Here we follow all developments on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 on an international scale.
9:30 a.m. – Mexico records 1,470 new deaths and 20,057 new coronavirus cases
Mexico recorded 1,470 new deaths from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, a new daily high in the country that now counts 149,084 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
In addition, 20,057 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the last 24 hours.
In total, Mexico has already recorded 1,752,347 confirmed cases.
The country, which is experiencing the second peak of the pandemic, has spent a week in which the record number of covid-19 infections and deaths has been exceeded three times.
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09h20 – Researcher who sequenced the Brazilian strain warns of the risk of new mutations
Brazilian researcher Felipe Naveca, of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in the Amazon, warned that the new coronavirus will continue to evolve if there is no control over contamination, which facilitates new, more infectious strains.
“When we let the virus circulate freely with many cases happening, you let the virus evolve more, you have a better chance of the virus continuing to evolve,” Naveca told Lusa.
According to the microbiologist, who coordinated the genetic sequencing of a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the Amazon region, called B.1.1.28 (K417N / E484K / N501Y), which has the same characteristics of the most infectious mutations recorded in the United Kingdom and in South Africa, it is urgent to contain the transmission of covid-19.
“We had sequenced [as
estirpes do novo corovírus] until November and this new variant [estirpe]
from the Amazon hadn’t shown up (…) When Japanese scientists warned on December 10, we compared the sequences [genéticas do
vírus] of them with ours and we managed to establish that the variant has its origin in Amazonas but the ancestor [do vírus] that we had sequenced was very distant “, he explained.
“The difference between the variant we knew and this new variant is very big. At some point there was an acceleration in the evolution of the virus that we were unable to identify exactly,” he added.
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09h00 – Appeal by António Costa on election day
The prime minister appealed this morning to the Portuguese to respect health safety rules when they go to vote.
On the social network Twitter, António Costa recalled that there are four essential rules to comply with.
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08h55 – 327 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection detected in Portuguese chains
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08h40 – India with 155 deaths and more than 14,000 cases in the last 24 hours
India has recorded 155 covid-19 deaths and 14,894 cases in the past 24 hours, Indian authorities said today.
Since the start of the pandemic, India has accounted for more than 10.6 million cases of the new coronavirus (10,316,786), remaining as the second country with the most infections, behind the United States.
With a total of 153,339 deaths, India is the third country in the world with the most deaths, after the United States and Brazil, according to the count of the American University Johns Hopkins.
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8:30 am – Timor-Leste registers three new cases for a total of 17 assets
The Timorese health authorities today announced three more positive cases of covid-19, three foreign nationals who entered Timor-Leste across the land border on 20 January.
Nilton da Silva, one of the coordinators of the Ministry of Health’s response to the covid-19 team, said that these are three members of the same family.
“We registered three new positive cases in the last 24 hours that were transferred to the Vera Cruz isolation center in Dili, where a total of 17 people are currently,” he said.
“The three patients are a man of 48, a woman of 46 and a young man of 16, a family who traveled to Kupang and Atambua. They were in self-quarantine and the surveillance team confirmed the positive tests,” he explained.
The new cases are part of the same group of 118 people, Timorese and foreigners, who entered the country, some of whom after waiting up to three weeks in the Atambua area, on the Indonesian side of the island, where cases of infection have increased.
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08h20 – Teaching more than half of the world’s students still with instability says UNESCO
More than half of the world’s student population still has significant teaching disruptions a year after the covid-19 pandemic broke out, with schools closed in 31 countries and reduced hours in 48, says UNESCO.
08h10 – China registers 80 new cases, including 65 of local contagion
China has registered 80 infected with the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 65 of which are local contagions, the country’s Health Commission said today.
Local infections were detected in the provinces of Heilongjiang (29), Hebei (19) and Jilin (12 and three cases in the city of Shanghai and two cases in the capital, Beijing.
Chinese authorities have stepped up efforts to contain the outbreaks. Several areas have been isolated and mass tests are being carried out on the population, in an attempt to curb the curve of cases.
Authorities are trying to halt the resurgence of outbreaks on the eve of the lunar New Year holiday, which runs from February 11 to 17, 2021, when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel to their places of origin.
The China Health Commission said the number of infected people active in the country was set at 1,800.
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8:00 am – USA reports 3,519 deaths and 176,581 cases in 24 hours
The United States recorded 3,519 deaths and 176,581 infected with the new coronavirus within 24 hours, according to the independent count from Johns Hopkins University.
The country now accounts for 24,982,615 cases and 417,337 deaths from covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
New York State remains the hardest hit by the pandemic with 42,134 deaths, followed by California with 36,763.
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Security recommendations on election day
On Presidential election day, the tables opened at 8 am and will close at 7 pm. Voters must wear a mask and are advised to carry alcohol-gel as well as their own pen, and to keep their distance from other people.
The National Elections Commission, CNE, calls for avoidance of gatherings so that voting takes place in complete safety and recommends anyone who is afraid of contagion to place their identification document in a transparent plastic bag.
Moreover, it ensures that all precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of voters and members of the 12,000 tables spread across the country.
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This weekend it is forbidden to move between counties until 5:00 am on Monday. The measure went into effect at 8 pm on Friday night and there is only one exception for this Sunday, presidential election day. Anyone residing outside the municipality where he is registered may travel to exercise the right to vote.
State of Play
And Portugal the transmission rate in Portugal is growing and above 1 for 24 days. The country continues to hit maximum contagions and deaths. On Saturday there were 274 more deaths with Covid-19 and 15,333 new cases of infection with SARS-CoV-2. In Corvo Island, Azores, the first case of infection was also registered after 10 months.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 10,194 people in Portugal have died from this disease.
The Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region was responsible for 40 percent of the national total with 6,135 infections. The northern region recorded 4,992 new cases, corresponding to 32 percent of the total. That is, Norte and Lisbon, together, represent 72 percent of new cases across the country.
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In the Prison of Caxias there are 104 inmates and infected employees.
The Order of Doctors says that Hospitals in the central area, where the capacity for welcoming Covid patients has already exceeded 93.4 percent in the infirmary and 89.6 percent in the ICU, are on the verge of catastrophe and calls for more means . In Lisbon, the opening of the field hospital at the University Stadium was anticipated, with a capacity to accommodate 58 patients. Seven beds were soon spared, with covid patients from the Amadora-Sintra Hospital and the Beatriz Ângelo Hospital, in Loures.
In Porto, the São João Hospital began to give the second dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 to hundreds of professionals and more than 200 elements of the Municipal Police began to reinforce the PSP’s inspection teams. The fines for violations of the pandemic containment rules started to be paid on the spot.
Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people were killed by Covid-19.
Spain recorded an 82 percent increase in hospitalizations in 15 days and has almost 4,000 people in ICU. Health officials say they are completely exhausted.
In Berlin, a hospital was placed under quarantine, after the English variant of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 20 patients and staff. Norway’s capital, Oslo, has been placed in semi-confinement and the restrictions are the tightest since the pandemic began.
Brazil, where thousands of people took to the streets against President Jair Bolsonaro’s management of the pandemic, accounted for another 1,202 deaths and 62,334 cases. France recorded 24,000 new cases and 230 deaths with Covid-19. Guinea-Bissau has declared a state of emergency.
Saturday has been a year since the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, was quarantined. The situation on the streets was completely normal, despite new outbreaks in other parts of the country.
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