This blog is closing now but thanks very much for reading. We’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage of the pandemic from all around the world.
In the meantime you can catch up with all our coverage of the pandemic here.
As the British health minister, chancellor and prime minister self-isolate, the commons speaker has pleaded with MPs to continue wearing face coverings and “not push the limits for the sake of it” following the easing of restrictions in England, PA Media reports.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle told the chamber he was “very worried” after a “large number” people were contacted to isolate, with Deputy Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton among those unable to attend.
Unions representing staff based in Parliament have previously written to the Speaker to push him to reconsider guidance for post-July 19, in which politicians will be encouraged to wear a mask but will not be mandated to have one on.
It is compulsory, however, for staff on the estate to continue to have to wear a covering.
British health minister Edward Argar self-isolating
Health minister Edward Argar is self-isolating after being told to by NHS test and trace over a contact with health secretary Sajid Javid, the Press Association reports.
Javid, who is fully vaccinated, has been self-isolating since Saturday after testing positive for Covid. He said he had mild symptoms and confirmed the result of a lateral flow test with a positive PCR test.
Updated
A federal judge has ruled Indiana University can require its students and employees to get vaccinated for Covid-19.
US district judge Damon Leichty in South Bend rejected a request from eight students aiming to block the requirement while they pursue a lawsuit claiming that the university’s policy violated their constitutional rights by forcing them to receive unwanted medical treatment, the Associated Press reports.
Hundreds of private and public colleges across the United States have introduced vaccine mandates.
Leichty said that the Constitution “permits Indiana University to pursue a reasonable and due process of vaccination in the legitimate interest of public health for its students, faculty and staff”.
James Bopp, a conservative lawyer representing the students, said Monday that he plans to appeal the ruling.
Indiana law currently requires college students to get vaccinated against six diseases — diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and meningitis. Pupils in state primary and secondary schools are required to get vaccinated for a further five diseases.
Following backlash over asking for vaccine documentation, Indiana University is allowing students and employees at its seven campuses to state to their vaccination in an online form.
Boris Johnson denied the NHS would be overwhelmed and said he was not prepared to lock down the country to save people in their 80s, texting his adviser “get Covid and live longer,” according to new WhatsApp messages released by Dominic Cummings.
In his first TV interview, the prime minister’s former chief adviser said Johnson held out on reimposing Covid restrictions because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80.”
Cummings also told the BBC that Johnson had been determined to go to see the Queen in person, despite people in Number 10 already ill with Covid in March 2020. Downing Street denies the account.
In WhatsApp messages, shared with the BBC, that were sent to aides in mid October, Johnson appears to say: “I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer. Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent) and of those virtually all survive.
“And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate.”
Updated
Greece has reported a further 1,834 coronavirus case and eight deaths, compared with 2,063 cases and 10 deaths last Monday.
The country’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases is now 459,146, while its death toll stands at 12,858.
In response to rising cases in recent weeks, authorities have introduced plans to limit access to indoor hospitality venues to vaccinated customers.
The government has also made vaccination mandatory for nursing home staff and healthcare workers. The requirement for nursing home staff is already effective, while healthcare workers will have to be vaccinated from 1 September.
Britain’s restrictions on travellers from France seem excessive, the French European affairs minister has said as France attempts to contain rising Covid cases – which stand at less than a third of the daily reported cases in the UK.
“We don’t think that the United Kingdom’s decisions are totally based on scientific foundations. We find them excessive,” Clément Beaune told BFM TV after the UK decided that visitors would need to quarantine for 10 days after arriving from France amid concern over the Beta variant.
French authorities have said the bulk of its cases of the Beta variant come from the overseas territories of La Réunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, rather than mainland France, where it is not widespread.
The UK’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance has issued this correction:
Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July. About 60% of hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people.
— Sir Patrick Vallance (@uksciencechief) July 19, 2021
Updated
France will press ahead with new pro-vaccination legislation to combat rising cases, government spokesman has said.
“We have entered the fourth wave of the epidemic,” Gabriel Attal said after a meeting of the French cabinet, Reuters reports.
The, which aims to to keep pressure off the country’s hospitals, entails some of the toughest measures in Europe. It will require customers to present a “health pass”, showing they are fully vaccinated, have recently tested negative or recovered from the virus, in order to access a wide range of hospitality and entertainment venues and make vaccination mandatory for health workers.
It is expected to be presented to parliament later this week, with the pass required from 21 July. Within 72 hours of the measure being announced last week, vaccinations hit record levels, with 800,000 doses administered in a single day.
Updated
The head of disability charity Sense has hailed the UK’s move to offer extremely vulnerable children the Covid-19 vaccine as “positive news”.
The government announced on Monday that children over 12 and extremely vulnerable, or live with someone at risk, will get a vaccine.
Chief executive Richard Kramer said: “Many of the disabled children we support have underlying health conditions and they and their families have been shielding for over a year now, forgotten during the pandemic and as part of the UK vaccination programme.
“This news will come as a huge relief and reassurance especially with most restrictions now lifted and cases rising. Time is of the premium and we want to see an immediate rollout that capitalises on the summer holidays so that children and families can feel confident about returning to school in September.”
He called on the government to put in place “a dedicated recovery plan for disabled children” in order to ensure they and their families receive “the appropriate care and support”.
President Joe Biden has urged Americans to get vaccinated as the United States sees cases rise amid the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Alongside increasing infections, hospitalisations and deaths have been on the rise in recent weeks, owing primarily to outbreaks in parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
According to Reuters, the average number of new daily cases has tripled in the past 30 days, going from 12,004 to 32,136 between 18 June and 18 July. Over the same period, hospitalisations rose 21% while deaths were up 25%.
There are concerns that outbreaks could hinder the US’s economic recovery. In a speech on the economy, Biden said the recovery hinges on getting the pandemic under control. He said four states with low vaccination rates accounted for 40% of all cases last week.
“So please, please get vaccinated,” Biden said. “Get vaccinated now.”
“It’s so nice – step one to normality” is how Tracy Draycott, 55, framed the government’s much-vaunted “freedom day”. Four generations of one family – Draycott, her daughter, her granddaughter and her mother – were enjoying a day out in sweltering weather at the Merseyway shopping precinct, Stockport.
People living in England have spoken to the Guardian about how they feel about coronavirus restrictions being scrapped on so-called ‘freedom day’:
Updated
Fully-vaccinated US citizens and residents will be allowed to travel to Canada for non-essential travel again from 9 August, the government has announced.
Travellers will no longer have to quarantine for three nights in a hotel, Reuters reports.
Immunised visitors from other countries will begin to be allowed back into the country from 7 September, Ottawa said in a statement, adding that it is conditional on Canada’s epidemiology remaining favourable.
“Thanks to the hard work of Canadians, rising vaccination rates and declining Covid-19 cases, the government ... is able to move forward with adjusted border measures,” the government statement said.
The government repeated that Canadians should avoid non-essential travel abroad.
Hi, Clea Skopeliti here picking up the liveblog for the next few hours. If you need to reach me, I’m on Twitter. Thanks!
Here's a summary of the latest developments
- The US has risen the risk of traveling to the UK to its highest level, “very high”, and warned Americans not to travel there due to the pervasiveness of Delta.
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60% of UK Covid hospital admissions have had two vaccine doses, Britain’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said today.
- The UK reported 39,950 new Covid cases as weekly cases rise 41%. There were 39,950 new coronavirus cases today and 19 new deaths.
- Northern Ireland daily cases exceeded 1,700 for first time since January today. Case numbers have been growing rapidly in recent weeks as the Delta variant became dominant.
- Globally, women have been hardest hit by pandemic job losses and only men’s employment is likely to return to 2019 levels this year, the International Labour Organisation said today.
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Bangladesh reported a record 231 coronavirus deaths - the highest to date for one day.
- Tehran is to enter a new week-long lockdown as cases in Iran soar. From tomorrow all bazars, market places, public offices, cinemas, gyms and restaurants in the capital and neighbouring province Alborz will close.
- Tokyo Olympics organisers have warned participants not to visit restaurants that open after 8pm or that serve alcohol to avoid “grave reputational risk”.
- Cuba has the highest rate of contagion per capita in the whole of Latin America and more than any other country in the Americas for its size. The country, which has a population of 11 million, reported close to 4,000 confirmed cases per million residents last week - nine times higher than the world average.
That’s all from me for today. Handing over now to my colleague Clea Skopeliti. Thanks for reading.
Armenia is becoming a hotspot for vaccine tourism among Iranians.
Here’s Reuters’ report:
Iranians facing a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines at home are travelling to neighbouring Armenia as tourists in growing numbers to get inoculated there for free, according to data from Armenia’s tourism board.
Armenia has approved three vaccines against Covid-19 - Russia’s Sputnik V, China’s CoronaVac and AstraZeneca’s vaccine and initially offered all of them free to foreign visitors.
The Armenian Tourism Committee said more than 8,500 Iranian citizens had visited in June, up from 5,000 a month earlier.
“We didn’t have any special plans to develop vaccine tourism, it happened accidentally,” said Alfred Kocharyan, deputy head of the Armenian Tourism Committee, adding that people were also coming from India to get free shots.
“But demand for vaccines has created an opportunity for our travel agencies which I encourage them to take.”
Armenian TV reported long queues of Iranians at mobile vaccination units in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, last week with some Iranian tourists saying they had spent several nights in the street waiting for their turn to get vaccinated.
“There were too many people there, there were too many Iranians, and we still don’t know if we can get a vaccine or not,” said Shirin Darvish, an Iranian tourist who had been waiting to get a shot for ten days.
The buildup of overnight queues prompted the authorities to tighten vaccine rules.
As of July 15, foreigners can only be inoculated in Armenia with the AstraZeneca vaccine and must spend 10 days in the country before becoming eligible.
Armenia had administered at least 260,813 doses of Covid vaccines by July 10, according to the Armenian authorities.
Iran, with a population of 83 million, had recorded 87,161 deaths from coronavirus as of July 19, the highest toll in the Middle East.
According to The Islamic Republic News Agency, around 2.7% of Iran’s population have received both doses of an anti-coronavirus vaccine.
US warns Americans not to travel to the UK as it raises risk level to "very high"
The US has risen the risk of traveling to the UK to its highest level, “very high”, and warned Americans not to travel there due to the pervasiveness of Delta.
On #FreedomDay in England the US @CDCgov raises UK to highest risk level and warns Americans not to travel to Britain because of prevalence of #deltavariant pic.twitter.com/VpZCUvAhqX
— Jon Sopel (@BBCJonSopel) July 19, 2021
In an update made today, as the UK lifted most Covid restrictions despite soaring infection rates, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the following guidance to US travellers to the UK:
- Avoid travel to the United Kingdom.
- If you must travel to the United Kingdom, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.
- Because of the current situation in the United Kingdom, even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants.
- Travellers should follow recommendations or requirements in the United Kingdom, including wearing a mask and staying 6 feet apart from others.
Updated
60% of UK Covid hospital admissions are unvaccinated
Britain’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance has said that 60% of Covid hospital admissions are unvaccinated, correcting an earlier statement.
Vallance earlier said at a news conference that 60% of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 were fully vaccinated.
Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July. About 60% of hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people.
— Sir Patrick Vallance (@uksciencechief) July 19, 2021
This post has been amended (20:40) since Vallance put the above correction out.
Updated
France reports 20 new Covid deaths and 902 people in intensive care
France has reported 20 new Covid hospital deaths and 902 people in intensive care.
The latest figures brings the country’s hospital death toll to 84,987.
Updated
UK to introduce proof of vaccination for nightclubs, says PM
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said that by the end of September proof of vaccination will be required to enter nightclubs and other large gatherings.
Speaking from isolation during a government briefing today after being exposed to the health minister, who has tested positive, he said the rules would be introduced after all over-18s have been given the option to be fully vaccinated.
It comes as most Covid restrictions were lifted in England today.
UK will not vaccinate most children until more data available
The UK does not plan to vaccinate most children until more data becomes available, the government said today.
But children from aged 12 with severe neuro-disabilities, Down Syndrome, immunosuppression and multiple or severe learning disabilities, will be eligible, as will those who are household contacts of people who are immunosuppressed.
“Today’s advice does not recommend vaccinating under-18s without underlying health conditions at this point in time,” said UK health secretary, Sajid Javid. “But the JCVI will continue to review new data, and consider whether to recommend vaccinating under-18s without underlying health conditions at a future date.’’
To follow the latest from the UK, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now speaking, follow the UK blog:
Italy has reported seven new Covid deaths and 2,072 new infections.
It marked an increase in deaths on yesterday, when three people died, and a decrease in infections, which was 3,127.
Overall, Italy has recorded 127,874 deaths - a figure exceeded only by the UK in Europe.
UK reports 39,950 new Covid cases as weekly cases rise 41%
In the UK, there were 39,950 new coronavirus cases today and 19 new deaths.
Government figures show that in the last week, 322,170 people tested positive - a 41.2% rise on the week before. In the same period, there were 296 deaths - a 48% rise on the previous week.
According to the latest vaccination figures, by the end of yesterday, 46,314,039 people had received their first dose and 36,099,727 their second.
Mauritania has banned mosque prayers during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday due to concerns over rising Covid-19 infections.
AFP reports:
Prayers will be confined to the home, the government in the conservative Muslim country said in a statement on Sunday.
The start of a midnight-to-dawn curfew has been brought forward to 10pm, while masks are mandatory and large gatherings are banned.
Like many African countries, the mostly desert country has suffered little during the coronavirus pandemic, but officials recorded a rapid rise in case numbers this week.
The official caseload stood at 22,508 on 17 July, an increase of nearly 1,000 over the previous week.
Rachel Hall here taking over from Miranda Bryant – please do drop me a line at rachel.hall@theguardian.com if you spot anything I’ve missed, or have an idea you’d like us to explore.
Updated
In the US, residents of Los Angeles are again required to wear masks indoors, whether or not they have been vaccinated, amid a spike in coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths.
The rule went into effect in America’s largest county on Saturday after a big increase in cases, caused by the Delta variant. Officials said the bulk of new cases are among unvaccinated people.
Updated
Leaked correspondence shows that AstraZeneca pledged it would supply around 6m doses of its vaccine per month to Thailand – contradicting claims that the country was promised 10m.
Reuters reports:
Thailand’s push for 10m monthly doses comes as it considers imposing vaccine export curbs on Thai-manufactured vaccine to shore up domestic supplies, a move that could create problems for its neighbours, some of which are battling similar or more severe coronavirus crises.
But a 25 June letter by AstraZeneca to Thailand’s health minister showed that the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had offered to supply just 5-6m doses a month to Thailand from a local plant, or one third of the amount produced by its partner Siam Bioscience, which is owned by Thailand’s king.
“I hope you will be pleased that this is nearly twice the volume we discussed during our meeting,” AstraZeneca’s vice-president of global corporate affairs, Sjoerd Hubben, said in the letter, referring to a September 2020 meeting with Thai officials.
At that meeting, the government officials estimated Thailand required around 3m doses per month, Hubben wrote.
The correspondence was first reported by Isara news agency and later seen by Reuters.
AstraZeneca also explained at the September meeting that Thailand had an opportunity to procure more via the international Covax vaccine-sharing scheme, Hubben said in the letter.
Thailand, which never made supply deals with Covax, instead decided in January to buy 26m doses from AstraZeneca and another 35m doses in May, the letter showed.
The director-general of the Thai Disease Control Department, Opas Karnkawinpong, confirmed on Sunday that the letter was authentic. He told reporters the 3m figure had been a rough estimate and Thailand had formally asked AstraZeneca in April 2021 to provide 10 million monthly doses.
He did not say whether AstraZeneca had agreed to that, and said it was understood that vaccine availability depended on output and volume might need to be agreed on a monthly basis.
AstraZeneca had no comment on Monday on the leaked letter.
Updated
Poland’s health minister has warned that the country faces growing coronavirus cases after the weekly average increased by 13%.
Cases in the country have been low for weeks – steady at around 100 daily cases – but with the spread of the Delta variant, Adam Niedzielski now expects infections to rise.
Niedzielski said on Twitter:
Stabilisation of infections is a thing of the past … We will see further increases in the following weeks, as evidenced by the change in the virus reproduction rate (R), which has returned to 1.
Updated
Northern Ireland daily cases exceed 1,700 for first time since January
Daily coronavirus cases in Northern Ireland have exceeded 1,700 for the first time since January, reports PA Media.
Case numbers have been growing rapidly in recent weeks as the Delta variant became dominant.
An additional 1,776 cases were reported by the Department of Health today. One death was also reported, bringing the total to 2,163.
This morning there were 109 patients with coronavirus in hospital and seven in intensive care.
Updated
Women hit hardest by global pandemic job losses, says UN report
Globally, women have been hardest hit by pandemic job losses and only men’s employment is likely to return to 2019 levels this year, the International Labour Organisation said today.
The UN agency said that women have been at greater risk of job cuts and reduced hours as a result of coronavirus restrictions - particularly in the accommodation, food services and manufacturing sectors – Reuters reports.
As well as enduring substantial income losses, women have also carried most of the burden of unpaid care work.
The report said:
Even though the projected jobs growth in 2021 for women exceeds that of men, it will, nonetheless, be insufficient to bring women back to pre-pandemic employment levels.
Between 2019 and 2020, 4.2% of women’s employment globally (the equivalent of 54 million jobs) disappeared because of the pandemic. In contrast, 3% of men’s employment globally (60 million jobs) was lost.
This year, 13 million fewer women are expected to be employed than they were in 2019, while men’s employment is projected to be at pre-pandemic levels.
Updated
US stock indexes are expected to fall sharply today after a spike in global coronavirus cases prompted fresh fears over economic growth.
New infections have surged in parts of Asia, England and in the US, where they rose by 70% last week and deaths by 26%.
Shares in travel companies, airline operators and cruise lines saw declines before the opening bell, reports Reuters.
Bangladesh reports record 231 coronavirus deaths
Bangladesh has recorded 231 coronavirus deaths - the highest to date for one day.
Most deaths were recorded in Dhaka, BDnews24 reports, where the daily death toll was 73. The overall death toll is 18,125.
BREAKING: Bangladesh logs a record 231 virus deaths in a day, raising the toll to 18,125; Dhaka accounts for 73 fatalities, the highest among 8 divisions.
— bdnews24.com (@bdnews24com) July 19, 2021
Updated
Vietnam reported 4,195 new coronavirus infections today and 80 new deaths over the last 10 days.
The latest figures bring the overall totals to 58,025 cases and 334 deaths. The country is in the midst of its worst outbreak to date.
Updated
Anti-lockdown protesters have blocked a road and forced traffic to a standstill in London, as England today removed coronavirus restrictions.
Chanting “freedom” and carrying signs with anti-vaccination and anti-police messages, protesters gathered in Parliament Square before moving onto the road and to the gates of the Palace of Westminster, PA Media reports.
The Metropolitan police tweeted:
We are responding to a demonstration in Parliament Square this afternoon. A group have blocked the road which is causing traffic disruption.
— Metropolitan Police Events (@MetPoliceEvents) July 19, 2021
Officers are on scene, speaking with those taking part in the protest and looking to ease congestion as soon as possible.
For more, Andrew Sparrow is following UK developments:
Updated
Brazil’s health regulator says it has approved trials of a third dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
Anvisa said it would give an additional dose to 10,000 volunteers 11-13 months after their second vaccine, reports Reuters.
Due to his self-isolation, Johnson will have to lead a government press conference about England’s lifting of most coronavirus restrictions later today virtually. Britain’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, and England’s deputy medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, meanwhile, will take part from Downing Street.
Updated
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has tested negative for coronavirus and is not showing any symptoms, his spokesman said today.
Johnson, who is double-vaccinated, is self-isolating at his country residence Chequers until 26 July after coming into close contact with health minister Sajid Javid, who said on Saturday that he had tested positive.
Updated
New lockdown in Tehran as Covid cases soar
Tehran will go under a fresh week-long lockdown tomorrow as Iran struggles to contain another surge in Covid cases.
From tomorrow all bazars, market places, public offices, cinemas, gyms and restaurants in the capital and neighbouring province Alborz will close, reports AP.
Iran recorded 25,441 new cases and 213 deaths today, bringing the total to over 3.5m and 87,374 respectively.
Tourists in Spain are ignoring Catalonia’s curfew rules as hundreds party on Barcelona’s beaches, reports El País.
As of Friday, the region is under a new curfew between 1am and 6am.
But on the same night, the municipal police had to move on 4,350 people who continued to party - most of them tourists - reports the newspaper, and parties have been continuing on the beaches of Barceloneta.
“The majority of the participants are French, German, Italian and Dutch. All of them are young, and very few are wearing masks,” reports the paper.
For more on the subject, in May 2020, the Guardian reported on Barcelona without tourists:
Olympics organisers warn participants off going to restaurants and drinking
Tokyo Olympics organisers have warned participants not to visit restaurants that open after 8pm or that serve alcohol to avoid “grave reputational risk”, reports Reuters.
It comes after Japanese media reported that accredited Games participants were spotted drinking in downtown Tokyo or violating quarantines.
“These incidents have also been raised in the National Diet, and have the potential to severely damage the reputation of the Tokyo 2020 Games and your organisations,” organisers said in a note sent to Covid-19 liaison officers at the Games.
“Even after your first 14 days in Japan, this will be perceived as visiting a business that operates illegally and could constitute a grave reputational risk to yourself, your organisation, and the Tokyo 2020 Games,” it added.
Tokyo will remain in a state of emergency throughout the Games and spectators are barred from nearly all events amid fears over Covid infections. There have already been reports of outbreaks among athletes (see 10:32 and here).
A French Holocaust survivor has denounced anti-vaccination protesters who compared themselves to the Jewish people who were persecuted under Nazi Germany during marches over the weekend, reports AP.
It comes after more than 100,000 people marched against the French government’s vaccine rules on Saturday, with some demonstrators wearing yellow stars and carrying signs that made reference to the Auschwitz death camp.
Joseph Szwarc, a survivor of the Holocaust who was deported from France by the Nazis, said: “You can’t imagine how much that upset me. This comparison is hateful. We must all rise up against this ignominy.”
“I wore the star, I know what that is, I still have it in my flesh,” Szwarc added. “It is everyone’s duty to not allow this outrageous, antisemitic, racist wave to pass over us.”
France’s secretary of state for military affairs also condemned the protesters’ as “intolerable and a disgrace for our republic”.
The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism said the protesters were “mocking victims of the Holocaust”.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered his cabinet to investigate the possibility of importing and locally producing the Russia’s Sputnik Light vaccine, reports Reuters.
Cuba has highest rate of contagion per capita in whole of Latin America
Cuba has the highest rate of contagion per capita in the whole of Latin America and more than any other country in the Americas for its size.
The country, which has a population of 11 million, reported close to 4,000 confirmed cases per million residents last week - nine times higher than the world average, Reuters reports.
It comes as the country’s healthcare system has come under severe strain and an explosion of protests on the Communist-run island.
State media has broadcast images of patients in beds in corridors and doctors reporting shortages of vital supplies including oxygen, ventilators and medicines.
Cuban American historian Daniel Rodriguez, author of a book on medical politics in post-independence Havana, said: “The government has consistently made the case that one of the main accomplishments of the revolution is its world-class medical sector”.
He added: “When the pandemic began spiralling out of control a couple of weeks ago, it appeared increasingly the revolutionary government was no longer able to protect Cuban lives, and the result was an extraordinary repudiation of the revolution itself.”
Hi, I’m taking over the liveblog from Martin. Any tips or suggestions, please email: miranda.bryant@guardian.co.uk
Updated
Today so far…
- Saudi Arabia citizens will need two Covid vaccine doses before they can travel outside the kingdom from 9 August. The ministry of interior said the decision was made based on new waves of infection globally, new mutations, and the “low efficacy of one vaccination dose against these mutations.”
- Thousands of face-masked pilgrims performing Islam’s annual haj pilgrimage gathered on Mount Arafat on Monday. Saudi Arabia has barred worshippers from abroad for a second year running and has restricted entry from within the kingdom under special conditions to guard against the coronavirus and its new variants.
- Thailand reported on Monday 11,784 new coronavirus cases, the fourth consecutive day of record infections. Police have used teargas, rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who held a rally in Bangkok despite coronavirus restrictions banning gatherings of more than five people.
- The European Medicines Agency has said this morning that it was evaluating an application to use immunosuppressant drug Kineret to treat Covid-19 in adult patients with pneumonia who are at risk of developing severe respiratory failure.
- England has essentially dropped most Covid restrictions today, on a day that had been billed as “freedom day”, but on which the British prime minister Boris Johnson is self-isolating having been exposed to a positive Covid case.
- Scotland has moved to the lowest level of their Covid restrictions today. First minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Please continue to stick to limits on gatherings, observe appropriate distance, wear face coverings, ventilate rooms and wash hands.”
- Frontline NHS staff in England who are fully vaccinated will, in “exceptional circumstances”, be permitted to carry on working if they are “pinged” by the Covid contact tracing app, the government has announced.
- Covid cases are increasing in every state in the United States, while millions remain unvaccinated against the highly contagious Delta variant, the US surgeon general warned.
- The reimposition of curfew measures to curb the spread of Covid cannot be excluded in France if infections continue to climb, junior European affairs minister Clément Beaune said. He also criticised the UK’s imposition of restrictions on travellers from France, saying “We don’t think that the United Kingdom’s decisions are totally based on scientific foundations. We find them excessive.”
- Tokyo 2020 Olympics sponsor Toyota will not run Games-related TV commercials amid lacklustre public support for the Olympics, with two-thirds of Japanese doubting organisers can keep the Games safe during the Covid pandemic, according to a local media poll.
- There’s another Covid case at the Olympics which isn’t helping – a player from the Czech Republic’s beach volleyball team has returned a positive result.
- In Australia, people in the state of Victoria will stay confined to their homes after the state’s five-day lockdown failed to stamp out an outbreak of the “wildly infectious” Delta coronavirus variant.
- In Australia, a woman in her 50s from south-western Sydney has died of Covid with police investigating what is the fifth death linked to the current Delta outbreak.
Andrew Sparrow has the UK live blog, Miranda Bryant will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day’s global Covid news.
Indonesia sets a new record for daily Covid deaths
Indonesia reported a record 1,338 new coronavirus deaths on Monday, data from its Covid-19 task force showed, taking the total number of fatalities to 74,920.
Reuters report that the number of new infections on Monday was 34,257, the data showed, the lowest daily number since 6 July.
EMA to assess use of immunosuppressant drug Kineret in adult Covid patients
The European medicines regulator has said this morning that it was evaluating an application to use immunosuppressant drug Kineret to treat Covid-19 in adult patients with pneumonia who are at risk of developing severe respiratory failure. In a statement, it says:
Kineret is an immunosuppressant (a medicine that reduces the activity of the immune system) currently authorised for the treatment of a number of inflammatory conditions. Its active substance, anakinra, blocks the activity of interleukin 1, a chemical messenger involved in immune processes that lead to inflammation. It is thought that this could also help reduce the inflammation and tissue damage associated with Covid-19.
EMA will communicate on the outcome of its evaluation, which is expected by October unless supplementary information is needed.
Updated
Another Covid case has been reported at the Olympics. This time, Reuters reports that it is a player from the Czech Republic’s beach volleyball team who has returned a positive result.
Incidentally, while we are on the subject, from later this week I’ll be writing our Tokyo 2020 daily briefing – you can sign up for that here.
Updated
A woman in her 50s from south-western Sydney has died of Covid with police investigating what is the fifth death linked to the current Delta outbreak.
The death was announced on Monday afternoon after emergency services discovered her body earlier in the day when attending a home in Green Valley. Officers had responded to reports of a “concern for welfare”.
A NSW police spokesperson said “an investigation has commenced and a report will be prepared for the coroner”.
The NSW health department extended “its sincere sympathy to her family and friends”.
“NSW Health today sadly reports the death of a woman in her 50s who was a confirmed Covid-19 case,” a spokesperson said. “She was a resident of south-western Sydney and a close contact of a Covid case.”
Sydney media reported the woman was the mother of two of a group of three removalists who allegedly travelled to Molong in the state’s central west for work after one had initially tested positive to Covid. The men were escorted back to Sydney.
Read more of Elias Visontay’s report: Sydney Covid victim reportedly mother of removalists who travelled to Molong while positive
Updated
Thousands of masked pilgrims performing Islam’s annual haj pilgrimage gathered on Mount Arafat on Monday. Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, has barred worshippers from abroad for a second year running and has restricted entry from within the kingdom under special conditions to guard against the coronavirus and its new variants.
Reuters reports that only 60,000 Saudi citizens and residents, aged 18 to 65, who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from the virus and do not suffer from chronic diseases, were selected for the rite, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.
“It is an indescribable feeling that I got selected among millions of people to attend the haj. I pray for God to put an end to these hard times the whole world has gone through under the coronavirus,” said Um Ahmed, a Palestinian pilgrim who lives in the Saudi capital Riyadh and who said she lost four family members to the virus.
“The first prayer is to ask God to lift this pandemic, this curse and this grief for all humanity and for Muslims, so in the next years they are able to attend haj and for millions to refill these holy sites,” said Maher Baroody, a Syrian pilgrim.
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Stephen Collinson at CNN offers his analysis of the latest Covid situation in the US. He writes:
As the coronavirus mounts a fresh US assault, it is again tearing at the nation’s political divides in a way that multiplies its own impact and makes clear in a supposed summer of freedom that the battle against the virus is far from over.
President Joe Biden is locked in a showdown with Facebook over vaccine misinformation. His predecessor, Donald Trump, is now weighing in, linking his Big Lie over election fraud to Biden’s management of the Covid-19 crisis in a way that could brew even more of the vaccine hesitancy that is causing thousands of Americans to become infected.
Conservative pundits, would-be presidential candidates and Trump proteges have already exploited skepticism of vaccines for political gain. And new fears that a return to masks and physical distancing might be necessary in Covid hot zones, where many people have refused vaccines, are reigniting partisan fault lines.
Even if many of the people getting sick are anti-vaccine Republicans who are not his voters anyway, any reimposed restrictions and business closures could interrupt the economic recovery that the President is relying on to boost Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.
Read more here: CNN – The war over misinformation heats up as Covid case counts rise
Here’s a little bit more on that Saudi Arabia travel decision. Reuters notes that Saudi citizens will need two Covid vaccine doses before they can travel outside the kingdom from 9 August.
The story has been carried by state news agency SPA, citing the ministry of interior. The decision was made based on new waves of infection globally, new mutations, and the “low efficacy of one vaccination dose against these mutations”, the statement said.
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Andrew Sparrow has his UK live blog up and running for the day, which will obviously be leading for some time on the dropping of restrictions in England, the lowering of the Covid alert level in Scotland, and the fallout from the shambolic self-isolation U-turn at the heart of government yesterday. Join him there …
I’ll be continuing here with global coronavirus lines.
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Russia reported 24,633 new Covid cases on Monday, including 4,007 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 5,982,766.
Reuters reports that the government coronavirus taskforce said 719 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours.
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“Plague island” is trending on Twitter if you wanted to know how social media was coping with England dropping Covid restrictions today. Meanwhile, it is all a bit splitting hairs after the event, but UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng appears to have slightly contradicted what prime minister Boris Johnson said yesterday.
Kwasi Kwarteng said PM "reviewed" the first decision to take part in the pilot and then reversed it.
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) July 19, 2021
"I think he's done the right thing."
*Not the same as what the PM said yesterday when he said he had "briefly considered" pilot. Business Sec saying a decision had been made.
He also said the government had “made the right decision” to open up today.
Mr Kwarteng says "there comes a time when we have to decide what kind of country we're in".
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) July 19, 2021
"Diktats" or "allowing people to decide for themselves".
"We've made the right decision to open up in the way that we have done today."
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Dr Christian Dunn is a senior lecturer in zoology at Bangor University and an environmental campaigner, and he writes for us this morning Covid has made us use even more plastic – but we can reset:
Every time you do a lateral flow coronavirus test, you throw away around 10g of plastic. If every adult and secondary school student in the UK did the recommended two tests a week, it would produce more than 1,000 tonnes of rubbish every seven days. In less than a month this would fill an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Those of us who before the pandemic were involved in campaigns to cut our dependence on plastic, encouraging our communities to become “plastic free”, may feel like criticising such consumption. Should we stop these tests, knowing what we do about the plastic pollution crisis?
Absolutely not. They are at the forefront of our ability to control the virus and help our country return to a form of normality. So too are the countless tonnes of plastic used in the development, production, transportation and delivery of the vaccine, not to mention all the single-use medical consumables essential to help those unfortunate enough to end up in hospital.
Plastic has shown yet again what a wonderful, versatile and lifesaving product it can be. Without it, the pandemic would be going very differently. However, it is all too easy to forget this when stepping over the Covid cast-offs littering our streets. Single-use face masks, surgical gloves, tiny bottles of hand sanitiser and antiseptic wipes have become as common as cigarettes butts were a few years ago.
Read more here: Christian Dunn – Covid has made us use even more plastic – but we can reset
If you are fascinated by what the messaging from major stores is going to be in England over face coverings, here’s an early one from Marks & Spencers, who have gone for reiterating to customers that is “your choice”.
Poster on window of M&S in Islington, London, telling customers it’s their choice if they wear a mask or not in store #FreedomDay pic.twitter.com/lIiCwK0c8K
— Jason Rodrigues (@RodriguesJasonL) July 19, 2021
I can’t tell you from personal experience if it is busier out on England’s roads and railways today, because obviously I’m stuck inside doing a live blog. But Trainline data can. Well, at least it can give an indication anyway. A spokesperson for the ticket booking services says:
Trainline data reveals there are more bookings for travel this Monday than any other Monday in the last 16 months, since the start of the pandemic. With restrictions lifting in England, more people are planning to travel throughout this week, with bookings up 26% compared to eight weeks ago.
Loads of them appear to be heading to London. The most popular destinations booked for this week they say are:
- London Euston
- London Kings Cross
- Edinburgh
- Manchester Piccadilly
- London Paddington
- York
- Liverpool Lime Street
- Leeds
- Newcastle
- Birmingham New Street
UK government vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has been banging the drum for face mask wearing on the airwaves this morning. PA quote him telling BBC Breakfast:
If you want to go into a shop and the shop owner says you have to wear a mask, people should absolutely respect that.
If you want to travel on public transport and your public transport system says you have to wear a mask, then you should wear a mask.
By the way, you don’t know if the person sitting next to you on that crowded carriage may be someone who is immuno-supressed or immuno-compromised - it is right that you take that responsibility and protect yourself and protect them as well.
All of which again only serves to beg the question as to why the UK government have chosen this exact moment to drop the legal requirements for face masks in England if they are so desperately wanting people to retain their use in these kinds of settings.
A very brief snap from Reuters here that Saudi Arabia is to require all citizens to have had two vaccine doses before travelling outside of the kingdom from 9 August.
A major summer theatre production starring and directed by Kenneth Branagh has been cancelled due to an “increasing number of Covid-enforced absences” during rehearsals.
Branagh’s revival of The Browning Version by Terence Rattigan was due to run at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London, next month as a fundraiser for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. But a statement released by the co-producers, the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company and Fiery Angel, said: “Despite all company members observing strict Covid protocols, multiple company members have been robbed of more than two-thirds of the limited rehearsal time. Some isolating, some actually unwell. The first run-through was conducted with only four of the seven cast members able or allowed to perform. With a short run impossible to extend due to limited cast availability, delay is impractical. Therefore the very difficult decision to cancel has been made.”
Read more of Chris Wiegand’s report here: Kenneth Branagh play cancelled after ‘Covid-enforced absences’
My colleague Anna Leach has an in-depth look for us this morning at what is perhaps today’s million dollar question: have enough people been vaccinated in time for England’s “freedom day”?
As things stand, less than one in four of the under-30s will have full vaccine protection on 19 July. Many younger groups have only recently become eligible for vaccines, so have not been able to get a second dose.
Older age groups were jabbed first, so have much higher rates of vaccination. However, even in groups that have been eligible for vaccines for months, there remains a proportion of people who are not fully vaccinated. This is lowest among the over-70s: only 6% of those aged 70-79 in England have not had both doses. However, for 50- to 54-year-olds, who have been eligible for vaccines since mid-March, the number not fully vaccinated stands at 19%.
It’s packed full of charts setting out exactly where we are as England embarks on this grand experiment. Read it in full here.
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Back to the Olympics for a second, and Olympic champion Greg Rutherford writes for us today, arguing that while there are risks, on balance he backs Japan’s decision to go ahead with the Games:
No matter who you are, or what sports you enjoy, the Olympics remains the greatest show on earth. It’s bigger than anything in football. Bigger than anything in any other sport. And, while I know there are many who don’t feel it is right that Tokyo 2020 is taking place during a global pandemic, I respectfully disagree and can’t wait for the Games to get under way.
Let me try to explain why. It’s about wanting the best athletes in the world to have the opportunity to display their talents on the biggest stage of all, so they can provide a better life for themselves and their families.
It’s about those 70% of athletes for whom Tokyo will be the only Games of their careers, fulfilling their childhood dreams, and hopefully inspire the next generation to do the same.
Read more here: Greg Rutherford – There are risks but it would be unfair if Tokyo Olympics did not go ahead
In the UK, Labour’s opposition shadow secretary for health Jon Ashworth has been suggesting that there is not going to be an easy ride when parliament convenes later from the government over the weekend’s self-isolation U-turn shenanigans.
On the PM/Chancellor isolation U-turn, Ashworth says it is an "insult" to families and businesses who have been dealing with the impact of individuals being told to isolate.
— Alan McGuinness (@Alan_McGuinness) July 19, 2021
"It is one rule for them and another for the rest of us," he says.
"Isn't it funny that it's supposed to be random, yet this random system has got Rishi Sunak in it, Boris Johnson in it and Michael Gove in it.
— Alan McGuinness (@Alan_McGuinness) July 19, 2021
"The minister needs to answer some questions on this in Parliament later today."
Meanwhile, vaccines minister Nadim Zahawi is still going in to bat to defend it …
Vaccines min @nadhimzahawi on isolation u-turn: “The PM y’day talked about considering it and then very quickly realised the right thing to do is to self-isolate, as it sends a very powerful message to everybody."
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) July 19, 2021
Without hint of irony, adds: “Nobody’s taking anybody for fools”.
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Tokyo 2020 Olympics sponsor Toyota will not run Games-related TV commercials amid lacklustre public support for the Olympics, with two-thirds of Japanese doubting organisers can keep the Games safe during the Covid pandemic, according to a local media poll.
The CEO of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, and other executives will not attend the opening ceremony, the company said on Monday.
“It is true that Toyota will not be attending the opening ceremony, and the decision was made considering various factors including no spectators,” Reuters quotes a spokesperson saying.
“We will not be airing any commercials related to the Games in Japan,” she added.
Sixty Japanese corporations who have paid more than $3bn for sponsorship rights to the postponed 2020 Olympics and now face a dilemma of whether or not to tie their brands to an event that has so far failed to win strong public backing.
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BBC to screen Laura Kuenssberg interview with Dominic Cummings tomorrow
Advanced warning that you may need to get some popcorn in.
In an exclusive @BBCNews special, @BBCLauraK interviews Dominic Cummings about his role in government during the pandemic, his relationship with the Prime Minister and his role in Brexit.
— BBC (@BBC) July 19, 2021
Dominic Cummings: The Interview / Tuesday at 7pm / BBC iPlayer and BBC Two pic.twitter.com/906xHAMgm4
A huge media focus at the moment on asking representatives from the business world to moan about people being sent into self-isolation because of the NHS app, but Robert Colville has just shared this graphic that shows that of the 1.8 million people in England being told to self-isolate last week, the largest number was children being sent home from schools, not “pings” from the app.
Worth flagging this via the Mail - school responsible for more self-isolation than the app last week pic.twitter.com/LRBQ10zkHa
— Robert Colvile (@rcolvile) July 19, 2021
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Just again briefly on what we expect on “jabs for kids” in the UK today – this is what vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Sky News:
The joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) have just delivered their advice, and we’ll consider it. In fact, after my morning round, I will make a statement to parliament. But suffice to say they’ve looked very closely, especially at children who are more vulnerable to serious infection from Covid, children who live with adults who are more vulnerable to serious infection from Covid, and of course, 17-year-olds who are close to becoming 18, so three months from their 18th birthday. We will take that advice on boards and I will make a statement to parliament later today.
Covid vaccines for children - Nadhim Zahawi confirms the joint committee has submitted its advice - unlike US and some EU countries, they have focused on vulnerable children and those about to turn 18… more here on why this matters pic.twitter.com/BrlCAmhmUp
— Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) July 19, 2021
The approach appears to be a contrast to some other countries that have happily begun to vaccinate children from age 12 and older.
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Minister: reimposition of curfew measures in France cannot be ruled out
The reimposition of curfew measures to curb the spread of Covid cannot be excluded in France if infections continue to climb, junior European affairs minister Clément Beaune told BFM TV this morning.
Reuters notes that France reported more than 12,500 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the third day that the tally has been above 10,000, as the rapid spread of the Delta variant has led to a jump in new infections.
He also said that the UK’s imposition of restrictions on travellers from France seemed “excessive”. Reuters quotes him saying that “We don’t think that the United Kingdom’s decisions are totally based on scientific foundations. We find them excessive.”
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This is a really important point from my colleague Peter Walker, about a distasteful note that has crept into some of vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi’s messaging.
Several times now I've heard Nadhim Zahawi cite a business in his constituency where, he said, two staff members killed themselves "because" of the lockdown. Samaritans are clear that seeking to attribute specific reasons for suicide should very much be avoided.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 19, 2021
Douglas Barrie was at Glasgow airport for PA Scotland, watching people depart for the Balearics. He reports that passengers on the first flight expressed few concerns about quarantining when they get back despite the islands moving to the UK’s amber travel list.
Under the new guidance, people who are fully vaccinated or under 18 and are arriving from an amber list country do not have to self-isolate – but adults and children over 12 must still take tests before travelling and on their second day after arriving.
One woman, heading to Ibiza for a week with her partner, told PA Media: “We booked when it was on the green (list) and then we did kind of wonder what to do when it moved to amber. But because we’re double-vaccinated we don’t have to quarantine. Both my girls have only got one vaccine so they’re just not going at all because it’s too much of a risk.”
However, friends Poppy and Shannon, both 20, were on the same flight and facing the prospect of quarantining when they return next week.
Neither of them has received a first dose of vaccine yet, but that was not going to stop heading for the sun any longer.
Shannon told PA Media: “With all the right information we’ve been totally fine to just book it – there’s always safe ways to go about it. We’ve been waiting two years and had Ibiza booked twice so we’re finally getting to go away.”
Poppy added: “I’m not even caring, I just want to be in the sun. I’ve had so many holidays booked that have been cancelled.”
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A reminder that while the changes to rules in Scotland haven’t been quite as drastic as the dropping of pretty much all Covid preventative measures in England, there are changes today, when the country drops to level 0. Here’s those changes:
Physical distancing will reduce to 1 metre in all indoor public settings and outdoors. Informal social gatherings of up to 15 people from 15 households will be permitted outdoors without physical distancing. Gatherings of up to 10 people from four households will be permitted in all indoor public settings with 1-metre physical distancing.
Under-12s will no longer count towards the number of households that can gather indoors in public spaces and homes. Hospitality settings can open till midnight, if their current licence permits that, and customers will no longer be required to pre-book a two-hour slot to go to a pub or restaurant but will still be required to provide contact details to assist Test & Protect
Up to 200 people will be able to gather at weddings and funerals and employers are asked to continue to support home working where possible.
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Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that death rates in the UK will remain low because of the jab, but warned that they will rise.
“The effectiveness of the vaccines against severe disease and hospitalisation and death remains extremely high against the variants which are around here in the UK,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. PA Media quotes him saying:
I think with that information, we can be very confident that the rates will remain low – but they are going to rise, and we know that. The modelling predicts that there will be an increase in cases as we have been hearing over the last few days.
Of course we’re seeing it, that there are more people getting infected, and that will unfortunately translate into an increase in hospitalisations and deaths. But it will be far lower than we have experienced in previous waves.
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Dr David Nabarro: 'No sense of freedom in my heart'
Dr David Nabarro, special envoy on Covid-19 for the World Health Organization, has just had this to say about England dropping restrictions on Sky News:
I’m going to be really clear with you. Of course, at some point, as ministers have said, we have to get on and get our lives going again. It’s just what is our attitude while we’re doing it? There is no sense of freedom in my heart. Unfortunately there’s a sense that this virus is very much here, and is giving us lots of surprises, lots of anxieties, and therefore, as a society, we go into the next period with our eyes wide open, knowing pretty well what to expect. That is: more disease, more long Covid, and more challenges.
We are expecting an announcement in parliament in the UK later today about the vaccination of children. Tom Newton Dunn sums it up:
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirms the JCVI has recommended only vulnerable children aged 12-15 should be vaccinated as well as those three months short of their 18th birthday. Will make a statement to Parliament later today @TimesRadio
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) July 19, 2021
Taiwan's government approves Medigen vaccine for production
A quick snap from Reuters here that Taiwan’s government has approved the production of Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s vaccine candidate.
The health ministry said in clinical trials in Taiwan the antibodies created by Medigen’s vaccine candidate have been proven to be “no worse than” those created by AstraZeneca vaccines, and that there were no major safety concerns.
In the UK, while vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi was on Sky News, over on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme they were also talking about the NHS app and the instructions it is giving to workers to self-isolate.
Again it seems like there are two broad schools of thought – either the app is a nuisance that is causing over a million people, many of whom are vaccinated, to be told to stay at home when they are not at risk of developing a serious bout of Covid. Or it is a valuable diagnostic tool that is simply reflecting the fact that there are a lot of Covid cases out there in England, and it is spreading.
Nick Mackenzie. chief executive of pub chain Greene King, was on the radio asking for a change to the self-isolation rules. PA Media quotes him saying:
This is a problem and I think it could get worse. It is disruptive to the business. We had to close, in the last seven days, 33 pubs due to lack of staff because of self-isolation. Across the industry we think it is about one in five of our team members who have been affected by this and therefore it is causing a real issue for us setting up business on a daily basis – we’re having to have shortened hours in some circumstances.
He was asking the government to expand its test and release scheme to the hospitality sector.
Also on the programme was, Humphrey Cobbold, chief executive of PureGym. Using the phrase “United Pingdom”, something I hope to never have to type again in my life, he said:
We’ve been talking for a while internally about living in the ‘United Pingdom’ and it has become a huge challenge for individuals and businesses. Up to 25%, in some areas, of our staff have been asked to self-isolate. We’ve been able, through flexibility and sharing of labour, to keep sites open so far but it has been a very close call in certain circumstances, and I would echo that I think there is a different way of reacting to the pings for vaccinated people and using lateral flow tests that would help industries of all sorts a great deal and keep the economy functioning.”
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Stanley Widianto reports for Reuters from Jakarta that trust in Indonesian president Joko Widodo’s ability to handle the pandemic has fallen sharply among the public, as authorities struggle to contain a wave of coronavirus infections that has pushed hospitals to breaking point.
Indonesia has reported more new Covid cases than any country in the world, according to the latest seven-day average from a Reuters data tracker. It was second only to Brazil in terms of the number of deaths.
The government has faced criticism in some media of its handling of the pandemic with the Jakarta Post running an editorial on 3 July entitled “They did not have to die”, blaming a delay in bringing in restrictions for unnecessary deaths.
An opinion poll by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), which was conducted in late June before the worst of the current outbreak, showed trust that the president can handle the pandemic fell to 43% compared with 56.5% in a poll in February.
“Trust in the president’s ability to overcome the pandemic declined steeply in the past four months,” said Djayadi Hanan, LSI’s executive director, adding trust in the government was important to enforce programmes such as vaccinations and movement curbs.
The findings of the survey, which covered 1,200 respondents, showed overall trust in the president’s response still outweighed distrust with 22.6% not trusting his actions and 32% neutral.
Asked for comment on the survey, a spokesperson for the president said he has not studied the poll.
“I think you’ve had three Weetabix this morning, I can’t get a word in edgeways”, Kay Burley has just said to the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, on Sky News. His enthusiasm is not making for an easy transcription job, that’s for sure.
He’s been pressed on changing the sensitivity to the NHS Covid app, which he has described as an important clinical tool. He has also been questioned on the announcement that NHS staff will be able to avoid self-isolating if they are “pinged” by the app but then can provide negative PCR tests and go back to work.
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UK vaccines minister: 'There is no perfect time to take this step'
Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, is out fronting up the government’s media round this morning. He’s on Sky News at the moment. I’ll have the best quotes from him in just a moment. His opening salvo:
This is a virus that is highly infectious disease virus, aerosol transmitted. So we have to be careful. We have to remain vigilant. Our border controls remain in place. Our expectation, and recommendation, is that people in crowded places continue to wear masks and take both personal and corporate responsibility. It’s great to see TfL and others doing that so.
It’s a step forward. It’s an important step. There is no perfect time to take this step. This is as good a time as any, as Chris Whitty said, with the summer holidays and schools being out, which will hopefully bear down on the R number, the transmission rates. So I’m confident that we’re doing the right thing,
Good morning, it is Martin Belam here in London taking over from Helen Sullivan. You would imagine, given the events of the weekend, that the celebrations at the heart of government over the lifting of Covid restrictions will be somewhat more muted than anticipated. Worth remembering amid all the hoopla today that the changes only apply to England.
It’s also worth noting where we are. According to the UK government’s own dashboard, in the last seven days Covid cases have risen week-on-week by 43%, with more than 95,000 in the last week. Hospitalisations have risen by 39% over the same period. There are 3,964 patients in hospital with Covid, of which 551 are on ventilation.
Depending on where you stand, today is either a long-overdue rebalancing of the risks, with a chance to get the economy kick-started, or it is a huge gamble with England as a potential breeding ground for a vaccine-resistant variant.
Updated
Frontline NHS staff in England who are fully vaccinated will, in “exceptional circumstances”, be permitted to carry on working if they are “pinged” by the Covid contact tracing app, the government has announced.
The move – which also applies to frontline social care workers – comes amid concerns that rising staff absences due to the need to self-isolate are putting unsustainable pressure on health care services.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the exemption would only apply in cases where the absence of staff could lead to a “significant risk of harm”.
Staff who are contacted by NHS Test and trace and told to quarantine because they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus will still need a negative PCR test before they can resume work and will then need to take daily lateral flow tests.
Decisions on which staff qualify will be made on a case-by-case basis following a risk assessment by the management of the health or social care organisation concerned:
Lockdown extended in Australian state of Victoria
In Australia, people in the state of Victoria will stay confined to their homes after the state’s five-day lockdown failed to stamp out an outbreak of the “wildly infectious” Delta coronavirus variant.
AAP: Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed the lockdown will be extended beyond 11:59pm on Tuesday, after the state recorded four new local cases in addition to the 13 infections reported overnight.
“We are running alongside this virus, but we’re not yet in front of it,” he told reporters on Monday.
The premier said there were still “far too many” cases of community transmission for the statewide lockdown to lift as planned and it was impossible to ease restrictions earlier for regional communities.
“I don’t want a situation where we fail to extinguish this, we fail to end these chains of transmission, only to open and then be closed again a short time thereafter,” he said.
Victoria’s public health team and senior government ministers will make the final call on the length of the extension by Tuesday morning.
Thai police have used teargas, rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who held a rally in Bangkok despite coronavirus restrictions banning gatherings of more than five people.
In an effort to avoid the spread of infection, many of the protesters drove cars or rode motorbikes, instead of marching as they had in previous protests. About 1,500 riot police were deployed, along with water cannon trucks.
The demonstrators were demanding prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s government step down, that the budget of the monarchy and the military be cut during the pandemic, and the importation of mRNA coronavirus vaccines that have yet to be brought to Thailand on a large scale to fight a growing surge in cases:
UK Covid cases could hit 200,000 a day, says scientist behind lockdown strategy
Covid cases could hit 200,000 a day in the UK this year and cause “major disruption” to the NHS, according to the scientist whose initial modelling helped shape Britain’s coronavirus lockdown strategy.
Prof Neil Ferguson said it was “almost inevitable” that Monday’s final phase of unlocking would bring on 100,000 daily cases, with about 1,000 hospitalisations – despite roughly half the UK being fully vaccinated. He added that he could foresee a situation in which the case rate expands to twice the size:
England lockdown measures lift as Johnson self-isolates
Boris Johnson’s plan to lift England’s remaining lockdown restrictions was overshadowed by a furious backlash against the prime minister and his chancellor on Sunday, triggering a hasty U-turn and prompting questions about a pilot scheme designed to let them avoid isolation.
Downing Street was accused of sowing confusion and a sense of “one rule for them” on the eve of so-called “freedom day” by saying Johnson and Rishi Sunak would continue with “essential government business” while having daily rapid tests.
They about-turned less than three hours later, with one Whitehall source suggesting the chancellor put pressure on No 10 to back down. “Sunak knew how this would go down with businesses, which are having to shut because their staff are being pinged,” the source said.
Johnson, Sunak and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, are in quarantine – along with more than 1 million people estimated to have been told to self-isolate – as England completes the final stage of reopening and UK new infection rates climb to among the highest in the world, behind Indonesia and Brazil.
On Sunday night, Downing Street emphasised that measures could return. “Data will be continually assessed and contingency measures retained if needed during higher risk periods, but restrictions will be avoided if possible,” it said.
The prime minister has been under growing pressure to either bring cases under control or change the rules for isolation, with up to 10 million people expected to be told to isolate by mid-August.
Ben Quinn, Rajeev Syal and Gwyn Topham report:
Thailand confirms record new infections for fourth consecutive day
Thailand reported on Monday 11,784 new coronavirus cases, the fourth consecutive day of record infections, as the country struggles to tackle its worst outbreak to date.
The Southeast Asian nation’s Covid task force also announced 81 new deaths, bringing total fatalities to 3,422 and with 415,170 cases registered.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
Boris Johnson has appealed to people to exercise their new freedoms with caution as most mandatory lockdown restrictions in England are finally lifted. But with Covid-19 cases continuing to soar and renewed warnings about the pressure on the NHS, there was no mood of celebration in Government.
Johnson is spending so-called “freedom day” self-isolating at his official country residence at Chequers after being “pinged” by NHS Test and Trace following a contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who subsequently tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile Thailand reported 11,784 new Covid cases on Monday, the fourth consecutive day of record infections, as the country struggles to tackle its worst outbreak to date.
More on these stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments from around the world:
- Six British athletes and two staff members from the athletics squad were forced to self-isolate after coming into close contact with a member of the public who had Covid-19 on their flight to Tokyo.
- Covid cases are increasing in every state in the United States, while millions remain unvaccinated against the highly contagious Delta variant, the US surgeon general warned.
- Tens of thousands of vaccinated Muslims circled Islam’s holiest site in Mecca on Sunday for the second pared-back hajj in two years, but it is an event which has previously attracted 2.5 million people. The pilgrims remained socially distanced and wore masks as they walked.
- Questions are growing over the UK’s workplace pilot scheme, which allows certain government departments and other public bodies to avoid isolating after exposure to Covid.
- The Delta variant is continuing to spread rapidly in France, as the nation registered more than 12,500 new Covid cases on Sunday. It was the third day in a row that the daily case figure has exceeded 10,000, the Reuters news agency reported.
- Hospitals in the Spanish region of Catalonia could face “severe pressure” as Covid infections peak while some staff are off on holiday.
