Americans were yesterday facing a growing raft of COVID-19 restrictions, even as pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and partner BioNTech prepared to file an emergency request to roll out their vaccine.
California announced a nighttime curfew and authorities urged people everywhere not to travel for Thanksgiving as the US was hit by a spike of more than 2,200 deaths — the worst daily toll since May.
The surge came as India surpassed 9 million infections since the pandemic began, with hospitals in Delhi under immense pressure.
Photo: Bloomberg
The global outbreak shows no sign of abating after killing more than 1.35 million people and infecting 56 million, with many governments pinning their hopes on several promising vaccine candidates to end the misery.
An emergency use authorization request for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was expected to be filed with the US Food and Drug Administration yesterday, the government and BioNTech’s cofounder said.
The EU could also approve the vaccine as well as another by Moderna before the end of next month, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
The two candidates have taken the lead in the global chase for a solution, after large-scale trial data this month showed their jabs were about 95 percent effective, but the speed at which the vaccines have been developed has raised alarm in some quarters.
US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci sought to dispel those concerns during a rare briefing by the White House task force on Thursday.
“The process of the speed did not compromise at all safety nor did it compromise scientific integrity. It was a reflection of the extraordinary scientific advances in these types of vaccines,” Fauci said.
In China, nearly 1 million people have already taken an experimental vaccine developed by Chinese company Sinopharm, the firm said yesterday, although it has not yet provided any clear clinical evidence of efficacy.
The nation has been giving experimental COVID-19 vaccines to people — including state employees, international students and essential workers — going abroad since July.
Beijing has been bullish about the science, with four vaccines now in late-stage testing.
The surge in US infections has sufficiently alarmed authorities to request that Americans stay at home for next week’s Thanksgiving holiday, which normally sees millions travel.
“It’s not a requirement. It’s a strong recommendation,” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doctor Henry Walke told reporters.
US states and cities have been imposing their own restrictions, including home confinement, the closure of indoor dining and a limit on gatherings as infections soar across the nation.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
RSS