The EU Integrated Political Crisis Response group is set on Wednesday to decide whether to impose EU-wide entry requirements from China, where COVID cases have been surging since a recent lifting of strict restrictions on movement and other measures. China has slapped back with a threat of countermeasures, as the Associated Press reported. An EU offer of help, including vaccine donations, was also as good as slapped down, with Beijing insisting the situation was “under control” and medical provisions “in adequate supply,” government spokesperson Mao Ning said.
In the U.S., the seven-day average for new COVID cases has continued to fall, and stood at 60,417 on Tuesday, according to a New York Times tracker. That’s down 10% from two weeks ago and below the recent peak of 70,508 on Christmas Eve. The daily average for hospitalizations was up 8% at 44,504. The average for deaths was 310, down 24% from two weeks ago. The NYT trackers said there is reason to believe case and death counts could artificially low, as those who track those numbers take vacation for the Christmas and New Year holidays, but hospitalization data isn’t typically affected by holiday reporting breaks. COVID-related patients in intensive care units (ICUs) rose 11% in two weeks to 5,350. Meanwhile, the test positivity rate climbed to 16%, and has increased by 25% over the past two weeks. Higher test positivity rates suggest many new COVID cases are not being reported, as many found through at-home tests may not be reported to case trackers. The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 661.8 million on Wednesday, while the death toll rose above 6.69 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with 100.8 million cases and 1,094,010 fatalities.
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