US under siege from Covid-19

Americans were warned again not to travel for Christmas as the latest Covid-19 surge left hospitals struggling to find beds for the sick and political leaders imposed restrictions to try to curb new infections, making for a grim holiday season.

A new, even more contagious variant of the coronavirus quickly spreading across Britain caused more fear in Americans already weary from nine months of the pandemic and prompted talks among top US officials to ban travel from the United Kingdom.

The United States is already grappling with a nationwide spike in infections that added more than a million new cases in just six days, according to a Reuters tally, a total of more than 18 million since the pandemic began.

In California, an epicenter of the latest surge, intensive care unit (ICU) beds were scarce and hospitals said they lacked enough doctors and nurses to care for patients.

"The whole California ICU capacity has been going down. We are all struggling," said Dr Imran Mohammed of Sutter Roseville Medical Center, north of Sacramento on Tuesday. "We really don't want to see more than this. We will be challenged to see further ICU patients and we will have no place eventually."

Many US states and cities have imposed lockdowns and business closures to try to get a handle on a wave of illness driven by last month's Thanksgiving gatherings.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday that the altered coronavirus had not yet been detected in the United States.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar told Fox News that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which received US emergency use authorizations this month, should work against the new variant.

Moderna Inc and BioNTech SE, which worked with Pfizer Inc to develop its vaccine, are scrambling to test their shots against the new virus mutations, but expressed confidence in them.

"Scientifically it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine can also deal with this virus variant," BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin told reporters.

More than 600,000 Americans had received their first Covid-19 vaccine doses, according to the CDC. The first wave of shots have so far gone to healthcare workers and nursing home residents, as well as some top government officials.

Azar and Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official, received the Moderna shot on live television on Tuesday.

COVID RELIEF BILL

The White House coronavirus task force has no plans to restrict travel from the UK, people briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected a massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress, branding it "a disgrace" in an act of political brinkmanship less than a month before he must leave office and when millions of Americans are suffering fallout from the pandemic.

It came just a day after his Republicans and the Democrats finally agreed overwhelmingly to a $900 billion bill meant to throw a lifeline to businesses and people struggling to keep heads above water.

In his address, Trump said he would refuse to accept the bill as it is and demanded changes, notably a big increase in the proposed $600 direct payments to less well-off Americans.

The death toll from the virus surpassed 1.71 million yesterday, roughly a year after it emerged in China.

In Europe, France and Britain reopened cross-Channel travel yesterday after a 48-hour ban to curb the spread of the new variant but London has warned it could take days for thousands of trucks blocked around the port of Dover to get moving.

The major transit hub reopened following an agreement between London and Paris to allow hauliers stranded in the UK to leave the country if they could produce a negative coronavirus test that was less than 72 hours old.

However, more than 40 countries are still banning or restricting travel from Britain. Scotland had already closed its border with the rest of the United Kingdom before the new strain was made public. 

"It will take a few days to work our way through," Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News. "There's going to be quite a lot of work to do."

India's Karnataka state, home to the nation's vibrant technology hub, has imposed a night curfew in a bid to stave off the new strain.

The southern state has banned gatherings and non-essential travel from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am until January 2, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said yesterday.

More than 40 countries are still banning or restricting travel from Britain in a bid to contain the new strain.

Egypt has called off all New Year's celebrations in order to stem rising cases in the country, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said.

The Czech government ordered to close non-essential shops, services and ski lifts and enforce a stricter curfew from Sunday as it seeks to curb another rise in infections and hospitalisations.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in yesterday faced growing public pressure over his vaccine procurement plans as the country struggled to contain a third wave of the pandemic, reporting its second-highest daily tally of cases.