Coronavirus digest: Scotland to enter full lockdown

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a new lockdown on Monday in response to a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

Scotland will undergo a full lockdown beginning Tuesday. All residents will be required to stay home except for exercise and other essential reasons. Residents can only meet one person from another household. School closures have been extended until February except for children of essential workers and children in social care. The measures will be in place for the rest of January.

"As a result of this new variant, (the virus) has just learned to run much faster, and has most definitely picked up pace in the past couple of weeks," Sturgeon told Scottish parliament.

She said the new variant, which is up to 70% more transmissible, was responsible for nearly half of the new cases in Scotland.

"It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation that we face now than I have been at any time since March," said Sturgeon.

Rest of Europe

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman says it was understandable that there was impatience regarding the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, adding that things would improve.

Germany administered almost 265,000 doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine in the first week of inoculations ending Monday, according to Germany's national disease control center, far short of the 1.3 million doses that were delivered before the end of 2020. That is also well below the UK and US, which started vaccinating its residents earlier last month.  

Spokesman Steffen Seibert said, "the impatience and the many questions people are now asking are entirely understandable."

But noted that partnering with other EU nations "was the right way" to proceed, saying, "everyone for themselves cannot be the way."

Germany is considering delaying the second dose of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine in order to make supplies last longer. Denmark has already approved a delay.

The second dose should be given 21 days after the initial dose, in order to provide maximum efficacy. The German government was considering pushing the second dose beyond the 42-day maximum limit in order to continue distributing the vaccine. Leif-Erik Sander, head of vaccine research at Berlin's Charite hospital, said that may be a better initial strategy.

"In view of the current scarcity of vaccines and the very high numbers of infections and hospitalizations (in Germany), a strategy in which as many people as possible are vaccinated as early as possible is more effective," said Sander.

The European Commission said Monday that it would get through the "bumps on the road" that have slowed vaccination efforts across the 27-nation European bloc.

"It's obvious that such a complex endeavor is always going to bring with it difficulties," said spokesman Eric Mamer.

Some countries were unable to properly distribute vaccinations. France was able to vaccinate just over 500 people in the first week of the EU vaccination program. Finland's health authorities said they only received 40,000 doses last month, instead of the 300,000 that were expected.

Mamer said the main problem was "an issue of production capacity, an issue that everybody is facing."

He added that the EU has signed contracts to get access to 2 billion doses with six companies, far more than enough to vaccinate the population of the bloc.

The UK began using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, the first country in the world to do so.

Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, was the first person to receive the shot.

"The vaccine means everything to me. To my mind it's the only way of getting back to a bit of normal life," said Pinker after receiving the first dose.

The UK has pre-ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine. AstraZeneca said it hopes to increase production capacity to deliver up to 3 billion doses this year.

The Netherlands said it will begin performing vaccinations on Wednesday, two days earlier than scheduled. The country is the last EU member to start its vaccination program.

Hospitals and emergency medical services demanded their employees be vaccinated first. Care home employees will also be vaccinated starting on Wednesday. 

Middle East

Lebanon announced a full lockdown for three weeks, including a night curfew, to try to stop the rise in COVID-19 cases.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan said the lockdown would begin on Thursday and go until February 1. Hasan said there would be more details on Tuesday about potential exemptions.

Hospitals had reached critical capacity over the summer before a massive explosion in Beirut killed 200 people and destroyed several hospitals. With a population of around six million, Lebanon has recorded over 192,000 coronavirus cases, including 1,512 deaths, since February 2020.

Africa

Senior officials of eSwatini said it aims to vaccinate all of its 1.3 million people against COVID-19 and will set aside at least 200 million emalangeni ($14 million, €11.4 million) to make it happen.

The southern African country is participating in the COVAX global vaccine distribution program and hopes to receive enough vaccines for 20% of its population for free. The country recognizes it may have to look to other sources for the remaining 80%.

The announcement comes after Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini died from COVID-19 in hospital last month.

Kenya fully opened schools for the first time in 10 months on Monday after a lengthy closure prompted by the pandemic. Students had to wear masks and their temperatures were checked before they entered the classroom.

World

Moderna said Monday that it would produce at least 600 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year, up by 100 million doses from its previous forecast.

Moderna's vaccine has been approved for emergency use in the US and Canada, and will likely be approved for use in the EU this week.

kbd,rd/nm (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)