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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the nation will be able to continue spending “large sums” next year to help cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus.
Vaccinations started in Moscow, as Russia posted a record daily number of new infections. Iran became the eighth country to report more than 50,000 deaths. Hong Kong plans to test taxi drivers. South Africa will begin to receive vaccines in the second quarter.
The U.S. had a record 228,419 new confirmed cases. President-elect Joe Biden said he will take a vaccine to demonstrate its safety. Los Angeles may suffer more than 11,000 virus deaths by year-end. Counties in the San Fransisco Bay area announced lockdown measures for the holiday period.
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Iran’s Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 50,000 (6 a.m. NY)
Iran’s total Covid-19 fatalities since the start of the pandemic climbed above 50,000, making it the eighth country to breach that number. The nation had 321 deaths overnight, down from 347 a day earlier. The number of daily new infections fell 9% in the last 24 hours to 12,151, bringing total known cases to 1,028,986, the health ministry reported.
Germany Can Maintain Spending, Merkel Says (6:15 p.m. HK)
Germany can carry on spending “large sums” next year to help the economy through coronavirus upheavals, Chancellor Angela Merkel said ahead of a parliamentary vote on the federal budget next week.
“We were able to deploy large sums in 2020 and we will be able to do so in 2021 because we have managed our finances well in the past years,” Merkel said. Debt-funded stimulus measures were necessary this year to prevent far costlier bankruptcies and job losses, she said.
Still, the nation can’t maintain this support forever and it will have to start working off the exceptional debt from 2023, Merkel said in her weekly podcast. “We already see enormous budgetary challenges for the coming years.”
Hong Kong to Test Taxi Drivers (5:50 p.m. HK)
Hong Kong announced a one-time mandatory test for taxi drivers starting Dec. 9. The city has posted more than 100 new cases for two days in a row.
Malaysia prolonged restrictions in Kuala Lumpur to help contain the spread of infections. Conditional movement control orders will also be extended to Dec. 20 in Sabah and most areas of the key state of Selangor. Curbs will end in some other parts of the country.
Hungary Reports Record Deaths (4:40 p.m. HK)
Hungary set another daily record for Covid-19 related deaths, as Prime Minister Viktor Orban prepares to announce whether virus curbs will be relaxed for the holiday period.
The nation had 193 daily deaths and 5,525 new infections, its virus task force said in a statement on Saturday. Orban is scheduled to announce on Monday whether some restrictions will be eased for the upcoming holidays, including a curfew and a ban on public gatherings. The prime minister has said that his virus advisers oppose any loosening of curbs put in place almost a month ago.
Russia Starts Vaccinations as Cases Hit Record (4:23 p.m. HK)
Moscow started widespread vaccination of front-line workers and other high-risk people on Saturday, following an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. More than 5,000 people signed up in the first five hours of registration on Friday, Moscow’s mayor said on his blog. The Kremlin has resisted a broad lockdown, putting the responsibility for imposing restrictions on regional governments.
Russia reported a record 28,782 cases in the past day, the government’s virus response center said Saturday. That raises the total to 2,431,731, the fourth-most in the world.
Elsewhere, the U.K. health secretary confirmed the nation will start rolling out vaccines next week.
German Cases Slow; Intensive-Care Bed Use Rises (4 p.m. HK)
Days after Germany extended its partial lockdown into next year, authorities reported a rise of 15,403 cases in the last 24 hours, down from 24,158 the previous day. Deaths stood at 480 over the last 24 hours, below the record of 510 in mid-April. The number of occupied intensive-care beds ticked higher, with 82% in use, up from 81% the previous day. Germany has a further contingent of reserve beds.
South Africa Vaccines to Arrive by Mid-2021 (3:45 p.m. HK)
South Africa may get its first batch of vaccines in the second quarter, the health ministry said in a statement. The government will initially pay about 327 million rand ($22 million) to take delivery of vaccines under the Covax initiative, which will cover about 10% of the population. The total cost of the vaccines may surpass 2 billion rand.
Singapore Airlines Readies Vaccination Flights (2:40 p.m. HK)
Singapore Airlines will prioritize freight capacity for shipping Covid-19 vaccines and it will soon conduct test flights to trial procedures, the Straits Times reported. The carrier has seven Boeing Co. 747-400 freighters ready to carry vaccines. Its passenger fleet can also be used to ramp up capacity.
Tokyo Posts Record 584 New Daily Cases (2:12 p.m. HK)
Tokyo reported a daily record of 584 new Covid-19 infections Saturday, bringing an accumulative total of reported cases to 43,377 in the capital, with 55 serious cases.
U.S Cases Rise by a Record 228,419 as of Dec. 4 (1:42 p.m. HK)
The number of confirmed U.S. Covid-19 cases rose by a record 228,419 on Friday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
Indian Covid-19 Deaths Rise to 139,700 (12:02 p.m. HK)
There were 36,652 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in India, taking the official case tally to 9,608,211, the Press Trust of India reports.
Pakistan reported 3,119 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 413,191 . There were 44 new deaths, according to Radio Pakistan.
Japan Decides How to Split Extra Olympic Costs (10:54 a.m. HK)
Japan announced how it will split the additional costs for the Tokyo Summer Olympics caused by the postponement due to the pandemic. Of the extra 294 billion yen ($2.8 billion) in costs, the national government will pay 71 billion yen, the Tokyo government will pay 120 billion yen and the organizing committee will pay the rest. The event was delayed by a year due to the pandemic and there will be some restrictions in place if it is held next summer.
Some U.S. Hospitals Ready to Deploy Vaccines (10:10 a.m. HK)
Some U.S. hospitals are ready to deploy the coronavirus vaccine once they receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration, Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN.
President-elect Joe Biden earlier said he’ll take a vaccine to demonstrate its safety to Americans and that he’ll work to ensure the vaccine and treatment of any side effects are provided free.
“I think that my taking the vaccine and people seeing me take that vaccine is going to give some confidence,” Biden said at a news conference in Delaware on Friday. “In the meantime I need to make sure that the vaccine is both free and available. And that any follow-up to the vaccine is free and available -- that relates to any health complications from it. So there’s ways we can deal with some of these issues.”
Los Angeles Covid-19 Deaths Could Surpass 11,000 by Year End (9:37 a.m. HK)
Los Angeles is on track to record 500,000 cases of Covid-19 by the end of the year and deaths could surpass 11,000 at the current pace of infection, Mayor Eric Garcetti said. One in 20 people in the greater Los Angeles area will be infected, he said.
That was after California reported 22,018 new coronavirus cases Friday, topping the previous record of about 20,000 hit just two days ago. Five of the biggest counties in the San Francisco Bay area are imposing shelter-in-place rules from Dec. 6 through Jan. 4 as they seek to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed as the coronavirus surges. The counties include San Francisco, Oakland and much of Silicon Valley.
S. Korea Confirms 583 More Coronavirus Cases (8:31 a.m. HK)
South Korea reports 583 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, a drop from 629 a day earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. There were 559 locally infected cases, with 231 new cases in Seoul and 150 in Gyeonggi province, while total deaths rose by four to 540.
Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 4.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg
Pelosi, Governors Discuss Aid for Vaccine Distribution (7:40 a.m. HK)
Four Democratic Midwestern governors and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed on Friday pending fiscal stimulus legislation that in part would help states pay to distribute any vaccines against the Covid-19 disease that receive government approval.
Pelosi spoke with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers to discuss a bipartisan version of the legislation, which currently includes about $16 billion for vaccine distribution, Walz said during a Friday conference call with reporters. But he claimed his health experts concluded the actual cost will be closer to $28 billion.
Walz said he’s pushing for “a broad-based package that supports all 50 states.” Other governors have different ideas. Evers, for instance, on Thursday said he wants the bill to earmark $466 million to pay specifically for Wisconsin’s Covid-19 expected expenses during the first three months of 2021.
— With assistance by Neil Denslow
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