That’s all from me, Edna Mohamed, tonight. We’ll have a new blog up in a few hours but until then you can keep up to date with all our latest coronavirus news here. Thanks for following along with me!
Updated
Evening summary
Here’s the top stories from the past few hours:
- France’s Covid-19 hospital numbers and new cases have continued falling as the country gradually relaxes restrictions, and its vaccination campaign speeds up.
- Turkey eased further measures meant to curb Covid infections, including partially lifting a weekend lockdown and opening up restaurants to a limited number of guests.
- The Copa America football tournament will now take place in Brazil after its’ original host, Argentina, pulled out after a surge of Covid-19 cases.
- The World Health Organisation has revealed the new names of the Covid-19 variants to avoid stigma.
- Peru revised its official Covid-19 death toll to 180,764, nearly triple the previous official figure of 69,342.
- France has opened up vaccines to all adults a week before Germany, as Europe rushed to avoid another wave of infections caused by new virus variants.
- Russia resumes flights from Moscow to London from 2 June due to an improved Covid-19 situation, but it keeps bans in place on flights to Turkey and Tanzania until 21 June.
Chile’s public health regulator has approved using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for teenagers as the country races to hit its target of herd immunity by July.
The vaccine has already been rolled out in Chile for people aged 17 and above since emergency approval was granted in December and will now be offered to children aged 12 to 16, the ISP regulator said.
Reuters reports,
The ISP said its decision followed similar authorization granted by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.
The ISP’s director, Heriberto Garcia, said the decision would help Chile hit its goal of herd immunity with 80% of the target population vaccinated by July.
“This is very good news for protecting our adolescents, who 14 days after two doses will have a very good immunity to go resume normal life,” he said.
So far, 10.5m people - 69 per cent of the target population - have received one dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Chile, and 7.9m, or 52.3 per cent, have received two, according to health ministry figures.
The South American nation has just one month to reach another 4.6 million people who have yet to receive a single dose to hit its target to inoculate 15.2m people by mid-year.
The government has stepped up efforts to convince reluctant citizens to get vaccinated, opening clinics at weekends, sending mobile clinics to building sites and farms and signing up sports stars and social media influencers for a public information campaign.
It has also rolled out a vaccination green card offering the vaccinated more freedom in lockdowns.
However, with Covid-19 case numbers still close to peak and hospitals near-capacity, Chile’s National College of Doctors said “imprudent decisions” had caused the government to “lose control” of virus transmission.
The EU, UK and Japan have continued to voice doubts at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about a proposed intellectual property waiver on Covid-19 products such as vaccines, a Geneva trade official said.
AFP reports,
Proposals to initiate text-based discussions on an IP waiver, rather than more general talks, gained traction at an informal meeting of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights (TRIPS) council, the official said.
However, some member states “continued to express doubts about the convenience of starting negotiations and asked for more time” to analyse the proposal, the official said.
They included the European Union, plus Australia, Brazil, Britain, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Agreements at the WTO require the consensus backing of all 164 member states.
India and South Africa came forward with the original idea. They have submitted a revised proposal, which currently has the express support of 63 WTO members.
The trade official said differences continued on the question of whether, and to what extent, IP protection was holding up the goal of beating the pandemic, and about the use and potential improvement of existing flexibilities within the TRIPS terms.
Questions were also raised on the duration and termination of the proposed waiver, the official said.
Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia and Kenya were among the countries that expressed the need to start negotiations, the trade official said.
The TRIPS Council will hold an informal meeting on June 8-9 when members will stake out their positions further.
Brazil registered 860 deaths and 30,434 new cases, according to data released by the Health Ministry.
The country has now registered 462,791 total coronavirus deaths and 16,545,554 total confirmed cases.
Hundreds of senior citizens and health workers stood in long lines in Venezuela on Monday to get vaccinated after a campaign that payment problems and political disputes have held up.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government has said for months that it has been unable to pay for vaccines due to US sanctions; however, last month, it announced it had now come up with the funds to enter the COVAX scheme.
Reuters reports,
The campaign that officially began over the weekend is using vaccines provided by Russia and China. Reuters data shows that only 1.1% of the population has received at least one vaccine shot so far.
“A little more information is required. We get very confused, which is to be expected due to impatience,” said Luis Gonzalez, 90, a retiree, after receiving his first dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on Monday at the government-owned Hotel Alba in Caracas.
Around 20 cubicles were arranged in a spacious room on the ground floor of the hotel, where health authorities expect to administer the first dose to 1,000 people by the end of Monday, said Dr Rhode Longa, the site coordinator.
Two blocks from the hotel, Coromoto Teran, a 47-year-old homemaker, stood in line after learning about the effort via neighbours. But upon reaching the hotel, she was told she did not have the “right to vaccination” because she was neither a health worker nor a senior citizen, the two current target populations.
The Health Ministry has not offered details on the total number of people it has vaccinated. The Information Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Some officials have said vaccines will be provided to those holding the “Fatherland Card,” a government identification system that some say is used to discriminate against government critics. But others said they were able to get vaccinated without it.
Updated
Thousands of people went to Twickenham Rugby Stadium in London on Monday when it was turned into a significant walk-in vaccine centre for anyone over the age of 18, PA reports.
The event, called Let’s Tackle Covid, aimed to increase the number of vaccinations as cases of the variant discovered in India surge in Hounslow, west London.
Russia resumes flights from Moscow to London from 2 June due to an improved Covid-19 situation, while it keeps bans in place on flights to Turkey and Tanzania until 21 June, the coronavirus task force said.
The task force added that there will now be three flights a week from Moscow to London.
The country has also decided to resume a limited number of regular flights to other countries, including Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Lebanon.
Updated
Scientists are urging the government to speed up second doses of Covid vaccines and delay a decision on easing lockdown restrictions in England on 21 June in an effort to tackle the creeping spread of new cases.
Data has shown the coronavirus variant first detected in India, known as B.1.617.2, is continuing to spread across England and is thought to be driving a rise in cases. It is believed to be both more transmissible than the variant first detected in Kent, which previously dominated, and somewhat more resistant to Covid vaccines, particularly after one dose.
The situation has led some scientists to warn the country is in the early stages of a third wave of coronavirus which, despite the vaccination programme, modelling suggests could lead to a rise in hospitalisations and deaths, and that full easing of restrictions in England in three weeks’ time should be reconsidered.
The British Medical Association called on the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to honour his pledge to lift measures based on “data, not dates” and said the government should hold off giving the green light to progressing to stage four of the roadmap “until the latest data can be scientifically considered”.
“We are at a pivotal moment,” said the BMA council chair, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, who warned a “premature” ending of all legal restrictions may result in a surge of infections that “would undermine our health service” and undo all the progress made suppressing Covid-19. “We cannot afford to repeat past mistakes,” he said.
More of the report here:
Mexico reported 932 new confirmed cases and 61 deaths on Monday, according to health ministry data. Monday’s figures brought the total number of cases to 2,413,742 and the overall death toll to 223,568.
Updated
France has opened up vaccines to all adults a week before Germany, as Europe rushed to avoid another wave of infections caused by new virus variants.
Currently, 25.4 million people have received the first shot of a vaccine, representing about 38 per cent of the population and nearly one in two adults.
AFP reports,
Until now, people over 50, workers in professions particularly exposed to the virus and younger adults with underlying health problems were given priority.
With the country just beginning to bounce back from a severe third wave of infections, President Emmanuel Macron’s government is keen to quickly expand the vaccine coverage to slow the spread of variants that could spell fresh disaster.
Macron announced on Monday that he and his wife Brigitte had been vaccinated.
“Like Brigitte and I, like 25 million French people have already done, let’s get vaccinated! To protect ourselves, to protect our loved ones,” tweeted Macron, who contracted Covid in December.
Both France and Germany have over the past week imposed new restrictions on travel from the UK to curb the spread of the Indian variant blamed for a surge of cases in parts of Britain.
In a severe blow to the French tourism sector, British and other non-EU nationals travelling from the UK to France starting Monday have to provide a “compelling” reason to enter the country.
Germany meanwhile has imposed a two-week quarantine for travellers arriving from the UK.
Updated
Peru nearly triples death toll after review
Peru revised its official Covid-19 death toll to 180,764, nearly triple the previous official figure of 69,342, following a government review that shows the severity of the outbreak in the country, Reuters reports.
Peru’s prime minister Violeta Bermudez said in a press conference announcing the result of the review, “We think it is our duty to make public this updated information.”
Peru’s new total is in line with so-called excess death figures, which researchers have used to measure possible undercounting in other countries.
Excess deaths measure the total number of fatalities and compare it with the same period pre-pandemic.
But Peru has been one of the most affected coronavirus countries in Latin America, which has overcrowded hospitals and exceeded the availability of oxygen tanks.
As new coronavirus variants continue to be discovered, the World Health Organisation has revealed new names, after the letters of the Greek Alphabet, to simplify the discussion around the variants and avoid stigma.
Reuter’s reports that the four coronavirus variants considered of concern and known generally by the public as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants have now been given the letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta according to the order of their detection.
Any new variants will follow the pattern and continue down the Alphabet.
The choice of the use of the Greek Alphabet came after months of deliberations with other possibilities such as Greek Gods considered by experts, according to bacteriologist Mark Pallen who was involved in the talks.
Explaining the decision, the WHO said, “While they have their advantages, these scientific names can be difficult to say and recall, and are prone to misreporting.”
“No country should be stigmatized for detecting and reporting variants,” said WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove.
Historically, viruses have frequently been associated with the locations they were thought to have developed, such as Ebola, named after the eponymous Congolese river.
However, this can be damaging for the places and are often inaccurate, as is the case with the ‘Spanish flu’ of 1918, whose origins are unknown.
Copa America to move to Brazil instead of Argentina due to Covid-19 surge
Next month’s Copa America football tournament will take place in Brazil after original host Argentina pulled out after a surge of Covid-19 cases, the South American Football Confederation said on Monday.
The decision will mean that the oldest international tournament in the world will go ahead as planned on 13 June, with the final scheduled on 10 July.
Reuters reports:
The Brazilian government has shown agility and decisive thinking at a crucial moment for South American football,” Conmebol president Alejandro Domínguez said in a statement.
“Brazil is in a time of stability; it has proven infrastructure and recent experience in hosting a tournament of this magnitude.”
Brazil hosted the Copa America in 2019 and the World Cup in 2014.
The decision is a boost for the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who has railed against lockdowns and urged Brazilians to return to everyday life.
In a separate tweet, Conmebol thanked Bolsonaro for “opening the country’s doors to what is now the safest sporting event in the world”.
The president’s office directed questions to the sports department at the ministry of citizenship, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Updated
Turkey has eased further measures meant to curb Covid infections, including partially lifting a weekend lockdown and opening up restaurants to a limited number of guests.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the lighter measures, in response to falling cases, would go into effect on Tuesday, and under the new rules, nationwide daily curfews are delayed by an hour to 10pm, Reuters reports.
Updated
France’s Covid-19 hospital numbers and new cases have continued falling as the country gradually relaxes restrictions, and its vaccination campaign speeds up.
On Monday, France recorded 1,211 new coronavirus cases, down from 2,229 last Monday and the lowest case count since 17 August. The latest figures take the total to over 5.66m.
The French health ministry reported 126 new deaths, compared with 62 last Monday and a seven-day moving average of 124. The total death toll now stands at 109,528.
They also reported 2,945 people in intensive care units, down by 48 from a day earlier.
But on Mondays, the case count usually drops sharply because of weekend reporting lags.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said in a tweet he had been vaccinated; however, he did not specify with which vaccine.
Comme Brigitte et moi, comme 25 millions de Français déjà, vaccinons-nous ! Pour nous protéger, pour protéger nos proches. Prenez rendez-vous sur https://t.co/tWTeKkRasd. https://t.co/S5ATCvssiS
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 31, 2021
Hi, I’m Edna Mohamed; I’ll be taking over from Yohannes for the rest of the night. If I miss anything, you can drop me a message on Twitter or email me at edna.mohamed@hotmail.co.uk
Updated
Early evening summary
Here is a quick recap of all the main Covid updates from around the world:
- The Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, has prolonged partial Covid curbs in the capital and nearby provinces until mid-June to contain infections.
- Vietnam has announced the suspension of incoming international flights to its capital and tightened restrictions in its biggest city. The inbound flight suspension to Hanoi will apply from 1-7 June.
- Travellers from the UK will have to provide “compelling reasons” to enter France from Monday, as French authorities tighten curbs to halt the spread of the Indian Covid variant.
- The European Commission has proposed that all EU countries gradually ease travel measures over the summer.
Updated
Reuters reports:
Madrid and the central Spanish region of Castilla la Mancha are considering easing rules on wearing face masks outdoors, officials said on Monday, as falling transmission and rising vaccination rates have lowered the risk of Covid-19 infection.
Masks have been mandatory indoors and out across most of Spain, regardless of social distancing, since last summer.
But daily case numbers and the nationwide infection rate have been declining for months and nearly 40% of the population has received at least one vaccine shot, prompting some authorities to reconsider the rules.
“We are firmly determined to abolish the obligation to wear face masks in open spaces ... before (the rule’s) anniversary in July,” Castilla la Mancha’s regional leader, Emiliano García-Page, said in a speech.
“We want to do this in concert with the nation,” he said, adding that he would propose the relaxation of the rules to the central government and other regions.
Updated
Philippines extends Covid curbs in capital
The Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, has prolonged partial Covid curbs in the capital and nearby provinces until mid-June to contain infections that have been decreasing since hitting a peak in April.
Religious gatherings remain capped at 30% of venue capacity, while dining in restaurants can operate at 20% in the capital region, an urban sprawl of 16 cities that is home to at least 13 million people, and nearby provinces.
Non-essential travel will remain prohibited, Reuters reports.
Daily coronavirus cases in the Philippines averaged roughly 6,300 for May, down by a third from April, after the government reduced operating capacity of businesses and limited the movement of people.
Duterte also extended a ban on inbound travel from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates until 15 June, to prevent transmission of the coronavirus variant first discovered in India.
Updated
School closures in England during the Covid lockdown badly damaged the mental health of mothers but had no impact on fathers’ wellbeing, research has found.
Doing childcare and home schooling as well as their own jobs led to more mothers of pre-teenage children feeling depressed, having trouble sleeping and seeing themselves as worthless.
The pandemic increased mental health problems among parents generally. However, mothers bore the brunt, with fathers barely affected, the study found.
Closing schools to stop the spread of coronavirus had “a significant detrimental effect” on mothers’ mental health, academics from Essex, Surrey and Birmingham universities said. However, “for fathers it made no difference”.
You can read the full story by Denis Campbell, the Guardian’s health policy editor, here:
Reuters reports:
Portugal’s government said on Monday authorities must learn from their mistakes after a decision to allow thousands of English football fans to party in the streets of Porto for Saturday’s Champions League final prompted criticism from some lawmakers.
“Every day, unfortunately, there are people who do not respect the rules, but that doesn’t mean the rules are illegitimate,” prime minister António Costa told reporters, admitting the event “didn’t go perfectly”.
“It is clear that what happened this weekend cannot serve as an example, it must serve as a lesson,” Costa said, adding authorities must work to provide more information to tourists about measures they must adopt during their holidays.
Earlier the government came under fire from some lawmakers for sending contradictory Covid-19 messages ahead of the match, in which Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0.
In the days leading up to Saturday’s final, big crowds of English fans, largely maskless and not socially distancing, took over Porto’s streets to drink and chant team slogans.
Updated
One further person has died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday, according to the government, bringing the UK total to 127,782.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The government also said that as of 9am on Monday there had been a further 3,383 lab-confirmed cases in the UK, PA Media reports.
You can read the official release here.
Updated
Health ministers in Germany have pledged to clamp down on fraud in coronavirus test centres across the country, after evidence that some have been claiming for more tests than they have carried out.
At an emergency meeting on Monday after German media exposed the anomalies, Jens Spahn, the federal health minister, and representatives from the 16 states agreed to introduce reforms at the 15,000 test centres.
Since March, Germans have been able to have at least one free coronavirus test a week, with some states providing one test a day. The national daily test capacity is about 360,000 a day.
Test centres receive €18 (£15) for each test carried out.
However, as increasing numbers of test centres sprang up around the country, no system was in place to track the number of tests actually done, compared with the numbers submitted by the centres to the government, for which they are quickly reimbursed.
Kate Connolly, the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, has the full story here:
Italy reported 82 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday against 44 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 1,820 from 2,949.
The number of patients in hospital with Covid- not including those in intensive care- stood at 6,482 on Monday, down from 6,591 a day earlier, Reuters reports.
In France, health authorities reported 2,945 people in intensive care units with Covid-19 on Monday, down by 48 from a day earlier, continuing a virtually uninterrupted fall from a 2021 high of more than 6,000 mid-April.
The total number of people in hospital also dropped by a further 179 to 16,596 as the vaccination campaign sped up, Reuters reports.
The health ministry also reported 126 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals, after three days with a hospital coronavirus death toll below 100.
Updated
Denmark’s government has asked the country’s health authorities to reconsider a decision earlier this month to exclude Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 shots from its vaccination programme, local media reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.
The media reports by broadcaster TV2 and newspaper Ekstra Bladet also said Denmark’s vaccination programme would be concluded in September, two weeks after the current timeline.
The delay is due to delivery of fewer Moderna vaccines than expected, they reported.
Denmark was the first country to exclude the J&J vaccine over a potential link to a rare but serious form of blood clot.
A spokeswoman for the health ministry could not immediately comment on the reports.
Denmark has also stopped using the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine altogether, citing similar concerns.
Thailand’s government has reversed a decision by authorities in its capital, Bangkok, to ease coronavirus restrictions, as the city battles its worst outbreak of the virus so far, Reuters reports.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) late on Monday said the national coronavirus taskforce had overruled the city’s move to allow massage shops, clinics and parks to reopen from Tuesday. It did not provide a reason.
Bangkok and the provinces around it are the epicentre of the two-month-old outbreak, during which the vast majority of Thailand’s coronavirus cases and deaths have been recorded.
Massage shops, clinics and public parks must remain closed along with schools, cinemas, gyms and zoos for at least 14 more days.
The decision comes as the government faces growing public criticism for a slow and chaotic vaccine rollout, which is due to start on 7 June.
Thailand reported 5,485 new cases on Monday, with 1,356 of those in Bangkok. The country also reported 19 new deaths on Monday, bringing its total to 1,031 since the outbreak started.
Updated
Hello! This is Lucy Campbell, taking over for a short while while Yohannes has a much-deserved break. 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_
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for speedily launching global negotiations to agree on an international treaty on pandemic preparedness and response, Reuters reports.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, also told a closing session of its annual week-long ministerial assembly that the UN agency required sustainable and flexible funding.
He said:
The one recommendation I believe will do the most to strengthen WHO and global health security is the recommendation of a treaty on pandemic preparedness and response which could also strengthen relations between member states and foster cooperation. This is an idea whose time has come.
Updated
In England, a total of 54,657,957 Covid vaccinations took place between 8 December and 30 May, according to NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 278,637 on the previous day.
NHS England said 32,938,496 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 99,213 on the previous day, while 21,719,461 were a second dose, an increase of 179,424, PA Media reports.
Hungary’s planned vaccine plant will be fitted out for production of Chinese shots against Covid-19 as well as a local dose, foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has said, according to state news agency MTI.
Szijjártó made the announcement after talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and added that the agreement would mean a “great strategic advantage” for Hungary, Reuters reports.
Updated
An advocacy group has sent a legal letter to the government body charged with protecting England’s public health, warning of a high court challenge unless it immediately publishes data of the spread in schools of the variant first detected in India.
The pre-action letter sent by advocacy group, the Citizens, working with AWO, a data rights firm, follows a report in the Observer that Public Health England (PHE) was preparing to publish the data on 13 May but the prime minister’s office intervened and put pressure on it not to do so.
The legal letter says the public health body is bound by law to be independent from political interference and warns it faces a judicial review unless it releases the data.
It cites PHE’s framework agreement with the Department of Health and Social Care that states it has “operational autonomy” and “shall be free to publish and speak on those issues which relate to the nation’s health and wellbeing in order to set out the professional, scientific and objective judgement of the evidence base”.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, and Boris Johnson are both named as “interested parties” in the proposed claim, to which PHE has seven days to respond.
Clara Maguire, the executive director of the Citizens, said: ‘It defies belief that Public Health England is refusing to publish this vital public health data on the spread of the so-called Indian variant in schools despite scientists, teachers, parents and unions all saying that they need it to safeguard theirs and their children’s health.
“We believe that there is an immediate risk to life. The public needs this data now and we believe that PHE is acting unlawfully in withholding it. It is unbelievable that a matter of vital importance to our public health can be subject to political interference.”
The letter states that PHE had promised stakeholders that the data would be included in reports “on or around 12 May” and that PHE by not then publishing was in “breach of a legitimate expectation”.
On Thursday, eight unions wrote to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, asking for the release of the same data.
Updated
Update from earlier post on the European Commission proposing that all EU countries gradually ease travel measures over the summer:
People who have recovered from a Covid-19 infection should be exempt from restrictions for 180 days, Reuters reports.
The commission also proposed that more reliable, but more expensive PCR tests should be valid for 72 hours and rapid antigen tests for 48 hours.
Children, who are not yet in line for vaccinations, should not have to undergo a quarantine if travelling with parents who are exempt. Those aged six and older can be subject to tests.
The proposals, which are being put to EU member states, mirror those already agreed for travel to the EU from outside the bloc.
Updated
Plans to make Covid documents a requirement of entry to mass events are likely to be dropped as the government grapples with how it can safely lift the final set of restrictions in England within weeks.
Ministers have been investigating making coronavirus status certificates compulsory in some settings for months, following the lead of Israel, which introduced a “green pass” for people to demonstrate their low-risk of having or transmitting the disease.
As the UK’s vaccination programme continues at greater speed than most countries, questions in Whitehall have focused on how best fully to reopen sectors such as theatres and nightclubs, and restart spectator events including festivals and concerts, without social distancing.
But the Guardian has been told that status documents, which would display proof of vaccination, a recent negative test result, or antibodies, are unlikely to be introduced ahead of 21 June – the final stage of Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown when all legal limits on social contact are due to be scrapped.
Aubrey Allegretti, a political correspondent for the Guardian, has the full story here:
Vietnam is encouraging local governments and companies to import Covid vaccines themselves, the government said, through procurements that would need to be done via the health ministry or through 27 licensed importers.
As Reuters reports, the country is grappling with its biggest outbreak so far and has yet to start mass vaccinations.
In England, Twickenham Rugby Stadium has been turned into a major walk-in vaccine centre in a drive to try to boost vaccinations against coronavirus as cases of the Indian variant surge.
Up to 15,000 first dose jabs are being made available for those in the local area who have not yet been vaccinated, PA Media reports.
The event - called Let’s Tackle Covid - aims to increase the number of vaccinations as cases of the Indian coronavirus variant surge in Hounslow, west London.
The coronavirus variant of concern first detected in India is continuing to spread across England, with cases emerging beyond “hotspot” areas, data suggests.
The variant, known as B.1.617.2, is thought to be driving a rise in Covid cases in parts of the UK and is believed to be both more transmissible than the variant first detected in Kent, which previously dominated, and somewhat more resistant to Covid vaccines, particularly after just one dose.
At present up to three-quarters of new Covid cases in the UK are thought to be caused by the India variant. There have also been signs of a slight rise in hospitalisations.
The situation has led some scientists to warn that the country is now in the early stages of a third wave of coronavirus which, despite the vaccination programme, modelling suggests could lead to a rise in hospitalisations and deaths, and that full easing of restrictions in England on 21 June should be reconsidered.
You can read the latest by Nicola Davis, the Guardian’s science correspondent, here:
Vietnam to suspend incoming international flights to capital
Vietnam has announced the suspension of incoming international flights to its capital and tightened restrictions in its biggest city, Reuters reports.
After successfully containing Covid outbreaks for most of last year, Vietnam is seeing infections rise sharply and has detected several highly transmissible variants, including a new one announced on Saturday that had elements of the variants first identified in Britain and India.
The inbound flight suspension to Hanoi will apply from 1 June 1 to 7 June.
Vietnam has been restricting inbound international flights since the start of the pandemic.
It follows a similar move by the business hub Ho Chi Minh City, which on Monday started 15 days of measures that include bans on dining in restaurants and public gatherings of more than 10 people.
It has urged people over 60 to stay indoors (see earlier post).
Vietnam, a country of 98 million people, has recorded 7,236 Covid infections so far, one of the world’s lowest caseloads. It has reported 47 deaths overall.
France tightens curbs on travel from UK amid Indian variant fears
Travellers from the UK will have to provide “compelling reasons” to enter France from Monday, as French authorities tighten curbs to halt the spread of the Indian Covid variant.
Travel to France from the UK will be permitted only for EU nationals, French residents, or those travelling for essential reasons.
Those who are allowed to make the journey must take a pre-departure Covid test and quarantine for seven days on arrival.
France is listed as an “amber” destination by the UK government, which advises against travel there, with British authorities requiring people to self-isolate for 10 days and take two Covid tests on their return.
Last Wednesday, the French government’s official spokesman, Gabriel Attal, said there was “a new situation with the progression of the so-called Indian variant in the UK”, adding that Germany had already imposed strict controls on visitors from Britain and that France was taking “similar measures”.
Updated
France has today opened up Covid-19 vaccines to all adults, a week before Germany, as Europe races to avoid another wave of infections caused by new virus variants, AFP reports.
Until now, French authorities gave priority to people over 50, people in “priority professions” or younger adults with underlying health problems.
So far, 25.4 million people have received a first shot of a vaccine, representing about 38% of the population and nearly one in two adults. Nearly 12 million have received the two shots required for full protection.
As the French savour a degree of freedom following the reopening of cafes, restaurants and museums two weeks ago, initially high levels of vaccine scepticism have begun to subside.
A Cevipof poll conducted in early May showed that 65% of adults planned to get vaccinated, up from 48% in February.
“I am fully convinced that we are going to see a lot of people getting vaccinated,” Prof Alain Fischer, the immunologist who heads the government’s vaccination advisory board, said today, adding that immunisation was the key to “getting back an increasingly normal life.”
With 28 million adults eligible for a first shot, but only around half a million appointments available each day, many people have opted to travel outside their neighbourhood or even their region to secure highly coveted Pfizer or Moderna shots.
Vaccinations with the AstraZeneca and Janssen jabs are open only to those aged 55, after cases of potentially deadly blood clots in a very small number of younger people vaccinated.
The government is hoping that the 76.7m vaccines it is expecting to receive in June will help it meet demand.
So far the virus has claimed 109,431 lives in France.
Updated
Russia’s single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine against Covid-19 has been approved for use in the Palestinian territories, Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund has said.
The RDIF fund is marketing the Russian vaccine abroad, Reuters reports.
Updated
Portugal’s economy shrank 3.3% in the first quarter from the preceding three months, as tourism withered due to a tight lockdown imposed in mid-January, official data indicates.
To fight a surge in Covid infections in mid-January, which at the time was the deadliest outbreak per capita in the world, the country imposed a strict three-month lockdown, which has since been gradually lifted.
Statistics agency INE said, in its second reading, that gross domestic product shrank 5.4% from the first quarter last year when the country’s first lockdown did not take effect until mid-March.
As Reuters reports, Portugal’s economy, in which the tourism sector represented about 15% of GDP before the pandemic hit, shrank 7.6% in 2020, its biggest annual slump since 1936.
Updated
EU executive urges travel reopening ahead of summer
The European Commission has proposed that all EU countries gradually ease travel measures over the summer, as the number of Covid vaccinations continues to grow and the severity of the pandemic in the bloc diminishes, Reuters reports.
The EU executive, which is seeking to harmonise travel measures across the bloc, said that – according to its recommendation – fully vaccinated people should be exempt from testing or quarantines when travelling from one EU country to another.
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Reuters reports:
India’s Serum Institute will increase production of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines by nearly 40% in June, officials said on Monday, in the first step towards alleviating a shortage that has worsened the country’s battle with coronavirus.
The world’s second most-populous nation has struggled with a catastrophic outbreak of Covid-19 since last month which is only now starting to abate after killing tens of thousands of people.
Government officials and experts say the only way India can avoid a third wave of infections is by having most of its 1.3 billion population inoculated.
The Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest manufacturer of vaccines, will make 90 million doses of AstraZeneca in June from about 65 million a month now, a company spokesman told Reuters.
Most of the shots administered in India are AstraZeneca, but local firm Bharat Biotech also plans to ramp up production of its Covaxin vaccine to 23 million in June from about 10 million in April, a government official said.
Covid curbs may not be eased further next week in parts of Scotland where infections are rising, the health secretary has warned.
Areas in level 2 are scheduled to move down to level 1 on 7 June.
However, according to Humza Yousaf, this may not be possible for areas where coronavirus cases are giving “cause for concern”. He said this could affect locations outside Glasgow, which is the only part of Scotland that remains in level 3.
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Yousaf said:
It may not be the entire country moving to level one. I think people would understand where there are rising case numbers, where there is rising test positivity … it may be the case that parts of the country move to level one but actually other parts of the country we decide to keep in level 2.
Asked if he was referring to Glasgow, he replied: “Glasgow – but also, I must be quite frank, there are other parts from the data that continue to give us cause for concern.”
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This has been shared by Edouard Mathieu, head of data at Our World in Data:
Our data is updated: https://t.co/03pQ8rRViP
— Edouard Mathieu (@redouad) May 31, 2021
Share of people with at least 1 dose:
🇮🇱 Israel 63%
🇬🇧 UK 58%
🇨🇦 Canada 57%
🇲🇳 Mongolia 57%
🇨🇱 Chile 55%
🇧🇭 Bahrain 54%
🇭🇺 Hungary 53%
🇺🇾 Uruguay 51%
🇺🇸 US 50%
🇶🇦 Qatar 50%
🇫🇮 Finland 44%
🇩🇪 Germany 43%
🇦🇹 Austria 40%
🇧🇪 Belgium 40% pic.twitter.com/s3GWDnsZ5P
The 21 June target for scrapping England’s remaining coronavirus restrictions appears increasingly under threat, as a senior government adviser said the country was in the early stages of a third wave.
Prof Ravi Gupta, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there had been “exponential growth” in new cases, with the variant first detected in India accounting for three-quarters.
Asked if the third wave had begun, Gupta replied: “Yes.”
He added:
Of course, the numbers of cases are relatively low at the moment – all waves start with low numbers of cases that grumble in the background and then become explosive – so the key here is that what we are seeing here is the signs of an early wave. It will probably take longer than earlier waves to emerge because of the fact that we do have quite high levels of vaccination in the population, so there may be a false sense of security for some time, and that’s our concern.
You can read the full story by my colleague Damien Gayle here:
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Hello 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.
Thailand today reported a record number of new coronavirus cases as the governor of Bangkok announced an easing of some restrictions in effect for more than a month – including people visiting parks for exercise. From AP:
Thailand has been fighting to deal with a virus surge that began in early April in a group of nightclubs in Bangkok and has since spread around the country.
The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported a record 5,485 new cases, of which 1,953 were in prisons. Confirmed deaths increased by 19 to bring the total to 1,031 since the pandemic began last year.
The total number of confirmed cases has now risen to 159,792, of which 82% occurred during the latest surge. Many of the cases are concentrated in prisons, housing for construction workers, factories, slums and low-income housing areas.
Officials have in some cases been criticised for allowing companies to isolate and quarantine workers inside factories.
Bangkok, which has been a hot spot in the outbreak, reported 1,356 of the cases on Monday. CCSA deputy spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan said the capital has 45 clusters to deal with.
Bangkok will slightly ease its lockdown measures starting tomorrow. In addition to reopening parks and botanical gardens, the city will allow limited numbers of visitors to museums, science parks, historical monuments, ancient places and art centres.
Schools, bars, nightclubs and entertainment venues will remain closed, but tattoo parlours, nail salons, beauty and weight loss clinics, and some massage parlours will be allowed to reopen with restrictions on the number of clients.
Thailand had been considered a success story last year for largely containing the virus, though at great economic cost, especially to its tourism sector, because foreign visitors were largely banned from entering the country.
So far, about 3.3% of the country’s roughly 69 million people have received at least one vaccine dose. The government has secured only 7 million vaccine doses in total.
The government has been negotiating to get more supplies that would allow it to fully inoculate about 70% of the population by the end of the year. Its earlier plans would have allowed only about 45% of the population to be inoculated.
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Hong Kong will offer civil servants who get vaccinated against Covid-19 a day off for each dose, the government said today, as authorities struggle to boost a sluggish innoculation rate among the city’s 7.5 million population. From Reuters:
The secretary for the civil service, Patrick Nip, speaking at a press conference, also said the government was in talks with financial institutions, tertiary schools and theme parks to set up innoculation centres for staff to ramp up the vaccination rate.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said at the briefing she had already sent letters to more than 100 firms urging them to follow in the footsteps of the government’s measures.
“From now until the end of August is a crucial time for pandemic prevention,” Lam said. “We’re kicking off the ‘Early Vaccination for All’ campaign today to boost the vaccination rate, in order to achieve herd immunity.”
Health secretary Sophia Chan joined her colleagues’ calls for people to get vaccinated, warning that if another wave of coronavirus sweeps the territory those who have not been innoculated could face more restrictions.
More than 2.3 million coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Hong Kong, with the lacklustre rate resulting in a surplus of doses that are due to expire as soon as August.
Roughly 21% of the population aged 16 and above has had at least one dose, Lam said. The latest move comes as some businesses have already announced steps to lure a hesitant public, with Sino Group, Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation and Chinese Estates Holdings dangling a new flat worth HK$10.8m (£1m) as the top prize in a vaccine lottery.
The government has also relaxed some coronavirus rules for vaccinated people in a bid to encourage inoculations as worries over adverse reactions and a lack of confidence in the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine hamper the vaccination rate.
Hong Kong offers both Sinovac and Germany’s BioNTech vaccines and residents can choose.
The global financial hub has kept Covid-19 transmission largely under control, recording more than 11,800 cases and 210 deaths, much lower than many other developed cities.
While life in Hong Kong has largely returned to normal with schools reopened and restaurants and shopping malls full, the government still limits gatherings outside to no more than four people.
Critics of the rules say they are aimed at preventing a repeat of anti-government street protests that rocked the former British colony in 2019.
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The rise in Covid-19 cases in Bolton, north-west England, where cases had soared giving it the highest infection rate in the country, is slowing down but there is no room for complacency, a senior doctor has warned (via PA Media).
The seven-day rate in Bolton currently stands at 386.7 cases per 100,000, down from 452.8 on 21 May, suggesting the recent surge in cases in the town, driven by the spread of the Indian variant of coronavirus, may have peaked.
Bolton shares a border with Blackburn with Darwen, and both areas have reported some of the highest numbers of cases of the Indian variant, with Bolton recording 1,354 up to 25 May -– the highest in the country – and Blackburn with Darwen recording 361.
Health teams in both local authorities have been running surge testing for the virus, along with “surge vaccinations” to boost take-up among everyone who is eligible for the vaccine.
Dr Helen Wall, senior responsible officer for the Covid vaccine programme in Bolton, told BBC Breakfast:
“I’m pleased to report that things are starting to slow in terms of the rise here in Covid cases, but we really can’t rest on that.
“It’s only been a few days of the rates slowing down so we really are keen to keep pushing forwards and get the rates down further.”
Dr Wall said there are very young populations in many of the areas that have seen the highest rises in Bolton, and each time the age comes down for vaccine eligibility, thousands more people are able to come forward for the jab.
“I think the age of eligibility going down every few days has really helped, and will really help us, if we can get those people through the doors to be vaccinated asap,” she said.
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China re-imposes travel controls on its southern province of Guangdong
China today reimposed anti-coronavirus travel controls on its southern province of Guangdong, announcing anyone leaving the populous region must be tested for the virus following a spike in infections that has alarmed authorities, the Associated Press reports.
Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, recorded 20 new confirmed cases, all contracted locally, in the 24 hours through to midnight yesterday.
Guangdong’s numbers are low compared with many places in the world, but the rise has rattled Chinese leaders who thought they had the disease under control.
People leaving Guangdong by plane, train, bus or private car after 10pm today must present results of a nucleic acid test within the past 72 hours, the provincial government announced. It said testing stations for truck drivers would be set up on major roads.
The government of the provincial capital, Guangzhou, a business centre of 15 million people, ordered mass testing after locally acquired infections were found beginning 21 May. The government said 700,000 people had been tested through last Wednesday.
China had relaxed most restrictions on domestic travel after the ruling Communist Party declared the virus under control last March. Travellers arriving from abroad still must be tested.
On Saturday, residents of one Guangzhou neighbourhood were ordered to stay at home for door-to-door testing. In some areas, outdoor markets and child care facilities were closed and in-person grade school classes and indoor restaurant dining cancelled.
China reports a handful of new cases every day but says almost all are believed to be people who were infected abroad. The mainland’s official death toll stands at 4,636 out of 91,099 confirmed cases.
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Hello, this is Haroon Siddique. I’ll be updating the blog for the next few hours.
Burkina Faso, one of several countries in Africa that has yet to launch a Covid-19 vaccination campaign, received its first shipment under the global vaccine-sharing scheme Covax yesterday, Reuters reports, citing the country’s health ministry.
The 115,200 AstraZeneca doses were flown into the airport of the capital Ouagadougou and were welcomed by a local delegation led by health minister Charlemagne Ouedraogo.
“In a few weeks other vaccines will probably arrive to supplement what we have,” Ouedraogo said.
The vaccination campaign, which will first target health workers, aims to eventually inoculate over 15 million of the west African nation’s 21.5 million citizens, the ministry said.
Some 1.5bn Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally, but only about 1% of them in Africa, data from the World Health Organization (WHO) found.
Earlier in May, Burkina Faso was one of a few African countries, including Tanzania and Chad, highlighted by the International Rescue Committee as not having administered a single dose while richer countries had ordered excess supply.
The Covax facility, backed by the WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), aims to secure 2bn vaccine doses for lower-income countries by the end of 2021.
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That’s it from me, Helen Livingstone, for today.
Here’s a summary of what’s been happening:
- Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the US, has told the Guardian it is too early to declare victory against Covid-19 as cases fall in the country to the lowest rates since last June. “We don’t want to declare victory prematurely because we still have a ways to go,” he said.
- Japan is considering requiring negative Covid-19 test results or vaccination records from fans attending the Tokyo Olympics, the Yomiuri newspaper has reported, as a poll showed public opposition to the Games remains strong.
- The acting premier of the Australian state of Victoria, currently enduring a seven-day lockdown, has warned that the situation remains “incredibly serious” as the region posted 11 new cases of Covid, including some involving aged care homes. “I want to be very clear with everyone, this outbreak may well get worse before it gets better,” James Merlino said.
- India has reported its lowest daily rise in new coronavirus infections since 11 April at 152,734 cases over the past 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,128.
- The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, wants the upcoming Group of Seven summit to reach agreement on Covid-19 vaccine passports and to open talks on a “world treaty” to prepare for future pandemics. “We’ve got to do better than this,” he told Canadian broadcaster CBC.
- In the UK, ministers will adopt a cautious approach in deciding whether to ease lockdown on 21 June, with hospitals already under pressure and health experts warning against “charging ahead”.
- A health expert affiliated with the World Health Organization has called on the US to share any intelligence it has about the origins of the coronavirus outbreak with the WHO and the scientific community.
- Vietnam is planning to test all 9 million people in its largest city for the coronavirus and has imposed more restrictions to deal with a growing Covid-19 outbreak.
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Vietnam is planning to test all 9 million people in its largest city for the coronavirus and has imposed more restrictions to deal with a growing Covid-19 outbreak, the Associated Press reports.
People in Ho Chi Minh city are only allowed to leave home for necessary activities and public gatherings of more than 10 people are banned for the next two weeks, the government has announced.
The city, Vietnam’s economic hub, also shut down non-essential business on Thursday when cases started to increase.
State newspaper Vietnam News said the city authority is planning to test its entire population with a testing capacity of 100,000 samples a day.
The newspaper also said police had filed a case on Sunday against a couple who head a Protestant church mission for “spreading dangerous infectious diseases,” citing poor health protocols applied at the premises.
At least 145 cases of coronavirus infection have been reported with links to the Revival Ekklesia Mission, a Protestant sect, and the city district of Go Vap, where the church is based, has been locked down. Vietnam has since banned all religious events nationwide.
The newspaper said church followers gathered in small space for singing and chanting without proper distancing and mask wearing. Ho Chi Minh city police said the mission has 48 registered members.
Here’s an update on Japan’s potential plan to require fans at the Tokyo Olympics to provide proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test from our correspondent Justin McCurry:
China has reported a sudden surge of Covid cases in the country’s south, with 20 new local cases on Sunday, Reuters reports, as authorities lock down areas of Guangdong province’s capital city.
Of the 27 new coronavirus cases reported by the national health authority in its daily updates, only seven infections were imported, with the remainder originating in Guangdong province.
On Saturday, authorities placed a neighbourhood in the capital city of Guangzhou under lockdown as a precautionary measure to curb the virus’ spread.
State media reports have suggested that the the recent outbreak is linked to a strain of the virus originating in India.
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In a Guardian interview, Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the US, has warned it is too early to declare victory against Covid-19 as cases fall in the country to the lowest rates since last June.
“We don’t want to declare victory prematurely because we still have a ways to go,” Fauci said. “But the more and more people that can get vaccinated, as a community, the community will be safer and safer.”
Daily coronavirus cases have dropped 53% since 1 May, according to Johns Hopkins University data, but the rates are still high in the unvaccinated population and cases are growing globally. Already there have been more global cases in 2021 than in all of 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
“As long as there is some degree of activity throughout the world, there’s always a danger of variants emerging and diminishing somewhat the effectiveness of our vaccines,” said Fauci.
The Australian state of Victoria, currently enduring a seven-day lockdown, has reported 11 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the current number of active cases in the area to 54.
Worryingly, three of those cases are related to aged care homes, which bore the brunt of last year’s outbreak in Victoria, in which hundreds of elderly care home residents died.
Acting state premier James Merlino told reporters on Monday the situation was “incredibly serious” and that “the next few days remain critical.”
“I want to be very clear with everyone, this outbreak may well get worse before it gets better,” he said.
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, wants the upcoming Group of Seven summit to reach agreement on Covid-19 vaccine passports and to open talks on a “world treaty” to prepare for future pandemics, Reuters reports.
“We need to have agreements on issues such as vaccine passports, Covid status certification and the rest,” Johnson told the Canadian public channel CBC.
Johnson was speaking ahead of a 11-13 June summit of the G7 economic powers (US, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and Italy) which he will host in Cornwall, at the southwestern tip of England.
“What we need, I think, is a global treaty on pandemic preparedness,” he said, adding that 2020 had been a “terrible year for humanity.”
Johnson said it was also a bad time “for believers in global cooperation, because the world simply became balkanized,” with many countries slow to share stocks of protective equipment, medicines and vaccines.
“We’ve got to do better than this,” the prime minister added.
“Vaccination has got to be a global enterprise,” Johnson said in the interview taped on Friday and broadcast on Sunday.
He said it was crucial that developing countries receive vaccine supplies as quickly as possible.
Rather than the goal set by some of vaccinating the world by 2024 or 2025, Johnson set a more ambitious target, saying, “We need to get this done by the end of next year.”
India has reported its lowest daily rise in new coronavirus infections since 11 April at 152,734 cases over the past 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,128, according to Reuters.
The South Asian nation’s tally of infections now stands at 28 million, while the death toll has reached 329,100, health ministry data shows.
And in a slightly lighter twist on Covid news from India, this great picture from Hyderabad shows a man wearing headgear inspired by the virus and who is employed by a private hospital to counsel local residents about Covid safety measures.
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Japan considering requirements for fans attending Olympics
Japan is considering requiring negative Covid-19 test results or vaccination records from fans attending the Tokyo Olympics, the Yomiuri newspaper has reported according to Reuters, as a new poll showed public opposition to the Games remains strong.
With the opening of the Games less than two months away, public confidence has been shaken by a fourth wave of coronavirus infections and a slow vaccination rollout.
Foreign spectators have already been banned and game organisers are expected to make a decision next month on whether Japanese fans will be able to attend and, if so, under what conditions.
In addition to other coronavirus measures like banning loud cheering and high-fives, the Yomiuri said the government was considering whether spectators should be required to show a negative test result taken within a week of attending an Olympic event.
The report was met with outrage among some social media users, with thousands of tweets criticising the country’s continued push to host the Olympics in the middle of a pandemic. The term “negative test certificate” was trending on Twitter in Japan, garnering over 8,000 tweets on Monday morning.
In a poll published by the Nikkei paper on Monday, over 60% of respondents were in favour of cancelling or delaying the Games, a result in line with previous polls by other media outlets.
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Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Livingstone.
Japan is considering requiring negative test results or vaccination records from fans attending the Tokyo Olympics, the Yomiuri newspaper has reported, as a new poll showed public opposition to the Games remains strong.
The UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has told Canadian broadcaster CBC he wants an upcoming Group of Seven summit to reach agreement on Covid-19 vaccine passports and to open talks on a “world treaty” to prepare for future pandemics.
And Victoria has confirmed 11 new locally acquired coronavirus cases, including four relating to aged care homes, bringing the total number of active cases in the Australian state, to 54. You can follow our live coverage on the Victorian lockdown here.
Here’s a roundup of what’s been happening over the weekend:
- In the UK, ministers will adopt a cautious approach in deciding whether to ease lockdown on June 21, with hospitals already under pressure and health experts warning against “charging ahead”. Scientists have warned ministers that a third wave of coronavirus may have already begun in Britain, casting doubt on plans in England to lift all lockdown restrictions in three weeks’ time.
- A health expert affiliated with the World Health Organization has called on the US to share any intelligence it has about the origins of the coronavirus outbreak with the WHO and the scientific community.
- Authorities in Vietnam have detected a new coronavirus variant that is a combination of the Covid variants first identified in India and the UK and spreads quickly by air, the health minister has said.
- Egypt will lift restrictions it imposed earlier this month to curb the spread the coronavirus, including early closure of shops and restaurants, from June 1, the cabinet said.
- South Africa has extended its nightly curfew and limited the number of people at gatherings to slow the spread of Covid-19 as positive cases surge, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.
- Only 1% of the 1.3 billion vaccines injected around the world have been administered in Africa – and that comparative percentage has been declining in recent weeks. It is a stark figure that underlines just how serious a problem global vaccine inequity has become. But the answer for the developing world is not as simple as delivering more vaccines.
- Italy has extended an entry ban for people coming from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as a continued precaution against the more transmissible Indian variant. The ban, which does not apply to Italian citizens, was introduced in late April and was due to expire on Sunday. It was prolonged until 21 June.
- Kenya has extended its nightly curfew by 60 days to slow the spread of Covid-19, the interior ministry said.
