Summary
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- US president Joe Biden said on Friday that Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations could go back up as new variants emerge, and urged people that now was “not the time to relax”.
- The decline in infections in the US may be stalling, and Covid-19 cases have been increasing for the past three days compared to last week.
- Vaccine hoarding by rich nations could threaten the supply for the global Covax programme for poor and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization warned on Friday.
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Brazil’s capital Brasilia will on Friday enter a ‘total’ 24-hour lockdown amid a worsening virus outbreak that is threatening to overwhelm hospitals.
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Israel’s drop in coronavirus infections has reversed and the country’s R rate is inching toward 1 again, as Israel continues to reopen its economy after exiting a six-week lockdown.
- The Czech government has approved a series of strict restrictions limiting people’s movement over the next three weeks and tightening shop and school closures in an attempt to slow fast spreading Covid-19 infections.
- Ireland added 13 mainly Central and South American countries to its 14-day mandatory quarantine list for arrivald from “high risk” countries.
- A panel of expert advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday voted in favor of authorising Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, which could soon make it the third available vaccine in the country.
- Argentina’s newly appointed health minister Carla Vizzotti said on Friday she had tested positive for coronavirus.
- Brazil on Friday registered 65,169 new coronavirus cases, as well as 1,337 further Covid-19 related deaths. The daily infection tally seven days earlier was 53,582.
- Nigeria and Honduras are both expecting their first vaccine deliveries from the Covax programme, with Nigeria set to receive 4 million doses next week and Honduras nearly 430,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in March.
That’s all from me, this blog will close shortly. Thanks for following along.
Updated
The British health secretary Matt Hancock on Friday defended the continued rollout of the UK vaccination programme in age order instead of prioritising other risk groups by occupation or ethnicity, saying it is the “fastest and simplest way to roll out the jabs”.
PA reports:
The Health Secretary said the view of the Government and its advisers was that “the right thing to do, the moral thing to do is to make sure that we save the most lives”.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that vaccination in order of age remains the quickest way to cut deaths, with age still a dominant risk factor for serious illness and death from Covid-19.
This means that phase two of the vaccine rollout, which is expected to begin in April, will start with people aged 40 to 49 before moving on to younger age groups.
Teaching unions have reacted angrily to the news, while the national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales said it was a “deep and damaging betrayal” of police officers, which “will not be forgotten”.
Mr Hancock told a Downing Street briefing the JCVI had looked at clinical evidence on who is at highest risk of death and also how quickly jabs could get into people’s arms.
Asked specifically why teachers are not being prioritised, he said data showed that “thankfully teachers are no more likely to catch Covid than any other member of the population who goes to work.
“Trying to come up with a scheme which prioritises one professional group over another would have been complicated to put in place and wouldn’t have done what we asked the JCVI to do, which I think is the right thing, which is to make sure we minimise the amount of people who die by using the vaccine.”
England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said that prioritising by occupations would “damage the pace of the vaccine rollout so much”.
[...]
He said other occupations were higher risk than teaching, including people working in catering as well as “metal-working and machine operatives, food, drink and tobacco process operatives, chefs, taxi and cab drivers”.
Argentina’s newly appointed health minister Carla Vizzotti said on Friday she had tested positive for Covid-19, one week after her predecesor resigned following reports that VIPs in the South American nation had jumped the line to receive vaccination shots early.
Reuters reports:
Vizzotti, who replaced former minister Ginés González García, said on social media she would quarantine for several days as she recovers from the illness. President Alberto Fernandez’s chief of staff Santiago Cafiero said he too would quarantine as a precaution after recent meetings with Vizzotti.
Argentines have been growing more frustrated with a slow-moving vaccination program wrought with scandal. Since December, Argentina has been using primarily Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine to inoculate frontline health workers, and deliveries have lagged far behind initial projections.
The country has also recently received deliveries from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm, as well as the Indian Serum Institute of COVISHIELD, its brand name for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
But those latest deliveries were quickly overshadowed by reports and government statements that revealed family members of prominent politicians had received early vaccinations.
Vizzotti has pledged greater transparency in the program, while the Attorney for Administrative Investigations has opened a file to look into whether there were any abuses of power.
[...]
Argentina has reported 2.1 million cases of Covid-19 since March of 2020, and more than 51,000 deaths from the disease.
Ireland added on Friday 13 mainly Central and South American countries to its 14-day mandatory quarantine list, which will soon require arrivals from countries designated as “high risk” to quarantine in designated hotels.
Arrivals from the countries will be allowed to quarantine at any address until the system is in place.
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela were added to the initial list of 20 countries.
The government says the measures protect the country from new Covid-19 variants after the more infectious B1.1.7 variant first detected in Britain recently became the dominant strain in Ireland, slowing the suppression of its deadliest wave to date, Reuters reports.
Brazil's capital to enter 'total' 24-hour lockdown amid worsening virus outbreak
The governor of Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, plans to announce a 24-hour lockdown for all but essential services on Friday to curb a worsening coronavirus outbreak that has filled its intensive care wards to the brim.
Reuters reports:
The drastic step came as right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly downplayed the gravity of the pandemic that has killed 250,000 Brazilians, renewed his attacks on state governors for destroying jobs with lockdowns.
“The lockdown will start today and be total, it will be 24-hours a day,” said a press aide for the federal district’s Governor Ibaneis Rocha, confirming that an initial 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. lockdown had been extended due to the health crisis.
Shops, pharmacies, gas stations, churches and funeral parlors will remain open, she said, but everything else will shut down, especially bars and restaurants blamed for increased contagion during the end of year and Carnival holidays.
Intensive care wards in Brasilia, the third-largest city in Brazil with 3 million inhabitants, are as full as they were at the peak of the pandemic last year, with more than 80% of the beds occupied, the health department said.
The situation is as bad or worse in cities across Brazil, with intensive care beds in the capitals of 17 of Brazil’s 26 states this week reaching the most critical level since the pandemic began a year ago, according to a report by biomedical center Fiocruz.
Bolsonaro, who lives and works in Brasilia, said governors imposing restrictions were doing Brazilians a disservice.
“What the people most want is to work,” he said on a visit to northeastern Brazil on Friday, one day after Brazil recorded its second-worst daily death toll. He threatened to cut off federal emergency pandemic assistance to states resorting to lockdowns.“From now on, governors who close down their states will have to provide for their own emergency aid,” Bolsonaro said.
'Not the time to relax', US president Biden says
US president Joe Biden said on Friday that Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations could go back up as new variants emerge, while traveling to survey the damage from a severe winter storm in Texas.
“It’s not the time to relax,” he said, at a visit to a vaccination center where Covid-19 vaccines are being distributed.
The governor of California, one of the worst affected states in the country, Gavin Newsom, said on Friday there was “bright light at the end of the tunnel,” as case numbers, deaths, and hospitalisations in the state have declined by more than a third over the past month.
The positivity rate for tests has also dropped from 7.9% to 2.7%.
The US has administered 70,454,064 doses of coronavirus vaccines as of Friday morning and distributed 94,300,910 doses.
The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday.
The country’s health agency said 47,184,199 people had received one or more doses while 22,613,359 people have got the second dose as of Friday.
A total of 6,933,071 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.
The Czech government has approved a series of strict restrictions limiting people’s movement over the next three weeks and tightening shop and school closures in an attempt to slow fast spreading Covid-19 infections.
The measures, coming into effect on Monday, include limiting people’s movement to only their residential districts, except for essential trips. Pre-schools will close and first and second-graders will shift to online classes like other students.
The government also reduced the list of essential shops that remain open, closing, for example, stationery stores or shops selling children’s shoes and clothing, Reuters reports.
Updated
A panel of expert advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday voted in favor of authorising Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, bringing it an important step closer to a US rollout.
The FDA is likely to authorise the one-shot vaccine within a day or so after receiving the recommendation of the panel, making it the third available in the United States, Reuters reports.
Israel’s drop in coronavirus infections has reversed and is rising again, as the country continues to reopen its economy after exiting a six-week lockdown.
The country’s R rate – expressing the average number of new infections caused by each carrier – is inching toward 1 again and currently is at 0.97, while the number of seriously ill patients remains high, according to a report released on Friday by the military intelligence’s national information centre on coronavirus.
Haaretz reports:
The R rate is expected to surpass 1 within a few days if this trend of rising infection and serious illness continues. When the R rate is greater than 1, every person infected spreads it to more than one other person on average, such that the virus is spreading instead of retreating.
The next steps planned for reopening the economy should be reconsidered, the report’s authors recommend, in light of the increase, which may be attributed to the spread of the British variant of the virus, and to a large portion of the population not having been vaccinated yet.
About 12% of those 50 and over (not including those who have recovered) have yet to receive the first dose of the vaccine, and the report cited a pronounced increase in the numbers of new patient in a serious condition among younger age groups, which now make up half of new serious cases.
The British variant, which has become the dominant strain in Israel since the exit from the third nationwide lockdown began, significantly increases the risk of infection, as well as the severity of the illness and the need for hospital treatment by 60% to 70% compared with the original coronavirus variant.
Police tried but failed to disperse thousands of people who gathered to celebrate the Purim holiday on the streets of Tel Aviv on Friday, despite the coronavirus curfew and regulations.
According to Haaretz, the parties were not organised but rather spontaneous gatherings of people who had bought alcohol from local bars and celebrated in the streets, with many not wearing masks.
Updated
Brazil on Friday registered 65,169 new coronavirus cases, as well as 1,337 further Covid-19 related deaths.
The daily infection tally a week ago, on 19 February, was 53,582.
On Thursday, Brazil recorded 1,541 deaths, the second highest daily toll since the pandemic began a year ago.
The country of 211 million people has recorded over 250,000 deaths so far, and well over 10 million infections, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the US and India and its second-deadliest.
Updated
The US House of Representatives is expected to approve president Joe Biden’s $1.9tn pandemic aid package on Friday evening, which includes direct aid to small businesses, $1,400 direct checks to Americans earning less than $75,000 (£62,000) per year, an increase in child tax credit, direct funding to state and local governments, funding for schools and more funds for vaccine distribution.
The stimulus package will come on top of about $4tn already approved under former US president Donald Trump.
CNN reports:
[The aid package] is expected to pass on a party line vote as House Republicans have urged their members to vote against the package and are seeking to limit defections.
Republicans have argued that the legislation overreaches and serves as a liberal wish list of agenda items and complain that they have been locked out of the process for crafting the measure.
[...]
Republicans say [the package] is too big and want something smaller, or that Congress should wait to see how the Covid pandemic progresses before deciding to send additional aid. Democrats are split over whether to include the minimum wage hike, which is a top priority of progressives but opposed by moderates in the party.
House majority leader Steny Hoyer told reporters that “one or two” Democrats could vote against the Covid relief bill tonight, but is confident the bill will pass.
“I expect to have overwhelming Democratic support for it,” Hoyer said. “Expecting unanimity all the time is a little tougher.”
Updated
Honduras will begin receiving nearly 430,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in March through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global Covax programme for poor and middle-income countries, the Honduran health minister said on Friday.
Reuters reports:
Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez had asked the WHO to make the Central American nation a priority for Covid-19 vaccines, citing the devastating effects of two recent hurricanes that pummelled the already weak economy.
Eventually, the vaccines via Covax are meant to inoculate nearly 2 million of the 9.5 million inhabitants in the small Central American country, where more than 4,000 people have died from Covid-19. The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two shots.
“I have been notified by the Covax mechanism that we are going to receive 428,400 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the third week of March until May,” health minister Laura Flores told television channel HCH.
Honduras began vaccinations for healthcare workers after receiving a donation from Israel of 5,000 Moderna vaccines.
The Covax shipment will let the country continue vaccinating medical staff and move on to other priority groups, Flores said.
Honduras has also ordered 1.4 million AstraZeneca vaccines, which it expects to arrive in May, and has ordered 70,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
Updated
England’s deputy chief medical officer has told people “don’t wreck this now” as he warned there were “some worrying signs that people are relaxing” in the batlle against coronavirus at “exactly the wrong time”.
PA reports:
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam alerted people who have already been vaccinated to the dangers of “taking their foot off the brake” and being tempted to break Covid-19 rules.
He told a Downing Street briefing on Friday: “All the patients that I vaccinate [...] I say to them, ‘Remember, all the rules still apply to you and all of us until we’re in a much safer place’. It doesn’t change because you’ve had your first dose of vaccine.
“And so, please don’t be tempted to think, ‘Well, one home visit might be all right now the weather is getting better, going to be a nice weekend, one small gathering in your house won’t really matter’.
“So my key message tonight is look, this is all going very well but there are some worrying signs that people are relaxing, taking their foot off the brake at exactly the wrong time.”
Prof Van-Tam said his inbox had been “besieged” recently with people asking “can I go and see my grandchildren and do X, Y and Z?”He said: “The answer to that is no.
“We are not yet collectively, as a country, in the right place.”He compared the situation to a football match, adding: “It is a bit like being 3-0 up in a game and thinking, ‘We can’t possibly lose this now’ - but how many times have we seen the other side take it 4-3?
“Do not wreck this now. It is too early to relax. Just continue to maintain discipline and hang on just a few more months.
“Much as it is encouraging and much as I am upbeat about vaccines and how they are going to change how we live and what the disease is like between now and the summer, there is a long way to go.”
Updated
France reported 286 further deaths on Friday, as well as 25,207 new infections.
A week ago, the country recorded 24,116 new cases, and 25,403 fresh cases were logged on Thursday.
The seven-day moving average of new cases increased to 21,608, a new 2021 high, according to Reuters.
French prime minister Jean Castex said on Thursday that the Covid-19 situation in the country was very “worrying” in 20 French departments and that stricter limits on movement will be enforced in those areas if infections numbers don’t improve.
Updated
A shipment of 500,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India is set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday, the chief executive of local partner Verity Pharmaceuticals said on Friday.
Verity’s chief executive, Howard Glase, said the shipment is not part of Canada’s allocation from the COVAX system, meant to ensure equitable vaccine distribution.
Canada has a separate procurement deal with AstraZeneca, which licensed the vaccine to Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine producer.
CBC reports:
After a months-long review, Health Canada regulators today approved the Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford University-AstraZeneca for use in Canada — clearing the way for millions more inoculations in the months ahead.
The department’s regulators concluded the shot has an efficacy rate of 62 per cent and have authorized it for use in all adults 18 and older.
“Overall, there are no important safety concerns, and the vaccine was well tolerated by participants,” the decision reads.
Canada has secured access to 22 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, most of which are slated to arrive between April and September.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand has said the government is trying to negotiate faster delivery of these doses now that new, more contagious Covid-19 variants are taking hold in Canada.
Mexico registered another 782 coronavirus fatalities on Friday, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 184,474, according to health ministry data.
The ministry’s data also showed an additional 7,512 confirmed cases, for a total of 2,076,882 cases.
A week ago, the country recorded 7,829 new cases and 857 further deaths.
The real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases, the government says.
A UNESCO World Heritage site in Poland is being used to help people recover from Covid-19, with patients going deep underground in the Wieliczka salt mine to a therapeutic centre dealing with respiratory illness.
Reuters reports:
Famous for its ornate underground chapels carved from salt, the Wieliczka mine, located just outside the southern city of Krakow, is one of Poland’s biggest tourist attractions, drawing around 1.8 million visitors in 2019.
But doctors say the micro-climate in the mine, which stretches as far as 327 metres underground, also helps people with pulmunory problems.
Magdalena Kostrzon, a doctor working at the mine, told Reuters that patients with respiratory illnesses have been coming there since the 19th century.
“The underground micro-climate is, above all, characterised by exceptional air purity,” she said.
“The air reaches here through a whole series of salt corridors... Thanks to this, it is cleaned of pollutants that are on the surface.”
For Jozef Biros, 58, who caught Covid-19 in November, the benefits from his stay in the mine are clear.
“Two weeks have passed and I will tell you that I am feeling better and better, both with breathing and physically,” he said.
“Even a simple thing like tying your shoes - I used to bend down and feel I have no air, but now I can tie my shoes no problem.”
Czech Republic calls month-long state of emergency amid rising infections
The Czech government has called a new state of emergency for 30 days starting from Sunday, gaining powers to curb people’s movement as it looks to sharply tighten Covid restrictions, the government office said on Twitter on Friday.
The move was expected after parliament rejected extending a current state of emergency earlier on Friday. The government was meeting to finalise new tougher restrictions as it seeks to slow a Covid-19 infection rate among the highest in the world, Reuters reports.
The government plans to ban movement between regions, with exceptions for travel to work or to look after a relative.
Nurseries and schools and some of the shops that have hitherto been allowed to open will also be forced to shut, Czech Radio reports:
The government does not plan to shut down factories and other workplaces but it will subsidise testing at companies.
The quarantine period is to be extended from ten to fourteen days, due to the more contagious variants of the disease.
The new restrictions would come into force on Monday and last for three weeks.
New York City schools chancellor Richard Carranza said on Friday he was stepping down as leader of the nation’s largest school district to grieve the loss of family members to coronavirus.
Reuters reports:
Carranza, who was tapped by mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018 to run the district of nearly 1.1 million school children, said he would depart on March 15 to take “time to grieve” after losing several family members and friends to Covid-19.
De Blasio named Meisha Porter as Carranza’s successor. Currently serving as executive superintendent in the city’s Bronx borough, Porter will become the district’s first Black female chancellor.
“This school system deserves a chancellor who 100% is taking up the helm and leading the charge to bringing everybody back in September,” Carranza said at a news briefing on Friday.
New York City schools have oscillated between a hybrid learning model and all-remote learning since the fall.
The mayor shut down school buildings in mid-November due to an increasing Covid-19 infection rate and has gradually brought students back to classrooms, starting with the youngest students. Earlier this week, middle school students returned to school buildings, while all instruction for high school students remains virtual.
The US urged vaccine-sceptical Tanzania on Friday to review evidence on the drugs, saying they work and are one of the tools to fight off the pandemic.
Reuters reports:
US Ambassador to Tanzania Don Wright said he was encouraged that authorities had recently acknowledged Covid-19 as a public health priority and had called on Tanzanians to take basic precautions to fend off the virus.
In a statement he urged the government to start sharing data about testing and cases “in order to know if response measures are having the intended impact”, and said the government should employ vaccines as an anti-coronavirus tool.
“There is no doubt that a mass immunization campaign will save lives,” he said. “I urge the government of Tanzania to convene its health experts and review the evidence on vaccines.”
President John Magufuli has been one of the world leaders most sceptical of efforts to combat the pandemic. He has also cast doubt about the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, saying last month that they “are not good. If they were, then the white man would have brought vaccines for HIV/AIDS”.
His government has said it has no plans to import vaccines.
Last week, the death of a senior politician who had tested positive for Covid-19 added to the concern about a hidden epidemic running rampant in the East African country.
On Sunday, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Tanzania to bolster public health measures, prepare to distribute vaccines and start reporting coronavirus cases and sharing data.
The government stopped reporting coronavirus statistics last May, at a time when it had registered 509 cases and 21 deaths.
On Febryary 10, the US embassy said Tanzania was experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases and that its healthcare facilities could be quickly overwhelmed.
On Wednesday, the health minister implored citizens to take precautions against Covid-19, including wearing facemasks, avoiding unnecessary public gatherings and washing hands.
Greece extends lockdown to more areas of the country
Greece on Friday extended lockdown restrictions to more areas of the country as the pandemic showed no signs of waning in the country, exactly one year after its first coronavirus infection was detected, health authorities said.
Reuters reports:
From Saturday, the islands of Lefkada, Syros and Samos, the towns of Arta and Amphilochia in western Greece, the wider area around Corinth in the Peloponnese and Heraklion on the island of Crete will all be in lockdown.
This means that schools, hair salons and non-essential retail shops must close.
“The pandemic is spreading at increasing trends with 260 Covid-19-related hospital admissions on a daily basis,” said Vana Papaevangelou, a member of the committee of infectious disease experts advising the government.
A full lockdown imposed in metropolitan Athens earlier this month remains in force.
“One year after the arrival of the pandemic we are still fighting the battle against an invisible enemy. We must persist until we win,” Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias told a health briefing. “We owe it to those we have lost.”
Vaccine hoarding by rich countries imperils vaccine access for poorer countries, WHO says
Countries seeking to procure vaccines for themselves are making deals with drug companies that threaten the supply for the global COVAX programme for poor and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
“[C]ountries are still pursuing deals that will compromise the COVAX supply,” WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward told a briefing. “Without a doubt.”
Reuters reports:
The WHO has long called upon rich countries to ensure that vaccines are shared equitably. The global organization is one of the leaders of COVAX, a programme that aims to supply 1.3 billion vaccine doses to poor and middle income countries this year. But so far, COVAX has had a slow rollout.
“We can’t beat Covid without vaccine equity. Our world will not recover fast enough without vaccine equity, this is clear,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“We have made great progress. But that progress is fragile. We need to accelerate the supply and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, and we cannot do that if some countries continue to approach manufacturers who are producing vaccines that COVAX is counting on.”
“These actions undermine COVAX and deprive health workers and vulnerable people around the world of life-saving vaccines.”
Tedros also called for countries to waive intellectual property rules, to allow other countries to make vaccines more quickly.
“If not now, when?” he asked.
The idea of temporarily waiving intellectual property rights for tools to fight Covid-19 is set to come up again next week at a meeting of World Trade Organization (WTO) member states. In the past, it has run into opposition from rich countries with big pharmaceutical industries.
Incoming WTO head Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria has said her top priority would be to ensure the trade body does more to address the Covid-19 pandemic, calling disparities in vaccine rates between rich and poor “unconscionable”.
Updated
A Johnson & Johnson scientist said on Friday that the company has received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one case of anaphylaxis, in people who had received the company’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Dr Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development and medical affairs at J&J unit Janssen Pharmaceuticals, said the case of anaphylaxis was observed in an ongoing trial of healthcare workers in South Africa.
There had not been any previously reported cases of anaphylaxis, Douoguih said. She was speaking to a panel of expert advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration which will vote later on whether to recommend authorization of the vaccine, Reuters reports.
Bank of America Corp said on Friday its employees in the US will get paid time off when it is their turn for the coronavirus vaccine, according to a memo.
Reuters reports:
Staff will have the option of two half days, for up to four hours each to complete vaccinations this year, according to the memo.
The policy is designed to accommodate the two-dose regimen current vaccines require, and total time off taken for the vaccinations cannot exceed eight hours in 2021, the memo said.
The move comes after Bank of America said in December it would extend benefits for employees who need child or adult-care services, offering reimbursements for caregiver costs.
Nigeria is expecting its first 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines next week from the global COVAX vaccine programme for poor and middle-income countries, the head of the World Health Organization mission in Nigeria said on Friday.
Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO representative in Nigeria, told a briefing by video link that the country was expecting 14 million doses in total.
Two-thirds of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses delivered to Belgium have yet to be distributed to vaccination centres, officials have admitted, as the country became the latest in Europe to report a sharp rise in coronavirus infections.
Belgium’s infections were up 24% compared with the previous week, at a daily average of 2,300. All age groups were affected except for over-80s, who have been prioritised for the jabs.
The development appears to be part of a worrying trend for health authorities across the EU, with the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) reporting that as of last Sunday 13 countries had seen a week-on-week rise in infection rates.
Angela Merkel said this week that Germany was heading into a third wave.
My colleague Daniel Boffey has more:
US infections beginning to plateau after weeks of decline due to variants
The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that a recent decline in Covid-19 cases may be stalling, and that Covid-19 cases have been increasing for the past three days compared to last week.
Dr Rochelle Walensky told reporters the development was concerning while urging that restrictions to fight the virus remain in place, adding the CDC was watching the data closely.
Walensky said:
CDC has been sounding the alarm about the continued spread of variants in the United States, predicting that variants, such as the B.1.1.7 variant, which is thought to be about 50% more transmissible than the wild type strain, would become the predominant variant of Covid-19 by mid-March. We may now be seeing the beginning effects of these variants in the most recent data.
Our estimates now indicate that B.1.1.7 accounts for approximately 10% of cases in the United States, up from 1% to 4% a few weeks ago and prevalence is even higher in certain areas of the country.
Earlier this week, new research came out about additional emerging variants in New York, the B.1.526 variant, and in California, the B.1.427 variant, that also appear to spread more easily and are contributing to a large fraction of current infections in those areas, adding urgency to the situation.
The White House on Friday also urged companies to join efforts to help fight the pandemic by requiring mask wearing by employees and educating customers, Reuters reports.
Updated
Italy reported 253 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 308 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 20,499 from 19,886 the day before.
A week ago, the country recorded 15,470 new infections. Overall, Italy has reported 2.9 million cases to date.
Some 325,404 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with 443,704 previously, the ministry said.
Italy has registered 97,227 deaths from the virus since the pandemic started, the second-highest toll in Europe after the UK and the seventh-highest in the world.
Patients in hospital with Covid-19, excluding those in intensive care, stood at 18,292 on Friday, increasing from 18,257 a day earlier.
There were 188 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 178 on Thursday. The total number of intensive care patients rose to 2,194 from a previous 2,168.
When Italy’s second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day, Reuters reports.
The northern region of Emilia-Romagna saw a new surge in infections, with 2,575 new cases detected over 24 hours, with 40,148 swabs. The average age of those infected is 42.7 years.
The last time cases rose this sharply was on 1 January, La Repubblica reports, when there was a peak of new positives of 2,629. A similar surge in infections previously only occured in November.
Mexican economy minister Tatiana Clouthier told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a virtual meeting on Friday that Mexico sees the United States-Mexico-Canada regional trade deal (USMCA) as an important tool for post-Covid economic recovery.
Clouthier added that Mexico is available to help US president Joe Biden review problems of supply chain interruptions that were triggered by the pandemic, Reuters reports.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and will be bringing you the latest news on all things pandemic for the next few hours.
As always, feel free to get in touch with tips, updates and comments, you can reach me on Twitter @JedySays or via email.
Summary
Here is a quick re-cap of some of the main Covid related events from around the world:
- Spain will give a single vaccine dose to under 55-year-olds who have already been infected with Covid-19, the health ministry has announced.
- India, which wants to vaccinate 300m of its 1.35bn population by August, has said it will let people choose their coronavirus vaccination centres when the campaign expands next week.
- Berlin school pupils will be allowed to repeat the current school year, in recognition of the disruption they have faced following months of home schooling. The regulation will apply to children in years one to ten, who are aged between six and 15-16.
- The European Medicines Agency, the EU’s medicines regulator, is reportedly poised to recommend Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine early next month.
The UK government has said a further 345 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Friday, bringing the UK total to 122,415.
The UK also recorded 8,523 more cases, according to the government’s dashboard.
Updated
The world’s financial leaders have met today, and are expected to agree to continue support measures for the global economy.
It is also expected that they will increase resources to the International Monetary Fund’s to enable it to help poorer countries fight off the effects of the pandemic.
Reuters reports:
Finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s top 20 economies, called the G20, held a video-conference on Friday. The global response to the economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus was at top of the agenda.
In the first comments by a participating policymaker, the European Union’s economics commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said the meeting had been “good”, with consensus on the need for a common effort on global Covid vaccinations.
“Avoid premature withdrawal of supportive fiscal policy” and “progress towards agreement on digital and minimal taxation” he said in a Tweet, signalling other areas of apparent accord.
A news conference by Italy, which holds the annual G20 presidency, is expected imminently.
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My colleague Rory Carroll has written about the global scramble for the Coronavirus vaccine.
He writes:
Vaccines against Covid-19 may represent a peak of human ingenuity and achievement – but that still leaves a sticky problem of etiquette: how should you behave during a global scramble for the jab?
When someone jumps the queue and gets vaccinated, do you condemn their selfishness, admire their chutzpah, ask for tips? When a friend or relative is way ahead of you in the queue, are you happy for them or resentful? Is yearning for vaccines a legitimate existential response or is it just a symptom of Vomo – fear of missing out on a vaccine?
These and other questions came to the fore this week as stories emerged of subterfuge, queue-jumping and tension along humanity’s new faultline, the jabbed and not-jabbed.
“You’ve stolen a vaccine from somebody that needs it more than you,” an Orange County sheriff’s deputy in Florida told two women, aged 33 and 44, who had put on bonnets, gloves and fake glasses to try to appear older and dupe their way to a second vaccine dose.
Updated
Spain will give a single vaccine dose to under 55-year-olds who have already been infected with Covid-19, the health ministry announced on Friday in the latest update of its national inoculation strategy.
Reuters reports:
The strategy update reads:
The duration of protective immunity to the virus after natural infection is unknown but studies show that administering a single dose to these individuals boosts protective immunity.
France announced a similar policy earlier this month while Italian politicians are debating whether to follow that path.
Spain had already advised that people within that bracket who do not have major health complications wait six months from their diagnosis before taking a vaccine.
As of Thursday, 2.2 million people from priority groups such as nursing home residents and staff, people over 80 and frontline medics had received an injection. Some 1.2 million of those had received a full course of two shots.
Just over 2% of Spaniards offered a vaccination have refused, including people who declined for medical reasons.
After an intense third wave of infection, Spain’s two-week incidence of the virus fell to 206 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday, down from almost 900 cases at the end of January.
The infection tally rose by 9,568 cases on Thursday to 3.18 million, while the death toll climbed by 345 to 68,468.
(Reporting by Nathan Allen; Additional reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Inti Landauro and Jonathan Oatis)
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World Bank president David Malpass on Friday urged countries to enter contracts for Covid-19 vaccines now so they could get delivery schedules, saying it was vital to get started in more countries and work through more channels, Reuters reports.
In remarks to Group of 20 finance officials, Malpass also hammered his push for greater transparency in the contracts signed by buyers, manufacturers and intermediaries to accelerate global vaccination efforts critical to contain the pandemic.
Malpass also underscored the importance of the G20’s climate agenda, noting that the World Bank was launching new country climate and development reviews to integrate climate into all its country diagnostics and strategies. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal)
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In England, key behavioural scientists have criticised the government’s decision to use dates in its proposed roadmap out of the country, saying it is a “dangerous strategy” that risks undermining adherence to Covid-19 rules.
The prime minister’s message that government policy around reopening would be guided by “data, not dates” could be overshadowed by the use of dates in the roadmap, said Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews and a member of SPI-B, the behavioural science subgroup of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).
“Data not dates has turned into dates not data,” said Reicher, who added that the choice of Midsummer Day for a possible return to normality was “incredibly powerful symbolic messaging”.
He said:
Because, whatever you say, once you announce clear dates you create facts on the ground which alter the reality, and create a situation [where] it’s very difficult to shift from those dates.
The full story here:
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Recreational venues in Finland’s capital region will be closed for two weeks to curb a rise in Covid infections in Helsinki and eight surrounding municipalities, it has been announced.
The Regional State Administrative Agency has ordered public and private gyms, indoor sports venues, saunas and swimming pools as well as other recreational areas to close from 1 March, according to Reuters.
Update: Moldova has not yet registered Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19, president Maia Sandu’s press secretary has said.
Sorina Stefirta told journalists that the Sputnik V vaccine would only be approved in Moldova after it had been registered by the World Health Organization, Reuters reports.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund and former Moldovan president Igor Dodon earlier said the shot had been approved (see this post).
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The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, on Friday signed into law a bill that gives indemnity to vaccine makers if their Covid shots cause adverse side-effects, days before the country starts its lagging inoculation programme.
Despite having one of the highest number of coronavirus infections in Asia, the Philippines will be the last south-east Asian nation to receive its initial set of vaccines.
Covid vaccine manufacturers would be immune from lawsuits for claims arising from the administration of the shots, according to Reuters.
In a statement, the presidential office said the law would fast-track the purchase and administration of vaccines.
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The Czech lower house has approved a bill giving the health ministry new powers without needing a state of emergency order, as the government laid out plans to “radically” tighten lockdown measures.
The country of 10.7 million has had among the world’s highest per capita rates of Covid cases and deaths in recent weeks, with new variants complicating the situation.
The so-called pandemic bill was supported by almost all parties in parliament and gives the health ministry the right to issue bans and orders, like closing shops or services, with the cabinet’s consent, Reuters reports.
Under previous laws, the government had that right only under a state of emergency, which needs lawmakers’ consent to run beyond 30 days.
The Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, said on Thursday people’s movement needed to be “radically” limited over at least the next three weeks (see this post from yesterday’s blog for more details).
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Reuters reports:
The Berlinale, one of the world’s most open and public film festivals, begins on Monday in a decidedly low-key, private fashion, being streamed to a select audience of journalists and industry professionals rather than playing to packed cinemas.
The organisers of the Berlinale, or Berlin film festival, now in its 71st year, have always prided themselves on running screenings that are open to an enthusiastic public, unlike Venice and Cannes, its main rivals in the festival calendar. This year, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, is different.
“It’s a huge blow,” said Scott Roxborough, Hollywood Reporter’s Europe bureau chief and a Berlinale veteran.
“Berlin is the biggest public festival in the world and it lives from its audience, the thousands of people in Berlin who go to watch the movies.”
Updated
The R number across the UK has not changed since last week and is still between 0.6 and 0.9, the latest government figures show.
The R value – the coronavirus reproduction number – represents the average number of people each person with Covid-19 goes on to infect.
An R number between 0.6 and 0.9 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between six and nine more people.
Updated
Moldova has approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for use against Covid-19, the TASS news agency reported on Friday, citing former president and leader of the Socialist party Igor Dodon.
“Deliveries of the vaccine to Moldova will start very soon,” Dodon wrote on his Telegram channel.
Canada’s drug regulator has approved AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, the third inoculation to get a green light.
The vaccine was approved under Canada’s interim order system, which allows for accelerated approvals, Reuters reports.
Portugal’s prime minister Antonio Costa said on Friday that he hoped a vaccine passport, allowing people to travel freely if they can prove they have been vaccinated, will be in place by the summer.
Speaking after a meeting with European leaders, Costa explained:
We are defendants of a measure on European scale, and it is with this objective that we work as presidents with the European Commission. The hope we all have is that by the summer it will be possible for this document to exist.
India allows people to choose vaccination sites
India has said it will let people choose their coronavirus vaccination centres when the campaign expands next week, unlike now.
The country, which has the world’s highest tally of infections after the USs, will halt vaccinations this weekend to upgrade software used to coordinate its campaign.
It is preparing to widen coverage beyond the 11.5 million health and frontline workers immunised since 16 January, according to Reuters.
The inoculation campaign has progressed slower than expected due to a reluctance of health and frontline workers to take the home-grown Covaxin shot that was approved without late-stage efficacy data.
India wants to vaccinate 300 million of its 1.35 billion population by August, and officials believe that giving people a choice of vaccines could speed up the rollout.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said:
The fundamental shift in this phase is that citizens in the identified age groups, as also those healthcare workers and frontline who have been missed out or left out of the present phase of vaccination, can select vaccination centres of their choice.
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Berlin pupils allowed to repeat a year due to Covid disruption
Berlin school pupils are to be given the opportunity to repeat the school year in recognition of the disruption they have faced after months of home schooling.
MPs for Berlin, one of Germany’s 16 states, voted in favour of a change to the law to allow all pupils in the German capital the chance to apply to repeat a year, or what’s known in German as sitzenbleiben, literally ‘staying sitting’.
Up until now, sitzenbleiben has not been something that pupils or their parents can decide upon themselves. It has often tended to be interpreted as a negative reflection of a child’s performance, carrying a degree of stigma with it.
The regulation will apply to children in years one to ten, who are aged between six and 15-16.
Parents who want their children to repeat, will be required to submit a written application to school heads, and will have to have a meeting with a school representative, to establish what is in the best interests of the child.
But the decision is not without controversy. In a recent joint declaration, a conglomerate of school heads protested against the plans, saying they feared an “organisational catastrophe”, including over-populated classrooms, a lack of teaching staff and a lack of classroom space.Some of Germany’s other 15 states are considering similar action.
Updated
Vaccinating people in order of age is the quickest way to reduce coronavirus deaths in the next phase of the rollout, according to experts advising the UK government.
People in their 40s will be next in line, followed by those aged 30-39, as priority based on jobs would be “more complex” and could slow down the programme, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said.
BREAKING: JCVI announces the priority groups for phase 2 of the vaccination programme, which will still be based on age not occupation.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) February 26, 2021
Teachers, police officer, supermarket workers will *not* be prioritised over anyone else.
This is how they’ll work through the age groups. 👇 pic.twitter.com/ybfov8tGk1
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Europe’s medicines regulator has said an antibody drug combination developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals can be used to treat Covid patients who do not require oxygen support and are at high risk of progressing to severe illness, Reuters reports.
The recommendation can now be used for guidance in individual European nations on the possible use of the combination of casirivimab and imdevimab before a marketing authorisation is issued, the European Medicines Agency said.
Poland will raise the upper age limit for people being given the AstraZeneca vaccine from 65 to 69, and will take Covid patients from neighbouring Slovakia, a health ministry spokesman has confirmed.
Wojciech Andrusiewicz told a news conference:
Today the health minister’s vaccination team recommended extending (the age limit) … Within an hour there will be a announcement from the health minister.
A number of countries have set upper age limits for the AstraZeneca vaccine, citing a lack of research into its effect on older age groups.
Andrusiewicz added that Poland would take in 10 Covid patients from neighbouring Slovakia, and stood ready to help the Czech Republic if necessary, according to Reuters.
Updated
Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be taking over the live blog now so please feel free to drop me a message on Twitter if you have any coverage suggestions.
Johnson and Johnson vaccines to get EU green light - report
The European Union’s medicines regulator is set to recommend Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine early next month, reports Bloomberg news.
Approval from the European Medicines Agency is expected on 11 March, an EU official was reported to have told the news wire service.
The move would pave the way for authorisation of a fourth Covid-19 vaccine, alongside those from Moderna, AstraZeneca and a partnership of Pfizer and BioNTech.
Updated
Ivory Coast was due to receive a shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from the sharing facility Covax today, becoming the second country to benefit from a programme meant to ensure fairer distribution amid a global scramble.
A plane carrying 504,000 doses was expected to touch down in the commercial capital Abidjan from 10am local time, according to the GAVI vaccines alliance, the World Health Organization and other partners in the scheme.
By the end of this year, Covax plans to deliver nearly 2bn doses to over 90 low and middle-income countries, hoping to even a playing field that has seen wealthier nations vaccinate millions while comparatively few have received shots in poorer parts of the world.
Updated
Mark Machin, the head of Canada’s largest pension fund, received a Covid-19 vaccine shot in the United Arab Emirates ahead of millions of Canadians, according to the Wall Street Journal, as sources in the Canadian government described it as “troubling.”
The chief executive of the $379bn Canada Pension Plan Investment Board arrived earlier this month in the UAE with his partner and received the first dose of a vaccine while Canada continues to have one of the developed world’s slowest rollouts, the WSJ added.
It reported “people familiar with the matter” had said that the 54-year-old received the Pfizer vaccine.
The same sources added that he has told contacts he used local connections to obtain the vaccines, and he has remained in the UAE where he is due to receive his second dose in coming weeks.
The Toronto Star and other outlets have updates.
UPDATE: Head of Canada’s largest pension fund says he received a COVID vaccination while on a “very personal” trip to Dubai.
— Laura McQuillan (@mcquillanator) February 26, 2021
Mark Machin told staff, after the WSJ reported he flew to the UAE earlier this month. He remains there awaiting his second dose.https://t.co/eY9l5oVr1L
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The circumstances in which the Dutch government introduced a Covid-19 curfew have been endorsed in the latest court ruling following a series of legal wrangles.
In a clear victory for the government over a group called Viruswaarheid – virus truth – that opposes the lockdown, the appeals court also said that the 9pm-4:30am curfew introduced on 23 January was a proportional measure to tackle the Covid-19 crisis.
The outcome will have little effect on the government’s attempts to rein in the virus as it rushed fresh legislation through parliament to empower the curfew after a judge banned the measure, which sparked rioting when it was initially introduced.
The Hague court of appeal said in a statement announcing Friday’s decision that the curfew’s limitation of constitutional freedoms “is justified” to tackle the Covid-19 crisis.
Rioting shook the Netherlands last month as protesters rampaged through towns and cities around the country after government introduced a night-time curfew.
More than 180 people were arrested on one night in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where shops were vandalised and looted.
Updated
German army doctors were welcomed in Portugal when they came to help fight the pandemic but the fact that they are working in a clinic owned by a Chinese conglomerate has drawn criticism, reports Deutsche Welle (DW).
The German broadcaster recalls that Germany was one of the first countries to react as pictures of ambulance queues outside Portuguese hospitals went around the world, and the government in Lisbon asked for help.
However, there has also been some criticism of the fact that they were not sent to help out in the overburdened state hospitals or at one of the makeshift clinics but to the Hospital da Luz, which is one of Portugal’s best-known and most expensive private clinics.
Portuguese authorities have said that the medics are also treating patients from the public health care system.
Updated
A US Navy warship operating in the Middle East has a dozen cases of the novel coronavirus, while another warship in the region is investigating whether some of its members are also infected.
The USS San Diego, which has the confirmed cases, is at port in Bahrain. It sails with about 600 sailors and Marines onboard.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, which carries 380 sailors, is expected to pull into port for further testing.
The US 5th Fleet posted a statement on Twitter:
From 5th Fleet: Once we became aware of possible COVID-19 aboard USS San Diego (LPD 22) and USS Philippine Sea (CG 58), we took immediate actions to identify, isolate, test & treat affected Sailors & Marines aboard the two ships.
— U.S. 5th Fleet (@US5thFleet) February 26, 2021
Full statement below. pic.twitter.com/u134lPZG3B
Updated
A wave of corruption scandals have been exposing how the powerful and well-connected in South America jumped the line to get vaccines early, the New York Times reports.
Public dismay is turning into anger, with the resignation of two ministers in Peru and another one in Argentina after receiving or giving preferential access to scarce vaccines.
An Ecuadorian minister also faces an investigation over the same issue.
The NY Times reports that the scandals mirror similar affairs in Spain, Lebanon, the Philippines and the US but in Latin America the brazen nature of some of the cases has exacerbated the outrage.
Updated
A British citizen has been sentenced to two weeks in jail and fined 1,000 Singapore dollars ($753) for breaking a coronavirus quarantine order in Singapore.
Nigel Skea is the first Briton to be jailed for flouting coronavirus rules in the city-state. A handful had their work passes revoked and paid fines.
Skea left his room at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore on three occasions last September, according to charge sheets. He was not wearing a mask.
On one of the occasions, he climbed an emergency stairwell and entered a room that his Singaporean fiancee had booked. They spent nine hours together.
Skea, who pleaded guilty to two charges of flouting the rules, arrived at the State Courts on Friday with Agatha Maghesh Eyamalai, whom he has since married.
Eyamalai pleaded guilty to one charge of aiding Skea. She was sentenced to a week in jail.
District judge Jasvender Kaur said the sentences were meant to send a “clear message” that restrictions should be followed.
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The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) recorded a deficit of $24.7m following the Covid-disrupted 2020 season, but its AGM has been told that National Rugby League (NRL) clubs and all state leagues have emerged from the pandemic financially secure.
The result comes after the NRL enforced drastic cost-cutting measures in response to the impact of Covid, including cutting a quarter of its staff across all roles in September.
The NRL also increased net payments for clubs by 300% to give them the financial support needed to stay viable and in a secure position for the future.
“This is in stark contrast to other sports which either reduced funding to their clubs or maintained the same level of funding in their clubs’ time of need, given the disastrous impact of Covid-19 on their other sources of revenue,” the meeting on Friday was told by Peter V’landys, the ARLC Chairman.
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The owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group, has reported a record €7.4bn loss for last year, and called for the introduction of digital health passes for passengers to enable the airline industry to get back on its feet.
IAG said that passenger capacity last year was only a third of 2019 and in the first quarter of this year is running at only a fifth of pre-Covid levels. The airline group reported a total annual operating loss of €7.4bn (£6.4bn).
“Our results reflect the serious impact that Covid-19 has had on our business,” said Luis Gallego, the chief executive of IAG. “The group continues to reduce its cost base and increase the proportion of variable costs to better match market demand. We’re transforming our business to ensure we emerge in a stronger competitive position.”
Updated
A poll in the in the Republic of Ireland has found there is strong support for reopening society and the economy as soon as possible.
The latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll also found that the zero-Covid approach, the focus of recent debate, is not endorsed by a large majority of respondents, who yearn for some kind of “normality” once the elderly and vulnerable people have been vaccinated.
The findings also recorded a widespread willingness to take the vaccine, with 80% saying they would take it tomorrow, and just 14% saying they would choose not to.
It comes as the head of Ireland’s health service, Paul Reid, has been reflecting on the past year. Ireland had “prepared well”, he said on Thursday.
But he added: “We all have to put our hand on our heart and take reflections on what hasn’t worked and what we could have done better.”
Updated
The Philippines’ health ministry has reported 2,651 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily increase in cases in more than four months, and 46 additional deaths.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 571,327, while confirmed deaths were at 12,247.
The Philippines, which has south-east Asia’s second-highest Covid-19 caseload will take delivery of its first vaccines at the weekend, allowing it to kick off its inoculation programme.
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A scientist involved advising the UK government has said there is little point in primary school children wearing facemasks.
Prof Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Radio 4: “Primary school children are the lowest risk both to themselves and to society.
“There is really good data coming out … that shows that children are half as likely to acquire the virus to a third as likely to acquire the virus.
“When it comes to transmitting they are probably half as likely to transmit it as adults. That risk actually gets smaller as you go into younger age groups. I am not a great fan of young children wearing facemasks.”
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Hungary could consider tightening some lockdown restrictions as coronavirus infections are expected to rise “drastically” in the next two weeks, prime minister Viktor Orbán has told state radio.
Orbán also said all the 2.5 million to 2.6 million Hungarians who have registered for Covid-19 vaccinations so far would receive at least one dose by Easter, in early April.
Orban said he hoped to get vaccinated with a shot developed by China’s Sinopharm early next week.
“We need to radically limit travels outside Europe,” Orban said, including business travel.
Orban flagged “very strict travel rules” to be worked out, and depending on the pace of new infections in coming days he said a tightening of current restrictions could become necessary.
The government has extended a partial lockdown until 15 March.
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The rights of children and vulnerable people in police custody are being put at risk during the pandemic by problems with the remote provision of legal advice, according to a report by charities in England and Wales.
While suspects here normally have a right to a lawyer being present during police interviews, research shows that legal support was provided remotely to children and vulnerable adults in more than half of 4,700 police station interviews during a snapshot period last year.
Charities say the potential for miscarriages of justices is being stored up as a result of issues such as confusion among interviewees who sometimes felt pressured to agree to getting advice remotely. They say consent was sometimes ignored or not sought.
Some solicitors refused to attend in person even though the child or mentally vulnerable client was accused of a serious crime such as attempted murder or rape.
The findings come in a report by three charities – Fair Trials, Transform Justice and the National Appropriate Adult Network – which are calling for an end to remote legal assistance in police custody. (Read on )
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Israel has administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to 50% of its 9.3 million population, health minister Yuli Edelstein has said.
Israel counts East Jerusalem Palestinians, who have been included in the vaccine campaign that began on 19 December, as part of its population.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip are not part of the Israeli campaign.
Edelstein said 35% of Israel’s population had received both doses of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, putting them on course to receive a so-called “green pass” with access to leisure sites that the country has been gradually reopening.
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Good morning from London. This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog now on a day when some of the first people to check into quarantine hotels after arriving into the UK from abroad are being ‘released’.
That comes as, separately, hundreds of thousands of people who were asked to shield in England are being invited for a Covid-19 vaccine jab.
The former Labour prime minister Tony Blair meanwhile urged the UK to take the lead in developing a new “health security infrastructure” that would ensure countries coordinate better in identifying emerging new threats as well as developing, testing and manufacturing vaccines and treatments.
World leaders could have cut the length of the Covid outbreak by three months if they had collaborated on vaccines, testing and drugs, he told the Guardian as he launched a report on preparing for the next deadly pandemic.
Items in the UK diary for the hours ahead include:
- 0930am The Covid-19 social impacts weekly survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
- 1000am Hearings into Covid-19 regulations breaches at City of London Magistrates’ Court
- Noon The ONS weekly Covid infection survey
I’ll be brining you coverage of those developments and continue to cover global news.
You can flag up any news stories that you feel we should be covering by emailing me contacting me on Twitter at @BenQuinn75.
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Summary
- The French prime minister, Jean Castex, has warned the government will impose new Covid measures, including weekend lockdowns in Paris and 19 other regions, from the start of March if signs of the coronavirus accelerating persist. France has also agreed with Germany to require coronavirus tests for workers commuting across their shared border.
- South Korea has launched its vaccination campaign. The first injections of the AstraZeneca’s vaccine were given to nursing home workers and patients across the country.
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Japan will decide on whether to relax its state of emergency in five prefectures on Friday, a week ahead of schedule, after a dramatic fall in new cases across the country.
- The former British prime minister, Tony Blair, says the length of the Covid outbreak could have been cut by three months if world leaders had collaborated on vaccines, testing and drugs. Blair, who was Labour PM from 1997 to 2007, urged the UK to take the lead in developing a new “health security infrastructure” that would ensure countries coordinate better in identifying emerging new threats as well as developing, testing and manufacturing vaccines and treatments.
- The Queen has said her Covid vaccine “didn’t hurt at all” and urged those wary of receiving the vaccine to “think about other people”. The 94-year-old was vaccinated along with her husband Prince Philip in January, telling health officials leading the rollout in a video call that she now felt “protected”.
- The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned against virus fatigue in member states. At a virtual summit, she reassured EU leaders over vaccine distribution, saying she would ban vaccines from leaving the EU if suppliers failed to deliver again.
- In the US, Joe Biden has hailed the 50m coronavirus vaccine doses given since he took office, but warned that the country must not relax. “We’re halfway there: 50 million shots in 37 days,” Biden said, referring to his ambition of 100m doses in his first 100 days as president. “That’s weeks ahead of schedule.”
- New Zealand has reported one new community case of Covid-19, though the infected person has been in quarantine since February 23. The latest Auckland outbreak, now a dozen people strong, has seen Australia declare the city a “hotspot” and close its borders to New Zealand citizens. Air New Zealand has halted all flights to Australia until Sunday, pending review.
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Let’s take a look at what the British papers are covering this morning, and the Queen’s Covid jab is spread across almost all of them. The Telegraph and the Mail both focus on the Queen saying not having the jab is selfish.
Friday’s Daily TELEGRAPH: “Queen says refusing vaccine is selfish” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/qBUwlOPgeg
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) February 25, 2021
Friday’s Daily MAIL: “Queen: It’s Selfish Not To Have Jab” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/lNxWmeUMVh
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) February 25, 2021
The Sun has “Right as reign”, while the Metro has “One is not immune”.
Friday’s SUN: “Right As Reign” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/RBVhQ9SHeG
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) February 25, 2021
Friday’s METRO: “One Is Not Immune” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Aqrrnpx3H7
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) February 25, 2021
The Mirror has “Do one’s duty” and the Express leads with “Queen’s shock message: do your duty … get the jab!”
Friday’s Daily MIRROR: “Do One’s Duty” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YHnwDPU0qP
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) February 25, 2021
The Times says “Vaccination passports ‘will be here by summer’”.
Friday’s TIMES: “Sunak’s tax raid on pensioners” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/lRePBZ6Rd5
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) February 25, 2021
The Guardian meanwhile has (School) “Heads tell of despair at mask and test rules”. You can read the full story on England’s headteachers fearing that the reopening of schools could be undermined because parents will not consent to Covid testing for their children and because guidance on the wearing of face masks in classes is unenforceable.
The front page also has a large picture Lady Gaga who has offered a reward of $500,000 for the return of her stolen dogs.
Friday’s GUARDIAN: “Climate impact fears as Atlantic Ocean weather system weakens” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/t5E7ISThde
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) February 25, 2021
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Tony Blair says pandemic could have been cut short by three months
The former British prime minister, Tony Blair, says the length of the Covid outbreak could have been cut by three months if world leaders had collaborated on vaccines, testing and drugs.
Blair, who was Labour PM from 1997 to 2007, urged the UK to take the lead in developing a new “health security infrastructure” that would ensure countries coordinate better in identifying emerging new threats as well as developing, testing and manufacturing vaccines and treatments.
“Had there been global coordination a year ago, I think we could have shaved at least three months off this virus,” Blair told the Guardian in an interview.
The report, The New Necessary, published by his Institute for Global Change, argues that in future, with the right international coordination and investment, the creation of a new vaccine could be achieved in as little as 100 days.
“The time that it’s taken for us to identify the virus, to develop a vaccine and to get it into production and distribution has been roughly, 15 months. And the result of that has been that the world has suffered a huge, catastrophic economic event as well as a health event,” he said.
You can read the full story here.
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The coronavirus has had wide-ranging impacts on people’s lives all over the world, but this story from North Korea is more than a little unusual, as Justin McCurry reports, from Tokyo:
In normal times, most diplomats can expect to end a foreign posting with an official – if not always fond – farewell from their hosts and a comfortable journey back to their native country.
But for one group of Russian envoys and their families, the coronavirus pandemic meant there was only one way home – under their own steam on a hand-pushed rail trolley.
A video clip shows some members of the group smiling and shouting for the camera as they push the trolley over the a bridge spanning the Tumen river, which divides North Korea and Russia.
Как заявили в МИД, дипломаты 32 часа ехали на поезде, затем еще два часа на автобусе до границы и затем — километр пешком с помощью дрезины.
— Новая Газета (@novaya_gazeta) February 25, 2021
➡️ https://t.co/jc6KmEOxhx
Видео: МИД России pic.twitter.com/K8UPWUrKev
A still image captures the trolley, loaded down with suitcases, as it makes it way through the wintry North Korean countryside.
A more conventional exit from North Korea has not been possible since the country closed its land borders and banned international air travel early on in the pandemic.
The country continues to insist – to widespread scepticism – that it has not recorded a single case of Covid-19, although it has reportedly quarantined tens of thousands of people in an attempt to prevent an outbreak.
“Since the borders have been closed for more than a year and passenger traffic has been stopped, it took a long and difficult journey to get home,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a post on social media.
The group of eight, including a three-year-old child, travelled 32 hours by train and two hours by bus from the North Korean capital Pyongyang to reach the Russian border on Thursday, the foreign ministry added.
The ministry name-checked the embassy’s third secretary, Vladislav Sorokin, as the trolley’s “engine” after he pushed it for more than a kilometre.
The group used the trolley to cover the short, final leg of the journey across the border and were greeted by officials on the Russian side before travelling by bus to Vladivostok airport.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 9,997 to 2,424,684, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday.
The reported death toll rose by 394 to 69,519, the tally showed.
Global deaths from the coronavirus pandemic have passed 2.5m, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and global infections are just under 113m.
Japan poised to end state of emergency in five prefectures
The Japanese government is poised to end its coronavirus state of emergency in five prefectures on Friday, a week earlier than scheduled, after a dramatic fall in new cases across the country.
Emergency measures, including requests for bars and restaurants to close at 8 pm, are expected to be lifted in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Aichi and Gifu prefectures, the Kyodo news agency cited government sources as saying. But they will remain in place in Tokyo and the neighbouring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba.
Officials will make a decision on Fukuoka’s possible exit from the state of emergency after reviewing the availability of hospital beds in the south-western prefecture, Kyodo said.
The state of emergency - Japan’s second since the start of the pandemic - began in 11 of the country’s 47 prefectures on 7 January and was extended for another month until 7 March. Tochigi, north of Tokyo, has already been withdrawn.
While Japanese authorities do not have the legal powers to impose restrictions on businesses or individuals, requests to shorten opening hours and avoid non-essential outings appear to be paying off. Companies have been encouraged to adopt remote working, and attendance at large events such as concerts and sports fixtures has been capped at 5,000.
Japan recorded 1,065 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, according to public broadcaster NHK, well below the daily peak of almost 8,000 on 8 January. Seventy-four deaths were attributed to the virus on the same day, down from a high of 121 in early February.
The government is hoping to lift the state of emergency in the remaining four prefectures as planned on 7 March, NHK added.
Health experts said the lifting of most restrictions should not be taken as a sign that life is returning to normal. “There is a danger it could send the wrong message that everything is all right now,” Toshio Nakagawa, head of the Japan Medical Association, said on Thursday.
In the US, Joe Biden has hailed the 50m coronavirus vaccine doses given since he took office, but warned that the country must not relax.
“We’re halfway there: 50 million shots in 37 days,” Biden said, referring to his ambition of 100m doses in his first 100 days as president. “That’s weeks ahead of schedule.”
But Biden warned that variants could continue to spread, leading to more cases and hospitalisations. He appealed to Americans to keep up with social distancing measures and wear face coverings.
“This is not the time to relax,” he said.
Biden admitted he could not say when the country would return to normalcy.
“I can’t give you a date,” the president said.
“I can only promise we will work as hard as we can to make that day come as soon as possible.”
You can read our full story here.
France and Germany agree border measures
France and Germany have agreed to require coronavirus tests for workers commuting across their shared border.
“Border closures are not on the agenda for now,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin after a video summit of EU leaders.
France’s hard-hit Moselle department was striking its own deals with Germany’s neighbouring Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate regions, Merkel said.
Covid-19, including the more dangerous South African variant, is spreading faster in the eastern Moselle region than elsewhere in France.
But she added that the case of Germany’s borders with the Czech Republic and Austria’s Tyrol region, which have been closed, was “very different”.
“It was the relevant German regional authorities who asked us” to block crossings, Merkel said.
Closing the French-German border in spring 2020 during the first pandemic wave created tensions between the two countries, even at the level of local populations.
In Australia, the state of Victoria will start easing restrictions after authorities deemed new locally acquired cases detected for the first time in a week in the state will not pose any public health risk. The state’s capital, Melbourne, had the longest lockdown in the world in 2020 – 110 days – and recently renewed some restrictions after cases discovered from hotel quarantine.
Permitted outdoor gatherings will now be increased to 100 people and households will be able to host up to 30 guests from 11.59pm on Friday night, though masks will remain mandatory in public transport, indoor shopping centres and supermarkets.
Crowds of up to 50% capacity will be allowed into the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground when the Australian Football League season starts, the highest permitted threshold in almost a year since all sports were suspended.
“It’s been a hard slog, but Victorians are doing what they do best as we work to beat this virus, staying the course and looking out for each other,” the premier, Daniel Andrews said.
Nationally, Australia has been reporting zero or low single-digit cases for the last several weeks after quashing outbreaks over the Christmas period through snap lockdowns and speedy contact tracing.
Updated
As I mentioned earlier, the first AstraZeneca jabs began in South Korea today, with nursing home workers and some patients at facilities across the country receiving doses.
Amid the rollout, the prime minister Chung Sye-kyun said authorities would extend social distancing rules by two weeks nationwide, including a ban on private gatherings larger than four people, to blunt a coronavirus surge.
Chung warned against large outbreaks before the general public begins to receive the vaccine.
“Sporadic cluster infections continue in our everyday life, such as in workplaces, hospitals, and family gatherings,” Chung told a government meeting on Friday. “We have a long way to go to herd immunity.”
Updated
Despite a tourism-dependent economy devastated by coronavirus shutdowns, Vanuatu’s Covid-19 vaccination programme will not inoculate most of its population until the end of 2023.
According to the ministry of health’s national deployment and vaccination plan, the first shots will be administered in April this year, but only the most vulnerable 20% of the population will get a jab in the first phase.
First to be immunised will be health workers, border control, immigration and quarantine workers, followed by public transport drivers and other key potential vectors. They will be followed by people aged 55 and older, and those over 35 with pre-existing health conditions that put them at greater risk.
The majority of Vanuatu’s population of 307,000, living across more than 60 islands, will not be immunised until 2023.
Government budget figures for the vaccine rollout forecast approximately 60,000 people being inoculated in 2021, just under 97,000 in 2022, and 161,000 in 2023.
You can read the full story here.
New Zealand reports one new Covid case
New Zealand has reported one new community case of Covid-19, though the infected person has been in quarantine since February 23.
The latest Auckland outbreak, now a dozen people strong, has seen Australia declare the city a “hotspot” and close its borders to New Zealand citizens. Air New Zealand has halted all flights to Australia until Sunday, pending review.
A KFC in south Auckland where an infected person worked has now been closed for deep-cleaning, and anyone who visited the restaurant between 3.30pm on 22 February and 12.30pm on 23 of February is being asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
Auckland remains at level one, with health authorities saying the recent outbreak can be managed by contacts of the cluster staying at home, rather than a city-wide lockdown.
Queen says vaccine 'didn't hurt at all'
In Britain, the Queen has said her Covid vaccine “didn’t hurt at all” and urged those wary of receiving the vaccine to “think about other people”.
The 94-year-old was vaccinated along with her husband Prince Philip in January, telling health officials leading the rollout in a video call that she now felt “protected”.
“It was very quick, and I’ve had lots of letters from people who have been very surprised by how easy it was to get the vaccine. And the jab - it didn’t hurt at all,” she said.
“Once you’ve had the vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you’re protected, which is I think very important.
“It is obviously difficult for people if they’ve never had a vaccine... but they ought to think about other people rather than themselves.”
More than 18 million people across Britain have now been jabbed as part of the vaccination drive that is seen as crucial in tackling one of the world’s worst outbreaks, which has claimed more than 122,000 lives.
You can read our full story here or click on the video below.
The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned against virus fatigue in member states and said that three variants – from the UK, South Africa and Brazil, were present in a number of states (all states, 14 states and 7 states, respectively).
At a virtual summit, she reassured EU leaders over vaccine distribution, saying she would ban vaccines from leaving the EU if suppliers filed to deliver again.
“If companies don’t fulfil their contractual obligations, yet do export, the commission may decide to make a move under the export regime,” Von der Leyen told the heads of state.
She said around 95% of exports were done by Pfizer and the rest by Moderna, but “both of them are honouring their contracts so that’s fine with us”.
She said there was “room for improvement” on the fulfilment of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine and the EU had “a very close eye on that”.
You can read our full story here, and see an except of what she said below.
Updated
Mainland China reported six new Covid cases had been identified on Thursday, down from seven cases a day earlier.
In its daily statement, the National Health Commission said on Friday that all of 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 six from nine cases a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed Covid cases in mainland China now stands at 89,877, according to official figures, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.
Israel has stopped its plan to distribute surplus coronavirus vaccines as authorities examined whether it was in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authority to order the move, the justice ministry said Thursday.
AFP reports that on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel would send a “limited quantity” of vaccines to the Palestinians and several countries, including two that have announced plans to boost their diplomatic presence in Jerusalem.
But late on Thursday, the justice ministry said that following requests from the public to look into the issue, “the attorney general was examining the claim that vaccines were transferred to foreign countries without authority.”
The defence minister, Benny Gantz, had said earlier on Thursday that while the decision to give vaccines to the Palestinian Authority followed “due process” and was in Israel’s medical interests, “supplying vaccines to other countries was never broached in relevant forums.”
Gantz, who like Netanyahu is facing an election in March, said the issue must be first discussed by the security cabinet, claiming the policy was pushed through without the required consultation making it “against the law.”
While many countries are struggling with vaccine supply, Israel has avoided shortages since launching inoculations in December.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu said the vaccines to be given were “symbolic numbers” of surpluses that “wouldn’t come at the expense of even one vaccine of an Israeli citizen,” and bore diplomatic weight.
Most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv, pending a resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians, who claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
But Netanyahu, who describes Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s “undivided capital”, cheers nations that conduct diplomacy with Israel from the disputed city.
Updated
The Bosnian government on Thursday denounced delays in the global Covax vaccine scheme, as infections worsen in the country which has received very few inoculation doses.
The government said it had been informed that Pfizer is seeking further consultations on the cooling chain and administrative procedures for delivering the vaccines. (The Pfizer jabs must be kept supercooled in transit and storage to remain effective.)
But the Bosnian authorities have dismissed what they see as a pretext for delaying the delivery until April of doses due to arrive in the first quarter of the year.
So far Bosnia has received just 2,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which it ordered directly.
“It’s not true that Bosnia lacks the capacity to take charge of the vaccine. It’s just an excuse,” said Milorad Dodik, the current holder of Bosnia’s rotating tripartite presidency.
After meeting with other national leaders he evoked the possibility of suing the Covax management for damages “if the agreed deadlines are not respected”.
South Korea begins vaccinations
South Korea has launched its vaccine campaign, with the first jabs of the AstraZeneca’s injection going to nursing home workers and patients across the country.
Authorities will on Saturday begin administering 117,000 doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine to around 55,000 healthcare workers in coronavirus treatment facilities.
France to consider regional lockdowns
France will impose measures including weekend lockdowns in Paris and 19 other regions from the start of March if signs of the coronavirus accelerating persist, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.
Castex said a new nationwide lockdown was not on the agenda, but said French citizens needed to be in a state of heightened alert to make sure they contain the spread of the virus while vaccines are rolled out.
“The country’s health situation has deteriorated over the past few days. We should only resort to a lockdown when we have no other choice,” he said in a televised address.
“We must do all that we can to delay it, to give time to the vaccination campaign to yield its effects,” Castex added.
The prime minister said the spread was worrying in 20 French departments - the country’s administrative regions - including Paris and the surrounding region.
He said those regions would now be subject to heightened scrutiny by public health officials.
If a week from now it was determined that infection rates were still rising in those regions, measures will be put in place, from March 6, similar to those in force in the cities of Nice and Dunkirk.
There, local authorities have imposed stay-at-home orders at weekends, stepped up checks at airports, cracked down on people gathering in public places and tightened rules on wearing masks outside.
France reported 25,403 additional new cases over the last 24 hours, versus 22,501 a week ago.
Despite that, Castex said there were reasons to believe life in France could back to normal “in the coming months” thanks to the ongoing vaccination campaign.
Updated
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, with me, Alison Rourke.
Before we kick off, here’s a summary of the top points so far:
- The French prime minister, Jean Castex, has warned the government will impose new Covid measures, including weekend lockdowns in Paris and 19 other regions, from the start of March if signs of the coronavirus accelerating persist
- South Korea has launched its vaccination campaign. The first injections of the AstraZeneca’s vaccine were given to nursing home workers and patients across the country.
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The Queen has said that getting her Covid shot did not hurt at all and urged those hesitant about getting the jab to “think about other people rather than themselves”. In the extraordinary intervention, the 94-year-old monarch, whose private health matters are rarely discussed publicly, marks a significant endorsement of the UK’s vaccination programme and furthers efforts by the government, NHS and other members of the royal family to address vaccine hesitancy across the country.
- One year after the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Brazil, the country passed 250,000 Covid-19 deaths, with the virus still spreading freely as a national vaccination drive struggles to gain momentum. The country is facing a new stage of the pandemic with variants of the virus that are three times more contagious, the health minister Eduardo Pazuello said. Among them a new variant from Amazonas state, which has caused international alarm and has been identified in at least 17 Brazilian states, in addition to variants first identified in the UK and South Africa.
- Israel is to put on hold its programme to send Covid vaccines abroad amid legal scrutiny, according to Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz, following criticism at home and abroad of so-called vaccine diplomacy after it planned to send token amounts of jabs to foreign allies rather than Palestinians .
- Amid criticism from members of the European parliament, AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot said he hoped to meet its “best efforts” commitments on the number of Covid vaccines the company could deliver in the second quarter, after big cuts in the first three months of the year.
- The African Union is backing calls for drugmakers to waive some intellectual property rights on Covid-19 medicines and vaccines to speed up their rollout to poor countries, but a pharmaceutical industry association claims managing the complex logistics of rolling out vaccines was what was slowing down jabs – although lower yields are hitting supply.
- Four out of five of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses delivered to EU countries are yet to be used on a patient, as the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, admitted to an “acceptance problem” among Europeans being offered the jab.
- Bahrain became the first nation to authorise Johnson & Johnson’s new single-dose coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, the government announced.
- Cyprus is to reopen high schools, gyms, pools, dance academies and art galleries on Monday in a further, incremental easing of the country’s second nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said that an independent panel found the company’s Covid antibody cocktail to have “clear clinical efficacy” in reducing the rates of hospitalisation and deaths in patients .
- China denied that it subjected US diplomats to Covid-19 anal swab tests following reports from Washington that some of its personnel were being made to undergo the procedure.
- The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, reported that its annual profits were cut by half last year as bars and pubs closed around the world due to the pandemic, though it still made almost $4bn net profit as “consumers rapidly adjusted to the new reality by shifting to in-home consumption occasions”.
