Tag Archives: Concerns

World

Germany set to extend lockdown on concerns over new coronavirus variants

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel wears a protective face mask as she leaves after speaking to the media for her annual summer press conference during the coronavirus pandemic on August 28, 2020 in Berlin, Germany.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to announce Germany will extend its lockdown until March 14 amid concerns over new strains of the coronavirus.

A draft document emerged early on Wednesday outlining plans between Merkel and state officials to maintain the lockdown and to urge that citizens maintain social-distancing rules, but to gradually lift some restrictions in the coming weeks.

The re-opening of schools is a priority for the German leadership, although the country’s federal system means that individual states are expected to be able to decide how to do this. The reopening of shops and hotels could begin next month in areas where the infection rate is low too. Restrictions were due to end on Feb. 14.

There are concerns in Germany over the spread of more contagious variants of the virus, particularly the mutation first discovered in the U.K. last fall. Yet Germany’s daily number of new infections has been falling amid a continued lockdown of public life across the country.

Public health body, the Robert Koch Institute, reported 8,072 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 813 deaths, bringing the total number of infections to date to around 2.3 million, and the death toll to 62,969.

Earlier Wednesday, one German lawmaker reportedly described the situation as “highly fragile.”

EU’s slow rollout

The slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines in Germany, as well as the rest of the EU, is a bugbear for the German government, which is a key pillar in the bloc. The EU was slower than the U.K. and U.S. to order vaccines from key drugmakers and has faced supply shortages.

The longer vaccination rollouts take, the more prolonged the economic damage of lockdowns are expected to be. Germany’s economy contracted by 5% in 2020, according to full-year GDP (gross domestic product) data released in January.

Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Allianz, told CNBC Wednesday that the slow vaccination rollout could really damage the wider EU’s growth prospects in 2021.

“I’m getting a bit nervous, and we’re only in February, that we’re missing the boat here, that the vaccination is the best investment there is and we should put all our forces (efforts) there,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe.”

“Our forecasts show that Europe will only go back to pre-crisis (growth) levels by 2022, and then we saw the vaccination chaos and we started to think ‘OK, are we really jeopardizing the recovery here’ … the problem is we’re vaccinating four times slower than the U.K. and U.S. here,” he said, adding: “This is really a big issue, because this is going to make or break the GDP recovery of 2021 for Europe.”

—CNBC’s Annette Weisbach contributed to this article.

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Science

White House voices support for moon exploration by 2024, after concerns Biden would nix Artemis Program

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday voiced support for NASA’s Artemis Program, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024.

Psaki during the press briefing Thursday told reporters that the U.S. government will “work with industry and international partners to send astronauts to the surface of the moon.”

“Another man and a woman to the moon, which is very exciting,” Psaki said, noting that, to date, “only 12 humans have walked on the moon — that was a half a century ago.”

SPACE FORCE ‘ABSOLUTELY’ HAS ‘FULL SUPPORT’ OF BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, PSAKI SAYS

All 12 were Americans.

Psaki said the Artemis Program would “conduct new and exciting science, prepare for future missions to Mars, and demonstrate America’s values.”

NASA published the Artemis Plan last year, which called for $28 billion for the moon program.

In 2019, NASA revealed details of its vision for the Artemis Moon Lander that will return American astronauts to the lunar surface.

“With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before,” NASA said. “We will collaborate with our commercial and international partners and establish sustainable exploration by the end of the decade.” 

NASA WANTS HELP FROM COMPANIES TO DOCUMENT ITS RETURN TO THE MOON

NASA added: “Then, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.”

Initial mission capability for 2024 involves landing two astronauts on the moon’s South Pole. Astronauts will live and work out of the lander for six and a half days, according to NASA.

Psaki’s announcement comes as she faced criticism this week for her comments about the U.S. Space Force, where she seemingly mocked a question from a reporter who asked whether President Biden would keep the scope of the Space Force.

Psaki, on Tuesday night, amid criticism, took to Twitter to note the “important work” of Space Force.

NASA DETAILS HOW $28B WILL BE SPENT TO RETURN ASTRONAUTS TO THE MOON IN 2024

“We look forward to the continuing work of Space Force and invite the members of the team to come visit us in the briefing room anytime to share an update on their important work,” she said.

And on Wednesday, when asked whether the Space Force has the “full support” of the Biden administration, Psaki said “absolutely.”

“They absolutely have the full support of the Biden administration,” Psaki said. “And we are not revisiting the decision to establish the Space Force.”

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“The desire for the Department of Defense to focus greater attention and resources on the growing security challenges in space has long been a bipartisan issue, informed by numerous independent commissions and studies conducted across multiple administrations,” Psaki continued, adding that “thousands of men and women proudly serve” in the Space Force.

Psaki added that the Space Force “was established by Congress and any other steps would actually have to be taken by Congress, not by the administration.”

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US

Pentagon clears out advisory boards, citing concerns over last-minute Trump picks

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has dismissed every member of the Pentagon’s advisory boards in a sweeping move fueled by concern that the Trump administration had rushed through a series of last-minute appointments, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

The move affects several hundred board members who sit on about 40 advisory boards, including dozens of people who had been named to the posts in the closing days of former President Donald Trump’s tenure.

Among those dismissed are highly partisan figures such as Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign manager, David Bossie, a former Trump deputy campaign manager, former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich and retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata. But instead of singling out Trump appointees, the move applies to all board members, including those appointed before the Trump presidency.

“I am directing the immediate suspension of all advisory committee operations until the review is completed unless otherwise directed by myself or the deputy secretary of defense,” Austin said in a memo released Tuesday.

The advisory boards offer guidance to the Pentagon on policy, science, business and numerous other topics and the members are not paid. To make way for new appointees, the Trump White House in some cases removed some longtime board members and replaced them with pro-Trump loyalists.

“There is no question that the frenetic activity that occurred to the composition of so many boards, in just the period of November to January, deeply concerned the secretary and certainly helped to drive him to this decision,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.

Austin decided that dismissing all members of the advisory boards and asking for a full review of their activity was the most equitable, effective way of addressing the matter, two Defense officials told reporters in an earlier briefing.

Apart from ordering all board members to resign by Feb. 16, Austin temporarily suspended the activity of the boards and ordered an elaborate review of all the Defense Department advisory boards to examine the role, utility and composition of those panels, according to a memo released by the Pentagon.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the decision.

Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 

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Health

Studies of South African Coronavirus Strain Raise Concerns About Immune Response

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JOHANNESBURG—Three new laboratory studies are raising concerns that the immune response triggered by a Covid-19 infection or vaccination may be less effective at protecting against the new strain of the coronavirus that first emerged in South Africa.

The findings come from experiments done in the laboratory and only look at certain elements of a body’s immune response. Still, they reinforce the possibility that vaccine makers and regulators will need to update Covid-19 vaccines as the virus evolves.

A fourth study, conducted by scientists at BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. and published by the companies, showed that their vaccine successfully neutralized a variant that was initially detected in the U.K. That study didn’t include the South African strain.

The U.K. variant has already spread to many other countries, including the U.S.

More than a year into the pandemic, the discovery of new variants that appear to have made the virus more contagious is forcing researchers to adapt their understanding of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. One concern, researchers said, is that the new strains are emerging in countries where a significant percentage of people have already built up an immune response to earlier variants after getting Covid-19.

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Sports

2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics Reportedly in Doubt Because of COVID-19 Concerns | Bleacher Report

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Hiro Komae/Associated Press

The Japanese government has “privately concluded” that the 2021 Olympic Games will have to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from Richard Lloyd Parry of The Times. 

“No one wants to be the first to say so but the consensus is that it’s too difficult,” a source told Lloyd Parry. “Personally, I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

Japan is now reportedly trying to find a “face-saving way of announcing the cancellation that leaves open the possibility of Tokyo playing host at a later date.”

Publicly and officially, both the International Olympic Committee and Japanese Olympic organizers have been resolute in the assertion that the Games will happen, per the Associated Press. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called holding the 2021 games “proof of human victory against the coronavirus.”

But IOC senior member Dick Pound said he “can’t be certain” the Games will take place because “the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus.” Japanese minister Taro Kono, a member of Suga’s cabinet, added that “anything is possible” and attempts to hold the Games “could go either way.”

Keith Mills, deputy chair of the organizing committee for the 2012 Olympics in London, told the BBC Tuesday (h/t the AP) that he believes cancellation plans have likely already been concocted. 

“But I think they’ll leave it until absolutely the last minute in case the situation improves dramatically, in case the vaccinations roll out faster than we all hope,” he said. “It’s a tough call, I wouldn’t like to be in their shoes.”

IOC President Thomas Bach looked to quell some of the talk that the Games could be canceled. 

“We have, at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo,” he told the Kyodo News (h/t Victor Mather of the New York Times). “There is no Plan B.”

He added that Beijing’s Winter Olympics in 2022 were still on track to take place as scheduled. 

The Tokyo Games were originally scheduled for the summer of 2020 but postponed due to the coronavirus. With uncertainties regarding the state of the pandemic come July and question marks regarding the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, this year’s event remains up in the air. 

If the Summer Olympics are canceled, it would be for the first time since World War II and could cost the IOC over $1 billion in television revenue, per Mather. The IOC is a non-profit organization, but “90 percent of the revenues from the Games go straight back into sport and athlete development.”



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