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Summary
- Switzerland has narrowly voted in favour of banning people from covering their face completely on the street, in shops and restaurants. Face coverings worn for health and safety reasons are exempt from the ban.
- North Macedonia received its first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccines on Sunday, after beginning its vaccine rollout last month.
- France has donated 15,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to Slovakia as the country battles against the world’s highest coronavirus mortality rate.
- A “small number” arrests have been made after Rangers football fans gathered in Glasgow to celebrate their team winning the Scottish Premiership, police have confirmed.
- More than a thousand clubbers in Amsterdam were given a short break from lockdown as part of a trial investigating how large events can operate safely amid the pandemic.
- The UK has reported a further 82 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total to 124,501. This compares with 144 last Sunday, and is the first time fatalities have dropped below triple digits since October.
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Mexico’s health ministry has reported 2,734 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and 247 further fatalities, bringing the total tally to 2,128,600 infections and 190,604 deaths, Reuters reports.
- A German MP has announced his resignation after it was revealed that his company had made hundreds of thousands through deals to procure face masks.
- Police used tear gas against protesters in Athens on Sunday night after footage of an officer beating a man during a coronavirus lockdown patrol went viral.
Police used tear gas against protesters in Athens demonstrating against police violence on Sunday after footage of an officer beating a man during a coronavirus lockdown patrol went viral.
Around 500 people gathered at Nea Smyrni square in the southern Athens suburbs to demonstrate against the beating that took place at the same spot earlier in the day, AFP reports.
Videos showed a police officer hitting a young man, who could be heard screaming “I’m in pain”, with a baton at the square.
Police said they had sent a motorcycle patrol to the square “in order to perform checks on the application of measures to prevent and limit the spread of the coronavirus”.
The officer filmed beating a civilian will face an internal inquiry, police said in a statement.
The opposition condemned it as an unprovoked act of police brutality.
The country has a government that has totally lost control of the pandemic, and the only thing it knows how to do, according to the plan, is to use a heavy hand,” said ex-premier Alexis Tsipras of the leftwing Syriza party.
Government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni said the government was “trying, with the support of the people, to get the country out of this unprecedented health crisis with the least possible losses”.
Updated
A German MP has announced his resignation after it was revealed that his company had made hundreds of thousands through deals to procure face masks, according to a report in Deutsche Welle.
Nikolas Löbel, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, said that he would step down as a representative at the end of August and immediately leave his party’s parliamentary group.
Löbel’s firm earned about €250,000 by brokering contracts for face masks between a supplier in the state of Baden-Württemberg and two companies in Mannheim and Heidelberg.
“I take responsibility for my actions and draw the necessary political consequences,” he said.
The UK government’s scheme for helping disadvantaged pupils catch up after the disruption of coronavirus is chaotic and confusing, headteachers have told the Guardian, ahead of Monday’s full reopening of schools across England.
As Boris Johnson promised that schools “are ready” for the mass return, wider efforts to assist students after the pandemic remain in flux, with the head of Ofsted casting doubt on plans proposed by Gavin Williamson, the education secretary.
Williamson said he wanted a “transformative” moment for English schools, on a scale last seen following the second world war, mentioning ideas such as longer school days and a move to a five-term academic year as means to help pupils regain lost ground.
But Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of Ofsted, the English schools watchdog, expressed some scepticism, warning that any changes must be supported by evidence and have the backing of parents.
Read Sally Weale and Peter Walker’s full report here:
France has donated 15,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to Slovakia as the country battles against the world’s highest coronavirus mortality rate, AFP reports.
The Slovak prime minister, Igor Matovic, described the Oxford-AstraZeneca doses as a “very kind and useful gift” and a “great gesture of friendship”, at a press briefing with French ambassador Christophe Leonzi, local press agency TASR reported.
The nation of 5.4 million people has registered an average of 24.09 deaths per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days – the highest rate in the world.
The country’s health ministry announced on Sunday that it had detected the South African strain of Covid-19 in seven samples taken in the country.
Updated
A crowd of football fans have gathered on Belfast’s Shankill Road to celebrate Rangers winning the Scottish Premiership despite a ban on public gatherings.
The fans came out despite strict rules aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus imposed since December in Northern Ireland, PA reports.
Welcome to the Party on Belfast's Shankill Road! 🇬🇧🏆5️⃣5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/RaephFvwOo
— Rangers FC & Linfield FC (@bluesbrothers86) March 7, 2021
Earlier, the Police Service of Northern Ireland tweeted urging fans to celebrate safely:
We would encourage anyone intending to celebrate today’s Scottish Premier League result, to do so at home safely and within the current health regulations.
Mexico’s health ministry has reported 2,734 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and 247 further fatalities, bringing the total tally to 2,128,600 infections and 190,604 deaths, Reuters reports.
Health officials have said the real number of infected people and deaths in Mexico is likely significantly higher than the official count because of a lack of wide-scale testing.
UK reports 82 further deaths – lowest count since October
The UK has reported a further 82 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total to 124,501. This compares with 144 last Sunday, and is the first time fatalities have dropped below triple digits since October.
There was a delay in publishing the daily fatality figures, which normally come out at 4pm GMT. You can see the day’s case figures here – at 5,177 the daily count was the lowest it’s been since September.
The seven-day rolling average, which evens out reporting irregularities in the daily figures, shows that deaths are down by 34.8% compared with the previous week (22 - 28 February).
North Macedonia received its first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccines on Sunday, after beginning its vaccine rollout last month.
An initial 3,000 of the 200,000 doses arrived in the the Balkan country after it approved the jab for emergency use, Reuters reports.
“All these 3,000 doses will be used as the first vaccine, to inoculate elderly citizens with chronic diseases and senior citizens in nursing homes,” health minister Venko Filipce said in a statement posted to Facebook.
The country began inoculating health workers last month after Serbia donated 4,680 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech. It has also ordered 200,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine but shipments have not arrived yet.
The country is also due to receive 800,000 doses of various vaccines and another 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot under the Covax scheme led by the World Health Organisation and Gavi vaccine alliance.
Updated
More than a thousand clubbers in Amsterdam were given a short break from lockdown as part of a trial investigating how large events can operate safely amid the pandemic.
The Ziggo Dome, the largest music arena in the Dutch capital, was opened to 1,300 people for four hours on Saturday.
Those participating were traced in all their movements and contacts through a tag, as part of an effort to examine how events may safely be opened up for the public again. They had been divided into five “bubbles” of 250 people, plus one of 50, each of which had to comply with different rules.
Full report by Daniel Boffey here:
Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom have administered the highest number of vaccine doses per capita globally.
In Israel, 99.88 doses have been given per 100 people, while in the UAE the figure is 63.35. In the UK, 33.71 shots have been administered for every 100 residents, according to ourworldindata.org.
The figure includes first and second doses.
Updated
The top infectious disease expert in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, has warned it is too early to end Covid-19 restrictions, despite Texas and Mississippi having lifted mask mandates and business capacity limits this week.
States are easing restrictions after a drop in cases, though that decline is starting to plateau at a high rate of 60,000 to 70,000 infections per day.
“We’re going in the right direction but we just need to hang on a bit longer,” Fauci said on Sunday, to CBS’s Face the Nation.
The United States has administered 90,351,750 Covid-19 vaccines as of Sunday morning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, including both first and second doses.
This is a rise of 2,439,427 on the previous day’s count, and is made up of both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, according to Reuters.
The agency of the total number, 30,686,881 people have received a second dose as of Sunday.
A total of 7,389,102 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.
A “small number” arrests have been made after Rangers football fans gathered in Glasgow to celebrate their team winning the Scottish Premiership, police have confirmed.
Police Scotland’s Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland said:
We are continuing to police the ongoing gatherings of football supporters in both George Square and outside Ibrox stadium today.
Public safety remains our utmost priority and I would again remind fans that, in line with the current Scottish government coronavirus guidelines, all gatherings are currently restricted.
Officers have made a small number of arrests and issued fixed penalty notices for breaches of the coronavirus restrictions, minor incidents of disorder and the use of pyrotechnic devices.
Nicola Sturgeon congratulated the team for its win but warned that gatherings could delay the easing of lockdown.
I congratulate @RangersFC on the title win & recognise what a moment this is for fans. But gathering in crowds just now risks lives, and could delay exit from lockdown for everyone else. If those gathering care at all about the safety of others & the country, they will go home. https://t.co/MjzJJEhhsd
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) March 7, 2021
Switzerland will follow France, Belgium and Austria after narrowly voting in a referendum to ban women from wearing the burqa or niqab in public spaces.
Just over 51% of Swiss voters cast their ballots in favour of the initiative to ban people from covering their face completely on the street, in shops and restaurants.
Full facial veils will still be allowed to be worn inside places of prayer and for “native customs”, such as carnival.
Face coverings worn for health and safety reasons are also exempt from the ban, meaning face masks worn because of the Covid-19 pandemic will not be affected by the new law.
Summary of recent developments
- The UK has reported its lowest number since late September, with 5,177 new lab-confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday, compared with 6,035 cases last Sunday.
- Israel has almost emerged from its Covid closures, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on the campaign trail, declared on Sunday, as restaurants reopened.
- Norway will probably need tougher restrictions to curb the latest surge in coronavirus cases, minister Erna Solberg said in a televised speech on Sunday.
- Italy reported 21,144 further cases and 207 fatalities on Sunday, according to the country’s health ministry – a rise from 17,440 new infections and 192 deaths a week ago. Newspapers are reporting that the government is considering imposing the strictest Covid-19 curbs on regions with more than 250 weekly virus cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
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Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday.
- A 61-year-old woman has been issued with a £10,000 fine for organising a protest in Manchester against the proposed 1% pay rise for nurses and other NHS staff members.
Norway will probably need tougher restrictions to curb the latest surge in coronavirus cases, minister Erna Solberg said in a televised speech on Sunday.
Ahead of us is another hill to climb, probably with tighter national measures before we can ease and then lift the restrictions,” Solberg said in comments reported by Reuters.
She did not specify which new restrictions could be introduced.
Municipalities with low infection rates are split over new measures to bring down cases, Norway Today reports, with several areas against the introduction of national restrictions. However, some regions with low rates that are near virus hotspots have backed nationwide measures.
Although the Nordic country has kept its infection rates at some of the lowest levels in Europe, there are concerns that a third wave may be incoming.
In the capital region, where the more transmissible variant first identified in the UK now dominates, non-essential retail is already closed, restaurants can only offer takeaways and some schools are shut.
By 4 March, almost 377,600 people had received a first dose and nearly 200,700 had also received a second dose in the nation of 5.4 million, according to data from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
Updated
Three-quarters of UK adults think the NHS has been more effective at responding to the pandemic than private companies, a poll has suggested.
Fewer than one in 10 (9%) said they thought private companies have been more effective, a survey commissioned by campaign groups We Own It and Keep Our NHS Public showed. The survey included more than 1,000 people.
We Own It campaigns officer Pascale Robinson said:
“This poll shows what campaigners and the public health community have been saying throughout this pandemic.
“The response to Covid is best managed by people who know what they’re doing and have decades of experience working in public health, not by outsourcing companies.”
Which most effective at handling the response to the pandemic?
— Survation. (@Survation) March 7, 2021
NHS/local public health teams 75%
Private companies 9%
1,002 people, for @We_OwnIt , 18+, UK, online panel 23rd-25th February 2021. pic.twitter.com/nDdDWVfqKw
Dr John Puntis, co-chairman of Keep Our NHS Public, said:
“This result just goes to show that it is the work of the NHS that is rightly favoured by the British public, and indeed, it is here where the public have seen the most benefit by far.”
Italy reported 21,144 further cases and 207 fatalities on Sunday, according to the country’s health ministry – a rise from 17,440 new infections and 192 deaths a week ago.
The country has the second highest death toll in Europe, after the UK, recording 99,785 deaths connected to Covid-19 since its outbreak began in February last year. Italy has reported 3.07 million cases to date, Reuters reports.
Updated
A 61-year-old woman has been issued with a £10,000 fine for organising a protest in Manchester against the proposed 1% pay rise for nurses and other NHS staff members.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the demonstration breached Covid-19 rules on public gatherings, PA reports.
A 65-year-old woman also arrested at the protest at midday on Sunday after refusing to leave the gathering and not providing her details when asked. She was then de-arrested after giving her details to police and received a £200 fine.
The protest follows anger from unions and Labour at the proposed wage increase, with the Royal College of Nursing preparing for strike action. An analysis by the TUC has found that under the proposed 1% rise, affected NHS workers could effectively take home less pay than in 2010.
Superintendent Caroline Hemingway, of GMP, said:
“With the positive step of schools reopening tomorrow, it is vital that people continue to follow government legislation on social distancing and avoid gathering illegally in large numbers.
“Regardless of one’s sympathies for a protest’s cause, we would ask the public to maintain social distancing and follow legislation to prevent a rise in infections and provide the best possible chance of a further easing of restrictions in the weeks to come.
“We sought to engage with and peaceably disperse those attending this afternoon’s protest, explaining that the gathering was in contravention of government lockdown rules.
“Unfortunately officers were met with a degree of non-compliance and it was therefore necessary to issue fixed penalty notices.”
Updated
France’s vaccine rollout has begun to gather speed, with thousands attending appointments at vaccination centres on Sunday.
Although the country’s inoculation drive got off to a slow start, some 220,000 people received a shot on Saturday – more than twice as many as last week, Reuters reports.
So far, around 3.58 million of France’s 67 million people have received a first doses compared to neighbouring Britain, which is approaching 23 million. France continues to see new cases averaging at around 23,000 a day.
France is aiming to administer 10 million first-round doses by mid-April and 30 million by the summer, meaning it needs to vaccinate 200,000 people a day to reach its targets.
It’s unclear whether France will be able to procure enough doses quickly enough to avoid another lockdown.
“We can only hope that in four weeks, the government can give us the same allocations for the second injection, but we don’t know. We’re navigating without a clear roadmap. We do what we can,” Ariel Weil, Socialist mayor for four central Paris districts told Reuters.
Updated
UK reports 5,177 new cases
There have been a further 5,177 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data – compared with 6,035 cases last Sunday. This is the lowest number reported since late September.
A cumulative total of 4,218,520 people have tested positive since the pandemic began.
The seven-day rolling average, which evens out reporting irregularities in the daily figures, shows that cases are down by 31.3% compared with the previous week (22 - 28 February).
The daily fatality figures have not been published yet. A notice on the government’s dashboard attributes this to processing issues for deaths in England.
There have been 140,062 deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned as a cause on the death certificate, registered up to 19 February.
Sunday figures are often lower because of reporting delays over the weekend.
Hello, I’ll be bringing you the latest updates on the coronavirus crisis for the next few hours. If you’d like to get in touch, my Twitter DMs are open. Thanks in advance.
Updated
Scotland’s justice minister and police have warned Rangers fans not to gather in numbers after their team won the Scottish Premiership title, PA Media reports.
Rangers were crowned Scottish champions - their first title in 10 years - after Celtic were held to a draw with Dundee United.
Groups of fans have already gathered at Ibrox Stadium and set off flares in George Square in Glasgow city centre.
Congratulations to @RangersFC - churlish not to recognise how well they have played this season
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) March 7, 2021
I understand Rangers fans will be desperate to celebrate but please remember you must stay at home. No mass gatherings are allowed. We cannot risk any further spread of the virus.
Ch Supt Mark Sutherland, divisional commander for Greater Glasgow Division, said:
We are aware of proposed gatherings in both George Square and outside Ibrox stadium. In line with current Scottish Government coronavirus guidelines, all gatherings are currently prohibited and we would urge members of the public to comply with these restrictions.
Updated
Scotland has recorded 390 positive Covid tests in the past day, Scottish government figures indicate.
No deaths have been recorded and the death toll under the daily measure - of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days - remains at 7,421.
Three more people who tested positive for coronavirus in Northern Ireland have died, according to the Department of Health:
The Department of Health #COVID19 dashboard has been updated.
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) March 7, 2021
138 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Sadly, 3 further deaths have been reported.https://t.co/1T7yam4O9f pic.twitter.com/uucZ5oCijZ
Reuters reports:
Covid-19 insurance policies are increasingly joining passports and sunscreen as vacation staples, creating opportunities for insurers as more countries require mandatory coverage in case visitors fall ill from the coronavirus.
Airline bookings are on the rise in some regions, driving cautious hopes of a revival in summer traffic, but also raising fears among tourist destinations of getting hit with bills should vacationers become stranded by the virus.
More than a dozen countries from Aruba to Thailand require Covid-19 coverage for visitors, with Jordan the latest to consider such protections, organizers of an emergency services plan told Reuters.
The UK must brace for a “hard winter” as the population immunity to respiratory viruses other than Covid-19 may be lower than usual, one of England’s leading medics has warned.
Dr Susan Hopkins said the NHS must be “ready” for surges in flu and other similar illnesses (see her earlier comments here).
She told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show:
I think we have to prepare for a hard winter, not only with coronavirus, but we’ve had a year of almost no respiratory viruses of any other type. And that means, potentially the population immunity to that is less. So we could see surges in flu. We could see surges in other respiratory viruses and other respiratory pathogens.
The comments come ahead of England’s first step towards easing lockdown, with all pupils returning to school on Monday.
Updated
Joe Biden hails Senate passage of ‘desperately needed’ $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill – video
Updated
In Italy, newspapers are reporting that the government is considering imposing the strictest Covid-19 curbs on regions with more than 250 weekly virus cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Italy has established a four-tier colour-coded system (white, yellow, orange and red) with curbs calibrated according to the infection levels and revised every week, Reuters reports.
On Sunday it was reported that the government is now considering automatically turning regions into red zones if the threshold of 250 weekly virus cases per 100,000 inhabitants is breached.
Possible measures from mid-March include making the entire country a red zone for three or four weeks, La Repubblica said.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza told Il Corriere della Sera:
The second wave never stopped, we’re seeing a very strong pickup due to the variants, which is leading us to take measures that are ever-more restrictive.
Asked whether the government would introduce a national lockdown at least at weekends, and a stricter curfew, he said:
It’s clear that we will monitor the epidemiological situation, adapting the measures in the light of the variants.
Italy reported 307 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday and 23,641 new infections. The country has registered 99,578 deaths linked to Covid-19, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain.
Updated
A further 90 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 84,366, NHS England said on Sunday.
Patients were aged between 34 and 97. All except three, aged between 54 and 87, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths were between January 17 and March 6, with the majority being on or after March 3.
There were 20 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
Updated
The UK government has tried to give NHS staff “as much as we possibly can” after recommending a 1% pay rise, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said (see earlier post for more details).
During a visit to a vaccination centre in Brent, north London, Johnson told broadcasters:
I’m massively grateful to all NHS staff and indeed to social care workers who have been heroic throughout the pandemic. What we have done is try to give them as much as we can at the present time. The independent pay review body will obviously look at what we’ve proposed and come back. Don’t forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze, we’re in pretty tough times.
The comments come after the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, suggested the government would turn to public sector cutbacks to claw back pandemic spending through a “a period of restraint”.
Updated
This just in from AFP:
VIDEO: 🇪🇹 #Ethiopia has received its first 2.2 million doses of #COVID19 vaccine -- #AstraZeneca jabs manufactured by the Serum Institute of India -- and officials in Africa's second most populous country say the first will be administered to health workers #COVAX pic.twitter.com/iIzGicVazF
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 7, 2021
As the UK’s vaccine rollout enters its next phase, research has found that one in 10 Britons of colour would refuse to have the jab.
The study by YouGov explored attitudes towards the vaccine and showed that 10% of BAME people say they would not get vaccinated, a figure which rises to 18% among Pakistanis and 19% among black people.
Read the exclusive story here first:
Updated
Update from earlier post: Swiss voters look set to approve the proposal to ban facial coverings, projections for broadcaster SRF based on partial results in Sunday’s national referendum indicated.
Projections showed the measure passing 51% to 49%, with a two-point margin for error.
Updated
Austria suspends AstraZeneca Covid vaccine batch after death
Reuters reports:
Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday.
“The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) has received two reports in a temporal connection with a vaccination from the same batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the district clinic of Zwettl” in Lower Austria province, it said.
One 49-year-old woman died as a result of severe coagulation disorders, while a 35-year-old woman developed a pulmonary embolism and is recovering, it said. A pulmonary embolism is an acute lung disease caused by a dislodged blood clot.
“Currently there is no evidence of a causal relationship with the vaccination,” BASG said.
Austrian newspaper Niederoesterreichische Nachrichten as well as broadcaster ORF and the APA news agency reported that the women were both nurses who worked at the Zwettl clinic.
Updated
In Australia, women were hit by a “triple whammy” during the Covid induced recession, with new findings revealing they were more likely to lose their jobs and do a lot more unpaid work, Guardian Australia’s political editor Katharine Murphy reports:
Israel's Covid curbs are nearly over, Netanyahu says
Israel has almost emerged from its Covid closures, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on the campaign trail, declared on Sunday, as restaurants reopened.
“Restaurants are coming back to life,” Netanyahu said after he and Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion clinked mugs and tucked into pastries outside at a park cafe.
“We still have to watch ourselves, we have to wear masks, keep distances that people require, social distances - but we’re coming out of it, and there’s not much more,” he told Reuters.
With 53% of Israelis having received at least one dose of the Pfizer Inc vaccine, according to health ministry data, the government has been gradually reopening businesses, schools and the country’s main airport with caps on capacity.
Some leisure venues have limited access to customers who can prove Covid immunity with a so-called “Green Pass” issued by the health ministry, in what officials hope will win over Israelis still reluctant to get vaccinated.
But some health experts warned rising contagions could trigger another lockdown- a possible dampener for Netanyahu ahead of the 23 March ballot.
Updated
Dance music lovers in Amsterdam were offered a short relief from lockdown on Saturday, as they were treated to their first live show in over a year as part of a research project.
1,300 people were allowed at a test event in Amsterdam’s biggest music hall, the Ziggo Dome, which in normal times has a capacity of up to 17,000, Reuters reports.
While dancing to songs, the fans were followed in all their movements and contacts through a tag they were made to wear, in an effort to see how events might safely be reopened to the public.
All guests needed to test negative for coronavirus 48 hours before the event and were urged to take another test five days afterwards.
Wat een fantastische afsluiter met @SJ_RM 😍 Niet te omschrijven hoe goed dit weer voelde vandaag in de #ZiggoDome🧡Zo leek het in het publiek ook, wij hoorde geen verschil tussen deze 1300 fans t.o.v. anders 17.000😂Wij kunnen niet wachten tot morgen! #BackToLive 📸 @DammanPhoto pic.twitter.com/zUOMnReloC
— Ziggo Dome (@ZiggoDome) March 6, 2021
Updated
The UK government is facing fresh warnings of a staff “exodus” and a waiting list crisis if it presses ahead with a controversial 1% pay rise for NHS workers.
PA Media reports:
The Unite union, which has more than 100,000 members in the health service, said a lack of a decent increase will lead to a shortage of professionals to carry out vital operations.
The latest warning came as controversy continues to swirl over the Government’s recommendation of a 1% pay rise to the independent NHS Pay Review Body.
Ministers have been warned of possible industrial action, while the Unison union is calling on the public to join a nationwide “slow handclap” next Thursday evening to show their anger at the government.
The emergence of new Covid variants should not derail England’s lockdown easing plan over the coming weeks, according to Dr Susan Hopkins, Public Health England’s strategic response director.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Hopkins said:
I think it won’t change it for the next three to five weeks, that would be highly unlikely. We will need to watch it carefully as new strains come into the country from around the world and we will need to be very ready for autumn.
Click through to read a concise explanation on how new Covid variants are tracked and measured:
Today, @d_spiegel and I write about tracking variants:
— Anthony B. Masters (@anthonybmasters) March 7, 2021
1️⃣ Genomic sequencing and variants of concern
2️⃣ Transmissability estimates and dominance of the B.1.1.7 lineage
3️⃣ S-gene target failure as a proxy
The limit is 350 words, so please forgive elision.https://t.co/g65KCxWgYo
Updated
In the UK, the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has confirmed that a change to the summer holidays and longer school days were part of proposals being examined for helping pupils to catch up on lost learning during the pandemic.
Williamson told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday:
There is a whole range of different proposals that we are looking at, whether it is a five-term year, whether it is lengthening the school day. But also measures such as enhancing the support we give to teachers, supporting them in their professional development, making sure they can be the very best of themselves.
The Republic of North Macedonia has approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use against Covid-19, the Russian Direct Investment Fund has said.
Sputnik V has now been approved for use in 46 countries with combined populations of more than 1.2 billion people.
Swiss voters are deciding on a far-right proposal to ban facial coverings, as they take to the polls in a binding referendum viewed as a test of attitudes toward Muslims.
The proposal does not explicitly mention Islam, and also aims to stop violent street protesters from wearing masks, but local politicians, media and campaigners have branded it the burqa ban.
Opinion polls suggest the measure could pass narrowly, meaning the ban would become law.
The proposal predates the pandemic, which has seen all adults forced to wear masks in many settings to prevent the spread of infection.
It gathered the necessary support to trigger a referendum in 2017, Reuters reports.
Updated
This is from the official account of the World Health Organization in Sri Lanka, confirming the country has received the first batch of Covid vaccines from the Covax facility.
The first round of #COVAX vaccines has arrived in #SriLanka! This is an important step in our goal to ensure equitable and fair distribution of #COVID19 #vaccines globally.
— WHO Sri Lanka (@WHOSriLanka) March 7, 2021
Read more here: https://t.co/Itqodh6hyq #COVID19LK #COVID19SL #SriLanka #lka @GotabayaR @PresRajapaksa pic.twitter.com/yTc8yJqz9j
Updated
Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday that China has plans to set up Covid vaccination stations to administer vaccines to Chinese citizens overseas.
Speaking during his annual news conference, he said the program would be made available in countries where conditions permitted, according to Reuters.
Wang said:
We are preparing to set up regional vaccination sites for domestically produced vaccines in countries where conditions permit, to provide services to compatriots in need in neighbouring countries.
Updated
Hi everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. Feel free to drop me a message on Twitter if you have any coverage suggestions or story tips.
That’s all from me - I’m now handing over to my colleague in London, Yohannes Lowe, who will keep you updated for the next few hours.
China is prepared to discuss with other countries procedures for mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccinations, according to the country’s top diplomat State Councillor Wang Yi.
He added that China is ready to work with the International Olympic Committee to help provide vaccines to Olympic athletes, Reuters reported. China, which has developed several vaccines domestically, will host the Winter Olympics in February 2022, with Tokyo scheduled to host the Summer Olympics later this year.
Russia reported 10,595 new Covid-19 cases in Sunday, including 1,534 in Moscow. This takes the national case tally to 4,322,776 since the pandemic began.
The government’s coronavirus taskforce said that 368 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the Russian death toll to 89,094
Carnival is usually the highlight of the year for Cyprus, when residents let loose in colorful costumes, joyfully dancing and celebrating during the island’s biggest annual party scene.
But in the Covid-19 era, the revelry has taken a backseat to lockdowns and bans on public gatherings, according to a report by Associated Press. Although the parade went ahead last year, this year carnival’s floats, huge puppets and other decorations are sitting in warehouses.
Limassol city authorities aren’t letting the festive spirit completely wither away, organizing some events that comply with virus restrictions. The culmination of this is the secret outing of King Carnival, the lead float that marks the season’s annual theme.
Skevi Antoniadou, a city official in charge of organizing the Carnival festivities, said the float, which has an abstract figure frozen in a dancing pose, will make the rounds of Limassol’s main thoroughfares without prior notice to avoid mass gatherings. One excursion on Thursday signaled the start of festivities.
“The message to all is that we’re looking forward to having you back next year, because we’ll bounce back from this even stronger,” Antoniadou said.
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The Germans might be rather slow on administering Covid vaccines to their citizens, writes Jonathan Bouquet, but they’re certainly not hanging about when it comes to coining words to describe elements of the pandemic.
According to a new report from the Leibniz Institute for the German Language, more than 1,200 coronavirus-related words have been added to the language.
And some are absolute zingers. For example, do you sport a Spuckschutzschirm (spit protection umbrella) or do you favour a Gesichtskondom (face condom)? And are you always punctilious in observing Anderthalb-Meter-Gesellschaft (one-and-a-half-metre society)?
It must be such a comfort to the Germans that they can lead the world in one sphere of the Covid crisis even as their leaders exhibit Olympic-standard dithering in delivering the all-important jabs. There’s probably a word for that in German too.
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Australia recorded no new locally-acquired Covid infections on Saturday, its 37th day without any community transmission. Six cases were recorded in hotel quarantine. The national death toll is 909.
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Summary
- In England, the National Health Service has invited people aged 56 to 59 to book Covid-19 vaccinations in the coming week, while schools will reopen on Monday for the first time in two months. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to remain “cautious” in loosening coronavirus restrictions.
- Hundreds of thousands of people in northern France have been placed under lockdown. The residents of Pas-de-Calais on the north coast joined those in the region’s port of Dunkirk – and the Mediterranean resort of Nice – already shut down on Saturdays and Sundays.
- New Zealand’s largest city Auckland has come out of a weeklong lockdown. Restrictions had been imposed following a community cluster of the more contagious UK coronavirus variant. There were no new local Covid-19 cases recorded on Sunday.
- Ireland has reached the milestone of half a million coronavirus jabs administered. The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, hailed progress made fighting the pandemic. He said he was inspired by recent visits to vaccination centres where thousands of frontline healthcare workers are receiving the vaccine doses.
- The Dalai Lama has urged people to be brave and get vaccinated, after he received a shot on Saturday at a hospital in the north Indian hill town of Dharmsala.
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In Vienna, thousands turned out on Saturday to protest against coronavirus restrictions, the latest demonstration opposing the public health measures.
- The US Senate has passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan. The all-night session saw Democrats battling among themselves over jobless aid and the Republican minority failing in attempts to push through some three dozen amendments.
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In the UK, travel agents have seen a big surge in interest and bookings for holidays abroad since Cyprus and Portugal announced last week that they would be open to British tourists this summer.
Most recent holiday bookings are for July and August, however, with a very few in May, which is when Cyprus has said it will start to welcome UK visitors.
“Cyprus has always been a favourite for our customers and we’ve seen a real uptick in bookings,” said a spokesperson for Tui, the package holiday company.
Thomas Cook saw a quarter more searches for Cyprus on Friday than on Thursday and people were spending 40% longer on hotel pages, suggesting they were more likely to book, according to a spokesperson. “So far, Portugal has not had as many bookings as normal. I think we will see an increase in interest this weekend.”
The Cypriot government said on Thursday night that those who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can enter the country without restrictions from 1 May, while on Friday Portugal said those who tested negative or were “immune” could visit.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs to appoint more women to the cabinet after “glaring omissions” were made in areas affecting women during the first lockdown, the former Tory minister Caroline Nokes has said.
“The glaring omission when we went into the first lockdown this time last year was about women and childcare,” Nokes, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, has told Parliamentary Radio for International Women’s Day on Monday.
“Formal childcare settings were shut and informal childcare, granny and grandpa looking after children, was banned. For many women it was not possible to work from home.
“We need government ministers in the cabinet to look at things through a lens that includes women. We are 51% of the electorate - we cannot be forgotten. We don’t have enough women in the cabinet who are shouting out and standing up for women.”
The backbencher, who has previously accused Boris Johnson’s administration of having a “very blokey mentality” wants a “gender-balanced cabinet”.
In Australia, the Queensland government will hand out 15,000 travel vouchers worth up to $200 each in an attempt to stimulate domestic tourism and drive the state’s Covid-19 recovery.
Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced the voucher scheme on Sunday, as the state again recorded no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases.
The vouchers will be able to be used in Queensland’s far north – including the Great Barrier Reef, Port Douglas and Cairns – until the end of June, covering the Easter holidays.
“We know that the people in the far north, especially the tourism industry, are doing it tough,” she told reporters.
“We have decided that we want to make sure that people across Queensland get to enjoy tropical far north Queensland, but most importantly, let’s help people who need help the most.”
“We have decided that we want to make sure that people across Queensland get to enjoy tropical far north Queensland, but most importantly, let’s help people who need help the most.”
People aged 56-59 invited for vaccinations in England
The National Health Service has invited people aged 56 to 59 in England to book Covid-19 vaccinations in the coming week.
“The latest invites have been sent after more than eight in 10 people aged 65 to 69 took up the offer of a jab”, the NHS said in an emailed statement on Sunday.
“NHS staff have vaccinated more than 18 million people across England, meaning more than one third of the adult population have already received the life-saving jab.”
Britain’s medical regulator on Thursday said it would fast-track vaccines for coronavirus variants, adding that makers of already-authorised shots would not need new lengthy clinical trials to prove their adapted vaccines work.
There is concern that some variants, such as those first found in South Africa and Brazil, may reduce the efficacy of the first generation of Covid-19 vaccines, and manufacturers are looking to adapt their shots.
The accelerated process is based on that used for seasonal flu vaccines each year, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said, and would be based on robust evidence that the shots create an immune response, rather than full clinical trials.
AstraZeneca PLC, Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc - makers of the three vaccines the MHRA has approved for use so far - have all said they aim to modify their shots to cope with variants this year. Britain has so far offered shots made by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
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The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 8,103 to 2,500,182, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. The reported death toll rose by 96 to 71,900.
China’s export growth jumped to the highest in over two decades, with imports also surging in a sharp bounceback from the coronavirus outbreak that had brought activity to a near halt, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
Electronics and textile exports such as masks contributed to the spike in outbound shipments, as demand for work-from-home supplies and protective gear against the virus outbreak soared during the pandemic.
Exports spiked 60.6 percent on-year in the January-February period, above analysts’ expectations and boosted by electronics and mask shipments, while imports rose 22.2 percent, official data showed Sunday.
The latest customs figures stand in stark contrast to last year’s fall of around 17 percent in exports and 4 percent drop in imports.
The comparison to last year is also likely to have bolstered the latest figures.
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Britain’s festival directors say musicians and their fans need to be told by the government that they must be vaccinated in order to attend music festivals this summer.
Festival tickets have been selling in record time since the government set out its roadmap to recovery last month, yet these events may still be in jeopardy say many of the 70 independent festival organisers who held an emergency meeting on the subject on Friday.
“A lot of us want to urge government to follow the example set up already in other areas, like travel, where people will have to show vaccination passports,” said Josh Robinson, events director of Hospitality Weekend in the Woods, a drum’n’bass festival set to take over a park in south-east London in September.
Gareth Williams, director of Cropredy, the folk festival hosted by the band Fairport Convention on the borders of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire in mid-August said: “What we really need is for government to say everybody needs a vaccination to get in. We need that clarity, rather than each having to go to people and explain.”
In the US, at least 100 people gathered in front of the Idaho state capitol on Saturday to burn masks, in a protest against measures to limit infections and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Some groups, predominantly rightwing, say mask mandates are a restriction of their freedoms. Health experts say they help slow the spread of the disease.
More than 170,000 Idaho residents have been infected with the virus in the last year and nearly 1,900 have died. Johns Hopkins University puts the US case count at nearly 29m and the death toll at more than 523,000.
Videos posted on social media on Saturday showed adults in Boise encouraging children to toss masks into a fire. One child could be heard to say: “Here fire, you hungry? Here’s another mask.”
A child says “here fire, you hungry? here’s another mask”
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
A mask burning rally in boise, Idaho pic.twitter.com/MqNnaEKBP0
In Australia, the vaccine rollout which began a couple of weeks ago is about to enter a new phase with GPs to take a major role in the delivery.
While the Australian Medical Association says the majority of GPs have put up their hand to participate, there is criticism about insufficient information about how it will work and low payment rates.
The Guardian reported on GPs’ concerns a week ago. And now, the Nine newspapers are reporting one state health minister has called for the federal program to be junked and the process for administering flu vaccines adopted.
“I can’t understand why the normal practice for giving vaccinations, the core business of GPs, has been excluded,” NSW health minister Brad Hazzard reportedly said. “Discussions with state health ministers have indicated that they share my view”.
The Australian government insists everything is on track for the rollout, which aims to vaccinate the country’s adult population by October.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to remain “cautious” in loosening coronavirus restrictions as pupils prepare to return to school for the first time in two months on Monday, according to a report by PA Media.
Boris Johnson hailed the “truly national effort” to reduce coronavirus levels with the country on the cusp of marking the first phase of lockdown easing as classrooms reopen this week.
But, despite an improving picture in terms of declining Covid cases in England, Johnson said he wanted to be careful not to “undo the progress we have made”.
It comes as the vaccine programme continues to accelerate, with people aged between 56 and 59 being invited to book Covid-19 jabs this week. Hundreds of thousands of letters for the age group began landing on doorsteps on Saturday, and the latest round of invites comes after eight in 10 people aged 65-69 took up the offer of a jab, NHS England said.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng provided further optimism when he told The Times it was “possible” the Government will have offered a first dose to all adults by June - a month ahead of the current end of July target.
Across the whole of the UK, more than a million people have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, while almost 21.8 million people have had one dose.
According to the Prime Minister’s road map, the second part of stage one, which will allow outdoor gatherings of either six people or two households, is due on March 29. Shops could open by April 12 and all restrictions could possibly be lifted by June 21.
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Former Australian PM Julia Gillard receives Covid vaccine
Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard has had her coronavirus jab, becoming one of the first in the country to get the Astrazeneca vaccine.
AAP reports Gillard joined Australia’s health minister Greg Hunt and to receive the Astrazeneca vaccine at a Melbourne clinic on Sunday, urging everyone, particularly women, to get the vaccine.
Two weeks ago prime minister Scott Morrison and chief medical officer Paul Kelly were among the first to be vaccinated with the Pfizer jab.
“Me being here today is a visible representation that no matter what side of politics you barrack for, no matter whom you intend to vote for, there is a united message,” Gillard told reporters.
“Please get the vaccine. And particularly to Australian women, can I say, please get the vaccine.
She understands that people might feel a little bit anxious, but recommended they get their information from reliable sources, such as the Australian government or from their local health practitioner.
Over 81,000 Australians have so far been vaccinated with plans to ramp up the rollout over the coming weeks
Auckland emerges from week of lockdown
Auckland has come out of a weeklong lockdown imposed after a community cluster of the more contagious UK coronavirus variant.
There were no new local Covid-19 cases recorded on Sunday, health officials said, allowing for the restrictions to ease. If no community cases are confirmed during the rest of Sunday it would make a full seven days since the last community case.
There are still limits on public gatherings in the city of nearly two million, however, and masks are obligatory on public transport.
The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said on Friday that she stood by New Zealand’s decision to pursue an elimination strategy, but acknowledged it came with costs, from job losses to school camp cancellations.
She said the government was right to impose the seven-day lockdown, only weeks after lifting three days of snap restrictions, due to the more transmissible and unpredictable nature of the UK variant.
'Be brave and get vaccinated' - Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama, the 85-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, was administered the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine on Saturday at a hospital in the north Indian hill town of Dharmsala, Associated Press has reported.
After receiving the injection, he urged people to come forward, be brave and get vaccinated. “In order to prevent some serious problems, this injection is very, very helpful,” he said.
Dr. G.D. Gupta of Zonal Hospital, where the shot was administered, told reporters that the Dalai Lama was observed for 30 minutes afterward. “He offered to come to the hospital like a common man to get himself vaccinated,” he said.
Ten other people who live in the Dalai Lama’s residence were also vaccinated, Gupta said. All eleven received the Covishield vaccine, which was developed by Oxford University and UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca, and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
The Dalai Lama made Dharmsala his headquarters in 1959, fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile and accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to separate Tibet from China.
The Dalai Lama denies being a separatist and says he merely advocates for substantial autonomy and protection of the region’s native Buddhist culture.
India has confirmed more than 11 million cases of the coronavirus and over 157,000 deaths. The country, which has the second-highest caseload in the world behind the US, rolled out its vaccination drive in January, starting with health care and front-line workers. Earlier this month, it expanded its inoculation drive to older people and those with medical conditions that put them at risk.
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Thousands gather in Vienna to protest Covid restrictions
Thousands turned out Saturday for the latest protest in Vienna against coronavirus restrictions and several arrests were made for breaching public order laws and Covid regulations, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
Many of the protesters did not wear masks or observe social distancing as they made their way through the centre of the Austrian capital to a park where the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) had called a rally.
Austria eased its latest lockdown last month and reopened schools, shops and museums. But the demonstrators voiced opposition to the restrictions still in place, including the closure of restaurants and cafes as well as the tests that school pupils must take to attend in-person lessons.
Demonstrators chanted slogans and held placards seeking the resignation of centre-right Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Hostility to the media was in evidence with the chant “Luegenpresse” or “lying press” being used.
Isolated scuffles were reported between protesters and left-wing counter-demonstrators, with police using tear gas to separate them on at least one occasion.
Austrian media reported that extreme-right elements, including convicted neo-Nazi Gottfried Kuessel, were seen among the crowds, as they have been at previous anti-lockdown protests.
Police said that some of the arrests were made at the end of the protest when some participants refused to disperse.
Such demonstrations have been increasingly common in recent months as citizens chafe against the continuing restrictions on normal life and their economic impact.
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South Korea and the US will conduct its springtime military exercise this week, but the joint drill will be smaller than usual because of the coronavirus pandemic, Seoul said on Sunday.
The allies will begin a nine day “computer-simulated command post exercise” on Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, according to a Reuters report.
South Korea and the United States decided to move forward with the drills after “comprehensively taking into consideration the Covid-19 situation, the maintenance of the combat readiness posture, the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of peace,” the JCS said, noting that the exercise is “defensive” in nature.
The drills will not include outdoor manoeuvres, which have been carried out throughout the year, and the number of troops and equipment will be minimized due to the pandemic, Yonhap news agency reported.
The exercises also provide a chance to assess South Korea’s readiness to take over wartime operational control (OPCON), and the series of scaled back drills could complicate President Moon Jae-in*s drive to complete the transfer before his term ends in 2022.
Even before the pandemic the drills had been reduced to facilitate U.S. negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programmes. The combined drills are closely monitored by North Korea which calls them a rehearsal for war.
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, emerged on Sunday from a strict weeklong lockdown imposed after a community cluster of the more contagious UK coronavirus variant.
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The reopening of England’s schools to all pupils on Monday will mark the first step back towards normality, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. A
further 158 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 in the UK as of Saturday, bringing the total to 124,419.
- France reported 23,306 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Saturday, down from 23,507 on Friday. The French health ministry reported 170 new deaths, taking the total to 88,444.
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Italy has reported 307 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 297 the day before, the health ministry said. The daily tally of new infections fell to 23,641 from 24,036 the day before.
- The US Senate has passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan. The all-night session saw Democrats battling among themselves over jobless aid and the Republican minority failing in attempts to push through some three dozen amendments.
- Ireland reached the milestone of half a million coronavirus jabs administered. The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, hailed progress made fighting the pandemic. He said he was inspired by recent visits to vaccination centres where thousands of frontline healthcare workers are receiving the vaccine doses.
- The Dalia Lama had a Covid-19 vaccine administered. The Tibetan spiritual leader said: “In order to prevent some serious problems, this injection is very, very helpful.”
- Hundreds of thousands of people in northern France went back into lockdown. The residents of Pas-de-Calais on the north coast joined those in the region’s port of Dunkirk – and the Mediterranean resort of Nice – already shut down on Saturdays and Sundays.
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