Summary
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Austria has clamped down on public life from Monday as its fourth national Covid-19 lockdown began, making it the first western European country to reimpose the measure in the face of surging coronavirus infections.
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German politicians are debating making Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory for citizens in light of soaring infections and low inoculation rates.
- The US government’s chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci warns that time is running short to prevent a “dangerous” new surge of Covid-19 infections from overwhelming the upcoming holiday season.
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England’s flagship test-and-trace service is still spending more than £1m a day on private consultants, official figures reveal weeks after MPs lambasted it as an “eye-watering” waste of taxpayers’ money that is failing to cut Covid infection levels.
- In the UK, Covid booster jabs are likely to be offered to all adults eventually, with the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation already considering the issue, the health secretary has suggested.
- Some Pacific countries will have less than a quarter of adults vaccinated by the end of the year, with predictions that Papua New Guinea will take five years to vaccinate just one-third of its population, undermining economic recovery and threatening huge loss of life across the region.
- The Delta variant was first detected a year ago and is now dominant across the globe. Scientists are concerned that a new strain could supersede it.
- Violence erupted at demonstrations in Belgium and the Netherlands over the weekend as tougher Covid-19 restrictions to curb the resurgent pandemic led to angry protests in several European countries.
- The US Marine Corps has the worst vaccination record among US military branches, Reuters reports, with thousands of active-duty staff set to miss a 28 November deadline for personnel to be fully vaccinated.
- The World Health Organisation said it is “very worried” about a fresh wave of European infection.
- The French government has warned that Covid is spreading at “lighting speed”. The seven-day average of new cases in France reached 17,153 on Saturday, an increase of 81%.
Germany mulls compulsory vaccination
German politicians are debating making Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory for citizens in light of soaring infections and low inoculation rates.
Several members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc said on Sunday that federal and state governments should introduce compulsory vaccinations soon as other efforts to push up Germany’s low inoculation rate of just 68% have failed.
“We’ve reached a point at which we must clearly say that we need de facto compulsory vaccination and a lockdown for the unvaccinated,” Tilman Kuban, head of the youth wing of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), wrote in Die Welt newspaper.
Bavarian State Premier Markus Soeder called for a quick decision to make Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory while Schleswig-Holstein State Premier Daniel Guenther said authorities should at least discuss such a step to increase the pressure on unvaccinated citizens.
Danyal Bayaz, an influential member of the Greens and Finance Minister in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg where infection rates are very high, said it would be a mistake at this point of the pandemic to rule out compulsory vaccination.
The Greens are currently in talks with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) to form a three-way coalition government on the federal level, Reuters reports.
The three parties are in the final stages of sealing a coalition agreement which would pave the way for outgoing Finance Minister Olaf Scholz from the SPD to succeed Merkel as chancellor in the first half of December.
Scholz has said he wants a debate about whether to make vaccination compulsory for health care workers and geriatric nurses. FDP members have voiced their objections to such a step as the party puts a bigger emphasis on individual freedom.
Hello I’m Samantha Lock taking over from colleague Jem Bartholomew from over here in Sydney, Australia.
First up, some news out of Austria for you.
The European nation has clamped down on public life from Monday as its fourth national Covid-19 lockdown began, making it the first western European country to reimpose the measure in the face of surging coronavirus infections.
This lockdown is similar to previous ones but is the first introduced since vaccines became widely available. Most places people gather, like restaurants, cafes, bars, theatres, non-essential shops and hairdressers cannot open their doors for 10 days initially and maybe as many as 20, the government says.
Christmas markets must also shut but ski lifts can remain open to the vaccinated. Hotels will, however, close to tourists not already staying there when the lockdown began.
“It is a situation where we have to react now,” Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein told ORF TV on Sunday night, Reuters reports.
“A lockdown, a relatively tough method, a sledgehammer, is the only option to reduce the numbers (of infections) here.”
The conservative-led government imposed a lockdown on the unvaccinated last week but daily infections kept extending far above the previous peak reached a year ago and intensive care beds are running short.
On Friday, the government announced it was reimposing a full lockdown as of Monday and would make it compulsory to get vaccinated as of 1 February.
Thought-provoking opinion article here from an anonymous NHS respiratory consultant in the UK.
They discuss how the “selfish” decisions of the unvaccinated are hard to sympathise with, despite a medical professional’s typical instinct to treat patients without judgement.
Full story here: “ICU is full of the unvaccinated – my patience with them is wearing thin”
As a respiratory doctor, I have spent my whole career treating people whose lung diseases have been caused by smoking, including long after they knew the risks. ... I personally – unlike some of my colleagues – have never felt any ambivalence about treating smokers without judgment in exactly the same way as people with diseases that are not seen as self-inflicted.
Enshrined in the way we protect patients’ autonomy is the recognition that others may reasonably make decisions we may see as irrational or wrong...
Translating this to the choice not to take the vaccine, however, I find my patience wearing thin. ... Even if you are not worried about your own risk from Covid, you cannot know the risk of the people into whose faces you may cough; there is a dangerous and selfish element to this that I find hard to stomach.
Updated
The New York Times reports on the toll on US hospital staff from the pandemic and a recent rise in hospitalisations.
The state of Michigan has seen Covid cases up 78% over the last two weeks, according to the NYT database, with hospitlisations jumping 46% over the same period – the second-worst percentage rise in the country behind New Hampshire.
The surge in hospitalisations are exerting further strain on an already-creaking medical system – with staff morale taking a pummelling by the new wave.
“We’re all scared to death because this is now so hard to predict what will happen,” Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, the president of Spectrum Health West Michigan, said in an interview Saturday. “We’re preparing for the worst.”
“It’s one thing if you ask people to take extra shifts for a few weeks,” he said. “It’s another thing if you ask people to take extra shifts for months.”
NYT reporter Vimal Patel has the full story here.
Updated
The US Marine Corps has the worst vaccination record among US military branches, Reuters reports, with thousands of active-duty staff set to miss a 28 November deadline for personnel to be fully vaccinated.
The Marine Corps recorded 91% of active personnel fully vaccinated and 94% part-vaccinated by Wednesday, it said in a statement on Sunday.
That trails behind the US Navy (96.7% fully-jabbed), the Air Force (96.4%) and the Army (93%).
Reuters has the details:
Service members are considered fully vaccinated 14 days after getting a single Johnson & Johnson shot or 14 days after their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine - meaning it is too late for many to complete the vaccination process by the deadline.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth warned on Tuesday that soldiers, including National Guard members, who refuse to get vaccinated would not have their service renewed unless they have an approved exemption, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
Updated
Brazil reports 5,126 infections and 72 new deaths
Brazil registered 5,126 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, down from 14,642 new infections last Saturday.
The country reported a further 72 Covid-related deaths on Sunday, Reuters reports. The seven-day average for Covid deaths is now 197.
Brazil has the second-highest Covid deaths in the world, behind the US, with coronavirus-related deaths over 600,000. Daily deaths peaked in April this year – when they reached heights of 3,000 people dying a day – before falling gradually over summer and autumn.
After the World Health Organisation said it is “very worried” about a fresh wave of European infections, here’s the data visualised across continent.
WHO regional director Dr Hans Kluge warned that 500,000 more deaths could be recorded by March unless urgent action is taken.
Updated
Anthony Fauci, the US federal government’s chief medical adviser, warned on Sunday that time is running out to prevent a “dangerous” new surge in cases from overwhelming the upcoming holiday season.
The US is reporting a jump in Covid cases for the first time in weeks and there are fears Thanksgiving on 25 November will turbocharge infections, as families travel across the nation to celebrate together.
The daily average of new cases has risen 29% in the last 14 days, according to analysis by the New York Times.
Fauci urged unvaccinated Americans to go get jabbed on CNN:
We still have about 60 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been, and that results in the dynamic of virus in the community that not only is dangerous and makes people who are unvaccinated vulnerable, but it also spills over into the vaccinated people.
Read the full report here from my colleague Richard Luscombe in Miami, Florida.
Bulgaria reported 1,455 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, showing signs the country’s epidemic is decreasing after new daily infections peaked at 6,816 on 26 October. Bulgaria saw a spike in cases amid late-October and early-November.
A further 56 people died from Covid-related deaths in the past 24 hours, local media reported, taking the seven-day average to 137 deaths a day. (Reported figures tend to be lower at weekends.)
England’s Covid test and trace spending over £1m a day on consultants
England’s flagship test-and-trace service is still spending more than £1m a day on private consultants, official figures reveal weeks after UK MPs lambasted it as an “eye-watering” waste of taxpayers’ money that is failing to cut Covid infection levels.
My colleague Andrew Gregory has the full report here.
Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), who is responsible for NHS test and trace, told MPs in July there was a “very detailed ramp-down plan” to cut the number of consultants.
But latest figures show that at the end of October it employed 1,230 consultants. Test and trace has average daily contractor rates of £1,100, potentially equating to £1,353,000 a day. The ratio of consultants to civil servants in NHS test and trace in September was 1:1, separate data shows, despite a target set a year ago to reduce the ratio to 60%.
France reports 19,749 new Covid cases and 15 deaths
France reported 19,749 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, a 58% jump from 12,496 a week ago.
A further 15 people died from Covid-related causes in French hospitals on Sunday. The seven-day average is now 44 coronavirus-related deaths a day.
There are 1,339 people in intenstive care with Covid in French hospitals, up 6 in the past 24 hours.
Government spokesman Gabrial Attal told media “the fifth wave is starting at lightning speed.” For the wider context on France and its battle with a surging wave of infections see our earlier post here (11:49am GMT).
Poland records 18,883 new cases and 41 more deaths
Poland reported 18,883 fresh coronavirus infections on Sunday, according to local media Polskie Radio, up 31% from 14,448 a week ago.
A further 41 deaths were recorded, down from the 382 deaths yesterday – which gave Poland the world’s second-highest death toll on Saturday behind Russia, according to AFP. (Weekends often mean lower reporting numbers.)
The country has maintained an upwards trajectory of cases since the start of October; the WHO has warned of a worrying acceleration in European Covid infections.
The New York Times has published some really interesting reporting on a new part of all our lives – the nasal swab test.
One Canadian said it felt like a painful poke to his brain. An American heard crunching sounds in her head. A Frenchwoman suffered a severe nosebleed. Others got headaches, cried or were left in shock.
They were all tested for Covid-19 with deep nasal swabs. While many people have no complaints about their experience, for some, the swab test — a vital tool in the global battle against the coronavirus — engenders visceral dislike, severe squirming or buckled knees.
“It felt like someone was going right into the reset button of my brain to switch something over,” Paul Chin, a music producer and DJ in Toronto, said of his nasal swab test. “There’s truly nothing like it.”
Out of the various nasal swab test methods, the article reports, the nasopharyngeal swab is the gold standard – with an accuracy of 98%, compared to 82-88% for shallower swabs. Here’s how the anatomy works:
The [nasopharyngeal] swab traverses a dark passage that leads to the nasal cavity. That is enclosed by bone covered in soft, sensitive tissue. At the back of this cavity — more or less in line with your earlobe — is your nasopharynx, where the back of your nose meets the top of your throat. It is one of the places where the coronavirus actively replicates, and it is where you are likely to get a good sample of the virus.
Read the full story here from NYT reporters Livia Albeck-Ripka and John Yoon.
Italy reports 9,709 new Covid infections and 46 deaths
Italy reported 9,709 new Covid infections on Sunday, up from 7,565 new cases a week ago.
The health ministry also said 46 people died from coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the seven-day average to 57 deaths a day – up from 42 two weeks ago.
While Italy has not reported case rates per 100,000 as high as Germany, Austria the UK or Netherlands recently, the World Health Organisation said yesterday it is “very worried” about the surge of Covid across Europe as the continent battles a fresh wave of infections.
Italy faced protests in Rome this weekend – at the ancient Circus Maximus chariot-racing ground – against the coutnry’s “green pass” certificates (vaccination, negative test or virus antibodies) required at workplaces, venues and on public transport, which the government has banked on to suppress the virus.
Updated
The US vaccine drive has kicked up a gear in recent weeks, reports the New York Times.
The US is now administering about 1.5 million vaccine doses a day, compared with 1.3 million two weeks ago, according to the Times’s Covid tracker, which draws on data form the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Census Bureau.
Booster and third doses are powering the uptick.
Across the country, 82% of people aged 18 and over are jabbed with at least one dose, while 71% are fully vaccinated.
Updated
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been revaccinated against Covid, Russian news agencies reported Sunday.
“Today, on your recommendation and that of your colleagues, I got another vaccination, Sputnik Light. This is called revaccination,” Putin said at a meeting with the deputy director of the Gamaleya Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology.
The Russian president said in June he’d been inolculated with the Sputnik V vaccine.
Here’s that UK Covid case data visualised. As you can see, new daily infections have been above 30,000 for the last few months. Today’s figure jumped above 40,000 again, as on Thursday and Friday.
UK reports 40,004 new cases and 61 new deaths
The UK has reported another 40,004 cases, which is 937 fewer than Saturday’s figure, but 3,487 more than last Sunday’s figure.
A further 61 deaths were also recorded.
The #COVID19 Dashboard has been updated: https://t.co/XhspoyTG79
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) November 21, 2021
On 21 November, 40,004 new cases and 61 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported across the UK.
Our data includes the number of people receiving a first, second and booster dose of the #vaccine: pic.twitter.com/u7rpY9Qhp2
Summary
Here’s a summary of the main developments today:
- Riot police in Brussels clashed with people protesting on Sunday at new Covid restrictions in Belgium. Police fired water cannon and tear gas in response to a group of participants throwing projectiles. At least 35,000 took part in the demonstration against a ban on unvaccinated people from restaurants and other venues.
- Five police officers were injured and at least 40 people were arrested in anti-lockdown protests in the Netherlands on Saturday. The worst violence occurred in the Hague on Saturday night following what the mayor of Rotterdam described as a “orgy of violence” in the country’s second city on Friday night.
- The French government has warned that Covid is spreading at “lighting speed”. The seven-day average of new cases in France reached 17,153 on Saturday, an increase of 81%.
- The health secretary Sajid Javid has warned that racial bias in medical devices, such as oximeters, may have caused unnecessary deaths from Covid. The issue will be investigated as part of a review Javid ordered into systemic racism and bias in medical devices, procedures and textbooks.
- Javid has ruled out introducing mandatory Covid vaccination in the UK, as the government in Austria has imposed. He told the BBC: “We are fortunate in this country, although we have vaccine hesitancy, it’s a lot lower than other countries in Europe. It should be a positive choice”. Javid also said booster jabs could be extended to all adults.
- Bayern Munich have fined and quarantined five players including the German international midfielder Joshua Kimmich. Bayern bosses summoned Kimmich and four other unvaccinated teammates to inform them of a pay cut when they are in isolation because they have not taken the jab.
- From Monday, people aged 40-49 in England will be able to book a Covid jab, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed. Sixteen and 17-year-olds will also be able to book in for their second jab.
- Russia has reported a 1,252 deaths from Covid - following a record 1,254 deaths on Saturday. Russia also reported 36,970 new cases compared to 37,120 on Saturday.
Updated
Bloomberg has footage of the clashes in Brussels between police and those protesting at new Covid restrictions in Belgium.
LOOK: New Covid restrictions sparked massive demonstrations in Brussels on Sunday.
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) November 21, 2021
Belgium recently extended the use of face masks and mandatory remote work in an attempt to contain a new surge of cases https://t.co/zpiG7ZiaTA pic.twitter.com/O4gPEJpuqS
Protest in Brussels turns violent
Violence broke out at a protest against anti-covid measures in Brussels on Sunday, where police said tens of thousands of people were participating, AFP reports.
The march began peacefully but police later fired water cannon and tear gas in response to a group of participants throwing projectiles.
Several of the demonstrators caught up in the clash wore hoods and carried Flemish nationalist flags.
The stand-off with riot police took place near the Belgian capital’s EU and government district.
Police said 35,000 protesters marched from the North Station in Brussels against a fresh round of Covid measures announced by the government on Wednesday.
The demonstration, called “Together for Freedom”, largely focused on a ban on the unvaccinated from venues such as restaurants and bars.
Europe is battling another wave of infections and several countries have tightened curbs despite high levels of vaccination, especially in the west of the continent.
Belgium, one of the countries hit the hardest by the latest wave, on Wednesday expanded its work-from-home rules and strengthened curbs against the unvaccinated.
Violence broke out at a protest against anti-Covid measures in #Brussels on Sunday, where Belgian police said tens of thousands of people were participating https://t.co/CLrioKa4IE pic.twitter.com/feqeALEe1O
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 21, 2021
Updated
Northern Ireland has reported another 1,406 new cases and seven more deaths from Covid.
NI #COVID19 data has been updated:
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) November 21, 2021
📊1,406 positive cases and sadly, 7 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.
💉2,907,848 vaccines administered in total.
Vaccines ➡️ https://t.co/Yfa0hHVmRL
The COVID-19 dashboard will be updated on Monday 22 November. pic.twitter.com/bGCFEYZ6QC
Scotland reported no more deaths and an increase of 2,677 cases.
3,621,170 people in Scotland have been tested for #coronavirus
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) November 21, 2021
The total confirmed as positive has risen by 2,677 to 704,395
The number of deaths of people who tested positive remains at 9,478.
Latest update ▶️ https://t.co/bZPbrCoQux
Health advice ▶️ https://t.co/l7rqArB6Qu pic.twitter.com/TxNvyUa6R3
And Wales has reported 2,408 and seven new deaths.
The rapid COVID-19 surveillance dashboard has been updated:
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) November 21, 2021
Computer - https://t.co/zpWRYSUbfh
Mobile - https://t.co/HSclxpZjBh pic.twitter.com/XtEU9eReBd
Jon Henley has a roundup of the latest on the anti-lockdown unrest in Europe:
Five police officers have been injured and at least 40 people arrested in a second night of violence in the Netherlands, as tougher Covid-19 restrictions to curb the resurgent pandemic led to angry protests in several European countries.
Dutch authorities on Saturday deployed water canon, dogs and mounted police to dispel crowds of rioting youths who lit fires and lobbed fireworks in The Hague and elsewhere, after more than 50 people were arrested in Rotterdam on Friday.
There were also demonstrations in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Croatia and the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe as governments in multiple EU countries battle a fourth wave of the pandemic, imposing partial lockdowns and tighter restrictions particularly on the unvaccinated.
Read the full story here:
Bayern Munich’s troubles over players unvaccinated against the coronavirus have deepened after four more unimmunised players joining Joshua Kimmich in quarantine, AFP reports.
Hours after reports emerged that the club was docking the pay of unvaccinated players put in quarantine, Bayern said Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Michael Cuisance also had to be isolated over contact with an individual who tested positive.
All besides Cuisance had only just completed a first round of house isolation on Tuesday as they had contact with Bayern team-mate Niklas Suele, who tested positive last week.
The latest quarantine order risks inflaming an already heated debate over whether sports personalities should be required to take the jab as Germany ails under a vicious fourth wave.
Kimmich, 26, had drawn sharp criticism since revealing he opted not to be vaccinated due to “personal concerns”.
Bayern bosses reportedly summoned him and his four unvaccinated teammates on Thursday to inform them of the pay cut when they are in isolation because they have not taken the jab, Bild said Sunday, quoting unnamed sources from the team.
The shadow justice minister, Alex Cunningham, is the latest MP to announce he has tested positive for coronavirus.
🚨 I'm grateful to the many Stockton North people who have asking me to speak on & support various amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill.
— Alex Cunningham MP (@ACunninghamMP) November 21, 2021
Sadly I've tested positive for Covid I won't be in Parliament to defend the NHS from the Tory Government.
I'm now self-isolating
South Korea has reported more 3,000 new coronavirus cases for the fifth day in row amid doubts about the wisdom of lifting restrictions, Yonhap news agency reports.
It also announced 30 more deaths from Covid, bringing the death toll to 3,274
Yonhap says:
Daily cases have not shown signs of slowing down in recent weeks, as the country began easing virus curbs on 1 November in the first of the three-phase “living with Covid-19” scheme for a gradual return to normalcy.
Under the first phase, people are allowed to gather in groups of up to 10, regardless of vaccinations. Operation hour curfews for businesses, like restaurants, cafes and movie theaters, are fully lifted, except for adult entertainment facilities, such as clubs and bars.
Boosters could be extended to all adults
Booster jabs could be extended to all adults, the health secretary has suggested, as he urged 40-49-year-olds to come forward for their third dose of Covid vaccine from Monday.
The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has been asked to keep under review the timings and options for “revaccination” of adults.
It has already recommended that over-50s be given a third dose, and from Monday they will be joined by 40-49-year-olds, but Sajid Javid said he was awaiting advice on whether younger adults should also be included.
“If it makes sense to go further, we will. The latest data shows that the boosters are immensely effective,” he told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, stressing he would follow JCVI advice.
Read the full story here:
Scientists are hopeful that the booster jabs rollout and immunity from the summertime spread of the more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant should help the UK escape the surge in infections seen in parts of Europe, PA reports.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, one of those behind the creation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, said it is “unlikely” the UK will see a rise similar to parts of Europe.
He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “We’ve actually had some spread (of the virus) going on since the summer, and so I think it’s unlikely that we’re going to see the very sharp rise in the next few months that’s just been seen. We’re already ahead of that with this particular virus, the Delta variant.”
Professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, Linda Bauld, said while the picture remains “uncertain”, there are a number of factors which could help the UK avoid the situation seen in other countries.
She told Sky’s Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme: “We dealt with our Delta wave in the summer and early autumn. We’re still in it of course but not those big rises.
“And then the other features are around, unfortunately, because we’ve had high infections in the past, we’ve probably a bit more natural immunity in the population - as in immunity post-infection, particularly for younger groups who’ve not been eligible for vaccines.”
The vaccine rollouts are also slightly different in that the dosing gap between first and second doses in many of the European countries was smaller than in the UK, she said.
“So they’re certainly seeing waning now and they’ve also got, in some parts of the population, some pockets of hesitancy, which are causing real concern, so we may not be the same, but you know, it’s very uncertain.”
But she added there is an element of “grave concern actually in trying to determine whether there are differences in the situation in Europe, or whether it’s just a matter of time until this faces us here”.
Sir Andrew said reaching the point where the virus no longer spreads is “not going to be a thing”, saying the Covid-19 will be around “for decades”, but he added that vaccines are successfully slowing it down.
He said coronavirus remains “a major global public health problem”, but that in the UK “the balance is shifting because of the vaccine programme that has been in place”.
Sir Andrew said that, taking into account last year as to how the pandemic could unfold, vaccines might have prevented about 300,000 deaths in the UK.
There is already “quite a lot of immunity building” in younger age groups, he said, when asked about reports of plans to jab five-year-olds, while Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the current focus is the booster rollout and second jabs for 16 and 17-year-olds.
Professor Bauld said taking up booster offers and continuing to demonstrate cautious behaviour will help avoid winter being a “disaster” and a repeat of last Christmas.
France: Covid increasing at 'lightning speed'
Fifth-wave coronavirus infections in France are rising at an alarming rate, the government reported Sunday, with new daily Covid cases close to doubling over the past week, AFP reports.
The seven-day average of new cases reached 17,153 on Saturday, up from 9,458 a week earlier, according to the health authorities, an increase of 81%.
“The fifth wave is starting at lightning speed,” government spokesman Gabrial Attal told media.
The latest seven-day increase is three times the average rise of cases recorded over the previous three weeks, indicating an exponential acceleration of infections.
For now the spike in infections has not led to a massive influx of Covid patients into hospitals, with the authorities attributing the limited number of intensive care patients to France’s high rate of vaccinations which appear highly effective against the most dangerous forms of Covid.
On Saturday, hospitals reported a total of 7,974 Covid patients in their care, with 1,333 of them in intensive treatment.
This compares to 6,500 and 1,000, respectively, a month earlier.
“There is a very strong increase in infections, but we also know that in France we have a very large vaccination cover,” he said. “We seem to be ahead of our neighbours concerning booster shots.”
France’s introduction of a health pass ahead of other countries in the summer was also helping to keep Covid in check, he said.
The health pass, required in French restaurants, cafes and many cultural venues, certifies that a person is fully vaccinated, has recently recovered from Covid, or has tested negative for the virus.
The government continues to stand by its choice to “bring the weight of restrictions to bear on non-vaccinated people rather than vaccinated people”, Attal said.
The pandemic has made it more difficult to send failed asylum seekers back to the countries from which they came, Sajid Javid has said, PA reports.
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said on Sunday that at the current rate, more migrants will be travelling to Britain via the English Channel that there are voters in the Home Secretary’s constituency if the Government doesn’t act.
And hundreds more people, including very young children, have made the dangerous Channel crossing to the UK over the weekend.
The health secretary Sajid Javid defended efforts and said Covid had made things more difficult.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme:
We do need new agreements with countries, predominately with the countries where most of the failed asylum seekers are coming from, and those aren’t always European countries, and this Home Secretary has done that, she has signed new agreements and put those in place with countries like India.
But also I would say that the pandemic has made returning people across the world, across asylum systems, much harder, and we do have to take that into account as well.
Some Pacific countries will have less than a quarter of adults vaccinated by the end of the year, with predictions that Papua New Guinea will take five years to vaccinate just one-third of its population, undermining economic recovery and threatening huge loss of life across the region.
The predictions come from modelling released on Sunday by the Lowy Institute, which takes into account factors including access to vaccines, numbers of healthcare workers, urbanisation, topography and vaccine hesitancy to estimate when Pacific countries will hit key vaccine milestones.
The modelling reveals a divided region. Papua New Guinea, which is in the midst of a devastating Delta outbreak, currently has around 3% of its adult population vaccinated.
Solomon Islands is predicted to have just 23% of its adult population vaccinated by the end of the year, with Vanuatu predicted to have just 29% of adults fully vaccinated.
See the full story here:
Updated
Summary
Here’s a summary of the main developments so far today:
- The health secretary Sajid Javid has warned that racial bias in medical devices, such as oximeters, may have caused unnecessary deaths from Covid. The issue will be investigated as part of a review Javid ordered into systemic racism and bias in medical devices, procedures and textbooks.
- Javid has ruled out introducing mandatory Covid vaccination in the UK, as the government in Austria has imposed. He told the BBC: “We are fortunate in this country, although we have vaccine hesitancy, it’s a lot lower than other countries in Europe. It should be a positive choice”.
- Five police officers were injured and at least 40 people were arrested in anti-lockdown protests in the Netherlands on Saturday. The worst violence occurred in the Hague on Saturday night following what the mayor of Rotterdam described as a “orgy of violence” in the country’s second city on Friday night.
- Bayern Munich have finned unvaccinated players including the German international midfielder Joshua Kimmich. Bayern bosses summoned Kimmich and four other unvaccinated teammates to inform them of a pay cut when they are in isolation because they have not taken the jab.
- From Monday, people aged 40-49 in England will be able to book a Covid jab, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed. Sixteen and 17-year-olds will also be able to book in for their second jab.
- Russia has reported a 1,252 deaths from Covid - following a record 1,254 deaths on Saturday. Russia also reported 36,970 new cases compared to 37,120 on Saturday.
Booster jabs will now show up on the NHS Covid pass, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed.
The NHS COVID Pass has been updated to show #COVID19 booster and third doses for people who are travelling abroad.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) November 21, 2021
You can use the NHS App or website to access your pass 📱
More information: https://t.co/X4DeXtqM2B pic.twitter.com/hOvThIpB5K
The number of arrests of anti-lockdown protesters in the Netherlands on Saturday has reached at least 40, according to Reuters.
Another 13 arrests were reported by police in two towns in the southern province of Limburg, while disturbances were also reported in the northern province of Flevoland.
Eight people were detained in the town of Urk, where a testing station was torched earlier this year.
Dutch police have arrested more than 30 people during anti-lockdown unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands that followed an “ orgy of violence” the previous night, AP reports.
The violence by groups of youths in The Hague and elsewhere Saturday night wasn’t as serious as Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on rampaging rioters and arrested 51 people.
Police said Sunday that they arrested 19 people in The Hague and used a water cannon to extinguish a fire on a street.
Two football matches in the country’s top professional league were briefly halted when fans — banned from matches under a partial lockdown in force in the Netherlands for a week — broke into stadiums in the towns of Alkmaar and Almelo.
In The Hague, police said five officers were injured as they tried to break up unrest by a group of youths who set at least two fires on streets and threw fireworks. Police said in a tweet that one rioter threw a rock at an ambulance carrying a patient to a hospital.
In the southern towns of Roermond and Stein, police said they arrested a total of 13 people for setting fires and throwing fireworks, and in the fishing village of Urk police arrested eight people for public order offenses, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.
Officers in Rotterdam arrested 51 people, about half of them minor, police said Saturday afternoon. One police officer was hospitalized with a leg injury sustained in the rioting, another was treated by ambulance staff and “countless” others suffered minor injuries.
Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb called the rioting in his city an “orgy of violence” and said that “on a number of occasions the police felt it necessary to draw their weapons to defend themselves.”
Coronavirus vaccines might have prevented around 300,000 deaths in the UK, a scientist who helped create the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab has said.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard told the BBC’s Andrew Marr:
We have, with the Oxford vaccine, got to two billion doses. But if you look at all the developers, we’re at 7.6 billion doses out there.
Without those 7.6 billion doses globally, we’d be in a very different situation.
So if we just look at the UK, the predictions last year were that there would be between 300,000 and 500,000 deaths.
And actually when you look at the data on lives saved so far this year, we’re actually not far off to actually think that that is the right number, that we might have been at around about 300,000 deaths by now without a vaccine.
Pollard also called for more vaccine for lower income countries.
He said:
If your phone today was at about 75% charged, and mine was at 5%, I think it would be easy to work out who should get the phone charger. It should be me.
And of course, that’s where we are today. We’ve got around about 75% of the whole population here in the UK vaccinated. In low income countries we’re still at 5%.
So we really do need to get doses to those populations.
And Pollard reckons it is “unlikely: the UK will see a sharp rise in Covid cases in the UK over the next few months.
On Covid, Professor Sir Andrew Pollard says "it’s unlikely that we’re going to see a very sharp rise in the next few months"
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 21, 2021
The Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group says the UK is "already ahead" of Europe, which is battling a fresh Covid wavehttps://t.co/zuCiDIQRUQ #Marr pic.twitter.com/Q8X3l9NV29
Updated
Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have finned unvaccinated players including the Germany-capped midfielder Joshua Kimmich, AFP reports citing Bild am Sonntag.
Kimmich was sent into a second round of isolation on Friday because of a new coronavirus exposure. He had just been released on Tuesday from quarantine arising from contact with team-mate Niklas Suele who tested positive last week.
Kimmich, 26, has sparked a debate in Germany since revealing he opted not to be vaccinated due to “personal concerns”.
Bayern bosses reportedly summoned him and four other unvaccinated teammates on Thursday to inform them of the pay cut when they are in isolation because they have not taken the jab, Bild said, quoting unnamed sources from the team.
Under new rules taking effect from 1 November, employees who miss work because of a quarantine are no longer entitled to receive compensation if they are unvaccinated.
Besides Kimmich, his teammates Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Michael Cuisance are also unvaccinated, Bild said.
For Kimmich, whose annual pay reaches €20m, a week’s quarantine means earning losses of about €384,000.
Javid also told Marr that racial bias in oximeters may have caused unnecessary deaths from Covid.
He said:
What I found is a racial bias in some medical instruments. It is unintentional but it exists and oximeters is a really good example of that.
If I had a pulse oximeter here right now, [and if] you use it, it is going to give an accurate reading. [If] I put my finger in it, it is to more likely to give an inaccurate reading. That cannot be acceptable at any level.
Marr asked whether people have died of such inaccurate readings.
Javid said: “I think possibly Yes. I don’t have the full facts.”
He added:
A lot of these medical devices – [and] there are even some of drugs and procedures and the textbooks – most of them are put together in majority white countries. And I think this is a systemic issue.
A third of the people in ICU units from Covid were for black minority ethnic backgrounds, double the representation in the general population. I want to make sure that we do something about it.
There’s more here about the review:
No mandatory jabs in the UK
The health secretary Sajid Javid says he would never accept mandatory Covid vaccination in the UK.
Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show whether the UK would follow Austria’s example of making jabs compulsory, Javid said no.
He added: “We are fortunate in this country, although we have vaccine hesitancy, it’s a lot lower than other countries in Europe. It should be a positive choice”.
Javid’s comments came as over-40s were told they could book their booster jab from Monday. Children aged 16 and 17 can also book their second vaccine dose.
Updated
From Monday, people aged 40-49 in England will be able to book a Covid jab, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed. Sixteen and 17-year-olds will also be able to book in for their second jab.
Taking up the offer of a second or third dose will help protect the progress of the vaccine rollout in the face of waning immunity, and mean people can “enjoy Christmas safely”, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Jabs should help to keep the coronavirus surge seen in parts of Europe “at bay”, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said.
People eligible for a booster can get the top-up jab from six months after having their second dose.
But they can book their appointment from 7am on Monday when the National Booking Service opens for people aged 40 and over, as well as for young people aged 16 and 17 in England.
Almost 200,000 teenagers in this category are currently eligible for a second jab, NHS England said.
It added that almost 500,000 people aged in their 40s are currently eligible for a booster, having had a second jab at least six months ago.
Bookings can be made online or by calling 119.
From tomorrow, people aged 40-49 will be able to book an appointment online for the #COVID19 booster.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) November 21, 2021
If it's been five months since your second dose, you'll be able to book your booster for when you reach six months.
More 👇
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, has warned the NHS is under “an unprecedented degree of pressure for this time of year.”
Speaking to Sky News he pointed out that we have yet to reach the traditional winter peak in early to mid January. He said:
We simply don’t know how many people who didn’t come forward during Covid-19, during the pandemic, will actually come forward, and therefore we are in a bit of a guessing game about exactly how many.
But the bit I can assure you is that NHS staff and NHS leaders are working incredibly hard at the moment to create that plan to ensure that we can get through that backlog as quickly as possible.
Chief Executive of NHS providers Chris Hopson says it's a "guessing game" as to how many people will be on the NHS waiting list due to #COVID19, but NHS staff are 'working incredibly hard' to get through the backlog.#Phillips https://t.co/8qUl0uQUUJ pic.twitter.com/ZC39Msx0Sk
— Trevor Phillips on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) November 21, 2021
Earlier, Javid revealed there are 5.9 million people currently waiting for elective procedures on the NHS waiting list. He conceded that this figure “will go up before it comes down” because up to 9 million people stayed away during the height of the pandemic.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid says there are 5.9 million people currently waiting for elective procedures on the NHS waiting list, adding the number of people waiting "will go up before it comes down".#Phillips https://t.co/8qUl0uQUUJ pic.twitter.com/ci2DhHYVMq
— Trevor Phillips on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) November 21, 2021
Updated
The government has launched an investigation into one of the NHS’s main suppliers of personal protective equipment over its alleged use of forced labour.
Officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are investigating Supermax, which won a £316m contract for 88.5m rubber gloves as the Covid pandemic began to unfold.
Last month the US forbade the Malaysian company from selling its products there after an inquiry found “ample evidence” that it had used forced labour in the manufacture of its rubber gloves. Customs officers were told to seize any disposable gloves made by Supermax as part of a government order banning the import into the US of any goods made by forced labour.
The UK government has instigated its own inquiry after Jeremy Purvis, a Liberal Democrat peer, demanded scrutiny of Supermax and action to ensure that products made using modern slavery are not used in Britain.
Read the full story here:
Five police officers injured in Netherlands unrest
Five police officers were injured in the Netherlands and at least 28 people detained across three provinces as violent protests against Covid restrictions continued for a second night, Reuters reports.
Dutch authorities used water canon, dogs and mounted police to stop rioting youths who set fires and threw fireworks in the worst disturbances since a full lockdown led to widespread disorder and more than 500 arrests in January.
The latest unrest began on Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on a crowd that had swelled to hundreds during a protest the city’s mayor said had turned into “an orgy of violence”.
Three people believed to be hit by police bullets remained in hospital on Sunday, a statement by the authorities said.
The protests were sparked by opposition to government plans to restrict use of a national corona pass to people who have either recovered from Covid or have been vaccinated, excluding those with a negative test result.
The Netherlands reimposed some lockdown measures on its 17.5 million population last weekend for an initial three weeks in an effort to slow a resurgence of the virus, but daily infections have remained at their highest levels since the start of the pandemic.
Youths were also angered by a New Year’s Eve firework ban to avoid added pressure on hospitals that have already been forced to scale back care.
Some of the most serious confrontations on Saturday night were in The Hague, where five officers were hurt, one of them seriously, a police statement said. Police carried out charges on horseback and arrested seven people, one of them for throwing a rock through the windshield of a passing ambulance.
Another 13 arrests were reported by police in two towns in the southern province of Limburg, while disturbances were also reported in the northern province of Flevoland.
Eight people were detained in the town of Urk, where a testing station was torched earlier this year.
Russia has reported a 1,252 deaths from Covid - following a record 1,254 deaths on Saturday. The death toll from Covid in Russia now stands at 264,095 people.
Russia also reported 36,970 new cases compared to 37,120 on Saturday.
В России за сутки выявили 36 970 случаев COVID-19. Умерли 1252 человека, 32 504 пациента выписали https://t.co/hHs1FWKQAU pic.twitter.com/ZfgVZccyPz
— РИА Новости (@rianru) November 21, 2021
Javid also said England is “firmly” sticking with it current Plan A for tackling Covid and suggested moving to Plan B involving working from home, vaccine passports and mandatory masks was unlikely.
He said:
If we needed to take further measures with Plan B then we would do so but we’re not at that point.
The package that we’ve set out in plan A and making sure that we’ve got contingency measures in place the so called Plan B has been proven to be the right path.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has confirmed plans to the review racial bias of pulse oximeters - medical devices that measure oxygen levels crucial to treating Covid.
Speaking to Sky News, Javid said false readings for people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds have been known for sometime.
He said: “What really got me was this was already known, there are research papers already on this, and we don’t do anything about it.”
He added:
It’s a systemic issue potentially with medical devices and it may go even further than that with medical textbooks.”
This particular issue about racial bias in medical instruments is global. These oximeters are being used across the world. They all have the same problem.
Britain is in a place to take some leadership on this.
'There may actually be a systemic racial bias' in health services across the world, says health secretary Sajid Javid, as he launches a review into possible racial bias in medical equipment.
— Trevor Phillips on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) November 21, 2021
He adds 'of course we can trust the NHS'.#Phillips https://t.co/8qUl0uQUUJ pic.twitter.com/dCXMf42XX2
Updated
Stopping “dangerous” crowding in emergency departments should be the government’s number one priority in hospitals as pressures mount on the NHS throughout winter, a health executive has warned.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s chief executive, Gordon Miles, issued his warning after a report found thousands of deaths were caused by crowding in emergency departments.
Dr Miles said demand and capacity in emergency care are “severely mismatched”.
In a letter to the Sunday Times he added:
Emergency departments now sustain other parts of the healthcare system and are the first port of call for many patients, despite not always being the most appropriate place to receive care.
There is an urgent need to plan for our future healthcare requirements - and eliminating dangerous crowding in emergency departments must be the number one priority.
The college’s report published days earlier suggests at least 4,519 patients died as a result of crowding and 12-hour stays in A&E departments in England in 2020-2021.
It said the discovery adds to NHS England’s own findings that one in 67 patients staying in the emergency department for 12 hours comes to excess harm.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across Europe and Australia as anger mounted over fresh Covid restrictions imposed against a resurgent pandemic, according to a roundup by AFP.
And Dutch police faced a second night of rioting - this time in The Hague - after the previous night’s violence in the port city of Rotterdam.
Clashes erupted after a day of mainly peaceful protests elsewhere in the Netherlands, with rioters throwing stones and fireworks at police and setting fire to bicycles. Several people were arrested.
Europe is battling a fresh wave of infections and several countries have tightened curbs, with Austria on Friday announcing a nationwide partial lockdown - the most dramatic restrictions in Western Europe for months.
The Netherlands went back into partial lockdown last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs, and is now planning to ban unvaccinated people from entering some venues, the so-called 2G option.
Several thousand protesters angry at the latest measures gathered in Amsterdam. Another thousand marched through the southern city of Breda near the Belgian border, carrying banners with slogans such as “No Lockdown”.
Organisers said they opposed Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s plans to exclude the unvaccinated from bars and restaurants.
“People want to live, that’s why we’re here,” said organiser Joost Eras.
But “we’re not rioters. We come in peace,” he said, distancing himself from the chaos the previous night in Rotterdam, in which police said they had fired both warning and targeted shots and used water cannon.
In Austria, around 40,000 came out to protest in central Vienna near the Chancellery, responding to a call from the far-right FPO party.
They held up banners decrying “Corona dictatorship” and slamming the “division of society”.
“It’s not normal that the government deprives us of our rights,” said 42-year-old teacher Katarina Gierscher, who travelled for six hours to attend the rally.
Some protesters wore a yellow star reading the words “not vaccinated”, a nod to the Star of David many Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi era.
Austria’s Interior Minister Karl Nehammer expressed his outrage, saying in a statement that it “insults the millions of victims of the Nazi dictatorship and their families”.
From Monday, 8.9 million Austrians will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise. The restrictions will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days.
Vaccination against Covid-19 in the Alpine nation will be mandatory from February 1 next year.
Thousands also marched in Croatia’s capital Zagreb and in Denmark, around a thousand people protested against government plans to reinstate a Covid pass for civil servants going to work.
“Freedom for Denmark,” cried some of the marchers at a rally in Copenhagen organised by the radical Men in Black group, who believe Covid-19 is just a “scam”.
In Australia around 10,000 marched in Sydney and there were also protests in other major cities against vaccine mandates applied to certain occupations by state authorities.
“In Australia where a fanatical cult runs our health bureaucracies, they say it’s OK” to vaccinate children, right-wing politician Craig Kelly told the Sydney crowd to large cheers.
On Saturday, France dispatched dozens of elite forces to its Caribbean island of Guadeloupe after arson and looting overnight in the overseas territory, despite a newly imposed night curfew.
Welcome to a Sunday edition of our coronavirus live blog covering the latest on the outbreak in the UK and across the world.
These are the main developments overnight:
- Dutch police faced a second night of anti-lockdown rioting. Unrest in The Hague follows a previous night’s violence in the port city of Rotterdam.
- Sajid Javid has commissioned a review into possible racial and gender bias in medical devices as he vowed to “close the chasms that the pandemic has exposed”.
- Bookings for coronavirus booster jabs are opening this week for people aged 40 and over in England. And 16 and 17-year-olds will also be able to book in for their second jab from Monday.
- The United Nations has urged China to release a citizen journalist jailed for her coverage of the country’s Covid-19 response and who her family say is close to death after a hunger strike.
