The new variant of coronavirus wasdetected for the first time Tuesday in the United States and Latin America asPresident-elect Joe Biden vowed to significantly ramp up the vaccinationdrive, reports AFP.
The new strain, which first emerged in the UK, pushed Britain to a newdaily record of infections and led South Africa to impose a raft of newmeasures, amid fears around the world that holiday revelers are aggravatingthe spike in infections.
The EU health agency warned the strain carried a high risk for morehospitalizations and deaths — not because the infections are more severe but because it spreads more easily.
The Rocky Mountain state of Colorado recorded what is believed to be thefirst case in the United States — which has suffered the highest death tollof the year-old pandemic that has claimed more than 1.78 million livesglobally. Nearly 338,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the US.
Governor Jared Polis said a man in his 20s near Denver was infected withthe variant known as B.1.1.7 and is isolating.
Biden, after a briefing from experts, warned that the dire Covid situationmay not ease up until “well into March.” “The next few weeks and months are going to be very tough — a very toughperiod for our nation, maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic,” he said.
Hospitalizations are back at an all-time high in the US at more than121,000 as of Monday.
In Los Angeles, ambulances waited all day to unload Covid patients, withmore than 95 percent of hospitals forced to divert new cases away, and onereportedly treating patients in its gift shop and chapel. Southern Californiaextended a three-week old lockdown indefinitely Tuesday.
Biden called mass vaccination the “greatest operational challenge we’veever faced as a nation” — and promised the US would do better after hereplaces defeated President Donald Trump on January 20.
“The Trump administration’s plan to distribute vaccines is falling farbehind,” Biden said, promising “I’m going to move Heaven and Earth to get usgoing in the right direction.”
The Trump administration had predicted that 20 million Americans would bevaccinated by the end of December.
With days left, some 2.1 million have received the first shot of thevaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden renewed his promise to administer 100 million vaccine doses in hisfirst 100 days in office and confirmed he would invoke a Korean War-era lawto force private industry to step up production.
“We’re planning a whole-of-government effort and we’re going to work to setup vaccination sites and send mobile units to hard-to-reach communities,”Biden said.
With health workers desperately waiting, politicians have been among firstto be vaccinated in a stated goal of setting an example, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris taking her first dose Tuesday before cameras inWashington.
As conspiracy theories spread on the internet, a new poll by Ipsos GlobalAdvisor showed that just four in 10 people in France want to get vaccinated,a figure that is only slightly higher in Russia and South Africa.
Britain’s government came under pressure to tighten restrictions as itannounced a record 24-hour high of 53,135 new infections. Critical care doctor Samantha Batt-Rawden said medical staff were at“breaking point.”
“We are incredibly thin on the ground. NHS (National Health Service) staffhave not been prioritized for the vaccine and are going off sick in droveswith the new strain,” she tweeted.
In South Africa, which has recorded more than 300 cases of the new variantand is the first African nation to hit one million cases, the governmentbanned the sale of alcohol and made masks compulsory in public.
“We have let down our guard, and unfortunately we are now paying theprice,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Chile on Tuesday became the first Latin American country to detect the newstrain, in a woman who returned from Madrid after also visiting Britain and Dubai.
In response, health authorities announced a 10-day quarantine from December31 for all arrivals.
The new strain was also detected in the United Arab Emirates and India,which has the second-biggest caseload in the world.
Worrisome trends have been increasing worldwide, with South Korea — hailedfor its early success — logging its highest daily death toll yet. And Moscow reported a 27 percent increase in fatalities in the capital fromOctober to November — a day after Russia admitted its number of Covid-19 deaths were more than three times higher than previously reported.
