COVID-19: Global coronavirus cases surpass 55 million 20 November

4 min readNov 20, 2020

COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected.Pfizer said Wednesdaythat the final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective. The company also said it has the required two-months of safety data and is set to apply for emergency US authorization.

This view was supported by US Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, who said: “We now have two safe and highly effective vaccines that could be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration and ready to distribute within weeks.”

Moderna announced similar preliminary results for its own vaccine’s effectiveness on Monday.

Both companies have said they could have emergency approval in the US and Europe by next month, with deliveries underway before the end of the year.

“If all goes well, I could imagine that we gain approval in the second half of December and start deliveries before Christmas, but really only if all goes positively,” BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin told Reuters TV. BioNTech partnered with Pfizer in the development of its vaccine.

Organizations, such as airline Air France-KLM, are gearing up for the challenge of vaccine delivery. “It’s going to be a major logistics challenge,” said Air France cargo chief Christophe Boucher, citing the “massive” volume of vaccines to be distributed globally.

“Another difficulty is the temperature control,” Boucher said in an interview at

India nears 9 million coronavirus cases

Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.

US deaths pass 250,000

Confirmed COVID-19 deaths have passed a quarter of a million people in the United States, according to

The United States is reporting 1,176 daily deaths over a 7-day average — more than the daily average deaths in India and Brazil combined — the two countries next most affected, reports Reuters.

Europe’s painful second coronavirus wave may be starting to ease, a top World Health Organization official said Thursday, as cases drop slightly even though during the past week someone on the continent died every 17 seconds from the virus.

The cautious prognosis came after new diagnoses of the novel coronavirus slowed last week across Europe to 1.8 million cases, compared with 2 million the week before last. Hospitals across the continent remain packed, a situation that sharply increases the chance patients will die of the disease.

“There is good news and not so good news,” said Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, at a news conference, describing the drop in new diagnoses as “a small signal, but it’s a signal nevertheless.”

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The Nikkei stock average continued to bleed Thursday as fears of a coronavirus resurgence at home and abroad dampened investor sentiment.

The 225-issue Nikkei average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 93.80 points, or 0.36%, to close at 25,634.34, after sliding 286.48 points Wednesday.

But the Topix index of all TSE first section issues rose 5.76 points, or 0.33%, to end at 1,726.41, following a 14.01-point drop the previous day.

Concerns about rapidly rising coronavirus cases overshadowed positive news from Pfizer Inc., which said it will ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of its coronavirus vaccine.

Another negative factor was that Tokyo raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level on its four-point scale.

However, the Topix index rose back into positive territory and the Nikkei average cut losses in late trading, as investors saw that stocks had bottomed out.

Kazuo Kamitani, senior associate at Nomura Securities Co.’s Investment Research & Investor Services Department, said that trading volume on the TSE’s first section was beginning to fall back to levels before the recent bull run.

This suggests a decline in market optimism, driving players to the sidelines, Kamitani said.

Meanwhile, Hirohumi Yamamoto, strategist at Toyo Securities Co., said that the Nikkei is not seeing a sharp plunge as Japanese stocks are still underpinned by long-term hopes for economic recovery reflected in companies’ positive July-September earnings.

In addition, stocks are still undervalued based on price-to-book ratios, so investors are willing to buy when they turn lower, Yamamoto said.

On the TSE’s first section, decliners outnumbered gainers 1,238 to 827 with 111 issues unchanged. Volume increased to 1.368 billion shares from Wednesday’s 1.187 billion shares.

Chipmaking equipment-maker Tokyo Electron sank 1.76% and semiconductor test device-maker Advantest fell 2.76%.

Concerns over the possibility of another round of travel restrictions amid a coronavirus resurgence pulled down transport names such as Central Japan Railway, or JR Tokai, and ANA.

Automakers suffered from the yen’s rise against the dollar.

Stocks heavily weighted on the Nikkei index, such as Fast Retailing and SoftBank Group, also declined.

Meanwhile, Toray, which supplies parts to Boeing, rose 2.24% after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration cleared the Boeing 737 MAX to fly again.

Other winners included Z Holdings, the parent of internet service provider Yahoo Japan, and internet advertising firm CyberAgent.

In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average fell 160 points to end at 25,540.

Automakers suffered from the yen’s rise against the dollar.

Stocks heavily weighted on the Nikkei index, such as Fast Retailing and SoftBank Group, also declined.

COVID-19: Global coronavirus cases surpass 55 million 20 November

Written by Larryjohnson