Tag Archives: infections

Health

Hawaii reports 108 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total to 26,393

Leave a comment

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 108 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 26,393 cases.

State health officials reported no new coronavirus-related deaths today as the statewide death toll remains at 416.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 333 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 26 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was more than 461,000 today.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 86 on Oahu, 16 on Maui, one case each on the Big Island, Kauai and Lanai, and three residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said. As a result of updated information, one case from Oahu was removed from the counts.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Thursday.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 21,289 on Oahu, 2,188 in Hawaii County, 1,849 on Maui, 179 on Kauai, 109 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 754 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,318 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state decreased by 24 today.

By island, Oahu has 964 active cases, Maui has 278, the Big Island has 71, Kauai has three, and Lanai has three, according to the state’s latest tally. Molokai has no active COVID cases.

Health officials counted 9,206 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.17% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 1.8%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,745 have required hospitalizations, with 13 new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,741 hospitalizations within the state, 1,526 have been on Oahu, 104 on Maui, 98 on the Big Island, seven on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 64 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday morning, with 17 in intensive care units and 13 on ventilators.

Health officials said that as of Jan. 31, 157,018 vaccines have been administered of the 227,600 received by the state. The administered vaccinations by county are Honolulu, 105,500; Maui, 14,391; Hawaii, 15,035 and Kauai, 11,755. The total also included several thousand administered under the federal pharmacy program. State officials release the verified updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 61 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.4%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi has said he hoped to stay in Tier 2, a four-tiered framework established by former Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Under Tier 3, social gatherings of up to 10 would be allowed, up from 5 under Tier 2, and retail businesses would be able to operate at full capacity, rather than 50% capacity under Tier 2.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.



Read original article here

Health

Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: 250 infections and no deaths reported Friday

Leave a comment

We’re making this important information available without a subscription as a public service. But we depend on reader support to do this work. Please consider supporting independent journalism in Alaska, at just $1.99 for the first month of your subscription.

The latest count follows over a month of declining cases. Alaska saw a surge of infections in November and early December that strained hospital capacity. For the first time since September, daily case counts fell into the double digits twice last week.

Hospitalizations have fallen along with cases, and are now less than a third of where they were during the peak in November and December. By Friday, there were 40 people with COVID-19 in hospitals throughout the state. Another three patients were believed to have the virus.

The COVID-19 vaccine reached Alaska in mid-December. By Thursday, 101,631 — nearly 14% of Alaska’s total population — had received at least their first vaccine shot, according to the state’s vaccine monitoring dashboard. That’s far above the national average of 8.4%.

Among Alaskans 16 and older, 18% had received at least one dose of vaccine by Friday. The Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for use for people aged 16 and older, and Moderna’s has been cleared for use in people 18 and older.

Health care workers and nursing home staff and residents were the first people prioritized to receive the vaccine. In early January, the state said Alaskans older than 65 were now eligible, although appointment slots are limited and have filled quickly.

Thousands of new vaccine appointments went live on the state’s website last week, many of which are still available. Seniors and other eligible health care workers can call 907-646-3322 for assistance making an appointment.

Despite the lower case numbers throughout January, Alaska is still in the highest alert category based on the current per capita rate of infection, and public health officials continue to encourage Alaskans to keep up with personal virus mitigation efforts like hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing.

Of the 163 cases announced among Alaska residents Friday, there were 41 in Anchorage plus three in Eagle River; one in Anchor Point; one in Seward; one in Soldotna; one in Cordova; 13 in Fairbanks plus one in North Pole; one in Delta Junction; 17 in Palmer; 33 in Wasilla; six in Juneau; four in Ketchikan; one in Sitka; and six in Bethel.

Among communities with populations under 1,000 not named to protect privacy, there were two in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, one in the Aleutians East Borough; 23 in the Bethel Census Area; one in the Dillingham Census Area; and six in the Kusilvak Census Area.

There were also 87 cases among nonresidents in Alaska, including two in Anchorage, 80 in the Aleutians East Borough; and five in Unalaska.

While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.

The state’s data doesn’t specify whether people testing positive for COVID-19 have symptoms. More than half of the nation’s infections are transmitted from asymptomatic people, according to CDC estimates.

Across the state, 2.45% of COVID-19 tests conducted over the past week have come back positive.

Read original article here

Health

Hawaii reports 3 new coronavirus-related deaths, 82 additional infections

Leave a comment

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported three new coronavirus-related deaths and 82 additional infections, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 410 fatalities and 25,853 cases.

Two of the latest deaths were on Oahu and the third was on Maui. No further details were immediately released on the fatalities.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 327 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 26 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was nearly 441,000 today.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 59 on Oahu, 11 on the Big Island, eight on Maui, and four residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Friday.

>> RELATED STORY: Hawaii educators get a chance for COVID-19 vaccines

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 20,923 on Oahu, 2,162 in Hawaii County, 1,734 on Maui, 178 on Kauai, 107 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 724 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state. As a result of updated information, one case from Maui was re-categorized to Hawaii island, state officials said today.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,412 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state decreased by 44 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,040 active cases, Maui has 276, the Big Island has 90, Kauai has five, and Lanai has one, according to the state’s latest tally. Molokai has no active COVID cases.

Health officials counted 4,569 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 1.7% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.2%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,696 have required hospitalizations, with two new hospitalizations on Oahu reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,692 hospitalizations within the state, 1,484 have been on Oahu, 99 on Maui, 96 on the Big Island, seven on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 75 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday morning, with 20 in intensive care units and 15 on ventilators.

Health officials said that as of Jan. 24, 106,654 vaccines have been administered of the 170,975 received by the state. The administered vaccinations by county are Honolulu, 68,521; Maui, 11,060; Hawaii, 10,459 and Kauai, 8,799. The total also included several thousand administered under the federal pharmacy program. State officials release the verified updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 70 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.6%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi has said he hoped to stay in Tier 2, a four-tiered framework established by former Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Under Tier 3, social gatherings of up to 10 would be allowed, up from 5 under Tier 2, and retail businesses would be able to operate at full capacity, rather than 50% capacity under Tier 2.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.



Read original article here

Health

Hawaii records 71 coronavirus infections statewide and officially tallies additional deaths reported Monday

Leave a comment

Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported 71 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 25,339 cases.

There were no new deaths reported today, but on Monday the Health Department added 60 additional coronavirus-related deaths to the statewide tally that now stands at 401. However, Health Department officials this morning revised the total additional deaths down to 59 after a “data cleaning process.”

Health officials uncovered the additional deaths after a review of the department’s Electronic Death Registration System, Health Director Dr. Libby Char said in a news release. The deaths occurred between August through December. Forty-nine deaths were on Oahu, seven on Hawaii island and three on Maui, according to a Hawaii COVID-19 Joint Information Center spokesperson.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 320 fatalities on Oahu, 53 on Hawaii island, 24 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died on the mainland. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll remained at 51, but state officials have not verified coronavirus as a factor in six of those fatalities. Hawaii County has reported no coronavirus-related deaths in the past three weeks.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was more than 423,000 today.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 61 on Oahu, eight on Maui, one on the Big Island, and one resident diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said. As a result of updated information, seven cses from Oahu were removed from the counts.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Sunday.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 20,578 on Oahu, 2,129 in Hawaii County, 1,634 on Maui, 178 on Kauai, 106 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 689 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,612 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state decreasedby 44 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,200 active cases, Maui has 303, the Big Island has 99, Kauai has 10, according to the state’s latest tally. Lanai and Molokai have no active COVID cases.

Health officials counted 2,346 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 3.03% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.5%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,669 have required hospitalizations, with five new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,665 hospitalizations within the state, 1,460 have been on Oahu, 98 on Maui, 94 on the Big Island, seven on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 89 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Monday morning, with 21 in intensive care units and 17 on ventilators.

Health officials said that as of Sunday, 70,095 vaccines have been administered of the 154,150 received by the state. The vaccinations by county are Honolulu, 39,886; Maui, 10,195; Hawaii, 7,011; and Kauai, 5,328. The total also included 7,675 administered under the federal pharmacy program. State officials release the updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 81 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 3.0%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi said he hoped to stay in Tier 2, a four-tiered framework established by former Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Under Tier 3, social gatherings of up to 10 would be allowed, up from 5 under Tier 2, and retail businesses would be able to operate at full capacity, rather than 50% capacity under Tier 2.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.



Read original article here

Health

Hawaii records 6 new coronavirus-related deaths and 153 additional infections

Leave a comment

Hawaii health officials today reported six new coronavirus-related deaths and 153 new infections, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 342 fatalities and 25,154 cases.

Five of the deaths were on Oahu and one was on Maui. No further details were immediately available regarding the latest fatalities.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 271 fatalities on Oahu, 46 on Hawaii island, 21 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died on the mainland.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was more than 418,000 today.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 103 on Oahu, 34 on Maui, eight on the Big Island, and eight residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Friday.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 20,436 on Oahu, 2,122 in Hawaii County, 1,605 on Maui, 177 on Kauai, 106 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 683 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state As a result of updated information, two cases from Oahu were re-categorized to Hawaii island, and once case from Oahu and another from the Big Island were removed from the counts, health officials said today.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,700 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state decreased by 36 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,246 active cases, Maui has 328, the Big Island has 116, Kauai has 10, according to the state’s latest tally. Lanai and Molokai have no active COVID cases.

Health officials counted 5,853 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 2.5% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is 2.4%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,660 have required hospitalizations, with three new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,656 hospitalizations within the state, 1,452 have been on Oahu, 97 on Maui, 94 on the Big Island, seven on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 96 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Friday morning, with 21 in intensive care units and 18 on ventilators.

Health officials said that as of Jan. 18, 70,095 vaccines have been administered of the 154,150 received by the state. The vaccinations by county are Honolulu, 39,886; Maui, 10,195; Hawaii, 7,011; and Kauai, 5,328. The total also included 7,675 administered under the federal pharmacy program.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 78 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 3.0%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi said last week he hoped to stay in Tier 2, a four-tiered framework established by former Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Under Tier 3, social gatherings of up to 10 would be allowed, up from 5 under Tier 2, and retail businesses would be able to operate at full capacity, rather than 50% capacity under Tier 2.



Read original article here

World

Coronavirus live news: US nears 25m cases as three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain | World news

Leave a comment













21:17

Melissa Davey

In December, the UK reported a Covid-19 variant of concern, commonly referred to as the B117 variant, which appeared to be more transmissible. Since then, scientists have established that B117 is somewhere between 50% to 70% more transmissible than other variants. If more people are getting sick, there is more pressure on health systems, and in the UK health services are so overloaded a country-wide lockdown has been enforced.

While many scientists say B117 does not appear more deadly, researchers on the UK government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group found it may increase the death rate by 30% to 40%, though their sample size was small and they said more research is needed. With B117 now detected in more than 50 countries, understanding the variant is urgent.

But other variants of concern have also been identified, including in California, South Africa and Brazil.

So exactly what is a variant, and how many are there? And why are some variants of more concern than others?

Answers at the link below:













20:56

Helen Sullivan

And what a year it has been. In just over a month’s time, I will have been liveblogging international developments in the coronavirus pandemic for eight hours a day, every day on the global blog – which has been running non-stop around the world almost uninterrupted for more than a year.

This time last year, I was living in Beirut, having just returned from reporting on the bushfires in Australia.

Where were you at the end of January 2020? Let me know on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Updated


20:53

Monday marks one year since first cases in Australian state of New South Wales

In Australia, the state minister for health in New South Wales has noted that Monday will mark a year since the state confirmed its first four cases of coronavirus.

Today marks a week with no new local cases confirmed in the state:

Brad Hazzard
(@BradHazzard)

Tomorrow is one very challenging year since NSW had first 4 Covid19 cases. But today, with incredible support of our community (testing)& stellar work of front line @NSWHealth (inc⭐️Tracers),@nswpolice @NSWHPathology it is one week since our last local transmission of Covid19.

January 24, 2021













20:50

Summary

Here is a summary of the key developments from the last few hours:

  • The US is nearing 25m cases. I’ll post a summary shortly. For now, the US is nearing an astonishing 25 million cases of coronavirus – a quarter of the global total and one in every thirteen people in the country. There are currently 24,985,689 confirmed infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
  • UK to quarantine arrivals from high-risk countries – reports. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to force travelers from countries where there is a high risk of Covid to go into quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
  • Three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain. Coronavirus infections linked to the Australian Open are continuing to emerge, with a further three non-players – two men in their 30s and one in his 50s confirmed to have the highly contagious UK strain of the virus.
  • Mainland China confirmed 80 new coronavirus cases on 23 January, down from 107 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Sunday. The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 65 of the new cases were local infections. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 92 from 99 cases a day earlier. The total number of confirmed cases in Mainland China now stands at 88,991, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.
  • A possible community case of Covid is being reported in the northernmost New Zealand province of Northland. The “probable” case is in the community, a ministry of health spokesperson said, rather than a managed isolation facility. The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and the minister of covid-19 response, Chris Hipkins, will hold a media stand-up at 4pm to share the latest information.
  • It has been a year since the Wuhan lockdown. The Chinese city of Wuhan marks one year since the start of its traumatic 76-day coronavirus lockdown. On 23 January 2020, Wuhan shocked the globe by confining its 11 million anxious citizens to their homes, starting a cycle that would spread across the world. But China largely brought its outbreak under control and Wuhan is nothing like the ghost town of a year ago, with traffic humming, sidewalks bustling, and citizens packing public transport and parks.
  • Hong Kong and Oslo tightened measures. Thousands of people in one of Hong Kong’s poorest and most densely packed districts have been ordered to stay in their homes. Norway’s government, meanwhile, has imposed the strictest restrictions seen in the region of the capital, Oslo, since March after the discovery of the British variant in a retirement home.
  • A French lockdown ‘likely’. A French government source has told AFP that “the hypothesis of confinement is more and more likely,” citing projections of a surge in cases due to the more transmissible British strain.
  • Fabric masks still work, said the WHO. The World Health Organization says it has no plans to change its guidance recommending fabric face masks as new coronavirus variants spread because the mutated strains are transmitted in the same way. The statement comes after Germany and Austria made medical masks mandatory on public transport and in shops, allowing only surgical or FFP2 masks rather than fabric.
  • There is a shortage of vaccines in Brazil. Brazil has just started its vaccination campaign but scientists are already warning the hard-hit country will quickly run out of doses and even syringes, some blaming the government for the shortages.


20:38

Possible community case in New Zealand

Eleanor de Jong

An update on New Zealand now, where a possible community case of Covid is being reported in the northernmost province of Northland.

The “probable” case is in the community, a ministry of health spokesperson said, rather than a managed isolation facility.

The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and the minister of covid-19 response, Chris Hipkins, will hold a media stand-up at 4pm to share the latest information.

The last case of covid-19 in the community was recorded in Auckland on November 18 and contained within a matter of days after central Auckland was shut down.

Overall less than 2000 people contracted coronavirus in 2020, and 26 people died. New Zealand is pursuing an elimination strategy towards the disease.


20:27

Mexico’s Health Ministry on Saturday confirmed 20,057 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 1,470 additional fatalities, bringing the country’s total to 1,752,347 cases and 149,084 deaths, Reuters reports.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.


20:07

Mainland China reports 80 new cases vs 107 a day earlier

Mainland China confirmed 80 new coronavirus cases on 23 January, Reuters reports, down from 107 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Sunday.

The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 65 of the new cases were local infections. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 92 from 99 cases a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed cases in Mainland China now stands at 88,991, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.


19:58

No new local cases in Australian state of Victoria

Victoria has recorded its 18th straight day without a local coronavirus case as the state’s residents enjoy greater freedom to gather indoors, AAP reports.

The zero cases recorded on Saturday – as well as one case in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system – came from just under 12,000 tests.

Only 30 active coronavirus cases remain in the state.

It comes as more visitors are allowed in Victorian households, with the indoor gathering limit at homes doubled from Saturday from 15 to 30.

The smaller limit on home gatherings had been introduced on New Year’s Eve as the state battled a cluster linked to a Black Rock Thai restaurant.

More Victorians stranded interstate will also be able to return home, thanks to a further easing of interstate border restrictions.

Updated


19:56

UK to quarantine arrivals from high-risk countries – reports

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to force travelers from countries where there is a high risk of Covid to go into quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

Via Reuters: Travellers from Brazil and South Africa, and neighbouring countries, will be met on arrival and escorted to hotels to quarantine, under plans being discussed by UK ministers, the Daily Mail said.

Johnson favoured a more targeted approach than making all air passengers go into quarantine, said the report, which added that the quarantine decision would be taken on Monday.

Britain has recorded more than 3.5 million Covid infections – the fifth-highest in the world – and nearly 96,000 deaths.













19:54

Three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain

Coronavirus infections linked to the Australian Open are continuing to emerge as the states and territories continue their run of no new locally acquired cases.

Victorian authorities on Saturday reported one new case linked to the Open, a man in his 20s who is not a player.

A further three non-players – two men in their 30s and one in his 50s – have meanwhile been confirmed to have the highly contagious UK strain of the virus.

Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria said all three had been in hard lockdown since they landed in Melbourne.

“The residents arrived in Melbourne on a dedicated Australian Open charter flight on 15 January and returned their first positive tests on 15, 17 and 18 January,” a spokesperson said.

There are 10 active cases linked to the Open and 970 people associated with the tournament in quarantine.


19:48

Eleanor de Jong

A possible outbreak of Covid-19 is being reported in New Zealand, in the northernmost province of Northland.

The probable case has emerged in the community, but is NOT a probable case of community transmission, according to the New Zealand Department of Health.

The outbreak – if confirmed – is said to be related to a person recently released from a managed isolation facility, the New Zealand Herald reports.

The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and the minister of covid-19 response, Chris Hipkins, will hold a media stand-up at 4pm to share the latest information.

Updated


19:46

Australian state of New South Wales confirms zero local cases

Calla Wahlquist

New South Wales has recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 on Sunday and three in hotel quarantine. It brings the number of new cases listed in Australia today to four, all in hotel quarantine, after Victoria reported one new case in Melbourne’s quarantine hotels. Queensland has recorded no new cases on Sunday.

Health officials in NSW have urged people to get a Covid-19 test if they have any cold or flu symptoms, however mild, after just 11,344 tests were conducted in the 24-hours to 8pm last night – well below the daily target of 30,000 tests.




Arriving passengers at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International airport are sent onto buses for mandatory 14 day quarantine on January 22, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images

Authorities say they have also detected fragments of the virus in sewage tests at the Warriewood and North Head treatment plants,. The former covers about 70,000 people in the Northern Beaches area, and the latter has a catchment of 1.3 million people from a large chunk of Sydney extending north of the Parramatta River from Western Sydney to Manley.

NSW Health said the detection “likely reflects known recent confirmed cases in those areas,” but urged anyone living in those areas to get tested if they had any symptoms.













19:43

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from around the world, with a focus on Australia, for the next few hours.

I’ll post a summary shortly. For now, the US is nearing an astonishing 25 million cases of coronavirus – a quarter of the global total and one in every thirteen people in the country. There are currently 24,981,398 confirmed infections, with

In Australia, meanwhile, the states of New South Wales and Victoria have recorded zero local cases. We’re awaiting the numbers from Queensland.

And three infections in hotel quarantine linked to the Australian Open have been confirmed to be the UK strain of the virus.

As always, you can say Hi (or shout at me) on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Updated



Read original article here

Health

Hawaii records 4 new coronavirus-related deaths and 132 additional infections statewide

Leave a comment

Hawaii health officials today reported four new coronavirus-related deaths and 132 new infections, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 332 fatalities and 24,870 cases.

No further details were immediately available regarding the latest coronavirus-related deaths on Oahu.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 262 fatalities on Oahu, 45 on Hawaii island, 21 on Maui, one on Kauai, and three Hawaii residents who died on the mainland. The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said the Big Island’s COVID-19 death toll remained at 51, but state officials have not verified coronavirus as a factor in six of those fatalities. Hawaii County has reported no coronavirus-related deaths in the past three weeks.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll was more than 411,000 today.

Today’s new statewide infection cases reported by the Health Department include 98 on Oahu, 19 on Maui, five on the Big Island, one on Kauai, and nine residents diagnosed outside of Hawaii, officials said. As a result of updated information, one case from Oahu was recategorized to Kauai and another Oahu case was removed from the counts.

The statistics released today reflect the new infection cases reported to the department on Wednesday.

The total number of coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 20,230 on Oahu, 2,113 in Hawaii County, 1,550 on Maui, 177 on Kauai, 106 on Lanai and 25 on Molokai. There are also 669 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that of the state’s total infection count, 1,838 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The number of active cases in the state decreased by 115 today.

By island, Oahu has 1,326 active cases, Maui has 354, the Big Island has 139, Kauai has 19, according to the state’s latest tally. Lanai and Molokai have no active COVID cases.

Health officials counted 5,065 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 2.61% statewide positivity rate. The state’s 7-day average positivity rate is also 2.4%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 1,647 have required hospitalizations, with five new hospitalizations reported today by state health officials.

Four hospitalizations in the statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 1,643 hospitalizations within the state, 1,441 have been on Oahu, 96 on Maui, 93 on the Big Island, seven on Kauai, five on Lanai and one on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 100 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of Thursday morning, with 23 in intensive care units and 21 on ventilators.

Health officials said that as of Sunday, 70,095 vaccines have been administered of the 154,150 received by the state. The vaccinations by county are Honolulu, 39,886; Maui, 10,195; Hawaii, 7,011; and Kauai, 5,328. The total also included 7,675 administered under the federal pharmacy program. State officials release the updated vaccination numbers each Wednesday.

Oahu moved to the less-restrictive Tier 2 of Honolulu’s four-tier economic recovery plan on Oct. 22. To gauge whether Honolulu will move to a different tier, the city takes a “weekly assessment” of two key COVID-19 numbers each Wednesday. To move to Tier 3 from Tier 2, the 7-day average of new cases must be below 50 on two consecutive Wednesdays. Also, the 7-day average positivity rate must be below 2.5% on those two Wednesdays.

Today’s seven-day average case count for Oahu is 77 and the seven-day average positivity rate is 2.9%, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Blangiardi said last week he hoped to stay in Tier 2, a four-tiered framework established by former Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Under Tier 3, social gatherings of up to 10 would be allowed, up from 5 under Tier 2, and retail businesses would be able to operate at full capacity, rather than 50% capacity under Tier 2.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.



Read original article here