January 5 coronavirus news

About one in 50 people across England now has coronavirus, England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said Tuesday, calling the figure "really very high."

The Covid-19 case rate across the United Kingdom increased by 70% in the two weeks to Dec. 30, Whitty said. 

Government data showed the rate rose from 287 cases per 100,000 people on Dec. 16 to 487 per 100,000 people on Dec. 30. The comparison is of the seven-day rolling average.

The number of people currently hospitalized with Covid-19 across the UK is as high as it has ever been, Whitty added. 

The number is daily deaths is currently below the peak in April 2020, but Whitty said that pattern might not hold given the number of people sick with coronavirus at the moment.

“We will unfortunately see, inevitably, a spike in the number of people who die of this disease,” Whitty said.

On Monday UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new national lockdown in England to tackle this surge. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced Monday that mainland Scotland would enter into a lockdown from midnight whilst the remaining UK nations Wales and Northern Ireland started lockdowns in December.

There is no scientific data to support giving just a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday.

The vaccines were authorized to be given as two doses and the US Food and Drug Administration on Monday nixed any idea of changing that regimen to stretch supply.

"That is something that is taking a chance and we prefer to make all of our decisions based on the scientific data that we have," Fauci said. "There is not scientific data to back that up. It might work. ... But we don't have good scientific data to prove that."

The World Bank expects the global economy will grow by 4% in 2021, after contracting 4.3% last year, assuming widespread deployment of Covid-19 vaccines.

In its Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank warned the pandemic may depress both incomes and economic activity for a prolonged period of time. The outlook is “highly uncertain,” and delays in rolling out vaccines could substantially hamper growth.

Daily coronavirus cases in the UK have topped 60,000 for the first time since the pandemic began according to the latest UK government data. Some 60,916 cases were recorded on the government coronavirus dashboard, surpassing Monday's 58,784 cases. 

Another 830 deaths have also been registered over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of people in the UK who have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test to 76,305.  

The UK reproduction rate sits somewhere between 1.1 and 1.3, according to the dashboard. 

In a statement, Public Health England’s Medical Director, Yvonne Doyle, said Tuesday that the “rapid rise in cases is highlight concerning” and will mean “yet more pressure” on the country’s National Health Service. 

“We must stay at home, reduce contacts and do everything possible to break the spread of this virus,” Doyle added. 

The new case record comes one day after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new national lockdown in England to tackle this surge. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced Monday that mainland Scotland would enter into a lockdown from midnight whilst the remaining UK nations Wales and Northern Ireland started lockdowns in December.

The Cleveland Browns announced Tuesday that head coach Kevin Stefanski, two players and two additional members of the coaching staff have tested positive for Covid-19, prompting closure of the team’s facility while contact tracing is ongoing. 

Last week, Cleveland was forced to close its practice facility on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday because of coronavirus infections among the team. 

With a win over the Steelers this past Sunday, the Browns clinched a playoff berth for the first time in 18 years. Those same two teams are scheduled to meet in an NFL Wildcard playoff game Sunday in Pittsburgh. If Stefanski is not able to coach, the Browns indicated in the statement that special teams coordinator Mike Priefer would serve as acting head coach.  

As cases in the state of Arizona continue to trend upwards, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported just 8% of ICU beds were available as of Monday. There are just 8% of regular hospital beds available as well.

According to the state's Covid-19 dashboard, 62% of people in the ICU are Covid-19 patients. About 57% of the state’s available ventilators are in use.  

On Tuesday, the state reported 5,932 new cases and 253 Covid-19 related deaths, ADHS said. The state has a 12.7% positivity rate.  

Note: These numbers were released by the state's public health agency and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University, The Covid Tracking Project and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Covid-19 infections in the United States may have been four times higher than the number of cases reported, with 1 in 7 US residents infected by mid-November, according to a new study. 

As of November 15, about 10.8 million reported cases of Covid-19 were reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the study suggests the actual number of infections was closer to 46.9 million. 

The study also suggests that approximately 35% of Covid-19 deaths may not be reported.

Researchers tested randomly selected blood samples for the presence of Covid-19 antibodies in a series of surveys conducted in 10 states, as well as one nationwide. They derived estimates for the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the US as of Nov. 15 by comparing antibody prevalence in the samples to the number of reported cases to adjust for underreporting. 

Gaps between the number of reported infections and estimated number of infections decreased over time, suggesting more widespread access to testing in later months, according to the researchers. 

Data from this study may be helpful in monitoring progress toward herd immunity as infections continue to rise, but there is still a long way to go.

"Even after adjusting for underreporting, a substantial gap remains between the estimated proportion of the population infected and the proportion infected required to reach herd immunity," the researchers wrote.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to create five “mass vaccination” sites throughout the city, with the goal of propping up two of them this weekend.

He described them as “public sites where anyone in the appropriate categories can come 24/7 and get vaccinated,” in all 5 boroughs of New York City. 

The first three will be in Bathgate Industrial Park in the Bronx, the Brooklyn Army Terminal Annex Building in Brooklyn and La Marqueta in Manhattan.

The Staten Island and Queens sites have yet to be announced. 

These sites are in addition to vaccine hubs, all H+H facilities, and DOH pop up sites, he said. 

“We’re going to have capacity all over the 5 boroughs, we want to make it easy and quick and accessible to all.”

The English Premier League has announced 40 new positive Covid-19 cases among players and club staff in its latest round of testing – more than double from the previous week. 

In a statement on Tuesday, the league said that between Dec. 28 to 31, 1,311 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19 of these, there were 28 new positive tests.

From Jan. 1 to 3, Covid-19 tests were administered to 984 players and club staff, with 12 tests coming back positive.

It is the first week players and club staff have been tested twice a week for Covid-19.

Last week, the Premier League announced 18 positive results, which was the highest weekly figure since the start of the current season. 

As of Tuesday, four Premier League matches have been postponed this season due to Covid-19 issues.

The statement added that it “continues to have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols, fully backed by the Government, to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled.”