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Vaccines to be offered to all over-40s in UK by Easter
People over 40 in the UK will be offered their first jab by Easter, after a boost in the supply of vaccines.
According to the Telegraph, vaccine stocks are set to double meaning the NHS can offer a million doses a day in the next few weeks.
Those aged over 50 are expected to get an invite for their dose over the next week; three weeks before the government’s target.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said that the claim that over-40s would be offered vaccine shots by Easter is “incorrect,” when contacted by Reuters.
She said: “We have set out our timelines for the vaccination programme and there is no change to this.
“We intend to offer a first dose to all over-50s by mid-April and all adults by the end of July.”
Updated
The US and three of its closest Indo-Pacific partners agreed to supply up to a billion coronavirus vaccines across Asia by the end of 2022.
US president Joe Biden, along with Australia, India and Japan, known collectively as “the Quad”, pledged to work together on vaccine supply, as well as maritime, cyber and economic security at a summit on Friday.
India’s foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the meeting had agreed US vaccines would be made in India, something the country has called for to counter China’s vaccine diplomacy, according to Reuters.
Summary
Here’s a summary of the latest developments this evening
- Plans to relax restrictions in Cyprus have been put on hold amid high case numbers, driven by the UK variant.
- Brazil has registered another 2,216 deaths in the last 24 hours, the third day in a row the death toll has been above 2,000. More than 275,000 people have now died.
- Germany faces a wait until mid-April for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine amid questions over the delays.
- The US has given out a total of 101,128,005 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, and distributed more than 130 million jabs.
- A judge in the UK has ruled that a man with severe learning difficulties should have a Covid-19 vaccination, despite his family’s concerns.
- Government ministers, police chiefs and representatives from both Celtic and Rangers held a “positive” meeting on Friday ahead of the Old Firm derby in Scotland on 21 March.
- AstraZeneca is set to apply to have its jab approved by the US authorities before early April, according to Reuters.
Germany faces a wait for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine amid questions over the reasons behind the delays.
AFP reports:
Health minister Jens Spahn said Friday that Germany would have to wait until “mid-to-late April” for the newly approved Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine.
Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid vaccine on Thursday became the fourth jab to be authorised for use in the European Union.
But Spahn warned that Germany would have to wait at least another month to receive the first doses from the US firm, as Berlin cited production issues and what amounted to an effective US ban on exports of domestically produced vaccines.
“It’s a pain with Johnson & Johnson. We have a European authorisation, but the deliveries will only be there from mid-to-late April at the earliest,” said the minister at a weekly news conference in Berlin.
He added that the European Commission was in talks with the company over the problem.
Updated
Deaths toll in Brazil over 2,000 for third day in a row
Brazil has registered another 2,216 deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, and another 85,663 cases.
The amount of positive test results is more than 10,000 higher than the total for Thursday, which stood at 75,412.
According to Reuters the country is now in the worst run of deaths since the pandemic began. A total of 275,105 people have now died, the second-highest death toll in the world.
Cyprus halts moves to loosen restrictions
Plans to relax Covid-19 measures in Cyprus have been put on hold as case numbers on the island remain high.
Middle school pupils will have to stay at home for another two weeks as the UK variant has led to a rise in infections.
Health minister Constantinos Ioannou said samples showed that more than a quarter of positive tests are as a result of the faster-spreading variant, according to Associated Press.
He said that infections remain high in families with workers in both the public and private sectors, as well as primary schools. Compulsory testing for a quarter of employees has been introduced.
Updated
The US has given out a total of 101,128,005 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, as of Friday morning.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 133,337,525 doses had been distributed of the Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson jabs.
According to Reuters 65,965,305 have received at least one jab, with more than 35 million having been fully vaccinated.
AstraZeneca is set to apply to be approved by the US authorities before early April, according to Reuters.
More than 32,000 volunteers have taken part in a trial this year, meaning that the drug firm hopes it has enough data to judge the vaccine’s efficacy in the US.
The jab, developed with Oxford University, has been approved in the EU but has faced concerns in recent days about links to blood clots. The World Health Organization has said there is no reason to stop using it.
A judge in the UK has ruled that a man with severe learning difficulties should have a Covid-19 vaccination, despite his family’s concerns.
According to PA Media, specialists said the man, who is in his 30s, was “clinically vulnerable” and in a “priority group” for vaccination.
The man’s parents objected and raised concerns about side-effects. However, after a hearing at the court of protection, judge Jonathan Butler concluded that the man should have the jab.
In a written ruling on Friday, he said that despite having “no doubt” that the objections were based on love for the man, the family’s objections had “no clinical evidence base”.
Butler said the man was vulnerable and added there was “overwhelming objective evidence of the magnetic advantage of a vaccination”.
Updated
Government ministers, police chiefs and representatives from both of Scotland’s Old Firm sides held a “positive” meeting on Friday to discuss the derby match between Celtic and Rangers on 21 March.
Justice minister, Hamza Yousaf, had warned last week that the game could be postponed after thousands of Rangers fans breached lockdown rules to celebrate the side’s first Scottish Premier League title win in a decade.
According to PA Media, sport minister Mairi Gougeon said: “This was a positive meeting which we called to address the need for fans to stay at home during the upcoming fixture on March 21.
“The reason we have allowed elite football to proceed is as much for the benefit of supporters as for those working in professional sport.
“Everyone is being deprived of so much right now – and making so many sacrifices – that the ability to watch a football game safely at home on television should be something that people should have the ability to do.
“But a minority cannot be allowed to act irresponsibly. We want to send out a very clear message that all fans must stay at home - there will be opportunities to come together to celebrate safely, collectively in due course.
“Clubs have a leading role to play in reaching out to their supporters and communicating the vital message that fans and supporters need to stay at home. I welcome that both clubs have agreed to reinforce that message.”
The Pacific’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of self-reliance and resistance: to turn to its communities and churches, its lands and seas.
The region has escaped – so far – the very worst of the health ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic. A handful of islands remain defiantly coronavirus-free, though that number dwindles almost weekly now.
But even without high rates of infections from the virus, the impact of the pandemic has been widespread, and profound.
The enforced border closures have isolated communities, threatened food supplies, crippled businesses and devastated economies, particularly across a part of the world so dependent on tourism and exports.
And the global pandemic has come on top of other disasters to hit the Pacific. At one stage in April 2020, Vanuatu was simultaneously grappling with the triple crises of Covid-19, a category-five cyclone in its northern islands and an erupting volcano in its south.
Read more:
Updated
Good evening, Harry Taylor here bringing you the latest coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world for the rest of tonight.
If you have any comments, tips or suggestions – drop me an email at harry.taylor.casual@theguardian.com or get in touch via Twitter @HarryTaylr.
Early evening summary
- The number of confirmed Covid cases in France rose above four million on Friday.
- The EU’s drugs regulator is investigating whether any of the three Covid vaccines approved in the bloc may be linked to a blood clotting deficiency that can cause internal bleeding.
- The Italian government has approved regulations that could result in half of the country, including Lazio, entering total lockdown from Monday as coronavirus infections surge.
- Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz suggested that some European countries may have signed “secret contracts” with vaccine companies to receive more vaccines than they were entitled to based on EU rules, it was reported.
- Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta has announced that a nationwide Covid curfew would be extended for 60 days.
- German public health officials have said AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is safe and the country would continue to use it despite several European countries halting its distribution. In other developments, it was said that Germany is removing regions in Spain and in Portugal from its list of coronavirus risk areas as of Sunday.
- Bulgaria temporarily halted Covid inoculations using the AstraZeneca vaccine after a woman died hours after receiving a shot, and said it wanted the European Medicine Agency to dispel all doubts about the vaccine’s safety.
Updated
Working-age women who are hospitalised with coronavirus are five times as likely to develop long Covid as men in the same age group, according to research presented to the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
Read the full story from Ian Sample, the Guardian’s science editor:
Updated
In the UK, health secretary, Matt Hancock, tweeted:
Huge thanks to everyone involved in the COVID testing programme.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) March 12, 2021
Yesterday, over 1.6 MILLION tests were conducted. A huge team effort.
Mass-testing & the vaccine roll-out are our route to normal.
Reuters reports:
Lawmakers will get their Covid-19 vaccinations in hospital like everyone else from now on, the deputy speaker of Lebanon’s parliament said on Friday following a scandal over MPs receiving early jabs in the legislature.
About a dozen parliamentarians were vaccinated last month despite not being in a top priority group - sparking outrage in a country reeling from the impact of the pandemic and a financial meltdown.
Deputy speaker Elie Ferzli, who was among the vaccinated lawmakers, said they would not be getting their second doses in parliament.
“We will do it in accordance with the important directive concerning the hospitals,” Ferzli, who is in his early 70s, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Updated
France's Covid cases top four million
The number of confirmed Covid cases in France rose above four million on Friday, as the health ministry reported 25,229 new infections.
The increase was lower than the 23,507 new cases reported last Friday, and took the total number of confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic to 4.01 million, Reuters reports.
France has the world’s sixth-highest total of Covid cases, just behind Britain, which has had more than 4.24 million infections.
The number of people with Covid-19 in intensive care units in France increased by 41 to 4,033 on Friday, exceeding 4,000 for the first time since 26 November, at the end of the second nationwide lockdown.
Updated
Reuters reports:
Guinea’s current Ebola outbreak is likely to have been sparked by a latent infection in the human population rather than from the virus jumping the species barrier again, a World Health Organization official said on Friday.
The WHO’s top emergencies official Mike Ryan told a briefing the preliminary finding based on initial genetic sequencing was “remarkable”.
A second WHO official at the same briefing said it was too early to draw conclusions on the source of the outbreak, the West African country’s first since a 2013-2016 epidemic that spread in the region and killed thousands.
The state of the pandemic in Brazil (see earlier post) is very concerning and serious action needs to be taken to deal with rising cases and deaths there, the head of the World Health Organization said on Friday.
“Unless serious measures are taken the upward trend now flooding the health system and becoming more than its capacity will result in more deaths,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“The situation is deeply concerning and the measures that should be taken should be as serious as possible,” he added.
Updated
The Democratic Republic of Congo is delaying the rollout of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines it has received as part of the Covax global vaccine-sharing scheme, citing the suspension of the use of the vaccine by several European countries, two health ministry spokesmen have told Reuters.
“We hear that in Europe there are several countries that have suspended the vaccine. We are going to check to know more about this problem,” a spokesperson for Congo’s health ministry told Reuters.
Updated
The EU’s Covid-19 certificates “must prevent discrimination” of those not vaccinated and will also include information on tests and recovery, according to a draft document seen by Reuters ahead of publication next week. The agency reports:
The draft leaves up to the 27 member states to decide if they would be willing to waive Covid-19 travel restrictions only for those vaccinated with jabs authorised for the whole bloc by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or also for those who received shots allowed unilaterally by specific countries.
EU countries Hungary and Slovakia have already bought the Russian Sputnik vaccine despite it not being authorised by EMA.
The bloc’s executive European commission is expected to release the final proposal for Covid-19 certificates next week with southern countries reliant on tourism hoping it would unlock this year’s summer season.
Updated
The number of people in intensive care units in France increased by 41 to 4,033 on Friday, Reuters reports, citing health ministry data. The figure has exceeded 4,000 for the first time since 26 November, at the end of the second nationwide lockdown.
The Geodes health ministry website, which releases provisional data, also reported 64,809 deaths in hospitals, an increase of 223, which would put the total number of deaths since the start of the epidemic – including retirement home deaths – over 90,000.
Updated
Italy has reported 380 coronavirus-related deaths, compared to 373 the day before, Reuters reports, citing the country’s health ministry. It said the daily tally of new infections rose to 26,824 from 25,673 the day before. The agency reports:
Some 369,636 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 372,217, the health ministry said.
Italy has registered 101,564 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year; the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported around 3.18 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 23,656 on Friday, rising from 23,247 a day earlier. There were 226 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 266 on Thursday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 2,914 from a previous 2,859.
When Italy’s second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.
Updated
Brazil has scaled back testing in recent months, even as infections soar and it recorded the most deaths in the world over the past week, Reuters reports, citing health ministry data. The agency says:
The result is a nation navigating in the dark, experts said, without the ability to trace and contain transmission, let alone track the spread of dangerous new virus variants in real time.
Brazil’s public health system and major private laboratories conducted about 44,000 daily PCR tests – the gold standard for identifying the novel coronavirus – in the last week of February, the latest public health ministry data show.
That was down by nearly a third from Brazil’s peak for testing: more than 65,000 per day in the third week of December.
By comparison, the United States – the only nation with more total Covid-19 deaths – has averaged over a million tests per day in the last nine months.
Brazil’s health ministry did not answer questions about the decline in testing. Recent ministry notes cited investments to increase testing capacity.
“There’s no justification,” said Diego Xavier, a public health researcher for the Fiocruz biomedical institute. “We’ve processed more tests before. So the only explanation is a reduction in the testing program at a time when we should be increasing it.”
One in three tests in Brazil were positive in late February, ministry data show, far above the benchmark 5% positivity rate cited by the World Health Organization for countries containing their outbreaks.
Updated
EU regulator investigates Covid vaccines for link to bleeding disorder
More details on from earlier post:
The EU’s drugs regulator is investigating whether any of the three Covid vaccines approved in the bloc might be linked to a blood clotting deficiency that can cause internal bleeding, Reuters reports.
The European Medicines Agency said on Friday that several cases of immune thrombocytopenia, a lack of platelets in the blood that can lead to bleeding and bruising, had been reported under its vaccine safety monitoring process.
“It is not yet clear whether there is a causal association between vaccination and the reports of immune thrombocytopenia,” the EMA said.
The agency said it would assess reports of the condition in people who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines.
European vaccination programmes have been upset in the last two weeks by reports that recipients of the AstraZeneca inoculation have suffered blood clots.
The EMA has said there is no indication that the events were caused by the vaccination, a view that was echoed by the World Health Organization.
The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, details the timeline of Covid’s spread through Westminster:
Updated
Italy approves decree that could see half the country enter lockdown
The Italian government has approved regulations that could see half of the country, including Lazio, the region surrounding Rome, enter total lockdown from Monday as coronavirus infections surge.
Prime minister Mario Draghi’s cabinet has given the green light to a decree that will categorise regions in high-risk “red-zones” if they have over 250 weekly cases per 100,000 residents.
Italy registered 25,673 new infections on Thursday and 373 Covid-19 fatalities, bringing the total death count to 101,184.
The regions facing complete lockdown from Monday include Lombardy, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Veneto, Piedmont, Marche and the province of Trento.
Campania and Bolzano province were already in the red zone and will stay there, while Abruzzo, Calabria, Liguria, Molise, Puglia, Sicily, Umbria and the Aosta Valley will be in the slightly less stringent orange zone. Sardinia was earlier this month classified in the lowest-risk white zone and will stay there.
The restrictions will remain in place until the Easter weekend, during which the whole country, apart from Sardinia, will be classified a red zone.
Updated
The UK government has agreed to deploy 100 members of the military to Northern Ireland to support the “accelerated rollout” of Covid vaccines.
It is the second time medically trained members of the armed forces have been sent to Northern Ireland to support health service staff during the pandemic, the BBC reports.
Updated
Infection rates across England and Wales are decreasing while those in Northern Ireland and Scotland appear to be levelling off, an official survey suggests. The Office for National Statistics estimates that just over 230,000 people had Covid by the end of last week.
The latest release of our #COVID19 Infection Survey shows infection rates continued to decrease across England and Wales in the week ending 6 March 2021.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) March 12, 2021
Infection rates in Northern Ireland and Scotland appear to have levelled off https://t.co/GglXEwJXmM pic.twitter.com/ZMqf1q9Yeg
Updated
Update on from Reuters on earlier post:
Health minister Kostadin Angelov said a 57-year-old woman from a village in southern Bulgaria had died of heart failure 15 hours after receiving an AstraZeneca shot on Thursday.
“This is a just a precautionary measure,” Angelov told reporters, appealing to those already inoculated to stay calm. “We do not have any official data that proves a causal connection.”
Angelov said the woman who died had a history of heart disease and suffered from obesity. The final medical investigation into her death will be ready in seven days, but the autopsy found no blood clots, he said.
Updated
French drug agency ANSM said on Friday it agreed with the European Medicines Agency to continue using the Covid vaccine developed by AstraZeneca.
ANSM agency also said it was starting a study on the safety of Covid-19 vaccines available in France, according to Reuters.
Updated
Switzerland has proposed further steps to relax Covid curbs, although the government noted the situation remained “fragile”, Reuters reports.
Outside events like football matches and concerts with audiences of up to 150 people would be allowed once more, while inside events at cinemas and theatres could draw up to 50 attendees, the government said.
Audiences would still have to wear masks and keep at least 1.5 metres apart, with the limits on household gatherings raised to 10 people from five.
The measures are due to take effect from 22 March, but the government said the situation remained uncertain amid a recent rise in the number of cases. It will take a final decision on 19 March.
Updated
Update on earlier post, as Germany’s move was welcomed by tourism operators and associations.
“With the lifting of the travel warning for the Balearic Islands, the prospects of holidaymakers for an Easter holiday under the sun are improving,” the German Travel Association said, adding that the move improves the prospects for people living in holiday regions.
In Australia, Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra hospital has been placed into lockdown after a staff member contracted Covid-19 from a patient.
The staff member had contact with the patient in the early hours of Wednesday and was infectious in the community on Thursday, Queensland Health said in a statement on Friday night. The staff member is a doctor, the ABC reported.
Read the full story here:
Reuters report:
An AstraZeneca document dated March 10, seen by Reuters and shared with EU officials, shows that the Anglo-Swedish drug maker expects to have delivered 30 million doses to the EU by the end of March - 10 million less than it pledged only last month, and only a third of its contractual obligation.
A company spokesman declined to comment, but a person familiar with the situation said there had been difficulties with international supply chains.
Industry executives have warned of manufacturing problems as countries try to protect their own supplies of vaccines, ingredients and the equipment to make, bottle and transport them.
Sweden, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, registered 5,335 new Covid cases on Friday, health agency statistics indicated.
The country of 10 million registered 35 new deaths, bringing the total to 13,146.
Azerbaijan has approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for use against Covid-19, the Azeri health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Sputnik V has now been cleared for use in more than 50 countries, and the vaccine would be delivered soon, it added.
Kurz accuses some EU states of having 'secret' vaccine contracts
Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz has suggested that some European countries may have signed “secret contracts” with vaccine companies to receive more vaccines than they were entitled to based on EU rules, AFP reports.
EU members have agreed that vaccines should be distributed among countries based on population size, but Kurz said that after comparing total procurement between member states, it became clear that “deliveries do not follow the per capita quota system” (see earlier post).
Kurz said:
There are clues that point to so-called bazaars where additional agreements between member states and pharmaceutical companies were made. Malta will receive three times as many doses per capita as Bulgaria until the end of July. The Netherlands would not only receive more doses of vaccine per capita until the end of June than Germany, but almost twice as many as Croatia.
“This is in clear contradiction to the political goals of the EU,” he added.
However, an EU spokesman downplayed the claims of backroom deals. “Member states may decide to ask less for more of a given vaccine, and this is discussed between the member states,” Stefan de Keersmaecker said.
Updated
Germany removes regions in Spain and Portugal from virus risk list
Germany is removing regions in Spain, including the tourist island of Mallorca, and in Portugal from its list of coronavirus risk areas as of Sunday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases has said.
The latest version of the RKI’s list on its website said Spain’s Balearic islands, Castile-La Mancha, Valencia, Extremadura, among others, are no longer considered risk areas, meaning travellers from there will not need to quarantine upon arrival in Germany.
RKI is also removing the Portuguese regions of Alentejo, Centro, Norte and the Azores from the risk areas category, Reuters reports.
A man stopped four times by police in the space of a month for breaking the curfew in the southern French town of Béziers has been jailed for three months.
Reports say the man, aged 25, was unable to give the police a credible explanation for being out after 6pm. The fourth time was on Tuesday when the man was stopped in his car at Agde.
He was hauled before a judge the following day and found guilty of the repeat offence of being out after the 6pm-6am curfew that has been in effect since mid December because of the coronavirus epidemic.
Police said the man was known to them having been previously convicted of “offences of another nature”.
“He gave the police explanations that were fantasist even though he had been given a verbal warning three times in February and March for having violated the curfew,” the public prosecutor’s office said.
“We will continue to take firm action against those who decide to break the health rules aimed at fighting the epidemic, deliberately and in a repeated manner.”
Kenya extends nationwide Covid curfew for 60 days
Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta has announced that a nationwide Covid-19 curfew would be extended for 60 days.
The east African nation, which has so far recorded at least 111,185 Covid cases and 1,899 deaths, is gripped by a third wave of infections.
It reported 829 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily number since last year, according to Reuters.
In a televised address, Kenyatta said the positive test rate hit 13% in March compared to January’s 2%. “Unfortunately, it is still rising,” he said.
“Last year, fellow Kenyans, the Kenyan economy was projected to grow by 6.2%, but it only grew by 0.6% because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Kenyatta declared, adding that the economy was likely to bounce back and grow by approximately 7% in 2021.
Updated
This is from England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty:
Good news confirming efficacy of the Novavax COVID vaccine against original and B.1.1.7 variants. The UK trial recruited from 35 research sites across the UK, with the first patients recruited in Blackpool. Many thanks to the volunteers and NHS staff who made it possible. https://t.co/UxkKtc7sH5
— Professor Chris Whitty (@CMO_England) March 12, 2021
Reuters reports:
German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday lawmakers caught in a face mask procurement scandal had engaged in “shabby and shameful” behaviour, shaking the governing Christian Democrats ahead of weekend regional elections.
A lawmaker from chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc on Thursday became the third within a week to resign from her parliamentary group over the scandal, which risks costing the Christian Democrats in Sunday’s twin state votes.
Anger about the scandal is compounding frustration among Germans with Merkel’s conservative-led coalition over a sluggish coronavirus vaccine rollout caused by supply shortages and leaden bureaucracy.
Steinmeier, a member of the left-leaning Social Democrats, acknowledged in a rare intervention into domestic politics that Germans were tired of living under lockdown.
“...And then have to hear that MPs, of all people, are holding out their hand before the modest medical protection of face masks even reaches the people...That is shabby and shameful!” he told a conference hosted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
In the past week, the CDU’s Nikolas Loebel has given up his seat and Bavarian conservative Georg Nuesslein stepped down from the parliamentary party. Both had been accused of receiving payments for brokering face mask procurement deals.
Updated
Covid vaccine doses are not being distributed evenly within the EU according to member states’ populations, as was agreed by the bloc, Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said as he called called for greater transparency.
Kurz told a news conference that while EU leaders had agreed to the principle of distribution in line with population, the bloc’s vaccination steering board had struck agreements with drug companies that went against it, according to Reuters.
Read the latest on the situation in Italy from Agence France-Presse in Rome:
Update from earlier post on Bulgaria’s precautionary AstraZeneca suspension:
In a statement, the prime minister Boyko Borissov said:
Until all doubts are dispelled and as long as the experts do not give guarantees that it does not pose a risk to the people, we are halting the inoculations with this vaccine.
Updated
German officials back AstraZeneca vaccine after clot concerns
In Germany, public health officials have said AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is safe and the country would continue to use it on Friday after several European countries halted its distribution amid safety concerns.
Health authorities in Denmark, Norway and Iceland on Thursday suspended the use of the vaccine after reports of blood clots in some people who had been vaccinated.
With Germany still facing a scarcity of vaccines and a third Covid wave, the government is anxious to ensure that vaccine scepticism does not undermine the roll-out, Reuters reports.
Jens Spahn, the health minister, told a news briefing:
Everything we know so far suggests that the benefits of the vaccine, even after every individual case reported, are greater than the risks, and that continues to be the case.
This is from Newstalk’s Barry Whyte in Ireland:
In excess of 80 fixed penalty notices in respect of breaches of public health guidelines were issued by Gardai at a funeral in Carrick-on-Shannon yesterday.
— Barry Whyte (@BarryWhyte85) March 12, 2021
Two arrests were also made on Wednesday.
Over 300 people attended a funeral in the Co Leitrim town yesterday pic.twitter.com/3VCxszCfN2
Here is a video of Mexico’s famous wrestlers encouraging people to wear face masks and use sanitiser:
Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog now. As always, feel free to send me a message on Twitter if you have any coverage suggestions.
Italy will be placed under a nationwide lockdown for the Easter weekend, according to a draft law decree seen by Reuters.
Non-essential shops will be shuttered nationwide from 3-5 April. On those days, Italians will be allowed to leave their homes only for work, health or emergency reasons.
The draft decree also said that as of Monday curbs will be tightened in the country’s low-risk “yellow” regions, where movement between towns will be severely limited and restaurants and bars will be closed.
Along with nationwide measures, Italy calibrates restrictions in its 20 regions according to a four-tier colour-coded system (white, yellow, orange and red) based on infection levels and revised every week.
The decree is expected to be approved later today.
Italians and others have been recalling the situation in the country a year ago, meanwhile:
I took this photo one year ago tonight: a long, worried line outside a 24-hr supermarket in #Rome, after then-PM #GiuseppeConte announced Europe's 1st peacetime national #lockdown, effective the next morning. Word is, #lockdown2021 may be inevitable. #coroavirus #lockdownitalia pic.twitter.com/aRReWxaLy8
— Eric J. Lyman 🇺🇸🇩🇴🇮🇹 (@EricJLyman) March 9, 2021
Gosh, it was this day last yr I was deployed to #Rome to cover #COVID outbreak. #UK was life as normal while #Italy was in lockdown. How much pain world has endured since. Who knew .. pic.twitter.com/LKnyAR04Qc
— Sima Kotecha (@sima_kotecha) March 10, 2021
Updated
Bulgaria announces precautionary AstraZeneca suspension
Bulgaria’s prime minister has ordered the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccine rollout until further communications come through from the European Medicines Agency.
It comes after several other European countries have either suspended inoculations with the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precautionary measure or banned the use of a specific batch after blood clots formed in some people who had received the jab.
The European Medicines Agency has said the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine can continue to be used during an investigation into cases of blood clots that have prompted several European countries to pause their use of the shot.
The EMA said 30 cases of “thromboembolic events” or blood clots had been reported among 5 million people who had received the jab in Europe so far. “The vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks,” the regulator said in a statement.
Angel Petrov from the Bulgarian daily newspaper, Denevnik, tweets:
#Bulgaria's PM has just ordered the suspension of #AstraZeneca jab rollout until EMA dispels safety concerns. Bulgaria tried to initiate an early mass immunization campaign which the decision basically kills.
— Angel Petrov (@angel_a_petrov) March 12, 2021
The attorney general for Texas is suing officials in Austin after they refused to enforce an order that ended a statewide mask mandate.
Texas announced the lifting of that restriction – which had made mask-wearing compulsory in public buildings and many outdoor spaces to help contain the coronavirus – on Wednesday, along with an end to occupancy curbs on businesses.
But the city council in Austin, the state capital, voted to still require masks to be worn.
“I told Travis County & The City of Austin to comply with state mask law. They blew me off. So, once again, I’m dragging them to court”, attorney general Ken Paxton said on Twitter.
Several major retailers, grocery and restaurant chains in Texas have said they would still require masks to be worn in their stores.
That was their right, Paxton said in a letter dated 10 March to Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown.
However, such a decision “does not rest with jurisdictions like the City of Austin or Travis County,” he added.
A state district court has scheduled a 10am (local time) hearing on Friday to consider Paxton’s request for a temporary restraining order blocking the local rules, reports the Austin American Statesman.
Updated
Italy’s cabinet is scheduled to meet at 11.30am (local time), reports Bloomberg.
The government will decide whether to automatically designate regions as high-risk “red zones” if they have more than 250 weekly cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to officials who asked not to be named discussing confidential deliberations.
Updated
Slovenian media are focusing on a primary school in the city of Velenje where classes are being cancelled after 26 teachers took sick leave following a strong reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine they received.
The school has been closed, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).
Updated
Italy to announce extensive closures
Italy’s government is expected to announce the closure of schools, restaurants and shops across most of the country later today as a new wave of coronavirus infections puts hospitals under strain.
Prime minister Mario Draghi is expected to hold a cabinet meeting shortly to decide new restrictions for the eurozone’s third-largest economy, which on Thursday recorded almost 26,000 new Covid-19 cases and 373 deaths.
With new, more contagious variants now widespread, Italy’s more populated northern regions such as Lombardy, which includes Milan, will reportedly join several others in being classified as the highest risk “red zones” from Monday, as will Calabria in the south.
Lazio, the region that includes Rome, could also join them, although the situation is uncertain.
Draghi’s new national unity government tightened restrictions for red zones earlier this month, to include not just the closure of bars, restaurants, shops and high schools but also primary schools. Residents are told to stay home where possible.
Other regions including Tuscany and Liguria are expected to pass into the medium-risk orange zone, with all shops, museums, bars and restaurants closed.
That leaves only Sicily in the lower category of yellow, and Sardinia in the new category of white, with hardly any restrictions at all.
Updated
The company announcement came on Thursday but Novavax’s news that its Covid-19 vaccine was 96% effective in preventing cases caused by the original version of the coronavirus is still causing cheer today.
The results are based on a late-stage trial conducted in Britain and moves the vaccine a step closer to regulatory approval.
The vaccine was 86% effective in protecting against the more contagious virus variant first discovered and now prevalent in UK.
Good news—Updated Novavax vaccine results.
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) March 12, 2021
📌96% effective against symptomatic #COVID19
📌86% for #B117 variant from UK🇬🇧
📌55% for #B1351 variant from South Africa🇿🇦 (among HIV-negative)
📌100% protection against severe disease (all populations) 🧵https://t.co/zvW3EdAAVX pic.twitter.com/KALCg50Lkw
Updated
Canada and other wealthy countries are continuing to stall a five-month-old proposal for a temporary waiver on Covid-19 vaccine patents, the Globe and Mail reports.
The delay is sparking criticism that Canada and others are defending pharmaceutical companies at the expense of poorer countries, reports Jonathan Hayward.
The plans, backed by more than 100 countries in the developing world, was again blocked at a meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) this week.
Further talks are scheduled for next month, as pressure builds from civil society
Civil society groups urge Canada to support global access to COVID-19 vaccine at WTO | Amnesty International Canada https://t.co/gn1DXsa0zr
— Alex Neve (@AlexNeve24) March 10, 2021
Doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 produced in Italy by Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Adienne Pharma & Biotech will not be available on the market until at least late 2021, Russia’s Tass news agency jas reported
Moscow’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund signed an agreement with Adienne earlier this week that will need approval from Italian regulators before production can be launched. It said it had also struck deals with production facilities in Spain, France and Germany.
The production agreements are the latest indication that some companies could press ahead with plans without waiting for the European Union’s regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), to grant its approval to Sputnik V.
“The company will not produce batches for sale until late 2021,” Tass cited Antonio Francesco Di Naro, the president of Lugano-based Adienne, as saying.
Updated
Players in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) have been told they must still keep their distance from fans as they start the NRL season under low-level Covid-19 protocols.
One year to the day since the NRL was forced to rush out makeshift rules and sport overseas stopped, stringent stage-one restrictions are still in place.
While players can live uninterrupted lives outside of match days as long as they follow government protocols, there are still restrictions at grounds.
Despite players being able to interact with fans a fortnight ago in trials, an edict sent out to clubs in the past week has told them they must remain 1.5 metres from supporters.
Updated
Some semblance of normal life will begin again in Wales from Saturday, with the country’s first minister, Mark Drayford, expected to announce a change from the current “stay home” restrictions to more lenient “stay local” requirements.
Drakeford is expected to say: “We are taking a phased approach to unlocking each sector – starting with schools. We will make step-by-step changes each week to gradually restore freedoms. We will monitor each change we make, so we know what impact each change has had on Wales’ public health situation.”
From Saturday, four people from two households will be able to meet outdoors to socialise, including in gardens; outdoor sports facilities – including basketball courts, tennis courts and golf courses – can reopen; and indoor care home visits will restart for single designated visitors. The relaxation of rules will allow people from rural areas to travel greater distances than those who live in urban towns and cities.
Hairdressers and barbers can reopen for appointments from Monday, the same day that all primary school pupils and those in qualifications years can return to schools.
Non-essential retail, which was considered for reopening from next week, will start to reopen gradually from 22 March, while restrictions will be lifted on what can be sold in shops that are currently open. All shops, including all close-contact services, will be able to open from 12 April, the same date as in England.
Updated
The South African government’s agreement with Johnson & Johnson for 11m Covid-19 vaccine doses includes an option for an additional 20 million doses depending on the availability of stock.
Health minister Zweli Mkhize provided the details in a written reply to a question from a South African politician, which was seen by Reuters.
Updated
Japan’s minister in charge of vaccination efforts has been speaking after authorities said that Covid-19 cases in the Greater Tokyo area are showing signs of creeping up.
Japan expects to receive 9,188 cartons of vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE each week in May, or about 1.8m vials, up from 10,475 cartons for all of April, said Taro Kono, the minister in charge of the vaccination effort.
“In May, we will receive 9,188 boxes each week. That will roughly be worth about 10m shots a week,” Kono told a news conference.
“We expect June volume will be even bigger than May.”
In a move to make the most of the vaccine available, Japan will use specialised syringes capable of extracting six doses from each Pfizer vial from the week of 12 April to inoculate medical workers, Kono said.
The Japanese government last week extended the emergency declaration for Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures by 14 days, saying Covid-19 cases hadn’t fallen far enough, and that new, more infectious coronavirus variants posed a threat.
A decision on whether the state of emergency could be lifted in the Tokyo area, which accounts for about 30% of Japan’s population, would ultimately be made after hearing the views of experts, according to Japanese health minister Norihisa Tamura.
Updated
A British government fund established to prop up the arts and heritage sectors during the coronavirus pandemic has handed over little more than half of the money it has allocated.
The National Audit Office, which audits spending by UK state agencies, said the culture recovery fund had budgeted for £830m in grants and loans funding so far, but only £495m had been paid out.
MPs have responded angrily to the findings, urging the government to hand over the cash while “there are still organisations left to support”.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) announced the £1.57bn fund to help the cultural, arts and heritage institutions survive the pandemic last summer.
It has supported about 3,000 arts organisations in England so far, including venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Southbank Centre in London, and M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
Updated
Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has admitted that he expected the country’s lockdown to last for no more than a few weeks or months.
Varadkar was Ireland’s taoiseach a year ago when he addressed the Irish people from Washington DC, where he was on a US visit, telling them: “We have overcome many trials in the past with our determination and our spirit. We will prevail.”
Now serving in the role of Tanaiste as part of a coalition government, he told the PA Media news agency that he had “no concept” at the time that some businesses would remain shuttered one year on, and paid tribute to the inspiring perseverance and courage of the Irish people.
He said: “I remember vividly standing on the steps in Washington for St Patrick’s Day last year. Visits to the White House are always special, but this one is etched in my memory.
“We knew so little about the virus at the time. Now we know so much more, but even so we are still learning. At the time there was no road map, no manual for dealing with a pandemic.”
Here’s a clip of the original statement, via RTE.
WATCH: Full speech by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as the country's schools, colleges and childcare facilities are to close in response to the Covid-19 pandemic | Read more: https://t.co/0dZzTUDn4s pic.twitter.com/URGFZUb2jn
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 12, 2020
Updated
Tanzania’s president John Magufuli is in good health and working normally, one of his diplomats has told a broadcaster in Namibia, countering reports he had been flown to hospital in Kenya and then India in a critical condition with Covid-19.
Magufuli, 61, who is Africa’s most prominent coronavirus sceptic, has not been seen in public since 27 February.
Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu has cited medical and security sources for information that the president was flown to the private Nairobi hospital in neighbouring Kenya and then on to India in a coma.
But the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Tanzania’s ambassador in Windhoek, Modestus Kipilimba, as saying Magufuli was in good health and remained in Tanzania.
Updated
Welsh government outlines reopening plans
The Welsh government is to begin to reopen people’s personal lives and the economy as coronavirus numbers in Wales “continue to go in the right direction”, the head of the devolved administration in Cardiff has said.
People from two households will be able to meet in gardens from Saturday, while hairdressers and barbers will be able to operate from Monday. Non-essential retail will begin to reopen from 22 March.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Provided things continue to go in the right direction, we hope to be able to reopen self-contained accommodation for the Easter period.”
He said that in many Welsh homes, people would need to go through the house to access the back garden but “the idea is you walk straight through, out the back door into the garden”.
“That will be a big step forward here in Wales. People haven’t been able to do that now for weeks and weeks,” he said.
“For many families that will allow grandparents to see grandchildren again and it’s a sign that cautiously, carefully and step by step, we’re now on the journey of reopening Welsh society.”
Updated
French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has announced the launch of human trials of its second Covid-19 vaccine, with its first still in the testing phase after having fallen behind in development.
Sanofi and US company Translate Bio are developing the vaccine based on messenger RNA technology, the AFP news agency reports.
The phase 1 and 2 trials aim to verify that the vaccine is not dangerous and to provide initial information on its effectiveness.
Phase 3 would be carried out on many more patients to determine its effectiveness.
The first trials will include 415 people, with initial results expected in the third quarter.
Updated
South Africa’s medicines regulator SAHPRA has said that it had received documentation for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac.
It added in a statement that it would now start evaluating the data and assessing the efficacy of the vaccine.
Good morning from London. This is Ben Quinn picking up the liveblog now on a morning when people in the UK are waking up to the news that the economy here contracted by 2.9% in January amid lockdown measures.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the British economy is 9% smaller than it was before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
My colleague Graeme Wearden is covering that – as well as other business and economic developments – on our Business Live blog.
In other moving developments, Welsh authorities are expected to announced today that Wales will move to a “stay local” requirement for at least the next three weeks as the country eases some of its coronavirus restrictions.
In Scotland, a grim milestone has also been reached. The toll of lives lost north of the border with a link to the virus has reached more than 9,000 since the first death of coronavirus patient in Scotland was confirmed a year ago.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, is visiting Northern Ireland meanwhile and the ONS publishes its weekly figures on coronavirus and social impacts. There will also be the weekly Covid-19 infection survey is released by the ONS at noon.
You can flag up any news stories around the world you think we should be reporting on by emailing me or contacting me on twitter at @BenQuinn75.
You’ll find coverage of those stories as well as others and continuing global coverage here.
Updated
That’s it from me for today. Here is something that will either make you laugh or recoil in horror:
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- Brazil recorded more than 2,000 deaths for second day. Hospitals in Brazil’s main cities are reaching capacity, health officials warned, as the country recorded the world’s highest Covid death toll over the past week, triggering tighter restrictions on Thursday in its most populous state.
- New Zealand city of Auckland to move to alert level one from midday. Auckland will move to alert level 1 from midday today, bringing it in line with the rest of the country, as the government declares the February outbreak to be contained.
- Portugal to ease lockdown rules. Portugal’s government announced it would start to gradually ease its strict rules from next week, Reuters reports, nearly two months into a lockdown imposed in mid-January to tackle what was then the world’s worst coronavirus surge.
- Biden says US on track to vaccinate 100m people by 60th day in office. In a primetime address, US president Joe Biden has said “We’re actually on track to reach this goal of 100m shots on my 60th day in office,” noting that the US will likely surpass the president’s initial goal of 100m “shots in arms” within his first 100 days in office.
- Australia to continue AstraZeneca roll-out. Australia will continue to roll out AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as there is no evidence of a link to blood clots, despite some European countries suspending its use. Denmark, Norway and Iceland on Thursday suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine following reports of the formation of blood clots in some people who had been vaccinated.
- Thai PM, cabinet cancel Friday’s scheduled AstraZeneca vaccinations. The response in Thailand has been different from Australia’s, with Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and members of his cabinet cancelled on Friday plans to receive AstraZeneca vaccine shots after the country delayed use of the vaccines over reports of blood clots in some European nations, a health official said.
Updated
More on that Biden’s deal, from AP:
The Biden administration already announced that it will send the $1,400 in direct checks – a total of about $400bn – starting this weekend. The administration also will continue the enhanced jobless aid for the 20.1 million Americans who are collecting some form of the benefits. Both the direct checks and jobless aid were part of past Covid aid packages that totalled roughly $4tn, meaning the government has systems in place to distribute the money.
But other elements are trickier.
There is $130bn for K-12 schools to hire teachers, upgrade ventilation systems and make other improvements so that in-person classes can resume. Universities are eligible for $40bnn. Separately, $30bn in housing aid is available. And there is about $120bn for vaccine distribution and coronavirus testing, among other public health expenses.
The White House said the billions for schools would “begin” to be distributed this month by the Education Department.
But some funds could take time to distribute, since government agencies with their normal spending can take six to nine months to release funds through competitive grants or an application process. Schools and state and local governments also might spread out spending to well after most of the country is vaccinated.
Updated
To pay out his coronavirus relief package, President Joe Biden must spend an average of $3.7bn every day for the rest of this year. That’s $43,000 every second of every day until midnight chimes on 2022, AP reports.
For the amount of time that readers took to reach this sentence, Biden needs to disburse nearly $800,000 to stay on track.
That’s according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, and even then, the Biden administration would still have plenty of the $1.9tn to spend in later years as a vaccinated country battles back to economic health.
The president signed the aid package into law Thursday without a comprehensive plan in place to distribute all of the funds, which will be a core focus of the administration in coming weeks.
The level of spending is a testament to the complexity of addressing a disease that seeped so widely across the nation in less than a year, and the economic pain that it has wrought.
From the Guardian sport team:
Friday 13 March 2020 was a grim day for sport as events across the world were called off. Here’s how it felt then, and has done since, for those on the inside
Fears Tokyo's state of emergency could be extended as cases rise
More on the situation in Tokyo now, where coronavirus cases are creeping up, Japan’s health minister has warned, raising speculation that the current state of emergency could be extended for a second time.
Japan’s government last week extended the emergency declaration for Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures by 14 days amid evidence that Covid-19 cases had not fallen far enough, and reports that infections involving new, more transmissible variants, were on the rise.
The current state of emergency - during which bars and restaurants are asked to close early and people encouraged to avoid non-essential outings - is due to end on 21 March, just four days before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay is scheduled to begin in Fukushima.
Any extension would see the torch event - seen by many as the official start of the Olympic countdown - being held while coronavirus restrictions are still in place in the host city.
The restrictions have brought new cases in Tokyo down to about a tenth of its peak of 2,520 cases in early January, but the numbers have fallen short of Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike’s target of bringing the seven-day average to 70% of the preceding week.
The seven-day average of new cases in Tokyo has been stuck in the mid- to high-200s since late February, while the daily tally exceeded 300 for the second straight day on Thursday.
Japan has fared far better than many other countries - including the UK and US - with about 440,000 infections and 8,400 deaths to date.
But its vaccination programme has got off to a slow start. Inoculations for health workers began last month, but jabs for people aged over-64 are not expected to start until mid-April, followed by those with preexisting health conditions and care workers.
The health minister, Norihisa Tamura, said the government would decide on whether to lift the state of emergency - which covers about 30% of Japan’s population - after consulting health experts.
Shigeru Omi, head of the government’s Covid-19 panel of expert advisers, has warned that mutant strains of the virus first discovered in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, would become the dominant strain in Japan “sooner or later”.
“There is no question that the process to replace the existing strain has already begun,” he told a parliamentary committee this week, according to Japanese media reports.
Omi said case numbers were declining at a slower pace than hoped because more people were eating and drinking in groups.
He said “society has become accustomed to the state of emergency, and infection through eating and drinking together is increasing”, adding that the greater Tokyo area was “definitely” at higher risk of experiencing a rebound in cases than other regions if the state of emergency is lifted on 21 March.
Updated
Here is our story on Thailand delaying the roll-out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine:
Coronavirus cases in the Greater Tokyo area are showing signs of creeping up, Japanese Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said on Friday, raising questions about whether a state of emergency can be lifted on schedule on 21 March, Reuters reports.
The Japanese government last week extended the emergency declaration for Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures by 14 days, saying Covid cases hadn’t fallen far enough, and that new, more infectious coronavirus variants posed a threat.
A decision on whether the state of emergency could be lifted in the Tokyo area, which accounts for about 30% of Japan’s population, would ultimately be made after hearing the views of experts, Tamura said in televised remarks.
“Lifting the measures will be based on putting in place a system to ensure there’s not a rebound in cases,” he said.
Restrictions such as shorter business hours for restaurants and bars have helped reduce new cases in Tokyo to roughly a tenth of a peak of 2,520 cases on 7 January. But the numbers are far from Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s target of bringing the seven-day average to 70% of the preceding week.
“The number of new positive cases has stopped decreasing, and we need to be very vigilant about the possibility of a resurgence due to mutated strains,” Koike said on Friday during a meeting with health experts.
The seven-day average of new cases in Tokyo has been stuck in the mid- to high-200s since late February, while the daily tally exceeded 300 for the second straight day on Thursday.
Tokyo - and Japan - are racing to bring coronavirus cases under control and vaccinations well under way as it prepares to host the Summer Olympics, which start July 23.
Japan’s Covid inoculation campaign began only last month with health workers and has been moving slowly, hampered by a lack of supply.
The country has so far recorded about 441,000 coronavirus cases and 8,400 deaths.
Joe Biden has pledged all US adults will be eligible for coronavirus vaccines by 1 May as he addressed the nation on the one year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden outlined plans to speed up vaccinations around the country and hoped for a return to normalcy by 4 July.
The president condemned the hate crimes against Asian Americans, and repeated his calls for unity, as he urged Americans to continue to wear masks:
Thai PM, cabinet cancel Friday's scheduled AstraZeneca vaccinations
The response in Thailand has been different from Australia’s, with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and members of his cabinet cancelled on Friday plans to receive AstraZeneca vaccine shots after the country delayed use of the vaccines over reports of blood clots in some European nations, a health official said.
In a health ministry news conference, Prasit Watanapa, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, confirmed that the rollout would be delayed after a suspension of inoculations using the vaccine in Denmark, Norway and Iceland.
Australia to continue AstraZeneca roll-out
Reuters is reporting that Australia will continue to roll-out AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as there is no evidence of a link to blood clots, despite some European countries suspending its use
Denmark, Norway and Iceland on Thursday suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine following reports of the formation of blood clots in some people who had been vaccinated.
Australia’s government said that while its pharmaceutical regulator was monitoring those cases, there would be no pause in the roll-out of the vaccine.
“We’re getting on with the vaccine, we’re getting on with the roll-out,” Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told reporters in Melbourne.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said there is no evidence to suggest the vaccine caused blood clots.
“We do take them seriously and investigate,” Kelly said in an emailed statement, referring to the reports of blood clots.
Australia has secured about 54 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which Health Secretary Brendan Murphy this week described as the “the workforce vaccine for Australia”, with 50 million to be locally produced.
Australia’s vaccination roll-out has only just begun, but the conservative government is already under pressure over the speed of the COVID-19 inoculation programme.
Updated
Biden says US on track to vaccinate 100m people by 60th day in office
In a primetime address, US president Joe Biden has said “We’re actually on track to reach this goal of 100 million shots on my 60th day in office,” noting that the US will likely surpass the president’s initial goal of 100m “shots in arms” within his first 100 days in office.
He officially announced the goal of having each state and local government make all adults eligible to be inoculated by 1 May.
As more and more adults, including teachers and public transportation employees, are vaccinated, “we can accelerate the massive nationwide effort to reopen our schools safely”, Biden said – within the next 50 days.
“I will not relent until we beat this virus,” he said.
A north London business centre previously used to host almost a million people across hundreds of events each year has reopened as an NHS Covid-19 mass vaccination centre.
Up to 4,000 people a day will receive shots in dozens of private booths at the Business Design Centre in Islington, treated by trained staff and an army of volunteers. Patients arriving on its opening day expressed excitement and hope that the vaccine programme could eventually end lockdowns:
An unprecedented study into the wellbeing of British children is to be conducted across Manchester’s schools, as new research suggests two-thirds of parents believe it should be prioritised over academic attainment.
The Greater Manchester young people’s wellbeing programme will gather data from tens of thousands of young people across 250 secondary schools in the city in an attempt to change their perception as “people who get GCSE results”, according to the programme’s creator.
The first study of its kind in the country, the wellbeing programme will begin this autumn and will seek to ascertain young people’s feelings and concerns as well as their levels of physical activity. The information gathered will be used to help better target resources as children try to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic:
Joe Biden has signed into law a $1.9tn coronavirus relief package, cementing the first major legislative victory of his presidency. “This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Biden said about the American Rescue Plan. Touting the bill’s broad public support, he said the plan’s passage by the House of Representatives on Wednesday ensured that “their voices were heard”:
Auckland is preparing for an action-packed weekend with America’s Cup events, a Super Rugby Aotearoa match between the Blues and Highlanders at Eden Park on Sunday, and Auckland Arts Festival under way until 21 March.
The Opposition leader Judith Collins had said the delay in the announcement is the “height of arrogance from a government that has shown itself devoid of understanding about the rigours of trying to operate a business”: “Kiwis deserve more respect.”
Ardern said lifting the restrictions at midday, instead of middnight, was “unusual” for the government and reflected that it was “moving as fast as possible” after receiving up-to-date information.
“What we’re being criticised for is this assumption that we made a decision and didn’t act on it. In fact, what we did was try and maximise as much as possible, the ability to move early for businesses.”
Martin Bosley, a prominent restauranteur, had tweeted this morning that it was “utterly ludicrous” the hospitality industry had to wait until 11.30am for a decision – prompting a response from Ardern’s partner Clarke Gayford that the decision was pending final test results.
Martin an inprinciple decision was decided but its all pending on final test results today.
— Clarke Gayford (@NZClarke) March 11, 2021
Questioned by media, Ardern denied that Gayford had had information ahead of the announcement, saying he was referencing only what had been publicly stated.
New Zealand city of Auckland to move to alert level one from midday today
Auckland will move to alert level 1 from midday today, bringing it in line with the rest of the country, as the government declares the February outbreak to be contained.
Announcing the alert level change this morning, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said a preliminary decision was made late yesterday afternoon, but Cabinet held the announcement to ensure no community cases were recorded overnight.
At the end of a transmission cycle with no new cases, the director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has now advised that he considers the outbreak contained, Ardern said.
“I know everyone in our largest city will be looking forward to a weekend of fewer restrictions with life feeling mostly back to normal, and Auckland deserves that. Once again the city has stepped up and did what it needed to do in the face of these new community cases and for that we all say thank you. But now we need to keep working hard to maintain the position that everyone have worked so hard for.”
She also responded to criticism for the last-minute announcement of level one, with the alert level change promised before the weekend. Hospitality businesses had expressed frustration that the order lifting on Friday would not give them sufficient time to prepare for a capacity crowd that night.
Portugal to ease lockdown rules
Portugal’s government announced it would start to gradually ease its strict rules from next week, Reuters reports, nearly two months into a lockdown imposed in mid-January to tackle what was then the world’s worst coronavirus surge.
Kindergartens, pre-schools and primary schools will reopen on Monday, as well as hair salons and book shops, Prime Minister AntonioCosta told a news conference, adding restaurants will only be allowed to open their doors in May.
The measures to ease the lockdown will be re-evaluated every 15 days, Costa said.
Brazil records more than 2,000 deaths for second day
Hospitals in Brazil’s main cities are reaching capacity, health officials warned, as the country recorded the world’s highest Covid death toll over the past week, triggering tighter restrictions on Thursday in its most populous state, Reuters reports.
Intensive care wards for treating Covid patients have reached critical occupancy levels over 90% in 15 of 27 state capitals, according to biomedical centre Fiocruz.
In Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, the main reference hospital for Covid stopped admitting new cases because all its ICU beds were taken. A Reuters photographer saw patients on respirators crowding emergency rooms.
“This is a warning. We’ve reached capacity and people need to become aware of how bad the situation is,” said Claudio Oliveira, director of the Conceiçao Hospital. It was the first time the hospital has turned away patients since the H1N1 epidemic in 2009.
Oliveira told reporters the hospital closed its doors to avoid the collapse of care for the Covid patients there.
The death toll from Covid for the last 24 hours surpassed 2,000 for the second time, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, with 2,233 dead and new infections rising by 75,412.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
I’ll be bringing you the latest from around the world for the next few hours.
Brazil reported 2,233 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the second consecutive day that fatalities have exceeded 2,000, the health ministry said on Thursday, and 75,412 new cases.
Meanwhile the European Union approved the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on Thursday - the fourth jab to get the green light for the 27-nation bloc.
Here are the other key recent developments:
- Portugal’s government announced it would start to gradually ease its strict rules from next week, nearly two months into a lockdown imposed in mid-January to tackle what was then the world’s worst coronavirus surge. And controls on the country’s land border with neighbouring Spain will remain in place until Easter.
- The Covid-19 situation in greater Paris is “especially worrying” and the government will take extra restrictive measures there if the pandemic continues at its current pace, France’s health minister said on Thursday. While new infections are not growing exponentially, the numbers taken into intensive care have reached a new 3-1/2-months high nationally, close to 4,000, as France faces more dangerous variants
- Europe’s medicines regulator (EMA) said there appeared to be no higher risk of blood clots in those vaccinated against Covid-19, after Denmark, Norway and Iceland suspended use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab and another five European countries withdrew a batch.
- The governor of Brazil’s most populous state, São Paulo, declared a two-week emergency shutdown as the South American country’s coronavirus outbreak continues to spiral out of control.
- Slovakia’s health minister announced his resignation in an attempt to defuse a political crisis over the government’s mishandling of the pandemic and a row over the purchase of vaccines from Russia (see 4.08pm).
- Pfizer and BioNTech said that real-world data from Israel suggests that their vaccine is 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic infections, meaning the vaccine could significantly reduce transmission.
- The Polish capital, Warsaw, will be among cities facing tougher restrictions from Monday, the country’s health minister said, as several central European nations face surges in infections.
- Delaying the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine must be urgently reviewed for cancer patients after a single shot was found to offer inadequate protection, researchers said.
- France is to ease some Covid restrictions on international travel outside Europe, the foreign ministry said. Travellers to or from Australia, South Korea, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Britain and Singapore will no longer have to need a compelling reason to travel.
