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Cases of depression and anxiety surged by more than a quarter globally during the first year of the pandemic, especially among women and young adults, a major study showed.
In the first worldwide estimate of the mental health impact of Covid-19, researchers estimated that 2020 saw an additional 52 million people suffer from major depressive disorder, and an additional 76 million cases of anxiety, AFP reports.
These represent a 28- and 26-percent increase in the two disorders respectively, according to the study, published in The Lancet medical journal.
“Our findings highlight an urgent need to strengthen mental health systems in order to address the growing burden of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders worldwide,” said lead study author Damian Santomauro, from the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health.
The US will accept the use by international visitors of Covid-19 vaccines authorised by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, Reuters reports.
A CDC spokeswoman said, “Six vaccines that are FDA authorized/approved or listed for emergency use by WHO will meet the criteria for travel to the U.S.”
Brazil’s health minister Marcelo Queiroga said on Friday the country has acquired, or is in advanced talks to secure, around 350 million vaccine doses for 2022, Reuters reports.
Queiroga said that although Sinovac’s Coronavac vaccine was not currently part of plans for the national campaign next year, it could be incorporated if it receives full approval from Brazil’s health regulator.
Ontario in Canada is lifting capacity limits on concert venues, theatres and spectator facilities at sports games as of Saturday at midnight while continuing to require proof of vaccination and masks.
Limited numbers of outbreaks in those settings have been reported, a statement from the provincial government said.
Meeting and event spaces as well as horse racing facilities will be included, although indoor meeting and event spaces must be able to maintain physical distancing between people, Reuters reports.
The easing of restrictions comes as the latest modeling showed Canada is expected to see a decline in its Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks, a top medical official said on Friday.
Gareth Southgate has said some footballers are not vaccinated against Covid-19 because their opinions are influenced by conspiracy theories on social media about the jab.
England’s manager was keen to offer a considered take on the subject before his side’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra, which was given the green light after being thrown into doubt for a couple of hours after a fire at the Estadi Nacional on Fridayyesterday afternoon.
Southgate defended his players’ reluctance to support jabs publicly, even though they have been vocal on other social issues, and he suggested one problem preventing a larger uptake is some are more susceptible to rumours online.
Vaccination rates vary across the Premier League and Tammy Abraham is the only England player to confirm he has been double-jabbed. The issue remains a sensitive topic around the England camp – Fikayo Tomori and Jesse Lingard argued this week that it was a personal choice – and Southgate, who dismissed reports that most of his players remain unvaccinated, offered a worrying insight into the mindset inside dressing rooms.
The US administered 400,669,422 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 485,713,525 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Those figures are up from the 399,552,444 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Thursday out of 482,326,275 doses delivered.
The agency said 216,573,911 people had received at least one dose, while 186,917,921 people were fully vaccinated as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday, Reuters reports.
Italy has decided to provide a booster shot of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to frail people regardless of their age as well as people aged 60 and over, the health ministry said on Friday.
The booster dose would be available on condition that at least six months have passed since people completed their primary vaccination cycle, the ministry said, Reuters reports.
Brazil registered 18,172 new cases of coronavirus and 615 further deaths on Friday, according to ministry data, Reuters reports.
Aboriginal community health organisations say they are working to combat “pockets of vaccine hesitancy” in vulnerable and remote parts of the Northern Territory in Australia, where doctors fear a Covid outbreak could have devastating consequences.
The speed of the Territory’s vaccine rollout seems be plateauing more quickly than in other states, largely due to much slower rates of uptake in some remote Indigenous communities.
U.S. president Joe Biden’s approval rating has increased somewhat over the past few weeks, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, as coronavirus infection rates slowed.
The latest national public opinion poll, found that 48% of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s performance in office, which is up by 4 percentage points from a similar poll that ran in mid-September. A Reuters tally shows there are a little more than 100,000 reported cases on average each day, which is 40% of the peak infection rate in January.
The Australia Council for the Arts has launched a nationwide advertising campaign on Saturday, urging Australians to get vaccinated before returning to galleries, museums, theatres and other live performance venues.
The television and social media campaign, titled “It’s time to take our seats, Australia”, will be rolled out across the country from 9 October, with an undertaking by SBS to translate the advertisement into at least eight languages, including Auslan.
Featuring an array of hauntingly vacant theatres, auditoria and outside stage seating, the ads encourage people to “take a seat” at a vaccination clinic before doing so at a live performance event.
Clive Palmer requested that his name and logo be printed on 33m doses of hydroxychloroquine that he donated to the Australian medical stockpile last year as a potential treatment for Covid-19.
Correspondence obtained by the Guardian under freedom of information laws reveals the former MP told health department officials he would source the anti-malarial drugs from China on condition that a “small copy” of the Palmer Foundation logo was printed on the packets, along with a message stating they had been “donated by the Palmer Foundation for the benefit of the Australian people”.
The Palmer Foundation is a private philanthropic entity set up and headed by Palmer.
The department refused the request, telling Palmer the labelling would breach Australia’s strict laws on medical packaging. A senior government official suggested that the health minister, Greg Hunt, could instead “publicly acknowledge the donation on a major TV or press interview” once the hydroxychloroquine was in use. Palmer subsequently agreed to supply the drugs without any mention of his foundation on the labels.
Iceland suspends use of Moderna vaccine
Iceland has suspended the Moderna Covid vaccine, citing the slight increased risks of cardiac inflammation, AFP reports.
“As the supply of Pfizer vaccine is sufficient in the territory ... the chief epidemiologist has decided not to use the Moderna vaccine in Iceland,” according to a statement published on the website of the Health Directorate.
This decision owed to “the increased incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis after vaccination with the Moderna vaccine, as well as with vaccination using Pfizer/BioNTech,” the chief epidemiologist said.
For the past two months, Iceland has been administering an additional dose “almost exclusively” of the Moderna vaccine to Icelanders vaccinated with Janssen, a single-dose serum marketed by America’s Johnson & Johnson, as well as to elderly and immunocompromised people who received two doses of another vaccine.
Brazil’s official Covid death toll has hit 600,000 - the latest grim milestone in one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks on Earth.
The announcement was made on Friday afternoon by local news organisations that have been monitoring the South American country’s 20-month outbreak, which is finally easing thanks to a mass vaccination campaign conducted by Brazil’s world-renowned national health service.
Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, blamed the country’s current leader, Jair Bolsonaro - who has pushed unproven Covid remedies and sabotaged vaccination and containment efforts - for the magnitude of their country’s tragedy.
“He continues to lie. He continues to push ineffective medicines. He continues to undermine the use of masks. He continues to claim coronavirus isn’t this bogeyman that science and medicine both say it is,” Lula told reporters in the capital Brasília, denouncing what he called Brazil’s “shameful moment”.
The protest group Rio de Paz hung 600 white handkerchiefs on Copacabana beachto remember the 600,000 dead.
“A slaughter took place in Brazil,” the group’s director, Antonio Carlos Costa, wrote on Facebook.
“If we are to learn anything from this appalling loss of life and ensure such suffering is never repeated in our country, we must answer one key question: who is to blame for this tragedy?”
A congressional inquiry is currently seeking answers and is expected to announce its conclusions - as well as reportedly suggesting the indictment of Bolsonaro and other figures in his administration - on 19 October.
Lies and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which have amassed millions of views and are accessible to young children, have been available on the social media platform TikTok for months.
TikTok accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers that discourage vaccination and peddle myths about Covid survival rates were uncovered by NewsGuard, an organisation that monitors online misinformation.
Newsguard said it published its findings in June and sent them to the UK Government and WHO, but the content remained on the platform.
The revelation comes amid renewed concern about the impact that social media is having on young people, after it was reported that Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, had internal research showing its app was harming teenagers.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “Our community guidelines make clear that we do not allow medical misinformation, including misinformation relating to Covid-19 vaccines. We work diligently to take action on content and accounts that spread misinformation while also promoting authoritative content about Covid-19 and directly supporting the vaccine effort in the UK.”
Summary
Here is a round-up of the main Covid news stories from so far today:
- Lies and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which have amassed millions of views and are accessible to young children, have remained on the social media platform TikTok for months after it was alerted to them, the Guardian has learned.
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Britain recorded 127 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test on Friday, a slight increase on a day earlier when 122 people died, government data showed.
- Two further doses of another vaccine will be offered to the thousands of people who took part in a Covid vaccine trial, the UK government has announced.
- The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said he wants to scrap costly PCR tests for international travellers returning to England in time for the October half-term holiday.
- One in 14 secondary school age children in the UK had Covid last week, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
- It has emerged today that UK government ministers were warned in 2016 about the need to stockpile protective equipment and develop a contact tracing tool.
- In the United States, it has been reported today that advisers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet to consider giving the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to children aged between five and 11.
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Canada’s latest coronavirus wave could decline in the coming weeks with increasing numbers of Canadians now vaccinated, a top medical official said on Friday.
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England’s Covid weekly reproduction “R” number was estimated between 0.9 and 1.1, the UK Health Security Agency said on Friday, with the daily growth rate also estimated to be slightly higher.
- The English rock band Genesis have postponed the remaining dates in their The Last Domino? tour after positive coronavirus tests.
- Families bereaved by Covid have expressed pain at revelations that a government exercise modelling a large-scale coronavirus outbreak recommended four years before the pandemic that better preparations were needed in key areas including building stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) and a contact-tracing system.
- In Australia, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has been fined $400 for twice not wearing a mask outside parliament in Melbourne, as the state reported a record 1,838 local Covid cases and five further deaths.
- The NHS says it aims to immunise more than half the population of the UK amid fears of a particularly deadly flu season. The health service said it planned to immunise a record 35 million people in what would be the most ambitious programme of flu jabs in its history.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. I’ll be back on Monday but now I will handover to my colleague Nadeem Badshah, who will continue to bring you all the latest Covid news from the UK and around the world tonight. Goodbye.
Anti-vaccine TikTok videos being viewed by children as young as nine
Lies and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which have amassed millions of views and are accessible to young children, have remained on the social media platform TikTok for months after it was alerted to them, the Guardian has learned.
TikTok accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers that discourage vaccination and peddle myths about Covid survival rates were uncovered by Newsguard, an organisation that monitors online misinformation.
Newsguard said it had flagged the dangerous content to TikTok in June but many of the accounts remained active on the platform.
The revelation comes amid renewed concern about the impact that social media is having on young people, after it was reported that Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, had internal research showing its app was harming teenagers.
As part of its investigation, Newsguard said children as young as nine had been able to access the content, despite TikTok only permitting full access to the app for those aged 13 and over.
Three participants in the organisation’s research who were under 13 were able to create accounts on the app by entering fake dates of birth.
TikTok told the Guardian it worked diligently to take action on content and accounts that spread misinformation.
CDC advisers to meet to discuss Pfizer jabs for young kids - report
In the United States, it has been reported today that advisers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet to consider giving the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to children aged between five and 11.
Healthcare reporter Ariel Cohen, of the news website Rollcall, has tweeted that the meeting will take place in early November.
She wrote: “CDC advisers will meet Nov. 2-3 to discuss the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5-11.
“No Halloween vaccine … but it could potentially be on the market in time for Thanksgiving gatherings.”
CDC advisers will meet Nov. 2-3 to discuss the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5-11
— Ariel Cohen (@ArielCohen37) October 8, 2021
No Halloween vaccine...but it could potentially be on the market in time for Thanksgiving gatherings
Updated
One in 14 secondary school age children in the UK had Covid last week, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
The substantial increase – up from an estimated one in 20 pupils the previous week – suggests that the spread of Covid through secondary schools is far outpacing the government’s vaccination programme.
It follows criticism this week from headteachers and parents about a “haphazard” vaccine rollout that is continuing to disrupt education.
The ONS survey, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, showed an overall increase in Covid infections in England from one in 85 people to one in 70 in the week ending 2 October.
The trend was driven by an apparently huge rise in infections in secondary age children, with most age ranges showing steady or decreasing rates of positive tests.
Covid cases fell in recent weeks in Scotland and Northern Ireland with an “uncertain” trend in Wales, the ONS survey found.
Russia's August Covid death toll totals at least 49,389
At least 49,389 people died in Russia in August due to the coronavirus and related causes, taking the toll to around 418,000 people since the pandemic began, state statistic service Rosstat said on Friday.
Russian authorities blame the spread of the more contagious Delta variant and a low vaccination rate for the third wave of coronavirus infections, which peaked in July.
The number reported by Rosstat exceeds the official total death toll of 214,485, published by the Russian coronavirus task force earlier today.
Some epidemiologists say that measuring excess mortality is the best way to assess the death toll during a pandemic.
Based on the new data, the Reuters news agency calculated that the number of excess deaths in Russia between April 2020 and August 2021 had reached 575,000 in comparison with the average mortality rate in 2015-2019.
Updated
Canada’s latest coronavirus wave could decline in the coming weeks with increasing numbers of Canadians now vaccinated, a top medical official said on Friday.
Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, told reporters that the rate of transmission across Canada was now below 1, indicating the current outbreak had “dropped out of a growth pattern at the national level.”
One of the reasons for the drop is the increasing number of people who have been inoculated, Reuters reported. As of 4 October, almost 81% of Canadians above age 12 were fully vaccinated.
“The longer-range forecast suggests that, at current levels of transmission, the fourth wave could decline in the coming weeks,” said Tam.
Official data show 28,141 Canadians have died since the pandemic started last year.
Updated
The English rock band Genesis have postponed the remaining dates in their The Last Domino? tour after positive coronavirus tests.
The four shows were due to be played at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Friday night and London’s O2 Arena on 11, 12 and 13 October.
The rock band, known for songs including I Can’t Dance and That’s All, said they are “devastated” by the news, but the safety of the audience and their touring crew takes priority. A statement said:
Following guidance and advice from the government, it is with huge regret that the final four shows of Genesis’ Last Domino? tour … have had to be postponed due to positive Covid-19 tests within the band.
We are working to reschedule them as soon as possible and will announce the new dates through our website and social media channels as soon as possible. All tickets will remain valid and ticket holders will be contacted by their ticket providers.
This is a hugely frustrating development for the band who are devastated with this unlucky turn of events. They hate having to take these steps but the safety of the audience and touring crew has to take priority. They look forward to seeing you upon their return.
Updated
Italy recorded 30 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday compared with 41 the day before, the health ministry said.
The daily tally of new infections rose to 3,023 from 2,938.
Italy has registered 131,228 deaths linked to Covid since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.7 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid - not including those in intensive care - stood at 2,742 on Friday, down from 2,824 a day earlier.
There were 17 new admissions to intensive care units, decreasing from 24 on Thursday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 383 from a previous 403.
Some 271,556 tests for Covid were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 297,356, the health ministry said.
Updated
Workers at the London health trust that treated UK prime minister Boris Johnson for coronavirus are suffering plunging morale and concerns about patient safety because of staff shortages, according to a report.
Unite said a survey of its members at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust in London reported understaffing in the unit which was affecting their wellbeing.
The union said its findings were “shocking”, adding that it believed 116 qualified intensive care unit nurses had left in the last seven months and had not all been replaced. The Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said:
These results are shocking and very distressing for our NHS members. They are total professionals but these chronic staff shortages mean they struggle to give the care they are dedicated to, so morale plummets.
Alarm bells have to start ringing across government and the health service. This must be sorted ahead of the busy winter period because safe staffing is central to proper patient care.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said:
We recognise the vital role nurses have had during the pandemic, and are committed to supporting the workforce to grow as we tackle the backlog.
There are over 9,900 more nurses in the NHS than this time last year and we will deliver 50,000 more by the end of this parliament.
We have backed the NHS with an extra £5.4bn to support the Covid-19 response over the next six months, and we’re investing £37m towards staff wellbeing.
A spokesperson for the trust said:
The safety of our patients and wellbeing of our staff are our top priorities, and we are very proud of the quality and safety of care we consistently provide - our critical care survival rates are amongst the best in the country.
We recognise the pressure the current demand for our services places on our staff and are investing in recruiting more nurses, as well as continuing to provide extensive health and wellbeing support to our staff.
Updated
Singapore’s health ministry reported 3,590 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.
It also confirmed that the country recorded six new deaths, Reuters reported.
A recent spike in infections after the relaxation of some restrictions has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening.
It also tightened curbs from last week that limited social gatherings to two people and made work from home a default.
More than 80% of Singapore’s population has been vaccinated against the virus.
Brazil is set to become the second country in the world to pass 600,000 Covid deaths.
It represents a dark milestone for a government that has been sharply criticised by health experts for mismanaging the outbreak, Reuters reported.
The country has ramped up vaccinations after a slow start, however, and there are signs infections are finally ebbing.
More than 70% of Brazilians have received a first dose, compared to 65% in the United States, which passed 600,000 deaths in June.
“The rejection rate of vaccines is really low, it makes other countries jealous,” said Alexandre Naime Barbosa, head of epidemiology at Sao Paulo State University. “That’s really important for Brazil to contain the pandemic.”
UK registers 36,060 new infections and 127 more deaths today
Britain recorded 127 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test on Friday, a slight increase on a day earlier when 122 people died, government data showed.
The figures also showed that 36,060 new Covid cases on Friday, lower than a day earlier when 40,701 were recorded.
The UK government is lifting its advice against non-essential travel to a further 51 countries and territories due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the decision allowed people to “exercise personal responsibility”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will lift its advice for the Bahamas, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Jamaica, Martinique, Palau, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Western Sahara on Friday, PA Media reported.
Advice for a further 42 locations will be lifted on Monday, including Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Indonesia, Mexico, the Seychelles, South Africa and Thailand.
It follows the removal of travel advisories to 32 countries on Wednesday, and is part of a new policy to stop advising Britons to avoid all but essential travel to non-red list countries on Covid grounds except in “exceptional circumstances”, such as if the local healthcare system is overwhelmed.
This makes it simpler for people visiting those locations to obtain travel insurance. Truss said:
These updates make travel abroad easier - boosting trade, tourism and reuniting friends and families.
I am delighted that the safe reopening of travel allows people to exercise personal responsibility and visit more destinations across the globe.
Updated
In the US, health systems in Colorado and Washington are removing unvaccinated patients from organ transplant lists, given research that unprotected recipients are much more likely to die from Covid-19.
UCHealth in Colorado told a patient on the kidney transplant waiting list that she needed to get vaccinated in the next 30 days or she would be removed from the list. Leilani Lutali told 9News that she was the patient in question, and she hadn’t been vaccinated yet because of her religious views.
State representative Tim Geitner, a Republican, tweeted the letter she received on Tuesday and said the health system “denies life-saving treatment.”
It is standard practice to require vaccinations before transplants, experts say, because anti-rejection medications make recipients immune-suppressed and put them at extremely high risk of dying from infections, including the coronavirus.
UW Medicine also added Covid vaccination as a condition for the transplant list a few weeks ago, joining other vaccinations required for years. If patients choose not to be vaccinated, they are removed from the waiting list. In an informal Twitter poll from one transplant director, one-third of respondents said their transplant centres had similar policies.
“Transplant patients are much more vulnerable to infection,” Dr Camille Kotton, clinical director of transplant and immunocompromised host infectious diseases at the Massachusetts General hospital, told the Guardian in an email. “And transplant patients are among the higher risk for developing severe life-threatening Covid-19.”
Updated
Dale Moody, one of the thousands of volunteers who took part in the Novavax Covid vaccine trial, said he welcomed the government announcement that they are to be offered approved vaccines so they can travel abroad.
“I am both relieved and elated about the decision to let Novavax volunteers have an approved vaccine for travel or as a booster,” he told the Guardian. “It is a load off my mind.
“I was concerned that we had been cast aside,” said Moody, 69, of Market Drayton, Shropshire. “I had my second dose of Novavax in November last year and was worried about not getting a booster vaccine.”
The married father of two and grandfather of four added:
I have family in Australia and was concerned that the uncertainties about the approval timescale of Novavax would prohibit visiting my family out there.
Updated
Scotland recorded 16 coronavirus-linked deaths and 2,627 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data.
It means the death toll under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – stands at 8,773.
The Scottish government’s daily figures on Friday show there were 35,891 new tests, of which 7.9% were positive, up from 6.8% the previous day, PA Media reported.
A total of 990 people are in hospital with recently confirmed Covid, down 33 in 24 hours; 64 are in intensive care, down five.
The daily figures also show 4,240,984 people have received their first dose of a Covid vaccination and 3,857,442 have received their second dose.
Updated
Families bereaved by Covid have expressed pain at revelations that a government exercise modelling a large-scale coronavirus outbreak recommended four years before the pandemic that better preparations were needed in key areas including building stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) and a contact-tracing system.
“Our loved ones might still be with us today, if only the government had followed their own recommendations,” said Lobby Akinnola, the spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, which represents more than 4,000 bereaved families.
The group spoke out after the Guardian revealed the previously confidential report into Exercise Alice, in which senior health officials war-gamed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers-CoV) arriving in London and Birmingham and spreading rapidly. It warned of the need for stockpiles of PPE, a computerised contact-tracing system and screening for overseas travel.
Akinnola said:
For the tens of thousands of families that lost loved ones as a direct consequence of the lack of PPE, ineffectual contact-tracing systems or the failures in screening for foreign travel, this news is extremely painful.
We can’t help asking what is the point in the department of health carrying out these exercises if they’re just going to ignore them when a crisis actually hits?
England's R-value estimated to be between 0.9 and 1.1
England’s Covid weekly reproduction “R” number was estimated between 0.9 and 1.1, the UK Health Security Agency said on Friday, with the daily growth rate also estimated to be slightly higher.
An R number between 0.9 and 1.1 means that for every 10 people infected, they will on average infect between 9 and 11 other people. Last week the R number was estimated between 0.8 and 1.1.
The daily growth of infections was estimated between -1% and +2%, compared to from -3% and +1% last week.
Updated
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has expressed optimism that the country’s third wave of Covid has peaked.
This dotted line shows the shape of the wave predicted by Swansea University while the bold is what has actually happened.
Here's the slide from today's press conference ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/aYXFNBSq9R
— Welsh Government #KeepWalesSafe (@WelshGovernment) October 8, 2021
At a press conference in Cardiff, Drakeford announced a relaxation of restrictions on care home visits.
From today care home providers have the discretion to allow visitors to take lateral flow tests at home rather than at their premises and not to enforce social distancing in residents’ rooms and designated visitors’ rooms. Restrictions around gifts and food are also being eased.
Drakeford said that as long as there were no nasty surprises this autumn or winter people could look forward to a more normal Christmas.
Updated
UK government was warned about need to stockpile PPE in 2016
It has emerged today that UK government ministers were warned in 2016 about the need to stockpile protective equipment and develop a contact tracing tool.
Exercise Alice, carried out in February 2016, modelled the impact of coronavirus hitting England recommended 12 actions for the government to make the NHS ready to cope with an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) coronavirus.
This included ensuring sufficient levels of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and producing a plan examining the evidence on quarantine and self-isolation requirements and recommending a “viable” approach.
The exercise was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care in response to concerns raised by the chief medical officer about the planning and resilience to respond to a Mers outbreak in England, PA Media reports.
The resulting 23-page report says that PPE stockpiles were suggested “as a means to ensure sufficient quantities were available”, and a live, web-based contact tracing system was also recommended. A key section reads:
There was a general consensus on the need to identify capacity and capability of assets within the health system.
Assets in this context would be all resources that would be required to effectively respond to a Mers-CoV outbreak such as trained personnel, appropriate PPE in sufficient quantities and the requisite beds with suitable clinical equipment.
It is one of seven reports on pandemic preparedness exercises between 2015 and 2018, first reported on by the Guardian, which came to light after Freedom of Information requests from Dr Moosa Qureshi.
It was claimed that Public Health England had previously refused to release the document, saying it “could precipitate an unnecessary heightened public concern that could lead to loss of public confidence in the Government’s and the NHS’s Covid-19 response”.
But it was disclosed after Dr Qureshi said he would complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Dr Qureshi said:
Disgracefully, the Government covered up Exercise Alice - a coronavirus exercise which predicted the importance of isolating patients, contact tracing, PPE provision, trained personnel and adequate NHS beds.
The fact that Covid-19 is a novel type of coronavirus is irrelevant - every pandemic is different, but the lessons of Exercise Alice were generally applicable to coronaviruses including Covid-19, they were agreed by general consensus, and both political leaders and NHS England executives failed to implement that consensus.
They failed to maintain contact tracing capacity and isolate patients, they failed to provide adequate PPE, and they cut NHS beds.
Novavax jab trial participants will get two other jabs for travel
Two further doses of another vaccine will be offered to the thousands of people who took part in a Covid vaccine trial, the UK government has announced.
After taking advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the Department of Health said those in England who took part in the UK-based Novavax trial should be offered two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, with eight weeks between the doses, PA Media reported.
More than 15,000 people took part in the phase 3 Novavax trial at various hospital sites across the UK, but the company has not yet submitted data to regulators to get the jab approved. It means thousands of people have been unable to travel abroad because other countries do not recognise Novavax as a valid Covid vaccine.
The offer of two doses of Pfizer, which is being rolled out from next week, means people will be able to travel and have two doses of an approved Covid vaccine their record, as well as on the NHS app.
No evidence exists to date on administering four doses of different vaccines, although experts do not expect significant issues.
England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said:
Covid-19 vaccine trials have been absolutely integral to our response to the virus, and as a result we now have our renowned vaccination programme, which continues to save lives. I urge as many people as possible to continue contributing to these trials.
The measures we have taken will allow UK Covid-19 vaccine trial participants to travel freely overseas once they have had the additional vaccinations. Those volunteers now have the flexibility to make a decision for themselves so they can, for example, visit loved ones abroad.
We should be very clear that the results from these trials benefit the whole world, and it has to be said that if more countries around the world had reciprocated by allowing UK volunteers to enjoy fully vaccinated status for overseas travel, these measures would not have been necessary. As a separate issue, those in trials who are eligible for boosters should receive the booster dose in order to ensure the highest possible protection over winter.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland health teams are expected to follow suit for vaccine trial participants in their regions.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has expressed deep concern about the UK government’s desire to scrap costly PCR tests.
He said that one of the great benefits of the PCR tests was their ability to pick up new variants emerging from around the world.
Drakeford said his government had received no details from Westminster on what the UK government was planning, adding: “There are a lot of unanswered questions.”
The first minister said scrapping PCR tests “risked lowering the protections we have” and he was trying to persuade the UK government not to “erode safeguards”.
However, he conceded it was difficult for the Welsh government to impose its own regime on international travel because so many Welsh citizens flew in and out of English airports and so were subject to UK rules on entry and exit.
Back in the UK, the percentage of people testing positive for Covid is estimated to have increased in all regions except the East of England where the trend is uncertain, the ONS said.
Yorkshire and the Humber and East Midlands regions had the highest proportion of people of any region likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to 2 October, at around one in 55.
London and eastern England had the lowest at around one in 90, PA Media reported.
Meanwhile, when modelling the level of Covid infections among different age ranges in England, the ONS said rates have increased for those in school years 7 to 11, people aged 35 to 49 and those aged 70 and over.
The percentage testing positive decreased for those in school year 12 to age 24, while the trend was uncertain for those aged two to school year six, people aged 25 to 34 and those aged 50 to 69.
Around one in 15 children in school years 7 to 11 are estimated to have had Covid in the week to 2 October - the highest positivity rate for any age group.
Could the global Covid death toll be millions higher than thought? A data journalist and economics student have joined forces to measure the real pandemic death toll – and the results are startling.
For the full story, see the link below.
A bit more on those latest ONS figures on the number of people estimated to have have Covid in the UK last week.
In Wales, around one in 55 people is estimated to have had Covid in the week to 2 October, unchanged from the previous week and still the highest since the week to 23 December, 2020.
In Northern Ireland, the latest estimate is one in 130, down from one in 65 the previous week.
For Scotland, the ONS estimates around one in 60 people had Covid in the week to 2 October, down from one in 55 the previous week. All figures are for people in private households.
In Australia, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has been fined $400 for twice not wearing a mask outside parliament in Melbourne, as the state reported a record 1,838 local Covid cases and five further deaths.
Andrews on Friday apologised for breaching the state’s mask mandate on Wednesday and Thursday morning as he walked across a car park to address journalists.
On both days, the premier wore a mask as he was driven to parliament but took it off before he walked through the car park. A police spokesperson said:
Victoria police can confirm it has issued two infringement notices to premier Daniel Andrews for breaching chief health officer directions.
Premier Andrews received two fines today for not wearing a mask, each to the value of $200.
All Victorians over the age of 12 must wear a mask when leaving their home – both indoors and outdoors.
One in 70 people in private households in England had Covid last week
Around one in 70 people in private households in England had Covid in the week to 2 October.
The number is up from one in 85 the previous week, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
One in 70 is the equivalent of about 786,300 people.
At the peak of the second wave in early January, around one in 50 were estimated to have coronavirus.
Slovenia’s interior minister rejected accusations on Friday that police used excessive force to curb anti-government protests with water cannons and tear gas.
The chaotic scenes came on the eve of a major European Union summit in the country earlier this week.
The demonstrations were the third in a month, organised against virus measures and the use of Covid passes, including for going to work in all state-run firms. People must show that they are either fully vaccinated or that they have taken an expensive PCR test.
Interior Minister Ales Hojs said in Brussels that “police did their job very well during Tuesday’s intervention” and were “within their jurisdiction.” An investigation still has opened into police actions, he added.
About 25 protesters were detained and several were injured or hospitalised, mostly for inhaling tear gas, according to the Associated Press. Hojs added:
The director of the police has already ordered a commission in accordance with the law, which will investigate the legality and proportionality of all means used by the police in these protests.
Officers in riot gear and on horses repeatedly used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who threatened to block roads as EU and Western Balkan leaders were arriving for the meeting.
The clashes led to hours-long chaos on the streets of the capital, Ljubljana, and the detention of a protest leader.
Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has said he will address the country on Saturday about the Covid situation and the country’s “path to a new normal”.
“Tomorrow at 12 noon, I will be addressing Singaporeans on the COVID-19 situation and the path to a new normal,” Lee said in his Facebook post on Friday evening.
The Southeast Asia city-state with about 5.7 million population has been reporting an average of more than 3,000 daily infections over the past few days, though almost all cases are asymptomatic or mild, according to Reuters.
Good morning, I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest coronavirus news from the UK and around the world today.
We start with the news that Denmark has announced it will continue to give the Moderna vaccine to under-18s.
It comes as Finland joined other Nordic countries in suspending or discouraging the use of the vaccine in certain age groups because of an increased risk of heart inflammation, a rare side effect associated with the shot.
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare said Thursday that authorities won’t give the shot to males under age 30. They will be offered the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine instead, according to the Associated Press.
The move by Finland followed similar decisions by three neighboring countries on Wednesday. Sweden suspended the use of Moderna for people under 30, Denmark said those under 18 won’t be offered the Swiss-made vaccine, and Norway urged those under 30 to get the Pfizer vaccine instead.
Today so far …
- The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said he wants to scrap costly PCR tests for international travellers returning to England in time for the October half-term holiday.
- “When it comes to the safety aspect, we are still requiring a test,” Shapps said, speaking on Sky News. “But we are going to move that down from being a PCR one, an expensive one that you have to send away to a lab, to a lateral flow test, so that will help and enable us to monitor things. We anticipate having it ready for the half-term. What a difference it will make for people.”
- Nadhim Zahawi, the UK education secretary, admitted yesterday he had no idea how many 12- to 15-year-olds in the UK had had their jabs, with early figures suggesting the government has little hope of hitting its target of vaccinating them all by half-term. There has been criticism today.
- The NHS says it aims to immunise more than half the population of the UK amid fears of a particularly deadly flu season. The health service said it planned to immunise a record 35 million people in what would be the most ambitious programme of flu jabs in its history.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has finalised a clinical case definition for post-Covid-19 condition, often called Long Covid. The definition states that symptoms appear within three months of infection, last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction. They may appear following recovery from acute-stage Covid-19, or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms may also fluctuate over time.
- Russia has set a new record for daily Covid deaths for the second time in three days. 936 died, surpassing the previous record of 929 that was set on Wednesday. There were 27,246 new cases recorded, just shy of yesterday’s total 27,550, which itself was also a record high.
- There continues to be a war of words over the delay in the European Medicines Agency (EMA) certifying Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for use within the European Union. EU ambassador Markus Ederer said Russia has repeatedly delayed inspections by the EMA necessary for the certification. Russia has accused the West of refusing to certify its main vaccine for political reasons.
- A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation has said “We are slowly solving most of the issues” regarding delays in the WHO authorising Sputnik V for emergency use. The Sputnik V shot is widely used in Russia and has been approved for use in more than 70 countries.
- US president Joe Biden has talked up vaccine mandates, saying the unvaccinated have “put our economy at risk”. Speaking in Illinois on Thursday, he said: “vaccination requirements are good for the economy” and called on more business owners to enact them.
- Malaysia’s health ministry has granted conditional approval for the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be used as a booster shot. Panama, meanwhile, has said it is purchasing 3m additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
- Hospitals in Papua New Guinea are being pushed to the brink and morgues are overflowing, as the country suffers what health authorities say is the worst surge in Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, this week. I’ll be back live blogging from London bright and early on Monday. My colleague Tom Ambrose will be here shortly. There’s no UK politics live blog today, so he’ll be bringing you Covid-related news from the UK as well as around the world. Have a good weekend, see you soon.
There’s another quick update here on the situation with getting Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine registered for use by the World Health Organisation. Reuters report that the health agency has said it was “near” to resolving issues on the vaccine, without giving a date for a potential emergency use listing.
“We are slowly solving most of the issues” spokesperson Fadela Chaib said at a Geneva briefing.
I mentioned earlier [see 8.50am] that there has been a continuation of the war of words between Russia and the European Union over the failure of the vaccine to make progress in being registered for use in the EU.
Grant Shapps wants to scrap costly PCR tests for travellers by half-term
The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said he wants to scrap costly PCR tests for international travellers returning to England in time for the October half-term holiday, in a boost to airlines and the broader industry.
The tests, which cost about £75 each on average, would be replaced by cheaper lateral flow tests. The move to make travel easier follows the government announcement on Thursday that the number of countries on the “red list”, which have the toughest restrictions, is to be cut to only seven.
Addressing plans for a shift in policy on testing, Shapps said: “We want to get this done for half-term for people.
“When it comes to the safety aspect, we are still requiring a test,” Shapps said, speaking on Sky News. “But we are going to move that down from being a PCR one, an expensive one that you have to send away to a lab, to a lateral flow test, so that will help and enable us to monitor things. We anticipate having it ready for the half-term. What a difference it will make for people.”
Despite soaring numbers of positive coronavirus cases, Shapps said the government has the confidence in downgrading the level of tests for foreign travel because of the vaccination programme.
Read more of Mark Sweney’s report here: Grant Shapps wants to scrap costly PCR tests for travellers by half-term
Russia sets record daily Covid death toll for second time in three days
Reuters have the latest official caseload and death figures from Russia, and again the country has set a record number of daily Covid-related deaths at 936. That surpasses the previous record of 929 that was set on Wednesday.
There were 27,246 new cases recorded, just shy of yesterday’s total 27,550, which itself was also a record high.
As Covid hit, thousands of Filipinos were left trapped in the capital without work. Many ended up on the street and are still waiting to rebuild their lives. We’ve got a photo essay this morning from Alecs Ongcal as Manila’s newly homeless tell stories of survival in lockdown.
See it here: ‘We just need food’: Manila’s newly homeless tell stories of survival in lockdown – photo essay
There continues to be a war of words over the delay in the European Medicines Agency (EMA) certifying Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for use within the European Union. The Sputnik V shot is widely used in Russia and has been approved for use in more than 70 countries.
Olzhas Auyezov for Reuters has some quotes this morning attributed to EU ambassador Markus Ederer, who has told Russian media outlet RosBusinessConsulting: “This is a technical rather than a political process. When Russian officials talk about the process being delayed and politicised by the European side, I sometimes think they are largely referring to themselves because it is them who makes this about politics.”
Ederer said that Russia has repeatedly delayed inspections by the EMA necessary for the certification. Russia has accused the West of refusing to certify its main vaccine for political reasons, and that this makes it harder for Russians to travel.
Russian health minister Mikhail Murashko said this month that all the barriers to register Sputnik V with the World Health Organisation have been cleared and only some paperwork remained to be completed.
Updated
So to recap, in his media appearances this morning, UK transport minister Grant Shapps has said that the government are aiming to change the requirement for vaccinated people returning from abroad to take a PCR test to having them take a lateral flow test instead.
He told various UK media outlets that the government was hoping to have the change in place before half-term in October – which starts in England in most schools on Friday 22 October. He suggested people hold off from booking PCR tests with their holidays, as the cheaper lateral flow test option would be available.
Shapps said he hoped that travellers returning to the UK could be “done and dusted” with organising testing before they even get home, with lateral flows set to be made available at airports. He also told Times Radio that he hoped that by next summer, international travel would be testless.
In the UK, transport minister Grant Shapps has been on the BBC this morning, and given a little more detail on what the government are expecting people to do in order to travel internationally once testing rules are downgraded from having to take a PCR test to taking a lateral flow test.
PA report he told BBC Breakfast said: “If it’s positive, you’ll automatically receive a PCR test, you’ll be in the NHS system, as with the normal test and trace, so you’ll get the PCR without having to do anything further, and of course, be asked to isolate.
“If it’s negative, that’s it, you’re free to go, and the good thing is that can either be done, as I say, as soon as coming through the gates, potentially, at some airports where they might offer that, or you may have ordered a test to be at your home.
“You carry out that test, we’re going to ask people to take a photograph of it so that it’s actually your test. And that’s it, the job is done, there’s nothing further to do. So it’s going to be a much simplified, much cheaper system.”
Questioned how authorities could be sure the photographed test belonged to the right person, Shapps said: “Well, look, you could always say this with any system, the PCR system that’s been in place up until now hasn’t required any monitoring at all. So you could always make that argument. We have throughout this crisis, though, I think relied on people’s common sense, I think most people wanted to do the right thing.”
Here’s our most recent despatch from Papua New Guinea, from Leanne Jorari in Port Moresby:
Hospitals in Papua New Guinea are being pushed to the brink and morgues are overflowing, as the country suffers what health authorities say is the worst surge in Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began.
The country’s health care system has long been plagued by shortages of drugs, funding, an ailing infrastructure and a severe lack of health workers.
Now, major hospitals around Papua New Guinea have been forced to scale down vital medical services while at least one says it may be forced to close altogether.
As of Wednesday, the country has recorded a total of 21,896 Covid cases and 243 deaths over the course of the pandemic, according to the National Department of Health. The latest available breakdown shows a surge in cases, rising to 600 in the week beginning 20 September from 255 four weeks earlier. Deaths rose from two to 17. However, these figures may not reflect the severity of the outbreak due to the country’s low testing rate.
Read more here: ‘Crisis unfolding’ as Papua New Guinea hospitals hit by worst Covid wave yet
“In my daughter’s school there are no signs of vaccines so far. No consent forms received either,” said Arancha Bueno, who lives in Kent in the UK and has two children.
She is not alone. Many parents who contacted the Guardian in response to a call-out about the Covid vaccine programme for 12- 15-year-olds were still waiting to hear when their child might be vaccinated, their schools left often in the dark too.
Bueno said: “The school sent a message earlier this week asking parents to stop asking the school for information on when the vaccination programme will commence as they hadn’t received any information on it yet.
“I would like my daughter to be vaccinated as soon as possible as the number of cases in the community are still very high. My son had Covid a few weeks ago after an outbreak in his class. So I’m in fear she will be next.”
An ITU nurse in Suffolk was similarly worried. “My daughter was due to have her vaccine at school last week. Thanks to the fuel crisis, explained away as ‘unforeseen circumstances’, that didn’t happen, and the vaccinations have been cancelled until further notice.
“Over a third of my daughter’s classmates have now tested positive via lateral flow tests and are now isolating. I worked in ITU over the height of the second wave, and having seen the very worst of the pandemic I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies.”
Read more of our education correspondent Sally Weale’s report here: ‘I’d like to get my daughter vaccinated soon – I fear she will be next to get Covid’
The two main areas that UK transport minister Grant Shapps was quizzed about on Sky News this morning that concern us on this live blog were testing requirements for international travel, and the flu booster jab programme in the UK.
On the former he confirmed that the government is intending to reduce the testing requirements for travel from a PCR test down to a lateral flow test, and were aiming to do so before school half-term in England, which is a couple of weeks away. He said:
We want to get this done for half-term. I know my colleagues over at health and the home office – they’re the people who have to implement this this change – are working extremely hard on getting this done. What a difference it will make for people. Rather than having to do things like send off the test and wait for the result, people will be familiar with the lateral flow test, it shows your result within a few minutes, is much easier, and much less expensive as well.
Shapps also touted that the US government was on course to ease travel restrictions from the UK to the US in November, and was keen to state that the UK government has also now recognised the vaccination programmes of an additional 37 countries, making travel easier for people coming to the UK.
On flu booster jabs he said:
It’s extremely important that people get their flu vaccination. In previous years we will have heard these messages pre-Covid. This year is different. You’ve had people not building up any immunity because last year we were all split apart so much because of Covid. And then obviously the twin threats of both Covid and flu means that this year getting your flu jab, if you’re in any one of the many different categories: over-50s, vulnerable people, people who live with young people. Just go and get the flu job done. You can probably get it at the same time or similar time to doing the booster jab for Covid as well.
A couple of vaccine updates from Reuters. Malaysia’s health ministry has granted conditional approval for the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be used as a booster shot.
Authorities had earlier said booster shots would not be compulsory but were highly recommended for those in vulnerable and high-risk groups.
Panama, meanwhile, has said it is purchasing 3m additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 for its inoculation efforts next year.
While I’m waiting to bring you what transport minister Grant Shapps is saying today, here’s an excerpt from our lead story at the moment, that in the UK ministers have been criticised for a ‘haphazard’ Covid jab rollout for teenagers in England:
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, admitted he had no idea how many 12- to 15-year-olds in the UK had had their jabs, with early figures suggesting the government has little hope of hitting its target of vaccinating them all by half-term
New data has shown that fewer than one in 10 (9%) in the age group had been vaccinated by last Sunday, but this includes those who are either clinically vulnerable or living with people who are vulnerable and who were prioritised for vaccination earlier in the summer.
The government set half-term as a target for what ministers hoped would be a speedy rollout in schools, but with just over two weeks to go until the autumn break, anxious parents have told the Guardian they are seeing Covid infections rise in their children’s school but have still not been given a vaccination date.
Read more here: Ministers criticised for ‘haphazard’ Covid jab rollout for teenagers in England
Good morning, it is Martin Belam here in London. I’ll be with you for the next few hours. Grant Shapps the UK transport secretary is doing the morning media round today, and I’ll have the relevant quotes from that in a bit. He is up on Sky News first. The appearance comes as the government is talking up holiday bookings for half-term following a huge reduction of the number of countries on England’s travel red-list.
NHS aims to give 35m flu jabs amid warnings of up to 60,000 deaths
The NHS aims to immunise more than half the population of the UK amid fears of a particularly deadly flu season.
The health service said it planned to immunise a record 35 million people in what would be the most ambitious programme of flu jabs in its history. Experts fear the coming flu season could be particularly deadly because the population will have lost much of its immunity to the virus and have warned of up to 60,000 deaths.
It will be the first winter the country faces with Covid and flu circulating at the same time.
Read the full story here:
Long Covid definition finalised
The World Health Organization finalised a clinical case definition for post-Covid-19 condition, often called Long Covid.
The definition states that symptoms appear within three months of infection, last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.
Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction. They may appear following recovery from acute-stage Covid-19, or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms may also fluctuate over time.
“This standardised definition will help clinicians to identify patients more easily and provide them the appropriate care, and is crucial for advancing recognition and research,” director-general of the World Health Organization Tedros said.
"Yesterday, after a global consultation with patients and experts, WHO published a clinical case definition for post #COVID19 condition"-@DrTedros https://t.co/Y9hgVP2R9H
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) October 7, 2021
Hi, I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be giving you a rundown of all the coronavirus key developments from across the world.
Here is a round-up of all the day’s leading stories.
US president Joe Biden has talked up vaccine mandates, saying the unvaccinated have “put our economy at risk”.
Speaking in Illinois on Thursday, he said: “vaccination requirements are good for the economy” and called on more business owners to enact them.
Meanwhile, hospitals in Papua New Guinea are being pushed to the brink and morgues are overflowing, as the country suffers what health authorities say is the worst surge in Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began.
The country’s health care system has long been plagued by shortages of drugs, funding, an ailing infrastructure and a severe lack of health workers.
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England’s latest ‘red list’ restrictions have confounded many South Americans. Strict Covid travel rules remain in place for seven South American and Caribbean countries in a move which has prompted further fury and confusion in the nations which remain on the ‘red list’.
- The NHS also aims to issue 35m flu jabs in a bid to immunise a record 35 million people – more than half the UK’s population.It would be the most ambitious programme of flu jabs in NHS history as the country prepares to face its first winter with Covid and flu circulating at the same time. Experts have warned there could be up to 60,000 deaths.
- A coronavirus report warned of the impact on the UK four years before the pandemic began, the Guardian can reveal. Senior health officials who war-gamed the impact of a coronavirus hitting the UK, warned of the need for stockpiles of PPE, a computerised contact tracing system and screening for foreign travellers.
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Italy has increased the maximum attendance capacity allowed at cultural and sporting venues for those who can show documents of immunity. As of 11 October, cinemas, theatres and concert venues will be able to fill all their seats, scrapping the current limit of 50%, the government said, following advice from its panel of public health advisors. The maximum capacity of sports stadiums will be raised to 60% from 35% for indoor venues and to 75% from 50% outdoors.
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Children could be forced to wear masks in schools across England again as part of the government’s back-up plan if the country’s Covid situation deteriorates significantly, the education secretary has admitted.
- Meanwhile, a Covid vaccine for children aged five to 11 is another step closer to authorisation in the US, with Pfizer-BioNTech announcing that the full application has been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- US president Joe Biden advocated for Covid-19 vaccination requirements, calling on more business owners to enact them. Speaking in Illinois, he said: “vaccination requirements are good for the economy”.
- Finland announced it will pause the use of Moderna’s vaccine for men under-30 due to reports of a rare cardiovascular side effect. It follows similar moves by Swedish and Danish health officials after a pan-Nordic study.
- More than 140,000 US children lost a parent or caregiver to Covid, a study found. Published on Thursday in the journal Pediatrics, the study estimated that from April 2020 through June 30 this year, more than 140,000 children under the age of 18 lost their mother, father, or grandparent who provided their housing, basic needs and daily care to the disease.
- In the UK, a further 40,701 Covid infections were reported in the past 24 hours – the highest daily figure since 6 September.
- UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has appealed for $8 billion to help vaccinate 40% of people in all countries by the end of the year. It comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a plan that aims to inoculate 70% of the world by mid-2022.
