The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines

By Nectar Gan, Adam Renton, Kara Fox and Harry Clarke-Ezzidio, CNN

Updated 8:51 p.m. ET, December 31, 2020
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1:19 a.m. ET, December 31, 2020

Japan may consider declaring a state of emergency to counter rising Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Junko Ogura in Tokyo

Shoppers stand outside stores at the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, December 30.
Shoppers stand outside stores at the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, December 30. Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Japan's government may consider declaring a state of emergency if Covid-19 continues to spread further, a minister in charge of the country's coronavirus response said on Twitter Wednesday.

"We have to curb the spread of coronavirus at any cost," Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said in a tweet.

Tokyo recorded 944 new Covid-19 cases for Wednesday -- the highest daily increase in infections since the pandemic began. The total number of people to have been infected in Tokyo now stands at 58,840, according to the Japanese Health Ministry.

Overall, Japan reported 3,851 new coronavirus cases and 65 virus-related deaths on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said. It added that 668 patients were in serious condition on Wednesday, down by seven from the previous day. 

The total number of confirmed cases nationwide now stands at 231,016, while the death toll has reached 3,427.

12:36 a.m. ET, December 31, 2020

Brazilian health agency modifies emergency vaccine authorization rules for Pfizer vaccine

 From CNN's Taylor Barnes

A vial of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine that received emergency use authorization is seen at George Washington University Hospital on December 14, in Washington, DC. 
A vial of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine that received emergency use authorization is seen at George Washington University Hospital on December 14, in Washington, DC.  Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images

The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) has modified its guide for emergency vaccine use after the pharmaceutical company Pfizer said it could not provide some of the information required by the Brazilian government to gain authorization.

Top officials from Anvisa met with representatives from Pfizer to discuss the emergency use rules on Wednesday, according to a news release from the health agency.

Among information Pfizer could not provide was a timeline for the number of doses that would be provided to Brazil, according to the release.

Anvisa said it would not require Pfizer to submit clinical data specific to trials in Brazil but that the health agency will evaluate “all of the clinical data presented in different populations.”

Some context: Earlier this week, Pfizer had announced that it would not seek emergency authorization in Brazil due to some of the rules put in place by Anvisa.

Brazil has recorded more than 7.5 million Covid-19 cases and its death toll is nearing 200,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

12:02 a.m. ET, December 31, 2020

Australia's Victoria state reports fresh Covid-19 outbreak after 2 months of no cases

From Pauline Lockwood and Ben Westcott 

Shoppers walk along Bourke Street Mall during Boxing Day sales on December 26, in Melbourne, Australia. 
Shoppers walk along Bourke Street Mall during Boxing Day sales on December 26, in Melbourne, Australia.  Naomi Rahim/Getty Images

Australia’s state of Victoria reported three locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Thursday, breaking a 61-day streak of no community infections.

As of Thursday morning, Victoria has a total of 10 active cases, the state's Department of Health spokesperson Graeme Walker told CNN.

Among them, six cases are in quarantine from inbound travel, and another is a teenage girl isolating at home after contracting the virus in the state of New South Wales.

"We are aware of an additional three cases and will have more information on these new cases throughout the day," Walker said.

As a result of the fresh outbreak in the state, new Covid-19 restrictions have been issued hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations. Gatherings of more than 15 people are no longer allowed and masks are now mandatory indoors. 

11:48 p.m. ET, December 30, 2020

China has administered 3 million doses of coronavirus vaccines since December 15

From CNN's Nectar Gan

A staff member tests samples of the Covid-19 inactivated vaccine at a China National Pharmaceutical Group plant in Beijing, on April 11, 2020. 
A staff member tests samples of the Covid-19 inactivated vaccine at a China National Pharmaceutical Group plant in Beijing, on April 11, 2020.   Zhang Yuwei/Xinhua/Getty

China has drastically scaled up its emergency use program in recent weeks, officials revealed Thursday as they announced the approval of the country's first homegrown coronavirus vaccine, developed by Sinopharm.

Since December 15, the country has administered more than 3 million doses of coronavirus vaccines on "key groups" in the population, Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of China's National Health Commission, said at a news conference Thursday. He did not identify who those groups were.

That's on top of the more than 1.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccines administered to "high-risk groups" as of the end of November, Zeng added.

Among those who have been inoculated, fewer than 0.1% developed a light fever, and about two people per million developed "relative serious adverse reactions" such as allergies, according to Zeng.

China rolled out its controversial emergency use program in July, inoculating hundreds of thousands of people with experimental vaccines that did not have their safety and efficacy proven in clinical trials. People who received the vaccines include healthcare workers, border control personnel and state-owned company employees who needed to travel overseas.

9:42 p.m. ET, December 30, 2020

China approves Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine

From CNN’s Beijing bureau

Chinese regulators have approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm, officials announced Thursday.

Sinopharm said yesterday its coronavirus vaccine is 79.34% effective, citing interim analysis of Phase 3 clinical trials.

Though few details were provided, the company said the vaccine met the standards of the World Health Organization and China's own regulator, the National Medical Products Administration.

Read more about the Sinopharm vaccine:

8:01 p.m. ET, December 30, 2020

US hits record number of Covid-19 hospitalizations

From CNN's Virginia Langmaid

The United States reported 125,220 current Covid-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).

This is the 29th consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 current hospitalizations. 

According to CTP data, the highest hospitalization numbers are:

  • Dec. 30: 125,220
  • Dec. 29: 124,686
  • Dec. 28: 121,235
  • Dec. 24: 120,151
  • Dec. 23: 119,463
7:52 p.m. ET, December 30, 2020

UK Covid-19 variant confirmed in San Diego, California

From CNN's Alexandra Meeks

The new Covid-19 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, has been detected in a Covid-19 patient in San Diego, California, county supervisor Nathan Fletcher announced Wednesday during a news conference. 

"About an hour ago, the governor in a joint appearance with Dr. Anthony Fauci confirmed that a UK variant case had been detected in the state of California and I can confirm that that case is in fact a patient in San Diego," Fletcher said.

Fletcher said the patient is a 30-year-old man with no travel history that started developing Covid-related symptoms on Dec. 27. 

7:46 p.m. ET, December 30, 2020

New CDC forecast projects up to 424,000 US Covid-19 deaths by Jan. 23

From CNN's Amanda Sealy

An ensemble forecast published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects there will be 383,000 to 424,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Jan. 23.

Unlike some individual models, the CDC’s ensemble forecast only offers projections a few weeks into the future. The previous ensemble forecast, published Dec. 23, projected up to 419,000 coronavirus deaths by Jan. 16.

At least 341,845 people have already died from Covid-19 in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

9:32 p.m. ET, December 30, 2020

Los Angeles County surpasses 10,000 Covid-19 deaths

From CNN's Sarah Moon

Los Angeles County reported 274 new fatalities related to coronavirus, surpassing a total of 10,000 deaths, health officials confirmed in a news conference on Wednesday.

The county broke its previous record of 227 deaths on Tuesday. 

“The terrible reality is that the average number of people dying each day from Covid-19 illness, as noted by Supervisor Solis, is about 150 people a day,” L.A. County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said.

Ferrer also noted that the high number is due to a backlog associated with an outage.

According to Ferrer, the number of people dying from the virus is as high as the average number of people dying each day from every other cause, which is about 170 people.

Mortuaries across the county are filling up and they are struggling to find space for Covid victims, Department of Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said.

More data: The daily positivity rate in the county is about 20% and over 7,000 people are hospitalized, Ferrer said.

While the new Covid-19 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, has not been reported in Los Angeles County, she said, “this doesn’t mean the variant is not circulating in L.A. County.”

She explained that the variant was not found in the first set of samples that were tested.

To date, the county has a total of 756,116 coronavirus cases and 10,056 deaths.