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People who have experienced smell loss as a result of Covid-19 should try “smell training”, scientists have recommended.
PA reports:
Smell training involves sniffing at least four different odours, twice daily for several months.
Smell loss expert Prof Carl Philpott, from the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School, said that the method “aims to help recovery based on neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to reorganise itself to compensate for a change or injury”.
Research by an international group of smell experts, published in the journal International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, advised against using steroids to treat smell loss.
Prof Philpott said there is “very little evidence” they will help with smell loss and they have “potential side effects including fluid retention, high blood pressure, and problems with mood swings and behaviour”.
He said Covid-19 has led to a “huge rise” in smell loss globally and around one in five people who experience smell loss as a result of coronavirus report that their sense of smell has not returned to normal eight weeks after falling ill.
“Luckily most people who experience smell loss as a result of Covid-19 will regain their sense of smell spontaneously,” he said.
“Research shows that 90% of people will have fully recovered their sense of smell after six months.”
Kuwait’s directorate general of civil aviation said it had suspended all direct commercial flights coming from India from April 24 until further notice.
The move was on the instructions of health authorities after an evaluation of the global coronavirus status, Reuters reports.
All passengers arriving from India either directly or via another country will be banned from entering unless they have spent at least 14 days out of India, the statement said.
Kuwaiti citizens, their first degree relatives and their domestic workers will be allowed to enter. Cargo is unaffected.
Arts world luminaries including actors, directors and festival organisers have written to the UK government calling for the introduction of Covid-status certificates, saying this is the only way their industry will bring about the return of audiences.
The letter, whose signatories include Ralph Fiennes, Meera Syal, Tom Stoppard, Simon Rattle, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the Bond films producer Barbara Broccoli, puts renewed pressure on ministers over an issue that has alarmed a number of Conservative backbenchers and opposition parties.
Sent to Boris Johnson and opposition party leaders, the letter stresses that such certificates must be as broad-based as possible, temporary, and shown to not discriminate. But it warns that bringing back audiences to live events will happen only by taking such measures.
Brazil recorded 2,914 new Covid-19 deaths and 69,105 new cases of coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday.
More than 386,000 people have died from the virus in Brazil, with 14.24 million confirmed cases of infection, Reuters reports.
A family in the US accused of selling a toxic industrial bleach as a coronavirus cure through their church has been indicted on federal charges.
Associated Press reports:
A federal grand jury in Miami returned an indictment Thursday charging Mark Grenon, 62, and his sons, Jonathan, 34, Jordan, 26, and Joseph, 32, with one count each of conspiracy to commit fraud and two counts each of criminal contempt, according to court records.
They face possible life sentences if convicted.
Mark Grenon is the archbishop of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing in Florida. The church sells chlorine dioxide as a “Miracle Mineral Solution,” officials said.
The Grenons claim the solution can cure a vast variety of illnesses ranging from cancer to autism to malaria to Covid-19. A Miami federal judge last April ordered the church to stop selling the substance, but the order was ignored.
When ingested, the solution sold by the Grenons becomes a bleach that is typically used for treating textiles, industrial water, pulp and paper, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Authorities said ingesting these products is the same as drinking bleach and can be fatal.
Updated
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine 'should be resumed in the US'
Use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine should be resumed in the US, as specified under its emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration, advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended.
Regulators paused its use last week to review reports of rare but serious blood clots associated with low blood platelets, Reuters reports.
“The benefits do clearly outweigh the risk from a population and individual perspective,” said Dr Beth Bell, a member of the advisory panel and a clinical professor in the department of global health at the University of Washington.
“It’s a new risk. It’s admittedly an extremely small risk and smaller than many other risks that we choose to take every day,” she added.
Updated
Younger Brazilians are increasingly being affected by Covid-19, with those in their 20s showing the greatest increase in deaths so far this year, according to a report published by government biomedical institute Fiocruz.
Reuters reports:
It found that the number of Covid-19 deaths among people between the ages of 20 and 29 jumped more than 1,000% between the start of this year - before Brazil’s vaccination campaign began - and the first half of April.
Deaths among those 30 to 39 rose 819%, while fatalities among the 40 to 49-year-old group jumped 933%, the study found.
Following on from the Bloomberg story (20:46), Apple Inc has confirmed it is starting a program to help employees get voluntary Covid-19 vaccinations at its offices.
The company is working with drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc as its vendor and will open a website for its workers to sign up for appointments, an Apple spokeswoman said. Apple is one of the first large Silicon Valley companies to launch a program to help workers get vaccinated. Deutsche Bank AG earlier this month became the first big bank in New York to say it would offer employees vaccinations at its offices.
Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering four choices for changing the agency’s recommendation on Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, including label changes or a complete end to its use.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is holding an emergency meeting and is expected to vote later today on recommendations, CNN reports.
The cable news channel continues, on its website:
At issue: The vaccine has been linked to 15 cases of a rare blood clotting condition called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, all among women. Three have died.
It’s a tricky question because all but two cases have been in women under the age of 50, and no cases have been reported among men since the vaccine has been in general use, although the CDC says it’s unlikely the risk is zero among men.
CDC staff laid out several possible scenarios, all of which show that while resuming vaccination would result in more cases of blood clots, adding the J&J shot to the mix of available vaccines would save lives and keep people out of the hospital.
The committee’s four possible choices are:
- Recommend against use for all persons
- Reaffirm recommendation for all age and sex – US Food and Drug Administration to include warning statement with emergency use authorization
- Recommend vaccination only for adults aged 50 or older
- Reaffirm recommendations for use; women aged under 50 should be aware of the increased risk of TTS, and may choose another Covid-19 vaccine (ie mRNA vaccines)
U.S. lawmakers and non-profit groups have heaped pressure on the Biden administration to back a temporary patent waiver for vaccines to help poor countries contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Reuters reports:
The groups delivered a petition signed by two million people, adding to separate letters already sent to U.S. President Joe Biden by a group of senators, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, nearly 100 members of the House and 60 former heads of state and 100 Nobel Prize winners.
Senator Bernie Sanders said it was also in the US’s own interest to ensure as many people were vaccinated as quickly as possible, to limit the chance of virus mutations that could prompt further U.S. lockdowns. But he also appealed to Biden’s desire to rebuild U.S. credibility in the world.
“On this enormously important health issue, this moral issue, the United States has got to do the right thing,” he told a news conference.
The US and a handful of other big countries have blocked negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) involving a proposal spearheaded by India and South Africa that now has the support of 100 WTO members.
The proposal would temporarily waive the intellectual property (IP) rights of pharmaceutical companies to allow developing countries to produce vaccines.
A summary of today's developments
- New Zealand has paused its travel bubble after the Australian Covid-19 outbreak, AFP reports.
- Turkey recorded 49,438 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, down from a record of more than 63,000 cases reported last week, Reuters reports. The data from the health ministry also showed 343 people died due to Covid-19 in the same period, down from a record-high 362 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 37,672.
- Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau said it has reached an agreement with Pfizer for 35 million booster shots next year and 30 million in 2023 in case the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines fades with time and need to be reinforced.
- A two-week partial lockdown will be imposed in Cyprus from Monday, with restrictions covering key Orthodox Easter holidays. Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, reiterated that benefits of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine outweigh any risks.
- Austria is due to loosen its curbs on 19 May, enabling restaurants, hotels and theatres reopen their doors for the first time in more than five months, the government has announced.
- The European commission said it expects to seal the world’s biggest vaccine supply deal within days, buying up to 1.8bn doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for the next few years.
- Germans are bracing themselves for an “emergency brake” – a raft of new measures due to kick in nationwide from Saturday in an attempt to bring down the high number of Covid infections.
- Australian health authorities have said another three cases of rare blood clots – including in an 80-year-old Victorian man – are very likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
- Japan has declared “short and powerful” states of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures, as the country attempts to contain the virus just three months ahead of the Olympics.
Apple Inc is starting a program to help employees get Covid-19 vaccines, sources have told Bloomberg News.
A court in the US has declined to pause a murder trial for a man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, her mom and his baby boy, despite two positive Covid19 tests for potential jurors who had appeared in court.
The Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling was issued two days after lawyers for Eric Lawson requested a two-week delay, citing concerns that coronavirus infections could spread to other potential jurors, trial staff and lawyers, Associated Press reports.
Lawyers for Lawson sought a continuance in January and again in March, citing concerns about Covid-19. Circuit Judge Michael Noble denied both requests.
Lawson’s attorneys asked Noble for a continuance a third time on Wednesday, this time citing the two positive cases among potential jurors.
When Noble again refused to pause the case, defense lawyers asked the Missouri Supreme Court to intervene.
Updated
For the second day running, India’s overnight infection total was higher than any recorded anywhere in the world since the pandemic began last year, at 332,730, Reuters reports.
Some 2,263 died, with over 300 of those in Delhi alone - figures that are almost certainly conservative.
“Due to an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases in Delhi, all the hospitals are over-burdened,” a Delhi government spokesman said.
“In GTB Hospital, the patients are arriving via ambulances despite unavailability of beds. Despite this, the government is trying its best to give all patients treatment at some facility or the other.”
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau said it has reached an agreement with Pfizer for 35 million booster shots next year and 30 million in 2023 in case the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines fades with time and need to be reinforced.
Associated Press reports:
He said the country of 38 million also has options for tens of millions more in future years should they be needed.
Trudeau added the government is talking with other vaccine manufacturers about their plans for booster shots.
“Canadians expect us to be ready for whatever happens. There is certainly a hope that booster shots might not be necessary, but we are much better to ensure that we are prepared in case they are,” Trudeau said at news conference in Ottawa.
The number of daily cases has doubled this month to 8,600 as a third wave rips across Canada and health officials said they could jump again to more than 15,000 by the end of April unless stricter measures were taken as new coronavirus variants spread.
The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, used the winter Covid shutdown to push ahead with renovations, discovering lost frescoes that will greet visitors when it reopens on May 4.
Associated Press reports:
Uffizi director Eike Schmidt said the six months of closure were put to good use: renovating 14 new rooms that will open to the public next month, and discovering frescoes that would otherwise have remained hidden.
But he hopes that the most recent reopening — the third during the pandemic — will be the last.
“We very much hope that now we will be able to open stably and without further closures. We hope so for the museum, but we hope it also for the world and for human society, Schmidt said.
Updated
Turkey recorded 49,438 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, down from a record of more than 63,000 cases reported last week, Reuters reports.
The data from the Health Ministry also showed 343 people died due to Covid-19 in the same period, down from a record-high 362 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 37,672.
Turkey ranks fourth globally in number of daily cases based on a seven-day average, according to a Reuters tally.
A curfew between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. is in place on weekdays, as well as full weekend lockdowns and other measures. A three-day lockdown that started at 1400 GMT on Thursday was also imposed due to Friday being a national holiday.
Updated
New Zealand has paused its travel bubble after the Australian Covid-19 outbreak, AFP reports.
Early evening summary
Here is a quick recap of the main Covid updates from around the world:
- A two-week partial lockdown will be imposed in Cyprus from Monday, with restrictions covering key Orthodox Easter holidays.
-
Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, reiterated that benefits of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine outweigh any risks.
- Austria is due to loosen its curbs on 19 May, enabling restaurants, hotels and theatres reopen their doors for the first time in more than five months, the government has announced.
- The European commission said it expects to seal the world’s biggest vaccine supply deal within days, buying up to 1.8bn doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for the next few years.
- Germans are bracing themselves for an “emergency brake” – a raft of new measures due to kick in nationwide from Saturday in an attempt to bring down the high number of Covid infections.
- Australian health authorities have said another three cases of rare blood clots – including in an 80-year-old Victorian man – are very likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
-
Japan has declared “short and powerful” states of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures, as the country attempts to contain the virus just three months ahead of the Olympics.
Reuters reports:
Belgium pressed ahead on Friday with plans to allow restaurant and cafe terraces to reopen on 8 May despite warnings from health officials that hospital saturation was starting to resemble that of Italy at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stressed an accelerated pace of vaccinations against the coronavirus, with some 28% of adults having received a first dose.
“If things evolve as they are evolving now, we can continue with our plan to open up outdoors on 8 May,” he told a news conference. “The reopening of our economy, our social life, will follow the vaccinations.”
The government has decided that restaurants or bars will be able to serve outdoors until 10pm, with a maximum of four people per table.
Earlier on Friday, health officials warned of a worsening situation in hospitals.
More than 23,000 people out of in Belgium’s 11 million population have died of Covid-19, with around 3,500 daily infections.
Hospitals had 910 people in intensive care beds. Of the country’s 2,000 intensive care unit beds, 1,000 have been set aside for non-coronavirus cases.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has received his first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine at an Ottawa pharmacy, telling reporters “I’m very excited” as the needle entered his arm.
This just in from the Centre for Disease, Control and Prevention:
CDC has classified SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.526.1 as a variant of interest. Some treatments for #COVID19 have shown to be less effective for this variant, but current vaccines are still anticipated to reduce the risk of severe illness.
— CDC (@CDCgov) April 23, 2021
Learn more: https://t.co/yl5AuKBhdt. pic.twitter.com/zMVdI5EIxy
Boris Johnson has said the UK will seek to help India possibly with ventilators or therapeutics as the nation grapples with a wave of Covid cases.
The UK prime minister told journalists during a visit to Hartlepool:
We’re looking at what we can do to help and support the people of India, possibly with ventilators. Thanks to the ventilator challenge, the huge efforts of British manufacturers, we’re better able now to deliver ventilators to other countries. But also possibly with therapeutics, Dexamethasone, other things, we’ll look at what we can do to help.
Brussels has encouraged EU member states to act on a new European Medicines Agency opinion that the benefits of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine outweigh the risks of blood clots in all adult age groups.
The European commissioner for health, Stella Kyriakides, emphasised the vaccine’s importance as part of the EU’s strategy despite months of controversy following the latest conclusions from the EMA (see earlier post).
In reference to member states who have resumed use of the vaccine in recent days following the discovery of blood clots as a very rare side effect, Kyriakides said she welcomed the fact that they had reflected on the latest evidence.
Here is the full story:
From flooding the streets with thousands of activists to mass Zoom calls, Twitter storms and isolation, young protesters have had to adapt to a global pandemic and find new ways to push forward their calls for action on the climate crisis.
Watch the full Guardian video here:
Updated
One of the Oxford scientists who co-developed AstraZeneca’s vaccine has defended its safety.
Adrian Hill, director of the Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, said teams around the world were working to pin down any potential mechanism for what might be causing the blood clots.
He said he was not worried that some countries had opted to restrict its use amid concerns about a possible link to very rare side effects.
“If some countries choose to use one (Covid) vaccine, there will be more of the other vaccines for other countries,” Hill told Reuters, adding: “We don’t see this as a huge issue.”
French health authorities reported that 5,962 people were in intensive care units with Covid on Friday, down by 19 versus a day earlier.
The figure remains at a very high level as the country prepares to lift domestic travel restrictions from 3 May.
Italy reported 342 Covid-related deaths on Friday against 360 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 14,761 from 16,232.
Italy has registered 118,699 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.
The country has reported 3.94m cases to date, Reuters reports.
Cyprus to impose two-week partial lockdown
A two-week partial lockdown will be imposed in Cyprus from Monday, with restrictions covering key Orthodox Easter holidays.
From 26 April to 9 May, people will be encouraged to work from home and must seek authorisation for only one non-work-related trip daily. Non-essential shops will close, and a 9pm to 5am curfew will be imposed.
Restrictions will be slightly eased for Orthodox Easter at the start of May.
Announcing the new restrictions, the health minister, Constantinos Ioannou, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency:
The growing number of infections, combined with intense pressure on the health system, cannot leave us indifferent and requires difficult decisions, drastic measures.
Ioannou said the measures would help the Mediterranean island’s vaccination rollout play catch up and ease pressure on hospitals, which are witnessing record patient admissions. “We are in a very difficult phase of the pandemic,” Ioannou said.
Cyprus is facing a third wave of coronavirus infections fuelled by the more contagious British variant. The situation marks a stark deterioration from September last year, when reported cases were often close to or at zero per day.
Updated
The UK Department of Health and Social Care has posted an update on vaccine distribution.
#COVID19 VACCINE UPDATE: Daily figures on the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses that have been given in the UK.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 23, 2021
As of 23 April, 45,012,308 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given in the UK.
Visit the @PHE_uk dashboard for more info:
▶️ https://t.co/cQkuLQglz1 pic.twitter.com/9xlWJKsNYO
Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are to meet again on Friday to consider whether it is safe to resume injections of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, according to Reuters.
Distribution of the one-shot vaccines has been paused due to concerns over a possible link to blood clots in the brain. The panel had asked for more data before making a decision on whether to resume administrations.
Clots linked to the vaccine are rare. There have been six reported cases of brain blood clots accompanied by low platelets in the blood out of nearly 8 million doses administered in the US, while a handful more possible cases were under review.
Some panel members argued an extension of the pause could signal to the world that the vaccine had major safety issues.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said said she was hopeful for a quick decision on J&J’s vaccine, especially as EU regulators backed it this week.
Updated
This has been shared by Prof Christina Pagel, of University College London:
The other thing is that Japan is being very slow to vaccinate compared to other high income regions - Just over 1% of its population has received one dose of Covid vaccine so far.
— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) April 23, 2021
This leaves it more exposed to surges from B117 (vaccines work brilliantly against B117). 3/4 pic.twitter.com/P8TaBIXQmL
India’s Cadila Healthcare has started producing its potential Covid vaccine for which it will seek emergency use authorisation in May or June, its managing director told Reuters, with an aim to make up to 240m doses a year.
“We have just started producing doses,” Sharvil Patel said.
The World Health Organization emergencies director, meanwhile, has said India must control mobility and mixing to reduce a surge in infections.
EU regulator reiterates benefits of AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh risks
Europe’s drug regulator reiterated on Friday that benefits of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine outweigh any risks, after determining that serious side-effects of rare blood clots are likely to occur in one out of 100,000 vaccinated people, according to Reuters.
There was insufficient data on the vaccine from Europe to determine if blood clot risks with low blood platelets would differ with the each dose of the vaccine, or to provide context on its benefits and risks with regards to gender, the European Medicines Agency said.
Updated
Austria to let restaurants, hotels and theatres reopen on 19 May
Austria plans to loosen its Covid restrictions on 19 May, letting restaurants, hotels and theatres reopen their doors for the first time in more than five months, the government has announced.
“The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter,” chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a news conference.
According to Reuters, a government statement published at the same time said a night-time curfew would be scrapped, though meetings between 10pm and 5am would generally be limited to four adults.
Updated
EU to strike world's largest vaccine deal with Pfizer
The European commission said it expects to seal the world’s biggest vaccine supply deal within days, buying up to 1.8bn doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for the next few years, Reuters writes.
Speaking during a visit to Pfizer’s vaccine plant in Puurs, Belgium, Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, said the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines would be delivered over 2021-23.
The agreement would be enough to inoculate the 450m EU population for two years.
It is the third contract agreed by the bloc with the two companies, which have already agreed to supply 600m doses of the two-dose vaccine this year under two previous contracts.
Updated
Here is the full story on Japan declaring a targeted state of emergency (see earlier post) by Justin McCurry, the Guardian’s Tokyo correspondent:
This has been shared by Public Health England. All pregnant women would be offered the Pfizer or Moderna jab based on their age and clinical risk group after real-world data from the US showed about 90,000 pregnant women had been vaccinated without any safety concerns, the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said last Friday.
The JCVI have advised that it's safe for pregnant women to get the #COVID19 jab.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) April 23, 2021
JCVI member and GP, Dr Maggie Wearmouth, explains why you should get the jab if you're pregnant.
Find out more: https://t.co/qNg2VjlJ2O pic.twitter.com/KYlxTQTULO
Reuters reports:
Norway will offer those who have received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 injections from mRNA vaccines as their second dose, the health ministry said on Friday.
Norway, on 11 March, suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a small number of younger people were hospitalised for a combination of blood clots, bleeding and a low count of platelets, some of whom later died.
More comments from the news briefing have come in from Reuters.
“We will certainly add other potential vaccines, for example protein-based vaccines have also quite a potential,” Ursula Von der Leyen said.
The vaccines currently being developed by Novavax and Sanofi/Glaxo-Smith-Kline are examples of protein-based vaccines.
Here is a helpful explainer on the new Perth Covid lockdown rules and Western Australia’s coronavirus restrictions:
The EU is yet to decide whether to launch legal action against AstraZeneca over the company’s failure to deliver the contracted doses to the bloc, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said.
She told a news conference:
Where AstraZeneca is concerned no decision have been taken so far so we have to wait for that.
AstraZeneca delivered less than 30m of the expected 120m doses to EU member states in the first quarter of this year, and refused to redirect vaccines produced in the UK to make up for the losses.
The commission sent a letter to the company on 19 March, described as a “a notice for dispute settlement”.
Updated
Germany braces for 'emergency brake' to halt Covid infections
Germans are bracing themselves for a so-called “emergency brake” – a raft of new measures due to kick in nationwide from Saturday in an effort to bring down the high number of coronavirus infections as the country fights a third wave.
Doctors have warned of the necessity of further restrictions, over fears the health system is under too much pressure as it is, with more than 5,000 intensive care beds occupied – the highest since the start of the pandemic – and only 14% free.
The national “Notbremse” (emergency brake) allows the federal government to set the rules when the seven-day incidence rate rises over three consecutive days beyond 100 new infections per 100,000 of the population.
Previously it has been the 16 Länder or states who have set their own regulations, leading to huge disparities across the country as to which rules applied in what circumstances, causing considerable confusion.
The nationwide incidence rate is around 164, with all but one state exceeding 100, meaning that by and large the measures will come into play from tomorrow.
These include
- A nighttime curfew, between 10pm and 5am. (This is the most controversial aspect of the new law, as so far during this pandemic Germany has not had the type of curfew rules common elsewhere).
- The restriction of contacts to one household plus one other person, both inside and outside, excluding children 14 and under.
- Sporting activity allowed only if it is non-contact, is carried out with one other person, or with the members of a single household.
- The closure of non-essential services involving close physical contact including beauty treatments and personal hygiene. Hairdressers are allowed to stay open if customers provide a negative test.
- The closure of museums and other cultural institutions.
- Non-essential shops can only receive customers who provide their contact details and evidence of a recent negative test. Above an incidence rate of 150 only a click and collect service is possible.
- Essential shops are to remain open, including supermarkets, chemists, and bookshops. The outdoor areas of zoos and botanical gardens are open to visitors who can provide a recent negative test result.
- Beyond an incidence rate of 165 schools can be closed.
The law change has been variously described as the “end of consensual politics” in Germany, and a power grab by central government. Outside parliament on Wednesday, an estimated 8000 people demonstrated against the law.
Angela Merkel has stressed it is only a temporary measure which will remain in place until June 30, after which any changes will require the approval of the Bundestag.
Health minister Jens Spahn said on Friday morning: “It is hard, it is difficult for each of us. But it’s only for an interim period.”
He said the aim was to “break the third wave” and then, with the help of tests and vaccinations, to start gradually opening up outdoor pubs and restaurants, theatres, shops and football.
So far, about 22% of Germans have received a single jab, and 7% are fully vaccinated.
Updated
Brazil's Covid vaccination effort at risk due to 2nd dose no-shows
In Brazil, the Covid vaccination programme is being put at risk by people failing to show up for their second shot, with 1.5 million missing appointments for the follow-up dose, according to the health ministry.
Authorities involved in the campaign said the low turnout seemed to be due to poor communication, with people either not realising the importance of the second shot or simply forgetting when they were meant to go, Reuters reports.
Specialists say that is particularly concerning after a recent real-world study from Chile found that the Sinovac Biotech Covid vaccine, which has accounted for 80% of Brazil’s programme, is just 16% effective after one shot.
In total, Covid-19 has claimed more than 380,000 lives in Brazil, the world’s second highest death toll behind the US.
Updated
The CEO of Moderna has said the firm was working hard to have a booster vaccine against Covid variants approved by the late summer or early autumn, Reuters reports.
Speaking at a virtual event on vaccine manufacturing, Stéphane Bancel added that the US pharmaceutical company was on course to make up to 1bn doses of Covid vaccines this year and up to 1.4bn in 2022.
Updated
Australian authorities say three new cases of blood clots ‘very likely linked’ to AZ vaccine
In Australia, health authorities have said another three cases of rare blood clots – including in an 80-year-old Victorian man – are very likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The medicines regulator on Friday night said the suspected cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome were in a 35-year-old New South Wales woman, a 49-year-old Queensland man and the 80-year-old.
Symptom onset ranged from nine to 26 days after vaccination with AstraZeneca, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said in a statement. The Vaccine Safety Investigation Group “concluded all three of the cases were likely linked to vaccination”.
Josh Taylor, a Guardian Australia reporter, has the full story here:
Updated
Pope Francis has visited homeless people getting free Covid vaccines from his Vatican charity as he celebrated the feast of St George.
About 600 of the 1,400 people who received a first dose several weeks ago got their second shot on Friday.
Francis spent about 30 minutes talking with some of the recipients, many from the area around the Vatican, Reuters reports.
The pontiff, who has been vaccinated, offered them food and sweets including chocolate Easter eggs, according to a statement and Vatican images of the event.
Updated
Reuters reports:
Primary healthcare, treatment for chronic diseases and other essential medical services around the world remain disrupted by the pandemic alongside workforce shortages and patient fears, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Some 94% of 135 countries and territories responding to its survey reported some disruption, including in life-saving emergency interventions, between January and March, it said in a report.
“Health systems around the world are still being tested more than one year into the pandemic. Nearly all responding countries reported at least one service disruption and disruptions were reported across all health areas, demonstrating the far-reaching impact of the pandemic on health systems,” the WHO said.
But there were improvements compared to 2020, with immunisations and some palliative care services for patients back on track, it said.
Updated
This chart (and ensuing thread) of the main variants in England has been shared by Kit Yates, of the University of Bath:
This chart shows week on week absolute numbers of variants (up to 11 April).
— Kit Yates (@Kit_Yates_Maths) April 23, 2021
B1617 (India) has become the most sequenced (apart from B117) in the last couple of weeks over taking B1351 (SA).
Clearly the number of sequences carried out affect these numbers significantly.
8/13 pic.twitter.com/2ur6oIb8tg
According to Reuters, Vladimir Putin has said he will sign a decree to make 4-7 May non-working days this year and extend a public holiday period at the start of the month due to the pandemic.
The Russian president was asked to consider the move at a televised government meeting about Covid-19.
Japan declares 'short and powerful' states of emergency
Japan has declared “short and powerful” states of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures, as the country attempts to contain the virus just three months ahead of the Olympics (see earlier post).
Under a new state of emergency from 25 April to 11 May, restaurants, bars, and karaoke parlours serving alcohol will be required to close, while big sporting events are to be held without spectators, economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said.
Breaching the restrictions will in some cases carry penalties under a recently revised law, he added.
“We absolutely have to limit the movement of people, and we have to do it decisively. We need powerful, short and focused measures,” Nishimura said, asking people to remember the lockdowns of last spring and stay at home.
Prime minister Yoshihide Suga announced the new restrictions after they were formally approved by a government taskforce, Reuters reports.
Department stores, cinemas and other commercial facilities larger than 1,000 sq metres will need to close while companies will be asked to make allowances for people to work from home. Schools will remain open.
The state of emergency – a third round for Japan that also includes Kyoto and Hyogo – will cover nearly a quarter of the population and last through the “Golden Week” holidays, dealing a further blow to the tourism and services industries.
Updated
Russia has administered both shots of a Covid vaccine to 6.8 million people, while 11.1 million have received the first shot, deputy prime minister Tatiana Golikova has said (see earlier post for the latest coronavirus figures).
She said Russia has produced 27.9m Covid-19 vaccine doses and 15m have been made available to the population.
Updated
Launched on Friday down the Adriatic coast in Dubrovnik, Croatia, a multimillion-euro government campaign aims to get about 80,000 tourism workers vaccinated against Covid in coming weeks, Reuters reports.
Guests will be offered subsidised tests, with visitors expected to get their results before they return home.
Nikolina Brnjac, the tourism minister, said:
We set aside some 20m kuna ($3.18m) for buying the (antigen) tests for which the tourists will pay only a symbolic price.
Tourism usually accounts for almost a fifth of Croatia’s economic output, but the pandemic more than halved revenues in 2020.
Updated
Hi everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog until the evening (UK time). As always, feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.
That’s it from me, Rhi Storer, for today I will now hand the liveblog over to Yohannes Lowe for the rest of the day.
In the depths of Mount Everest, the first cases of coronavirus have been identified at an Everest base camp, renewing the controversy over the decision by Nepal to open the world’s highest mountain to climbers.
The Norwegian climber Erlend Ness was originally thought to be suffering from pulmonary edema – a condition associated with altitude sickness – and was evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu, where he tested positive for coronavirus.
“My diagnosis is Covid-19,” said Ness. “I’m doing OK now … The hospital is taking care (of me).”
With access from the Chinese side of Everest closed to outside climbers, and some expedition operators on the Nepalese side increasing prices, the Nepalese decision in the midst of a global pandemic has come under scrutiny.
You can read more from my colleague Peter Beaumont in his report below:
Updated
Here is an update from my earlier post regarding Perth’s snap three-day lockdown from my colleague Mostafa Rachwani.
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, announced the lockdown – which will remain in place until midnight on Monday – after a close contact of the Victorian man also tested positive.
McGowan said he had to do what was needed to quash the outbreak.
“We need to act and do what is necessary to prevent further community transmission. We have gone more than 12 months of no community transmission and our lives in Western Australia have been normal compared to what we have seen around the world. We do everything we can to protect our way of life.”
The Victorian man tested positive after quarantining in a hotel room adjacent to another positive case at the Mercure hotel in Perth.
He had tested negative towards the end of his two-week quarantine period and spent five days in Perth before he flew back to Melbourne on Wednesday and subsequently tested positive.
“We now need to assume he was infectious,” McGowan said.
You can read more of Mostafa’s report below:
Updated
Israel and Bahrain have recognised each other’s vaccine certificates, allowing travellers between the countries to forgo quarantine and other restrictions.
It marks a further improvement of ties between Israel and the small Arab country in the Persian Gulf on the back of a US-brokered normalisation accord reached last year.
Bahrain’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the latest deal “represents a global precedent for a bilateral agreement on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates”.
Israeli tourism minister Orit Farkash Hacohen welcomed the agreement in a tweet, calling it “an important step in Israel’s reopening to tourists”.
According to the agreement, people who have been vaccinated in both countries and received vaccinations recognised in the other country will be exempt from quarantine and be able to enter places that require a “green passport”.
In the second phase, arrangements will be made for people who have been vaccinated with a vaccine that is not recognised by one of the two countries.
Updated
In Thailand, reports are coming in of the country tackling a third wave of infections, with more intensive care unit (ICU) beds required.
From Reuters:
Thailand needs to add more intensive care unit (ICU) beds at hospitals to tackle an influx of Covid-19 patients, an official said on Friday, as the country struggles with a third wave of infections, the most severe it has faced up to now.
Based on a daily rate of 1,500 new cases, Thailand will only have enough ICU beds for around one more week in Bangkok and just under three weeks nationwide, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Covid-19 taskforce.
“There will be impact. We don’t know how it will end, but we’re assessing the situation under the worst-case scenario,” Taweesin told reporters.
“Having ICU beds to last one week is not enough. We must add more.”
His warning came after Thailand reported 2,070 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest number of daily cases since the pandemic started.
Taweesin said the health ministry and Bangkok’s local administration were working on adding more ICU beds, on top of around 1,000 already available.
The new outbreak, which began in a nightclub district of Bangkok, has spread across the country.
The outbreak, which accounts for more than a third of Thailand’s 50,183 cases so far, also comes as the country takes tentative steps to reopen to foreign visitors after a year of tightened border controls.
Thailand has recorded 121 deaths due to the coronavirus.
Updated
Indonesia issues travel ban to India over coronavirus variant
Indonesia will stop issuing visas for foreigners who have been in India in the past 14 days to prevent the spread of different coronavirus strains, a government minister said on Friday.
It comes as India faces its worst outbreak of the virus, recording the world’s highest single-day increase in cases on Friday for a second day, surpassing 330,000 infections.
“Based on these observations, the government has decided to stop issuing visas for foreigners who have lived or visited India in the past 14 days,” chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Friday.
Indonesians arriving from India will be allowed to enter, however, but must follow stricter health protocols and quarantine.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous nation, has among the worst COVID-19 epidemics in Asia, with over 1.62 million cases and 44,000 death, according to most recent statistics.
Updated
Here’s an interesting comment from our international correspondent Michael Safi:
India's ruling party insisted on holding huge election rallies throughout this health crisis, but says if they win, they'll vaccinate people for free https://t.co/nXylZFt83L
— michael safi (@safimichael) April 23, 2021
Coronavirus vaccines "remain out of reach" in the poorest countries, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said
In a report on Friday, marking the first anniversary of the COVAX dose-sharing facility, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has denounced “inequities” in vaccine distribution.
“Nearly 900 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but over 81% have gone to high or upper middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.3%,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO said.
Speaking about the ACT (Access to Covid-19 Tools) accelerator set up a year ago, Tedros has urged wealthier countries to share excess doses to help inoculate health workers in low-income countries.
“Low-income countries test less than 5% as much as high-income countries, and the majority of countries still have trouble accessing sufficient oxygen and dexamethasone,” Tedros said.
COVAX, which has shipped 40.5 million doses to 118 countries so far, aims to secure 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.
Updated
Here are the latest coronavirus statistics from Russia via Reuters:
Russia reported 8,840 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, including 2,502 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,744,961 since the pandemic began.
The government coronavirus taskforce said that 398 people had died in the last 24 hours, taking its death toll to 107,501.
The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and reported a toll of more than 225,000 from April 2020 to February.
Updated
In South Korea, the public will be allowed to use two coronavirus self-test kits for the first time, as a surge in infections has rekindled calls to step up testing.
The decision comes as a cluster of new infections has prompted authorities to demand tougher enforcement of distancing rules to avert a fourth wave of the pandemic.
The makers of the kits, SD Biosensor Inc and Humasis Co Ltd, got approval on condition that they provide further clinical trial data on self-testing within three months, the drug safety ministry said in a statement.
Although the products have been available in European countries since last year, South Korea had limited their use to medical specialists.
“Despite the differences in accuracy, there is a need to use those kits as a supplementary tool,” Acting Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki told a daily meeting on virus fighting efforts.
“If PCR tests offer microscopic examinations with almost 100% accuracy, self-test kits can be compared to results made with naked eyes.”
Confirmed coronavirus cases in South Korea stands at 117,458 infections, with 1,811 deaths.
Updated
UK adds India to travel ban 'red list'
In the UK, passengers on flights from India must now enter hotel quarantine as the country is officially added to the UK’s coronavirus travel red list.
As of 4am BST on Friday, people returning from India must quarantine in a Government-approved hotel for 10 days. Anyone who is not a UK or Irish resident or a British citizen will be banned from entering the country if they have been in India in the previous 10 days.
The restrictions come in response to mounting concern about the number of coronavirus cases in India and the emergence there of a variant of the virus.
Public Health England (PHE) said on Thursday that 55 cases of the Indian variant were found in the UK in the week to April 14.
It also comes as Boris Johnson was forced to cancel a trip to India to meet Narendra Modi.
There are 40 countries on the UK red list, including India, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Updated
Over in the US, demand for coronavirus vaccines has drastically reduced, with some states turning down new shipments.
Louisiana has stopped asking the federal government for its full allotment of Covid-19 vaccines. About three-quarters of Kansas counties have turned down new shipments of the vaccine at least once over the past month. And in Mississippi, officials asked the federal government to ship vials in smaller packages so they don’t go to waste.
More than half of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose, and President Joe Biden this week celebrated eclipsing 200m doses administered in his first 100 days in office.
He also acknowledged entering a new phase to bolster outreach and overcome vaccine hesitancy.
“It is kind of stalling. Some people just don’t want it,” said Stacey Hileman, a nurse with the health department in rural Kansas’s Decatur County, where less than a third of the county’s 2,900 residents have received at least one vaccine dose.
In Corinth, Mississippi, pharmacist Austin Bullard said people were waiting to become vaccinated until a one-dose shot became available. The news about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the risk for blood-clotting has scared people about getting any type of vaccination.
“I do feel like there has been more hesitancy across the board since then,” he said.
Updated
Perth, Australia, to enter three-day lockdown from midnight
Perth, in western Australia, will face a three-day lockdown starting from midnight.
Here’s a summary of this emerging news story from Reuters:
Western Australia’s capital of Perth and the neighbouring Peel region will enter a snap three-day lockdown from midnight on Friday after a man tested positive for Covid-19 and was in the community for a number of days following hotel quarantine.
The person is likely to have contracted the virus during his two-week quarantine in a Perth hotel, health officials say, raising concerns about community transmission as more virulent virus strains emerge.
“I know this is hard to take and I wish we didn’t need to do this. But we can’t take any chances with the virus,” Premier Mark McGowan said in a televised news conference.
Updated
In Indonesia, scores of prisoners have been sentenced to death over Zoom and other video apps during the pandemic in what critics say is an “inhumane” insult to those facing the firing squad.
Virtual court hearings are becoming more prominent in the south-east country as coronavirus restrictions shut down most in-person trials, including murder and drug trafficking cases, which can carry the death penalty.
In Amnesty International’s annual report on capital punishment, Indonesia has pressed on with the virtual hearings, despite the number of executions and death sentences dropped globally last year, with coronavirus disrupting many criminal proceedings
“Virtual hearings degrade the rights of defendants facing death sentences - it’s about someone’s life and death,” said Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid.
“The death penalty has always been a cruel punishment. But this online trend adds to the injustice and inhumanity,” he added.
Virtual hearings leave defendants unable to fully participate in cases that are sometimes interrupted in countries with poor internet connections, including Indonesia, critics say.
“Virtual platforms … can expose the defendant to significant violations of their fair trial rights and impinge on the quality of the defence,” NGO Harm Reduction International said in a recent report on the death penalty for drug offences.
Updated
One dose of Pfizer or Oxford jab reduces Covid infection rate by 65%
In the UK, one dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reduces coronavirus infections by nearly two-thirds, a study has found.
The researchers, from Oxford University and the Office for National Statistics analysed coronavirus test results from more than 350,000 people in the UK between December and April.
They found that 21 days after a first jab – the time it takes the immune system to mount a decent response – new coronavirus infections dropped by 65%.
The results, released in a preprint on Friday, are particularly important because they demonstrate the protective effect of the vaccines in the real world against the highly infectious – and possibly more lethal – Kent variant.
You can read more from my colleague Ian Sample below:
Updated
A fire has killed 13 coronavirus patients in a hospital in western India early Friday.
The fire, at a hospital in the Virar area on the outskirts of Mumbai, occurred two days after 24 coronavirus patients on ventilators died due to an oxygen leak in a hospital in Nashik, in Maharashtra.
The fire on the second-floor intensive-care unit was extinguished and some patients requiring oxygen were moved to nearby hospitals, said Dilip Shah, CEO of Vijay Vallabh hospital.
Shah said there are 90 patients in the hospital, about 70 kilometers north of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, he said.
An explosion in the air conditioning unit of the intensive care unit preceded the fire, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Good morning, this is Rhi Storer taking over from my colleague Helen Sullivan for the next few hours. Please send me your contributions at rhi.storer@guardian.co.uk, or alternatively, you can message me on Twitter.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today.
For a break from Covid news, please enjoy this story about a gender reveal party:
New Zealand is cautiously re-opening the pathway home for travelers coming from India, after introducing a ban earlier this month. The rule changes allow a dramatically-reduced flow of arrivals from a new category of “very high risk” countries. India, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, and Pakistan are currently in that category.
Arrivals from those countries are restricted to New Zealand citizens and their parents, children, and partners - as opposed to other countries, where New Zealand has taken arrivals who are permanent residents or on “essential worker” visas.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that “from India alone, this is expected to reduce the number of potential positive cases coming to New Zealand by an estimated 75%.” Hipkins said it would be possible to apply for exceptions on humanitarian grounds.
“I want to stress this was not an easy decision. It was based entirely on current risk assessment and will be reviewed regularly,” he said.
New Zealand temporarily closed the border to all arrivals from India, including citizens, after surging case numbers in the country. The outbreak in India is still out of control, with 1.6 million cases reported in a week, and health systems collapsing.
The New Zealand government is also introducing a new “cohorting” system to hold groups of arrivals together and keep Managed Isolation and Quarantine facilities empty for cleaning between cohorts, rather than accepting rolling groups of arrivals.
Countries have been designated ‘very high risk’ if there have been more than 50 Covid-positive cases per 1000 arrivals to New Zealand in 2021.
In more Australian news, the country is set to host the first human clinical trial of a genetically modified adenovirus vaccine for Covid-19 delivered via nasal spray.
Avance Clinical, an Australian contract research organisation, has applied to the office of the gene technology regulator for permission to conduct the phase 1 clinical trial on behalf US company Tetherex Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
The trial from June to September proposes using genetic modification to prevent the virus multiplying and insert a gene encoding the Sars-Cov-2 spike protein to help people produce antibodies against Covid-19:
Australia has received just 70% of the vaccine doses the government expected to have on hand by mid-April, according to a Guardian Australia analysis.
In a presentation published online on 14 March, the government included monthly forecasts for Australia’s expected vaccine supply, accounting for the disruptions to overseas supply that had already occurred leading up to that point.
Based on these forecasts, and figures cited by the health minister, Greg Hunt, for the number of doses received from domestic and international suppliers, there is a shortfall of about 1.8m vaccine doses:
Japan faces new virus emergencies, three months before Olympics
Japan’s government is to declare virus states of emergencies in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday, exactly three months before the Olympic opening ceremony, as new infections surge, AFP reports.
The measures will be stricter than Japan’s last state of emergency, imposed in parts of the country from January, but still fall short of the harsh lockdowns seen in some parts of the world.
“We have a strong sense of crisis,” Japan’s minister for virus response Yasutoshi Nishimura said Friday.
The measures will ask businesses serving alcohol to shut or stop serving alcohol between April 25 to May 11, and also shutter major commercial facilities such as shopping malls and department stores.
An official declaration of the emergency is expected later Friday - with the measure expected to cover Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo regions initially.
Previous emergencies have been expanded to other areas after being announced, and experts say the term may be extended if the spread of the virus continues.
“We will take strong, brief and focused emergency measures,” said top government spokesman Katsunobu Kato, calling restaurants “key points of infection” after an expert advisory panel endorsed the proposal.
The measure will coincide with the annual Golden Week holiday, Japan’s busiest travel period. It could involve cutting some train and bus services to discourage movement.
India reports world record cases for second day
India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row on Friday, while daily deaths from Covid also jumped by a record.
With 332,730 new cases, India’s total caseload has now passed 16 million. Deaths rose by 2,263 to reach a total of 186,920, according to health ministry data.
As many as six hospitals in the Indian capital, Delhi, had completely exhausted their oxygen supplies by Thursday evening, as another unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases overwhelmed health systems in major cities.
Hospital staff posted emergency alerts on social media and signs outside their wards warning that they desperately needed more oxygen to treat patients. Fortis Healthcare, a major provider, posted an SOS appeal on Twitter on Thursday night, writing: “Fortis Hospital in #Haryana has only 45 minutes of oxygen left” and urging the authorities to allow an oxygen tanker from Bhiwadi, south of the capital, to reach its hospital.
As infections have pushed hospitals to breaking point, some areas have been accused of blocking tankers of oxygen from reaching neighbouring states:
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
You can get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row on Friday, while daily deaths from Covid also jumped by a record.
With 332,730 new cases, India’s total caseload has now passed 16 million. Deaths rose by 2,263 to reach a total of 186,920, according to health ministry data.
Meanwhile in Japan, the government is to declare virus states of emergencies in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday, exactly three months before the Olympic opening ceremony, as new infections surge.
The measures will be stricter than Japan’s last state of emergency, imposed in parts of the country from January, but still fall short of the harsh lockdowns seen in some parts of the world.
Here are the other key recent developments:
- Britain found 55 more cases of the B.1.617 Covid variant first detected in India in latest weekly figures, Public Health England said.
- French prime minister Jean Castex confirmed that domestic travel restrictions will be lifted on 3 May and that secondary schools will reopen that same day. France is due to impose a 10-day quarantine starting from Saturday for travellers from Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and India.
- The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said there had been 168 cases up to 14 April of blood clots with low platelet counts in the UK in people who had had the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
- EU capitals have been asked by the European commission to back legal action against AstraZeneca by the end of the week over an alleged breach of its contractual obligations to supply member states with its Covid vaccine. Earlier on Thursday, a commission spokesperson confirmed legal action had not been launched against the company, following comments by Ireland’s health minister Stephen Donnelly.
- New coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by more than 9,000 in 24 hours on Thursday, the highest level since early January, figures show.
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