The new variant of the coronavirus was first detected on Tuesday in the United States and Latin America, when President-elect Joe Biden promised to significantly increase the vaccination campaign.
The new strain, which first appeared in the United Kingdom, pushed Britain into a new daily record of infections and prompted South Africa to impose a series of new measures amid fears worldwide that holiday revelers are aggravating the increase in infections.
The EU health agency warned that the strain is at high risk for more hospitalizations and deaths – not because infections are more serious, but because it spreads more easily.
Colorado’s Rocky Mountain State recorded what is believed to be the first case in the United States – which suffered the highest number of deaths from a year-old pandemic that has claimed more than 1.78 million lives worldwide. Nearly 338,000 people died from Covid-19 in the United States.
Governor Jared Polis said a man in his 20s near Denver has been infected with the variant known as B.1.1.7 and is isolating.
Biden, after an expert briefing, warned that Covid’s dire situation may not improve until “mid-March”.
“The coming weeks and months are going to be very difficult – a very difficult period for our nation, perhaps the most difficult during this entire pandemic,” he said.
Hospitalizations returned to the highest level in the United States, with more than 121,000 on Monday.
In Los Angeles, ambulances waited all day to unload patients from Covid, with more than 95% of hospitals forced to divert new cases, and one reportedly treating patients in his gift shop and chapel. Southern California extended an old three-week blockade on Tuesday indefinitely.
Biden called mass vaccination “the biggest operational challenge we have ever faced as a nation” – and promised that the US would do better after he replaced defeated President Donald Trump on January 20.
“The Trump administration’s plan to distribute vaccines is lagging behind,” said Biden, promising, “I will move heaven and earth to take us in the right direction.”
The Trump administration predicted that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by the end of December.
With the remaining days, about 2.1 million received the first injection of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden renewed his promise to administer 100 million doses of vaccine in his first 100 days in office and confirmed that he would invoke a Korean War-era law to force private industry to increase production.
“We are planning a government-wide effort and we will work to establish vaccination sites and send mobile units to communities that are difficult to access,” said Biden.
With health professionals waiting desperately, politicians are among the first to be vaccinated against a stated goal of setting an example, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris taking her first dose on Tuesday in Washington.
As conspiracy theories spread across the internet, new research by Ipsos Global Advisor showed that only four out of ten people in France want to be vaccinated, a figure that is only slightly higher in Russia and South Africa.
Britain’s government came under pressure to tighten restrictions by announcing a 24-hour high of 53,135 new infections.
Intensive care physician Samantha Batt-Rawden said the medical team was at a “breaking point”.
“We are incredibly thin on the ground. NHS (National Health Service) employees have not been prioritized for the vaccine and are getting sick en masse with the new strain,” she tweeted.
In South Africa, which registered more than 300 cases of the new variant and is the first African nation to reach one million cases, the government has banned the sale of alcohol and made masks mandatory in public.
“We have let our guard down and, unfortunately, we are now paying the price,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Chile on Tuesday became the first Latin American country to detect the new strain, in a woman who returned from Madrid after also visiting Britain and Dubai.
In response, health officials announced a 10-day quarantine starting December 31 for all arrivals.
The new strain has also been detected in the United Arab Emirates and India, which has the second highest number of cases in the world.
Worrying trends have been on the rise worldwide, with South Korea – hailed for its initial success – registering the highest number of daily deaths to date.
And Moscow reported a 27 percent increase in deaths in the capital from October to November – the day after Russia admitted that Covid-19’s death toll was more than three times higher than previously reported.
burs-sct / st / jh