Weekly update.

There was a correction in the reported cases totals for Asia this week making it look like a huge increase. However without the correction the cases are still up yet again, worldwide. In Europe it seems some countries (UK, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) are celebrating the vaccine approvals a bit too soon.

Worldwide the tally went up by 5.21 million last week (up from 4.24 million) without corrections 4.37 million new cases were added, to a total of 71.4 million. 76,833 new deaths were also reported (slightly up from 75,263) to a total of 1,600,389

The USA is still a bit less regular in reporting yet stays ahead of Europe. Europe is pretty much flat this week, no progress.

The continents

North America reported 1.68 million new cases (up from 1.46 million) and 22,664 more deaths (up from 19,512)
Europe reported 1.38 million new cases (up from 1.36 million) and 33,264 more deaths (down from 34,309)
Asia's total went up by 1.61 million of which 816K new cases (down from 878K) and 10,833 more deaths (down from 11,750)
South America reported 430K new cases (down from 446K) and 7,691 more deaths (same as last week 7,672)
Africa reported 110K new cases (up from 97.9K) and 2,368 more deaths (up from 2,013)
Oceania reported 646 new cases (down from 1,143) and 13 deaths


Corners of the world

USA reported 1.52 million new cases (up from 1.32 million) and 17,200 more deaths (up from 14,521)
Brazil reported 301K new cases (up from 297K) and 4,472 more deaths (up from 3,983)
India reported 219K new cases (down from 257K) and 2,926 more deaths down from 3,498)
Iran reported 75.6K new cases (down from 94.4K) and 2,032 more deaths (down from 2,600)

Canada reported 46.3K new cases (up from 43.5K) and 755 deaths (602 last week)
South Africa reported 39.3K new cases (up from 23.9K) and 989 deaths (585 last week)
Japan reported 16.3K new cases (up from 15.7K) and 262 deaths (189 last week)
South Korea reported 4.45K new cases (up from 3.45K) and 36 deaths (20 last week)
Australia reported 62 new cases, no deaths


Europe in detail

Germany, UK, the Netherlands and especially Denmark have all gone back to increasing their cases.
The rest is in no hurry to reduce the spread either, Europe is going up again.

Is this the immediate effect from the news about vaccines being ready? Or simply not enough measures plus holiday season and cold weather.

Oh yeah, germany on the rise and already second in europe. And with the current trend we will soon overtake Russia (which has much more citizens).

I can say for germany: the temporary stagnation in cases coincides with a changed testing strategy. As labs were overwhelmed with test, the criteria to earn a test were tightened, so fewer tests were done. At the same time the rate of positive tests skyrocketed, from 1% in September to over 9% in week 48.

Well we're screwed, rip Canada, UPS is transporting the vaccine :p

My wife just laughed out loud when I showed here the picture. UPS ugh.

Anyway it's coming, maybe, might get lost, might go to the wrong country.

Since our COVID-19 numbers are very low (today is day 44 of zero cases in my state) the Aus government has said they won't be moving up their vaccine timeline in response to other countries, and still plan to start vaccinations in March.

I am pretty keen to get my shot but I understand that we don't have the same pressing need for it that countries like the UK or the US do so I'm not too fussed. I do worry though that it will escape from hotel quarantine again in the meantime and cause a third wave.

I wonder whether being an asthmatic puts me the category of people with pre-existing conditions to be vaccinated sooner, or if as a 31 year old I'll be at the back of the queue.

I assume every country will have slightly differing strategies depending on what their CDC equivalent recommends but yeah, you're probably bottom of the list too, although before other young people with no pre-existing conditions. I'm thinking late 2021 or early to mid 2022 depending on how quickly ramp up is going to be.

Since even with an effectiveness of 95% older people will still be dying more than unvaccinated younger people, and perhaps dying enough to overwhelm hospitals in older countries, I don't see the social aspect of the pandemic (distancing etc.) disappearing in the next 12 - 18 months, so I think a quick ramp-up, if not necessarily likely, is in everyone's interest.

Now all of that is assuming the vaccine provides some sort of mid to long term protective immunity like natural infection presumably does. If it doesn't, the logistics become incredibly more complicated, since almost everyone will need to be vaccinated in a relatively short timespan for outbreaks to effectively disappear, which could take longer still even in the best case scenario.

Think about how hard it is to deal with the untrusting, hostile public as a contact tracer

The constant use of misinformation and politicising is having dangerous consequences around the World   

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-55280321 

Quote:

A lot of dry ice is needed to transport the millions of vaccines at very low temperatures.
People over 70 years of age and people with pre-existing conditions will be first to get the vaccine.
75% of the population will need to get the vaccine to create herd immunity.

hard lockdown here starting Wednesday until January 10th.
Better late than never and better now than waiting until after Christmas.
Honestly, there was enough time to start and end a hard lockdown before Christmas.

Same here, now there are 'laws' against Christmas gatherings. Stretching it out to lock down during the holiday period. I guess it makes sense economy wise.

They're deciding here whether or not Christmas school holiday will be extended by 2 weeks or not. Major city centers are already 'closing', driving those inhabitants to go shopping/dining in neighboring towns, just encouraging spreading it around from the hot spots.

All fireworks sales are stopped in Germany. Thank god for this year. If you ignore all the dead and sick people this year was amazing for human progress.