Coronavirus live news: China and WHO criticised by independent Covid panel; US nears 400,000 deaths - The Guardian UK

China marks seventh day with over 100 daily cases

China reported more than 100 new Covid-19 cases for a seventh day on Tuesday in the worst domestic outbreak since March last year, with one northeastern province seeing a record daily increase.

Reuters: Mainland China posted 118 new cases on Jan. 18, up from 109 a day earlier, the national health authority said in a statement.

Of those, 106 were local infections, with 43 reported in Jilin, a new daily record for the northeastern province, and 35 in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, the National Health Commission said.

The Chinese capital itself reported one new case, while Heilongjiang in the north reported 27 new infections.

Millions of people have been under lockdown in recent days as some northern cities undergo mass testing for the novel coronavirus amid worries that undetected infections could spread quickly during the Lunar New Year holiday, which is just weeks away.

Hundreds of millions of people travel during the holiday, due to kick off in mid-February this year, as migrant workers return home to see family.

Authorities have appealed to people to avoid travel in the run-up to the holiday and stay away from mass gatherings such as weddings.

The current outbreak in Jilin was caused by an infected salesman travelling to and from the neighbouring province of Heilongjiang, the site of a previous cluster of infections.

The overall number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed infections, fell to 91 from 115 a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China is 89,454, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.Colombia's capital Bogota extends nightly curfew to curb coronavirus

Colombia’s capital Bogota will impose nightly curfews for almost two weeks, Mayor Claudia Lopez said on Monday, while the whole city will enter yet another full quarantine this weekend, Reuters reports.

Nightly curfews first started last week and continued until Sunday. However, they will begin again from Tuesday and will run until 28 January. During this time citizens must remain in their homes from 8pm until 4am, Lopez said.

Additionally, from 8 p.m. this Friday Bogota will enter a general quarantine with total restriction on movement in the city until Monday, 25 January at 4am, she added.

“I understand that young people are tired, that they are tired of using face masks, that it seems fun to meet up with their friends and then see their families,” Lopez said in a press conference.

“The risk is that they end up infecting their parents, or grandparents, or the parents and grandparents of others,” she said.

 Colombia’s capital Bogota will impose nightly curfews for almost two weeks. Photograph: Daniel Garzon Herazo/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Colombia’s capital has imposed city-wide quarantines the past two weekends, during which people are largely confined to their homes, non-essential shops and businesses are closed, and with one person per household allowed to buy food or medicine.

Many of the city’s neighbourhoods have endured or are following strict two-week quarantines, which adhere to the same restrictions. During the city-wide and two-week neighbourhood quarantines, sales of alcohol are also prohibited.

Outside of general quarantines, restrictions on who can shop based on the number of people’s national identity cards will remain in place, Lopez said.

Colombia has reported more than 1.9 million coronavirus cases, as well as over 49,000 deaths.

In Bogota, which counts for more than 560,000 of the country’s cases, occupancy of intensive care units for coronavirus patients stands at 93.2%, according to local government figures.

Hong Kong chief executive signals extension of social distancing measures

 Helen Davidson

In Hong Kong, chief executive Carrie Lam has telegraphed an extension of Covid-19 social distancing measures which were due to expire on Thursday. The city is fighting the pandemic with a “suppress and lift” strategy, which has resulting in fluctuating rules over the past year, including no more than two people gathering in a public place, a ban on dine-in services at eateries after 6pm, the closure of all pubs and clubs, and mandatory mask wearing on public transport and in public areas (except outdoor parks).

At a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Lam said she would leave the announcement of details to the secretary of health but “in light of the latest Covid-19 pandemic situation it is quite obvious there is no room yet for us to relax to social distancing measures put in place.”

Health authorities reported 107 new cases on Monday, the highest daily total in a month, as they battled a persistent outbreak in the city. There is a concentration of cases in some of the city’s most densely populated areas , where people in select buildings have been ordered to get tested. Health authorities have come under fire after selectively commenting on the South Asian community in Hong Kong, and suggesting their social and living arrangements increase the spread of the disease.

Coronavirus deaths rising in 30 US states

Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold.

AP: As Americans observed a national holiday Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded with federal authorities to curtail travel from countries where new variants are spreading.

Referring to new versions detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, Cuomo said: “Stop those people from coming here.... Why are you allowing people to fly into this country and then it’s too late?”

The US government has already curbed travel from some of the places where the new variants are spreading — such as Britain and Brazil — and recently it announced that it would require proof of a negative Covid-19 test for anyone flying into the country.

But the new variant seen in Britain is already spreading in the US., and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection has warned that it will probably become the dominant version in the country by March. The CDC said the variant is about 50% more contagious than the virus that is causing the bulk of cases in the US.

While the variant does not cause more severe illness, it can cause more hospitalisations and deaths simply because it spreads more easily. In Britain, it has aggravated a severe outbreak that has swamped hospitals, and it has been blamed for sharp leaps in cases in some other European countries.

As things stand, many US. states are already under tremendous strain. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths is rising in 30 states and the District of Columbia, and on Monday the U.S. death toll surpassed 398,000, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University — by far the highest recorded death toll of any country in the world.

Mattha Busby (now); Amelia Hill, Lucy Campbell and Helen Sullivan (earlier)