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Summary
Here’s a roundup of this evening’s Covid-19 news.
- Two million people could contract Covid in the UK this summer, potentially meaning up to 10 million must isolate in just six weeks, Guardian analysis shows.
- Zimbabwe has gone back to a strict lockdown to tackle a resurgence of Covid-19 amid vaccine shortages, the country’s information minister has announced.
- Tunisia has broken its record for positive Covid tests, with 7,930 confirmed on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The increase is in addition to 119 deaths, according to the north African country’s health ministry.
- The human rights commission in Mexico has accused authorities of keeping nearly 90 people in overcrowded facilities, without face masks to prevent Covid-19 or medicine.
- It comes as Mexico has reported another 8,000 confirmed cases, and another 269 deaths. 233,958 have now died from the virus.
- The situation is still bleak in Brazil, as it recorded another 1,780 deaths and 62,504 new cases, its health ministry said on Tuesday.
- In Latvia, employers will be allowed to sack employees who have not had their vaccines by 15 September, according to the country’s main news agency.
- Dozens of staff at a seafood plant in Northern Ireland have tested positive for Covid-19. A total of 42 workers at Kilkeel Seafoods, in County Down, have had confirmed infections, out of 250 staff at the site.
- Heathrow, the Gaucho restaurant chain and the City Pub Group in England are set to continue with mask-wearing rules despite government plans to sweep away most safety measures from 19 July.
Mexico confirms nearly 8,000 new Covid-19 cases
Almost 8,000 new Covid infections and 269 deaths have been recorded in Mexico, Reuters reports.
The 7,989 cases mean a total of 2,549,862 positive tests have been recorded since the pandemic began. 233,958 people have died according to the country’s health ministry.
The real number of cases is thought to be significantly higher, according to its government. Separate data published recently said the actual death toll could be 60% higher than the official count.
In Latvia, employers will be allowed to sack employees who have not had their vaccines by 15 September, according to the country’s main news agency.
The proposals on vaccine certificates are amendments to the current law to stop Covid-19 infection, and will be finalised by 14 July, LETA reports. The new provisions will oblige employers to protect people in high-risk groups from being exposed to increased infection risks.
Employers will be required to provide a safe services in medical, social care, and education institutions. This means employees will have to have a valid certificate to show vaccination or has recovered from Covid.
Updated
Meanwhile back in Mexico, contestants from 14 of the country’s 32 states at the Miss Mexico contest tested positive for Covid-19, a health official has said.
Eduardo Fernández Herrera, an official for the northern Mexico border state of Chihuahua said all contestants had submitted negative tests before the pageant in the state capital, Associated Press reports.
But authorities were told via an anonymous tip that one person was infected with the virus. After further tests, almost half the competitors were found to have Covid, as well as another non-contestant.
As a result, the competition was shortened and brought to an end on Saturday, after the results were announced.
Brazil has recorded another 1,780 deaths from Covid-19 and 62,504 new cases, its health ministry said on Tuesday.
It brings the total number of confirmed infections to 19 million, with 526,892 people having died during the pandemic. The country is the second-worst affected by Covid-19 in the world.
The human rights commission in Mexico has accused authorities of keeping nearly 90 people in overcrowded facilities, without face masks to prevent Covid-19 or medicine.
The CNDH said 88 migrants are being kept under leaky roofs at a detention centre run by the National Migration Institute (INM) in Saltillo, Caohuila state in north Mexico. It is only supposed to house 30.
The INM declined to comment on conditions at the site, according to Reuters. It has been ordered to improve conditions and not exceed housing capacity at its sites.
“The foreigners housed at the migration facility said they are not provided with medicine when they get sick, the food they are offered is scarce, of poor quality and on some occasions they notice the presence of hair and/or worms,” CNDH said in a statement on Monday evening.
“The people housed there don’t have the means to prevent and avoid Covid-19 infections,” it added.
Tunisia sets new daily record for cases
Tunisia has broken its record for positive Covid tests, with 7,930 confirmed on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The previous record was 6,776 on 1 July. The increase is in addition to 119 deaths, according to the north African country’s health ministry.
The country’s total number of cases has climbed to 455,000 and more than 15,000 deaths.
The Tunisian government imposed a lockdown in some cities last week to try and halt the rise in cases, but rejected similar measures nationwide due to the economic impact.
Health authorities said intensive care wards are full and said the situation was “catastrophic”.
Harsh lockdown measures return in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has gone back to a strict lockdown to tackle a resurgence of Covid-19 amid vaccine shortages, the country’s information minister has announced.
Infections have dramatically increased in recent weeks, despite an overnight curfew, reduced business hours, local lockdowns in hotspot areas and a ban on inter-city travel. The Delta variant is quickly spreading in the country, including to rural areas which have an even sparser health provision.
Now, a stay-at-home order is in place, which is similar to restrictions in March 2020, according to Associated Press. People will now need letters from their employers to say why they need to leave their homes “with immediate effect”, according to Monica Mutsvangwa.
Zimbabwe’s seven day rolling average of new cases has quadrupled in the last fortnight, data from John Hopkins university shows.
Shortages of PPE have been reported, as well as vaccine misinformation and shortages of healthcare workers.
Two million people could contract Covid in the UK this summer, potentially meaning up to 10 million must isolate in just six weeks, Guardian analysis shows, prompting warnings over risks to health and disruption to the economy.
The figures comes as Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said England was entering “uncharted territory” in its wholesale scrapping of lockdown rules from 19 July. New infections could easily rise above 100,000 a day over the summer, he said, more than at any point in the pandemic.
Javid announced that anyone who has been double-vaccinated will not have to isolate after coming into contact with a confirmed Covid case from 16 August, with under-18s also exempt. The rule for adults applies at least 10 days after their second dose. Anyone who has caught Covid must still isolate by law.
Dozens of staff at a seafood plant in Northern Ireland have tested positive for Covid-19.
PA Media reports that about 42 workers at Kilkeel Seafoods, in County Down, have had confirmed infections, out of 250 staff at the site.
It has since been closed for a deep clean. Mobile testing units are already in the area after the Delta variant was found. It is now the dominant strain in the country.
A spokesperson for the company said staff testing had been requested as a preventative safety measure after a small number of positive cases were reported among workers last week.
More details of how Covid-19 is hitting sport from Gerard Meagher, as the Britain and Irish Lions’ games in South Africa has been plunged into uncertainty.
The British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa has been plunged further into disarray after the match against the Bulls on Saturday was postponed and the Springboks were hit with another 11 Covid cases – including the head coach, Jacques Nienaber – raising more fears over the Test series.
On Tuesday it emerged the Bulls had recorded five positive cases and, taking into account close contacts, it was determined that the match in Pretoria on Saturday could not go ahead. The Lions were scrambling on Tuesday night to find a different opponent, while the Bulls match could yet be rearranged, but the postponement comes as a huge disruption for the tour.
South Africa meanwhile have seen a surge in Covid cases while their opponents on Friday night, Georgia, have recorded four. That match has not yet been called off but is hanging by a thread, leaving the Springboks likely to be badly undercooked for the Test series. Doubts remain as to whether the world champions will be able to face the Lions, however, with the series due to begin on 24 July.
Read more:
Heathrow, the Gaucho restaurant chain and the City Pub Group are set to continue with mask-wearing rules despite government plans to sweep away most safety measures from 19 July.
Boris Johnson indicated on Monday that mask wearing would become largely a matter of personal choice later this month, when the government removes legally enforceable rules on face coverings in public settings including shops, restaurants, bars, workplaces and public transport.
While many major retailers and hospitality businesses said they were awaiting the detailed guidance from the government on 12 July and consulting staff before finalising their policy, some said they would persist with face coverings irrespective of the official rules.
Read more:
Good evening, Harry Taylor bringing you the latest coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world for the rest of tonight.
If you have any comments, tips or suggestions – drop me an email to harry.taylor.casual@theguardian.com or via Twitter @HarryTaylr.
The medical journal Nature reports that mounting evidence from Russia and other countries suggests that the Sputnik V is safe and effective, after it was authorised before early-stage trial results had been published.
But it has since been approved in 67 countries – including Brazil, Hungary, India and the Philippines – though has not yet gained World Health Organization approval, something which president Vladimir Putin has suggested could be down to politics and commercial interests.
Approval by the WHO is crucial for widespread distribution through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative, which is providing doses for lower-income nations.
The scientific community greeted Russian president Vladimir Putin’s announcement of the vaccine’s registration with outrage. “If the government’s going to approve a vaccine before they even know the results of the trial, that does not build confidence,” says epidemiologist Michael Toole at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia.
Some of that concern was allayed when the phase III trial results1, published in February by the vaccine’s developers, suggested that it is 91.6% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infection and 100% effective at preventing severe infection. However, some scientists criticized the authors for failing to provide access to the full raw data from the early stage trials, and also voiced concerns about changes in the vaccine’s administration protocol and inconsistencies in the data.
Despite the absence of approval from the EMA or the WHO, several countries, including South Korea, Argentina and India, are already manufacturing Sputnik V. And India plans to pump out at least 850 million doses, to help speed up the vaccination of its embattled population. Many other countries, such as Hungary and Iran, are importing Sputnik V, and it has become a key plank of their vaccination campaigns.
Sputnik’s side effects are also becoming clearer; studies so far suggest that they are similar to those of the other adenovirus vaccines, with the notable exception of rare blood-clotting conditions. Unlike for both the Oxford–AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, there have been no reports of these disorders from Russian health authorities or from the other nations using Sputnik V.
Queensland authorities are investigating whether the layout or air conditioning system in a Brisbane quarantine hotel caused the Covid infection of a mineworker, whose nine-hour stopover triggered lockdowns in the Northern Territory and health alerts across the country.
As the Queensland government continues to raise concern about the capacity of hotels for returning international travellers and the need for purpose-built quarantine facilities, the state’s health department says it is assessing whether “environmental or engineering factors” contributed to virus transmission on the fifth floor of the Novotel Brisbane airport.
The deputy premier, Steven Miles, told Guardian Australia that “weaknesses” in the hotel quarantine system created virus transmission risks.
Today so far...
- The embattled Covax vaccine-sharing facility expects to have 1.9bn doses of Covid-19 vaccines available by the end of this year, including 1.5bn earmarked for the poorest countries, its managing director said. Covax, which has distributed some 95m doses to 134 countries since late February, has had a troubled start and said it is now working with new suppliers.
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The Lancet has published a new letter supporting calls for further study of the pandemic’s roots after intense criticism over a statement that described the possibility of Covid-19 originating from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab as a conspiracy theory, without disclosing that a key author’s non-profit steered US funding to the lab.
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Greater Sydney will remain in lockdown for an extra week, and schools won’t open as expected after the holiday break, as New South Wales battles to get on top of its growing Covid outbreak. Guardian Australia understands the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will announce on tomorrow morning that existing restrictions will remain in place until midnight on 16 July.
- Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel remains in hospital, suffering from Covid symptoms after a positive test and experiencing low oxygen levels in his blood. After Bettel attended an EU summit meeting in Brussels late last month, the 48-year-old announced his positive test result and that he had mild symptoms. The PM received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in May.
- The Spanish region of Catalonia is to reimpose coronavirus restrictions including curbs on nightlife in an attempt to quell rising infections, especially among unvaccinated young people. Nightclubs will be closed as of this weekend and a negative Covid-19 test or proof of vaccination would be needed to take part in outdoor activities involving more than 500 people.
- From tomorrow, Russia is to change the rules for citizens returning from abroad, scrapping the obligation to undergo two PCR tests upon arrival for those vaccinated or officially recovered from Covid-19. Those who do not fall into these two categories when they enter Russia would need to self-isolate before receiving results of one PCR test.
- Detainees at US immigration detention centres are reportedly experiencing significant increases in Covid infections. The New York Times reports that the number of migrants being held has nearly doubled in recent months as border apprehensions have risen, according to the authorities. More than 26,000 people were in detention last week, compared with about 14,000 in April.
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Vietnam halted dozens of flights in and out of its biggest city today to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, after reporting more than 1,000 new cases for a second successive day, though deaths remain rare.
- Finland is to allow travellers from abroad who are fully vaccinated, can show they have had Covid-19 within the last six months, or come from a country with a low infection rate to freely enter the country, the country’s government said.
- Greece reported a jump in daily Covid-19 infections, after many weeks of declining numbers that prompted authorities to lift most of the country’s coronavirus restrictions. Public health authorities reported 1,797 new daily cases more than twice the level of 801 cases reported on Monday.
Finland unveils various entry requirements for travellers after shutdown
Finland will allow travellers from abroad who are fully vaccinated, can show they have had Covid-19 within the last six months, or come from a country with a low infection rate to freely enter the country, the country’s government has said.
Other potential visitors will have to take a Covid-19 test before entering Finland or at the border, then self-isolate on arrival and take another test after three days or face a fine, health officials told a news conference.
Finland’s borders have largely been closed for all but essential travel since the pandemic started last year. “All three previous infection waves have started from infections that came from abroad,” the Nordic country’s chief physician Markku Makijarvi said.
The health ministry said the free entry list currently includes 13 countries that have recorded 10 or fewer new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks.
To date, the nation of 5.5 million people has recorded 96,791 cases and 973 deaths from Covid-19, with 38 people currently hospitalised due to the disease. Some 72.9% of those eligible have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to health authorities.
The BBC reports that attacks on healthcare workers in India have been highlighting during the pandemic, they were already happening with troubling regularity.
“I thought I wouldn’t survive,” said Dr Seuj Kumar Senapati, who was working for just the second day at a Covid care centre in Hojai district, in north-eastern India when he was attacked. “My clothes were torn, my gold chain was snatched and my mobile phone and spectacles were smashed. But after about twenty minutes, I managed to escape.”
It is said that some bereaved relatives in India believe their family members were not treated properly or given a bed in a timely fashion.
Shreya Shrivastava, who has been tracking violence against doctors at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, told the BBC: “Such violence is not premeditated, but more an outcome of an emotional trigger caused by death. Hence, laws don’t work as a deterrent.”
Trust between Indians and the healthcare system is also waning amid the pandemic, with a mostly unregulated and costly private sector providing the majority of services and people dying of Covid despite expensive care, Shrivastava said.
Behind closed doors due to the pandemic, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama celebrated his 86th birthday today.
He thanked his supporters and expressed his appreciation to India, where he has lived since he was forced to flee his homeland in 1959 after China began violently colonising Tibet.
“I want to express my deep appreciation of all my friends who have really shown me love, respect and trust,” the Dalai Lama said in a video message. “Since I became a refugee and now settled in India, I have taken full advantage of India’s freedom and religious harmony.
He added that he had great respect for India’s secular values such as “honesty, karuna (compassion), and ahimsa (non-violence).” He reiterated his mission to serve humanity and urged supporters to be compassionate, the Associated Press reports.
A small celebration attended mostly by government officials was held at the central Tibetan administration. The Dalai Lama’s video message was played on a screen and followed by a cultural performance by the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.
Usually, his birthday is an elaborate affair in the hillside town of Dharamshala in northern Indian, open to members of the public who flock to the Tsuglakhang Temple where performances are held. Sometimes, the Dalai Lama also makes an appearance.
This year, due to the pandemic, the celebrations were muted and behind closed doors. But a banner marking his birthday hung in the town square and Tibetan monks distributed sweets and juice to passersby outside the closed temple. There were celebrations elsewhere in the world, including in Amsterdam.
AFP have this piece asking how effective Covid vaccines are among people whose immune systems are compromised by HIV, cancer or a recent organ transplant.
Faced with very little data – and fears that some of these patients could be particularly vulnerable to the virus - scientists are seeking to figure out how to best protect them.
In one of the largest research projects into the issue so far, dozens of French hospitals have launched a two-year study of some 10,000 people to help shine light onto how people with these conditions respond to immunisation for the coronavirus. Authorities like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say people with compromised immune systems can receive the vaccine, but stress that there is still little data on safety.
“If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may not be fully protected even if you are fully vaccinated,” the CDC adds.
People’s immune systems can be suppressed by disease - or by treatments taken to deal with other conditions - and this may mean their body has trouble producing the antibodies vaccines are meant to trigger.
Conditions where this might be the case include diabetes, obesity, cancer, organ and bone marrow transplants, chronic severe kidney failure, HIV or multiple sclerosis. In the case of a transplant, a patient’s immune response is suppressed on purpose to prevent his or her body from attacking the new organ.
Another French study published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at 100 transplant patients and found their immune response to vaccines was insufficient after two doses. Scientists recommended three doses for those patients, which is now the rule in France.
Greece infections rise sharply after weeks of declining numbers
Greece has reported a jump in daily Covid-19 infections, after many weeks of declining numbers that prompted authorities to lift most of the country’s coronavirus restrictions.
Public health authorities reported 1,797 new daily cases more than twice the level of 801 cases reported on Monday, bringing the total number of infections to 429,144. COVID-related deaths have reached 12,754.
Reuters reports:
Greece, heavily dependent on tourism, has lifted most restrictions for travel and entertainment and scrapped mask wearing rules in outdoor spaces as cases fell.
But health experts have voiced concern over the coronavirus and its more contagious Delta variant after infections started rising again in recent days. * health official said on Tuesday that many of the new positive test cases are youngsters, who are much less likely to fall seriously ill.
About 38% of Greece’s eligible population is fully vaccinated so far and the government has offered incentives to encourage more people to get the shot as it wants to bring that rate up to at least 70% by autumn.
A lockdown since November has cost many billions of euros to the Greek economy which is emerging from a decade-long crisis. The government has said that it would not close the economy again because of the pandemic if its was just to protect an unvaccinated minority.
Updated
From Wednesday, Russia will change the rules for citizens returning from abroad, scrapping the obligation to undergo two PCR tests upon arrival, a decree published and signed by Anna Popova, head of the consumer health watchdog, showed.
This comes after the country reported a further 737 daily coronavirus deaths.
Reuters reports:
From July 7, all those vaccinated or officially recovered from COVID-19 do not need to take a PCR test. Those who do not fall into these two categories when they enter Russia, will need to self-isolate before receiving results of one PCR test.
In the past day, Russia has confirmed 23,378 new COVID-19 cases, including 5,498 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 5,658,672.
The Kremlin said it would not support the idea of closing borders between Russia’s regions to stop the virus from spreading, although some regions may take swift and harsh measures to withstand the pandemic.
The recent surge in COVID-19 cases, along with the need to raise interest rates to combat inflation, are seen challenging economic growth in Russia this year.
The European Union have ordered nearly 40 million additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson, despite the company’s supply shortfalls in the first half of the year, a spokesman for the EU Commission said.
Reuters reports:
Some EU nations have decided to take on a first option and have ordered 36.7 million additional doses, a spokesman for the EU Commission, which coordinates the purchases, told Reuters.
He declined to say which nations activated the option and when the doses would be delivered.
Under the contract this option had to be exercised by March, but the EU negotiated an extension. Only one-third of the 100 million doses that could have been ordered under the first additional tranche have been bought.
The EU spokesman said the EU was negotiating the extension of the terms for a second option for extra doses. That option expired at the end of June.
Jonhson & Johnson confirmed the extra order for nearly 40 million doses and said talks were under way about the possible supply of further vaccines. It declined to comment on the timing of the deliveries.
The EU spokesman declined to say whether the additional doses were to be used in the countries that bought them or would be donated to poorer nations outside the EU. EU officials had told Reuters that J&J additional doses would be most likely channelled abroad.
The EU is largely relying on the jab developed by BioNTech and Pfizer to vaccinate its own population. It also wants to donate at least 100 million doses to poorer nations by the end of the year.
Johnson & Johnson was expected to deliver 55 million doses to the EU in the second quarter of this year, but fell far short of that target. EU data show that by the end of June only about 15 million vaccines were shipped to the EU, as the company faced production problems.
The UK has reported the highest daily number of new Covid-19 cases since 29 January, and the greatest number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test since April 23.
Tuesday’s figures showed that there were 28,773 new cases, up from 27,334 on Monday, and 37 deaths.
As of the end of Monday, 86.2% of British adults had received one dose of a coronavirus vaccination and 64.3% had received two doses.
Italy has reported a further 907 coronavirus cases, and 24 coronavirus related deaths.
Updated
Arthur Lira, head of Brazil’s lower house, has said that irregularities regarding the federal government’s procurement of a COVID-19 vaccine does not justify the opening of impeachment proceedings against President Jair Bolsonaro.
Reuters reports:
Lira’s remarks, made during a radio interview, come as Bolsonaro is feeling the heat for overseeing the world’s second-deadliest coronavirus toll and as a Senate probe looks into alleged graft in vaccine purchases.
Lira has the power to decide whether to initiate impeachment proceedings, but said he currently sees no grounds to do so.
“At the moment there is no new fact that justifies, that has any direct connection with the President, other than the fact that a congressman has said that he has given him some documents, invoices,” Lira said. “For the time being and until now, there are many versions from both sides.”
Lira also noted an impeachment process would destabilize the country politically and economically.
Bolsonaro was allegedly alerted by lawmaker Luís Miranda and by his brother, an official at the Health Ministry, about potential irregularities in the purchase of 20 million doses of Covaxin vaccine made by India’s Bharat Biotech in February, according to their testimony before an ongoing high-profile Senate inquiry.
After the allegations surfaced, Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber authorized an investigation of the president by the top prosecutor’s office, or PGR, for “dereliction of duty.”
Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing and has claimed he asked the then Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello to investigate the vaccine’s procurement process, adding no irregularities were found.
Catalonia reimposes restrictions as cases rise
The Spanish region of Catalonia is to reimpose coronavirus restrictions including curbs on nightlife in an attempt to quell rising infections, especially among unvaccinated young people.
Reuters reports that nightclubs will be closed as of this weekend and a negative Covid-19 test or proof of vaccination would be needed to take part in outdoor activities involving more than 500 people, said a spokeswoman for the regional government.
“We can’t pretend to have defeated the virus,” she said. “The pandemic has not ended, the new variants are very contagious and we still have significant segments of the population that are not vaccinated.”
It should also be made compulsory once again to wear a face mask outdoors, but only Spain’s central government can reimpose this measure, she added.
Spain on 26 June stopped requiring masks outdoors in situations where it was possible to maintain physical distancing. A few other smaller regions have reimposed restrictions on social life in recent days to try to tame a rise in infections.
The northern Navarra region announced that bars and nightclubs will go back to closing at 1am instead of 3am, while the Cantabria region has completely shut down nightlife in several towns.
Just over 40% of Spain’s 47 million people have been fully vaccinated, one of the highest levels in Europe, but just one-in-10 among 20- to 29-year-olds have been vaccinated.
Updated
Embattled vaccine sharing scheme says it is negotiating with new vaccine suppliers
The Covax vaccine-sharing facility expects to have 1.9bn doses of Covid-19 vaccines available by the end of this year, including 1.5bn earmarked for the poorest countries, its managing director has said.
Aurelia Nguyen told a meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) that Covax has in total secured 5.6bn doses for this year and next from nine suppliers, of which 3.2bn are through legally binding signed contracts.
She said the GAVI vaccine alliance, which runs Covax with the WHO, expects a “very strong increase” of vaccines available towards the fourth quarter, as supplies from new manufacturers increase, Reuters reports.
Covax, which has distributed some 95m doses to 134 countries since late February, has had an extremely troubled start as it initially banked on vaccines from India before the country suspended exports.
It was criticised for the decision, which appeared shortsighted, but it has also struggled due to an apparent hesitance among other producer countries including the US to sanction donations until their populations reached significant levels of vaccination.
Further clarity is also being sought by Covax on hundreds of millions of additional donations pledged last month by leaders of the G7 countries, a WHO document showed.
Updated
Greater Sydney will remain in lockdown for an extra week, and schools won’t open as expected after the holiday break, as New South Wales battles to get on top of its growing Covid outbreak.
Guardian Australia understands the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will announce on Wednesday morning that existing restrictions will remain in place until midnight on 16 July.
Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour had been scheduled to emerge from lockdown this Friday.
The decision means students in greater Sydney will be required to attend classes online next week from Tuesday to Friday. Regional schools, however, will reopen for face-to-face learning as planned on 13 July for term three.
Updated
Vietnam halted dozens of flights in and out of its biggest city today to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, after reporting more than 1,000 new cases for a second successive day.
Ho Chi Minh City has ramped up its testing in recent days and the southern economic hub accounted for more than two-thirds of the 1,029 new cases reported today, according to Reuters.
The government said nine cities and provinces have suspended flights to and from the city of 9 million people, with record new infections reported in three of the past six days. City authorities said yesterday controls on entry into and out of the city would be imposed and advised people to stay indoors.
Prime minister Pham Minh Chinh urged Ho Chi Minh City to take stronger measures and focus its resources on the pandemic. He said the restrictions could affect business activities and disrupt supply chains, but “when needed, especially now, people’s lives and health must be prioritised.”
Vietnam has reported just 22,064 coronavirus infections overall, with 97 deaths, one of Asia’s best containment records.
Detainees at US immigration detention centres (ICE) are reportedly experiencing significant increases in Covid infections.
The New York Times reports that the number of migrants being held has nearly doubled in recent months as border apprehensions have risen, according to the authorities. More than 26,000 people were in detention last week, compared with about 14,000 in April.
More than 7,500 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the centres over this period – 40% of all cases reported in ICE facilities over the pandemic – according to an NYT analysis.
Within prisons in the US, the virus infected and killed prisoners at a faster rate than it did in nearby populations because of crowding, among other factors, the paper said.
Sharon Dolovich, a law professor and director of the Covid Behind Bars Data Project at the University of California, told the NYT that detainees would remain more vulnerable to outbreaks until officials gave greater priority to vaccination.
“You have people coming in and out of the facility, into communities where incomplete vaccination allows these variants to flourish, and then you bring them inside the facilities, and that variant will spread,” she said. “What you’re describing is the combination of insufficient vaccination plus the evolution of the virus, and that is really scary.”
According to ICE’s latest public data, about 20% of detainees had received at least one dose of vaccine while in custody.
The number of Covid infections and deaths among children in Indonesia has risen sharply over the past month, a senior paediatrician has said, as the country faces its most severe outbreak since the start of the pandemic.
Indonesia introduced new restrictions last week in the capital Jakarta, Java, and Bali in an attempt to curb its latest wave, which is the most severe since the start of the pandemic. Hospitals in cities across Java, which have been overwhelmed by the surge in patient numbers, have been forced to turn people away because they have run out of oxygen and beds.
On Tuesday, Indonesia reported 31,189 new infections and 728 deaths, both record daily increases. The country’s daily case numbers have more than quadrupled in less than a month, and it is feared infections will continue to rise. The government said it was preparing for a worst-case scenario where daily infections reach up to 50,000, and that it had ordered oxygen from neighbouring countries to meet demand.
Joe Biden is to speak today on his administration’s ongoing efforts to get Americans vaccinated against coronavirus. The speech comes two days after the country failed to meet his goal of having 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4, the US independence day.
You may keep up to date with developments with our US blog.
Four vaccines are currently available through Brazil’s NHS-style public health service: Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, CoronaVac and Janssen. But for a mix of political, social and health reasons, Brazil’s sommeliers have deemed some shots more desirable than others.
Readers of the Times have criticised the paper after it published an article headlined “Experimental heart drug ‘cures long Covid in hours”, based on the experience of one 59-year-old man.
It said the patient was suffering with glaucoma and signs of long Covid but appeared to have been cured within hours after receiving a dose of a compound developed by the German biotech company Berlin Cures to treat heart failure.
With the evidence of the drug’s efficacy still extremely scant, one reader commented: “Reading the click bait headline it transpires that this sensational headline is based on the trial of one person. Irresponsible in the extreme.”
Another remarked: “One swallow doth not a summer make.” Summing up the likely thoughts of most keen readers of the piece, a third said: “A little more clinical trials than one patient may be required.”
Travel restrictions between the UK and Germany will be eased from today, after Germany’s disease control agency announced plans to downgrade the “virus variant area” status of the UK alongside Portugal, Russia, India and Nepal.
Travellers from the UK to Germany who have either received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, or can prove that they have recovered from an infection with the virus, will no longer be required to quarantine upon their arrival.
Those who are not vaccinated or have received only one shot will be required to quarantine for 10 days, but can leave quarantine from the fifth day with a negative test result.
The president of Italy’s higher health institute has warned the country still needed to be prudent after Boris Johnson said most of the UK’s Covid-19 rules would be scrapped by 19 July.
“So Great Britain is reopening? Good for them,” Silvio Brusaferro told Corriere della Sera. “For us, the Covid-19 monitoring is working.”
Italy registered 480 new coronavirus cases yesterday and a further 31 deaths. However, there are concerns about the spreading Delta variant, with outbreaks occurring in holiday hotspots and mainly among young people. The variant accounts for about 17% of total Covid-19 cases.
“I believe assessments must be made on the basis of the local epidemiological situation,” added Brusaffero. “Therefore, good for the British if they can regain some freedoms.”
All of Italy is now in the “white zone” level of restrictions, meaning everything is open apart from nightclubs. The government is hesitating over the reopening of nightclubs, which had originally been planned for 10 July, with the idea of allowing entrance only to those who can present a “green pass” proving they are either partially or fully vaccinated.
Italy dropped the obligation to wear face masks outside in late June, although many people continue to wear them. The mask rule remains in place when inside shops, restaurants, using public transport and when in crowded outside areas.
Meanwhile, the Italy football manager, Roberto Mancini, has said he believes it is “very unfair” that the vast majority of the 60,000 spectators expected at Wembley on Tuesday for the Euro 2020 semi‑final between Italy and Spain will not be from the respective countries.
Updated
Lancet letter authors row back on description of lab leak as conspiracy theory
Under intense criticism over a statement that described the possibility of Covid-19 originating from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab as a conspiracy theory, without disclosing that a key author’s non-profit steered US funding to the lab, the Lancet has published a new letter supporting calls for further study of the pandemic’s roots.
In February 2020, a group of prominent scientists including Peter Daszak – whose organisation the EcoHealth Alliance funnelled $3.4 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health to the WIV to study bat coronaviruses between 2014 and 2019 – said “we stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin.”
Amid growing scrutiny, after emails showed Daszak thanking Dr Anthony Fauci for pushing back on the theory that the coronavirus leaked from a lab, many of the same experts have now published a new letter to clarify that their “original correspondence was to express our working view that SARS-CoV-2 most likely originated in nature and not in a laboratory.”
They said this was “on the basis of early genetic analysis of the new virus and well established evidence from previous emerging infectious diseases.”
Authors of a letter, published in February, 2020, in support of professional colleagues in China combatting #COVID19, reaffirm their stance and call for solidarity and rigorous scientific data to determine how #SARS-CoV-2 reached humans. Read https://t.co/5337YhuFCc. pic.twitter.com/068LcU16Gr
— The Lancet (@TheLancet) July 5, 2021
However, the authors said that “new, credible, and peer-reviewed” evidence still suggests that the virus had a natural origin, while hints of a lab leak “remain without scientifically validated evidence that directly supports it in peer-reviewed scientific journals”.
Without mentioning conspiracy theories, they added: “Allegations and conjecture are of no help, as they do not facilitate access to information and objective assessment of the pathway from a bat virus to a human pathogen that might help to prevent a future pandemic.”
It said that EcoHealth Alliance’s work in China was currently unfunded, but that it involved assessing the risk of viral spillover “across the wildlife–livestock–human interface”. It also includes behavioural and serological surveys of people, and ecological and virological analyses of animals.
“This work includes the identification of viral sequences in bat samples, and has resulted in the isolation of three bat SARS-related coronaviruses that are now used as reagents to test therapeutics and vaccines,” the letter said.
“It also includes the production of a small number of recombinant bat coronaviruses to analyse cell entry and other characteristics of bat coronaviruses for which only the genetic sequences are available. NIH reviewed the planned recombinant virus work and deemed it does not meet the criteria that would warrant further specific review by its Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight committee.”
The US has today sent Vietnam 2m doses of Covid-19 vaccines as part of 80m doses that president Joe Biden has pledged to allocate worldwide, the White House said.
The Moderna vaccine shipment should arrive in Vietnam this weekend, a White House official told AFP. “This is just the beginning of doses being shipped to south-east Asia.”
A million doses went to Malaysia yesterday and last week the White House announced delivery “soon” of 4m doses to Indonesia. Other countries in the region in line for a share of the 80m doses are Cambodia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Thailand.
The Biden administration official said the delivery to Vietnam, made through the World Health Organization’s Covax programme, is part of a strategy aimed at “ending the pandemic everywhere”.
On condition of anonymity, the official claimed the donations did not represent manoeuvres under the auspices of “vaccine diplomacy”, amid what appears to effectively be a contest with China and Russia.
“We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions. Our vaccines do not come with strings attached,” the official asserted.
In total, the US has so far delivered about 40m of the doses to countries as far apart as South Korea and Honduras, the White House said. Announcing the Vietnam batch, the White House noted that its donations abroad total “significantly more than any other country has sent”.
Updated
Former World Health Organization director Anthony Costello has suggested that some major countries are more interested in seeing private companies profit than in ending the pandemic.
In a string of incendiary tweets, Costello took aim at the refusal of the the UK, Germany and Canada to support a US proposal for a vaccine patent waiver which would increase global production, amid the failure of a scheme to ensure equitable access to jabs.
Yes, 95% plus of the money to develop the vaccines came from the public purse. But No we must protect the shareholders of big pharma companies. So a million people must die every month to sustain free markets. New variants must emerge so Big Pharma can make new vaccines. (13)
— Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) July 6, 2021
And no new G7 money is committed to Covax. And the main AZ franchise in India has its exports blocked. So Nepal, Bangladesh and the whole of Africa have virtually no vaccines. Tens of thousands die. Covax grinds to a halt. Cornwall superspreads. (14)
— Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) July 6, 2021
Updated
As billions of people isolated around the world in 2020, villagers from Sarayaku , a Kichwa community in the Ecuadorian Amazon, headed deeper into the forest to escape the coronavirus pandemic. The journey, documented in a new short film called The Return, reaffirmed the bond the community has had with the forest for generations, protecting ancestors from missionaries, militias and emerging diseases such as measles and smallpox, as well as sustaining life.
Luxembourg PM remains in hospital
Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel remains in hospital, suffering from Covid symptoms after a positive test and experiencing low oxygen levels in his blood.
The country’s government said in a statement yesterday:
During this weekend, the symptoms observed did not abate, which led the prime minister to be hospitalized as a precaution. At that time, insufficient oxygen saturation was diagnosed and the prime minister has been under continuous medical observation since then.
The prime minister’s current medical condition is considered serious, but stable. Thus, the medical staff surrounding the prime minister decided that hospitalisation is currently necessary in order to be able to continue the observation, this for an estimated duration of 2-4 days.
In order to best guarantee the continuity of current affairs operations, the minister of finance, Pierre Gramegna received signing authority. The prime minister will continue to be responsible for the coordination of government work and will carry out his functions remotely.
After Bettel attended an EU summit meeting in Brussels late last month, the 48-year-old announced his positive test result and that he had mild symptoms. The PM received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in May and was to receive the second one on 1 July.
Luxembourg, population 600,000, has reported 71,429 infections and 818 fatalities since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Dear @Xavier_Bettel, I wish you a very speedy recovery and hope to see you soon in good health.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 5, 2021
In the meantime, rest and take good care of yourself.
Updated
Japan has announced it is to ship millions more donated doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine – which the country does not want itself amid safety fears – to Asian neighbours this week.
Foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Japan would send 1.13m more doses to Taiwan on Thursday, after delivering 1.24m doses last month, while a further 1m doses each will be sent to Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam this week, following earlier donations to Indonesia and Malaysia.
Japan has arranged to buy 120m doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, with most of that supply produced by domestic companies. Reuters reports that regulators approved the shot in May, but amid lingering concerns about blood clots, health authorities have relied on the mRNA-type vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.
Japan has pledged $1bn and 30m doses to the global vaccine sharing scheme Covax, but so far its donations have been outside of the programme.
AstraZeneca doses produced in Japan have not yet been approved by the World Health Organisation for use in Covax, Motegi said, so the country has turned to bilateral deals to respond to “urgent requests for vaccine supplies.”
Japan’s first shipments through Covax are expected in the middle of this month, with some 11m doses bound for nations in south Asia and the Pacific islands, Motegi said.
“True friends always lend a hand when they need each other the most,” Taiwanese premier Su Tseng-chang wrote on his Facebook page. About 10% of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people have received at least one of the two-shot vaccines.
Health minister Chen Shih-chung said that 620,000 additional AstraZeneca doses would arrive tomorrow, part of the government’s direct order from the company.
Updated
Two people who live in London can win tickets to the Euro 2020 football final at Wembley on Saturday if they book an appointment to get vaccinated, in one of few gift schemes in the UK that has largely resisted offering rewards to coax sceptics to get jabbed.
With the British capital having the lowest rate of vaccine uptake in the country, with 63% of over-18s having had the first dose, mayor Sadiq Khan is seeking to boost the number of young people who are inoculated against Covid – though the risk for such groups from the virus remains extremely low.
From tomorrow, an online draw for the final tickets opens, with entrants who post on social media about having booked their vaccine appointment getting to be entered twice, according to the BBC. Khan told the broadcaster:
It’s really important we continue to boost the number of young people coming forward to be vaccinated. We are already seeing the big difference that the vaccine is making in our fight against the virus but the next two weeks are absolutely crucial in ensuring restrictions are lifted. I urge all Londoners to get both doses of the vaccine as soon as possible.
Updated
Today so far …
- Germany should lift all remaining coronavirus-linked social and economic curbs as soon as everyone has been offered a vaccine, foreign minister Heiko Maas was quoted as saying this morning, suggesting that point should be reached next month. Germany is already easing strict restrictions on travel from Britain, Portugal and some other countries that were imposed because of the rise of the more contagious delta virus variant.
- Indonesia is sourcing emergency oxygen for virus patients from neighbouring Singapore, and calling for help from other countries including China. About 10,000 concentrators – devices that generate oxygen – were to be shipped from the city-state with some arriving by a Hercules cargo plane earlier on Tuesday, officials said.
- The coronavirus pandemic is forcing organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to restrict attendance at the Games’ opening ceremony to a limited number of VIPs, Japanese media have reported. The curtain-raiser at the 68,000-seat main stadium on 23 July will be watched only by people connected to sponsors, along with diplomats and other special guests, with the number sharply reduced from an initial estimate of 10,000.
- Struggling to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant, Fiji reported a record 636 Covid infections and six deaths on Tuesday, with the mortuary at Pacific island’s main hospital already filled to capacity.
- Turkey has identified three cases of the new Delta Plus Covid variant in three provinces. The health minister also said that the separate Delta variant had additionally been identified in some 284 cases across 30 provinces. Turkey, which eased most restrictions on 1 July, has reported nearly 5.5 million Covid cases and some 50,000 deaths in total. A vaccination programme has ramped up to more than a million shots per day.
- Russia reported a record 737 deaths from coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours on Tuesday, pushing the official national death toll to 139,316. The country confirmed 23,378 new Covid cases, including 5,498 in Moscow.
- In the UK, the NHS test and trace system will be made more “proportionate”, new health secretary Sajid Javid has promised, with double-vaccinated contacts expected to be spared the need to self-isolate.
- He warned that England could see as many as 100,000 new cases of Covid a day in August as the government moves forward with plans to drop all Covid restrictions in England on 19 July.
- UK education secretary Gavin Williamson will also make a statement today in the Commons on plans to replace the requirement for entire school bubbles to isolate after a positive Covid contact with enhanced testing.
- A second man has been charged over an incident in which the British government’s top medical adviser Chris Whitty was accosted in a London park.
- Richard Ashcroft has pulled out of his headline slot at Sheffield’s Tramlines festival later this month, as he opposes the event being used as part of government research into the transmission of Covid-19 at large events.
- England’s one-day cricket squad have been plunged into isolation after seven members of the bubble tested positive for Covid-19.
- Indian drug manufacturer Morepen Laboratories has begun production of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
- Israel will deliver about 700,000 expiring doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine to South Korea later this month and South Korea will give Israel back the same number, already on order from Pfizer, in September and October.
- Bangladesh has suffered its worst day, with 164 deaths and 9,964 new infections. The government has extended the current lockdown into next week as hospitals on border areas struggle with the Delta variant, which was first identified across those borders in India.
- Africa recorded its record number of cases over the past week, according to a count by AFP. There were 36,000 new infection reported per day, driven by a surge in South Africa.
Andrew Sparrow has our UK politics and Covid live blog, which are both very much the same thing today with reaction to the government’s announcement yesterday about lifting restrictions in England. You can follow all that with him here…
That’s it from me, Martin Belam, for today. Mattha Busby will be here shortly to continue our global Covid coverage.
Updated
Very brief from Reuters here just to confirm that Indonesia today has again set record numbers – health ministry data showed there were 31,189 new coronavirus infections and 728 deaths on Tuesday, both record daily increases.
Yesim Dikmen writes for Reuters this morning that Turkey has identified three cases of the new Delta Plus Covid variant in three provinces. The health minister also said that the separate Delta variant had additionally been identified in some 284 cases across 30 provinces.
Turkey, which eased most restrictions on 1 July, has reported nearly 5.5m Covid cases and some 50,000 deaths in total. A vaccination programme has ramped up to more than a million shots per day.
“The Delta Plus (variant) was seen in three people in three separate provinces (including) one in Istanbul,” health minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday. “These people are in good condition.”
Turkey’s vaccine programme began in January with shots developed by Sinovac and has since also been using the Pfizer/BioNTech and Sputnik V vaccines.
If you are unfamiliar with the Delta Plus variant and what it means, our science editor Ian Sample wrote this a couple of weeks back: Delta Plus Covid variant – what is it and should we be concerned?
Germany should lift all remaining Covid restriction by end of August – minister
Germany should lift all remaining coronavirus-linked social and economic curbs as soon as everyone has been offered a vaccine, foreign minister Heiko Maas was quoted as saying this morning, suggesting that point should be reached next month.
Around 56.5% of people in Germany have received at least one dose and almost 39% are fully vaccinated, according to health ministry data.
“When everyone in Germany has received a vaccine offer, there is no longer a legal or political justification for any kind of restriction,” Maas told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. That should occur sometime during August, he added.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has previously said she wants to offer everyone in Germany a vaccine by 21 September.
Caroline Copley reports for Reuters that in January Maas was the first German government minister to call for restrictions to be eased for vaccinated people and suggested they should be allowed to visit the cinema or eat in restaurants. Other ministers opposed special exemptions for the vaccinated.
Andrew Sparrow has launched the UK live blog for today, and is understandably leading on that expectation from UK health secretary Sajid Javid that cases in the UK could be 100,000 per day in the summer, but that the government is planning to drop restrictions in England anyway.
Follow Andrew for UK news there, and I’ll be continuing here with the latest international Covid developments.
Richard Ashcroft quits Tramlines festival owing to its Covid research
Richard Ashcroft has pulled out of his headline slot at Sheffield’s Tramlines festival later this month, as he opposes the event being used as part of government research into the transmission of Covid-19 at large events.
He wrote on Instagram:
Apologies to my fans for any disappointment but the festival was informed over 10 days ago that I wouldn’t be playing once it had become part of a government testing programme. I had informed my agent months ago I wouldn’t be playing concerts with restrictions.
Read more of Ben Beaumont-Thomas’ report here: Richard Ashcroft quits Tramlines festival owing to its Covid research
Tokyo Olympics: attendance to be slashed at opening ceremony
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to restrict attendance at the Games’ opening ceremony to a limited number of VIPs, Japanese media have reported.
The curtain-raiser at the 68,000-seat main stadium on 23 July will be watched only by people connected to sponsors, along with diplomats and other special guests, with the number sharply reduced from an initial estimate of 10,000, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said on Tuesday, citing multiple unidentified sources.
In addition, Olympic competitions at large venues and those scheduled for after 9pm will be held without spectators to discourage people spending time in the capital after the events have ended.
The Tokyo 2020 organising committee has already banned overseas spectators and set a cap on domestic spectators at 10,000 per venue for the Games, or 50% of capacity.
Read more of Justin McCurry’s report from Tokyo: Tokyo Olympics – attendance to be slashed at opening ceremony
David Hughes and Emma Bowden have teed up the rest of the day’s UK Covid developments for us after the morning media round, writing that the NHS Test and Trace system will be made more “proportionate”, Sajid Javid has promised, with double-vaccinated contacts expected to be spared the need to self-isolate.
The Health Secretary will update MPs on the latest plans for easing restrictions after Boris Johnson promised the wholesale lifting of coronavirus rules in England yesterday.
Javid will use his Commons statement to set out how the contact tracing system will operate in future, saying it is “absolutely right” that for people who have received both vaccination doses “we can take a different approach”.
Reports last week suggested ministers intend to drop all legal requirements on those who have had both jabs if they encounter a confirmed case, with advice for them to take a daily test but no compulsion to do so.
Javid also told MPs on Monday that ministers would set out “how we intend to exempt under-18s who are close contacts from the requirement to self-isolate”.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson will also make a statement in the Commons on plans to replace the requirement for entire school bubbles to isolate after a positive Covid contact with enhanced testing.
Covid outbreak forces England’s one-day cricket squad into isolation
England’s one-day cricket squad have been plunged into isolation after seven members of the bubble tested positive for Covid-19.
Three players and four members of the team management tested positive yesterday and will self-isolate along with the remainder of the ODI squad who were deemed close contacts.
England’s ODIs and and T20 internationals against Pakistan will go ahead with Ben Stokes returning to the side to captain the squad which will be named later on Tuesday.
Tom Harrison, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said: ‘‘We have been mindful that the emergence of the Delta variant, along with our move away from the stringent enforcement of bio secure environments, could increase the chances of an outbreak.”
Read more here: Covid-19 outbreak forces England’s one-day cricket squad into isolation
Russia reports record 737 daily Covid deaths
Russia reported a record 737 deaths from coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours on Tuesday, pushing the official national death toll to 139,316.
The country confirmed 23,378 new Covid cases, including 5,498 in Moscow.
Reuters remind us that federal statistics agency has kept a separate death count, and has said Russia recorded around 270,000 deaths related to Covid from April 2020 to April 2021, nearly double the official tally.
India begins test production of Russian Sputnik V vaccine
A quick Reuters snap here that Indian drug manufacturer Morepen Laboratories has begun production of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), responsible for marketing the shot internationally, said on Tuesday.
The first test batch made by the Indian manufacturer in the state of Himachal Pradesh will be shipped to Gamaleya, the Moscow institute which developed the vaccine, for quality controls, RDIF said in a statement.
Javid: unlocking England is 'uncharted territory for anyone, any country in the world'
Here’s the full quote from UK health secretary Sajid Javid, that the government is planning to unlock the economy and remove Covid restrictions on 19 July, with the expectation that case numbers could reach as high as 100,000 cases per day by August. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
This is uncharted territory for anyone, any country in the world. As you go further out, week by week, then the numbers in terms of projections are even less reliable. But I said this in parliament yesterday, that by the time we get to 19 July we would expect the case numbers by then to be at least double what they are now – so around 50,000 new cases a day. As we ease and go into the summer, we expect them to rise significantly and they could go as high as 100,000 case numbers. We want to be very straightforward about this, what we can expect in terms of case numbers. But what matters more than anything is the hospitalisation and death numbers, and that is where the link is really weak.
Earlier on Sky News, Javid said that the rising case numbers are only leading to 1/30th of the level of hospitalisations as they were before the vaccination programme.
The current figures for the UK show that there were 27,334 people tested positive reported on 5 July, which is a rise of 53%. Just under 2,000 people were admitted to hospital in the last week, which is a rise of 24% on the week before. 64% of the adult population have now had two vaccine shots.
Updated
Javid expected to announce changes to self-isolation rules today
UK health secretary Sajid Javid said he would set out self-isolation changes for those who have had both vaccine doses in parliament later today.
“We will have a more proportionate system of test, trace and isolate, and it is absolutely right that those that have been double jabbed that we can take a different approach than the one we take today,” he told BBC Breakfast.
PA Media quotes him saying: “In terms of what we will be doing exactly, you will have to wait for my statement to parliament later today.”
It is expected that people who have had two doses of vaccine will no longer be required to self-isolate for 10 days.
The health secretary is thought to be giving a House of Commons statement at around 12.30pm in place of the currently listed appearance by colleague Jo Churchill.
Updated
UK health secretary suggests cases could get as high as 100,000 a day in summer
Just a follow-up here on the number of cases that the UK government seems to be thinking are acceptable under its current plans for unlocking England. Prime minister Boris Johnson said cases may be up to 50,000 per day when the country reaches 19 July. Health secretary Sajid Javid has just floated a number double that for the summer on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Sajid Javid tells #radio 4 that cases could get as high as 100,000 a day this summer 😬
— Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) July 6, 2021
The current caseload is around 25,000 new positive tests daily.
Some experts have criticised the plans saying that allowing this number of cases to flourish risks a breeding ground for potential variations, and is also exposing younger unvaccinated people to the risk of “long Covid”.
Updated
Indonesia expecting emergency oxygen shipment from Singapore
AFP has this report on the serious situation in Indonesia, where the nation is sourcing emergency oxygen for virus patients from neighbouring Singapore, and calling for help from other countries including China.
About 10,000 concentrators – devices that generate oxygen – were to be shipped from the city-state with some arriving by a Hercules cargo plane earlier on Tuesday, officials said.
“We have communicated with Singapore, China, and other sources” for help, senior minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said. “We will also order (oxygen) from other countries if we still feel that the supplies are insufficient.”
Pandjaitan ordered all the nation’s oxygen supplies sent to hospitals overflowing with coronavirus patients on Monday, warning Indonesia could face a “worst-case scenario” where infections skyrocket to 50,000 a day, a crisis driven by the Delta variant.
More than a dozen hospitals in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya are now full and not taking any more patients, authorities said.
“The health system is on the verge of collapse; hospitals are already being overwhelmed, oxygen supplies are running out and health services in Java and Bali are woefully ill-equipped to handle this surge in critically ill patients,” NGO Save the Children said in a statement.
Updated
UK opposition urges further precautions in England to limit Covid spread
In the UK, health minister Sajid Javid’s opposite number, Labour’s opposition health spokesperson Jonathan Ashworth, has been setting out why Labour is unhappy with the way the government is handling the unlocking of restrictions in England. He told Sky News:
We’ve got to look at where we are in the trajectory, because when Boris Johnson says 50,000 cases a day on 19 July, he’s not saying that is the peak. He’s not saying it will start coming down after that. The likelihood is this will continue to rise and rise to a peak, hopefully in about August I suspect, and then start coming down again, so why not have more precautions in place if we know we’re going up? Why not have mask wearing in place? Why not do the ventilation? Until we know we’re coming back down again.
He earlier suggested a further delay, or further precautions, could get the number of people vaccinated in England up further, saying:
People who are exposed the virus can develop very serious long term health conditions, which risk permanent illness or permanent disability as a consequence. And, of course, we haven’t finished vaccinating yet. Only 50% of the English population have had two jobs. We’re going to get much further on vaccination. We’re nearly there, but we’re not quite there yet.
“We haven’t finished vaccinating yet.”
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 6, 2021
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth calls for precautions such as mask wearing to stay in place until infection rates start to fall.#KayBurley: https://t.co/i7miY5B0Be pic.twitter.com/TLwr088nTp
Updated
Fiji sees record level of infections in Delta variant surge
Struggling to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant, Fiji reported a record 636 Covid infections and six deaths on Tuesday, with the mortuary at Pacific island’s main hospital already filled to capacity.
Since the pandemic began, Fiji has reported a total 39 deaths, but most have come since the emergence of the Delta variant in April.
With a population of less than a million people Fiji had initially succeeded in keeping the coronavirus at bay. The government has resisted calls for a national lockdown.
The Colonial War Memorial hospital in the capital, Suva, is Fiji’s largest public hospital with 500 beds, and has been assigned the task of treating Covid patients.
On Monday, the government said many patients were seeking treatment too late, and the hospital’s mortuary was full, even though some victims were dying at home.
“Sadly we are seeing people with the severe disease die at home or on the way to the hospital before our medical teams have a chance to administer what could potentially be life-saving treatment,” Fiji’s ministry for health said in an emailed statement, Reuters report.
About 54% of Fijians have received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca or Sinopharm vaccines, according to official data, while almost 9% have received a second.
Updated
With all the attention this morning on the lifting of Covid restrictions in the UK, it is important to remember that the changes dominating the media – and consequently this blog – this morning only apply to England.
Yesterday, the Politico London Playbook email had a handy summing-up of the state of play in the other three nations that make up the UK, which is worth re-upping this morning:
- On 19 July, Scotland is set to move to level zero in its tiering system, the lowest level where some precautions are still in place.
- The government in Scotland will carry on urging Scots to wear face masks in shops and on public transport after their own unlocking on 9 August, when all other legal restrictions are set to be dropped.
- In Wales, there is no freedom day date set but another review of the data is set for 15 July. Welsh counsel general Mick Antoniw signalled on Sunday that the country could move to “increased normality” over the next few weeks.
- There’s no unlock date set in Northern Ireland either, though the BBC reports the Stormont executive is set to meet this week to discuss further relaxation of the rules as live music resumed yesterday.
Updated
It is very busy on the airwaves in the UK this morning in the light of the announcement yesterday that England is on course to drop all legal Covid restrictions on 19 July.
Prof Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, has said in a third UK coronavirus wave there would be “lower numbers” in hospital.
PA Media reports he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “This third wave is going to look very different from the second wave.
“In terms of cases per day, I think we will at least reach 50,000, I think the prime minister was saying in his statement what he was expecting to see in the next couple of weeks, it will likely go higher than that.
“But what we do know is in the second wave there was a certain ratio between cases and hospitalisations and that ratio right now is being reduced by more than two-thirds, as we get more second doses into people it will go down even further.
“Even more positively, the ratio which we saw in the past between case numbers and deaths has been reduced by more like eight to ten fold.
“So the third wave, even if the number of cases per day gets very high, we’re still likely to see lower numbers of hospitalisations and deaths than we saw back in December and January just gone.”
Updated
Here’s a rewind to what Sajid Javid was saying earlier on Sky News. The UK health secretary was asked about dropping the requirement for face masks and didn’t really say much about face masks at all, instead saying:
Looking at the impact of a vaccine, and the severe weakening of that link [between cases and hospitalisations], we are very comfortable with the decisions that were announced. I fully understand why many people will be anxious, they’d want to be cautious, and that is why other protections remain in place, but the vaccines are working.
Pressed on the government advice on vulnerable people, it was put to him that: “Vulnerable people who may well be concerned about travelling on public transport, given that many people choose not to wear a mask, you’ve given them the opportunity to do so. The advice from government for vulnerable people … is to travel outside peak times. We’re telling people who perhaps have received the cancer diagnosis, that they will have to take a bus at five o’clock in the morning. That’s what this government means by personal responsibility?”
Javid replied:
I’ve given an example of when I would wear a face mask and I hope other people would do similar, but again to turn to your particular question on face masks, why can we move from a system of rules and regulations to guidance and personal responsibility? It is because of the vaccine and the vaccine is working, and the fact that now we’ve got the most successful vaccine rollout programme in the world thanks to the NHS and our scientists.
Earlier, asked if he himself would continue to wear face masks, Javid said:
For the foreseeable future I will be carrying a face mask with me, I think that’s a very responsible thing for anyone to do. As I’ve said the pandemic is not over. And if I’m in a crowded or enclosed space, I will wear a face mask or I’ll wear one if I was next to someone or near someone that felt uncomfortable with others not wearing a face mask. That’s the point and that’s what I mean by personal responsibility.
I can’t say personally I was entirely convinced this sounded like a man who had ever approached a bunch of strangers on public transport and asked them to kindly put their face masks on because he was feeling uncomfortable and it was their personal responsibility to do so.
Updated
Second man charged over Chris Witty social media incident
A quick one from Reuters here that a second man has been charged over an incident in which the British government’s top medical adviser was accosted in a London park, police have said.
Footage published on social media last week showed Chris Whitty, who has become one of the most prominent officials across Britain during the coronavirus pandemic, being grabbed by two jeering, grinning men.
Detectives said the incident occurred on 27 June in St James’s Park when officers had become “aware of a man being accosted by a group of men”. They said the victim did not suffer any injuries.
Police said they had charged a second man with common assault and obstructing police. He is due to appear at London’s Westminster magistrates court later on Tuesday.
Last week, another man was charged with common assault and will appear in court at the end of the month.
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So far one of the most notable things from UK health secretary in this Sky News interview from Sajid Javid is a passage where he sounded genuinely angry with his predecessor Matt Hancock, saying:
As health secretary, I tell you what, I came into this department with a fresh set of eyes, it is shocking. When you look at all the other health problems that have built up, some 7 million people have not come forward during the pandemic for health issues to the NHS, with their health problems. Seven million people. Now just think about all the health problems that have been stored up and and we need to treat that as a priority, so it cannot just be about Covid.
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Here’s a couple of things that Sky journalist Tamara Cohen has pulled out from the Sajid Javid interview going on at the moment.
Sajid Javid on @skynews reiterates that case numbers- currently at 27,000 a day - will go "far higher" but says "the reason we can afford to reopen is because of the vaccine" weakening the link to hospitalisations/deaths
— Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) July 6, 2021
Sajid Javid asked twice if masks prevent transmission of the virus, just says people may choose to wear them.
— Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) July 6, 2021
He says he will be carrying one with him, to wear in enclosed spaces.https://t.co/NDubKuc7kG
While I’m listening to UK health secretary Sajid Javid being evasive on face masks, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has urged caution around “using the language of irreversibility” when lifting coronavirus restrictions because there is still a high number of infections each day worldwide.
PA Media reports he said: “At the moment, the projections are that the deaths from Covid will actually be less than some of our worst years for flu. When you have that kind of change, I think it’s reasonable to change the social contract to one of co-operation, rather than compulsion.
“But I think we have got to be careful about using the language of irreversibility, because we still have 350,000 new infections every day across the world, there is still room for the vaccine-busting variants that we are all worried about.
“So we have to be on our guard and recognise that things may sadly yet change.”
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Good morning, it is Martin Belam here in London. The UK’s new health secretary Sajid Javid is doing the media round this morning and has started in the early morning Sky News slot. I’ll bring you some quotes from that in due course. The first question was a quite clear “are face masks effective in reducing transmission of Covid-19?”, and he did not answer it, instead talking about the vaccine rollout. Stay tuned for more.
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Covid death risk ‘almost four times higher’ for poorest in England
The chances of dying from Covid-19 were nearly four times higher for adults of working age in England’s poorest areas than for those in the wealthiest places, an inquiry into of the health impacts of the pandemic has found.
The nine-month inquiry by the Health Foundation charity said a decade of widening health inequalities and cuts to public services had “frayed the nation’s health” and contributed to the UK’s disproportionately high Covid death toll compared with similar countries:
The Australian government has denied undermining China’s plan to roll out Covid vaccines to Pacific countries after Beijing lashed Canberra’s purported “callous” and “irresponsible behaviour”.
The allegation, first aired in Chinese state-controlled media and then amplified by the foreign ministry in Beijing, was “absolutely not” true, the Australian government said on Tuesday.
The spat is the latest flashpoint in the deteriorating relationship between China and Australia amid intense competition for influence in the Pacific region:
Israel to trade 700,000 Pfizer doses with South Korea
Israel will deliver about 700,000 expiring doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine to South Korea later this month, Reuters reports, and South Korea will give Israel back the same number, already on order from Pfizer, in September and October.
South Korea has quickly distributed the Covid vaccines it has, but has struggled to obtain enough doses in a timely manner amid tight global supplies, particularly in Asia.
“This is a win-win deal,” Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement announcing the deal on Tuesday. “Together we will beat the pandemic.”
A spokeswoman for South Korea’s health ministry said on Tuesday she had no comment on the deal, reported first by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
After a world-beating roll-out, Israel has administered both shots to around 55% of its population and seen turnout plateau.
The South Korean said last week it is hoping to achieve herd immunity earlier than its November target by inoculating at least 70% of its population with a minimum of one vaccine dose, mostly mRNA ones such as Pfizer’s.
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Germany to lift UK and India travel ban
Germany is easing strict restrictions on travel from Britain, Portugal and some other countries that were imposed because of the rise of the more contagious delta virus variant.
AP reports: Germany’s national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said late on Monday that Britain, Portugal, Russia, India and Nepal will be removed from the country’s highest risk category of “virus variant areas” effective Wednesday. They will move into the second-highest category of “high-incidence areas”.
The UK had been in the top coronavirus risk category since 23 May , and was joined last Tuesday by Russia and Portugal, one of Germany’s partners in the European Union.
Airlines and others are restricted largely to transporting German citizens and residents from “virus variant areas”, and those who arrive must spend 14 days in quarantine at home.
People arriving from “high incidence areas”, however, can avoid quarantine if they can prove that they are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid. Others can cut short a mandatory 10-day quarantine by testing negative after five days. Transport is no longer restricted.
Officials have said the listings would be reviewed as the proportion of infections caused by the delta variant in Germany rises. Although overall case numbers are very low, more than half of new cases are now believed to be caused by delta.
Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated during a visit to Britain on Friday that the restrictions on travel from the UK would soon be relaxed.
Eleven countries will remain on Germany’s “virus variant area” list for now: Botswana, Brazil, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Uruguay.
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Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
Germany’s national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said late Monday that Britain, Portugal, Russia, India and Nepal will be removed from the country’s highest risk category of “virus variant areas” effective Wednesday. They will move into the second-highest category of “high-incidence areas.”
Meanwhile Israel will deliver about 700,000 expiring doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine to South Korea later this month, and South Korea will give Israel back the same number, already on order from Pfizer, in September and October.
More on these stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- Indonesia is calling for oxygen to be redirected to its hospitals, where there are major shortages. During an oxygen outage at a hospital in Yogyakarta city on Saturday 33 people died. Indonesia reported on Monday a record 29,745 new coronavirus infections and 558 deaths, health ministry data showed.
- Save the Children said more vaccines need to reach Indonesia to stop the spread of the virus. The charity said children are suffering from the current outbreak in Indonesia, with almost 600 killed.
- Bangladesh has suffered its worst day, with 164 deaths and 9,964 new infections. The government has extended the current lockdown into next week as hospitals on border areas struggle with the Delta variant, which was first identified across those borders in India.
- Africa recorded its record number of cases over the past week, according to a count by AFP. There were 36,000 new infection reported per day, driven by a surge in South Africa.
- England will lift regulations on wearing face masks and social distancing in public spaces. There has been strong opposition however to the idea of allowing people to ride public transport without face coverings, especially as infections are currently rising.
- Spain recorded more than 30,000 new infections since Friday, an 85% increase on the previous weekend. The Delta variant has spread among mostly unvaccinated young people.
