This live blog is now closing. Our colleagues will be starting a new one in a few hours to cover all the global Covid developments.
A summary of today's developments
- The US Food and Drug Agency raised significant concerns about the rapid Covid test on which the UK government has based its multibillion-pound mass-testing programme. In a scathing review, the US health agency suggested the performance of the test had not been established, presenting a risk to health, and that the tests should be thrown in the bin or returned to its California-based manufacturer.
- The world’s developing countries could be vaccinated against Covid-19 at a cost of just $6.5bn if pharmaceutical companies waive their intellectual property rights, as opposed to a price of around $80bn, according to calculations by the aid charity Oxfam.
- The EU does not expect Johnson & Johnson will be able to deliver 55 million Covid-19 vaccine doses it had committed to shipping to the bloc by the end of June, an EU official said, after the European drugs regulator said that J&J doses sent to Europe from a factory in the US would not be used out of precaution after a case of contamination – with questions over conditions at a factory in Baltimore.
- Brazil has had 85,149 new cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 2,216 deaths, the country’s health ministry said. The South American country has registered 17,296,118 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 484,235, Reuters reports.
- The 5,000 fans attending the French Open semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were allowed to stay in the stadium despite the nationwide coronavirus curfew starting at 11pm in Paris.
- The UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson said the G7 must learn from the mistakes of the pandemic as he predicted the leading economies would “bounce back” from the Covid-19 recession.
- Coronavirus cases in England are rising at their fastest rate since the winter wave, according to government figures, with infections now rising at 3% to 6%, official estimates released today suggest, pointing to a growth rate not seen since cases started to soar at the end of last year.
- Germany is to lift its virus travel warning for tourists heading to most countries from 1 July, the government announced. Only places with high levels of infection would remain subject to a general travel warning, as well as places where virus variants are circulating, such as the UK and India.
- Europe’s drug regulator advised against using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in people with a history of a rare bleeding condition and said it was looking into heart inflammation cases after inoculation with all coronavirus shots – with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is meeting next week to discuss several reports of heart inflammation.
- A Pakistan province has said it will block the mobile phones of people refusing to get vaccinated against Covid, in the latest move to penalise sceptics in a country where only a fraction of the population have been inoculated.
After the U.S. Food & Drug Administration said Johnson & Johnson must throw away millions of doses of its vaccine that were manufactured at a Baltimore factory but also cleared millions for use, Canada’s drug regulator said it would not release the shipment of J&J’s doses.
Health Canada said it was planning an onsite inspection this summer and it would not accept any product or ingredients made at the plant until its inspection was complete, Reuters reports.
The UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson looks set to delay the final lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England following another sharp rise in cases of the Delta variant, PA reports.
Ministers are considering putting back the relaxing of controls planned for June 21 for up to four weeks as they race to roll out the vaccine to younger age groups.
A final decision is expected to be taken on Sunday ahead of a formal announcement by the prime minister at a news conference the following day.
It comes amid repeated warnings from some scientists that the rapid spread of the Delta variant first identified in India could lead to a “substantial” third wave if controls are lifted.
Brazil has had 85,149 new cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 2,216 deaths, the country’s health ministry said.
The South American country has registered 17,296,118 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 484,235, Reuters reports.
A prison officer in the UK behind a widely copied scheme to support women in custody and a nurse at the forefront of developing one of the NHS Nightingale hospitals are among public sector workers recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours list.
Ian Noons, 59, a prison officer, receives an MBE for helping marginalised people after becoming aware that many women in custody did not have enough suitable clothing. In partnership with the Katharine House hospice, he set up the first charity shop in a prison in a model that been mirrored across England.
His work also benefited transgender prisoners in the West Midlands through the supply of items of clothing.
Tamsin Harris, 43, a teacher who has worked in Cornwall for 21 years, receives a British Empire media (BEM) after taking up a leadership role at her school last year when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the head and deputy to shield.
The US administered 306,509,795 doses of Covid-19 vaccines and distributed 373,413,945 doses in the country as of Friday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Those figures were up from the 305,687,618 vaccine doses the CDC said had been given by June 10 out of 372,830,865 doses delivered, Reuters reports.
The agency said 172,758,350 people had received at least one dose, while 142,095,530 people were fully vaccinated as of Friday.
France extends Covid curfew for French Open tennis fans
The 5,000 fans attending the French Open semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have been allowed to stay in the stadium despite the nationwide coronavirus curfew starting at 11pm in Paris.
After Djokovic moved ahead 2-1 on sets, a stadium announcement said that following talks with French authorities the fans would be allowed to stay until the end of the match.
The Serb is currently one game away from sealing victory.
Updated
Hours before Victorians came out of lockdown this week, the acting premier, James Merlino, announced a rule scheduled to end would instead remain in place.
Merlino said on Thursday that masks would still need to be worn outdoors.
Australian health authorities backtracked on the plan to lift the mandatory requirement after four members of the same family tested positive to Covid. It led to health authorities being pressed on why outdoor masks were required when transmission throughout Victoria’s most recent outbreak had occurred indoors – whether in stores, family homes, or workplaces.
Victoria’s Covid-19 testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, confirmed “we have no evidence that we’ve seen yet, in this particular outbreak or the most recent ones we’ve dealt with, of outdoor transmission”.
Novavax Inc said its Covid-19 vaccine candidate showed immune response and protection against the SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant, which was originally identified in South Africa, in three animal and human studies, Reuters reports.
Nitish Kumar will never forget the day he and his sisters buried their dead mother in the back garden.
Just 32, Priyanka Devi had died from Covid on 3 May. Neighbours and relatives refused to help with her burial, and all the family’s money had gone on hospital fees.
The coronavirus pandemic had hit his family, who live in the small village of Madhulata in the deprived Indian state of Bihar, with a tragic double blow.
It was his father, 40-year-old doctor Birendra Mehta, who had first developed symptoms of Covid-19 in the last week of April. Swiftly after, his mother, 32-year-old Priyanka Devi, also fell sick.
A summary of today's developments
- The US Food and Drug Agency raised significant concerns about the rapid Covid test on which the UK government has based its multibillion-pound mass-testing programme. In a scathing review, the US health agency suggested the performance of the test had not been established, presenting a risk to health, and that the tests should be thrown in the bin or returned to its California-based manufacturer.
- The world’s developing countries could be vaccinated against Covid-19 at a cost of just $6.5bn if pharmaceutical companies waive their intellectual property rights, as opposed to a price of around $80bn, according to calculations by the aid charity Oxfam.
- The EU does not expect Johnson & Johnson will be able to deliver 55 million Covid-19 vaccine doses it had committed to shipping to the bloc by the end of June, an EU official said, after the European drugs regulator said that J&J doses sent to Europe from a factory in the US would not be used out of precaution after a case of contamination – with questions over conditions at a factory in Baltimore.
- The UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson said the G7 must learn from the mistakes of the pandemic as he predicted the leading economies would “bounce back” from the Covid-19 recession.
- Coronavirus cases in England are rising at their fastest rate since the winter wave, according to government figures, with infections now rising at 3% to 6%, official estimates released today suggest, pointing to a growth rate not seen since cases started to soar at the end of last year.
- Germany is to lift its virus travel warning for tourists heading to most countries from 1 July, the government announced. Only places with high levels of infection would remain subject to a general travel warning, as well as places where virus variants are circulating, such as the UK and India.
-
Europe’s drug regulator advised against using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in people with a history of a rare bleeding condition and said it was looking into heart inflammation cases after inoculation with all coronavirus shots – with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is meeting next week to discuss several reports of heart inflammation.
- A Pakistan province has said it will block the mobile phones of people refusing to get vaccinated against Covid, in the latest move to penalise sceptics in a country where only a fraction of the population have been inoculated.
The head of the European Medicines Agency told AFP all countries must have access to coronavirus vaccines, as G7 leaders were expected to pledge to donate one billion doses to poor nations.
Emer Cooke also said in an interview that while the Amsterdam-based watchdog was confident current vaccines were effective against all different variants, that could “change quickly”.
“This is not within the competence of the EMA so I can only speak from a personal perspective, where I really believe we need to ensure access, availability and access throughout the world, not just in the countries that have the means to pay for them,” Cooke said.
Young children have relative protection from coronavirus because their bodies produce a strong immune response to it, according to a study.
The University of Bristol and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children conducted research which found that infants produce relatively high levels of antibodies and immune cells which protect against the virus, compared to adults.
Researchers say the findings could help explain why younger children appear to be protected from the severe effects of Covid-19 at a time of their development when they could be more vulnerable, PA reports.
Dr Anu Goenka, clinical lecturer in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology at the University of Bristol, said the findings could help design vaccines which mimic the protection in children.
Updated
Britain’s main doctors’ union has joined calls for the next planned lockdown easing in England to be delayed, as figures Friday showed new Covid-19 cases across the U.K. running at their highest level since late February.
The rise in new infections comes as a result of the spread of the delta variant first identified in India.
Government figures showed that 8,125 new cases were recorded on Friday, the highest figure since February.
The pick-up in cases has led a number of scientists to call on the British government to delay the next planned lockdown easing in England from June 21.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to announce on Monday whether he will sanction the next lockdown easing, which is intended to remove all legal limits on social contact including the reopening of nightclubs for the first time since the pandemic struck in March 2020.
The British Medical Association said a “sensible delay” would help keep a lid on infections as it would allow more people to be vaccinated with first and second doses, particularly younger people who are seeing the highest proportion of infections.
Updated
The UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson gave the Tokyo Olympics a show of public support at a meeting with Japan’s Yoshihide Suga and welcomed efforts to ensure next month’s Games can take place safely.
At a meeting with Suga on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in the British seaside resort of Carbis Bay, Johnson agreed to work together on a range of issues from trade and technology to defence and climate, PA reports. “The prime minister expressed his support for the Tokyo Olympics, and welcomed Japanese efforts to ensure the Games can take place safely,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. Tokyo 2020 would be “grateful” if G7 countries could support the Summer Games going ahead as planned, Tokyo 2020 organising committee president Seiko Hashimoto said. “It is Japan’s expectation that the other members of the G7 countries share the idea of Japan,” said Tomoyuki Yoshida, press secretary at Japan’s Foreign Ministry. “It is quite encouraging for us for the G7 countries to support the efforts of Japan on this occasion as well.”
Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, has expressed Beijing’s serious concern that some people in the US were spreading the “absurd story” about the coronavirus escaping from a Wuhan laboratory, Reuters reports.
Yang, head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of China’s ruling Communist Party, told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Beijing firmly opposed what he called “abominable actions” over the pandemic, which he said were being used to slander China, Chinese state media said.
Twelve police officers who are supporting policing at the G7 summit in England are self-isolating following a positive Covid test.
A person in their bubble in Cornwall returned a positive lateral flow test for coronavirus on Friday morning. The officer, plus those who have come into close contact, are currently self-isolating at another designated location after being accommodated on a ferry. It comes after a hotel in Cornwall reportedly hosting media and security staff for the G7 summit closed following a coronavirus outbreak.
Boris Johnson said the G7 must learn from the mistakes of the pandemic as he predicted the leading economies would “bounce back” from the Covid-19 recession.
The UK’s prime minister said the group of leading democracies should also avoid the errors that followed the 2008 financial crash and ensure the recovery helped all parts of society.
The G7 nations will promise a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine to help poorer countries tackle the pandemic, with Johnson promising at least 100 million surplus doses from the UK over the coming year, PA reports.
He said: “We need to make sure that we learn the lessons from the pandemic, we need to make sure that we don’t repeat some of the errors that we doubtless made in the course of the last 18 months or so.”
Johnson said the G7 economies: the UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy; had the potential to “bounce back very strongly” from the pandemic.“
But it is vital that we don’t repeat the mistake of the last great crisis, the last great economic recession of 2008, when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society.”
There was a risk the pandemic could leave a “lasting scar” as “inequalities may be entrenched”, Johnson said.
Updated
Summary
- The US Food and Drug Agency raised significant concerns about the rapid Covid test on which the UK government has based its multibillion-pound mass-testing programme. In a scathing review, the US health agency suggested the performance of the test had not been established, presenting a risk to health, and that the tests should be thrown in the bin or returned to its California-based manufacturer.
- The world’s developing countries could be vaccinated against Covid-19 at a cost of just $6.5bn if pharmaceutical companies waive their intellectual property rights, as opposed to a price of around $80bn, according to calculations by the aid charity Oxfam.
-
The EU does not expect Johnson & Johnson will be able to deliver 55 million Covid-19 vaccine doses it had committed to shipping to the bloc by the end of June, an EU official said, after the European drugs regulator said that J&J doses sent to Europe from a factory in the US would not be used out of precaution after a case of contamination – with questions over conditions at a factory in Baltimore.
- Coronavirus cases in England are rising at their fastest rate since the winter wave, according to government figures, with infections now rising at 3% to 6%, official estimates released today suggest, pointing to a growth rate not seen since cases started to soar at the end of last year.
- Germany is to lift its virus travel warning for tourists heading to most countries from 1 July, the government announced. Only places with high levels of infection would remain subject to a general travel warning, as well as places where virus variants are circulating, such as the UK and India.
-
Europe’s drug regulator advised against using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in people with a history of a rare bleeding condition and said it was looking into heart inflammation cases after inoculation with all coronavirus shots – with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is meeting next week to discuss several reports of heart inflammation.
-
A Pakistan province has said it will block the mobile phones of people refusing to get vaccinated against Covid, in the latest move to penalise sceptics in a country where only a fraction of the population have been inoculated.
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear has declared his state’s deadly encounter with Covid-19 a “success story” as he prepared to end most restrictions, and said his state lessened the crisis because Kentuckians ultimately put science ahead of politics.
AP has the story:
The Democratic governor, who confronted protests, lawsuits and impeachment petitions over his virus-related executive actions, expressed frustration that mask mandates meant to slow the virus’ spread became a “question of liberty.”
“When you look at our response, I think you see a success story and that’s obviously comparative and based on what could have happened,” the governor said.
Kentucky has seen 7,138 Covid-19 related deaths to date, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. That death count is the 27th highest in the country overall and the 32nd highest per capita at 159.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
Beshear said the state’s hospitals were never overrun with virus patients, and the rollout of vaccinations was “pretty successful,” with more than 2 million Kentuckians vaccinated.
“I’m the guy that has to try to lay my head down every night and sleep knowing that Kentuckians that we’ve lost, the grief that’s out there, the fact that so many couldn’t say goodbye and be at that bedside,” he said. “That we had thousands of Kentuckians die alone or with a nurse holding their hands. And so that perspective, each and every day, I never looked at any of this in any of the red or the blue discussion, and the rest of the country shouldn’t either.”
Beshear has faced steady criticism and occasional protests over his actions. Armed protesters gathered near the governor’s home last year and then hanged Beshear in effigy in a tree near the state Capitol. The event was billed as a rally in defense of constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms, but turned into a protest against the governor’s virus restrictions.
Switzerland plans to ease entry restrictions this month and further open up public life as Covid cases continue to decline, the government has said.
Only people arriving from countries with worrying levels of coronavirus mutations would be in focus, and they could enter without testing as of 28 June as long as they had been vaccinated or recovered from a coronavirus infection, it said.
Reuters reports that it was due to make a final decision on 23 June, when it would also rule whether to go ahead with a fifth wave of re-opening measures, including abolishing the requirement to wear masks in public.
Seating limits at restaurants would also rise from 28 June, and discos and dance clubs could reopen to people with Covid certificates. Stores, recreational areas and sports venues would also be allowed to raise their capacity.
My colleagues Richard Partington and Zoe Wood report that caravan parks in England have recorded a boom in demand as lockdown measures are relaxed, providing an unlikely source of economic growth as overseas travel remains largely off-limits.
The world’s demand for oil will rebound to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022, as recovering economies require oil-producing countries to pump more fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency.
My colleagues Nicola Davis and Ian Sample report that coronavirus cases in England are rising at their fastest rate since the winter wave, according to government figures that will raise further doubts about the timetable for lifting remaining restrictions on 21 June.
Daily infections are now rising at 3% to 6% across England, official estimates released on Friday suggest, pointing to a growth rate not seen since cases started to soar at the end of last year.
The world’s developing countries could be vaccinated against Covid-19 at a cost of just $6.5bn if pharmaceutical companies waive their intellectual property rights, under plans being outlined at the G7 summit this weekend.
Unless an agreement is reached with jab developers, the cost of vaccinating the citizens of all low and middle income countries could reach $80bn, according to calculations by the aid charity Oxfam.
An advisory committee with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is meeting next week to discuss several reports of heart inflammation, particularly in young men, following them receiving doses of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, the agency said.
Instances are extremely rare, accounting for 226 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis among 141m fully vaccinated people in the US. Myocarditis is a type of inflammation of the heart muscle, pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. Fewer than 100 cases of heart inflammation would be typical for this age group.
A potential link between the conditions and vaccines using innovative mRNA technology were confirmed by Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDC’s immunisation safety office, during a meeting with an advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration.
The mayor of Moscow has warned that spiking coronavirus are meaning its becoming more difficult to treat patients as city authorities posted the highest number of daily infections since January.
“We expected that the spring pandemic peak would fall on April-May just like last year,” mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in televised remarks. “But now we’re seeing that it has shifted towards June-July.”
Sobyanin, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, estimated that around half of Moscow residents had by now some level of immunity against the virus.
“At the same time we are seeing just how aggressive Covid is,” he said, stressing that it was becoming more difficult to treat it. “Quite a lot of Muscovites are in intensive care on ventilators. The danger is real.”
Health authorities today reported 5,853 new cases of coronavirus in Moscow, a record since mid-January. The country has lifted nearly all virus-related restrictions, AFP reports.
Ten million J&J doses to be distributed in US with manufacturing warning
More on the Johnson & Johnson factory, where there are questions over whether contract manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions has followed proper practices.
The New York Times reports that the the US Food & Drug Administration has asked the pharmaceutical giant to discard 60 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine manufactured at the issue-ridden Baltimore factory.
A further 10 million J&J doses would be allowed to be distributed with a warning that there was no guarantee proper practices had been followed, the newspaper said.
The FDA said in a news release that it had agreed that two batches of the vaccine were authorised for use, but that multiple other batches were not suitable for use and that others were being evaluated, Reuters reports.
The agency added that it was not yet ready to authorise Emergent’s plant for manufacturing the J&J vaccine. It did not disclose how many doses were in a batch.
EU does not expect Johnson & Johnson will meet its June vaccine target
The EU does not expect Johnson & Johnson will be able to deliver 55 million Covid-19 vaccine doses it had committed to shipping to the bloc by the end of June, an EU official has said.
Reuters reports that the bloc had previously said that it was confident the US pharmaceutical giant could meet its commitments. The position has changed after the European Medicines Agency, the European drugs regulator, said earlier today that J&J doses sent to Europe from a factory in the US would not be used out of precaution after a case of contamination.
Updated
BMA calls for delay to easing of remaining lockdown restrictions as cases "rising rapidly"
The British Medical Association is calling for a delay to the easing of all remaining lockdown restrictions in England due to case numbers ‘rising rapidly’.
The BMA says the fourth stage of lockdown should not go ahead until there is “better understanding of the implications” of the reported rise in cases in recent days.
In an opinion piece for the Guardian, British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab and Julia Gillard, former prime minister of Australia called on world leaders to rally behind girls’ education in the wake of the pandemic’s devastating impact on global education.
We are working together on this issue because we believe that educating girls is a game changer – and it is one of the smartest investments we can make.
It will help to lift people out of poverty, grow economies, save lives, and build back better from Covid-19. A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live beyond the age of five years, and twice as likely to attend school themselves. They are also 50% more likely to be immunised.
You can read the full piece here:
The UK’s vaccine rollout continues apace: Government data up to 10 June shows that of the 70,253,625 jabs given in the UK so far, 41,088,485 were first doses - a rise of 201,607 on the previous day.
29,165,140 were second doses, an increase of 308,038.
UK reports 8,125 new cases in highest daily increase since February
Today’s UK Covid report shows 8,125 cases up from 7,393 on Thursday. Moreover, there were 17 deaths within 28 days of a positive test up from 7 on Thursday.
It comes as England’s R-rate rose again to between 1.2 and 1.4. The government is set to announce on Monday whether further lockdown restrictions will be lifted on 21 June as scheduled.
Updated
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has stressed the importance of cooperation and transparency during investigations into the origins of Covid-19 in a call with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi today, reports Reuters.
Updated
The location of almost every Covid death in English care homes is set to be revealed after pressure from the bereaved and the media in a move that is expected to show that private providers suffered the highest death tolls.
The regulator, the Care Quality Commission, had previously refused to break down the almost 30,000 deaths, citing reasons including commercial confidentiality, but has now set a date for July to publish.
It means the public will also be able to see whether large or small care homes fared worst. The figures from 10 April 2020 to 31 Match 2021 are due to be released on 21 July at the earliest.
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice made a Freedom of Information request for the figures in January, but the CQC initially refused citing exemptions relating to commercial interests, health and safety and information received in confidence. Those exemptions were upheld by the Information commissioner, when a similar request was made by the BBC.
CQC said it was also anxious to make sure the data was accurate. It said: “We made a commitment to publish data on location level death notifications as soon as we were able to do so accurately and safely.”
The bereaved said the delay has meant six months in which families making decisions on whether to put their relatives into a care home have done so without knowing the care home’s record on Covid deaths.
“It should never have taken this long,” said Jean Adamson, a former care home manager who lost her father in a care home last year. “There must be no excuses for any delay. Residents and their families have a right to know the truth.”
Updated
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved a new manufacturing site in France for the production of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.
The site at Monts will be operated by Recipharm and produce the finished product, the EMA’s committee for human medicines (CHMP) said.
Earlier this month, the CHMP approved two new sites in the US to produce both active substance and the finished product for Moderna’s vaccine. It expects these moves to allow production of an additional one million to two million vials of ready-to-use vaccine for the European Union market every month.
Moderna already has a deal with Thermo Fisher Scientific’s commercial manufacturing site in Greenville, North Carolina that will support production of “hundreds of millions” of doses.
Nightclubs and bars could sue the government to prevent a delay to Covid-19 restrictions being lifted on 21 June in England, amid mounting fears that struggling venues will go to the wall if they have to stay closed any longer.
According to the trade body, 54% of businesses have ordered stock, 73% of businesses have called in staff and 60% of businesses have sold tickets.
The US Bureau of Prisons continues to face intense scrutiny and several lawsuits over its handling of Covid-19, Keri Blakinger and Joseph Neff report for the Marshall Project
Since the first reported case last spring, more than 49,000 federal prisoners have fallen ill and 256 have died, according to corrections data tracked by the Marshall Project. Thirty-five of those who died were waiting for a decision on their release requests.
Jane Halton, co-chair of Covax, the WHO body tasked with working towards equitable vaccine distribution for poorer countries, has spoken of the yawning gap in global vaccine supplies.
We’ve administered somewhere around 2.2 billion doses of vaccine around the world. Seventy-seven percent of those doses have gone into arms in 10 countries only. If we’re going to get all those extra doses, firstly manufactured, then shipped, and then in arms equitably around the world we are going to have to scale up.
Patrick Watt, public affairs director at Christian Aid urged “much greater ambition if we’re to vaccinate the world” and said leaders should join US president Joe Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron in supporting IP waivers.
Increasingly, Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel are out of step with a growing international consensus that pooling of intellectual property and know-how is needed.
Carl Bildt, special envoy to the World Health Organisation’s effort to despatch vaccines and former prime minister of Sweden, has urged for greater testing funding and diagnostics globally as well as vaccine sharing.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme:
The end of next year is an eternity when it comes to fighting the pandemic. I do understand we do have supply issues, all sorts of other issues, but we really need the vaccine sharing not in the far distance but in the near future.
We also need funding for the other elements that we need to fight the pandemic - for testing, for diagnostics, to save lives. That’s less money, but it’s not money that should be forgotten when we are talking about only vaccines.
Germans are in the midst of holiday fever following the widespread relaxation of coronavirus restrictions at home and abroad opening the prospect of travel again for a nation which considers the summer break to be a basic human right.
A considerable improvement week on week since May in the country’s virus incidence rate, which stood at 22 per 100,000 on Thursday, a 42% decrease on last week, a vaccine campaign which was slow to start but has now picked up pace, and relaxations of rules in holiday destinations such as Mallorca, have prompted a boom in bookings.
The foreign ministry has taken the Balearic island - Germans’ favourite destination - Italy, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Switzerland off a list of high-risk regions in recent days. They now count among the top destinations for hundreds of thousands of Germans who are planning to travel in the next few weeks now that regulations in both directions have been relaxed.
However, Denmark, France and Greece, also typical favourites, are among those to still carry a warning, although consumer experts welcomed the fact that the caution attached to them meant it would be easier for holidaymakers to get their money back if journeys had to be cancelled.
Lateral flow Covid tests used widely in UK panned by US agency
The US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) has raised significant concerns about the rapid Covid test on which the UK government has based its multibillion-pound mass-testing programme.
In a scathing review, the US health agency suggested the performance of the test had not been established, presenting a risk to health, and that the tests should be thrown in the bin or returned to its California-based manufacturer Innova.
In the UK, these lateral flow Innova tests form the cornerstone of the mass-testing scheme championed by Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser. The idea was that the ability to deliver results within 30 minutes – that need not be processed in a laboratory, provides a cheap, pragmatic and efficient way to identify people who have caught the virus but not fallen ill. But critics have raised concerns about accuracy.
Given the tests have been offered free to millions in England, for use at home or at test centres, workplaces and schools, with the aim of detecting more cases, breaking chains of transmission and saving lives since April – the FDA announcement is particularly damning.
England R number rises to 1.2-1.4
The estimated Covid-19 reproduction “R” number in England has risen to between 1.2 and 1.4 with the daily growth rate of infections also up compared with last week, the UK health ministry has said.
An R value between 1.2 and 1.4 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 14 other people. It is up from 1.0-1.2 last week. The daily growth rate of infections was estimated between 3% and 6%, up from 0% to 3% last week.
Earlier today, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) said prevalence of Covid-19 infections in England is estimated to have risen to one in 560 people in the week to 5 June from one in 640 the week before,
There were 96,800 people within the community population in England who were estimated to have had Covid-19 during the week, the ONS said, up from 85,600. The population of England is almost 56 million.
Updated
A coronavirus vaccine being developed by Germany’s CureVac is facing delays as its late-stage trial has been slowed by the wait for enough participants to catch Covid, officials have said.
AFP has the story:
CureVac initially expected to seek European approval for its jab in the second quarter, with Germany pencilling in 1.4m doses by end-June.
But health minister Jens Spahn told his regional counterparts the regulatory authorisation is not expected to come before August, Baden-Wuerttemberg’s health minister Manfred Lucha told AFP, confirming earlier reports.
Lucha, whose state is home to CureVac’s Tuebingen headquarters, told local media there were “complications” with the trial.
The German government, which has promised to offer all adults a jab by late September, is no longer counting on CureVac to play a role in the current inoculation drive, according to the Mannheimer Morgen daily.
Like the highly effective vaccines developed by faster rivals BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, CureVac’s shot is based on novel mRNA technology. The German firm, founded in 2000 by mRNA pioneer Ingmar Hoerr, announced in interim results in late May that independent analysis found no safety concerns with its vaccine. But efficacy results have yet to be published.
To complete its trial, involving about 40,000 volunteers in Europe and Latin America, CureVac needs at least 111 participants to contract the virus. It had expected to reach the target and seek authorisation in late May or early June, but dwindling infection rates have slowed proceedings.
The EU has already secured up to 405m doses of the CureVac vaccine for once it has been approved.
Small addendum on the final paragraph: I know this has been standard practice throughout the pandemic, but one wonders if earmarking hundreds of millions of doses of a medicine before it has been approved is the best way to ensure the most effective checking process.
Updated
G7 plan to donate billion jabs would be symbol of 'failure', says Oxfam
A fledgling G7 plan to donate 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries lacks ambition, is far too slow and shows Western leaders are not yet up to the job of tackling the worst public health crisis in a century, campaigners have said.
Alex Harris, director of government relations at Wellcome, a London-based science and health charitable foundation, said:
The new US and UK commitments are a step in the right direction, but they don’t go far enough, fast enough. What the world needs is vaccines now, not later this year. At this historic moment, the G7 must show the political leadership our crisis demands. We urge G7 leaders to raise their ambition.
Oxfam’s health policy manager Anna Marriott said the world would need 11 billion doses to end the pandemic. “If the best G7 leaders can manage is to donate 1 billion vaccine doses then this summit will have been a failure,” she added. “The lives of millions of people in developing countries should never be dependent on the goodwill of rich nations and profit-hungry pharmaceutical corporations.”
Earlier this week, she suggested that the G7’s support for big pharma monopolies on vaccine technologies was putting lives at risk:
This week G7 leaders will talk about a global goal to vaccinate the whole world by the end of 2022. But without commitments to waive intellectual property rules and share vaccine technology, this will simply not be possible. The G7 have a choice this week. They can continue to defend the indefensible monopolies of pharmaceutical giants - or they can change course, and save millions of lives.
Updated
Germany to lift travel warnings to most countries
Germany is to lift its virus travel warning for tourists heading to most countries from 1 July, the government has announced.
Only places with a seven-day coronavirus incidence of above 200 would remain subject to a general travel warning, as well as places where virus variants are circulating, such as the UK and India.
“With the summer, hope and confidence are returning to Germany. In many places, the number of infections is falling and more and more citizens are vaccinated,” said foreign minister Heiko Maas.
“After long months of lockdowns, we can look forward to more normalcy, and that also applies to travelling.”
The announcement comes shortly after news that it would remove from Sunday several countries and regions including the US, Canada, Switzerland, Austria and some regions in Greece from its coronavirus travel risk list.
Earlier this week, the US also eased its warning against travel to a number of the most developed nations including Germany.
With an incidence rate of just 19 per 100,000 people as of today, Germany has in recent weeks eased most curbs including allowing shops and restaurants to reopen. However, rules on mask-wearing in shops, regular tests for schoolchildren and employees working from home remain in place.
Updated
Goldman Sachs has told its staff in the US that they must disclose their Covid-19 vaccination status before a planned return to office working next week.
The investment bank, whose 6,000 UK workers have separately been told they have the option of filling out their status anonymously to give the business an idea of vaccination levels, had previously told US staff that disclosing their inoculation status would be optional.
Goldman Sachs has been at the forefront of a return to office-based working, with David Solomon, the company’s chief executive, describing home working as an “aberration”.
EMA advises against AstraZeneca jab for people with rare bleeding condition history
Europe’s drug regulator has advised against using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in people with a history of a rare bleeding condition and said it was looking into heart inflammation cases after inoculation with all coronavirus shots.
The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) safety committee in its evaluation said that capillary leak syndrome must be added as a new side effect to labelling on AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
It is a condition in which blood leaks from the smallest of vessels into muscles and body cavities and is characterised by swelling and a drop in blood pressure.
The regulator first began looking into these cases in April and Reuters reports that the recommendation adds to AstraZeneca’s woes after its vaccine has been dogged with problems, including a possible link to rare blood clotting issues.
Last month, the EMA had advised against using the second AstraZeneca shot for people with the clotting conditions. The watchdog is also broadening its probe into cases of myocarditis and pericarditis following inoculation with AstraZeneca’s vaccine and other shots from Pfizer, Moderna and J&J.
Leading politicians in Lebanon face claims that they have been attempting to bribe voters with free Covid-19 jabs ahead of next year’s elections,
“Political forces are trying to directly or indirectly make themselves a part of the equation with regards to the vaccine campaign, primarily because it is a profitable investment,” said a member of the state-run National Vaccination Committee who spoke to AFP condition of anonymity.
Prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, a leading figure in Lebanon’s Sunni community, organised a countrywide vaccination campaign with the help of his Future Movement in early May.
More than 7,000 people received at least one dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, said spokesperson Abdel Salam Moussa. Tens of thousands of new jabs are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, he told AFP.
The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), founded by president Michel Aoun, and its Christian rival the Lebanese Forces, have also distributed jabs through private initiatives organised by members or affiliates.
Elias Bou Saab, a lawmaker close to the FPM, rented out a private hospital outside Beirut until March next year for vaccination purposes. Last month, he said he would provide “20,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be distributed free of charge”.
Antoine Habchi, from the Lebanese Forces party, is one of several lawmakers who have launched private vaccination drives in their constituencies. “We have registered 1,600 people” in the eastern region of Baalbek, he told AFP.
He insisted that the vaccination was open to all and not an electoral ploy, simply an initiative to complement a government campaign struggling to cover nationwide needs. “This is a health emergency,” he said.
Out of nearly 900,000 people who have received vaccines in Lebanon, nearly 60,000 benefited from party handouts, said Mohamad Haidar, a health ministry adviser.
Santiago, the Chilean capital, is to go into lockdown due to rising Covid cases despite almost 60% of the country’s population being fully vaccinated.
More than eight million people in Santiago will have to stay at home from Saturday, as health officials warn intensive care beds are approaching full capacity, the BBC reports.
Jose Luis Espinoza, the president of Chile’s National Federation of Nursing Association, has warned his members are “on the verge of collapse”, Reuters reports.
Of the country’s 17.5 million people, about 58% have been fully vaccinated while 75% have received at least one dose.
Chile’s lockdowns have been strict, with people needing to download permits online to be allowed out just twice a week for essentials.
Updated
The prevalence of Covid-19 infections in England is estimated to have risen to 1 in 560 people in the week to 5 June from 1 in 640 the week before, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
There were 96,800 people within the community population in England who were estimated to have had Covid-19 during the week, the ONS said, up from 85,600. The population of England is almost 56 million.
Pakistan province threatens to block mobile phones of vaccine sceptics
A Pakistan province has said it will block the mobile phones of people refusing to get vaccinated against Covid, in the latest move to penalise sceptics in a country where only a fraction of the population have been inoculated.
It comes after Sindh province said civil servants who refuse to be vaccinated will not be paid from July.
“At first this was only a proposal, but people have been very hesitant in getting vaccinated so the decision was made,” said Hammad Raza, spokesman for the Punjab primary health department. He said the state telecoms agency will decide how to implement the measure.
The carrot and stick measures were met with concern by some Pakistanis in Lahore. “It will be hard for me if I can’t use my phone, but I am very scared about the vaccine,” Saima Bibi, a domestic worker, told AFP.
“You can’t force someone to get vaccinated,” added Farwa Hussain, a teacher in Rawalpindi, who has already received a shot. “It makes me a little suspicious.”
Under new incentives, those who do get vaccinated will be allowed access to cinemas, celebration halls, and shrines, while restrictions will be lifted on businesses in districts with more than 20% of the population protected.
People who do not eat meat are significantly less likely to develop severe Covid infections, a new study in BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health has suggested.
The BBC reports that the paper found pescatarians had 59% lower odds of developing serious illness from Covid, while those on a plant-based diet were 73% less likely.
In the first study investigating the association between dietary patterns and Covid (which seems rather curious since we know obese people are exponentially more at risk), almost 6,000 frontline doctors and nurses from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and the US completed a survey for more than two months.
“Our results suggest that a healthy diet rich in nutrient-dense foods may be considered for protection against severe Covid-19,” the researchers said, highlighting how plant-based diets are rich in nutrients, especially phytochemicals that are important in maintaining a healthy immune system.
Shane McAuliffe, deputy chair of the Nutrition and Covid-19 Taskforce for The Need for Nutrition Education/Innovation Programme (NNEdPro) UK think tank told the BBC:
The trends in this study are limited by study size (small numbers with a confirmed positive test) and design (self-reporting on diet and symptoms) so caution is needed in the interpretation of the findings. However, quality diet is important for mounting an adequate immune response, which in turn can influence susceptibility to infection and its severity.
Germany has removed several countries and regions including the US, Canada, Switzerland, Austria and some regions in Greece from its coronavirus travel risk list, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases has said. The new classifications apply from Sunday, the RKI said.
Mattha Busby here taking the blog over from my colleague Martin Belam. Greetings to everyone reading. Feel free to message me on Twitter or via email (mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk) with any tips or thoughts.
US labor department officials have announced a temporary emergency standard to protect healthcare workers, saying they face “grave danger” in the workplace from the pandemic.
The new standard would require employers to remove workers who have Covid-19 from the workplace, notify workers of Covid exposure at work and strengthen requirements for employers to report worker deaths or hospitalisations to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha).
Barbara Rosen, vice-president of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union in New Jersey, said:
It’s a little late. If we had had this in place at the beginning, it would have saved a lot of lives and a lot of suffering that has gone on with healthcare workers and probably patients in hospitals because of the spread.
Today so far…
- Data from Public Health England confirms there have been 42 deaths so far in England with the Delta variant. Of this number, 23 were unvaccinated, seven were more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine, and 12 were more than 14 days after their second dose.
- More than 90% of new Covid-19 cases in England are now the Delta variant, which continues to show a significantly higher rate of growth compared to the Alpha (or Kent) variant, PHE said. Research suggests the Delta variant is associated with an approximately 60% increased risk of household transmission compared with the Alpha variant.
-
Scotland has announced that international students are to be included in Scotland’s national coronavirus vaccination programme. Those attending the Euro 2020 fan zone in Glasgow have been urged to take a coronavirus test before they go. However, it will not be mandatory to show a negative result.
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson has rejected claims an offer of donating 100m Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries is too little. Britain’s vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi, meanwhile, has been pressed to reassure Conservative voters that the government isn’t giving away doses that are needed in the UK. 25m doses are due to be donated by the end of the year.
- G7 leaders meet this weekend for the first time in nearly two years, after the global coronavirus pandemic forced last year’s event to be cancelled. Fair distribution of anti-Covid vaccines and climate change will be on the agenda.
-
Russia on Friday reported 12,505 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, its highest number of daily infections since late February.
- Thailand has signed a purchase order for 20m doses of the Covid vaccine develop by Pfizer and BioNTech to be delivered before the end of this year, its health minister said.
- Congestion at container shipping ports in southern China is worsening as authorities step up disinfection measures amid a flare-up in Covid-19 cases, causing the biggest backlog since at least 2019.
- Meanwhile China administered about 20.4m doses of Covid vaccines on 10 June, bringing the total number administered to 845m, according to official figures.
- The Philippines will exempt elderly people who have been fully vaccinated from stay-at-home orders to encourage more to get inoculated and help authorities meet Covid-19 immunisation targets, officials have said.
- A major manufacturer in Taiwan is forcing some migrant workers out of private homes and back into shared accommodation at the height of the island’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began, drawing accusations of discrimination and double standards.
- In the latest barb in an ongoing diplomatic row, China’s government said on Friday that it welcomed Taiwanese to come and get vaccinated against Covid-19 and called on Taiwan to remove obstacles and allow its people to receive the “highly effective” Chinese shots.
- The Japanese government is considering ending a state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures as scheduled on June 20, but keeping a downgraded “quasi-emergency” state until the Olympics start in July, the Mainichi daily reported.
That’s it from me, Martin Belam, for this week. I will see you bright and early on Monday morning. Mattha Busby will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day. Take care and stay safe.
William Schomberg is reporting for Reuters from the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, and he has just filed this update, saying that the United States and other G7 nations are considering reallocating $100 billion from the International Monetary Fund’s war-chest to help countries struggling most to cope with the Covid crisis.
He quotes the White House: “The United States and our G7 partners are actively considering a global effort to multiply the impact of the proposed Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation to the countries most in need. At potentially up to $100 billion in size, the proposed effort would further support health needs – including vaccinations – and help enable greener, more robust economic recoveries in vulnerable countries, and promote a more balanced, sustained, and inclusive global recovery.”
Andrew Sparrow is live blogging the G7 meeting for us – you can follow that here…
PHE data confirms there have been 42 deaths so far in England with Delta variant
There’s another little nugget in the Public Health England data released today which PA have picked up. As of 7 June, there have been 42 deaths in England of people who were confirmed as having the Delta variant of Covid-19 and who died within 28 days of a positive test, according to Public Health England.
Of this number, 23 were unvaccinated, seven were more than 21 days after their first dose of vaccine, and 12 were more than 14 days after their second dose.
Jane Merrick here summing up in one tweet why the UK government will be worried about those new Public Health England figures showing that the “Delta” variant is dominating the current caseload.
Small numbers of people who are unvaccinated + small numbers of vaccinated people who still go to hospital because jabs not 100% effective + small numbers of people getting sick after one dose x 60% more transmissible variant = a lot of people in hospital
— Jane Merrick (@janemerrick23) June 11, 2021
Reuters reports that congestion at container shipping ports in southern China is worsening as authorities step up disinfection measures amid a flare-up in Covid-19 cases, causing the biggest backlog since at least 2019.
More than 150 coronavirus cases have been reported in Guangdong province, a key manufacturing and exporting hub in southern China, since the latest wave of cases struck in late May, triggering local governments to step up prevention and control efforts that have curbed port processing capacity.
Ports in Guangdong have issued notices this week suspending vessels from entering ports without advance reservations and will only accept bookings for export-bound containers within three to seven days prior to the arrival of vessels.
The world’s leading container line Maersk on Thursday increased the duration of expected delays at Yantian port to 16 days from 14 days previously.
As of Friday, more than 50 container vessels are waiting to dock in the Outer Pearl River Delta, where the ports are located, according to Refinitiv data.
That compares to around 20 vessels in the same period last year, and more than in February 2020, when ports were paralysed because of China’s initial Covid-19 outbreak.
Exporters said the impact has been limited so far, as loading delays and slow deliveries have hampered logistics chains since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
International students are to be included in Scotland's vaccination programme
The Scottish government have put out a press release this morning announcing that international students are to be included in Scotland’s national coronavirus vaccination programme. They say the move will both protect incoming students during their studies and prevent possible further transmission. Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said in the statement:
There is a huge amount of work going on to ensure that everyone is able to get vaccinated. This is crucial to the success of the programme and our efforts to bring the virus under control. Based on the latest data, we estimate there could be around 65,000 international students studying in Scotland in the next academic year. I am pleased to confirm they will be included in our national vaccination programme.
Of course many will be from countries where there is a mature vaccination system and they will already be fully or partially vaccinated. However, some may not yet have been vaccinated or may still require a second dose and we are currently working with the Universities and Colleges Scotland as well as local health boards to firm up plans for these students. We continue to urge everyone to take up their appointment for a vaccine when it is offered and remember the second dose offers greater and longer protection against the virus.”
A total of 42,323 cases of the Delta variant of coronavirus that was first detected in India have been confirmed, up by 29,892 from last week, Public Health England (PHE) said in new data.
PA Media notes that more than 90% of new Covid-19 cases are now the Delta variant, which continues to show a significantly higher rate of growth compared to the Alpha (or Kent) variant, PHE said.
Research suggests the Delta variant is associated with an approximately 60% increased risk of household transmission compared with the Alpha variant.
The figures show that growth rates for Delta cases are high across all parts of the country, with regional estimates for doubling time ranging from 4.5 days to 11.5 days.
Updated
Covid tests not mandatory to attend Euro 2020 fan zone in Glasgow
Those attending the Euro 2020 fan zone in Glasgow have been urged to take a coronavirus test before they go. However, it will not be mandatory to show a negative result.
Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director, said “there will have to be a reverse gear” if clusters of virus cases are linked to the fan zone.
Up to 6,000 people will gather each day in the fan zone at Glasgow Green, which opens on Friday, to watch matches for the duration of the tournament.
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme on Friday, PA Media reports Prof Leitch saying the fan zone is a “gateway event” as part of the move out of lockdown.
He said: “I think they’ve done a good job. It’s not zero risk, the fan zone cannot be zero risk. The only way to take away all of the risk of Covid is to lock the city down, not let any crowds in the fan zone or the stadium. That’s not what I think the pandemic stage we’re at suggests.”
He said gaining entry to the fan zone will not require evidence of vaccination or a recent negative test, however testing is “very, very recommended”.
Making the tests mandatory could lead to people “gaming” or cheating the system, he said, arguing persuasion is a better way forward.
By the way, if like me, you are getting a little excited about the prospect of Euro 2020 kicking off tonight, then my excellent colleague Gregg Bakowski has got our tournament live blog up and running this morning…
Updated
British PM rejects claim offer of 100m Covid vaccine doses is too little
This morning, UK prime minister Boris Johnson tweeted a link to Johnson rejects claim offer of 100m Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries is too little. In it, he says he wants the G7 countries to commit to providing 1bn doses of vaccine to developing countries by the end of next year. He says:
Britain has contributed £548m to Covax and we will also donate the vast majority of any surplus doses from our domestic vaccination programme.
But in the heat of emergency, we must all strive even harder. So I want the G7 to adopt an exacting yet profoundly necessary target: to provide one billion doses to developing countries in order to vaccinate everyone in the world by the end of next year.
With Joe Biden announcing a 5oom-dose donation last night, and the UK announcing a 100m-dose donation this morning, Johnson is already 60% there.
He also says he wants to set up a “global pandemic radar”, and set a 100-day target for the time it will take the world to prepare vaccines and treatments for any future virus. He says:
So we need to strengthen our collective ability to prevent another pandemic and provide early warning of future threats, including by creating a network of surveillance centres – a global pandemic radar.
Our scientists took just 300 days to crack Covid and produce the vaccines, but we need to be able to respond even more rapidly. This G7 summit will begin a new effort to accelerate the development of vaccines, treatments and tests for any new virus from 300 to 100 days.
You can follow the day’s G7 news over on Andrew Sparrow’s live blog, which has just launched. I’ll be continuing on this blog with all the latest coronavirus news from the UK and around the world.
Updated
A UK government that has been extremely vocal about taking away foreign aid was always potentially on sticky ground when offering to donate vaccines to poorer countries.
Britain’s vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has been pressed to reassure Conservative voters that the government isn’t giving away doses that are needed in the UK.
On LBC radio, Reuters notes that he said supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for coronavirus would be “tight” over the next few weeks, but that he was still confident that the country’s immunisation targets would be met.
“It is tight. I’m confident that Scotland will be able to meet the target of offering every adult at least one dose by the end of July as we will in England as well,” he said.
Updated
Russia's daily Covid case count sets new high since February again
Russia on Friday reported 12,505 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, its highest number of daily infections since late February. Cases had been running at a steady 7,000-9,500 per day for weeks on end, but have seen an uptick this week.
Thailand to order 20m doses of Pfizer vaccine by end of year; 5m does of Johnson & Johnson
Thailand has signed a purchase order for 20m doses of the Covid vaccine develop by Pfizer and BioNTech to be delivered before the end of this year, its health minister said.
Details of the deal, delivery timeframe and the vaccine’s approval by the Food and Drug Administration would be worked out in about a month, Thai health minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.
Reuters note that Anutin said Thailand also plan to buy 5m doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine within this year.
Updated
Another little bit from that Dominic Raab interview on Sky, by the way, he said the resumption of travel between the UK and the US was discussed by Boris Johnson and Joe Biden yesterday but there will be no announcement “imminently”.
PA Media notes he told Sky News: “We all want to do it, it was something that was discussed yesterday and we’ve got an idea … but it’s not something that we’ll be announcing imminently.”
Currently the UK government has the US on its “amber” list of countries, meaning “You should not travel to amber list countries or territories” from England.
The US state department advice on visiting the UK is that it is on “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” on their travel advisory list.
Updated
Coronavirus news can often seem like a bit of a repetitive grind of numbers, but this morning AFP has a quirkier bit of coverage, about a train cafe in Cambodia.
Train travel has largely ground to a halt in the country due to the coronavirus. A new airport rail link was closed last year and passenger trains to the seaport of Sihanoukville have been suspended since March when Cambodia was hit with the worst of its Covid-19 outbreak. But railway fans can still get their fix onboard a stationary carriage converted into a hipster cafe.
The new train cafe at Phnom Penh railway station has become a hub for Instagrammers and Facebookers looking for a selfie location and cold drink. As authorities relax virus restrictions following a three-week lockdown in the capital, patrons have flocked to the cafe for impromptu photoshoots and iced coffees.
Among them, AFP spoke to Chan Thol, a 19-year-old student, who along with her friends has made the cafe a regular haunt. She said it was a delightful change of scenery after weeks of boredom staying home.
“I come for leisure and to take pictures with my friends and enjoy the coffee,” she said. “It helps reduce my stress.”
Se Sokunaphors, 27, said the train cafe concept was unique. “I never took a train before. And this is fun,” she said.
Sak Vanny, manager of passenger operations for Royal Railway Cambodia said: “We had the idea to turn a train carriage into a train cafe in order to generate some income for the company and help staff members with work during the pandemic.”
“We did not make a lot of changes to it so that its original look wouldn’t disappear … When guests come here they can have the same feeling like they are riding a train.”
Updated
Raab: 5m vaccine doses will be donated by the UK in 'the coming weeks and months'
“Is the 100m enough, or is it just a drop in the bucket?” – that’s Sky News’ Kay Burley challenging the UK’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab on whether the UK is doing enough to vaccinate the world with the expected pledge of 100m surplus vaccines from the UK as part of an overall package of 1bn vaccines from the G7. Raab defended the UK’s record saying:
Remember, at the start of this we put £90m into developing the AstraZeneca vaccine. Not only have we had a very successful rollout at home, but 95% of the Covax vaccines – the global mechanism to get vaccines to the poorest and most vulnerable countries around the world – 95% of those have come from AstraZeneca, so very much part of Britain’s push for an internationalist approach. On top of that we secured a billion doses by funding Covax.
Now what we’re saying is we’re far enough forward with our domestic rollout that we can now make the pledge to deliver 100m from our excess vaccine at home to vaccinate the world’s poorest. We’re going to do 5m in the coming weeks and months, we will do 25m more of those doses by the end of this calendar year and 100m by the mid part of next year.
Updated
In the UK, opposition foreign spokesperson Lisa Nandy has said there was a moral, economic and health case for Britain to help vaccinate the world against coronavirus.
PA Media reports she told BBC Breakfast that prime minister Boris Johnson’s pledge ahead of the G7 summit to donate at least 100m surplus vaccine doses to some of the world’s poorest countries was a “welcome agreement” but there needed to be a plan not just an ambition.
She added: “What we need over the next 48 hours is not just ambitions to get the world vaccinated but an actual plan.
“That would be in Britain’s interest as well, the International Monetary Fund says that this would represent the biggest return on investment in modern history for wealthier countries because of the economic fallout if we don’t deal with this.
“So there’s a moral case, a health case but there’s an economic case for Britain as well and the prime minister absolutely has to deliver this.”
Updated
China administered about 20.4m doses of Covid vaccines on 10 June, bringing the total number administered to 845m, according to official figures. Huizhong Wu reports for Associated Press that meeting its target of vaccinating 80% of its population be the end of the year may involve inoculating millions of children.
Regulators took the first step last week by approving the use of the country’s Sinovac vaccine for children aged three to 17, though no announcement has been made about when the shots will start.
Children have been largely spared the worst of the pandemic, becoming infected less easily than adults and generally showing less severe symptoms when they do catch the virus. But experts say children can still transmit the virus to others and some note that if countries are going to achieve herd immunity through their vaccination campaigns, inoculating children should be part of the plan.
“Vaccinating children is an important step forward,” said Jin Dong-yan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong’s medical school.
Doing so, however, may be easier said than done for reasons ranging from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine availability. Even in countries with enough vaccines to go around, some governments are having problems convincing adults that the shots are safe and necessary despite studies demonstrating they are. Such concerns can be amplified when dealing with society’s youngest.
There’s also the issue of approval. Few regulators around the world have evaluated the safety of Covid-19 shots in kids, with the majority of shots approved only for adults right now. But the approvals are starting. The US, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong are all allowing the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children as young as 12.
The Sinovac announcement could open the way for the vaccine, already in use in dozens of countries from Brazil to Indonesia, to be given to children across the world.
Updated
Also on the airwaves in the UK this morning is Jim McManus, vice-president of the Association of Directors of Public Health. He spoke in favour of pushing back the June 21 reopening.
“Businesses and organisations have done so well in reopening that if we just keep that going for a few more weeks, and invest that little bit of time to keep us going forwards, it will stop us going backwards,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“If you get enough people infected, you will get a rise in hospitalisations. You will also get a significant rise in long Covid, which is something we want to avoid too.
“The second thing is that the more people infected, the more variants will develop, and the more risk we have that a variant will develop that evades the vaccine completely. So actually, investing a bit of time is really important to enable the vaccine programme to finish and do its job.”
He said it was a “a fiendishly difficult decision for anybody, nobody wants lockdown”.
The Times was leading last night on the prospect of a four-week delay.
Friday’s Times: “PM ponders four-week delay before end of curbs” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/7FuHsAa3Vz pic.twitter.com/frHertAgfZ
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 10, 2021
Of that proposal, PA Media reports McManus told Today: “I think if they are considering that, that is really welcome. If that is what they are doing – and of course we are speculating – then good on them for actually really thinking closely about how we keep the progress we have made.”
Updated
Vaccine minister Zahawi urges people in UK to continue to be 'really careful' over virus
Today looks to be another day where the domestic agenda in the UK is dominated by the fact that the G7 summit is taking place in Cornwall. Andrew Sparrow will be bringing you live coverage of that in due course.
In the meantime, the UK vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has been on Times Radio. He has said he wants people to continue to be careful in the run-up to Monday’s announcement on whether the planned unlocking on 21 June will be taking place. PA Media reports he said:
There has been some really hard won battles against this virus and we don’t want to squander those hard fought gains that we have made through the vaccination programme. In saying that, the virus hasn’t gone away, the virus will continue to attempt to mutate, to escape, to try and survive, and I think it’s really important that we are really careful.
Updated
Philippines to give vaccinated elderly more freedom to encourage inoculation
The Philippines will exempt elderly people who have been fully vaccinated from stay-at-home orders to encourage more to get inoculated and help authorities meet Covid-19 immunisation targets, officials have said.
Recording nearly 1.3 million infections and more than 22,300 deaths, the Philippines is battling the second-highest Covid-19 caseload in the region, next to Indonesia.
Seniors living in areas under looser quarantine restrictions will be allowed to go out from Wednesday, but will still need to wear masks, face shields and practise social distancing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.
The elderly, who account for four-fifths of Covid-19 deaths in the country, were among priority groups in the government’s vaccination drive that began on 1 March, but as of 6 June, only 1.54 million, or 16%, of the elderly population had got their first sho
“Get vaccinated to enjoy the incentive of going out to exercise and chat with your fellow senior citizen,” health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news conference.
Neil Jerome Morales reports for Reuters that from Friday the government’s coronavirus tas force also allowed non-contact sports venues like gyms, fitness studios and historical sites and museums to reopen but with a limited number of guests.
Updated
Those UK economy numbers might be up, but the recovery isn’t equal across all sectors, with PA reporting that London’s Heathrow airport lost more than 6 million passengers in May compared with the same month in 2019.
Just 675,000 people travelled through the London airport last month, a 90% reduction on the total for May 2019.
Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “With the G7 starting today, ministers have a chance to kickstart the green global recovery by agreeing how to resume international travel safely and setting a mandate for sustainable aviation fuels that will decarbonise aviation. This is the time for them to show global leadership.”
Updated
The Office for National Statistics said UK GDP rose for the third consecutive month as pandemic restrictions were scaled back across all four nations of the UK, with the economy growing at the fastest pace since July last year.
The reopening of non-essential shops, pubs and restaurants fuelled a sharp rise in consumer spending. The UK economy grew by 2.3% in April. However, the economy still remains 3.7% below its pre-pandemic level.
Jonathan Athow, the deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the ONS, said: “Strong growth in retail spending, increased car and caravan purchases, schools being open for the full month and the beginning of the reopening of hospitality all boosted the economy in April.”
Taiwan factory forces migrant workers back into dormitories amid Covid outbreak
Here’s the latest from our Helen Davidson in Taipei:
A major manufacturer in Taiwan is forcing some migrant workers out of private homes and back into shared accommodation at the height of the island’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began, drawing accusations of discrimination and double standards.
ASE, a semiconductor manufacturer, told its workers in the Taoyuan district of Chungli, about 50km (30 miles) from the capital, Taipei, that those who live independently in private rentals, must “move back to their dormitories immediately”, or be given “a major demerit”. Three such demerits are punishable by dismissal, the notice says.
It stipulates residents will be banned from leaving the dorms except to go straight to and from work. Those who are late face being locked out and penalised. The workers cannot do their own shopping or have visitors. Such restrictions do not apply to the broader Taiwanese community.
Taiwan has recorded more than 12,000 local cases and 360 deaths since mid-April. Hundreds of cases have been detected at four factories in Miaoli county, mostly among migrant workers and linked to crowded dormitory conditions.
Central government orders require that the number of people per room in migrant worker accommodation be significantly reduced to cut the threat of infection among residents but offer no further detail, such as a maximum number per room.
Footage seen by the Guardian purported to be of one of the ASE workers’ dorm rooms show rows of bunk beds on each side of the narrow room, with sheets hung around the edges to give occupants some privacy. Residents said they share bathroom facilities, sometimes with workers on different shifts or workers from other companies. Many migrant workers opt to live in private homes in which one or two people share a room.
An ASE spokeswoman confirmed both the instruction to return, and the demerits for their 3,000 migrant employees, but defended the policy.
Read more of Helen Davidson’s report from Taipei here: Taiwan factory forces migrant workers back into dormitories amid Covid outbreak
Updated
UK GDP rose by 2.3% in April after restrictions eased - fastest since July 2020
There will be a lot of reading of the runes over the next couple of months to try to see what shape western economies are bouncing back into after a year or more of pandemic restrictions.
My colleague Graeme Wearden notes that figures have just been released that show that the UK economy grew by 2.3% in April – the fastest monthly growth since July 2020.
The easing of economic restrictions boosted output, due to the reopening of shops and hospitality companies during the month. It’s also slightly faster than expected, Graeme says, and follows strong growth of 2.1% in March.
He is live blogging reaction to that here on our Business live blog …
Updated
Good morning, it’s Martin Belam here in London. It’s short, but sweet – this week Steven Poole’s word of the week for us is “Delta”, thanks to the “Delta variant” that we’ve all suddenly had to get used to talking about.
I genuinely have a Google Doc bookmarked in my browser setting out which variant is which set of numbers and which Greek letter so I don’t get them wrong for you …
Updated
If you’ve not yet seen France’s vaccination ad campaign, I highly recommend it.
the french vaccination ad campaign is just *so good* pic.twitter.com/ciObPlRwW8
— juan (@juanbuis) June 10, 2021
And with that, I’m off. You’ll be in the capable hands of my colleague Martin Belam for the next while.
China invites Taiwanese to get vaccinated
China’s government said on Friday that it welcomed Taiwanese to come and get vaccinated against Covid-19 and called on Taiwan to remove obstacles and allow its people to receive the “highly effective” Chinese shots.
China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly offered to send vaccines to the island, which is battling a spike in domestic infections but has expressed concern about the safety of Chinese shots and has not cleared them for use.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement two Chinese-made vaccines had been granted emergency use authorisation by the World Health Organization and its shots were in use or approved by more than 90 countries, showing their safety and efficacy.
People in Taiwan can come to China to get vaccinated against Covid, provided they strictly comply with China’s pandemic control measures, the office said.
It urged Taiwan’s government to “quickly remove artificial obstacles for mainland vaccines being sent to Taiwan and allow the broad mass of Taiwan compatriots to receive the safe and highly effective mainland vaccines”.
Only 3% of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people have received at least one shot, though millions of doses are on order. Japan donated 1.24 million AstraZeneca Plc shots last week and the United States has pledged 750,000 doses, which have yet to arrive.
Still, China’s offer is not likely to be attractive to many Taiwanese. A poll by Taipei’s National Chengchi University last month showed most people would not be willing to get a Chinese vaccine.
G7 leaders to discuss post-Covid reconstruction
G7 leaders meet this weekend for the first time in nearly two years, after the global coronavirus pandemic forced last year’s event to be cancelled.
But the health crisis is still presenting hosts the UK with a major challenge, to prevent the virus spreading among participants, AFP reports.
The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US will notably discuss post-pandemic reconstruction at the three-day talks in Carbis Bay, Cornwall.
Fair distribution of anti-Covid vaccines and climate change will also be on the agenda at the picturesque seaside resort in south-west England.
All leaders have been at least partially vaccinated against Covid-19.
They will be joined by their counterparts from the European Union, and invited guests from Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa.
Most will attend in person, although India’s prime minister Narendra Modi will take part virtually because of the rapid spread of a new variant of the virus back home.
Normally, G7 summits are attended by thousands of journalists but the number of accreditations this year has been drastically reduced because of social distancing requirements.
And most of those who have managed to secure a pass will be kept at a distance, at a media centre in Falmouth, 36 kilometres (23 miles) by road from Carbis Bay.
Updated
Japan may downgrade emergency until Olympics
The Japanese government is considering ending a state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures as scheduled on June 20, but keeping a downgraded “quasi-emergency” state until the Olympics start in July, the Mainichi daily reported.
New coronavirus infections in Olympics city Tokyo have inched down during the last month of emergency restrictions although authorities remain concerned about the spread of variants and the continued strain on medical resources.
The Mainichi newspaper reported on Friday the government would ask restaurants to keep shorter hours and impose other curbs under the targeted quasi-emergency measures. Bars and restaurants are now asked to close by 8 p.m. and are banned from serving alcohol.
A final decision is expected late next week, a few days before the end of the current emergency state, which also covers the northern island of Hokkaido, host of the marathon event.
Polls have shown a majority of the Japanese public opposes holding the Games this year, worried about the flood of athletes and officials from overseas. Japan has effectively been closed to foreign visitors since the pandemic broke out last year.
The Japanese government and Olympic organisers have said the Games would go ahead - barring “Armageddon”, as one International Olympic Committee (IOC) member put it. The Olympics are scheduled to start on 23 July.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
Here are today’s top stories so far:
G7 leaders meet this weekend for the first time in nearly two years, after the global coronavirus pandemic forced last year’s event to be cancelled.
The Japanese government is considering ending a state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures as scheduled on June 20, but keeping a downgraded “quasi-emergency” state until the Olympics start in July, the Mainichi daily reported.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- South Africa has entered its third wave of Covid-19 infections as the continent’s worst-hit country registered 9,149 new cases, Reuters reports.
- Covid-19 case rates have increased across every region in England with a sharp rise in the North West, new figures show.
-
The discovery of several thousand unreported deaths in the state of Bihar, India, has raised suspicion that many more coronavirus victims have not been included in official figures. The health department in Bihar revised its total Covid-19 related death toll to more than 9,429 from about 5,424 on Wednesday. The newly-reported deaths had occurred last month and state officials were investigating the lapse, a district health official said, blaming the oversight on private hospitals.
-
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said it was necessary to know the origins of Covid-19 and investigators needed to have full access to sites which could shed lights on the matter
-
The EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency says that the coronavirus pandemic has had an unprecedented and profound effect on human rights, fuelling racism and child abuse. The annual report says: “The pandemic and the reactions it triggered exacerbated existing challenges and inequalities in all areas of life, especially affecting vulnerable groups.”
-
Ukraine has reiterated that it will not allow foreigners inoculated with the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik into the country if they do not also provide a negative test for the coronavirus.
-
Bulgaria plans to lift the compulsory wearing of face masks in gyms, hairdressing salons, small shops and offices where all workers are vaccinated as coronavirus infections decrease.
-
Denmark will ditch the use of masks in most public spaces and allow 25,000 fans to attend European Championship matches in Copenhagen
-
Russia’s Covid numbers have been at a remarkably steady uniform level for months on end, but this week the official case tally is seeing a steady rise, and today was the highest number for three months at 11,699
-
The EU decided not to take up an option to buy 100m doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in March, European officials have said.
-
A 52-year-old woman from New South Wales who died after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine is “likely” Australia’s second death from a rare and severe blood clotting syndrome linked to the Covid vaccine, Australia’s drugs regulator says.
- Hong Kong’s government said this morning that it would review its plan for a travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore in early July, after the proposal was derailed for a second time in May due to a surge of cases in Singapore.
