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Morocco detects first case of UK variant
Morocco’s health ministry confirmed its first imported case of the more contagious variant of coronavirus first discovered in the UK.
The variant was detected in the northern port of Tangier in a Moroccan national returning from Ireland via Marseille, the ministry said in a statement.
Morocco has announced plans to launch a free vaccination campaign targeting 25 million people, or 80% of its population.
The country ordered 66m vaccine doses from AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm. It has not yet received any.
On 23 December, Morocco imposed a nationwide four-week curfew from 9pm to 6am to contain the virus.
On Monday, the country said it has recorded a total of 460,144 coronavirus infections, including 7,977 deaths and 16,481 active cases.
Health experts have raised concerns over new highly-transmissible mutations of the virus first reported in the UK and South Africa and now cropping up in several other countries. A third new variant has since been reported in Brazil.
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Trump lifting Covid travel restrictions on UK, much of Europe and Brazil
Donald Trump, the US president, has rescinded entry bans imposed because of coronavirus on most non-US citizens arriving from Brazil and much of Europe, including the UK, effective 26 January, two officials briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The restrictions are set to end on the same day that new Covid-19 test requirements take effect for all international visitors. Joe Biden, the president-elect, once in office could opt to reimpose the restrictions.
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Rio de Janeiro has kicked off its coronavirus vaccination campaign with what is likely to prove the most breathtaking immunisation launch ceremony on earth.
Two Brazilian women, aged 80 and 59, received their first shot of the Chinese Coronavac vaccine at the feet of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue at dusk on Monday.
The spectacular televised event on Corcovado mountain was attended by Rio’s media-savvy mayor, Eduardo Paes, and state governor Cláudio Castro. Brazil’s rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro – who is from Rio but has repeatedly undermined containment measures and vaccination and has attacked the Chinese vaccine – was a notable absence.
Rio is one of the Brazilian states worst-hit by Covid-19, having registered more than 27,000 of Brazil’s 209,000 deaths. If the beachside state capital was a country, it would have one of the worst national Covid death rates.
Ahead of the ceremony Paes, who took office early this month, tried to strike a positive note. “The start of vaccination is not the end of the pandemic but it is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he tweeted, urging residents to continue wearing masks and respecting containment measures.
Vaccination began in Brazil on Sunday after the country’s health regulator approved the emergency use of vaccines produced by China’s Sinovac and Oxford/AstraZeneca.
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More than 37,000 people with a symptomless Covid-19 infection have been detected through rapid lateral flow testing in the UK, the chief medical adviser for NHS Test and Trace has said.
Dr Susan Hopkins said the devices, which can give results in less than 30 minutes, were being rolled out across the country to enable those with no coronavirus symptoms to be tested.
Lateral flow tests are regularly used by NHS staff and were the main method of testing during a mass pilot scheme in Liverpool, but some experts have questioned their accuracy.
Dr Hopkins was asked at a Downing Street press briefing on Monday about the availability of the devices for teachers and supermarket workers who are yet to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
She said: “We are rolling out lateral flow devices throughout the country through community testing sites and also in workplaces to allow people to get tested where they are asymptomatic to reduce the spread of disease.
“We’ve detected more than 37,000 individuals through lateral flow tests over the last number of weeks and we will continue to roll them out rapidly as an additional tool to help get this virus under control.”
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A new variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa is more contagious than earlier versions, experts said, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly.
The new variant is 50% more contagious, said epidemiologist Prof Salim Abdool Karim, co-chair of the health ministry’s scientific committee.
“There is no evidence the new Covid variant is more severe than the original variant,” he added.
The experts drew their conclusions about the variant – now the dominant strain in South Africa – from an analysis of data collected from the main infection clusters across the country.
With more than 1.3 million people infected, South Africa has recorded more cases than any other country on the continent and has also suffered more deaths, with 37,105 registered.
The second wave of the virus has stretched South Africa’s health system to its limits.
Health minister Zweli Mkhize on Monday said there had been a 23% fall in infections, but that the number of hospital admissions was up by 18.3% on the previous week.
Dr Waasila Jassat, another member of the expert panel, said that even though admissions were up, the death rate from the virus in hospitals had not changed from the first wave of the virus.
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Brazil records nearly 24,000 new cases
Brazil on Monday reported 23,671 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the new total to 8,511,770, the country’s health ministry said.
Deaths rose by 452 to 210,299 in Brazil, which has the world’s highest death toll from the pandemic outside the US.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the government aimed to compensate for a reduction in deliveries of Covid-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer Inc with those from other providers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was in advanced talks with Pfizer about including its vaccine in the agency’s portfolio of shots to be shared with poorer countries.
Mexico had been expecting weekly deliveries of some 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE. As a result of the US drugmaker’s WHO agreements, Mexico would for now only be receiving half that, López Obrador told a news conference.
It was not clear how long the reduction would last.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is currently the only one being administered in Mexico, which has reported the fourth-highest death toll from the pandemic worldwide.
Mexico has also signed deals to acquire vaccines from Britain’s AstraZeneca Plc and China’s CanSino Biologics. The country has approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot and expects to have it by March. It is still reviewing the CanSino vaccine.
It is due to make the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that the active ingredient would on Monday be sent to Mexico from Argentina, allowing manufacturers to start the final packaging process.
Mexico said it also expects to approve the Sputnik V vaccine for use soon, though it is likely to acquire fewer doses than it had previously suggested.
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Brazil’s health minister Eduardo Pazuello said a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the Amazonian city of Manaus was not tied to a new variant of the virus, and was instead the same coronavirus that caused the first wave of the disease.
Manaus has made headlines in recent days for its high death rate and a shortage of oxygen tanks for patients who develop severe cases of Covid-19.
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Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has authorised the dispatch of oxygen to Brazil to help its South American neighbour treat people sickened amid another wave of the coronavirus, despite frosty relations between the two governments and Venezuela’s own lack of hospital supplies.
Maduro approved departure for a convoy of six tanker trucks loaded with oxygen in a national broadcast Sunday on state TV. It is destined for the city of Manaus in the northern state of Amazonas.
Let this oxygen arrive quickly to the people of Brazil,” Maduro said. “Let the people of Brazil know that to the best of our ability, we are ready to support Brazil.”
Venezuela is gripped by a deepening humanitarian crisis, which critics blame on the failed socialist policies of Maduro’s government. Tensions are high between Maduro and the rightwing government of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazil’s government is one of more than 50 nations around the world that recognise opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, rather than Maduro, who maintains control over the nation.
The health secretariat of Amazonas state said in a statement the Venezuelan government had donated the oxygen in the trucks, totalling 107,000 cubic metres (3.8m cubic feet), the equivalent of about one and a half days of oxygen demand in the state capital, Manaus.
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A summary of today's developments
- The French health ministry reported 3,736 new coronavirus infections over the previous 24 hours on Monday, a figure lower than Sunday’s 16,642 but higher than last Monday’s 3,582. The death toll was up by 404, compared to 141 on Sunday, and stands at 70,687, the world’s seventh-highest.
- The UK had the highest Covid death rate in the world in the week to 17 January, with 16.5 deaths per 1 million people on average, according to Our World in Data.
- Spain reported a record rise in coronavirus infections over the weekend and the number of new cases measured over the past fortnight spiked to 689 per 100,000 people on Monday from 575 on Friday, health ministry data showed.
- The Czech Republic has confirmed the detection of the new, more transmissible variant of coronavirus first found in Britain.
- Scientists have found new biological evidence that a South African Covid variant of coronavirus binds more readily to human cells, making it more infectious, according to one of the world’s leading infectious disease experts.
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Portugal’s daily Covid death toll reached a record high of 167 on Monday, bringing the total to 9,028 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Stricter lockdown rules are now being enacted there.
- Steffen Seibert, Germany’s government spokesman, said on Monday that the number of Covid infections in the country is too high amid rising fears about new variants of the virus.
- Japan has detected a variant of the new coronavirus first discovered in Britain in three people who had not travelled there.
- The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has defended the slower rollout of the inoculation programme in Wales, saying the Pfizer vaccine could not be used all at once as supplies had to last until the start of February.
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Colombia’s defence minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo is in intensive care after being infected with coronavirus, the government said.
Trujillo tested positive for the virus last Tuesday, a day after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that foreign minister Claudia Blum had tested positive.
“The Defense Minister ... continues to be hospitalized and in critical care,” the president’s office said in a statement. It did not confirm if critical care meant an intensive care unit.
The minister is suffering from coronavirus infection and viral pneumonia, the statement said.
Other notable people in Columbia infected with coronavirus include the first lady, María Juliana Ruiz, who tested positive in November, and the vice-president, Marta Lucía Ramírez, who tested positive in October.
President Iván Duque has not tested positive. Duque has regular coronavirus tests because of his high level of exposure and busy schedule.
The Andean country has reported more than 1.9 million coronavirus infections, as well as over 48,600 deaths due to Covid-19.
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Pakistan has approved the Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, a government statement said.
The Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP) said the vaccine manufactured by China National Pharmaceutical Group (SinoPharm) had been given emergency use approval (EUA).
At the weekend, the authority had also approved the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed with Oxford University, for emergency use.
Pakistan’s health ministry has said the country was in the process of speaking to different vaccine candidates.
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Brazil’s health minister says there is no green light yet for when vaccines from India will be able to take off for Brazil.
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California’s state epidemiologist is urging a halt to more than 300,000 coronavirus vaccinations using a Moderna vaccine version because some people received medical treatment for possible severe allergic reactions.
Dr Erica S Pan recommended providers stop using lot 41L20A of the Moderna vaccine pending completion of an investigation by state officials, Moderna, the US Centers for Disease Control and the federal Food and Drug Administration.
“Out of an extreme abundance of caution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we are recommending that providers use other available vaccine inventory,” Pan said in a statement.
She said more than 330,000 doses from the lot arrived in California between 5 January and 12 January and were distributed to 287 providers.
Fewer than 10 people, who all received the vaccine at the same community site, needed medical attention over a 24-hour period, Pan said. No other similar clusters were found.
Pan did not specify the number of cases involved or where they occurred.
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Hauliers require a negative Covid-19 test before travelling from Britain to Denmark and the Netherlands, the UK government has said.
Last week the French government said people travelling from non-EU countries to France will no longer be allowed to enter by presenting a negative result from a quick Covid-19 test, but cross-Channel truck drivers would be exempt.
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Nigeria has written to the African Union to request 10m Covid-19 vaccine doses to supplement the Covax programme and has allocated $26m for licensed vaccine production, the health minister said.
Nigeria, like other countries across Africa, is grappling with a second wave of coronavirus. As of Monday, Nigeria – the continent’s most populous country of 200 million inhabitants – had 110,387 confirmed cases and reported 1,435 deaths.
The African Union has secured a provisional 270m Covid-19 vaccine doses from manufacturers for member states, its chair, the South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, said last week.
“Nigeria has written to express interest in 10 million doses of the viral vector vaccine, which could be supplied as from March 2021,” health minister Osagie Ehanire told reporters in the capital, Abuja. “This vaccine does not require deep freezers.”
Ehanire did not mention the name of the vaccine. He also said the ministry of finance had released 10 billion naira ($26.27m) to support domestic vaccine output as Nigeria was exploring options of “licensed production in collaboration with recognised institutions”.
The government is already in talks with “one or two producers”, he said.
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France records 404 further deaths
The French health ministry reported 3,736 new coronavirus infections over the previous 24 hours on Monday, a figure lower than Sunday’s 16,642 but higher than last Monday’s 3,582.
The death toll was up by 404, compared to 141 on Sunday, and at 70,687 it is the world’s seventh-highest.
France’s cumulative total of cases now stands at 2,914,725, the sixth-highest in the world.
The seven-day moving average of new infections, which averages out weekly data reporting irregularities, increased to 18,270, the highest since 24 November.
The number of people being treated in intensive care units for the disease was up for the ninth consecutive day, going beyond the 2,800 threshold for the first time since 17 December.
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An independent panel reviewing the global handling of the Covid-19 pandemic said that Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully in January and criticised the World Health Organization (WHO) for not declaring an international emergency until 30 January.
In an interim report the panel of experts, led by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, said: “The global pandemic alert system is not fit for purpose,” adding: “The World Health Organization has been underpowered to do the job.”
It called for a “global reset” and said it would provide recommendations in a final report to health ministers in May.
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Summary
Here is a quick re-cap of the recent Covid news from around the world:
- The UK had the highest Covid death toll in the world in the week to 17 January, with 16.5 deaths per 1 million people on average, according to Our World in Data.
- Spain reported a record rise in coronavirus infections over the weekend and the number of new cases measured over the past fortnight spiked to 689 per 100,000 people on Monday from 575 on Friday, health ministry data showed.
- The Czech Republic has confirmed the detection of the new, more transmissible variant of coronavirus first found in Britain.
- Scientists have found new biological evidence that a South African Covid variant of binds more readily to human cells, making it more infectious, according to one of the world’s leading infectious disease experts.
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Portugal’s daily Covid death toll reached a record high of 167 on Monday, bringing the total to 9,028 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Stricter lockdown rules are now being enacted there.
- Steffen Seibert, Germany’s government spokesman, said on Monday that the number of Covid infections in the country is too high amid rising fears about new variants of the virus.
- Japan has detected a variant of the new coronavirus first discovered in Britain in three people who had not travelled there.
- The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has defended the slower rollout of the inoculation programme in Wales, saying the Pfizer vaccine could not be used all at once as supplies had to last until the start of February.
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Stricter lockdown rules are being enacted in Portugal to try and contain the spread of Covid-19 which is pushing hospitals to their full capacities (see earlier posts).
António Costa, the prime minister, said too many people had taken advantage of exceptions included in the lockdown that began last Friday, with authorities reporting 70% of normal movement over the weekend.
“We are going through the most serious phase of the pandemic” so far, Costa said, adding: “This is no time for finding loopholes in the law.”
Under the new rules, January sales at stores are to be banned, as are gatherings of any number of people in public areas, while more police will be deployed outside schools, which remain open, to prevent students forming groups.
Travelling between districts is to be prohibited at weekends, with supermarkets and stores having to operate within shorter opening times.
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The World Health Organization has raised “concerns” about the unequal distribution of Covid vaccines in Israel, which has given shots to more than a fifth of its population, and the occupied territories, where Palestinians have yet to receive any, an official said on Monday.
Rights groups say Israel has a duty as an occupying power to provide vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel claims it has no such obligation, arguing that its own population — including Arab citizens — is the priority, but that at some stage it may consider sharing its supplies.
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UK records worlds highest death toll in past week
The UK had the highest Covid death toll in the world in the week to 17 January with 16.5 deaths per 1 million people on average, according to Our World in Data.
The average weekly Covid death toll puts the UK a whisker ahead of Czechia which recorded 16.3 deaths per 1 million population in the same timeframe.
When instead measured by Covid total deaths per 1 million people the UK is currently listed among the worst seven countries worldwide.
At 1,317 cumulative Covid deaths per population the UK death count is lower than San Marino (1,915), Belgium (1,763), Slovenia (1,530), Italy (1,359), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1,344) and Czechia (1,339) according to the Our World in Data figures.
There are differences in the way countries count coronavirus deaths which makes international comparisons difficult.
The figures used by Our World in Data uses the number of deaths as reported by the UK government each day, however those figures do not necessarily reflect the actual death toll as per date of death.
The gold standard for international comparisons is to compare excess deaths, but these take longer for the international statistics bodies to collect, check and report.
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Spain's new Covid cases hit weekend record of 84,287
Spain has reported a record jump in Covid infections over the weekend, with the number of new cases measured over the past 14 days spiking at 689 per 100,000 people on Monday from 575 on Friday, according to health ministry data.
Nearly 84,300 new cases were reported since Friday, bringing the total to 2,336,451. Deaths rose by 455 over the same period to 53,769.
The health ministry has ruled out a return to nationwide confinement despite calls from regional administrations for tougher measures amid rising infections.
See earlier posts for the latest on Spain’s second round of vaccinations.
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António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, said:
#COVID19 vaccines are reaching high income countries quickly, while the world’s poorest have none at all.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) January 16, 2021
Science is succeeding — but solidarity is failing.
Global solidarity will save lives, protect people & help defeat this vicious, mutating virus.
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Czech Republic confirms detection of UK Covid variant
The Czech Republic has confirmed the detection of the new, more transmissible variant of coronavirus first found in Britain, the country’s National Institute of Public Health said on Monday.
Jan Blatny, the health minister, told reporters about 10% of recent cases were suspected to be of the new variant, which posed a risk for future strain on the health system.
“Its faster spread means that it will prevail over the slower one sooner or later, so we have couple of months to react forcefully,” Blatny told reporters.
“(Our response) is to maintain the measures, vaccination, and try to inoculate as soon as possible, especially that part of population which is the most vulnerable.”
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Hi everyone, I am back from my break now. In case you missed it before, feel free to message coverage suggestions to me on Twitter.
Disneyland Paris said on Monday it was postponing its reopening by almost two months, to April 2, due to the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Due to the prevailing conditions in Europe, Disneyland Paris will not reopen on the 13th of February as initially planned. If you have a booking with us during the closing period, please check our website for our latest commercial conditions: https://t.co/3c0DbxYPLC pic.twitter.com/yom7cB4it3
— Disneyland Paris EN (@DisneyParis_EN) January 18, 2021
I’m handing the blog back now to Yohannes Lowe.
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Germany is weighing up following Austria and Bavaria’s lead in making it compulsory to wear full protective filter masks on public transport and in shops, as the country remains on high alert about the impact of possible coronavirus mutations.
The Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, announced on Sunday that wearing single-use filtering facepiece respirator, or FFP2, masks would become mandatory on public transport and in shops from 25 January, as the Alpine state moves to extend its national lockdown until 7 February.
In Germany’s largest and southernmost state Bavaria, a similar requirement for trains, trams, buses and supermarkets came into force on Monday, though the new rule will not be policed until 24 January and allows for exemptions for bus drivers, ticket inspectors and children under the age of 15.
The vaccine approach does not necessarily need to be changed in the light of what is now known about the new variant which has been identified in South Africa, Professor Karim adds at the briefing (see earlier posts).
“Vaccines that we see with Pfizer and Moderna with 95 per cent efficacy are among the most effective vaccines that we have for any disease. Take the measles vaccines .. this is comparable with that,” he said.
He issued a call for people to stop stalking about the “South African variants” or the “English variant,” adding that they could emerge anywhere in the world and it was not clear where their roots lay. It was wrong to pin a name to country in the way Donald Trump had tried to do by talking about the “China virus,” added Professor Karim.
There’s more from Professor Abdool Karim at that presentation about the South African variant of Covid 19, where he adds that current data suggests it is not causing more severe disease.
We also don’t yet have an answer to whether vaccines are less effective against the variant, he adds.
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New evidence that South African variant is more infectious - scientist
Scientists have new biological evidence that a South African variant of Covid-19 binds more readily to human cells, making it more infectious, according to one of the world’s leading infectious disease experts.
Prof Abdool Karim, the epidemiologist who led South Africa’s fight against HIV/Aids, has been taking part in a live discussion (listen here) on South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
He was speaking at the presentation of research into the variant, known as 501Y.V2, by a team of scientists, including researchers who looked at cases in the Western Cape and other areas.. The variant was identified by South African genomics experts late last year.
At this point there is no evidence of increased mortality, although that may change as more pressure is put on the health care system in South Africa.
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The world is on the edge of a “catastrophic moral failure” in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, with just 25 doses administered across all poor countries compared with 39m in wealthier ones, the head of the World Health Organization has said.
It was the sharpest warning so far from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus about the dangers of vaccine hoarding since inoculations started being administered in 49 mostly high-income countries.
Guinea is the sole low-income country to have delivered any shots so far, last week providing doses of the Russian Sputnik vaccine to a mere 25 people, including its president.
Tedros told an annual meeting of the WHO’s executive board on Monday that it was wrong to see people at low risk in wealthy countries being vaccinated while most of the world still did not have access to the jabs
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Italy reported 377 coronavirus-related deaths today, the same amount as the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 8,824 from 12,545.
However, the number of swab tests also fell, as often happens over the weekend, totalling just 158,674 against a previous 211,078.
Italy has registered 82,554 Covid-19 deaths since its outbreak came to light last February, the second-highest toll in Europe and the sixth-highest in the world. The country has also reported 2.39 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 22,884 on Monday, up 127 from a day earlier.
This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog now as Yohannes takes a break
Spain has begun administering second shots of the Covid vaccine to elderly nursing home residents, Reuters reports.
In the central city of Guadalajara, 96-year old Araceli Hidalgo Sanchez, Spain’s earliest recipient of a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, said she was delighted to have received the second and encouraged others to do the same.
By Monday morning, eight of Spain’s 17 regions had got under way with the second round of vaccinations, the health ministry confirmed.
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Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexican president, has said his country would soon have a Russian vaccine available in the fight against the coronavirus, as health authorities were soon to issue a decision on the product.
Mexico’s health ministry said last week a decision would be reached quickly on whether to authorise use of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine.
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The World Health Organization is in advanced talks with Pfizer about including the company’s Covid vaccine in the agency’s portfolio of shots to be shared with poorer countries, a senior official confirmed on Monday.
“We are in very detailed discussions with Pfizer. We believe very soon we will have access to that product,” Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser, said at the WHO’s executive board meeting.
The WHO’s vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX is due to start rolling out vaccines to poor and middle income nations in February, with 2 of 3 billion targeted doses set to be delivered this year.
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Portugal's Covid daily deaths hit new record
Portugal’s daily death toll from the coronavirus reached a record high of 167 on Monday, bringing the total to 9,028 deaths since the start of the pandemic, health authority DGS said.
The country of 10 million people, which is under lockdown to halt the spread of the virus, also reported a record 664 Covid patients in intensive care units at a time when hospitals are struggling to cope with a surge in infections.
“The impact is huge because the number of beds doesn’t increase, the walls are not expandable and health workers are not multiplying,” Antonio Pais de Lacerda, a doctor at Lisbon’s biggest hospital, Santa Maria, told Reuters.
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Clamping down on lockdown rule breakers will get coronavirus back under control, Priti Patel said, as she acknowledged that the number of Covid cases was still too high.
The UK home secretary warned people that their “actions have consequences” and urged them to adhere to legislation or face a fine. But she said tougher lockdown measures were not needed to get the R number – currently estimated to be around 1.2 to 1.3 – down below one.
She told PA Media that officers had been tackling people breaking the law, including by holding house parties and illegal raves.
It comes as a further 532 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 61,453, NHS England said on Monday.
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Covid case rates have fallen week-on-week across every region of England, new analysis indicates.
The analysis by PA Media shows that of the 315 local areas in England, 279 (89%) have seen a drop in case rates in the seven days to 13 January compared with the previous week, while 36 (11%) have seen a rise.
The rates have fallen across every region in the country over the same period, with the highest drop in London, down from 1,014.6 cases per 100,000 people to 761.3 in the week to 13 January.
It is followed by eastern England, which is down from 755.0 to 556.6, and the south-east which is down from 688.7 to 530.4.
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Turkmenistan has become the first country in Central Asia to register Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.
“The vaccine was approved under the emergency use authorisation procedure without additional clinical trials in Turkmenistan,” the RDIF said in a statement on Monday.
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The number of new Covid infections in Germany is far too high, the government spokesman said on Monday.
Concern about new variants of the virus are the reason chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders have brought forward a planned meeting to Tuesday, Steffen Seibert said.
“We still have a big risk … that is the risk of mutation,” Seibert told a regular news conference, adding that there needed to be a joint European response .
Olaf Scholz, the finance minister, said: “I consider an extension and precise measures to increase the effectiveness of the (existing) measures necessary,” adding that stricter rules for working from home should be considered to reduce social contacts.
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Shops in Greece reopened for the first time in two months on Monday as the government took its first cautious steps towards easing Covid curbs, in an effort to re-vitalise the beleaguered retail sector.
Retailers selling non-essential items were allowed to serve customers under heavy restrictions, with shoppers required to register by instant message and book appointments with hair salons.
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Japan finds Covid variant in 3 people with no record of travel to UK
Japanese doctors have detected a fast-spreading variant of the new coronavirus first discovered in Britain in three people who had not travelled there, the health ministry said on Monday.
The three, aged from their 20s to their 60s and living in Shizuoka prefecture, about 125 miles west of Tokyo, first had symptoms in early January, the ministry confirmed.
A health ministry official said the authorities are investigating how the three became infected, adding that there was no proof yet that the variant first detected in Britain was spreading in Shizuoka now, Reuters reports.
Japan has so far detected 45 cases of new variants of the virus that were first spotted in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, he said.
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Update: Responding to questions over the vaccine rollout difficulties reported by Thérèse Coffey, the prime minister’s official spokesman said supplies were being “distributed equally” across the country.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman said:
I was asked a similar question last week and I said that we continue to make the vaccines available and distributed equally across England and the UK. That will remain the case. But in some areas where they have already vaccinated the majority of those four high-risk groups, we want to ensure we maintain momentum and continue to rollout the vaccine to more and more people who are at higher clinical risk - that’s why we sent out the letter to the over-70s.
“The prime minister has stated clearly that we will ensure that everybody in the first four priority groups will receive a vaccination by February 15 and we’ve also said that care home residents will all have received it by the end of the month,” he added.
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Dozens of Moscow residents queued on Monday to be vaccinated against Covid-19 at the GUM department store, opposite the Kremlin on Red Square, where the shot is given on a first-come, first-served basis. Here are a few of the best captures:
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Officials in the Swiss mountain resort of St Moritz have quarantined employees and guests of two luxury hotels, closed ski schools and kept schoolchildren home from class after a dozen positive tests for a highly infectious Covid variant.
About 300 employees and 95 guests at the Grand Hotel des Bains Kempinski St Moritz and Badrutt’s Palace Hotel were quarantined.
Those under quarantine will be tested and those receiving positive tests isolated, while people testing negative may be able to leave (but must follow quarantine rules once they arrive home), a spokesman for the region’s coronavirus task force said.
The nationalities of those affected were not revealed.
The prime minister’s tweet comes after Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, said in a Facebook post that she has been contacted with concerns in the Suffolk Coastal area that some over-80s, and even over-90s, have not been invited for the coronavirus vaccination while younger citizens have been.
Today marks a significant milestone as we offer vaccinations to millions more people who are most at risk from COVID-19.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 18, 2021
We have a long way to go and there will be challenges ahead - but together we are making huge progress in our fight against this virus. pic.twitter.com/nGZNApxfer
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Public Health Wales has said 151,737 people have received a first dose of a Covid vaccine in Wales, with 201 people having received a second dose.
It reported a further 20 deaths, taking the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 4,294.
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China’s economy has posted its strongest growth in two years after completing a rapid recovery from the slump caused by the pandemic at the start of last year.
Read the latest here:
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The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said he was vaccinated against coronavirus at the weekend as he urged others to follow suit when invited to do so.
As a volunteer member of the @GSTTnhs chaplaincy team, I was given the first shot of the #Covid19Vaccine this weekend.
— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) January 18, 2021
Please get the jab when you’re invited. And please do everything you can to support staff across the NHS who are doing so much to keep us safe. pic.twitter.com/OA5v7xM462
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Welsh leader defends staggered rollout of Pfizer Covid vaccine
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has defended the slower rollout of the vaccination programme in Wales, saying the Pfizer vaccine could not be used all at once.
Statistically, Wales is behind the other home nations in delivering the first dose of the vaccine per 100,000, with 3,215 having received it as of last week, compared to 3,514 in Scotland, 4,005 in England and 4,828 in Northern Ireland.
Drakeford dismissed the statistics as “very marginal differences”, explaining that supplies of the Pfizer vaccine had to last until the beginning of February.
Drakeford told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
There will be no point and certainly it will be logistically very damaging to try to use all of that in the first week and then to have all our vaccinators standing around with nothing to do with for another month. The sensible thing to do is to use the vaccine you’ve got over the period that you’ve got it for so that your system can absorb it, they can go on working, that you don’t have people standing around with nothing to do.
“We will vaccinate all four priority groups by the middle of February, alongside everywhere else in the UK,” he added.
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Russia plans to vaccinate more than 20 million people against coronavirus in the first quarter of 2021, the deputy prime minister announced on Monday.
Tatiana Golikova said that Russia, which has registered two vaccines against the virus, plans to register a third vaccine on 16 February.
Passengers arriving in the UK on Monday faced long queues as new Covid travel rules came into effect at 4am.
Strict rules requiring all international arrivals to be forced to quarantine as well as demonstrate they have had a negative Covid test were brought in to prevent new strains of coronavirus entering the UK.
Some of the earliest arrivals at London’s Heathrow airport said it had taken more than an hour to be processed due to “substantial” lines at passport control.
Andy Hart, from London, who arrived at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 from Nairobi with his partner on Monday morning, said he was “shocked and disappointed” to see the queues at passport control.
The Coffy app chief executive said:
We felt unsafe. We felt that, even though everyone was masked, they were far too close together. It took an hour and 10 minutes. I’ve been flying 30 times a year for 20 years. I mean, once or twice have I ever seen it (airport queues) like this. How can this happen during Covid times?
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Norway’s government will ease some Covid restrictions after extra measures imposed for the past two weeks appear to have had the desired effect, prime minister Erna Solberg said on Monday.
“We still have control over the spread of infections, but the situation can change quickly,” Solberg told parliament.
The government will permit households to receive guests, but only up to a maximum of five visitors, while children and teenagers can resume sports activities.
Schools will also face lighter restrictions, with less reliance on remote learning, Solberg announced.
Bars and restaurants, however, are still banned from serving alcohol until further notice.
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Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be taking over the running of the blog now. As always, feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.
That’s all from me, Caroline Davies, for now. Thank you for your time. I am now handing over to my colleague Yohannes.
France is on track to reach its target of vaccinating 1 million people against Covid-19 by the end of January and has enough doses to increase the total to 2.4 million by the end of February, health minister Olivier Véran said on Monday.
During a visit to a vaccination centre in the eastern city of Grenoble, Véran told reporters that France had now set up about 800 such centres.
“With the acceleration of the vaccination campaign in retirement homes, we will comfortably reach our goal of 1 million French people vaccinated by the end of this month,” he said.
Updated
Austria, Greece and Denmark will jointly pressure the European Medicines Agency to approve AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as quickly as possible, the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, said on Monday, adding: “Every week counts”.
Kurz was speaking before a European leaders’ virtual summit on Thursday, and a day after he said Austria’s lockdown was being extended until at least 7 February as it tries to contain highly infectious new variants, Reuters reports.
EMA, the EU drugs regulator, said last week it would review the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Britain’s Oxford University this month under an accelerated timeline.
Kurtz told a news conference:
Every week counts. We expect that work be done day and night, that a decision be reached unbureaucratically and that Europe not fall behind.
What is now needed is – based on all scientific facts, of course – an immediate and quick decision, because AstraZeneca can deliver up to 2m doses in the first quarter for Austria alone, and that of course makes an enormous difference to our success in vaccinating the population.
Austria has a population of just under 9 million people.
Kurz also said part of the already-approved vaccine doses being supplied by Pfizer would arrive late, after Pfizer said it was temporarily reducing deliveries to Europe.
He said:
Yes, there will now have to be a small adjustment here or there because it currently seems as though we will receive 20% less, which will then be caught up in February at the latest.
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The head of the World Health Organization said on Monday that the world was on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” on distributing Covid-19 vaccines, urging countries and manufacturers to share doses more fairly around the world.
The WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the prospects for equitable distribution are at “serious risk” just as its vaccine-sharing scheme Covax aims to start distributing inoculations next month.
He noted 44 bilateral deals were signed last year and at least 12 have already been signed this year, Reuters reports.
“This could delay Covax deliveries and create exactly the scenario Covax was designed to avoid, with hoarding, a chaotic market, an uncoordinated response, and continued social and economic disruption,” he said.
Such a “me-first approach” left the world’s poorest and most vulnerable at risk, he said at the opening of the body’s annual executive board meeting in virtual format. Ultimately these actions will only prolong the pandemic.”
The global scramble for shots has intensified as more infectious virus variants circulate.
Tedros cited as an example of inequality that more than 39m doses of vaccine have been administered in 49 higher-income countries whereas just 25 doses had been given in one poor country.
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Singapore has urged workers at its national airline to help make it the world’s first carrier with all staff vaccinated against Covid-19, with Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Phong Choon also encouraging employees to receive shots.
Vaccinating Singapore’s 37,000 frontline aviation and maritime staff is seen as key to reopening borders of the island-state, which is preparing to host events such as the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting and the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit in a few months’ time.
“SIA (Singapore Airlines) can be the first vaccinated international airline of the world. Try to get that done,” transport minister Ong Ye Kung told aviation workers at a vaccination drive at the airport on Monday.
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Malawi is set to roll out a first set of anti-coronavirus restrictions this week, the president said, after overruling a court ban on lockdown measures to tackle a surge in cases.
Daily life had been unfolding normally in the southern African country since its High Court barred the government from confining citizens to limit the spread of Covid-19, AFP reports.
Judges ruled in April that insufficient measures were in place to cushion loss of livelihood in one of the world’s poorest countries, where most people work informally.
Malawi, like many African states, is grappling with an infection rise after months of relatively low infection figures. President Lazarus Chakwera late on Sunday ordered a night-time curfew and said schools would be shut for three weeks. Gatherings have been capped and face masks will be mandatory in public for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
“The time has come to enforce these things for the common good,” Chakwera said in an address to the nation, adding that the restrictions would come into effect from Monday.
The death of two Covid-19 positive ministers last week prompted Chakwera to declare a state of emergency allowing him to side-step the court ruling.
Malawi has recorded 12,470 coronavirus cases and 314 deaths for a population of over 18 million. But more than 40% of infections were detected this month alone, with a record 685 new daily cases announced on Sunday.
International borders were shut from August to October and then briefly again in December to avoid importing cases.
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German health minister: 'we are a long way from where we want to be'
Germany’s health minister said on Monday that although measures to contain coronavirus had started to have an effect, more needed to be done to bring it permanently under control.
“The (infection) numbers seem to be decreasing, which is good, but we are still a long way from where we want to be,” Jens Spahn told broadcaster ARD.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 state premiers will discuss what to do next on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
New infections have been decreasing in recent days and the occupancy of intensive care beds by Covid-19 patients has declined by 10-15%, according to Spahn.
However, the state premiers are concerned about new variants that appear to be more contagious.
The finance minister, Olaf Scholz, told the public broadcaster RBB on Monday he could imagine extending the current lockdown by two weeks until mid-February.
Stricter requirements for companies to allow staff to work from home, compulsory wearing of heavy duty FFP2 masks in certain areas, restrictions on public transport and the introduction of curfews are being debated.
The number of confirmed cases in Germany rose by 7,141 to 2,040,659, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. That was more than 5,000 down from the week before. The reported death toll rose by 214 to 46,633.
The foreign minister, Heiko Maas, fuelled discussion regarding privileges for people who had been vaccinated by saying they should be allowed to go to restaurants and cinemas sooner.
Other ministers have opposed such special rights, fearing they could cause social inequalities at a time when not everyone has the opportunity to be inoculated.
Maas’s proposal was “out of the question” as long as it is not proven that a vaccination stops people from transmitting the virus too, a justice ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
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Here’s a summary of what we have learned from UK vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi this morning’
- 24-hour vaccinations will be piloted in London hospitals by the end of January. Pressed for when the pilots will start, he told Sky News: “By the end of January, absolutely.”
- Over-70s are currently being offered first jabs in areas only where “the majority” of over-80s have had their first shot.
- Vaccine supply “ remains lumpy” - “it remains challenging, you may have read over the weekend probably some of the challenges around Pfizer and of course Oxford/AstraZeneca - but I’m confident we can meet our target mid-Feb, (for) those top four cohorts,” he told BBC Breakfast.
- There are concerns over vaccine take up in the UK’s Black and minority ethnic communities. “My big worry is if 85% of the adult population get vaccinated, if the 15% skews heavily to the BAME community, the virus will very quickly infect that community,” he told Radio 4”s Today programme.
- The UK favours persuasion rather than forcing people to have the Covid-19 jab. Asked whether care home staff should be able to work if they refuse a vaccination, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think, as the Prime Minister has said, we’re not the sort of country that forces people to take vaccines, we want to do it by persuasion. He said it would be “discriminatory” to refuse to take on new employees who will not be vaccinated.
- Gradual easing of lockdown restrictions will not begin before early March. “If we take the mid-February target, two weeks after that you get your protection, pretty much, for the Pfizer/BioNTech, three weeks for the Oxford/AstraZeneca, you are protected, he told BBC Breakfast. “One of the things we don’t know yet... is the impact of the vaccine on transmission rates ie on infecting people.So there are a number of caveats that stand in the way of us reopening the economy. It will be gradually, it will be probably through the tiered system but you’re looking at that sort of period, two to three weeks after the middle of February, after we’ve protected the top four cohorts.”
South Africa, which has yet to receive its first coronavirus vaccine, has been promised 9m doses by Johnson & Johnson, the Business Day newspaper reported on Monday, citing a health ministry spokeswoman.
Health workers and scientists have publicly criticised the government for not moving fast enough to inoculate its people, Reuters reports.
The country has recorded more than 1.3 million infections and more than 37,000 deaths related to the virus, the most in Africa.
Business Day said the 9m J&J doses took the total amount of doses South Africa had been promised to more than 30m. Roughly 12m doses are coming from the Covax global vaccine distribution scheme, around 12m from an African Union arrangement, and 1.5m from the Serum Institute of India, which is making AstraZeneca shots.
Health ministry spokeswoman Lwazi Manzi did not respond to messages or a phone call seeking comment. J&J did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, Reuters said.
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Uzbekistan plans to purchase 100,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, the Central Asian nation’s health ministry said on Monday.
The country of 34 million is working on the deal together with vaccine alliance Gavi, the ministry said in a statement.
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Travel corridors allowing people to enter the UK without self-isolating have now closed. Arrivals must now take a negative coronavirus test up to 72 hours before departure, and self-isolate for up to 10 days.
The corridors were a lifeline for the travel industry when they were introduced in summer 2020, as struggling firms saw a spike in bookings for destinations added to the list. But they were suspended from 4am on Monday as the Uk government attempts to prevent new strains of Covid-19 from entering the UK.
Karen Dee, the chief executive of trade body the Airport Operators Association, supported the decision but stressed the need for “a clear pathway out”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve had the worst year in the entire history of our industry so the sooner we can get flying again safer, the better.”
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said the loss of travel corridors will not have a “significant impact” on his airline in the short term as flight numbers were already limited due to the pandemic.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the minimum number of days arrivals must wait to take a negative test releasing them from quarantine could be reduced from five days to three days.
“We know that there’s a big difference between people’s willingness to sacrifice to go and travel if you have to quarantine for 10 days or 14 days, down to five days or even three days,” he said.
“So it’s really, really important that, as part of the plan for recovery, the government also has the plan to unwind these restrictions that are in place.”
The Department for Transport announced on Monday that high-value business travellers, performing arts professionals and journalists have lost their exemption from travel restrictions, PA Media reports.
Other people who must now abide by the rules include those working in “high-end” television production and film, ornamental horticulture, advertising and the National Lottery. Aircraft crew, hauliers, offshore oil and gas workers and people involved in elite sport are among those whose exemptions remain.
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Still on vaccine rollout in the UK, the vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said that an upgrade to the Pfizer manufacturing process to produce greater volume of vaccine could cause some delays.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There’s bound to be delays because any new manufacturing process has challenges at the outset. It is lumpy, it begins to stabilise and get better and better week in, week out.
“It could delay supply but I’m confident we can meet our target by mid-February of the top four cohorts.”
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Russia reports 22,857 new cases and 471 deaths
Russia reported 22,857 new coronavirus cases on Monday, including 3,679 in Moscow, taking the national tally – the world’s fourth highest – to 3,591,066.
Authorities said 471 people had died from the virus in the last 24 hours, pushing Russia’s official death toll to 66,037.
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Those who have had a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine would get their second, the national medical director of the NHS in England, Prof Stephen Powis said.
He told Good Morning Britain: “We’ve been planning this, this change, this extension in the time of the second dose (to) 12 weeks, and I’m confident that those supplies will be there so that everybody who’s had their first dose gets their second dose.”
When asked if the UK has the guaranteed supplies to ensure the second dose would be delivered on time, Prof Powis said: “Yes we do. We have a clear sight of the supplies coming over the next weeks.”
He added: “The chief medical officers, on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations, has recommended that the second dose can be given 12 weeks after the first dose, that’s what we’re planning to do, and that’s what I can guarantee that everybody who’s got the first dose will get.
“So, we are absolutely ready to give that second dose to people who both had the first Pfizer vaccine dose, or had the first AstraZeneca vaccine dose.”
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Health authorities quarantined two hotels and closed ski schools in the Swiss resort of St Moritz on Monday to try to curb an outbreak of the highly infectious new coronavirus variant.
The eastern Swiss canton of Grisons ordered everyone to wear masks in the town of 5,200 residents that prides itself as a birthplace of modern winter sports. Mass testing of residents will take place on Tuesday. Schools and daycare venues are closed, Reuters reports.
“About a dozen cases are currently known in two hotels. To protect the health of the population and guests, the health department has quarantined the two hotels and ordered corona tests for their employees and guests,” the canton said in a statement.
The canton did not immediately say if the variant was believed to have come from Britain or South Africa.
While closing restaurants, bars, theatres and recreational venues to limit spread of the disease, Switzerland has left ski lifts open as long as they maintain measures like mask wearing to protect public health. St Moritz ski areas remain open, as well, following the variant outbreak.
Japan vows to push ahead with plans to hold Tokyo Games
Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has vowed to push ahead with plans to hold the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, despite a surge in coronavirus cases in the host city and growing doubts over the Games’ viability
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Suga said every measure would be taken to ensure the Olympics, due to open on 23 July, would be safe, describing them as “proof of humankind’s victory over the coronavirus”.
“We will have full anti-infection measures in place and proceed with preparation with a determination to achieve a Games that can deliver hope and courage throughout the world,” he said.
Japan has managed to keep its Covid-19 caseload significantly lower than many other comparable countries, and its death toll stands at 4,500 a year after it reported its first case.
But a recent surge in infections forced Suga to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and three neighbouring areas on 7 January.
The measures, which include asking bars and restaurants to close early, and people to avoid non-essential outings, were expanded last week to cover more than half of Japan’s 126 million people.
“In order to restore a sense of safety, I will get the coronavirus pandemic, which has raged worldwide and is now severely affecting Japan, under control as soon as possible,” said Suga, whose approval ratings have plunged over his handling of the pandemic. “I will stand at the frontline of the battle.”
Most Japanese oppose holding the Olympics this year, with a recent poll showing that about 80% believe they should be postponed again – an option ruled out by the International Olympic Committee [IOC] – or cancelled.
One of Suga’s cabinet ministers, Taro Kono, added to uncertainty over the Olympics’ future last week, suggesting in an interview that the Games “could go either way”.
The IOC and Tokyo 2020 organisers are expected to reveal their plans for a Covid-secure Games in the spring. Measures reportedly under consideration include requiring athletes to return home soon after they have finished competing and to restrict their movements while they are in Japan.
Japan will barely have begun its vaccine rollout – due to start in late February at the earliest – by the time the Olympic torch relay is due to begin in Fukushima on 25 March.
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In the UK, 24-hour vaccinations will be piloted in London hospitals by the end of January, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said today.
He told Sky News: “We are going to pilot the 24-hour vaccination, the NHS is going to pilot that in hospitals in London and we will look at how we expand that.”
Pressed for when the pilots will start, he said: “By the end of January, absolutely.”
But he said 8am-8pm vaccination “works much more conveniently for those who are over 80 and then as you move down the age groups it becomes much more convenient for people to go late at night and in the early hours”.
He backed the target to offer a first jab to everyone by September as “achievable” and said that over-70s are being offered first jabs in areas only where “the majority” of over-80s have had their first shot.
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UK vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi has reassured people aged over 80 who have not yet had their coronavirus jab that they will be offered one by mid-February, despite those aged over 70 being offered vaccination in some areas. Here he is on Sky News.
"I don't want them to worry at all."@NadhimZahawi has reassured over-80s who have not yet received a #COVID19 jab that they will all be offered one by mid-February - despite the programme also being opened up to over-70s from this week.#Coronavirus: https://t.co/mvyHSkVXst pic.twitter.com/VlZCRjXalU
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 18, 2021
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 7,141 to 2,040,659, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The reported death toll rose by 214 to 46,633, the tally showed.
Hi. Caroline Davies here, taking over the blog for the next few hours. You can get in touch on caroline.davies@theguardian.com
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Here is a story about a man who lived in an airport for three months because of his “fear of Covid”:
A man who has been living in a secure section of Chicago’s international airport for three months told police he was too afraid of coronavirus to return home to Los Angeles: https://t.co/3LwogdRBVO
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) January 18, 2021
Summary
Here are the key global developments from the last few hours:
- UK prepares to vaccinate over-70s. Coronavirus vaccines will be offered to millions of over-70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable from this week as the government expands the rollout amid a border crackdown to keep out new strains. More than 3.8 million people in the UK – including over-80s, care home residents, and NHS and social care staff – have already received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but from Monday it will be rolled out to the next two priority groups.
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Chinese health authorities say they have traced 102 infections to a “superspreader” case, a 45-year-old man who travelled around the north-east of the country giving lectures on health.
- Brazil’s health regulator on Sunday approved the urgent use of coronavirus vaccines made by Sinovac and AstraZeneca, enabling Latin America’s largest nation to begin an immunisation program that’s been subject to delay and political disputes.
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The US is nearing 400,000 deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University, by Sunday evening 23,923,062 cases and 397,494 deaths had been recorded in the country. Ron Klain, the incoming White House chief of staff, told CNN on Sunday that Biden’s team projected another 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the first five weeks of the administration.
- Florida analyst who clashed with governor over Covid data faces arrest. Rebekah Jones, the founder of Florida’s coronavirus database who has clashed publicly with Governor Ron DeSantis in a dispute over data manipulation, said she would surrender on Sunday after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
- China reports 109 new infections. China reported more than 100 new Covid-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the north-east fuelling concerns of another national wave ahead of a major holiday season.
- China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in more than four decades last year despite a rebound after the country’s coronavirus outbreak, official data showed Monday. The 2.3% expansion is the lowest figure since the Chinese economy embarked on major reforms in the 1970s.
- UK firms urge government to help struggling Eurostar: media. British business leaders called on the government to rescue Eurostar, reports said, after the firm said it was close to collapse following border closures to contain new Covid-19 strains.
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After sprinting ahead in the race to inoculate its population against the coronavirus, Israel has struck a deal with Pfizer, promising to share vast troves of medical data with the international drug giant in exchange for the continued flow of its hard-to-get vaccine, AP reports.
Proponents say the deal could allow Israel to become the first country to vaccinate most of its population, while providing valuable research that could help the rest of the world. But critics say the deal raises major ethical concerns, including possible privacy violations and a deepening of the global divide that enables wealthy countries to stockpile vaccines as poorer populations, including Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, have to wait longer to be inoculated.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who is stumping ahead of the country’s March elections as Israel’s vaccinator-in-chief — said earlier this month that he reached the deal with Pfizer’s chief executive to speed up vaccine deliveries to Israel.
“Israel will be a global model state,” he said. “Israel will share with Pfizer and with the entire world the statistical data that will help develop strategies for defeating the coronavirus.”
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein told The Associated Press the government will turn over data to “see how it influences, first of all, the level of the disease in Israel, the possibility to open the economy, different aspects of social life, and whether there are any effects of the vaccination.”
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The Australian Open traditionally makes headlines weeks before it starts because it’s the first grand slam of the season.
This year, however, the early focus is on charter flights, coronavirus-positive passengers, and frustrated tennis players practising strokes against walls and upturned mattresses in hotel quarantine.
Here’s everything you need to know about how we got here and what to expect from the 2021 Australian Open scheduled to run from 8-21 February:
UK prepares to vaccinate over-70s
Coronavirus vaccines will be offered to millions of over-70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable from this week as the government expands the rollout amid a border crackdown to keep out new strains, PA Media reports.
More than 3.8 million people in the UK – including over-80s, care home residents, and NHS and social care staff – have already received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but from Monday it will be rolled out to the next two priority groups.
The government said it would remain the priority to vaccinate those in the first two groups, but that sites which have enough supply and capacity to vaccinate more people will be allowed to offer jabs to the next cohorts.
Boris Johnson has pledged to offer vaccinations to the first four priority groups by the middle of next month, while Dominic Raab said on Sunday that all adults would be offered a first dose by September.
The expanded rollout arrives as a ban on quarantine-free travel into the UK came into force at 4am in a bid to keep out new coronavirus strains – such as those which have been discovered in Brazil and South Africa.
The new rules mean arrivals from every destination will need to self-isolate for 10 days, or receive a negative result from a coronavirus test taken at least five days after they enter the UK.
Passengers flying in from overseas will now also have to show proof of a negative Covid test before setting off – as part of rules which had been due to come into force last week.
Updated
A man has been living in a secure section of Chicago’s international airport for three months, apparently telling police he was too afraid of coronavirus to return home to Los Angeles, according to multiple reports.
The 36-year-old man, Californian Aditya Singh, was arrested this weekend and charged with criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport, a felony, and theft, a misdemeanour, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Prosecutors said on Sunday that, according to police, the man arrived on a flight from Los Angeles to O’Hare international airport on 19 October. Nearly three months later, on Saturday afternoon, Singh was approached by two United Airlines employees who asked to see identification. Singh allegedly showed them an airport ID badge that had been reported missing by its owner, an airport operations manager, on 26 October.
Assistant state attorney Kathleen Hagerty told Cook County judge Susana Ortiz that other passengers had been giving food to Singh, who does not have a criminal background. Hagerty said Singh had found the badge in the airport and was “scared to go home due to Covid”.
Ortiz reportedly told the court: “You’re telling me that an unauthorised, non-employee individual was allegedly living within a secure part of the O’Hare airport terminal from 10 October, 2020, to 16 January:
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 7,141 to 2,040,659, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The case total was lower than the nearly 15,000 cases reported on 16 January, but this is usual for the weekend tallies.
The reported death toll rose by 214 to 46,633, the tally showed.
Chinese health authorities identify 'superspreader' case
Chinese health authorities say they have traced 102 infections to a “superspreader” case, a 45-year-old man who traveled around the northeast of the country giving lectures on health.
Jilin, which borders North Korea, reported 10 locally transmitted cases on Saturday, and 63 asymptomatic cases, which are counted separately. The Jilin health commission said all but one of the 63 asymptomatic cases were linked to the 45-year-old tutor who traveled on trains in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, and the Jilin cities of Changchun, Tonghua, and Gongzhuling.
State media reported the man gave four lectures at two health clubs in Gongzhuling and Tonghua between 8 and 11 January.
Among the 102 cases linked to him were 79 people who attended the lectures and 23 of their close contacts.
China is battling its worst outbreak in more than 10 months, including about 700 cases in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing.Mainland China reported 109 new cases on Sunday, including 93 local transmissions. Jilin recorded 30 locally transmitted cases on Sunday.
UK firms urge government to help struggling Eurostar: media
British business leaders called on the government to rescue Eurostar, reports said, after the firm said it was close to collapse following border closures to contain new Covid-19 strains.
Until recently a symbol of easy high-speed rail travel in Europe, Eurostar has been crippled by the coronavirus crisis, with its special platforms and facilities in Paris, London and Brussels now eerily quiet.
The group is currently running just one service a day between Paris and London, a far cry from before Covid-19 when it would operate two trains an hour during peak times.
The London First lobby group said Eurostar needed “swift action to safeguard its future”, in a letter sent to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and seen by Bloomberg News.
The missive, signed by 25 executives and academics, warned the Treasury and Department for Transport not to let the firm “fall between the cracks of support”.
Last week, Eurostar - majority owned by French firm SNCF - reported services were down 85 percent from the previous year.
“The company is in a critical state, I’d even say very critical,” said Christophe Fanichet who heads SNCF Voyageurs, the passenger unit of the network.
Travel restrictions continue to be tightened with France now requiring UK arrivals to observe a seven-day quarantine and undertake a Covid test at the end, while Britain has also introduced new quarantine measures.
More now on the share market, in case you missed it:
Shares on Asian markets were having a mixed session on Monday despite data showing that China’s economy had bounced back in the final quarter of 2020. Factory output has soared back in the later part of the year after the Covid shutdowns and GDP was up 6.5% in the fourth quarter compared wit a hyear earlier, topping forecasts of 6.1%.
Japan’s Nikkei is off 0.2% and Sydney is down 0.3%, but Hong Kong is up 0.7%. The FTSE100 is expected to open flat in London later as the public holiday in the US on Monday dampens trade.
Updated
Carpet, as it turns out, is not a like-for-like substitute for a hard court. But, as Australian Open competitors are fast learning, surfaces are what you make of them.
The same goes for mattresses, walls and double-glazed windows, all now proving their worth as essential apparatus in an athlete’s preparation for a grand slam.
Amid the confusion and complaints – and the odd mouse intrusion – players are getting inventive with the resources available to them in quarantine.
Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva and Britain’s Heather Watson are among more than 100 players and staff now in hard lockdown in Melbourne, after four new positive cases linked to the tournament were revealed on Monday.
The quartet – along with other players – shared footage of themselves training inside their hotel rooms. Within these makeshift training centres, balls have been smashed into bed linen, volleys practised against high-rise windows and 5km run in tiny hallways.
China GDP grows at slowest pace in more than four decades in 2020
China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in more than four decades last year despite a rebound after the country’s coronavirus outbreak, official data showed Monday.
AFP: The 2.3 percent expansion is the lowest figure since the Chinese economy embarked on major reforms in the 1970s.
The National Bureau of Statistics said last year was a “grave and complex environment both at home and abroad” with the pandemic having a “huge impact”.
The figure was a marked slowdown from 2019 growth of 6.1 percent - itself already the lowest in decades - with the country hit by weak domestic demand and trade tensions.
But it is better than that forecast by an AFP poll of analysts from 13 financial institutions, who predicted a 2.0 percent expansion.
Covid-19, which has ravaged the world economy, first emerged in central China in late 2019. But the world’s second-largest economy also became the first to bounce back after imposing strict lockdowns and virus control measures.
It is expected to be the only major world economy clocking positive 2020 growth.
In the last three months of 2020, China’s economic rebound continued with a better-than-expected 6.5 percent growth on-year, a sustained improvement since the second quarter.
This brings it back to a pre-pandemic trajectory, although full-year 2020 growth is still its worst performance since 1976, when the economy shrank 1.6 percent.
That was two years before former leader Deng Xiaoping set in motion a shift away from communist-style central planning, turning China into an industrial, trade and tech powerhouse.
Podcast: Inside an NHS hospital at the peak of the coronavirus crisis
As the latest wave of Covid infections hits hospitals, wards are nearing capacity and oxygen supplies are straining at the volume of new patients. The Guardian’s Helen Pidd spent a day at Milton Keynes University hospital to witness the crisis up close:
Asian share markets pared early losses on Monday as data confirmed China’s economy had bounced back last quarter as factory output jumped, helping offset recent disappointing news on US consumer spending, Reuters reports.
Chinese blue chips edged up 0.4% after the economy was reported to have grown 6.5% in the fourth quarter, on a year earlier, topping forecasts of 6.1%.
Industrial production for December also beat estimates, though retail sales missed the mark.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trimmed losses and were off 0.2%, having hit a string of record peaks in recent weeks. Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.8% and away from a 30-year high.
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, though Wall Street will be closed on Monday for a holiday. EUROSTOXX 50 futures eased 0.2% and FTSE futures 0.1%.
The pick-up in China was a marked contrast to the U.S. and Europe, where the spread of coronavirus has scarred consumer spending, underlined by dismal U.S. retail sales reported on Friday.
Also evident are doubts about how much of US President-elect Joe Biden’s stimulus package will make it through Congress given Republican opposition, and the risk of more mob violence at his inauguration on Wednesday.
Mexico reported 11,170 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 463 more fatalities on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry, bringing its total to 1,641,428 infections and 140,704 deaths.
The real number of infected people and deaths is likely significantly higher than the official count, the ministry has said, because of a lack of widespread testing.
China reports 109 new infections
China reported more than 100 new Covid-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the northeast fuelling concerns of another national wave ahead of a major holiday season.
Reuters: The National Health Commission said in a statement on Monday that a total of 109 new cases were reported on 17 January, unchanged from a day earlier. Of the 93 local infections, 54 were reported in Hebei province that surround Beijing. Northeastern Jilin province reported a record 30 new cases, underscoring the risk of new clusters emerging.
Daily increases still remain a fraction of what the country saw at the height of the outbreak in early 2020, but authorities are implementing an aggressive package of measures including the lockdown of more than 28 million people in order to keep the disease from bringing the country to another painful standstill.
Beijing, which reported two new local infections, will begin requiring travellers from abroad to undergo health monitoring for seven additional days following 21 days of medical observation, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
The city of Gongzhuling in Jilin province has also imposed strict new controls over its population, shutting down all but essential stores. It said in a notice that it is “strictly forbidden” for anyone to go out unless they are scheduled to get a COVID-19 test at a designated site.
The outbreak in Jilin is believed to have been caused by an infected salesman travelling to and from the neigbouring province of Heilongjiang, the site of a previous cluster of cases.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 115 from 119 cases a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China is 89,336, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635. The data excludes cases from Macau and Hong Kong, which are Chinese cities but report new cases independently, and self-ruled Taiwan which China claims as its own.
The World Health Organization team currently in China has already begun its investigations into the origins of the global pandemic.
WHO representatives said on Friday that they have begun discussions with their Chinese counterparts via videoconference as they remain in quarantine.
Florida analyst who clashed with governor over Covid data faces arrest
Rebekah Jones, the founder of Florida’s coronavirus database who has clashed publicly with Governor Ron DeSantis in a dispute over data manipulation, said she would surrender on Sunday after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
The state department of law enforcement said it would not reveal details of the allegations against the 31-year-old data analyst until she was in custody. The agency had been investigating allegations Jones illegally accessed a state messaging system and staged an armed raid at her Tallahassee home last month.
Jones, who was fired by the Florida department of health in May for insubordination after claiming she was ordered to censor and manipulate information on the database she founded and managed, said she was told the charge was unrelated to that investigation, and accused DeSantis of retaliation:
US nears 400,000 deaths, as additional 100,000 predicted in first five weeks of Biden administration
Joe Biden’s promise to carry out 100m coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days in power is “absolutely a doable thing”, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday.
The president-elect has announced ambitious initiatives to combat Covid-19 and its economic toll, seeking to overcome the struggles and failures of the Trump administration, which has presided over a slow start to the biggest vaccination drive in US history.
The challenge is steep: Ron Klain, the incoming White House chief of staff, told CNN on Sunday, Biden’s team projected another 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the first five weeks of the administration.
According to Johns Hopkins University, by Sunday evening 23,923,062 cases and 397,494 deaths had been recorded in the US:
Nearly half of doctors working in high-pressure conditions during the first wave of coronavirus face ongoing distress, research suggests.
A study based on responses from more than 5,400 doctors in the UK and Ireland found that 45% reported psychological distress as the pandemic accelerated to its initial peak in 2020.
Researchers from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) and psychologists from the University of Bath surveyed emergency, anaesthetics and intensive care professionals during the lead up to, peak and post-peak of the first wave of infections last year:
The full story on Brazil now:
Brazil approves two Covid vaccines
Brazil’s health regulator on Sunday approved the urgent use of coronavirus vaccines made by Sinovac and AstraZeneca, enabling Latin America’s largest nation to begin an immunisation program that’s been subject to delay and political disputes, AP reports.
Brazil currently has 6 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine ready to distribute in the next few days and is awaiting the arrival of 2 million doses of the vaccine made by AstraZeneca and partner Oxford University.
“This is good news for Brazil, but 6 million doses are still very few. It will not allow the entire population at risk to be fully immunized, nor is it clear how quickly the country will obtain more vaccines,” said Ethel Maciel, an epidemiologist at the Federal University of Espirito Santo.
On Saturday night, the health regulator Anvisa rejected an application for use of a Russian vaccine called Sputnik V, submitted by Brazilian company União Química. Anvisa said it didn’t evaluate the application because it didn’t meet minimum requirements to start an analysis.
Vaccination in Brazil is beginning later than neighbours such as Argentina and Chile despite a robust public health system and decades of experience with immunisation campaigns. The process to present and approve the Covid-19 vaccines was fraught with conflict, as allies of President Jair Bolsonaro sought to cast doubt on the efficacy of the Sinovac shot backed by his political rival, Sao Paulo state’s Gov. João Doria.
“The rivalry between Brasilia and the state governments prevented any cooperative work,” said Maurício Santoro, professor of political science at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. “The governor lost the leadership position, but made Bolsonaro act more quickly to guarantee the start of vaccination.”
The vaccination priority will be health professionals on the front line against coronavirus. Vaccination by the federal government will begin on Wednesday, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said on Sunday.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan. I’m on Twitter @helenrsullivan and email on: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, has approved the emergency use of two coronavirus vaccines during a politically-charged televised meeting that Brazilians watched with bated-breath.
Meanwhile the US death toll is nearing 400,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. It currently stands at 397,258.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- South Africa has delayed reopening its schools amid a rapid resurgence of Covid-19 driven by a more infectious variant of the virus.
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There have been a further 38,598 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data. This compares to 54,940 infections registered last Sunday and is the lowest number since 27 December.
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The United Arab Emirates has lowered the minimum age requirement to receive a Covid-19 vaccination to 16, from 18 previously, its ministry of health said.
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Israel’s prisons service has said they will begin vaccinating all incarcerated people against Covid-19, including Palestinians, following calls from right groups, Palestinian officials and Israel’s attorney general.
- Greece’s health authorities have announced 237 new infections, taking the country’s total 148,607 confirmed cases. Today’s figure is significantly lower than last Sunday’s, when 445 new cases were reported, and is the smallest daily increase since October.
- In th UK, over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable people will begin receiving invitations for coronavirus jabs this week in a “significant milestone” for the vaccination programme, the government has announced.
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Portugal’s public health system is on the verge of collapsing as hospitals in the areas worst-affected by a worrying surge in coronavirus cases are quickly running out of intensive care beds to treat Covid-19 patients.
- Schools in Malawi will be shut for at least 15 days while bars have been given an 8pm closing time under new coronavirus restrictions announced by President Lazarus Chakwera in a television address on Sunday.
