More than 10 million people have received a first Covid vaccine shot in France, the country’s prime minister, Jean Castex, has said, adding that target had been reached one week ahead of schedule.
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This is the latest on hospital admission rates for Covid-19 from Public Health England:
Hospital admission rates for #COVID19 have fallen in all regions and are currently highest in Yorkshire and the Humber.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) April 8, 2021
Have a look at our weekly surveillance report here: https://t.co/8dYt9zEVk9 pic.twitter.com/5p2vAJeI9F
European court backs Czech Republic's requirement to vaccinate children
The European Court of Human Rights accepts the Czech Republic’s position on mandatory vaccinations for children, it has said in a landmark ruling.
The case was lodged by Czech families who had children refused admission to pre-school or had been fined for refusing to vaccinate their children, in some instances dating back to 2003, Reuters reports.
The ECHR said it found no violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, stating:
The Court found that the measures complained of by the applicants, when assessed in the national context, had struck a fair balance with the aims pursued by the Czech State, ie protection against diseases representing a serious risk for ones health.
Under Czech law, unless medically exempted, children must be vaccinated against nine generally known diseases, such as poliomyelitis, hepatitis B or tetanus.
The court said the Czech policy “pursued the legitimate aims of protecting health as well as the rights of others, noting that vaccination protects both those who receive it and also those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons”.
The decision concerns complaints filed before the pandemic, but could come into play again if the issue of vaccinating children against that disease becomes a matter for debate.
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The Spanish government will extend its ERTE furlough scheme for people unable to work due to Covid restrictions on businesses beyond 31 May, it has been confirmed.
Workers from small and medium-sized companies have benefited most from the scheme, the Labour minister Yolanda Diaz said in a speech.
The government, she added, will negotiate with unions and employers’ representatives over the ERTE conditions from June.
“We will keep doing that from May 31, in a similar formula to the current one,” Diaz said, without specifying for how long.
There have been a further 82 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 210,105.
Public Health Wales said a total of 1,519,760 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have now been given in Wales. The agency said 484,739 second doses have also been given.
Bangkok may take over 2 months to contain new virus outbreak- official
Reuters reports:
A coronavirus outbreak in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, may take more than two months to control, a health ministry official said on Thursday, as the country deals with a new wave of infections and a more contagious variant.
Authorities expect to be able to contain the virus between one and two months in the provinces but in Bangkok it could take longer, depending on control measures Kiatiphum Wongrajit, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said in the statement.
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Sweden, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, registered 7,822 new Covid cases on Thursday, health agency statistics indicated.
The country of 10 million inhabitants registered 17 new deaths, taking the total to 13,595, Reuters reports.
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The situation in hospitals remains “serious” but France is starting to see some signs of improvement in regions where it imposed a lockdown a few weeks ago, the government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said on Thursday.
Following a meeting of government ministers, Attal told a news conference:
We have the first encouraging signs in the 16 departments where we had imposed restriction measures.
France is hoping a ramp-up of its vaccination campaign, combined with the month-long nationwide lockdown in place since last weekend expanding upon some regional restrictions, will help it regain control over the latest outbreak.
Nonetheless, Attal said the number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 was likely to increase over the coming days.
Updated
Covid death toll passes 10,000 in Scotland
The coronavirus death toll in Scotland has now passed 10,000.
Figures from the National Records of Scotland show 38 deaths relating to Covid-19 were registered between 29 March and 4 April, bringing the total number of fatalities up to Sunday to 9,997.
Since then, six deaths have been recorded in the daily figures from Public Health Scotland, PA Media reports.
NRS also warned that with fewer registrations than usual this week due to the public holiday on Friday, the actual fatality figure may be even higher.
This vaccine data has been shared by Jamie Jenkins, the parliamentary candidate for South Wales Central:
Wales #COVID19 #Vaccine Tracker as at 07 April: 1,519,760 first doses given out. Increase of 17,119 in the past 24 hours. 60.2% of adults in Wales have had a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. 19.2% have had 2 doses - 484,739 adults. Increase of 9,169 in past 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/8Vv9J1eWSt
— Jamie Jenkins (@statsjamie) April 8, 2021
Reuters reports:
Germany’s vaccine task force will hold talks with the developers of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 shot, including the possibility of setting up more production sites in Germany, a government source told Reuters on Thursday.
The source did not give further details. The German health minister, Jens Spahn, confirmed that Berlin will start bilateral talks with Russia over a supply deal for the vaccine, as reported by Reuters on Wednesday.
Spahn, speaking to WDR radio, said that the bilateral talks would focus on what quantities the developers of the vaccine might be able to deliver and when.
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Tunisia has approved Johnson & Johnson’s has Covid vaccine, the health minister, Faouzi Mehdi, confirmed.
The North African country will soon receive 1.5m doses of the vaccine under an African Union plan, Reuters reports.
It intends to buy further doses directly from the company to speed up its vaccination campaign, as it seeks to vaccinate 5 million people by the end of the year.
Tunisia will extend its nighttime curfew hours and will prevent all gatherings and weekly markets to curb the rapid spread of Covid, as intensive care units near maximum capacity in most hospitals.
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Reuters reports:
Rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib developed by Eli Lilly and Co, and Incyte Corp did not meet the main goal of a late-stage study in hospitalised Covid-19 patients, the drugmakers said on Thursday.
Baricitinib has been granted emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration in combination with remdesivir for Covid-19 patients requiring supplemental oxygen.
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Indonesia has banned land, air, water and rail travel during the Eid al-Fitr celebrations from 6 May to 17 to curb Covid transmission, a spokesperson for its transport ministry has said.
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Swiss region rewards Covid-testing schools by lifting mask rule
A region in Switzerland is allowing fifth and sixth grade students not to wear masks if their schools have participated in mass testing.
The decision will come into effect from 12 April in the mountain canton of Grisons on the Italian border, according to Reuters.
To fly, people must already produce a negative test, while airlines want vaccinated people to travel without restrictions.
Grisons introduced its mask regulation for fifth and sixth graders at schools in February, not long after employees of luxury hotels in St Moritz tested positive for virus variants.
The canton has since been pushing mass testing, including in schools, and said students in the 95% of participating institutions that have taken part should now be allowed to shed masks.
Other regions in Switzerland including in Zurich, where schools are generally not mass testing, are still requiring masks for fourth grade and up.
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PA Media reports:
A total of 90.6% of people who were tested for Covid-19 in England in the week ending 31 March at a regional site, local site or mobile testing unit – a so-called “in-person” test – received their result within 24 hours. This is up from 88.6% in the previous week.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, had pledged that, by the end of June 2020, the results of all in-person tests would be back within 24 hours.
He told the House of Commons on 3 June that he would get “all tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June, except for difficulties with postal tests or insuperable problems like that”.
Updated
Spanish health authorities have attempted to clarify the rules governing the use of facemasks amid growing confusion, dismay and worries about whether they need to be worn on beaches, my colleague Sam Jones writes.
Read the full story here:
During a campaign visit to Bristol, in England, the leader of the Labour party, Keir Starmer, urged people to have the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine despite concerns about rare blood clots.
Starmer said:
What I would say to members of the public is listen to the regulators, and the regulators are saying clearly the benefits far outweigh the risks. It is safe to have this vaccine, I would encourage everybody who’s invited to come for the vaccine to come on board and have it. I had the AstraZeneca vaccine myself for the first jab and I am going to have it for the second jab.”
Updated
Around 5.5m lateral flow device tests for Covid-19, or rapid tests, were conducted in England in the week to 31 March, according to the latest test-and-trace figures – down from 7.1m in the previous week.
LFD tests are swab tests that give results in 30 minutes or less, without the need for processing in a laboratory.
By contrast, 996,728 polymerase chain reaction tests were conducted in the week to 31 March, PA Media reports.
It is the first week since the week to 30 September last year that fewer than one million PCR tests – laboratory processed swab tests – have been carried out.
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This just in from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization:
Very powerful statement by Prime Minister @JJansaSDS of #Slovenia. I couldn't agree more that “the more we display solidarity with our fellow humans, the sooner we will ultimately defeat the #COVID19 disease”. Moral leadership & solidarity will bring us gains in the long-run https://t.co/55E4IJKjGb
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 8, 2021
Iran sets Covid infection record for third consecutive day
Iran hit a new Covid infection record on Thursday for the third consecutive day, reporting 22,586 new cases, according to AP.
AP reports:
The new case count pushes Iran’s total during the pandemic over 2m, including 63,884 deaths after health authorities reported 185 new daily fatalities due to Covid-19.
The single-day infection toll exceeded the previous record set Wednesday by over 1,600.
Iran, which has battled the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East for over a year, is in the midst of a major surge after millions defied government guidance to gather and travel during Nowruz, the country’s biggest holiday.
The health minister has ordered non-essential shops in the capital and other major cities closed. The nation’s vaccine rollout, meanwhile, has gotten off to a slow start.
Updated
India reports record new Covid cases as vaccines run short in states
India reported a record 126,789 new Covid cases on Thursday as several states struggled to contain a second surge in infections, Reuters reports.
Daily infections surpassed 100,000 for the first time on Monday and have now exceeded that mark three times, the biggest daily rises in the world.
The government attributes the resurgence mainly on crowding and a reluctance to wear masks as shops and offices have reopened.
Vaccine centres in several states, including hardest-hit Maharashtra, have been shutting early and turning people away as supplies run out.
Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog now until the early evening (UK time). As always, feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.
Today so far…
- Italy and Spain are among countries limiting the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to younger people after the EMA yesterday said that a rare type of brain clot could be a side effect.
- We’ve got a useful guide to what you need to know about the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine here.
- Travellers to Ireland from more European Union countries will be subjected to mandatory hotel quarantine in the coming days in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19 variants.
- Northern Ireland’s Covid-19 vaccination programme is to be expanded to all those aged between 40 and 44.
- Deaths from over the Easter weekend caused Poland to have its worst recorded day of Covid-19 fatalities yet during the pandemic.
- Hungary says it will continue to ease some Covid restrictions, with schools expected to re-open on 19 April.
- Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike, has said she would ask Japan’s central government to impose emergency measures in the capital region to stem a surge of Covid-19 infections. It comes as the city is just over 100 days away from hosting the summer Olympics.
- There have been calls for Joe Biden’s federal government in the US to begin tracking healthcare workers who have died from Covid. A year into the pandemic and the US is still not centrally measuring this.
That is it from me – Martin Belam – for today. I will be back tomorrow. Yohannes Lowe will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day.
Updated
African Union seeking vaccine supplies from Johnson & Johnson
Yesterday the Serum Institute of India appealed for financial assistance from the Indian government, saying that a curb on exporting vaccine doses was preventing it from bringing in revenue that would allow it to invest in ramping up production.
Those import curbs are beginning to have an impact in the wider vaccine market, with the African Union saying today that it has dropped plans to buy Covid-19 vaccines from the institute, and is instead exploring options with Johnson & Johnson
Reuters report that the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr John Nkengasong, told reporters the institute will still supply the AstraZeneca vaccine to Africa through the Covax vaccine-sharing facility, but the African Union would now seek additional supplies from Johnson & Johnson.
Updated
You may recall earlier I put in a caveat about Poland’s record daily death toll – suggesting that sudden jumps in fatalities are often caused by data collection issues. And that has turned out to be the case here.
Reuters have just quoted Health ministry spokesman Wojciech Andrusiewicz saying that the record toll included 100 deaths from Good Friday, around 130 from Saturday and 130 from Easter Sunday.
“This is not the result of the last day or the last two days. This report contains quite a lot of victims from the Easter period,” he said.
Also in Eastern Europe, Hungary has said it expects to have more than 4 million people vaccinated by the end of this month, and to further ease lockdown measures in five or six days, when it has inoculated 3 million people against Covid.
The prime minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told a briefing that 2.6 million people have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday. Hungary began a gradual reopening of shops and services on Wednesday after it inoculated 25% of its population of 10 million.
Reuters report that Gulyas also said that there would be a re-opening of schools on 19 April, and that sports events will only be open to people with immunity cards. He said the country has probably passed the peak of its third wave of infections.
Updated
Most of the news is wall-to-wall vaccine-related this morning, and this is no different – with a new development in the row over the Sputnik V vaccine in Slovakia.
You may recall that prime minister Igor Matovic resigned last month after a festering political crisis started by the decision to purchase 200,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, despite it not being approved for use.
The country is yet to administer any doses, and Slovakia’s health agency SUKL said it didn’t have enough data from the manufacturer to approve it.
The makers of Sputnik V hit back at newspaper reports in Slovakia yesterday, saying that “Reports that somehow the Sputnik V vaccine in Slovakia is different from Sputnik V in clinical trials, citing anonymous sources, are fake. Unfortunately, we also expect additional fake news and provocations from enemies of Sputnik V in Slovakia who try to undermine the vaccine.”
Today that is SUKL itself, who Reuters report saying have issued a statement that the Sputnik V vaccine batches delivered to Slovakia do not have the same characteristics as the batches used in the Lancet Magazine studies. Expect more on this row.
A reminder that Italy is one of several countries that has decided, following the new advice from the EMA, to change how it distributes the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. It will from now on recommend the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine only for people over aged 60
It is a total switch for the country, which originally limited AstraZeneca to people under the age of 65 because of trial data showing it offered less protection against Covid-19 than other vaccines. On 8 March the health ministry said it could also be administered to over-65s. Now it will only be administered to the over-60s.
As my colleague Jon Henley has noted, there has been a considerable variation across Europe with how people have handled the AstraZeneca shot since it first went on the market.
Norway and Denmark were the first to temporarily halt the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot on 11 March after reporting several cases of a rare clot in the brain called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis combined with a low count of blood platelets.
Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, along with non EU-members Iceland and Norway, subsequently either paused the vaccine or banned the use of particular batches.
Most countries had already resumed innoculations with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, although often with restrictions. But Denmark and Norway have prolonged their initial suspension of the shot until mid-April pending further investigations.
Countries that have resumed use without restrictions include: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania.
Countries that have imposed restrictions on the shot’s use include Finland (65 and over); France (55 and over); the Netherlands (60 and over); and Sweden (65 and over).
Germany is offering the shot only to people aged 60 and over and in high-priority groups, with under-60s who have had a first shot recommended to get a different one, and Spain is giving it to only to those aged 55-65, plus essential workers over 65. Belgium is limiting it to over-55s.
Updated
Poland, which yesterday announced that Covid restrictions would stay in place until at least 18 April, has recorded a new daily record of 954 Covid-related deaths.
The country has experienced 2,471,617 cases in total, with 55,703 deaths. The previous highest daily total of deaths was 674 back in November.
It is worth noting that it is a big jump from the previous day’s total of 638, and it is useful to caveat that often when we’ve seen big jumps day-on-day like this, data collection issues can sometimes be at play.
Updated
My colleague Andrew Sparrow has started our UK live blog today, which is of course leading with government attempts to reassure people over the AstraZeneca shot. You can join him over here:
UK expert urges people in 20s to keep getting coronavirus vaccine
People in their 20s should continue to get vaccinated against Covid despite the very rare cases of blood clotting linked to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine because of the wider benefit to their families, friends and neighbours – as well as the direct benefit to themselves, a leading expert has said.
Prof David Spiegelhalter, the chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge, said the advantages of continuing to vaccinate people far outweighed the risks.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, he said the evidence suggested that if a cohort of people in their 20s large enough to fill Wembley Stadium was given the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, one person among them would likely develop blood clotting.
While Spiegelhalter acknowledged the concerns around each individual case, he said the risk of each must be weighed against the direct benefits to the tens of thousands more directly protected by the vaccine – as well as the indirect benefits to anyone those people came into contact with thereafter.
“This is something that perhaps should have been emphasised all the time for younger people, who can get long Covid, and it would prevent the huge numbers of that as well, but [also] being vaccinated is as much a contribution to the community and their relatives and the people around them. Preventing transmission has this direct benefit for themselves.”
He was speaking the day after the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) announced that healthy 18- to 29-year-olds who were not at high risk of Covid should have the option of an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab if one is available.
Read more of Kevin Rawlinson’s report here: UK expert urges people in 20s to keep getting coronavirus vaccine
Ireland expands list of countries facing mandatory hotel quarantine
Travellers to Ireland from more European Union countries will be subjected to mandatory hotel quarantine in the coming days in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19 variants, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday.
The government last week added 26 countries to the list of arrivals who must spend up to 14 days in a hotel room but stopped short of a recommendation by health officials to include the United States, Germany, Italy and France, countries where large numbers of Irish nationals live, Padraic Halpin reports for Reuters.
“What this is about is ensuring that when we - because I think it’s when, not if we extend the list of countries and that is going to include more EU countries - that we are ready for that and can deal with the capacity issues that are undoubtedly going to flow from it,” Coveney told national broadcaster RTE.
Updated
Our Science Weekly podcast has a Covid focus today, asking how the disease causes heart damage. Cardiovascular problems aren’t just a risk factor for Covid-19, but can also be a complication of having the disease. A growing number of studies are showing that many of those who have been hospitalised for Covid-19, as well as people who managed the initial infection at home, are being left with heart injuries including inflammation, blood clots and abnormal heart rhythms. Nicola Davis speaks to Dr Betty Raman to find out how the virus damages organs outside the lungs, and what’s being done to help. Listen to it here.
Northern Ireland expands vaccination programme to include those aged 40-44
Northern Ireland’s Covid-19 vaccination programme is to be expanded to all those aged between 40 and 44.
People in that age bracket will be able to book a jab from noon today. Health Minister Robin Swann described the expansion as “very welcome news to people in this age group”.
“Vaccination is by far our best defence against Covid-19 and is essential to our goal of getting Northern Ireland out of lockdown on a sustainable basis,” he said.
Rebecca Black reports for PA that the Department of Health described the rollout of the vaccination programme as dependent on the availability of vaccine supplies.
By Wednesday almost one million doses of vaccine had been administered in Northern Ireland. Vaccinations in Northern Ireland can be booked online. Where online booking is not possible, the telephone booking number is 0300 200 7813.
There’s a very concerted effort in the UK this morning to shore up confidence in the vaccination programme and encourage younger people to come forward for jabs when it is their turn. PA have some quotes from another media appearance, this time on Sky News by Professor Jeremy Brown, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
He said: “The benefit of vaccinating young people is not just preventing severe disease. It actually will prevent them catching Covid, and if they don’t get Covid then the chance of developing so-called long Covid - the symptoms you get which many people get, about 10%, after they’ve had even a very mild infection - that will prevent that.
“So that’s a benefit which we haven’t brought into the calculations but is definitely there for young people.
“It also allows younger people to visit their relatives who are elderly and more vulnerable to the disease, without the risk of infecting them. It will reduce the chance that a young person can infect their elderly relatives with this disease, which is a benefit.
“Lastly, there are social benefits which have been much discussed over the past few days - travel, for example. I think it’s unlikely that people will be allowed to travel out of the country easily unless they have been vaccinated. So there are other benefits for an individual which are separate to the protection against severe disease.”
Catherine Bennett writes for us this morning, analysing what she says has gone wrong with Australia’s vaccine programme – and how to rebuild confidence:
You can only roll out a vaccine as fast as the supply chain and delivery infrastructure allow. Given our delayed start compared with other nations, Australia had the opportunity to prepare a more detailed and ambitious vaccination strategy than most. We also had the luxury of including more complex, personalised, logistical elements – community-based vaccine delivery through local GPs. These were opportunities afforded us by the hard work all Australians put into containing community transmission.
The lead time also allowed Australia to learn from the logistical experience of other countries. Yet, if we look at aged care, a priority group across the globe, we are a long way short of resident and staff vaccination targets. What went wrong for us? And was it in setting overly ambitious targets, or in the delivery?
Vaccine supply has been identified by the government as the main driver in our failure to meet the short-term target of 4m jabs by April. The first phases of the rollout focused on imported Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, with 3.8m doses of AstraZeneca scheduled to arrive in early 2021.
This strategy bought time for Australian production of AstraZeneca to come into full swing. But instead, the AstraZeneca deliveries to Australia are behind schedule, short by 3.1m doses.
There was, of course, a well-publicised EU refusal of a shipment of 250,000 doses to Australia in March for a shipment that was reportedly already reduced in size over fears a larger shipment would be more likely to be rejected. This shipment alone was not going to impact short-term targets, but our prime minister now says that we were given a clear message to not submit further export requests. Could Australia have had subsequent requests approved if we had asked? Only the EU Commission knows the answer to that, but what matters to us now is the impact this has had on our vaccine rollout progress, and the confusion these contradictory stories can engender.
Read more here: Catherine Bennett – Australia could have prepared a more ambitious vaccine strategy than most. So what went wrong?
I’ve found this absolutely fascinating today – Samira Shackle’s long read for us looking at the people who have come to follow wild conspiracy theories about Covid-19:
During the first few months of the pandemic, a broad movement coalesced online. At the most extreme end were outright Covid deniers, those who believed that the virus didn’t exist and the pandemic had been fabricated. At the other were Covid sceptics or anti-lockdowners, those who thought that the numbers were exaggerated or that the government had an ulterior motive for restricting freedoms. Over the past year, these views have attracted more and more adherents. Occasionally, the most extreme activists have taken direct action: setting fire to 5G masts which they suspected of spreading the virus, entering Covid wards and attempting to remove relatives, visiting hospitals to film empty corridors and posting them as “evidence” that the public is being lied to about the numbers of sick and dying. On New Year’s Eve, a doctor at St Thomas’ hospital in London filmed a crowd of protesters who had gathered outside holding placards and chanting “Covid is a hoax”.
“A lot of people think that they’re the only ones that think like they do, and they’re not,” the British businessman Simon Dolan told me in January. Early in the pandemic, Dolan, who owns a chartered airline and a motor-racing team and lives in Monaco, attempted to prove through the courts that lockdown was unlawful. The case failed, but as it picked up media attention, people contacted him to express their support – mostly small business owners, he said, and others directly affected by strict lockdown rules. “There’s thousands and thousands, more as time goes past, that think this stuff has been really overblown and there is something a bit fishy about it.”
Covid scepticism is not limited to a single demographic. Many Facebook accounts are run by suburban mums, who post memes about children being traumatised by masks. Other Covid sceptics, particularly some regulars at street protests, are members of far right and football hooligan groups. Some are fans of David Icke, the conspiracist’s conspiracist, who believes that coronavirus is spread by 5G. Still others came to the movement via alternative health and new age communities, jumping into Telegram conversations about the Illuminati to talk about homeopathy and vibrations. Some are small business owners who have suffered major personal fallout over the past year. All share a conviction that they are seeing something that the mainstream is blind to.
Read more here: Among the Covid sceptics – ‘We are being manipulated, without a shadow of a doubt’
Another quick quote from UK health secretary Matt Hancock from an appearance on BBC Breakfast here. Hancock was stressing the effects of long Covid on under-30s who may be hesitant over receiving a coronavirus vaccine.
“The vaccines are safe, and if you want to have the Pfizer vaccine or Moderna vaccine instead then that is fine. Covid is a horrible disease and long Covid affects people in their 20s just as much it seems as any other age group and can have debilitating side effects that essentially ruin your life.”
PA note he addressed the relative risk factor, adding: “The safety system that we have around this vaccine is so sensitive that it can pick up events that are four in a million - I’m told this is about the equivalent risk of taking a long-haul flight.”
Tokyo governor will ask government for emergency measures to battle Covid surge
As the Olympics rapidly approach, the Covid situation in Japan appears to be worsening. Rocky Swift writes for Reuters that Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has said she would ask the central government to impose emergency measures in the capital region to stem a surge of Covid-19 infections.
Koike made the comments after a meeting with medical experts who warned of an explosive surge in cases that could exceed the third and most deadly wave of the pandemic so far. Experts also warned of a rise in more infectious mutant strains of the virus.
“This is a very worrisome situation,” Koike said. “And we need to be more vigilant of the increase in the number of people infected with the mutant strains.”
Osaka, Hyogo and Miyagi prefectures started a month of targeted lockdown measures on Monday to rein in a more virulent strain of the virus. The new measures are based on a revised infection control law and can be applied to a narrower area than a state of emergency that prime minister Yoshihide Suga declared for most of the country in early January.
The controls allow regional governments to order businesses to shorten hours and to impose fines of 200,000 yen ($1,820) or publish the names of those that do not comply. Additionally, residents are being asked to work from home and to refrain from activities such as karaoke.
Cases are on an uptrend in Tokyo, with yesterday’s 555 new infections the highest since early February. Today the tally was 545.
Japan has also been relatively slow in inoculating its citizens, with just 1 million people having received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine - the only one approved so far - since February out of a population of 126 million.
Prof Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in the UK, has also been on television this morning talking about AstraZeneca.
He said on BBC Breakfast of the blood clots causing concern: “These are extremely rare events - much, much more rare than, for instance, clots due to common drugs that we prescribe such as the contraceptive pill; much rarer than clots during pregnancy; much, much rarer than clots due to Covid itself.”
PA report him saying: “We still feel this is a safe and effective vaccine where the benefits far outweigh the risks for the majority of people. In many ways, it’s better to know the known than the unknown, so I would encourage anybody who’s been offered either their first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and certainly their second dose, when there’s been no cases for second doses, to receive it when offered.”
He said “the vaccination programme is going full steam ahead” and “everybody should remain confident in it. What we’re seeing is a very, very rare, extremely rare safety signal which is coming out of the regulators.”
He said the risks of Covid and severe illness “are far, far greater in the older groups”, but when you look down to the very younger groups, “the risk aren’t quite as high” and JCVI had felt that for the moment “we would feel more comfortable... if that lower age group were offered an alternative vaccine.”
He said if you look at the average Covid infection rate, you would have to vaccinate about 116,000 of people under 30 to prevent one death, adding: “Now, given that we don’t understand the incidence of this side effect, and given that it possibly is more common in younger age groups, we felt that the figures may land somewhere in that sort of region and therefore the risk/benefit of the vaccine just became more equivalent, and therefore we thought it’d be much more important to be cautious.”
Agence France-Presse have this despatch from China this morning, which says the nation is veering from compulsion to persuasion in its bid to inoculate its population from Covid.
The country has so far administered around 140 million doses since vaccinations began last year and and aims to fully inoculate 40 percent of its 1.4 billion people by June.
But as has been seen in other countries when numbers of cases start to fall, many in China have been slow to sign up for jabs, feeling they are no longer at risk of catching the virus as the country has largely brought domestic outbreaks under control.
China reported just 11 domestically transmitted cases today. Life has returned largely to normal in most parts of the country, where most malls, nightclubs and amusement parks have been open for a year.
Keen to meet vaccination goals, local officials have had to get creative. Walls across the narrow alleys of Beijing’s Xicheng district are now plastered with green, yellow and red signs, indicating the vaccination rate of people working and living in roadside stores and courtyard homes.
“I feel it’s a little strange,” said Wang Ying, a barista at a cafe that had received a red sign right by its door - the lowest grade of less than 40 percent vaccination. “I originally thought vaccination should be based on individual wishes but now it seems like everyone must get the vaccine.”
Wang told AFP she had reservations about the safety of the vaccines, but that she and her colleagues would eventually all get jabs. “In the food and beverage business, doing so will put everyone more at ease,” she said.
Meanwhile, Daxing, a suburban district of Beijing, is handing out shopping coupons to people who have received the full two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Neighbourhood committees in another district have promised boxes of eggs to older residents who have been inoculated, while others who receive their jab have been promised free visits to the popular Lama Temple tourist site.
But elsewhere, Chinese authorities and employers have opted for compulsion rather than persuasion to vaccinate millions of people.
Officials in southwestern China’s Yunnan province, which recently discovered a small outbreak, last week launched a push to vaccinate all residents of Ruili city within five days, state media reported.
It’s unclear how easy it will be to opt out of having the jab in the city, which borders Muse in neighbouring Myanmar, where escalating unrest since the February military coup has raised fears that people may try to cross into China if the violence intensifies.
Health minister: speed of UK vaccination rollout 'not affected' by new AstraZeneca advice
The UK’s health secretary Matt Hancock has been doing the media rounds after yesterday’s decision to offer the under-30s an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.
On Sky News he said the “abundance of caution” displayed by regulators recommending under-30s are offered an alternative jab to Oxford/AstraZeneca should reassure the public.
Asked if he fears the move will provoke a drop off in the uptake, he said: “There’s no need of that. We’ve seen this incredible uptake of the vaccine in this country.
“What we’ve learned in the last 24 hours is that the rollout of the vaccine is working, we’ve seen that the safety system is working, because the regulators can spot even this extremely rare event - four in a million - and take necessary action to ensure the rollout is as safe as it possible can be.
“And we are seeing that the vaccine is working. It’s breaking the link between cases and deaths.”
He added: “The speed of the vaccination programme is not affected by the decisions yesterday. You can see and be reassured by the fact we’re taking an abundance of caution and we’re making sure we’re rolling this out in the safest way possible.”
PA report he was also questioned about exports of the vaccine to Australia.
Hancock told Sky News: “In terms of what the companies do, these companies are manufacturing for all around the world and we source from everywhere in the world, so what I’m in control of, what matters for us as the UK Government, is making sure that we get the supplies that we have got contracted from the companies.”
Australia has been involved in a wrangle with the EU over the export of vaccine supplies.
I’m expecting to post quite a lot of quick snaps like this from Reuters this morning – health authorities in the Philippines have suspended the use of Astrazeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for people below 60 years of age, in order to investigate the reports of blood clots coming from overseas.
The temporary suspension came after the European Medicines Agency recommended to include blood clots as a rare side effect of the vaccine, the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration chief Rolando Enrique Domingo said in a statement, adding that there were no reports of such adverse side effects in the country.
The country has so far received 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccines, about a fifth of the country’s total inventory, through the COVAX facility.
Calls mount for Joe Biden to track US healthcare worker deaths
Calls are mounting for the Biden administration to set up a national tracking system of Covid-19 deaths among frontline healthcare workers to honour the thousands of nurses, doctors and support staff who have died in the US, and ensure that future generations are not forced to make the same ultimate – and in many cases needless – sacrifice.
Health policy experts and union leaders are pressing the White House to move quickly to fill the gaping hole left by the Trump administration through its failure to create an accurate count of Covid deaths among frontline staff. The absence of reliable federal data exacerbated critical problems such as shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) that left many workers exposed, with fatal results.
In the absence of federal action, Lost on the Frontline, a joint project between the Guardian and Kaiser Health News (KHN), has compiled the most comprehensive account of healthcare worker deaths in the nation. It has recorded 3,607 lost lives in the first year of the pandemic, with nurses, healthcare support staff and doctors, as well as workers under 60 and people of colour affected in tragically high numbers.
The Guardian/KHN investigation, which involved more than 100 reporters, is drawing to a close this week. Pressure is now growing for the federal government to step into the breach.
Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, a president of National Nurses United, the largest body of registered nurses in the US, said it was unconscionable how many healthcare workers have died from Covid. The KHN/Guardian interactive found that almost third of those who died were nurses – the largest single occupation followed by support staff (20%) and physicians (17%).
Triunfo-Cortez said the death toll was an unacceptable tragedy aggravated by the lack of federal data which made identifying problem areas more difficult. “We as nurses do not deserve this – we signed up to take care of patients, we did not sign up to die,” she said.
Read more of Ed Pilkington’s report here: Calls mount for Biden to track US healthcare worker deaths
If you’d rather hear about the AstraZeneca vaccine than read about, we’ve got you covered there as well. Overnight our Australian team have produced this podcast, asking what do we know about blood clots and the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine?
As we know, the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine hasn’t been straightforward. After weathering early questions about its efficacy, there has been a series of rare blood clotting incidents, resulting in several deaths. As authorities investigate whether the vaccine is responsible, some countries have paused their programmes while others, such as the UK and Australia, are forging ahead – albeit with some age restrictions. Our Australian medical editor Melissa Davey explores what we know about the risks and benefits…
What do I need to know about the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine?
If you’ve woken up confused about what is going on with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, then rest assured you are not alone. My colleagues Nicola Davis and Jon Henley have put together this guide to what you need to know overnight, which is worth your time:
All medications including vaccines have some side-effects. The most common with the Covid jabs are mild and short-lived, including localised soreness, fatigue or aches and headaches.
However the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab has been linked to a small but concerning number of reports of blood clots combined with low platelet counts (platelets are cell fragments in our blood that help it to clot).
These include a rare clot in the brain called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). In an unvaccinated population, upper estimates suggest there may be 15 to 16 cases per million people per year. But also highly uncommon is the combination of CVST or other rare clots with low platelets, and sometimes unusual antibodies – and that combination is at the centre of current concerns.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said recipients of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab should look out for new headaches, blurred vision, confusion or seizures that occur four days or more after vaccination. The MHRA also flagged shortness of breath, chest pain, abdominal pain, leg swelling and unusual skin bruising as reasons to seek medical advice.
Up to and including 31 March, the MHRA said it received 79 reports of cases of blood clots combined with low platelets, including 19 deaths, following more than 20m doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab. That equates to about four cases for every million vaccinated individuals.
The MHRA added that 44 of the reports and 14 of the deaths related to CVST with a low platelet count. Of the 19 deaths, 11 were in people under the age of 50 and three were in people under the age of 30. The European Medicines Agency is also examining three cases of venous thromboembolism blood clots involving the Johnson & Johnson jab.
The MHRA says blood clots combined with low platelets can occur naturally in unvaccinated people as well as in those who have caught Covid, and that while evidence of a link with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has become stronger, more research is needed.
Read in full – there’s a lot more information here: What do I need to know about the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine?
Neglected human rights crises around the world have the potential to undermine already precarious global security as governments continue to use Covid as a cover to push authoritarian agendas, Amnesty International has warned.
The organisation said ignoring escalating hotspots for human rights violations and allowing states to perpetrate abuses with impunity could jeopardise efforts to rebuild after the pandemic:
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today.
I’m off camping – but you could be packed inside a crate and off to another country (P.S. if you are one of the two Irish men who helped Brian Robson return home from Australia in 1965 by packing him up and mailing him in a crate, please let him know):
New Zealand suspends travel from India after jump in Covid-19 cases
New Zealand has temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country.
The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.
“We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said in a news conference in Auckland:
First case of South African variant detected in Brazil
Brazil has recorded its first confirmed case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa, a fresh danger sign for a country already ravaged by the world’s worst daily death toll and scrambling to make space for burials.
Scientists warned on Wednesday that yet another new variant could be emerging in Brazil’s inland city of Belo Horizonte, Reuters reports.
The Federal University of Minas Gerais said in a statement that two samples taken in the city included a previously unseen set of 18 mutations, including some in the same genes modified by the South African variant and Brazil’s already prevalent variant, known as P.1.
The detection of additional variants adds to concerns that a brutal Covid wave battering Brazil may keep breaking grim records for weeks to come. On Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported a single-day record of 4,195 deaths, followed by another 3,829 fatalities on Wednesday.
Sao Paulo, the country’s biggest city, on Wednesday said it would begin opening some 600 new graves per day, well beyond the record of 426 burials in a day on March 30. The city is also preparing plans for a “vertical cemetery,” a crypt with 26,000 drawer-like graves that can be built in 90 days once approved.
The outbreak in South America’s largest country may overtake the United States to become the world’s deadliest, some medical experts predict.
The woman in Sao Paulo state now confirmed as infected by the South African virus variant was first identified by the Butantan biomedical institute as a possible case of a new local variant. Further analysis confirmed it as the first known local case of the variant widely circulating in South Africa and elsewhere.
Scientists fear a showdown between the South African variant and Brazil’s P.1 variant, both of which are more contagious and possibly more deadly than the original version of the coronavirus, worsening Covid surges.
Australia to consider EU and UK findings over AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and blood clots
Australian authorities will review the findings of British and European regulators over concerns about the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine – but continue to emphasise that the benefits outweigh the risks.
The review follows a decision in the United Kingdom to offer healthy adults aged under 30 an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab following concerns over rare blood clots.
The European Medicines Agency also announced on Wednesday that the rare blood clots would be listed formally as a very rare side-effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, though it did not announce any restrictions on use.
The Australian government said on Thursday it had asked the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) “to immediately consider and advise on the latest vaccination findings out of Europe and the UK”.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, told reporters on Thursday he expected to receive updated advice “later this evening” - but he did not foreshadow any plans to change the vaccine rollout which is heavily reliant on locally-produced AstraZeneca doses:
Mexico, Brazil say they will not limit AstraZeneca use
Mexican and Brazilian health regulators said on Wednesday they would not limit the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shot after Britain’s vaccine advisory committee recommended not using it for people under 30, citing rare blood clot risks.
Mexico’s drug regulator, Cofepris, said in a statement that it was investigating the information raised by Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and awaiting further input from Mexico’s counterpart.
“At this time, Cofepris does not plan to limit the use of AstraZeneca vaccines to any age or group,” the statement said.
Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, recommended continued use of the vaccines, saying that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Anvisa said Brazil had administered more than 4 million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine and had registered 47 adverse clotting events. The agency said it was impossible to establish whether the clotting was linked to the vaccine, nor could specific risk factors be identified.
Brazil ranks only behind the United States in total cases and deaths. Mexico has the fourth-highest death toll.
The JCVI said it was preferable for adults under 30 with no underlying conditions to be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine where available, due to reports of the rare side effect of blood clots in the brain.
Mexico has so far acquired 3.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine developed with Oxford University researchers, according to government data.
Some of that came through a loan deal with the United States, where the AstraZeneca shot is not yet authorised, and from an agreement with the Serum Institute of India, which produces the vaccine.
Mexico and Argentina also have a deal with AstraZeneca to produce its vaccine for distribution in Latin America, with financial support from the foundation of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
Spain limits AstraZeneca jab to over 60s, citing EU blood clot finding
Spain on Wednesday announced it would reserve the AstraZeneca vaccine for those over 60 after an EU regulator said blood clots should be listed as a rare side effect of the jab, Reuters reports.
“We will continue to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine, but from the age of 60,” Health Minister Caroline Darias told a press conference as the country joined several other nations that have taken similar measures.
The EU medicines regulator EMA encouraged countries to continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine, saying its benefits outweigh the risks.
Many of the blood clot cases have been reported in women under 55, but the EMA said it had not been able to pinpoint those at risk.
Darias said Spain’s decision was taken after the EMA announcement earlier Wednesday.
While waiting for the update from the regulator, the Spanish region of Castille and Leon had suspended AstraZeneca vaccines as a precaution.
Spain is among the European countries hardest-hit by the pandemic with more than 3.2 million infections and over 76,000 deaths.
The country has so far vaccinated more than 6.2 percent of its 47 million people with two doses and has administered over 9.3 million doses in total.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
As always, you can find me on Twitter here.
Spain on Wednesday announced it would reserve the AstraZeneca vaccine for those over 60 after an EU regulator said blood clots should be listed as a rare side effect of the jab.
Here are the other key recent developments:
- Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has insisted there would be “no national lockdown,” ignoring growing calls from health experts a day after the nation saw its highest number of coronavirus deaths in 24 hours since the pandemic began. Brazil has also recorded its first confirmed case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa.
- Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel is in favour of tightening virus restrictions for a short period to stem rising case numbers, her spokeswoman said. AFP reports that Merkel backs calls for a “short national lockdown”, Ulrike Demmer said, noting that the country’s health system was under growing pressure.
- The Belgian government has said it will restrict access to the AstraZeneca vaccine to just those people over 55 in light of the European medicines agency’s advice that blood clots are a potential side-effect of the jab.
- South America is now the most worrying region for Covid-19 infections, as cases mount in nearly every country, the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.
- The French health ministry reported on Wednesday that the number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 increased by 103 to a new 2021 record of 5,729 people.
- Adults under 30 should be offered an alternative vaccine instead of the AstraZeneca jab if there is one available in their area and they are healthy and not at high risk of Covid, the UK government’s vaccination advisory body said.
- The EU drug regulator will begin an investigation next week on whether clinical trials of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine followed global clinical and scientific guidelines, the Financial Times reported. But the official twitter handle for Sputnik V called the FT report “fake” and “incorrect”.
- Moderna Inc’s chief medical officer Tal Zaks said the company should be able to provide a booster shot for protection against variants of the coronavirus by the end of this year, Reuters reports.
