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A summary of today's developments
- Brazil has suffered its highest daily death toll since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with the confirmation of 1,972 new fatalities. The news, which took Brazil’s total death toll to nearly 270,000, comes as the South American lives through the most severe moment in its 13-month outbreak and sparked renewed calls for a nationwide lockdown.
- Italy recorded 100,000 coronavirus deaths, a year after it became the first western country to impose a total lockdown and as it braces for a third wave of the pandemic.
- Japan decided to stage this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics without overseas spectators due to public concern about Covid-19, the Kyodo news agency has said, citing officials with knowledge of the matter.
- The World Trade Organization director-general called for urgent action on boosting Covid-19 vaccine production in developing countries, saying manufacturing sites could be prepared in six to seven months or less than half the time previously thought.
- Estonia’s government has banned groups larger than two people, closed non-essential shops and told restaurants to switch to take-aways as part of a drive to contain a surge in Covid-19 infections.
- Denmark’s health minister Magnus Heunicke said there were grounds to ease restrictions further since the epidemic was not worsening in the Nordic country.
- People who are vaccinated against Covid-19, have antibodies or test negative can travel to Greece this summer, tourism minister Harry Theocharis has said, after the country led calls for an EU-wide vaccination certificate.
- Seventeen European countries received doses from a batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that authorities in Austria have stopped using while investigating a death and an illness, a senior health official said.
- Johnson & Johnson told the EU it was facing supply issues that may complicate plans to deliver 55 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the bloc in the second quarter of the year, an EU official told Reuters.
- The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have questioned the neutrality of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after an EMA official urged EU members to hold off approving the vaccine.
- The UK’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab has written to the European Council president after he claimed the UK imposed an “outright ban” on coronavirus vaccine exports. Raab said he is seeking to “set the record straight”.
- Palestinian hospitals became overfull and intensive-care units were operating at 100% capacity with coronavirus patients in some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said.
- Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, announced some limited relaxations to outdoor mixing in Scotland, in particular for teenagers.
- Bosnia’s foreign minister said she and her compatriots were “justifiably unhappy” after failing to yet to receive any of the promised vaccines from the EU-backed Covax scheme.
The White House medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci, has spoken about the challenge of containing more infectious variants of Covid-19 even as vaccines are rolled out, in an online conversation with Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly.
“Here is the challenge: are we going to chase each variant in an almost whack-a-mole way, or are we going to try and get a vaccine that has a good degree of protection against several strains and get the level of virus so low that we don’t really have an outbreak?” he asked.
“Both strategies are being pursued in the United States.”
The Red Cross has warned of a glaring gap in the plans to roll out Covid-19 vaccines around the world, saying remote communities risked missing out.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is aiming to help vaccinate 500 million people.
The IFRC, which calls itself the world’s largest humanitarian network, is planning to throw its expertise into the distribution and acceptance of vaccines among some of the hardest-to-reach communities.
But it said that while the procurement of vaccines and delivery to airport hubs was crucial, “too little thought” had been given to the next step: how those doses would be distributed within countries, including the “last mile” in getting to those furthest away.
The Geneva-based federation said it needed 100 million Swiss francs ($111 million, 92.5 million euros) to fill the logistics gap between vaccines reaching airports in capital cities, and remote settlements.
But so far the IFRC has raised only three percent of that figure.
Without this funding, a gap will remain between the vaccines that will ultimately end this pandemic, and some of the most vulnerable and isolated people in the world,” said IFRC president Francesco Rocca.
Such a gap means that the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, and that people will continue to get sick and die.”
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to advance President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill, clearing the way for the measure to be considered on Wednesday, when a final vote is expected.
Governments can help protect women & their children from violence during #COVID19.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 9, 2021
✅ Incl. violence against women essential services in COVID-19 emergency preparedness & response plans
✅ Support hotlines, shelters & other specialized services pic.twitter.com/c72toZRrgL
BioNTech SE could have capacity to make 3 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with partner Pfizer Inc next year, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing an interview with the German company’s chief executive officer.
While BioNTech could increase manufacturing capacity in principle, it depends on demand and factors such as requirement of additional boost to vaccinations, CEO Ugur Sahin said.
Pfizer last month said it aims to make at least 2 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2021.
Brazil suffers highest daily death toll
Brazil has suffered its highest daily death toll since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with the confirmation of 1,972 new fatalities.
The news, which took Brazil’s total death toll to nearly 270,000, comes as the South American lives through the most severe moment in its 13-month outbreak and sparked renewed calls for a nationwide lockdown.
“São Paulo is on the verge of a public health collapse unprecedented in its history,” warned Miguel Nicolelis, a leading Brazilian scientist. “Football must stop now. Schools must close. Churches must close and services stop now.”
A record 517 deaths were recorded in Brazil’s most populous state, São Paulo, on Tuesday.
But Brazil’s far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, has declared he has no intention of ordering restrictions and last week told citizens to stop “whining” about the worst public health crisis in the country’s history.
Átila Iamarino, a Brazilian biologist who has become one of the country’s most prominent scientific voices during the pandemic, told the Guardian: “Without a shutdown, what we are going to witness here is unthinkable.
“ The numbers are insane … I simply cannot conceive a situation in which there is no shutdown. Nobody with a shred of humanity wants to see such a situation.”
Updated
UK foreign secretary responds over false vaccine export ban claims
The UK’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab has written to the European Council president after he claimed the UK imposed an “outright ban” on coronavirus vaccine exports.
Charles Michel accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jabs as he used a newsletter to hit back at criticisms of the bloc’s vaccine rollout.
Raab sought to “set the record straight” in a letter to the EU chief on Tuesday evening, writing that “any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false”.
He insisted the UK government “has not blocked a single Covid-19 vaccine or vaccine components”, adding: “We are all facing this pandemic together.”
A summary of today's developments
- Italy recorded 100,000 coronavirus deaths, a year after it became the first western country to impose a total lockdown and as it braces for a third wave of the pandemic.
- Japan decided to stage this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics without overseas spectators due to public concern about Covid-19, the Kyodo news agency has said, citing officials with knowledge of the matter.
- The World Trade Organization director-general called for urgent action on boosting Covid-19 vaccine production in developing countries, saying manufacturing sites could be prepared in six to seven months or less than half the time previously thought.
- Estonia’s government has banned groups larger than two people, closed non-essential shops and told restaurants to switch to take-aways as part of a drive to contain a surge in Covid-19 infections.
- Denmark’s health minister Magnus Heunicke said there were grounds to ease restrictions further since the epidemic was not worsening in the Nordic country.
- People who are vaccinated against Covid-19, have antibodies or test negative can travel to Greece this summer, tourism minister Harry Theocharis has said, after the country led calls for an EU-wide vaccination certificate.
-
Seventeen European countries received doses from a batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that authorities in Austria have stopped using while investigating a death and an illness, a senior health official said.
- Johnson & Johnson told the EU it was facing supply issues that may complicate plans to deliver 55 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the bloc in the second quarter of the year, an EU official told Reuters.
-
The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have questioned the neutrality of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after an EMA official urged EU members to hold off approving the vaccine.
- The UK’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab has written to the European Council president after he claimed the UK imposed an “outright ban” on coronavirus vaccine exports. Raab said he is seeking to “set the record straight”.
- Palestinian hospitals became overfull and intensive-care units were operating at 100% capacity with coronavirus patients in some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said.
- Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, announced some limited relaxations to outdoor mixing in Scotland, in particular for teenagers.
- Bosnia’s foreign minister said she and her compatriots were “justifiably unhappy” after failing to yet to receive any of the promised vaccines from the EU-backed Covax scheme.
Updated
The World Trade Organization director-general called for urgent action on boosting Covid-19 vaccine production in developing countries, saying manufacturing sites could be prepared in six to seven months or less than half the time previously thought.
“The fact is that each additional day the vaccine shortage continues, people will pay with their lives,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at a two-day summit focused on Covid-19 vaccine production , Reuters reports.
Manufacturing capacity and ingredients shortages are the main bottlenecks to expanding Covid-19 vaccine production, several global drug groups said, not patents that some critics are demanding be removed.
IP (intellectual property) rights is not the issue,” said Thomas Cueni, who heads the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).
The bottlenecks are the capacity, the scarcity of raw materials, scarcity of ingredients, and it is about the know-how.”
Cueni, who represents large drugmakers, spoke after a virtual meeting organised partly by the World Health Organization-backed COVAX vaccine sharing programme, Reuters reports.
It included manufacturers, suppliers and international organizations seeking to boost vaccine supplies.
Estonia’s government has banned groups larger than two people, closed non-essential shops and told restaurants to switch to take-aways as part of a drive to contain a surge in Covid-19 infections.
Primary schools will have to switch to online education, which was mandated to older students earlier this month in the Baltic nation of 1.3 million battles the second highest per capita rate of infections in the European Union after the Czech Republic.
The government said it had recorded 1,336 cases over the previous 14 days per 100,000 people, more than twice the level seen a month ago and a fifth more than last week, when it told restaurants and many shops to close during weekend to control the surge.
The new restrictions, which come into effect from Thursday, will stay until April 11.
“The fresh data shows that the more aggressive British variant of the coronavirus is spreading more seriously in Estonia than previously predicted. Our medical system is in a crisis,” Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.
“This is the only way to the come out of the crisis. How fast we manage to do that depends of the behaviour of each individual*.
A representative of the EU’s delegation in Britain has been summoned by London after European Council President Charles Michel said the country has an outright ban on exports of Covid-19 shots, The Sun newspaper reported.
“(Foreign minister Dominic Raab has written written to Michel demanding this is corrected, according to the newspaper.
Earlier, a British government spokesman said the country has not blocked the export of coronavirus vaccines.
The Foreign Office has yet to comment on the reports.
No company in France has signed a contract with Russia to produce its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, a spokesman for France’s industry minister said, appearing to contradict the head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund.
“We have not identified a site which meets their requirements,” the spokesman said when asked about a possible deal signed with RDIF.
“As far as we’re aware, no contract has been signed by a company in France to produce the Sputnik V vaccine,” he said.
Earlier, the head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund said his organisation had struck deals with production facilities in Italy, Spain, France and Germany to manufacture the Russian shot.
Speaking to state channel Rossiya 24, RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev did not provide any details, Reuters reports.
Dmitriev was speaking after RDIF signed a commercial deal with Swiss-based drugmaker Adienne to produce the vaccine in Italy.
An adviser to President Emmanuel Macron left the door open for a partnership between France and Russia on Sputnik V.
“It’s one topic on which we can have a positive cooperation,” the adviser told reporters.
“One of the difficulties Sputnik is facing is having access to production capacity for the volumes they would want.”
Zimbabwe has authorised the emergency use of four Covid-19 vaccines, including Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinovac, the minister of information said.
The southern African nation last month rolled out its Covid-19 vaccination programme after receiving a donation of 200,000 doses of shots from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).
Last week, India announced that Zimbabwe had become the first African country to authorise the use of its Covaxin vaccine.
The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe has authorised the use of Sinopharm and Sinovac shots from China, Russia’s Sputnik V and India’s Covaxin, the information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said in a post-Cabinet briefing.
“All Covid-19 approved vaccines will be procured through the National Vaccine Procurement Fund managed by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development,” Mutsvangwa said.
She said private businesses wishing to import their own vaccines for employees should purchase only registered vaccines, Reuters reports.
The US has administered 93,692,598 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Tuesday morning and distributed 123,232,775 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The tally is for Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the agency said.
According to the tally posted on March 8, the agency had administered 92,089,852 doses of the vaccines, and distributed 116,378,615 doses.
A total of 7,419,240 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.
Summary
- Italy recorded 100,000 coronavirus deaths, a year after it became the first western country to impose a total lockdown and as it braces for a third wave of the pandemic.
- Japan decided to stage this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics without overseas spectators due to public concern about Covid-19, the Kyodo news agency has said, citing officials with knowledge of the matter (see 2.31pm).
-
Denmark’s health minister Magnus Heunicke said there were grounds to ease restrictions further since the epidemic was not worsening in the Nordic country (see 12.45pm).
- People who are vaccinated against Covid-19, have antibodies or test negative can travel to Greece this summer, tourism minister Harry Theocharis has said, after the country led calls for an EU-wide vaccination certificate (see 2.09pm).
-
Seventeen European countries received doses from a batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that authorities in Austria have stopped using while investigating a death and an illness, a senior health official said (see 10.21am).
- Johnson & Johnson told the EU it was facing supply issues that may complicate plans to deliver 55 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the bloc in the second quarter of the year, an EU official told Reuters (see 1.27pm).
-
The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have questioned the neutrality of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after an EMA official urged EU members to hold off approving the vaccine (see 8.44am).
- The UK government accused EU chief Charles Michel of spreading falsehoods after he claimed the UK imposed an “outright ban” on coronavirus vaccine exports (see 5.51pm).
- Palestinian hospitals became overfull and intensive-care units were operating at 100% capacity with coronavirus patients in some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said (see 5.26pm).
- Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, announced some limited relaxations to outdoor mixing in Scotland, in particular for teenagers (see 3.58pm)
-
Bosnia’s foreign minister said she and her compatriots were “justifiably unhappy” after failing to yet to receive any of the promised vaccines from the EU-backed Covax scheme (see 12.18pm).
Spain’s Amadeus is launching a feature allowing people to upload documents such as Covid vaccination certificates onto an airline app or website, as the travel industry scrambles for ways to get planes flying again.
Reuters reports:
The private and public sectors of tourism-dependent countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece have sought a unified response to the patchwork of health requisites, bans and quarantines which have grounded global travel.
Amadeus said its system, which will be hosted within an existing platform for storing identification data, is due to be deployed in the second quarter. It will allow passengers to upload certificates or results from PCR or serological tests into any airline’s mobile app or website as part of the check-in process and cut down on the need for costly manual checks.
“The current need to hand-verify health documents while maintaining social distance means that some of our airline customers need around 90% of their check-in staff to process just 30% of passengers,” Monika Wiederhold, global lead for safe travel at Amadeus, said in a statement.
Turkey has today recorded 13,755 new cases of coronavirus, health ministry data showed, the highest level since 6 January, more than week after president Tayyip Erdogan announced an easing of measures to curb the pandemic.
The total number of cases rose to 2,807,387 and the data also showed 66 people died due to Covid-19 in the same period, raising the toll to 29,160. On Monday last week, Erdogan announced the partial opening of cafes, restaurants and schools, as well as an easing of weekend lockdowns among measures which he called a “controlled normalisation”.
Germany has temporarily suspended financial assistance to some companies suffering under lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus after identifying several cases of suspected fraud, the economy ministry has said.
Reuters reports:
The suspension affects companies which applied for special assistance for November and December as well as some special bridge loans. It said the suspension began on March 5 but did not say how many companies were affected.
The ministry said it had referred the suspicious cases to prosecutors who have launched investigations into the irregularities. “There are suspicions that in a few cases corona-related state aid was obtained unlawfully through fraud,” an economy ministry spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “Payments are being reviewed and temporarily halted. Aid will be made available (again) shortly.”
The ministry did not say how much money was involved but the German-language website of Business Insider, the US-based news outlet that first reported the suspected fraud, put the figure in the millions of euros.
The UK government has accused EU chief Charles Michel of spreading falsehoods after he claimed the UK imposed an “outright ban” on coronavirus vaccine exports.
PA reports that the European Council president accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jabs as he sought to defend the bloc against allegations of “vaccine nationalism”.
In the latest display of post-Brexit turbulence, the government struck back to refute his comments and insist the UK has “not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine”.
Michel, in a newsletter, said he was “shocked” when he heard allegations of vaccine nationalism levelled at the EU, saying:
The facts do not lie ... The UK and the US have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory.
But the European Union, the region with the largest vaccine production capacity in the world, has simply put in place a system for controlling the export of doses produced in the EU.”
But the UK government denied his claims.
The UK government has not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine. Any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false.
This pandemic is a global challenge and international collaboration on vaccine development continues to be an integral part of our response.
After initially being anxious about what was feared could be a “PR nightmare” over inoculating prisoners Tennessee, US, officials have said some inmates were receiving a Covid vaccine — but only those who qualify as part of other groups the state has prioritised, AP reports.
The Department of Correction has ordered 2,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and 980 doses of the Moderna vaccine to be distributed to inmates who are 65 and older or have health conditions that put them in groups already given priority status by the state, department spokesperson Dorinda Carter said in an email.
“We anticipate receiving additional doses soon and will order more doses, as needed,” Carter said. “The vaccine will be administered first to older inmates and those with health risks.” He added that the state had begun vaccinating inmates today.
Palestinian intensive care units at 100% capacity
Palestinian hospitals are overfull and intensive-care units operating at 100% capacity with coronavirus patients in some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has said.
Reuters reports:
Palestinian cities have introduced full lockdowns over the last two weeks to control soaring COVID-19 infections, even as neighbouring Israel has begun to lift restrictions as it proceeds with one of the world’s fastest vaccination campaigns.
“The percentage of hospital occupancy in some areas has reached more than 100%,” Shtayyeh said in Ramallah, one of the West Bank cities where his Palestinian Authority (PA) exercises limited self-rule. “The number of casualties is increasing and the number of deaths is increasing on a daily basis, forcing us to take strict, direct and unprecedented measures.”
The West Bank and Gaza, home to a combined 5.2 million Palestinians, have received around 34,700 vaccine doses to date. These came from small donations by Israel and Russia as well as 20,000 sent by the United Arab Emirates to Gaza. Meanwhile in Israel, restaurants reopened on Sunday as the country kept up a fast pace of mass vaccinations.
Updated
Students and pro-democracy supporters demonstrated in Algeria today in contravention of lockdown as a revived protest movement enters its third week of rallies.
AFP reports:
The march made its way through the main streets of the Algerian capital to reach the central post office, AFP journalists said. The site was an emblematic rallying point for the Hirak pro-democracy movement that began in February 2019 and within weeks forced then-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to abandon a bid for a fifth term and resign.
Protesters chanted Hirak slogans calling for a “free and democratic Algeria” and “a civil not a military state” and booed president Abdelmadjid Tebboune. “The main demands of students are the departure of the ‘system’; an independent justice system; and a free press that can report what the people say, and not what the system says,” 25-year-old Ilyes told AFP.
A large banner at the head of the protest read, “The regime is dead and a corpse can’t be resuscitated... Clear out!” Zakaria, a 27-year-old student, said: “We are protesting because we refuse (to accept) this system, we refuse its methods and we refuse to be divided.”
Also today, activist Sami Dernouni, in custody in Tipaza, near Algiers, was sentenced to two years behind bars for inciting a gathering and undermining national unity and security, the CNLD prisoners’ rights group said.
The Czech and Hungarian prime ministers will visit Israel this week to gain know-how on Covid-19 vaccinations and vaccine production, the Czech government has said.
AFP reports:
Czech prime minister Andrej Babis and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban are due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
“Israel is a leader in technologies. It is our traditional partner. I think it will be a very useful visit,” Babis said in a statement, adding he would visit a large vaccination centre in Jerusalem.
Israel has given the two recommended doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab to roughly 40 percent of its nine-million strong population, while both the Czech Republic and Hungary have been struggling with their vaccine roll-outs.
The Hungarian news agency MTI quoted Orban’s spokesman Bertalan Havasi as saying he expected to “form a closer cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus” during the trilateral meeting.
The Czech Republic tops the world’s statistics for Covid-19 infections per capita over the past two weeks and is second in new deaths, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Spain has again extended its ban on arrivals from Britain, Brazil and South Africa until the end of March to avoid the spread of new coronavirus strains.
Only legal residents or nationals of Spain and the neighbouring micro-state of Andorra are currently allowed in on flights from these countries.
The restriction on arrivals from Britain was imposed at the end of December to halt the spread of the highly contagious Covid-19 variant discovered there in November. The Brazil and South Africa arrivals ban came into effect on 3 February.
The only exceptions are for passengers in transit who cannot leave the airport nor remain there longer than 24 hours. It is the sixth time the ban on British arrivals has been extended.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has acquired the vial that contained the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine administered in the US, as part of its plans to document the global pandemic and “this extraordinary period we were going through”.
One in four women and girls around the world have been physically or sexually assaulted by a husband or male partner, according to the largest study yet of the prevalence of violence against women.
The report, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners, found that domestic violence started young, with a quarter of 15- to 19-year-old girls and young women estimated to have been abused at least once in their lives. The highest rates were found to be among 30- to 39-year-olds.
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has announced some limited relaxations to outdoor mixing in Scotland, in particular for teenagers, as she told the public that “we cannot afford to take our foot off the brake too soon” if the country is to enjoy a “much more normal summer”.
The president of the European council has warned the EU should not allow itself to be misled by regimes with “less desirable values than ours” and that the bloc would not use vaccines “for propaganda purposes”.
In comments that, paradoxically, meet the definition of propaganda – using information to promote a political point of view – Charles Michel criticised Russia and China’s values and defended Europe’s much-criticised Covid-19 inoculation strategy by stressing Brussels was also sharing jabs with the world.
“We should not let ourselves be misled by China and Russia, both regimes with less desirable values than ours, as they organise highly limited but widely publicised operations to supply vaccines to others,” the European Council president said.
“Without Europe, it would not have been possible to develop and produce several types of vaccines in less than one year.”
He said the EU was “actively promoting its values” by investing early in Covid-19 vaccine development and being the prime driver of the also Covax facility, which has faced criticism for a sluggish rollout that only began recently, to deliver doses to poorer countries.
EU officials believe Russia and China are trying to score political points and expand influence by rushing to deliver their vaccines before they were rigorously vetted by regulators, AFP reports.
Michel’s blunt comments came as the EU’s 27 member states struggle to achieve lift-off with a plan to immunise 70 percent of adults by mid-September. Much of the initial delivery shortfall was down to AstraZeneca failing to meet its supply schedule to the bloc.
Some member states, among them Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, are increasingly looking to vaccines not authorised by the EU’s medicine regulator, the EMA, to fill the gap, in particular Russia’s Sputnik V jab and ones from China.
But the EU executive has indicated it is unwilling to add it to its vaccines portfolio, which is projected to deliver 2.6 billion doses over this year and next.
Updated
Bosnia has reported a record number of daily deaths from Covid today with the capital Sarajevo going into lockdown next weekend for the first time since last May in an attempt to combat spiking infections.
It comes as the Balkan country said it was “justifiably unhappy” after failing to yet to receive any of the promised vaccines from the EU-backed Covax scheme (see 12:18pm).
The Balkan country of 3.3 million, where inoculations using the Russian Sputnik V vaccine have begun only in its Serb autonomous region, reported 1,251 new cases and 48 deaths from Covid today, health authorities said.
Sarajevo, which has seen a daily average of 456 new coronavirus cases over the past week, will be partially shut down next weekend for the first time in almost 10 months as hospital capacities have been overstretched, authorities said. Only food shops, pharmacies and gas stations will stay open.
Italy has recorded 100,000 coronavirus deaths, a year after it became the first western country to impose a total lockdown and as it braces for a third wave of the pandemic.
Among those who have died in recent days are Monique Forciniti, a 55-year-old school cook from Pistoia in Tuscany and Stefano Limongi, the 34-year-old owner of a sushi bar in Rome.
Italy’s recently appointed prime minister, Mario Draghi, said that passing the “terrible threshold” of 100,000 deaths was something “we would never have imagined a year ago”.
On 9 March 2020, his predecessor, Giuseppe Conte, imposed unprecedented national restrictions as the pandemic took hold. At the time, Italy had registered 463 Covid-19 deaths and 9,172 infections.
One year on, the number of deaths on Monday rose to 100,103 – the highest in Europe after the UK – while the total number of infections since the onset of the pandemic last week eclipsed 3 million.
“A year ago, this was something that none of us doctors had ever experienced and of course, we hoped and imagined, like everyone else, that it would end quickly,” said Saverio Chiaravalle, the vice-president of the doctors’ order in the Lombardy province of Varese and a close friend of Roberto Stella, the president of the order who was the first medic in Italy to die from the virus.
Updated
Sudan has launched a coronavirus vaccination rollout, giving priority to medical workers, state news agency Suna said.
Healthcare workers at Jabra isolation hospital in the capital. Khartoum. started to get their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the agency said, adding that the first phase of the rollout will be expanded from 15 March to 15 May to include people aged 45 or older with chronic conditions.
The first phase will cover 3.5% of the country’s population. Sudan became the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to benefit from Covax facility vaccines when it received 828,000 doses of the AstraZeneca shot on 3 March.
Sudan says it expects to receive the remainder of a total 3.4m doses through Covax, a vaccine-sharing programme co-led by the World Health Organization, in the second quarter of this year.
It aims to cover 20% of its population of 44 million through Covax by September, health ministry officials said.
#Sudan begins its #COVID19 vaccination today! 💉
— UNICEF Sudan (@UNICEFSudan) March 9, 2021
Health care workers and people above 45 with core morbidity are receiving their first dose of the vaccine today at the Jebra Isolation Center.#VaccinesWork #COVAX pic.twitter.com/CopVy1gu5o
Updated
Here is footage of Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, finishing his weekly news conference by spraying alcohol disinfectant on the front row of journalists.
He walked away from lectern after evading a question about a possible cabinet reshuffle.
Japan has decided to stage this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics without overseas spectators due to public concern about Covid-19, the Kyodo news agency has said, citing officials with knowledge of the matter.
The Tokyo 2020 games organising committee said a decision would be made by the end of March.
The Olympics, postponed by a year because of the pandemic, are scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August and the Paralympics from 24 August to 5 September.
Kyodo said the government had concluded that welcoming fans from abroad would not be possible given public concern about the coronavirus and the detection of more contagious variants in many countries, Kyodo cited the officials as saying.
Updated
After yet more bad news this today for the EU in the form of Johnson & Johnson’s statement about supplies of its vaccine, Ireland’s taoiseach has also been voicing disappointment “with some of the issues” with vaccine supply.
The comments of Michael Martin followed reports of a shortfall in the expected supply of vaccines to Ireland by the end of March.
The impact of the vaccines had been very positive in terms of protecting the most vulnerable, Martin told reporters on the way into a cabinet meeting in Dublin.
Those who are most vulnerable are getting vaccinated and that will have an impact, RTE quoted him as saying.
“So, when we come to the week before the fifth of April, we will examine the situation,” he added.
Updated
Greece to allow tourists who have been vaccinated, have antibodies or test negative
People who are vaccinated against Covid-19, have antibodies or test negative can travel to Greece this summer, tourism minister Harry Theocharis has said.
Tourism is a major income earner for Greece, which has led calls for an EU-wide vaccination certificate to help unlock travel.
The industry accounts for about a fifth of the Greek economy and employs one in five workers, but arrivals collapsed last year because of the pandemic.
Greece is aiming to kick off its vital summer season by mid-May, said Theocharis as he addressed the ITB Berlin trade show from the Athens Acropolis Museum, home to sculptures from Greek antiquity.
“Greece is ready with a complete protocol for summer 2021,” he said. “Tourists will be welcome if before travel they are either vaccinated, or have antibodies, or test negative. All tourists will be subject to random testing.”
He said the authorities would prioritise the vaccination of people working in the hospitality sector once the most vulnerable were vaccinated, and were mandating the frequent testing of employees.
Updated
Instagram’s recommendations were pushing users toward Covid misinformation, anti-vaccination content and antisemitic material during the peak of the pandemic, according to a report from a social media watchdog.
Misinformation was most frequently shown to new users who followed a mix of accounts on the platform that included leading anti-vaccination personalities or wellness influencers, according to the report, Malgorithm.
Volunteers who followed 10 accounts with anti-vaccine links, for instance, received recommendations for posts promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories. Numerous posts claimed there was “no pandemic”, and others called on people to “stop getting tested” and “stop wearing your mask”.
Updated
Wall Street Journal editors working from home in Connecticut, US, fell under suspicion yesterday, when the paper published an unusual correction. “The stray word ‘Yay!’ was inadvertently inserted,” it said, “during editing of an article on Friday about Connecticut’s Covid-19 restrictions.”
The 160-bed hospital in the Po River Valley town of Chiari in Italy has no more room for patients stricken with the highly contagious variant of Covid first identified in Britain that has put hospitals in the country’s northern Brescia province on high alert.
AP reports:
That history was repeating itself one year after Lombardy became the epicenter of Italy’s pandemic was a sickening realisation for Dr Gabriele Zanolini, who runs the Covid ward in the M Mellini hospital in the once-walled city that maintains its medieval circular street pattern.
“You know that there are patients in the emergency room, and you don’t know where to put them,” Zanolini said “This for me is anguish, not to be able to respond to people who need to be treated. The most difficult moment is to find ourselves again in a state of emergency, after so much time.”
The UK variant surge has filled 90% of hospital beds in Brescia province, bordering both Veneto and Emilia-Romagna regions, as Italy crossed the grim threshold of 100,000 pandemic dead on Monday and marks the one-year anniversary Wednesday of Italy’s draconian lockdown, the first in the west.
Updated
Johnson & Johnson reportedly tells EU it is facing supply issues
Johnson & Johnson has told the EU it is facing supply issues that may complicate plans to deliver 55 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the bloc in the second quarter of the year, an EU official told Reuters.
Any delay would be a further blow to the EU’s vaccination plans, which have been hampered by bumpy supplies from other vaccine makers and a slow rollout of shots in many member states.
J&J told the EU last week that issues with the supply of vaccine ingredients and equipment meant it was “under stress” to meet the goal of delivering 55 million doses by the end of June, the EU official – who is directly involved in confidential talks with the US company – told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The official added the company had said it was not impossible to meet the goal, but that it showed caution. J&J’s vaccine, which requires only one dose for protection, is expected to be approved on 11 March for use in the EU by the bloc’s regulator. EU officials have said deliveries could start in April.
The company has committed to deliver 200 million doses of its vaccine to the bloc this year. “Aligned with our agreement, we expect to begin supplying our commitment of 200 million doses to the European Union in the second quarter of 2021,” J&J said in a statement, declining to comment on possible delays or the second-quarter target.
J&J began rolling out its vaccine in the United States this month, with a target of delivering 100 million doses by the end of May, but has nearly halved its delivery forecasts for March to 20 million doses as it ramps up new manufacturing facilities.
Updated
Ukraine has approved the Sinovac Covid vaccine, country’s the health ministry has said. Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Lekhim - one of Sinovac’s partners - has an agreement with the manufacturer to deliver 5 million doses of the vaccine in Ukraine, including 1.9 million via a state procurement scheme.
Lekhim said last month it had submitted documents seeking approval for the shot, while a senior ministry official said last week that authorities would impose financial penalties on the company over delays in delivering it.
Ukraine, one of Europe’s poorer countries, has lagged behind many of its neighbours in securing vaccines for its 41 million people, asking EU states for help while refusing to buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
Ukraine started Covid-19 vaccinations in late February but only 19,118 first shots had been given by 9 March.
Russia has denied Washington’s claims that it was spearheading a disinformation campaign against US-made coronavirus vaccines to boost its own homegrown jab as “absurd and groundless”.
The comments come a day after Washington alleged Russian intelligence was behind four websites involved in a campaign to undermine US-made vaccines, accusing Russia of putting lives at risk.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the allegations “absurd and groundless”. “Russia has never taken part and is not going to take part in such information campaigns against other vaccines,” he told reporters.
On the contrary, he said, Russia was cooperating with foreign vaccine producers “to make a more effective product”.
Putin has boasted that Russia has developed the world’s best vaccines against the coronavirus, insisting last week they were better than the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs.
Grounds to ease Denmark lockdown, says health minister
Denmark’s health minister Magnus Heunicke has said there were grounds to ease restrictions further since the epidemic was not worsening in the Nordic country.
“The contact number is calculated at 1.0. That means that the epidemic in Denmark is not growing. Thus, we have the basis for further controlled reopening,” Magnus Heunicke said on Twitter.
Kontakttallet er beregnet til 1,0. Betyder at epidemien i DK ikke er i vækst. Dermed har vi grundlaget for yderligere kontrolleret genåbning. Vores sekventering viser at B117 nu udgør 80% af epidemien, og med et kontakttal på 1,14 vinder den stadig frem (data tom 28/2) #COVID19dk pic.twitter.com/pXOurN0uZL
— Magnus Heunicke (@Heunicke) March 9, 2021
The contact number, also known as the R-value, indicates how many people one infected person will pass the virus on to. Heunicke also said the more contagious B.1.1.7. variant, first identified in Britain, was found in around 80% of all positive cases.
Denmark has already eased some of its tough lockdown measures introduced in December, as schools in some parts of the country have reopened, as well as shops, and outdoor leisure activities have resumed.
Head of the state Serum Institute, Henrik Ullum, said late yesterday the partial reopening so far had not led the epidemic towards the worst-case scenario, where up to almost 900 hospitalisation could happen in April.
Updated
An Italian-Swiss pharmaceutical company has agreed to produce Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in Italy, the first such deal in the EU, a trade body has said.
“The vaccine will be produced from July 2021 in [pharmaceutical company] Adienne factories in Lombardy,” northern Italy, a spokesman for the Italian-Russian chamber of commerce, Stefano Maggi, told AFP.
“Ten million doses will be produced between July 1 and January 1, 2022,” he added, describing it as the “first agreement on the European level for the production on EU territory of the Sputnik vaccine”.
Several EU countries have already begun distributing Sputnik V, but it has yet to be approved by the bloc’s medicines regulator.
Last week the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency launched a rolling review of the Sputnik V vaccine, a key step towards being approved as the first non-Western jab to be used against the coronavirus across the 27-nation bloc.
“If the vaccine is not authorised in Europe by July 1, the doses produced [in Italy] will be bought by the Russian sovereign fund and distributed in countries where the Sputnik vaccine is authorised,” Maggi said.
The government in Malawi announced a Covid emergency relief plan way back in April, but it is only now being disbursed, AFP reports.
The package was initially earmarked for one million vulnerable people and small businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic, over a three-month period.
But in between, governments changed and a new administration narrowed down the number of beneficiaries for the 9.5-billion- kwacha ($25-million) package to around 200,000. The package and its late disbursement are rooted in the country’s poverty and a bout of political turmoil.
A court last year barred government from imposing a lockdown on grounds there were insufficient measures to cushion loss of livelihood in one of the world’s poorest countries.
As a result, the president at the time, Peter Mutharika, vowed to pay the equivalent of $40 monthly to the most vulnerable workers, matching the country’s minimum wage.
But two months after the pledge, he was ousted through a court-sanctioned re-election and beaten by opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera.
A separate state-funded Covid-19 package meant to buy protective gear for health workers and teachers, was recently hit by scandal when it emerged that most of the 6.5 billion kwacha went to pay personal allowances and hosting workshops for government officials.
Malawi has so far counted 32,469 Covid-19 cases, of which just over 1,000 have been fatalities.
Bosnia’s foreign minister has said she and her compatriots were “justifiably unhappy” after failing to yet to receive any of the promised vaccines from the EU-backed Covax scheme.
Bisera Turkovic told a press conference during a visit to Berlin:
We expect Covax to fulfil its contractual obligations ... Our citizens are justifiably unhappy ... Every day counts. We’re talking about people’s lives.
She said Bosnia had met its obligations and paid for more than 1.2 million doses through the international Covax scheme, a global vaccine-sharing effort, but “not a single dose” had arrived to date.
The Balkan nation of 3.5 million people has recorded more than 5,000 deaths from Covid-19. Bosnian authorities have looked elsewhere for help, procuring some 22,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V which is being doled out in the country’s Serb-dominated half, Republika Srpska.
Neighbouring Serbia last week donated 10,000 AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines, which will be distributed in the country’s other post-war entity, the Croat-Muslim federation.
Norway has recommended that AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine be used for people over the age of 65 in light of new studies amid hopes it would speed up vaccinations of the elderly.
AFP reports:
The Nordic country had initially restricted the use of the vaccine to those under the age of 65 on the grounds that the Anglo-Swedish firm had not conducted enough research on people above that age.
Following in the footsteps of France, Germany, Italy and several Nordic neighbours, Norway’s public health agency said it was now recommending the vaccine for all people over the age of 18, based on British studies now conducted on elderly people. The government said it would follow the agency’s recommendation.
Norway also wants to increase the waiting period between the first and second doses of the Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna vaccines from three to six weeks, a move that still requires a final approval from the public health agency.
While the country has one of the lowest incidence rates in Europe, the number of cases has risen steeply lately. Norway has reported 632 Covid-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Hungarian hospitals are under increasing strain as the number of coronavirus patients rose to 8,270 today, exceeding a peak in December reached during the second wave of the pandemic, the country’s surgeon general has told a briefing.
Cecilia Muller said infections were expected to rise further in coming days, Reuters reports. Hungary imposed strict new lockdown measures yesterday in an attempt to curb a rise in infections and has accelerated its vaccination campaign.
Domino’s Pizza has reported higher year-on-year profits in the UK and unveiled plans for more outlets and drive-thru services, as the Covid-19 pandemic prompted more people to order meals, especially over the festive period and during televised government press conferences.
The profit figure includes £9m of Covid-19-related costs such as face masks and contact-free delivery boxes. The company designed a new platform box that pizzas and other food are placed on and left on customers’ doorsteps.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the international financial talking shop, has increased its global growth forecast, citing the deployment of coronavirus vaccines and a huge economic stimulus programme in the US as reasons for greater optimism.
The Paris-based organisations said it expects the global economy to grow 5.6%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from its December forecast. It said in its economic outlook report published on Tuesday:
Global economic prospects have improved markedly in recent months, helped by the gradual deployment of effective vaccines, announcements of additional fiscal support in some countries, and signs that economies are coping better with measures to suppress the virus.
Global #GDP will grow by 5.6% this year, an upward revision of more than 1 percentage point since our last projection in Dec 2020.
— OECD ➡️ Better policies for better lives (@OECD) March 9, 2021
GDP growth by country ⬇️
🆕 OECD Interim #EconomicOutlook: https://t.co/CaYycpMSjv pic.twitter.com/pcwjUUmK01
The recovery will be largely led by the US thanks to Joe Biden’s $1.9tr stimulus programme, Laurence Boone, chief economist of the OECD, told AFP.
However, the report noted that the recovery would be uneven and that “sizeable risks remain”. It said:
There are increasing signs of divergence across countries and sectors. Strict containment measures will hold back growth in some countries and service sectors in the near term, while others will benefit from effective public health policies, faster vaccine deployment and strong policy support.
Sizeable risks remain. Faster progress in vaccine deployment in all countries would enable restrictions to be lifted more quickly and enhance confidence and spending. Slow progress in vaccine rollout and the emergence of new virus mutations resistant to existing vaccines would result in a weaker recovery, larger job losses and more business failures.
Updated
Batch of Oxford vaccine suspected of link to Austrian nurse's death went to 17 countries
Seventeen European countries received doses from a batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that authorities in Austria have stopped using while investigating a death and an illness, a senior health official has told Reuters.
The warning came after a 49-year-old nurse in Zwettl, a town north-west of Vienna, died as a result of severe coagulation disorders after receiving the vaccine. Another nurse from Zwettl who is 35 and received a dose from the same batch, ABV 5300, developed a pulmonary embolism and is recovering.
Christa Wirthumer-Hoche, the head of Austrian public health agency AGES’ medicines market supervisory body, was quoted by Reuters as saying:
We informed all European colleagues in the European network as this batch, which amounted to roughly a million doses in total, was sent to 17 European countries.
The European Medicines Agency’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), which monitors the safety of medicines, discussed the case on Monday, said Wirthumer-Hoche, who also heads EMA’s management board.
AstraZeneca has said all batches of its coronavirus vaccine are subject to strict and rigorous quality controls and that there have been “no confirmed serious adverse events associated with the vaccine”.
Meanwhile, an autopsy of the nurse is being carried out and Wirthumer-Hoche said she expected the results next week.
Updated
India’s federal government has denied any shortage of coronavirus vaccine doses after a north-western state became the first to publicly request supplies to be urgently restocked.
The country, which is the world’s biggest vaccine maker, has given 23m doses to 17 million people. As has risen after a slow start and initial hesitation among people, Rajasthan publicly requested more stock.
But the federal health ministry said there was no shortage in Rajasthan or anywhere in the country. It said Rajasthan, a state of about 70m people, still had 1.4m doses left on Monday night.
The ministry said in a statement:
The factual position is that there is no shortage of Covid-19 vaccine with the state at present.
The central government is regularly monitoring availability of vaccine supply in all states and (federal territories), and providing the doses as per their requirement and consumption pattern.
Updated
The prime ministers of Hungary and the Czech Republic, both of which are high on the scale of coronavirus death rates, will meet the prime minister of Israel to discuss policies to counter the pandemic.
The meeting to be held on Thursday comes as central Europe deals with a third wave of Covid-19 that has made it a global pandemic hotspot. “The main topic of the meeting will be the effort to curb the pandemic,” the office of Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, said in a statement seen by Reuters.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made Israel’s vaccination programme a showcase of his campaign for re-election on 23 March. He has said 90% of eligible Israelis have either received at least one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or recovered from the virus.
Hungary imposed tough new lockdown measures on Monday to curb a rise in Covid-19 infections and has accelerated its vaccination campaign. Orban’s government has closed all schools and most shops.
The Czech Republic, with hospitals reaching capacity due to the pandemic, has asked Germany, Poland and Switzerland to take in some Covid patients. Prague has sought to turn the tide with a strict lockdown restricting travel around the country and has boosted testing at industrial companies that have been untouched by restrictions.
Updated
The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have questioned the neutrality of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after an EMA official urged EU members to hold off approving the vaccine.
On Sunday, the head of the EMA’s management board, Christa Wirthumer-Hoche, told a talkshow on Austrian broadcaster ORF she “would urgently advise against giving a national emergency authorisation” to the Sputnik V shot.
The Sputnik developers wrote a statement in response to Wirthumer-Hoche on the vaccine Twitter account:
We demand a public apology from EMA’s Christa Wirthumer-Hoche for her negative comments on EU states directly approving Sputnik V. Her comments raise serious questions about possible political interference in the ongoing EMA review. Sputnik V is approved by 46 nations.
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) March 8, 2021
EMA did not allow such statements about any other vaccine. Such comments are inappropriate and undermine credibility of EMA and its review process. Vaccines and EMA should be above and beyond politics.
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) March 8, 2021
👇https://t.co/9jEK54jz83
Europeans deserve an unbiased review as was undertaken by 46 other countries. After postponing Sputnik V review for months, EMA does not have the right to undermine credibility of 46 other regulators that reviewed all of the necessary data.
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) March 8, 2021
According to Reuters, Sputnik V has already been approved or is being assessed for approval in three EU member states - Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
EU officials have said Brussels could start negotiations with a vaccine maker if at least four member countries request it.
Updated
Jerome Salomon, France’s director of health, has said that authorities are not considering a regional lockdown around Paris, despite strain on hospitals in and around the city due to the spread of coronavirus variants.
On Monday medical directors in the region had ordered hospitals to cancel 40% of their regular procedures to make space for Covid patients. In spite of that, Salomon was quoted by Reuters as telling French radio station RTL:
A lockdown in the greater Paris region is not on the agenda.
Lockdown is a last resort measure that would be submitted to the government and the president if we were under the impression the hospital system could not cope,
The Paris region accounts for about one-sixth of France’s population
According to Reuters the number of people treated in French intensive care units for Covid-19 reached a 14-1/2-week-high on Monday, at 3,849. That figure is close to 1,000 in the Paris region.
Russia reported 9,445 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the first time since early October that the daily tally has dropped below 10,000, Reuters reports.
That took the total number of coronavirus infections in Russia to 4,342,474.
Authorities said 336 people had died in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 89,809.
Updated
Matt Hancock, the UK health secretary, has described the closure of England’s Nightingale hospitals as an “important moment in our national recovery”.
In a video posted to Twitter, Hancock said the hospitals were a “monument to this country’s ability to get things done fast when it really matters” and played a “critical role” in the UK’s response to the Covid outbreak.
Speaking in a somewhat strained, awkward and hesitant manner, apparently reading the words out from an autocue, Hancock said:
Built in just a matter of days, they gave us the confidence that the NHS would fulfil its timeless promise always to be there for you, to care for you and your family.
Thanks to the vaccine rollout & our national effort, we can now stand down our Nightingale hospitals
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) March 9, 2021
This is such an important moment in our national recovery
THANK YOU to all involved in this incredible project pic.twitter.com/DdzS27b884
In replies beneath his tweet, Hancock was criticised for dishonesty. As my colleague Nadeem Badshah reported last night, the network of seven hospitals was barely used.
The showpiece east London site treated only 54 patients in the first wave and was hamstrung by hospitals’ reluctance to release doctors and nurses to work there. It reopened in January and was used to treat non-coronavirus patients to free up beds for a surge in Covid cases and other serious illnesses.
North Yorkshire’s 500-bed Nightingale hospital at Harrogate convention centre, opened by Captain Sir Tom Moore last April, will close without treating a single patient and will operate as a testing centre until then.
Updated
Of all the countries to post coronavirus numbers so far today, the Czech Republic reports the highest numbers of infections, with 10,466 new cases and 110 new deaths.
So far the country has reported a total 1,335,815 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the fourth highest rate of infection in the world per million people, according to figures collated by the Worldometers website. Its 22,147 deaths gives the country the world’s third highest per capita death rate from the virus.
Updated
Public health authorities in Germany this morning report the country’s smallest rise in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases since last October.
The number of confirmed cases in Germany by 4,252 to 2,509,445, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. According to the tally kept by the Worldometers website that is the lowest daily number since 11 October.
The reported death toll rose by 255 to 72,189, the tally showed.
Ministers must start war-gaming the next pandemic and their plans should be independently audited to prove the UK is prepared for global health threats to come, the Labour party has said, writes our chief political correspondent, Jessica Elgot, this morning.
The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, will give a speech on Tuesday attempting to refocus the blame for the catastrophic UK death toll on government failings, after polls showed support for Boris Johnson surging on the back of the the vaccine programme.
Covid-19 is not a once in a lifetime event, but a symptom of a chronic reduction in global health security. As a result, the UK needs to improve health resilience
— IPPR (@IPPR) March 8, 2021
📅 Join us TOMORROW to discuss at our webinar with @JonAshworth, @DrTolullah & @clarewenhamhttps://t.co/iJDzTQxA2Z
Ashworth said Labour would introduce statutory duties to plan, audit and invest in pandemic response, alongside obligatory training for ministers in “germ-gaming”, imitating how the military prepares for conflict scenarios.
Speaking to the Guardian, Ashworth said Labour needed to highlight not only that the UK was “ill-prepared and ignored the warnings” about the Covid-19 pandemic but that there was more it could be doing now to prepare for future threats.
Updated
Hello world, this is Damien Gayle picking up the live blog from London, where for the next few hours I’ll be updating you with the latest coronavirus-related news and updates from these shores and beyond.
If you have any comments, tips or suggestions for what we could be covering, please feel free to drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
According to the most recent data made available by the French health ministry, for the end of February, France was using 24% of its AstraZeneca doses, compared with 82% for vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, and 37% for the Moderna shot.
Reuters reports that this is partly due to logistical bottlenecks, but also because some French people don’t trust the AstraZeneca shot - despite multiple scientific studies that indicate it is safe and effective - according to interviews Reuters conducted with eight people involved in France’s vaccine rollout.
That’s it from me, your faithful blogger, for today.
May I suggest reading this brilliant column (that I wrote):
China launches virus passport
China has launched a health certificate programme for domestic travellers, leading the world in plans for so-called virus passports, AFP reports.
The digital certificate, which shows a user’s vaccination status and virus test results, is available for Chinese citizens via a programme on Chinese social media platform WeChat that was launched on Monday.
The certificate is being rolled out “to help promote world economic recovery and facilitate cross-border travel,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
However, the international health certificate is available only for use by Chinese citizens and it is not yet mandatory.
The certificate, which is also available in paper form, is thought to be the world’s first known “virus passport”. The US and Britain are among countries considering implementing similar permits. The European Union is also working on a vaccine “green pass” that would allow citizens to travel between member countries and abroad.
China’s programme includes an encrypted QR code that allows each country to obtain a travellers’ health information, state media agency Xinhua reported Monday.
“QR health codes” within WeChat and other Chinese smartphone apps are already required to gain entry to domestic transport and many public spaces in China.
The apps track a user’s location and produce a “green” code – synonymous with good health – if a user has not been in close contact with a confirmed case or has not travelled to a virus hotspot.
The system has sparked privacy concerns and fears it marks an expansion of government surveillance.
Updated
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- The Covid vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE was able to neutralise a new variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly in Brazil, according to a laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.
- US airlines asked Biden to back Covid travel guidelines. Major US aviation, travel and aerospace groups on Monday joined airline unions in urging the Biden administration to help establish temporary Covid health credentials to boost travel, which has been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
- US House will take up Senate’s $1.9tn coronavirus bill by Wednesday - Pelosi. The US House of Representatives will take up by Wednesday the Senate version of the sweeping $1.9tn coronavirus relief package backed by President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday.
- A Post-Covid consumer spending boom ‘implausible’, said a Treasury official. The prospects for a consumer spending boom after lockdown have been downplayed by a senior Treasury official, amid warnings that wealthier families have saved more than low-paid workers during the pandemic.
- China’s Sinovac jab is effective against Brazil variant, preliminary study suggests. Preliminary data from a study in Brazil indicates that the Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd is effective against the P1 variant of the virus first discovered in Brazil, a source familiar with the study told Reuters on Monday.
- Japan’s Terumo says it has made a syringe to draw 7 doses from Pfizer vaccine vials. Japan’s Terumo Corp said on Tuesday it has developed a new syringe that can get seven doses out of each vial of Covid vaccine made by Pfizer Inc , at least one more than accessible with existing syringes, Reuters reports.
- Tunisia set to receive first coronavirus jabs. Tunisia said Monday the first coronavirus vaccines were set to arrive to start mass inoculation in the North African nation using Russia’s Sputnik V jabs.
- Greece is mourning its youngest Covid victim, 37-day baby. Greece on Monday mourned a 37-day-old baby, the youngest among the country’s nearly 6,800 Covid-19 victims, AFP reports.“Sadly today we had the pandemic’s youngest victim in our country, an infant that spent 17 of its 37 days fighting the coronavirus,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted.“Today, grief is unbearable,” he said.
- The Dutch Covid curfew was extended, exceptions for vote: PM. The Netherlands will extend its controversial coronavirus curfew until March 31 with exceptions for a general election next week, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday.
NHS Nightingale hospitals to close from next month
The NHS has announced the emergency Nightingale hospitals built in the first Covid-19 wave to cope with anticipated pressures on the health service are to close from next month.
Seven of the temporary hospitals were hastily constructed in England, starting last April with a 4,000-bed facility at London’s ExCeL centre.
However, the showpiece east London site treated only 54 patients in the first wave and was hamstrung by hospitals’ reluctance to release doctors and nurses to work there. It reopened in January and was used to treat non-coronavirus patients to free up beds for a surge in Covid cases and other serious illnesses:
Updated
New Zealand’s government has established an independent advisory group to review its handling of the most recent coronavirus outbreak, and “sharpen” its ongoing pandemic response.
The Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, announced the formation of the body on Tuesday, following criticism of the government’s handling of a cluster of coronavirus cases in Auckland.
The city went into lockdown twice last month after confirmed cases were revealed to have defied stay-at-home orders, prompting the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to voice frustration with rule-breakers. That, in turn, led to criticism of the government’s communication and outreach strategy from South Auckland community leaders, its political opponents, and media:
Animal news break:
Japan's Terumo says makes syringe to draw 7 doses from Pfizer vaccine vials
Japan’s Terumo Corp said on Tuesday it has developed a new syringe that can get seven doses out of each vial of Covid vaccine made by Pfizer Inc , at least one more than accessible with existing syringes, Reuters reports.
The health ministry approved the design on Friday, and Terumo will begin production at the end of March, a Terumo spokesman told Reuters. The Kyodo News agency, which first reported the development, said Terumo is aiming to make 20 million units this year.
The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, is shipped in vials initially indicated to hold five doses. Six doses can be drawn with special syringes, call low dead space, which minimise the amount of vaccine left in the syringe after use.
Japan began its Covid inoculation campaign last month, using Pfizer’s vaccine. Taro Kono, the minister in charge of the effort, said on Friday that some shots may go to waste amid a shortage of the specialty syringes.
New Zealand has opened its first large vaccination clinic as it scales up efforts to protect people from the coronavirus, AP reports.
The clinic in south Auckland will initially target household members of border workers. New Zealand has stamped out community spread of the virus and considers border workers and their families the most vulnerable to catching the disease from infectious travellers.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said that initially about 150 people a day will get vaccinated at the clinic, although the numbers will be rapidly increased. Health officials plan to open two more clinics in Auckland over the next few weeks.
“I know a lot of our old people are probably scared of getting the vaccine but getting it today, it doesn’t hurt, and it is important for everybody to get it,” said Denise Fogasavaii, the sister of an Air New Zealand employee who has already been vaccinated.
New Zealand this week announced it plans to use the Pfizer vaccine for all inoculations, and it hopes to complete its vaccination program by the end of the year.
As the Czech Republic struggles to cope with the world’s highest coronavirus infection rate, a tidal wave of disinformation and a bungled government response are hampering vaccination efforts, AFP reports.
From pseudo-scientific videos explaining how vaccines can “change your DNA” to panic-inducing stories of seniors dying en masse after receiving the jab, fake stories have overwhelmed Czech social media, messaging apps and chain mail.
“Czech readers are exposed to lies about the Pfizer vaccine 25 times more than readers in the US,” said Frantisek Vrabel, the founder and CEO of Semantic Visions, which identifies potential disinformation based on the use of language patterns online.
His company, whose clients include the US State Department, monitors about 5,000 disinformation sources in the Czech Republic alone, and more than a million worldwide.
The “Czech Elves”, a loosely connected network of several hundred volunteers, have also been keeping track of the biggest fake news spreaders.
“For years, fake news here was dominated by immigration, because it had the potential to scare people,” said Bohumil Kartous, a spokesman for the group.
“Then Covid arrived, and the amount of disinformation just exploded.”
Updated
The French Pacific territories of New Caledonia and Wallis & Futuna have been forced into sudden lockdowns with Covid-19 outbreaks across both archipelagoes.
New Caledonia went into an immediate lockdown from midnight Tuesday after nine cases were detected in Noumea, with the source of infection believed to be passengers who had arrived from Wallis & Futuna.
Wallis & Futuna – a collection of islands between Fiji and Samoa – was rushed into a fortnight-long lockdown from Tuesday morning, after testing on Monday revealed 12 coronavirus cases in the community.
Previously, the two territories were the only French territories in the Pacific to remain Covid-free. Travel between the two territories had been unrestricted (outsiders were required to quarantine) but all flights have now been suspended.
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US House will take up Senate's $1.9tn coronavirus bill by Wednesday - Pelosi
The US House of Representatives will take up by Wednesday the Senate version of the sweeping $1.9tn coronavirus relief package backed by President Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi said on Monday.
Closing in on final approval of one of the biggest US anti-poverty measures since the 1960s, Democrats aim to enact the legislation by Sunday, when enhanced federal unemployment benefits are set to expire.
The Senate passed its version of the bill after a marathon overnight vote on Saturday. The Senate version eliminated or pared back some provisions included in the House bill, which had increased the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and extended expanded jobless assistance through 29 August.
Now that it has passed the Senate, it must be approved again by the House before it can make its way to Biden’s desk and be signed into law.
Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol that the timing of a vote on the House floor “depends on when we get the paper from the Senate”.
“We’d take it up Wednesday morning at the latest,” she said.
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Saudi Arabia’s King Salman approved a range of initiatives aimed at assisting firms and individuals operating in support of Islamic pilgrimages, Saudi state news agency SPA said late on Monday.
The initiatives are aimed at mitigating the financial and economic effects of the Covid pandemic across the sector that provides support for the haj and umrah pilgrimages, SPA said.
They include exempting accommodation facilities from the annual fees for municipal commercial activities’ licenses in the cities of Mecca and Medina, where the Islamic pilgrimages take place.
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And now for a break ... to watch a sea slug and its decapitated head.
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Dutch Covid curfew extended, exceptions for vote: PM
The Netherlands will extend its controversial coronavirus curfew until 31 March with exceptions for a general election next week, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Monday, AFP reports.
Four days of riots broke out when the overnight curfew, the first in the Netherlands since the Nazi occupation during the second world war, was introduced on 23 January.
The 9pm to 4.30am curfew had been due to end on 15 March but “now continues until the morning of Wednesday the 31st”, Rutte told a press conference.
“A few exceptions apply for the three days of the elections” from 15 to 17 March “because curfews cannot and must not stand in the way of free elections”, he added.
Anyone who could not vote before the start of the curfew at 9pm “can simply do that without hindrance and go home”, said Rutte.
Election workers and volunteers needed written proof from local councils.
Restaurants, bars and cannabis coffee shops will remain takeaway only, as they have done since October, said Rutte. But other restrictions will be slightly relaxed, including more customers allowed in large shops.
Schools have already reopened in recent weeks.
A Dutch appeals court upheld the coronavirus curfew in February after a lower court ruled that it was illegal and should immediately be lifted.
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Greece mourns youngest Covid victim, 37-day-old baby
Greece on Monday mourned the death of a 37-day-old baby, the youngest of the country’s nearly 6,800 Covid-19 victims, AFP reports.
“Sadly today we had the pandemic’s youngest victim in our country, an infant that spent 17 of its 37 days fighting the coronavirus,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted.
“Today, grief is unbearable,” he said.
The health ministry said the baby boy was brought to an Athens children’s hospital in mid-February with a nasal inflammation and fever, and was placed in intensive care a day later. He died on Sunday.
Nearly 6,800 people have died of the virus in Greece, while nearly 480 people are in intensive care.
The health ministry last week said it was calling for additional private hospital resources as it admitted that the public health system in Athens was under “unbearable pressure”.
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Tunisia set to receive first coronavirus jabs
Tunisia said Monday the first coronavirus vaccines were set to arrive to start mass inoculation in the north African nation using Russia’s Sputnik V jabs, AGP reports.
An initial 30,000 doses are due to arrive on Tuesday from Russia, followed by 500,000 doses “in coming weeks”, a presidency statement read, citing “constant diplomatic efforts” to procure them.
Tunisia, which has 11.7 million inhabitants and has recorded 237,704 Covid-19 cases including 8,201 deaths since the pandemic began, will be one of the last north African nations to start vaccinations.
The government had previously announced it was expecting an initial 94,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca/Oxford jabs from mid-February, but delivery under the UN-led Covax scheme was delayed. Beijing last month also pledged to gift 100,000 doses.
A vaccination campaign is expected to begin in coming days.
Lockdown measures remain in place, although rules have been eased slightly with an overnight curfew now starting at 10pm instead of 8pm.
For travellers, mandatory quarantine at a hotel has been replaced by self-isolation at home for 48 hours.
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China’s Sinovac jab effective against Brazil variant, preliminary study suggests
Preliminary data from a study in Brazil indicates that the Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd is effective against the P1 variant of the virus first discovered in Brazil, a source familiar with the study told Reuters on Monday.
The source, who did not provide data details, said the study had tested the blood of vaccinated people against the Brazilian variant of the virus.
Coronavac, as the Sinovac shot is known, is the main vaccine currently being used to inoculate people in Brazil.
Post-Covid consumer spending boom 'implausible', says Treasury official
The prospects for a consumer spending boom after lockdown have been downplayed by a senior Treasury official, amid warnings that wealthier families have saved more than low-paid workers during the pandemic.
Charlie Bean, a former Bank of England deputy governor who sits on the government’s budget responsibility committee, said it would take several years for households to spend £180bn in extra savings accumulated mainly by retirees and higher-paid workers during the crisis.
Casting doubt over forecasts for rapid growth in spending once Covid rules have been relaxed, he told MPs on the Commons Treasury committee: “The idea that people will make up for lost consumption by spending it all over the next few quarters once the economy has reopened, I find implausible. It is much more likely it’ll be spread out over several years.”
Ministers are hoping such a surge could kickstart Britain’s economic recovery once lockdown restrictions have been removed this summer. Andy Haldane, the Bank’s chief economist, argued in a Daily Mail article last month that the economy could benefit from “enormous amounts of pent-up financial energy waiting to be released, like a coiled spring” as shop, pubs and restaurants reopen.
As promised:
Daddy long legs are spiders don't @ mehttps://t.co/i0QtuObH5l
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) March 8, 2021
US airlines ask Biden to back Covid travel guidelines
Major US aviation, travel and aerospace groups on Monday joined airline unions in urging the Biden administration to help establish temporary Covid health credentials to boost travel, which has been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.
In a letter to the White House Covid recovery coordinator Jeff Zients, trade group Airlines for America, the US Chamber of Commerce and the US Travel Association urged the administration to work with industry to “quickly develop uniform, targeted federal guidance for temporary Covid health credentials (CHC) covering both tests and vaccinations”.
The groups also said: “Covid vaccines should not be a requirement for domestic or international travel.”
The White House did not immediately comment.
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Pfizer vaccine effective against Brazil variant
The Covid vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE was able to neutralise a new variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly in Brazil, according to a laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.
Reuters: Blood taken from people who had been given the vaccine neutralised an engineered version of the virus that contained the same mutations carried on the spike portion of the highly contagious P.1 variant first identified in Brazil, the study conducted by scientists from the companies and the University of Texas Medical Branch found.
The scientists said the neutralising ability was roughly equivalent the vaccine’s effect on a previous less contagious version of the virus from last year.
The spike, used by the virus to enter human cells, is the primary target of many Covid vaccines.
In previously published studies, Pfizer had found that its vaccine neutralised other more contagious variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, although the South African variant may reduce protective antibodies elicited by the vaccine.
Pfizer has said it believes its current vaccine is highly likely to still protect against the South African variant. However, the drugmaker is planning to test a third booster dose of their vaccine as well as a version retooled specifically to combat the variant in order to better understand the immune response.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
I’ll be bringing you the latest developments for the next few hours. I will also be posting some fun stories (headless slugs; are daddy long legs poisonous) to give everyone a much-needed break. So rest assured you will be informed and entertained.
You can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan if you feel I am not meeting my obligations as outlined.
Onto the news of the day.
The Covid vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE was able to neutralise a new variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly in Brazil, according to a laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.
Major US aviation, travel and aerospace groups on Monday joined airline unions in urging the Biden administration to help establish temporary Covid health credentials to boost travel, which has been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Other key recent developments include:
- The reopening of schools in England will have an impact on infection rates that could affect the roadmap for lifting restrictions, prime minister Boris Johnson has warned, despite the number of new cases recorded in the UK having fallen to its lowest total since late September.
- Fully-vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing.
- The pandemic has had an “extremely unfair” impact on the income and economic opportunities of women, US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday.
- Most Dutch coronavirus restrictions must remain in place for now, prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday, with the evening curfew being extended until 31 March and foreign travel advised against until mid April.
- Italy’s coronavirus death toll eclipsed 100,000 on Monday, as prime minister Mario Draghi reiterated his pledge to speed up the vaccination programme.
- Italy approved the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people aged over 65 on Monday, after the Italian government had initially blocked the use for over-65s over doubts regarding the vaccine’s efficacy for that age group and a lack of data.
- Preliminary data from a study in Brazil indicates that the Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd is effective against the P1 variant of the virus first discovered in Brazil.
- The EU’s executive criticised Belgium on Monday for extending its blanket ban on non-essential travel to and from the country despite the European commission asking it to ease restrictions on movement.
- The US federal government should be able to launch the delivery of $1,400 checks to around 160m American households almost immediately, once Congress finalises the new coronavirus aid bill and president Joe Biden signs it.
- High schools in New York City will welcome students back to the classroom for in-person instruction on 22 March, mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday.
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