1. Italy: a sample of novel coronavirus, a 4-year-old boy living near Milan, Italy, tested positive in December. The oropharyngeal swab sample was taken on December 5, 2019, and the boy had no history of travel before that. The gene sequencing of the virus showed that the genome sequence of the virus strain was the same as the reference sequence of novel coronavirus in Wuhan. The time of this case was significantly earlier than the time when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed by Italian officials, and it is speculated that there may have been a case of COVID-19 in Italy and some other European countries at the end of last autumn.

2.As COVID-19 vaccines begin to be vaccinated in the United States and other places, there is a growing demand for dry ice, which is essential for low-temperature transport and storage of vaccines, leading manufacturers of dry ice equipment to step up production. According to Kujie’s data, from January to November, the number of dry ice manufacturing machines and equipment shipped in the United States increased by 90% compared with last year, tripling the manufacturing capacity, and will strengthen production capacity in the future according to changes in market demand, up to a maximum of 4 times.

 3. The White House Information Service has released a memorandum signed by Trump, asking the US government to organize scientific research and development in the form of a national strategy to enable the United States to use nuclear energy in space. The document, known as Space Policy Directive 6, sets out a number of specific goals, including building a nuclear power plant on the lunar surface by the end of 2027 and using nuclear energy technology to explore Mars.

4.British Prime Minister Johnson: early evidence shows that novel coronavirus’s transmission after mutation is 70% higher than that of existing strains and spreads rapidly in London and southern England. he also stressed that there is no evidence that the mutated virus is more deadly or that the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine against the mutated virus will be weakened. Britain announced on the 19th that it would adopt more stringent city closure measures during the Christmas season to deal with the rising case of COVID-19 infection in the UK. On the same day, a large number of people gathered to “flee London” for Christmas, causing concern and criticism from all walks of life.).

5.Forbes magazine released a list of the world’s highest-paid YouTube bloggers in 2020. At the top of the list this year is still Ryan Kaji, a 9-year-old boy from the United States, who earned nearly US$30 million this year, the third year in a row that he has topped the list. His video, which focuses on testing toys, currently has 27.6 million followers.

6.Russian National Science Center for Vector Virology and Biotechnology: novel coronavirus is not artificially developed, but a typical product of the natural evolution of viruses. Scientists explain that because the coronavirus recently found in nature is not transmitted among humans, the difference between coronavirus and novel coronavirus is less than 1%. Moreover, novel coronavirus is a ribonucleic acid virus, and the ribonucleic acid virus mutates very fast. There is little possibility of artificially developing a virus that mutates very fast.

7.Us media: the United States is suffering from the worst hacker attack in history. On the 17th, the Bureau of Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security, which belongs to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, issued a warning that cyber attacks continue and the risk has reached a “critical” level. The head of the US Department of Homeland Security claimed that there were signs that the target of the attack was the US nuclear arsenal.

8.Members of the US Congress have reached an agreement on the $900 billion COVID-19 rescue bill to provide funds for the government and provide long-term relief for COVID-19. COVID-19 ‘s rescue measures will include a new round of small business assistance through the wage protection scheme, unemployment benefits of $300 a week, and stimulus payments of $600 per adult and child in the United States. and more money for novel coronavirus testing and vaccine distribution in schools.

9.Canada announced the suspension of flights from the UK on December 21, taking concerted measures with other European countries to prevent the further spread of the new variety of novel coronavirus from the UK. The Department of Transport of Canada issued a notice that inbound flights from the United Kingdom will be banned indefinitely from midnight local time on the 20th. For security reasons, the restriction does not apply to cargo flights. 

10.On the afternoon of December 21, Xu Zhengxie, acting Mayor of Seoul, held a press conference at the Seoul City Hall. At the press conference, Xu Zhengxie said that “Seoul is on the eve of the storm” and that “if the current growth momentum cannot be curbed, Seoul may close the city.” It is reported that South Korea’s Seoul, Gyeonggi-do and Incheon have decided to ban private gatherings of more than five people from 0: 00 on the 23rd to January 3 next year.