Archives of “COVID-19” category

rss

Germany reports 8,072 new coronavirus cases, 813 deaths in latest update today

  
Analysis, COVID-19

The death count is still a little worrying but cases continue to level off below 10,000 so that is some good news

Germany
This is the fourth consecutive day that new cases is seen below 10,000 – the first time since October last year – so that is somewhat encouraging. Total active cases across the country eases further to ~164,300 and that is the lowest since 31 October.
Should things continue down this path, hospitalisations and deaths should also eventually trend lower but there will be a bit of a lag time to ease the burden on medical capacity.
As of yesterday, there were 3,846 (-111) virus patients requiring intensive care with there being 4,616 (17%) intensive care beds still available.
Despite the virus situation showing improvement, reports yesterday suggest that the government may only slowly and gradually lift restrictions due to fears of possible virus variants/mutations spreading across the country.

Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines not effective against South African variant – study

  
Analysis, COVID-19

Troubling development

Troubling development
There is a small bent towards risk aversion in early trading and I suspect it will worsen on a report that the Oxford/AstraZeneca is not effective against preventing mild to moderate infections of the South African variant of covid-19.
A soon-to-be published study of 2026 mostly healthy and young people showed it did not appear to offer protection (update: it’s now confirmed). None were hospitalized or died but the study says it’s too early to draw any conclusions about severe cases.
Earlier reports from Johnson & Johnson and Novavax also warned their vaccines were less effective against the strain. Studies are ongoing. Another study showed the Moderna vaccine was shown to be significantly less effective against the strain and the company is working on a booster shot and a reformulated vaccine.
In terms of markets, they’ve been able to shrug vaccine setbacks off but we’re coming off the best week for US equities since November so there’s some vulnerability. Commodity currencies are slight lower in (very) early trading.

Germany bans travel entry from UK, Brazil, South Africa, Portugal, Ireland over coronavirus variants

  
Analysis, COVID-19
#  #  #  #  #  #

The travel ban will stay in effect until 17 February at least

Germany
ICYMI, the restriction has gone into effect yesterday and covers land, air, and sea travel into the country, according to local media citing the German interior ministry.
The exceptions to the restriction is only for Germans living in those countries, those who have residency in Germany, and passengers in transit or the movement of goods.
Even the UK government travel advisory has been updated as such:

“The German government has restricted air and sea travel to Germany at its external Schengen borders. Travellers from the UK are currently only permitted to enter Germany if they are returning to their place of residence, if they serve in an important role or if they have an urgent need, such as urgent medical treatment.”

Generally speaking, if more countries in the EU adopt similar restrictions, it isn’t quite a good look on how virus developments are playing out in Q1. And that also adds another negative point to the list for risk sentiment.

Pfizer vaccine gets encouraging feedback from a leading Israeli healthcare provider

  
Analysis, COVID-19

COVID-19 vaccination going full steam ahead in Isreal:

  • The Tel Aviv Trade is the key 2021 barometer
Check out that post above if you haven’t already.
Reuters have a piece up today:
  • Fewer than 0.01% of people who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine have contracted the virus more than a week after receiving the second dose, a leading Israeli healthcare provider said on Monday.

Biden says should be able to vaccinate 1m people a day in about 3 weeks

  
Analysis, COVID-19

The headline across the newswire re this is a little different,

  • Biden says should be able to vaccine 1m people a day … etc.
I really hope he didn’t say vaccine 1m people a day.
More:
  • 100 day goal on vaccinations may rise to 150m instead of 100m
  • by summer we should be well on our way to herd immunity
  • US death toll will hit 600,000 before we begin to turn the corner

New Zealand reports a case of the South African coronavirus strain – community transmission

  
Analysis, COVID-19

The first community transmission case in NZ for many months

The NZ official in charge of COVID-19 response says he is confident toe cas was acquired during quarantine

Authorities in New Zealand have shown themselves to very quick in responding to new outbreaks with regional lockdowns as needed. Something to keep an eye on due to the SA variant said to be more highly infectious.

US’ Fauci says it looks like COVID-19 might be plateauing

  
Analysis, COVID-19

US infectious disease expert Fauci says when you look at recent seven-day averages, it looks like covid might be plateauing

 

  • says mutant strains from UK are in about 20 plus states
  • says the coronavirus mutation in South Africa is a little bit more concerning
  • so far it does not appear the Sth Africa strain is in the US
  • “There are alternative plans if we ever have to modify the vaccine… but right now from the reports we have… it appears the vaccines will still be effective”
  • It’s quite a reasonable goal,” to get 100 million vaccinated in the US in 100 days
  • believes most Americans will be vaccinated by the middle of 2021
  • “If we get 75-80% of the country vaccinated by the summer, I believe that by the fall, we’ll be approaching a sense of normalcy.”

US infectious disease expert Fauci says when you look at recentseven-day averages, it looks like covid might be plateauing

China has had its biggest daily jump in COVID cases in more than 10 months

  
Analysis, COVID-19

New infections still on the rise in China.

  • Hebei province reported 81
  • Heilongjiang ( in northeast China) 43 (nearly 3 times the new case number reported yesterday)

China’s week-long Lunar New Year holiday is coming up from February 12 (holiday period will be the 11th to 17th), there is talk of suspending some manufacturing businesses ahead of the holiday to try to counter the spread.

China has had the biggest daily jump in COVID cases in more than 5 months

  
Analysis, COVID-19

Three Chinese cities are in near full lockdown, testing has ramped higher and other restrictive measures have been put in place.

National Health Commission reported:
  • 115 new confirmed cases on the mainland (55 the previous day)
  • 107 are local infections
  • Most of the newly reported cases are near Beijing (Hebei province with 90), some are in northeastern Heilongjiang province
Hebei has put the cities of Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang into lockdown.
—
The actions in China will likely drive new numbers lower ahead.
Go to top