(Bloomberg) --
Protests that began with frustrated truckers are expanding across Canada this weekend and are threatening to spill over into the U.S. with demonstrators planning a convoy to Washington.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is seeking an appeal of a judge's ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing a mask mandate at dozens of school districts.
U.S. deaths from Covid-19 surpassed 900,000, reaching the highest daily levels in 13 months, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. President Joe Biden said it was a “tragic milestone.”
Hong Kong reported a record 351 daily coronavirus cases on Saturday, more than double its previous highest tally. China detected 45 Covid-19 cases among those in Beijing for the Winter Olympics, more than twice as many as the previous day.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases top 392.2 million; deaths pass 5.7 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 10.2 billion shots administered
- CDC expands hunt for early warnings of Covid in sewage waste
- Covid rebellion brews in Canada, sending warning across globe
- Covid Zero keeps Beijing Winter Olympics opening a muted affair
- Is Covid becoming endemic? What would that mean?: QuickTake
Illinois to Appeal Ruling Against School Mask Order (1:48 p.m. NY)
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is seeking an appeal of a judge's ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing a mask mandate at dozens of school districts.
Late Friday, Sangamon County Judge Raylene DeWitte Grischow ruled in favor of the group of parents who brought the lawsuit, issuing a temporary restraining order against Pritzker's executive order requiring districts to mandate masks for students and teachers.
The temporary order also applies to the governor's order that school districts deny entry for a period of time to students and teachers who are close contacts of confirmed or probable Covid-19 cases if they refuse to test.
Canada Truck Protest Widens (10:58 a.m. NY)
Protests that began with frustrated truckers are expanding across Canada this weekend and are threatening to spill over into the U.S. with demonstrators planning a convoy to Washington.
In Ottawa, protests saw thousands of people gather in front of Canada's parliament buildings last weekend. The numbers have dwindled this week, but police expect they will grow again this weekend, and trucker demonstrations are also planned in Toronto.
The protests have been championed on Fox News and by podcaster Joe Rogan, Tesla billionaire Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump. Demonstrators have started to build makeshift shelters and collect propane tanks, vowing to stay until vaccine mandates are lifted.
Turkey President Erdogan Tests Positive (7:24 a.m. NY)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a Twitter post that he and his wife tested positive for coronavirus.
“We have mild symptoms which we learned to be omicron variant,” Erdogan, 67, said. “We await your prayers.” Erdogan, who is vaccinated, said he would continue to work from home.
Austria Total Cases Reach 2 Million (7:14 a.m. NY)
Covid cases in Austria since February 2020 reached 2 million on Friday, government figures showed. The second million came in less than three months as a result of the highly infectious omicron variant.
Austria's Ministry of Health announced that anyone who's already recovered from an omicron infection will no longer have to quarantine after contact with an infected person, according to local media. The new guideline is expected to help kindergartens and elementary schools, where infections have been running high, and reduce workplace absences.
Street protests were held again Saturday against Austria's vaccine mandate.
Italy Death Toll Under Scrutiny (6:02 a.m. NY)
Italy reported 433 deaths from Covid on Friday, in line with the average in the past week, higher than France and the U.K. and more than twice the number recorded in Germany. That's despite a high vaccination rate: 84.3% of the population is at least partly vaccinated, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker.
Higher deaths in January are still largely due to the delta variant, which was dominant in December, local experts have said. Still, there may be a reporting bias in Italy to count deaths due to other causes as Covid deaths, la Repubblica said, citing virologists including Maria Rita Gismondo of the Sacco hospital in Milan.
Slovenia Deaths Reach Highest in a Year (6:31 p.m. HK)
Slovenia confirmed 25 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, the biggest daily toll in more than a year, according to government data. The number of people in hospital with coronavirus infection remains stable at 944, with 133 needing intensive care.
Hong Kong Reports Record Cases (5:54 p.m. HK)
Hong Kong reported a record 351 daily coronavirus cases on Saturday, more than double its previous highest daily tally, as the city struggles to contain a fifth wave of infections.
Locally transmitted infections accounted for 343 of the total, Hong Kong health officials said at a press conference. The city's previous highest number of cases was 164 reported on Jan. 27.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said at Saturday's briefing that the government will send patients with mild infections to the government-run Penny's Bay quarantine center as soon as next week to make room for more severe cases in hospitals.
Germany Sets New 7-Day Infection Record (5:11 p.m. HK)
Germany's fast-accelerating outbreak continued on Saturday, with another 217,815 positive cases confirmed and the country's seven-day rolling average hitting a record of 1,388 cases per 100,000 people, according to the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public health authority.
A total of 172 deaths were reported on Saturday, taking the country's overall number of fatalities to 118,676.
Winter Olympics Cases Accelerate (1:30 p.m. HK)
China reported a pickup in new Covid-19 cases among those in the country for the Winter Olympics on the day the Beijing games began. Official data showed 45 new cases were identified on Feb. 4, more than double the previous day's tally and compared to an average of 40 for the latest three days.
The latest daily infections included 26 new arrivals who tested positive at the airport, and 19 who were already in the “closed loop” that's cut off from the broader population, the Chinese committee organizing the event said in a statement.
India New Cases Decline for Second Day (12:10 p.m. HK)
India added 127,952 new daily cases, according to health ministry data on Saturday, declining for a second day. Total deaths climbed to 501,114 after 1,059 were reported in the last 24 hours. Vaccinations rose to 1.69 billion doses in total, data showed.
Biden Calls For Vaccination Push (10:25 a.m. HK)
U.S. President Joe Biden called for a fresh vaccination push after the country passed a “tragic milestone” of 900,000 deaths from Covid-19.
“We can save even more lives -- and spare countless families from the deepest pain imaginable -- if everybody does their part. I urge all Americans: get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, and get your booster shot if you are eligible.”
Daily Case Record in South Korea (9:31 a.m. H.K.)
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday reported 36,362 new cases. Modeling by the agency last month suggested the number could accelerate to up to 120,000 per day in March, based on omicron's high transmissibility.
Increased travel over the lunar new year holiday likely contributed to the rise, while nearly 86% of the population is fully vaccinated, helping to keep down severe cases of the virus.
Thailand Cases Highest Since October (9:15 a.m. HK)
Thailand on Saturday reported 10,490 new Covid cases, the highest single day tally since Oct. 17, and 21 new fatalities in the past 24 hours. The spike in infection numbers comes after Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy this week resumed a quarantine-free visa program.
Thailand's Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Sinovac and Sinopharm shots on children aged 6 years and older without needing to adjust their dosages, Government Spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said in a Twitter post late Friday night. The move comes as the government seeks to ramp up vaccination efforts in the nation, offering even a fourth booster to those at risk, to combat the highly contagious omicron variant.
Better Masks Cut Covid Risk: Study (5:53 p.m. NY)
Wearing KN95 or N95 face mask indoors lowers the risk of testing positive for Covid-19 by as much as 83%, according to a real-world study that's one of the few to measure their protective power outside of a lab.
The analysis published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report showed that cloth masks were less effective than the higher-grade versions, but that any mask was better than none. The results were based on more than 1,800 responses to a survey on masking behavior from people who had received a positive test result in California during 2021.
U.S. Passes 900,000 Covid-19 Deaths (5:36 p.m. NY)
U.S. deaths from Covid-19 surpassed 900,000, accelerated to the highest levels in 13 months by the surge in infections caused by the omicron variant, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
The latest 100,000 deaths occurred over slightly more than six weeks, compared with about two-and-a-half months for the previous increase. Vaccines weren't widely available when deaths last reached such levels in January 2021.
While infections are trending downward in 49 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, weekly deaths through Thursday rose to more than 17,000 from about 10,000 in early January. A CDC forecast this week said U.S. deaths would reach between 933,000 to 965,000 by the end of February.
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With assistance from Bloomberg
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