Tag Archives: COVID-19

New U.S. COVID-19 cases fall 12% last week, vaccinations top 2 million a day

(Reuters) – The United States reported a 12% decline in new cases of COVID-19 last week, while vaccinations accelerated to a record 2.2 million shots per day, according to a Reuters analysis of state, county and CDC data.

New infections have dropped for eight weeks in a row, averaging 60,000 new cases per day for the week ended March 7. Deaths linked to COVID-19 fell 18% last week to 11,800, the lowest since late November and averaging 1,686 per day.

Despite the positive trends, health officials have warned that the country could see a resurgence in cases as more infectious variants of the virus have been found in nearly every state.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, has urged the nation to keep most pandemic restrictions in place until new cases fall to under 10,000 per day.

Thirteen out of 50 states reported more new infections last week compared with the previous seven days, down from 29 states in the prior week, according to the Reuters analysis. New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island had the highest rates of new infections per 100,000 residents.

As of Sunday, 18% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of a vaccine and 9% has received two doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The country administered an average of 2.2 million shots per day last week, up from 1.6 million shots in the prior week.

The average number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals fell 16% to 44,000 last week, the lowest since late October, according to a Reuters tally.

Cumulatively, over 525,000 people have died from the virus in the United States, or one in every 621 residents.

(Graphic by Chris Canipe, writing by Lisa Shumaker, editing by Tiffany Wu)

French COVID-19 ICU figures at a more than 14-week high

PARIS (Reuters) – The number of people treated in French intensive care units (ICUs) for COVID-19 reached a 14-1/2-week-high on Monday, at 3,849, while total hospitalizations for the disease increased for the second day running, to 25,195.

The number of people in ICUs is still almost two times lower than the 7,184 peak recorded in April 2020 but remains well above a government target level of 2,500-3,000 for easing coronavirus limits on the circulation of people.

Illustrating the stress on the French health system, medical authorities of the greater Paris region – which accounts for roughly one-sixth of the French population – have ordered hospitals to cancel 40% of their planned normal activity to make space for COVID-19 patients in critical condition.

French health authorities also reported 5,327 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours on Monday, a high for a Monday since Dec. 21, versus 21,825 on Sunday.

COVID-19 case reporting on Mondays typically dips as fewer tests are done over the weekend. The seven-day moving average, which smooths out daily reporting swings, stands at 21,270, a five-day high.

The total of cases since the outbreak of the disease more than a year ago is now over 3.91 million, the sixth-highest in the world.

An additional 359 people died from the disease, pushing the total to 88,933, the world’s seventh-highest toll. On Sunday, 130 new deaths were reported.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by GV De Clercq and Jonathan Oatis)

Fully vaccinated people can gather unmasked with others indoors: U.S. CDC says

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Individuals fully inoculated against COVID-19 can meet in small groups with other vaccinated people without wearing masks, but should keep wearing them outside the home, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a briefing that the agency’s new guidance for fully vaccinated individuals stipulated that they can also visit with unvaccinated, low-risk people from one other household without masks.

The CDC advised fully vaccinated people that they should continue with many precautions such as avoiding medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings, wearing masks when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households or wearing masks when with people who are at risk for severe COVID-19.

“It’s important to realize … that still over 90 percent of the population is not yet vaccinated, and that is our responsibility to make sure, in the context of 60,000 new cases a day, that we protect those who remain unvaccinated and vulnerable,” Walensky said.

The public health guidelines address how vaccinated people can safely resume some more normal activities and contacts with those outside their households while the coronavirus is still widely circulating.

The recommendations come as about 30 million people, or 9.2% of the U.S. population, have been fully inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc/ BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson, according to CDC data.

Nearly 18% of the U.S. population, or 58.9 million adults had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines prevent people from becoming ill but not necessarily from being infected. Data on whether vaccinated people can still spread the virus to unprotected people is sparse.

The CDC previously recommended that people should wear masks at all times when unable to remain at least six feet (1.83 m) apart from others, or at all times indoors other than in their own homes.

The CDC last month advised that individuals who had been vaccinated within three months could skip the standard 14-day quarantine after exposure to someone with COVID-19, as long as they remain asymptomatic.

Some cities and states have begun lifting pandemic restrictions in recent weeks against the advice of public health experts, who say the measures should remain until many more people get vaccinated with case numbers still high and more contagious virus variants becoming prevalent in much of the country.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengalaru and Jeff Mason and Lisa Lambert in Washington D.C.; writing by Caroline Humer; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Yellen says COVID-19 having ‘extremely unfair’ impact on women’s income, jobs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The COVID-19 pandemic has had an “extremely unfair” impact on the income and economic opportunities of women, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday, calling for long-term measures to improve labor market conditions for women.

Yellen, in a dialogue with International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva, said it was critical to address the risk that the pandemic would leave permanent scars, reducing the prospects for women in the workplace and the economy.

She noted that women’s participation in the workforce was already lower in the United States before the pandemic than in Europe, another issue that needed to be addressed.

“I think it’s absolutely tragic, the impact that this crisis has had on women, especially low-skilled women and minorities,” Yellen said, noting that while people at the top of the economic scale had continued to do well, those nearer the bottom, who had already been struggling, had been hardest hit.

“It is an extremely unfair thing that’s happened,” Yellen said, noting that women as a group had experienced far greater job losses since they had been disproportionately represented in the service sector and many had dropped out of the labor force to care for children, who were out of school.

“We’re really concerned about scarring, permanent scarring, from this crisis,” she said, adding her hope that President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief bill would help get the labor market back on track this year or next.

The goal, she said, was to avoid the decade-long gap seen before the labor market recovered after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

As of January, women accounted for slightly more than half of the 10 million jobs lost during the coronavirus crisis, even though they typically make up a little less than half the U.S. work force.

More than 2.5 million women left the labor force between February 2020 and January of this year, compared to 1.8 million men.

In the longer-term, Yellen said it was critical to improve the conditions facing women in the labor market, including lack of benefits, paid leave for family emergencies and child care.

“These are things that we are going to address over time,” she said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci)

U.S. wholesale stocks rise solidly; inventories-to-sales ratio lowest in six years

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. wholesale inventories increased solidly in January even as sales surged and it is taking wholesalers the shortest time in six years to clear shelves, a sign of strengthening demand that aligns with expectations for faster economic growth this year.

The Commerce Department said on Monday that wholesale inventories rose 1.3% as estimated last month. Stocks at wholesalers gained 0.6% in December. The component of wholesale inventories that goes into the calculation of gross domestic product also increased 1.3% in January.

Inventories rose 0.6% in January from a year earlier. Sales at wholesalers jumped 4.9% after advancing 1.9% in December. At January’s sales pace it would take wholesalers 1.24 months to clear shelves. That was the shortest since November 2014 and was down from 1.29 months in December.

Domestic demand is picking up after hitting a pothole late in the fourth quarter, driven by declining COVID-19 infections and nearly $900 billion in additional pandemic relief from the government. Consumer spending rebounded sharply in January after slumping in November and December.

Spending is likely to accelerate further if Congress, as expected, approves President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. The bill, which was passed by the Senate on Saturday, will send one-time $1,400 checks to many low- and middle-income Americans as well as extend government-funded unemployment benefits for millions of people.

Economists estimate the economy could grow this year by as much as 7%, fueled by the massive fiscal stimulus and rollout of vaccines that are expected to get the pandemic under control. That would be the fastest growth since 1984 and would follow a 3.5% contraction last year, the worst performance in 74 years.

Businesses are replenishing inventories after they were drawn down early in the pandemic, helping to underpin manufacturing. But a big chunk of the inventory build is coming from imports, which could keep the trade deficit elevated.

The government reported last week that imports of goods raced to a record high in January. Wholesale stocks of motor vehicles and parts rebounded 1.2% in January. There were also increases in stocks of professional and computer equipment, as well as petroleum. Machinery inventory, however, fell.

Wholesale goods sales were boosted by the automotive, professional equipment, computer equipment, machinery and petroleum categories.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

Speeding up vaccinations will lead Italy out of crisis: PM Draghi

ROME (Reuters) – Speeding up Italy’s vaccination campaign will enable the country to overcome the coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Monday, adding that his government would do whatever was necessary to protect lives.

“The pandemic is not yet over, but with the acceleration of the vaccine plan, a way out is not far off,” Draghi said in a speech to mark international women’s day, his first such public address since taking office last month.

Italy is poised to become the seventh country in the world to register more than 100,000 COVID-related deaths and health officials have warned that the country faces a third wave of cases as a more contagious variant of the disease gains ground.

“We are all facing a new worsening of the health emergency these days,” Draghi said.

“Our task, and I am referring to all the institutions, is to safeguard the lives of Italians by all means possible and to allow a return to normality as soon as possible. Every life counts,” he added.

Since taking charge of the country at the head of a broad government of national unity, Draghi has looked to speed up vaccinations and has put pressure on pharmaceutical companies to honor their contracts and make up supply shortfalls.

Italy, which has a population of around 60 million, had administered 5.41 doses of vaccines as of early Monday, with 1.65 million people receiving the recommended two shots.

Draghi has suggested that first jabs should take precedence rather than stockpiling supplies for eventual second doses.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Angelo Amante)

In Brazil’s Amazon, isolated indigenous people welcome COVID vaccine

By Leonardo Benassatto and Ueslei Marcelino

YAUARETÊ, Brazil (Reuters) – An army helicopter flew to two isolated indigenous villages in Brazil’s Amazon jungle this week with a welcome cargo – coronavirus vaccines.

The Hupda communities lined up to get their shots.

Traditional medicine prescribed by a shaman is highly respected here, but there was no resistance to receiving the vaccine by China’s Sinovac Biotech.

“We are grateful for the vaccination, so we will not catch the disease,” said Hupda chieftain Jorge Pires in the village of Santo Antanasio, near the Colombian border and a 25-minute helicopter flight from the nearest military outpost.

Following criticism by indigenous leaders that echoed internationally last year that their vulnerable communities were being “decimated” by COVID-19, Brazil’s Health and Defense ministries have mounted a vaccination campaign reaching remote reservations and villages.

So far 265,244 indigenous people have had a first dose, and 124,063 the second dose, of 400,000 covered by the ministry’s indigenous health service Sesai.

According to the service, 50,000 indigenous people have been infected and 589 have died from COVID-19.

That does not include half of Brazil’s 800,000 plus indigenous population not covered by Sesai because they have moved off traditional lands and reservations.

Brazil is battling a COVID-19 outbreak that is worsening, with record deaths reported in the last three days, reaching 1,910 dead in 24 hours on Wednesday. So far, 260,000 people have died and 10.8 million infected, the second-deadliest after the United States.

In the second village of Taracuá Igarapé, there have been no cases of COVID-19 thanks to its isolation, but preventing coronavirus from taking hold is paramount to protecting indigenous communities that live under one roof and cannot practice social distancing.

The challenge of reaching 20,000 indigenous people living in a jungle area the size of Portugal is enormous, and requires helicopter travel, because travel by meandering rivers takes days, said Army Colonel Sylvio Doktorczyk.

“When we talk about Amazonia, everything is superlative, including the difficulties! Particularly the great distances and long rivers,” the colonel heading the mission said.

It was a return visit to the two villages to inoculate those that missed the first dose because they were out hunting or fishing, and to give others their second shot of CoronaVac.

“My people liked to have the vaccine. My community like the vaccine and like when medical people come here,” said Jovino Pinoa, after getting his second shot.

(Reporting by Leonardo Benasatto and Ueslei Marcelino, writing by Anthony Boadle; editing by Diane Craft)

Brazil women suffer in silence as COVID-19 sparks domestic terror

By Pilar Olivares

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – During the early months of Brazil’s COVID-19 pandemic, Rio de Janeiro police detective Fernanda Fernandes was certain that cases of domestic abuse were rising, but there was little she could do about it as few women came forward to file a report.

“Women (were) unable to escape their abusers while stuck at home,” said Fernandes, who runs the Specialized Delegation for Support of Women (DEAM) in Rio’s sprawling Duque de Caxias suburb. The number of complaints has, however, risen as the outbreak has ebbed, and more women have left their homes to lodge complaints with police, she said.

Around the world, police and prosecutors, victim support teams and women’s movements, as well as the United Nations, have reported rising domestic violence during coronavirus-related lockdowns. The pandemic in Brazil has left many couples jobless, adding to domestic tensions, Fernandes said.

The economy slumped 4.1% last year and Brazil’s recovery is likely to remain tepid as the country grapples with a brutal fresh wave of infections.

Brazil recorded 649 femicides during the first half of 2020, according to figures from the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety, up 2% from the same period in 2019. But other crimes against women such as assault and rape, which usually require victims to file a police report, fell during that period, the Forum noted.

“The decrease in the registration of some crimes in this period is more a reflection of the difficulties and obstacles women encountered during the pandemic to report abuse, than a sign of a reduction in cases,” it said in its latest October report.

Fabiana Antunes, a shopkeeper, said that she finally gathered the courage to go to police in May after the latest attack by her abusive former partner, an illustrator whom she met five years ago.

A year into their relationship, he began to drink more, forbade her from seeing friends, and became violent, she said. She left him two years later, but they were still living under the same roof at the onset of the pandemic, when his mood soured.

“The pandemic – the fact of being stuck at home – made everything worse,” she said.

In May, he struck her in the stomach during a fight, Antunes said, and she contacted the police. A judge issued a restraining order against Antunes’ ex-partner, who moved out, according to Fernandes and court documents.

Yet Antunes still worries. Her ex-partner drew sketches which she showed to Reuters – of a woman who looks like her murdered by a man wielding a cleaver.

Aldefran Melo da Silva, her ex-partner, said Antunes had previously been proud to feature in his artistic work. He confirmed the restraining order had been issued but denied wrongdoing.

“We had normal marital discussions, but without any physical or verbal aggression,” he said. “I never hit her.”

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN

Fernandes – whose team in Duque de Caixas handled 4,121 cases of domestic violence in 2019, the most of any DEAM team in Rio state – has held Facebook Live sessions to brief the local community on the need to report signs of domestic abuse.

Part of the challenge, she said, is convincing some women abuse is unacceptable. Others fail to grasp the danger of their situation as they do not believe their partners are capable of killing them.

Taylaine Alves, a 19-year-old mother of two, was severely burned in a 2019 attack and later died in hospital from her injuries. Alves’ boyfriend was charged and is in prison awaiting trial. His lawyer from the public defender’s office declined to comment.

“We mothers never forget,” said Jozilene Pereira Alves. “Life goes on, but a piece of me is dead.”

Brazil introduced tough penalties for domestic abuse in 2006 with the Maria Da Penha law – named after a woman left paraplegic after being shot by her husband in her sleep.

However, it was not until 2015 that Brazil officially recognized femicide as a crime – years after most other countries in the region, including Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Mexico.

Paulo Cesar da Conceicao, who runs a rehabilitation center for men involved in domestic violence, called CR Homem, said most abusers struggle to accept their responsibility, blaming their victims for provoking them.

Conceicao said that, in group sessions, his team guide conversations to help men to see their own responsibility for domestic abuse.

“The men arrive in the group very closed and resistant, and we try to break that down,” he said.

Daniela Gasparin, 38, says she lives in fear of her former partner, who was jailed after attacking her with a knife on a bus in the city of Boituva, in Sao Paulo state. Her ex-boyfriend was arrested and convicted in the case.

“Even if he is in jail, I’m still scared he will get out and come after me,” said Gasparin. “This is a love I cannot understand. How can a person love and also try to kill?”

(Reporting by Pilar Olivares; Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Rosalba O’Brien)

Italy 2020 death toll is highest since World War Two as COVID-19 hits

ROME (Reuters) – Italy registered more deaths in 2020 than in any other year since World War Two, according to data that suggest COVID-19 caused thousands more fatalities than were officially attributed to it.

Total deaths in Italy last year amounted to 746,146, statistics bureau ISTAT said, an increase of 100,525, or 15.6%, compared with the average of the 2015-2019 period.

Looking at the period from when Italy’s COVID-19 outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 to the end of the year, the “excess deaths” were even higher at 108,178, an increase of 21% over the same period of the last five years.

The Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Italy’s top health institute, officially attributed 75,891 deaths to the new coronavirus last year, some 70% of this total excess mortality.

Italy has continued to register hundreds of COVID-19 deaths per day this year. Its updated tally stood at 98,974 on Thursday.

Officially, COVID-19 accounted for 10% of deaths in Italy last year from Feb. 21, with marked regional disparities.

It was the cause of 14.5% of all deaths in the northern regions where the outbreak was first reported in Italy. In central areas it was responsible for 7% of all deaths and in southern ones it accounted for 5%.

Of the 100,525 excess deaths last year, 76% of the total were among people over the age of 80 and 20% were among those aged between 65 and 79, ISTAT said.

(Reporting By Gavin Jones, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Swiss church bells mark year since first COVID-19 death

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – Swiss church bells rang out at noon on Friday and people observed a minute of silence to mark a year since the country’s first death from COVID-19.

President Guy Parmelin announced the measure on public television last Sunday, urging citizens to honor the more than 9,300 people who have died from the disease in Switzerland.

At the Notre-Dame cathedral in Lausanne, a French-language Swiss city in the western part of the country, watchman Renato Hausler rang the 16th-century ‘La Clemence’ bell.

In April, as the pandemic set in, Hausler told Reuters he had resumed the practice of climbing the 153 stone steps to its tower to ring the bell at night, to stir residents’ solidarity and courage.

On Friday Hausler said he was ringing the bell to pay tribute and to remind people to keep strong.

“It’s a call for bravery, but it’s especially a call for patience and perseverance, that’s for sure. Because it is not going to end like this, as easily as we would have like or thought,” he said, standing in front of Lausanne’s gothic cathedral which overlooks the city.

Enjoying the view was Lausanne resident and pharmacist Simon Reboh, who was also in a pensive mood.

“It is nice to be able to stop and to think about what is happening. We are grabbed by our daily lives, we don’t have the time to think,” he said.

“That’s why I’m here, in front of a view that allows me to slow down.”

(Reporting by Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse in Lausanne; Writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Raissa Kasolowsky)