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Here’s a summary of tonight’s developments
- A new coronavirus antibody drug appears to show promise in mouse studies, according to a study published in Nature.
- The Czech Republic has announced it will reopen its borders to EU and Serbian citizens on June 21.
- Just days before the start of the Euros, Spain’s football players and staff have returned negative Covid-19 tests after captain Sergio Busquets had to go home and quarantine.
- There was “delight across Ireland” as the country reopened pubs, restaurants and leisure facilities.
- Central Park is to host an “all-star” concert in August to mark New York’s comeback after the pandemic.
- New York governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that the state’s remaining coronavirus restrictions will be lifted when 70% of residents have had at least one vaccine dose.
Updated
Brazil’s health ministry has reported 37,156 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 1,010 deaths, according to Reuters:
The South American country has now registered 16,984,218 cases since the pandemic began, while the death toll has risen to 474,414, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.
Portugal’s foreign minister has said that Spain’s decision to require a negative coronavirus test for people crossing the border must be “a mistake”, Reuters reported Lusa news agency saying on Monday:
Portugal had asked Spanish authorities for clarification on “what could only have been a mistake”, Portugal’s foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said.
“We have asked Spanish authorities for clarification and await it being granted as quickly as possible, because if not we will need to adopt equivalent reciprocal measures,” Santos Silva said, adding that “the epidemiological situation in Spain is, at the moment, worse than what we are living in Portugal.”
The land border between the two Iberian nations reopened on May 1 after three months of restrictions and checks, providing relief to local tourist hotspots.
Currently, Spain requires air travellers to be tested or vaccinated, while Portugal requires a negative test from travellers from Spain. But neither country had required tests for people crossing the border by land.
A new coronavirus antibody drug appears to show promise in mouse studies, according to a study published in Nature.
Reuters reports:
An experimental new type of antibody drug from IGM Bioscience Inc may be more potent at inhibiting the coronavirus and its variants than antibody therapies currently in use, research in mice suggests. And it is easier to administer with more direct affect on the lungs.
Current antibody drugs use so-called IgG antibodies, which are bivalent (two-armed) meaning they can simultaneously attach themselves to two of the spikes the coronavirus uses to break into cells. The IgM antibody is 10-valent (10-armed), so it can bind up to 10 viral spike proteins at the same time, explained Zhiqiang An of Texas Medical Center in Houston and Pei-Yong Shi of University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, who are among the authors of a report in Nature.
The IgM antibody can be administered using a nasal spray and could be self-administrated, the report continues, but it is yet to be tested in humans.
The Czech Republic has announced it will reopen its borders to EU and Serbian citizens on June 21
Arrivals will have to show proof of either vaccination, previous Covid-19 infection or a negative test result, reports AFP.
The government has also increased capacity on audiences at cultural events to 1,000 indoors and 2,000 outdoors. Meanwhile, in schools, teachers and children will be permitted to go maskless in most regions of the country.
Earlier this year, the country – which to date has 1.66 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 30,164 deaths - had the most deaths and infections per capita. But numbers have now decreased to under 500 new cases per day.
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Mexico’s health ministry reported 881 new confirmed Covid-19 cases today and 34 new deaths - bringing the total infections to 2,434,562 and the country’s death toll to 228,838, reports Reuters. However, the news agency adds, recently published separate government data suggests the true death toll could be at least 60% higher.
With just days until the start of the Euros, Spain’s players and staff have returned negative Covid-19 tests, reports the Guardian’s Spanish football correspondent Sid Lowe.
It comes after captain Sergio Busquets had to return home from the national team’s HQ and quarantine having contracted the virus:
The news came as a relief for the Spanish Federation at the end of a long day in which five new players had been called up to train at Las Rozas with more scheduled to join them on Wednesday morning, as the national team coach Luis Enrique moved to have emergency replacements ready for selection in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19.
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There was “delight across Ireland” today, reports PA, as the country reopened pubs, restaurants and leisure facilities. Hospitality venues can now serve food and drinks outdoors and individual training is permitted at gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres.
From PA’s report:
Beer gardens and outdoor eating areas at cafes and restaurants saw smiles of delight with the return of customers enjoying the bank holiday sunshine.
Around 4,000 pubs reopened for outdoor service, with an estimated 25,000 bar staff returning to work. Irish premier Micheal Martin described a “very significant day” for eateries.
Nearly 55% of the population has now had one dose and 26% are fully vaccinated, Martin said on Twitter.
For Dublin’s traditional pubs, today marked the first time they could reopen since the start of the pandemic.
There were 377 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 today in Ireland, reports PA.
A big day for pubs and restaurants with the reopening of outdoor hospitality and thousands back at work.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) June 7, 2021
55% of the population are now vaccinated with at least one dose - our Economic Recovery Plan unveils a pathway for recovery from this pandemic. pic.twitter.com/oNXOW9bVVA
Also in New York, Central Park is set to host a concert in August to mark the city’s comeback after the pandemic as part of a week-long celebration.
Announcing the event today, mayor Bill de Blasio today said it would be an “amazing, memorable once-in-a-lifetime week in New York city”. He said the event will feature an “all-star” bill of artists, but the date and line-up are yet to be announced, reported Reuters.
At 0.71%, the city today recorded its lowest Covid-19 positivity rate since the start of the pandemic, de Blasio said.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that most of the state’s remaining coronavirus restrictions will be lifted when 70% of residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine – a target he says they are “only 1.4% away from hitting”.
#BREAKING: Most remaining COVID restrictions will be lifted when 70% of adult New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 7, 2021
We’re only 1.4% away from hitting that goal.
Get vaccinated.
France has reported 64 new coronavirus deaths, reports Reuters, bringing the total up to 110,062. There were 1,164 new cases.
Hi. It’s Miranda Bryant here taking over the global coronavirus news blog from my colleague Mattha Busby. Please drop me a line via email (miranda.bryant@guardian.co.uk) with any tips or thoughts. Thanks!
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Summary
- World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that glaring Covid-19 vaccine inequality has created a “two-track pandemic”. He called on manufacturers to turn their attention to the Covax facility, which has struggled to get donation-funded doses to poorer countries, and give the global jab equity scheme first refusal on new doses, or commit half of their volumes to it.
- Slovakia became the EU’s second country to start inoculating people with the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, after months of rows over the shot that has yet to be approved by European regulators.
- In a u-turn amid intense criticism over his handling of the pandemic, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said that the Indian federal government would provide Covid-19 vaccines free of charge to all adults from later this month.
- Norway is to shorten the interval between Covid-19 vaccine doses to nine weeks from the current 12 weeks, thus speeding up the inoculation process, the health ministry said. As of today the country had fully or partly vaccinated 41.8% of all adults, according to the Institute of Public Health.
- India’s capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai began to ease restrictions as infections fell to a two-month low. Delhi Metro services were allowed to operate at 50% capacity.
- Safety concerns about Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine along with overall flagging demand for vaccinations have slowed its US rollout to a crawl, leaving close to half of the 21 million doses produced for the country sitting unused.
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A top World Health Organization official said that the WHO cannot compel China to divulge more data on Covid-19’s origins, while adding it will propose studies needed to take understanding of where the virus emerged to the “next level”, as criticism towards the US and a leading medical journal mounts.
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Spain opened its borders to vaccinated travellers from all over the world, with tourists from Germany, Ireland and Belgium
seen passing through the arrival gates at Malaga airport this morning.
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Thailand started its Covid vaccination campaign amid concerns over the supply of doses, which are mainly being produced locally by a royal-owned company that has no prior experience of making vaccines.
Melbourne will not “snap back” to large crowds and sporting stadiums, even if the 14-day lockdown comes to an end this week, Victorian health officials have warned.
Ahead of today’s Covid case numbers, the state’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, said a decision would be made on a “day-to-day” basis whether the lockdown would end at midnight on Thursday.
Big pharma giants should commit half of new jabs to Covax, says Tedros
We have more from World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who earlier said glaring Covid-19 vaccine inequality has created a “two-track pandemic”
He said manufacturers should turn their attention to the Covax facility, which has struggled to get donation-funded doses to poorer countries, and give the global jab equity scheme first refusal on new doses, or commit half of their volumes to it.
Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced his frustration that several poor countries have been unable to immunise their health workers, the elderly and other populations most vulnerable to severe Covid-19 disease.
Some rich countries meanwhile, having bought up vaccine supply, are drawing up preparations to start vaccinating children, he said, AFP reports.
This weekend, the G7 leaders will meet for their annual summit. These seven nations have the power to meet these targets. I am calling on the G7 not just to commit to sharing doses, but to commit to sharing them in June and July. I also call on all manufacturers to give Covax first right of refusal on new volume of Covid-19 vaccines, or to commit 50% of their volumes to Covax this year.
About 100 supporters of a Louisiana minister gathered outside a federal appeals court in New Orleans today to show support as his lawyers asked to revive a lawsuit he filed last year challenging the state’s coronavirus restrictions.
AP reports:
Tony Spell repeatedly flouted the public health restrictions at his Life Tabernacle Church in the Baton Rouge suburb of Central, and faces six state criminal counts as a result.
His supporters assembled at a public park across from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, where they prayed, listened to speeches and waved flags reading “An Appeal to Heaven.” Spell then walked into the courthouse, escorted across the street by one man carrying a pole with a large cross affixed at the top, while a man nearby waved an American flag.
A federal judge in Baton Rouge dismissed Spell’s lawsuit in November. Judge Stephen Higginson, one of three appeals court judges hearing the case in New Orleans, questioned whether First Amendment protections of assembly and religious practices would render Edwards’ emergency restrictions illegal if churches weren’t being singled out. He compared the Covid-19 restrictions with other public safety limits on gatherings, such as fire codes.
Ontario is to loosen its Covid-19 restrictions starting from Friday, three days ahead of schedule, premier Doug Ford has announced.
The province will enter step one of its reopening plan, allowing non-essential retail to operate at 15% capacity, outdoor dining with a maximum of four people per table, and outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people to take place.
The province hit key metrics ahead of schedule, hence the earlier reopening date, the statement from the premier’s office said, including a vaccination rate of 60% - Ontario currently has 72% of eligible adults who have received at least one vaccine dose. Step one will last at least 21 days, the statement said.
Canada’s most populous province in April announced plans to make coronavirus vaccines more accessible and the federal government pledged emergency aid as authorities scramble to combat a worsening outbreak.
The shift in strategy came after Ford was forced into a U-turn over deeply unpopular new restrictions to give the police greater power to stop residents and issue fines. The province also announced playgrounds would be closed.
The premier bowed to public pressure, tweeting that playgrounds could reopen. His solicitor general also said police will no longer have the power to stop residents to ask why they are out or request their home address. He also issued a grovelling mea culpa.
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The US’ reputation as the leading global power has suffered in France and Germany because of Washington’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed nearly 600,000 Americans, according to a new poll of views in 11 countries.
The UN has said that the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and by extension the responses to it, has been four times worse than the 2008 economic crisis.
“The working experience of this pandemic for some has been of inconvenience, tedium, stress, and frustration. For others it has been about fear, poverty, and survival,” the UN’s International Labour Organization director-general Guy Ryder said as he opened the annual International Labour Conference (ILC).
The crisis has pushed more than 100 million more workers into poverty, the ILO said in its annual World Employment and Social Outlook report ahead of the conference. It said working hours plummeted and access to good-quality jobs had evaporated.
The report showed that global unemployment could affect 205 million people in 2022 – far higher than the 187 million in 2019. Employment was not expected to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 at the earliest, it said.
“Taken as a whole, this represents a world of work crisis four times as severe as the one triggered by the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009,” said Ryder.
Gross inequities in vaccine distribution, and vastly different fiscal firepower will inject a double-dose of more inequality into the world of work, with a booster from uneven digital connectivity.
That is, unless deliberate action is taken to prevent ‘Long Covid’ taking hold in the world of work - making it more unequal, more unjust, less resilient, less inclusive and ultimately less sustainable.”
WHO says it cannot compel China to divulge more information over Covid's origins
A top World Health Organization official has said that the WHO cannot compel China to divulge more data on Covid-19’s origins, while adding it will propose studies needed to take understanding of where the virus emerged to the “next level”.
Pressed by a reporter on how the WHO will “compel” China into being more open, Mike Ryan, director of the agency’s emergencies programme, said at a press conference that the “WHO doesn’t have the power to compel anyone in this regard”.
“We fully expect cooperation, input and support of all of our member states in that endeavour,” Ryan said.
There are competing theories: that the virus jumped from animals, possibly starting with bats, to humans, or that it escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China that was undertaking controversial research on bat coronaviruses part funded by the US.
Members of a WHO team that visited China earlier this year hunting for Covid-19’s origins have said they did not have access to all data, fuelling continued debate over the country’s transparency. However, at the time they said the lab leak theory was not worthy of further investigation – a statement severely undermined several days later by the WHO chief who said all theories in fact remained on the table.
Emails released under freedom of information laws last week have led to criticism of top US health official Anthony Fauci after he received an email from Peter Daszak, head of EcoHealth Alliance – a medical non-profit organisation that helped fund research at the diseases institute in Wuhan – praising him as “brave” for seeking to debunk the lab leak theory. “Many thanks for your kind note,” Fauci replied.
Daszak was a co-author of a letter to the Lancet in March that did not disclose his conflict of interest, which said: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin.”
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African countries face a last-ditch battle against a third wave of Covid infections, as the supply of vaccines to the continent “grinds to a halt”, top health officials have warned.
Africa has officially registered almost 5m Covid-19 cases and more than 130,000 deaths, a figure representing 2.9% of global cases and 3.7% of deaths, but many experts believe the total is a very significant underestimate, and that the death toll is likely to be many times higher.
Thailand has started its Covid vaccination campaign amid concerns over the supply of doses, which are mainly being produced locally by a royal-owned company that has no prior experience of making vaccines.
The south-east Asian country aims to vaccinate 70% of the population before the end of the year, and is relying primarily on AstraZeneca doses produced by Siam Bioscience, a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The company is also due to supply vaccines to eight other countries in the region.
The Thai government, which is struggling to contain the country’s worst outbreak since the pandemic began, has faced growing criticism for being too dependent on one supplier and for a sluggish vaccine rollout. As of 5 June, about 4% of the population had received at least one vaccine dose.
On data suggesting the Delta variant continuing to spread across England, Navendu Mishra, MP for Stockport, where cases have tripled week on week from 50.4 to 146.2 per 100,000, said the government had acted “too little too late” — both in terms of stopping travel from India in April and also in clamping down on the Delta variant when it emerged in Bolton.
He said it was “inevitable” that it would spread across Greater Manchester (GM), given the population density and number of people who have to travel to a different borough to work or for school.
Clearly the government knew the rates of infection were much higher in GM, so we needed a specific, targeted approach to tackling this. That could have been an even faster vaccination programme or even more test centres or providing more support to people so they are not forced to go to work and put themselves, their families and others at risk.
We are seeing the government react to the situation far later than they should have acted...You could say to me, ‘well actually Bolton is getting the roll-out of vaccines quicker’ which is great, but it’s too little too late. To be fully protected could take three or four months so you won’t see the impact until six months down the line.
Cases in Stockport are clustered in the poorest areas of Brinnington and the town centre, he said, showing that Covid does not affect the community equally.
The Delta variant is continuing to spread across England, data suggests, with a growing area of the north west among locations affected by the virus.
The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first identified in India but is now driving a rise in Covid cases in parts of the UK. On Friday the UK reported 6,238 daily Covid cases, the highest figure since March, while hospitalisations have also begun to rise.
The Delta variant is believed to be both more transmissible than the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7 – first detected in Kent – and somewhat more resistant to Covid vaccines, particularly after just one dose. Early data from Public Health England has also suggested it may also be linked to a greater risk of hospitalisation.
Newly released data from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which tracks the variants detected in Covid-positive samples through genome sequencing – excluding cases linked to travel – not only confirms the Delta variant dominates in large parts of England, but it suggests cases are growing, particularly in areas neighbouring early hotspots.
According to the Sanger data, in the two weeks to 24 April none of the Covid-positive samples in Chorley or Manchester were found to contain the Delta variant, with 1 instance detected in Stockport and 43 in Bolton over that period.
But in the two weeks to 22 May the situation had changed: 814.50 Covid-positive samples per week were found to contain the Delta variant in Bolton, compared with 28 in nearby Chorley, 104.5 in Manchester and 18 in Stockport.
In the two weeks to 29 May the situation further evolved, with 837 Covid-positive samples per week containing the Delta variant in Bolton, compared with 41 in Chorley, 246.5 in Manchester and 85.5 in Stockport.
Prof Rowland Kao of the University of Edinburgh, who is also a Spi-M member said it was likely many of the Delta infections were seeded before any specific measures were put into place.
I would note that, even if they had managed to catch it before it has spread beyond the previous core areas, its very hard indeed to stop it from spreading unless you completely lock off travel between locations – especially with the knowledge that its potentially so much more transmissible. All eyes will be on the hospitalisations as those new rises take hold, ICU occupancy and death rates. But the current data would reinforce the importance of caution right now.
Dr Jeffrey Barrett, the director of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, told the Guardian:
I think we are past the point at which local measures can contain the Delta variant to just some areas in the country. That isn’t to say the intense public health response didn’t help – early hotspots like Bolton look like cases are declining now. It’s probably not feasible to deploy those measures [such as surge testing] at a national level, so it’s now a race to get two doses of vaccine into as many people as possible as fast as possible.
Updated
Glaring Covid-19 vaccine inequality has created a “two-track pandemic” with Western countries protected and poorer nations still exposed, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said, renewing pleas for shot donations.
“Increasingly, we see a two-track pandemic,” Tedros told reporters during a press conference from Geneva. “Six months since the first Covid-19 vaccines were administered, high-income countries have administered almost 44% of the world’s doses. Low-income countries have administered just 0.4%. The most frustrating thing about this statistic is that it hasn’t changed in months.”
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Carnival Corp will restart its namesake cruise line trips from US ports this summer for fully vaccinated guests, the company said on Monday.
Peer Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd also said it would add more trips from multiple US ports, including starting a trip from the West Coast.
Carnival said it would require guests to have received a Covid-19 vaccine 14 days prior to the cruise and have proof of vaccination. Norwegian Cruise said initial trips would operate with fully vaccinated guests and crew.
Cruise operators are among the last to return to their pre-pandemic operations as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) laid out guidance earlier this year to the cruise industry for resuming trips, but did not set a date for resuming cruises.
The CDC said last month it had approved one cruise ship from Royal Caribbean to resume sailing in June.
Shares of all the three companies were up more than 1% in early trading.
In a subject close to my heart, the bosses of all airlines flying passenger services between the UK and the US have called for their governments to relax Covid-19 restrictions to reopen travel routes between the two countries, Reuters reports.
After more than a year of restrictions, the CEOs of American Airlines, IAG unit British Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and JetBlue Airways Corp said high vaccination rates in both countries meant travel could restart safely.
The push for reopening trans-Atlantic routes on Monday comes ahead of meetings between the US president Joe Biden and the British prime minister Boris Johnson at the G7 meeting of advanced economies later this week in Cornwall, southwest England, this week.
The pair must use those meetings to agree to restart travel, British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle said in a statement ahead of an online press conference.
“We urgently need them to look to the science and base their judgements on a proper risk analysis, allowing us all to benefit from the protection offered by our successful vaccine rollouts,” Doyle said.
Since March 2020, the US has barred nearly all non-US citizens who have been in the UK within the previous 14 days from entering the country. Most US travellers visiting the UK must quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.
The need for a reopening is much stronger for Britain-based airlines British Airways and Virgin Atlantic which are not benefiting from a rebounding domestic market like their US peers.
Hello! This is Lucy Campbell, covering the blog for the next hour while Mattha takes a well-deserved break. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
The Associated Press quotes experts that suggest US prisons, which dramatically reduced their populations to stop the spread of Covid during the pandemic, would be better off staying that way and not housing mere shoplifters.
The numbers have begun creeping up again as courts are back in session and the shoplifters are back in the dock. It’s worrying criminal justice reformers who argue that the past year proved there is no need to keep so many people locked up in the US.
By the middle of last year, the number of people in jails nationwide was at its lowest point in more than two decades, according to a new report published today by the Vera Institute of Justice, whose researchers collected population numbers from about half of the nation’s 3,300 jails to make national estimates.
According to the report, shared with The Marshall Project and The Associated Press, the number of people incarcerated in county jails across the country declined by roughly one-quarter, or 185,000, as counties aggressively worked to release people held on low-level charges, dramatically reduced arrest rates and suspended court operations.
But in most places, the decrease didn’t last long: From mid-2020 to March 2021, the number of people in jails awaiting trial or serving short sentences for minor offenses climbed back up again by more than 70,000, reaching nearly 650,000.
“Reducing the incarcerated population across the country is possible,” said Jacob Kang-Brown, a senior research associate at the Vera Institute of Justice and author of the new report. “We saw decreases in big cities, small cities, rural counties and the suburbs, but the increase we see is troubling.”
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Norway to shorten interval between vaccines from 12 to 9 weeks
Norway will shorten the interval between Covid-19 vaccine doses to nine weeks from the current 12 weeks, thus speeding up the inoculation process, the health ministry has said.
“We’ll have ample supply of vaccines in the time ahead,” health minister Bent Hoeie said. Norway uses vaccines made by Moderna as well as the Pfizer/BioNTech partnership, each requiring two injections.
“Reducing the dose interval is part of the Institute of Public Health’s strategy to ensure that the population is fully vaccinated as quickly as possible,” the ministry said.
As of today the country had fully or partly vaccinated 41.8% of all adults, according to the Institute of Public Health. In total, 27.6% of those aged 18 or older have received two doses, while an additional 14.2% got a single injection.
The government is due to decide by mid-June whether to relax more of the social restrictions it has imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, potentially allowing bars and restaurants to stay open past midnight.
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A Kafkaesque situation in Portugal where British holidaymakers rushing back home before the Iberian country is added to the UK’s “amber” travel list due to concerns over rising Covid cases, are reporting issues getting pre-departure tests.
The BBC quotes Angela Mantana and Craig Stanley, from Derby, who arrived for an eight-day holiday in the Algarve shortly before the directive was announced. They say it is “almost impossible” for them to return.
“To say we are incensed is an understatement,” Stanley told the broadcaster. “We have been unable to get any return flights to avoid self-isolation. We now have to do a further two tests at an additional cost to the three tests we have paid for if we want to come out of isolation after five days, which isn’t satisfactory at all.”
Mantana told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
It leaves us that we’ve got to finish the holiday and then go into quarantine when we get back. The implications are we are volunteers at a vaccine centre … so we’ve had to let those people down. Equally I shield an aunty who has severe medical conditions … and I’m not going to be able to do that.
From 4am BST tomorrow, Portugal will leave the UK’s “green” list and those returning from the country will be required to self-isolate for 10 days and take two PCR tests. Other holidaymakers are complaining of increased flight prices, while chaotic scenes have also been reported from some Portuguese airports.
Alan and Lisa Pechey, from Cambridge, who were in Lisbon, told PA Media they had spent £800 on return flights to avoid the need to quarantine.
Speaking from Gatwick airport, 66-year-old Lisa said: “It was really expensive and I think the government was totally unfair to throw that at us on Thursday because it really spoiled our holiday, totally … they should have told us to watch out if we were going to Portugal so everyone would have known.”
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While most of the world suffered through hundreds of millions of cases and millions of deaths from Covid-19, the 23.5 million people in Taiwan largely lived a normal life, thanks to a well-documented strong and early response that saw it go 250 days without a single local case. It lobbied for inclusion in the World Health Organization’s decision-making body off the back of its undeniable success and expertise under the slogan “Taiwan can help”.
But now the tables have turned and the island itself is in need of assistance, after an outbreak that started among airline staff in April spread across the island. The government appears to have been caught short by something it thought would never happen: the poster child for outbreak prevention had apparently failed to fully prepare an outbreak response.
Modi announces free vaccines for all adults over 18 in U-turn on rollout in India
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has said that the Indian federal government would provide Covid-19 vaccines free of charge to all adults from later this month as he faces criticism over his handling of the pandemic.
Modi said in a televised address that the federal government would take over the task of vaccination from state governments. “It has been decided that from 21 June, all adults over the age of 18 will be vaccinated free,” he said. “Whether it is the poor, the lower middle class, the middle class, or the upper middle class, under the federal government programme, every one will get free vaccines.”
The announcement on national television came after weeks of criticism of a bungled vaccine rollout that has covered less than than 5% of India’s estimated adult population of 950 million.
Reuters reports that under the earlier policy, the federal government gave free vaccines to the elderly and frontline workers, and left state governments and private hospitals to administer doses for a fee to people in the 18-45 age group.
In April, the federal government unexpectedly made provinces responsible for inoculating adults – leaving them facing huge expenses.
Modi’s government’s ratings have fallen from 75% in 2019 to 51% this year, according to a survey released last week in one of the first hints that Modi’s popularity with voters may be on the decline, Bloomberg reports.
His speech today came after he last addressed the nation on 20 April, when he urged states to avoid lockdowns despite the country heading towards record daily infections of more than 414,000 which subsequently placed serious strain on health infrastructure as pictures of open air mass cremations made international headlines.
In a sign of how the government will frame the episode, India’s housing minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted: “PM Modi bails out those states who despite the clamour could not even shoulder 25% of the responsibility in India’s fight against Covid. All 18+ citizens will get free Covid-19 vaccines. Centre will bear the cost. Hopefully they will stop wastage & profiteering.”
PM Modi announces centralized vaccine drive, all vaccines will be procured by Govt of India and given to States for free. pic.twitter.com/wBuKFLfm5q
— ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2021
“This [centralised inoculation policy] eliminates states having to compete with one another for vaccine supplies, leaving them to concentrate on distributing them rapidly to their populations,” Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University in Delhi, said.
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Spain has today opened its borders to vaccinated travellers from all over the world, with tourists from Germany, Ireland and Belgium seen passing through the arrival gates at Malaga airport this morning.
At least 20 international flights landed in the morning at the most important tourist gateway in the southern Andalusia region, Reuters reports.
“We’re thrilled, delighted. We love Spain, the sun, the food and everything about it,” said Irish holidaymaker Gillian Ford, who arrived from rainy Dublin having had her second vaccination.
“You only live once so you need to get out of here and enjoy,” she said before heading off to the beaches of Marbella with her husband Edward.
“I haven’t been out of Belgium for a year,” said Rose Huo, a 73-year-old Belgian who came to spend a month with her sister. “Everyone is happy I think. We are still very careful but it’s a start.”
Under the new rules, Spain from Monday is allowing visitors in who have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days.
Non-vaccinated Europeans – who could previously enter Spain with a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours can now take a cheaper antigen test within the past 48 hours instead.
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WHO: vaccine patent rights waiver would be beneficial
A senior World Health Organization (WHO) official has said that talks are being held with G20 countries, including China and India, regarding financial and Covid-19 vaccine donations to the Covax dose-sharing facility.
Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the WHO director-general and the agency’s coordinator of the ACT-Accelerator, also told reporters the WHO wanted the US, EU member states, Britain, Canada and Japan to contribute doses.
Aylward said that a proposal submitted last Friday by the EU to the World Trade Organization to widen Covid-19 vaccine access did not go far enough and said a waiver of patent rights “would add value”.
Resisting calls for a patent waiver, the EU submitted a plan it claims would more effectively broaden supply of Covid-19 vaccines than the intellectual property (IP) rights waiver backed by the US. The EU proposals stressed limits on export restrictions and existing WTO rules allowing countries to grant licences to producers.
However, Human Rights Watch said the arguments used by the EU to justify its opposition are “inaccurate, misleading, and misguided”.
The European Commission claims that intellectual property (IP) is not a barrier to scaling up the manufacturing of vaccines or other health products needed for the Covid-19 response, suggesting that sharing IP would not immediately speed up manufacturing.
Right now, there are manufacturers with capacity to produce additional Covid-19 vaccines and other health products at factories in Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, India, and Israel, but they are unable to contribute because they do not yet have the right licenses. So, IP is a barrier to them.
The TRIPS waiver proposal sponsors and experts at the leading science journal Nature, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access Campaign, the Third World Network, and others have presented many other concrete examples of how enforcement of IP rules blocked, delayed, or limited production of chemical reagents for Covid-19 tests, ventilator valves, Covid-19 treatments, and elements of Covid-19 vaccines. IP constraints have not only led to vaccine shortages but have also led to shortages of key raw materials like bioreactor bags and filters.
Safety concerns about Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine along with overall flagging demand for vaccinations have slowed its US rollout to a crawl, leaving close to half of the 21 million doses produced for the country sitting unused.
Reuters reports:
Americans have largely eschewed it over the six weeks it has been back in use after a pause to investigate links to cases of a very rare, potentially life-threatening condition called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), which involves blood clots and low platelet counts, according to data from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and interviews with health officials and pharmacists in eight states across the country.
“We went from having a waiting list to give somebody a shot to having maybe one shot a day or four shots a day,” Michelle Vargas, owner of independent Lamar Family Pharmacy in Lamar, South Carolina, said of plunging demand for the J&J shot in the small rural community. “They’re concerned for their safety. I think that’s the biggest hurdle right now.”
In the week ending 25 May, fewer than 650,000 Americans received the J&J shot, accounting for about 5% of total vaccinations administered and down from nearly 3 million in the week leading up to the pause, CDC data shows.
Demand for all the vaccines has slowed since mid-April, but the drop has been significantly steeper for the J&J shot. The slowdown may mean some J&J doses will expire unused at a time when global demand for any Covid-19 vaccine is high. J&J doses will be among the 25 million donated by the US announced by the White House last week.
The CDC and Food and Drug Administration paused use of the J&J vaccine for nearly two weeks in mid-April. Regulators decided that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risk. The condition has also been linked to AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.
A small number of malls and residential complexes in Shanghai have been asking visitors to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination, with one shopping centre’s temporary decision to bar entry sparking a backlash on social media.
Reuters has the story:
A video showing a local resident arguing with security guards about the legitimacy of barring unvaccinated people at the entrance of the Pacific Life Plaza in Shanghai has been shared tens of hundreds of times on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
Several vendors told Reuters that the mall was blocking unvaccinated customers at the entrance, though people could still sneak in from the exit. The mall operator could not be immediately reached for comment.
“This is too much, as this is like compulsory vaccination in disguise,” a popular microblog declared.
Inoculation is voluntary in China, with officials explicitly told not to enforce compulsory jabs. Shanghai last reported a community infection on 4 February.
“Isn’t vaccination voluntary, on a recommendation basis, and something that is only encouraged? Where did the plaza get the right to bar people from entry?” one said on Weibo.
However, a Reuters reporter visited the mall Pacific Life Plaza late today and saw the mall is no longer barring people based on their vaccination status.
Vendors at another shopping centre in Shanghai said the Sheshan Baolehui mall is asking visitors to show vaccination credentials, but not blocking unvaccinated people.
Updated
Ibiza is to hold a 2,000-capacity pilot outdoor clubbing event in the upcoming weeks as the famous party hub seeks a return to nightlife.
DJ Mag reports that the venue would be at 50% of its capacity, with just 500 people wearing masks allowed on the dance floor simultaneously.
The Balearic government and the Ibiza Leisure Association have agreed to test an outdoor party at a to-be-confirmed location, either at the end of this month or the beginning of July.
José Luis Benítez, Ibiza Leisure Association’s manager, told Tourinnews that the event could be a catalyst for a return to nightlife on the island if successful. “Nightlife will return to Ibiza,” he said. “We’ll have it very soon, but it will be different.”
Those who have been vaccinated, have had Covid-19 or habe a negative PCR test taken in the last 72 hours will be allowed to attend. Drinks within indoor sections are reportedly set to be restricted to designated seating areas.
Ibiza and neighbouring Formentera had 77 active cases of Covid-19, in last week of May, DJ Mag reports. There were no reported Covid deaths in more than six weeks.
Updated
Slovakia has today become the EU’s second country to start inoculating people with the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, after months of rows over the shot that has yet to be approved by European regulators.
Then-prime minister Igor Matovic bought Sputnik V in March, saying it would speed up vaccination efforts. The country of 5.5 million bought 200,000 doses and intended to buy 2 million.
The launch of vaccinations was delayed, however, amid a political crisis that erupted because Matovic had done the deal without consulting his coalition partners, who opposed using the vaccine before it had EU approval, Reuters reports.
A reconstructed cabinet finally gave the go-ahead last month to give Sputnik V to those who specifically chose it.
Slovak media reported that more than 5,000 people across the country have so far registered to receive Sputnik V. A total of 77,000 people were waiting for a first dose of all vaccines, according to data from one news website.
In neighbouring Hungary 1 million people have received 2 doses of Sputnik V, a quarter of the total number to be fully vaccinated in the fellow EU member state.
Slovakia has so far given more than 1.8 million first doses and more than 950,000 second doses of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
Last week, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that Europe has been slow to approve Russia’s Covid vaccine because of a “battle for money” and that commercial interests were being put ahead of the welfare of European citizens.
Updated
India’s capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai today begun a gradual easing of restrictions as coronavirus infections in the country fell to a two-month low.
AFP has the full story:
Hospitals in the megacities – which have a combined population of some 40 million – were overwhelmed by a deadly Covid-19 wave in April and May, with severe shortages of oxygen and other critical medicines.
The huge spike saw India report record-breaking numbers of cases and deaths to become the second worst-hit nation after the US with just under 29 million total infections.
Authorities in Delhi and Mumbai, as well as other cities and states, imposed restrictions on movement and activities to combat the surge. “We have to stay safe from corona infection and also bring the economy back on track,” Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted Monday as some shops and malls reopened.
Delhi Metro services were allowed to operate at 50% capacity. The northern city was reporting an average of 25,000 daily cases during its peak. It fell to 381 infections yesterday, officials said.
Maharashtra, India’s richest state of which Mumbai is the capital, eased restrictions based on infection rates and hospital bed occupancy.
In Mumbai, where the caseload soared to 11,163 in early April, there were just 794 new infections yesterday. Malls were allowed to reopen in the city with restrictions, but were reopened fully in cities with lower infection rates such as Nagpur and Aurangabad.
India today reported just over 100,000 fresh infections – after several days of 400,000-plus cases in May – and nearly 2,500 deaths.
Fiji has transformed its largest hospital into an emergency Covid-only facility, as the country reported a record number of new cases and a surge in the quick-spreading Delta variant, first identified in India.
AFP has the story:
The South Pacific island nation went a full year without recording any new community cases until April, when it was hit by a second wave of infections.
Since then, numbers have steadily increased, with 83 new cases announced last night, bringing the total to 489 active infections. The surge has posed a challenge to Fiji’s under-developed health care system.
Permanent secretary for health James Fong said 11 of the new cases were from unknown sources, raising the prospect of widespread community transmission in the nation of almost 930,000.
“We expect more days of high numbers of confirmed cases. We sadly expect more hospitalisations as more severe cases of the disease develop,” Fong said.
According to Fong, a major infection cluster was centred on Suva’s Colonial War Memorial Hospital, so it was being cordoned off and will treat only Covid-19 patients.
Fiji, population 900,000, has so far administered 206,658 first doses and 4,599 second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine nationwide.
Women whose children died at UK festivals after taking drugs have urged the country’s government to support “life-saving” substance-checking services after an influential parliamentary committee warned it was concerned there would be a surge in youth drug deaths this summer without action, partly due to potentially increased risk taking after lockdown.
A leading Taiwanese chip testing and packaging company has said that all its migrant employees have been suspended from working for about two weeks to contain a coronavirus outbreak.
AFP has the story:
At least 206 employees, mostly migrant workers, at facilities run by King Yuan Electronics Company (KYEC) in northern Miaoli county have tested positive, according to the government.
The cluster is the first major outbreak in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, which is operating at full capacity to meet a worldwide shortage of chips that power essential electronic devices.
KYEC employs more than 7,000 people, including around 2,100 migrants, and counts some top international tech firms as clients, such as Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia.
KYEC said in a filing to the Taiwan stock exchange that its June output and revenue are expected to drop 30-35% due to the suspension of work. Local media raised concerns that the suspension could impact the global chip shortage as KYEC’s business is a key final step in the semiconductor supply chain.
Two other tech firms in Miaoli have also reported infection clusters and suspended migrant workers.
Updated
Updated
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has highlighted guidance for doctors which calls for them to avoid heparin when treating rare blood clots and low platelet counts in patients who received AstraZeneca’s or Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccines.
Reuters reports that Europe’s drugs regulator, in a statement seeking to boost awareness of proper treatment, focused on guidance from the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), which has concluded “management should be initiated with non-heparin anticoagulation upon suspicion” of vaccine-linked clotting.
“For the management of suspected (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome), especially if no local guideline is available, the taskforce recommends that healthcare professionals consider the ISTH interim guidance,” the EMA said in its statement.
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to everyone reading. It’s Mattha Busby here taking over the global coronavirus news blog from my colleague Martin Belam. I’ll be seeing you through the next few hours. Please do drop me a line on Twitter or via email (mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk) with any tips or thoughts – thanks!
Updated
Police in Ireland have arrested dozens of people during clashes over three consecutive nights with rowdy crowds, raising doubts about government plans for an “outdoor summer” to curb Covid-19.
Gardaí arrested 14 people in central Dublin and eight in Cork on Sunday night, bringing to more than 50 the number of people detained over the bank holiday weekend.
Each evening throngs peacefully socialised outdoors, enjoying balmy weather, then clusters of young people ended up in violent confrontations with police, throwing bottles and other missiles.
“Gardaí encountered significant numbers of groups of youths (teenage and younger adults) who were loitering around the city centre, not involved in outdoor dining/socialising,” said a police statement.
The government has encouraged people to socialise outdoors to reduce Covid-19 transmission but large gatherings in city-centre streets, with few masks and little sign of social distancing, have dismayed health officials.
Drove into Dublin City Centre to collect someone from work at 815 PM. Absolutely shocked at scenes in South Great George’s St, Exchequer St, South William St area. Enormous crowds- like a major open air party. This is what we do not need when we have made so much progress.
— Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) May 29, 2021
City-centre businesses have complained about litter, public urinating and an intimidating atmosphere. Dublin authorities have promised to install 150 portaloo toilets and extra bins.
On Monday, bars, restaurants and cafes can resume outdoor service, prompting hope this will reduce street gatherings. It is part of a wider relaxation that is allowing gyms, swimming pools and cinemas to reopen.
Updated
Today so far…
- Former British prime minister Gordon Brown has urged the G7 to act this week to make a plan to “vaccinate the world”, criticising current efforts. He told the media: “We’re not safe until everybody’s safe. It’s an act of self-interest. It’s not just an act of charity. You’ve got to have a plan to underwrite the funding, then you’ve got to get the manufacturing capacity ramped up, then you’ve got to get it in a number of different continents, and then you can vaccinate the world. It needs a plan, not just a wing and a prayer.”
- Spain is reopening its borders to vaccinated international travellers today, hoping to revive its tourism sector which – like everywhere in the world – has struggled severely during the pandemic. It will also allow cruise ships into its ports from today.
- Malta has registered no new Covid -19 cases for the first time in 11 months, but the Mediterranean island’s health minister urged people to remain careful to prevent any resurgence.
- Taiwan has extended its level 3 restrictions until the end of the month, as it continues to report hundreds of daily new cases, including outbreaks in aged care and among migrant worker dormitories.
- Police in Malaysia are using drones to detect people with high temperatures in public spaces as part of Covid prevention measures, according to local media.
- The Philippines will open up its vaccination drive this week to include around 35 million people working outside their homes, such as public transport staff, in a bid to help curb Covid-19 transmission and to open up the economy, officials said.
-
India reported 114,460 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, the lowest in two months, while the death toll increased by 2,677, as parts of the country prepared to ease restrictions on movement.
- New Delhi and other cities are working towards allowing more businesses to operate and movement rules to be relaxed from Monday. The western state of Maharashtra, which is India’s richest and has suffered the most infections during the second wave, plans to start easing in stages a strict lockdown imposed in April.
- The urban population in India is getting Covid-19 shots much faster than the hundreds of millions of people living in the countryside, government data shows, reflecting rising inequity in the nation’s immunisation drive.
- Russia’s single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine against Covid-19 has been approved for use in the Republic of the Congo.
- Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni further toughened virus curbs on Sunday night, including ordering the closure of schools, to stem a worrying rise in local transmissions.
- Residents of the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou will not be able to leave unless they can show that it is absolutely necessary to do so, following an outbreak of Covid-19 that has sickened dozens of people in recent days.
- Senegal could begin producing Covid-19 vaccines next year under an agreement with Belgian biotech group Univercells aimed at boosting Africa’s drug-manufacturing ambitions.
Malta registers zero new Covid cases for the first time in 11 months
Malta has registered no new Covid-19 cases for the first time in 11 months, but the Mediterranean island’s health minister urged people to remain careful to prevent any resurgence.
“Today is the first day with zero cases since last summer,” minister Chris Fearne wrote on Twitter. “It is essential that we maintain discipline and responsibility.”
Bonġu 🇲🇹. Il-festa t-tajba. 😄😄
— Chris Fearne (@chrisfearne) June 7, 2021
Illum l-ewwel darba #ZeroCases 💪🏽 mis-sajf li għadda. Huwa essenzjali li nżommu d-#dixxiplina u r-#responsabilità pic.twitter.com/YXYcxlb57G
Reuters report that the news came as Malta allowed bars, cinemas and theatres to reopen as part of a government timetable to progressively roll back restrictions that was announced months ago.
Malta last registered zero cases on 25 July, but cases then gradually rose, to a peak at 510 in March before dropping again. They have been in single figures for weeks.
The island leads the European Union in the vaccination programme, with more than half the adult population now fully vaccinated and 75% having had at least a first dose.
The Times of Malta reports that as of Sunday, the country had 74 active virus cases. The official confirmation of the figures from the ministry will come at lunchtime.
Updated
This is the latest from Associated Press on the situation in Guangzhou. Residents of the southern Chinese city will not be able to leave unless they can show that it is absolutely necessary to do so, following an outbreak of Covid-19 that has sickened dozens of people in recent days.
Anyone who is given permission to leave must show a negative test for the virus taken in the previous 48 hours, according to rules issued by the city government that take effect Monday. The same rule applies to anyone seeking to leave the surrounding province of Guangdong.
The city also is restricting indoor dining, conducting mass testing and banning residents in high-risk neighborhoods from leaving their homes. At least two districts in the city of 18 million people have been closed off entirely.
Guangzhou has reported no deaths from the outbreak, but the city reported another four locally transmitted cases in the 24 hours before Monday morning, bringing its recent total to more than 100 since 21 May.
While speaking of Russia, Reuters report that the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine against Covid-19 has been approved for use in the Republic of the Congo.
Russia’s daily Covid numbers are at the higher end of their usual level today. Reuters say that official figures there report there have been 9,429 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, alongside a further 330 deaths. Russia’s figures have tended to be between 7,000 and 9,500 new cases every day for months now.
Andrew Sparrow is back in the UK live blog hot seat today, and he’s just launched it, leading on the row over international aid cuts. He’ll be carrying Covid news there as well.
I’ll be continuing here with the leading coronavirus news from around the world.
Uganda to tighten coronavirus curbs following rise in local transmission
Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni further toughened virus curbs on Sunday night, including ordering the closure of schools, to stem a worrying rise in local transmissions.
Schools will be closed from Monday for six weeks and most gatherings, save for weddings and funerals in small groups, were banned. Non-essential travel between districts was suspended and a 9pm to 4am curfew will remain in force until mid-July. Most shops and markets remain open, provided they comply with government health regulations, but bars remain closed.
Uganda had kept its Covid-19 cases relatively low and was spared the worst of the pandemic after adopting one of Africa’s tightest lockdowns, but it eased the measures as cases dropped. However, infections have soared in recent weeks with a sharp increase in severe cases.
Hospitals have been overwhelmed as all intensive care and high dependency beds are occupied, threatening to collapse the fragile healthcare system.
“In this wave, the intensity of severe and critically ill Covid-19 patients, and deaths is higher than what we experienced in the first wave of the pandemic,” Museveni said in a televised address.
AFP reports that Museveni explained that the east African country had recorded as many severe and critical cases of Covid-19 in a fortnight as it did in a three to four month period during the first wave.
“We are concerned that this will exhaust available bed space and oxygen supply in hospitals, unless we constitute urgent public health measures,” said Museveni.
The country has counted 52,935 cases of coronavirus, of which 383 have been fatal, figures believed to be undercounted as a result of low testing.
Updated
The Philippines will open up its vaccination drive this week to include around 35 million people working outside their homes, such as public transport staff, in a bid to help curb Covid-19 transmission and to open up the economy, officials said.
The next phase in the rollout that started in March comes after vaccines were initially targeted at health care workers, senior citizens and people with existing health conditions.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said those eligible to join the new phase, which includes workers in the informal sector, will be able to register from Wednesday, with the country expecting more vaccines to arrive in the second half.
Neil Jerome Morales reports for Reuters that the Philippines has so far received more than nine million doses, mostly supplied by China’s Sinovac Biotech, but has a long way to go to meet its goal of immunising 70 million people this year out of a population of 110 million.
In order to help shore up confidence in the vaccine programme and tackle vaccine hesitancy, local celebrities were among 50 people vaccinated in an inoculation ceremony on Monday.
The Philippines, which is battling one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in Asia, has reported 1.27 million infections and almost 22,000 deaths, with some provinces outside the capital region emerging as new hotspots for Covid-19.
Updated
Taiwan has extended its level 3 restrictions until the end of the month, as it continues to report hundreds of daily new cases, including outbreaks in aged care and among migrant worker dormitories.
The central epidemic command centre (CECC) has just announced 211 new cases - a drop on previous days but with a warning that testing numbers may have been lower over the weekend. An additional 26 deaths were reported.
In good news, there were no new cases announced from backlogged test results, an issue that has plagued health authorities trying to analyse trends in recent weeks.
Most of the new cases were in New Taipei City, with 82 recorded, plus 60 in the capital Taipei and 45 in Miaoli, where outbreaks among factory workers are causing concern, and prompting criticism of the government for failing to protect migrant worker communities – known to be a vulnerable cohort of people, after mass outbreaks in dormitories overseas during the past year.
Health minister Chen Shi-chung announced new measures for when a migrant worker is found to be positive, including quarantining all close contacts. He said the labour ministry had begun inspecting the more than 1,000 dorms with more than 50 people, and was in contact with workers in need of support. He urged workers to take advantage of multilingual information apps.
There are 64 aged care facilities with recorded cases, including 48 employees and more than 146 others, including residents.
Chen said Moderna vaccines will start being distributed in Wednesday, prioritising vulnerable groups for a set period of time before widening the eligibility, as opposed to waiting until everyone in that group is vaccinated.
A day after US senators flew to Taipei to announced a donation of 750,000 vaccines, Chen seems to be speaking very optimistically about Taiwan’s vaccination drive, which has so far reached about 3% of the population. The island has received just a few million doses, and has orders for tens of millions more, but that is reliant on the production of domestic vaccines still in trial stage and the clearance of global shortages. At the press conference he has even suggested that people may even be allowed to choose which vaccine they want if there’s enough supply in the future, according to local reporters.
Updated
Senegal could begin producing Covid-19 vaccines next year under an agreement with Belgian biotech group Univercells aimed at boosting Africa’s drug-manufacturing ambitions, a source involved in funding the project told Reuters.
African nations are still struggling to acquire shots. On a continent of 1.3 billion, only about 7 million people have been fully vaccinated.
Univercells chief investment officer Kate Antrobus, when asked about the timeframe for the project, confirmed that it could send vaccine doses to Senegal early next year.
She declined to comment on the exact date for a full vaccine production line in Senegal but of the timelines referenced she said: “I do not think they are unreasonable.”
It is not clear yet what vaccine will be supplied to Senegal, but Antrobus said the site in Belgium would be able to manufacture a class of so-called viral vector Covid-19 vaccine such as those developed by Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Cansino.
“If Covid amazingly subsides over the next year … that same capacity could be used for other viruses,” Antrobus said.
Univercells also has its own Covid-19 vaccine candidate, being developed with Germany’s Leukocare and Italian firm ReiThera, which has completed phase 2 trials. It is seeking financing to carry out phase 3, which the Italian government said it is ready to fund.
Updated
'It needs a plan, not just a wing and a prayer' – Gordon Brown on vaccine equity
Talking of Sky News, former British prime minister Gordon Brown has been on this morning, urging G7 countries to come together and provide a vaccine supply for poorer nations over and above the “scratching the surface” he said was being done right now
We’re not safe until everybody’s safe. It’s an act of self-interest. It’s not just an act of charity, because if the disease spreads and mutates and comes back into our country, then we all suffer, so this is something that the world has got to do together. And that’s why on Friday, when Boris Johnson meets the G7 in Cornwall, with the richest countries sitting around the table, they’ve got the chance to make a decision that will vaccinate the whole world by putting up the money that is necessary to pay for it and sharing the doses.
Challenged that there were already commitments to share 100m vaccine doses from the UK, Brown retorted:
That’s not a plan. You’ve got to have a plan to underwrite the funding, then you’ve got to get the manufacturing capacity ramped up, then you’ve got to get it in a number of different continents, and then you can vaccinate the world. It needs a plan, not just a wing and a prayer.
Former PM Gordon Brown says 'we need to vaccinate the world, we're not safe until everyone is', adding the government needs to have a plan on how to vaccinate other countries, 'not just a wing and a prayer and a few doses left over'.#KayBurley https://t.co/18TN2tpRvE pic.twitter.com/cxGjZCW6uw
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 7, 2021
Updated
If you are in the UK then there’s a familiar face back on your screens this morning – Sky News presenter Kay Burley has returned to work after being suspended for six months for breaking Covid-19 rules.
Alex Green, PA Media’s entertainment reporter, reminds us that Burley was suspended from the channel in December after making “a big mistake” and “pulling” her colleagues into breaking coronavirus restrictions while celebrating her 60th birthday at a restaurant in London, which was then under tier 2 restrictions.
Following an internal review in December, Sky News found that “a small number of Sky News staff attended a social event in London” where Covid-19 guidelines were breached.
It said: “All those involved regret the incident and have apologised. Everyone at Sky News is expected to comply with the rules and the company takes breaches like this very seriously indeed.”
The channel’s political editor, Beth Rigby, and correspondent Inzamam Rashid were also both taken off air for three months following the review.
Updated
The Washington Post is leading at the moment with an overnight story that “the last mile” of the vaccination programme in the US is proving to be the hardest. They report:
Plummeting vaccination rates have turned what officials hoped would be the “last mile” of the coronavirus immunization campaign into a marathon, threatening President Biden’s goal of getting shots to at least 70 percent of adults by July 4.
The United States is averaging fewer than 1 million shots per day, a decline of more than two-thirds from the peak of 3.4 million in April, according to The Washington Post’s seven-day analysis, even though all adults and children over age 12 are now eligible.
Small armies of health workers and volunteers often outnumber the people showing up to get shots at clinics around the country.
The slowdown is national – with every state down at least two-thirds from its peak – and particularly felt across the South and Midwest. Twelve states, including Utah, Oklahoma, Montana, the Dakotas and West Virginia, have seen vaccinations fall below 15 daily shots per 10,000 residents; Alabama had just four people per 10,000 residents get vaccinated last week.
Read more here: Washington Post – Vaccination rates fall off, imperiling Biden’s July Fourth goal
Updated
The urban Indian population are getting Covid-19 shots much faster than the hundreds of millions of people living in the countryside, government data shows, reflecting rising inequity in the nation’s immunisation drive.
In 114 of India’s least developed districts – collectively home to about 176 million people – authorities have administered just 23 million doses in total.
That’s the same number of doses as have been administered across nine major cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Thane and Nagpur – which combined have half the population of the least developed districts.
Reuters notes that the disparity was even stronger last month, after the government allowed private sales of vaccines for adults aged under 45 years, an offer which favoured residents of cities with larger private hospital networks. For the first four weeks of May, those nine cities gave 16% more doses than the combined rural districts, data from the government’s Co-WIN vaccination portal shows.
“My friends from the city were vaccinated at private hospitals,” said Atul Pawar, a 38-year-old farmer from Satara, a rural western district of Maharashtra, India’s wealthiest state. “I am ready to pay, but doses are not available and district borders are sealed because of the lockdown.”
The ministry of health and family welfare said in a statement at the weekend that reports of vaccine inequity in India were “inaccurate and speculative in nature”.
“Liberalised pricing and accelerated national Covid-19 vaccination strategy ensures vaccine equity,” it said, adding that smaller cities were also getting doses like the big ones.
India has administered more than 222m doses since starting its campaign in mid-January – only China and the US have administered more – but it has given the required two doses to less than 5% of its 950 million adults.
Rural India is home to more than two-thirds of the country’s 1.35 billion people. While urban areas account for a disproportionately large share of the confirmed Covid-19 cases, those concerned about the spread of the virus in the countryside say statistics undercount cases in villages, where testing is less comprehensive.
Updated
Police in Malaysia use drones to detect high temperatures amid Covid surge
Police in Malaysia are using drones to detect people with high temperatures in public spaces as part of Covid prevention measures, according to local media.
The drones, which can detect people’s temperatures as high as 20 metres above ground, emit a red light to alert the authorities if someone has a high reading, Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency, reported.
Malaysia entered a near total national lockdown last week in an attempt to halt rising daily infections, which had reached more than 9,000 by the end of May.
Though daily cases have since fallen, the health director general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, has warned that the majority of new infections and deaths were from unknown contacts. “One of the reasons is the emergence of new variants in the community which have higher infectivity and mortality rates,” he said in a statement on Monday, urging people to stay home.
Malaysian police have previously warned they will use drones to enforce earlier travel restrictions, with officers in some areas also stating they would carry out surprise home visits to ensure people were following rules.
Read more of Rebecca Ratcliffe’s report here: Police in Malaysia use drones to detect high temperatures amid Covid surge
Updated
Thailand kicked off a long-awaited mass vaccination campaign on Monday as the country battles its third and worst wave of the coronavirus epidemic.
Reuters report that officials recorded 2,419 new Covid-19 cases and 33 deaths on Monday, bringing the total to 179,886 and 1,269 fatalities. The third wave has accounted for more than 80% of total infections so far.
The government aims to administer 6 million doses of locally-made AstraZeneca and imported Sinovac vaccines this month, hoping to assuage worries about the slow roll-out and supply shortages.
“The government will ensure that everyone is vaccinated,” prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in televised comments after he visited an inoculation centre in Bangkok.
The government plans to vaccinate 70% of Thailand’s population of more than 66 million people by the end of the year. So far, 2.8 million people deemed most vulnerable, including frontline health and transport workers, have received a first dose.
But the government has come under fire from opposition politicians who accuse it of complacency and an over-reliance on the locally-made AstraZeneca doses.
Updated
Good morning, it is Martin Belam here taking over the live blog in London. A US public health expert has warned that though cases of Covid-19 are at their lowest rates for months and much of the country is returning to normal life, young Americans are still “a vulnerable host” for the coronavirus.
Dr Richina Bicette, associate medical director at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told CNN children were now accounting for nearly 25% of US cases.
“As adults get vaccinated and become more protected and immune,” she said, “the virus is still in the community looking for a vulnerable host and pediatric patients fit that description.”
Children aged 12 and above are eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, one of three in US use. Federal authorities will this week debate extending vaccines to children aged 11 and under.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that 52% of the US population over the age of 12 has had at least one vaccine dose and 42% is fully protected.
The Biden administration wants 70% of US adults to have received at least one shot by 4 July. Deaths in the US have slowed drastically, the toll a little under 590,000. But with virus variants causing problems as other countries reopen, experts have voiced concern over slowing rates of vaccination, particularly in Republican states.
India to ease lockdown after cases start to decline
Reuters: India reported 114,460 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, the lowest in two months, while the death toll increased by 2,677, as parts of the country prepared to ease restrictions on movement.
New Delhi and other cities are working towards allowing more businesses to operate and movement rules to be relaxed from Monday. The western state of Maharashtra, which is India’s richest and has suffered the most infections during the second wave, plans to start easing in stages a strict lockdown imposed in April.
Taiwan extends level three restrictions
Taiwan authorities have extended level three restrictions until the end of June. The restrictions, which have closed schools, all entertainment, public and sporting venues, and limited personal gatherings, were due to expire next week but authorities have pre-emptively extended them.
After living largely Covid-free, Taiwan is experiencing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, with about 11,000 total cases and more than 260 deaths – more than 90% of them since mid-April.
In a statement, Taiwan’s cabinet said the outbreak “has not yet stabilised”, and they would release more details of the extension later today.
First announced on 19 May, the restrictions appear to have prevented an explosion in case numbers but have not led to a decline. Daily new cases remain in the hundreds, amid concerns over the continued lack of widespread working from home, and worsening outbreaks among employees at three factories, predominately among migrant workers who mostly live in crowded dormitories.
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Spain reopens to vaccinated tourists
Spain is reopening its borders to vaccinated international travellers today, hoping to revive its tourism sector which – like everywhere in the world – has struggled severely during the pandemic. It will also allow cruise ships into its ports from today.
The country’s health minister, Carolina Daria, said Spain was “in the process of reclaiming its global leadership in tourism”.
“Spain is a safe destination,” she said.
Previously Spain allowed European visitors who have a negative PCR test taken within the previous 72 hours, but from today those visitors can take a cheaper antigen test.
The three biggest tourist contingents to Spain after from the UK, France and Germany, but in a potential blow to the reopening the British government has not yet removed Spain from its list of at-risk countries, meaning any holidayers will have to quarantine when they get home.
According to AFP, Spain’s Malaga airport is expecting about 20 different flights on Monday morning alone, from places around Europe such as Berlin, Lille, Frankfurt and London.
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Hello and welcome to today’s rolling coverage of the pandemic.
Here’s a quick look at developments from the last day.
- China has enacted mass testing and travel restrictions in Shenzhen over new cases there, while nearby Guangzhou continues to battle the country’s first outbreak of the Delta variant, first detected in India.
- Taiwan has extended its level 3 restrictions until the end of June, as it continues to report hundreds of new daily cases.
- The US has announced 750,000 vaccines will be donated to Taiwan.
- The UK recorded 5,341 cases on Sunday, an increase of 2,101 on last Sunday when 3,111 cases were reported.
- Portugal’s prime minister has criticised Britain for removing the country from the green list, allowing travellers to visit Portugal without quarantine on return.
- UK ministers are ‘absolutely open’ to delaying the 21 June reopening date in England if the Delta variant worsens, the health secretary said.
- Sunday is the first day for 12-16-year-olds in Israel to get vaccinated, after 55% of the population have so far received two doses in the country.
- Morocco will reopen its airports to international traffic starting from 15 June to help the return of its nationals living abroad
- Staff of a senate committee investigating the handling of the pandemic in Brazil have said that the Copa America football tournament should not be held amid the world’s second-deadliest outbreak and must be postponed.
- Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, re-imposed a strict lockdown that included the closure of schools and the suspension of inter-district travel.
- Victorians in Australia are being warned there is no ‘magic number’ of the people getting vaccinated before future lockdowns can be avoided.
