US, UK RECORD HIGHEST COVID CASES, DEATHS IN LAST 24 HOURS

A total of 2,99,904 new cases and 3,844 deaths were reported across the United States on Wednesday, according to data updated on Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both figures are the highest daily counts since the onset of the pandemic in the country, the Xinhua news agency reported. This brought the 7-day average daily increase of cases to a record-high of over 2,28,000.

The US has recorded over 21.4 million cases with over 3,64,000 related deaths as of Thursday afternoon, according to the real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Britain too on Friday reported a record 1,325 deaths over a 24 period from people testing positive for coronavirus, as a surge in cases piled pressure on overstretched health services, forcing London to declare a major incident. The death toll eclipsed the previous worst of 1,224 recorded on 21 April during the height of the first wave last year, and brings the total number of deaths to 79,833. The grim milestone also saw another high of 68,053 new cases registered in the past day, nudging the overall number of Covid infections close to three million.

The UK government earlier announced that all travellers to Britain will need pre-departure coronavirus tests. Fears are growing about fast-spreading new variants of the virus, particularly from South Africa, with concerns hospitals could be overwhelmed.

The government this week announced new stay-at-home restrictions, which include school closures, that are expected to last until at least mid-February.

In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a major incident, saying the British capital was “at crisis point” and urgent action was required as beds for Covid patients could run out within weeks.

In the meantime, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the easing of England’s new national lockdown, the third of its kind since the onset of the pandemic early last year, will be a “gradual unwrapping” and not a “big bang”.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, Johnson said that the government will use “every available second” of the lockdown to place an “invisible shield” around the elderly and other vulnerable people through the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in the coming weeks, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Prime Minister justified his decision to order a third national shutdown with the emergence of a new variant of the virus first identified in Britain, which is said to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible.

The variant was “spreading with frightening ease and speed in spite of the sterling work of the British public”, said Johnson, adding that it left him with “no choice” but to implement the third lockdown in England.

“This mutation has led to more cases than we’ve seen ever before. Numbers that alas cannot be explained away by the meteoric rise in testing,” Johnson told MPs.