December 4 coronavirus news

By Jessie Yeung, Brett McKeehan, Emma Reynolds, Hannah Strange, Melissa Macaya and Meg Wagner, CNN

Updated 12:05 a.m. ET, December 5, 2020
16 Posts
Sort byDropdown arrow
5:50 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

Tokyo 2020 budget balloons to $15.3 billion on cost of Covid

From CNN’s Junko Ogura in Tokyo

The floating monument, consisting of the Olympic rings, placed in Tokyo Gulf, as a symbol of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games, in Tokyo, on December 1.
The floating monument, consisting of the Olympic rings, placed in Tokyo Gulf, as a symbol of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games, in Tokyo, on December 1. Ahmet Furkan Mercan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The postponed Tokyo Olympic Games are set to cost $2.7 billion more than initially projected, the organizing committee said Friday, taking the total cost of next year’s event to $15.3 billion.

The extra spend includes:

  • Cost of postponing of the games by one year: $1.5 billion
  • Cost of Covid-19 prevention measures: $0.9 billion
  • Added contingency sum: $0.3 billion

The entire cost of the games will be borne by the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan.

“Tokyo 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Government of Japan and other related parties will continue to work together in order to ensure that athletes from around the world can compete in the Games under perfect conditions and spectators can participate in a safe and secure environment, as proof that mankind has overcome the virus,” said Friday’s statement.

The cost of the Tokyo Olympics was initially projected at $12.6 billion, before the pandemic forced its postponement.

Sums are based on the exchange rate used by the Tokyo Organising Committee (USD 1 = JPY 107). 

4:58 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

Indian Prime Minister says frontline healthcare workers and elderly will be vaccinated first

From CNN’s Manveena Suri in New Delhi and Akanksha Sharma in Hong Kong

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that vaccinations will begin “as soon as we get a go-ahead from the scientists,” and that the first phase of the rollout will prioritize frontline healthcare workers and older citizens.

Addressing an all-party meeting on Friday to discuss the Covid-19 situation, Modi said there were "nearly eight vaccines are on different stages of trial with their manufacturing assured in India.” 

Of these, three vaccines from India are at different stages of development, Modi added.

Central and state governments are now working together to coordinate distribution for when a vaccine is approved, Modi said, assuring that "experts think that the vaccine isn't too far away."

Case count: On Thursday, India reported 36,595 new cases and 540 additional deaths.

That raises the country's total to at least 9,571,559 cases and 139,188 virus-related deaths.

4:48 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

Seoul to strengthen Covid-19 restrictions as city faces "desperate crisis"

From CNN’s Jake Kwon and Gawon Bae in Seoul 

South Korea’s capital Seoul will be placed under tougher Covid-19 prevention measures starting Saturday, with the city in a “desperate crisis," announced Acting Mayor Seo Jeong-hyup on Friday.

The city has already been put under an "emergency period" since November 24, but Seoul must now effectively "stop after 9 pm," Seo said. The announcement came after the greater metro area recorded 463 new cases from Thursday.

Under the new restrictions: Public venues including cinemas, study cafes, beauty salons and department stores must close after 9 p.m. Supermarkets smaller than 300 square meters (3,229 square feet) will be exempt. Public transport will reduce passenger capacity by 30% after 9 p.m.

The measures will last at least two weeks, Mayor Seo said. 

The whole country faces new rules: The government has designated a “special disease prevention effort period” from December 7 until January 3, during the peak of the holiday season, according to Yoon Tae-ho, a senior Health Ministry official.

During this period, the government will toughen inspections in high-risk facilities like restaurants, entertainment facilities, amusement parks and indoor gyms, all usually busy toward the end of the year.

Yoon urged people to postpone end-of-year meetings, move events online, cancel parties, and switch to online schooling.

5:42 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

Vaccine makers insist they didn’t cut corners in speedy development of coronavirus shot

From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla NBC

The makers of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines insist they did not cut corners in the development of the shots, which normally take years.  

“The quality standard we held ourselves to was 30,000-person placebo controlled trial,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in an NBC interview that aired Thursday night. “That really is the gold standard. We still met that bar, even though we've moved quickly."

He said that taking out some of the business and financial caution that normally slows down development of drugs helped speed up the process in developing a Covid-19 vaccine.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla agreed no corners were cut in speeding up the development process. He cited the 30,000-person clinical trial as the “gold standard,” too.

“That happens exactly as would happen with any other vaccine,” he told host Lester Holt.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have applied for emergency use authorization for their vaccines from the US Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer’s will be considered December 10 and Moderna’s December 17.

Johnson & Johnson has a coronavirus vaccine that is still in a Phase 3 clinical trial, but company CEO Alex Gorsky said the development process is the same as it would be for any other vaccine.

 

5:38 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

Biggest challenge for Covid-19 vaccine is still ahead, Biden Covid Task Force member says

From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman

Dr. Marcella Nunez Smith
Dr. Marcella Nunez Smith NBC

The coronavirus vaccines have been developed in record time and an historic partnership between the government and private sector has been forged to deliver the shots -- but the biggest challenge is still ahead, according to the co-chair of the Biden-Harris Covid Task Force. 

“In some of our hardest hit communities, we know that there is quite a degree of vaccine hesitance and caution,” Dr. Marcella Nunez Smith told NBC News in an interview that aired Thursday.

People actually have to get the vaccine for it to work, said Nunez Smith, who is Founding Director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center at the Yale School of Medicine.

“We have a significant challenge right now in our country because we've walked away from science,” she told host Lester Holt. 

“What we have to do is find out what questions people have. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that trust has decayed between Americans and the federal government, and it will take work to rebuild and restore that confidence.”

5:34 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

Vaccine makers describe the "incredible moment” they realized the shots worked

From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman

The president of biotechnology company Moderna, Stephen Hoge, speaks with NBC.
The president of biotechnology company Moderna, Stephen Hoge, speaks with NBC. NBC

Vaccine makers said they felt both excitement and relief when they realized they had a Covid-19 vaccine that worked.

The CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Albert Bourla, told NBC News on Thursday that his company had invested $2 billion of its own capital into the vaccine, and did not accept any of the $12 billion the US government offered to vaccine developers.

He added that it was "an incredible moment" when he found out Pfizer’s vaccine was 95% effective.

“The next day, when I went home with my wife and kids and I sat on the couch with a glass of wine, I realized what does this mean for the world," he said.

The president of biotechnology company Moderna, Stephen Hoge, said he was relieved when he was told the Moderna vaccine was 94% effective in clinical trials.

“They notified us of the vaccine efficacy,” Hoge said. “I don't think I remembered another thing for about 20 minutes. There was this overwhelming sense of relief.” 

Both Pfizer and Moderna have applied for emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for their vaccines. Pfizer’s will be considered December 10 and Moderna’s on December 17.

3:08 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

US is getting "down and dirty" in checking out vaccine safety and efficacy, top FDA official says 

From CNN's Maggie Fox 

Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration, poses for a portrait near his home in Washington, DC on August 5.
Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration, poses for a portrait near his home in Washington, DC on August 5. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The Washington Post/Getty Images

A top US Food and Drug (FDA) official on Thursday claimed that Britain beat the US to authorizing a coronavirus vaccine because US regulators take more care.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told an American Medical Association webinar that the FDA is taking great care in considering emergency use authorization requests from vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna.

Other countries trust the companies’ data as submitted, he said. 

“We in the United States are in a unique position, which is that among all global regulators, we are the ones that actually don’t just look at the companies’ tables. We actually get down and dirty and we look at the actual adverse event reports, the bad spelling errors that are made by physicians sometimes, et cetera,” Marks said. 

“There is a cost that another regulator has made this available sooner than we will and that’s because we’re really taking care to make sure that when people get this vaccine, we will have really vetted it for safety and if there is something there, we’ll know about it."

Earlier this week, Britain authorized Pfizer’s vaccine. The FDA has scheduled a meeting of its vaccine advisory committee December 10 to discuss the emergency use authorization. 

“The Pfizer vaccine data used by the UK is the same data that we’ll be using and it’s just a matter of differences in how regulators review products,” Marks said. 

“We’re getting there as fast as we can because we understand people are losing their lives to this virus."

1:55 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

US has its worst day yet, with more Covid-19 cases and deaths than at any stage of the pandemic

The United States recorded 217,664 new cases of Covid-19 and 2,879 related deaths on Thursday -- the most infections and fatalities in the country in a single day since the pandemic began.

Previously, the highest number of daily infections was 205,557, on November 27. The highest number of daily deaths was 2,804, recorded on Wednesday.

Thursday's figures raised the country's totals to at least 14,139,577 cases and 276,325 related deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

See CNN's live tracker:

1:00 a.m. ET, December 4, 2020

Navajo Nation extends reservation lockdown for three more weeks

From CNN’s Andy Rose

In this May 24 photo, a sign warns non-residents to stay out of the Navajo Nation town of Tuba City during the 57-hour curfew in Arizona.
In this May 24 photo, a sign warns non-residents to stay out of the Navajo Nation town of Tuba City during the 57-hour curfew in Arizona. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

The Navajo Nation has extended its 24/7 lockdown for another three weeks as Covid-19 numbers rise. The lockdown was originally set to expire this weekend.

“Our health care experts are now saying that the current wave or surge is far more severe and troublesome than the wave that we saw in April and May,” President Jonathan Nez said Thursday in a written statement.

Under the lockdown, Navajo citizens have been required to remain at home at all times, except for essential activities, emergencies, and outdoor exercise.

Essential businesses can be open only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Gatherings of more than five people are discouraged.

The Navajo Nation is located in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The Navajo Department of Health has confirmed more than 17,000 coronavirus cases with 663 deaths as of Thursday.