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UK government ministers are considering diluting plans for “freedom day” in England on 21 June and delaying the end of all social distancing rules, as new figures showed another sharp increase in the Covid variant first detected in India.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said no announcement would be made until 14 June on whether all restrictions will be lifted a week later, as planned.
“We’ve always known that one of the things that has the potential to knock us off track would be a new variant,” he said. “That’s why we made the presence of a new variant that could do that one of our four tests when we set out the roadmap, which is the test we must pass for going down each step.”
Meanwhile, he said, the government was “throwing everything” at speeding up testing and vaccinations in Bolton, Blackburn and six newly affected areas.
The number of confirmed cases of the variant B.1.617.2 uncovered in the UK had now risen to 2,967, the health secretary said. That was up by 28% in just two days, from 2,323 on Monday.
The true number may be higher, as genomic sequencing to confirm the presence of the variant takes several days. Public Health England said the most recent sample included in the 2,967 total was taken a week ago, on 12 May.
No 10 has still not lost hope of allowing all restrictions to lift on 21 June. Sources said there was now more optimism in government than there was a few days ago about the prospect of forging ahead with the roadmap as planned. Next week is expected to be the crucial deciding week to show how the variant may have spread and to assess its transmissibility.
The full story is here:
Updated
The French joyfully made their way back to cafes, cinemas and museums as the country loosened restrictions in a return to semi-normality after more than six months of Covid-19 curbs, AFP reports.
Cafes and restaurants with terraces or rooftop gardens can now offer outdoor dining, under the second phase of a lockdown-lifting plan that should culminate in a full reopening of the economy on 30 June. Museums, cinemas and some theatres are also reopening after being closed for 203 days.
Bad weather across much of the country failed to dampen the spirits of customers who beat a path back to their favourite cafes and cultural haunts from the early morning.
“It’s a form of liberation,” Didier Semah, a music producer, told AFP as he sipped an espresso with a friend on the terrace of Felix Cafe in eastern Paris, shielded from a downpour by the awning.
For Sabine Dosso-Greggia, a 45-year-old accountant who was having a mid-morning cigarette and coffee at the next table, it was about enjoying the “small daily pleasures” again. “It’s about being with others and indulging in the things that make up life in Paris, like going to a restaurant with friends or taking the kids to an exhibition,” she said.
In the western city of Rennes, Patricia Marchand, the manager of the Cafe des Feuilles, said she had reservations even for aperitifs. “It feels good. There is a sense of euphoria in the city centre.”
In another boost for the economy, non-essential businesses from toys to clothes shops, which had been closed since early April, also reopened on Wednesday.
With TV cameras rolling, the president, Emmanuel Macron, and the prime minister, Jean Castex, enjoyed a first coffee at a cafe close to the presidential palace in Paris, the head of state hailing “a little moment of freedom regained”.
“The art of living the French way,” tweeted the finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, posting a picture of himself reading the sport newspaper L’Equipe at a corner cafe.
L’art de vivre à la Française 🇫🇷 #tousenterrasse pic.twitter.com/qmynMAoe04
— Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) May 19, 2021
But with showers forecast for much of the day, and most venues allowed to use only half of their outdoor seating, some restaurants decided to delay reopening until 9 June when they will be allowed serve clients indoors.
And while many people have booked outdoor tables for dinner or drinks on Wednesday evening, the party will wind up early due to a curfew, even if it was pushed back on Wednesday from 7pm to 9pm.
Stephanie Mathey, owner of three Paris bistros, told AFP she was treating this stage of the reopening as a dress rehearsal for the summer. “Like a diesel engine, we’ll be warming up slowly,” she said.
While going to a cafe spelt freedom for some, for others it was the chance to see the Mona Lisa again. “I missed her over the past seven months. I’m glad to see her again,” said 47-year-old Frederic Destival, among the first visitors to the Louvre museum when it reopened at 9am to applause from those queueing outside.
Across the Seine river at the Musee d’Orsay, Isabelle Berthonneau said she had felt so starved of art over the past months she had taken a week’s holidays to cram in exhibitions. “We have to starting living again,” 54-year-old Berthonneau said.
Cinemas, also shut for the last six months, have a huge backlog of movies to show and some film buffs were up early to get their fix.
Luce Van Dam, 17, started her day in the capital with a screening of the French comedy Mandibules at 8.20am and had plans to see two or three or more films.
But many concert halls and theatres remained closed, arguing their productions could not make money given the 35% capacity limit imposed by the government for the next three weeks.
The loosening of the restrictions comes as a severe third wave of Covid-19 infections continues to abate. The number of patients in intensive care fell to 3,862 on Wednesday, down from around 6,000 a month ago. Over the last seven days, the number of new cases has fallen by 18%.
After a slow start, the government’s vaccination drive has accelerated, with more than 21.5 million people, nearly a third of the population, having received at least one shot.
“If we manage to organise ourselves, vaccinate and maintain collective discipline, there is no reason that we cannot continue to progress,” Macron said.
But he added: “We need to remain rigorous on the question of variants,” the new and sometimes more virulent strains of the original Covid-19 virus.
Updated
Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said on Wednesday that more than a dozen Greek airports renovated by a German-led consortium could serve as “bridges” for a summer of greater freedom after months of lockdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.
He was speaking at the opening of the refurbished airport of Thessaloniki, the final leg of a €440m (£379m) investment undertaken by a consortium led by German airport operator Fraport.
Concluding a project which started in 2017, it has now upgraded 14 Greek airports, including those on the popular holiday islands of Santorini, Corfu and Rhodes.
“As we carefully walk towards the exit of the Covid-19 health crisis, these airports will become our national bridges for a freer and more efficient summer, as we continue to build a wall of immunity with our vaccine rollout,” Mitsotakis said.
The expanded airport at Thessaloniki, which cost €100m, will have twice as many departure gates, many more retail facilities and can accommodate about 10 million people a year. It handled 6.9 million in 2019, before the pandemic struck.
“The 14 new and upgraded airports, which were delivered three months ahead of the contractual deadline, mark the beginning of a new era both for tourism and for the 14 local communities,” Fraport Greece’s chief executive, Alexander Zinell, said.
Tourism accounts for a fifth of Greece’s economy and Mitsotakis’ conservative government is desperate to avoid another lost summer after months of tackling a second wave of the pandemic which pushed hospitals to their limits.
On 14 May Greece lifted quarantine rules for non-EU visitors who have been vaccinated or test negative for Covid-19.
Authorities aim to have immunised all adults on the Greek islands by July as they try to reassure tourists that they are safe destinations.
Updated
Children aged between four and six in the United States will likely be able to get Covid-19 vaccinations by the end of this year or the first quarter of 2022, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said at an event on Wednesday.
The US earlier this month cleared the way for the use of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech in adolescents aged 12 and above.
Fauci also noted the need for a Covid-19 booster shot “within a year or so” after getting the primary shot.
“I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so after getting the primary because the durability protection against coronavirus is generally not lifelong similar to measles,” he said.
Pfizer’s chief executive officer, Albert Bourla, said at the event that there is likely a need for booster shots between 8-12 months. In April, Bourla told CNBC people will “likely” need a third booster dose of Covid-19 vaccines within 12 months.
Scientists, however, are questioning the need for Covid-19 booster shots due to a lack of data to make an informed decision.
There has been significant headway in ensuring vaccine equity, Fauci added, highlighting that the shots should be available in geographic locations easily accessible to minorities as a lesson for the next pandemic.
Updated
Good evening from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Afternoon summary
Here are all the latest developments from the past few hours:
- EU ambassadors have backed plans to allow vaccinated holidaymakers to visit the bloc this summer.
- Thailand has begun vaccinating Buddhist monks against the coronavirus this week in hopes to build up their protection to allow them to perform their spiritual duties safely.
- Berlin joins the growing number of regions in Germany, slowly emerging from the restrictions put in place to break a third wave of the pandemic in March.
- Saudi Arabia has launched an online portal for airlines operating in the kingdom to register immunisation data for all foreigners travelling to the Gulf Arab state.
- Malawi destroyed nearly 17,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that had expired in mid-April, as the health minister blamed ‘propaganda’ for the reluctance of residents to receive the jab.
- The United States will donate a significant number of vaccines through the World Health Organisation COVAX scheme to distribute doses to poorer countries.
- The workers union representing cemetery, crematorium and funeral workers has threatened a national strike in Argentina if it does not reach a deal with the government on vaccines.
- Pfizer to begin vaccine production in Ireland after investing $40m in a vaccine centre that will create 75 jobs, the US drugmaker said in a statement.
- Iceland’s Eurovision entry, Dadi og Gagnamagnid, has pulled out of the live event this weekend after a group member tested positive for Covid-19.
- A year after the late Tanzanian president John Magufuli denied the existence of coronavirus in the country, the government will start reporting the disease’s prevalence.
- Egypt will extend coronavirus safety measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, including early closing hours for shops, until the end of May.
- The UK has launched a study exploring whether a third dose or “booster” shot of the coronavirus vaccine would be a safe and effective way of extending immune protection against Covid-19.
- Covid-19 infections have dropped significantly across the Americas, with the most dramatic improvement in the US due to mass vaccination.
- Thailand aims to administer one dose of a coronavirus vaccine to 70% of its population by September.
That’s all from me today; thank you for following along! My colleague will take over shortly.
The number of people with Covid-19 in intensive care units in France has fallen by 153 to 3,862; this is the first time that the ICU tally has been below 4,000 since 11 March.
The health ministry has also reported 19,050 new coronavirus cases, an increase of 1.64% compared to last week.
Vaccine programmes across Africa and much of the developing world will suffer big delays after the world’s biggest producer said it would not be exporting the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine until the end of the year.
The delays raise the prospect of hundreds of millions of people around the world waiting until 2022 or even 2023 for vaccination, which will lead to many more deaths and further damage to suffering economies, and could allow new and potentially more harmful variants of the virus to emerge.
SII paused deliveries of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March, diverting for domestic use doses that were to be distributed across the developing world. It had been widely hoped that supplies of the AstraZeneca shot, which is suitable for use in countries with weak infrastructure and many poorer countries, would begin again in June or October.
However, India is battling a wave of infections that have killed more than 283,000 people, according to official figures, which many experts believe are substantial underestimates.
SII’s decision is likely to leave the Covax global vaccine-sharing facility, which helps poorer countries, facing a shortfall of hundreds of millions of doses. More than 40 countries in Africa have already received shots from Covax and are relying on further deliveries.
More on India’s export delays here by the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour, Africa correspondent Jason Burke, and Rebecca Ratcliffe, the south-east Asia correspondent :
Thailand aims to administer one dose of a coronavirus vaccine to 70% of its population by September; its health minister announced today as it seeks more protection for people amid its deadliest wave yet.
While the country has yet to start a mass immunisation programme, it has been struggling to secure vaccines from multiple brands after a new, more potent Covid-19 outbreak that has seen cases nearly quadruple and fatalities increase six-fold since early April.
Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a statement, “We will focus on the first shots of vaccination to meet the target of 70% of the population by September.”
Thailand is scheduled to start its main drive next month when locally manufactured AstraZeneca doses are available.
Thailand has also placed orders for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and authorities have so far approved Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.
Covid-19 infections have dropped significantly across the Americas, with the most dramatic improvement being in the US due to mass vaccination, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) have said.
Reuters reports:
Carissa Etienne, the head of PAHO, said that there were “glaring gaps” in vaccine distribution in the region, with the lion’s share going to the United States, while just 3% of Latin Americans have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
By comparison, in the United States today almost half of Americans have received at least one vaccine dose and nearly 85% of those over the age of 85 are fully protected, she said in a weekly briefing from Washington.
“The progress we’re seeing in the United States is a testament to the power of safe and effective COVID vaccines, but it underscores the vital importance of accelerating access to vaccines throughout our region,” Etienne said.
While COVID-19 infections have dropped across the Americas in the last month, in many Caribbean islands like the Bahamas, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago deaths doubled in the last week, according to PAHO.
In Brazil, PAHO said it sees a pause in the decreasing trends observed during the previous weeks.
The UK has launched a study exploring whether a third dose, or “booster” shot of the coronavirus vaccine would be a safe and effective way of extending immune protection against Covid-19.
Reuters reports that the trail, which aims to recruit nearly 3,000 participants, will look at seven different Covid-19 shots, some of which are already approved by regulators and in wide use and others that are still in development.
Reuters reports:
British officials have been planning for the possibility of a booster vaccination campaign before the winter after initially targeting immunisation with a two-dose schedule for the whole adult population by the summer.
Major vaccine makers, as well as some policymakers in the United States, have also suggested that booster or even annual COVID-19 shots might be needed. But some global health experts have questioned whether there is evidence to show such repeat vaccinations are necessary.
Saul Faust, a professor of paediatric immunology and infectious diseases at Britain’s Southampton University who will co-lead the trial, said its findings would inform vaccination strategy planners and politicians “in their decision on whether to boost anybody with a third at all, or - if they are going to get a booster - which vaccine might be used”.
“The data from this world-first clinical trial will help shape the plans for our booster programme later this year,” health minister Matt Hancock said.
Hancock also said Britain would host an in-person G7 health ministers meeting in Oxford on June 3-4, ahead of a leaders meeting later in the month.
Hi, Tobi here taking over while my colleague Edna has a break. If you would like to get in touch please do email tobi.thomas@theguardian.com. Thanks!
Updated
The UK reported three new deaths from Covid-19 within 28 days of a positive test on Wednesday and a further 2,696 cases, government data showed.
Wednesday’s death toll figures are down from yesterday’s seven deaths, but there were 284 more positive cases than Tuesdays 2,412 cases.
The data also showed that 36.99m people had received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Italy has reported 149 deaths on Wednesday, down from yesterday’s figure of 201, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 5,506 from 4,452.
Since the outbreak first emerged in February last year, Italy has registered 124,646 deaths linked to Covid-19, becoming the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh highest in the world.
The country has reported 4.17 million cases to date.
Not including those in intensive care, patients in the hospital stood at 11,018 on Wednesday, down from 11,539 a day earlier.
There were also 70 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 86 on Tuesday. While the total number of intensive care patients fell to 1,643 from a previous 1,689.
Egypt will extend coronavirus safety measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, including early closing hours for shops, until the end of May, the cabinet announced on Wednesday.
However, public parks and beaches will be allowed to reopen in two weeks, but with the appropriate precautions.
Since 6 May, shops, malls and restaurants have had to close by 9pm.
Updated
India sets global record of 4,529 daily deaths
India has recorded the highest single daily death toll since the start of the pandemic.
The health hinistry has recorded 4,529 deaths on Wednesday as the virus spreads beyond cities and into the countryside. However, the number is considered to be higher by health experts.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US previously held the record for daily deaths at 4,475 on 12 January.
The country also reported 267,334 new daily infections, with daily cases dropping below 300,000 for the third day in a row.
Due to shortages, the number of daily administered doses has fallen by around half in the last six weeks.
In total, India has reached 25.4 million confirmed cases and 283,248 confirmed deaths, the second-highest in the world.
Updated
Charities are helping Indian villagers struggling with the coronavirus outbreak by setting up helplines connecting them to vital services.
Due to the lack of reliable internet services in some rural areas, charities involved in the Disaster Emergency Committee’s fundraising for India are helping link villagers to oxygen supplies, hospital beds and advising them on how to care for patients at home.
Save the Children India’s spokesperson, Madhura Kapdi, said many of the calls to their helplines are from children traumatised by the pandemic.
“We, as adults, are grappling with this situation, and we are not maybe able to make sense of it all. Just imagine what happens to children if they don’t have anybody that they can talk to about this, or aren’t able to comprehend everything shutting down, nothing working, no schools, parents are at home for there are no jobs, there’s very little food in the home. It’s very stressful not being with friends,” said Kapdi.
Action Against Hunger and ActionAid are also running helplines, as well as Christian Aid, which are supporting migrant workers trying to return to their homes.
Updated
A total of 48,535,975 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between 8 December and 18 May, according to NHS England data, including first and second doses – a rise of 423,904 from the previous day.
NHS England also said 30,884,041 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 154,621 on the previous day, with a second dose at 17,651,934, an increase of 269,283.
Updated
Greek authorities have said they are introducing a compulsory Covid-19 vaccination requirement for members of the fire department’s special rescue service, AP reports.
Lt Gen Stefanos Kolokouris, the county’s fire chief, signed an order Tuesday stating that members of the rescue service must be vaccinated or transferred to another department within the fire service.
However, the fire service employee associations said Wednesday that vaccinations should be strongly encouraged but remain voluntary.
The order is the first time that vaccines were made mandatory for anyone in Greece. The Greek government says it is considering a mandatory vaccination policy for the public health service and other state-run agencies.
The Greek rescuers are part of a European Union cross-border civil protection service responding to emergencies and natural disasters.
Updated
A year after the late Tanzanian president John Magufuli denied the existence of coronavirus in the country, the government will start reporting on the prevalence there of the disease.
According to recommendations by a taskforce appointed by president Samia Suluhu to evaluate the prevalence of the disease in the country, the government will draft a new coronavirus treatment guide, increase testing for the disease and build capacity to detect other variants of the virus.
“Government will provide data on Covid-19 disease to the public and the World Health Organization so that citizens can get the correct information from the authorities while respecting agreements and regulations that the country is signatory to,” states the committee report.
And in a marked departure from the hardline stance taken against the use of vaccines by Magufuli, the country will start administering vaccines approved by the WHO through the Covax facility, first to protect frontline health workers, tourism industry employees, border personnel, religious leaders, pilgrims and those aged 50 and above.
The committee reports that Tanzania has had two deadly waves of the virus, and a third was likely.
The task force gave no figures regarding any deaths or hospitalisations resulting from the two waves.
Tanzania had not provided the WHO with any figures related to Covid-19 since May 2020, when it reported 509 confirmed cases and 21 deaths. Since then, a number of high-ranking government officials have died of coronavirus-related complications.
In February, the WHO reported that some Tanzanians travelling to neighbouring countries had tested positive for coronavirus, prompting Kenya to ban passenger traffic between the two countries in May 2020.
Despite the new recommendations, the committee insists Tanzanians should continue using “natural remedies and other alternatives that conform to the basics of science”.
Updated
Fully vaccinated Britons could still be told to go into quarantine on arrival at their EU holiday destination if Downing Street fails to reciprocate by allowing Europeans to freely visit Britain, according to the text of an agreement between member states.
Representatives of the 27 members approved a change of policy on Wednesday under which anyone from a non-EU country could travel if they are able to prove that they have been fully vaccinated.
The full unpublished text of the agreement, seen by the Guardian, contains a significant threat to British hopes of a summer holiday in a European tourist destination.
The agreed text says that EU member states are to consider whether the government of a non-EU country is permitting their citizen’s entry without the need to quarantine or an obligation to take PCR tests.
As it stands, every EU country apart from Portugal is on the UK government’s so-called amber list. Those coming from a country on the amber list must quarantine at the place they are staying for ten days and take a Covid-19 test on or before day two and on or after day eight.
More on the EU’s Covid travel document here:
Iceland’s Eurovision entry, Dadi og Gagnamagnid, has pulled out of the live event this weekend after a member of the group tested positive for Covid-19. However, their song remains in the competition.
The band was one of the top five favourites to win this year’s contest that will be held in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
The lead singer Dadi Freyr tweeted on Wednesday, “A member of Gagnamagnid got a positive test result this morning.”
A member of Gagnamagnið got a positive test result this morning. Unfortunately this probably means that we will not take part in the rehearsal today or live show tomorrow and a recording from our second rehearsal will be used in stead. pic.twitter.com/93yravOHSY
— Daði Freyr 🥑 (@dadimakesmusic) May 19, 2021
Under Eurovision’s strict Covid-19 protocol, no one can enter the Eurovision venue without a negative test.
Updated
Sweden has recorded 4,609 new Covid-19 cases, health agency statistics showed. The country of 10 million people registered 48 further deaths, taking the total to 14,349. The deaths reported have occurred over several days and sometimes weeks.
Updated
Pfizer to open Covid-19 vaccine production in Ireland
Pfizer is to begin vaccine production in Ireland after investing $40m in a vaccine centre that will create 75 jobs, the US drugmaker said in a statement.
The plant, which will produce “mRNA drug substance” and employ 75 new staff, will be brought onto the network by the end of 2021 with an investment of up to $40m, the statement said.
Updated
The union representing cemetery, crematorium and funeral workers has threatened a national strike in Argentina if it does not reach a deal with the government on vaccines.
The strike could start this week after a government-enforced conciliation period ends.
Ernesto Fabián Aguirre, a gravedigger in the Memorial cemetery in the suburbs of Argentine capital Buenos Aires, told Reuters: “We face a daily war in this place.”
“The fear is real; that’s why we want the vaccine to arrive for everyone so that, at least, we can live a couple more years.”
The burial protocol for Covid-19 victims involves disinfecting and handling the coffin, and workers have to wear protective gear, including bodysuits, masks, goggles and gloves.
“It is a very hard work every day, and I would like if it could be possible for us to be vaccinated because each day we have to take good care of ourselves, and the Covid-19 issue is raging,” said Juan Polig, the cemetery’s manager.
While Argentina deals with a sharp second wave of the pandemic, with an average daily death toll of more than 450 lives lost a day, the country’s inoculation programme is slow.
According to a Reuters analysis, the country has inoculated only 4.5% of the population, and 18% have received at least one dose. At an average of 132,000 doses given per day, it will take extra 69 days to inoculate another 10% of the population.
Updated
The United States will donate a significant number of vaccines through the World Health Organisation COVAX scheme to distribute doses to poorer countries. The US coordinator on global Covid, Gayle Smith, told a news conference on Wednesday.
Smith said, “The allocation of the vaccines will include obviously a substantial portion through COVAX, but we have not made final decisions.”
President Joe Biden announced on Monday that his administration will send a total of 20 million doses of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, on top of 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had already planned to give to other countries, by the end June.
Tunisia has ended its one-week lockdown, despite having the highest reported deaths per capita of any country in Africa.
Covid-19 cases in Tunisia were initially low last year, with a sweeping six-week lockdown involving the closure of borders and shutting down all but essential commercial activity appearing to halt the spread of the virus.
However, since easing that original lockdown cases have increased, with daily reported infections and deaths now the highest in Africa, according to Our World in Data.
While the government has led in rhetoric, evidence of consistent action has been scant. Moreover, political instability and financial necessity are fostering a pandemic fatigue that is driving instances of the virus upwards across the country.
More on Tunisia’s pandemic fatigue here:
Malawi burns nearly 17,000 expired Covid-19 shots
Malawi destroyed nearly 17,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that had expired in mid-April, as the health minister blamed ‘propaganda’ for the reluctance of residents to receive the jab.
Health Minister Kumbize Kandodo said at the Kamuzu Central Hospital, “The batch which had expired (has) been withdrawn from our system and has been destroyed.”
AFP reports,
The southern African country has so far received three batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine - 300,000 doses under the Covax vaccine sharing facility, 50,000 from India and 102,000 from the African Union.
Kandodo said the African Union batch had “two weeks of shelf life, and unfortunately, in those two weeks, we were not able to absorb everything, mostly due to the propaganda against the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
Austria this week became the third European country to drop AstraZeneca, after Norway and Denmark ditched the vaccine over rare cases of severe blood clots in people receiving the jab.
Kandodo said Wednesday: “We tried to assure Malawians and give them the faith” but wound up with 16,910 unusable doses of AstraZeneca, incinerated in a brief ceremony at the hospital.
Since Malawi launched its vaccination drive in March, it has inoculated 300,000 people of its target to reach 11 million, or 60 percent of the population, by the end of the year.
“We don’t want to lose any vaccine because we have a lot of people to vaccinate but... we have to remove all expired drugs from the system,” Kandodo said.
Updated
The Irish government is hopeful that indoor dining and some mass events will reopen in early July as high vaccination levels pave the way for the full reopening of the economy, deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday.
Varadkar told a parliamentary committee, “It is certainly our hope and intention to allow indoor dining to resume in July, hopefully in early July, and also some mass events as well.”
Ireland has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe but is among the most cautious on dropping restrictions after an easing in December produced a massive wave of cases.
Saudi Arabia has launched an online portal for airlines operating in the kingdom to register immunisation data for all foreigners travelling to the Gulf Arab state, according to the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA).
Reuters reports that the portal will facilitate procedures upon arrival in the kingdom and link visitors’ data with the mobile app that tracks Covid cases.
From 20 May, non-citizens arriving from eligible countries who are fully vaccinated against or have recently recovered from Covid-19 will no longer be required to quarantine in government hotels.
However, this only applies to residents, government and business travellers or those visiting friends and family, but not to foreign tourists, according to the Saudi Tourism Authority.
The country is targeting 100 million annual visits by 2030, up from roughly 40 million a year pre-pandemic, for tourism to account for 10% of gross domestic product, up from 3% in 2019 by 2030.
Updated
Berlin today joins the growing number of regions in Germany slowly emerging from the restrictions put in place to break a third wave of the pandemic in March.
Relaxation of the rules is allowed according to nationwide “emergency break” rules, once the incidence rate is below 100 per 100,000 over a period of five working days.
Across Germany, the overall incidence rate is now about 73, albeit with large regional differences, and for the first time in months, the number of active infections has fallen to below 200,000.
Experts advising the government have said Germany is close to having the virus under control for now.
As a result, in the capital, the nightly curfew according to which it has been illegal to leave your home between 10pm and 5am, with a few exceptions, has been lifted.
Two households of up to five people are now able to meet outside, though children under 14 do not count among that number and groups of up to 10 people are allowed to meet to exercise.
Museums, galleries and memorials can open, but only under strict conditions, including mask-wearing and the need to produce either a negative test result, proof of vaccination, or proof of having had a Covid-19 infection, and a visit is restricted to a specific time frame.
Organised gatherings of up to 250 people are also allowed to meet outside, allowing open-air cinema, theatre and opera to go ahead.
From Friday, the city’s 11 outdoor swimming pools will open, with visits restricted to three hours.
Cafe and restaurant terraces may reopen, though once again, the entry requirement is a negative test result, prompting the Berlin tabloid BZ to ask: “How many Berliners will be prepared to get a test in order to be able to sip a beer?”
Making an appointment to go shopping will no longer be necessary from Friday, but shoppers will also have to provide a negative test result.
Klaus Lederer, Berlin’s cultural senator has said from 4 June cultural events will be able to take place with up to 500 people, though on condition the audience is seated. Dancing will not be allowed. As long as the infection rate remains below the critical 100 mark, more relaxations will be announced every 14 days, Lederer told Inforadio.
As of 8am this morning, 12% of Germans had been fully vaccinated, and 38% had received one jab. The government has promised that every citizen will have had the opportunity to be vaccinated by the end of the summer.
Updated
Thailand has begun vaccinating Buddhist monks against the coronavirus this week in hopes to build up their protection to allow them to perform their spiritual duties safely, Reuters reports.
Around 500 monks were administered a vaccine in the country’s capital, Bangkok, to allow them to receive daily offerings as Thailand battles its third and most powerful wave of infections.
Montchai Chumnumnavin of Bangkok’s priest hospital, a medical facility exclusively for monks, where the vaccines were administered, said, “These activities are putting them at risk where they can come into contact with an infected person.”
Adding, “The faster we can provide them with vaccines, they will build up immunity to protect them from contracting the disease from devotees.”
Thailand has yet to begin its mass immunisation drive, with only around 1.5 million people, mainly frontline workers or vulnerable groups, getting the first dose so far.
However, mass vaccinations are due to start next month, when domestic production of AstraZeneca’s vaccine is expected to begin.
Updated
Ambassadors agree to allow fully vaccinated people to travel to the EU
EU ambassadors have backed plans to allow vaccinated holidaymakers to visit the bloc this summer.
From the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey in Brussels, an EU spokesperson has said:
EU ambassadors agreed to update the approach to travel from outside the EU. The council has now recommended member states ease some of the current restrictions, in particular for those vaccinated with an EU-authorised vaccine. The council should also soon expand the list of non-EU countries with a good epidemiological situation from where travel is permitted based on the new criteria agreed today.
At the same time, to limit the risk of corona variants entering, the EU council agreed on a new emergency brake mechanism allowing MS to act quickly and in a coordinated manner. We welcome this agreement. This comes just 2.5 weeks after the commission proposed this update. This will help progressively resume international inbound travel where it’s possible to do so safely, while at the same time ensuring quick action to counter the spread of new virus variants.”
Updated
EU Portuguese presidency spokesperson confirms updated travel plans to European destinations with an official press release of the new changes to be expected later this week.
🆕#COVID19 | Updates to Council recommendation on travel restrictions from third countries into the EU
— Ana Ascenção e Silva (@AnaAscencao) May 19, 2021
➡️certain waivers for vaccinated persons
➡️easing the criteria to lift restrictions for third countries
➡️emergency brake mechanism to react to variants of interest or concern
🔜 Formal adoption by the @EUCouncil.
— Ana Ascenção e Silva (@AnaAscencao) May 19, 2021
Official press release to be published later this week.
Hi, I’m Edna Mohamed; I’ll be taking you through the latest coronavirus developments over the next few hours. For any tips, you can reach me on Twitter or email me at edna.mohamed.casual@theguardian.com
Today so far…
- India has suffered a world record one-day death toll, surpassing the previous highest toll, recorded in the US. According to the health ministry, 4,529 people were confirmed dead in the last 24 hours. It is the highest daily toll of any country on earth over the course of the pandemic and the first time India has seen a figure over 4,500.
- More than 1,500,017,337 vaccine doses have now been administered in 210 countries and territories, according to an AFP tally. Nearly three-fifths of the total have been given in three countries: China (421.9m), the US (274.4m) and India (184.4m).
- EU ambassadors are understood to have backed plans to allow vaccinated UK holidaymakers and visitors from other third countries to enter the bloc. A formal decision will be taken on Friday.
- It will be up to individual member states to decide if they will accept proof of vaccination to waive travel restrictions. Portugal and Greece are among the countries that have broken ranks by already welcoming UK tourists. Unvaccinated people will be able to travel if they can show proof of a negative test.
- Meanwhile there has been huge confusion in England over mixed messaging from the government over international travel. Ministers appear to be saying that you can go to countries on the “amber” list, but you shouldn’t.
- Cyprus has recorded its first cases of a Covid-19 variant first detected in India, its health ministry said.
- Ireland hopes to have the vast majority of its adult population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the end of September, deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar has said.
- It’s a big day in France as bars, cafés and restaurants are finally allowed to open their terraces for the first time since October last year. President Macron was among those seen having coffee in Paris.
- France will also see the reopening of all shops, cinemas, museums and theatres today. The nationwide curfew remains in place but is pushed back two hours running from 9pm to 6am.
- A manhunt is under way in Belgium for a heavily armed soldier with links to the extreme right who has made threats against a high-profile virologist who backed the country’s Covid lockdowns.
- The whole of Taiwan will move into level three of its four-tier alert system, as the virus spreads to more than half the island’s counties, infecting more than 1,300 people and killing two.
- A third Australian has died from Covid-19 in India. Sunil Khanna, 51, from Sydney’s west, had been caring for his elderly parents in New Delhi before his death.
- In Australia more than 1.5m Covid-19 vaccines – one in every four distributed – are sitting unused in clinics across the country, prompting calls for a “major campaign” to tackle vaccine hesitancy
- There’s been a diplomatic spat as Singapore has criticized an Indian politician for making unfounded claims on social media that a new Covid-19 variant in Singapore was particularly harmful to children and could cause a fresh surge of infections in India.
- Authorities in Malaysia have reported 6,075 new coronavirus cases, a new daily record.
- Tunisia has ended its one-week lockdown, despite having the highest reported deaths per capita of any country in Africa.
- A flaw in Japan’s coronavirus inoculation programme has been exposed barely a day after the government opened a facility in Tokyo designed to speed up the country’s slow vaccine rollout.
Andrew Sparrow has our UK Covid live blog. Edna Mohamed will be along shortly to continue here with the day’s global coronavirus developments. I’m Martin Belam, and I’ll see you here again tomorrow. Stay safe.
Cyprus records first cases of Covid variant first detected in India
Cyprus has recorded its first cases of a Covid-19 variant first detected in India, its health ministry said, adding that they involved individuals who were swiftly isolated and quarantined after arriving on the island.
Authorities said the variant was found in four people who tested positive for Covid-19, while the South African variant was found in two individuals.
They had arrived from India, Pakistan, Philippines and Nepal, countries from which people need special permission to travel to Cyprus, with testing before or upon arrival and a compulsory two-week quarantine.
Reuters report that the individuals were placed in compulsory quarantine and isolation and had no contact with other people.
EU to allow fully vaccinated UK holidaymakers to visit – reports
A quick one from PA here that could significantly alter what people are able to do in Europe this summer – EU ambassadors are understood to have backed plans to allow vaccinated UK holidaymakers to visit the bloc.
According to the reports, they have recommended at a meeting on Wednesday that rules should be changed to allow non-essential visits into the EU by people who have had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
It will be up to individual member states to decide if they will accept proof of vaccination to waive travel restrictions. A decision on whether to add the UK and other countries to the EU’s “safe list” will be made formally on Friday.
Travellers from locations on the list are permitted to enter the bloc even if they are not vaccinated, but are generally required to show evidence of a recent negative test. There are currently only eight countries on the list, including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Israel.
Portugal and Greece are among the countries that have broken ranks by already welcoming UK tourists, but an EU-wide move would boost the chances of a major summer getaway.
Updated
Third Australian dies of Covid in India while caring for elderly parents
A third Australian has died from Covid-19 in India. Sunil Khanna, 51, from Sydney’s west, had been caring for his elderly parents in New Delhi before his death late last month.
First reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, his brother, Sanjay Khanna, confirmed to the Guardian that his brother and mother – an Indian national – had both died a few days after contracting the virus in late April.
Khanna is now seeking urgent help from the Australian government to allow his 83-year-old father – also an Indian national – to travel to Australia on humanitarian grounds.
“He’s very anxious and quite teary and lonely when I speak to him, but I try to keep him positive,” Khanna told the Herald. “He’s my last remaining relative I have in India. An 83-year-old, alone by himself stuck in the home and I can’t go there.”
Read more here: Third Australian dies of Covid in India while caring for elderly parents
Ireland expects most adults to be fully vaccinated by end-September
Ireland hopes to have the vast majority of its adult population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the end of September, deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar has said.
The government’s current target is to administer one dose to at least 80% of the population by the end of June.
“We hope to have the vast majority of our adult population vaccinated at least once by the end of June and fully by the end of September,” Varadkar told a parliamentary committee, reports Conor Humphries for Reuters.
There’s been a diplomatic spat as Singapore has criticized an Indian politician for making unfounded claims on social media that a new Covid-19 variant in Singapore was particularly harmful to children and could cause a fresh surge of infections in India.
Singapore’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned India’s high commissioner over the comments made by Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi. Kejriwal called for a halt in air traffic between the two nations because of the new “Singapore variant.”
Associated Press rather dryly point out that it was unclear why he made such a call because Singapore has already banned flights from India over the high number of cases there.
Singapore’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was “disappointed that a prominent political figure had failed to ascertain the facts before making such claims.”
It noted that Singapore’s Health Ministry has said there was “no Singapore variant” and that the strain prevalent in many cases in the city-state in recent weeks was the one first detected in India.
Taiwan a 'victim of its own success' over lack of access to vaccines
Prof Chunhuei Chi, the director of Oregon State University’s center for global health, has said that Taiwan was “a victim of its own success”. Having locally eliminated the virus in early 2020 it did not get prioritised vaccination orders, and then failed to stay up to date with the changing science, such as the increased transmissibility and high asymptomatic rates of new variants like the UK one now spreading, he said.
“Taiwan is one of the few countries that never experienced a second, third, or fourth wave,” said Chi. “It basically resumed normal life so … most people including some government officials were lagging behind updated knowledge.”
The government in Taiwan remains opposed to mass testing on the grounds that false positives could waste resources. Chi said Taiwan did not have the capacity for mass testing because it never needed it before, and establishing it could take weeks. Rapid testing stations were established in Wanhua – where Taipei’s cases are concentrated – in order to encourage patrons of the hostess bars at the centre of infections to come forward alongside the rest of the community. But there have been reports of stations hitting capacity and turning people away.
On Wednesday, the CECC said further stations would be set up in other hotspots, but continued to discourage people from getting tested unless they had symptoms and case connection.
“The virus is really vicious,” said Prof Chen Chien-jen from Academia Sinica genomics research centre, who was Taiwan’s health minister during the 2003 Sars outbreak, and sometimes consults current authorities. “Just one day [after we thought we’d controlled the Yilan outbreak], we found, oh my God, the Wanhua teahouse outbreak. Then the cases surged rapidly.”
Several of the experts the Guardian spoke to said the government was largely relying on the community to restrict their own movements voluntarily rather than impose lockdowns.
My colleague Haroon Siddique has a round-up here of the confusion over England’s international travel advice, with conflicting advice from different ministers.
Meanwhile, Andrew Sparrow has fired up the UK blog for the day, so if it is UK news you are after, you need to change channels to his live blog …
I’ll be carrying on here with the latest coronavirus develpoments from around the world.
Overnight, CNN’s Christina Maxouris and Holly Yan have reported it is a “landmark day” for the US in its fight against Covid:
The US has reached a “landmark day” in the Covid-19 pandemic as 60% of American adults have gotten at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
In addition, more than 3.5 million people ages 12 to 17 have received their first dose, Dr Rochelle Walensky said.
And more people of color are getting vaccinated – marking “encouraging national trends,” said White House Covid-19 Response Team senior adviser Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith.
In the past two weeks, 51% of those vaccinated in the US were people of color. That’s higher than the 40% of the general population these groups represent.
Meeting people where they are and bringing vaccines to communities seem to be working, she said.
Read more here: About 60% of American adults have had at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, including more people of color
Updated
There’s a worrying and unusual development in Belgium where police are searching for a soldier with suspected far-right views who has gone on the run after threatening public figures, including a renowned virologist.
AFP reports that among the people he has threatened is Marc Van Ranst, a leading academic who has become a public figure in Belgium during the coronavirus crisis. He is an active social media user and his views have made him a target of Covid-sceptics and anti-mask activists associated with the Flemish far right.
Already living under police protection, Van Ranst and his family have been moved to a place of safety.
The soldier had disappeared with weapons, and had left behind a letter containing “worrying elements” including threats to the state and public figures, a spokesman for federal prosecutors, Eric Van Duyse, said.
Updated
It’s a big day in France as bars, cafés and restaurants are finally allowed to open their terraces for the first time since October last year. For the last couple of days, owners whose city establishments do not have an outside terrace have been busy building one, often across pavements and parking spaces.
In Paris, the city authorities have requested “tolerance and patience” from annoyed locals finding the streets blocked with makeshift eating and drinking areas and have reminded bar, café and restaurant owners of the exceptional rules they have put in place until 1 July.
These require owners to sign and display a good behaviour “charter” promising, among other things, not to block pavements, to limit noise and to guarantee the cleanliness of the public space they are occupying. They are also banned from using plastic glasses or cutlery and from firing up gas or electric terrace heaters.
A maximum six people are permitted in each table group, though up to 10 people can gather in a public space. Masks remain compulsory for all indoor public spaces and in streets in larger towns and cities.
Wednesday will also see the reopening of all shops (only “essential” shops have been open until now), cinemas, museums and theatres, though not indoor sports halls and gyms except in exceptional circumstances.
The nationwide curfew remains in place but is pushed back two hours running from 9pm to 6am, though anyone wishing to break it and go out during those hours will still need an “attestation” justifying why.
And the bad news … the forecast is for rain and “violent storms” are set to hit parts of France on Wednesday afternoon.
Updated
Nazia Parveen and photographer Wendy Huynh have worked together on a photo essay that we have this morning. Anti-Asian racism and crimes against the Asian community have amplified with Covid.
Huynh, whose parents are Chinese immigrants from Vietnam who moved to France to flee communism, has experienced racism in Paris and London. She created a series of portraits celebrating Asian women in London from the creative industry to tackle the issue, and the Guardian talked to some of them to about their experiences. It’s a good read.
Updated
Fully vaccinated UK holidaymakers could be given the green light by EU ambassadors to visit the bloc this summer, with a meeting scheduled today to discuss easing restrictions on non-essential trips into the EU.
Portugal and Greece are among the countries that have already begun welcoming UK tourists, but an EU-wide move would boost the chances of a major summer getaway.
The most popular destination for UK holidaymakers, Spain, currently prohibits inbound leisure visits from outside the EU and Schengen area, meaning UK holidaymakers are banned, PA Media reminds us.
Comments from the UK government about international travel have been criticised as confusing.
After health minister Lord Bethell told peers he considered all foreign travel to be “dangerous” and urged Britons to holiday at home an aviation industry chief said: “These comments are simply not correct.”
Tim Alderslade, the chief executive of Airlines UK, said the confusion will “cause real anger amongst the hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on international travel, and confusion amongst families who have booked travel under the government’s own restart policy”.
It is worth noting as well that non-essential travel from Northern Ireland to the Common Travel Area – which consists of the UK, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man – will be allowed from 24 May.
Updated
Malaysia reports new daily record Covid cases
A quick Reuters snap here, that Malaysian authorities have reported 6,075 new coronavirus cases, a new daily record. The figure breaks the previous high recorded on 30 January, when the health ministry reported 5,728 daily cases.
David Greenhalgh, the Conservative leader of Bolton council in England where there has been a concentrated series of cases involving the variant first detected in India, has been on the radio. He is anticipating cases rising further.
David Greenhalgh, the Tory leader of Bolton council, says cases of Indian Covid are still going up even though they are surging vaccines and tests. Says younger people are spreading it “I think over the next 2 weeks we will see our cases rising” #today
— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) May 19, 2021
He also has a bleak warning for those talking about potentially opening up the economy in England, but at the same time imposing so-called “local lockdowns”. He says that they don’t work, and could lead to considerable anger.
He says local lockdowns don’t work - people just travel 50 yards across the county boundary to access hospitality they can’t in their own area
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) May 19, 2021
He warns there could be civil unrest if it is imposed. ‘This would be a very very difficult situation to manage’
It is important to remember that many areas in England have been effectively in some form of heightened lockdown restrictions for months on end.
Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick, said more information on the variant first identified in India would become clear in the next week or two – which will then feed into the UK government’s considerations about the proposed 21 June lifting of restrictions.
The member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M), which advises the government, told BBC Breakfast: “We get more evidence all the time, I think as cases spread we can analyse that, there’s always a little bit of a lag between if cases go up before we see any kind of signal in the hospital admissions.
“But over the next week or two, we’ll get much more evidence.
“And the other key of course is how is it spreading around the country? Right there are cases in various different local authorities around the country, but we really need to see how widespread that is and that will give us a sense of how big an issue this is and the government will then need to consider what is going to happen.”
PA Media reports that asked whether a tier system for restrictions may be reintroduced, the epidemiologist said there were “challenges” with the previous method, adding: “I think what may be needed is some kind of local controls.”
Updated
It is 'not the time to go to Spain' – UK minister
UK government minister minister Gillian Keegan has urged people to be “sensible” and not travel to “amber list” countries for holidays.
The education minister said travel to amber list destinations was supposed to be for “special circumstances” such as business or funerals. “What we are saying is the amber list is not to go on holiday, not for pleasure travel at the moment,” she told Sky News.
“It’s not in legislation, we haven’t legislated to ban people from going on holiday abroad. This is guidance. As with many of these things we have had throughout the pandemic this has been about relying on the great British public to be sensible and follow the guidance we have put in place and taking their own decisions really.
“But, no, we wouldn’t advise going on holiday to the amber list countries.”
In a separate appearance on Times Radio, PA Media reports when asked if people thinking of travelling to Spain were “doing the wrong thing”, she replied: “I have a house in Spain, I lived in Spain for eight years, I’m desperate to go to Spain. But right now, it’s not the time to go to Spain.”
Updated
Taiwan announces 400,000 AstraZeneca doses on the way
Helen Davidson, our correspondent in Taipei, has a little more on the situation developing in Taiwan:
The whole of Taiwan will move into level three of its four-tier alert system, as the virus spreads to more than half the island’s counties, infecting more than 1,300 people and killing two.
The central epidemic command centre (CECC) reported 267 new local cases on Wednesday, following 240 on Tuesday, and 333 on Monday.
The outbreak remains concentrated in the cities of Taipei and New Taipei, which went into level three on the weekend, but cases are now reported in eight other cities or counties, including 28 in Changhua, 16 in Taoyuan, and eight in the southern city of Kaohsiung. There were 49 cases without an identified source, while 80 are linked to places in Wanhua, the current epicentre of the northern outbreak.
The level three alert does not establish lockdown measures. It mandates mask wearing outside of the home and limits gatherings to five indoors and 10 outdoors. Public venues, sporting venues, entertainment and recreation venues have been closed, but other shops and restaurants remain open with enhanced social distancing and customer registration requirements. Level four would be triggered after 14 consecutive days of more than 100 cases.
Of those infected 26 people are in hospital on ventilators, the CECC said.
Shih-Chung Chen, the minister of health and welfare also announced 400,000 new doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were on the way from Europe, via the Covax scheme. Medical staff and frontline workers at quarantine hotels and testing stations will be prioritised for the doses once they have been released for use.
Taiwan’s vaccination rate is low, with the government yet to procure sufficient doses for the entire population, and low take-up by the community prior to this outbreak. The past week has seen an increased number of vaccinations, and some of the 300,000 doses that were once feared to expire before they could be used are now expected to be used within the week.
Taiwan has ordered 20m doses, including from Moderna, for its population of 24 million, but most are yet to arrive and have been affected by global shortages.
Updated
More than 1.5m Covid vaccines sitting unused in clinics across Australia
In Australia more than 1.5m Covid-19 vaccines – one in every four distributed – are sitting unused in clinics across the country, prompting calls for a “major campaign” to tackle vaccine hesitancy and revive the country’s immunisation programme.
As the prime minister, Scott Morrison, dismissed concerns about a survey that found about 30% of people were unlikely to get a vaccine, the peak medical association called for an urgent national campaign aimed at boosting the take-up rate.
But Morrison, who is facing mounting pressure to set a timetable for reopening the country’s borders pegged to a successful vaccination programme, said he was “not overly troubled” by a report in the Nine papers about growing vaccine hesitancy.
“We’ve obviously got to work on it, but that also says around 70% of people want to have it,” Morrison told 2GB. “So let’s just get on with them: there’s plenty of time to have the chat with the others who are a bit hesitant, that’s all right, it’s a free country.”
According to government data, about 600,000 doses of Covid-19 are sitting unused across state-run clinics.
Read more of Sarah Martin’s report here: More than 1.5m Covid vaccines sitting unused in clinics across Australia
Updated
Parisians are able to return to their cafe terraces and museums today after a six-month Covid-forced hiatus, a glimmer of normal life resuming.
France is taking steps to ease the lockdown measures allowing cafes and restaurant terraces to open to 50% capacity, rolling back the nightly curfew to 9pm and reopening non-essential shops and cultural venues. France is reporting a seven-day average of around 14,000 new Covid-19 cases.
The terraces and rooftop gardens that define Paris for many visitors have been booked out as outdoor dining returns across France, with a few lingering restrictions.
“Like a diesel engine, we’ll be warming up slowly,” bistro owner Stephanie Mathey told AFP.
The city’s museums, cinemas and theatres are also reopening ahead of a full-scale unlocking of the economy on 30 June.
“We are glad to be able to welcome you again,” staff of the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum, wrote on its website, where demand for tickets to a Renaissance sculpture show was brisk.
Taiwan raises Covid-19 alert level for whole island
A quick snap from Reuters that Taiwan has raised its Covid-19 alert level for the whole island, as domestic cases continued to rise, with another 267 new cases recorded.
Capital city Taipei is already under a higher alert level, meaning restrictions on gatherings and the closure of some non-essential shops and entertainment venues.
Tunisia lockdown ends, despite Africa’s worst Covid death rate
Simon Speakman Cordall reports from Tunis:
Tunisia has ended its one-week lockdown, despite having the highest reported deaths per capita of any country in Africa.
Covid-19 cases in Tunisia were initially low last year, with a sweeping six-week lockdown involving the closure of borders and shutting down all but essential commercial activity appearing to halt the spread of the virus. However, since easing that original lockdown cases have increased, with daily reported infections and deaths now the highest in Africa, according to Our World in Data.
At least 11,899 of Tunisia’s 11.7 million people have died as a result of the virus, with 327,473 people infected. If its spread continues unchecked, the US Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation website projects that the death toll will be close to 50,000 by September.
While the government has led in rhetoric, evidence of consistent action has been scant. Moreover, political instability and financial necessity are fostering a pandemic fatigue that is driving instances of the virus upwards across the country.
Read more of Simon Speakman Cordall’s report from Tunis: Tunisia lockdown ends, despite Africa’s worst Covid death rate
Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Giang has ordered four industrial parks to temporarily shut down due to a Covid-19 outbreak. The industrial parks will be closed until further notice, the province’s People’s Committee said in a statement.
Reuters report that Bac Giang, which is 60km (37 miles) north-east of Hanoi, has been at the centre of a new outbreak that began late last month, with factory workers among those infected. The province has recorded 476 infections since 27 April, accounting for a third of the overall cases in the country over the period, according to the Ministry of Health.
Updated
Good morning, it is Martin Belam here in London. Do you live in England? Are you confused about whether you can travel abroad, what the rules are, and what they mean? Don’t worry, you are far from being alone. PA Media this morning have summed up the chaotic messaging coming out of the UK government about international travel following Monday’s relaxing of restrictions.
British prime minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman, during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, said leisure travel should still be restricted to the limited number of countries deemed safe by ministers, such as Portugal, which feature on the quarantine-free “green list”.
But two cabinet ministers appeared to offer a different reading of the rules, with environment secretary George Eustice telling broadcasters people could go to amber-listed countries as long as they observed quarantine rules on their return.
Welsh secretary Simon Hart, speaking after Johnson’s comments, said the public should ask themselves whether a trip to a country on the amber list was “essential” before conceding that “some people might think a holiday is essential”.
Further complicating matters, health minister Lord Bethell told peers he considered all foreign travel to be “dangerous” and urged Britons to holiday at home this summer.
As a reminder, the “green” list consists of Portugal, Gibraltar, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, plus several small remote islands which are British Overseas Territories.
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and the Faroe Islands have severely restricted entry criteria. However Portugal is welcoming UK tourists who have had a recent negative test, have recovered from the virus and therefore have antibodies, or had both doses of a vaccine.
Gibraltar will not require UK visitors to be tested or vaccinated, whereas Israel will initially reopen its border on 23 May only to groups of foreign tourists who have had both jabs.
The “amber” list covers many popular holiday destinations such as Spain, France, Italy and Greece. Transport secretary Grant Shapps said “you should not be travelling to these places right now”.
Updated
That’s it from me for today – handing over the reins to my colleague Martin Belam now.
Updated
Flaw in Japan Covid vaccine booking system causes disarray
A flaw in Japan’s coronavirus inoculation programme has been exposed barely a day after the government opened a facility in Tokyo designed to speed up the country’s slow vaccine rollout.
The glitch – which allows people to make jab reservations using false information – has proved an embarrassment for the government, which is facing renewed criticism for its handling of the pandemic.
Officials said they would fix the problem after it was exposed by newspaper journalists who reserved jabs intended for those over 64 using arbitrary code and application numbers. They later cancelled the appointments.
Two mass vaccination centres in Tokyo and Osaka, run by the self-defence forces, opened this week in an attempt to speed up jabs for 36 million people aged 65 and over.
But reporters from the Mainichi and Asahi newspapers said they had managed to make reservations using two sets of random code numbers that had not been issued by local authorities, and despite being younger than the target group.
Reservations made using false information would deny a vaccination slot to people with a legitimate right to a jab, the Mainichi warned.
The defence minister, Nobuo Kishi, admitted that “it would have been better if we had fixed it from the start”, but criticised the newspapers for acting “maliciously” – despite their role in bringing the defect to light.
Read more of Justin McCurry’s report from Tokyo here: Flaw in Japan Covid vaccine booking system causes disarray
60% of all vaccine doses given in just three countries
According to an AFP tally, more than 1,500,017,337 vaccine doses have now been administered in 210 countries and territories.
Nearly three-fifths of the total have been given in three countries: China (421.9m), the US (274.4m) and India (184.4m).
In Israel, nearly six in 10 residents have been completely vaccinated, while 32% of Europeans have received a dose. Only 11 countries have yet to roll out vaccines.
The Serum Institute of India – the world’s largest vaccine maker – said on Tuesday it hopes to resume exports by the end of the year, reopening a vital supply line to many poorer countries.
India’s fragile healthcare system is struggling with a coronavirus surge that has killed a record 4,329 people in 24 hours.
The country was battling dual crises Wednesday, after at least 33 people were killed and more than 90 were missing after a monster cyclone slammed into the west coast.
Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power after the storm hit Gujarat on Monday evening and 200,000 people in danger zones were evacuated from their homes.
In the city of Mumbai, authorities were forced to shift about 600 Covid-19 patients from field hospitals “to safer locations” and vaccinations we briefly suspended.
Updated
India suffers world record daily death toll for first time
India has suffered a world record one-day death toll, surpassing the previous highest toll, recorded in the US, of 4,475.
According to the health ministry, 4,529 people were confirmed dead in the last 24 hours. It is the highest daily toll of any country on earth over the course of the pandemic and the first time India has seen a figure over 4,500.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
India has again suffered a record one-day death toll. According to the health ministry, 4,529 people were confirmed dead in the last 24 hours. It is the highest daily toll of any country on earth over the course of the pandemic and the first time India has seen a figure over 4,500.
Meanwhile, according to an AFP tally more than 1,500,017,337 vaccine doses have now been administered in 210 countries and territories.
Nearly three-fifths of the total have been given in three countries: China (421.9 million), the US (274.4 million) and India (184.4 million).
Here are the other key recent developments:
- Ukrainian lawmakers have voted to dismiss the health minister who has faced criticism for the slow pace of the nation’s coronavirus vaccination effort, AP reports.
- Argentina reported a record one-day coronavirus death toll of 745 on Tuesday as the country is hit by a second wave of infections that has brought the number of positive tests recorded in a 24-hour period to 35,543.
- Bahrain will vaccinate adolescents aged 12-17 with two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, state news agency BNA said, citing the country’s national medical taskforce for combatting the coronavirus on Tuesday.
- Algeria has backed off a decision to reopen land borders closed because of the coronavirus pandemic but will go ahead with a plan to partially resume international flights from next month, the presidency said on Tuesday.
- Mexico aims to ensure its population has had at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot by October, before the onset of colder weather, the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Tuesday.
- Kuwait’s cabinet said on Tuesday that direct commercial flights for India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are limited to departing flights only, while cargo flights will continue, until further notice, the cabinet wrote on Twitter.
- Sudan will restrict all travellers who have visited India within the prior two weeks, the country’s health emergency committee said in a statement. India’s Covid-19 caseload topped 25 million on Tuesday, and there are concerns about the spread of a new, highly infectious variant, B.1.617, first found there.
- An extended halt to exports of Covid-19 vaccines from India risks undermining vaccination efforts already under way in Africa, according to one of the continent’s top health officials.
- Residents of two tower blocks in Germany have been put under quarantine after a woman was diagnosed with the infectious Covid Indian variant, an official said.
- Malaysia reported 47 new coronavirus deaths, a new record in fatalities for a second successive day.
- Singapore has authorised the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds in order to extend protection to more groups.
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