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Australian state of Queensland records one new Covid case
Queensland has recorded one new case of coronavirus overnight but the infected person has recovered and aren’t infectious at the moment, authorities have said.
The man is the brother of a Brisbane landscaper who tested positive to the UK variant on Thursday.
Queensland police also revealed on Sunday that a man in his 20s whose positive Covid test was announced on Saturday did not host a party for 25 people while awaiting his test results as initially reported. Instead he had contact with five others, “most” of whom lived in the same house.
Here is the latest list of Covid hotspots in the state that were visited by infected people:
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Germany must bring down coronavirus infections in the next few weeks or risk new virus mutations that are resistant to vaccines and should impose night-time curfews in regions with high caseloads, according to a senior aide to chancellor Angela Merkel.
“We are in the most dangerous phase of the pandemic,” Merkel’s chief of staff Helge Braun told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “The next few weeks will determine whether we can foreseeably get the pandemic under control.”
If the number of infections rises rapidly again there is a growing danger that the next virus mutation will become resistant to the vaccine, Braun said. “Then we would need new vaccines, then we would have to start vaccinating all over again,” he added.
After a popular backlash and legal hurdles, Merkel was forced to ditch plans for an extended Easter holiday intended to try to break a third wave of Covid-19, but Braun said it remained imperative to reduce the number of infections, Reuters reports.
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Hundreds gathered in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen to protest against a controversial virus law and the country’s plan to create so-called “corona passports”.
AFP reports:
Marching through the streets, the crowd of mostly younger people, lit fireworks during a march which an AFP correspondent at the scene described as mostly peaceful.
Police told the Ekstrabladet newspaper that about 600 people had gathered and one person was arrested for throwing firecrackers towards police officers.
Organised by Danish anti-restriction group “Men in Black,” the main issue for the protesters was a new provision to the penal code that calls for a doubled sentence for a crime that “has a background in or is connected to the Covid-19 epidemic”.
The first severe application of that law happened in mid-March, when a Danish court convicted a 30-year-old woman for statements and actions that contributed to a “gross disturbance of public order as well as the use of violence against police,” at a January protest – organised by the same group.
Her one-year prison sentence was converted to two years.
The Saturday march stopped outside the prison where she is being held, with cries of “Free Nanna” outside the building which was heavily guarded by police vans.
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Small choirs will be allowed to perform at churches in England for Palm Sunday services and Easter, the government has said.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said groups would be able to practise and perform inside places of worship if they are socially distanced and limited to “as few singers as possible”. Under previous guidelines in England, only one person was allowed to sing or chant indoors when deemed “essential to an act of worship”, or a maximum of three people in “exceptional” circumstances. The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, said on Twitter that he was “pleased to have clarified guidance on choirs ahead of Easter services”.
Pleased to have clarified guidance on choirs, ahead of Easter services! 👇 https://t.co/5cSNtkvbcG
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) March 27, 2021
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Brazil has recorded 85,948 new coronavirus cases and a further 3,438 deaths, Reuters reports. It is the second day in a row that fatalities have exceeded 3,000.
The country has had over 12.4 million cases in total and more than 310,000 deaths.
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Health authorities in Australia are scrambling to track down all contacts of two Brisbane friends who tested positive for coronavirus, amid fresh concerns about the outbreak growing.
A week from Easter, Queensland Health revealed on Saturday night one of the men, aged 26, held a house party while he was waiting for his test result, despite instructions to self-isolate.
About 25 guests attended the Strathpine gathering and all have been ordered into quarantine and are being tested for Covid-19.
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A summary of today's developments
- Facebook has frozen Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s page for violating policies against spreading misinformation about Covid-19 by promoting a remedy he claims, without evidence, can cure the disease, a company spokesman said.
- More than 150,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK, according to a Guardian analysis.
- Turkey has recorded 30,021 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, the highest number this year, Reuters reports.
- Italy reported 380 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday compared with 457 the day before, the health ministry said. The daily tally of infections fell slightly to 23,839 from 23,987 the day before, Reuters reports.
- France has recorded 42,619 new cases on Saturday compared with 41,869 cases on Friday, Reuters reports. The total number has surpassed 4.5 million.
- Allowing international air travel without testing at UK airports risks reversing “all the good our vaccination programme has done”, an infectious diseases expert has warned. He called for efficient testing and tracing at airport and supporting people to self-isolate.
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The Philippines will reimpose tougher coronavirus measures in the capital of Manila and nearby provinces, a senior official said on Saturday in order to fight a surge in infections.
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Spain will require people arriving from France by land to present a negative Covid-19 test following a rise in Spain’s infection rate. The requirement will not apply to truck drivers, people who cross the border for work, and people who live within 30km of Spain.
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Brazil’s coronavirus situation is likely to deteriorate even further, experts have warned, forecasting that the nation’s death toll will pass the United States’ by the end of the year.
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The World Health Organization says it has not ruled out any theory on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, despite one top official earlier this week appearing to dismiss the idea it had escaped from a laboratory.
- Indonesia’s vaccination drive will slow down next month due to India’s delay in exporting AstraZeneca vaccines, its health minister has said. India has temporarily suspended large vaccines exports as it seeks to step up its own inoculation efforts amid surging infections.
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Ireland’s health minister has suspended vaccination provision at a private hospital in Dublin after it emerged that it administered spare jabs to staff at a private school.
- NHS England has passed the milestone of 25m first vaccine doses administered across the country, after a further 344,008 people received a shot.
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France expects to receive 3m doses of vaccines this week, rising to 4m a week in a month’s time, junior industry minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told Europe 1 radio, Reuters reports.
As of Saturday, more than 7.7 million people had received a first dose of vaccine, the health ministry said.
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At 5.40am on 24 October last year, Anna Butler and George Tapp walked hand-in-hand from their nearby apartment down to Bronte beach’s ocean pool. Though a popular site for swimming and exercising, the pair weren’t visiting for morning laps. Butler and Tapp were getting married – one of many couples in 2020 who eschewed a large wedding in favour of a more intimate affair.
“It was the place of our first date, and where George proposed,” explains Butler of the location’s significance, though truthfully it wasn’t their first choice of wedding venue. They had originally intended to wed in Mollymook, on the New South Wales south coast, alongside 150 of their nearest and dearest, before Covid-19 and its various lockdowns forced them, frustratingly, back to the drawing board.
Mexico reported 4,922 new cases of Covid-19 and 567 more fatalities, Reuters reports.
It brings the country’s total to 2,224,767 infections and 201,429 deaths, according to health ministry data.
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Here is more on the rock concert in Barcelona where spectators had rapid Covid-19 tests.
About 5,000 people will attend the sold-out concert for Spanish indie band Love of Lesbian, and will not be required to observe social distancing. Attendees will have to wear face masks throughout the concert in the Palau Sant Jordi arena.
“(This concert) is about the excitement of going out, consuming culture, and dancing in a more or less safe environment,” said Sebastian, 47, a teacher getting tested ahead of the concert. “We’re going to dance and have a great time.”
The pilot concert, which has been approved by health authorities, will serve as a test for whether similar events will be able to start up again.
“It will be safer to be in the Palau Sant Jordi than walking down the street,” concert co-organiser Jordi Herreruela told Reuters.
Pre-concert testing was offered at three locations in Barcelona, and carried out by 80 nurses wearing full personal protective equipment. Some people winced as nurses swabbed their noses.
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France has recorded 42,619 new cases on Saturday compared with 41,869 cases on Friday, Reuters reports. The total number has surpassed 4.5 million.
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A World Health Organization-backed programme to supply coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries expects that the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume full deliveries of the AstraZeneca shot to it in May, Unicef said.
Reuters reports:
Deliveries of SII/AZ vaccine are expected to begin fully again by May, with catch-up deliveries to reach every participant’s full allocation up to May, accelerating thereafter,” a Unicef spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman added that the programme, known as Covax, was in talks with New Delhi to secure “some supply” in April too. Covax was expecting a total of 90m doses from SII in March and April, of which it has received about 28m.
Unicef is the distributing partner of the programme, run with the Gavi vaccine alliance.
India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, said on Friday it would make domestic Covid-19 inoculations a priority as infections surge, and had told international buyers of its decision.
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Facebook freezes Venezuelan president’s page for promoting unfounded Covid remedy
Facebook has frozen Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s page for violating policies against spreading misinformation about Covid-19 by promoting a remedy he claims, without evidence, can cure the disease, a company spokesman said.
Maduro in January described Carvativir, an oral solution derived from thyme, as a “miracle” medication that neutralises coronavirus with no side effects, a claim doctors say is not backed by science.
Facebook has taken down a video in which Maduro promotes the medication because it violates a policy against false claims “that something can guarantee prevention from getting Covid-19 or can guarantee recovery from Covid-19”.
“We follow guidance from the WHO (World Health Organization) that says there is currently no medication to cure the virus,” the spokesman told Reuters. “Due to repeated violations of our rules, we are also freezing the page for 30 days, during which it will be read-only.”
Maduro in the video says Carvativir, which he calls “miracle drops” of 19th-century Venezuelan doctor Jose Gregorio Hernandez who has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church, can be used preventively and therapeutically against the coronavirus.
The administrators of the page were notified of the policy violation, the Facebook spokesman said.
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More than 150,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK, according to Guardian analysis.
The latest figures from statistical agencies show there have been 149,207 deaths where Covid-19 was noted on the death certificate across the UK and an additional 804 deaths which took place since those records were updated, based on the government 28-day measure.
How deaths are calculated and communicated has been fraught throughout the pandemic. In the first months of 2020 the government settled on a metric counting any death where the individual had tested positive for the virus at any time in the past as a coronavirus death. However, after concerns were raised about this approach, the current method was settled on, where only people who have died within 28 days of a positive test are included in the headline government death toll. That figure now stands at 126,573.
However, figures on the cause of death are usually based on what is recorded on the death certificate, which are published by the UK’s three statistical agencies. The Guardian’s figure collates data on coronavirus deaths from the Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency by date of the occurrence of death. The figure is then brought up to date by adding the latest government coronavirus death figures which have occurred since the previous statistical release.
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France recorded 4,791 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units on Saturday, an unprecedented high for this year, health ministry data showed.
The figure is up from 4,766 the previous day, Reuters reports.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that the number of critical Covid-19 patients was rising across war-wracked Yemen, urging assistance from donor countries and specialised groups.
AFP reports:
Medecins Sans Frontieres is seeing a dramatic influx of critically ill Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalisation in Aden, Yemen, and many other parts of the country,” MSF said on Twitter.
“We are urging all medical humanitarian organisations already present in Yemen to rapidly scale up their Covid-19 emergency response,” said Raphael Veicht, MSF head of mission in the country.
The southern port city of Aden is Yemen’s de facto capital, where the internationally recognised government is based after being routed from Sanaa in the north by Huthi rebels.
A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in 2015 to shore up the government, and since then the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, and displaced millions.
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UK records further 58 deaths
The UK has recorded 4,715 new cases on Saturday compared with 6,187 on Friday. It brings the total to 4,329,180.
There were 58 further deaths bringing the total to 126,573, according to government figures.
Meanwhile, the number of first vaccine doses administered edged closer to 30m – the figure now stands at 29,727,435. Some 3,293,517 have also had a second vaccine dose.
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The deaths of two further people who previously tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland have been reported by the Department of Health.
Another 138 confirmed cases of the virus were also recorded in the last 24-hour reporting period. On Saturday morning, there were 130 Covid-positive confirmed inpatients in hospital, of whom 14 were in ICUs.
Thousands of vaccine-seekers from countries neighbouring Serbia flocked to Belgrade on Saturday after Serbian authorities offered foreigners free coronavirus jabs if they showed up over the weekend.
Associated Press reports:
Long lines of Bosnians, Montenegrins and North Macedonians – often entire families – formed in front of the main vaccination centre in the Serbian capital as police kept watch.
“We don’t have vaccines. I came here to get vaccinated,” said Zivko Trajkovski, who is from North Macedonia. “We are very grateful because we can vaccinate quicker than in Macedonia.”
Zoran Dedic of Bosnia noted that his country and Serbia were part of a joint federation before Yugoslavia disintegrated in a war during the 1990s. “It does not make any difference, Bosnia or Serbia. It does not matter,” he said.
Most of Serbia’s Balkan neighbours have been struggling with shortages and have barely started mass vaccination drives, while Serbia boasts of having ample supplies and one of Europe’s highest per capita vaccination rates.
The Serbian government has donated vaccine doses to North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia.
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Italy reported 380 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday compared with 457 the day before, the health ministry said.
The daily tally of infections fell slightly to 23,839 from 23,987 the day before, Reuters reports.
Some 357,154 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the space of 24 hours, compared with the previous day’s total of 354,982.
Italy has registered 107,636 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year. It has reported 3.5 million cases to date.
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Turkey sees highest number of daily cases this year
Turkey has recorded 30,021 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, the highest number this year, Reuters reports.
Health ministry data showed the cumulative number of cases stood at 3,179,115 and the latest daily death toll was 151, bringing the cumulative toll to 30,923.
Measures to curb the pandemic in Turkey were eased earlier this month.
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Early in the pandemic, we spoke to four bosses about how their businesses were faring.
A year on, we ask them to about an extraordinary 12 months and what the future might hold.
Summary of recent developments
- Allowing international air travel without testing at UK airports risks reversing “all the good our vaccination programme has done”, an infectious diseases expert has warned. He called for efficient testing and tracing at airport and supporting people to self-isolate.
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The Philippines will reimpose tougher coronavirus measures in the capital of Manila and nearby provinces, a senior official said on Saturday in order to fight a surge in infections.
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Spain will require people arriving from France by land to present a negative Covid-19 test following a rise in Spain’s infection rate. The requirement will not apply to truck drivers, people who cross the border for work, and people who live within 30km of Spain.
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Brazil’s coronavirus situation is likely to deteriorate even further, experts have warned, forecasting that the nation’s death toll will pass the United States’ by the end of the year.
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The World Health Organization says it has not ruled out any theory on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, despite one top official earlier this week appearing to dismiss the idea it had escaped from a laboratory.
- Indonesia’s vaccination drive will slow down next month due to India’s delay in exporting AstraZeneca vaccines, its health minister has said. India has temporarily suspended large vaccines exports as it seeks to step up its own inoculation efforts amid surging infections.
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Ireland’s health minister has suspended vaccination provision at a private hospital in Dublin after it emerged that it administered spare jabs to staff at a private school.
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NHS England has passed the milestone of 25m first vaccine doses administered across the country, after a further 344,008 people received a shot.
That’s all from me today – my colleague Nadeem Badshah will guide you through the remainder of the day.
Preparations are under way for a 5,000-strong concert in Barcelona, which aims to study how large-scale events can go forward while avoiding coronavirus outbreaks.
Prior to the concert, which begins at 7pm and will require fans to wear masks, the attendees will have to undergo a rapid Covid-19 test. Those who test negative will have their tickets validated.
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A woman in New York lost her personal injury lawsuit after her attorney refused to wear a mask in court and the judge threw out her case.
Brooklyn judge Lawrence Knipel dismissed the case after attorney Howard Greenwald said he could not breathe wearing a mask, according to a report in the New York Daily News.
The judge insisted Greenwald follow with rules requiring face coverings in all state court buildings.
“I want the record to reflect that I am speaking with great difficulty,” Greenwald, 68, told the judge. “I want to the record to reflect that I am sweating profusely from the effort.”
“Forget about my personal experience with Covid,” the judge, who was hospitalised with Covid-19 last year told the newspaper. “We have over half a million dead in this country. We have protocols. The most important protocol is wearing a mask.”
The judge said the woman would have legal recourse to continue her claim despite his dismissal of the case.
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Indonesia’s vaccination drive will slow down next month due to India’s delay in exporting AstraZeneca vaccines, its health minister said in a statement reported by Reuters.
India has temporarily suspended large vaccines exports as it seeks to step up its own inoculation efforts amid surging infections. The decision will affect countries scheduled to receive doses via the WHO-backed Covax scheme, including Indonesia.
Indonesia was set to receive 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine via Covax on 22 March and 7.8 million doses next month, health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told reporters on Saturday.
“This definitely will affect (the vaccination process) because in April we only have around 7 million doses from [Chinese manufacturer] Sinovac,” Budi said.
As Indonesia, which is suffering one of Asia’s worst outbreaks, is administering about 500,000 shots daily, April’s supply will be finished by about the two-week mark, he said.
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England passes 25m first vaccine doses
NHS England has passed the milestone of 25m first vaccine doses administered across the country, after a further 344,008 people received a shot.
A further 594,970 vaccine doses have been administered in England, including both first and second doses, taking the total to 27,761,724 since the rollout began.
Of this daily figure, 344,008 were first doses while 250,962 people received their second shot. A total of 25,284,013 people in England have had one jab and 2,477,711 have had both.
Here’s a breakdown of the total NHS England figures:
- London: 3,375,123 (3,059,649 first doses; 315,474 second doses)
- Midlands: 5,318,520 (4,904,291 first doses; 414,229 second doses)
- East of England: 3,279,309 (3,021,922 first doses; 257,387 second doses)
- North East and Yorkshire: 4,389,493 (3,945,772 first and 443,721 second doses)
- North West: 3,539,704 (3,214,686 first and 325,018 second doses)
- South East: 4,592,181 (4,161,822 first and 430,359 second doses)
- South West: 3,136,206 (2,856,124 first and 280,082 second doses)
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The Netherlands has recorded 8,798 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours – the highest figure since early January.
The National Institute for Health has predicted that new cases will continue to rise through late April, Reuters reports, despite restrictions including an evening curfew and a ban on gatherings.
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Ireland suspends vaccine provision at private Dublin hospital
Ireland’s health minister has suspended vaccination provision at a private hospital in Dublin after it emerged that it administered spare jabs to staff at a private school.
Already scheduled vaccination appointments at Beacon hospital will be allowed to go forward.
Health minister Stephen Donnelly said the incident was “entirely inappropriate and completely unacceptable”:
Ireland’s vaccination programme is the most important public health programme in living memory. It is essential that the programme is run in accordance with the agreed prioritisation in order to maximise the benefit of the vaccination programme and the speed with which Ireland can emerge from Covid-19 measures.
The provision of vaccines by the Beacon hospital to a school was entirely inappropriate and completely unacceptable. I have considered this matter carefully and have worked with the HSE to assess the operational implications of suspending vaccine operations at the Beacon hospital in Dublin.
He said he asked HSE to suspend vaccine operations at the hospital and organise alternative arrangements, adding that an official would investigate the incident and make recommendations about any further action.
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A further 58 people have died in hospital in England after testing positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 86,154, according to NHS England.
Patients were aged between 39 and 95 and all except one, aged 90, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths were between 11 December last year and 26 March this year. Another 18 deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
In December, two weeks before the European Medicines Agency authorised the first vaccine against Covid-19 for use across the European Union, Berlin unveiled a plan to rocket-fuel its immunisation drive with German precision engineering. Jabs would be mass-administered in purpose-built vaccination centres where patients could be shuttled through queuing lanes like cars through a car wash.
A Lego display demonstrating the complex system’s efficiency impressed journalists at a press launch, but set off alarm bells in the head of Janosch Dahmen, a former doctor turned Green party MP. “It all looked very logical in theory,” says Dahmen, who worked on the pandemic frontline until November. “But looking at it as a doctor, I thought: that’s not how vaccinations work in practice.
“You want your grandmother to get a call from the family doctor who has been treating her for 20 years and tells her not to worry about those side-effects she has heard of on the radio. People are not cars.”
Philip Oltermann looks at how Germany’s vaccine rollout fell apart:
The UK is on track to lift coronavirus restrictions as planned, Boris Johnson told the Conservative spring forum.
“In just a few days’ time, I’m finally going to be able to go to the barbers. But more important than that, I’m going to be able to go down the street and cautiously, but irreversibly, I’m going to drink a pint of beer in the pub,” he said.
Johnson also claimed that capitalism and the free-market economy were central to the UK’s vaccine rollout.
Brazil’s coronavirus situation is likely to deteriorate even further, experts have warned, forecasting that the nation’s death toll will pass the United States’ by the end of the year.
The Latin American country currently makes up a quarter of daily Covid deaths reported worldwide.
The country’s seven-day average of 2,400 deaths is set to hit to 3,000 within weeks, six experts told AP, while daily the number of deaths could hit 4,000.
Prof Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University who advised Brazilian authorities on pandemic control, expects Brazil’s death toll to reach 500,000 by July and to surpass that of the US by the end of 2021, despite only having two-thirds of its population.
He told AP:
We have surpassed levels never imagined for a country with a public health care system, a history of efficient immunisation campaigns and health workers who are second to none in the world. The next stage is the health system collapse.
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Around 300 people took part in a socially distanced protest in London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday, calling for an end to Myanmar’s military coup.
A protest in London’s Trafalgar Square has drawn around 300 people demanding an end to the military coup in Myanmar pic.twitter.com/eFJCoEDL9f
— Jason Rodrigues (@RodriguesJasonL) March 27, 2021
One of Britain’s leading psychiatrists has warned that “all the dials are pointing the wrong way” on the nation’s mental health, as he raises concerns of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among patients and NHS staff in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Dr Adrian James, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “People should be screened for post-traumatic stress disorder before they leave, and then be followed up. Most people who experience symptoms will spontaneously recover, but it’s actually still good to have a discussion back to your GP to check to make sure that things are recovering. A small but significant group of people will actually need psychological therapies in order to help them over that. And if they don’t get those, then it can become really very, very chronic.”
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The idea of forcing people to show vaccine passports to enter pubs is likely to be counterproductive and is “not a good idea”, a social psychologist advising the UK government has warned.
The sweeping restriction being considered by the government could compound hesitancy among those already sceptical of vaccines and depress jab uptake, said Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B).
Lab leak 'most likely' origin of Covid, claims former CDC chief
The former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said he believes the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 likely escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Reuters reports:
“I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, you know, escaped,” Robert Redfield, who headed the CDC in the Trump administration, said in a televised interview with CNN. “It’s not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect a laboratory worker,” he said.
Redfield said that he thought it unlikely a disease that originated in bats – as many experts believe – so swiftly “became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human-to-human transmission,” but added that he was not saying release of the virus was intentional.
Redfield’s opinion was in line with other Trump administration officials such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who said recently that there was a “significant amount of evidence” that the virus came from a lab, without providing any evidence.
The US infectious disease chief, Anthony Fauci, who served in the Trump administration and now serves under president Joe Biden, said most public health officials disagree with the Chinese lab theory, when asked about Redfield’s comments during a White House Covid-19 briefing.
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Boris Johnson has attributed the UK’s vaccine success to “capitalism” and “greed”. Though these were crude remarks, writes Mariana Mazzucato, a professor of economics at UCL, if the UK prime minister’s words are any indication of his vision for how the country can recover from the pandemic, there are worrying implications for the country’s policies at home and abroad.
The launch in India of a new Covid vaccine developed jointly by the Serum Institute of India and US-based biotech firm Novavax is likely to be delayed to September, the Indian company’s chief has said.
Reuters has the story:
Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive of Serum, said in January that the vaccine, named Corovax, was expected to be launched by June. Today, Poonawalla said the trials of Corovax had kicked off in India, but did not say why the vaccine launch was delayed.
“It has been tested against African and UK variants of Covid-19 and has an overall efficacy of 89%,” tweeted Poonawalla, whose Serum Institute is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines. “Hope to launch by September 2021!”
Poonawalla said earlier this month that a temporary US ban on exports of critical raw materials could limit the production of coronavirus vaccines such as Novavax.
India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, said yesterday it would prioritise domestic Covid inoculations amid rising coronavirus case and had told international buyers of its decision.
As many countries faced restrictions and lockdowns to battle the coronavirus pandemic, communities adapted in surprising ways, with some of the most uplifting moments being filmed and shared across the world:
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Thousands of fans will attend a concert in Barcelona on Saturday evening after being tested for Covid-19 in an experiment to test the effectiveness of stopping outbreaks at mass events.
The Spanish rock group Love of Lesbian has been granted permission by health authorities to perform for an audience of 5,000 people, AP reports.
Face masks will be mandatory at the event, but concert-goers will be able to move freely. Attendees had to take a rapid antigen test on Saturday morning.
Those who test negative are texted a code validating their ticket for the show at the city’s Palau Sant Jordi stating at 7pm.
It follows a much smaller experiment in December, where 500 fans attended a concert. Experts said the preliminary study showed that screening and mask wearing prevented infection at the event despite a lack of social distancing.
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Bill Roache has “recovered well” after contracting the coronavirus, Coronation Street has said.
The 88-year-old actor, who plays Ken Barlow in the ITV series, has taken time off from the show. A spokeswoman said:
Following recent reports about his health, William Roache has asked us to clarify that he took time off work after testing positive for Covid. He has recovered well and is looking forward to returning to the cobbles as soon as possible.
Spain to require negative test at French land border
Spain will require people arriving from France by land to present a negative Covid-19 test following a rise in Spain’s infection rate.
“The order will take effect three days after its publication in the Official State Gazette and until the government declares the end of the health crisis situation caused by Covid-19,” the health ministry said in a statement reported by Reuters.
The requirement will not apply to truck drivers, people who cross the border for work, and people who live within 30km of Spain.
There has been a recent recent rise in the number of French people crossing the border to visit open bars and restaurants in Madrid and other areas. France remains under lockdown.
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Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has said he has mild Covid-19 symptoms as infections continue to surge in the world’s second-most populated country.
Tendulkar, who will turn 48 next month, retired from the professional game in 2013 after a prolific 24-year-career. He tweeted:
I have been testing myself and taking all the recommended precautions to ensure Covid is kept at bay. However, I have tested positive today following mild symptoms. All others at home have tested negative. I have quarantined myself at home and I am following all the necessary protocols as advised by my doctors.
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Boris Johnson said the discovery of the highly transsible Kent virus variant known as B117 was an “incredibly important moment” that led to the end of the tier system.
Speaking at the Conservatives’ virtual spring forum, Johnson said: “That was an incredibly important moment, because we were then able to work out what was happening, because we could see that B117 was basically transmitting considerably faster.”
He said that the tiering system “had been basically working for much of the autumn” before the variant’s spread, although experts at the time warned that the measures were not tough enough to contain the spread in the worst hit areas.
Boris Johnson has said he can see nothing in the data to dissuade him from continuing along the government’s roadmap to unlock the economy.
Speaking at the Conservatives’ virtual spring forum on Saturday he said:
In just a few days’ time, I’m finally going to be able to go to the barbers. But more important than that, I’m going to be able to go down the street and cautiously, but irreversibly, I’m going to drink a pint of beer in the pub.
And as things stand, I can see absolutely nothing in the data to dissuade me from continuing along our roadmap to freedom, unlocking our economy and getting back to the life we love.
The prime minister congratulated NHS staff, local council staff and volunteers for their work in the vaccine rollout, before going on to praise the “might” of capitalism.
Boris Johnson said: “In the end, none of this would have been possible without the innovative genius and commercial might – you know what I’m going to say – of the private sector, the free market economy.
“At the heart of this vaccine rollout is a huge and unmissable lesson about the need for private risk taking, capitalist energy.”
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Boris Johnson said it remained unknown how the third coronavirus wave sweeping Europe could impact the UK.
Speaking at the Conservatives’ virtual spring forum, the prime minister said that the second half of 2021 could be “fantastic” but it depends on “things going right”.
Johnson said “bitter experience” has shown a wave like the one in Europe would hit the UK “three weeks later”.
He added: “The question is - is it going to be, this time, as bad it has been in the past? Or have we sufficiently mitigated, muffled, blunted impact by the vaccine rollout?
“That’s a question we still don’t really know the answer to.”
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Philippines reimposes stricter coronavirus restrictions
The Philippines will reimpose tougher coronavirus measures in the capital, Manila, and nearby provinces, a senior official said on Saturday in order to fight a surge in infections.
The measures will be in effect from 29 March to 4 April, the presidential spokesman said in comments reported by Reuters.
It comes as the country fights to curb a surge in Covid-19 cases that is straining its healthcare system, with cases rising by a record figure in three of the past five days.
From Monday, more than 24 million people in and around Manila will have to work remotely unless they are key workers and public transport will be halted, AFP reports.
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Northern Ireland first minister receives first vaccine dose
Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster, has received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
The 50-year-old politician was given a shot of AstraZeneca’s vaccine by a GP at Castle Park leisure centre in Lisnaskea in her Co Fermanagh constituency on Saturday morning, according to PA.
The DUP leader became eligible for the vaccine earlier this month after Northern Ireland’s programme opened to the 50-and-over age bracket.
Foster said that she was “just delighted” to get the vaccine, adding:
There is a really positive community spirit here and across all of our centres in a collective effort to combat Covid-19. I am grateful to all of the wonderful team of medics and volunteers who are making this happen in GP practices and centres across Northern Ireland every day of the week.
Northern Ireland has passed the milestones of 700,000 first doses and 110,000 second shots this week, and is on course to offer first jabs to all 1.4 million adults by July.
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Families in Israel are celebrating Passover following a successful vaccine rollout in the country in which more than half of its overall population have received both doses.
Giordana Grego, who immigrated to Israel from Italy, told AP:
For us in Israel, really celebrating the festivity of freedom definitely has a whole different meaning this year after what we experienced. It’s amazing that this year we’re able to celebrate together, also considering that in Italy, everybody is still under lockdown.
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Thailand will ease restrictions in July for international visitors who have been vaccinated as it attempts to kickstart its tourism sector.
The popular destination of Phuket in south-west Thailand will be the first to trial the experimental quarantine-free policy from early July, AFP reports.
Tourists who have been vaccinated will be allowed to travel to the island without mandatory hotel quarantine.
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Vaccine certificates for pub-goers in England could be counterproductive, a government adviser has said after Boris Johnson mentioned that the measure is being considered by the government.
Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B) told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he didn’t think it was a good idea and that “in many ways they could be counterproductive”.
He said “the notion of in effect making them (vaccines) compulsory led to anger and to lowered uptake” among vaccine hesitant people a small survey in Israel which is backed by other international research showed.
Prof Reicher told the BBC:
I think positive incentives, something that gives you something extra, is one thing. People actually aren’t adverse for vaccine passports to travel internationally. But when it comes to negative incentives, to in effect barring people from their everyday lives, from social activity, then actually they work in a very different way and people behave very negatively.
He also said it would lead to social division, with people from some communities excluded from social life which would “destroy any sense of community which has been so positive in the pandemic”.
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With the season of university offers well under way in the UK, some institutions are wooing school leavers with promises of a “totally open campus”, or at least that student life will be “much more like usual”. But academics and students are calling for frankness about the likelihood that disruption to classes and social lives will continue.
Universities are braced for a fierce competition to attract new students this summer, and expect a second chaotic year dealing with A-level results. Many fear that the more elite institutions will take advantage to expand for the second year in a row, which could leave others struggling to recruit enough students at a time they need their £9,250 fees more than ever.
While some are clear on their websites that new students should expect “blended” learning, many do not mention Covid in information for prospective students, and some are overtly upbeat.
Ministers should use “slightly more measured language” to encourage people to come out of lockdown rather than “flipping from one extreme to the other”, infectious diseases expert Dr Mike Tildesley has said after the UK chancellor urged people to “get out there” when hospitality reopens.
Dr Tildesley, a member of the Spi-M modelling group which advises the government, compared Rishi Sunak’s latest comment with the “eat out to help out” scheme, which may have caused a sixth of new Covid case clusters over the summer.
He told Times Radio:
We need to be really careful with this, we had it similarly with the Eat Out To Help Out - there was a big switch last summer from ‘it is your duty to stay at home’ all of a sudden to it being your duty to go to the pub.
I totally understand the need to reinvigorate the economy, but I think we need slightly more measured language here, to encourage people to do that, but to do it within the rules, to make sure that we observe social distancing.
He said although people want to return to pre-2020 normality, we need remain “cautious”, urging an easing rather than the “flipping from one extreme to the other” that the government’s language is suggesting.
Russia has recorded 8,885 new coronavirus cases over 24 hours, including 1,551 new cases in Moscow, and 387 deaths nationwide, Reuters reports.
This compares with 9,548 infections and 386 deaths reported last Saturday.
The country’s caseload has passed the milestone of 4.5 million infections.
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Travel without testing at airports will undo vaccination efforts, expert warns
Allowing international air travel without testing at UK airports risks reversing “all the good our vaccination programme has done”, according to an infectious diseases expert.
Dr Mike Tildesley, of the Spi-M modelling group which advises the government, told Times Radio:
I can understand the need for wanting to keep our borders open for as long as possible, but if we are, there’s a risk there.
We need to do what we can to minimise the risk, because what we don’t want is new variants coming in that undo all the good that our vaccination programme has done.
If we are going to allow travel to continue we clearly need to do something about making sure that testing is much more efficient at airports and making sure that tracing works, and also that people are isolating for the full period, and we need to give people the support to do so.”
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People in Wales are able to travel across the country and stay in hotels from Saturday as the “stay local” requirement is lifted for the first time since 20 December.
The easing of travel rules applies only to Wales – people in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland must remain in their local area.
People are able to stay in self-contained accommodation, which includes hotels with en-suite bathrooms and room service, caravans and holiday homes where facilities are not shared.
Under the relaxed rules, guests are not allowed to share accommodation with people from outside their household or support bubble.
The relaxed rules also mean up to six people from two different households to meet outdoors, as well as organised outdoor activities and sports for under-18s.
As domestic tourism gets under way, here’s Steven Morris on how “the outdoor capital of Wales” has been preparing for its return:
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The UK government is failing to fight vaccine hesitancy among people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and young women, a senior Conservative has said as she warned the issue could have “devastating” effects.
Caroline Nokes, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, said disparities on vaccine uptake and hesitancy are “most prominent” among minority ethnic groups, adults in deprived areas and young women.
She criticised the government for paying “insufficient attention” to the root causes of hesitancy among people from ethnic minority backgrounds in particular.
In a letter to the vaccines minister, Noakes criticised the idea of a vaccines passport scheme, saying it could have “a disproportionate impact on some members of the community”.
The equalities chair also said there were suggestions that the government is “not overly concerned” about vaccine hesitancy among young women amid unfounded concerns over fertility.
“This is not acceptable, we cannot adopt a wait and see approach,” she said.
The government responded that it is working hard with the NHS to “encourage people in all communities to come forward” for vaccination.
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Bhutan launches biggest vaccination campaign
Thousands of Bhutanese travelled to public buildings to receive a Covid-19 vaccine as the country launched its largest immunisation campaign with AstraZeneca doses provided by India.
The country hopes to vaccinate more than half a million people who have registered for being vaccinated over one week, according to Reuters.
The Himalayan kingdom, home to some 800,000 people received 150,000 shots of the vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in January and 400,000 more doses this month.
Bhutan has been able to curb the coronavirus with testing and closing its borders.
Total infections stand at 870 with one death from Covid-19 since the pandemic began, according to government data.
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UK could begin giving booster shots in September
Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, with me, Clea Skopeliti.
In the UK, over-70s could begin receiving booster shots to protect them against new coronavirus variants in September under plans for the future of the vaccine rollout.
The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said the first booster doses would go to the top four priority groups, which include care home staff, NHS workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable.
In an interview with the Telegraph (£), Zahawi also mentions the possibility of eight vaccines being available for use in the UK by the autumn, including one protecting against three different variants in a single dose.
The minister also announced the launch of drive-through vaccine centres, which the government hopes will encourage people in younger age cohorts to get the jab when offered it.
Here’s a quick round-up of the main news so far:
- The Czech government has extended its state of emergency until 11 April, giving the government extra powers to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Lebanon’s private sector is helping to speed up the country’s vaccination programme by importing at least 1m doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines.
- Serbia vaccinated migrants and citizens from neighbouring countries using the AstraZeneca vaccine in a campaign to expand an immunisation programme that has outpaced most of Europe.
- Brazil has unveiled its first two domestically developed Covid-19-vaccine candidates for human trials. While months away from use, it should allow the country to control the pandemic.
- Turkey’s top medical group has called on the government to reverse its reopening of the capital city and tighten Covid restrictions as new infections surge.
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