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A summary of today's developments
- Brazil recorded 85,536 further confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours along with 2,211 deaths, the country’s health ministry said. Brazil has registered more than 15.5 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 432,628, Reuters reports.
- Mexico registered 2,880 new coronavirus cases and 258 additional fatalities on Friday, according to health ministry data, Reuters reports. It brings the overall tallies to 2,377,995 infections and 220,159 deaths.
- France has added Bahrain, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay to its list of countries deemed as high-risk zones. This will mean that people arriving from those countries will have to undergo quarantine measures on arrival.
- The Lithuanian government to donate 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine shots to its eastern European neighbours, including 100,000 to Ukraine, 15,000 going to Georgia and 11,000 to Moldova. The remaining 74,000 shots will be decided later.
- Stocks fall as Singapore announced on Friday its strict guidelines on gatherings and public activities, amid a rise in infections and new clusters forming in recent weeks.
-
Russia will restart regular air travel between Iceland, Malta, Mexico, Portugal and Saudi Arabia from May 25, the government’s coronavirus response headquarters said.
- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said it expects the second batch of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered to India by the end of the week.
- Since the coronavirus outbreak began, at least 3,346,813 people have died due to a tally combined from official sources by AFP.
- British holidaymakers will be allowed to enter Portugal as of midnight on May 17th. Travellers will need a negative PCR test 72hrs before their flight to gain entry into the country.
- India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he feels the pain of all Indians battling the pandemic after weeks of mainly avoiding public comment on the country’s fatal coronavirus wave.
- Canada is planning a gradual return to indoor sports and family gatherings as more people get vaccinated, Reuters reports. Canada has administered one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to just over half its adult population, and the country may be over the worst of its current third wave of infections, chief public health officer Theresa Tam said.
- The Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said that a state of emergency was being extended to a broader area due to a rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in those regions.
- An international cybercrime gang has been announced as being behind a significant ransomware attack on Ireland’s health service operator that halted diagnostic services on Friday and led to the cancellation of appointments.
- World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the second year of the pandemic was set to be more deadly than the first, with India a considerable concern.
- Delta Air Lines will require all new hires in the United States to be vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming one of the first major companies to issue this requirement.
- Italy has lifted quarantine rules for all travellers from the European Union, including the UK and Israel, upon their arrival, health authorities announced.
- Slovakia ends its state of emergency as the coronavirus pandemic has receded.
- Dutch tourists who visit Spain’s Balearic and the Canary Islands will no longer have to take a coronavirus test on their way home.
- Germany plans to classify Britain as a coronavirus risk region due to the emergence of the highly infectious variant first detected in India, government sources said on Friday.
- Turkey is to ease coronavirus restrictions, emerging out of a complete lockdown, President Erdogan has said today. The country has been in a lockdown for two weeks after daily new cases rocketed to above 60,000.
- France will have administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine injection to 20 million people by Saturday, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on his Twitter feed.
- The B.1.617.2 variant first found in India will, over time, surpass the variant first discovered in Kent and become dominant in the UK, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said on Friday.
Surge testing has been announced in Hackney, London, after cases of both the India variant and the South Africa variant were detected.
Everyone who lives or works within targeted areas in Shoreditch and Dalston have been advised to take a Covid-19 test.
Secondary school pupils in parts of the north of England are being told to carry on wearing face masks in the classroom next week amid concerns about the Indian variant of coronavirus.
High schools and colleges across Lancashire are being advised by directors of public health to keep face masks in class until June 21 due to the spread of the “variant of concern”.
Bolton and Bury councils are asking secondary schools and colleges to keep face coverings in place until further notice following a surge in cases.
A government spokesperson said: “The prime minister has set out the measures needed to tackle the new variant of concern.
“In line with our plans published earlier this week to address variants of concern in education, we have also agreed with directors of public health that face coverings will remain in place in Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Lancashire and Sefton.
“We are continuing to work closely with local authorities in these areas.”
Updated
Saturday’s Guardian front page in the UK.
Guardian front page, Saturday 15 May 2021: PM – new variant threatens to delay end of lockdown pic.twitter.com/vDsY0Hj3K4
— The Guardian (@guardian) May 14, 2021
Government records show that Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the far-right Proud Boys group, received two federal government-backed paycheck protection program (PPP) loans worth a total of $15,500, the Guardian can reveal.
Tarrio, based in Miami, Florida, was approved for an initial loan of $7,750 on 30 March, and a succeeding loan for the same amount on 16 April. The loans were issued to Henry Tarrio, an anglicised form of his name which he has used on other occasions.
PPP loans were first issued under the Cares Act in 2020, under the Trump administration, as a stimulus measure to an economy battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Care home residents will be able to nominate five visitors for regular visits when the UK moves to the next phase of lockdown easing on Monday.
In updated guidance published on its website, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the named visitors can attend two at a time or separately.
The visitor figure does not include babies and pre-school children, so young families can visit a care home without exceeding the limit, as long as they do not breach rules on indoor gatherings.
To limit the infection risk, care home residents can not have more than two visitors in a day, PA reports.
Residents with special care needs may chose to nominate an essential carer as one of their five visitors.
The carer will be exempt from the two visitors-a-day limit.
Named visitors should be regularly tested, wear appropriate personal protective equipment and maintain social distancing, the DHSC said.
Physical contact should be kept to a minimum, it said, although visitors and residents can hold hands as long as they are aware of the increased risk of Covid-19 transmission.
Other close physical contact like hugging is still banned.
Brazil recorded 85,536 further confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours along with 2,211 deaths, the country’s health ministry said.
Brazil has registered more than 15.5 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 432,628, Reuters reports.
Deaths from Covid-19 in Colombia are estimated to pass 80,000 on Friday with intensive care units almost full in the biggest cities, where large crowds have been gathering in protests that have entered their third week.
Reuters reports:
Authorities warned this week that the protests - initially over proposed tax reforms but increasingly over other issues including inequality and police brutality - were set to prolong an already devastating third wave of the epidemic.
Bogota’s mayor echoed that warning, saying the capital had on Thursday reported its second-highest number of new cases and highest number of deaths since the pandemic began.
“I don’t know what more to say, to warn, to beg, to plead,” Claudia Lopez said in a Twitter message late on Thursday that urged people to stick to social distancing rules.
Lopez later announced she was infected and would self-isolate.
The pressure on ICUs in the capital “is worrying”, the government said on Thursday, adding that patients would be transferred by air to other cities.
ICU occupancy for Covid-19 patients in Bogota stands at 94%, according to local authorities. In Medellin and Cali, the rates are at 99% and 95% respectively.
Mexico registered 2,880 new coronavirus cases and 258 additional fatalities on Friday, according to health ministry data, Reuters reports.
It brings the overall tallies to 2,377,995 infections and 220,159 deaths.
A summary of today's developments
- France has added Bahrain, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay to its list of countries deemed as high-risk zones. This will mean that people arriving from those countries will have to undergo quarantine measures on arrival.
- The Lithuanian government to donate 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine shots to its eastern European neighbours, including 100,000 to Ukraine, 15,000 going to Georgia and 11,000 to Moldova. The remaining 74,000 shots will be decided later.
- Stocks fall as Singapore announced on Friday its strict guidelines on gatherings and public activities, amid a rise in infections and new clusters forming in recent weeks.
-
Russia will restart regular air travel between Iceland, Malta, Mexico, Portugal and Saudi Arabia from May 25, the government’s coronavirus response headquarters said.
- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said it expects the second batch of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered to India by the end of the week.
- Since the coronavirus outbreak began, at least 3,346,813 people have died due to a tally combined from official sources by AFP.
- British holidaymakers will be allowed to enter Portugal as of midnight on May 17th. Travellers will need a negative PCR test 72hrs before their flight to gain entry into the country.
- India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he feels the pain of all Indians battling the pandemic after weeks of mainly avoiding public comment on the country’s fatal coronavirus wave.
- Canada is planning a gradual return to indoor sports and family gatherings as more people get vaccinated, Reuters reports. Canada has administered one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to just over half its adult population, and the country may be over the worst of its current third wave of infections, chief public health officer Theresa Tam said.
- The Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said that a state of emergency was being extended to a broader area due to a rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in those regions.
- An international cybercrime gang has been announced as being behind a significant ransomware attack on Ireland’s health service operator that halted diagnostic services on Friday and led to the cancellation of appointments.
- World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the second year of the pandemic was set to be more deadly than the first, with India a considerable concern.
- Delta Air Lines will require all new hires in the United States to be vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming one of the first major companies to issue this requirement.
- Italy has lifted quarantine rules for all travellers from the European Union, including the UK and Israel, upon their arrival, health authorities announced.
- Slovakia ends its state of emergency as the coronavirus pandemic has receded.
- Dutch tourists who visit Spain’s Balearic and the Canary Islands will no longer have to take a coronavirus test on their way home.
- Germany plans to classify Britain as a coronavirus risk region due to the emergence of the highly infectious variant first detected in India, government sources said on Friday.
- Turkey is to ease coronavirus restrictions, emerging out of a complete lockdown, President Erdogan has said today. The country has been in a lockdown for two weeks after daily new cases rocketed to above 60,000.
- France will have administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine injection to 20 million people by Saturday, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on his Twitter feed.
- The B.1.617.2 variant first found in India will, over time, surpass the variant first discovered in Kent and become dominant in the UK, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said on Friday.
Delaying the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine beyond the originally recommended three-week gap used by the companies in clinical trials appears to induce a stronger antibody response in the elderly, UK researchers found.
Shortly after the vaccine became available, UK health officials advised that the second dose should be given 12 weeks after the first to allow more people to get protected by a first dose early on.
In a new paper seen by Reuters and expected to appear on medRxiv ahead of peer review, researchers found that among 175 people ages 80 to 99, those who got their second dose at 12 weeks had antibody responses that were 3.5 times higher than those who got it after three weeks.
Antibodies are only one part of the immune system, and vaccines also generate T cells that fight infections.
The peak T cell responses were higher in the group with a three-week interval between doses, and the authors cautioned against drawing conclusions on how protected individuals were based on which dosing schedule they received.
Russia will restart regular air travel between Iceland, Malta, Mexico, Portugal and Saudi Arabia from May 25, the government’s coronavirus response headquarters said.
The decision was made with regard to the epidemiological situation in the countries, the government team said and added the decision was made on a mutual basis, Reuters reports.
The U.S.’s National Restaurant Association is to remove guidance that fully vaccinated people should wear masks indoors, following new advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters reports.
The final stage of lifting coronavirus lockdown restrictions across England could face “serious disruption” due to the India variant, Boris Johnson has warned, as he announced plans to accelerate the vaccine programme to curb its spread.
Johnson said the gap between the first and second Covid jab would be cut from 12 weeks to eight for all over 50s and the clinically vulnerable, admitting “the race between our vaccine programme and the virus may be about to become a great deal tighter”.
He announced the army would be deployed to two variant hotspots – Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen – to help with vaccinations and urged residents in those areas to “think twice” before taking advantages of the freedoms allowed again from Monday.
The US has administered 268,438,666 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 341,865,945 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Those figures are up from the 266,596,486 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Thursday out of 339,165,445 doses delivered, Reuters reports.
The agency said 155,251,852 people had received at least one dose, while 120,258,637 people are fully vaccinated.
Canada is planning a gradual return to indoor sports and family gatherings as more people get vaccinated, Reuters reports.
Canada has administered one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to just over half its adult population, and the country may be over the worst of its current third wave of infections, Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said.
The country’s public health agency offered guidelines to the 10 provinces, which are responsible for public health restrictions.
The agency says once 75% of Canadians have had a single dose and 20% are fully vaccinated, some restrictions can be relaxed to allow small, outdoor gatherings with family and friends, camping, and picnics.
Once 75% of those eligible are fully vaccinated in the fall, indoor sports and family gatherings can be allowed again.
“I think masks might be the last layer of that multi-layer protection that we’ll advise people to remove,” Tam told reporters, noting that in Canada colder temperatures meant people would start spending more time indoors in the fall.
“We are taking a bit of a different approach to the United States,” she added.
Afternoon summary
Here is a roundup of all the latest developments from across the world:
- France has added Bahrain, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay to its list of countries deemed as high-risk zones. This will mean that people arriving from those countries will have to undergo quarantine measures on arrival.
- The Lithuanian government to donate 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine shots to its eastern European neighbours, including 100,000 to Ukraine, 15,000 going to Georgia and 11,000 to Moldova. The remaining 74,000 shots will be decided later.
- Stocks fall as Singapore announced on Friday its strict guidelines on gatherings and public activities, amid a rise in infections and new clusters forming in recent weeks.
- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said it expects the second batch of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered to India by the end of the week.
- Since the coronavirus outbreak began, at least 3,346,813 people have died due to a tally combined from official sources by AFP.
- British holidaymakers will be allowed to enter Portugal as of midnight on May 17th. Travellers will need a negative PCR test 72hrs before their flight to gain entry into the country.
- India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he feels the pain of all Indians battling the pandemic after weeks of mainly avoiding public comment on the country’s fatal coronavirus wave.
- The Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said that a state of emergency was being extended to a broader area due to a rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in those regions.
- An international cybercrime gang has been announced as being behind a significant ransomware attack on Ireland’s health service operator that halted diagnostic services on Friday and led to the cancellation of appointments.
- World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the second year of the pandemic was set to be more deadly than the first, with India a considerable concern.
- Delta Air Lines will require all new hires in the United States to be vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming one of the first major companies to issue this requirement.
- Italy has lifted quarantine rules for all travellers from the European Union, including the UK and Israel, upon their arrival, health authorities announced.
- Slovakia ends its state of emergency as the coronavirus pandemic has receded.
- Dutch tourists who visit Spain’s Balearic and the Canary Islands will no longer have to take a coronavirus test on their way home.
- Germany plans to classify Britain as a coronavirus risk region due to the emergence of the highly infectious variant first detected in India, government sources said on Friday.
- Turkey is to ease coronavirus restrictions, emerging out of a complete lockdown, President Erdogan has said today. The country has been in a lockdown for two weeks after daily new cases rocketed to above 60,000.
- France will have administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine injection to 20 million people by Saturday, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on his Twitter feed.
- The B.1.617.2 variant first found in India will, over time, surpass the variant first discovered in Kent and become dominant in the UK, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said on Friday.
That’s all from me today! My colleague Nadeem Badshah will be taking over the blog for the rest of the evening. Thank you for following along!
The B.1.617.2 variant first found in India will, over time, surpass the variant first discovered in Kent and become dominant in the UK, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said on Friday.
“This is more transmissible than the B.1.1.7 (Kent variant), and we expect over time this variant will overtake and come to dominate in the UK, in the way that B.1.1.7 took over,” Prof Whitty told a news conference.
The Scientific Advisory Group for emergencies (SAGE) has also published their report on the Indian variant of the virus and said that there is a possibility that the variant is “50% more transmissible” than the current dominant Kent variant.
From the BBC’s Health and science correspondent, James Gallagher
Sage documents just published say variant that emerged in India could be up to 50% more transmissible pic.twitter.com/AYC8jxZXmG
— James Gallagher (@JamesTGallagher) May 14, 2021
And the reason that matters is anything over 40% is expected to lead to a "substantial" spike in people needing hospital treatment. Vaccines are doing a brilliant job, but they are not perfect. pic.twitter.com/J7ODZ0lSJr
— James Gallagher (@JamesTGallagher) May 14, 2021
My colleagues Tobi Thomas and Ashley Kirk have reported which countries have the highest infection rates from the variant discovered in India.
Outside India, the UK has recorded the highest number of cases of the Indian variant, at 1,587 cases to date. The US, Singapore and Germany are the only other countries to have sequenced more than 100 cases of the B.1.617+ variant, according to the Gisaid Initiative.
The report in full can be found here:
France will have administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine injection to 20 million people by Saturday, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on his Twitter feed.
Encore près de 600 000 vaccinations aujourd'hui. La mobilisation exceptionnelle se poursuit dans tout le pays.
— Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) May 14, 2021
Demain, 20 millions de français auront reçu au moins une injection de vaccin !
The government had previously set itself a target to give one dose to 20 million people by mid-May and has stepped up its vaccination campaign in recent days to meet that goal.
Veran added that on Friday nearly 600,000 vaccinations were administered.
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) puts Great Britain and Northern Ireland back in the lowest-level risk category, nearly a month after they
were taken off the list following a decline in new infections, thanks to widespread vaccinations.
In a statement, the RKI said, “The classification is due, despite (a low incidence rate), to the at least a limited occurrence of the B.1.617.2 variant in the United Kingdom.”
The variant, first detected in India, is believed to be more contagious than the original strain and classified by the WHO as a “variant of concern”.
On Friday, the British government said the variant was spreading “increasing rapidly” in parts of England, with identified cases doubling from 520 last week to 1,313 this week.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will shortly begin his Downing Street press conference alongside Professor Chris Whitty.
My colleague Nadeem Badshah will be liveblogging the event on the UK Covid news liveblog that you can follow along here:
Updated
France records 173 new coronavirus deaths in hospital and there were 4,352 people in intensive care units with Covid-19 on Friday, 90 fewer than on Thursday. Meaning that this is the 11th consecutive day that this key metric has fallen.
The French health ministry also reported that the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 fell by a further 250 to 23,406.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has not ruled out the possibility of banning people crossing the border from England if cases of the Covid variant first detected in India continue to rise there.
Drakeford announced on Friday a string of relaxations to Covid restrictions coming into force on Monday, including the reopening of indoor hospitality and the restart of foreign holidays.
But he also revealed the Welsh cabinet had discussed the possibility of allowing more people to mix and giving the go-ahead for some small public events such as food festivals – and decided against this because of the variant.
Drakeford said there were 26 cases of the variant in Wales but added that there was more concern about the “significant spread of that India variant across our border” in England, including a “significant cluster in the north-west of England”.
He said: “We know that the border between the north-east of Wales and the north-west of England is a porous one, so we’re keeping a particular watch on developments there. Should it be necessary to take action, we will do so.”
More on Wales possibly banning travel into England here:
Italy has reported 182 coronavirus deaths, and 7,567 new cases.
Mainland China has reported 12 new Covid-19 cases today, inluding its first local transmissions in more than three weeks.
Reuters reports:
Four of the cases were local infections in the eastern province of Anhui, all linked to the same case, surnamed Li. State media reported mass testing being carried out in two cities in the province, Luan and Hefei.
Two of the Anhui cases were reported by the National Health Commission on Friday, having been logged on Thursday.
They were the first local transmissions since April 20, when China recorded two in the southwestern province of Yunnan, where a city on the border with Myanmar reported a new cluster in late March.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said Li had travelled to Anhui on May 1 from Dalian, a port city in China’s northeastern Liaoning province.
The other National Health Commission case, surnamed Zhang, was in close contact with Li during a training class Li led in the city of Luan, Xinhua reported.Anhui authorities later reported two further locally transmitted cases, both with links to Li. None of the confirmed Anhui cases had been vaccinated, Xinhua cited a local health official as saying.
Two areas in Luan and one part of Feixi county were declared “medium-risk” in response to the cases.
Meanwhile, Liaoning’s provincial health authority reported three new infections, including two local ones, both in another port city, Yingkou.
The other five cases in mainland China, logged on Thursday and reported on Friday, were imported infections originating overseas. The health commission had reported nine cases on Thursday, all imported.The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China stood at 90,815 as of Thursday, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.
The UK has reported a further 17 coronavirus deaths, and 2,193 new cases of the virus.
Government data also shows that 36.1 million people have received their first coronavirus vaccination dose.
Turkey is to ease coronavirus restrictions, emerging out of a full lockdown, president Erdogan has said today.
The country has been in a lockdown for two weeks after the number of daily new cases rocketed to above 60,000, the highest rate globally, and with deaths reaching almost 400 a day.
The number of daily new cases has fallen to 11,000, sharply down from last month but still above the target of 5,000 set at the start of the lockdown. Around 10.7 million people have been fully vaccinated, or 13% of the population.
Reuters reports:
The surge has threatened to hit Turkey’s lucrative summer tourism season, and has already prompted the switch of the Champions League final from Istanbul to Portugal, while Formula One called off the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix on Friday.
Erdogan said that a “controlled normalisation calendar” would start on Monday.
“Our intention is to continue to act relatively cautiously until the end of May,” he said in a televised address. “As of June, we plan to significantly reduce the measures in a way that will make daily life even more comfortable.”
“As a result of the sacrifices we have made, we see a significant decrease in the number of new cases, severe patients and deaths,” Erdogan said. “We hope to lower these numbers even further, without letting go of caution.”
Tobi here, taking over while my colleague Edna has a break. If you would like to get in touch please email tobi.thomas@theguardian.com. Thanks!
The World Health Organization (WHO) added that local conditions needed to be considered if a country is planning to allow vaccinated people not to wear masks in public.
WHO’s top emergency expert, Mike Ryan, told a virtual briefing in Geneva: “In the instance of a country that wishes to take away a mask mandate … that should only be done in the context of considering both the intensity of transmission in the area and the level of vaccine coverage.”
In the United StatesUS, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday advised that fully vaccinated people did not need to wear masks outdoors and could avoid wearing them indoors in most places.
Updated
A World Health Organization expert said on Friday that while more coronavirus variants are bound to be detected, “we know what to do,” Reuters reports.
“I would like fear (of variants) to be turned into something productive, something of strength,” Maria van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead for Covid-19 told a virtual briefing in Geneva.
Germany to classify Britain as a risk area
Germany plans to classify Britain as a coronavirus risk region due to the emergence of the highly infectious variant first detected in India, government sources said on Friday.
A final decision on the new classification could be made as early as Friday, the sources added, Reuters report.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his government was anxious about the spread of the variant discovered in India and was not ruling out any measures to tackle a sharp rise in positive cases.
Updated
Dutch tourists who visit Spain’s Balearic and the Canary Islands will no longer have to take a coronavirus test on their way home. The Dutch ambassador in Spain said on Friday, as the Netherlands updates the list of destinations deemed safe.
Ambassador Jan Versteeg said on Twitter: “I am pleased to announce that from tomorrow Dutch tourism will be open to the Balearic and Canary Islands.”
Un gusto anunciar que a partir de mañana se abre el turismo neerlandés a las Islas Baleares y las Canarias. Los viajeros desde las Islas ya no tendrán que presentar una prueba negativa PCR, ni someterse a una cuarantena al volver a 🇳🇱 #buenasnoticias #turismo pic.twitter.com/2NCg6kV2yZ
— Jan Versteeg🇳🇱🔗🇪🇸 (@JanVersteegBZ) May 14, 2021
The Dutch government will revise its travel advice list on Saturday.
The Balearic Islands, with 52 cases per 100,000 people over 14 days, and the Canary Islands, with 86 cases, are well below the Spanish national incidence of 166 cases.
Spain expects foreign tourism to reach 45m this year, around half the pre-pandemic level, its tourism minister said this week, inviting potential visitors to start planning their Spanish vacations.
Slovakia ends its state of emergency as the coronavirus pandemic has receded, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Friday.
However, Heger cautioned that the struggle against the pandemic was not over and called for people to continue behaving responsibly, adding vaccination was the key to overcoming Covid-19.
Italy has lifted quarantine rules for all travellers from the European Union, UK and Israel upon their arrival, Health authorities announced.
Starting on Sunday 16 May, all travellers arriving in Italy from these countries are no longer obliged to quarantine for a period of five days upon arrival.
Last April, Italy had joined the list of European Union Member States imposing additional restrictions on arrivals from fellow EU countries and had extended the rule till 15 May.
As the country prepares to reopen for tourists, Italy’s Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Friday said he has dropped the quarantine restrictions for those countries.
Speranza said that a negative Covid-19 test result will still be required upon arrival.
Over eight million people in Italy are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, ANSA has reported. Almost 26 million COVID vaccination shots have been injected in the country so far.
Delta Air Lines will require all new hires in the United States to be vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming one of the first major companies to issue such a mandate.
In an interview late Thursday, Chief Executive Ed Bastian told CNN, “Any person joining Delta in the future, future employees, we’re going to mandate they be vaccinated before they can sign up with the company.”
However, the company is not making the requirement for current employees, he said.
Bastian added that employees who are not vaccinated may not be able to work on international flights given possible entry requirements by other countries.
Delta said in a statement on Friday:
We know that vaccines are the best tool we have to protect one another and bring an end to the pandemic.”
Delta called the move to require vaccines for new hires important as “our business recovers and demand for air travel continues to rise.”
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the second year of the pandemic was set to be more deadly than the first, with India a huge concern.
The WHO also urged rich countries on Friday to reconsider plans to vaccinate children and instead donate Covid-19 shots to the COVAX scheme for poorer countries.
In a virtual meeting in Geneva, Tedros said, “I understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, but right now I urge them to reconsider and to instead donate vaccines to COVAX.”
Updated
An international cybercrime gang behind Ireland's ransomware attack
An international cybercrime gang has been announced as being behind a significant ransomware attack on Ireland’s health service operator that halt diagnostic services on Friday and led to the cancellation of appointments, the minister responsible for e-government said.
Ossian Smyth told the national broadcaster RTE, “This is not espionage. It was an international attack, but this is just a cyber-criminal gang looking for money.”
While he said he could not share all the information he had, he added: “This is a human-driven attack using an exploit that was previously unknown. It is widespread and possibly the most significant cybercrime attack on the Irish state. It’s a high-impact attack, but it appears to have low transmissibility.”
Sweden has registered 9,192 new coronavirus cases since Wednesday, health agency statistics showed on Friday, Reuters reports.
The country of 10m recorded eight further deaths, taking the total to 14,275. The deaths registered have occurred over several days and sometimes weeks.
Sweden’s death rate per capita is several times higher than its neighbouring countries but lower than in most European countries that had lockdowns.
The Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said that a state of emergency was being extended to a broader area due to a rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in those regions.
However, he added that holding a “safe and secure” Olympic games were still possible if tight preventive measures were implemented that would keep ordinary Japanese citizens from coming into contact with those arriving to compete.
The Olympics, postponed for a year due to the pandemic is set to start on July 23.
In a televised address, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he feels the pain of all Indians battling the pandemic after weeks of largely avoiding public comment on the country’s fatal coronavirus wave.
Many Indians have taken to social media to accuse Modi’s populist right-wing administration of abandoning them as his address comes as the country of 1.3bn reported 4,000 deaths for a third straight day and 343,144 new infections.
While the opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister had gone “missing” like the oxygen and hospital beds.
Modi said Friday that his government was working on a “war-footing” against Covid-19.
AFP reports:
Because of this coronavirus, we have lost people close to us. The pain that our citizens have suffered in recent days, I am feeling it just as much,” he said.
“Whatever obstacles are there we are trying to remove.”
Modi said even the military was working against what he called “an invisible enemy that is always changing shape.”
“India is not going to lose hope. We will fight and win against this virus.”
“Corona infection is spreading fast in our villages too,” Modi added, saying his government was “trying everything possible” to stop it.
India has fully vaccinated just over 38.2m people amid jab shortages and glitches in the online registration system.
Portugal to allow UK holidaymakers from Monday 17
British holidaymakers were previously left in limbo as Portuguese authorities were yet to decide whether the country will allow them to visit from next week.
But the country’s minister of state for foreign affairs has now announced that travel between the two countries, among other countries, that Portugal has put on a green list, will commence on Monday 17 May from 0001.
Travellers will still need a negative PCR test 72hrs before their flight to gain entry into the country.
Visit Portugal said in a statement:
“The Portuguese minister of state for foreign affairs announced today that British tourists will be allowed to enter Portugal as of the 00:00 of 17th of May, next Monday.
“This decision will revoke the essential travel restrictions that is in place until the 16th of May.
“Any person entering Portugal will have, in any case, to have an RT-PCR test done 72 hours before departure.”
Sky News also reports the new travel development here:
Portugal will allow UK tourists to enter the country when a UK ban on foreign travel ends on Monday.#COVID19 latest: https://t.co/GqEG62tsre pic.twitter.com/e6ofCutXCm
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 14, 2021
Updated
Since the coronavirus outbreak began, at least 3,346,813 people have died due to a tally combined from official sources by AFP.
The figures are based on daily tolls by health authorities in each country and exclude later re-evaluations by statistical organisations, as has happened in Russia, Spain and Britain.
Based on the latest reports, the countries with the newest deaths in India with 4,000 new deaths, followed by Brazil with 2,383 and United States with 818.
The United States is the worst-affected country, with 584,487 deaths from 32,852,998 cases.
Followed by Brazil with 430,417 deaths from 15,433,989 cases, India with 262,317 deaths from 24,046,809 cases, Mexico with 219,901 deaths from 2,375,115 cases, and the United Kingdom with 127,651 deaths from 4,444,631 cases.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said it expects the second batch of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered to India by the end of the week.
In a statement, the RDIF said:
Inoculations with Sputnik V in Hyderabad today followed the arrival of the first batch of the vaccine in India on May 1.
The second batch of Sputnik V is expected to arrive in India by the end of the week.”
As vaccine programmes continue to gain momentum throughout the world, for New Zealand, the question of how to reopen is becoming pressing.
Tess McClure in Christchurch reports on the issue of travel in New Zealand:
As vaccination continues around the world, the New Zealand government has begun providing glimpses of how the country will eventually reopen its borders.
But there’s no immediate end in sight, even for ex-pats who have received vaccinations overseas.
New Zealand has been closed to most international visitors for more than a year now. Anyone entering the country – except via recently-opened travel bubbles with Australia and the Cook Islands – is required to spend two weeks in government-run isolation.
Even those spaces are only open to citizens, permanent residents or essential workers. For those eligible, access is still limited – at times, all spots in isolation have been booked out for months in advance. And while there are now spaces available, the cost of a visit is prohibitive for many: NZ$3,100 for anyone who left the country temporarily, or who is visiting for less than three months, and NZ$5,520 for those on a work visa.
Those strict border protections have kept the country largely safe from incursions of Covid-19. But they have also closed off New Zealand to the world: freezing international tourism, separating families, and leaving some expats and migrants feeling alienated and abandoned.
As other countries vaccinate more and more of their people, the question of when and how New Zealand will reopen the border becomes pressing – and there’s still no clarity on a date or re-opening process from the government.
More on the report here:
Stocks fall as Singapore announced on Friday its strict guidelines on gatherings and public activities, amid a rise in infections and new clusters forming in recent weeks.
The measures which will be in place from Sunday to mid-June include limiting social gatherings to two people, a halt on dining in at restaurants and for employers to make working from home a default arrangement for staff.
Reuters reports:
Singapore’s Straits Times index closed down 2.2% on Friday, its sharpest daily fall in 11 months, with drops led by firms exposed to retail and travel. Singapore Airlines fell 5.7%, the sharpest drop in a year.
The Singapore dollar fell slightly.
The Asian trade and financial hub of 5.7 million people had until recently been reporting almost zero or single-digit daily infections locally for months.
[…]
Singapore posted its worst recession last year due to pandemic and is now charting an uneven recovery.
The return of restrictions come as the city-state was gearing up to reopen to visitors and businesses and host international events, including next month’s annual defence and security meeting, the Shangri-La Dialogue, the World Economic Forum’s summit in August.
“Quick reopening hopes have been dashed, especially for the travel and leisure sectors,” said Bank of Singapore analyst Moh Siong Sim.
“Manufacturing should hold up as has been the case over the past year.”
France names Bahrain, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay as 'high-risk' zones
France has added Bahrain, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay to its list of countries deemed as high-risk zones. This will mean that people arriving from those countries will have to undergo quarantine measures on arrival.
The French Prime Minister’s department added that those quarantine measures for travellers from those countries would take effect from May 16, as France aims to ensure that its third wave of the virus declines, Reuters reports.
In April, France had put Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and India on its list of Covid-19 high-risk countries, requiring people arriving from those countries to undergo a 10-day quarantine upon arrival in France.
Updated
The Lithuanian government to donate 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine shots to its eastern European neighbours, including 100,000 to Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, “Action is the real solidarity,” Reuters reports, announcing that the AstraZeneca vaccines would be donated.
The doses will go to EU Eastern Partnership countries, the government announced, including 15,000 going to Georgia and 11,000 to Moldova.
The distribution of the remaining 74,000 shots will be decided later, as the partnership also includes Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The vaccines are to be distributed by October 1, mainly between July and September, when the country expects to have a surplus.
In Lithuania, a nation of 2.8m, 35% of adults have been vaccinated with at least one shot, in line with the European Union average.
Nearly half the passengers due to arrive on a flight from India to Australia on Saturday after a two-week travel ban have been grounded because they tested positive for Covid-19 or are considered a close contact of someone who does.
In India, there are 10,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents registered with Australian authorities who want to go home. Among them, almost 1,000 were classified as vulnerable, with the Australian government giving them a priority.
AP reports:
Australian citizen Sunny Joura said he and his elderly mother had been prevented from flying home last month by Australia’s travel ban.
Now he had been prevented from returning Saturday because he had contracted Covid-19. He did not know yet know the result of his mother’ test.
“I was able to return, but I was not able to return because of the Australian government,” Joura said. “If I die, the Australian government will be responsible.”
More than 40 of the passengers booked on the first flight out tested positive for the virus, and around 30 had been rejected because they were considered close contacts, said an Australian official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Nine Network News reported that 48 had tested positive, and 24 would be left behind because they were considered close contacts.
O’Farrell said the empty seats could not be filled because of the strict health checks that Australia is imposing.
“We’re in the middle of a Covid crisis here in India, and it takes at least 24 hours, if not longer, to get the results of a test,” O’Farrell told Nine.
O’Farrell said the rejected passengers would be eligible for future flights once they get health clearances.
The Australian government plans to fly the next repatriation flight on May 23. With six government-chartered flights expected to return Australian citizens from India before the end of May.
International flights are not expected to return to normal until mid-2022.
---
Hi, I’m Edna Mohamed; I’ll be taking over the blog from my colleague for the next few hours. If I’ve missed anything, you can either reach me on Twitter or email me at edna.mohamed.casual@theguardian.com
Updated
Today so far…
- A ransomware attack has caused Ireland’s healthcare IT system to be shut down. The attack has been blamed on international criminals and was said to be targeting healthcare records, but officials said patient safety was not at risk. Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) has said that coronavirus vaccinations are going ahead as planned.
- Japan will declare a state of emergency in three more prefectures hit hard by the pandemic, economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said, in a surprise move reflecting growing concerns about the virus’s spread.
- A petition calling for the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics which garnered 350,000 signatures in nine days was submitted to organisers, reflecting growing public opposition to the event as a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections sweeps Japan.
- Indian health ministry data show 4,000 deaths and 343,144 infections over the last 24 hours. But a lack of testing in many places meant the official count omits many deaths and infections, prompting experts to estimate the real figures could be five to ten times higher.
- Taiwan reported another record rise in domestic Covid-19 cases with 29 new cases, as community transmissions in part of central Taipei spread.
- Almost half the Australians due to fly home on the first post-pause repatriation flight out of India have been thrown off the passenger list after they either tested positive to Covid-19 or were deemed close contacts of cases.
- Surge testing is under way in areas of north-west England where cases involving the variant first detected in India are on the increase. The UK government is under growing pressure to deploy “surge vaccinations” in Covid hotspots.
- The 2-metre social distancing rule in Wales will not change on Monday, mainly due to the variant first detected in India, first minister Mark Drakeford has said. He also urged “This is the year to take your holiday in Wales.”
- Scotland is experiencing a “loss of control” of the pandemic in some areas and it is premature to lift restrictions, an epidemiologist has warned.
- Infection rates are continuing to go down in Germany, with the crucial indicator of infections per 100,000 people over seven days dropping below the threshold mark of 100 on Friday for the first time since 20 March.
- Airbnb has reported a surge in bookings as coronavirus restrictions are eased in some countries.
- Greece has officially launched its tourism season as both the government and travel operators hope the country’s natural beauty will bring a much-needed revenue boost after last year’s miserable holiday season.
- Hong Kong is are barring 13,000 refugees from accessing Covid-19 vaccines.
- Singapore has announced the strictest curbs on social gatherings and public activities since easing a lockdown last year, amid a rise in locally acquired infections and with new coronavirus clusters forming in recent weeks.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for this week. I will see you again bright and early on Monday. Edna Mohamed will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day’s global Covid news, while Mattha Busby has our UK Covid blog.
Coronavirus is raging in India’s hinterland, where in some places bodies are being buried in shallow graves or given up to rivers and the sick have little hope other than herbal remedies and amateur doctors.
Kidwai Ahmad, from Sadullahpur village in Uttar Pradesh, a huge northern state, said the situation is “disastrous” with people dying all around his neighbourhood.
“There is so much poverty all around that people can’t even afford decent cremations. They often tie big stones to the bodies and throw them in the river,” he told AFP by phone.
“Others don’t even bother with that and just throw the bodies in as they are. It has become common practice here,” he added.
“Some are just burying their dead in shallow graves and not even waiting to see if crows or dogs feed on them.”
In the past month no medical team has visited the village. The sick are staying at home taking “herbal concoctions”, Ahmad said. Clinics, if people can travel to them, are low on beds, medicines and oxygen.
“People have been left to die,” he added. “This is the India which is hidden from everyone.”
Indian health ministry data show 4,000 deaths and 343,144 infections over the last 24 hours. But a lack of testing in many places meant the official count omits many deaths and infections, prompting experts to estimate the real figures could be five to ten times higher.
Not everybody is pleased with the way that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided to lift its recommendation on face masks. Leana Wen writes for the Washington Post:
For months, I have been criticizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for being too cautious with its guidance for what fully vaccinated people can do. I saw little incentive for people to be vaccinated against covid-19 if they had to keep wearing masks, avoiding gatherings and refraining from nonessential travel. On Thursday, the CDC abruptly reversed course, announcing that fully vaccinated people can essentially resume all aspects of pre-pandemic life.
This announcement would be very welcome if not for one big problem: There is no concurrent requirement for proof of vaccination. Without it, the CDC announcement could end up increasing confusion, removing incentives for those yet to be inoculated and delaying the eventual goal of herd immunity that would get society truly back to normal.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky that there is extensive and growing evidence that those who are vaccinated are very well protected from becoming ill and spreading the coronavirus to others.
The problem is this: You know what you’re doing, but you have no way to be confident of trusting everyone else. Let’s say you go the grocery store. It’s crowded and few people there are masked. Perhaps everyone is vaccinated, but perhaps not. What if you’re vaccinated but not fully protected because you’re immunocompromised? You can no longer count on CDC rules to help you keep safe.
Read more here: Washington Post – Leana Wen: The CDC shouldn’t have removed restrictions without requiring proof of vaccination
Here’s a bit more on the situation in Ireland, where a ransomware attack has caused the country’s healthcare IT system to be shut down.
AFP report that the Irish attack has been blamed on international criminals and was said to be targeting healthcare records, but officials said patient safety was not at risk.
There is a significant ransomware attack on the HSE IT systems. We have taken the precaution of shutting down all our our IT systems in order to protect them from this attack and to allow us fully assess the situation with our own security partners.
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) May 14, 2021
We apologise for inconvenience caused to patients and to the public and will give further information as it becomes available.
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) May 14, 2021
Vaccinations not effected are going ahead as planned.
While Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) has said that coronavirus vaccinations are going ahead as planned, there have been some knock-on effects in the healthcare system.
The Rotunda maternity hospital in Dublin said that “due to a serious IT issue”, it was only admitting emergency cases and women who are at least 36 weeks pregnant.
Hospital chief Fergal Malone said the attack had targeted computers storing patient records. Life-saving equipment is operating fine, “there’s no problem for patient safety”, and the hospital has switched to backup paper records, he told RTE.
“But obviously throughput will be much slower,” he said, urging out-patients with routine appointments to stay away.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said the attack in Ireland was “an internationally operated criminal operation”, and the authority was working with police, the army and its major IT security providers.
“We are at the very early stages of fully understanding the threat,” he told Irish broadcaster RTE, adding it was trying to “contain” the issue.
Airbnb has reported a surge in bookings as coronavirus restrictions are eased in some countries.
The value of bookings made by holidaymakers shot up 52% year on year to $10.3bn (£7.3bn) in the first quarter, with locations outside city centres and rural areas proving particularly popular.
The San Francisco-based company said the recovery in bookings is being led by families and small groups, as opposed to solo travellers, while there has also been a jump in bookings for longer-term stays.
Almost a quarter of nights booked in the first three months of the year were for stays of 28 days or longer, up from 14% in pre-pandemic 2019.
“Increasing numbers of guests are discovering that they do not need to be tethered to one location to live and work,” Airbnb said.
In the US, searches for summer travel by those aged 60 and over, the first groups to be vaccinated, soared more than 60% in February and March.
Airbnb experienced “steady improvement” in Europe, led by the UK and France, where some travel restrictions have been lifted, with “strong” domestic travel bookings.
Read more of Mark Sweney’s report: Airbnb holiday bookings soar as Covid restrictions ease
Mattha Busby has launched our UK Covid live blog, leading with officials considering “surge vaccinations” to combat spread of the variant first detected in India. You can follow UK Covid news over there with him …
I will be continuing here with the latest global coronavirus news.
Updated
By the way, if you missed it yesterday afternoon, my colleague Ian Sample did an exemplary job of laying out whether the Covid variant first detected in India is a threat to the UK’s reopening plans, asking what is the variant, how transmissible is it and what should we do about it.
You can read it here: India Covid variant – is it a threat to the UK’s reopening plans?
Updated
We get two sets of numbers like clockwork every day – and they usually show China administering a large number of vaccine jabs, and Russia with a rock-steady level of new cases.
It is business as usual for China – the country says it carried out about 12.6m vaccinations yesterday.
The number from Russia stands out slightly though. I normally don’t blog it every day as the case numbers are nearly always the same, in a range of 7,000 to 8,000 cases. But it has caught my eye this morning with a slight tip up to a reported 9,462 new Covid-19 cases.
Reuters report that the government coronavirus task force said 393 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 115,116.
However, it is worth noting that the federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and says Russia recorded about 250,000 deaths related to Covid-19 from April 2020 to March 2021.
Updated
Ireland shuts down health IT system after ransomware attack
Ireland’s health authority says it has shut down its computer systems after experiencing a “significant ransomware attack”.
“We have taken the precaution of shutting down all our IT systems in order to protect them from this attack and to allow us to fully assess the situation with our own security partners,” the Health Service Executive said on Twitter, AFP report.
“We apologise for inconvenience caused to patients and to the public and will give further information as it becomes available,” it added, stressing Ireland’s coronavirus vaccination programme was unaffected and “going ahead as planned”.
The 2-metre social distancing rule in Wales will not change on Monday, mainly due to the Indian variant, first minister Mark Drakeford has said.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Within your own household bubble or extended household you’ll be able to make decisions about who you hug and who you cwtch.
“But we’re not yet thinking, largely because of the Indian variant, we’re not going to change the rules about people more generally. We expect the two-metre social distance to be sustained.”
PA Media reports that asked whether people will be able to hug a family member outside of their household bubble or extended household, Drakeford replied: “I’m afraid you have to wait a little bit longer. We can change the rules, we don’t have to wait two or three weeks. If we get advice that says it’s safe to move ahead on that, we’ll do so as soon as we get that advice.
“But we are just pausing to make sure that we have the best possible evidence about the newly emerging risks that there may be because of (the) Indian variant.”
Updated
Infection rates continuing to go down in Germany
Infection rates are continuing to go down in Germany, with the crucial indicator of infections per 100,000 people over seven days dropping below the threshold mark of 100 on Friday for the first time since 20 March.
The German disease control agency registered 11,336 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, a week-on-week drop of almost 40%.
In Germany, 38.6m doses of vaccine have been administered so far, meaning 35.9% of the population has received at least one jab.
Updated
Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the 21 June lockdown lifting in England could be in doubt if the variant first detected in India causes increases in cases in elderly people and a rise in people needing hospital care.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the big question is how many of people who are getting the Indian variant will end up requiring hospitalisation.
“And at the moment the hospitalisation rate doesn’t seem to be increasing yet, although if this becomes much more common we’ll almost certainly see some increase, so I think it’s certainly a concern.
“I think the step four is in doubt in June now, but we really need to see what impact it has on severe disease before we can really be certain.”
PA Media reports that, asked why 21 June is in doubt, he said: “Well, because if the epidemic continues to increase, if the Indian variant of the epidemic continues to increase at the same rate as it has over recent weeks, we’re going to have a huge number of cases by June.
“The issue though is that because it seems to be spreading in unvaccinated younger people at the moment and not yet that much more active in older people maybe we’ll be able to weather it and we’ll still be able to have the step four in June.
“But if that increases cases in elderly and starts to increase hospitalisations, and puts pressure on the NHS again then I think step four would be in doubt.”
It is worth noting that the concern about the variant is not just the impact of it as it stands, but the risk that it could mutate further if allowed to spread unchecked.
Updated
Scotland is experiencing a “loss of control” of the pandemic in some areas and it is premature to lift restrictions, an epidemiologist has warned. Dr Deepti Gurdasani said action must be taken to prevent the situation worsening amid concerns about the spread of one of the new Indian variants of the virus north of the border.
Public health experts have warned that a spike in coronavirus infections in Glasgow could include the B.1.617.2 variant.
First minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the situation in Glasgow is being monitored “very closely”, with cases in the city at 70.9 per 100,000 people in the seven days to 10 May, according to latest data.
Lucinda Cameron reports for PA Media Scotland that Moray has the highest rate in Scotland at 98.1 cases per 100,000 and is unlikely to join the rest of the country by dropping down a level under the Scottish government’s five-tier system as restrictions ease on Monday.
Dr Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, said lifting restrictions was premature. She told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “The idea is certainly premature, in fact the government should be considering the opposite.
“In Scotland as a whole we’ve actually seen the number of new cases double in the last week, and while the cases are so low it’s hard to see exponential rises.
She said the arrival of new variants in the UK was not inevitable and was a result of a “failed border policy”, pointing out that areas which have had comprehensive border restrictions such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and South East Asia, have not imported many of these concerning variants.
Dr Gurdasani said it is too early to say whether it will lead to an increase in hospital admissions.
Updated
Surge testing is under way in areas of north-west England where cases involving the variant first detected in India are on the increase.
The “variant of concern” has been detected in Bolton, Greater Manchester, as well as in Blackburn, Lancashire, and Sefton in Merseyside, which have all seen rates rise rapidly.
Blackburn with Darwen Council initially said on Thursday that it would be offering vaccines to all over-18s from next week following the increase in cases, but later said that, although additional vaccine clinics are being set up, the jab will only be offered to those eligible under current Government guidance.
The area’s director of public health, Dominic Harrison, said on Twitter that the authority had asked the NHS to “surge vaccinate” but the request was refused.
He tweeted: “At the moment the Indian variant is surging in a small number of localgov areas. These areas have a window of opportunity to control the wider spread across the UK by a mixture of community engagement, surge testing and surge vaccination.
“If the government stops areas with high IndianVariant cases from ‘surge vaccinating’ target areas (which will contribute to reduced transmission) – it will reduce our local capacity to control spread.”
Eleanor Barlow at PA Media reports that in Bolton, the area with the highest rate of cases, with 553 new infections in the seven days to 9 May, mobile testing units have been deployed and door-to-door PCR Covid testing has been offered to 22,000 residents.
A vaccine bus has been set up to increase uptake among those who are eligible and a rapid response team of 100 nurses, public health advisers and environmental health officers has been sent in.
Updated
Maeve Reston and Stephen Collinson at CNN today describe the US decisions that mask rules can be relaxed as “a great moment of liberation after a year of intense stress and fear, but also one of trepidation for many”. They write:
The CDC’s decision to change the guidance for fully vaccinated people – which was a surprise even to White House officials informed late Wednesday – marks a huge political success for Biden early in his term and a key turning point on the road to eradicating the pandemic, which is perhaps the most important goal of his presidency. Yet in the coming days, the onus will be on officials to manage and demonstrate the transition between the CDC’s pronouncement and its impact on the lives of millions of Americans.
There were already key points of confusion and conflicting policies that could raise doubt in the minds of some Americans about the science of unmasking at this point.
The equivocation was evident in the dissonant policies even within different government agencies and entities in Washington. The White House told vaccinated staffers that they could take off their masks at work. But when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked whether she planned to change the rules and allow members to unmask on the floor of the House of Representatives, the California Democrat replied: “No,” then asked rhetorically: “Are they all vaccinated?”
By Thursday evening, many Americans were out on the town or at bars raising their glasses to celebrate the moment – even though bars have often been cited by scientists as one of the breeding grounds for Covid-19 transmission. Yet the federal transportation mask mandate will stay in place through 13 September, according to the Transportation Security Administration Thursday, even though the science has generally shown that it has been safer to fly on planes than to fraternize at bars.
Read more here: CNN – America’s unmasking brings liberation but also trepidation as huge questions loom
The UK vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi has been on BBC Breakfast now, where he told viewers that Britain will adapt its vaccine rollout to protect people more quickly in areas where the coronavirus variant first detected in India has emerged.
Nadhim Zahawi said in areas where the new variant has emerged that the government would step up enhanced testing and flex the vaccine rollout by offering it to younger people if they live in multi-generational households.
Reuters quote him as saying “We will flex the vaccine programme to where the clinicians thinks it’s best utilised”
He also said that if necessary the government would not rule out new local and regional restrictions.
Vaccines Minister, Nadhim Zahawi MP tells #BBCBreakfast the government is not ruling out local and regional restrictions to curb a rise in the Indian covid variant.
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) May 14, 2021
Cases have doubled in the past week according to Public Health England. https://t.co/ADqifmN6Z1 pic.twitter.com/HRITqdGUnj
Taiwan reports another record rise in domestic Covid-19 cases
Taiwan reported another record rise in domestic Covid-19 cases with 29 new cases, as community transmissions in part of central Taipei spread and the government called for people to be tested.
While Taiwan has reported just 1,291 cases, mostly imported from abroad, out of a population of some 24 million, a recent small rise in domestic infections has spooked Taiwan’s people and the stock market, long used to the island’s relative safety.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told a news conference that of the 29 new domestic infections many were connected with an outbreak in Taipei’s Wanhua district, an often gritty area that mixes old temples with trendy shops and hostess bars.
Chen called on people who think they may have had contact with the infected patients or symptoms to come to rapid testing stations the government is setting up around Wanhua.
“The sooner testing happens the sooner the chain of transmission can be broken,” he added.
The coronavirus-related news is quite lively this morning in the UK. As well as urging people to holiday in Wales this year, Welsh first minster Mark Drakeford has used another media appearance to say that officials “decided to hold back” on relaxing some lockdown restrictions in Wales on Monday due to concerns about the Indian variant.
Wales will move to alert level two on Monday with the reopening of indoor hospitality and entertainment venues. PA report that Drakeford was asked if the Indian variant gives him any pause for thought, and he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “Yes, it certainly does. There were 17 cases of the Indian variant in Wales yesterday and over 700 in England. There’s quite a concentration of that in the north-west of England and there’s a lot of traffic between the north-east of Wales and the north-west of England so we were considering a small number of further easements from Monday but have decided to hold back on those.”
Asked if he would be prepared to delay further steps in his road map if advice from Sage - the UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies – suggests that it is necessary, Mr Drakeford said: “Yes, we would. We tried our best to follow the scientific advice at every step and if the advice were to be that we should hold back on some further easements because the risks in doing so would be too great then certainly that is what we would do.”
Just to add to the confusion this morning about whether travel from England to Portugal will be allowed from Monday, PA report Portuguese MP Cristovao Norte has said a decision should be taken “immediately”
Norte, who is MP for the Algarve, told BBC Breakfast on Friday he did not know whether Britons will be allowed to visit the country from Monday.
He said: “We are today going to make an urgent inquiry asking the (Portuguese) government whether or not the English travel can come to Portugal next Monday because we are three days ahead from 17th and no one is sure what is going to happen.
Mr Norte added: “Our vaccination process is going steadily and it is important a decision is taken immediately.
“The message is clear, there are no reasons, nor political or scientific reasons to maintain restrictions for travel from the UK to Portugal.”
Asked if the decision could change between now and Monday, he said: “It’s possible but I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Yesterday there was a council of ministers and the minister responsible told the press they didn’t have a definitive decision.”
Almost half the Australians booked on India repatriation flight barred after Covid tests
While people in England seem desperate to get abroad as soon as restrictions lift, the situation is very different for those in India trying to get home to Australia, as Paul Karp and Elias Visontay report for us:
Almost half the Australians due to fly home on the first post-pause repatriation flight out of India have been thrown off the passenger list after they either tested positive to Covid-19 or were deemed close contacts of cases.
Guardian Australia has confirmed that of the 150 vulnerable Australians booked to take the first repatriation flight home from India when the travel ban expires, more than 40 have tested positive to Covid-19. The number who will be unable to fly rises to more than 70 when you factor in the close contacts of those who have tested positive.
The flight is due to leave Delhi after midnight and travel to the Northern Territory where repatriated Australians will quarantine at the Howard Springs facility.
These numbers come from the first Covid test, which is administered 48 hours before flying. There is a second test administered eight hours before flying, meaning it’s possible that more than 70 people will be barred from the flight. Other Australians will not be substituted onto the flight because of the strict processes to prepare for the repatriation flights.
About 10,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents have registered with the government as wanting to return from India. About 1,000 of these people have been deemed vulnerable.
Read more here: Almost half the Australians booked on India repatriation flight barred after Covid tests
The UK vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has been on Sky News in the UK, saying England will push ahead with its plan to lift the Covid-19 restrictions gradually, because even though it is worried about the emergence of a variant first detected in India it believes the vaccines are working.
Reuters report that Zahawi said there were concerns about the presence of the Indian variant in some parts of England but that there was no evidence that the B.1.617.2 variant had a more severe impact on people or was able to escape the vaccines.
“The roadmap from Monday remains in place because the vaccines are delivering, vaccines are keeping people out of hospital and away from severe infection,” he said.
Updated
Petition against Tokyo Olympics submitted to organisers
A petition calling for the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics which garnered 350,000 signatures in nine days was submitted to organisers today, reflecting growing public opposition to the event as a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections sweeps Japan.
“Stop Tokyo Olympics” campaign organiser Kenji Utsunomiya said the global festival of sport – already postponed from 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic – should take place only when Japan can welcome visitors and athletes wholeheartedly.
“We are not in that situation and therefore the Games should be cancelled,” he told a news conference. “Precious medical resources would need to be diverted to the Olympics if it’s held.”
Test events for the Olympics are continuing to be held without spectators.
Kiyoshi Takenaka and Sakura Murakami report for Reuters from Tokyo that the petition was submitted to the Olympic and Paralympic committee chiefs as well as Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
Asked about the anti-Games campaign, Tokyo governor Koike said she would continue to work towards a “safe and secure” Olympics.
“Though there is a global pandemic, it is important to hold safe and secure Tokyo 2020 Games,” she told a regular press conference.
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A reminder that there seems to be some disarray this morning if you were one of those planning to head to Portugal next week from England. The country is on England’s “green list”, but at the other end, Portugal has extended its Covid restrictions. Sean Morrison sums the situation up for the Evening Standard:
The nation’s government decided to extend its “state of calamity” until at least 30 May. Guidance published on the Portuguese Government’s website on Thursday stated that ministers had approved a move to continue the current level of lockdown.
Portuguese Cabinet office minister Mariana Vieira da Silva said in a briefing on Thursday she had “no information to give yet” when asked if restrictions on travel from the UK would soon be lifted.
It is understood the UK Government has been in discussion with Portuguese representatives this week to discuss plans to unlock travel between the two countries.
During the “state of calamity”, entry to Portugal is only allowed if you are a returning resident, according to information on the FCDO website. To enter Portugal, proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken with 72 hours of departure is required.
'This is the year to take your holiday in Wales' - Wales first minister Drakeford
The first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has just been on BBC Breakfast in the UK, and he has urged Welsh residents to strongly consider domestic holidays this year, rather than travelling abroad, even when restrictions have been lifted.
“This is the year to take your holiday in Wales” said Drakeford. He also said it would be unenforceable to impose restrictions prohibiting Welsh residents travelling to English airports.
The BBC have put up the clip here:
“This is the year to take your holiday in Wales”
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) May 14, 2021
First Minister of Wales. Mark Drakeford tells #BBCBreakfast why the Welsh government is advising people against going on a foreign holiday even after the rules on international travel are changed. https://t.co/6Z2Bac3X1w pic.twitter.com/HB1S5aBEBk
Hong Kong is are barring 13,000 refugees from accessing Covid-19 vaccines, writes our correspondent Helen Davidson.
According to a report by the Hong Kong Free Press, the group are not considered eligible because they aren’t residents.
Programmes manager at Christian Action’s Centre for Refugees, Jennifer Moberg Pforte, said there wasn’t a known outbreak in the community yet, but warned of the risk.
“It is almost impossible to maintain social distancing when living in extremely cramped conditions, even if they want to.”
Hong Kong is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and instead of settling refugees itself, it instead transfers them to a third country. In the meantime, refugees wait in Hong Kong on rolling six-month permits without employment rights, often living in substandard and overcrowded conditions.
“Our immigration status should not be an excuse to prevent us from getting vaccinated,” a 19-year-old asylum seeker told the outlet. “We already face enough discrimination and stereotypes from the public, why exclude us further when all we ask for is that our personal safety and health be cared for just as equally as a Hong Kong resident?”
HKU professor of epidemiology Ben Cowling told HKPF the World Health Organisation has said it was important in terms of public health to ensure the refugee community had access to Covid-19 vaccines.
“They are still a vital part of our community,” he said.About 17% of Hong Kong has received their first shot, and 11.2% their second.
There are concerns among observers of vaccine hesitancy in the city, which has battled waves of moderate outbreaks since last year. It is currently reporting about three community cases a day.
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Singapore has announced the strictest curbs on social gatherings and public activities since easing a lockdown last year, amid a rise in locally acquired infections and with new coronavirus clusters forming in recent weeks.
The new measures announced by the health ministry, which will be effective from Sunday to mid June, include limiting social gatherings to two people and ceasing dining in at restaurants.
The authorities said they will review the measures after two weeks to assess if adjustments are needed.
Taiwan-made vaccine available by July
A Taiwan-made vaccine will be available for residents by the end of July, president Tsai Ing-wen has said today, writes our correspondent in Taiwan, Helen Davidson.
Taiwan has remained largely unscathed by the pandemic, but has been slow on vaccine procurement, rollout and community take-up.
It has several hundred thousand doses of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine and is expecting orders of mRNA vaccines later in the year, but speaking after a national security meeting on Friday, the president said a locally-made product would be ready and available within three months. Tsai said:
The phase two clinical trials of Taiwan-made vaccines are nearing completion. We expect the first vaccine to be ready in late July.
No details were provided about the vaccine but there are at least three candidates in development. The national security meeting was called in response to Taiwan’s current outbreak involving dozens of cases across several northern counties including Taipei.
Taiwan is now on level two of a four-level alert system, requiring increased mask usage and mandatory check-ins at shops and venues.
Greece has officially launched its tourism season as both the government and travel operators hope the country’s natural beauty will bring a much-needed revenue boost after last year’s miserable holiday season, AFP reports.
Speaking from the ancient Greek temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, near Athens on Thursday night, tourism minister Harry Theoharis said: “We are raising anchor. We leave behind the dark clouds of fear and insecurity.”
Tourism revenue plunged to €4.28bn ($5bn) in 2020 from €18bn in 2019.
According to government regulations announced on Wednesday, anyone travelling to Greek islands by sea or air must show a vaccination certificate or a negative Covid-19 test result.
Europe’s leading tour operator TUI has scheduled 120 flights to Greece until the end of May, with the first six touching down on Friday and another 15 on Saturday. Some 40 international incoming flights are expected in 14 regional Greek airports on Friday and another 110 on Saturday.
In an early setback, the UK put Greece on its amber travel list, meaning that returning Britons face at least five days in quarantine.
The UK government is under growing pressure to deploy “surge vaccinations” in Covid hotspots, with some local authorities pushing to extend the offer of jabs to over-18s to stop the spread of a coronavirus variant.
Boris Johnson said he was anxious about the spread of the variant first detected in India, as cases more than doubled in a week. Some government advisers are concerned that his roadmap out of lockdown should be slowed down until the infections are under control.
Infection cases jumped from 520 to 1,313 in a week, according to Public Health England (PHE), which said it was “actively monitoring the impact of this variant and its severity”.
Full story here:
Japan will declare a state of emergency in three more prefectures
Japan will declare a state of emergency in three more prefectures hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Friday, in a surprise move reflecting growing concerns about the virus’s spread.
Hokkaido, Okayama and Hiroshima will on Sunday join Tokyo, Osaka and four other prefectures under a state of emergency until May 31, said Nishimura, who is also in charge of coronavirus countermeasures.
The government had originally proposed a more targeted “quasi-emergency” declaration for Hokkaido, Okayama and Hiroshima, and two other prefectures. The lesser declaration now covers eight of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
“There were various views expressed at the meeting (with experts). Based on those views, we retracted our original proposal and came up with this new one and got approval for it,” Nishimura told reporters after the meeting.
The rising state of emergency declarations come as Japan grapples with a surge of a more infectious strain just 10 weeks before the Tokyo Olympics are due to start.
Experts say medical resources are being pushed to the brink, while Japan’s vaccination drive has been the slowest among advanced nations with just 3% of the population vaccinated, according to Reuters data.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Japan will declare a state of emergency in three more prefectures hit hard by Covid, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Friday, in a surprise move reflecting growing concerns about the virus’s spread.
Meanwhile UK ministers are under growing pressure to deploy “surge vaccinations” in Covid hotspots, with some local authorities pushing to extend the offer of jabs to over-18s to stop the spread of a coronavirus variant.
Here are the other key recent developments:
- Fully vaccinated Americans no longer have to wear a mask in most settings, the Center for Disease Control said on Thursday. Joe Biden called it “a great day for America in our long battle against coronavirus”.
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UK cases of an Indian variant have more than doubled in the past week, according to Public Health England data. Figures published on Thursday evening show there are 1,313 cases of the VOC-21APR-02 variant in the country, up from 520 the previous week.
- Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said it was a variant of concern. “We are anxious about it,” he said when asked by reporters.
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The four most worrying variants have been detected in virtually all parts of the Americas, a World Health Organization expert said.
- French health authorities reported 19,461 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, representing a weekly rise of less than two per cent for the first time in almost a year, Reuters reports. The total number of hospitalisations for the disease fell by 598, decreasing for the 10th day in a row to 23,656, the lowest since October 31.
- The Philippines is set to ease of some coronavirus restrictions in the capital and nearby provinces, with daily infections well down from a peak six weeks ago.
- The United Arab Emirates have approved the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for children, the government announced.
- Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country is on track for herd immunity, predicting 33 million people will be vaccinated by mid-August.
- Malaysia has reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than three months.
- The number of cases of the Indian Covid variant in Northern Ireland has increased to at least 12, it has been reported.
- A South African report into excess deaths over the past year suggests more than 133,000 people in the country have died from Covid, far more than the official tally of nearly 55,000.
