases.The changes, which take effect Tuesday, will see more than 94% of California’s population and most businesses across the state return to the most restrictive tier of rules aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. The state is also strengthening its guidance on masks; Newsom announced face coverings would now be required outside people’s homes with limited exceptions.You can read the full report, by and , .South Africa has recorded 1,245 new coronavirus cases and 73 further deaths.The caseload stands at 752,269 , while 20,314 people have died.The Australian state of Victoria has recorded its 18th day without a new coronavirus case or death.You can read more about the coronavirus situation in Australia at our dedicated blog .Health authorities in South Korea are expected to tighten coronavirus restrictions as the number of new Covid-19 infections has risen by more than 200 for three consecutive days, according to a report in the .The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Monday that 223 new virus cases were confirmed on Sunday, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 28,769.This was the ninth consecutive day that South Korea has seen triple-digit daily infections, and the highest daily increase since 2 September.KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said that daily infections may rise to 300 to 400 in two to four weeks if the current trend goes on, referring to risk factors including end-of-year gatherings and cold weather alongside the growing number of asymptomatic cases.Japan is under growing pressure to reimpose a state of emergency after a record of 1,722 infections were registered on Saturday.Cases are particularly high in the northern island of Hokkaido and the western prefectures of Hyogo and Osaka. Hokkaido’s local government has said it will ask residents of Sapporo to stay at home after 189 new cases were reported in the prefecture on Monday, according to the .In Tokyo, cases have neared 400 in recent days, levels not seen since early August. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, however, has said the rising cases did not necessitate the reimposition of a state of emergency, or a halt to the government’s campaign to encourage domestic tourism.The country’s cumulative total stands at over 119,300 cases, including some 700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama in February. The nationwide death toll is more than 1,900. has been “forgotten” by central government as the city’s coronavirus cases have increased at an “astonishing and terrifying rate” to become the highest in England, its council leader has said.Stephen Brady of Hull city council said it needed urgent national support but had received no contact from the government.The number of coronavirus patients in Hull’s hospitals has passed the peak of the first wave and its infection rate has risen tenfold in barely five weeks. and report:Belgium has said it intends to make any coronavirus vaccine available to around 70% of the population, some 8 million people, and free of charge.The jab will not be compulsory, added Frank Vandenbroucke, the health minister, as he and regional counterparts attended an interministerial health conference.Belgium, with a population of 11.5 million people, has registered almost 540,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 14,000 deaths to date. Its death rate per million residents is one of the worst in .Joe Biden, the US president-elect has told a press conference that “more people may die” if Donald Trump continues to block efforts to plan for a transition of power as the coronavirus pandemic worsens, Reuters reports, and added that he would not hesitate to get vaccinated.Biden also said business and labour leaders had signalled willingness to cooperate to fix the pandemic-battered US economy but stressed Covid-19 first must be brought under control and urged Congress to pass relief legislation.You can follow all the developments on our .Here’s a quick summary of recent developments to get you up to speed.Scientists are hopeful that the preliminary success of mRNA vaccines could be a “leap forward” for fighting other diseases, including cancer.The initial success in late-stage trials by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech is the first proof the technology, which is much faster than traditional vaccine development, works.“Unlike conventional vaccines, which are produced using weakened forms of the virus, RNA vaccines can be constructed quickly using only the pathogen’s genetic code,” the Pfizer website .The traditional method typically takes more than a decade – Moderna’s mRNA vaccine went from gene sequencing to the first human injection in 63 days. “We’ll look back on the advances made in 2020 and say: ‘That was a moment when science really did make a leap forward’,” said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, which is backed by the Wellcome Trust.Moderna and BioNTech are also applying mRNA technology to experimental cancer medicines. None of the potential therapies have reached the critical large-scale Phase 3 trials, however, and experts acknowledges that cancer presents a bigger challenge.A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has been found in the pet section of a shop in one of Corsica’s main cities, the French farm ministry has announced.In a statement, the ministry said all the birds in the shop have been euthanised. France will be put on high alert level from Tuesday, it added.It follows Denmark ordering the culling of 25,000 chickens after detecting H5N8 bird flu on a farm.The cull will effectively stop the country’s poultry and egg exports to non-EU countries for a minimum of three months.The United States registered more than one million new coronavirus cases last week as new infections rose in every state except for Hawaii, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county reports.Deaths rose by 12% in the week ending 15 November and averaged more than 1,100 people per day.Several states, including Michigan, North Dakota and Washington, imposed new restrictions on public gatherings and indoor dining to try to slow the spread of the virus.Norway’s minority government and the opposition party have agreed on an increased economic support package amid the continuing coronavirus crisis.At 22.1bn Norwegian crowns (£1.84bn), the overall package is an increase from the 17.7bn crowns initially offered by the centre-right cabinet of the prime minister, Erna Solberg, on 10 November.“We want to give as much certainty as we can in an uncertain time,” the Conservatives’ finance spokesman in parliament, Mudassar Kapur, said in a statement.Part of the economic package entails the renewed suspension of environmental measures throughout 2021, such as an air passenger tax. The government had already suspended the tax for 2020.French health authorities have reported that the number of hospitalised coronavirus patients has increased by 416 to reach a new all-time high of 33,497, even as the number of new cases reached a more than one-month low.Covid-19 fatalities increased by 506, at 45,054, versus a seven-day moving average of 581. Infections rose by 9,406, compared to 27,228 on Sunday and way below the all-time high of 86,852 reached on 7 November.Greece has reported 2,198 new coronavirus infections and 59 fatalities.The country’s total caseload stands at 76,403, while 1,165 have died.Here’s the Associated Press bureau chief for southeast with a breakdown of where the infections were located:

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldThis blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest: will dramatically roll back its reopening efforts, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced on Monday, saying he was pulling the “emergency brake” amid a troubling surge in cases.The changes, which take effect Tuesday, will see more than 94% of California’s population and most businesses across the state return to the most restrictive tier of rules aimed at slowing the spread...

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TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and Guardian Unlimited, is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service.

Sweden limits public gatherings to eight people – as it happened

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