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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Clea Skopeliti (now) Matthew Weaver and Helen Sullivan (earlier)

UK sets new record of 873,784 daily vaccinations – as it happened

The UK administered 873,784 vaccinations on Saturday.
The UK administered 873,784 vaccinations on Saturday. Photograph: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:

Half of British workers had a real-terms pay cut in the year to autumn 2020, despite official figures showing the fastest earnings growth in almost two decades, research by the Resolution Foundation suggests.

The thinktank said official figures on average weekly earnings had been “hugely disrupted” by the large number of workers furloughed, and that the headline rates were “too good to be true”.

Data showing average weekly earnings growth of 4.5% in late 2020 – its highest level since 2002 – did not reflect how pay packets had changed, it said, and was distorted by changes in the makeup of the workforce, with many in low-paid work losing jobs during the pandemic.

Summary

  • Germany is considering extending restrictions into April, with a memo suggested it should be lengthened because of rising infection rates driven by virus variants.
  • There have been a further 5,312 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data, and 33 deaths – the lowest fatality count since early October.
  • Public Health England’s head of immunisation has said “lower-level” restrictions such as social distancing rules and face masks may be required for “a few years”.
  • Cuba will vaccinate 150,000 key workers with its Covid-19 vaccine candidate as part of the final stage of its clinical trial, authorities have said, as cases rise.
  • Turkey has reported a further 20,428 cases, taking the number of infections registered since the pandemic began beyond 3 million.
  • Greece has ended its ban on flights from Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia, the civil aviation authority announced on Sunday in a statement reported by Reuters.
  • The Palestinian Authority is stepping up is vaccination drive after about 60,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca doses arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank via the Covax scheme.
  • South Africa has sold 1m Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses to the African Union, the health ministry announced on Sunday in a statement reported by AFP, after it suspended its rollout of the jab.
  • China has sent Niger 400,000 doses of its Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.
  • Brazil will no longer require local authorities to keep half their Covid-19 vaccine stockpiles for second doses as it seeks to hasten its lagging vaccination campaign amid a deadly surge.

Updated

A smooth rollout of Covid-19 vaccines globally would boost the Australian economy by $17bn and create almost 40,000 jobs, new research has forecasted.

However, the modelling by KPMG Economics also found that international travel restrictions until 2022 would depress trade and Australian growth by $4 billion, leading to 13,100 fewer jobs, AP reports.

“From an Australian perspective, our modelling shows the relative importance of service exports to the economy, especially the benefit associated with foreign students and inbound tourism,” KPMG Australia chief economist Brendan Rynne said.

“A global delay in the rollout of vaccinations and the subsequent opening up of international borders would have a disproportionately larger negative effect on Australia.”

Brazil change policy to prioritise more first doses

Brazil will no longer require local authorities to keep half their Covid-19 vaccine stockpiles for second doses as it seeks to hasten its lagging vaccination campaign amid a deadly surge.

The new policy aims to give at least one vaccine dose to the maximum number of people as quickly as possible, outgoing health minister Eduardo Pazuello said in a statement reported by AFP.

“By freeing the full stockpile of vaccines for immediate use, we will be able to double the number of doses applied this week, saving and protecting more lives,” Pazuello said.

The Latin American country, which has the second-highest death toll globally, is using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and Chinese-developed CoronaVac, both of which require two doses.

Updated

China has sent Niger 400,000 doses of its Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. AFP reports:

A cargo plane carrying the jabs, as well as 300,000 antigen tests, masks and protective equipment arrived at Niamey airport, the ministry said.

It would start rolling out its vaccination campaign “from 27 March”, the ministry said, adding that the political authorities, healthcare personnel, the army and security forces and people aged over 60 would be given priority.

Niger has reported 4,918 cases and 185 deaths from coronavirus so far, according to official figures published on Saturday.

The country took drastic measures when the first few cases emerged in March 2020, shutting its borders, declaring a state of emergency, introducing curfews, and closing churches and schools.

Updated

Brazil registered a further 47,774 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, as well as with 1,290 deaths, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.

The daily figures are a rise on last Sunday’s, when the country reported 43,812 infections and 1,127 deaths.

Ministry figures show that Brazil has recorded nearly 12 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll stands at 294,042.

Mexico reported 2,133 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and 209 more fatalities, its health ministry said on Sunday as reported by Reuters.

This compares with 2,415 cases and 220 deaths reported a week ago.

Sunday’s figures bring the total number of infections to 2,195,772, while 198,036 deaths have been recorded in the country since the pandemic began.

The real numbers of infected people and deaths are likely significantly higher than the official count, the ministry has said.

Elections in the Republic of Congo went forward on Sunday as the leading opposition candidate was transferred to France after suffering complications from Covid-19.

President Denis Sassou N’Guesso is expected to extend his 36 year rule, AP reports.

Sassou N’Guesso said the government had arranged for opposition candidate Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas’im to be flown to France for additional treatment.

The watchdog group NetBlocks reported an internet blackout that began in the Central African country around midnight on election day.

Congo Republic’s presidential electionElectoral agents count the ballots at a polling station during the presidential election in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Electoral agents count the ballots at a polling station during the presidential election in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. Photograph: Olivia Acland/Reuters

Updated

Protesters gathered for a demonstration demanding an end to coronavirus restrictions in Kassel, central Germany:

A model of the coronavirus is seen attached to a sign during a protest against the government’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Kassel, Germany March 20, 2021.
A model of the coronavirus is seen attached to a sign during a protest against the government’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Kassel, Germany March 20, 2021. Photograph: Thilo Schmülgen/Reuters
Several thousand critics and so-called ‘Querdenker’ from all over Germany were expected to take part in the protest organised by the group ‘Freie Buerger Kassel’.
Several thousand critics and so-called ‘Querdenker’ from all over Germany were expected to take part in the protest organised by the group ‘Freie Buerger Kassel’. Photograph: Armando Babani/AFP/Getty Images

Public Health England’s head of immunisation has said “lower-level” restrictions such as social distancing rules and face masks may be required for “a few years”.

Asked if she expected certain restrictions such as face coverings and distancing to continue, Dr Mary Ramsay told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show:

I think we are talking about quite a long period of time. We may eventually get back to a much more normal situation but I think people have got used to those lower-level restrictions now and I think people can live with them and the economy can still go on with those restrictions, with those less severe restrictions in place.

So I think certainly for a few years, at least until other parts of the world are as well vaccinated as we are and the numbers have come down everywhere, that’s when we may be able to go very gradually back to a more normal situation.

Updated

Lifting the UK’s ban on foreign holidays in the coming months could risk another lockdown next winter, Boris Johnson is being warned, amid mounting alarm about a third wave of infections sweeping continental Europe.

Scientific experts and opposition politicians are urging the government to be extremely cautious before loosening travel restrictions, with their concerns about the prevalence of new variants of the virus overseas increasingly shared by Whitehall.

“I don’t think people should be planning on summer holidays abroad until next year,” said Prof Kamlesh Khunti, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and Independent Sage at the University of Leicester.

Read Heather Stewart, Ian Sample and Daniel Boffey’s report here:

Updated

South Africa sells 1m AstraZeneca shots to African Union

South Africa has sold 1m AstraZeneca vaccine doses to the African Union, the health ministry announced on Sunday in a statement reported by AFP, after it suspended its rollout of the jab.

The country halted its vaccination programme with the candidate after doubts were raised over that vaccine’s efficacy against a virus variant discovered locally.

The WHO has since said the AstraZeneca jab can be used against all variants.

The doses will be distributed to 14 other African nations.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement: “The first batch of vaccines that is being delivered will benefit 9 (AU) member states. The balance will be collected this week to be delivered to 5 other countries.”

Updated

Britain’s Covid vaccine programme faces a two-month delay in the event of an EU export ban, derailing the government’s plans to reopen the economy this summer, an analysis for the Guardian reveals.

A ban, due to be debated by leaders of the 27 EU member states on Thursday, would badly stall the UK vaccination effort, and would be likely to force the government to extend restrictions on people’s lives.

It would not, however, provide a significant boost to EU member states’ troubled programmes, according to a report by the data analytics company Airfinity.

The Palestinian Authority is stepping up is vaccination drive, AFP reports:

Thousands of Palestinian health workers, the elderly, and patients with cancer or kidney disease were set to get Covid-19 vaccines from Sunday as the health ministry ramped up its inoculation campaign.

The rollout came days after some 60,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca doses arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank via the Covax scheme of the World Health Organization and the United Nation’s children agency (Unicef).

Cases of Covid-19 have spiked in the enclave in recent weeks, sparking a flood of patients hospital officials say they are struggling to treat.

“The vaccination will help to prevent a breakdown of the health system,” said Tor Wennesland, the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process. “It’s a very important first step forward and it will help.”

Updated

Italy reported a further 20,159 Covid-19 cases and 300 deaths on Sunday, Reuters reports.

This compares with 21,304 infections and 264 deaths a week ago.

The country has recorded 104,942 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak began in February last year – Europe’s second-highest toll after the UK and the seventh-highest in the world.

Italy has registered a total of 3.376m cases.

Updated

The mother who successfully campaigned for Dominic Cummings to change lockdown restrictions for single parents has said the economic future of one-parent families such as hers risks being set back years by the pandemic if they do not receive targeted help.

Ruth Talbot, the founder of the campaign group Single Parent Rights, said the “systematic discrimination, which goes back generations”, would worsen as a result of the impact of the coronavirus. This is unless urgent action is taken to reduce these inequalities, including adding single parents to the Equality Act as a protected characteristic.

Talbot said: “Although the pandemic had brought about challenges for all families, for single parents in particular it has highlighted just how invisible we are.” The pandemic represented a turning point in regards to tackling the structural barriers and inequalities single parents faced, she added. Single mothers make up 90% of lone-parent household in the UK.

Updated

Greece has ended its ban on flights from Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia, the civil aviation authority announced on Sunday in a statement reported by Reuters.

All passengers travelling from abroad will have to show a negative Covid-19 test and then self-isolate for seven days.

People flying from the UK and the United Arab Emirates will be required to take a rapid test when they arrive in Greece, the authority said, and Britons will also have to take another test after the quarantine period ends.

Turkey passes 30m cases

Turkey has reported a further 20,428 cases, taking the number of infections registered since the pandemic began beyond 3m, Reuters reports.

The country also reported 102 deaths on Sunday – the first time the daily figure has risen above 100 since early February. The death toll now stands at 30,061.

A total of 3,013,122 infections have been recorded since the country’s outbreak started.

Updated

Cuba will vaccinate 150,000 key workers with its Covid-19 vaccine candidate as part of the final stage of its clinical trial, authorities have said as cases rise.

Frontline workers including healthcare staff will receive Soberana 2, Cuba’s leading vaccine candidate, from Monday, according to Reuters.

Soberana 2 has been in the trial’s final phase for the past three weeks involving 44,000 volunteers from the public.

“Cuba could immunise 150,000 people immediately from Covid-19, as the phase 3 trial of this vaccine is demonstrating it is very safe,” the foreign trade and investment minister, Rodrigo Malmierca, tweeted.

Updated

UK reports 5,312 cases, 33 deaths

There have been a further 5,312 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data – compared with 4,618 cases last Sunday.

A cumulative total of 4,296,583 people have tested positive since the pandemic began.

A further 33 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported – the lowest daily figure since early October. This takes the total to 126,155, and compares with 52 last Sunday.

The seven-day rolling average, which evens out reporting irregularities in the daily figures, shows that cases are down by 4.4% compared with the previous week (8-14 March).

Fatalities have decreased by 36.9% by the same measure.

There have been 146,487 deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned as a cause on the death certificate, registered up to 5 March.

Sunday figures are often lower because of reporting delays over the weekend.

Updated

Germany considering extending lockdown into April despite protests

Germany is considering extending restrictions into April despite street protests, AFP reports.

A memo from several of Germany’s regions, seen by AFP, said the country’s partial lockdown should be extended into April because of rising infection rates driven by Covid variants.

Travel needs to be cut to a minimum, with quarantines and negative tests required for those re-entering Germany, the memo warned.

The prospect of further curbs will infuriate the thousands of protesters who marched against existing restrictions in the Germany city of Kassel on Saturday.

Police there used water cannon, batons and pepper spray to disperse the crowds, which they estimated to number up to 20,000.

The march was organised by activists from both the far left and the far right, as well as peddlers of baseless conspiracy theories about the pandemic and vaccines.

Updated

Bike retailers and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand as the cycling boom kicked off by the pandemic rolls into 2021, with customers falling on available stock “like pirahanas”, according to one big retailer.

UK bicycle sellers said stock was being snapped up within days of arriving at ports even before the market hits its peak selling season, which usually begins at Easter.

“The cycle market has gone beserk,” said Peter Lazarus head of cycling at sports retailer Decathlon in the UK, who added that container loads of bikes were selling out within days as shoppers were setting up online alerts for the items they wanted. “The minute you get stock in they are like piranhas on a fish. Demand is huge,” he said.

Read more here:

Summary

Here’s a roundup of the latest developments:

  • The UK administered 873,784 vaccines on Saturday, a second daily record in as many days, the government said. “This mammoth team effort shows the best of Britain,” the health secretary, Matt Hancock said.
  • The UK’s defence secretary has hinted that restrictions on foreign travel could be extended to the summer. Ben Wallace said: “We can’t be deaf and blind to what’s going on outside the United Kingdom,” as he warned of the risk of importing new variants.
  • EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness could not rule out a block on vaccine exports to the UK. She said: “Everything is on the table ... European citizens are growing angry and upset at the fact that the vaccine rollout has not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated.” Wallace said any block would be “counterproductive”.
  • Steve Baker said he would be voting against the government’s plan to extend coronavirus restrictions in this week’s Commons vote. The deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group said the restrictions were “excessive and disproportionate” and “squandered” the success of the vaccine programme.
  • Germany is considering making all people returning from abroad face quarantine and compulsory tests after infection rates jumped above the level at which authorities say hospitals will be overstretched. The Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases said the number of cases per 100,000 population over a week stood at 103.9, above the 100 threshold at which intensive care units can no longer keep up.
  • The transport minister of the Houthi-controlled administration of Yemen, Zakaria al-Shami, died on Sunday of complications of coronavirus infection, according two Yemeni officials.
    Shami was treated in hospital in the Houthi-controlled capital Sana’a, along with Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtour and other officials who had also been infected, they said.
  • The Philippines has recorded 7,757 new cases, its second-highest single-day increase. In response its department of health advised the public to suspend non-essential travel and ensure adherence to minimum public health standards, which includes the wearing of masks even at home when not alone
  • French ICU patients at highest level this year. The number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 in French hospitals has risen by 66 to 4,353, a new 2021 high, the health ministry reported on Saturday.
  • India’s Serum Institute to delay further vaccine shipments to Brazil, Morocco, Saudi – source. The Serum Institute of India has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that further supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delayed due to surging demand at home and as it works through a capacity expansion, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
  • Curfew imposed in Miami. Officials are imposing an emergency 8pm–6am curfew for Miami Beach, effective immediately after hard-partying spring break crowds trashed restaurants, brawled in the streets and gathered by the thousands without masks or social distancing, according to authorities.

Updated

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has thanked those wishing him and his wife a speedy recovery, a day after it was announced they had tested positive for Covid.

Khan, 68, a former international cricketer, has been holding frequent meetings lately, and addressed a security conference in the capital, Islamabad, that was attended by a large number of people.

He addressed the conference without wearing a mask, and attended another gathering to inaugurate a housing project for disadvantaged people in a similar fashion on Friday, a day after he was vaccinated against Covid.

The latest government warning about future international travel is a reminder that it’s still too early to book a flight or holiday, the consumer group Which? has said.

Rory Boland, editor of Which Travel, said:

Some airlines and holiday providers claim it’s safe to book now thanks to flexible booking policies, but while the best policies can reduce the financial risk from disruption, they can’t remove it completely.

Whether you have already booked or want to book, you should wait until the government’s travel taskforce reports on next steps before deciding what to do about your travel plans. The government must also make safety, affordable tests, vaccine passports and clarity about refunds when travel is disrupted a top priority.

So far as it is possible, rules and requirements for travel should remain consistent, as confusion and changes will leave travellers footing the bill again and further risk undermining consumers’ confidence in booking travel.

Updated

Vets are warning of a possible link between a new variant of coronavirus and heart problems in cats and dogs after an increase in pets presenting with myocarditis at a specialist veterinary hospital in Buckinghamshire during the pandemic’s second wave.

“We don’t want to spread panic unnecessarily, especially because at the moment we have a strong suspicion of transmission from human to pet, but not vice versa – and we don’t know this for sure. But vets ought to be aware of this so that they can start testing if they suspect a potential case of Covid infection,” said Luca Ferasin, a cardiologist at the Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre in Marlow, who led the research, which has not yet been peer reviewed.

The highly transmissible B117 variant was first detected in Kent in December, and has rapidly become the dominant circulating variant in the UK, accounting for about 95% of infections. It has been detected in at least 85 other countries worldwide.

Read more here:

Updated

UK sets new daily jab record

The UK’s vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, says a new daily record of 873,784 jabs were administered on Saturday.

In England at one point a jab was administered every 27 seconds.

Sir Simon Stevens, head of the NHS, said:

The speed and precision of the NHS vaccination campaign has been on full display this weekend, and yesterday NHS staff across England administered a remarkable 27 jabs a second. In just one day we vaccinated the equivalent of the entire adult populations of Liverpool, Southampton and Oxford combined.

Updated

A court in Israel has upheld a school’s decision to bar a teaching assistant who had refused to show proof she had been vaccinated or tested, Reuters reports.

A court spokeswoman said she believed it was Israel’s first ruling on Covid policy in the workplace, though it could still be overturned on appeal.

Some Israeli schools, in reopening, have required that their staff show proof either of vaccination or negative once-weekly tests.

The teaching assistant, Sigal Avishai, refused to give proof of either, citing her right to privacy and freedom of conscience. Barred from school in response, she turned to the court last month, arguing she had suffered de-facto suspension.

“We do not, at this time, believe that the apparent rights of the appellant outweigh the right and duty of the respondent to care for the welfare of their pupils, educational staff and pupils’ parents,” the court said, ruling in favour of the school board for the town of Kochav Yair-Tzur Yigal.

The Scottish government has reported another 532 new cases.

The transport minister of the Houthi-controlled administration of Yemen, Zakaria al-Shami, died on Sunday of complications of coronavirus infection, Reuters reports, citing two Yemeni officials.

Shami was treated in hospital in the Houthi-controlled capital Sana’a, along with Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtour and other officials who had also been infected, they said.

Abdulaziz Alkumaim, the Houthi planning minister, said in social media posts Shami had died, but did not provide further details.

Yemen is divided between a Sana’a-based administration controlled by the Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, and the Aden-based internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s six-year-old war.

Updated

The UK’s policing minister, Kit Malthouse, sparked alarm in the Home Office after going into work while waiting for the result of his test, according to the Sunday Times.

The minister took a test, which came back positive, but he had already returned to his department before the result.

Malthouse insisted that none of his team was forced to isolate, as the paper reported.

Updated

Some of the UK’s most clinically vulnerable people have yet to receive the coronavirus vaccination, Guardian analysis shows.

Ministers had said all clinically extremely vulnerable adults would be offered a vaccination by 15 February, but more than a month later some people who housebound because of health problems have yet to be offered a jab they can actually access.

People whose disability or age means that they are unable to get to one of the mass vaccine centres around the country were meant to be visited by a “mobile health worker” at home, similar to that offered to care home residents. However, while government figures suggest nearly nine in 10 people who are clinically extremely vulnerable have received a first dose, a number who are housebound are missing out, with some being expected to travel miles to a vaccine centre.

Read the full report here:

A biotech firm has opened testing pods, which it hopes to roll out nationwide.

The UK arm of a Hong Kong-based company, Prenetics runs Covid testing operations for the Premier League and has launched test sites in Reading and Dartford, Kent, at premises belonging to IWG, the UK’s largest flexible workspace provider.

Read the full report here:

Updated

Here’s video of comments by the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, about the prospects of a foreign holiday this summer.

There have been a further 196 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 207,842.

Public Health Wales reported six further deaths, taking the total in the country since the start of the pandemic to 5,488.

A further 35 people who had tested positive for the virus have died in English hospitals, NHS England has announced.

The patients were aged between 37 and 98. The date of death ranges from 18 May 2020 to 20 March 2021 with the majority being on or after 18 March.

Updated

A European Union summit that had been due to take place on Thursday and Friday in Brussels has been switched to a video conference due to the increase in coronavirus infections across Europe.

European council president Charles Michel, who chairs EU summits, made the decision to move the summit citing “the surge of Covid-19 cases in member states”, his spokesman, Barend Leyts, said on Twitter.

The EU’s 27 leaders were due to discuss in person how to speed up vaccinations across the bloc.

Updated

“This pandemic has just devastated our proud city.” Residents describe how Covid has upended life in Leicester.

Read the full report here:

Updated

Germany mulls quarantine plan

Germany is considering making all people returning from abroad face quarantine and compulsory tests after infection rates jumped above the level at which authorities say hospitals will be overstretched.

The latest proposal is contained in draft plans, seen by Reuters, which will be discussed by national and regional leaders in a Monday meeting when they are due to decide on the next round of measures to deal with the pandemic.

The new proposals appear directed at people considering holidaying in places, such as the Spanish island of Mallorca, which are not considered virus risk areas and therefore do not trigger a quarantine on returning to Germany.

Holiday destinations should be targeted “since we can expect that holidaymakers from many countries will meet in popular holiday destinations, letting Covid-19 variants spread easily”, according to the draft plans.

Earlier, Stephan Weil, premier of Lower Saxony, told the RND newspaper group that the government’s decision to lift the travel warning for Mallorca had been a “serious error”.

Updated

Officials imposed an emergency 8pm-6am curfew for Miami Beach, effective immediately, after hard-partying spring break crowds trashed restaurants, brawled in the streets and gathered in thousands without masks or social distancing, according to authorities.

At a news conference, officials blamed overwhelming spring-break crowds for the curfew, which took effect on Saturday night in South Beach, one of the nation’s top party spots. Tourists and hotel guests were being told to stay indoors during curfew hours.

It was unclear how long the curfew would remain in effect but Raul Aguila, interim city manager, told the Miami Herald that he recommended keeping the rules in place through to at least 12 April. A countywide midnight curfew was already in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read the full report here:

Updated

An influential figure in Bavaria’s Christian Social Union is reported to have resigned over a scandal involving alleged kickbacks in face mask procurements that has cost Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc in opinion polls, Reuters reports.

Alfred Sauter, a member of the wealthy south-eastern state’s parliament, is being investigated by prosecutors over allegations he took bribes in return for helping arrange public mask procurement contracts during the coronavirus pandemic. He denies the allegations.

Sauter, whose decision to stand down was reported in the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, is at least the third conservative politician to have resigned in the scandal over mask procurement kickback allegations.

Updated

Summary

Here’s a round up of the latest developments:

  • The UK’s defence secretary has hinted that restrictions on foreign travel could be extended to the summer. Ben Wallace said: “We can’t be deaf and blind to what’s going on outside the United Kingdom,” as he warned of the risk of importing new variants.
  • EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness could not rule out a block on vaccine exports to the UK. She said: “Everything is on the table ... European citizens are growing angry and upset at the fact that the vaccine rollout has not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated.” Wallace said any block would be “counterproductive”.
  • Steve Baker said he would be voting against the government’s plan to extend coronavirus restrictions in this week’s Commons vote. The deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group said the restrictions were “excessive and disproportionate” and “squandered” the success of the vaccine programme.
  • The rate at which Germans are getting infected with the coronavirus has jumped above the level at which authorities say healthcare systems will be overburdened. The Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases said the number of cases per 100,000 population over a week stood at 103.9, above the 100 threshold at which intensive care units can no longer keep up.
  • The Philippines has recorded 7,757 new cases, its second-highest single-day increase. In response its department of health advised the public to suspend non-essential travel and ensure adherence to minimum public health standards, which includes the wearing of masks even at home when not alone
  • French ICU patients at highest level this year. The number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 in French hospitals has risen by 66 to 4,353, a new 2021 high, the health ministry reported on Saturday.
  • India’s Serum Institute to delay further vaccine shipments to Brazil, Morocco, Saudi – source. The Serum Institute of India has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that further supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delayed due to surging demand at home and as it works through a capacity expansion, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
  • Leading opposition presidential candidate in Republic of the Congo hospitalised with Covid ahead of election. The leading opposition presidential candidate in Republic of Congo was receiving oxygen at a private hospital after being diagnosed with Covid, a family member said, casting Sunday’s election into doubt on the eve of the vote.
  • Curfew imposed in Miami. Officials are imposing an emergency 8pm–6am curfew for Miami Beach, effective immediately after hard-partying spring break crowds trashed restaurants, brawled in the streets and gathered by the thousands without masks or social distancing, according to authorities.

Updated

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has issued a warning to the European Commission that any attempt to block coronavirus vaccine exports to the UK would be “counterproductive”, PA reports.

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen ramped up the rhetoric at the weekend, saying the EU had the power to “forbid” exports, adding; “That is the message to AstraZeneca.”

The warning reflects growing frustration on the continent that the EU is not getting the supplies it expected from the British-Swedish manufacturer.

Ireland’s commissioner Mairead McGuinness said no decisions had been taken but that EU leaders would consider the matter when they meet on Thursday.

“European citizens are growing angry and upset at the fact that the vaccine rollout has not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated,” she told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show.

“Both the EU and the UK have contracts with AstraZeneca and my understanding is the company is supplying the UK but the European Union.

“We are supplying the UK with other vaccines, so I think this is just about openness and transparency.”

Wallace, however, hit back by warning the manufacture of the Pfizer vaccine depended on supplies from the UK. He told Marr:

The grown-up thing would be for the European Commission and some of the European leaders to not indulge in rhetoric but to recognise the obligations that we all have.

We will all hold each other to our contracts. Making a vaccine is like baking a cake. We all have different ingredients and the European Commission will know that

You pointed out the point about Pfizer. They will know you wouldn’t want to cut off your nose to spite your face.

Speaking earlier on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme, he said the EU would suffer “severe reputational” damage if it tried interfering with vaccine exports. Wallace said:

If contracts and undertakings get broken that is a very damaging thing to happen for a trading bloc which prides itself on the rule of law.

It would be counterproductive because the one thing we know about vaccine production and manufacturing is that it is collaborative.

If we start to unpick that, if the commission were to start to do that, I think they would undermine not only their citizens’ chances of having a proper vaccine programme, but also many other countries around the world with the reputational damage to the EU, I think, they would find very hard to change over the short-term.

The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the government will protect its vaccination programme at all costs, as speculation grows that strict restrictions on foreign travel could continue into the summer.

Read more here:

The rate at which Germans are getting infected with the coronavirus has jumped above the level at which authorities say healthcare systems will be overburdened, Reuters reports.

National and regional leaders are due to meet by videoconference on Monday to decide on the next round of measures to deal with the pandemic.

At their last meeting early this month, they agreed on a cautious opening, over the objections of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who warned that more infectious variants meant the pandemic would be hard to control.

According to the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, the number of cases per 100,000 population over a week stood at 103.9 on Sunday, above the 100 threshold at which intensive care units can no longer keep up.

Public fatigue over lockdown measures, now in their fourth month, is growing but the numbers suggest state premiers may be forced to pull the “emergency brake” they agreed to on 2 March , reversing the opening of some shops.


The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 13,733 to 2,659,516, according to the RKI. The reported death toll rose by 99 to 74,664, the tally showed.

A critical care nurse who a year ago tearfully appealed to the public people to stop panic buying, has said she is considering giving up nursing.

Dawn Bilbrough told BBC Radio 4’s The World this Weekend that the past year had been “relentless, incredibly traumatic and emotionally and physically exhausting”.

Here’s a reminder of the video she made last year:

China has accelerated its vaccination rate by administering 10m doses in around a week, and is considering varied visa policies based on vaccination and virus conditions in different countries, Reuters reports citing officials.

The country had administered 74.96 million vaccine doses as of Saturday, health commission spokesman Mi Feng told a news briefing. That is up from 64.98 million as of 14 March.

China aims to vaccinate 40% of its 1.4 billion people by the middle of the year, according to state media and a top health adviser.

China was among the first countries to begin administering vaccines last year and has been exporting millions of doses, but its vaccination rate has fallen behind those of such countries as Israel and the United States.

More than 70 million doses of Sinovac Biotech’s shot have been administered globally, a company spokesman told the news conference, without specifying how many of those had been administered in China.

Beijing is considering differentiated policies for visa issuance, flights and controls on the numbers of people arriving in China based on vaccination progress and the situations in different countries.

“We do not exempt vaccinated people from testing and isolation measures for the time being,” said Feng Zijian, vice director of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

But he said China will pay attention to international progress in developing “vaccine passports” and could adjust virus curbing measures after the domestic population reaches a high level of immunisation.

While western Europe’s “vaccine war” has been a struggle to prevent doses from being exported, in another part of the world, the battle is to give vaccines away.

Last week, a Bahraini prince and his retinue arrived in Nepal to climb Mount Everest. They brought climbing gear, provisions and – in an apparent surprise to regulators in Kathmandu – enough Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate 1,000 people.

Bahrain intended the vaccines as a “friendly gesture” to the residents of a village that had recently renamed some hills in honour of the Gulf state’s royals. It coordinated the trip with Nepal’s embassy in Manama, but health ministry officials in the Himalayan country had other ideas, confiscating the Sinopharm doses at the airport.

Read more here:

The shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, urged the EU to use less inflammatory rhetoric in the row of vaccines.

“I would urge the European Commission to calm down the language, cool the rhetoric and let’s try to work together to get through this crisis,” she told the Marr programme.

On international holidays Nandy said caution is needed. She said:

I think the Government is right to say we should be guided by the science.

I’ve been troubled by the fact the Prime Minister privately seems to be saying to some of his rebels he’s keen to get this done quickly.

“We do need to be careful, we do need to be cautious and, frankly, I’ve not booked a foreign holiday for this summer and I won’t be doing so because I don’t think we’re there yet.

Nandy said there are powers in the Coronavirus Act which need to be debated to assess if they are necessary. She said:

What the vote is this week is about the road map, about easing the road map, it’s about statutory sick pay, it’s about the ban on evictions, all measures that we’ve pushed for, we certainly won’t be standing in the way of the Government in getting this legislation passed.

Wallace: 'premature to book foreign holidays'

Asked about foreign holidays, Wallace said:

Even though the United Kingdom is almost leading the world on vaccination rates - over half the adult population [being vaccinated], it really important that we don’t import new variants that would undermine all that hard work.”

I haven’t booked my holiday, I will wait to see what the responses from those task forces in April,

I think it would be premature to do that. It would be potentially risky when we have seen growing variance. We have done a huge amount since September and I don’t want us to throw that away.

Wallace also did not rule out an extension of travel bans. He told Marr:

I think we’ll play it by ear. Well let’s look at this report [due in April]. I’m not going to rule anything in or anything out, and I think the first thing is we are not going to do anything that puts at risk this national effort to control this pandemic.

All the indicators are going in the right direction at the moment and let’s take it step by step, because of the supply issue on vaccines we know that there’s going to be a decline in vaccinations during next month and we know that people under 50 are not going to be vaccinated. Given that, and given what’s going on the Continent, is it possible the government’s roadmap of restrictions could be extended.

Wallace was also asked about the EU threat on the BBC’s Marr programme.

He said:

What should happen is that both the European Commission and the United Kingdom should live up to their obligations. The European Union stands for the rule of law but you heard what they say about observing and rule of law and that means we should all abide by our contracts we are legally you’re obliged, both the supplier and the purchaser.

I think European Commission also recognises that the world’s watching, if you’re a country around the world and you see this type of language being deployed by the Commission, it will be counterproductive.

Trying to sort of Balkanise or build walls around this would only damaged both EU citizens of the United Kingdom.

PA has more of Ben Wallace’s comments about the threat of an EU vaccine blockade:

He told Sky:

If contracts and undertakings get broken that is a very damaging thing to happen for a trading bloc which prides itself on the rule of law.

It would be counterproductive because the one thing we know about vaccine production and manufacturing is that it is collaborative.

How the vaccine is manufactured involves countries not just in Europe, not just the United Kingdom, but even further afield in such places as India.

If we start to unpick that, if the commission were to start to do that, I think they would undermine not only their citizens’ chances of having a proper vaccine programme, but also many other countries around the world with the reputational damage to the EU, I think, they would find very hard to change over the short-term.

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth has said caution is needed for the pandemic response given the level of infections.

He told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “That will mean, I’m afraid, that governments will have to have the power to impose restrictions where necessary.”

Ashworth said parts of the Coronavirus Act need to be “properly scrutinised” and he will press Health Secretary Matt Hancock to explain why they are needed, including on social care, but he acknowledged other parts are required.

Asked if he will be voting in favour, Ashworth described it as “complex” before adding: “We broadly support it, it ought to be properly scrutinised.”

Ashworth expressed frustration at MPs not being allowed to table amendments and offered to work with senior Conservatives to find a way to do this.

On summer holidays, Ashworth said Britons will not be made “bulletproof” by the vaccine and warned the virus “appears to be surging” in France, Germany and elsewhere due to the Kent variant.

He said: “It’s too early to make a judgment around the May 17 date on international travel. I’m not expecting myself to go on a holiday abroad this summer, but we’ll keep these things under review.”

Updated

A “very large number” of at-risk people could develop a “serious” Covid-19 infection if restrictions are lifted now, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has said.

Professor Jeremy Brown said between 90% and 95% of people who are at high risk have been vaccinated, but mostly with one dose, which does not provide full protection.

He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday:

Until we have done the second dose and everyone has been vaccinated, there is a little degree of infection that still occurs.

If you completely lift all restrictions there will be a wave of infections across the country and those who are not protected, either because the first vaccine hasn’t worked very well in them and they need their second dose, or because they have not had a vaccine at this point in time but are still vulnerable, they will get infections and they will end up in hospital and die.

So, if you lift restrictions, even though most people who are at risk have been vaccinated, the proportion who have not still represent a very large number of people who could end up with serious infection.

Updated

EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness has refused to rule out blocking the export of vaccines to the UK.

Asked about the threat by the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme, she said:

European citizens are growing angry and upset at the fact that the vaccine rollout has not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated. Both the EU and the UK have contracts with AstraZeneca, my understanding is that the company is supplying the UK but not the European Union, we are supplying the UK with other vaccines, so I think this is about just openness and transparency and addressing citizens concerns.

She added: “We are being accused of vaccine nationalism... it’s actually vaccine internationalism. We are also one of the biggest donors to Covax.”

She said: “Europe is focused on protecting our citizens.”

Updated

Steve Baker said the government “needs to answer why” given the high number of vulnerable people vaccinated and the success of the jab programme it is “seeking to hang on” to the powers.

Asked about the size of the Conservative rebellion, Baker told Sophy Ridge:

It’s very difficult to say until we’ve seen the exact detail of what the government is tabling and how the votes will come.

Let’s be absolutely clear, because it seems Labour and the SNP will vote for any old authoritarianism these days it looks like the government will get their business with an enormous majority.

But I do think it’s important that some of us do seek to hold the government to account with these extraordinary powers.

Updated

The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has defended the continuation of the lockdown in England.

“I don’t think now is the time to throw away” the progress of the vaccine programme, he told Sophy Ridge. He added: “The final mile is the most important thing for us all.”

Responding to Baker’s comments he said: “I really think the first and foremost thing to do is to roll out the vaccines, protect our NHS and make sure we take it step by step.”

Asked about the chance of foreign holidays this summer, Wallace said:

It is highly unlikely we’ll be able to go on foreign holiday this side of May. We can’t be deaf and blind to what’s going on outside the United Kingdom.

Asked about EU threats to block vaccine exports to the UK, Wallace said it would be “counterproductive” for the EU to go down this route. He said “it would damage the EU reputation globally” if it reneged on contractual obligations, adding “the world is watching”.

On European criticism of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Wallace urged EU leaders to use “responsible” language over vaccines.

Updated

Baker: continuing lockdown is 'excessive and disproportionate'

Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, has told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that he will be voting against the government’s plan to extend coronavirus restrictions in this week Commons vote.

He said the restrictions were “excessive and disproportionate” and “squandered” the success of the vaccine programme.

But he predicted that the measures would go through because Labour and the SNP will vote for “any old authoritarianism these days”.

Updated

The Philippines has recorded 7,757 new cases, its second-highest single-day increase, Reuters reports.

The daily tally follows Saturday’s record infections and marks the third straight day confirmed new cases topped 7,000.

The Philippines is battling a renewed surge in infections, including those of the new and more transmissible variants, prompting the government to tighten restrictions particularly in the capital region.

In a bulletin, the Department of Health (DOH) said total recorded cases had risen to 663,794 while confirmed deaths had reached 12,968, with 39 more fatalities recorded on Sunday. Total recoveries increased by 15,288 to 577,754.

The DOH advised the public to suspend non-essential travel and ensure adherence to minimum public health standards, which includes the wearing of masks even at home when not alone.

The number of coronavirus patients in hospital in Bulgaria has risen to 8,545, the highest level since the start of the pandemic last March, Reuters reports citing official data.

A surge in infections in the third Covid wave has prompted the Bulgarian government to close schools, nurseries, restaurants, big shops and gyms from Monday for 10 days ahead of the 4 April parliamentary election.

With 2,541 new cases in the past 24 hours, the country of 7 million people has reported 302,480 cases and 11,966 deaths in total.

Pressure on Boris Johnson not to extend Covid restrictions in UK

Prominent MP Mark Harper has fuelled expectations of a Tory revolt on extending the country’s emergency coronavirus laws by calling for a “roadmap to freedom that is based on data, not dates”.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Harper - chairman of the informal Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs - noted Boris Johnson had said when announcing his roadmap out of lockdown that it would “guide us cautiously but irreversibly towards reclaiming our freedoms” by 21 June 21.

He wrote:

Retaining most temporary provisions of the Coronavirus Act until October is not consistent with this pledge and will raise concerns that curbs will be reintroduced in the autumn ...

Staying with your family won’t just be illegal for Easter weekend, it will be unlawful until May 17 at the earliest - whatever the data say. The roadmap is ‘dates, not data’.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Express said disquiet in Tory ranks had been steadily growing “over the toll the lockdown is taking”.

It said a group of five Cabinet members - Chancellor Rishi Sunak, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick - were understood to be the leading voices opposing any further delay in the lifting of restrictions.

Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group - asked why tight restrictions were still needed.

“With so many vulnerable people now vaccinated, people may ask why restrictions the government is bringing in this coming week are tougher than they were last summer when we didn’t have a vaccine,” he told the paper.

Updated

The chairman of the UK’s Police Federation says enforcing laws brought in under lockdown has become a “no-win” situation for officers due to the Government’s mixed messages on pandemic restrictions.

John Apter says officers have been battling with the challenge of keeping up with “ever-changing Covid rules and legislation” and that as a result have been “abused, assaulted and vilified far too often” during the pandemic.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Apter said the scenes at last weekend’s Clapham Common vigil for murder victim Sarah Everard had shown the difficulties of policing during the pandemic.

The police response had attracted considerable media and political comment, “some of it very hard, often unfair”, he said.

Apter said police had faced similar criticism for their handling of Black Lives Matter or anti-lockdown protests, with officers “damned by some when they intervene, and damned by others when they do not”.

He wrote:

We have repeatedly called on the English and Welsh governments to stop issuing mixed messages to avoid further confusion when lockdown measures are lifted.

We warned the Prime Minister not to repeat the lack of clarity over last year’s pandemic measures before he announced his roadmap out of lockdown.

Fair-minded, reasonable members of the public - and I know that is the majority - will agree my colleagues have faced an almost impossible task” where “policing the lockdown has become a no-win situation for front-line police officers who are trying to do their best.

Despite the avalanche of unfair criticism my colleagues have faced this week, they will continue to be the first to arrive whenever these same critics call us for help.

Russia has reported 9,299 new cases, including 1,511 in Moscow, pushing the national tally of cases to 4,456,869 since the pandemic began.

The government’s coronavirus taskforce said that 371 people had died in the last 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 95,030.

This is Matthew Weaver taking over the the blog from London.

Summary

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

  • French ICU patients at highest level this year. The number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 in French hospitals has risen by 66 to 4,353, a new 2021 high, the health ministry reported on Saturday.
  • India’s Serum Institute to delay further vaccine shipments to Brazil, Morocco, Saudi - source. The Serum Institute of India (SII) has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that further supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delayed due to surging demand at home and as it works through a capacity expansion, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
  • Saudi Aramco 2020 net profit slumps 44.4% as Covid bites. Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco on Sunday reported a 44.4% drop in 2020 net profit, hit by lower crude oil prices and volumes sold, and weakened refinery margins, as the coronavirus pandemic depressed demand.
  • Half of all UK adults vaccinated. Britain said Saturday that half the country’s adults have received at least one dose of Covid vaccine as the government races to reach everyone over age 18 by the end of July. The National Health Service has put shots in the arms of 26.9 million people, or 51% of the adult population, according to the latest government statistics.
  • England sets daily jabs record. A record number of people received their Covid-19 vaccine on Friday, with 711,156 doses given to the UK public. Of those, 636,219 were given in England - the highest daily amount since the NHS vaccination programme began, NHS England said. More than half of the UK’s adult population - some 26,853,407 people aged 18 and over - have now received their first jab, Government data up to 19 March suggests.
  • Leading opposition presidential candidate in Republic of Congo hospitalised with Covid ahead of election. The leading opposition presidential candidate in Republic of Congo was receiving oxygen at a private hospital after being diagnosed with Covid, a family member said, casting Sunday’s election into doubt on the eve of the vote.
  • Curfew imposed in Miami. Officials are imposing an emergency 8 pm - 6 am curfew for Miami Beach, effective immediately after hard-partying spring break crowds trashed restaurants, brawled in the streets and gathered by the thousands without masks or social distancing, according to authorities.

At the shooting World Cup in New Delhi, six participants, including two from overseas, have tested positive for Covid-19, but organisers said Sunday there was no threat to the tournament.

AFP: Top shooters from over 50 countries are participating in the 12-day event, which is being held behind closed doors due to the pandemic.

“Four Indians and two overseas players tested positive and have been moved to an isolation facility,” an official of India’s rifle federation told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“We have taken all the necessary steps and sanitised the range and the show goes on.”

India is the world’s third-most infected nation with more than 11.5 million cases.

There are concerns of a new wave of infections in the nation of 1.3 billion people, with some states imposing restrictions on movement and activities.

There were 43,846 fresh cases reported in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said Sunday, in the highest single-day rise this year.

The Indian government had relaxed the quarantine period from 14 to seven days for overseas shooters before the start of the tournament but they have to remain in a bio-secure “bubble”.

Reports have in local media said some international shooters had broken the rules and travelled outside the bubble.

The tournament will finalise India’s quota places - already a record 15 - for this year’s Tokyo Olympics. The World Cup concludes on 29 March.

In case you missed this earlier: officials are imposing an emergency 8 pm - 6 am curfew for Miami Beach, effective immediately after hard-partying spring break crowds trashed restaurants, brawled in the streets and gathered by the thousands without masks or social distancing, according to authorities.

At a news conference, officials blamed overwhelming and out-of-control spring break crowds for the curfew, which was taking effect Saturday night in South Beach, one of the nation’s top party spots. Tourists and hotel guests are being told to stay indoors during curfew hours.

Saudi Aramco 2020 net profit slumps 44.4% as Covid bites

Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco on Sunday reported a 44.4% drop in 2020 net profit, hit by lower crude oil prices and volumes sold, and weakened refinery margins, as the coronavirus pandemic depressed demand.

Net profit fell to 183.76bn riyals ($49.00bn) for the year that ended 31 December, from 330.69 billion riyals a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a net profit of 186.1 billion riyals in 2020, according to the mean estimate of analysts in Refinitiv’s Eikon.

India's Serum Institute to delay further vaccine shipments to Brazil, Morocco, Saudi - source

The Serum Institute of India (SII) has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that further supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delayed due to surging demand at home and as it works through a capacity expansion, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The news comes as India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, is being criticised domestically for donating or selling more doses than inoculations conducted at home, despite reporting the most number of coronavirus infections after the United States and Brazil.

India is currently seeing a second surge of cases, taking its total to about 11.6 million.
The latest delays, first reported by the Times of India daily, came to light days after Britain said it would have to slow its Covid vaccine roll-out next month as SII was likely to deliver more doses later than expected.

SII has supplied half of the 10 million doses recently ordered by Britain.

Moroccan men wearing face masks against the spread of Covid-19 walk in the old city of Marrakesh on 24 February 2021.
Moroccan men wearing face masks against the spread of Covid-19 walk in the old city of Marrakesh on 24 February 2021. Photograph: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images


Brazil has already received 4 million doses from SII, Saudi Arabia 3 million doses and Morocco 7 million, according to India’s foreign ministry. The three countries had ordered 20 million each.

Reuters could not immediately contact representatives for the countries or determine if they had agreed to a revised delivery schedule.

SII, the single-biggest maker of vaccines, declined to comment. It has partnered with AstraZeneca, the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance to make up to a billion doses for poorer countries.

The source, who declined to be identified, said SII was working on expanding its monthly production to 100 million doses by April/May, from 60 million to 70 million now, suggesting supplies could improve then.

SII was originally supposed to sell vaccines only to middle- and low-income countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, but production issues at other AstraZeneca facilities forced it to ship to many other countries as well on the British company’s behalf.

India has so far donated 8 million doses and sold nearly 52 million doses to a total of 75 countries, mainly the AstraZeneca shot made by SII. India has administered more than 44 million doses since starting its immunisation campaign in the middle of January.

Mixed Martial Arts fighter Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight title defence against Brian Ortega at UFC 260 has been postponed after the Australian said on Sunday he tested positive for Covid-19, Reuters reports.

Volkanovski’s fight with Ortega, originally scheduled to be the co-main event on 27 March in Las Vegas, will be rescheduled due to Covid protocols. The UFC is yet to announce a new date for the bout.

Volkanovski, 32, said he tested negative before leaving Australia and before entering the UFC bubble but returned a positive result in the latest round of testing.

“So devastated to share that I’ve tested positive for Covid-19 and my fight is off and will be rescheduled,” he tweeted:

“We have worked so hard getting ready for this fight and I’m absolutely gutted this has happened. We followed every policy and process to remain Covid free but it wasn’t meant to be this time.”

Volkanovski (22-1) has been the featherweight champion since he defeated Max Holloway at UFC 245 in December 2019. He also beat the Hawaiian in a rematch at UFC 251 in July 2020.

A rise in the use of food banks and an increase in family disputes requiring mediation has been seen across most of England, according to new research that uncovers the pressures on families during the Covid crisis.

Most local councils in England have also reported increased numbers of people needing help for homelessness, with warnings that many poorer households will face “disaster” unless emergency support is extended well beyond the pandemic.

More than nine in 10 district councils, which represent cities, towns and urban areas across England, have reported an increase in food bank use in the past year. Two-thirds reported an increase in mediations in family breakdowns:

Curfew imposed in Miami

Officials are imposing an emergency 8 pm - 6 am curfew for Miami Beach, effective immediately after hard-partying spring break crowds trashed restaurants, brawled in the streets and gathered by the thousands without masks or social distancing, according to authorities.

At a news conference, officials blamed overwhelming and out-of-control spring break crowds for the curfew, which was taking effect Saturday night in South Beach, one of the nation’s top party spots. Tourists and hotel guests are being told to stay indoors during curfew hours.

People walk along Ocean Drive during spring break festivities ahead of an 8pm curfew imposed by local authorities in Miami Beach, Florida, US, 20 March 2021.
People walk along Ocean Drive during spring break festivities ahead of an 8pm curfew imposed by local authorities in Miami Beach, Florida, US, 20 March 2021. Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters

It’s unclear how long the curfew will remain in effect, but Interim City Manager Raul Aguila told the Miami Herald that he recommends keeping the rules in place through at least 12 April. A countywide midnight curfew was already in place due to the Covid pandemic.

“These crowds are in the thousands,” Aguila said. “We’re at capacity.”

No pedestrians or vehicles will be allowed to enter the restricted area after 8pm and all businesses in the vicinity must close, Aguila said, reading from a statement released by the city.

The curfew comes as a prominent bar, the Clevelander South Beach, announced it was temporarily suspending all food and beverage operations until at least March 24 after crowds crammed Ocean Drive, breaking out into street fights. At another restaurant next door, tables and chairs were smashed during a fight, news outlets reported.

Updated

AstraZeneca said on Sunday its Covid vaccine contains no pork-derived ingredients, countering an assertion in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, that the drug violates Islamic law.

Reuters: Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical council, the Indonesia Ulema Council, said on its website Friday that the vaccine is “haram” because the manufacturing process uses “trypsin from the pork pancreas.”

Still, the council approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use given the pandemic emergency.

But AstraZeneca Indonesia spokesman Rizman Abudaeri said in a statement: “At all stages of the production process, this virus vector vaccine does not use nor come in contact with pork-derived products or other animal products.”

The council and the country’s food and drug agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indonesian authorities on Friday approved the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine after reviewing reports that it had caused blood clots among some recipients in Europe.
Indonesia is grappling with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia, with 1,455,788 cases and 39,447 deaths as of Saturday.

Updated

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 13,733 to 2,659,516, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 99 to 74,664, the tally showed.

In case you missed this earlier:

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has tested positive for coronavirus and is self-isolating, according to the country’s health minister.

Khan, 68, a former international cricketer, has been holding frequent meetings lately, and addressed a security conference in the capital, Islamabad, that was attended by a large number of people, according to Reuters.

He addressed the conference without wearing a mask, and attended another gathering to inaugurate a housing project for disadvantaged people in a similar fashion on Friday, a day after he was vaccinated against Covid.

Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, though the scale of the crisis remains less serious than in many western nations. Partial lockdown restrictions have recently been reintroduced in parts of Pakistan in response to the rising cases:

In the UK, Boris Johnson faces mounting pressure from senior Tories to resist attempts to extend the blanket ban on overseas travel or delay the loosening of UK restrictions, amid new warnings over rising Covid cases in Europe.

With scientific advisers warning of the risks of overseas holidays in the late spring and summer, figures from across the Conservative party demanded that the prime minister reject an “excess of caution” in reacting to an apparent third Covid wave across the continent.

It comes with cases rising in countries including France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Turkey. Italy has recorded a near-doubling in the past month, while Paris has entered a new month-long lockdown to curb the spread. The government’s roadmap says that overseas travel from England could resume from 17 May at the earliest, should a series of conditions be satisfied.

It is understood that ministers and the industry are looking at a traffic light system that would allow for foreign travel this summer. It would see easier access to “green” counties with low levels of virus and variants, with more stringent conditions applied to “red” countries:

The US is turning a corner on Covid, with 2m vaccination shots administered each day since early March. But some states are facing worrying rises of both regular cases and cases of virus variants.

Michigan has emerged as a particular concern, reporting an average of 28 Covid cases per 100,000 people each day – the fourth-fastest growth rate behind New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island and a 92% rise in new cases in the last two weeks.

The state also ranks second for Covid variants, behind Florida. The variant first identified in Britain, B117, the quickest transmissible known variant, is present in 31 of 83 Michigan counties, with densely populated cities and prisons hardest hit. Michigan has also seen its first known case of the variant first identified in South Africa, B1351.

“It’s definitely concerning,” Emily Martin, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, told NPR. “There’s this feeling that it’s time to drive toward normal, but we don’t have the level of protection in the population that we need to really be doing that fully yet”:

Leading opposition presidential candidate in Republic of Congo hospitalised with Covid ahead of election

The leading opposition presidential candidate in Republic of Congo was receiving oxygen at a private hospital after being diagnosed with Covid, a family member said, casting Sunday’s election into doubt on the eve of the vote.

AP reports that the election’s outcome was already all but certain even before confirmation of Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas’ illness. President Denis Sassou N’Guesso has been in power for more than 36 years, last winning 60% of the vote in 2016. But the Central African country’s constitution stipulates that an election can be delayed if a candidate dies or is unable to participate in the vote.

Kolelas, the president’s leading opponent, skipped his final campaign event on Friday after telling some reporters a day earlier that he feared he had malaria. A relative who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter said plans were under way for Kolelas to be evacuated abroad for further treatment.

The 61-year-old is diabetic and at higher risk of complications from Covid. A video circulating on social media dated Friday showed Kolelas wearing an oxygen mask and with a blood pressure cuff on his arm as he lay in a hospital bed.

“My dear compatriots, I am in trouble. I am fighting death,” the candidate says in a weak-sounding voice after removing his oxygen mask. “However, I ask you to stand up and vote for change. I would not have fought for nothing.”

Guy Brice Parfait-Kolelas in 2016.
Guy Brice Parfait-Kolelas in 2016. Photograph: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

A campaign spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the video and Kolelas’ hospitalization. Two people at the hospital who had seen Kolelas’ test results confirmed to the AP late Saturday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

There was no immediate reaction to the developments from the government late Saturday.

Kolelas placed second to Sassou N’Guesso in the country’s 2016 presidential election with about 15% of the vote. The opposition figure has been particularly critical of the incumbent leader in recent days, declaring that Republic of Congo had become “a police state.”

Sassou N’Guesso is the third-longest serving president in Africa, ruling from 1979-1992 and then again since 1997 in this nation often overshadowed by its vast neighbour Congo.

The Republic of Congo has had fewer than 10,000 confirmed cases of Covid since the pandemic began, with 134 confirmed deaths.

Updated

England sets daily jabs record

A record number of people received their Covid-19 vaccine on Friday, with 711,156 doses given to the UK public.

Of those, 636,219 were given in England - the highest daily amount since the NHS vaccination programme began, NHS England said.

More than half of the UK’s adult population - some 26,853,407 people aged 18 and over - have now received their first jab, Government data up to March 19 suggests.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed the milestone as a “phenomenal achievement”.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it remains “on track” to offer the vaccine to all over-50s by April 15.

It comes as countries across Europe have had to impose tougher restrictions amid a rise in Covid-19 cases, with UK scientists warning overseas holidays this summer will be “extremely unlikely”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among those to receive his first dose on Friday when he was given the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London.
Friday’s record daily total includes both first and second doses across the UK.

Mr Hancock said: “Vaccinating over half of all adults is a phenomenal achievement and is testament to the mammoth efforts of the NHS, GPs, volunteers, local authorities and civil servants in every corner of the UK.

“During April, we will continue to vaccinate those most at risk and around 12 million people will receive their second doses as well.

“It is absolutely crucial people come forward as soon as they are eligible. When you get the call, get the jab, because the more people who are vaccinated the safer we will all be.”

Some 2,132,551 people in the UK - around 4% of all adults - have been given their second dose of the vaccine, while almost 95% of people aged 60 and over have received their first jab, the DHSC said.

Half of all UK adults vaccinated

Britain said Saturday that half the country’s adults have received at least one dose of Covid vaccine as the government races to reach everyone over age 18 by the end of July, AP reports.

The National Health Service has put shots in the arms of 26.9 million people, or 51% of the adult population, according to the latest government statistics. The NHS passed the halfway point by delivering 589,689 first doses on Friday, the highest daily total since the mass vaccination program began in early December.

“It’s a huge success,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a video celebrating the milestone. “And I want to say many, many thanks to all those involved, including the half of all adults who have come forward. It’s so important because this vaccine is our way out of this pandemic.’’

The announcement followed the news from health authorities earlier this week that Britain would see a “significant reduction” in vaccine supplies next month. The NHS will continue during April to deliver first doses to those most at risk from Covid, along with 12 million second jabs, Hancock said Saturday.

In an effort to vaccinate as many people as possible, the UK decided to stretch the time between first and second doses to 12 weeks instead of four weeks as initially planned. Public health officials say the vaccines the country is using offer a high level of immunity after one shot, although two are needed for full protection.

Britain has delivered 44 doses of vaccine for every 100 people, more than any other country with a population of more than 10 million, according to data compiled by Oxford University. The United States is second at 35 doses per 100.

Even as Britain celebrates its success, there are growing concerns about the failure of wealthy countries to share scarce vaccine supplies with developing nations.

French ICU patients at highest level this year

The number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 in French hospitals has risen by 66 to 4,353, a new 2021 high, the health ministry reported on Saturday.

The number of new positive cases remained on a steadily increasing trend, up by 35,327 to 4.25 million, following an increase of 35,088 on Wednesday.

The virus’ cumulative death toll rose by 185 to 92,167 compared with a rise of 285 on Thursday.

In a separate statement, the ministry said that by Saturday 6.14 million people had received a first Covid vaccine shot, accounting for 9.2% of total population and 11.7% of the adult population.

Nearly a third of French people entered a month-long lockdown on Saturday as the government aims to contain the spread of the virus in the Paris region and parts of northern France.

Summary

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

  • India reported 40,953 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the biggest daily jump in nearly four months, with its richest state Maharashtra accounting for more than half the infections.
  • Papua New Guinea reported rising coronavirus infections, highlighting the need for tougher social distancing restrictions that will take effect on Monday.
  • Colombia’s president, Iván Duque, offered to receive the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca to demonstrate its safety, following concerns over blood clotting.
  • Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan has tested positive for Covid-19. The prime minister had been vaccinated on Thursday.
  • Denmark reported two cases of hospital staff with blood clots and cerebral haemorrhage after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
  • Scientist Dr Mike Tildesley advising the UK government, warned that international travel this summer is “extremely unlikely” for the average British holidaymaker.
  • The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Organising Committee announced that international spectators will not be allowed to enter Japan during the Olympic Games scheduled for this summer.
  • Chile set a new daily record for Covid-19 cases, leaving its hospitals on the verge of collapse.
  • Greece will begin distributing free Covid-19 tests that will allow residents to test themselves and reduce pressure on the healthcare system.
  • The Brazilian government has been in talks with the US about potentially importing excess Covid-19 vaccines since 13 March.
  • Kenya’s plans to offer free Covid-19 vaccines to all diplomats based in the country, including United Nations staff, has been met with criticism by local medical staff.
  • France recorded 35,327 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of positive cases to 4.25 million.
  • An anti-lockdown demonstration in Kassel, Germany turned violent, and police forces deployed water cannons and used pepper spray to disperse crowds.
  • Congo’s leading presidential opposition candidate, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, was hospitalised for Covid-19 ahead of Sunday’s election.
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