• US coronavirus cases top 21 million. Source
• The EU grants conditional marketing authorization for Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine; The bloc has already ordered 160 million doses. Source
• The New England Journal of Medicine publishes encouraging results from a 160-person ramdomized, controlled, double-blind trial of convalescent plasma given to adults over age 65 within 72 hours of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. This early use of convalescent plasma lowered the risk of progression to serious respiratory illness by 48 percent. Source
• In the UK, the faster-spreading coronavirus variant, B.1.1.7, has led to coronavirus infection in 1 of every 50 people, hospitals are being overrun. Source
• Shijiazhuang, a northern city in China’s Hebei province, reports 61 new coronavirus infections – the mainland’s first locally transmitted cases since June of 2020, and the highest number in months – and is placed in lockdown. Source
• As coronavirus cases reach a record-breaking high of 2,447 in Tokyo, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declares a state of emergency in the capital and surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba until 7 February. Source
• Armenia’s President, Armen Sarkissian, has tested positive for coronavirus. Source
• The first case of the coronavirus B.1.1.7 variant is identified in Georgia, in a person with no history of travel; US public health experts are expecting it to become more common in the coming weeks. Source
