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- This daily roundup brings you a selection of the latest news and updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, along with tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected.
- Top stories: WHO alert on malaria; New York schools must reopen; Indonesia reports record daily increase in cases.
1. How COVID-19 is affecting the world
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now exceeded 62.7 million worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 1.45 million.
Germans must do more to reduce their contacts in order to slow the spread of the disease, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told Deutschlandfunk.
Doctors in Singapore are studying the impact of COVID-19 on unborn babies. A baby delivered to an infected mother earlier this month had antibodies to the virus but was not a carrier of the disease.
Factory activity in China grew at the fastest pace for more than three years in November. Growth in the service sector has also peaked for several years, as the economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic continued.
Turkey’s COVID-19 death toll hit a record for a seventh consecutive day yesterday, with 185 deaths reported.
Restaurants and non-essential stores will reopen in the Czech Republic on Thursday. Customers will be restricted to allow social distancing.
Indonesia reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 infections, with 6,267 cases reported yesterday.
Indonesia has reported more than 500,000 cases in total.
Image: Our world in data
South Korea announced new restrictions as coronavirus infections spread at their fastest rate in almost 9 months. End-of-year celebrations are prohibited, as are certain music lessons. Public saunas and some cafes have also been asked to close.
A local association in Naples is offering residents the option to take a rapid test for COVID-19, while paying for another test for an anonymous fellow citizen. It mimics a tradition where residents pay for two coffees, so that someone in need can enjoy theirs for free.
2. WHO malaria warning
Deaths from malaria will far exceed those killed by COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization has warned.
More than 409,000 people worldwide were killed by malaria last year – the majority of babies in the poorest parts of Africa. This figure is expected to increase as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts services designed to combat mosquito-borne disease.
Cases and deaths are highest in Africa.
Image: WHO
“Our estimates are that depending on the level of service disruption (due to COVID-19) … there could be an excess of malaria deaths between 20,000 and 100,000 in sub-Saharan Africa, most of them young children, ”said Pedro Alsonso, director of the WHO malaria program.
“Excess mortality from malaria is very likely to be greater than direct mortality from COVID.”
The COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship is a coalition of 82 world leaders, hosted by the World Economic Forum and supported by the GHR Foundation and Porticus. Its mission: Unite our efforts to support social entrepreneurs around the world as essential first responders to the pandemic and as pioneers of a green and inclusive economic reality.
Its COVID Social Enterprise Action Agenda presents 25 concrete recommendations for key stakeholder groups, including funders and philanthropists, investors, government institutions, support organizations and businesses. These companies are called upon to support social entrepreneurs within their supply chains and the wider ecosystem, to respect their agreements and to extend their support to build a more inclusive and resilient economy and to:
- Honor existing relationships by honoring existing supplier commitments and providing lines of credit to suppliers / social contractor partners
- Forge new partnerships using a combination of different types of financial and non-financial support to social entrepreneurs and their constituents
- Facilitate capitalistic connections so that social entrepreneurs can re-emerge and rebuild after the pandemic
- Invest in capacity building through individual or multi-company pro-bono / low-bono programs
- Deepen and broaden the company’s footprint by engaging in sustainable sourcing practices and creating “shock-resistant” local ecosystems
For more information, see the full action plan here.
3. New York public schools must reopen
New York’s public schools will begin to reopen for in-person learning next week. The reopening will begin with elementary schools for students whose parents agree to a weekly testing regimen for COVID-19, Mayor Bill de Blasio said yesterday.
New York City has the largest school system in the United States, but schools were closed less than two weeks ago after the city’s positive test rate surpassed 3% – a benchmark agreed between the mayor and the teachers’ union.
“It’s a new approach because we have so much evidence now that schools are safe,” de Blasio told reporters, saying the 3% threshold was being dropped and pointing to research that shows that young children appear less vulnerable to COVID-19.
The city’s seven-day moving average of positive tests was 3.9% yesterday.
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