December 29 coronavirus news

By Julia Hollingsworth, Adam Renton, Amy Woodyatt, Harry Clarke-Ezzidio and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 12:00 a.m. ET, December 30, 2020
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8:23 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

Spain will keep a registry of people who refuse coronavirus vaccine

From CNN's Al Goodman in Madrid 

Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa is seen during a press conference in Madrid, Spain, on December 28.
Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa is seen during a press conference in Madrid, Spain, on December 28. Emilio Naranjo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

People who decline to be vaccinated against coronavirus in Spain will be listed in a new registry that will be shared with European Union Member states, Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa said in a television interview on Monday.

Speaking to Spain’s La Sexta TV, Illa stressed that the information will not be made public, in line with Spain’s data protection laws, and vaccinations will not be made compulsory. 

“What will be done is a registry…of those people who have been offered it and simply rejected it,” Illa told La Sexta. 

However, health care professionals have since weighed in, saying the idea presents potential dangers.

“The most important thing is to know how the registry will be used,” said Jose Luis Cobos, the deputy director of the Spanish General Council of Nursing. 

“If it’s for public health purposes to better understand COVID, and it’s anonymous, that’s one thing. But if it’s ‘I’m now on the list of the bad people,’ that’s another thing. We don’t think a registry should be used to infringe on liberties, or for employers against people,” he added.

Hours after Illa’s television interview Monday, the head of Spain’s Medicines Agency, Maria Jesus Lamas, told Spain’s SER radio that the new registry would be used “to understand the causes behind declining the vaccination…doubt or rejection.”

“The registry is anonymous. There’s no chance of identifying anyone in the registry,” she added. 

Spain’s 17 regional governments administer vaccines across the nation, and in the southern region of Andalusia, people currently appear in a registry only if they get a vaccine, including its batch number and who administered it for quality control, an Andalusia health department spokesperson told CNN.

The spokesperson also noted that there is no registry for members of the general public who decline vaccinations, although Andalusia health care workers must sign a document if they refuse a vaccination. 

Spain has the world’s ninth largest number of coronavirus cases, at more than 1.8 million, and the tenth highest number of deaths, at just over 50,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

8:22 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

Premier League records 18 new positive cases after the latest round of virus testing

From CNN’s Aleks Klosok

A notice announcing the postponement of the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City in Liverpool, England, on December 28.
A notice announcing the postponement of the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City in Liverpool, England, on December 28. Tony McArdle/Everton FC/Getty Images

The English Premier League has announced 18 new positive Covid-19 tests among its soccer players and club staff in its latest round of testing -- the highest amount of positive tests this season.

The news comes a day after Manchester City's Premier League fixture at Everton was postponed following multiple positive coronavirus test results within the City squad. 

It was the second English Premier League game this season to be called off due to a virus outbreak, after Aston Villa vs. Newcastle United earlier this month.

In a statement on Tuesday the League said that between 21 December and 27 December, 1,479 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19 of which 18 were new positive tests.

As per League protocol, specific details of individuals affected were not disclosed, but players or staff that did test positive must now self-isolate for 10 days.

The previous highest total of positive Covid-19 tests was recorded last month, when 16 individuals returned positive tests between 9 November and 15 November.

8:17 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

Russian official acknowledges actual coronavirus death toll is much higher than official figures

From CNN’s Mary Ilyushina in Moscow

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova gives a briefing in Moscow on December 28.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova gives a briefing in Moscow on December 28. Alexander Astafyev/TASS/Getty Images

A statement from a top Russian official indicates that the country's true coronavirus death toll is more than three times higher than the country's official statistics show.

New data from the country's statistics agency, Rosstat, shows that during the first 11 months of 2020, there was an increase of over 229,700 more deaths in Russia than during the same period of 2019.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who is in charge of the country's coronavirus response, said Monday that "more than 81% of this increase in mortality over this period is due to Covid." According to a CNN calculation, that means 186,000 Russians died from coronavirus in these months.

With an actual Covid-19 death toll of 186,000, Russia would have the third-highest number of any country in the world. Golikova's statement marks the first time a Russian official has acknowledged what critics have long suspected: that Russia's true coronavirus death toll is much higher than the official toll, which is under 56,000.

Russia has reported more than 3 million confirmed cases but maintained it has a comparatively low fatality rate thanks to how it's handled the pandemic.

Doubts over official toll: Critics have expressed overwhelming skepticism of Russia's official figures, saying that the issue lies with the counting method that permits ascribing deaths in coronavirus-infected patients to other causes and allows officials to claim a lower toll.

For instance, Rosstat said that 35,645 people with coronavirus or suspected coronavirus died in November but added that in about a third of fatalities Covid-19 was not considered to be the main cause of death or a major factor in the death at all.

Russia coronavirus task force, which publishes daily statistics on new cases and fatalities using a different methodology than Rosstat, reported only 12,229 coronavirus-related deaths in November.

This counting method differs from World Health Organization guidelines, which states that all deaths related to Covid-19 should be counted unless there is "a clear alternative cause that cannot be related" to the disease.

8:12 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

It's just past 8 a.m. in New York and 1 p.m. in London. Here's the latest on the pandemic

Nurse Deborah Henley fills a syringe with the Moderna Covid vaccine as first responders are vaccinated on December 28, in Sterling, Virginia.
Nurse Deborah Henley fills a syringe with the Moderna Covid vaccine as first responders are vaccinated on December 28, in Sterling, Virginia. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the world, with more than 81 million cases recorded globally, and 1.7 million dead, according to Johns Hopkins University.

So far, about 2.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in the US and more than 11.4 million doses have been distributed as of Monday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another 4.7 million will be distributed by the end of the week, Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir said.

But the number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 is the highest it's ever been in the US, which reported 121,235 people hospitalized on Monday, the biggest figure since the start of the pandemic, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

ICU coronavirus patients have increased from 16% in September to 40% last week, and health experts anticipate holiday travel could mean a "surge on top of a surge."

Here's the latest from around the world:

Wuhan's Covid-19 reality check: Nearly half a million residents in the Chinese city where the novel coronavirus first emerged may have been infected with Covid-19 -- almost 10 times the official number of confirmed cases, according to a study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kamala Harris to receive vaccine: Vice President-elect Harris is expected to receive the first dose of a Covid-19 shot on Tuesday, live on camera from Washington DC, according to the Biden transition team.

Historic Dutch death toll: The Netherlands' increased death toll in 2020 was the worst observed in the country since World War II, according to the government’s statistics body. “In 2020, up to and including week 51, around 162,000 people have died, 13,000 more than expected,” Statistics Netherlands said in a statement.

UK cases surge again: The UK's National Health Service is "back in the eye of the storm," NHS England chief Simon Stevens said Monday. His comments come a day after official figures revealed at least 20,426 hospital beds are now occupied by confirmed coronavirus patients -- more than during the country's first peak of the pandemic in April. 

British military to support mass testing at schools: Some 1,500 armed force personnel are set to assist high schools in England, as part of plans to implement a mass coronavirus testing program in schools ahead of the new term.

US Forces Korea begins vaccine distribution: United States Forces Korea started vaccinating military and civilian health care workers, first responders and the USFK command team at three of its medical facilities on Tuesday.

Philippines and Indonesia impose travel bans: The Philippines has banned inbound foreign travelers from 18 countries and Hong Kong, expanding a current ban on travelers from the UK put in place to stop new coronavirus variants being brought into the country. Meanwhile, Indonesia will close its borders to foreign travelers for two weeks, beginning January 1, to prevent the spread of the new variant.

8:11 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

"We are below where we want to be," Fauci says about number of administered Covid vaccines 

From CNN’s Naomi Thomas

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto Tuesday that the US is “certainly not at the numbers that we wanted to be at the end of December,” when it comes to the number of Covid-19 vaccines administered.

The administration had said that the goal was for 20 million people to be vaccinated by the end of the year. As of Monday morning, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid Data Tracker reported just over two million people receiving their first dose.

“Even if you undercount, two million as an undercount, how much undercount could it be,” Fauci said. “So, we are below where we want to be.”

Fauci praised Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed,  for publicly apologizing for some glitches that have gotten in the way.

“I believe that as we get into January, we are going to see an increase in the momentum,” Fauci said, which “I hope allows us to catch up to the projected pace that we had spoken about a month or two ago when we were talking about the planned rollout of the vaccinations.”

 

He said that “we really want” to get priority people vaccinated so that the country can get into “open season” for the general population.

Vaccinating priority people is “certainly saving lives, no doubt about that,” Fauci said, but “when you get to the point where you can essentially say anybody and everybody who wants to be vaccinated can be vaccinated that’s when you really turn around the dynamics of the outbreak.”

“We hope as we get into January, February, March and into April, we’ll finally be there so that the spring and the summer, we can really do a very good job of getting as many people as possible vaccinated,” he said.

7:58 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

The Netherlands has recorded the biggest increase in its yearly death toll since WWII

From CNN's Mick Krever

People light candles during a vigil for the victims of COVID-19 at the Dam, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on August 6.
People light candles during a vigil for the victims of COVID-19 at the Dam, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on August 6. Robin Utrecht/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

The Netherlands' increased death toll in 2020 was the worst observed in the country since World War II, according to the government’s statistics body. 

“In 2020, up to and including week 51, around 162,000 people have died, 13,000 more than expected,” Statistics Netherlands said in a statement. “Such an increase in the number of deceased has not been observed since the Second World War.”

As of Monday, 11,042 people in the Netherlands have died of Covid-19 and 770,400 have been infected, according to the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.

The Dutch government recently announced new rules requiring nearly all new arrivals to the Netherlands to have a negative PCR test in order to enter the country.

7:51 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

UK military to support mass testing in English schools

From CNN’s Sharon Braithwaite in Pisa, Italy and Arnaud Siad in Reykjavík, Iceland

Military personnel are set to assist with the rollout of a mass coronavirus testing program in high schools across England, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced Tuesday in a statement.

“This week I have authorized over a thousand Armed Forces personnel to assist schools returning after the Christmas break,” UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. 

According to the MOD, 1,500 Armed Forces personnel will be made available to support the Department for Education and the Department for Health and Social Care “to ensure that students and staff can return as safely as possible” when the new term begins in January. 

The Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, welcomed the MOD’s support, adding in a statement that the testing of students in schools will “break chains of transmission, fight the virus, and help deliver the national priority of keeping education open for all.”

7:24 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

Indonesia to ban entry to foreign nationals from January 1

From CNN's Akanksha Sharma

Travelers arrive at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II airport in Palembang, Indonesia on December 23.
Travelers arrive at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II airport in Palembang, Indonesia on December 23. Muhammad A.F/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Indonesia will close its borders to foreign travelers for two weeks, beginning January 1, to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus strain, according to state-run news agency Antara.

"[We are] temporarily closing Indonesian borders, from January 1 to 14 of 2021, for foreign nationals from all countries," the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, said at an online media conference on Monday.

Indonesian citizens who travel abroad will be allowed to re-enter if they can show negative PCR results before travelling back and take an additional PCR test on arrival, Marsudi said.

After arriving, citizens will then have to isolate for five days and take another PCR test, the minister added.

High-ranking foreign officials and representatives from foreign countries will be excluded from the new ban, state-run news agency Antara reported.

Indonesia has had 719,219 confirmed Covid-19 cases, and 21,452 deaths from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

7:25 a.m. ET, December 29, 2020

Philippines expands travel ban over new coronavirus variant

From CNN's Akanksha Sharma

The Philippines has banned inbound foreign travelers from 18 countries and Hong Kong according to the Philippines News Agency (PNA).

The latest restrictions expands the current ban on travelers from the UK, which was put in place to stop new coronavirus variants being brought into the country

Foreign travelers from Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada, Spain, and Hong Kong will be banned from December 30 until January 15.

The new restrictions were announced in a memo from President Duterte’s office and give allowances for returning Filipino citizens, who must quarantine four 14 days, regardless of coronavirus test results, PNA reports.

There have been 470,650 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Philippines, and 9,124 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.