US to start vaccinating as Germany returns to partial lockdown

KALAMAZOO, US - The United States prepared to start its Covid-19 vaccination program on Monday as the nation's death toll edged towards 300,000, while Germany announced a partial lockdown over the holidays due to an explosion of cases.

Delivery trucks with special refrigeration equipment rolled out of a facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday as part of a public-private plan to ship millions of doses of the newly approved Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to vulnerable Americans.

Courier services FedEx and UPS have deployed fleets of trucks and planes to carry their precious cargo -- sometimes under armed guard -- to all 50 states, where healthcare workers and nursing-home residents will be first in line.

"Vaccines are shipped and on their way," President Donald Trump tweeted. "Get well USA. Get well WORLD."

One state governor, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, said that "we now believe that the first individuals will be vaccinated" on Monday -- less than 72 hours after the vaccine received emergency authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.

An initial 2.9 million doses are set to be delivered by Wednesday, with officials saying 20 million Americans could receive the two-shot regimen by year end, and 100 million by March.

But the breakthrough comes at one of the darkest moments of the pandemic, with infections in the United States and many other countries soaring, and health experts still struggling against vaccine skepticism, lockdown fatigue and uneven adherence to safety rules.

GRIM US DEATH TOLL

The US has the world's highest death toll of more than 299,000, and the largest number of cases, at 16.2 million -- including more than 1.5 million new cases in just the past week.

Worldwide, there have been at least 1.6 million deaths since the outbreak emerged in China last December, and 71.6 million cases overall.

The start of vaccination campaigns this week in the US -- and also Canada -- came as Germany announced a partial lockdown from Wednesday, with non-essential shops and schools to close in a bid to halt an "exponential growth" in infections.

The restrictions, agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders, will apply through the holidays until January 10. 

Europe's biggest economy has been severely hit by a resurgence of the coronavirus, with daily new infections more than three times their springtime peak. Daily death tolls last week approached 600.

Germany's hardest-hit states had already ordered new measures. Saxony state, where in some areas incidence rates have hit 500 per 100,000 people, will shutter shops and schools from Monday.

Italy, meanwhile, overtook Britain as the European nation with the highest death toll.

"I am worried about the two weeks of Christmas holidays... The battle still has not been won," Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza warned as the country recorded 64,520 deaths, surpassing Britain's 64,267.

Elsewhere, the prime minister of the small African nation of Eswatini died in a South African hospital on Sunday, two weeks after contracting coronavirus.

In Algeria, 75-year-old President Abdelmadjid Tebboune made his first televised appearance since being hospitalized with Covid-19 in October.

"Thanks to God," he said, "I have started on the road to recovery." 

And President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil faced scathing criticism over his government's plan -- or lack thereof -- to vaccinate the population.

Brazil, the country with the world's second-highest death toll, published its vaccination policy on Saturday under pressure from the Supreme Court, but listed no start date or details of how it would secure sufficient doses.

Leading newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, in a scathing front-page editorial, said virus-skeptic Bolsonaro had shown "murderous stupidity."

South Korea -- once seen as a model of how to combat the pandemic -- on Sunday reported 1,030 new coronavirus cases, a record high for a second day in a row.

'DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN'

Even as US health experts welcomed the unprecedented vaccine effort, they cautioned people not to grow lax in observing precautions.

"The next number of weeks are going to be hell, I fear," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy told ABC's "This Week." 

"So we're begging people to please, please, please don't let your guard down."

UPS and FedEx are to ship glass vials of the vaccine to 636 sites around the country by Wednesday.

Doses are being shipped in boxes containing dry ice that can keep supplies at -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), the frigid temperature needed to preserve the drug.

Trials have shown the vaccine to be 95 percent effective, and Americans are being told it is safe unless they have an allergy to any of the drug's components.

The US National Security Council said Sunday that senior federal officials will be among those given priority access to keep the government functioning, but Trump later tweeted that government workers should be vaccinated "somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary."

"I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time," he said.

Agence France-Presse

With virus 'under control', Germany begins opening up

BERLIN - Germany takes its first steps back towards normality on Monday, with smaller shops in some regions opening up for the first time in a month after politicians declared the coronavirus "under control".

From florists to fashion stores, the majority of shops smaller than 800 square meters (8,600 square feet) will be allowed to welcome customers again, in a first wave of relaxations to strict curbs on public life introduced last month.


Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional state premiers announced the decision to reopen last week, though they have been careful to cast it as no more than a cautious first step.

While the first shops will open their doors on Monday, each of Germany's 16 states is set to lift the restrictions at a slightly different pace.

In some states such as the capital Berlin, reopening will take a little longer.

Merkel, who has been praised for her handling of the coronavirus crisis, is hoping to reinvigorate the ailing German economy, which officially entered into recession last week.

'FRAGILE'

With 139,897 confirmed cases and 4,294 deaths as of Sunday, Germany has been one of the countries worst hit by COVID-19, but also one of the quickest to react. 

On Friday, the Robert Koch Institute for public health announced that the rate of infection -- the number of people each ill person contaminates -- had dropped below one for the first time, leading Health Minister Jens Spahn to declare the virus "under control".

Yet Merkel, who was herself quarantined for two weeks earlier this month before testing negative for the virus, has warned that Germany's success remains "fragile".

"We will not be able to go back to our normal lives for a long time," said her conservative party colleague Armin Laschet, the state premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, the country's most populous region.

In an interview with Der Spiegel weekly, Laschet warned that some coronavirus restrictions could last until 2021.

A ban on gatherings of more than two people and a requirement to stand more than 1.5 metres apart from others in public areas remain in force. 

That means that hairdressers, initially deemed an essential business, cannot open until at least May 4. 

Cultural venues, bars, leisure centres and beauty salons will also remain closed for the time being, while large-scale public events such as concerts and football matches have been banned until August 31. 

But Germans can look forward to at least some relaxations to the existing shutdown although they have not been welcomed by everyone.

With larger shops unable to open, the German Trade Association warned Friday of a possible "distortion of competition".

Yet Economy Minister Peter Altmaier defended the 800-square-metre limit, saying that "the belt can only be loosened bit by bit".

SCHOOLS REOPENING

Schools will also be partially reopened in the coming weeks, with most states set to welcome back older students from May 4. 

Education policy is traditionally decided at state level in Germany, and Bavaria, the region worst hit by the virus so far, will keep its schools closed for an extra week.

On April 29, regional education ministers are set to present concrete plans on how social distancing can still be enforced in the classroom. 

Germany hopes to combine the lifting of restrictions with a more efficient tracing of the spread of COVID-19.

The country hopes to ramp up testing -- it has already tested around two million people -- and aims to produce around 50 million protective masks, including 10 million of the higher efficiency FFP2 standard a week from August.

Though not yet obligatory, Merkel said her government "strongly advises" wearing a mask in public.

With more movement of the population expected as shops reopen, eastern states Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony have made masks obligatory on public transport.

In doing so, they have followed the example of the eastern city of Jena, which unilaterally enforced the wearing of masks earlier this month. 

According to German media, the city has had no new cases in a week.

Agence France-Presse