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If the UK’s new health secretary is to be believed, we are about to embark on an “exciting new journey” come 19 July. Sajid Javid, like the prime minister, appears confident that restrictions will be lifted irreversibly on that date. The data, however, is beginning to tell a different story.
When Boris Johnson said his government would be guided by “data, not dates”, the scientific community – for the most part – endorsed the cautious approach. Now, the signs are ominous. Driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, cases are once again starting to rise exponentially. Vaccination rates have slowed. An exhausted NHS is seeing a rise in hospitalisations. Over half of all people in the UK are not fully vaccinated.
The government’s strategy – to ease restrictions as vaccines reach more people, walking the tightrope between opening up society and not overwhelming the NHS – hangs in the balance. The heavy reliance on the vaccine programme as cases continue to surge, say scientists, may not just leave the NHS to pick up the pieces yet again, but potentially create fertile ground for new and even more dangerous variants to emerge.
The good news is that the vaccines have tremendously weakened the link between infections and hospitalisations and deaths. In the last seven days, there have been 116,287 cases reported in the UK, compared with 122 deaths (although deaths from these latest infections won’t be seen for two to three weeks). Nearly 62% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated.
But it seems unwise to underestimate this variant, which now accounts for 99% of new Covid cases. It’s roughly 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which previously dominated, is linked to a greater risk of hospitalisation, and is somewhat more resistant to vaccines, particularly after one dose.
The problem with putting all our eggs in the vaccination basket is that we need a large majority of the population (potentially including teenagers) to be fully inoculated to be protected as a society, so that when there are outbreaks – as there inevitably will be – there are fewer people who are susceptible, and the likelihood of cases spiralling out of control is much lower, according to Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist and associate professor at the University of Leeds school of medicine. We might need to hold on to some restrictions beyond 19 July until we can hit that high level of vaccination, scientists say, to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed in the short term, and to limit the number of long Covid cases and indeed slow the growth of the ballooning backlog over the long term.
Read the full story here:
South Africa crossed the threshold of 60,000 coronavirus deaths, health officials announced, a day after a stricter lockdown was enforced.
“A further 138 covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 60,038 to date,” the National Institute for Communicable Diseases tweeted on Monday.
#COVID19 UPDATE: A total of 43,155 tests were conducted in the last 24 hrs, with 12,222 new cases, which represents a 28.3% positivity rate. A further 138 #COVID19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 60,038 to date. Read more: https://t.co/C5VeWkEfFI pic.twitter.com/sYi6ZNjXcE
— NICD (@nicd_sa) June 28, 2021
At least 512 new hospital admissions were reported on Monday, pushing the total number of hospitalised people to 11,801.
“The condition of the patient is so much worse,” than the first two waves, Elsabe Conradie, chief executive and doctor at eMalahleni Private Hospital east of Johannesburg told AFP Monday.
“They get much, much sicker and so many of them never leave the hospital,” she said.
The health authority said 12,222 new cases had been recorded over the last 24 hours - 28.3 percent of those tested.
Nigeria will receive another batch of nearly four million doses of coronavirus vaccines under the Covax scheme by August, a senior health official said Monday.
Covax was set up to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, particularly to low-income countries, and has already delivered more than 80 million doses to 129 territories, AFP reports.
Nigeria – home to some 200 million people, making it Africa’s most populous country – got some four million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March with which it started a nationwide coronavirus vaccination programme.
Faisal Shuaib of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency told reporters in Abuja:
The federal government has also recently received communication from the Covax facility for additional allocation of 3,924,000 doses of AstraZeneca/AZD1222 vaccine...for delivery into the country by July-August 2021.
He said the government would also procure 29.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine through the African Union Commission and AfreximBank.
Shuaib said:
This is expected by September.
I am glad to inform you that 3,441,146 doses have so far been utilised for the first and second dose vaccinations, which is approximately 88 percent of the total AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine stock in the country.
He urged those still reluctant to take the jabs to do so.
He said:
Let me again assure everyone that reactions are expected from all types of vaccination. COVID-19 vaccine is therefore not an exception.
What is important is for us to understand that the vaccine is safe and effective and that the reaction would not last.
The virus has killed 2,119 people and infected 167,467 in Nigeria since the first index case in February last year.
The United States has raised its Covid 19-related travel advisory for the United Arab Emirates to “level 4 - do not travel,” the US State Department said on Monday.
The advisories for Liberia, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia were also raised to level 4 - do not travel, the State Department said in a statement.
AFP has this report on the situation in Italy which is now considered “low risk” to coronavirus:
Italians were finally able to go outside without masks Monday after the whole country became a “low-risk” zone for coronavirus, a milestone for the first European country to be hit by the global pandemic in February 2020.
In a decree that took effect Monday, the health ministry for the first time classified each of Italy’s 20 regions as “white”, the lowest of four categories under a colour-coded classification system that evaluates Covid-19 risk.
It means facemasks are no longer compulsory in outdoor areas - welcome news in a country where an ongoing heatwave is expected to push temperatures past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some southern areas this week.
“It’s a kind of relief as it’s very hot,” local Salvatore Casuccio told AFP in central Rome.
However, many people out and about on Monday morning were still wearing their masks, whether through habit or continued concern.
Giulia, another Rome resident, was still wearing hers, as was her mother. “We are still concerned about this situation. It’s not over yet,” she said.
Once a symbol of the coronavirus crisis in the West – with images of army trucks transporting coffins from the overflowing morgue in the northern city of Bergamo seen around the world – Italy has seen infections and deaths plummet in recent weeks.
One third of Italy’s population over the age of 12 had been fully vaccinated as of Monday morning, or 17.8 million people, according to the government.
Long prohibited from entering the country, tourists from the European Union, the United States, Canada and Japan are returning after the government removed a quarantine requirement for vaccinated visitors, or those who test negative.
Despite the progress, Health Minister Roberto Speranza urged Italians to be vigilant as the Delta variant, which is causing havoc in many countries, spreads across Italy.
“Caution and prudence is still needed, especially because of the new variants,” Speranza wrote, after signing the ordinance Saturday.
“The battle is not yet won.”
Covid restrictions in England “must come to an end” on 19 July, the new health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced, saying the public and ministers will have to “learn to live” with the virus.
In his first Commons appearance since taking over from Matt Hancock, who quit over the weekend after an affair with an aide broke social distancing rules, Javid said the easing next month would be “irreversible”. He said 19 July was “not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country”.
In a pointed comment designed to dismiss criticism the government is no longer following a “data, not dates” approach, Javid said: “No date we choose comes with zero risk for Covid.”
Read more here:
Walt Disney Co’s cruise division said on Monday it had postponed its first test cruise since the onset of the pandemic after a few volunteers showed inconsistent Covid-19 test results.
Several cruise lines have planned to resume voyages from the United States after many months, with Royal Caribbean Group’s Celebrity Edge last weekend becoming the first vessel from a major operator to sail from a US port, Reuters reports.
The Disney Dream ship was scheduled to set sail with about 300 volunteers on Tuesday, but the cruise was cancelled as a small number of employees showed inconsistent Covid-19 test results that were considered positive by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Disney Cruise Line did not say when it would next commence sailing of the ship.
Royal Caribbean executive Michael Bayley last week said two unvaccinated teenagers had tested positive on its Adventure of the Seas ship, adding that 92% of guests were fully vaccinated.
Officials involved in talks about a US and British travel corridor said they thought it was increasingly unlikely they would reach a conclusion by the end of July, The Financial Times reports.
The officials added that the rise in cases of the Delta variant in Britain, the complexities of the US political system and uncertainty over the Astrazeneca vaccine meant the talks would likely extend into August and even September, the newspaper said.
Summary
I’m signing off for the night so here’s a summary of today’s news. This blog will be on pause for a while but head over to the UK politics blog for more following Sajid Javid’s announcement about easing restrictions.
- British health secretary Sajid Javid said restrictions must come to an end in July. He said taking the step on 19 July was “not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country”.
- Hong Kong has banned passenger flights from the UK and will stop anyone who has spent two hours in the UK from boarding a plane. The city has deemed the UK “extremely high risk” because of rising cases and the spread of the Delta variant.
- Greece plans to boost its vaccination rates by offering young people €150 to take the vaccine. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called it “a gift out of gratitude” to young people.
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Italy dropped the obligation to wear a face mask outdoors from Monday as the whole country entered the lowest-risk ‘white zone’ category of coronavirus restrictions. People will still have to wear masks in shops, restaurants and on public transport.
- Russia has administered at least one dose to 23 million people and says there is increased demand. The country has been suffering a new spike in cases, including in Moscow and Saint Petersburg - where there are questions about insisting on hosting a Euro 2020 quarter-final on Friday.
- Parts of Australia are imposing local lockdowns as the country battles an outbreak of the Delta variant. Some cities are facing their first lockdowns having been able to get through most of the pandemic relatively unscathed because of strict restrictions imposed at the first sign of an outbreak.
- The head of Indian vaccine manufacturer Serum Institue India has lobbied the EU over excluding recipients of its vaccine from “green passes” for travel to Europe. SII licensed the vaccine from AstraZeneva and supplies most Indians and much of the world - especially low and middle-income countries that rely on the vaccine sharing initiative Covax.
- South Africa reimposed a stricter lockdown, closing restaurants and shops selling alcohol because of a third wave that is already approaching the peak hit during the previous outbreak in January.
- Thousands of people were stranded in Bangladesh’s capital as authorities halted almost all public transport ahead of a sweeping lockdown imposed to combat a deadly resurgence of Covid-19 infections.
- AstraZeneca has said it is on schedule to meet its commitments for supplying coronavirus vaccines in south-east Asia, after some initial delays in regional production and delivery.
- Spain will start to demand a negative Covid test or proof of vaccination from British tourists who want to enter Mallorca, Ibiza and the surrounding Balearic islands, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said.
- Portugal’s authorities have said that British tourists will need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival if they are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or cannot show a negative PCR test.
- Indonesia’s health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as coronavirus cases surge to unprecedented levels, according to Reuters’ sources familiar with government discussions. There is also concern in the country about the effectiveness of China’s Sinova vaccine after at least 10 out of 26 Indonesian doctors who died from Covid-19 this month were fully vaccinated with it.
Abu Dhabi will be limiting access to a range of public spaces to fully vaccinated people, it announced today.
The rules, which include schools, malls, gyms and resorts, will come into effect from 20 August to allow time for most citizens to get vaccinated.
Anyone exempted from vaccination and children will not have the new rules apply to them.
My colleagues Daniel Boffey and Sam Jones report that a deal is nearing to allow Covid passports for fully vaccinated British tourists wanting to visit Europe.
Hopes have been raised of summer holidays in Europe for fully vaccinated Britons as a deal with Brussels on Covid passports neared completion and Germany failed to convince popular destinations to pull an “emergency brake” on UK visitors.
Restrictions on travel are tightening across the continent for tourists coming from the UK who have not had two jabs, owing to concerns over the highly transmissible Delta variant now dominant in Britain.
Portugal announced on Monday that people unable to prove full vaccination status would face 14 days in quarantine. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said Britons travelling to the Balearic islands would need to show either a negative PCR test or proof that they have been fully vaccinated to avoid having to self-isolate. From Wednesday the Balearics will be on the UK government’s green list of countries from which travellers will not need to quarantine when they return home.
But for travellers from the UK who have had both doses of an approved vaccine, the prospect of a relatively normal summer break appears brighter, with popular destinations loth to shut the doors on those who are unlikely to be infectious. According to the latest data, 61.9% of UK adults are now fully vaccinated and 84.4% have had at least a first dose.
Updated
Most COVAX vaccine recipients - read, most citizens from low to middle-income countries - will be excluded from the new EU COVID 'Green Pass' which will be rolled out from July 1st.
— Yousra Elbagir (@YousraElbagir) June 27, 2021
This is OBSCENE.
https://t.co/MnrGiZMcQw
It’s not only Indians who would suffer from the EU’s so-called Green Pass excluding recipients of the version AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute India.
Much of the world has relied on the manufacturer’s doses, which has been supplying low and middle-income countries through the international Covax platform.
The EU said SII’s version of the vaccine has not been approved in Europe but their decision has been a cause for criticism and an example of persisting vaccine inequality.
Europe stay Europing! Choosing violence even when the world is already devastated. Violating and breaking any rules of human morality, against WHO guidance.
— Rosebell Kagumire (@RosebellK) June 27, 2021
“Most COVAX Vaccine Recipients Excluded From New EU COVID 'Green Pass'” https://t.co/a8WsgxqxOp
Updated
At least 10 out of 26 Indonesian doctors who have died from Covid-19 this month were fully vaccinated with Sinovac, prompting authorities to consider whether medics should receive alternative doses to boost immunity.
Indonesia, which has relied on the Chinese-made Sinovac to vaccinate its health workers, is struggling against a new surge in coronavirus cases. The latest outbreak, driven by new variants, has overwhelmed hospitals and burial sites in Jakarta and on the island of Java. On Monday the country announced 20,694 new infections.
In Kudus, a town in central Java, more than 500 medical workers have tested positive for Covid-19 over the last two weeks, including one doctor who died. All were fully vaccinated.
The data, released by the Indonesian Medical Association, adds to questions about the level of protection Sinovac provides against new, more infectious variants.
The vaccine was approved for emergency use this month by the World Health Organization, which said efficacy results showed it prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated, and prevented severe Covid-19 and hospitalisation in 100% of the studied population.
However, several countries that have vaccinated a large proportion of their population and used the Chinese-made Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines as part of their innoculation campaigns have reported recent outbreaks. These include Mongolia, Seychelles, Bahrain and Chile.
At least half of children in Mumbai have Covid-19 antibodies, according to a survey carried out while India was going through a devastating wave of infections, Rueters reports.
Suresh Kakani, a city official who oversaw the survey, said it showed that many under-18s would be protected.
There have been concerns that minors could suffer from another wave, especially as none have been vaccinated.
Mumbai has around 1.5 million children and has been building large new paediatric wards in preparation for a new wave.
Andrew Marr suffered a “nasty bout” while Scotland player Billy Gilmour and the chief of defence staff Gen Sir Nick Carter have all joined the increasing numbers of those recently testing positive for Covid-19.
Such high-profile cases have served to highlight how infections are on the up as restrictions in England are poised to be lifted on 19 July. On Monday 22,868 cases were reported across the UK, the highest since late January, though only three deaths.
And, hand-in-hand with the positive test results are the many forced to isolate after coming into contact with those infected.
The question now facing scientists is how much of this uptick is due to lockdown fatigue and laxness over guidelines, the easing of restrictions, or the higher transmissibility of the Delta variant.
Covid restrictions in England “must come to an end” on 19 July, the new health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced, saying the public and ministers will have to “learn to live” with the virus.
In his first Commons appearance since taking over from Matt Hancock, who quit over the weekend after an affair with an aide broke social distancing rules, Javid said the easing next month would be “irreversible”. He said 19 July was “not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country”.
In a pointed comment designed to dismiss criticism the government is no longer following a “data, not dates” approach, Javid said: “No date we choose comes with zero risk for Covid.”
He said his primary task would be to “help return the economic and cultural life that makes this country so great, while, of course, protecting life and the NHS”.
He spoke as a further 22,868 coronavirus cases were reported across the UK – the highest in a single day since 28 January. There were three more deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test, further evidence that vaccines are breaking the link between infection and serious illness.
Covid-19 is continuing to loom over this summer’s sports clashes. There have been questions over where Russia’s Saint Petersburg should be hosting a quarter-final for Euro 2020 on Friday as the city witnesses its worth death tolls since the pandemic began. Organisers say the game will go ahead.
In Japan, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga promised tighter controls at airports after two Ugandan team members arriving for their pre-games preparation tested positive.
In cricket, three Sri Lankan players involved in the one-day tour against England were sent home on Monday for breaching the team’s bubble by leaving their hotel outside of games and training.
South Africa has returned to strict lockdown and that’s forced quiet on the country’s streets. Reuters reports on the concerns for businesses, who are worried about staying afloat while restaurants and shops selling alcohol have been forced to shut.
The third wave of infections already hit 18,00 cases on Saturday, only 3,000 short of the peak in January, and positivity rates are one in four.
A slow vaccination drive, brought about by a combination of bad luck, failure to order vaccines early enough and a contamination of Johnson & Johnson vaccines that meant a whole batch had to be destroyed, has left South Africans ill-prepared to weather a third wave.
“I’ve lost a lot of relatives, friends of mine, which I’ve lost. I can tell you this thing is very dangerous,” said Ismaeel Soeker, 49, a self-employed resident of Cape Town.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced a raft of measures including suspension of sale of alcohol and a halt in restaurants dine-in for two weeks to minimise the impact of the new wave, which scientists say is driven by the Delta variant first found in India.
“There’s nothing we can do now, but we need to start afresh, but start afresh with who?” said Wandile Ndala, owner of Wandie’s, a restaurant in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto.
Ndala said he has no customers in his shop and have no staff as he cannot pay for their salaries. “There’s no money coming in.”
The new restrictions come at a time when the government has already withdrawn grants and relief schemes for people and businesses affected by the virus, with many complaining that a tightening of restrictions could lead to an irreversible damage to an already reeling economy.
Updated
Hundreds of Pakistanis have overwhelmed a government-run coronavirus vaccination centre in Kabul as the nation grapples with a shortage of vaccinations despite a decline in new infections.
According to AFP, many of those involved were individuals who work overseas – mainly in the Gulf Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia – who need a shot of the hard-to-find AstraZeneca vaccine to travel there.
“We have a very limited capacity here, but for the past few days the centre has been overwhelmed by those wanting to travel abroad,” senior police official Farooq Amjad Butta.
“It was not a protest or an attack,” Buttar said, downplaying the incident in which no one was injured.
Pakistan has so far fully or partially vaccinated nearly 12 million people from a population of 220 million with the Chinese Sinopharm or Sinovac jabs.
Most Gulf nations, however, require incoming foreign workers to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca or Pfizer brands, which are in short supply in Pakistan.
Updated
Adar Poonawalla, Serum Institute of India CEO, said he was trying to resolve EU travel problems facing Indians who have been inoculated with SII’s licensed version of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.
It comes as a European Union vaccine passport programme will allow people to travel freely within the bloc from 1 July, as long as they have had one of four western-made vaccines.
While this includes the AstraZeneca shot, it does not extend to Covishield, the Indian version produced by SII.
“I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries,” Poonawalla said on Twitter.
I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) June 28, 2021
EU-recognised vaccines include Moderna, Pfizer & BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson.
According to Reuters, countries, including Germany, Greece and Spain, have already put it in place the “EU digital Covid certificate” before it comes into effect.
The EU and the Indian ministry of external affairs did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The EMA said the only Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca for which a marketing authorisation application had been submitted and evaluated, leading to its authorisation, was Vaxzevria, the name for AstraZeneca in that region.
Covishield does not have marketing authorisation in the EU, even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria, the agency said.
Updated
The Greek government’s latest bid to achieve herd immunity by offering the younger generation a financial bonus if they have a first shot of the anti Covid-19 vaccine has been met with both joy and cynicism.
Young people interviewed by Skai TV described the promise of €150 in pre-paid credit as “an unexpected gift” saying it would encourage them to be inoculated. “I would have done it anyway but this is definitely an incentive,” one youngster told the channel.
The so-called “freedom pass” unveiled today by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will go into force by the end of July. It comes as epidemiologists express growing fears over the Delta variant and its impact on the government’s vaccination drive.
Under the initiative an estimated 940,000 Greeks, aged between 18 and 25, will be entitled to spend the credit on touristic and cultural activities in the country. All types of transport, accommodation, cinema tickets, theatrical and musical performances and entry to museums and archaeological sites will be covered by the credit.
It will be stored in a digital wallet available on a beneficiary’s smart phone and is to be supplemented by a month’s worth of free data use in August.
Mitsotakis described the scheme as a “gift of gratitude”.
“This is a debt to our youth, a gift of gratitude, particularly ahead of the summer,” he said in a televised message as relevant ministers sat around him.
But the novel measure was also met with scepticism. The political opposition accused the centre-right government of trying to “buy off” youngsters after making their lives “unbearable” through prolonged lockdown.
“Now he is trying to buy them off with €150. He handles them as if they are fish who will bite and not as citizens with rights,” the main opposition Syriza party said in a statement.
It was clear, it claimed, that the government had been motivated by boosting its appeal among a younger generation from whom it had become “divorced” following a controversial higher education bill. Instead, it argued, it should be focused on Greeks aged over 60, 35% of whom had refused to be vaccinated.
But the minister of state and digital policy, Kyriakos Pierrakis, insisted “the reward” would also benefit a tourism industry already hard hit by the pandemic.
“By offering unprecedented incentives for young people to go out and explore its cultural scene, Greece is not only protecting public health, but investing to kickstart our precious tourism industry,” he said.
Updated
Russia has delivered at least one dose to about 23 million people, the Tass news agency reported health minister Mikhail Murashko saying on Monday.
The vaccinations cover only a fraction of Russia’s 144 million people, despite Russia manufacturing its own Sputnik V vaccine.
But as cases rise, and the country suffered its worst number of deaths on the weekend, the government is saying that there is now increased demand for the vaccine.
Tass reporter said that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday the government is trying to meet the increase in demand.
Moscow reported 124 deaths over the past 24 hours on Monday and St Petersburg 110 – the worst days for both cities since the pandemic began – according to official data.
Updated
Cyprus’s health authorities have lowered the age for vaccinations to 16 after finding a third of recent cases were minors.
AFP reports that with parents consent, they will be given an mRNA vaccine – Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna.
The ministry said contact tracing showed there were particularly high numbers of cases among 15- to 18-year-olds and data suggested they suffered similar symptoms as adults.
“The timely vaccination of children will contribute to ensuring that a new outbreak of the virus in the community is prevented and that younger ages and, consequently, their family and friends are protected,” the ministry said in a statement.
It added: “The vaccination of students will contribute to the smooth operation of schools, with the physical presence of students.”
Cases have risen recently in Cyprus, reaching a six-week high of 226 infections on Saturday.
Updated
Parts of Australia have imposed lockdowns as questions are raised in the country about its stuttering vaccine rollout, report Nino Bucci and Elias Visontay.
Australia is grappling with several outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus, with a wave of restrictions rolling across the country and plunging some cities into lockdown for the first time since the pandemic began.
Residents of every state and territory in the country – except the island state of Tasmania – are again living under restrictions ranging from full-blown lockdowns in Sydney and Darwin, to mask mandates in some indoor settings in Adelaide and Canberra.
The scale of the outbreak is tiny compared with those in some other countries, but Australians have lived a charmed life for much of the pandemic because of the rigid rules that are often implemented at the first sign of the virus. This regime is coupled with extraordinary restrictions on its citizens returning to or even leaving the country.
The outbreak has renewed questions about Australia’s stuttering vaccination programme and limited quarantine facilities, both of which are responsibilities of the federal government.
Australia has one of the lowest vaccination rates of any developed country, with less than 5% of the population fully vaccinated, and it has only one dedicated quarantine facility, using hotels for other returned citizens.
Updated
Though Sweden has adopted a soft approach to restrictions throughout the pandemic, many of the few curbs it has had in place will be removed on 1 July.
Health minister Lena Hallengren announced that more visitors will be allowed into stadiums and restaurants after a sharp drop in new infections.
About a third of Sweden’s population has been fully vaccinated and 57% of adults have had at least one dose.
Updated
Hong Kong to ban flights from 'high risk' UK over variant concerns
Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from the UK starting on Thursday, as the Chinese city puts Britain on its “extremely high risk” Covid-19 list amid the continuing surge in cases in the country.
“The recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the UK and the widespread Delta variant virus strain there, coupled with a number of cases with L452R mutant virus strains detected by tests from people arriving from the UK,” the authorities said in a statement on Monday.
The new rules will also mean that travellers who have stayed in the UK for more than two hours will be prevented from boarding passenger flights to Hong Kong from Thursday.
It is the second time Hong Kong has barred arrivals from Britain after a ban that was in force from December 2020 until May.
Hong Kong is on England’s amber list, which means that arrivals from the Chinese city will have to quarantine at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.
Updated
Third dose of Oxford/AstraZeneca jab 'may be enough to act as booster'
A simple third dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may be enough to work as a booster without having to tweak it, a study reported by PA Media suggests.
An Oxford University study found that giving people a third dose more than six months after their second led to a substantial rise in antibodies and increased the body’s T-cell ability to fight coronavirus, including its variants.
Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said it is not yet known whether people will need a booster shot in the autumn but the new data shows the existing vaccine could be effective.
He said real-world data from Public Health England (PHE) has already shown that two doses offer good protection against hospital admission and death from the Alpha Kent variant and the Delta variant first identified in India.
With two doses preventing more than 90% of hospital admissions with Covid, he said it is “difficult to say” whether a third dose could add a few more percent.
But he added: “Boosters are much more about if protection gets lost over time – and we don’t know that – but if it does, could you boost? And the answer to that from these data is yes, you could.
Updated
Australia is concerned about low rates of vaccinations among indigenous communities, Katharine Murphy and Lorena Allam report.
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, says he is worried about low vaccination rates in remote communities after a cluster of Covid-19 cases connected to a goldmine in the Northern Territory increased to seven on Monday.
Darwin and surrounding areas have been put into lockdown until 1pm on Friday amid concerns about the significant risk posed to Indigenous communities.
Wyatt told the ABC on Monday there was significant vaccine hesitancy in some communities. “I don’t want to see any deaths within our communities,” he said.
The minister pointed to a remote community near the Tanami mine, where only 18 people out of 400 had been vaccinated, with residents concerned about what they were reading on social media about the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“I am worried, I am concerned,” Wyatt said. “But we must keep level heads and we must focus on the logistical arrangements of making sure that we get vaccines to communities.”
Greece wants more young people vaccinated and it trying to encourage them by offering €150 for them to take the first dose, Reuters reports.
Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told ministers on Monday morning it is “a gift out of gratitude” – being offered on prepaid cards to spend during the summer and on cultural events.
They will also get a month of free internet data for their phones.
About a third of Greece’s population is vaccinated but the country is trying to boost rates for the summer holidays.
Updated
Italy dropped the obligation to wear a face mask outdoors from Monday as the whole country entered the lowest-risk ‘white zone’ category of coronavirus restrictions.
However, people will still need to wear a mask if in a crowded area or when inside shops, restaurants and other indoor premises, and when using public transport.
Italy made wearing masks outdoors mandatory in October, as the country entered the second wave of the pandemic. But even before then, the majority of people chose to wear a mask outside.
On Sunday, Italy registered 782 new coronavirus infections and 14 deaths. However, with the Delta variant accounting for 17% of total infections over the past month, health minister Roberto Speranza said that “caution and prudence are still needed, especially in light of the new variants. The battle has not yet been won.”
Updated
Today so far…
- Thousands of people were stranded in Bangladesh’s capital as authorities halted almost all public transport ahead of a sweeping lockdown imposed to combat a deadly resurgence of Covid-19 infections.
- Russia reported 21,650 new Covid cases, including 7,246 in Moscow
- AstraZeneca has said it is on schedule to meet its commitments for supplying coronavirus vaccines in south-east Asia, after some initial delays in regional production and delivery.
- Covid news in the UK is very much dominated by the fall-out from the weekend resignation of health secretary Matt Hancock – Andrew Sparrow has the latest on our live blog.
- Spain will start to demand a negative Covid test or proof of vaccination from British tourists who want to enter Mallorca, Ibiza and the surrounding Balearic islands, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said.
- Portugal’s authorities have said that British tourists will need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival if they are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or cannot show a negative PCR test.
- Outdoors, all of Italy became a mask-free, “low-risk” zone for coronavirus, marking a dramatic milestone for the first European country to be hit by the global pandemic in February 2020. In a decree the health ministry for the first time classified each of Italy’s 20 regions as “white”, signifying low risk
- Deep-rooted structural inequalities and patriarchal values are to blame for India’s worrying Covid vaccine gender gap, campaigners and academics have warned.
- Indonesia’s health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as coronavirus cases surge to unprecedented levels, according to Reuters’ sources familiar with government discussions.
- Australia’s Covid response committee is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday as outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant across the country prompted a lockdown in Sydney and renewed restrictions elsewhere.
- Taiwan has reported 60 new cases and three deaths, both new lows since the outbreak peaked, but is facing fresh concerns over an outbreak of the Delta variant in a southern province.
Our interactive team have launched a piece this morning showing new analysis that confirms that a speedy vaccination campaign pays off when it comes to escaping the worst of the pandemic.
Countries such as Israel, the UK and the US have all seen deaths decline as vaccination coverage extended to the most vulnerable in their societies.
However, there are concerns that lower vaccine supplies for developing countries is enabling the virus to continue to spread among the world’s poorer people, causing further deaths and increasing the risk of future variants.
Of the 48 countries that have a vaccination rate of over 50 per 100 people, just one country – Mongolia – is among low or lower-middle income countries.
Find out more here: Vaccine inequality – how rich countries cut Covid deaths as poorer fall behind
Speaking of Australia, Anton Nilsson reports for the Australian on a so-called “superspreader” party event in New South Wales whose outcome is said to be a strong demonstration of vaccination. Nilsson writes:
While the majority of the people who attended the West Hoxton party were infected with the virus, those who emerged unscathed had been vaccinated, the NSW Health Minister said.
“I can report that of the more than 30 people that were at that party, 24 of those people are now positive for Covid-19,” Brad Hazzard told reporters on Monday.
“And not one of those 24 people were vaccinated. I could also advise that six health workers who attended at that party, who were fully vaccinated, not one of those people has been infected with (the coronavirus).
“I can also report that there was one aged care worker at the party, who’d had the first dose, and that aged care worker was also not infected at the party.”
Read more here: The Australian – West Hoxton, NSW superspreader party becomes case study in effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines
Zoë Hyde is an epidemiologist based at the University of Western Australia, and her piece for us today is about what she thinks Australia needs to do next as Covid clusters keep emerging:
We should require masks in public places at the first sign of an outbreak. It’s now compulsory to wear a face mask in Greater Sydney and surrounding regions, but this measure was introduced relatively late. Last week the New South Wales government recommended their use, but stopped short of mandating them. Unfortunately, we know that voluntary mask policies lead to insufficient compliance, and this puts the whole community at risk. We need to take rapid action to prevent the virus from spreading in the community. This is the best way to avoid a lockdown.
However, when mystery cases are detected in the community, short “circuit-breaker” lockdowns must be seriously considered. This gives contact tracers a much-needed chance to get ahead of the virus. The Delta variant spreads much quicker than previous strains, so we need to act faster than we have in the past. A little more than one week after the first case was detected, inner Sydney went into lockdown, with Greater Sydney following a day later. But experts, including the Australian Medical Association, had called for a tougher and more rapid response. There’s no margin for error with the Delta variant, and it’s better to risk overreacting than do too little.
Lockdowns deliver the best results when they are applied early, and when they are very stringent. Going “hard and fast” has the best chance of stamping out the virus quickly, and leads to a quicker economic recovery. Victoria learned the hard way that it takes a long time to get back to normal if the virus has built up momentum. We shouldn’t risk the chance of needing prolonged lockdowns by not doing enough in the early stages of an outbreak.
Read more here: Zoë Hyde – The Delta variant has rebooted Covid – so Australia must reboot its strategy
Russia’s numbers are grim again today. Reuters say the country reported 21,650 new Covid cases on Monday, including 7,246 in Moscow. The government coronavirus taskforce said 611 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours.
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Thousands of people were stranded in Bangladesh’s capital as authorities halted almost all public transport ahead of a sweeping lockdown imposed to combat a deadly resurgence of Covid-19 infections.
The country reported 119 deaths on Sunday, its highest-ever daily death toll from the pandemic, while new infections have been averaging about 5,000 for the past few days. Officials blame the recent rise in cases on the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant first identified in neighbouring India.
The majority of the south Asian nation’s 168 million population will be confined to their homes by Thursday as part of the restrictions, with only essential services and some export-facing factories allowed to operate.
AFP reports the lockdown announcement sparked an exodus of migrant workers from the capital Dhaka to home villages, with tens of thousands of people cramming into ferries to cross a major river.
The staggered implementation of the lockdown rules left thousands of workers in Dhaka forced to walk to their offices on Monday, sometimes for hours, in the sweltering summer heat. Workplaces will be shut from Wednesday.
Restrictions on activities and movement were imposed across Bangladesh in mid-April as cases and deaths jumped to their highest levels since the start of the pandemic. Infections declined in May but started to rise again this month, sparking the harsher restrictions.
The country has reported more than 880,000 infections and just over 14,000 virus deaths, but experts say the actual toll could be much higher due to possible under-reporting.
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Andrew Sparrow has our UK live blog for today up and running – there’s bound to be a lot of continued Covid-related fallout from Matt Hancock’s resignation there. I’ll be carrying on here with global coronavirus news.
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AstraZeneca 'on schedule' to meet commitments for supplying vaccines in Southeast Asia
AstraZeneca has said it is on schedule to meet its commitments for supplying coronavirus vaccines in south-east Asia, after some initial delays in regional production and delivery.
AstraZeneca said Thailand, which is manufacturing its vaccine locally, will have received its agreed quota of 6m doses within this month, while export to other south-east Asian countries will start in early July.
Reuters report in a statement that AstraZeneca Thailand said partner Siam Bioscience, owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, will produce 180m doses this year, just over a third for Thailand and two-thirds for elsewhere in south-east Asia.
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Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of the NHS Providers organisation, said the new health secretary needed to immediately address the new surge of Covid-19, a rise in demand for emergency services, and the backlog of people waiting for NHS treatment.
PA Media reports she told BBC Breakfast: “We know that there are probably three key issues that the new secretary of state is going to have to deal with.
“We do have this new surge of Covid so tackling that is going to be absolutely critical and all focuses on that alongside thinking about how we tackle the huge backlog of care that has arisen – we know that waiting lists are at their highest level over 5.1m and those who’ve waited for more than a year is also an incredibly high level.
“Also what we’ve seen recently is a huge spike in demand for both emergency care and mental health care. So alongside the broader issues like supporting the workforce, there are also these immediate operational challenges.”
She said that the NHS is facing a “really tough winter ahead”, adding: “We need to be able to clear the decks for that and focus on that.”
For his part, new health minister Sajid Javid has just left his home, and PA Media reports he told waiting journalists: “Nice to see you all. Thank you for coming. Sorry about the rain. Nothing I can do about that.”
Javid is expected to address parliament later today about whether the government will bring forward the end of Covid restrictions in England from the proposed date of 19 July.
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Barnaby Joyce urged to apologise over ‘burning flesh’ comments about Melbourne’s Covid impact
Deputy prime minister of Australia Barnaby Joyce continues to be under pressure for comments he made at the weekend. Daniel Hurst reports:
Joyce was asked during an interview with News Corp Australia whether the nation needed to move on from the idea of having zero Covid-19 cases. “It’s like saying I want zero cases of flu. It’s not possible,” Joyce told News Corp’s Sunday tabloids.
“It’s like saying I want zero cases of measles mumps. We’re going to shut the borders for that? It’s just not possible. You have to learn how live with it. How to manage it. What happens when next year we need to get universities going again, what, you close all the f----s down do you?”
When asked by the journalist to reflect on whether this approach would cause problems in Melbourne, Joyce replied: “Of course. But in country areas we couldn’t really give a shit. We’ve got record exports of coal. Record exports of beef. But we look at Melbourne, and go, you can almost smell the burning flesh from here.”
Darren Chester, who is from regional Victoria, says Joyce, the newly installed leader of his party, should focus on uniting the nation rather than promoting outdated divisions between city and country communities.
Labor demanded that Joyce apologise for the “disgusting” comments, while urging Scott Morrison to “make clear that this is entirely unacceptable from a senior member of his government”.
“The remarks are disgusting, divisive and unworthy of the office of the deputy prime minister, indeed of any holder of public office,” said Andrew Giles, a Labor frontbencher from a suburban Melbourne seat.
Read more of Daniel Hurst’s report: Barnaby Joyce urged to apologise over ‘burning flesh’ comments about Melbourne’s Covid impact
Spain to reinstate requirement for British tourists to show negative Covid test or proof of vaccination
Spain will start to demand a negative Covid test or proof of vaccination from British tourists who want to enter Mallorca, Ibiza and the surrounding Balearic islands, prime minister Pedro Sanchez has said this morning.
“What we are going to do is apply to British tourists who go to the Balearic islands the same requirements we make of other European citizens,” Sanchez told Cadena SER radio. “They will need a full dose of vaccine or a negative PCR,” he added, referring to a type of test for the coronavirus.
Spain had previously decided to lift the requirement for Britons to present a negative PCR test from 20 May.
Isla Binnie reports for Reuters that authorities in Mallorca, a popular holiday destination for Spaniards and foreigners alike, are investigating a coronavirus outbreak involving more than 600 students.
Taiwan imposes new quarantine rules over Delta variant fears
Taiwan has reported 60 new cases and three deaths, both new lows since the outbreak peaked, but is facing fresh concerns over an outbreak of the Delta variant in a southern province.
So far, 12 people have been identified as connected cases in Pingtung, stemming from two people who were home quarantining after they returned from Peru. Currently it seems that a passing interaction with a neighbour infected the neighbour with the virus, who then passed it on to others including a taxi driver. Cases in Australia appeared to show the Delta variant being transmitted in ‘scarily’ fleeting contact.
In response to this outbreak, Taiwan has banned home quarantine for all international arrivals.
The new rules now are: All arrivals from seven high-risk countries (Brazil, India, the UK, Peru, Israel, Indonesia and Bangladesh) must quarantine in a government facility on arrival and be tested twice. The cost of quarantine and tests will be covered by the government.
All arrivals from non high-risk countries must quarantine in either a hotel, or at the government facility but either option will be at the traveller’s own cost.
This has drawn some criticism over the requirement for one group of people to pay but not others, and has led to anecdotal reports – which the Guardian has not confirmed – of returning travellers adding a stopover in a high-risk country to trigger their placement in free quarantine.
Authorities also confirmed that a further 410,000 doses of Moderna vaccines would arrive on Wednesday. Taiwan is receiving donations and delayed orders of vaccines, but still only has enough to vaccinate about 20% of the 23.5 million population.
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Labour's Angela Rayner: PM is 'a liar and a cheat' who allows that at 'the heart of government'
“Anybody would do a better job than the current government” – that was Labour’s Angela Rayner on Good Morning Britain just now. Addressing the issue of UK health secretary Matt Hancock’s resignation, and whether Labour would be able to capitalise on that in this week’s byelection in Batley and Spen, Labour’s deputy leader said:
As I’ve said, and I keep saying over and over again, I don’t know why people vote for Boris Johnson. I would never do that because I’ve seen that he is a liar and a cheat, and I’ve seen also that he’s allowed that at the heart of government.
'I don't know why people are voting for Boris Johnson. I've seen that he's a liar and a cheat.'
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 28, 2021
Labour Deputy Leader @AngelaRayner responds to @susannareid100 and @MartinSLewis's question about why Labour is still behind in the polls.
Susanna asks where Keir Starmer has been. pic.twitter.com/uGnh055mlX
She also had a message for incoming health secretary Sajid Javid.
Here's an idea for your first day @sajidjavid.
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) June 28, 2021
Get all the money that @MattHancock gave to Tory donors and cronies back, and then use it to give our NHS and social care heroes the pay rise they deserve.
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Lib Dem leader Davey: PM Johnson 'made the wrong call on this very serious matter'
There’s been a double-whammy attack on UK prime minister Boris Johnson on the airwaves in the last few minutes. First up, with a byelection in the air, there was Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey on Sky News. On Matt Hancock’s resignation as health secretary, he said:
He should have been sacked, or stepped down earlier. There are lots of questions still to be answered. One question that has to be asked is the prime minister’s judgment. Yet again, he made the wrong call on this very serious matter. And he’s now a serial offender. He made the wrong call over Priti Patel when she was found guilty of bullying, and he over-ruled an independent ministerial adviser and didn’t get rid of her. When Dominic Cummings broke the Covid rules he didn’t get rid of him. And now when his secretary of state for health, right at the top, during a pandemic, broke the rules, he kept him on.
It’s really clear under Boris Johnson there is one rule for him and his friends and his ministers, and another role for us. That can’t go on. And if the prime minister continues to have this appalling judgment, parliament needs to hold him to account. This prime minister is completely out of control.
Boris Johnson 'made the wrong call again', says leader of the Lib Dems Sir Ed Davey, adding that Matt Hancock 'should have been sacked or stepped down earlier'.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 28, 2021
He adds 'this prime minister is out of control'.#KayBurley https://t.co/MGGmN2ckWz pic.twitter.com/rDy95neDFR
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Portugal to quarantine unvaccinated British tourists for 14 days
Catarina Demony reports for Reuters from Lisbon on the decision by Portuguese authorities that unvaccinated British tourists will need to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival if they are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The new rule, which will remain in place until at least 11 July, comes amid a surge in cases in Portugal, where the number of daily new Covid infections is back to February levels, when the country of just over 10 million was still under a strict lockdown.
Britons arriving in Portugal by air, land or sea must show proof they are fully vaccinated or self isolate for 14 days at “home or at a place indicated by health authorities”, the government said in a statement.
Portugal is on Britain’s amber list, meaning holidaymakers must self-isolate for 10 days when they return home – and take expensive Covid tests too.
Portuguese health authorities have blamed the more contagious Delta variant, first identified in India but rapidly spreading in Britain too, for the recent rise in infections. More than 70% of Covid cases in the Lisbon area are from the Delta variant.
Germany declared Portugal to be a “virus-variant zone” last week, a measure that will trigger severe restrictions on travel to and from the country.
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Emma Brockes writes for us this morning, pondering if vaccination will become part of the back-to-school ritual in New York:
The big question for New Yorkers is how the schools will manage vaccination status in September. The assumption is that even if the under-12s are greenlighted to get their shots over summer, the Department of Education will shrink from insisting children are vaccinated before entering school buildings. This doesn’t make a lot of sense; a child can’t attend state school in New York without a health form attesting to his having had all the other vaccinations. The assumption is, however, that there will be sufficient pushback from parents worried about the shallowness of the trials on young children to make mandating Covid vaccinations too disruptive. On this basis – enragingly – masks are still likely to be required in the classroom, too. There aren’t a lot of consolations for this – but looking beyond summer to autumn and the nights drawing in, at least we’ll still have something to bitch about.
Read more here: Emma Brockes – Will vaccination become part of the back-to-school ritual?
Nayanika Guha reports for us on the gender gap in India’s vaccine roll-out:
Deep-rooted structural inequalities and patriarchal values are to blame for India’s worrying Covid vaccine gender gap, campaigners and academics have warned.
As of 25 June, of the 309m Covid vaccine doses delivered since January 2021, 143m were administered to women compared with nearly 167m to men, according to CoWin, India’s national statistics site – a ratio of 856 doses given to women for every 1,000 given to men. The difference is not accounted for by India’s gender imbalance of 924 women to 1,000 men.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with the highest number of people living in rural areas, has administered 29m vaccines. Of this figure, which includes first and second doses, 42% were given to women. West Bengal, the fourth most populous state, is also lagging behind with women receiving 44% of doses. Dadra and Nagar Haveli, a predominantly rural union territory in western India, has one of the starkest disparities: just 30% of vaccines went to women. Daman and Diu, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir are among the other regions performing badly. A handful of states, including Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, have given more doses to women than men.
Data on transgender people, non-binary people, or people of other marginalised genders has not been accurately tracked, with all groups falling under a singular category of “other”.
“Women are not seen as an important part of the family, community or society structure. [The vaccine gender gap] is reflective of the gender inequality prevalent in India, and even internationally,” said Bhagyashri Dengle, executive director of Asia Pacific and gender transformative policy and practice for Plan International.
Read more of Nayanika Guha’s report here: India’s Covid gender gap: women left behind in vaccination drive
If you were at all worried how Serco were coping with the pandemic, fret no more. The company said this morning that it has won a potential £322m contract to continue providing support services to Covid test centres in the UK.
The outsourcer will provide services such as cleaning and security services at around 20% of sites in England and Northern Ireland, test site operations, including a mixture of drive-through and walk-in testing centres, as well as mobile testing units.
“We are delighted that the DHSC has selected us to continue to support them in providing these services for at least the next twelve months,” Serco chief executive Rupert Soames said.
Reuters report that the contract has an option for a further six month extension which would take it to the end of 2022 – which may be of interest to those declaring the pandemic over.
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Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, and chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said if levels of protection from jabs continue then we should be in a “very good position”, when asked about restrictions being lifted soon.
PA Media reports he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “We’re looking at the data that’s coming from Public Health England about the effectiveness of the vaccines and we’re seeing more than 90% protection. If that persists as more and more data emerge, and we will get much greater certainty of those figures in the weeks ahead, then we reach a point where, with most people vaccinated with at least one dose and those at highest risk having two doses, it does put us in a very good position.
“But in the end it’s going to be a political decision about the timing of when those should end.”
Meanwhile, NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor told Today that he wanted new health secretary Sajid Javid to be a voice of caution, saying: “Covid is the most pressing issue, the number of cases in hospital are rising. Covid is an issue and he needs to be a voice of caution in the Cabinet in terms of the potential pressures in the health service.”
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I should imagine that we will begin to see a lot of confirmations like this emerge around the world – the United Arab Emirates has provided a breakdown of new Covid cases, and they are nearly all coming from the variants.
The Gulf Arab state, with a population of about 9 million, has had one of the world’s fastest vaccination campaigns, but cases have risen over the past month to more than 2,000 new infections a day. On Saturday, the UAE recorded 10 deaths, its highest single daily toll since March.
Alexander Cornwell notes for Reuters that the Beta variant, first detected in South Africa, is the most dominant variant in the UAE, accounting for 39.2% of cases. Delta, first detected in India, accounts for 33.9% of infections. Alpha, first detected in Britain, accounts for 11.3%.
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority in the UAE urged the public to get vaccinated, saying that 92% of those admitted to intensive care had not been inoculated, while 94% of those who had died had not been vaccinated.
‘Health systems should be prepared’: doctors brace for tsunami of long Covid
Doctors are increasingly referring to the condition as PASC: post-acute sequelae of Covid-19. Colloquially known as long Covid, the syndrome can affect nearly every organ system in the body, with sometimes debilitating effects. No standardised clinical definition exists yet.
“This is a really serious problem,” says Asst Prof Ziyad Al-Aly, director of clinical epidemiology at the Veterans Affairs St Louis Health Care System in the US.
To better understand how long Covid manifests differently in people, Al-Aly and his colleagues tracked 87,000 Covid-positive US veterans over six months after their initial diagnoses.
They found that among those with long Covid, respiratory signs and symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, and low blood oxygen were the most commonly reported. The findings of the study were published in April, in the journal Nature.
Though respiratory conditions were the most common, the syndrome seemed to affect most bodily systems. “Wherever we looked there were signals of disease,” says Al-Aly. In their patients, long Covid involved organs including the lungs, brain, heart, liver and skin.
The disorder had a wide range of effects, including cardiac and lung damage, sleep problems, memory issues, mental health disorders and skin rashes. “The risk was evident even among those people who were not hospitalised for Covid-19,” Al-Aly says.
People with long Covid also had increased rates of new prescriptions for painkillers, drugs for depression and anxiety, and blood pressure and diabetes medications.
In Australia, researchers at the University of New South Wales’s Kirby Institute in Sydney have been following 99 patients who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in Australia’s first wave in March and April 2020. Results published as a preprint showed that a third of patients still reported persistent symptoms eight months post-diagnosis.
Read more of Donna Lu’s report here: ‘Health systems should be prepared’: doctors brace for tsunami of long Covid
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Indonesia’s health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as coronavirus cases surge to unprecedented levels, according to Reuters’ sources familiar with government discussions.
On Sunday, the country posted its fifth record daily high for Covid cases in the past week, with 21,342 people confirmed as positive, equivalent to over a quarter of those tested.
Coronavirus infections in Indonesia have tripled in the past month, overwhelming hospitals in the capital, Jakarta, and other centres on the heavily populated island of Java.
Three sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that health minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, had urged tougher social restriction measures but was overruled. He is continuing to push his case, they said. One of the sources said government meetings on the issue would take place this week.
Citing the need to safeguard south-east Asia’s biggest economy, Indonesia has rejected the lockdowns imposed by its neighbours and similar large developing countries like India. Instead Jakarta has opted for social restrictions targeting villages and neighbourhoods deemed “red zones” due to high infections, a policy known as PPKM Mikro.
President Joko Widodo on Friday said the current strategy was working but needed better enforcement. A spokesman for the president said: “Until now, we still have PPKM Mikro, empirically it is still very effective to control small areas.”
Last week, the head of the country’s Covid taskforce, coordinating economy minister Airlangga Hartarto, banned religious activities at houses of worship, closed schools and bars and required offices, restaurants, cafes and malls to operate at 25% capacity in red zones for two weeks.
Tom Allard and Kate Lamb report for Reuters that adjusting for population size, Indonesia has about 40% of the intensive care beds in India, according to a study last year by Princeton University. On Friday, the health minister announced plans for 7,000 more hospital beds in Jakarta dedicated to Covid patients.
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Also just a reminder that another story breaking overnight was about a Covid outbreak at the top of the UK army. Miranda Bryant reports:
The defence secretary and six of the UK’s most senior military commanders have been forced to self-isolate after Gen Sir Nick Carter, the head of the armed forces, tested positive for coronavirus.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed in a statement to the Guardian that Carter, chief of the defence staff, had tested positive for Covid-19.
The MoD also said on Sunday night that colleagues who were in a meeting with Carter last week, including the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, are now self-isolating.
An MoD spokesperson said: “The chief of the defence staff has tested positive during routine Covid-19 checks.
“Colleagues who were in a senior meeting with him last week, including the secretary of state, are self-isolating in line with government guidelines.”
Read more of Miranda Bryant’s report here: UK military chiefs self-isolate after head of army catches Covid
On Sky News, the UK justice secretary Robert Buckland has just praised Sajid Javid for bringing a “fresh perspective” to the health secretary job.
Much of the interview still had its focus on Matt Hancock. Kay Burley asked how out of touch prime minister Boris Johnson was to have described the Matt Hancock issue as “closed”.
“The right outcome was achieved,” was all that Buckland would say.
Asked about the allegations that Hancock used a private email address to conduct government business, Buckland said: “It’s much easier to use a government system and then everyone knows where the data is stored.”
Buckland said it was understandable that sometimes another account or device might be used “in an emergency” if the government systems weren’t to hand. “We went through some pretty extraordinary times” he said.
Over the leak of CCTV pictures of Hancock from inside Whitehall, Buckland appeared to stop short of calling for a police investigation – saying “if the police are asked to investigate, then of course they should.”
He told Kay Burley he did not know if he had a CCTV camera in his office, and asked on Friday if that was the case.
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PA Media’s political correspondent Geraldine Scott has teed up the day saying:
As Monday marks a week before 5 July, the midway point of the extension of measures and the earliest point at which remaining restrictions could be lifted, Sajid Javid is expected to return to the Commons dispatch box for the first time since he quit as chancellor in February last year, after being told he must sack all his advisers if he wanted to keep his job.
While it is not expected he will bring what is left of lockdown to a close any earlier than 19 July, he is reported to be confident the measures will not extend past that date. Ministers have promised to give one week’s notice to any change of restrictions.
Javid is considered to be more in the so-called “hawks” camp of cabinet opinion over the approach to coronavirus, alongside the chancellor, Rishi Sunak.
In a resurfaced interview from May last year with Sky News, he voiced his concerns over long lockdowns and how they would impact the economy. In contrast, Hancock had been considered a “dove”, who pressed for more stringent restrictions.
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Good morning, it’s Martin Belam taking over here in London. The big focus in the UK will be the government announcing if there’s any chance it will be lifting all legal measures against Covid in England earlier than planned on 19 July.
It is new health minister Sajid Javid’s first day in the office – getting the CCTV switched off will probably be high on his agenda – and he is thought to be a bit more sceptical about anti-Covid measures than his predecessor Matt Hancock. Robert Buckland, the justice minister, has drawn the short straw of facing up the media round this morning – I’ll have some quotes coming up from him. Labour’s Angela Raynor and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey are also making appearances this morning.
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Australia’s Covid response team holds urgent meeting amid outbreak
Australia’s Covid response committee is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday as outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant across the country prompted a lockdown in Sydney and renewed restrictions elsewhere.
Reuters: more than 20 million Australians, or around 80% of the population, are now under some form of lockdown or Covid-related restrictions as officials grapple with Covid flare-ups in almost every state or territory.
“I think we are entering a new phase of this pandemic, with the more contagious Delta strain,” federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday, adding Australia was facing a “critical time” in its fight against Covid.
The national security committee, chaired by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, would be briefed by the country’s chief medical officer later on Monday, Frydenberg said.
Sydney, Australia’s most populous city and the capital of New South Wales (NSW) state, began a two-week lockdown over the weekend.
Eighteen new local cases were reported in NSW on Monday, compared with 30 a day earlier, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to 130 since the first case was detected nearly two weeks ago in a driver for overseas airline crew.
“We have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around and we have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
“With this strain, we are seeing almost 100% transmission within households.”
Italy mask-free outdoors from today
Outdoors, all of Italy became a mask-free, “low-risk” zone for coronavirus Monday, marking a dramatic milestone for the first European country to be hit by the global pandemic in February 2020, AFP reports.
In a decree that took effect Monday, the health ministry for the first time classified each of Italy’s 20 regions as “white”, signifying low risk, under the country’s colour-coded classification system that evaluates Covid-19 risk.
That means that in outdoor areas facemasks will no longer be compulsory - welcome news across the country where an ongoing heatwave is expected to push temperatures past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some southern areas this week.
Once a symbol of the coronavirus crisis in the West - where images of army trucks transporting coffins from the overflowing morgue in the northern city of Bergamo were seen around the world - Italy has seen infections and deaths plummet in recent weeks.
A third of Italy’s population over the age of 12 has been vaccinated as of Sunday, or 17,572,505 people, according to the government.
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South Africa tightens restrictions
Authorities in South Africa have imposed new restrictions in a last ditch attempt to stem a sharp rise in Covid-19 that is ravaging the country’s economic heartland.
The wave of infections has been driven by the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, weak countermeasures and public fatigue with existing restrictions.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said all gatherings, indoors and outdoors, would be banned for 14 days, along with the sale of alcohol, dining in restaurants and travel to or from the worst-hit areas of the country. An extended curfew would also be imposed, and schools shut early for holidays.
“We have overcome two decisive waves but now we have a new hill to climb, a great challenge, a massive resurgence of infections … a devastating wave,” Ramaphosa said, speaking on national television on Sunday night.
South Africa’s rising cases are part of a resurgence across Africa, with a peak expected to exceed that of earlier waves as the continent’s 54 countries struggle to vaccinate even a small percentage of their populations:
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
Authorities in South Africa have imposed new restrictions in a last ditch attempt to stem a sharp rise in Covid-19 that is ravaging the country’s economic heartland.
Meanwhile all of Italy is now a “low-risk” zone for coronavirus, marking a dramatic milestone for the first European country to be hit by the global pandemic in February 2020.
In a decree that took effect Monday, the health ministry for the first time classified each of Italy’s 20 regions as “white”, signifying low risk, under the country’s colour-coded classification system that evaluates Covid-19 risk.
Here are the other key recent developments:
- UK opposition leader Keir Starmer said there are “huge questions still to answer” following the resignation of health minister Matt Hancock after footage emerged of him kissing an aide.
- Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel has tested positive for coronavirus and will spend 10 days in isolation while continuing to work from home remotely.
- The Delta variant is likely to spread across Europe, a British scientist suggested. Sir Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, said “stronger border measures” may have delayed its spread in the UK.
- English health authorities said they expect to have jabbed half of the country’s under 30 by the end of the weekend. More than 4.2 million people aged between 18 and 29 years in the England have received a Covid vaccine in the three weeks since the programme was opened up to those in their 20s, the NHS has said.
