A summary of today's developments
- Argentina will relax coronavirus restrictions as infection and mortality rates falls. The government said its plan includes an increase in the number of people who can meet in person, the re-opening of schools and an increase in the number of people allowed to enter the country to 1,700 per day from the current 1,000, Reuters reports.
- One out of two Americans were fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of Friday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- France has reported 60 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals and 1,458 people in intensive care units with the virus, Reuters reports. The country also reported 25,077 new cases. France has had around 6.23 million cases in total and over 112,000 deaths.
- Public Health England said that early evidence suggested the levels of coronavirus found in people infected with the Delta variant are similar whether or not they are vaccinated, with possible implications for their infectiousness. It comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday advised vaccinated people to get tested if they come into contact with someone with Covid-19, even if they have no symptoms.
- Daily Covid-19 cases in the US moved above 100,000 a day for the first time since February, higher than the levels of last summer when vaccines were not available. The seven-day average of hospital admissions also increased more than 40% from the week before, with health workers describing frustration and exhaustion as hospitals in Covid hotspots were again overwhelmed with patients.
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves said he was recovering a day after a protester threw an object at his head during an anti-vaccine rally, leaving him concussed. The 74-year-old premier of the Caribbean country was attacked as he walked through a group of about 200 protesters to get into parliament. Gonsalves’ car was surrounded by about 200 demonstrators yesterday as he arrived at parliament where lawmakers were to debate a controversial bill mandating frontline public-sector workers to be vaccinated against Covid despite extremely low virus rates in the country.
- The Welsh government has “no plans” to introduce mandatory vaccination certificates for venues, first minister Mark Drakeford said. Speaking from the Senedd in Cardiff, he said: “There are also ethical considerations and there are equity considerations. You need to think about people who can’t be vaccinated, not simply people who don’t choose to be vaccinated. You have to think about whether the very considerable apparatus that would have to be in place.”
- Europe’s drugs regulator said it had so far not found a causal link between Covid-19 vaccines and menstrual disorders and advised three new conditions be added as possible side-effects after vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus shot. Cases of menstrual disorders reported after vaccination were studied by its safety committee, which has requested more data from vaccine developers to continually assess the issue.
- For the first time in South Korea, a nursing assistant who was paralysed after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine was recognised as a victim of an industrial accident, making her eligible for government benefits and compensation. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said a total of 983 cases, had been compensated regarding damages from Covid-19 vaccination.
- The Australian prime minister warned businesses moving to make Covid vaccinations mandatory for their staff need to be careful, with neither the federal government, nor the states and territories prepared to create special laws to enforce vaccine mandates.
- Six EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with a coronavirus vaccine than the UK, after the bloc’s dire initial rollout took off while Britain’s impressive early jab rate has slumped. Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.
- Australian hockey players who sought to drown their sorrows after losing the Olympic gold medal match temporarily lost their freedom, after breaching Covid-19 rules by leaving the athletes’ village to buy the booze. Five members of the men’s squad had been reprimanded and isolated in their rooms.
Argentina will relax coronavirus restrictions as infection and mortality rates falls, the government announced.
The South American nation is approaching five million cases with more than 107,000 deaths.
The government said its plan includes an increase in the number of people who can meet in person, the re-opening of schools and an increase in the number of people allowed to enter the country to 1,700 per day from the current 1,000, Reuters reports.
President Alberto Fernandez said in a recorded TV message: “The more we vaccinate and take care of ourselves, the more we can sustain these achievements and advance in sustained and progressive openings.”
Mexico’s health ministry reported 21,563 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country and 568 fatalities.
It brings the total to 2,944,226 infections and 243,733 deaths, Reuters reports.
For the latest Covid developments in Australia, you can follow our dedicated blog -
Brazil had 42,159 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 1,056 deaths from Covid-19, the country’s health ministry said.
The South American country has now registered 20,108,746 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 561,762, Reuters reports.
One out of two Americans were fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of Friday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The milestone comes roughly eight months after the US launched its mass vaccination drive.
The agency said 165,918,256 people, or 50% of the total population was fully vaccinated.
And 182,368,493 people, or 70.6% of the adult population received at least one dose.
Updated
A coalition of Australian peak music bodies have called on the Morrison government to adopt an insurance scheme for live performance similar to the £750m government-backed program announced by the UK this week.
As more than 16 million Australians enter the weekend in lockdown, national music and entertainment industry bodies, including Aria, , Live Performance Australia and the Live Entertainment Industry Forum, issued a joint statement calling for a reinsurance scheme to protect the industry from crippling disruptions and cancellations that show no sign of ceasing in coming months.
The UK joined Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Estonia on Thursday, brokering a deal with Lloyds to provide a financial buffer for the live music and entertainment sectors against future possible lockdowns.
In Australia however, only the film industry so far has received government reinsurance, through the federal government’s $50m Temporary Interruption Fund announced in June 2020. And that only covers cases where productions are affected by Covid-19 infection, not state-ordered lockdowns.
Amazon has ordered all US employees to wear a mask at work regardless of their vaccination status.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals, gathering their advice and recommendations as we go forward to ensure our buildings are optimized for the safety of our teams,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Last month, firms including Google and Facebook asked US employees to get vaccinated to step into offices, while Twitter Inc said it was shutting its reopened offices in the country.
Amazon also extended its work-from-home dates for US employees till 3 January, Reuters reports.
Updated
Australians living overseas say a federal government rule change that could see them trapped if they return to visit family and friends might force many to abandon trips altogether.
Citizens and permanent residents could apply for an exemption on compassionate and work grounds but certain people didn’t need one.
Citizens who ordinarily lived overseas, as well as foreign nationals who had been living in Australia but were moving elsewhere, could simply pack their bags and jump on a plane.
But now, the government has tightened the rules for visiting Australians who live overseas. On 1 August, the health minister, Greg Hunt, amended a declaration to the Biosecurity Act to remove the ability for them to leave the country without an exemption.
Having Covid-19 increases patients’ risks for heart attack and stroke, a study from Sweden suggests.
Researchers compared 86,742 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020 and 348,481 people without the virus.
In the week following a Covid-19 diagnosis, the risk of a first heart attack went up three-to eight-fold, and the risk of a first stroke due to a blood-vessel blockage rose three- to six-fold, the researchers found.
The risks then dropped steadily but remained elevated for at least four weeks, according to the report in The Lancet.
Katharine Murphy has spoken with Prof Jodie McVernon, director of epidemiology at the Doherty Institute in Australia about how lockdowns went from being unacceptable in democracies to front and centre of the pandemic response and she predicts public health measures will remain for some time to come.
A summary of today's developments
- France has reported 60 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals and 1,458 people in intensive care units with the virus, Reuters reports. The country also reported 25,077 new cases. France has had around 6.23 million cases in total and over 112,000 deaths.
- Public Health England said that early evidence suggested the levels of coronavirus found in people infected with the Delta variant are similar whether or not they are vaccinated, with possible implications for their infectiousness. It comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday advised vaccinated people to get tested if they come into contact with someone with Covid-19, even if they have no symptoms.
- Daily Covid-19 cases in the US moved above 100,000 a day for the first time since February, higher than the levels of last summer when vaccines were not available. The seven-day average of hospital admissions also increased more than 40% from the week before, with health workers describing frustration and exhaustion as hospitals in Covid hotspots were again overwhelmed with patients.
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves said he was recovering a day after a protester threw an object at his head during an anti-vaccine rally, leaving him concussed. The 74-year-old premier of the Caribbean country was attacked as he walked through a group of about 200 protesters to get into parliament. Gonsalves’ car was surrounded by about 200 demonstrators yesterday as he arrived at parliament where lawmakers were to debate a controversial bill mandating frontline public-sector workers to be vaccinated against Covid despite extremely low virus rates in the country.
- The Welsh government has “no plans” to introduce mandatory vaccination certificates for venues, first minister Mark Drakeford said. Speaking from the Senedd in Cardiff, he said: “There are also ethical considerations and there are equity considerations. You need to think about people who can’t be vaccinated, not simply people who don’t choose to be vaccinated. You have to think about whether the very considerable apparatus that would have to be in place.”
- Europe’s drugs regulator said it had so far not found a causal link between Covid-19 vaccines and menstrual disorders and advised three new conditions be added as possible side-effects after vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus shot. Cases of menstrual disorders reported after vaccination were studied by its safety committee, which has requested more data from vaccine developers to continually assess the issue.
- For the first time in South Korea, a nursing assistant who was paralysed after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine was recognised as a victim of an industrial accident, making her eligible for government benefits and compensation. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said a total of 983 cases, had been compensated regarding damages from Covid-19 vaccination.
- The Australian prime minister warned businesses moving to make Covid vaccinations mandatory for their staff need to be careful, with neither the federal government, nor the states and territories prepared to create special laws to enforce vaccine mandates.
- Six EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with a coronavirus vaccine than the UK, after the bloc’s dire initial rollout took off while Britain’s impressive early jab rate has slumped. Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.
- Australian hockey players who sought to drown their sorrows after losing the Olympic gold medal match temporarily lost their freedom, after breaching Covid-19 rules by leaving the athletes’ village to buy the booze. Five members of the men’s squad had been reprimanded and isolated in their rooms.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves said he was recovering a day after a protester threw an object at his head during an anti-vaccine rally, leaving him concussed.
The 74-year-old premier of the Caribbean country was attacked as he walked through a group of about 200 protesters to get into parliament, Reuters reports.
“By the grace of God almighty, I’m doing well and on the mend,” he wrote on social media.
He said there was no sign of neurological damage, but his concussion would require weeks of monitoring.
Boris Johnson has said he will not self-isolate after a member of his team tested positive for Covid.
Downing Street said the prime minister did not come into close contact with the civil servant during the trip to Scotland, but a source said the pair had been “side-by-side” on several occasions and also flew in the same small aircraft between Glasgow and Aberdeen.
So what are the rules covering what you should do if you’re notified by a contact-tracing service after being in close contact with someone who has tested positive?
The UK armed forces have recorded their largest increase in coronavirus cases this year.
Ministry of Defence figures show the number of positive cases of Covid-19 among the military increased by 1,474 in the two weeks to July 23, the highest number in any two-week period in 2021, PA reports. The total number of positive Covid tests recorded in the armed forces during the pandemic has now risen to 11,890, out of around 280,000 personnel. The government has claimed 79% of all serving armed forces personnel have now received a vaccination.
France has reported 60 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals and 1,458 people in intensive care units with the virus, Reuters reports.
The country also reported 25,077 new cases. France has had around 6.23 million cases in total and over 112,000 deaths.
Covid-19 infections in a Colorado county with a Delta variant surge this spring were more common among fully vaccinated people than in the state’s other counties where it was circulating at lower levels, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released showed.
The study also found that the Delta variant caused more severe illness. Cases, hospital intensive care unit admissions and deaths were higher in Mesa County than anywhere else in the state, it said.
Updated
Here’s the full story, and video, of Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, being taken to hospital after a protester threw a rock at his head during an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration led by nurses and other workers in the eastern Caribbean island.
Today so far...
- Public Health England said that early evidence suggested the levels of coronavirus found in people infected with the Delta variant are similar whether or not they are vaccinated, with possible implications for their infectiousness. It comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday advised vaccinated people to get tested if they come into contact with someone with Covid-19, even if they have no symptoms.
- Daily Covid-19 cases in the US moved above 100,000 a day for the first time since February, higher than the levels of last summer when vaccines were not available. The seven-day average of hospital admissions also increased more than 40% from the week before, with health workers describing frustration and exhaustion as hospitals in Covid hotspots were again overwhelmed with patients.
- The Welsh government has “no plans” to introduce mandatory vaccination certificates for venues, first minister Mark Drakeford said. Speaking from the Senedd in Cardiff, he said: “There are also ethical considerations and there are equity considerations. You need to think about people who can’t be vaccinated, not simply people who don’t choose to be vaccinated. You have to think about whether the very considerable apparatus that would have to be in place.”
- Europe’s drugs regulator said it had so far not found a causal link between Covid-19 vaccines and menstrual disorders and advised three new conditions be added as possible side-effects after vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus shot. Cases of menstrual disorders reported after vaccination were studied by its safety committee, which has requested more data from vaccine developers to continually assess the issue.
- For the first time in South Korea, a nursing assistant who was paralysed after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine was recognised as a victim of an industrial accident, making her eligible for government benefits and compensation. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said a total of 983 cases, had been compensated regarding damages from Covid-19 vaccination.
- The St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister was admitted to hospital after reportedly being hit in the head by a stone at a protest against a proposed vaccine mandate. Ralph Gonsalves’ car was surrounded by about 200 demonstrators yesterday as he arrived at parliament where lawmakers were to debate a controversial bill mandating frontline public-sector workers to be vaccinated against Covid despite extremely low virus rates in the country.
- The Australian prime minister warned businesses moving to make Covid vaccinations mandatory for their staff need to be careful, with neither the federal government, nor the states and territories prepared to create special laws to enforce vaccine mandates.
- Six EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with a coronavirus vaccine than the UK, after the bloc’s dire initial rollout took off while Britain’s impressive early jab rate has slumped. Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.
- Australian hockey players who sought to drown their sorrows after losing the Olympic gold medal match temporarily lost their freedom, after breaching Covid-19 rules by leaving the athletes’ village to buy the booze. Five members of the men’s squad had been reprimanded and isolated in their rooms.
Updated
Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth has reported a smaller quarterly adjusted loss, as it benefited from cost cuts and a rise in cannabis use during the pandemic.
People across North America have turned to weed for relaxation and entertainment during the months-long isolation caused by Covid-19, lifting sales of pot producers, Reuters reports.
The sector has also drawn renewed investor interest as US states legalise pot and hopes rise for federal marijuana reform, prompting Canadian pot producers to consider cross-border expansion plans.
“We continue to look at building out our position in the US. We’re not waiting around on permissibility,” Canopy chief executive David Klein said. The company’s CAN$2.1bn of cash and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter are expected to help fuel the expansion, Klein added.
In a bid to turn profitable by this fiscal year, Canopy has also doubled down on its core Canadian market. Earlier in 2021, it bought rival Supreme Cannabis in a deal that made it the owner of four of the top ten weed brands in the country.
Reuters reports that Canopy is also prioritising higher-priced products such as premium cannabis flowers, pre-rolled joints and edibles, a move that is expected to improve its gross margins over the course of the fiscal year, finance chief Mike Lee said.
The EU will next week review the list of states from which non-essential travel is allowed under coronavirus restrictions and could reconsider the inclusion of the US, a bloc official has told Reuters.
The EU list currently includes two dozen countries, including the US, Japan and Australia, which are considered safe from a health perspective under the ongoing pandemic.
Next week’s meeting “could” also assess the situation in relation to the United States, one EU official told Reuters, without elaborating because no decision has been made yet. EU officials regularly review the list as the pandemic evolves.
The bloc has repeatedly asked Washington to let in EU citizens after the US was added in June to the so-called white list.
“Many representatives of the EU member states and of the EU have spoken to our US counterparts about the plans to reopen the country for visitors from the EU countries, in particular after Europe’s step to allow the US citizens to travel,” a spokesperson for the Slovenian EU presidency said.
“We all consider people-to people contacts to be the building block of strong, successful transatlantic partnership and alliance, so we keep reminding, asking and encouraging our U.S. friends to follow suit,” the spokesperson added.
The list is non-binding, although EU governments tend to apply it. They can however ignore it and let in citizens from countries which are not on the list, or vice versa.
The 27-nation bloc is divided among states who are pushing for reciprocity from the US and others who are more reliant on tourism and could be reluctant to remove Washington from the list, officials have said.
Daily Covid-19 cases in the US moved above 100,000 a day for the first time since February, higher than the levels of last summer when vaccines were not available, and came as health officials sounded alarm over lagging rates of vaccination driving the surge of the infectious Delta variant.
The seven-day average of hospital admissions has also increased more than 40% from the week before, with health workers describing frustration and exhaustion as hospitals in Covid hotspots were again overwhelmed with patients, almost 20 months into the pandemic in the US.
The boss of Capita, one of the UK’s largest employers, has credited its policy of allowing staff to continue to work from home for its low levels of absences because of Covid self-isolation alerts.
Jon Lewis, the chief executive of the outsourcing firm, said on Friday that a large number of his staff want to continue working from home, either permanently or part-time, in the future.
The vast majority of Capita’s 43,000 UK employees are still working from home, despite the removal of nearly all restrictions on gatherings in England and the dropping of the government’s guidance to work from home where possible.
In letters to the Guardian, Prof Peter Ayton and Prof Mark Doel write on how offering incentives to persuade the reluctant to get vaccinated could backfire, while another reader says that teenagers like him shouldn’t be vaccinated while older people worldwide are still at risk
Many Britons living and working abroad have been unable to visit family in the UK without quarantining. However, the latest changes to the travel lists saw countries such as Austria, Germany and Norway added to the green list, with France moving from amber-plus to amber.
The Guardian spoke to three people about the changes and what it means for them to be able to travel without quarantining.
My colleagues Rachel Obordo and Jane Clinton report:
The international megastar techno DJ Carl Cox has appeared as part of the UK government’s latest advertising campaign to persuade young people to get vaccinated.
From September, people will be required to have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to enter nightclubs and other large scale events.
— NHS (@NHSuk) August 6, 2021
Watch @bodaliaDJ discuss the vaccine and the safe reopening of nightclubs with @Carl_Cox.
More information: https://t.co/qAOGzpWMu6 pic.twitter.com/IAJFWFsaIB
Authorities in the UK are desperate to try to increase uptake of coronavirus vaccines in younger cohorts. Roughly 33% of adults under the age of 30 have still not had their first Covid jab.
As part of the campaign, London venues including Ministry of Sound urging people to get inoculated so they can all “keep dancing together safely”.
A pop-up vaccine centre will also be set up at Heaven nightclub this Sunday, as adverts echoing the messages “Don’t miss out” and “Get your shot” are rolled out across social media and radio stations.
(This is Damien Gayle covering for Mattha for a bit while he has his break.)
A further 92 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for the coronavirus, bringing the national total to 130,178.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 155,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, according to the PA Media news agency.
As of 9am on Friday, there had been a further 31,808 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK, the Government said.
Government data up to 5 August shows that of the 86,009,359 Covid vaccines administered in the UK, 46,961,830 were first doses, a rise of 35,500 on the previous day.
Some 39,047,529 were second doses, an increase of 172,692.
Boris Johnson will not isolate after staffer tests positive for Covid
A member of Boris Johnson’s team who was with the prime minister during his trip to Scotland has tested positive for Covid, but Johnson will not isolate.
The Guardian was told the prime minister did not come into close contact with the Downing Street staffer, but a source insisted the pair were “side-by-side” on several occasions.
The source also said Johnson and the civil servant flew in the same small aircraft between Glasgow and Aberdeen. After the staffer tested positive, he isolated in Scotland – and all those identified as close contacts were told to do the same.
Downing Street could not say whether Johnson had been tested for Covid since the member of his delegation began isolating, though he is understood to have been tested before the trip and at some point during it.
Johnson, who only recently came out of isolation after coming into close contact with a cabinet minister who tested positive for the virus – the health secretary, Sajid Javid – is currently at Chequers.
No plans for vaccine passports in Wales, says first minister
The Welsh government has “no plans” to introduce mandatory vaccination certificates for venues, first minister Mark Drakeford has said.
Speaking from the Senedd in Cardiff, he said:
There’s a distinction between places you have to visit - and I would not have vaccine passports for these places - and places we attend voluntarily. There are also ethical considerations and there are equity considerations. You need to think about people who can’t be vaccinated, not simply people who don’t choose to be vaccinated.
You have to think about whether the very considerable apparatus that would have to be in place there to make sure that those vaccines certificates could be produced, that they couldn’t be fraudulently produced, that they could be properly policed in those venues.
You’d have to weigh all those things up before deciding whether or not this was a measure that had more advantages to it than disadvantages.”
Vaccine certificates for anyone who has had both doses are available to anyone in the UK, including Wales, through the NHS app or website. A person registering that they are double-jabbed can produce a domestic or travel “pass”. However, neither are compulsory for entry into venues in Wales, PA reports.
In England, ministers plan to make it law in “higher risk” settings for visitors to have to produce the NHS Covid Pass. This is expected to be brought in by the end of September - when all 18-year-olds will have had the chance to be fully vaccinated.
“We’re definitely not at that point here in Wales and we won’t be, I think, for a number of weeks yet. But we will weigh it up,” Drakeford added. “If we thought it was a practical and proportionate way of protecting people in Wales from coronavirus, then the case would probably be made for it, but it’s quite a high threshold to get to, even in those voluntary settings.”
Updated
No link established between jabs and menstrual disorders but EU regulator requests more data
Europe’s drugs regulator has said it had so far not found a causal link between Covid-19 vaccines and menstrual disorders and advised three new conditions be added as possible side-effects after vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus shot.
Reuters reports that cases of menstrual disorders reported after vaccination were studied by its safety committee, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said, adding that it had requested for more data from vaccine developers to assess the issue.
The watchdog also recommended that immune thrombocytopenia, or low blood platelets, dizziness, and tinnitus, or ringing in the ear, be added to the labels of J&J’s single-shot vaccine.
The EMA stressed that benefits of J&J’s Covid-19 vaccine still outweighed any risks, adding that it had analysed 1,183 cases of dizziness and more than 100 cases of tinnitus to reach its conclusion.
Sri Lankan authorities have tightened coronavirus restrictions as reports emerged of Covid patients dying while awaiting admission to overcrowded hospitals.
AFP reports that the government said state ceremonies and public gatherings were banned until 1 September because of the growing health crisis. Public servants had previously been asked to return to work from Monday but that order has now been revoked in a significant u-turn and bosses told to decide who should report for duty on-site.
The fresh curbs come after the number of coronavirus deaths and infections in the last week doubled from a month ago. Sri Lankan television anchor Thilakshani Maduwanthi shared images online of the state-run Colombo South hospital that showed three patients sharing a single bed.
She said two patients died in front of her and overworked staff were treating people under trees as the hospital could not cope with the influx. “What we reported about India where people died outside overcrowded hospitals a few months ago is now happening right before my eyes,” she said in a widely shared Facebook post.
Private gatherings have not been banned but the government has increased restrictions on attendance, AFP reports. Only 25 mourners will be allowed at funerals, down from 150, and weddings will be cut to 150 people from 500.
Just over 10 million people out of the population of 21 million have been given at least one jab, while 2.67m had received both as of yesterday. Despite the vaccination campaign, the number of infections has more than doubled to a daily average of about 2,500, with the daily death toll above 80.
Sri Lanka, population 22m, has recorded 4,817 coronavirus deaths to date and almost 325,000 infections, according to official data. But experts say the true figure is much higher.
Some light-ish relief courtesy of Barney Ronay:
What has it been like at these Olympic Games? Towards the end of any major global sports event it is tradition for newspaper reporters to file a grand deconstruction of the country they’ve spent three weeks studying via the ancient medium of hotel lobbies and taxi driver chat. So here’s the thing, right, about Russia/China/the tribes of the Bedouin.
Readers have been spared these insights by the quarantine period that has meant complete immersion within the approved boundaries of the Olympic-industrial complex. The only place any member of the Guardian’s Tokyo staff went in the opening 14 days, other than an Olympic venue, was a convenience store at the foot of the hotel, the contents of which have already been broodingly overanalysed, and at one point pitched as content for a searing feature article. So here’s the thing right, about vacuum-packed pork cutlet and cabbage sandwiches.
Updated
Scottish clubbers will not have to wear face coverings on the dance floor, according to new government guidance, after anger from the night time industry about lack of clarity as the country moves beyond level zero from Monday.
The new rules state that face coverings can be removed while dancing, drinking and dining, as Scotland prepares to ditch most legal restrictions from 9 August.
Clubs will be able to reopen for the first time since last March. The rules also suggest that face coverings in other settings could remain mandatory into 2022, but removed the requirement for primary-age children to wear them.
Six EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with a coronavirus vaccine than the UK, after the bloc’s dire initial rollout took off while Britain’s impressive early jab rate has slumped.
According to government and health service figures collated by the online science publication Our World In Data, Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.
While Britain’s hugely successful campaign was bound to slow first as it ran into harder-to-reach, more vaccine-hesitant groups, the rate of decline is dramatic: the UK is currently administering a fraction of the daily doses of some EU states.
Updated
During last year’s lockdown in Buenos Aires, Sylvia Colombo, a Brazilian correspondent who covers the region from Argentina for the Folha de São Paulo newspaper wrote a book about the atypical upheaval that had gripped the region on the eve of the pandemic, from Venezuela and Bolivia to Chile. She called 2019 Latin America’s “year of wrath”.
Covid, which first struck Latin America in February 2020, largely smothered that indignation, as countries went into shutdown and protesters into retreat. But now it is back, with demonstrations also erupting in Paraguay, Guatemala and Colombia, where at least 44 protesters have been killed since the start of unrest in April.
My colleagues Tom Phillips, Ed Augustin and Dan Collyns report:
The singer Richard Ashcroft, who has refused to play concerts with Covid restrictions, has pulled out of another music festival.
Victorious festival is due to take place at Southsea Common in Portsmouth between 27 and 29 August. Attendees need to have proof of a negative lateral flow test, full vaccination or natural immunity through prior infection.
The former Verve frontman pulled out of another festival in July after it became part of a government pilot events programme.
“Apologies to my fans for any disappointment,” wrote Ashcroft at the time. “But the festival was informed over 10 days ago that I wouldn’t be playing once it had become part of a government testing programme.
“I had informed my agent months ago I wouldn’t be playing concerts with restriction. The status of the festival was one thing when I signed up for it, but, sadly was forced to become something else.”
In this case, with the singer yet to make a statement, Victorious organisers said Ashcroft would not play the festival “following extensive discussions about the measures we have put in place to reduce risk”.
The BBC reports that Ashcroft is due to go on tour in October, playing at the London Palladium, Royal Albert Hall and Liverpool Arena.
Artist Update pic.twitter.com/noeCUtSeg9
— Victorious Festival (@VictoriousFest) August 6, 2021
Updated
The first coronavirus jabs are now on offer for healthy 16-year-olds across the UK, with Pfizer doses available at regional vaccination centres and pop-up walk-in vaccine clinics.
Walk-ins are open to older teenagers in Northern Ireland from Friday, just two days after it was announced the vaccine rollout was being extended to 16 and 17-year-olds.
Stormont health minister Robin Swann said he had asked his officials to ensure the new recommendation, issued on Wednesday from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), was implemented “as quickly as possible”.
The extension of the rollout means all of the UK’s 1.4m 16 and 17-year-olds will now be eligible to get a first dose. Under previous guidance some under-18s had already been eligible for a jab if they had certain health conditions, live with someone who is immunocompromised or were approaching their 18th birthday, PA reports.
In England, teenagers are being advised they should wait to be contacted by their GP to arrange an appointment, but NHS England said walk-in services will “soon be available”.
Wales first minister Mark Drakeford told the Today programme:
Our appeal to young people is not one that either threatens them by saying you won’t be able to do things or tries to induce them by offering them prizes, but just says to them, ‘you have a contribution to make, you can keep yourself but also other people who matter to you safe’.
That appeal, I think, means that we’ve succeeded in getting our vaccination numbers in that cohort up higher than in other parts of the UK.
Pride celebrations will not go ahead in London as planned due to challenges with navigating Covid-19 guidelines and legislation for large-scale events, organisers said.
The event, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people each year, was due to take place on 11 September. Organisers said public health and wellbeing is their top priority.
In a video posted on YouTube, Christopher Joell-Deshields, executive director leading the Pride team in London, said:
Covid-19 has affected all of us, changing so much about how we live our lives and gather together in our communities. Pride, like all other major public events, has faced countless challenges with regards to safely holding one of the largest events in the capital. I’m truly saddened to say that Pride in London won’t be happening in person this year.
Last week was extremely challenging navigating the Government’s recently updated Covid-19 guidelines and legislation for large-scale public events like ours. It became clear when working through final risk assessments that our event could not provide the level of mitigation expected from the local public health team and the government. It would have meant losing the crucial parade and reducing the event to just two or three stages scattered across central London, with limited tickets.
St Vincent and the Grenadines PM hit during anti-vaccine mandate protest
The St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister has been admitted to hospital after reportedly being hit in the head by a stone at a protest against a proposed vaccine mandate.
Ralph Gonsalves’ car was surrounded by about 200 demonstrators yesterday as he arrived at parliament where lawmakers were to debate a bill mandating frontline public-sector workers to be vaccinated against Covid.
The 74-year-old got out and made to walk to the building on foot but was hit just above the temple by the projectile, his office said.
They added he was “recuperating under the care of hospital staff” after he was seen with paper towels pressed against his head and wearing a bloody shirt. He is now set to be flown to Barbados for an MRI scan.
Some trade unions and other groups have opposed the bill, arguing that it infringes on workers’ rights, the New York Times reports.
The island chain, population 110,000, has had relatively few coronavirus cases. It has recorded 2,298 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths since the pandemic began, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
England R-value drops to 0.8-1.1, down from week before
The estimated Covid-19 reproduction “R” number in England has dropped sharply and could be below one, Public Health England has said, implying cases might no longer be growing exponentially as they fall away from a peak hit in mid-July.
The estimated R value range was 0.8 to 1.1, compared with 1.1 to 1.4 last week. That means that for every 10 people infected, they will on average infect between 8 and 11 other people, Reuters reports.
The estimated daily growth rate range was -3% to +1%, compared with estimated growth of between +2% to +5% each day reported last week.
Updated
The ritual of coffee and breakfast at the bar in Italy has become slightly more complicated after restrictions on unvaccinated citizens kicked in.
People can still drink coffee and eat a cornetto, a type of croissant, while standing at the bar or sitting at an outside table without needing to present a so-called green pass. But not if they are seated inside.
My colleagues Angela Giuffrida and Kim Willsher report:
Updated
Australian hockey players who sought to drown their sorrows in beer after losing the Olympic gold medal match also temporarily lost their freedom today, after breaching Covid-19 rules by leaving the athletes’ village to buy the booze.
Five members of the men’s squad had been reprimanded and isolated in their rooms, Australia’s chef de mission, Ian Chesterman, said. It is the fourth sport after rowing, soccer and rugby sevens to have athletes disciplined by Australian Olympic bosses during the Tokyo Games.
Three Australian men’s hockey players went to a nearby convenience store at 3am this morning and bought two cartons of beer. Another two players left the village for the store at 6am but returned without a purchase. The players self-reported their breach to Australian officials and the entire Kookaburras squad was tested for coronavirus. They all returned negative results.
Updated
United Airlines has become the latest company to require all its US-based employees to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The airline said employees would need to show proof of vaccination, five weeks after the US drug regulator fully approved any of the vaccines or by 25 October, whichever was earlier, Reuters reports.
Employees who get vaccinated before 20 September and those that have already received their shots will get an additional day of pay, United chief executive officer Scott Kirby and president Brett Hart said.
Updated
Since the Covid pandemic took off in early 2020, researchers have been studying myriad aspects of the virus, and made some surprising discoveries. Here are four areas where our understanding has changed:
How Covid spreads
“The general consensus globally is now aerosol transmission [is more important] than handor contact transmission,” said Dr Julian Tang, a consultant virologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary. “This has changed dramatically from the initial emphasis on hand washing,” he said.
Masks
Many experts and politicians dismissed the wearing of face coverings by the general public at the start of the pandemic. However support for them has grown as evidence of their benefits have accrued.
The nature of the disease
The popular understanding of Covid was initially that it was only a respiratory infection, but as the pandemic has rolled on it has become apparent that other organs can be affected, directly or indirectly.
Asymptomatic spreaders
The importance of asymptomatic infection has increasingly been recognised as important to Covid spread. While estimates vary, the UK government now says about one in three people infected with Covid do not develop symptoms.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said the decision to move Wales Covid alert level zero does not mean there should be a “free for all”.
Drakeford said: “We must go on working together to keep this virus under control. Together we can keep it under control, together we will keep Wales safe.”
Asked if the country is in the “end game” Drakeford said provided there were no further “unpleasant surprises” the country was “on the final lap of emerging from the pandemic.”
Speaking at a press conference in Cardiff, Drakeford said cases were falling in most parts of the country with the rate across Wales at 130 cases per 100,000 people. He said 82% of adults had received two vaccinations.
But he said there would be “careful monitoring” of the impact of moving to level zero and did not expect to make any more changes for at least six weeks.
Drakeford said the advice continued to be to work from home and it was a legal requirement to wear face coverings in most indoor public spaces.
Please see the graph from today's press conference 👇 pic.twitter.com/1KW5pK29Uc
— Welsh Government #KeepWalesSafe (@WelshGovernment) August 6, 2021
Thanks to your efforts, we can lift most coronavirus restrictions in Wales and move to Alert Level 0.
— Welsh Government #KeepWalesSafe (@WelshGovernment) August 6, 2021
Here are the key changes coming into effect from 6am tomorrow 👇
Please join us live with @fmwales at 12:30pm for more information.
➡️ https://t.co/f5DpnAdRTl pic.twitter.com/07TIvhxnb5
Updated
The Japanese government named three people this week who broke quarantine rules after returning from overseas in an attempt to shame others into complying with anti-virus measures. The authorities are hoping to tap into traits, such as the sense of collective and the importance of not breaking social norms, that Japan is known for.
However, fatigue from prolonged states of emergency and ire at quarantine exceptions made for Olympic athletes may mean the “name and shame” policy has limited effect, or will even backfire.
One in 75 in England had Covid last week - down from the week before
The proportion of people testing positive for coronavirus in England has decreased, new figures show.
Around one in 75 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to 31 July – down from one in 65 in the previous week, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
One in 75 is the equivalent of 722,300 people, down from 856,200 in the previous week. “In England, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) has decreased in the week ending 31 July,” the ONS said.
There have been almost 6m confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK throughout the pandemic – though these figures are likely to be a significant undercount – and 130,000 people have died within 28 days of testing positive, government figures show.
Updated
Vaccination may not affect Delta infectiousness levels, UK officials suggest
Public Health England has said that early evidence suggested the levels of coronavirus found in people infected with the Delta variant are similar whether or not they are vaccinated, with possible implications for their infectiousness.
“Some initial findings ... indicate that levels of virus in those who become infected with Delta having already been vaccinated may be similar to levels found in unvaccinated people,” Public Health England said.
“This may have implications for people’s infectiousness, whether they have been vaccinated or not. However, this is early exploratory analysis and further targeted studies are needed to confirm whether this is the case.”
It comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday advised that vaccinated people should be tested for the virus if they come into contact with someone with Covid-19, even if they have no symptoms.
Updated
South Korea to compensate nurse paralysed after AstraZeneca jab
For the first time in South Korea, a nursing assistant who was paralysed after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine was recognised as a victim of an industrial accident, making her eligible for government benefits and compensation.
Reuters reports that the nursing assistant, who has not been identified, received AstraZeneca’s shot on 12 March and later suffered from double vision and paralysis and was diagnosed with acute encephalomyelitis, the state-run Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service said.
The service said the woman did not have underlying conditions and there seemed to be a “a reasonable causal link between the side effects and the vaccination”.
South Korea, like many other countries, has protected major vaccine makers against liability from personal damages claims from their jabs and set up funds to cover any costs.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said a total of 1,562 cases, including 14 deaths, had been reviewed for compensation regarding damages from Covid-19 vaccination, of which 983 had been compensated. There are six more cases pending a decision, according to officials. There has been no compensation for a case involving a death.
Elsewhere, in Thailand, the government has paid out 13m baht ($389,454) to 400 cases of Covid-19 vaccine side-effects, its health agency said.
India, which has the second-highest number of cases globally, remains in talks over legal protection sought by companies like Pfizer and Moderna, and no shots have been imported from these companies, Reuters reports.
It comes after studies suggested that the use of an oral polio vaccine in India may have actually caused avoidable polio in some children and reports that the jabs could have contributed towards thousands of people developing paralysis.
• This post was amended on 6 August 2021 to add further context on claims surrounding the polio vaccine in India.
Updated
Concerns have been raised about the persistently low vaccination rates in parts of London, with a third of adults unvaccinated in some neighbourhoods compared with other parts of England where rates are at almost 100%, my colleagues Niamh McIntyre, Tobi Thomas, Rupert Neate and Josh Halliday report.
Seven out of 10 local authorities with the lowest first-dose rates were London boroughs, according to Guardian analysis of the latest NHS England figures to 1 August.
Westminster and Camden, which had the lowest rates in the country, reported that nearly a third of adults had not yet received their first jab. In Islington, just 73% of adults had been vaccinated, while in Hackney and City of London the rate was 74%. Nottingham (73%) was the only non-London area among the worst five councils.
Breakthrough cases – Covid infections among vaccinated people – are happening, writes freelance science writer Yasmin Tayag. These are expected because the vaccines are not 100% effective, but how many people are having breakthrough infections?
It’s difficult to answer these questions because there’s a dearth of rigorous data on breakthrough cases in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks only breakthrough cases that lead to hospitalization and death, which it does by gathering data from state health departments. Only 25 states report some data on breakthroughs, and only 15 of those states update it regularly, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of state data. Encouragingly, this data suggests that breakthrough cases among the fully vaccinated are extremely rare – well below 1% in states collecting this information. (Note that undercounts are expected, since people with breakthrough infections may not know they are sick or bother to get tested.
Five of the US’s largest health insurers reported more than $11bn in profits in the second quarter – a decline from the same period last year when the Covid-19 pandemic helped drive sky-high profits.
The rise in profits last year was a result of people in the US seeking less medical care because of fears about Covid-19 while still paying for health insurance. Companies warned pent-up demand could have an effect on their bottom line, but medical use still has not returned to normal rates.
The scrutiny insurers faced last year after reporting such high profits – in some cases doubling the amount they made the year before – has largely faded away. The House Energy and Committee launched an investigation into insurers last August, but the results of that have not been made public.
Updated
Gibraltar reports first Covid death since March
Officials in Gibraltar have confirmed the territory’s first Covid-19 death since March. The man who died was in his 60s and unvaccinated, according to the territory’s chief minister.
“It is deeply upsetting to announce a death from Covid-19 after so many months,” the chief minister, Fabian Picardo, said in a statement. He described the news as a “harrowing reminder that the pandemic is still not over and this deadly virus is still all around us.”
In early April the British overseas territory became one of the first places in the world where every adult over the age of 16 had been offered a vaccine.
Gibraltar currently has 290 active coronavirus cases, including 10 that were detected among visitors to the territory, while hospitalisations linked to the virus have climbed to 14 in recent weeks.
Picardo urged any resident that had not been vaccinated to contact health authorities immediately. “The incidence of Covid-19 related deaths in those who are vaccinated is much lower than those who are not,” he said.
Updated
In a matter of just six minutes, a factory worker from a Mexican border city stepped off a bus in Texas last week, received the Covid-19 vaccine and was heading back home across the international bridge to Mexico.
The vaccination took place near El Paso, the west Texas city where the coronavirus was raging so relentlessly nine months ago that jail inmates were being used to load bodies into mobile morgues because funeral homes were overflowing.
After a hard pandemic and with concerns over continued infections in Texas and northern Mexico, vaccination efforts are being stepped up.
El Paso now has one of the highest vaccination rates among US cities, according to government data – progress which prompted outreach across the border and an international initiative.
As of 2 August, 69.7% of El Paso’s population aged 12 and up were fully vaccinated and 81.4% were partially vaccinated.
“To go from one of the top Covid-19 infected cities in the nation last fall, to fifth among all cities in the country [for vaccinations] … is nothing short of phenomenal,” El Paso’s Democratic mayor, Oscar Leeser, said last month. “This demonstrates once more the incredible spirit of our community.”
In one outreach effort, El Paso county judge Ricardo Samaniego launched a program to vaccinate workers from the many maquiladoras – or factories – in Juarez, El Paso’s Mexican sister city, where hundreds of thousands toil for US-owned companies with operations there.
Lines of coaches came trundling across the border throughout July, bringing Mexican workers and their families to the US to get vaccinated at a specially designated site at the Tornillo port of US entry, just east of El Paso.
Up to 50,000 one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines were requested, and supplies were channelled through the Texas department of health and human services. That brand was chosen so that visitors could avoid a second trip.
Read more here:
Japan reached the milestone of 1m coronavirus cases on Friday, Japanese media reported, as infections soared in the Olympic host city, Tokyo, and other urban areas, with the country struggling to contain the Delta variant.
Updated
Johnson & Johnson has applied for emergency use approval of its coronavirus vaccine in India, the U.S. pharmaceutical giant said on Friday, moving a step closer to supplying the first single-dose Covid-19 shot to the country.
The shot will be brought to India through a supply agreement with homegrown vaccine maker Biological E Ltd, J&J said in an emailed statement.
The company’s application comes at a time when legal wrangles have held up US vaccine donations to India, which has not met requests for granting foreign manufacturers indemnity from lawsuits, Reuters reports.
J&J said it was in talks with the Indian government to accelerate the availability of its vaccine, without giving further details.
Indian health authorities have so far approved the use of vaccines developed by AstraZeneca, Bharat Biotech, Russia’s Gamaleya Institute and Moderna.
Updated
The Australian prime minister has warned businesses moving to make Covid vaccinations mandatory for their staff need to be careful, with neither the federal government, nor the states and territories prepared to create special laws to enforce vaccine mandates.
Instead, employers will have to navigate existing workplace laws, which includes “reasonable” directions to staff, if they wish to proceed with vaccine mandates, although Scott Morrison warned that would still be open to court challenges.
Australian canned goods giant, SPC, announced it would be mandating the vaccine for its employees earlier this week, and other major employers, including Qantas have previously indicated they would look at a vaccine directive for staff.
Morrison, speaking after the latest national cabinet meeting, said it was up to employers to make their own decisions, but they would have to be made within the existing legal framework, and public health directions.
He said:
We do not have a mandatory vaccination policy in this country.
We do not have that. We’re not proposing to have that. That is not changing.
But an employer may make a reasonable directive to staff and if they do so, they will have to stay consistent with the law and particularly in dealing with a situation where an employee may be in direct contact potentially become infected and acquire the virus.
Public health directives do explicitly allow vaccine mandates in some high-risk environments, including health care, working with vulnerable people, hotel quarantine, in a frontline service, or airlines when staff could come into contact with people carrying the virus.
Morrison said:
You see, in our country, everyone has choices and they have choices that are supported by the rule of law and I am simply making the point that those choices have to be exercised and are consistent with the rule of law.
But in terms of the Commonwealth government, or the state governments, making mandatory or issuing public health orders or taking some statutory approach then well, except in the areas I’ve already nominated in the areas of quarantine and aged care, the Commonwealth and the states are not making any moves in that area otherwise the rule of law applies as it normally does.
Read more here:
Updated
Here’s more about the developments in Wales and the comments the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has made this morning.
Young people should not be “threatened or induced” into getting Covid-19 vaccines, according to Drakeford, who contrasted his government’s approach to that of Downing Street on the eve of moves to scrap most remaining Welsh restrictions.
The Welsh first minister was speaking as the Welsh government prepared to abandon the rule that tells people to self-isolate if they are pinged by the NHS app, for those who are fully vaccinated, more than a week before England.
In the largest easing of coronavirus measures since the pandemic began, nightclubs are due to reopen and all restrictions on meeting others are to be removed in Wales from Saturday as it moves to Covid alert level 0.
Read the full story here:
Updated
The Philippines’ health ministry on Friday reported 10,623 new coronavirus cases, the largest single-day increase in infections in nearly four months, and 247 additional deaths.
The ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 1,638,345, and that there had been a total of 28,673 deaths, Reuters reports.
The Philippines has the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections and deaths in Southeast Asia.
Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said he would support the UK’s vaccination rollout being extended to younger teenagers “down throughout secondary school”.
He told Times Radio:
We’ve been very blasé about infection in children, but they can get very ill with acute Covid. They also have quite serious or similar odds of getting long Covid.
Think how devastating that is for children who might be going into their GCSEs or A-levels to simply zone out and not be able to function. It’s a horrible thing to do to children and we do need to take it seriously and, if nothing else, that would be a reason to be rolling out the vaccines, as we are now.
A study published earlier this week, led by researchers at King’s College London, found that children who become ill with coronavirus are unlikely to have long-term effects, with less than 2% having symptoms lasting more than eight weeks.
On extending the rollout beyond 16- and 17-year-olds, Altmann accepted there were “complicated ethics discussions” about using vaccines when other countries had not yet had their first or second doses.
Updated
The Philippine capital, Manila, returned to lockdown on Friday as authorities sought to slow the spread of the contagious Delta variant and ease pressure on hospitals while trying to avoid crushing economic activity.
Police checkpoints across the National Capital Region, where more than 13 million people live, caused long queues as officers in camouflage uniforms inspected vehicles to ensure only essential workers were on the road, AFP reports.
Experts warned that an explosion in Delta cases could overwhelm the health system if restrictions were not tightened in the crowded capital, which accounts for about a third of the country’s economy.
The stay-at-home order announced last week was expanded Thursday to include neighbouring Laguna province. Restrictions were also tightened in other regions where coronavirus infections have spiked.
The Philippines has detected more than 330 Delta cases in recent weeks and there are fears the strain could tear through the nation as it has in neighbouring countries.
Successive lockdowns and other restrictions, including a ban on children going outdoors, have shattered the economy and left millions jobless.
There are concerns the new lockdown will deepen the misery, with government assistance limited to 4,000 pesos (£57) per household.
Only essential businesses and workers can operate for the next two weeks. Outdoor exercise is allowed, but an eight-hour nighttime curfew is in place.
“I hope the government will be able to give aid so it can help cover our expenses,” fish vendor Junrel Bihag told AFP, describing life during the pandemic as “really difficult”.
Fears that unvaccinated people would not be allowed outside or receive government help during lockdown sent thousands flocking to vaccination sites on Thursday, forcing one location to close.
The rush to get jabbed came after the president, Rodrigo Duterte, said last week that people who do not want to be vaccinated should stay home.
Duterte said:
If you go out I will tell the police to bring you home. You will be escorted back to your house because you are a walking spreader.
But his spokesman, Harry Roque, rejected suggestions Thursday that the president’s remarks triggered the vaccination rush, instead blaming “fake news”.
Roque told reporters:
We are not imposing any prohibitions on people who are not vaccinated. We are merely asking that, now that the vaccine is there, everyone should get a jab.
The country’s glacial vaccination drive has been hampered by tight global supply and logistical problems. Just over 10 million people are now fully vaccinated, representing nine percent of the population.
Updated
The UK’s largest independent travel agent saw bookings shoot up by 193% on Thursday following relaxation of travel rules for some countries.
Dame Irene Hays, chair of Hays Travel, told Sky News:
What we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks is a lot of inquiries and so we had many people who were ready to book them, we’re just waiting for the announcements from the Secretary of State.
She urged travellers to ensure they book with a “reputable travel agent” following comments from transport secretary Grant Shapps admitting he could “never say there is zero chance” that Spain and other popular holiday destinations might be placed on the red list in future.
Hays said:
As long as people are careful where they book, the travel agent will look after the two things which are most important - one is their health and safety, and second is their financial security.
Just to say that at the moment, we will see some of the best prices and travel industry that we’ve seen in years.
Welsh first minister dismisses talk of 'freedom day' as Wales moves to Covid alert level 0
As Wales sees its biggest easing of coronavirus measures since the pandemic began, the first minister, Mark Drakeford, dismissed talk of so-called “freedom day”.
Asked if he is concerned people might take the language of freedom day and think it is all over, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme:
We don’t use that language here in Wales because it’s not all over.
Hundreds of people every day are still falling ill from coronavirus in this third wave and while vaccination has fundamentally altered the relationship between falling ill and hospitalisation, it hasn’t eliminated it.
So while today’s a good day here in Wales, a day for optimism here in Wales, it’s also a day on which we ask Welsh people to go on making those contributions which each one of us can make to keeping each other, and Wales, safe from this awful virus.
Drakeford said the approach to encouraging young people to get their jab in Wales is by telling them they “have a contribution to make”, rather than offering “prizes”.
Asked if he is concerned about resistance to vaccines among young people, he told the Today programme:
We have over 75% of people aged 18 to 29 already having received a first dose of a vaccine, and 55% have been doubly vaccinated already.
So, our appeal to young people is not one that either threatens them by saying you won’t be able to do things or tries to induce them by offering them prizes, but just says to them, ‘you have a contribution to make, you can keep yourself but also other people who matter to you safe’.
That appeal, I think, means that we’ve succeeded in getting our vaccination numbers in that cohort up higher than in other parts of the United Kingdom.
Updated
Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, will extend coronavirus restrictions until 22 August, the state Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on Friday, after authorities warned of new clusters of infections detected in the city of more than eight million people.
Hanoi has ordered people to stay at home and halted all non-essential activities in the past two weeks, but a three-fold rise in infections has prompted the city to extend the current curbs that were due to end on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The city reported 21 new cases on Friday and has recorded nearly 1,600 cases since late April, official data showed.
While the numbers are still low, authorities are wary after the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus has helped drive up infections across the country to a total of 189,000 cases.
The health ministry said following Hanoi’s announcement of the extended restrictions:
The risk is still high with the continuous detections of new clusters of infections, many of which have unidentified sources.
Nationwide, about a third of Vietnam’s 63 cities and provinces are under strict coronavirus curbs as the country struggles to get on top of its worst outbreak so far.
Hanoi’s vaccination programme is still at an early stage. Around 1.1m Covid-19 doses have been administered in the city of 8.5 million, but only 74,000 people have been fully vaccinated.
Overall, just 780,000 people have been fully vaccinated in Vietnam, or less than 1% of the country’s 98 million population, according to official data.
Updated
A South African study has shown the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine offers over 90% protection against death, the joint lead investigator for the country’s J&J trial, Glenda Gray, said on Friday.
Gray said:
We can report that the single jab J&J vaccine protected between 91% to 96.2% of healthcare workers against death.
This was our primary endpoint and we are able to say this vaccine protected health workers against death.
All businesses including nightclubs will be able to reopen in Wales from Saturday and there will be no legal limits on the number of people who can get together as the country moves to Covid alert level 0.
But face coverings will still be required for most people in many public places, including on public transport, in shops and in health and social care settings, and the first minister, Mark Drakeford, continued to urge caution.
Drakeford said:
Moving to alert level 0 is another significant step forward,” “For the first time since the pandemic started, all businesses will be able to open and all legal limits on meeting people in indoor private spaces will be removed.
Alert level 0 does not mean the end of restrictions and a free-for-all. But it does mean we can all enjoy more freedoms with the confidence there are still important protections in place to make sure our public health is being safeguarded while we are out and about.
Even if you have been fully vaccinated, meeting outside is safer than inside. Let fresh air into indoor spaces, get tested even for mild symptoms, and self-isolate when you are required to do so.
Face coverings will not be a legal requirement in hospitality settings where food and drink is served and exemptions will continue for those who cannot wear them. Everyone in Wales must continue to isolate for 10 days if they have Covid-19 symptoms or a positive test result.
Read more here:
CNN sack three staff for not being vaccinated
A very interesting development in the US overnight where three member of staff at CNN have been sacked for reporting to work without being vaccinated.
Jeff Zucker, the media company’s president, informed workers about the firings in a memo on Thursday. It reminded them that vaccines were mandatory if they report to the office or out in the field where they come into contact with other employees.
“Let me be clear – we have a zero tolerance policy on this,” wrote Zucker, chairman of news and sports for WarnerMedia, according to a copy of the memo obtained by Associated Press.
Expect to hear more about this and whether other employers will do the same, but here’s the story for now:
I’m Nicola Slawson and I’ve taken over the liveblog from Martin Farrer and will be taking you through the next few hours. Do drop me a line on nicola.slawson@theguardian.com or find me on Twitter: @Nicola_Slawson.
China was successful in containing the original Covid outbreak in January 2020 thanks to stringent lockdowns and mass testing.
But the growing Delta outbreak that we reported on in the opening post is leading to a growing pushback against China’s aims of eliminating the virus completely. Not unlike the growing restiveness in Australia at seemiongly endless lockdowns.
A leading Chinese virologist, Shi Zhengli, said this week that Chinese people “need to let go of the panic and be prepared to live with the coronavirus for a while”.
Shi, who is also known as “Bat woman” for her extensive work researching the origins of novel coronaviruses, urged people to get vaccinated.
“As the number of infected cases has just become too big, this allowed the novel coronavirus more opportunities to mutate and select. New variants will continue to emerge,” Shi said.
Read the full analysis of whether China can contain the Delta strain here:
Three Australian states in lockdown
Australia’s three most populous states are in lockdown as the Delta variant continues to play havoc across the country thanks to one of the lowest vaccination rates in the developed world.
Victoria entered a snap one-week lockdown on Thursday night after an outbreak of mystery infections. It is the state’s sixth shutdown and comes only 10 days after the end of the last one. Fifteen people were arrested after hundreds turned out to protest against the curbs in Melbourne on Thursday night.
Cases are still rising in New South Wales as it begins its seventh week in lockdown, but Queensland hopes to soon lift restrictions that have been in place since last Saturday.
Here’s my full wrap of the situation:
A new advertising campaign in launching in the UK to warn young people that they will miss out on nightlife and clubbing if they don’t get themselves vaccinated.
The move is an attempt by the government to encourage the roughly 33% of adults under the age of 30 who have still not had their first Covid jab. Some big venues such as the Ministry of Sound have people to get inoculated so they can all “keep dancing together safely”.
Here’s the full story:
Updated
South Korea extends social distancing measures
South Korea will extend its social distancing curbs by two weeks as the government contends with outbreaks nationwide and more people fall severely ill, prime minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Friday.
The government tightened restrictions last week across most of the country ahead of the country’s peak summer holiday period.
Seoul and surrounding regions have banned private gatherings of more than two people after 6pm and any gatherings of more than four people are prohibited in the rest of the country.
And as the spreads anew across Asia, Vietnam’s capital Hanoi will extend its coronavirus restrictions for another 15 days until 22 August, the state Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday, following the discovery of new clusters of infections in the city over recent days.
Updated
China records highest daily Delta count
China reported its highest daily Covid-19 count in its current outbreak of the Delta variant, reporting 124 new cases on Thursday, including 80 local transmissions, reports helen Davidson in Taiwan.
It also confirmed 54 asymptomatic infections, which Chinese authorities count separately to symptomatic cases.
Most of Thursday’s cases were in Jiangsu province, where the airport in Nanjing is believed to be at the centre of many of the clusters, after cleaning staff fell ill after working on an international plane.
Authorities have since enacted mass lockdowns and testing drives targeting tens of millions of people, suspended or advised against travel between provinces, and halted passport processing.
On Thursday health authorities said the outbreak was complicated but generall controllable.
He Qinhua, a senior official with the national health commission, told state media outlet Xinhua:
As long as local authorities strictly implement various prevention and control measures, I think the epidemic will be largely under control within two to three incubation periods.
He said the size and spread of the outbreak had put strain on response efforts. Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the commission, said sporadic outbreaks during the Summer holiday period were increasing the risk of the epidemic spreading, and “stringent measures” were needed.
Welcome
Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are and welcome to our rolling coverage of the pandemic.
Here are the main developments overnight:
- China reported 124 new cases of the virus on Friday, the highest number of the current outbreak amid a surge in locally transmitted infections.
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CNN has fired three members of staff in the US for reporting to work without being vaccinated. Company bosses said the staff had violated its zero-tolerance policy for having the jab.
- The UK government has destroyed the public’s trust in travel quarantine rules, a former government adviser has said, after the latest changes to the traffic-light system for overseas travel.
- Young people in the UK will “miss out” on access to nightclubs if they don’t get vaccinated, warns an advertising campaign being launched to boost take-up.
- The UK’s live events sector has finally been promised a Covid cancellation insurance scheme worth £750m after months of lobbying.
- Australians who live abroad will not be able to leave the country if they return home unless they appeal for a special exemption as Canberra tightened its restrictions on pandemic travel.
- New South Wales recorded another record number of cases on Friday – 291 – and more than half of Australia is in lockdown again. There were protests in Melbourne on Thursday night as the state of Victoria headed into another snap lockdown. Queensland could move out of lockdown on Sunday after only 10 new cases of the virus were reported on Friday.
- All businesses in Wales, including nightclubs, will be able to reopen from Saturday and there will be no legal limits on the number of people who can get together as the country moves to Covid alert level 0.
- The US could announce its plan to give out booster vaccines within weeks, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The US has given nearly 350m Covid-19 jabs.
- South Korea will extend its social distancing curbs by two weeks as the government contends with outbreaks nationwide and more people fall severely ill, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Friday.
- The Italian government has said teachers will need proof of immunity from Covid-19 from the start of September, as travellers on public transport will also need the country’s “green pass”.
