Coronavirus category, Page 97

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s president has announced a four-day lockdown starting New Year’s Eve to curb the spread of covid-19. Speaking after a cabinet meeting Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the curfew would begin the evening of Dec. 31 and go until the morning of Jan. 4 The government this...

London and its surrounding areas will be placed under Britain’s highest level of coronavirus restrictions beginning Wednesday as infections rise rapidly in the capital, the health secretary said Monday, adding that a new variant of the virus may be to blame for the spread. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the...

Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Health said there were 666 new cases of covid-19 in Westmoreland County over the past two days. Monday’s report from the department said 371 new cases were added Sunday, 285 confirmed through PCR tests. Of Monday’s 295 new cases, all were confirmed. Westmoreland County’s...

Health officials reported Monday there were 18,646 new cases of covid-19 in Pennsylvania over the past two days. The Department of Health reported 10,684 of those cases Sunday and 7,962 on Monday. The new cases bring the state’s seven-day average of daily cases to 10,474, while its seven-day case total...

Look for the festive line of vehicles with illuminated menorahs driving through Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The annual Menorah Parade to celebrate Hanukkah will go on, but with some changes to its destination based on Pennsylvania’s latest covid-19 restrictions. The procession will begin at Rodef Shalom in Shadyside and...

Allegheny County added 1,647 new cases of coronavirus over the past two days, the Health Department announced Monday. While the new cases — 897 from Sunday and 750 from Monday — were slightly down from recent days, they were up 12% from the same time last week. The county’s seven-day...

As coronavirus relief negotiations languish in Congress, Gov. Tom Wolf and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday there is a dire need to pass a package sooner rather than later to ensure an economic recovery from the pandemic. “It’s disgraceful, disgraceful that right now in the midst of the...

Hospital workers begin unloading precious frozen vials of covid-19 vaccine Monday, with the first vaccinations against a scourge that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans expected later in the day. “It feels like the cavalry is arriving,” Robert C. Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, said as New Jersey’s largest health...

Dr. Carol Fox is worried about the holidays. She watches the rising coronavirus caseload in Westmoreland County and keeps daily tabs on the numbers that are impacting Excela Health, where she is chief medical officer. As the toll from family visits over Thanksgiving becomes more clear, she said she is...

This holiday season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants Americans to stay safe and protect themselves from contracting or spreading the coronavirus —namely by staying home for the holidays. The agency urges people to modify their plans in an effort to reduce the virus’ spread. The safest way...

In March, we had to ask the most of our residents: We asked them to stay home. We asked them to forego their financial security, close businesses and have faith in the government to do the right thing. “We’ve got your backs,” we said. “Programs will be available to you...

WASHINGTON — Some White House officials who work in close proximity to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be offered coronavirus vaccines as soon as this week, while its public distribution is limited to front-line health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Two...

Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. Hundreds of thousands of families across Pennsylvania could lose their homes in January, after emergency unemployment benefits and federal eviction protections...

Kaitlin Smith was getting increasingly worried about covid-19 outbreaks at Quality Life Services, a nursing home chain where she works as a clinical reimbursement specialist. For weeks, she had been on daily calls with all of the facility administrators, hearing about rising infections and staffing struggles. Then one Friday last...

The start of the coronavirus pandemic in March was nothing like the current surge. There was uncertainty back then as the virus quietly crept into the community, said Dr. Heather Walker, assistant director of the emergency department at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg. But now, the alarms are sounding...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 568 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County. It is the third-straight day the county reported at least 500 cases. On Thursday, 505 cases were posted, followed by a record daily high of 657 on Friday. Nine additional deaths were reported...

WASHINGTON — The nation’s first covid-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans. Trucks will roll out Sunday morning as shipping companies UPS and...

Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 11,084 new coronavirus cases, as the Keystone State gets closer to accumulating 500,000 cases. The new data bring the total cases to 481,118; a nearly 70,000-case jump from this time last week (411,484). Officials said 40,580 of total cases are considered probable. Health officials define a...

Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 1,198 new coronavirus cases as the community continues to rack up covid-19 infections during the holiday season. The report is a 124-case drop from Friday’s record high of 1,322. However, its the fifth day this month that the county has surpassed 1,000 cases. Two new...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first covid-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans. Shots for health workers and nursing home residents are expected to begin in the coming days after...

Jails and prisons across Pennsylvania are being overwhelmed by the spread of covid-19, and advocates for the incarcerated population fear it will get worse before it gets better. As the numbers skyrocketed this week, the state Department of Corrections reported that a 77-year-old inmate with pre-existing conditions died on Thursday...