This blog is now closed. A summary of key recent developments can be found here. For up to date coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, head to the link below:
Biden says up to 90% of adults will be eligible for Covid vaccine by 19 April
Up to 90% of US adults will be eligible for a Covid-19 shot by 19 April, Joe Biden said on Monday as he announced a major expansion of the nation’s vaccination program.
Hours after Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of “impending doom” in the race against the resurgence of infections, the US president delivered the counter measure.
Talking from the White House after a briefing from his coronavirus team, Biden promised that 90% of US residents would be living within five miles of a vaccination site within three weeks:
Updated
The planet could have a year or less before first-generation Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective and modified formulations are needed, according to a survey of epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists.
Scientists have long stressed that a global vaccination effort is needed to satisfactorily neutralise the threat of Covid-19. This is due to the threat of variations of the virus – some more transmissible, deadly and less susceptible to vaccines – that are emerging and percolating.
The grim forecast of a year or less comes from two-thirds of respondents, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of organisations including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and UNAIDS, who carried out the survey of 77 scientists from 28 countries. Nearly one-third of the respondents indicated that the time-frame was likely nine months or less:
Covid-19 probably passed to humans from a bat via an intermediary animal, an international expert mission to China concluded in a report seen by AFP Monday, while all but ruling out a laboratory leak.
But the report, drafted by World Health Organization-appointed international experts and their Chinese counterparts, offers no definitive answers on how the new coronavirus jumped to humans.
The expert report on the origins of Covid has had a troubled birth, with publication delays adding to the hold-ups and diplomatic wrangling that plagued the WHO’s attempts to get experts into Wuhan - the city at the centre of the initial outbreak.
They finally arrived on 14 January, more than a year after the first cases surfaced.
Experts believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the Covid-19 disease originally came from bats. The report authors judged that the most likely scenario was that it had made a direct leap to humans, while not ruling out other theories.
Beijing’s theory that the virus did not originate in China at all but was imported in frozen food was judged “possible” but very unlikely.
Claims promoted by former US president Donald Trump’s administration that the virus escaped from a research lab were judged “extremely unlikely”.
Summary
As Australia wakes up, here is a recap of the latest developments from the last few hours:
- Spain’s coronavirus infection rate rose by more than 10 since Friday, with 15,500 cases added to the tally, health ministry data showed on Monday, as a gradual uptick in contagion from mid-March lows gathered pace.
- Turkey imposed tighter measures against coronavirus during Ramadan, citing the rising number of high-risk cities across the country. The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a full weekend lockdown was to be in place during the month of Ramadan, restaurants would only serve as delivery and take-out, and a nationwide curfew from 9pm-5pm would continue.
- France recorded the highest number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 since the second lockdown in November and the number of people in hospital with the disease rose by over 600 in a day, the biggest jump in more than four months.
- Canada is to pause the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for people under the age of 55 pending new analysis of the shot’s benefits and risks based on age and gender, health officials said.
- Angela Merkel threatened to centralise Germany’s pandemic response as several of the country’s federal states refuse to implement an emergency brake mechanism on easing restrictions in spite of rapidly rising infection rates. “We need action in the federal states,” the German leader said. “We need to take the appropriate measures very seriously. Some states are doing it; others are not yet doing it.”
- Pakistan’s president, Arif Alvi, tested positive for Covid-19, he said on Twitter on Monday, after receiving his first dose of a vaccine. It came as Pakistan imposed a partial lockdown in several more high-risk areas in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the country after the positivity rate from coronavirus infections jumped to over 11%.
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Ethiopia on Monday said it would receive 300,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses from China’s state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) on Tuesday. Ethiopia is struggling to administer shots and tame infections, which have risen to the highest number of new cases in the last week of any country on the continent.
- The UK does not have a surplus of Covid-19 vaccines to share with other countries, but will consider how to share any future surplus if there is one, the prime minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said.
- The World Health Organization said that a long-awaited report into the origins of Covid-19 following a mission to China where the virus first emerged will be released publicly on Tuesday, but that further study is required. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “As I have said, all hypotheses are on the table and warrant complete and further studies.”
- Saudi Arabia said it would allow people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend sporting events at stadiums at a capacity of 40%, starting on 17 May. Face masks and social distancing would be required, the sports ministry said.
Images of drunk foreign tourists shouting in the streets and police raiding illegal parties in Madrid at a time when locals are not allowed to travel between Spain’s regions have left many Spaniards up in arms, AFP reports.
Spanish TV on Monday aired a video of officers smashing the windows of an apartment over the weekend to dislodge occupants holding a party that violated virus restrictions.
The fact that several of the partygoers were reportedly foreigners fuelled resentment over the seemingly haphazard nature of travel restrictions in Europe during the pandemic, with many Spaniards taking to social media to vent their anger.
While Spaniards are not allowed to leave their own regions until 9 April to avoid a resurgence of coronavirus infections over Holy Week, similar restrictions do not apply to international tourists, who can still fly into Spain on presentation of a negative Covid test.
And with its 11pm curfew and bars and restaurants open, Madrid has drawn scores of visitors from countries under tighter lockdowns.
“These images worry me,” the health minister Carolina Darias told reporters on Monday when asked about the pictures of revellers in Madrid. “The image of our country is that of responsible people who respect the rules,” she said.
With Madrid in the middle of a crucial campaign ahead of regional elections on 4 May, the laissez-faire attitude of the authorities, who for months have insisted on minimising Covid restrictions, has drawn sharp criticism.
But Madrid’s conservative regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso said it was up to Spain’s leftist central government to tighten entry rules. “We cannot spread the idea that in Madrid there exists ‘alcohol tourism’,” she said in an interview with La Sexta.
Madrid has been the only major European capital to maintain social life practically unrestricted since a nationwide lockdown was fully lifted in June 2020, with cinemas and theatres also open.
While the policy has been applauded by the hospitality sector, it is seen as one of the reasons why Madrid has consistently had one of Spain’s highest incidences of coronavirus.
Madrid municipal police said they broke up 353 illegal parties over the weekend, down slightly from 384 in the previous week. In many cases, the raids are sparked by complaints of noise from neighbours of Airbnb rental flats where the parties are held.
“We need citizen cooperation now more than ever,” the central government’s chief representative to the Madrid region, Jose Manuel Franco, said Monday. He urged people to keep reporting the illegal parties to the authorities.
Amid the furore over the lack of travel restrictions for foreign tourists, Spain on Saturday announced anyone crossing the land border into the country would have to present a negative PCR test, as had already been the case for those arriving by air.
New York will expand eligibility for the Covid-19 vaccine to people 30 and older on Tuesday, and make it available to anyone 16 and above on 6 April, the governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.
Reuters reports that New York, which just last week lowered the eligibility age for vaccines to 50, was one of a handful of states not to have set a concrete date for universal eligibility since the US president Joe Biden called for reaching that goal by 1 May.
The move comes amid a surge in cases in New York and neighbouring New Jersey, which now rank number one and two in new Covid infections per capita among all 50 states.
“Today we take a monumental step forward in the fight to beat Covid,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but until we get there it is more important than ever for each and every New Yorker to wear a mask, socially distance and follow all safety guidelines.”
The state, the country’s fourth most populous, has to date administered more than 9 million total vaccine doses, with 30% of its population receiving at least one dose, Cuomo said in the statement.
The chief medical officer for England has warned any contact could transmit Covid-19, and advised people to meet outdoors and maintain distance to reduce the risk over the Easter period.
Chris Whitty, who was talking from the new Downing Street conference room with the prime minister Boris Johnson and Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, also warned against grandparents hugging their grandchildren.
Even if people have had two doses and therefore have a good level of protection, he said, many younger people will not have been fully vaccinated, and could still transmit the virus.
Here is the clip:
Vienna plans to extend an Easter coronavirus lockdown by five days until the following Sunday, Austria’s health minister said on Monday, while two nearby provinces introducing the same restrictions are still undecided on prolonging them.
The eastern provinces of Lower Austria, which surrounds Vienna, Burgenland, which borders Hungary, and the capital itself last week announced a lockdown from 1-6 April, closing non-essential shops and replacing a nighttime curfew with all-day restrictions on movement.
The three provinces have high levels of the UK variant of the coronavirus, which has been causing severe illness faster and in more of those infected. With national infections rising, eastern hospitals are nearing their intensive-care capacity.
Scientific experts, however, say a lockdown of less than a week will do little to relieve the pressure on hospitals.
“I am pleased that mayor Michael Ludwig and the city of Vienna have decided that they want to implement an extension of the Easter quiet period until April 11,” health minister Rudolf Anschober said in a statement after a video conference with the three provinces’ governors.
Vienna is the only city to also be one of Austria’s nine provinces, and the mayor is also its governor. Lockdown decisions now usually involve the national government and the influential governors.
“Because of the alarming situation, further provinces will have to follow the city of Vienna on this path,” Anschober added without saying which provinces.
Separately, people leaving the western province of Tyrol will have to show a recent negative coronavirus test result as of Wednesday because of more than 200 cases there are of a mutation of the UK variant known as E484K, which is believed to weaken the body’s immune response to the virus.
Spain’s coronavirus infection rate rose by more than 10 since Friday, with 15,500 cases added to the tally, health ministry data showed on Monday, as a gradual uptick in contagion from mid-March lows gathered pace.
Reuters reports:
The rate, which is measured over the preceding 14 days, rose to 149 cases per 100,000 people from 138 cases on Friday, the data showed.
It had been inching higher since dropping below 130 cases per 100,000 people in mid-March and remains well below the peak of nearly 900 cases recorded in late January.
Monday’s infection numbers brought the total since the start of the pandemic to 3.27 million cases. The death toll climbed by 189 since Friday to 75,199.
Though bars and restaurants remain open in much of the country, Spain has banned travel between different regions and limited social events to four people during Holy Week to prevent Easter celebrations triggering a fresh resurgence in contagion.“If we manage to follow the Easter restrictions, we may not be talking about a fourth wave,” Health Emergency chief Fernando Simon said.
Turkey imposes tighter weekend lockdown during Ramadan
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced tighter measures against coronavirus on Monday, citing the rising number of high-risk cities across the country.
Erdoğan said a full weekend lockdown was to be in place during the month of Ramadan, and restaurants would only serve as delivery and take-out.
A curfew that is implemented between 9 pm and 5 am across the country was continued, Erdoğan said.
Updated
The White House said it expected the private sector to take the lead on the verification of Covid-19 vaccines or so-called vaccine passports, and would not issue a federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential, Reuters reports.
The Biden administration was currently reviewing the issue and would make recommendations, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters, adding, “We believe it will be driven by the private sector.”
New York will start offering the coronavirus vaccine to adults aged 30 and over from Tuesday, governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.
#BREAKING: Starting Tuesday, April 6 at 8am, all New Yorkers age 16+ will be eligible to schedule and receive the COVID-19 vaccines.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 29, 2021
And beginning tomorrow at 8am, all New Yorkers age 30+ will be eligible to schedule and receive the vaccines.
Let’s #VaccinateNY
British prime minister Boris Johnson defended the UK’s immigration checks during the pandemic as he was questioned why France had not been added to the “red list” as a result of rising cases and the prevalence of variants of concern.
Johnson told a Downing Street press conference:
We have one of the toughest regimes in the world [...] many European countries don’t even have the hotel quarantine of the kind that we have in the UK.
There are 35 countries already on the red list, we are looking very closely at what’s going on in France, we keep it under constant review.”
Johnson said the flow of medicine and food across the English Channel meant “we have to make sure we manage the disruption as well” if tougher measures are imposed.
The UK does not yet know how strong its defences against future waves of coronavirus will be, despite the success of the vaccine rollout, Johnson said:
The vaccine rollout has been very impressive, and thanks to everybody who’s been involved in it, but what we don’t know is exactly how strong our fortifications now are, how robust our defences are against another wave.
Johnson said the government will be saying more on travel abroad on 5 April.
He added there was no need for people to worry about a shortage of the Pfizer vaccine for a second dosage.
Johnson said:
There isn’t any need to worry about shortage of Pfizer for the second dose as far as we can see at the moment. We’re going to continue to roll that out and supply that, and, as I said, April is going to be the second dose month. It’s very important that everybody gets their second dose.
France recorded the highest number of people in intensive care units (ICU) with Covid-19 since the second lockdown in November and the number of people in hospital with the disease rose by over 600 in a day, the biggest jump in more than four months.
Reuters reports:
The health ministry reported on Monday that the number of patients in intensive care with Covid-19 increased by 102 to 4,974, more than the 4,919 high of mid-November, although still well below a record of over 7,000 last April.
The number of people in hospital with the virus rose by 610 to a new 2021 high of 28,322 as emergency unit doctors warned that the situation was set to get worse in coming weeks.
France also reported 360 new deaths in hospitals from coronavirus, taking the cumulative death toll since the start of the epidemic to nearly 95,000.
In a statement to a newspaper on Sunday, a group of 41 hospital doctors in the Paris region warned that they might soon have to start choosing between patients for emergency treatment.
Scientists have argued that the government’s partial lockdown measures targeting high-infection zones like Paris are inadequate faced with fast-spreading coronavirus variants.
Brazil’s foreign minister Ernesto Araujo resigned on Monday, a government source said.
Reuters reports:
A loyal ally of president Jair Bolsonaro, Araujo represents an ideological wing of the right-wing populist administration whose attacks against China, environmentalists and the left were increasingly seen as noisy distractions from tackling Brazil’s raging pandemic.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The departure of a loyalist like Araujo is a blow to Bolsonaro, but part of a broader move by the embattled president to address the pandemic more seriously and slow a record-breaking second wave that is pushing hospitals to the brink.
In recent days, Araujo irked senior lawmakers who had become increasingly vocal in calling for him to be replaced. They were angered by his longstanding criticism of top trade partner China, a vaccine-producing superpower.
The diplomat’s esteem for former U.S. President Donald Trump was also seen as an obstacle in persuading the Biden administration to free up supplies of U.S. vaccine for Brazil.
Araujo’s exit was first reported by Brazilian newspaper O Globo. The source who confirmed it requested anonymity as the information is not yet public.
Kosovo’s prime minister Albin Kurti was the first person to get a Covid-19 vaccine shot at the start of Kosovo’s inoculation campaign on Monday, saying he wanted to set an example that would encourage people to take part in the campaign.
Reuters reports:
Doctors and nurses lined up after Kurti in a sports hall in the capital Pristina to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.
On Sunday evening, 24,000 AstraZeneca vaccines, part of the COVAX vaccine sharing scheme, arrived in Kosovo, the last country in Europe start inoculation.
With the first batch Kosovo aims to vaccinate around 11,000 doctors and nurses and people aged 80 years and older.
“With my example here I want to say and encourage all the citizens to get vaccinated and get rid of the dilemmas on the benefits of the vaccine,” Kurti told reporters. “Vaccines are necessary because we are facing a difficult pandemic.*
Until Monday the country of 1.8 million people registered 88,754 cases of coronavirus infection and 1,844 deaths. In the past 24 hours it reported 4 deaths and 774 new infections.
A Canadian advisory panel on immunisation is recommending that AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine should not be given to people under 55 for the time being, citing safety reasons, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said on Monday.
Last week Canada’s federal health ministry said the vaccine was safe and would continue to be recommended for use. The ministry was not immediately available for comment on the CBC report.
The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) has suspended use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people aged 18-29.
The province had set aside its AstraZeneca vaccines for people aged 18 to 29 who are working directly with the public. It was being delivered by pharmacists in the province, separately from the provincially run vaccination clinics, CBC reports.
The province’s initial supply of 2,000 doses had been running short in some areas, but it was expecting another 6,000 doses this week.
The island’s government didn’t specify why they made the decision, other than that it’s waiting for further information from Health Canada and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
In an email to CTV News, P.E.I. spokesperson Samantha Hughes, only sent the following information:
“Appointments at pharmacies for AstraZeneca vaccine for those 18-29 are on hold pending anticipated further information from Health Canada and NACI. We expect more information on this later today.”
I’m Jedidajah Otte and am now taking back over from my colleague Ben Quinn. If you would like to flag anything, you can reach me on Twitter @JedySays.
Updated
German lockdown row deepens as state leader pushes back against Merkel
The leader of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party has pushed back against the chancellor’s criticism that some of Germany’s 16 states are straying from agreed Covid-19 measures, insisting they are taking the pandemic seriously.
In an interview with the ARD broadcaster on Sunday night, Merkel had called several states out for failing to impose “emergency brake” rules requiring renewed restrictions for regions with high incidence rates.
She also directly criticised CDU chief Armin Laschet, who is also the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, for “choosing an implementation that carries too much room for manoeuvre.”
But Laschet hit back today, saying it “doesn’t help us if the federal government and states are pushing responsibility onto each other”.
He insisted that all 16 state premiers are “taking this very seriously”.
“Everyone wants the number of infections to go down and everyone has taken the appropriate measures for their state, which are very different,” he said.
Laschet also defended Tobias Hans, state premier of the small southwestern state of Saarland, who had been heavily criticised over his plans to end a shutdown as early as April 6.
Here’ more on the story earlier from Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief:
Updated
Italy reported 417 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday against 297 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 12,916 from 19,611.
Some 156,692 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 272,630, the health ministry said.
Italy has registered 108,350 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.54 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 29,163 on Monday, up from 28,701 a day earlier.
There were 192 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 217 on Sunday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 3,721 from a previous 3,679.
This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog while Jedidajah takes well-earned break.
Updated
Pakistan’s president, Arif Alvi, has tested positive for Covid-19, he said on Twitter on Monday, after receiving his first dose of a vaccine.
Coronavirus cases are rising quickly in the South Asian nation and its prime minister, Imran Khan, tested positive two days after receiving his first vaccine dose earlier this month. Officials said it was likely he had been infected before being vaccinated.
German holidaymakers heading home from the Spanish island of Mallorca waited in line for Covid-19 tests at the airport on Monday after Berlin introduced a requirement for all incoming passengers to provide a negative result.
Reuters reports:
With tourism effectively banned at home, tens of thousands of sun-seeking Germans have been flocking to Spain’s Balearic Islands for Easter getaways.
Returning travellers do not have to quarantine on arrival but, in an effort to contain what authorities warn could be the worst wave of coronavirus yet, Berlin is demanding a recent negative test from all returnees.
To cater for an expected surge in demand, makeshift testing centres have been set up in Palma de Mallorca airport, although the lines were fairly short on Monday morning.
The increased testing requirement did not put off retiree Brigitte, who did not give her last name, from taking the trip.
“The situation in Germany is so precarious that we decided to fly to Mallorca instead over the Easter holiday,” she said upon arriving.
“We were tested here and had to fill in an immigration form, that was all a bit of a hassle, but we feel very safe because everyone getting into the plane will be healthy.”
Poland will increase the number of Covid-19 beds by 3,000 this week, and by another 3,800 next week, a spokesman for the Health Ministry has announced.
First News reports:
“We have recorded a 25-percent growth of new infections week on week. This is a drop from the level of 30 percent,” Wojciech Andrusiewicz said on Monday, adding that it was too early to speak about a tendency.
“For the time being, we have to expect bad scenarios, a growth of new infections, and, unfortunately, a growing number of deaths,” he went on to say.
“Over the last two weeks, Poland increased the number of Covid-19 beds by 10,000, including 1,000 with ventilators,” he added.
The healthcare system is now handling 29,920 Covid-19 hospitalisations, including 2,985 patients on ventilators. Poland currently has over 35,444 beds for Covid patients and 3,366 ventilators.
People travelling to Poland from the passport-free Schengen zone will have to produce a negative coronavirus test results carried out at least 48 hours earlier, a deputy infrastructure minister saids on Monday.
Piotr Mueller, the government spokesman, pointed out that the number of Covid-19 infections was growing both in Poland and other countries, including Germany.
However, all visitors will be able to take a Covid-19 test upon arrival. “If the result is negative in Poland, then the quarantine will be lifted,” Horała said.
Pakistani authorities on Monday imposed a partial lockdown in several more high-risk areas in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the country after the positivity rate from coronavirus infections jumped to over 11%.
Pakistan is facing another surge in coronavirus infections which officials say is worse than last year’s outbreak when Pakistan had to impose a nationwide lockdown, Times of India reports.
American Airlines said on Monday it expects to fly most of its fleet in the coming months thanks to strong domestic and short-haul international bookings as Covid-19 infection rates and hospitalizations decline and more people receive vaccines.
Reuters reports:
American said that as of 26 March, average bookings for the next seven days had reached 90% of levels experienced before the pandemic upended air travel in 2019, with a domestic load factor of about 80%.
“The company presently expects this strength in bookings to continue through the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter,” it said in a regulatory filing.
Shares in the US airline, which parked hundreds of jets as demand plummeted last year, have climbed this year amid hopes for a recovery.
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened 1.57 million passengers on Sunday, the highest number since March 2020.
Following the increase in travel demand so far this year, American said it expects its system capacity to be down between 40% and 45% in the first quarter to 31 March 31 versus the same period in 2019, compared with its previous guidance for a 45% decline.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday extended a sweeping nationwide order through 30 June to extend a temporary halt to prevent millions of US renters from being evicted, in a bid to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
The order had been set to expire this week, Reuters reports.
Updated
Ethiopia on Monday said it would receive 300,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses from China’s state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) on Tuesday.
Reuters reports:
The Sinopharm doses are the first shots Ethiopia has secured outside the global Covax vaccine-sharing initiative, health minister Lia Tadesse told Reuters in a text message.
Ethiopia is struggling to administer shots and tame infections that have spiked.
In the past month, it has recorded a 26% increase in coronavirus infections and deaths rose by 18%, health ministry data shows. On Thursday, Africa’s disease control body, the Africa CDC, said Ethiopia had reported the highest number of new cases in the last week of any country on the continent.
With a population of over 110 million, the Horn of Africa nation has recorded 200,563 infections and 2,801 deaths since its first case was announced in March last year.
On Monday, Johnson & Johnson said it had agreed to supply up to 400 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the African Union (AU) from the third quarter of 2021.
On 7 March, Ethiopia received nearly 2.2m doses of the AstraZeneza vaccine through Covax.
In February, the minister said Ethiopia hoped to inoculate at least a fifth of the country’s 110 million people by the end of the year.
Updated
Moderna Inc said on Monday it has shipped 100m doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the US, of which 88m have been delivered to date in the first quarter of 2021.
Reuters reports:
The company expects to meet its promise of delivering the second batch of 100m doses by the end of May and the third batch by the end of July, by delivering 40-50m doses per month.
Moderna, which delivered 16m doses in the fourth quarter of 2020, said its Covid-19 vaccine shipments have increased five-fold since its shot was granted an emergency authorisation in December.
Updated
Russia’s health ministry has registered the one-shot Sputnik-Light version of its Covid-19 vaccine for use, the Tass news agency reported on Monday.
Russia said last week that it had completed clinical trials for the slimmed-down vaccine, which it has cast as a possible temporary solution to help countries with high infection rates make the vaccine go further.
Moscow has said that its two-dose Sputnik V vaccine will remain the main version used in Russia, Reuters reports.
Updated
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has threatened to centralise Germany’s pandemic response as several of the country’s federal states refuse to implement an emergency brake mechanism on easing restrictions in spite of rapidly rising infection rates.
Interviewed on German television on Sunday night, the German chancellor complained that the political instruments to break a third wave of the virus, for example by imposing a strict nationwide lockdown, were not at her government’s disposal, speaking of a “turning point” in the management of the Covid-19 crisis.
Merkel fell short of spelling out how such a politically sensitive power grab could look, merely hinting at a tweaking of Germany’s pandemic law.
“We need action in the federal states,” the German leader said. “We need to take the appropriate measures very seriously. Some states are doing it; others are not yet doing it.”
My colleague Philip Oltermann reports.
Updated
A further 18 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths from Covid-19 reported in hospitals to 86,194, NHS England said on Monday.
Patients were aged between 58 and 95 and all except one, aged 62, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths occurred between 20 March and 28 March this year.
There were four other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
UK currently has no surplus vaccines to share, PM's spokesman says
The UK does not have a surplus of Covid-19 vaccines to share with other countries, but will consider how to share any future surplus if there is one, prime minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said on Monday.
“Our first priority is to protect the British public, and the vaccine rollout is continuing to that end,” the spokesman told reporters.
“We don’t currently have a surplus of vaccines, but we will consider how they are best allocated as they become available.”
He added: “We continue to talk and work with the EU to ensure we have a reciprocally beneficial relationship, and to ensure we are collaborating on Covid-19.
“We have said before that it is an international effort and that openness and global co-operation will be key to overcoming this pandemic. So our work and our talks with the EU continue.”
Updated
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that a long-awaited report into the origins of Covid-19 following a mission to China where the virus first emerged will be released publicly on Tuesday, but that further study is required.
Asked to comment further on its conclusions, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “As I have said, all hypotheses are on the table and warrant complete and further studies.”
German international development minister Gerd Mueller said at the same briefing that he welcomed China’s co-operation with the investigation, which took place in January and February, Reuters reports.
Updated
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it would allow people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend sporting events at stadiums at a capacity of 40%, starting on 17 May.
Reuters reports:
The sports ministry said in a statement on state media that as an exception, vaccinated fans would be allowed to attend an Asia World Cup qualifiers match between the Saudi and Palestinian teams on Tuesday in the capital, Riyadh.
Admittance will be allowed for people with “immune” status on the Tawakkalna mobile phone app launched by Saudi authorities last year to help track coronavirus cases.
Face masks and physical distancing would be required.
Saudi Arabia last week expanded Covid-19 vaccinations to all citizens and residents aged 16 and above.
Updated
Numbers of patients in French ICU close to levels reached in last autumn's second wave
The number of patients in intensive care in France is fast approaching the worst point of the country’s last coronavirus surge in the autumn of 2020, another indicator of how a renewed crush of infections is bearing down on French hospitals.
The Associated Press reports:
The French government count of Covid-19 patients in ICUs and hospital surveillance units climbed to 4,872 on Sunday night. That is just short of the last high-point of 4,919 ICU cases on 16 November, when France was also gripped by a virus surge and was locked down in response.
With ICU admissions continuing to increase by double digits on a daily basis, that November peak could be overtaken within days. Doctors are increasingly sounding the alarm that they may have to start turning patients away for ICU care, particularly in the Paris region.
When the pandemic first hit France, hospitals ended up with more than 7,000 patients in intensive care, a high point reached in April 2020.
But during that initial tidal wave of infections, hospitals stopped treating many non-Covid-19 patients to avoid becoming completely overwhelmed.
This time, as was also the case last November, hospitals are not completely clearing their decks of non-virus cases. While some non-essential surgeries are again being postponed, hospitals are still treating Covid and non-Covid emergencies, putting some ICUs under intense and worsening pressure.
Updated
The US government has managed to accelerate its shipments of Covid-19 vaccines after a month of largely stagnant weekly deliveries, giving states the doses they need to finish vaccinating priority groups and open shots to all adults in the coming weeks.
Reuters reports:
The biggest supply boost has come from Johnson & Johnson.
Shipments of the one-shot vaccine had been slow to ramp up since its late February authorisation as the company waited for regulatory clearance of a key US factory.
Pfizer Inc also has boosted output of its vaccine, doubling batch sizes and shortening production time.
Officials from more than half a dozen states including Vermont, Idaho and New Jersey told Reuters that increased vaccine shipments will allow them to accelerate efforts to inoculate the elderly and front-line workers, and in some cases to open shots to all adult residents earlier than expected.
[…]
Vermont has now decided to offer vaccines to all adults on April 16, a month sooner than planned, he said.The US government boosted its weekly allocations of Covid-19 doses by more than 20% to 27m last week. That includes 4m J&J vaccine doses, up from only a few hundred thousand in weeks prior.
The White House expects that to surge even further over the next week, with plans to deliver around 11m of the J&J shots. If shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Inc vaccines remain constant, that should put the total number of weekly shots at more than 34m.
[...]
The US has been hovering at a seven-day average of around 2.5m shots in arms each day for most of the second half of March as the federal government worked to overcome supply bottlenecks.About half of US states plan to begin offering shots to all residents over the age of 16 in April, ahead of the Biden administration’s target date of 1 May for widespread vaccine availability.
Updated
No deaths from Covid-19 have been reported in London for the first time in six months, official figures show.
The BBC reports:
Public Health England (PHE) figures for 28 March showed no deaths had been registered of patients within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.
At the height of the crisis last April, about 230 deaths a day linked to the virus were recorded in London.
“This is a fantastic milestone, but we’re a long way from returning to normal,” one doctor said.
It is the first time the daily Covid figures have shown zero deaths in the [British] capital since September.
London accounts for 12% of all coronavirus deaths in the UK, and was the epicentre of the first wave of the pandemic last year.
Updated
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster said on Monday giving vaccine supply to the Republic of Ireland was a matter for the UK as a whole.
Foster said:
If there is surplus vaccine then we should share it with our nearest neighbours out of neighbourliness but also out of the fact it will have an impact of course on us here in Northern Ireland so there’s a very practical reason why I believe that should happen.
Foster added she was “disappointed for our friends and colleagues in the Republic of Ireland that the European programme has not delivered for them”.
She said:
I have been making the point that our Prime Minister should have those conversations and when I am next speaking to him again I will make that point again.
The take-up of coronavirus vaccines was much lower among minority groups in the first three months of rollout in England, the Office for National Statistics said on Monday, amid concern the benefits of the programme are being unevenly felt.
Reuters reports:
Britain’s vaccine rollout is the fourth fastest in the world, with more than 30 million having received a first dose, a success which Prime Minister Boris Johnson is using to cautiously reopen society and the economy.
However, there is concern that the rollout is unevenly distributed, and fewer numbers in some Black and south Asian groups, which have suffered higher death rates, have received a Covid-19 shot.
“Vaccination rates are markedly lower amongst certain groups, in particular amongst people identifying as Black African and Black Caribbean, those identifying as Muslim, and disabled people,” ONS statistician Ben Humberstone said.
From December 8 to March 11, 90.2% of people aged 70 years and older in England had received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
But among people identifying as Black African and Black Caribbean, vaccination rates were just 58.8% and 68.7% respectively, with take-up by people of Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds below 75%.
Take-up also varied by religion, with a vaccination rate of 72.3% for Muslim people.
Celebrities and officials have encouraged minorities to accept the shots amid concern that vaccine hesitancy and misinformation was affecting take-up rates.
Polls have indicated that Black, Asian and other minority groups in Britain have more concerns about the vaccine’s reliability, while government advisers believe socioeconomic factors raise these groups’ risk of dying from Covid-19.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and I’ll be bringing you the latest news on the pandemic for the next few hours. Feel free to get in touch if you have relevant updates to flag or would like to comment on our coverage, I’m on Twitter @JedySays or you can email me.
I won’t alwasys be able to respond, but everything is read and tips and pointers are always appreciated.
Today so far …
- A leaked copy of the WHO’s report on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic has been given to the Associated Press. Researchers list four scenarios in order of likelihood for the emergence of the virus. Topping the list was transmission through a second animal. They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely, and said that spread through “cold-chain” food products was possible but not likely.
- Japan’s vaccine minister has had some strong words over the nation’s relationship with the EU. Taro Kono urged the European Union to ensure stable exports of European-made vaccines, warning that any attempt to suspend shipments amid a shortage in Europe would harm relations.
- France’s finance minister said health conditions were worsening during a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the country and “all options are on the table” to protect the public.
- The Philippines has recorded a record level of more than 10,000 new Covid cases for the first time.
- A UK government-funded study of care home residents in England has found that their risk of infection with Covid-19 – either symptomatic or asymptomatic – fell by 62% five weeks after they received their first Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine dose.
- England has relaxed Covid restrictions. The government has continued to urge caution while people are now permitted to meet outside in groups of six, and outdoor sporting facilities are allowed to re-open.
- Hong Kong has announced that some restrictions are set to be relaxed – including reducing quarantine time for overseas arrivals for low risk countries to 14 days.
-
The Taiwanese health minister said there has been no progress on talks to seal a deal with Germany’s BioNTech for its vaccine, though talks are continuing.
- Russia has agreed a deal for its Sputnik V vaccine to be manufactured in China, and separately, Johnson & Johnson have struck a deal to supply up to 220m vaccine doses to the African Union.
That’s it from me, Martin Belam, in London. I’m handing over to Jedidajah Otte to take you through the next few hours. Have a good day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Updated
Japan’s vaccine minister has had some strong words over the nation’s relationship with the EU, with vaccine exports becoming a source of some friction. Taro Kono urged the European Union to ensure stable exports of European-made vaccines, warning that any attempt to suspend shipments amid a shortage in Europe would harm relations.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Kano said: “I’m extremely concerned that our friendly relations between Japan and the EU would be (adversely) affected if a shipment (to Japan) is suspended.”
Despite the Japanese government’s repeated request for the EU to grant a bulk approval for exports of the Pfizer vaccine, the only vaccine approved so far in Japan, the EU only grants approval per shipment, which causes supply uncertainty, Kono said.
“We’ve been telling them not to affect our friendly relations and I hope the EU will grant a bulk approval for shipments to Japan,” said Kono
Japan’s domestic vaccine development has lagged behind other nations, leaving it reliant on imports. But sourcing enough imported vaccines is a major concern because of supply shortages and export red tape in Europe, where many are manufactured.
Japan has already approved the Pfizer vaccine and approval is pending for shots by AstraZeneca and Moderna. Japan has confirmed orders in for 344m doses of vaccines to be provided this year – enough for its entire population – but the vast majority are from Pfizer and Moderna and much of the supply for those vaccines comes from Europe.
Coupled with a lack of public confidence in the vaccines and a slow start to inoculations – Japan’s campaign began in February – and there are doubts over whether Japan will be able to vaccinate its elderly population of about 36 million by an initial target of around June before moving to younger people.
Updated
Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund and China’s Shenzhen Yuanxing Gene-tech have agreed to produce more than 60m doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 in China, RDIF said on Monday.
RDIF, which is marketing Sputnik V globally, said commercial production was due to start in May, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Russia reported 8,711 new coronavirus cases on Monday, including 1,612 in Moscow, which pushed the national tally to 4,528,543 since the pandemic began.
The government coronavirus taskforce said 293 deaths had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, taking its coronavirus death toll to 98,033.
Updated
Chibundu Onuzo lives in London. Her family is in Lagos. She writes for us this morning on how she’s spent a year in one place with her mind in two:
I have spent the last year in England but I have kept an eye on pandemic updates in Nigeria. Like most migrants, my body has been in one place but my mind has been in two. From March 2020, I followed the rising Covid numbers in London and I followed them in Lagos, where my parents live. I read the news of Britons breaking lockdown rules and watched on social media as some Nigerians gathered at weddings and funerals, seemingly oblivious to the fact there was a global pandemic.
And while I am glad of the UK’s vaccine success story, I look askance as some European countries try to block vaccine access to other parts of the world, including Africa. Surely the last year has shown us that if one corner of the world is in flames, it is only a matter of time before the rest of it catches.
Mostly, I see my father on a screen. His beard is slightly more grizzled but he’s obviously drinking enough water. His skin looks great on camera. I hope the rest of his body is well. Three years ago he was ill and admitted into hospital. We don’t talk about his health but we do talk about Nigeria
I’m looking forward to seeing him soon. He might book a flight to England, or I might make my way down to Lagos. There are many things we’ve all discovered in the last year that we can do on Zoom: a live concert, an awards show, a Bible study, a birthday party, even a wedding; but the technology still hasn’t evolved to let users give hugs.
Read more here: Chibundu Onuzo – Thanks to the pandemic, I’ve spent a year in one place with my mind in two
Hong Kong to ease some restrictions, including reducing international arrival quarantine
Hong Kong will ease some coronavirus restrictions, allowing swimming pools and beaches to open and shortening the quarantine period for some international arrivals to 14 days from 21.
Reuters report that secretary for food and health Sophia Chan told a press briefing that local infections had come down considerably, giving the administration room to relax some measures.
Beaches and swimming pools would reopen from April 1, while religious gatherings could resume with maximum capacity of 30%. Cinemas and theme parks would be able to increase capacity to 75% from 50%.
“We want to keep containing the epidemic and not undo the efforts we have made. We must continue to enforce stringent measures,” she said. Bars, karaoke parlours and bath houses would stay closed.
Quarantine for arrivals from countries considered low-medium risk, such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, would be reduced to 14 days from 21 currently. High-risk destinations such as Brazil, Ireland, South Africa and the United Kingdom would need 21 days, she said.
The city has seen zero locally transmitted cases for the last two days after an outbreak in early March led to a spike in cases across the city and thousands of residents forced into quarantine.
Chan said the government was also aiming to bring back Hong Kong residents who have been stranded in Britain from late April after the government banned flights from the United Kingdom to Hong Kong in December.
France's finance minister: health conditions are worsening
France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, said today that health conditions were worsening during a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in France and “all options are on the table” to protect the public.
Reuters report that Le Maire also told France Info radio that France should avoid adopting stricter Covid-19 restriction measures for as long as it could, and ruled out changing the list of shops and businesses that have been allowed to stay open.
“This list will not change,” Le Maire said. “Today sending the signal that we would reopen some businesses while the situation deteriorates, it’s not in the country’s interest.”
Under Covid-19 restrictions in place in 19 high-risk zones, including Paris, stores allowed to stay open include those selling food, books, flowers and chocolate, and hairdressers.
Clothes, furniture and beauty shops are not allowed to open. This has led to frustration among the so-called non-essential shop owners forced to stay closed.
President Emmanuel Macron last week defended his decision not to impose a third full lockdown and to keep schools open, but said further restrictions would probably be needed.
Updated
Philippines records over 10,000 new Covid cases in a day for first time
The Philippines’ health ministry on Monday recorded 10,016 new coronavirus infections, the country’s third record daily spike in cases over the past five days.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 731,894, while confirmed deaths reached 13,186, including 16 more casualties on Monday.
GMA News report that the total active cases in the country are now 115,495.
Reuters report that most of the new cases are in the congested capital region, a conglomeration of 16 cities home to at least 13 million people, which have returned to stricter restrictions. Hospitals’ intensive care and isolation bed capacity have reached critical levels, government data showed.
US officials express concern over WHO Covid origins report prior to publication
This morning we’ve seen some details of the WHO report into the origins of Covid, which the Associated Press have received a copy of before publication. In it, the researchers list four scenarios in order of likelihood for the emergence of the virus named Sars-CoV-2. Topping the list was transmission through a second animal, which they said was likely to very likely. They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely, and said that spread through “cold-chain” food products was possible but not likely.
The closest relative of the virus that causes Covid-19 has been found in bats, which are known to carry coronaviruses. However, the report says that “the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and Sars-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades, suggesting a missing link.”
As you may imagine, the report is expected to cut little ice in some quarters, and last night one of Joe Biden’s top US administration officials expressed concern about the way it was crafted, including floating the possibility that the Chinese government had a hand in writing it. Ros Krasny and Tony Czuczka report for Bloomberg that:
The US has “real concerns about the methodology and the process” of the report, including that the Chinese government “apparently helped to write it,” secretary of state Antony Blinken said on CNN. While there needs to be “accountability for the past”, the focus should be on building a stronger system for the future.
Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases specialist, said he didn’t know if the report would be a “whitewash” when asked about it on CBS, and said he wouldn’t pre-judge the conclusions.
“What I would like to do is first see the report,” said Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said “You’re getting a lot of conjecture around about what they did and what they were allowed to do or not.”
“If, in fact, obviously, there was a lot of restrictions on the ability of the people who went there to really take a look, then I’m going to have some considerable concern about that.”
Read more here: Bloomberg – US officials air concerns about WHO’s Covid origin report
Updated
The Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics are still expected to take place this summer. And organisers have said today that international athletes could be invited to participate in test events before then.
The events will be a dress rehearsal in how to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as organisers attempt yo host an international sports event during a global pandemic.
“At the moment we are currently gauging how many athletes would like to participate in the test events … We will coordinate with the government once we can confirm those numbers,” senior Tokyo 2020 official Yasuo Mori told reporters, according to Reuters.
Test events for five competitions, including track and field and the marathon, could involve foreign athletes participating, the organisers said.
Asked what Tokyo 2020 would do with the test events if there were another wave of coronavirus infections, Games delivery officer Hidemasa Nakamura said they were “inextricably linked with the domestic and local coronavirus situation”.
Tokyo 2020 is planning 18 test events before the Games begin on 23 July. Test events for skateboarding and shooting were this month postponed from April until May because of the pandemic’s impact on scheduling.
The Olympic Torch relay started last week, with bystanders asked to stay masked, stand apart and clap instead of cheer for torchbearers as organisers try to ease public safety concerns.
Updated
With restrictions on gathering with friends and family in England relaxing today, the vexed question of “when can we hug?” is back on the agenda.
Prof Sir Mark Walport, former chief scientific adviser to the government, has said this morning that case numbers are still too high at the moment to advise that.
He told Times Radio this morning: “At the end of the day the virus gets from one person to another by proximity, and proximity can happen outside as well. I think that when the evidence shows that the case numbers are really really low indeed, that’s the point [we can hug]. Some degree of caution makes sense. Five thousand cases a day is roughly where we were at the end of September, and certainly if this was on an upward trajectory we would be pretty worried at the sorts of numbers.”
Associated Press notes that Walport was also asked about “vaccine passports”, with him saying that they were not inevitable.
“It will be much easier to weigh up the pros and cons when we know much more accurately what the effects of the vaccine are. We don’t know how long vaccination lasts but it’s likely to be a decent period of time. So I think these are questions that the policymakers are struggling with – they are difficult questions actually.”
Updated
Johnson & Johnson announce deal sending up to 220 million vaccine doses to African Union
Johnson & Johnson have said that its Janssen Pharmaceutica unit has entered into a deal with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to make available up to 220m doses of its single-shot Covid-19 vaccine candidate.
Reuters briefly reports that the company said the delivery of these vaccines to the African Union’s 55 member states will begin in the third quarter of 2021.
Updated
We’re already beginning to get pictures through of people enjoying outdoor sports for the first time in England since early January, as the government Covid restrictions are relaxed a little.
People can meet outdoors in groups of up to six, or in two households if that number is larger, and outdoor sport venues can open again. Photographer David Levene has been at the Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex in west London to catch people going for a dip with friends.
You can also once more spoil a good walk in England, as golfers can tee-off for the first time in months. This shot was taken at the crack of dawn at Allerton Manor Golf Club in Liverpool.
Updated
Despite many Indian states restricting gatherings to try to contain a coronavirus resurgence across the country, people have still gathered to throw coloured powder and spray water in traditional Holi celebrations, reports Sheikh Saaliq for Associated Press.
The festival marks the advent of spring and is widely celebrated throughout Hindu-majority India. Most years, millions of people throw coloured powder at each other in outdoor celebrations. But for the second consecutive year, people were encouraged to stay at home to avoid turning the festivities into “superspreader” events amid the latest virus surge. Not everyone listened.
India’s confirmed infections have exceeded 60,000 daily over the past week from a low of about 10,000 in February. On Monday, the health ministry reported 68,020 new cases, the sharpest daily rise since October last year. It took the nationwide tally to more than 12 million. Daily deaths rose by 291 and the virus has so far killed 161,843 people in the country.
The latest surge is centered in the western state of Maharashtra where authorities have tightened travel restrictions and imposed night curfews. It is considering a strict lockdown. Cases are also rising in the capital, New Delhi, and states of Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
Not everywhere had Holi celebrations, though, with the ANI agency noting empty streets in Delhi.
Streets in Delhi wear deserted look as #Holi celebrations have been banned at public places, in view of rising #COVID19 cases; visuals from Barakhamba Road pic.twitter.com/t0cB95X1on
— ANI (@ANI) March 29, 2021
The surge of cases in India coincides with multi-stage state elections marked by large gatherings and roadshows, and the Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, celebrated in northern Haridwar city, where tens of thousands of Hindu devotees daily take a holy dip into the Ganges river.
Health experts worry that unchecked gatherings can lead to clusters, adding the situation can be controlled if vaccination is opened up for more people and Covid-19 protocols are strictly followed.
India, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, has vaccinated about 60 million people, of which 9 million have received both doses of vaccine so far.
Updated
Associated Press have a little more on German chancellor Angela Merkel’s words today, where she has blamed “a tendency toward perfectionism” for some of Germany’s Covid situation.
“Perhaps we’re very perfectionist at times and want to do everything right, because obviously whoever makes a mistake always faces quite a lot of public criticism,” Merkel said. “But there needs to be flexibility, too,” she added. “That, I believe, is an attribute that we as Germans perhaps need to learn a little bit more, alongside our tendency toward perfectionism.”
As an example, she cited the need for doctors and vaccine centres to have lists on hand of people who are willing to receive shots left over at the end of the day. So far, Germany has vaccinated far fewer people than Britain, the US or Israel.
With recent opinion polls showing falling support for her government, Merkel urged Germans not to become overwhelmed by despair. “We have a difficult situation,” she said. “But look at our neighbors. With the exception of Denmark they are all grappling with the same problems, in part from a much more difficult position.”
Merkel acknowledged that mistakes were made by her government in a lengthy television interview with public broadcaster ARD late last night. “We also need to voice a bit of courage and strength,” she said.
Updated
Taiwan is one of the few places in the world to be barely touched by the coronavirus, with about 1,000 cases in total and just 10 recorded deaths. The country has only 34 active cases being treated in hospital.
Nevertheless, Taiwan has been keen to get a vaccination programme under way, and began delivering shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine last month. However, it has faced supply hurdles. Ben Blanchard reports for Reuters that there has been no progress on talks to seal a deal with Germany’s BioNTech for additional supplies. Taiwanese health minister Chen Shih-chung said today that talks are continuing.
Taiwan complained last month that the firm had pulled out of a deal to sell it 5m doses at the last minute, possibly due to Chinese pressure. BioNTech responded by saying it did plan on providing the vaccine.
Speaking in parliament, Chen was downbeat on the chances for finalising the agreement. “At present there has been no further progress, and the opportunity for both to complete the contract is getting less and less,” he added.
Taiwan has a contract in place for 5m Moderna Covid vaccine doses. Chen said that with the Moderna ones coming, as well as domestically made vaccines in development, there was less urgency to obtain the BioNTech one, though Taiwan would still like them if possible. Taiwan’s population is over 23 million people.
Updated
UK government minister for sport and tourism Nigel Huddleston has told Sky News that people are allowed to travel across the country to see family and friends – but must stay outdoors when they see them.
He has also advised people that they should pack food and get fuel before they set off, in order to limit the number of people mixing at motorway service stations or at petrol garages. He reminded people that police still have the powers to intervene and fine people if they perceive breaches of the Covid restrictions.
Today marks the day that England relaxes some restrictions, with outdoor gatherings allowed of up to six people, or two households if this is larger, not just in parks but also gardens. Outdoor sport for children and adults will be allowed again.
Huddleston told Sky News: “Sports clubs are taking the responsibilities really seriously with Covid-secure measures and then the grassroots sport as well, it’s all within guidelines. I’m very confident things will open safely.”
Updated
Justin McCurry reports for us from Tokyo on the women of Japan suffering isolation and despair amid Covid job losses:
By the end of the year, more than 80,000 people in Japan had been laid off as a result of the pandemic, almost half of them employed in casual work.
Business closures hit women particularly hard. Although the number of women in the workforce has risen sharply in recent years, many work in dining, entertainment, retail, hospitality and other low-paid, non-regular jobs that now comprise about 40% of Japan’s labour market.
“Women are overrepresented in non-regular employment, where there is little job security, and after the schools were closed families had to scramble to secure childcare, which usually meant working mothers staying home,” said Machiko Osawa, an economics professor at Japan Women’s University in Tokyo.
About 60% of single-parent households reported worsening living circumstances in a November survey by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, with more than a third saying they could not afford to buy enough food.
Mounting job losses fuelled demand for food banks, prompting the government to release stockpiled rice to charities for the first time last month, while utilities have reported a surge in requests for deferments to bill payments.
“Many of them have lost their jobs and are struggling to provide for their children and pay their rent,” said Chieko Akaishi, head of the nonprofit Single Mothers Forum, whose organisation sends food parcels to more than 2,000 low-income households every month.
“This has been going on for a year now, and it’s taking a huge toll. I’ve heard the words, ‘I’m tired’, and ‘I can’t go on,’ so many times. It’s become a matter of survival.”
Read more of Justin McCurry’s report here: ‘I can’t go on’: women in Japan suffer isolation and despair amid Covid job losses
A very quick snap from Reuters here that China has reported 15 new Covid-19 cases in the mainland for 28 March. That’s up from eight cases a day earlier according to the country’s national health authority.
The National Health Commission, in a statement, said all the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 18 from 19 a day earlier.
Joe Biden’s White House has had a very different approach to Donald Trump’s White House in terms of giving out information to the public about coronavirus. Overnight they’ve published a video showing infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci attempting to explain in 15 seconds how Covid vaccines “were developed so quickly”.
In the clip, Fauci points out that the idea of mRNA vaccines has actually taken a decade of development for them to be in place to then rapidly combat a pandemic. There’s a little nod to the familiar Covid-sceptic phrase “do your own research” in the tweet promoting it.
We know you have questions about the COVID-19 vaccines but not always time to do your own research, so we asked Dr. Fauci to try to answer some of them in 15 seconds or less.
— White House COVID-19 Response Team (@WHCOVIDResponse) March 28, 2021
Wondering how they were developed so quickly? See if he can beat the clock (and get your answer, too) ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/SjprxxuFFT
Updated
Japan’s vaccine minister, Taro Kono, said this morning that the pace of coronavirus inoculation in the country would accelerate in May, but that the Tokyo Olympics, set to start in July, were not being factored into the schedule.
Prime minister Yoshihide Suga has pledged to have enough doses for the country’s 126 million people by June, before the 23 July start of the Tokyo Olympics. Supplies have been trickling in from Pfizer factories in Europe, but are expected to accelerate in the coming months.
“Starting in May, there will be no bottleneck in supply,” Kono told Reuters in an interview. Officially the minister in charge of administrative reform, Kono was tapped in January to lead Japan’s Covid-19 vaccination push.
Rocky Swift and Elaine Lies report for Reuters that Japan only started its vaccination campaign last month, later than most major economies and wholly dependent on imported doses of Pfizer’s vaccine. Shots developed by AstraZeneca and Moderna await local regulatory approval.
Kono said the AstraZeneca vaccine would be approved “hopefully sometime soon”, adding that the decision was up to the health ministry. “If we have somebody manufacturing vaccines in Japan, it would take off half my headache,” Kono said.
As of Friday, just over 780,000 people in Japan, mostly healthcare workers, have received at least one vaccine dose.
While Japan has escaped the worst ravages of the pandemic seen elsewhere, cases have begun rising recently, prompting concern among some officials about a potential “fourth wave” of the pandemic.
Updated
First Covid jab cuts infection risk by 62% in England care home residents
Natalie Grover, our science correspondent, reports for us overnight:
A UK government-funded study of care home residents in England has found that their risk of infection with Covid-19 – either symptomatic or asymptomatic – fell by 62% five weeks after they received their first Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine dose.
Those who were infected after having the vaccine may also be less likely to transmit Covid-19, initial findings showed. The study, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, is key, given that most clinical trials and observational studies evaluated the impact of the vaccines on symptomatic infections, but whether the vaccines can reduce asymptomatic infections – which play a crucial role in the spread of the virus – is still unclear.
“It’s helpful to look at people who don’t have symptoms because what you want to do is reduce the total number of people who’ve been infected,” noted UCL’s Dr Laura Shallcross, an author of the analysis.
Researchers tracked more than 10,400 care home residents in England (with an average age of 86) between December and March, comparing the number of infections occurring in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups – using data retrieved from routine monthly PCR testing.
Both vaccines reduced the risk of infection by about 56% at 28-34 days after the first dose, and 62% at 35-48 days. The effect is maintained for at least seven weeks, the authors concluded in their analysis, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
This data is notable, given older adults with underlying illnesses have largely been excluded from vaccine trials. It also supports the UK’s decision to extend dose intervals beyond what was studied in clinical trials.
Read more of Natalie Grover’s report here: First Covid jab cuts infection risk by 62% in England care home residents
Updated
WHO report says animals likely source of Covid – report
A joint WHO-China study on the origins of Covid says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by the Associated Press.
The findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis.
The report’s release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions to prevent blame for the pandemic falling on China. A World Health Organization official said late last week that he expected it would be ready for release “in the next few days”.
The AP received what appeared to be a near-final version on Monday from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country. It wasn’t clear whether the report might still be changed prior to its release. The diplomat did not want to be identified because they were not authorised to release it ahead of publication.
The researchers listed four scenarios in order of likelihood. They concluded that transmission through a second animal was likely to very likely. They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely, and said that spread through “cold-chain” food products was possible but not likely.
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, shamelessly urging you to take a break from pandemic news to read this outstanding piece about glow worms:
Located off the coast of Morocco and more than 800km from mainland Portugal, Madeira is one of the few places in Europe accepting tourists – and since 18 February it has been operating a green corridor for tourists who have recovered from Covid-19 in the previous 90 days or who have been fully vaccinated against it, in a foretaste of what may be a future of vaccine passports for EU travel.
Vaccinated travellers must present an immunisation certificate in English, validated in their home country, that includes their name, date of birth, type of vaccine, and the date (or dates) it was administered. Tourists must also respect the activation period set out in the vaccine’s summary of product characteristics:
Dr Birx says earlier action would have mitigated US deaths
Dr Deborah Birx, who coordinated the White House coronavirus task force under President Donald Trump, believes the Covid death toll in the United States would have been substantially lower if the government had responded more effectively.
Reuters: In an interview with CNN, parts of which were released before broadcast later on Sunday, Birx said there was an “excuse” for the initial surge of deaths last year as the government grappled with the start of the pandemic.
“There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Birx said. “All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.”
More than 542,000 people have died from Covid in the United States, according to a Reuters tally, and almost 30 million have been infected.
Trump downplayed the outbreak in its early stages, resisted mitigation efforts and criticized harsh lockdown measures imposed to stop the spread of the virus. He repeatedly eschewed guidance on mask-wearing that health experts say prevents the spread of the disease.
Birx, who has since left the government, said in the interview that she received a “very uncomfortable” call from Trump after describing how widespread the virus was in an interview with CNN in August, during which she told people living in rural areas that they were not immune.
Trump, who tested positive for and then recovered from the virus in October, was running for re-election at the time.
“Everybody in the White House was upset with that interview and the clarity that I brought about the epidemic,” Birx said.
“I got called by the president,” she said. “It was very uncomfortable, very direct, and very difficult to hear.”
Updated
Merkel presses German states to get tough with Covid curbs
German Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Germany’s states on Sunday to step up efforts to curb rapidly rising coronavirus infections, and raised the possibility of introducing curfews to try to get a third wave under control, Reuters reports.
Merkel expressed dissatisfaction that some states were choosing not to halt a gradual reopening of the economy even as the number of infections per 100,000 people over seven days had risen over 100 - a measure she and regional leaders had agreed on in early March.
“We have our emergency brake ... unfortunately, it is not respected everywhere. I hope that there might be some reflection on this,” Merkel said in a rare appearance on broadcaster ARD’s Anne Will talk show.
Coronavirus infections have risen rapidly in recent weeks, driven by more transmissible strains of the virus. Merkel’s chief of staff warned earlier on Sunday that the country was in the most dangerous phase of the pandemic and must suppress the virus now or risk dangerous mutations that were immune to vaccines.
On Sunday, the incidence of the virus per 100,000 rose to 130 from 104 a week ago. The number of total confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 17,176 to 2,772,401, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 90 to 75,870, the tally showed.
England relaxes lockdown
Boris Johnson will stress the need for people to be cautious on Monday as England takes its first significant step towards easing lockdown restrictions for adults.
People will now be able to meet up legally outdoors in groups of six, or in two households, including in private gardens, and organised outdoor sport can resume.
The relaxation of restrictions is being accompanied by the launch of a government advertising campaign showing vividly why indoor mixing with people from other households is still deemed risky. In an unusual move, as part of the campaign, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is publicising advice from a psychologist about how people can resist pressure from their friends and relatives to break the rules.
In a statement issued overnight, Johnson said: “We must remain cautious, with cases rising across Europe and new variants threatening our vaccine rollout. Despite today’s easements, everyone must continue to stick to the rules”:
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be taking you through the start of our coverage today before handing over to my colleagues in London.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
As UK Prime Minister urged caution amid the easing of restrictions in England, German chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Germany’s states on Sunday to step up efforts to curb rapidly rising coronavirus infections and raised the possibility of introducing curfews to try to get a third wave under control, Reuters reports.
- Brazil has recorded 44,326 new coronavirus cases and 1,656 further deaths, Reuters reports. The total number of cases has surpassed 12.53m while the number of fatalities is over 312,000.
- Kosovo received its first shipment of Covid-19 jabs on Sunday through the UN-backed Covax scheme to help poorer nations.
- More than 30 million people in the UK have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. A total of 30,151,287 people between 8 December and 27 March received their first jabs – around 57% of all UK adults, the country’s Department of Health and Social Care announced.
- The UK reported a further 3,862 Covid-19 cases and 19 more deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, according to official data.
- The number of Covid-19 patients in France’s intensive care units has risen to a new high for this year, health ministry data showed on Sunday, as doctors warned a third wave of infections could soon overwhelm hospitals. There were 4,872 ICU patients being treated for Covid-19, close to a November peak during France’s second wave of the virus. The number of new infections fell, however, by around 5,600 to 37,014.
- The UK’s culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, refused to guarantee that there would be no further lockdowns, saying, “You can’t rule things out.” Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show before the minister, Prof Mark Woolhouse said that another lockdown should be regarded as “a failure of public health policy”, underlining that government has the knowledge to avoid that route.
- South Africa plans to vaccinate to up to 200,000 people daily from mid-May, according to a report in the South African Sunday Times newspaper. So far, only 231,605 people have been vaccinated.
- The head of the EU’s vaccine taskforce said he hoped Europe would have a summer tourist season “comparable to last year”, supported by the bloc’s vaccine rollout. A new poll shows that 68% of Britons have not booked any summer holiday this year.
- Authorities imposed a nighttime curfew on India’s western state of Maharashtra after the state capital, Mumbai, reported a record daily rise in cases. The state-wide curfew, which is between 8pm and 7am, begins on Sunday and will be in force until 15 April.
- President Emmanuel Macron said France’s vaccination rollout will have caught up with the UK’s “in a few weeks” amid tensions over vaccine supplies.
- Sweden will not meet its target of fully vaccinating all adults by 30 June, the country’s vaccine coordinator said, citing delays in deliveries. He said it may take “a couple of weeks into July” before the goal is reached.
- Malta tightened its coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings on Sunday as it sought to avert a surge in infections over Easter. The limit on the number of people from different households who can meet outdoors has been reduced from four to two.
