United Kingdom
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus across the capital and the increase in cases of Covid-19 in hospitals, which puts the NHS at risk of being overwhelmed, “wrote his office in a report.
He is making the decision because the number of Covid-19 cases in London is more than ‘1,000 per 100,000’, which increases the National Health Service (NHS), which rose by 27% between 30 December and 6 January.
‘We declare a major incident because the threat posed by this virus to our city is a crisis point. “If we do not act immediately now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people would die,” Khan said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Moderna has become the third Covid-19 vaccine to be approved by UK regulators. The government has agreed to buy an additional dose of ten million in addition to its previous order of 7 million, the UK Department of Health announced on Friday.
However, this is because the UK on Thursday recorded 1,162 deaths related to Covid-19, the highest toll since the first peak in April.
Germany
Germany’s daily coronavirus mortality rate peaked at 1,188 in the past day. The previous record was 1,129, which was recorded on December 30 last year.
The German Ministry of Health said on Friday that it would receive more than 60 million doses of BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine via the EU. In addition, there is a safe option for another 30 million doses nationally. From Moderna, Germany, 50 million doses will be received via the EU alone, with supplemental doses being negotiated nationally.
This alone means from BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna that Germany has the potential to receive at least 140 million doses of vaccine this year.
Spain
Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa warned on Friday that the country was facing some difficult weeks as Covid-19 matters continued to increase.
The country on Thursday picked up two million cumulative cases of Covid-19, with the numbers doubling in the past 11 weeks, according to a running CNN version based on data released by the Ministry of Health.
Sweden
Long named an outlier because he did not want to implement a full-scale closure of the coronavirus like his European neighbors. Sweden moved in a more conventional direction on Friday when parliament voted in favor of an act that would allow stricter restrictions.
This would include banning public gatherings, if necessary, and it would effectively give the government the right to impose a “lockout” to whatever extent.
European Union
The European Union continues to strive to secure vaccines for its member states. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday that the EU would extend its contract with Pfizer / BioNTech for ‘up to an additional 300 million vaccines’ in 2021 – doubling the dose of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) expects AstraZeneca to submit a “conditional marketing application” for its Covid-19 vaccine next week, the regulatory body said in a statement on Twitter on Friday.