That’s all, thanks for following this evening. My colleagues in Australia will be bringing you Covid-19 news later on Saturday morning.
Summary
Here’s a summary of this evening’s Covid-19 updates from around the world.
- Germany has banned most arrivals from Portugal and Russia, amid rising cases of the Delta variant in the two countries. They join 14 existing countries on its so-called “variant countries” list.
- The death toll in Mexico has risen to 232,345, an increase of 278. A total of 2,498,357 positive cases have been confirmed in the South American country, with both deaths and infections thought to be higher than the official figures.
- Brazil has confirmed another 2,001 more deaths from Covid-19 and 79,277 more cases. Its death toll now stands at 511,142 – the second highest globally during the pandemic.
- Tunisia has introduced new Covid restrictions as deaths rise and hospitals are at capacity. Sports events and celebrations will be banned, non-essential shops will be closed and residents will be urged to stay at home.
- WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he is “concerned” about the Delta variant.
- The UK has recorded 15,810 new daily Covid cases and 18 deaths as positive cases rose by nearly 50% in a week, the latest UK government figures show.
- Iceland is expected to become the first European country to lift all Covid restrictions on Saturday. The health minister, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, said Icelanders will no longer have to social distance or wear masks.
- Honduras will receive 1.5m doses of the Moderna Covid-19 jab on Sunday, as part of the initial delivery as part of the Covax vaccine-sharing program.
Honduras is set to receive 1.5m doses of the Moderna Covid-19 jab on Sunday, as part of the initial delivery as part of the Covax vaccine-sharing program.
The shipment is part of 80m doses that president Joe Biden has pledged to share with other countries around the world, according to Reuters.
Staying in Brazil, a congressman who has denounced alleged wrongdoing in a 1.6bn reais Covid-19 vaccine contract signed by the country’s government, arrived at a senate commission inquiry on Friday wearing a bulletproof vest for safety.
Reuters has more:
Congressman Luis Miranda and his brother Luis Ricardo Miranda, the whistleblower at the health ministry who raised suspicions about the vaccine deal with India’s Bharat Biotech, are the key witnesses in a hearing underway on Friday.
The parliamentary inquiry is looking into the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than half a million people in Brazil, and accusations that it deliberately delayed securing vaccines to fight Covid-19.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under growing pressure to explain the deal with Bharat, said on Friday there were no irregularities in the contract for the Indian drugmaker’s Covaxin shot.The president, who was elected on an anti-graft platform, added that his enemies were trying to stain his government with unfounded accusations of corruption.
Luis Ricardo Miranda and his lawmaker brother met with Bolsonaro in March and said they warned him of the suspicious contract, but that nothing was done to investigate the deal.
Updated
Brazil has confirmed 79,277 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, along with another 2,001 deaths, Reuters reports.
Its health ministry said there had been more than 18.3m confirmed infections since the pandemic began, and the official death toll has risen to 511,142.
Germany bans most arrivals from Portugal and Russia
Germany has introduced strict new travel restrictions from Portugal and Russia, due to their surge in cases of the Delta variant.
From Tuesday, only citizens and residents of Germany will be able to travel in from the two countries, with air, rail and bus companies stopped from transporting other passengers.
Those allowed to enter will have to quarantine for two weeks, regardless of a negative Covid-19 test, AFP reports.
They join 14 other countries on Germany’s “variant countries” list, the country’s highest-risk register for travellers from other nations.
It includes Britain, India, South Africa and Brazil, where the Delta variant, first detected in India, is the predominant strain and case numbers are rising.
Robert Weiler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, said the variant is expected to become the dominant strain in Germany by the autumn.
Mexico death toll rises to 232,345
Mexico’s health ministry has confirmed that the amount of people to have died from Covid-19 in the country has risen by 278 to 232,346.
Reuters reports that 5,270 new cases were confirmed on Friday, meaning 2,498,357 people in Mexico have now had the virus.
The number of cases is likely to be significantly higher, and data published in March indicated it was at least 60% more than the confirmed figure.
Tunisia has introduced new Covid restrictions as deaths rise and hospitals are at capacity.
Its prime minister Hichem Mechichi has tested positive and the country’s hospitals are at 90% capacity, AFP reports.
An average of 82 deaths have been reported a day, over the last week, which is close to the record of 89 in late April, health ministry spokesman Nissaf Ben Aleya said.
“The number of deaths has surpassed our estimations,” he said.
The new rules will apply to 28 of the country’s 250 districts where infection rates have risen. Sports events and celebrations will be banned, non-essential shops will be closed and residents will be urged to stay at home.
Tunisia has recorded more than 395,000 cases and 14,406 deaths. About 1.7m people have received more than one dose.
Early evening summary
- Tunisia’s Prime Minister, Hichem Mechich, has been infected with the coronavirus. The government said he will cancel meetings and continue to work remotely.
- WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he is “concerned” about the Delta variant. He also said that the global community is failing in its response and making the same mistakes as with HIV-Aids.
- The Delta variants are surging in Italy and now account for 17% of cases.
- The UK has recorded 15,810 new daily Covid cases and 18 deaths as positive cases rose by nearly 50% in a week, the latest UK government figures show.
- Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, claimed there is “nothing wrong” with the Covaxin contract and that he is “incorruptible”. His comments came ahead of a highly anticipated Senate hearing.
- The US hopes to reopen to Europeans soon, secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The European Union is already open to Americans who have either been vaccinated or have negative Covid test results, but the US is still closed to visitors from Europe.
- The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said the Delta variant is “spreading freely in communities right across Wales”.The number of confirmed cases has more than doubled from nearly 500 to around 1,100 in the last week.
- The ONS said the prevalence of Covid infections has risen to 1 in 440 people in England and 1 in 220 people in Scotland.
- Iceland is expected to become the first European country to lift all Covid restrictions on Saturday. The health minister, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, said Icelanders will no longer have to social distance or wear masks.
That’s all from me. But global coronavirus coverage continues here with my colleague Harry Taylor.
A Public Health England press release, updated today, says of the Lambda variant:
A further variant, Lambda (C.37) has been designated as a Variant Under Investigation (VUI) on 23 June due to international expansion and several notable mutations including L452Q and F490S. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified Lambda as a Variant of Interest on 14 June.
Six cases of Lambda have been identified across the country to date, all have been linked to overseas travel. The earliest documented sample was reported in Peru and Lambda has been sequenced in 26 countries to date.
Italy is to become curfew-free on Monday when nighttime restrictions in the final region to have them are lifted.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza said today that a small French-speaking mountain region of Valle d’Aosta, in the northwest, will become a “white” zone like the rest of Italy from Monday, reports AFP.
It will also mark the day that face masks will no longer be compulsory outdoors - except in crowded areas - following a government announcement earlier in the week.
Public Health England (PHE) has said that a new strain, Lambda, has been designated as a variant under investigation.
Sky News reports that PHE detected six cases of the variant between 23 February and 7 June - five of which were connected to overseas travel.
PHE said that vaccines continue to have a “crucial effect on hospital admission and death” and that there is no evidence that the new variant causes more severe sickness or is less responsive to vaccines.
Tunisia's PM Hichem Mechich has coronavirus
Tunisia’s Prime Minister, Hichem Mechich, has been infected with the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
The government said in a statement that he will cancel meetings and continue to work remotely.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says it has received submissions from at least three vaccine makers for emergency approval - at least one or two of which it expects to approve within months.
So far, the WHO has given emergency approval to vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm and Sinovac, reports Reuters.
More from WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who says the world’s inability to provide sufficient vaccines to poor countries is a global failure and “worrisome”.
Reuters reports:
It’s not hesitancy. It’s lack of vaccines. And the situation in many low-income countries, especially Africa, it’s very worrisome...There is no vaccine. You can’t even talk about delivery or absorption capacity when there’s no vaccine.
France has recorded 33 new coronavirus deaths in hospital, bringing the total to 84,483, reports Reuters. The number of people in intensive care units for Covid-19 has dropped by 50 to 1,389.
Death toll in Italy doubles to 56 while new cases fall to 753
Italy recorded 56 coronavirus-related deaths today - double that of the day before - and a fall in new cases to 753, reports Reuters.
Yesterday there were 28 deaths, the health ministry said, and 927 new cases.
Today the number of patients in hospital with Covid, not including intensive care, also dropped from 2,027 yesterday to 1,899 today. The number of intensive care patients fell from 328 on Thursday to 306 today.
Italy has recorded a total of 127,418 deaths since the start of the pandemic - Europe’s second highest toll after the UK.
Tedros, WHO director-general, has said that the global community is failing, making the same mistakes as with HIV-Aids, reports Reuters.
Updated
WHO director-general says he is 'concerned' about Delta variant
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has said he is “concerned” about the Delta variant.
In a media briefing (link to live stream here), he said:
"I know that globally there is currently a lot of concern about the #COVID19 Delta variant, and WHO is concerned about it too"-@DrTedros https://t.co/HQFrixFVOi
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 25, 2021
"Delta [variant] is the most transmissible of the #COVID19 variants identified so far, has been identified in at least 85 countries, and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations"-@DrTedros https://t.co/HQFrixFVOi
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 25, 2021
"New variants are expected and will continue to be reported – that’s what viruses do, they evolve - but we can prevent the emergence of variants by preventing #COVID19 transmission.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 25, 2021
It’s quite simple: more transmission, more variants.
Less transmission, less variants"-@DrTedros
Here’s the latest report from AP in Johannesburg on South Africa’s coronavirus surge:
A rapid resurgence of COVID-19 is slamming South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, and threatens to overwhelm its hospitals.
Johannesburg, a city of 5 million, and the surrounding Gauteng province account for about 60% of the country’s new daily infections. South Africa’s 7-day rolling average of daily new cases has doubled over the past two weeks from 10 new cases per 100,000 people on June 10 to 22 per 100,000 people on June 24, according to Johns Hopkins University.
South Africa’s rising cases are part of a rampant resurgence across Africa whose peak is expected to exceed that of earlier waves as the continent’s 54 countries struggle to vaccinate even a small percentage of their populations.
The steep rise of cases in Gauteng has not yet reached its peak, bringing authorities to consider increased restrictions on public gatherings and liquor sales. South Africa’s vaccination drive has had a slow start and to date about 2.5 million people of the country’s population of 60 million have received at least one jab.
The military has sent medical personnel to help treat the growing number of patients. Hospitals in Gauteng province are so full that many patients are being sent to medical facilities hours away in Mpumalanga and North West provinces, Lucky Mpeko, a director at QRS ambulance services, told The Associated Press.
Delta variants surging in Italy account for 17% of cases
The Delta variants are surging in Italy and now account for nearly 17% of total Covid cases, the national health institute said today. Cases of the Kappa and Delta variants rose from 4.2% in May to 16.8% in June, Reuters reports.
Anna Teresa Palamara, director of the ISS Infectious Diseases Department, said in a statement:
Our epidemiological monitoring shows a rapidly evolving picture that confirms that also in our country, as in the rest of Europe, the Delta variant of the virus is becoming dominant.
But at 74.9%, the Alpha variant remains the most widespread in the country, the institute said.
Italy, which has recorded 127,380 Covid deaths and 4.26m cases since February last year, has Europe’s second highest death toll after the UK and the eight highest in the world. Cases, daily new infections and deaths have been falling in recent weeks.
Updated
UK records 15,810 new daily Covid cases and 18 deaths as positive cases rise by nearly 50% in a week
15,810 new people tested positive for Covid-19 today and there were 18 deaths, the latest UK government figures show.
In the last seven days, 90,511 people tested positive - an increase of 47.9% on the previous week. 110 people have died in the last seven days - a 52.8% rise on the previous week.
Updated
Jair Bolsonaro claims "nothing wrong" with Covaxin contract and that he is "incorruptible"
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said today there was “nothing wrong” with the contract for the Covaxin vaccine and that he is “incorruptible”.
His comments come ahead of Senate testimony from two brothers who said they personally raised concerns about the deal to Bolsonaro at a highly anticipated hearing scheduled for 2pm local time.
Reuters reports:
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, under growing pressure to explain his role in a vaccine deal with India’s Bharat Biotech, said on Friday there were no irregularities in the contract for the Covaxin COVID-19 shot.
“There is nothing wrong with the Covaxin contract, there is no overpricing,” he said at a news conference in the interior of São Paulo.
The president, who was elected on an anti-graft platform, added that his enemies were trying to stain his government with unfounded accusations of corruption.
“I am incorruptible,” he said.
Bolsonaro’s comments came ahead of Senate testimony from two brothers who said they personally flagged their concerns about the deal to the president. The hearing, scheduled for 2 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), is the most anticipated event yet in a high-profile Senate investigation of the government’s handling of the pandemic, which has killed half a million Brazilians.
Luís Ricardo Miranda, a Health Ministry official, said this week he told Bolsonaro about irregularities in the deal.
The contract is being probed by federal prosecutors and lawmakers to see why the government struck a speedy agreement with Bharat after COVID-19 vaccine offers from Pfizer at a lower price were ignored.
Miranda has told prosecutors he was pressured by Alex Lial Marinho, an aide to one of Bolsonaro’s closest allies, former Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello. Miranda’s account was backed up by his brother, federal Congressman Luís Miranda.
The accusations raise awkward questions for Bolsonaro and Pazuello, who is facing criminal and civil investigations into his handling of the pandemic while minister.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro said Brazil never paid for or received any doses of the Covaxin shot, and pledged to take action if any corruption was discovered in his government.
US hopes to reopen to Europeans soon, says secretary of state
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said today that he hopes Europeans will soon be able to resume travel to the US, reports AFP.
The European Union is already open to Americans who have either been vaccinated or have negative Covid test results, but the US is still closed to visitors from Europe.
On a trip to Europe, aimed at repairing relations after Donald Trump’s presidency, he said he hopes it will be “a matter of weeks rather than months”.
AFP reports:
Blinken, asked repeatedly about the issue on a trip to Europe meant to repair relations that were rocky under Donald Trump, voiced understanding but gave no date.
“We need to be guided by the science and by medical experts, not taking a political decision but one based on the facts,” Blinken told an online forum with young French people on the Brut network.
“I hope that this will happen quickly. We really want to. I hope it will be a matter of weeks rather than months,” he said in fluent French.
But he pointed to the rise of the Delta variant, which first emerged in India and has caused renewed concerns in Western countries that had fought Covid-19.
In the US, the supreme court has ruled that federal Covid-19 relief funds can go to specially established corporations for Native Alaskans, despite not being officially recognised as tribal governments.
Three groups of Native American tribes from elsewhere in the US sued in federal court in April 2020 attempting to stop Alaska Native corporations from receiving funds from the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (Cares) Act, reports Reuters.
But in a 6-3 ruling, the supreme court ruled that Native corporations are eligible. About $533m in funding depended on the outcome.
Here’s more on the findings of the UK government’s Covid-19 mass test event report from PA:
A pilot scheme exploring the impact of large-scale events on Covid-19 transmission has found “no substantial outbreaks”, identifying 28 linked cases of infection out of tens of thousands of participants, according to a new report.
The Events Research Programme (ERP), commissioned by the Prime Minister in February, saw 58,000 participants attend indoor and outdoor venues across the country, including in Liverpool, Sheffield and London.
The ERP aims to assess the safety of mass gatherings during the pandemic and whether they affect rates of infection.
A delayed report on data from the first nine pilots of the ERP’s first phase in April and May, which featured the FA Cup final, the Brit Awards and the World Snooker Championship, revealed 28 potentially linked positive cases of Covid-19.
Of these, 11 were identified as “potentially infectious at an event” while a further 17 were “potentially infected at or around the time of an event”, the report published on Friday said.
In a foreword Nicholas Hytner and David Ross, chief advisers for the ERP, said the report “does not make conclusive public health recommendations on the reopening of events at this stage”.
They highlighted that studies took place during low prevalence of coronavirus, adding that “future public health measures need to adapt to the prevailing levels and patterns of the virus”.
Updated
The mass test event news comes after the Guardian yesterday reported that the UK government was under pressure from scientists to make the findings public.
Political editor Heather Stewart’s story from yesterday:
'No substantial outbreaks' at test events, says UK government
The UK government has said there were “no substantial outbreaks” during the first phase of its mass test events, reports PA.
#Breaking “No substantial outbreaks” of Covid-19 were identified following any of the first phase of mass test events, with 28 cases recorded among the 58,000 people who attended, the Government’s delayed Events Research Programme report has found pic.twitter.com/zaKDa1nDPu
— PA Media (@PA) June 25, 2021
Thousands of South African opposition activists have rallied in Pretoria to demand a faster coronavirus vaccination rollout in the continent’s worst-hit country.
Protesters are urging regulators to approve more vaccines and speed up the pace of inoculations as less than 4% of South Africa’s 59 million population have been jabbed.
AFP reports:
“Our agenda is simple, give our people vaccines, we want to open our economy,” Julius Malema, leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, told more than 2,500 supporters in Pretoria.
In a gathering criticised as a possible super-spreading event, EFF supporters clad in red party regalia marched to the offices of the health products regulator to demand the approval of more vaccines.
South Africa has so far administered only Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer shots.
The EFF is also pushing for the use of Chinese and Russian vaccines, warning it would stage a sit-in at the home of the regulator’s chairwoman if it did not approve the emergency use of the jabs within seven days.
Updated
Bodies are washing up on the banks of the Ganges in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, as rains swell the river and expose bodies buried in shallow graves during the peak of the country’s latest wave of coronavirus infections.
Reuters reports:
Videos and pictures in May of bodies drifting down the river, which Hindus consider holy, shocked the nation and underlined the ferocity of the world’s biggest surge in infections.
Though cases have come down drastically this month, the Uttar Pradesh city of Prayagraj alone has cremated 108 bodies found in the river in the last three weeks, said a senior municipal official.
Updated
Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, has approved an additional manufacturing site in Italy for Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine production in a bid to boost supply for the European Union.
The site, reports Reuters, is in Anagni, a town south-east of Rome, and will assist with vial filling and packaging the vaccine.
Iceland set to be first European country to lift all Covid restrictions
Iceland will remove all Covid restrictions on Saturday and is expected to be the first European country to do so, reports Reuters.
The health minister, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, said on Friday that from Saturday Icelanders will no longer have to social distance or wear masks..
The country has a well-regarded test and trace system and has enforced lockdown measures several times to stop spikes in infections.
Svavarsdóttir said:
We are restoring the society we are used to living in and which we have longed for.
Restrictions included limits on public gatherings and a social distancing rule of two metres.
A staggering 87% of people in Iceland have had their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, reportedly the highest rate among comparable countries.
Iceland, which has a population of just 360,000 people, has an infection incidence of 1.6 per 100,000 on a fortnightly average. Its death toll is also comparatively low. Overall, 30 people have died from a total 6,637 Covid infections.
Updated
Many of Russia’s regional governments are now mandating coronavirus vaccinations for some workers as daily cases continue to rise.
AP reports that 18 regions - including Moscow and St Petersburg - made vaccinations compulsory this month for employees in sectors including government offices, retail, restaurants and healthcare.
Moscow authorities have told companies to suspend employees who refuse to get vaccinated without pay and threatened to stop operations at businesses that do not have at least 60% of staff vaccinated with at least one shot by July 15.
From Monday, restaurants, cafes and bars in Moscow will only admit those who have either been vaccinated, recovered from Covid in the past six months or who have a negative test from the last 72 hours. Most elective hospital care is also limited.
It comes as a plan to vaccinate 30m Russians by mid-June fell short by a third.
Uzbekistan has announced that it will limit entry to its capital, Tashkent, and restrict activities at hospitality venues after a surge in Covid cases.
As of yesterday the country was registering 476 new cases a day (compared with 100-150 cases a day last month), its highest level this year, reports Reuters.
Its health ministry said on Friday that there will be restrictions on vehicles entering Tashkent and that all entertainment facilities across the country can only operate between 8am and 8pm and at no more than 50% capacity.
The new restrictions apply from Monday until 12 July.
Updated
England’s R number is 1.2 to 1.4
England’s estimated R number remains the same at 1.2 to 1.4, reports Reuters.
An R value of 1.2 to 1.4 means that on average every 10 people infected will spread coronavirus to between 12 and 14 others.
The daily infection growth rate was estimated at 3-5%, a slight change from last week’s figure which was 3-6%.
Updated
The Guardian’s Steven Morris reports:
Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has said the Delta variant is spreading “freely in communities right across Wales.”
Last Friday there were just under 500 cases; today that number has more than doubled to around 1,100 cases. Fifteen people have been admitted to hospital suffering with the Delta variant. The case rate is highest in the north.
Drakeford told a press conference in Cardiff that Wales was two to three weeks behind the rest of the UK – but said that schools and care homes were being affected.
The first minister said modelling suggested the peak of hospitalisations and deaths was expected in August. He said it was not known what impact the high rates of vaccinations in Wales will have on the picture.
However he said that experts from Swansea University were predicting that in “the most likely scenario” between June and the end of August there would be 900 extra hospital admissions as a result of the Delta variant.
He said that - as in the rest of the UK - many more young people were being affected. In Flintshire in north Wales the infection rates are more than seven times higher for the under-25s compared with the over-60s.
Tanzania’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has urged people not to ignore the pandemic, warning: “There are signs of the third wave in our country.”
Hassan said in a speech to Catholic bishops in Dar es Salaam that “this pandemic is here and we should not ignore it”, reports Reuters.
It marks a stark change from her predecessor, the late John Magufuli, who dismissed the threat of Covid-19 and downplayed the pandemic.
Since taking office in March, Hassan has called for social distancing and highlighted the need to wear masks. But Tanzania does not yet have a vaccination programme.
The country has applied to join Covax – the international vaccine-sharing scheme – and the World Health Organization has said it is working to develop a distribution plan. The government has also requested a $571m loan to help tackle coronavirus from the International Monetary Fund.
Updated
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said the Delta variant is “spreading freely in communities right across Wales”.
The number of confirmed cases has more than doubled from nearly 500 to around 1,100 in the last week, he said during a press conference in Cardiff, according to PA Media.
There are now 37 cases per 100,000 people in Wales, he said, with prevalence highest in north Wales, where 97% of new cases are caused by the Delta variant.
Updated
1 in 220 people estimated to have had Covid in Scotland last week, says ONS
Around 1 in 220 people in Scotland are estimated to have had coronavirus last week, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the highest level since February.
The figures for the week to 19 June, reported by PA Media, are a significant rise from the previous week when 1 in 600 were estimated to have Covid-19.
The ONS said the picture for Wales and Northern Ireland was “uncertain”.
One in 830 people are estimated to have had Covid-19 last week in Wales, up from 1 in 1,500 the previous week, and 1 in 720 people in Northern Ireland, down from 1 in 610 the previous week.
Updated
At least 3,903,064 people have died of Covid since the start of the outbreak in December 2019, AFP reports, and at least 179,931,620 cases have been registered.
On Thursday, 8,601 deaths and 403,975 cases were recorded worldwide. Brazil had the highest death toll with 2,032, followed by India with 1,329 and Colombia with 689.
The US remains the worst affected country with 33,590,549 cases and 603,178 deaths.
Updated
Health officials in Denmark said on Friday that they would continue to exclude the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines from the country’s inoculation rollout after a review of new safety data, Reuters reports.
“The balance between possible benefit and possible harmful effects is still not favourable, even when we include assumptions in our analyses that benefit the vaccine,” the Danish health authority said in a statement.
Denmark was the first country to suspend and drop the two vaccines due to fears over potential links to rare but serious blood clots.
Updated
Prevalence of Covid infections rises to 1 in 440 people in England, says ONS
The prevalence of coronavirus infections in England is estimated to have risen to 1 in 440 people in the week to 19 June, compared with 1 in 520 the week before, according to new figures from Britain’s Office for National Statistics.
About 122,500 people in England were estimated to have had Covid-19 during the week, Reuters reports, up from 105,000.
Follow our UK-focussed Covid blog here:
Updated
Police in India are investigating vaccine scams in two cities after around 2,500 people were injected with fake inoculations, AFP reports.
About 2,000 people are thought to have been injected with saline solution in Mumbai and a further 500 - including some with disabilities - were given fake vaccines in Kolkata.
Police in Mumbai said 10 people, including two doctors, had been arrested and 1.24 million rupees (£12,000) of “fraudulently obtained” cash had been recovered.
Police in Kolkata have arrested a man claiming to be a civil servant with a master’s degree in genetics who reportedly ran eight fake vaccination camps.
Updated
Iran’s supreme leader has received the first coronavirus vaccine developed by the Islamic Republic, state TV reported Friday.
As AP reports, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that he was not interested in taking foreign-made vaccines, because it is better to “wait for the Iranian vaccine because we have to be proud of this national honour”.
In January, Khamenei banned imports of American and Britain vaccines. The Iranian pharmaceutical company Shifafarmed made the COVIran Barekat vaccine based on deactivated virus.
Iran, the worst-hit nation in the Middle East by Covid, has not published data about efficacy of the vaccine, but claims that people who get the homemade jab have about 85% immunity to the deadly virus.
Iranian officials said the death toll from Covid-19 rose by 115 over the day into Friday, putting the country’s total at 83,588 since the pandemic broke out last year. The health ministry said 10,820 new confirmed cases were registered over the same period, bringing that total to 3,150,949.
Iran retains some access to vaccines, including through its participation in Covax, an international initiative designed to distribute vaccines to countries regardless of their wealth. But international banks and financial institutions are reluctant to deal with Iran for fear of American penalties.
Updated
South Africa is intending to increase the speed of its vaccination programme and administer more than 200,000 doses next month as deliveries of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson jabs arrive.
After the discovery that the AstraZeneca vaccine had reduced effectiveness against the dominant local Covid variant, South Africa’s programme began slowly and was hampered by difficulties in securing doses from other manufacturers.
So far, Reuters reports, 2.5m vaccinations have been administered using either the one-shot J&J vaccine or the two-shot Pfizer alternative, out of a population of 60 million people, health ministry data show.
“Now we are able to do, and we have done, just over 100,000 a day for the last two days. Our target for next week is to get up to 150,000 a day, and by mid-July 200,000 a day with a target by the end of July of being able to have enough resources in the field to do 250,000 vaccinations a day,” Nicholas Crisp, a senior official involved in the vaccine rollout, told a news conference.
“The president has asked us to chase a target of 300,000 a day, and I think all of us in the vaccination response programme are going to work hard to try and get to that point,” he added.
So far South Africa has started immunising health workers, those aged over 60 years and education sector employees. From 15 July, the over-50s will start getting the vaccine.
Updated
Today so far…
- The Israeli health ministry has reimposed a requirement to wear masks in enclosed public places after an increase in Covid cases since it was dropped 10 days ago.
- Taiwan will tighten border controls to keep out the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, authorities said on Friday, requiring arrivals from five countries, including Britain, to be placed in centralised quarantine facilities.
- The more infectious Delta coronavirus variant will become dominant in Germany over the summer, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
- Russia’s Covid case and death numbers continue to rise. The official figures today are 20,393 new cases, including 7,916 in Moscow, and 601 further deaths. The Kremlin has said vaccine shortages in Russia were linked to growing demand for shots and storage difficulties, which would be resolved in the coming days.
- The board of the GAVI vaccine alliance has approved $775m to fund the delivery of Covid vaccines to lower-income economies eligible for support over the next two years, it said in a statement.
- Britain has reported 35,204 new cases of the Delta coronavirus variant in the latest week, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 111,157, Public Health England said. As of 21 June, there have been 117 deaths in England of people who were confirmed as having the Delta variant and who died within 28 days of a positive test.
- Britain’s much-maligned multi-billion pound Covid test-and-trace system has improved, but is still missing targets and the results of millions of tests to find asymptomatic cases have not been reported, parliament’s spending watchdog said.
- Prof Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in the UK, said there was still “a high level of uncertainty” over whether booster vaccinations will be needed this autumn.
- A congressional inquiry into Brazil’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic has found mounting evidence that Jair Bolsonaro’s administration committed “crimes against life”, according to the senior politician leading the investigation.
- Hawaii will from 8 July drop a requirement for pre-travel coronavirus testing and quarantine upon arrival for domestic travelers who have been fully vaccinated in the United States, Governor David Ige said.
- The Australian Medical Association has called for Sydney’s lockdown to be extended across the entire city, as new stay at home rules announced by the New South Wales government sparked uncertainty among residents and businesses.
The UK’s Covid news is dominated by reaction to changes to international travel guidance, and the emergence of a photograph of health secretary Matt Hancock that has lead to claims he has been having an affair with a government adviser. Nicola Slawson is across all of that on our UK live blog…
That’s it from me, Martin Belam, for this week. I will see you again on Monday. Miranda Bryant will be here shortly to continue to bring you the latest Covid developments from around the world. Take care, stay safe, and have a good weekend.
Just a little snippet here from Reuters about the situation in Russia. The local health ministry in Russia’s far eastern Khabarovsk region said today it had been forced to suspend vaccinations at some sites in two cities due to shortages.
The Kremlin has said vaccine shortages in Russia were linked to growing demand for shots and storage difficulties, which would be resolved in the coming days.
As mentioned earlier, case levels in Russia have begun to rise in the last couple of weeks after months of being stable.
Brazil’s inquiry into Covid disaster suggests Bolsonaro committed ‘crimes against life’
A congressional inquiry into Brazil’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic has found mounting evidence that Jair Bolsonaro’s administration committed “crimes against life”, according to the senior politician leading the investigation.
Launched in April to scrutinize the government’s handling of a crisis that has killed half a million citizens, the nationally televised investigation is digging into the political decisions that led up to one of the cruelest moments in the country’s history.
“The most shocking thing is the realization of how negligent the government has been – on so many issues,” Senator Omar Aziz told the Guardian.
Testimony from officials and newly revealed documents are giving Brazilians a clearer view of the context in which the government dismissed offers to purchase vaccines in 2020 and failed to respond quickly when oxygen supplies ran out in Manaus, leaving Covid patients to suffocate.
“It was desperate,” said the senator, who is from Manaus. “We did what we could while the government did not do anything to bring oxygen from our neighbour Venezuela.”
The inquiry has also uncovered evidence suggesting irregularities in the acquisition of the Indian vaccine Covaxin, and it is focusing in on Bolsonaro’s specific role in the crisis. A former employee at the health ministry has recently told the prosecutor’s office that he told the president that he was pressured to sign a contract that would increase the average price of doses by 1,000%.
Government officials have denied any irregularity in the contract and said that the whistleblower’s claims would be investigated. The official is due to give evidence to the inquiry on Friday.
Read more of Flávia Milhorance’s report from Rio de Janeiro here: Brazil’s inquiry into Covid disaster suggests Bolsonaro committed ‘crimes against life’
Delta variant now comprises 96% of sequenced cases in the UK
Britain has reported 35,204 new cases of the Delta coronavirus variant in the latest week, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 111,157, Public Health England said on Friday.
The Delta variant now comprises 96% of sequenced cases, Public Health England said, adding that vaccines were still effective at providing protection against risk of hospitalisation.
As of 21 June, there have been 117 deaths in England of people who were confirmed as having the Delta variant and who died within 28 days of a positive test.
Public Health England said it had designated a new variant, Lambda, with six cases detected between 23 February and 7 June - of whom five had travelled overseas.
My colleague Nicola Slawson has more UK Covid news on our live blog here…
The board of the GAVI vaccine alliance has approved $775m to fund the delivery of Covid vaccines to lower-income economies eligible for support over the next two years, it said in a statement.
Reuters report that the Covax facility, run jointly with the World Health Organization, has delivered 90m doses to 132 countries since February. In a statement after its two-day board meeting it said that its goal of delivering 1.8bn doses to lower income economies would be reached in the first quarter of 2022.
Updated
Having plateaued for months, Russia’s Covid case and death numbers continue to rise. Reuters report that the official figures today are 20,393 new cases, including 7,916 in Moscow, and 601 further deaths.
German health minister: 'Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer'
The more infectious Delta coronavirus variant will become dominant in Germany over the summer, health minister Jens Spahn said this morning.
“The Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer, it’s more a matter of weeks than months,” Spahn told a news conference, adding the variant currently makes up more than 15% of coronavirus cases reported in Germany.
Reuters note that Spahn said the spread of the variant would depend on how many people get vaccinated and on infection incidence.
My colleague Nicola Slawson has got our UK Covid and politics live blog up and running for the day, so if it is UK news you are after, head that way…
I’ll be continuing here with the latest global coronavirus news from around the world.
Reuters has an interesting report this morning about Bhutan, where the monarch has been playing an active role in spreading information about the Covid outbreak.
They report that for 14 months, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has been travelling by foot, car and horse to remote hamlets to oversee measures to protect the country from the pandemic.
“When the king travels for miles and knocks ... to alert people about the pandemic, then his humble words are respected and taken very seriously,” said Lotay Tshering, the country’s prime minister.
“His Majesty’s presence is far more powerful than just issuing public guidelines,” Tshering told Reuters. His presence assures people they are not alone in their fight against the pandemic, the prime minister said.
Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy in 2008 when the king relinquished his absolute powers. But loyalty to the royal family still dominates the nation’s socio-political landscape.
The king’s office declined a request for an interview with Reuters, but a senior palace official said: “Our king’s biggest fear is that if the pandemic spreads like a forest fire then our nation could be wiped out.”
Bhutan has just one doctor available for every 2,000 people. The borders are now shut again and domestic lockdowns have been imposed in some areas. Tshering has said Bhutan is looking to mix-and-match vaccine doses because after inoculating 90% of its eligible population with their first dose of the AstraZeneca shot, the nation ran out of supplies.
Updated
Israel resumes indoor mask requirement after rise in Covid cases
The Israeli health ministry has reimposed a requirement to wear masks in enclosed public places after an increase in Covid cases since it was dropped 10 days ago.
AFP report the surge in infections is a blow for a country that has prided itself on one of the world’s most successful vaccine rollouts.
The head of Israel’s pandemic response taskforce, Nachman Ash, told public radio the requirement came after four days of more than 100 new cases a day, with 227 cases confirmed on Thursday.
“We are seeing a doubling every few days,” Ash said on Friday. “Another thing that’s worrying is the infections are spreading. If we had two cities where most of the infections were, we have more cities where the numbers are rising and communities where the cases are going up.”
Ash said the rise in cases was likely due to the highly contagious Delta variant.
Read more here: Israel resumes indoor mask requirement after rise in Covid cases
'High level of uncertainty' over autumn booster vaccinations in UK – health expert
Prof Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in the UK, said there was still “a high level of uncertainty” over whether booster vaccinations will be needed this autumn.
PA report he told Sky News: “But in order to avoid the risk of a winter surge, we may well need to use booster doses, particularly I think in the first instance for the people who had the vaccine the longest time ago and who are at highest risk of getting seriously ill when they get infected.
“So that would include the very elderly and potentially healthcare workers as well, who got the vaccines earlier on in the year. So I don’t think this is a certainty yet, but I think there’s a high probability that at least some boosting will need to go on this winter.”
He said experts do not know for certain whether everybody will need a vaccination, adding: “We will learn as we go along.”
He said: “It’s not really going to be feasible to go all the way around and do everyone straightaway – as we’ve already seen it has taken more than half a year to work our way through the population.
“And although vaccine supplies will increase, it’s a massive exercise to go around and immunise everyone again, and that may well not turn out to be necessary, so we’ll see as we go.”
Updated
Our community team are looking for your response to changes to the UK government’s green, amber and red travel lists. They’d like to hear from those living in Malta, Madeira and the Balearic islands, as well as travellers about the changes.
Some GB Olympic athletes still refusing to have Covid vaccine, BOA claims
The British Olympic Association is still trying to convince some athletes to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before next month’s Tokyo Olympics, chief executive Andy Anson said.
“We’re trying to convince them it’s the right thing to do,” Anson told the BBC on Friday. “People have got the right to choose, and we have to respect that. But it’s not necessarily that helpful.”
Reuters report Anson said the Athletes’ Village in Tokyo will be “probably the toughest environment in sports at this time”.
“We are putting in place very strict protocols along with the organisers to make sure, to the fullest extent possible, we follow the rules of isolation, distancing, and just keeping in our own ‘semi bubbles,’” he said.
Ryanair's O' Leary: UK government 'trying to do right thing but making a mess of it'
Never shy, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has been on Sky News criticising the UK government’s new international travel advice on two counts. Firstly he questioned why some destinations with low or similar Covid rates to those on the green list weren’t added, and secondly he said the idea of a “green watch list” added more confusion to the system. He said:
This announcement was a step in the right direction, but it creates more confusion. We have to ask, as an industry, why hasn’t Cyprus been added, or the Greek islands been added. Their Covid case rates are as low as they are in Malta and in the Balearics.
We’ve had a lot of passenger concern last night about this amendment to the traffic light system which is no longer green, amber and red, it’s now, green, green watch list – whatever the hell that means. So, it’s just Grant Shapps sowing more confusion, trying to do the right thing but making a mess of it.
Updated
Back to international travel rules from the UK for a moment, it is of course one thing to set the requirements for what you have to do when you come back, but the UK government has no control over how countries are going to treat British visitors when they arrive. The UK transport minister, Grant Shapps, has been asked about this on BBC Breakfast.
PA Media reports that he said countries like Germany – with a lower domestic vaccine rate – are bound to be “more concerned” about letting people in compared with nations such as Malta.
Shapps told BBC Breakfast: “I think it is understandable if you are in Germany – I heard what the chancellor [Angela Merkel] said yesterday – and you have yet to reach the level of vaccination that we have seen here or in Malta, that you’re going to be more concerned.
“That may be just a question of waiting for their vaccination programme.
“I think different countries in Europe will take different views and, yes, I’m talking to my counterparts in different locations – Malta we know are keen to accept British tourists, Spain because we’ve got the Balearics.
“We’ll see what happens. I suspect different European countries will come to different conclusions, depending on their own domestic rollout of the vaccination programme, and it is probably in most cases a question of being patient and waiting to see what happens with their domestic programmes.”
Updated
Sydneysiders divided by Covid lockdown, united in confusion
Michael McGowan and Elias Visontay report for us from Australia:
The Australian Medical Association has called for Sydney’s lockdown to be extended across the entire city, as new stay at home rules announced by the New South Wales government sparked uncertainty among residents and businesses on Friday.
As the Bondi outbreak grew to 65 cases, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Friday that four local government areas – Woollahra, Randwick, Waverley and the City of Sydney – would enter a week-long lockdown.
The rules mean anyone in those areas can leave the home for only four reasons: shopping for food or other essential items; medical or compassionate needs; exercise in groups of 10 or fewer; and essential work or education.
“Anyone who has worked part-time or permanently in the four hot spots in the past two weeks are subject to stay-at-home orders. It doesn’t matter where you live. If you’ve worked in those four local government areas, you’re subject to the orders,” Berejiklian said.
Dr Omar Khorshid, the head of the AMA, called on Berejiklian to lock down all of greater Sydney, saying the rules were “confusing for many people in Sydney”.
“What we really need are clear rules for all Sydneysiders that say: stay at home so we can get ahead of this virus and stop further transmission,” he said on Friday.
Read more of Michael McGowan and Elias Visontay’s report here: Sydneysiders divided by Covid lockdown, united in confusion
Gaby Hinsliff writes for us this morning, arguing that no one should be penalised if they want to carry on working from home:
When lockdowns began to lift, this spring and last, some companies noticed a phenomenon of people coming into the office even when they weren’t obliged to, seeing it as a chance to hobnob with senior managers (often the only people still at their desks) and get one over on rivals still stuck obediently at home. The home worker’s perennial fear of being excluded from some loop that they didn’t know existed is seeping anxiously back, and may only increase when the “work from home” rule is finally abandoned (theoretically on 19 July, if the government sticks to its Covid roadmap).
Companies that are offering staff the freedom to choose whether they return to the office post-pandemic or carry on working mostly from home on a permanent basis may be doing so for the most generous of reasons. Yet as Prof Cary Cooper, the psychologist and president of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has pointed out, they risk inadvertently deepening the gender divide if it’s predominantly women with caring responsibilities who end up taking the home option. Unless men – young and old, senior and junior, fathers or not – also seize the chance to ditch the commute, move out of the city or make a lifestyle change, then the new flexibility will inevitably become associated with being on a “mummy track”, and be held against those who take it up.
Read more here: Gaby Hinsliff – No one should be penalised if they want to carry on working from home
Taiwan tightens border controls over Delta variant concerns
Taiwan will tighten border controls to keep out the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, authorities said on Friday, requiring arrivals from five countries, including Britain, to be placed in centralised quarantine facilities.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said that starting from Sunday, entrants from Bangladesh, Britain, Indonesia, Israel and Peru would have to spend 14 days in government-run facilities.
Ben Blanchard reports for Reuters that people coming from Brazil and India already face such quarantine, while all others must quarantine at home or in hotels for 14 days.
Taiwan’s seven Delta infections were all imported cases detected during quarantine.
The other thing that has been pursuing Grant Shapps in questioning on the airwaves this morning has been the overnight front page story from The Sun which claims that during the course of the pandemic, the UK’s health secretary Matt Hancock has been involved in a relationship at work.
Ooooof Grant Shapps struggling to explain why Matt Hancock shouldn’t resign over his affair. “Eeerrrr, ooooohhh, erm it looks like it happened after the unlock stage.” Eventually says he does have confidence in the health Secretary #timesradio
— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) June 25, 2021
Shapps: more information next month on international travel for the fully vaccinated
The other key thing that Grant Shapps, the UK’s transport minister, discussed on Sky News this morning was the touted idea that people who have had two vaccine shots may be permitted to travel to amber list countries more easily. He said:
We’ve met with the scientists and we’ve discussed this and we think that later in the summer, if you’ve had both vaccinations, then we may well be able to treat a location which is currently an amber country, as if it were a green country from the point of view of the double fully vaccinated, individuals. So that means you’d be able to come back, take the single test which is what you have with the green list, and not have to quarantine.
We need more information and data on this and there are some difficult issues to resolve as well, with regard to what happens for children, for those who can’t be vaccinated, and of course giving everybody the opportunity to have those vaccinations. I thought it was right to give people an indication and also direction or track that we were seeing and what we think might be possible.
He finished by saying that he would have more to say on that topic next month.
Grant Shapps tells #KayBurley the govt. "thinks later in the summer" Brits who have had both vaccines will be able to return from an amber list countries and not quarantine.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 25, 2021
He adds though more information is needed to resolve "difficult issues".
Live: https://t.co/NyurkkG1gg pic.twitter.com/Dkko5CoAIz
Shapps: UK people booking holidays should be aware of 'the risk of things changing'
There seems to be two main points that have come out of UK transport minister Grant Shapps on Sky News this morning. The first is the level of confidence that people can have booking holidays in the summer. He told Kay Burley:
I should just explain that the “green watch list” means you can go, it’s treated like a green list, but we’re just being completely open with the data that the scientists have given us and saying there are one or two concerns that mean that we might have to respond quickly. So we’ve said it’s the green watch list in order that people can see exactly what we’re saying about it. I do have to say whoever is booking to go anywhere this summer, you know, travel insurance, making sure your flights are changeable, making sure the accommodation can change, all those things are going to be very, very important this particular year. I think people will need to weigh up whether that is going to work for them or not.
"It's treated like a green list but we're being open with the data - it might mean we have to respond quickly."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 25, 2021
Transport Secretary @grantshapps says rules for 'green watchlist' destinations can change at short notice.
Latest on #COVID19: https://t.co/SI0ULdtcA5 #KayBurley pic.twitter.com/nPjXZhN57U
Pressed further on whether he personally would have confidence to book a holiday for his family, he rather side-stepped the issue by saying he didn’t think he’d have time for a holiday.
Sadly I don’t think I’ve got time at the moment to take a holiday, but you know if people are in a situation where, from next week they wanted to get away, then these are the places where you can go for the purposes of holiday. Of course, being aware of all the caveats about the risk of things changing, because with this virus, we know that happens.
.@KayBurley: Would you book a holiday to a green watchlist destination?
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 25, 2021
Transport Secretary @grantshapps says he 'hasn't got time to take a holiday' but adds individuals can make decisions depending on their flexibility.
Latest on #COVID19: https://t.co/SI0ULdtcA5 #KayBurley pic.twitter.com/2n2i5PsPpA
Good morning, it is Martin Belam in London here. I should imagine that most of the UK media round today is going to be taken up with reaction to the UK government’s decision to update the “green” list of countries for international travel.
It is UK transport secretary Grant Shapps who is being propelled from TV studio to radio studio to TV studio this morning. I’ll have some quotes from him coming up.
As a reminder, the green list additions come into effect from 4am on 30 June, adding:
- Europe: Balearic Islands (incl Ibiza, Menorca, Majorca and Formentera), Malta, Madeira
- Caribbean: Antigua, Barbados, Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada
- UK overseas territories: Anguilla and Montserrat, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Pitcairn, and Turks and Caicos Islands.
Several places are being added to the red list at the same time: Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Haiti, Mongolia, Tunisia and Uganda.
See you in Pitcairn, then, I guess?
Zimbabwe’s government has designated 11 rural areas across three provinces Covid-19 hotspots this week after a sharp rise in cases. The measures come as the country battles to contain a third wave of coronavirus.
Mashonaland West, Masvingo and Bulawayo provinces have been put into strict localised lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. The government had already declared hotspots in three other regions, the first in May and two others in early June.
A nationwide lockdown was announced in mid-June, the second this year. But restrictions in the hotspots are tougher than elsewhere in the country, with many businesses having to close at 3pm instead of 6pm.
Since Zimbabwe recorded its first case in March last year, semi-urban and rural areas have been considered safe zones, with most cases concentrated in the cities. But in May a rise in rural cases sparked concerns that local health services would be unable to cope.
This week, recorded cases increased 127% from the previous week, from 544 to 1,239. The country has recorded a total of 43,480 cases and 1,692 deaths, as of 24 June.
Despite a good start to its vaccination programme, Zimbabwe now has a severe shortage of vaccines.
Mashonaland West, home to about 1.5 million people, has been the hardest hit by new infections. The rise is believed to have been caused by little or no social distancing as tobacco and grain farmers travel to and from auction houses to sell produce.
“We were never a priority in the first place, which means they [the government] do not care about us. We are like lambs to the slaughter, coming here is now very scary. I hear cases are rising daily, we are not safe,” said tobacco farmer Cleopa Mushaninga, 50, from Karoi in Mashonaland West.
Read more of Nyasha Chingono’s report here: ‘We were never a priority’: Zimbabwe Covid ‘hotspots’ face strict lockdown
Hawaii to drop virus test, quarantine for vaccinated domestic travellers
Hawaii will from 8 July drop a requirement for pre-travel coronavirus testing and quarantine upon arrival for domestic travelers who have been fully vaccinated in the United States, Governor David Ige said on Thursday.
“Hawaii is expected to reach a 60% fully vaccinated rate by 8 July. Because of that, we will be able to safely relax some of the travel and social restrictions currently in place”, the governor said on Twitter.
“Social gatherings will increase to 25 indoors and 75 outdoors statewide. Restaurants can also increase to 75% capacity”, he said.
England's test and trace system ‘still missing targets’
England’s much-maligned multibillion-pound Covid test-and-trace system has improved, but is still missing targets and the results of millions of tests to find asymptomatic cases have not been reported, parliament’s spending watchdog said on Friday.
The programme, which was given a £22bn ($30.6bn) budget, was launched by Boris Johnson in May 2020 to oversee testing of those who thought they had the virus and then to trace the contacts of those who tested positive.
Critics say it has wasted huge sums and failed in its primary objective of breaking the chain of transmission.
The National Audit Office said the NHS Test and Trace Service (NHST&T) had expanded its capacity and improved its performance since a report last year found it was failing to meet its objectives.
But, there were still serious problems. During a surge in cases in December, only 17% of people received test results in 24 hours against a target of 90%, the NAO said.
• This post was amended on 25 June 2021. The test-and-trace system referenced is England’s, not that of the “UK” or “Britain” as an earlier headline and body text stated.
Updated
Japan to give 1m vaccine doses each to Taiwan and Vietnam
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday that Japan will give 1 million additional doses of AstraZeneca PLC vaccine each to Taiwan and Vietnam, Reuters reports.
He added that arrangements were also being made to send 1 million doses each of AstraZeneca vaccine to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Motegi also said Japan would start to supply 11 million doses in total to regions including Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia and the Pacific islands through the Covax joint venture programme from mid-July.
epaselect epa09272125 A resident rests for 15 minutes after receiving a jab of AstraZeneca vaccine in New Taipei city, Taiwan, 15 June 2021. Photograph: Ritchie B Tongo/EPA
Earlier this month Japan donated 1.24 million doses to Taiwan, followed by the United States giving 2.5 million to the island which China claims as its own territory. Lithuania is also donating 20,000 doses to Taiwan.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry expressed its thanks to Japan’s government, saying details would be forthcoming.
“It is obvious that the road to fighting the epidemic may be long, but Taiwan is not alone,” it said.
EU countries look to toughen restrictions on travel from UK
Boris Johnson’s plans to back summer holidays for the fully vaccinated face a stumbling block as Portugal’s prime minister became the first EU leader to suggest he would abide by Berlin’s calls for tighter Covid restrictions on British tourists.
As Johnson talked up the prospects of travel this summer, even declining to rule out a foreign holiday for himself, EU leaders in Brussels were debating how to respond to the highly transmissible Delta variant first identified in India and now dominant in the UK.
A summit communique issued in the name of the 27 member states said the bloc would “be vigilant and coordinated with regard to developments, particularly the emergence and spread of variants”.
António Costa, who opened up Portugal for quarantine-free breaks in mid-May to British tourists with a proof of a negative Covid test, hinted at a U-turn in his policy towards travellers coming from the UK as he spoke to reporters at the EU summit.
The Portuguese prime minister said his government had permitted UK tourists to enter the country in recent weeks on the basis of a low number of Covid cases. The UK now has the worst coronavirus case rate in Europe as a result of the spread of the Delta variant.
Daniel Boffey reports from Brussels with Aubrey Allegretti:
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
Boris Johnson’s plans to back summer holidays for the fully vaccinated face a stumbling block as Portugal’s prime minister became the first EU leader to suggest he would abide by Berlin’s calls for tighter Covid restrictions on British tourists.
Here are the other key recent developments:
- Malta and the Balearic Islands will be added to England’s green list of places that are safe to visit without requiring quarantine on return, British transport minister Grant Shapps said on Thursday.
- Mexico’s health regulator has given approval to US drug maker Pfizer Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine for use in children 12 years old and older, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Twitter on Thursday.
- African Union special envoy Strive Masiyiwa accused the world’s richest nations of deliberately failing to provide enough Covid-19 vaccines to the continent. Masiyiwa, the union’s special envoy to the African vaccine acquisition task team, said the Covax scheme had failed to keep its promise to secure production of 700 million doses of vaccines in time for delivery by December 2021.
- The pandemic, and responses to it, is pushing more people into drug use, while illegal cultivation could also get a boost as joblessness increases globally, the UN said. The Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said its report showed that drug markets swiftly resumed operations after initial disruption at the onset of the pandemic – demonstrating the resilience of the market amid record demand for many substances.
- The French president joined the German chancellor to urge EU countries to coordinate more closely on how tourists from outside the bloc are able to come, amid calls for all UK arrivals to the EU to have to quarantine.
- The World Health Organization forecasts that people most vulnerable to Covid-19 may need to get an annual vaccine booster to be protected against variants, but the evidence on its potential effectiveness is scarce.
- Japan’s emperor has voiced concern over the possible spread of coronavirus during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in an unexpected intervention in the debate over holding the Games during a pandemic.
- Ohio, the US state that offered millions of dollars in incentives to boost vaccination rates, is to conclude its program — still unable to crack the 50% vaccination threshold.
- A former soldier has fired gunshots in a coronavirus field hospital in Thailand, killing a 54-year-old patient after earlier shooting dead a convenience store employee, police said. The suspect, 23, was said to believe that the patients in the hospital in Pathum Thani near Bangkok were people dependent on drugs, who he despises.
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