9 million Americans vaccinated

Monitoring Desk

Some US state officials have said they are running out of vaccines as the roll-out fails to gather speed. 

Almost nine million people had been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the US by Monday the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Some 8,987,322 people had received their first of two shots. The number fell far short of the 25 million doses which had been distributed by the government.

Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio — who wants to vaccinate one million New Yorkers by the end of January — said that the city could run out of vaccines if the federal government failed to send more.

US President-elect Joe Biden has said that he’s considering releasing further vaccines which had been stockpiled by the federal government to ensure a supply of second doses.

The millions of completed jabs have not yet made a dent in the number of infections in the country.

US President-elect received his second vaccine shot in Delaware on Tuesday.

Asia

China announced a seven-day quarantine in Guan country in Hebei province where measures have been taken to curb a recent outbreak.

Authorities reported 55 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, down from the 103 recorded a day earlier.

The king of Malaysia declared a national state of emergency, which may last until the beginning of August, in order to curb infections of COVID-19.

Europe

A Dutch municipality is planning to test all 62,000 residents aged two or over after a cluster of cases was discovered in a local elementary school — some of the cases were of the more transmissible variant first discovered in the UK.

Africa

South Africa brought in restrictions on land travel into the country and extended previous measures as the country grappled with increasing numbers of infections.

The president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said that hospital admissions were at their highest point since the pandemic began with 15,000 coronavirus patients currently hospitalized.

Other news

The World Health Organization warned on Monday that it was unlikely that herd immunity will be achieved though immunization programs this year.

The German vaccine produce BioNTech announced a new target of delivering two billion doses of its vaccine in 2021, up from its previous target of 1.3 billion.

Courtesy: DW