Good morning. We’re covering promising results from the Moderna vaccine trial, a boost for Japan’s economy and the beekeepers of Turkey’s “honey forest.” | |  By Melina Delkic | | | Moderna Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass. Tony Luong for The New York Times | | | Researchers said the results were better than they had dared to imagine. But the vaccine will not be widely available for months, probably not until the first months of 2021. The company plans to apply for emergency authorization from U.S. drug authorities within weeks. Officials said enough vaccine for about 20 million people would be ready in December, with the first doses going to people facing high risks, like health care workers and nursing home residents. | | | Moderna said its vaccine had a longer shelf life than what was previously reported: It can last 30 days in the refrigerator and 12 hours at room temperature. That would make it easier to store and use. | | | The race: Moderna’s announcement came a week after Pfizer, in collaboration with BioNTech, reported that its vaccine was more than 90 percent effective. Ten other companies are conducting big Phase 3 trials, including efforts in China, Russia, India and Australia. Check our vaccine tracker here. | | ■ India will fly doctors into the New Delhi area, double the number of tests it carries out and ensure that people wear masks, in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the capital, the home minister said on Sunday. ■ Seven months after he battled Covid-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain said he was quarantining after coming into contact with a lawmaker later found to be infected with the virus. He was not experiencing any symptoms, his office said. ■ Tourism in New York City will need at least four years to recover from the free-fall triggered by the pandemic, according to a new forecast from the city’s tourism promotion agency. | | | A popular shopping and dining area in Osaka, Japan, in October. Japan’s economic improvement may not last if coronavirus cases continue to increase. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times | | | But analysts warn that the recovery is unlikely to be long-lived. Severe economic damage from several quarters of contraction remains, according to Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at the Meiji Yasuda Research Institute. | | | “The real economy is not as good as the numbers,” he said. “It’s only about halfway recovered from its enormous fall.” | | | Details: Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, surged 5 percent during the July-to-September period, for an annualized growth rate of 21.4 percent, after three straight quarters of contraction, government data showed on Monday. Japan’s success in controlling the virus has made businesses and investors bullish. | | | President Xi Jinping waiting for President Trump before a meeting last year at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Erin Schaff/The New York Times | | | President Trump has placed tariffs on China, imposed sanctions on Chinese companies and restricted its businesses from buying American tech. On Thursday, he issued an executive order banning investments in Chinese firms with military ties. | | | Mr. Biden and his advisers view many of those measures as clumsy and costly. But they still want to maintain leverage over China and occasionally cooperate to accomplish their policy goals, like combating climate change. The Biden administration will very likely face pressure to take a hard line from lawmakers who view China as a threat. | | | Details: Mr. Biden has given few details about his plans for U.S.-China relations, other than saying he wants to recruit allies such as Europe and Japan to pressure China to make economic reforms. | | | Imagine you are invited to a dinner with the queen of England and the extended royal family at Balmoral Castle. You’re asked to meet for drinks at 6 p.m. Do you arrive as the clock strikes in elegant evening wear, or do you wander in whenever, in an unbuttoned shirt, a woolly sweater and muddy shoes? | | | If you decided to show up on time with your best evening wear on then you have already failed the test, and the royal family is aghast. The predicament is featured in the latest season of “The Crown,” which portrays Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis above, providing a look at the rigid world of the British class system. | | | PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM CAMPAIGN MONITOR | | TEST: Email Marketing 101: Never Sacrifice Beauty for Simplicity | | A drag-and-drop email builder, a gallery of templates and turnkey designs, personalized customer journeys, and engagement segments. It's everything you need to create stunning, results-driven email campaigns in minutes. And with Campaign Monitor, you have access to it all, along with award-winning support around the clock. It's beautiful email marketing done simply. | | | Learn More | | | | Hurricane Iota: The storm upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane Monday morning, the first this year to reach that strength. Iota was expected to make landfall by Monday night around the coastline of Nicaragua and Honduras. It comes after Hurricane Eta devastated communities there less than two weeks ago. | | | Snapshot: Above, beekeepers in Turkey’s “honey forest,” with its distinctive black beehives. The beekeeping traditions of the Hemshin people are at risk of vanishing amid an exploding tourism industry and infrastructure. | | | What we’re looking at: The Subpar Parks Instagram page, which puts negative reviews of some of the world’s most beautiful national parks in visuals. My favorite is Bryce Canyon National Park: “too orange, too spiky.” In case you needed a reminder that nothing pleases everyone! | | | Ryan Liebe for The New York Times | | | Cook: These plump, pan-seared gyoza are filled with ground pork, cabbage, chives, ginger and garlic. | | | Read: In his new memoir, “A Promised Land,” which goes on sale today, Barack Obama “marshals his considerable storytelling skills to demythologize himself,” writes our book critic. | | | What is Europe doing differently? It is cracking down on the kind of indoor gatherings that most commonly spread the virus. England closed pubs, restaurants, gyms and more on Nov. 5 and announced they would remain closed until at least Dec. 2. France, Germany’s regional governments and the Catalonia region of Spain have also shut restaurants, among other businesses. | | | Many Americans have resisted accepting that reality. Across much of the country, restaurants remain open for indoor dining. Last week, New York State announced a new policy that public health experts consider to be a bizarre middle ground: Businesses with a liquor license can stay open until 10 p.m. | | | The one indoor activity that appears to present less risk is school, especially elementary school. Why? Young children seem to spread the virus less often than adults do. | | | Closing schools and switching entirely to remote learning, on the other hand, has big social costs. Children are learning less, and many parents, mostly mothers, have dropped out of the labor force. The U.S. is suffering from both of these problems and from a raging pandemic. | | That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. — Melina | | Thank you
Carole Landry helped write this briefing. Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh provided the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com. | | | Were you sent this briefing by a friend? Sign up here to get the Morning Briefing. | | |
