This blog is closing now but thanks very much for reading. We’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage of the pandemic from all around the world.
In the meantime you can catch up with all our coverage of the pandemic here.
An interesting story from Cuba - five mostly elderly and retired Cuban military generals have died in recent days in mysterious circumstances. Cuba’s government has not given an explanation for the deaths but it is thought Covid may be to blame, as the rate has risen almost eight-fold since the start of July.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in Kuwait on Wednesday where he pledged his support to the UN agency’s investigation in China into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Agence France-Presse.
“The U.S. supports the @WHO plans for additional studies into Covid-19 origins, including in (the People’s Republic of China), to better understand this pandemic and prevent future ones,” Blinken tweeted after arriving in the Gulf Arab state.
The meeting with Tedros had not been on Blinken’s published schedule.
In a statement, state department spokesman Ned Price said that Blinken “stressed the need for the next phase (of the investigation) to be timely, evidence-based, transparent, expert-led, and free from interference.”
And he “emphasized the importance of the international community coming together on this matter of critical concern”.
The UN health agency has been under intensifying pressure for a new, more in-depth investigation of how the disease that has killed more than 4 million people around the world first emerged.
The WHO was only able to send a team of independent, international experts to Wuhan in January, more than a year after Covid-19 surfaced there, to help Chinese counterparts investigate the pandemic’s origins.
Long derided as a right-wing conspiracy theory and vehemently rejected by Beijing, the idea that Covid-19 may have emerged from a lab leak has been gaining momentum.
Beijing has repeatedly insisted that a leak would have been “extremely unlikely”, citing the conclusion reached by the joint WHO-Chinese mission to Wuhan in January.
But earlier this month, the WHO said a second stage of the international inquiry should include audits of Chinese labs, amid increasing pressure from the United States for an investigation into the biotech lab in Wuhan.
China said that such a proposal showed “disrespect” and “arrogance towards science”.
Blinken and Tedros also “discussed opportunities for collaboration to continue reforming and strengthening the WHO”, Price said.
Former President Donald Trump had begun pulling the US out of the WHO, accusing it of being in thrall to China, but on his election to the White House, Joe Biden reversed that decision.
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Facebook has recorded its best quarterly results since 2016, despite criticisms of vaccine misinformation on the platform.
The social media company’s overall revenue hit $29bn, above forecasts of $27.89bn, and its profits doubled from a year earlier to $10.39bn thanks to a boom in online advertising. However, it warned of a potential slowdown in the second half of the year.
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The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has ordered his government to open the coronavirus vaccination campaign to anyone who wants a shot, Reuters is reporting, as his country scrambles to protect the population from more transmissible variants.
With only 6% of the Philippines’ 110 million people fully vaccinated against Covid-19, millions remain vulnerable to infection. The government is aiming to fully immunise up to 70 million people before the year ends.
“Give the vaccines to those who want to be vaccinated,” Duterte said in a late-night address, expressing concern over the contagious Delta variant, which is ripping through south-east Asia, now a global centre for the virus.
It was not immediately clear if his directive meant that the vaccines could now be given to Filipinos not included in the government’s priority groups.
Given limited supplies, it is prioritising healthcare workers, elderly, people with existing medical conditions and working age adults.
The country has so far reported 119 cases of the Delta variant, first detected in India, but health experts said there could be more undetected cases because of the slow pace of the country’s genome sequencing capacity.
Daily reported infections have recently started to rise, and authorities this week suspended travel from Malaysia and Thailand, as well as tightened curbs in and around Manila.
Duterte ordered village chiefs to prevent those in their communities who refuse to be vaccinated from leaving home.
“I am telling you, don’t leave your homes. If you go out, I will tell the police to escort you back to your house because you are a walking spreader,” Duterte said. “If you don’t want to help the country by getting vaccinated, then better stay in your homes.”
With more than 1.5 million coronavirus cases and more than 27,000 deaths, the Philippines has the worst outbreak in south-east Asia after Indonesia.
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Pfizer jab just 84% effective after six months, data shows
The efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech fell from 96% to 84% over six months, according to a preprint not yet peer-reviewed.
Stat News reports that an ongoing Pfizer study of more than 44,000 people, the vaccine’s efficacy in preventing any Covid-19 infection that causes even minor symptoms appeared to decline by an average of 6% every two months after administration.
Moderna’s jab was 90% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 and 95% effective against severe disease after six months, the company said in April, but Johnson & Johnson has not disclosed six-month efficacy data, Stat News reports.
The Pfizer study, which enrolled volunteers in Europe and the Americas, does not address whether the vaccine is less effective against the Delta variant.
The pharmaceutical company’s chief of research and development said he expected a third dose to be “somewhat more long lasting” than second dose.
Facing mounting pressure to respond to growing financial hardship across greater Sydney, Scott Morrison this week responded by raising income support for those affected by stay-at-home orders.
The prime minister said the government will increase the Covid disaster payment to either $450 (£240) or $750 a week, depending on how many hours’ work a person has lost.
And after weeks of resistance, the government will also plug a gap that stopped people already receiving some welfare payments from being compensated for their lost employment income.
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Today so far...
- The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection has spoken about evidence that vaccinated people can spread the Covid-19 Delta variant to others, after the US’s top health agency expanded on its new guidance that fully vaccinated Americans should wear masks indoors in certain places. Rochelle Walensky said new science observed in recent days demonstrated new variants of the coronavirus were transmissible by people who have been fully vaccinated in some cases.
- France will from 9 August enforce controversial new laws making a health pass compulsory to visit a cafe, board a plane or travel on an inter-city train, the government’s spokesman has said. The legislation passed by parliament at the weekend has sparked mass protests in France but the government is determined to press ahead. A valid health pass is generated by two jabs from a recognised vaccine, a negative coronavirus test or a recent recovery from infection. The legislation also makes vaccination obligatory for health workers and carers.
- The UK has begun exports of coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer countries, announcing that 9m will be delivered this week around the world as its domestic programme slows. However, vaccine equity campaigners said the move was “shamefully inadequate” with the UK among richer nations blocking efforts to waive intellectual property on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
- The president of Tanzania, one of the world’s last countries to embrace Covid-19 vaccines, has publicly received a dose and urged others to do the same. Samia Suluhu Hassan, the former deputy to her predecessor John Magufuli – who died in March after perturbing health officials by heavily downplaying the pandemic – received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and expressed confidence in its safety.
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Guatemala president Alejandro Giammattei cancelled an order of a second batch of eight million Russian-made Covid-19 vaccines due to lengthy delays.
The money that was due to go towards Sputnik vaccines will now be reinvested to get a further 8m doses from Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson, Giammattei said.
- Children in Israel aged five to 11 at “at significant risk of serious illness or death” can be vaccinated against Covid-19 as of 1 August, health officials have said. A list of medical problems where a vaccination was advised includes children with brain, heart or lung problems, severe immunosuppression, sickle cell anaemia, pulmonary hypertension and severe obesity.
- McDonald’s sales in the US have jumped nearly 15% on 2019 despite obesity being a leading Covid risk factor, with the company crediting easing pandemic restrictions in helping it beat revenue forecasts. Countries with high levels of overweight people, such as the US where McDonald’s also have a new fast food loyalty scheme, have the highest death rates from Covid-19.
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Ministers have announced that fully vaccinated travellers living in the EU and the US will no longer have to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival in England from an amber country.
Under the new rules, which take effect from 4am on Monday, such travellers will still need to test negative before departure and within two days of arrival, but will not have to take a test on day eight. Three Guardian readers explain how the easing of travel restrictions affects their plans.
Children in Israel aged five to 11 at “at significant risk of serious illness or death” can be vaccinated against Covid-19 as of 1 August, health officials have said.
“This is a special authorisation, and each vaccination will be studied on a case-by-case basis,” a ministry spokesperson told AFP. The health ministry yesterday issued a list of medical problems where a vaccination was advised.
They include children with brain, heart or lung problems, severe immunosuppression, sickle cell anaemia, pulmonary hypertension and severe obesity.
They will be offered a Pfizer/BioNTech dose of 0.1 millilitre, three times less than the standard vaccine. Last month, health officials extended vaccination to children aged 12 to 16.
New York state authorities are to require all state employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus by 6 September or undergo weekly tests for Covid-19, governor Andrew Cuomo has said.
In mandating either the shots, or frequent testing for government workers, Cuomo is following on the heels of California and New York City, which announced similar policies for employees earlier this week.
New York, like other states, has seen a rising number of coronavirus cases linked to the Delta variant. New infections have climbed more than 400% since the end of June, AP reports.
Cuomo said vaccines would be mandatory for “front-line” workers at state-owned hospitals. Those employees would not be able to avoid inoculations by undergoing frequent virus testing. The state runs hospitals in Syracuse and New York City and on Long Island.
The Democrat said his administration still needed to speak with union officials about how to implement the policy. Some unions representing government workers in New York City have objected to the “get vaccinated or get tested” mandate there, which is set to take effect in mid-September.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also announced today that New York City would offer $100 to any city resident who gets a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine at a city-run site.
“We’ll say thank you,” the mayor said. “We’ll say we’re really glad that you got vaccinated for yourself, for your family, for your community, and here’s $100 to thank you for doing the right thing and to encourage people.”
New York City and the state have already offered vaccination incentives including lottery tickets, scholarships, free subway rides and complimentary tickets to museums, sports games and other attractions.
It comes as president Joe Biden considers requiring federal employees to show proof of vaccination or submit to regular testing and wear a mask.
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France to enforce controversial new health pass at cafes from 9 August, says government
France will from 9 August enforce controversial new laws making a health pass compulsory to visit a cafe, board a plane or travel on an inter-city train, the government’s spokesman has said.
The legislation passed by parliament at the weekend has sparked mass protests in France but the government is determined to press ahead, AFP reports.
A valid health pass is generated by two jabs from a recognised vaccine, a negative coronavirus test or a recent recovery from infection. The legislation also makes vaccination obligatory for health workers and carers.
The pass has already been obligatory from 21 July for visits to museums, cinemas and cultural venues with a capacity of more than 50 people. But government spokesman Gabriel Attal said it would be obligatory in cafes, restaurants, flights and inter-city trains from 9 August.
Attal said that rising infections driven by the delta variant, with an average of 19,000 daily cases, means that the health situation in France “is continuing to get worse and remains worrying”, AFP reports.
His announcement came as data showed 50% of France’s adult population were now vaccinated with two jabs. The government’s health pass strategy makes vaccination its number-one weapon in the fight against Covid-19.
The implementation of the health pass legislation will come four days after France’s highest constitutional authority, the Constitutional Council, issues its ruling on the legislation on 5 August.
The Council has the power to send laws back to the legislature and government for changes but the government appears confident it will receive the green light.
The plans have proven hugely controversial, prompting two weekends of protests that on Saturday saw over 160,000 rally nationwide and dozens arrested.
Cameroon: 2% at high Covid risk have been fully vaccinated despite availability
High levels of vaccine hesitancy in Cameroon have led to fears could many doses would expire before they could be used.
In a letter to the journal Nature, public-health physician Amani Adidja, epidemiologist Yap Boum and health-systems researcher Pierre Ongolo-Zogo, who worked in Cameroon’s Covid vaccine roll-out, suggested that greater fear about the pandemic would improve take-up.
They report that Cameroon, population 25m, has enough vaccines for 72% of those at high risk –812,300 people – but that by mid-June just 2.3% of them had been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, only around one-in-five health workers had accepted shots.
“At this rate, many of the allocated doses could go to waste,” they write. “Introducing a vaccine requires significant preparation to ensure optimal uptake. However, one month after the launch of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in Cameroon, the communication strategy was neither validated nor implemented.
“Fears about extremely rare adverse events are widespread; fear of the pandemic is not. Low-income countries must act now to boost confidence in vaccines.”
Data up to Monday filed to John Hopkins University shows that there have been a total of 35,261 Covid cases in the west African country over the pandemic, with 1,334 deaths – representing an extremely low death rate.
Here’s more on Guatemala president Alejandro Giammattei cancelling an order of a second batch of eight million Russian-made Covid-19 vaccines due to lengthy delays.
The president told reporters that his administration had renegotiated its reported contract of 16m doses in total with Moscow and would negotiate with other pharmaceutical companies instead, AFP reports.
The money that was due to go towards Sputnik vaccines will now be reinvested to get a further 8m doses from Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson, Giammattei said. “We are going to get them through the other pharmaceutical houses,” he said.
Guatemala, with 18 million inhabitants, has only inoculated 309,339 people so far, according to the health ministry. Guatemala paid $79.6 million to the Russian Direct Investment Fund for eight million doses of Sputnik V. However, so far it has only received 550,000 vaccines.
The delay sparked criticism of the government and calls for an investigation, while ombudsman Jordan Rodas and dozens of social, educational and humanitarian organisations demanded Giammattei resign. As a result, Guatemala renegotiated the contracts, which - according to Russia - were for a total of 16m vaccines.
Giammattei also announced “state of prevention” measures – which suspended several constitutional guarantees, such as demonstrations, meetings and carrying firearms – imposed two weeks ago to help slow the spread of the pandemic is no longer in effect.
Despite the delay of the Russian vaccines, Guatemala has received more than three million doses, including donations from the US, India, Israel and Mexico, as well as purchases from the UN’s Covax program.
With a population of 17 million, Guatemala has recorded 355,223 cases of Covid-19 and 10,174 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to AFP.
UK’s Covid vaccine donations alongside move to block waiver ‘shameful’
The UK has begun exports of coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer countries, announcing that 9m will be delivered this week around the world as its domestic programme slows.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines were due to begin leaving the UK this week – the first time the UK has donated doses rather than funds to Covax, the initiative to distribute vaccines to poorer countries.
However, vaccine equity campaigners said the move was “shamefully inadequate” with the UK among richer nations blocking efforts to waive intellectual property on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
The World Trade Organization’s general council is set to delay a decision on waiving intellectual property on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, amid opposition from the UK and Germany.
Nick Dearden, the director of Global Justice Now, which campaigns for vaccine waivers, said it was inappropriate to use donations for diplomacy.
This is a global health crisis, not an opportunity for vain self-promotion. Worse still, this shoddy piece of PR went out on the very day the UK is blocking real solutions at the World Trade Organization that would allow many of these countries to produce their own vaccines in far greater quantities than donations will ever achieve.
It shouldn’t be up to Dominic Raab to decide if a country is strategically useful enough to deserve some of the UK’s leftover doses. We should be building domestic manufacturing in those countries by waiving vaccine intellectual property and sharing technological know-how.
The UK reported 27,734 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with the weekly count a third lower than the previous week, according to official figures.
However, there was an increase in the number of deaths 28 days after a positive coronavirus tests, with 91 on Wednesday and 498 over the past week, an increase of a third (36%).
There was also an increase in the number of patients admitted to hospital – with 825 admitted on Wednesday and the weekly tally at 6,144, a 23% rise.
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Several government agencies in the US have mandated that all employees will need to wear a mask indoors and physically distance in the office, regardless of their vaccination status.
The move is in response to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant in the country, which is resulting in rapidly increasing Covid rates.
Reuters reports:
The US Homeland Security Department, which has more than 240,000 employees, cited White House Office of Management and Budget “instructions to ensure the safety of our workforce” and other agencies including the Energy Department are also following suit.
DHS noted the change was sparked by new mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued Tuesday in explaining the new requirements.
The head of the British pharmaceutical giant GSK, Emma Walmsley, has announced mixed quarterly results as criticism mounts over ineffective management and delays in Covid-19 vaccine production.
AFP reports that net profit fell more than a third, though remaining at £1.4 billion, after GlaxoSmithKline had benefitted from an exceptional gain one year earlier.
GSK is hoping to launch a Covid-19 jab, developed with France’s Sanofi, at the end of 2021, trailing in the wake of Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, which was an early mover in the market despite having little prior experience in vaccine development.
As the coronavirus has become a priority over other health concerns, the company has seen lower sales for other treatments including antibiotics and vaccines, like Shingrix for shingles, according to AFP.
The former head of French cosmetics giant L’Oreal, where she spent 17 years, Walmsley has come under fire in the past, including criticisms over her lack of experience in the pharmaceutical sector.
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Fully vaccinated can 'actually now pass' Delta variant 'to somebody else', says CDC
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection spoke on Wednesday about evidence that vaccinated people can spread the Covid-19 Delta variant to others, after the nation’s top health agency expanded on its new guidance that fully vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors in certain places, my colleagues Adam Gabbatt, Martin Pengelly and Maya Yang report.
Rochelle Walensky said “new science” observed in recent days demonstrated that new variants of the coronavirus were transmissible by people who have been fully vaccinated in some cases. “With prior variants, when people had these rare breakthrough infections, we didn’t see the capacity of them to spread the virus to others,” Walensky told CNN.
“But with the Delta variant we now see in our outbreak investigations that have been occurring over the last couple of weeks, in those outbreak investigations we have been seeing that if you happen to have one of those breakthrough infections that you can actually now pass it to somebody else.”
The CDC revised its mask guidance on Tuesday to recommend fully vaccinated Americans wear masks in “public indoor settings” with “substantial and high transmission”, a shift from its earlier guidance issued on 13 May, which said vaccinated individuals did not need to wear masks in most indoor settings.
Zimbabwe has authorised the emergency use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, the first Western-made shot to be approved by the southern African nation, its medicines regulator have said.
Nearly half of its 101,711 cumulative cases and 3,280 deaths in the country throughout the pandemic have been recorded this month, according to official data.
Until now, the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) had only registered vaccines from India, Russia and China. More than 1.5 million Zimbabweans have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Most were given China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm shots. Zimbabwe has so far received more than five million doses from China, including both purchases and donations.
MCAZ spokesman Shingai Gwatidzo. declined to say when Zimbabwe would receive its first J&J shots, adding that the health ministry would confirm the deployment of the vaccines after reviewing requirements for cold chain storage, Reuters reports.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said on Sunday the government had fully paid for a total of 12 million vaccine doses from China. He said Zimbabwe expected 5 million shots under an African Union vaccine procurement facility after making a $7.5m deposit, while another 1.15 million doses would be delivered under the Covax global vaccine distribution programme.
Here’s a quick news flash from Reuters. Guatemala’s president Alejandro Giammattei has said the central American nation has renegotiated its contract for the delivery of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines and is now set to receive 8 million doses. Giammattei told a news conference the new contract has already been paid for.
UK lose court case over no sign language interpretation at two Covid briefings
A deaf woman has won a court case against the UK government for failing to provide sign language interpreters at televised Covid-19 briefings. AFP reports that the ruling is the latest setback for the UK government in its legal battles against citizens suing over its handling of the pandemic.
Judge Michael Fordham ruled in favour of citizen Katie Rowley against the Cabinet Office for not providing the interpretation during broadcasts on 21 September and 12 October last year.
Fordham said the omission constituted “discrimination” as it breached the “reasonable adjustments duty” but found the government was not “in present or continuing breach”.
Campaign group The Good Law Project have also taken the UK government it to court amid accusations of inadequate transparency and cronyism relating to the procurement of contracts for personal protective equipment.
In June, the High Court ruled against senior minister Michael Gove for unlawfully awarding a contract worth more than £560,000 for virus-related communications to a firm without going through proper procedures. And state auditors last year found the government failed to account clearly for spending on supplies and services during the pandemic worth £18bn.
Rowley, a self-employed actor and writer from Leeds in northern England, wanted compensation for “injury to feelings”. Her lawyers claimed she should receive thousands of pounds in compensation, and a lower court will award damages at a later date.
Only two of more than 170 Covid-19 briefings were unlawful because British Sign Language was not provided, according to officials.
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The leading US residential landlord association is suing the federal government over the stoppage on evictions during the pandemic.
The National Apartment Association claims that the national freeze cost owners around $27bn not covered by existing aid programs, with the moratorium set to expire in less than a week.
The New York Times reports that analysts cited in the landlords’ suit adjudged that around 10 million tenants owed $57bn in arrears by the end of 2020, and that another $17bn had since gone unpaid.
It is hoped by the group that the action would accelerate the disbursement of $47bn in emergency rent relief included in federal pandemic relief packages.
“If the government takes a hard-line approach, renters and rental housing providers will suffer credit damage and economic harm that could follow them for years to come,” Robert Pinnegar, the association’s president, told the NYT.
“Alternatively, our nation’s leaders could work alongside the industry to make everyone whole and find a resolution that fully funds the economic impact of the CDC eviction order and swiftly distributes those funds.”
England to reportedly allow fully vaccinated from US and EU to enter without quarantine
According to the BBC, the UK government has decided that they will allow fully vaccinated people from the US and the EU to enter England without having to quarantine.
Main opposition party Labour described the plan as “reckless”, since travellers from abroad could be bringing new variants to the UK, while it also remained unclear how the vaccine status of people who have been vaccinated in the US would be checked.
Yesterday, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr Rochelle Walensky said studies show that fully vaccinated people who become infected carry as much virus as unvaccinated people do and that they can transmit the disease.
You can keep up to date with UK-focused developments with my colleague Andrew Sparrow.
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Pfizer has raised its forecast for sales of the Covid-19 vaccine that it developed with Germany’s BioNTech to $33.5 billion from the previous figure of $26 billion, the second increase this year as demand for the jab grows.
The company said the raised sales forecast of the vaccine is based on signed deals for 2.1 billion doses this year. The drugmaker’s previous forecast in May of $26 billion was based on deals signed for 1.6 billion doses, Reuters reports.
Wall Street analysts were broadly in line with that forecast at $28.51 billion, according to nine analysts polled by Refinitiv. Since then, Pfizer has said it expects to produce as much as 3 billion doses this year. Expenses and profit from the vaccine are split 50-50 between Pfizer and BioNTech.
Pfizer has broadly avoided some of the negative press attracted by competitors including AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson due to safety fears over their jabs.
But it has faced criticism for resisting a patent waiver to allow for a speedier global rollout to developing countries and earlier this month Pfizer/BioNTech said people’s immunity starts to wane six months after they have been vaccinated with their jabs, and called for booster shots.
The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially pushed back against the announcement and said Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot, but then said they were prepared to consider any emerging research.
Pfizer expects $33.5billion sales off its vaccine in 2021. But it's not enough, Pfizer is still battling to keep hold of its 'property', meaning massive shortages across the world. Awful. #PeoplesVaccine #NoCovidMonopolies https://t.co/CvE9TorfgR
— Nick Dearden (@nickdearden75) July 28, 2021
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McDonald's US sales up 15% on 2019 despite serious Covid death risk from obesity
McDonald’s sales in the US have jumped nearly 15% on 2019 despite obesity being a leading Covid risk factor, with the company crediting easing pandemic restrictions in helping it beat revenue forecasts.
Comparable sales in the US rose 25.9% from a year earlier when the restaurant chain’s sales took a hit from government curbs, including limited dine-in capacity and dining room closures. Compared to 2019, US sales grew nearly 15%.
Same-store sales globally rose 40.5% in the second quarter and slightly exceeded the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 for the second straight quarter, Reuters reports.
But there has been growing scrutiny on the role of diet in the functioning of a healthy immune system in the era of Covid. Countries with high levels of overweight people, such as the US where McDonald’s also have a new fast food loyalty scheme, have the highest death rates from Covid-19.
About 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths from Covid were in countries with high levels of overweight people, said a report from the World Obesity Federation. Countries such as the US, UK, and Italy, where more than 50% of adults are overweight, have the biggest proportions of deaths linked to coronavirus.
McDonalds has previously been accused of endangering public health in the UK by encouraging customers to eat more fast food in exchange for prizes such as fries, desserts and fizzy drinks.
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An Olympic skateboarder who was put in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 called the conditions at the hotel “inhuman” on Wednesday.
Candy Jacobs has been in isolation for eight days and missed the street event in skateboarding’s debut as an Olympic sport. The Netherlands athlete said she had to force officials to allow her a supervised short break for some fresh air away from her room, where the window doesn’t open, the Associated Press reports.
“Not having any outside air is so inhuman,” the 31-year-old Jacobs said in a video message posted on Instagram. “It’s mentally super draining ... definitely more than a lot of humans can handle.”
Jacobs was removed from the Olympic Village and put in a quarantine facility for people at the Tokyo Games infected with the virus. On her seventh day of isolation, she said she refused to move.
After more than seven hours, she said, officials agreed she could stand at an open window under supervision for 15 minutes. “Having that first breath of outside air was the saddest and best moment in my life,” Jacobs said.
Tanzanian president gets Covid jab after anti-vax predecessor's death
The president of Tanzania, one of the world’s last countries to embrace Covid-19 vaccines, has publicly received a dose and urged others to do the same.
Samia Suluhu Hassan, the former deputy to her predecessor John Magufuli – who died in March after perturbing health officials by heavily downplaying the pandemic – received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and expressed confidence in its safety.
“We will make sure our country has enough vaccines for those who are willing to be vaccinated,” Hassan said before taking her jab publicly along with the prime minister, the chief justice and others.
I’m a mother of four children, grandmother to many, wife and most importantly, the president and commander in chief of the Tanzanian armed forces.You can imagine how many people depend on me from that chain. In that context, I cannot put my life at risk if the vaccines are not safe.
In June, Tanzania joined the global Covax scheme for sharing vaccines with poorer nations, culminating in the delivery of its first batch of 1.06 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week. Tanzania placed an order for more doses from the African Union’s vaccines acquisition platform (AVATT) yesterday, she said.
UPDATE: President Samia Suluhu Hassan has received a #Covid19 vaccine shot as Tanzania rolls out its national vaccination campaign.
— The New Times (Rwanda) (@NewTimesRwanda) July 28, 2021
Last week, the country welcomed its first consignment of one million doses of the J&J Covid vaccine. pic.twitter.com/bvb1DgBTeD
Magufuli, who died from a heart condition after a mysterious absence of almost three weeks, had warned citizens against Covid-19 vaccines and recommended at-home remedies such as steam inhalation. But the government has changed tack following his death and officials now call for social distancing and emphasise mask wearing in public.
The late former president made a number of comments which caused serious anxiety, saying in January: “The ministry of health should be careful, they should not hurry to try these vaccines without doing research, not every vaccine is important to us, we should be careful. We should not be used as ‘guinea pigs’.”
Referring to Tanzania’s first leader Julius Nyerere’s habit of rejecting advice from Western nations, he also said: “Our founding father was not someone to be directed to be told what to do… Those who devise these kinds of rules [lockdown] are used to making these directives that our founding father refused.”
He added: “Vaccinations are dangerous. If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, he should have found a vaccination for Aids, cancer and TB by now.”
But, with the country now changing course, Tanzania’s current president has also pledged to invest in vaccine manufacturing, according to the Africa CDC, following a meeting with the agency’s director, John Nkengasong, yesterday.
Tanzania went well over a year without updating its number of confirmed virus cases due to concerns over the efficacy of tests but has now resumed reporting the data to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which shows 858 cases throughout the pandemic, and 21 deaths – though there are fears the true figures may be greater.
Just two African countries still have yet to start Covid-19 vaccinations, Burundi and Eritrea. Burundi, whose late President Pierre Nkurunziza also had been criticised for downplaying the pandemic, has said vaccines are not required, the AP reports.
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Biden reportedly to mandate jabs for US federal workers as CDC backtracks on mask guidance
Joe Biden says requiring all federal workers to get coronavirus vaccine is “under consideration” as the Delta variant surges.
Meanwhile, CNN has reported that the president will indeed announce a vaccine requirement for all federal employees and contractors, or submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements, according to a source the network said is close to the matter.
As he wrapped up a speech to members of the intelligence community at the Office of the Director of National intelligence today, Biden took a couple questions from reporters.
One journalist asked Biden whether he plans to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for federal employees. “That’s under consideration right now, but if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not really as smart as I thought you were,” Biden said.
It comes as US health authorities reversed a decision made in May and said even Americans fully vaccinated against Covid-19 should go back to wearing masks in indoor public places in regions where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly.
Studies show that fully vaccinated people who become infected carry as much virus as unvaccinated people do, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr Rochelle Walensky said. “We felt it was important for people to understand that they could pass the disease onto someone else,” she said.
The CDC also recommended all students, teachers and staff at schools from kindergarten to 12th grade wear masks regardless of whether they are vaccinated.
Despite 58% of people eligible being fully vaccinated, the CDC said that 63.4% of U.S. counties had transmission rates high enough to warrant indoor masking and should immediately resume the policy. Manhattan, Los Angeles and San Francisco meet the transmission criteria, as does the entire state of Florida, but Chicago and Detroit do not.
The US leads the world in the daily average number of new infections, accounting for one in every nine cases reported worldwide each day. The seven-day average for new cases has been rising sharply and stands at 57,126, still about a quarter of the pandemic peak.
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Norway has postponed for a second time a planned final step in the reopening of its economy from lockdown, due to the continued spread of the Delta variant, the government has said.
“A new assessment will be made in mid-August,” health minister Bent Hoeie said. Measures that will be kept in place to halt the spread of Civud-19 include bars and restaurants being limited to table service and limits of 20 people on gatherings in private homes.
The government in April launched a four-step plan to gradually remove most pandemic restrictions, and had completed the first three of those steps by mid-June, Reuters reports.
On 5 July, prime minister Erna Solberg said the fourth step could come in late July or early August at the earliest because of Delta concerns.
About 80% of adults in Norway have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 41% of adults are fully vaccinated, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The nation of 5.4 million people has seen one of Europe’s lowest rates of mortality from the virus. Some 800 Norwegians have died from Covid-19.
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Barclays shareholders are in line for a payout of more than £800m from dividends and share buybacks after a rise in profits as the UK economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Barclays is the first major UK bank to hand money back to investors since the Bank of England scrapped the remaining Covid restrictions on shareholder payouts, which were introduced by the central bank at the start of the pandemic last year.
It follows a strong second quarter, with Barclays’ pre-tax profits rising to £2.6bn over the three months to the end of June, up from £359m a year earlier. It also beat consensus forecasts for £1.7bn in profits for the period.
More than half the population of Germany is now fully vaccinated, health minister Jens Spahn has said, but concerns are growing about a slowdown in uptake.
“41.8 million Germans now have full protection, while 61.1% have received at least one shot. The more people who get vaccinated, the safer we will be in autumn and winter,” Spahn wrote on Twitter.
Germany’s vaccination campaign accelerated in the spring after a sluggish first few months, yet the country remains some way off the 80% targeted for herd immunity, AFP reports. The inoculation drive has slowed to a snail’s pace in recent weeks.
With case numbers also rising, the debate over how to cajole more people into taking the vaccine is set to become a key issue in the national elections scheduled for 26 September. Unlike other European countries such as France and Greece, Germany has so far ruled out introducing compulsory jabs for certain parts of the population.
But chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff Helge Braun has mooted possible further restrictions on public life for the unvaccinated, even if they can show a recent negative test, AFP reports.
“Vaccinated people will definitely have more freedom than unvaccinated people” if case numbers rise again in the autumn, said Braun.
Wizz Air has said it expects passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels in August amid a steady climb in summer holiday bookings despite Covid-19 pandemic restrictions across Europe.
In an upbeat statement to the London stock market on Wednesday despite a €114m (£97m) loss between April and June, the budget airline said it expected to operate at 90% of its pre-pandemic capacity in July and 100% in August.
Airlines have been among the slowest companies to recover from the pandemic, with cross-border movement restrictions holding back travel despite the progress of vaccination programmes. However, there have also been signs of pent-up demand from consumers used to foreign holidays as passenger numbers steadily rise.
Prime minister Scott Morrison has called on Australians to channel its Olympians and “go for gold” in the country’s vaccine programme, after he previously insisted repeatedly that the country’s vaccine rollout is “not a race”.
It comes as the federal government announce additional financial support for residents and businesses in locked down greater Sydney, bringing combined government assistance for the state to more than $1bn a week.
Meanwhile, reviews of rapid Covid-19 tests in Australia have found markedly different results in their effectiveness, but experts say the New South Wales government’s decision to employ them in schools and essential workplaces will help to control the virus.
Hello and greetings to everyone reading, wherever you are in the world. Mattha Busby here to take you through the next few hours of global Covid developments. Thanks to my colleague Clea Skopeliti for covering the blog up until now. Please feel free to drop me a line on Twitter or message me via email (mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk) with any tips or thoughts on our coverage.
Updated
Japan’s vaccination minister has said the speed of the country’s vaccine rollout is less important than ensuring young people take up doses, as Tokyo recorded an all-time high number of cases.
Taro Kono, the vaccination minister, told the Associated Press that Japan is “overshooting” its goal of a million shots a day, so “speed doesn’t matter anymore.” Officials are getting an average of 10 million shots in arms each week after a late start to the campaign.
“Even if we slow down a little bit, I’m OK. Rather we need to reach out to the younger people, so that they would feel that it’s necessary for them to get vaccinated,” Kono said.
Italy approves Moderna vaccine for teenagers
Italy’s medicine regulator has approved the use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for children 12-17 years old, following the approval of Pfizer for adolescents.
Moderna announced in May that its vaccine had been found to be safe and effective in teenagers, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended its authorisation be extended for use on over-12s.
Drug agency AIFA said it had endorsed the vaccine Spikevax for teenagers, fully accepting the EMA’s recommendation.
“The available data demonstrate the efficacy and safety of the vaccine also for subjects in this age group,” Aifa said in a statement reported by Reuters.
Some European countries have backed vaccinating under-18s in order to tackle the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
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Tokyo cases at all-time high
Tokyo has reported 3,177 new coronavirus cases, setting an all-time high and surpassing 3,000 for the first time days into the Olympic Games.
Experts say the surge is being driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
The new cases surpassed the earlier record of 2,848 set the previous day. There have been 206,745 cases in the city since the onset of the pandemic.
The Japanese capital has been under a fourth state of emergency since 12 July ahead of the Olympics, which began last Friday despite widespread public opposition.
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Russia has reported a further 22,420 coronavirus cases as the country battles a wave attributed largely to the highly contagious Delta variant as well as a slow rate vaccine rollout.
Wednesday’s figures take the official national tally to 6,195,232, Reuters reports.
The government coronavirus task force said 798 people had died of coronavirus-related causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 156,178. A death toll of almost double, at around 290,000, is reported by the federal statistics agency, which has kept a separate count.
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Boris Johnson has rejected Michael Gove’s remarks that people who turn down a vaccine are “selfish”.
Asked about the Cabinet Office minister’s comments this morning, Labour deputy Angela Rayner and Therese Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, also refused to support Gove’s claim.
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Police in Malaysia are investigating an an alleged breach of coronavirus restrictions after a customer went to extraordinary lengths to order a takeaway, sending a helicopter more than 100 miles across the country to pick up their meal.
The aircraft landed in Ipoh city to collect 36 portions of a rice popularly known as “nasi ganja” and returned to Kuala Lumpur, 180 kilometres (110 miles) away, according to Reuters.
The country is under lockdown, with people chiefly remaining at home and travel between states banned except in exceptional circumstances.
Police say the helicopter had been given permission to fly outside the capital but only for maintenance, not to collect food. Prosecutors will decide whether to take further action.
The story has sparked anger online, with one social media user tweeting: “There are people who can’t travel back home to attend … funerals or to see their loved ones for one last time, because it’s not a valid enough reason to get them a travel permit.”
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Mike Tildesley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the University of Warwick, said recent decline in the number of UK cases could be because people are less willing to be tested ahead of summer holidays.
Asked about the decline, the member of the scientific modelling group Spi-M told Times Radio: “Because schools in England closed last week, we haven’t got secondary school pupils doing regular lateral flow testing and so we’re not necessarily detecting as many cases in younger people.”
He said that it has also been suggested that “people might be less willing to ‘step up’ to testing when they have symptoms” ahead of their holidays.
Tildesley stressed the importance of monitoring hospital admissions which are still rising as it “always takes a couple of weeks before hospital admissions turn around”. He said that if we start to see admissions falling as well in August, then “we would have much stronger evidence to suggest that this third wave is starting to turn around”.
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Boris Johnson has called for caution despite recent falls in the daily coronavirus case figures.
The UK prime minister told LBC Radio: “We’ve seen some encouraging recent data, there’s no question about that, but it is far, far too early to draw any general conclusions.”
He added: “The most important thing is for people to recognise that the current situation still calls for a lot of caution and for people just to remember that the virus is still out there, that a lot of people have got it, it still presents a significant risk.”
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Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike has called on younger people to get vaccinated and to follow coronavirus restrictions amid the surge in cases during the Olympics.
Reuters reports that cases rose to 2,848 on Tuesday, exceeding its previous record in January. Koike said that most of the new cases are in unvaccinated younger people, while most older people have been fully vaccinated.
“Younger people’s activity holds the key (to slowing the infections), and we need your cooperation,” Koike said. “Please make sure to avoid nonessential outings and observe basic anti-infection measures, and I would like younger people to get vaccinated.”
A quarter (25.5%) of people in Japan have been fully vaccinated, while 68.2% of elderly people are.
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Malaysia reports record 17,405 cases
Malaysia’s health ministry has reported a further 17,405 coronavirus cases – a new daily record.
Reuters reports that the new infections takes the south-east Asian nation’s total caseload of cases to 1,061,476.
More than 8,000 deaths have also been recorded, though experts have warned that the true numbers are far higher as testing rates are low.
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Thailand has begun using sleeper trains to transport Covid patients out of Bangkok, where hospitals have been overwhelmed by a recent surge in cases.
The first train left the capital on Tuesday, transporting 137 patients who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms to their home towns in the north-east of the country.
Thailand is facing its third and most severe wave of Covid since the start of the pandemic, driven by the Delta variant, which has spread widely across the capital. Hospitals have been forced to treat patients in car parking areas, and to turn away patients who are severely ill.
Rayner says people who refuse to get vaccinated are not “selfish”, following Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove’s comments saying they were.
“We know from medical advice that compulsory vaccination is not the way to go,” she tells Sky News. “It’s giving people the information and encouragement to take up the vaccine, and where we’ve done that, we’ve been incredibly successful.”
“What we want to see is testing so we can see where the virus is and isolate it”, as well as encouragement for vaccination.
Asked about people who refuse to get vaccinated, Rayner says it’s a “personal choice for them”. “I don’t think it’s selfish – what politicians should be doing is encouraging people to speak to their doctor, get the right information – not stuff online that may be factually incorrect – and get the vaccine.”
Coffey also refused to repeat Gove’s comment after being asked during the broadcast round.
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Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner is on Sky News this morning.
She is emphasising the need for an effective testing regime as well as vaccines to control the virus.
Rayner is calling for more workplace flexibility for employees. “I think Covid has changed the landscape for workers,” she says, adding that employers have seen that flexible and remote working is possible. She says that some people may not return to the office.
The second shot of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine does not increase the chances of rare blood clots with low platelets, a study published in the Lancet medical journal has showed.
The data found that the estimated rate of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) after the second dose of the Vaxzevria vaccine was 2.3 per million in those inoculated, comparable to the typical rate seen in those who have not been vaccinated, AstraZeneca said.
The rate was 8.1 after the first dose.
Sir Mene Pangalos, executive vice-president of BioPharmaceuticals R&D, said: “Vaxzevria is effective against all severities of Covid-19 and it plays a critical role in combatting the pandemic. Unless TTS was identified after the first dose, these results support the administration of the two-dose schedule of Vaxzevria, as indicated, to help provide protection against Covid-19 including against rising variants of concern.”
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The leader of Myanmar’s junta is seeking international help to tackle the country’s coronavirus outbreak, according to state media.
In a speech, senior general Min Aung Hlaing called for more cooperation on prevention, control and treatment of Covid-19, including with other members of the Association of southeast Asian Nations and “friendly countries”, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
He said the number of vaccinations needs to be boosted, through both donated doses and by developing domestic production, aided by Russia, the newspaper said, adding Myanmar would seek the release of funds from an ASEAN Covid-19 fund.
Myanmar is believed to have only vaccinated about 3.2% of its population, despite recently receiving 2m further Chinese vaccines, according to a Reuters tracker.
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Thérèse Coffey, the UK work and pensions secretary, is doing the media round this morning.
Coffey says “no decision has been made” on plans to end quarantine for vaccinated travellers but that the government is considering “opportunities to reopen the economy from people coming from abroad”. An announcement is expected later today.
Asked on Sky News about the “pingdemic” and whether there is a possibility the end of self-isolation for vaccinated people could be brought forward, Coffey says that self-isolation continues to be an important tool in fighting the spread of the virus, although “vaccines help in reducing transmission”.
Coffey says “all policies are kept under consideration” but that there is “very strong medical advice” saying fully jabbed people should continue to self-isolation until 16 August.
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Hello, I’m Clea Skopeliti and I’ll be running the blog for the next few hours. Do drop me a DM on Twitter if you spot a story I’ve not included. Thanks in advance.
New Zealand’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout will significantly expand from today, with the first segment of 2 million people in group 4 becoming eligible.
Up until now, border workers, frontline workers, the vulnerable and those aged over 65 – people in the first three groups – have been the priority. People over the age of 60 will now also be eligible. The remainder of group 4 – those aged 16 and over – will become eligible later in the year.
The rollout has faced criticism for being slow compared with other countries, with New Zealand sitting at the bottom of the OECD for vaccinations administered per population.
But prime minister Jacinda Ardern said she is proud of the progress so far, adding that the programme is the most significant vaccination programme the health system has ever undertaken.
Roughly 1.7 million first doses have been administered in New Zealand, and 699,479 have had a second dose.
“Over the last week there has been a 40% increase in the number of vaccines administered, 204,943 in the past seven days with that number set to keep rising,” Ardern said.
“So far we are running according to our plans. In some cases we are performing over and above where we thought we would be.”
She said the recent arrival of large vaccine deliveries will allow health officials to ramp up the rollout.
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Thailand reports record 16,533 new cases
Thailand reported on Wednesday a daily record of 16,533 new coronavirus infections, bringing the country’s total accumulated cases to 543,361.
The country’s Covid taskforce also reported 133 new deaths, taking total fatalities to 4,397.
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South Korea reports 1,896 new cases
South Korea on Wednesday reported 1,896 new cases for Tuesday, its highest daily increase, as the country struggles to subdue a fourth wave of outbreaks fanned by the more contagious Delta variant.
The daily tally broke a previous record set on 22 July as infections are spreading beyond the capital, Seoul, and its neighbouring regions where the toughest social distancing rules are in place, Reuters reports.
There were 1,823 domestically transmitted cases on Tuesday and 33.5%, or 611, of the were from areas outside the capital regions, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
This is the first time the number of cases outside the Seoul metropolitan region has exceeded the 600 mark since the first Covid wave emerged from a church in the southeastern city of Daegu.
Tighter social distancing curbs took effect across most of the country on Tuesday and will last for two weeks. Those areas will be under Level 3 curbs on a four-level scale, which will mean a 10pm (1300 GMT) dining curfew and ban on gatherings of more than four people.
The tighter curbs were enacted to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus during South Korea’s peak summer holiday season.
The great Seoul area region remains under Level 4 curbs that include a ban on gatherings of more than two people after 6pm.
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US may mandate vaccines for federal workers
Joe Biden says requiring all federal workers to get coronavirus vaccine is “under consideration” as the Delta variant surges.
Meanwhile, CNN has reported that the president will indeed announce a vaccine requirement for all federal employees and contractors, or submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements, according to a source the network said is close to the matter.
As he wrapped up a speech to members of the intelligence community at the Office of the Director of National intelligence today, Biden took a couple questions from reporters.
One journalist asked Biden whether he plans to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for federal employees.
“That’s under consideration right now, but if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not really as smart as I thought you were,” Biden said:
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
South Korea has reported 1,896 new cases, its highest-ever daily increase, as the country struggles to subdue a fourth wave of outbreaks fanned by the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. Thailand also reported a daily record, of 16,533 new coronavirus infections, bringing the country’s total accumulated cases to 543,361.
Meanwhile in the US, Joe Biden says requiring all federal workers to get coronavirus vaccine is “under consideration” as the US responds to surging Delta variant cases.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- Plans to significantly open up international travel are expected to be announced on Wednesday, with UK ministers poised to let people who have been fully vaccinated in the US and EU avoid quarantine if arriving from amber list countries.
- Kuwait said it will allow only vaccinated citizens to travel abroad starting 1 August, the government communication office reported.
- Iran’s Covid-19 cases hit a record high for the second time in as many days today, rising to almost 35,000, as the health minister warned there was little hope of improvement unless the public followed health precautions, state TV reported.
- The UK and Germany “have protected Covid vaccine patents over human lives”, campaigners have said as the World Trade Organization is reportedly about to delay a decision on whether to waive patents on Covid vaccines. The two countries are expected to resist efforts to allow poorer countries to produce their own vaccines, thus speeding up the global rollout of the jabs.
- The US’s top health agency is expected to backpedal and recommend that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in parts of the US where Covid is surging, according to reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to make an announcement later in the day revising guidance issued in May, which said vaccinated individuals did not need to wear masks in most indoor settings.
- Schools closed due to the pandemic must reopen as soon as possible, the United Nations said, estimating that the education of more than 600 million children was at stake.
- Ireland is set to open its vaccination programme to those aged 12 to 15 after its national immunisation advisory committee made a favourable recommendation. Foreign minister Simon Coveney said the decision meant “the benefit of vaccination can be extended to this much younger cohort” but that parents would retain the right to decide how to proceed.
- Almost 99% people who have died of Covid-19 in Italy since February this year were not fully vaccinated, the National Health Institute said.
- An additional 18,000 New Zealand children were pushed into poverty in the first year of the pandemic, according to research, despite child welfare being one of prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s main concerns.
- The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the EU has met the target of administering a Covid jab to 70% of adults by July, making good on the promise to “catch up” after a rocky start to the bloc’s vaccination rollout.
- Tokyo’s 2,848 daily coronavirus infections on Tuesday were the Olympic host city’s highest since the pandemic began, officials said, but Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga said it was “not a problem” for the Games and that Tokyo residents should focus on working from home to suppress the movement of people
- Germany is planning to introduce tighter controls on citizens returning from holiday in an attempt to control the growth in coronavirus cases.
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People advised to shield during the first wave of the pandemic were eight times more likely to get Covid-19 and five times as likely to die following infection than the general population, a study indicated.
