China, Germany Suffer Alarming Jump In New COVID-19 Cases As “Second Wave” Spreads: Live Updates

China, Germany Suffer Alarming Jump In New COVID-19 Cases As “Second Wave” Spreads: Live Updates

Tyler Durden

Thu, 07/30/2020 – 07:53

Summary:

  • China reports another 105 new cases
  • Hong Kong suffers new COVID record
  • Japan reports another 1,200+ cases
  • Melbourne suffers new record
  • Germany sees cases at 6 week high
  • Dutch gov’t declines to advise face mask wearing
  • Local lockdowns reported in parts of UK
  • Poland suffers new daily record

* * *

We kicked off yesterday’s COVID-19 live blog with the latest alarming numbers out of Asia: Mainland China reported its biggest daily cluster since mid-April, and Hong Kong, which adopted its more restrictive social distancing measures yet last week, reported 100+ new cases for a fifth straight day.

The last 24 hours have seen both outbreaks intensify, in keeping with the general pattern exhibited by SARS-CoV-2 (that is, it spreads, and quickly). On the mainland, public health officials reported 105 new cases Thursday morning. 102 of these cases were domestically transmitted, while only 3 were imported. Of the domestic cases, 96 were recorded in Xinjiang, the far-flung western province occupied by China’s Muslim Uiyghers, a minority ethnic group that has been subjected to unimaginable brutality by the government in Beijing, which has herded more than a million of them into concentration-camp-like settings. All cases were allegedly recorded over the last 24 hours, according to official data reported by Xinhua.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, reported 145 locally-transmitted coronavirus cases, marking a new daily record. 61 of the 145 cases were of unknown origin. The city also reported four imported case. While Hong Kong tightened restrictions on late-night dining and bar-hopping, it is also allowing restaurants to serve dine-in breakfast starting Friday.

Japan also reported more than 1,200 new cases on Thursday one day after shattering its daily COVID-19 record. 

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike wants bars and karaoke parlors to limit their hours to close at 2200 local time.

But perhaps the most alarming numbers (at least as far as the west is concerned) are being reported out of Australia, where the southern-hemisphere winter is in full swing.

As Bloomberg reported Thursday morning, the chilly weather and attendant surge in virus cases (just as epidemiologists had anticipated) could offer a preview of what’s in store for the US and Europe once Winter arrives. Then again, it could also explain the explosion of cases across the Sun Belt as more Americans sought shelter from the elements indoors.

At any rate, Australia’s second-most populous city Melbourne is experiencing a virus resurgence that – like the outbreak seen in the Sun Belt – has dwarfed the case tallies it reported back in March. The state of Victoria on Thursday reported yet another record high of 723 new infections, early 200 more than the previous record, which it had reported only a few days earlier.’

Moving on to the US, the biggest news over the last day was the US passing the 150,000 death threshold, propelled by a surge in deaths across the Sun Belt, as Florida, California and Texas have all reported record daily death totals in recent days. The US yesterday reported its largest daily tally for deaths since May 27, according to worldometer.

More vaccine news hit Thursday morning, but surprisingly, it wasn’t enough to ease the malaise gripping equity markets across the globe. According to BBG, J&J’s vaccine candidate has proven to be safe…on monkeys.

The reaction to the news suggests investors might finally be tiring of “pre-clinical” data. Though the notion that JNJ’s vaccine might be successful with just a single dose is probably notable, considering all the hubub over Moderna’s pricing plans.

Johnson & Johnson’s experimental coronavirus vaccine protected a group of macaques with a single shot in an early study, prompting the U.S. drugmaker to start trials in humans this month.

All of the animals that were exposed to the pandemic-causing pathogen six weeks after the injection were immune except one, who showed low levels of the virus, according to a study published in the medical journal Nature. The health-care behemoth kick-started human trials on July 22 in Belgium and in the U.S. earlier this week.

The data “show our SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate generated a strong antibody response and provided protection with a single dose,” Paul Stoffels, the drugmaker’s chief scientific officer, said in the statement. “The findings give us confidence as we progress our vaccine development and upscale manufacturing.”

J&J aims to embark on the last phase of tests in September, compressing the traditional timeline as it races against others such as GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca for a shot to end the pandemic. Although others have been faster in development, with Astra having already administered its experimental vaccine to almost 10,000 people in the U.K. alone, eliciting protection with a single dose could prove to be an advantage in the logistical challenge of rolling out massive vaccination programs around the globe.

JNJ received a $456 million from the US government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority via project warp speed and has already started talks with the US, the EU, and governments around the world about supplying its vaccine.

Finally, over in Europe, fears of a ‘second wave’ are intensifying as the UK has reported rising daily infection totals for a week now. What’s more, the infection numbers appear to be rising beyond the ‘hot spots’ in Catalonia and elsewhere. Germany and Poland are just two countries seeing a comeback.

Germany reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases in roughly six weeks on Thursday. While the country’s infection rate remained just above the key threshold of 1 (the point beyond which the virus is considered to be “spreading”), there were 839 new cases in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, bringing Germany’s total to 208,546, per data from JHU (these disheartening German numbers followed a record contraction in German GDP in Q2 which was reported on Thursday). Notably, the Dutch government, which memorably was the first in Europe to send students back to classrooms, has decided not to advise the wearing of masks in public spaces. Nearby Poland also reported a record daily jump in new cases (though it wasn’t alone)…

Poland reported 615 new cases, bringing its total to 45,031.

While the number of daily cases have continued to steadily decline in the UK from the peak in April, some areas are recording more infections than others, leading to local lockdowns in Leicester and Oldham, which we reported earlier this week. Still, nationwide, the UK reports fewer than 1,000 cases per day.

 

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Xap0Jk Tyler Durden

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