That’s all from the Guardian’s coronavirus blog for now - you can keep following our coronavirus coverage over on our Australian live blog where border closures are imminent.
Thanks for reading along and to our readers across the globe, happy new year!
Summary
Here’s a quick recap of the latest coronavirus developments across the globe over the last few hours:
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World Health Organization lists Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. WHO has granted emergency validation to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, paving the way for countries worldwide to quickly approve its import and distribution.
- US CDC reports record 3,764 coronavirus deaths in a day. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a record daily rise of 3,764 Covid-19 deaths, taking its total to 341,199.
- Key London hospital preparing for Covid-only care as cases surge. One of London’s biggest hospitals has warned it is on track to become virtually Covid-only amid a surge in cases in the capital that has left it scrambling to convert operating theatres, surgical recovery areas and stroke wards into intensive care units for the very sick.
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Macron pledges no “unjustifiable delays” in Covid jabs. French president Emmanuel Macron has vowed to avoid “unjustifiable delays” in efforts to immunise citizens against Covid-19 following criticism over the slow pace of the inoculation campaign.
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Boris Johnson warns of “hard struggle” in months ahead in New Year message. The prime minister reflected on the past 12 months during which “we lost too many loved ones before their time” because of the pandemic, but said the UK will bounce back from coronavirus in 2021.
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Brazil detects two cases of new coronavirus variant found in UK. A Brazilian lab said it has detected two cases of the new coronavirus variant that has spread rapidly in Britain, and urged reinforcement of quarantine measures for travellers coming from Europe.
- Ontario minister who flouted Covid advice to take Caribbean holiday resigns. The finance minister for Canada’s most populous province has resigned after going on a Caribbean vacation during the pandemic and apparently trying to hide the fact by sending social media posts showing him in a sweater before a fireplace.
- Wisconsin police arrest hospital worker suspected of intentionally spoiling Covid vaccine doses. Police in Wisconsin said they had arrested a hospital employee who was fired after being suspected of intentionally spoiling hundreds of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Brazil reported 56,773 additional confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, and 1,074 deaths from the virus.
It was the third day in a row with more than 1,000 deaths in a resurgence of the pandemic in the South American country.
Brazil has registered 7,675,973 cases since the pandemic began in March, while the official death toll has risen to 194,949, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the US and India.
Updated
Canada will require air travellers aged five and above to test negative for Covid-19 before arrival, starting 7 January, transport minister Marc Garneau said, as the country tightens travel restrictions amid soaring coronavirus cases.
Passengers will need to have a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours prior to their scheduled departure to Canada, after social media images of unmasked Canadian tourists abroad prompted calls for stricter measures to curb the virus.
Documentation showing a negative result must be shown to the airline before boarding a flight to Canada, Garneau said.
Pre-departure testing will not eliminate a mandatory 14-day quarantine for arrivals, in a blow to Canada’s airlines which had been pushing for a negative result to be accepted as an alternative to such restrictions.
“The announcement only addresses one element of the path forward: the utilisation of testing to help further protect public health,” said Mike McNaney, president of National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents large carriers such as Air Canada.
“We strongly believe it must also be utilised in conjunction with measures to reduce quarantine levels,” he said.
The new measures add to Canada’s existing restrictions, which deny non-essential foreigners entry and where citizens returning from abroad are required to quarantine.
Canada would also increase surveillance to ensure travellers entering Canada complete their quarantine, Garneau said.
Canada reported on Thursday a total of 572,982 cases of Covid-19, as new cases surged in its most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec.
On Tuesday, Quebec urged the federal government to require Covid-19 testing for residents returning from year-end vacations, as hospitals wrestle with growing cases in the province.
Updated
Thousands of new year revellers packed into the centre of Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid-19 was first detected, cheering and releasing balloons to welcome in 2021.
Police erected fences to try to prevent congestion around the city’s Customs House clock tower, but the measure was ineffective because of the large turnout of mainly young people.
“2020 has been a very difficult year for us because we have experienced the epidemic, especially in Wuhan, which is an unforgettable experience for us,” local resident Xu Du told AFP.
Most of the crowd wore masks for the celebrations on Thursday evening, which included a light show.
Wuhan was put under a strict lockdown for more than two months from late January, but has returned to normal life since the summer. Schools fully reopened in September.
“China has controlled the epidemic very well now,” said reveller Li Yusu. “But there are still some other countries suffering from the virus. I hope other countries can get through this difficulty as soon as possible.”
China has faced widespread criticism over its initial handling of the virus, which emerged in Wuhan, in the central province of Hubei, in December 2019.
The country has been accused of covering up the outbreak and allowing the virus to spread internationally.
Beijing has also recently attempted to cast doubts on whether Covid-19 originated in Wuhan.
On Monday, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was jailed for four years for reporting on conditions inside Wuhan during the height of the outbreak.
The city of 11 million people was forced into a tough lockdown from January to April and about 4,000 people died, according to Chinese figures.
Updated
US CDC reports record 3,764 coronavirus deaths in a day
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a record daily rise of 3,764 Covid-19 deaths, taking its total to 341,199.
The agency said the number of cases had risen by 230,337 to 19,663,976.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
World Health Organization lists Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use
The World Health Organization has listed the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency use, saying the move opens the door for countries to expedite their own approvals to import and give the shot.
Dr Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director general for Access to Medicines and Health Products, said:
This is a very positive step towards ensuring global access to Covid-19 vaccines.
But I want to emphasise the need for an even greater global effort to achieve enough vaccine supply to meet the needs of priority populations everywhere.
The Pfizer/BioNTech #COVID19 vaccine today became the first vaccine to receive WHO validation for emergency use since the outbreak began.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 31, 2020
Equitable global access to vaccines is crucial to combat the pandemic.
👉 https://t.co/7WNcHhc3z8 pic.twitter.com/Kyjv5RNzjB
The WHO, together with the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), are spearheading a global effort called COVAX to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, to help make sure that shots do not go only to wealthy nations.
The COVAX alliance has said it has agreements for nearly 2bn doses, with first deliveries due in early 2021. The alliance has said it has been in talks with Pfizer and BioNTech to secure its vaccine.
Pfizer/BioNTech’s messenger RNA vaccine was 95% effective at preventing disease symptoms after two doses 21 days apart. Delivery is challenging, since it needs to be stored at -70C.
The vaccine has previously been approved for emergency use in the US and Britain, and has conditional marketing approval in the EU and Switzerland, among other countries, where distribution of shots concentrating on older people and healthcare workers began in December.
Updated
The Slovak government ordered ski resorts and hotels to close and banned travel between districts at an emergency session on New Year’s Eve, after new coronavirus cases hit a record high and hospitals filled up with patients.
The new restrictions, taking effect from 1 January, also ordered home working where possible, banned visits between families and ordered the closure of churches.
People will be allowed to leave home only for work or essential errands, or walks within their own district, the country’s health minister and chief public health officer told a televised news conference.
The measures will last until 24 January.
The central European country of 5.5 million reported a new high of 6,315 new cases on Thursday detected by laboratory PCR tests, and another 5,954 cases from rapid-result antigen tests.
There were 2,946 Covid-19 patients in hospitals as of Thursday. An expert group has warned that the healthcare system’s capacities, including personnel and lung ventilators, could run out within two weeks.
Updated
The UK’s chief medical officers have defended plans to delay giving the second dose of a Covid vaccine to more than 500,000 people who have received the first jab after an outcry among doctors.
Recipients of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had previously been told there would be a three-week gap between doses, with many already booked in for their second jab.
But the government announced a change to its Covid vaccination strategy on Wednesday, saying second doses of the newly approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and the previously approved Pfizer/BioNTech jab would now be given up to 12 weeks after the first dose.
The move applies to people scheduled to have their second dose of the Pfizer jab after 4 January, as well as those yet to receive either jab. The government said it hoped the approach would mean as many people as possible would soon have some protection against the disease.
The new regime was backed by the chief medical officers of the four UK nations, with instructions given to health service leaders in England by NHS bosses on Wednesday to postpone many of the scheduled second Pfizer/BioNTech jabs.
The announcement caused controversy, however. Pfizer and BioNTech warned that two doses of their vaccine were required for maximum protection against Covid and that they did not have evidence that the first dose alone offered protection after three weeks.
Updated
The Guardian’s editorial on Covid science and why we should follow the example of the Chinese professor whose selfless decision to share his breakthrough led to the medical miracle of a vaccine.
There are many people deserving of praise for selfless acts during the past 12 months. But one person whose act of scientific generosity ought to be remembered is Zhang Yongzhen.
The scientist, who works out of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, was the first to map the whole genome sequence of Sars-CoV-2. He did so on 5 January 2020 and hoped to share it with researchers by uploading his work to the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
The professor knew he was dealing with a deadly virus – but he had no idea how dangerous. The pathogen has killed more than 1.7 million people and shut down nations, leaving a trail of economic disruption.
Concerned that the NCBI would take its time, the scientist sanctioned the sequence’s global public release via an Australian colleague. On 11 January, when Wuhan recorded its first Covid death, the virus’s genomic sequence was posted on an open access site.
The 28,000 letters of Covid’s genetic code allowed Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, Moderna and BioNTech to design their vaccines in days. Testing took the rest of the year. To go from an unknown lethal new virus to an approved vaccine in months is a medical miracle.
Updated
Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis, 85, has received his Covid-19 vaccination at a GP-led community vaccination site at Mendip District Council offices in Shepton Mallet.
The Somerset dairy farmer said:
It is amazing to be in one of the first groups of people to have the Covid-19 vaccine in Somerset.
It is really important that everyone takes the opportunity to have the free vaccine when it is offered to them - it is our only real chance of protecting ourselves and our friends and family from this disease.
As far as the festival is concerned, wouldn’t it be wonderful to get the majority of our population vaccinated before June 2021, so that we can celebrate next summer in proper ‘Glastonbury style’.
Eavis thanked staff and volunteers at the vaccination centre, which he described as “very well organised”.
Key London hospital preparing for Covid-only care as cases surge
One of London’s biggest hospitals has warned that it is on track to become virtually Covid-only amid a surge in cases in the capital that has left it scrambling to convert operating theatres, surgical recovery areas and stroke wards into intensive care units for the very sick.
As the Covid case numbers in the UK continued an apparently inexorable rise, hitting 55,892, with 23,813 in hospitals and 964 reported deaths, the chief executive of University College London Hospitals trust, Prof Marcel Levi, said admissions were already spiraling beyond the first wave in the spring.
Every hospital in London was facing the same demands on beds and staff, and UCLH was taking admissions from other hospitals that were less well able to cope, he told the Guardian.
“This is much more than we had in March and April,” said Levi, an acute medicine doctor. The 500-bed hospital has 220 Covid patients, with the numbers increasing by 5% a day, but the real pressure is on intensive care where there are now 70 very sick patients, as there were in the spring, and rising fast.
“Usually in our ITU we have about 35 patients so we are already doubled in size at UCLH. We are further surging upon the request of London to 92 patients in the next week, and thereafter probably we will have to grow even further,” he said.
At UCLH, whole floors are having to be dismantled and rebuilt to the standards required for intensive care wards. As they did in March, they have had to convert five floors and equip them with oxygen and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines that help people breathe.
Updated
A holiday season uptick in coronavirus infections will give Colombia a rocky start to 2021, health minister Fernando Ruiz said, while doctors called for quarantines in hard-hit areas.
“We’re going to have difficulties in the first two weeks of January,” Ruiz said during an interview with Colombia’s Caracol Radio, where he attributed growth in coronavirus cases to people mixing over the festive season.
The country has reported more than 1.6 million cases of coronavirus and close to 43,000 deaths. The number of active cases stands at more than 80,000, according to the health ministry.
Coronavirus cases in Colombia have ticked upwards over the holidays with an all time high of 14,941 new cases reported on 25 December, the last of four new daily infection records reported in seven days.
“We’re seeing very important growth in cases following relaxation of (biosecurity) measures, especially in December,” Ruiz said.
Rising infection numbers have prompted authorities in some cities to declare curfews, bans on alcohol sales, and limits to when people can shop - based on their national identity number- over the holiday period.
However, current restrictions might not be enough and the government should again impose mandatory isolation measures in areas with high levels of coronavirus cases, Dr Tatiana Espinosa, president of the Colombian Association of Internal Medicine (ACMI), told Reuters.
On Wednesday the ACMI issued an open letter calling on authorities to implement measures to help slow the spread of the disease.
“We agree there should be a new period of isolation, for at least two weeks,” Espinosa said, adding authorities would need to decide if such measures were performed nationally or just in the most affected regions.
“We cannot throw away everything we have previously achieved,” she said.
Updated
Ontario minister who flouted Covid advice to take Caribbean holiday resigns
Ontario’s finance minister Rod Phillips has resigned after public outrage over a Caribbean holiday he took this month in violation of his own government’s coronavirus travel warnings.
Phillips, a member of the ruling Progressive Conservative party in the Canadian province, admitted this week he had travelled to the French island of St Barts on 13 December after the legislative session ended.
Federal and provincial leaders across Canada have urged the public to avoid non-essential travel because of the pandemic.
“Today, following my conversation with Rod Phillips, I have accepted his resignation as Ontario’s minister of finance,” Ontario premier Doug Ford said.
“At a time when the people of Ontario have sacrificed so much, today’s resignation is a demonstration that our government takes seriously our obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
Ford admitted he had known for weeks that his finance minister – who faked social media posts to conceal his location – had ignored the coronavirus lockdown to go on holiday in the Caribbean.
Posts on Phillips’s social media accounts suggested he remained home over Christmas.
Ford said he has asked Peter Bethlenfalvy to step into the finance minister’s role and deliver the government’s 2021 budget in addition to his current role as president of the province’s treasury board.
Phillips served as Ontario’s minister of the environment before becoming finance minister as part of a 2019 cabinet reshuffle.
He returned to Canada on Thursday and apologised for his actions. Ontario, home to Canada’s industrial and manufacturing heartland, began a lockdown on 26 December to curb the spread of the virus.
Updated
New York City’s Times Square was barricaded on Thursday, with only a handful of invited guests, including health care workers and others from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, allowed in to watch the New Year’s Eve ball drop in person.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said everyone else should stay home and watch the pared-down festivities on television; scores of events around the US have been similarly curtailed or moved online.
Tens of thousands of people usually fill the blocks around Times Square, standing for hours in the cold at the focal point of US New Year’s Eve celebrations, waiting for a crystal ball to slowly descend in the year’s final seconds.
Police will allow in only a few dozen this year, with masks and no sign of fever required for entry. Among them will be the Bronx-born singer Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Gaynor, who is due to sing her disco classic I Will Survive for a few dozen frontline workers and their families.
Organisers have invited a grocery store worker, a building doorman, a pizza delivery man and doctors and nurses, including Sandra Lindsay, the New York nurse this month who became the first recipient of a coronavirus vaccine in the US outside trials.
More than 25,000 New Yorkers were killed by Covid-19 this year: back in spring, the city grappled with what was the world’s deadliest outbreak at the time.
“It’s going to be actually, arguably, the most special, the most poignant, the most moving New Year’s Eve,” de Blasio, who will push the button to start the crystal ball’s descent, told reporters. “In 2021, we’re going to show people what it looks like to recover, to come back.”
As new daily case tallies continue to rise across the US, bars and restaurants and other gathering places are closed or have sharply limited capacity.
In Las Vegas, Boston and beyond, official fireworks displays have been cancelled.
Updated
Brazil detects two cases of new coronavirus variant found in UK
A Brazilian lab said it has detected two cases of the new coronavirus variant that has spread rapidly in Britain, and urged reinforcement of quarantine measures for travellers coming from Europe.
Diagnostic medicine company Dasa said it had detected the SARS-CoV-2 strain B.1.1.7 through genetic sequencing done in partnership with Sao Paulo university’s tropical medicine institute.
“Sequencing confirmed that the new strain of the virus has arrived in Brazil,” said researcher Ester Sabino at the tropical medicine institute.
The new variant has rapidly become the dominant strain in cases of Covid-19 in parts of southern England, and has been linked to an increase in hospitalisation rates. Australia, Italy and the Netherlands say they detected cases of the new strain.
Scientists say that, while it is not more lethal than the original strain, it is significantly more transmissible.
“Given its high transmission power, this result reinforces the importance of quarantine, and of maintaining isolation for 10 days, especially for those who are coming or just arrived from Europe,” Sabino said.
The French health ministry has reported 19,927 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, down from Wednesday’s more than one-month high of 26,457 but still far from the government’s target of fewer than 5,000 daily additional infections.
France, which has been criticised for a vaccination campaign seen as too slow, saw the number of people hospitalised for the disease fall for the third day running, relieving some stress on the healthcare system.
France’s cumulative total of cases now stands at 2,620,425, the fifth-highest in the world.
The seven-day moving average of new infections stands at 13,274.
The Covid-19 death toll was up by 251, to a total of 64,632, versus a seven day moving average of 338.
Updated
Boris Johnson warns of "hard struggle" in months ahead in New Year message
Boris Johnson has said the UK faces a “hard struggle” in the coming months, but the country will bounce back from coronavirus in 2021.
In his new year message, the prime minister reflected on the past 12 months during which “we lost too many loved ones before their time” because of the pandemic.
But he said a “spirit of togetherness” was rediscovered in 2020, in which people “pulled the stops out to keep the country moving in the biggest crisis we have faced for generations”.
Johnson praised scientists who produced the world’s first effective treatment for coronavirus, as well as those who worked on the Oxford vaccine.
We know that we have a hard struggle still ahead of us for weeks and months, because we face a new variant of the disease that requires a new vigilance.
But as the sun rises tomorrow on 2021, we have the certainty of those vaccines.
Referencing the end of the Brexit transition period, the prime minister said the UK would be “free to do things differently, and if necessary better, than our friends in the EU” in 2021.
He said the UK would “work with partners around the world, not just to tackle climate change but to create the millions of high-skilled jobs this country will need not just this year - 2021 - as we bounce back from Covid, but in the years to come”.
“This is an amazing moment for this country. We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it.
“And I think it will be the overwhelming instinct of the people of this country to come together as one United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland working together to express our values around the world.”
Updated
The mayor of London has criticised UK prime minister Boris Johnson for a lack of communication over coronavirus restrictions in the capital going into the new year.
Sadiq Khan said other mayors were “shocked and surprised” he was not in regular contact with the prime minister. He said:
I’m unclear why the prime minister doesn’t think it is sensible to speak to the mayor of a city with a population larger than Scotland and Wales added together.
I think by working together we can have a real impact in preventing loss of life but also livelihoods.
Khan said he had made the decision to cancel public fireworks in London this year to encourage people to stay home and stay safe.
“Normally on New Year’s Eve we have fantastic fireworks on the banks of the River Thames, seen by hundreds of thousands in person and millions across the world,” he said.
Addressing Londoners directly he added: “(This year) I’m imploring people to stay at home with your bubble, with your household. That’s the easiest way you can make a difference and save lives.”
A special programme will be broadcast instead on the BBC to “bring in the new year with a celebration of hope”, Khan said. “The best view of it will be from your own home.”
Khan added it was “nonsensical” that some primary school pupils were being told to return next week, while others in different London boroughs had been instructed to stay at home.
He said he had written to the prime minister about the “shambolic” decision and added that he was “angry” local leaders had not been consulted.
“This is not the way to run schools in our city and our country, and it’s another example of the chaotic and shambolic way that the government has dealt with this pandemic - it is outrageous,” he said.
Updated
On Wednesday, health secretary Matt Hancock announced an extension of tier 4 across swathes of England with almost eight in 10 of the population now living under such restrictions.
However, a document released on Thursday from the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), and dated to 22 December, suggests further action may be needed in light of the new, highly transmissible variant of coronavirus.
“It is highly unlikely that measures with stringency and adherence in line with the measures in England in November (i.e. with schools open) would be sufficient to maintain R below 1 in the presence of the new variant,” the document states.
“R would be lower with schools closed,” it adds.
The document also states it is unclear whether an even stricter lockdown, akin to that in the spring, would bring R below 1 with the new variant present.
“The introduction of Tier 4 measures in England combined with the school holidays will be informative of the strength of measures required to control the new variant but analysis of this will not be possible until mid-January,” the team wrote.
Prof Kamlesh Khunti, who sits on Sage and is also a member of the Independent Sage group of experts, said the whole country should be in a tier 4 lockdown given the high rates of hospital admissions nationally.
“Having different Tiers may cause confusion among people and even complacency in regions in lower Tier lockdowns. In view of such high rates of infections we have seen over the last few days, it would also be wise to have closure of schools and monitor the infections rates and hospitalisation rates and then open when reasonable to do so,” he said.
But another Sage expert, speaking off the record, said nothing was inevitable noting that the group had stressed the need for national measures in September, and that London needed to be in tier 3 from early December, yet the government had not taken such steps at that time.
Updated
Macron pledges no "unjustifiable delays" in Covid jabs
French president Emmanuel Macron has vowed to avoid “unjustifiable delays” in efforts to immunise citizens against Covid-19 following criticism over the slow pace of the inoculation campaign.
But in his New Year’s address to the nation Macron also struck a defensive note, saying he would let “no one play with the safety” of the vaccination drive.
With France’s vaccination programme so far paling in comparison to many other EU countries, Macron - who has himself just recovered from Covid-19 - is under pressure to step up the pace.
Since Sunday, fewer than 200 people have been given the Pfizer/BioNTech jab in France, compared to 78,000 in Germany.
The government had defended the pace, saying officials were taking time to win over a vaccine-sceptical nation by giving patients time to consider their choices.
But shortly before Macron’s speech, health minister Olivier Véran announced plans to expand the campaign which so far has solely targeted care home residents and health workers aged over 65.
Véran said that from Monday health workers aged over 50 could also get the jab - much sooner than initially planned.
The race to immunise the population gained increased urgency following the announcement on Thursday that a South African variant of coronavirus, feared to be more contagious, had been detected in France.
The news came less than a week after France confirmed it had also recorded its first case of a new strain blamed for a spike of infections in Britain.
The pandemic has claimed 64,632 lives in France, where bars, restaurants and cultural and sporting venues remain closed two weeks after the end of a second nationwide lockdown.
“This year 2020 has been difficult,” Macron, who was forced by the virus to put his reform drive on the back burner, acknowledged. “But together we emerge more united.”
Updated
Just under half of all major hospital trusts in England have more Covid-19 patients than at the peak of the first wave of the virus, latest figures show.
Some 64 out of 140 acute NHS trusts were recording a higher number of Covid-19 patients at 8am on 30 December than at any point between mid-March and the end of May.
This includes 11 of the 14 acute trusts in eastern England and 12 of the 19 acute trusts in south-east England.
The figures, which have been published on the government’s coronavirus dashboard, also show that 42 of the 140 acute trusts had more Covid-19 patients on 30 December than at any point since the pandemic began.
Updated
About 50 countries around the world have started vaccinating their people against Covid-19 - here’s a quick snapshot:
China was the first to start vaccinations over the summer, without waiting for a vaccine to be formally authorised, targeting the most vulnerable.
To date nearly 5 million Chinese people have been vaccinated. Beijing on Thursday granted “conditional” market approval to a Sinopharm vaccine with a reported 79% efficacy rate against Covid-19.
Russia followed on 5 December, rolling out vaccinations for those considered high risk with its contentious Sputnik V vaccine, which has since been approved in Belarus and Argentina, which launched their vaccination campaigns on Tuesday.
Algeria is set to follow them in January.
Britain led the way in the Western world, authorising the vaccine made by US-German pharma alliance Pfizer/BioNTech. Its vaccination campaign started on 8 December and by 27 December, close to 950,000 people had received their jabs, according to official figures published on Thursday.
Britain on Wednesday was also the first to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. It will be administered for the first time on 4 January.
Canada and the US started their vaccination drives on 14 December, Switzerland on the 23rd, Serbia the 24th, the vast majority of the EU on 27 December, Norway on Sunday and Iceland on Tuesday. All of them are using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The US and Canada are also the first two countries to have authorised the vaccine by US pharma company Moderna, which is up for approval on 6 January by the EU.
Around 2.8 million Americans have already been given their first dose of the Covid-19 jab. In the 27-nation EU, Germany has so far given the most injections, with more than 130,000 in five days.
In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates were the first to launch their vaccination campaign with doses of China’s Sinopharm on 14 December in the capital Abu Dhabi. Dubai started its vaccinations on 23 December, using doses of Pfizer/BioNTech.
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain launched their campaigns on 17 December, Israel two days later, Qatar on the 23rd, Kuwait the 24th, and Oman on 27 December.
All are solely using the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, except for Bahrain which is also using China’s Sinopharm.
Israel, which has set itself the ambitious goal of inoculating a quarter of its population in a month, has already injected nearly 800,000 people. Bahrain has vaccinated nearly 60,000 and Oman more than 3,000.
Turkey, which has received doses of China’s Sinovac, will launch its vaccination drive in mid-January.
In Latin America, Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica were the first to launch, on 24 December, jabs with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
In Asia, Singapore launched its campaign on Wednesday with the same vaccine.
Other countries on the Asian continent however have decided to take their time: India, Japan and Taiwan plan to begin vaccinations in the first quarter of 2021 and the Philippines and Pakistan in the second quarter, while Afghanistan and Thailand plan to start in mid-2021.
In sub-Saharan Africa and in Oceania vaccinations have yet to start. But in West Africa, Guinea this week administered its first few doses of Russia’s Sputnik V on a trial basis.
Updated
About 4,000 additional positive tests for Covid-19 in the last two to three days in Ireland have yet to be formally confirmed, meaning the situation is worse than recent record daily figures suggest, a senior health official said.
Ireland reported more than 1,500 cases for the third day in a row on Thursday. To relieve extreme pressure on the testing system, asymptomatic close contacts of confirmed cases will no longer be advised to get tested and will instead be asked to restrict their movements for 14 days.
The head of Ireland’s Covid-19 modelling group, Philip Nolan, said the total number of people in hospital with Covid-19 will likely double to between 700 and 1,000 people by early January, potentially surpassing the first wave peak.
That could reach an “intolerable” 1,500 to 2,000 patients if the virus is not suppressed, he said.
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, I’ll be taking over the blog for the next few hours - the last coronavirus blog of 2020 wrapping up what has been a truly unprecedented year for the world as we’ve tackled the global pandemic.
I’ve just been looking back at the first coronavirus live blog I contributed to at the end of January, which includes headlines such as “First confirmed case in the Middle East” and “130 people tested for coronavirus in the UK” - what feels like a lifetime ago. Since then we’ve had nearly 83m cases globally, over 1.8m deaths and countless lockdowns and travel restrictions which have completely transformed the world we live in.
This timeline is a great summary of just how much things have changed since doctors in Wuhan met on 31 December 2019 to discuss two dozen patients with “pneumonia of unknown cause”.
As always, if you’d like to get in touch, here are my details:
Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_
A summary of today's developments
- The UK government said a further 964 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, bringing the total to 73,512. Covid-19 case rates are continuing to rise in all regions of England, according to the latest weekly surveillance report from Public Health England.
- Portugal’s daily number of coronavirus cases reached a record high of 7,627 on Thursday as the country prepared for a subdued New Year’s Eve with an 11 pm curfew and no travel between municipalities.
- All travellers entering Norway will have to take a Covid-19 test upon arrival, or up to 24 hours after, from 2 January, the country’s justice ministry said. To stop the spread of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain, travellers from any point of origin will need to enter Norway at designated entry points where testing is available, with smaller border crossings to be closed, it added.
- Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rose by 239 in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed on Thursday, bringing the total number of deaths to 20,881. The number of new cases stood at 14,380 over the same period, bringing total cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 2,208,652.
- Scotland has recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began for the third day in a row. A total of 2,622 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, following 2,045 cases reported on Wednesday and 1,895 on Tuesday.
- France has detected its first case of the South African variant of coronavirus, the health ministry said. The 501.V2 Variant was detected by South African authorities in mid-December.
- China has reported the first imported case of the new variant of the coronavirus that was detected in the UK earlier this month, according to the China CDC publication.
- Slovakia reported 6,315 new cases of coronavirus, the highest daily number so far, the government said. The country of 5.5 million has recorded 179,543 cases so far, and 2,138 deaths, Reuters reports.
Updated
More than 940,000 people in the UK have received a Covid-19 vaccine as of December 27, the Department of Health said.
A total of 944,539 people were given a first dose between December 9 and 27, including 786,000 in England, 92,188 in Scotland, 35,335 in Wales and 31,016 in Northern Ireland.
Further results of clinical trials of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine have been released, with the US firm saying it “exhibited a favourable tolerability and safety profile”.
The phase three trial results showed the vaccine to have 94.1% efficacy at preventing Covid-19 illness, including severe disease, as previously reported.
The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed no serious safety concerns were identified.
The UK government signed a deal for seven million doses of the vaccine, much fewer than numbers for the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech jabs.
The Moderna deal is enough for around 3.5 million people, who would each receive two doses.
More than 30,000 volunteers were randomly assigned to receive either the vaccine - known as mRNA-1273 - or a placebo.
The journal paper said symptomatic Covid-19 illness was confirmed in 185 participants in the placebo group and 11 in the vaccine group.
Severe Covid-19 happened in 30 participants, with one fatality - all of whom were in the placebo group, the paper said.
Moderna said “solicited systemic adverse events” occurred more often in the vaccine group than the placebo group and were most commonly headache, fatigue and muscle pain.
The firm said the majority of adverse events happened within the first one to two days after injection and generally persisted for around one or two days.
They said safety data will continue to be collected and all participants will be monitored for two years after their second dose to assess long-term protection and safety.
Children in Wales are to return to school on a staggered basis from next week as planned, the Welsh Government said.
The new term is set to begin on Monday January 4.
Many schools across Wales will only be open to vulnerable learners and the children of key workers in the first week of term.
Schools are expected to provide face-to-face learning for the majority of their pupils by January 11, with a full return in the days before January 18, officials said.
A Welsh Government spokesman said pupils were expected to receive “remote learning” when they were not physically in school.
Any changes to plans for in-person teaching will be based “on the latest scientific advice”, the spokesman added.
Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rose by 239 in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Thursday, bringing the total number of deaths to 20,881.
The number of new cases stood at 14,380 over the same period, bringing total cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 2,208,652.
Ankara has imposed full weekend lockdowns and weekday curfews to try to curb infections.
Turkey will also be on lockdown from 9pm on 31 December to 5am on 4 January as part of the measures.
Updated
UK surpasses 73,000 deaths
The UK government said a further 964 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, bringing the UK total to 73,512.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 89,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
The government said that, as of 9am on Thursday, there had been a further 55,892 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 2,488,780.
UK registers 964 Covid-related deaths
The UK has registered 964 Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours – slightly down from yesterday.
New cases are continuing to go up, with 55,892 people testing positive since yesterday.
• This entry was amended on 1 January 2020. The number of deaths was a decrease on the previous day’s figures, not an increase as a previous version said.
Updated
This year is set to be one of the deadliest on record, with more than 610,000 deaths expected in England and Wales.
It will be a number of months until the final figures are available, however existing data from the Office for National Statistics indicates approximately 80,000 more people died in 2020 than in 2019.
More than 592,000 fatalities had been recorded as of December 18, but a further 4,000 Covid-19 deaths have occurred since and two weeks of data has yet to be added to the total.
The crude mortality rate is likely to rise above 10 deaths per 1,000 people in 2020 compared with 8.9 in the previous year.
The death toll is on track to be similar to that of the 1918 flu pandemic, when 611,861 people died, the highest number of annual deaths in England and Wales on record.
However the crude mortality rate was closer to 16 deaths per 1,000 people in 1918, when approximately 38.4 million people lived in England and Wales, compared with 59.4 million today.
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France detects first case of South African variant of Covid-19
France has detected its first case of the South African variant of coronavirus, the health ministry said.
The 501.V2 variant was detected by South African authorities in mid-December.
Cases have since been found in Japan and Britain among others.
The variant, believed to be more easily transmitted, like another version found in Britain, was discovered in France in a man who had returned from South Africa to his home in the Haut-Rhin region, which borders Switzerland.
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Italy reported 555 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 23,477 from 16,202.
There were 186,004 swab tests carried out in the past day, the ministry said, up from a previous 169,045.
Italy has recorded a total of 74,159 Covid-19 deaths since its outbreak came to light on 21 Febuary, giving it the highest toll in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.
Italy has also reported 2.107m cases to date, the health ministry said.
The number of patients in hospital with Covid stood at 23,151 on Thursday, down by 415 from the day before. There were 202 new admissions to intensive care units, compared with 175 on Wednesday.
The current number of intensive care patients rose by 27 – the first increase for at least a month – to 2,555, reflecting those who died or were discharged after recovery.
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The ambulance service is braced for delays, and hospitals have reached full capacity in Northern Ireland.
Overall bed occupancy is at 100%, with only six beds still empty, latest official figures show.
Paramedic chiefs have warned that Covid-19 staff sickness absences could delay answers to 999 calls at one of the busiest times of year.
Around 160 employees were off work for pandemic-related reasons.
Response times for less urgent cases were expected to increase and people could wait longer before their emergency calls were answered.
Meanwhile, schools will deliver remote learning in the first week of the new term after a return to classrooms was delayed due to spiralling infection rates.
A Northern Ireland ambulance service (NIAS) statement said: “Unfortunately, the NIAS emergency ambulance control room is currently experiencing absences due to Covid-19, and contingency planning to mitigate the potential risk to service disruption is ongoing.
This has put our service under even more pressure and we anticipate that callers to 999 may, at times, experience a delay in having their calls answered.
A further 11 people have died with Covid-19, Stormont’s Department of Health said. Another 1,929 individuals had tested positive.
Updated
Updated
Crowds of people filled the main square in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to watch a concert and fireworks show marking the new year, state media said, amid restrictions aimed at preventing a coronavirus outbreak.
State television showed participants wearing face masks but standing close together as they waved glowing lights and balloons in Kim Il Sung Square.
Performers – none of the them wearing protective masks – sang and danced on a stage decorated with a large, colourful “2021” sign. Costumes included traditional Korean “hanbok” dresses and sequined dance suits.
Giant snowmen characters clapped along as performers sang songs with patriotic refrains such as “glory to the general Kim Jong-un” and “I like my country the best”.
The event appeared to be smaller in scale than past years, said Colin Zwirko, a correspondent with Seoul-based NK News, which monitors North Korea.
Definitely a much smaller event than last year, judging by the low-key presentation and smaller crowd,” he wrote on Twitter.
North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases of coronavirus, though it has tested thousands of people, and the government has imposed near total border lockdowns and other strident measures to prevent an outbreak.
Officials in South Korea and the US have cast doubt on the claim that North Korea has had no cases.
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The Mexican president, Andres Manuel López Obrador, said the main part of the vaccination drive against coronavirus in Mexico will be completed by April.
I think that by April, the majority of us Mexicans, the most vulnerable, will have been vaccinated,” he told a regular government news conference.
Updated
Moderna has confirmed it will supply 40m doses of its Covid vaccine to the South Korean government, with deliveries starting in May.
The vaccine, which is authorised for emergency use in the US and Canada, is not currently approved in South Korea.
The company said it would work with regulators to pursue an approval prior to the distribution of the vaccine.
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The European Union medicines watchdog said the German company BioNTech has applied for clearance in the 27-nation bloc to administer up to six doses of its Covid-19 vaccine from each vial, instead of the five doses currently approved.
In an email to the Associated Press, the European Medicines Agency said BioNTech, which developed its vaccine with Pfizer, has “submitted a request for change” which will be reviewed by the agency’s human medicines committee “in the shortest possible timeframe”.
It said if the committee establishes that six doses can be consistently extracted from each vial of vaccine, it will recommend changing the authorisation that clears the vaccine for use in EU nations.
Updated
Portugal records unprecedented number of cases
Portugal’s daily number of coronavirus cases reached a record high of 7,627 on Thursday as the country prepared for a subdued New Year’s Eve, with an 11pm curfew and no travel between municipalities.
The country, which has so far registered 413,678 cases and 6,906 deaths from the virus, eased restrictions around Christmas but has cracked down again on New Year’s Eve, with a ban on public gatherings, an 11pm curfew tonight and a 1pm curfew from 1-3 January.
Cases had risen to 6,049 on Wednesday from 3,336 on Tuesday, but the prime minister, António Costa, said it was too early to say if this was a result of the Christmas easing of rules.
“In the second week of January we will be able to evaluate the impact of Christmas,” Costa said.
“We happily lightened the restrictions but now we need a period of containment to evaluate the results.”
Updated
Police and federal authorities in the US are investigating after a Wisconsin health centre said an employee admitted to deliberately spoiling 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine.
Aurora medical centre first reported that the doses has been spoiled on Saturday, saying they had been accidentally left out unrefrigerated overnight by an employee in Grafton. The health centre said the doses of vaccine now appeared to have been deliberately spoiled.
Police in Grafton, about 20 miles (32km) north of Milwaukee, said in a statement that the department, the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration were investigating the case.
In a statement, Aurora said the employee involved “acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration.”
Aurora said it had fired the employee and referred the matter to the authorities. The statement said nothing about a possible motive for the action.
We continue to believe that vaccination is our way out of the pandemic. We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine.
Updated
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has elected to spend the last day of the year on Lesbos, the site of the ongoing refugee crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The island and other eastern Aegean outposts is among the top 10 regions in Greece with the highest coronavirus caseloads.
Following the devastating fires in September that destroyed Moria, Lesbos’s notoriously overcrowded holding centre, about 7,500 asylum seekers are being temporarily housed in a controversial tent camp outside the port capital, Mytilene.
Visiting the installation, Mitsotakis said plans were on course to replace the facility with a permanent structure in the new year.
The camp has been described as a disaster by local NGOs, with Covid-19 restrictions, which have been in place for most of 2020, exacerbating what psycho-social support experts have described as a mental health crisis among refugees on Greece’s frontline islands.
Mitsotakis said:
We had said we would close Moria. Of course we didn’t expect it to close in the way it did, but it finally did close and it was for the best.
We had made the joint decision with the president of the European commission to find a [new] location that local actors would agree on – or at least most would agree with – and I am happy that this has been achieved … so we can move ahead with a permanent structure, that will be much better than this.
Refugees have been especially hard hit by government measures aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus, with only a limited number allowed out of camps at any one time.
Updated
Case rates in England remain highest among 30- to 39-year-olds, Public Health England said.
The rate in this age group stood at 557.5 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to 27 December, up week-on-week from 495.4.
Among 20- to 29-year-olds, the rate rose from 498.6 to 539.5, and for 40- to 49-year-olds it rose from 465.9 to 527.3.
Rates fell slightly among five- to nine-year-olds, 10- to 19-year-olds, and people aged 80 and over.
The lowest rates were recorded among those aged four and under (150.6) and five to nine (167.2).
Updated
Scotland records its highest number of cases
Scotland has recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began for the third day in a row.
A total of 2,622 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, following 2,045 cases reported on Wednesday and 1,895 on Tuesday.
Another 68 fatalities were also reported on Thursday, bringing the death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 4,578.
Seven Covid-19 deaths were recorded between 25 and 29 December 25 and December 29 – though the government noted that register offices had been closed over the public holidays – with a further 43 deaths on Wednesday.
The latest statistics also show a total of 127,453 people have tested positive in Scotland, up from 124,831 the previous day, with the daily test positivity rate at 10.1%. On Wednesday it was at 11.3%.
There are 1,174 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, with 70 in intensive care.
All of mainland Scotland and Skye remain under level 4 restrictions, while the other islands are in level 3.
Police Scotland and the Scottish government have warned people against Hogmanay gatherings to mark the new year as they could break restrictions and potentially spread the virus further.
Updated
Covid-19 case rates are continuing to rise in all regions of England, according to the latest weekly surveillance report from Public Health England.
London’s rate of new cases stood at 735.5 per 100,000 people in the seven days to 27 December, up from 711.9 in the previous week.
Eastern England saw the second highest rate (551.3, up from 510.8) followed by south-east England (450.6, up from 427.4).
Yorkshire & the Humber had the lowest rate: 188.3, up from 172.4.
Responding to the latest surveillance report figures, Public Health England medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle said:
The Christmas week saw a worrying rise in cases across every region of the country, particularly among adults in their 20s and 30s.
We must not now add further fuel to the fire, as meeting in close and large groups this New Year’s Eve risks further transmission.
The way we can beat this virus remains the same, whatever the variant. Reduce close contact with others and follow the guidance. Wash your hands, wear a mask and keep your distance.
Updated
A quarter of new cases of Covid-19 in Greater Manchester, England are of the new variant the region’s mayor has said, but preparations for mass vaccinations are well under way.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, spoke to reporters at a weekly briefing following meetings with public health bosses.
Burnham said the latest figures were taken from the week before Christmas so probably underplay the spread of the new strain across the region.
He said there is an “obvious marked change” compared to the week before Christmas with nine of the 10 boroughs in Greater Manchester seeing rises in Covid-19 cases but overall infection rates were below the England average.
Updated
Only about 2.8 million Americans had received a Covid-19 vaccine going into the last day of December, putting the United States far short of the government’s target to vaccinate 20 million people this month.
Shots are reaching nursing home residents at an even slower pace than others first in line even though they are most at risk of dying of the virus.
Only 170,000 people in long-term care facilities received a shot as of Wednesday even though 2.2 million doses were distributed for residents, according to data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 14 million doses of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines have been distributed to states so far, federal officials told reporters on Wednesday, shy of its goal to ship 20 million doses this month.
As late as early December, officials maintained they would have 40 million doses available this month, enough to vaccinate 20 million Americans with a two-dose regimen.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he saw “reasons to be hopeful for the year ahead” despite the grief of the pandemic in his New Year’s message.
The Most Rev Justin Welby reflected on his experience volunteering as an assistant chaplain at St Thomas’ hospital.
Speaking from Guys and St Thomas’ in central London, Welby said while 2020 had seen “tremendous pain and sadness”, he said there was hope in how people had cared for each other, from giving comfort in hospitals to wearing masks.
In his message, which will be broadcast on BBC One on January 1, he said:
This crisis has shown us how fragile we are. It has also shown us how to face this fragility.
Here at the hospital, hope is there in every hand that’s held, and every comforting word that’s spoken.
Up and down the country, it’s there in every phone call. Every food parcel or thoughtful card. Every time we wear our masks.
Updated
China reports first case of UK variant
China has reported the first imported case of the new variant of the coronavirus that was detected in the UK earlier this month, according to the China CDC publication.
Hungary will buy coronavirus vaccines through the EU procurement mechanism or directly from China because Russia cannot make enough of its rival vaccine to inoculate Hungary’s 10 million population, a senior official said.
Prime minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyás said Hungary would continue scientific cooperation with Russia over its Covid-19 vaccine but it would not be at the heart of its vaccination programme at this stage.
“Russia has inadequate manufacturing capacity,” Gulyás told broadcaster ATV.
“We are happy to partake in the testing, but vaccines en masse may come as part of the EU procurements or from China,” he added.
Hungary has participated in Russia’s testing efforts and was an early recipient of small batches of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, raising alarm among its European peers that it would bypass the EU’s approval mechanism.
Hungary received 6,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine earlier this week though it remained unclear how the shot would be administered and under what approval process.
Gulyás’s remarks were the first clear indication by a senior Hungarian official that Russia’s vaccine will not be used in Hungary’s mass inoculation programme for the time being.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which backs the vaccine’s development and which is responsible for its marketing abroad, denied Hungary had decided against any further purchases of the Russian vaccine.
“Hungary has already received the first batch of the vaccine on 28 December and we are ready to fully supply all of the vaccine required by Hungary in January - March of 2021,” it said in a statement.
“RDIF is working with regulators on the regulatory approvals in Hungary,” it said.
It acknowledged that Hungary may source vaccines from China or through the EU’s mechanism in addition to Sputnik V.
The Hungarian government has not committed to submitting vaccines it clears for use in Hungary to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for approval, saying it would use its own experts for testing and approval in line with EU emergency rules.
Updated
Norway announces new test rules for visitors
All travellers entering Norway will have to take a Covid-19 test upon arrival, or up to 24 hours after, from 2 January, the country’s justice ministry said.
To stop the spread of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain, travellers from any point of origin will need to enter Norway at designated entry points where testing is available, with smaller border crossings to be closed, it added.
Updated
England readying Nightingale hospitals as patient numbers rise
Nightingale hospitals across England are being “readied” for use if needed as Covid patient numbers rise.
The NHS in London has been asked to make sure the Excel centre site is “reactivated and ready to admit patients” as hospitals in the capital struggle.
Other Nightingale hospital sites across England include Manchester, Bristol, Sunderland, Harrogate, Exeter and Birmingham.
A spokesman for the NHS said:
Hospitals in London are coming under significant pressure from high Covid-19 infection rates and while staff are going the extra mile and the NHS in London is opening more beds in NHS hospitals across the capital to care for the most unwell patients, it is crucial that people do everything they can to reduce transmission of the virus.
In anticipation of pressures rising from the spread of the new variant infection, NHS London were asked to ensure the London Nightingale was reactivated and ready to admit patients as needed, and that process is under way.
Updated
A four-day lockdown is set to begin in Turkey at 9pm on New Year’s Eve in a bid to stem the spread of Covid-19 and measures against New Year’s gatherings are to be enforced.
Turkey’s president has warned parties will not be allowed and law enforcement officers will monitor for any violations. The interior ministry said gathering would be banned “not as a preference but as a necessity” for public health.
Istanbul’s governor said some 34,000 law enforcement personnel would be on duty to enforce the rules in Turkey’s most populous city. The interior ministry announced more than 208,000 officers would be working across the country and have set up thousands of control points.
Tourists, who have so far been exempt from lockdowns, will also not be allowed to go to symbolic squares and avenues.
Turkey has among the worst infection rates in the world but official statistics show the seven-day average of daily infections has dropped to around 16,000 from above 30,000 since evening curfews and weekend lockdowns were instituted in early December.
The total death toll to date is 20,642, according to health ministry statistics.
Updated
The new UK variant of the coronavirus, B117, is more transmissible than older variants, and appears to have a greater impact on those under 20 a new study has confirmed.
The research, led by scientists at Imperial College London and largely based on data relating to the second England lockdown, reveals the new variant has an R number 1.4-1.8 times larger than older variants. Put another way, the team says the R number for the new variant is between 0.4 and 0.7 higher than that of older variants.
The R number reflects the average number of people one infected person will go on to infect. If R is above 1, an epidemic can grow exponentially, whereas if R is below 1, the epidemic shrinks.
During the UK lockdown in the spring the R number fell to between 0.6 and 0.9 by the end of April. However, the new data suggests that such measures may not be enough to produce a similar effect for the new variant.
It would certainly be a close run thing,” Prof Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, told the Guardian, adding that if R for the new variant is 1.5 times higher than for older variants, “lockdown 1 might have still achieved control (1.5 x 0.6=0.9), making perhaps optimistic assumptions.”
A key factor, he added, is that it is not clear what effect closing schools and universities has on transmission – a strategy applied in the first lockdown, but not the second.
“The next two weeks will be critical, especially in the highest risk areas. If we see case numbers start to plateau and decline while schools and colleges remain closed, we will at least know that control is possible, even if at a high cost,” he said. “We’re in a very difficult place right now.”
Research published this month from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that even if tier 4 restrictions were applied across England from 26 December until 31 January, the R value of the new variant in England would not fall below 1.
Prof Axel Gandy of Imperial College London, said: “Until a very high proportion of the population has been vaccinated, strong social distancing measures are needed to control this more transmissible variant of Covid-19. Everybody that can be vaccinated should be vaccinated.”
Updated
When asked if the UK should be in a national lockdown rather than tier 4, Andy Street, the mayor for the West Midlands, said: “It would have been better if we had moved to tier 4 quickly after Christmas, and we do essentially have the same restrictions as during the second national lockdown. You can call it a national lockdown by another name, which is to be honest I think what we have got.”
“There is a real prospect that if we observe these restrictions (and I expect those areas in tier 3 to move to tier 4) we can come out and stay out. There is definitely the prospect of this being a final push.”
The Birmingham city council leader, Ian Ward, said:
It is obvious that throughout the last ten months the government has reacted late in the day. What we are now seeing is a creeping move towards a national lockdown.
Updated
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester in England, which went into tier 4 today, has suggested the government should scrap the tier system and move towards a “more national, clear and consistent message” in order to stop the spread of the new variant.
“Whether you call it a third national lockdown or not, it just seems to me that it’s sensible to put all parts of the country in tier 4 arrangements,” he said. Keeping shops open in tier 3 areas “creates an incentive for people to travel”, he added.
Cases are now on the rise in many Greater Manchester (GM) boroughs but are still well under the national English average of 374 cases per 100,000 people.
Positivity rates (the proportion of people who return a positive test) have increased “significantly” in Greater Manchester and are now at 10.3%, compared with 18% in London.
At least 25% of new cases in Greater Manchesterare attributable to the new highly infectious variant, he added, which is partly why local health experts supported the region being put into tier 4. “The view is that if we didn’t take action, we would see the very steep rise in cases that other parts of the country have seen.”
But he stressed the rise in cases is not simply because of the new strain but that “too many people are still doing too much mixing”.
Updated
There have been a further 1,831 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 148,537.
Public Health Wales reported another 65 deaths, taking the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 3,494.
A total of 35,335 people in Wales had received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as of December 27, figures have shown.
Public Health Wales said: “Data entry at time of reporting will be incomplete and the number of people actually vaccinated will be higher.”
US misses inoculation target as just 2.8m people get vaccine instead of 20m planned
Only about 2.8 million Americans had received a Covid-19 vaccine going into the last day of December, putting the US far short of the government’s target to vaccinate 20 million people this month.
About 14 million doses of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines have been distributed to states so far, federal officials told reporters on Wednesday.
In early December, officials maintained they would have 40 million doses available this month, enough to vaccinate 20 million Americans with a two-dose regimen.
Since then, officials have said they are committed to making enough doses available without commenting on targets for actual vaccinations as it has become clear that inoculations are falling short of the number of doses distributed.
“The rapid availability and distribution of so many doses with 20 million first doses allocated for distribution just 18 days after the first vaccine was granted emergency use authorisation is a testament to the success of Operation Warp Speed,” a US Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said in a statement.
Doses that have been allocated but not distributed will ship in January.
Updated
Guinea began vaccinating against Covid-19 with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on an experimental basis, starting with government officials, authorities said.
Guinea has ordered only 55 doses of the Russian vaccine, said Dr Sakoba Keita, the director-general of the National Health Security Agency.
“We requested a small quantity of the vaccine, 55 doses precisely. This is the beginning of an order,” Keita said.
“Yesterday we vaccinated in this pilot phase 25 senior officials of the state. There are 30 doses left and we will continue with the vaccination.”
Guinea is one of the first African nations to vaccinate its officials.
Updated
Responding to the UK’s education secretary Gavin Williamson’s confidence in the new staggered school return procedures in January, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary NEU union, said: “Serious questions have to be asked about the government’s plans for lateral flow testing in secondary schools and the readiness of schools and colleges to be able to get a system in place by 11 January to administer them.
“This is a very such a short lead-in time.
“There are also questions about the effectiveness of these tests in identifying Covid infection in young people who are highly likely to be asymptomatic, with the tests being supervised by non-medically trained volunteers.
“We do not think it likely that these tests alone can make our schools Covid-secure nor protect the communities they serve.”
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, accused the government of living “in a parallel universe” on the issue of setting up mass Covid testing in schools and colleges.
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Ian Ward, the Birmingham city council leader, told the West Midlands combined authority Covid briefing: “The decision on tiering systems, it’s not surprising that Birmingham enters tier 4 today.
“In fact, it was entirely predictable over a week ago. The government’s failure to act and move Birmingham into tier four on Boxing Day now means we will be dealing with the consequences, over the coming weeks.
“There remains a great deal of pressure on the NHS across the city and the rates of infection continue to increase.”
He added: “On the Birmingham-specific data, the seven-day case ranking Birmingham is now 318.1 cases are 100,000 of the population that compares to 210.3 that we reported on 18 of December.
“This data does not yet reflect the changing of restrictions. Over Christmas cases for all age groups have increased in the weekend the 27th of December, apart from the zero to 19 age group, which has remained the same.
“Cases have increased across all ethnic groups since the weekend the 25th of December. Asian ethnic group has the largest proportion of cases, with 44% of all cases.”
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During the West Midlands combined authority Covid briefing in England, Dr Lola Abudu, deputy director health and wellbeing at Public Health England Midlands, said:
And the last seven days there have been 110,419 new cases in England with 15,355 of these in the West Midlands. The total number of cases in the West Midlands since the pandemic began is now 222,497 cases and tragically 7,872 people have died in the region.
Tonight, people want to celebrate the end to this really awful year. I know that I would want to do that, but I really want to urge everybody to remember that Covid is the ultimate party animal, it spreads when people come together and it knows how to work the room.
Updated
Singapore reported five locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Thursday, its highest number in nearly three months, and was seeking to verify two others suspected of being infected by a highly contagious variant first discovered in Britain.
The two individuals believed to be infected with the B117 variant, which has prompted new travel curbs worldwide, had both arrived from Britain this month and had earlier tested negative, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
Those included a commercial airline pilot who developed coronavirus symptoms despite a negative test last week, and an individual who had tested positive despite earlier completing two weeks of quarantine.
“Epidemiological investigations are in progress,” the health ministry said on Wednesday.
“All the identified close contacts of the cases have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that we can detect asymptomatic cases.”
Though Singapore has recorded more than 58,000 infections and 29 coronavirus-related deaths overall, many were in outbreaks in crowded migrant dormitories.
Its locally transmitted cases have typically been less than a handful each week, with larger numbers imported and detected in quarantine. Singapore reported 25 new imported cases on Thursday.
It last week confirmed its first case of the variant first found in Britain and preliminary tests indicated 11 others in quarantine were also infected with it.
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Doctors’ union the British Medical Association (BMA) said advice that first doses of the Pfizer vaccine should be prioritised and second doses be done within 12 weeks was “grossly unfair” for patients whose imminent second jab appointments could be rescheduled.
Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the BMA GP committee, said: “This group of very elderly patients is at the highest risk of death if they contract Covid-19, which is why GPs are so concerned for them.
It is grossly and patently unfair to tens of thousands of our most at-risk patients to now try to reschedule their appointments. Local leaders are telling us that is unprofessional and impractical to amend the appointments for thousands of frail elderly patients, particularly those booked and who have already made arrangements to have their second vaccination in the next two weeks.
The decision to ask GPs, at such short notice, to rebook patients for three months hence will also cause huge logistical problems for almost all vaccination sites and practices.
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Test in trace in England records highest weekly total of positive tests
A total of 232,169 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to 23 December, according to the latest test and trace figures.
This is up 33% on the previous week and is the highest weekly total since test and trace began in May. However, just 16.9% of people who were tested for Covid-19 in England in the week ending 23 December at a regional site, local site or mobile testing unit - a so-called “in-person” test - received their result within 24 hours.
This is down from 34.1% in the previous week and is the lowest percentage since the week to 14 October.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, had pledged that, by the end of June, the results of all in-person tests would be back within 24 hours.
Of the 211,914 people transferred to the test and trace system in the same period, 85.8% were reached and asked to provide details of recent close contacts.
This is down from 88.6% in the previous week and is the lowest percentage since the week to 28 October.
Some 12.8% of people transferred to test and trace in the week to 23 December were not reached while a further 1.3% did not provide any communication details.
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The world risks a “moral catastrophe” if Covid-19 vaccinations are delayed in Africa while wealthier regions inoculate their entire populations, the head of the continent’s disease control body said.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hopes significant vaccination campaigns on the continent would begin in April, its head, John Nkengasong, told reporters.
“That’s a long way to go given that this virus transmits very quickly,” he said, adding that in Africa, “the second wave is here with a vengeance”.
Cases of the new coronavirus have increased by nearly 19% since last week and deaths increased by 26%, according to Africa CDC data. Africa has recorded 2.7 million coronavirus infections and 64,000 deaths as of Thursday, it says.
South Africa, where a new variant of the virus has been detected, recorded 82,000 cases in the past week, he said.
We cannot delay, we need those vaccines and need them now,” Nkengasong said.
The major blockers to vaccinations beginning in Africa are global availability of doses and financing but wealthy nations have acquired vaccines in excess of what they need, he said.
“We don’t have to get into a moral crisis, where these things are stocked in the developed world and we in Africa are struggling to have,” Nkengasong said.
The African Union is in talks with the European Union, Canada and pharmaceutical companies to secure doses, he said, to secure vaccines in addition to what Africa has been promised by the World Health Organization’s Covax programme. Covax is a global scheme to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to poorer countries.
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Ireland has toughened Covid-19 restrictions by closing non-essential retail and imposing a 5km travel limit to try to tame surging infections.
The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, announced the move to the highest tier level five on Wednesday night, saying the country’s third lockdown since March was the only way to save lives and stop hospitals becoming overwhelmed.
The truth is, that with the presence of the new strain and the pace of growth, this is not a time for nuance in our response. We must apply the brakes to movement and physical interaction across the country.
Ireland recorded 1,718 new infections on Wednesday, a record high. The R number is now between 1.6 and 1.8.
A six-week lockdown that ended at the start of December had driven infection rates to the lowest in the EU but socialising before and during Christmas let the virus roar back, the chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, told RTE.
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It’s been one year to the day that health authorities in Wuhan, China reported an unknown pneumonia outbreak to World Health Organization (WHO) colleagues in Beijing.
Here’s a look back at what’s happened since in the city where it all started:
Dozens of elderly South Korean coronavirus patients were transferred from nursing homes to hospitals this week after criticism that government policy had led to a spike in deaths among the vulnerable residents.
South Korea’s total tally of infections passed 60,000 on Thursday, as 967 additional cases were reported.
At least 486 of South Korea’s 900 reported deaths were people over the age of 80. Only 40 deaths have been reported among people younger than 60.
At least 316 residents of nursing hospitals or nursing homes have died, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Thursday. When the KDCA reported a record 40 deaths in one day on Tuesday, 70% of them were residents of nursing homes or nursing hospitals.
Meanwhile, some 792 people had been infected at a Seoul prison since 27 November, the Ministry of Justice said earlier on Thursday, leading the ministry to minimise inmate contact and limit access to lawyers amid criticisms that it had inadequately dealt with the infection.
Kim Dong-hyun, president of the Korean Society of Epidemiology, said the government was repeating mistakes it had made during waves of infections earlier in the year, similar to mistaken steps in the United States and Europe.
“Even if they separate the infected patients to other floors and rooms, transmission is inevitable,” he said.
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Ben Wallace has urged the British public to respect social distancing rules but said the army would not be deployed to “push people around”.
When asked why the army was not being used to clear out crowded public spaces, the defence secretary told Times Radio:
We have civilian authorities, police, others to be able to do that.
People need to take that responsibility but the army aren’t going to push people around in that way.
He added: “Our armed forces are there to support and help the civilian authorities - they have those powers.”
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As well as deploying 100,000 police and gendarmes across France this evening, other measures aimed at deterring large New Year celebrations include closing 200 Paris Metro stations at 9pm and shutting down half the lines.
Travellers and others will need a sworn declaration attesting to the necessity of being out if they are stopped by police after the curfew at 8pm.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has told police chiefs to break up “clandestine” parties and gatherings and impose instant fines on organisers. Officers will also clamp down on the New Year “tradition” among youths of torching cars.
While it is not illegal to invite friends and family to your home, there is a recommended limit of six adults per gathering.
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The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the military “stands ready” to help staff Nightingale hospitals if the NHS exceeds its capacity of critical care beds.
Speaking to Times Radio, the defence secretary said:
Of course we stand ready to help with Nightingales if the critical pressures go beyond the capacity of the existing NHS.
We are on, I think, 17,000 ventilator beds currently being used of a capacity of 21,000.
If it starts to tip over there, then of course you’ll see those Nightingales being more active and, yes, we have a number of medical staff.
The defence secretary has said the military will not be “imposed” upon the NHS to help with the Covid-19 response, but will be available if help is asked for.
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Slovakia reports highest daily number of coronavirus cases so far
Slovakia reported 6,315 new cases of coronavirus, the highest daily number so far, the government said.
The country of 5.5 million has recorded 179,543 cases so far, and 2,138 deaths, Reuters reports.
Scotland’s ability to give people aged over 50 the new coronavirus vaccine by a spring target will depend on supplies, according to the country’s health secretary.
Jeane Freeman also confirmed that Scotland would receive 44,000 doses of the Oxford University and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine next week, with the four nations continuing to plan supply and delivery, PA Media reports.
After this second vaccine’s approval on Wednesday, the Scottish government announced it would be given to people north of the border from Monday along with the rest of the UK nations.
But speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland Programme, Freeman admitted they could not guarantee the target of being on track to vaccinate everyone over 50 by the spring without taking the issue of supplies into account.
Freeman said:
It can’t be a guarantee because it depends on supplies but what I do know is that our planning is ready.
Our modelling and the number of registered vaccinators we have is there.
As long as the supplies of both vaccines continue to come through to us then we are ready to deliver the vaccine to all of those in that Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority list – so that’s everyone over 50 – in the spring we will get there as long as those supplies arrive.
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Britain’s armed forces could administer 100,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine a day if required, helping immunise millions of vulnerable people before the spring, the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said on Thursday.
Wallace said he had already authorised 130 military planners and personnel to work with the health service on ramping up the vaccine rollout, and more staff could be used to administer the vaccine itself.
He told Times Radio:
I’ve also got plans for up to 250 teams of mobile medically-trained personnel who could go out and administer the vaccine around the country – that would be over 100,000 a day they could potentially deliver if that is requested by the NHS.
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The British public is being urged to “take personal responsibility” by acting like they have coronavirus and staying at home this New Year’s Eve.
People are being warned they should not be mixing with other households indoors and that they should avoid large gatherings of any kind.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said people “cannot let up” now in the fight against the virus, with the health service under strain from increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients.
A government advertising campaign to “see in the New Year safely at home” is running throughout Thursday, reminding people of the virus’s easy spread and that around one in three people who have the infection have no symptoms and so could pass it on without realising.
Hancock said:
With our NHS under pressure we must all take personal responsibility this New Year’s Eve and stay at home.
I know how much we have all sacrificed this year and we cannot let up. Over 600,000 people have now been vaccinated and we are close to beating this virus.
Now more than ever, we need to pull together to save lives and protect our NHS. If we continue to do our bit by staying at home, we can get through this together.
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In England, the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, outlined some of the reasoning behind the government’s plans for reopening a proportion of primary schools.
The government has faced criticism on Wednesday evening for the plan and was left red-faced when the London borough of Redbridge, which has the seventh highest case rate in England, was left off the list and then later added.
NEW: Govt admit error in primary school closure list sent out in press notice earlier.
— Tom Rayner (@RaynerSkyNews) December 30, 2020
Redbridge IS now included in the London boroughs where primary schools must switch to remote learning.
DFE source say the error was made by the DHSC who compiled the list
Williamson told Sky News:
The work that was done with the Department of Health, who identified areas where it was either a very high rate or, using their latest data, were seeing very sharp increases in the number of cases or equally the pressures on hospitals in that area and the clinical needs.
These were all the considerations that were taken into account but what I want to say, and this will come as no surprise to you whatsoever, I want to see schools, any school, that’s closed for those first two weeks, opening at the earliest possible opportunity.
Asked whether he apologised to parents, teachers and children for the notice given for the measures, Williamson said:
I think we all recognise that if we go back a few weeks where there was no new variant of Covid, none of us would have been expecting us to be having to take the actions, whether it’s in regards to schools, whether it’s in regards to tier 4 moves that the government has had to make, but it’s the government that’s having to respond at incredible pace to a global pandemic and then a new variant of that virus.
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France will not fail in its Covid-19 vaccination campaign, its European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, said on Thursday, after coming under fire for the slow start of its roll-out compared with its European neighbours.
Beaune told France’s LCI television that the vaccination campaign was just beginning in the country.
France, which is primarily targeting the most vulnerable people in nursing homes for the first phase of the campaign, administered doses to about 140 people on Wednesday.
That was well below the 42,000 who received shots in Germany, for instance.
Meanwhile, France has also announced it would deploy 100,000 police and gendarmes to clamp down on parties, gatherings and the traditional torching of vehicles on 31 December.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said the officers would also be strictly enforcing the national 8pm to 6am curfew as part of what he described as a “fight against unauthorised public gatherings and the phenomenon of urban violence”.
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The British education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has told BBC Breakfast he was confident schools in England will be ready to test pupils returning to the classrooms from 11 January.
He said: “There’s absolutely no reason that schools won’t be ready.”
He said £78m of additional funding, equipment such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and support from the military would help them get mass testing programmes set up.
Williamson said:
We really want to hold their hands, support them, help them. We’re asking everyone right across the country to do pretty extraordinary things at the moment.
How much they (children) miss out by not being in schools, that’s why we’re taking these extraordinary actions because it’s always best to have children in school if it’s possible to do so.
He also said he wanted school closures to be “as short as possible”.
But he said: “We are having to take these steps on public health advice. I would hope that any closures will be short.”
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Japan considering declaring a state of emergency as Covid-19 cases surge
New coronavirus infections in Tokyo hit a record high of more than 1,300 on Thursday raising fears of an explosion in cases, local media reported.
The Japanese prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has urged people to celebrate New Year quietly, and avoid non-essential outings, amid the twin crises.
Japan has been battling a third wave of Covid-19 infections in recent weeks and on Monday started barring the entry of non-resident foreign nationals after detecting variants of the virus from Britain and South Africa.
The economy minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, said on Wednesday the government may have to consider declaring a state of emergency if the number the Covid-19 cases grows.
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Czech Republic reports 16,939 Covid-19 cases, highest number to date
The Czech Republic reported a record high 16,939 daily cases of Covid-19 for the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The central European country of 10.7 million people has been one of the hardest hit in the region, with its total number of detected cases reaching 718,661, and 11,580 deaths, Reuters reports.
A return to school in Northern Ireland after the Christmas holidays has been delayed by a week due to spiralling Covid-19 infection rates.
For years 8 to 11 in secondary schools, remote learning will continue throughout January, the education minister, Peter Weir, announced.
Childcare settings, including those attached to schools, pre-school facilities, nurseries and special schools, will open as usual next week.
Schools will also accommodate vulnerable children and those of key workers next week.
Weir said:
The common aim has been to keep schools safe, prioritise children’s education and ensure any impact on overall transmission is as low as possible, while accepting that schools reopening as normal is not sustainable.
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Government criticised over schools plan for having 'no logic'
London council leaders have criticised the government’s list of areas where primary schools will not open to pupils next week as having “no logic”.
Around a million primary school pupils in some of the areas hardest hit by Covid-19 will not return to lessons as planned next week, while the expected staggered reopening of secondary schools in England will also be delayed.
But the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said he was “urgently seeking clarification as to why schools in some London boroughs have been chosen to stay open” while others “just down the road won’t”.
Other critics included Danny Thorpe, leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, which was threatened with legal action by the government earlier this month after issuing advice to schools to move to online learning for the last few days of term.
He said in a statement: “In a case-by-case comparison, there appears to be no logic to how this list was brought together.”
London had been treated as “one area” throughout the pandemic, he said, adding: “To now fragment the capital and ignore that residents are not bound by invisible borders is a massive step backwards in the boroughs’ combined efforts to fight the virus.”
Richard Watts, leader of Islington council in north London, said it was “deeply frustrating” that the government made this announcement at the last minute, just days before the start of term, weeks after it was clear coronavirus cases were surging in London.
A list of 50 areas where it is expected that some primary schools will not open as planned to all pupils next week was published by the Department for Education (DfE) and featured places in London, Essex, Kent, East Sussex, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
Children of key workers and vulnerable youngsters will still be able to attend lessons in primary and secondary schools.
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Good morning and welcome to the live blog. I’m Nicola Slawson and I’ll be taking you through this morning’s news.
If you want to get in touch, please send me an email to nicola.slawson@theguardian.com or get in touch via Twitter @Nicola_Slawson.
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