The school faces the challenge of reopening.More Countries Report Variants – NBC Los Angeles

For the first time in a few months In the United States, the average number of new cases of coronavirus is below 100,000 per day... This is an improvement, with new daily cases peaking at nearly 250,000 in January, but experts warn that the pandemic is not over yet.

Dr. Rochelle Warrensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said over the weekend that new variants, including the first detected in the UK, are more contagious and may already be recorded in more than 30 states. Said that is likely to occur. It leads to more cases and more deaths.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the United States has reported more than 27 million cases of coronavirus and 486,000 virus-related deaths. Aggregation by NBC News..

This is the latest coronavirus update from the United States and other countries.

Schools can be reopened, but face challenges, CDC epidemiologists say

Top U.S. epidemiologists say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for reopening schools during a coronavirus pandemic are sufficient, but schools will face major challenges in the coming weeks due to virus variants. I am.

Michael Osterholm is head of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research Policy at the University of Minnesota and was appointed to Joe Biden’s Coronavirus Task Force before Biden became president. Osterholm says that school virus infections are low, especially for young students, but virus variants are a “true danger signal for the future.”

CDC said on friday Face-to-face school education can be safely resumed with masks, social distance and other strategies. Vaccination of teachers is important, but not a prerequisite for reopening schools, according to the top public health agencies across the country.

Health officials do not have enough vaccinations for everyone, so they prioritize vaccination of older people over teachers, Osterholm said.

United Nations approves AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

The World Health Organization has granted an emergency permit for AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine. This will allow UN agency partners to ship millions of vaccines to countries around the world as part of a UN support program to curb pandemics.

In a statement on Monday, WHO said it has licensed the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute and AstraZeneca-SK Bio in South Korea.

The WHO green light for the AstraZeneca vaccine is the second vaccine issued by the United Nations Health Organization after the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in December. The announcement on Monday should trigger the delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to countries that have signed up for a UN-backed COVAX initiative aimed at delivering vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable people.

“Countries that previously did not have access to vaccines will finally be able to start vaccination of health care workers and people at risk,” said WHO Deputy Director of Access to Medicines and Health Products. One Dr. Mariângela Simão said.

The coronavirus pandemic has infected about 109 million people worldwide and killed at least 2.4 million people. However, many countries in the world have not yet started vaccination programs, and manufacturers are struggling to increase production, so even rich countries face shortages of vaccination.

Tracking the progress of COVID vaccines by state

UK opens quarantine hotel

People arriving in the UK must be quarantined at the hotel from Monday. The government is trying to prevent new variants of the coronavirus from upsetting its fast-moving vaccination drive.

On Sunday, the government achieved its goal of vaccinating 15 million of the most vulnerable people, including health workers and people over the age of 70, with the first of two vaccinations.

Health Minister Matt Hancock said the impetus for vaccination is now being extended to people over the age of 65 and those with underlying health conditions.

Health officials are concerned that the vaccine may not work well against some new strains of the virus, including the one first identified in South Africa.

People arriving in the UK from 33 high-risk countries will have to stay at a quarantine hotel for 10 days at their own expense. In Scotland, this rule applies to arrivals from any country.

Critics say the move is too slow as South African variants are already in circulation domestically.

Blockade may be short-lived as New Zealand cannot find new community expansion

When the Auckland people adapted to the new blockade on Monday, health officials said they could not find evidence that the coronavirus had spread further to the community, raising hopes that the restrictions could be short-lived.

New Zealand’s largest city was rushed to a three-day blockade on Sunday after three unexplained virus cases were found. This is the first blockade in six months and represents a setback in most successful efforts to control the virus.

Health director Ashley Bloomfield said negative test results since the first three were found are a promising start, but the big picture of the outbreak is clear until Tuesday, when the results of the expanded test regimen are known. I warned that it wouldn’t be.

New Zealand also announced that the first batch of vaccines has arrived. Authorities said shipments of approximately 60,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech would initially take precedence over border workers.

13 Middle Eastern countries report new variants

According to the World Health Organization, coronavirus cases have been stable in parts of the Middle East, but the situation remains severe, with more than 12 countries reporting cases of new variants.

Ahmedal-Mandhari, director of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region, which makes up the majority of the Middle East, said at a press conference from Cairo that at least one of three new coronavirus variants was reported in 13 countries in the region. It was. He didn’t name the country.

According to WHO, all three new variants are highly contagious.

Al-Mandhari said there were nearly 6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the area and about 140,000 deaths. WHO has urged people to continue to take precautions against the virus.