This blog is closed. Follow the latest updates on the pandemic from around the world:
Last month, 99.2% of people who died from covid in America had 1 thing in common. They had not been vaccinated.
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) July 5, 2021
The covid vaccines are working and they are readily available in every community in our country. Make a choice for you, your family, and your country — #GetVaccinated. pic.twitter.com/LhvfC1QT2a
Jane Halton, former head of the federal Department of Health in Australia, said the country’s government needs to be doing more to ensure it’s easy for aged care workers to vaccinated.
She says this could include sending in teams to homes, rather than just relying on workers to get the jab in their own time.
That would be our preference.
Our preference would be that this is made as easy as possible for workers. We’ve done this for the aged care residents themselvess, our preference would be that this made is made as easy as possible.
Now the good news is, some providers are actually arranging this as we speak. Some providers are making sure either they bus their workers to centres to have them vaccinated, or they bring that capability on site.
So we believe this is an immediate priority waiting until the first of September, for the first dose, our strong preference would be to have that achieved well before that date.”
The latest Covid-19 situation in Australia:
Brazil registered 22,703 new Covid-19 cases and 695 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the country’s health ministry said on Monday.
That brought the total in Brazil to 18.79 million cases and 525,112 deaths , Reuters reports.
Moroccan pharmaceutical firm Sothema will soon start producing 5 million doses of China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine in the North African country, state news agency MAP reported.
The announcement was made at a ceremony chaired by King Mohammed VI during which the Moroccan government, Sinopharm and Sothema, whose formal name is Société Thérapeutique Marocaine, also signed deals to produce the vaccine in the African country, which has a population of about 36 million. During the same event, the Moroccan government also signed a deal with Sweden’s Recipharm to set up a plant in Morocco to produce other key vaccines, Reuters reports.
Morocco, which rolled out a Covid-19 vaccination campaign in January, has inoculated more people against the virus than other African countries.
It had administered 19.23 million doses of the Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines as of July 5.
Germany’s public health institute said the UK, India, Portugal and Russia were no longer “areas of variant concern”, reducing travel restrictions for people arriving in Germany from those countries.
All four countries had been downgraded to “high incidence areas”, the Robert Koch Institute said, meaning their citizens can now travel to Germany and quarantine on arrival for 10 days, Reuters reports.
The quarantine period can be shortened to five if they test negative for Covid-19.
“If you have spent time in a high incidence area prior to entry, the relevant test may not be conducted earlier than five days after entry,” the institute said on its website.
Summary
I’m signing out for the evening and this blog will be put on pause, so head over to the UK live blog where there will be more coverage of the lifting of restrictions in England.
For the rest of the world, here’s a summary of what we’ve covered today.
- Indonesia is calling for oxygen to be redirected to its hospitals, where there are major shortages. During an oxygen outage at a hospital in Yogyakarta city on Saturday 33 people died. Indonesia reported on Monday a record 29,745 new coronavirus infections and 558 deaths, health ministry data showed.
- Save the Children said more vaccines need to reach Indonesia to stop the spread of the virus. The charity said children are suffering from the current outbreak in Indonesia, with almost 600 killed.
- Bangladesh has suffered its worst day, with 164 deaths and 9,964 new infections. The government has extended the current lockdown into next week as hospitals on border areas struggle with the Delta variant, which was first identified across those borders in India.
- Africa recorded its record number of cases over the past week, according to a count by AFP. There were 36,000 new infection reported per day, driven by a surge in South Africa.
- England will lift regulations on wearing face masks and social distancing in public spaces. There has been strong opposition however to the idea of allowing people to ride public transport without face coverings, especially as infections are currently rising.
- Spain recorded more than 30,000 new infections since Friday, an 85% increase on the previous weekend. The Delta variant has spread among mostly unvaccinated young people.
- The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR said the pandemic has made displaced women and girls more vulnerable to domestic violence, sexual violence and early marriages.
- Sri Lanka received its first delivery of Pfizer vaccines bought through the World Bank’s financing for developing countries who have not been able to purchase vaccines in the way richer nations have, forcing them to wait on donations.
- Egypt’s statistics agency noted that deaths were almost 15% higher during the first of this year compared to the same period in 2019. It did not say what the underlying causes were.
- There’s a growing controversy in Thailand after a leaked health ministry document has prompted calls for medical staff inoculated against Covid to be given a booster of an mRNA vaccine, because it included a comment that such a move could dent public confidence in Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine. Thailand reported 6,166 new Covid infections today, and 50 new fatalities.
- The Duchess of Cambridge is having to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who later tested positive for coronavirus, Kensington palace said. Kate was due to spend the day with William celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the NHS at two major events but will now have a self-isolation period at home.
- Infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci says about 99.2% of recent Covid deaths in the US involved unvaccinated people.
- In China the city of Ruili, home to more than 210,000 people, has been locked down again after the discovery of cases imported from neighbouring Myanmar.
Updated
Ivory Coast has sent mobile clinics into busy areas like markets in the main city Abidjan to speed up vaccinations, Reuters reports.
After administering fewer than 800,000 doses since vaccinations began in March - enough for a single dose for just 3% of the population - Ivorian health authorities are now aiming to inoculate a million people in Abidjan over the next 10 days.
While acknowledging that will be a tall order, they hope to pick up the pace by targeting some of Abidjan’s most frequented places, especially its vast open-air markets where most of its 5 million residents shop for food and clothing.
At the market in the district of Adjame, which municipal officials say is visited by more than one million people a day, mostly female vendors and customers lined up to be vaccinated in an air-conditioned truck.
“We are very happy about the convenience of the vaccines. It suits everyone,” said Minigna Keita, who promotes cosmetic products at the market.
In the Treichville district, health workers roamed the market with megaphones, encouraging people to get vaccinated.
“This morning it was a little slow, but people have started to show up in large numbers after seeing that the first people vaccinated did not have any problems,” said Sylvie Sie, who coordinates vaccinations in the district.
Infections in Spain since Friday increased by 85% more than the previous weekend, with the outbreak of the Delta variant among young people behind the rise.
Spain recorded 32,607 since Friday according to official data.
The 14-day infection rate among 20-29 year-olds were at 640 per 100,000 - more than three times the national average.
Deaths in Egypt were 14.9% higher during the first of this year compared to last, the country’s statistics agency said on Monday, without giving the causes of death.
Reuters reports the statistics show 49,818 more deaths this year. Compared to 2019, the rise was even higher, amounting to 31%.
Egypt has officially recorded more than 16,000 deaths and 280,000 cases but the real number of infection is thought to be higher because of low testing rates and the exclusion of data from private testing.
Bangladesh may have recorded its worst day of deaths and infections but local media are reporting more people on the streets, including day labourers in need of income and people out to get shopping.
Police in the capital Dhaka said they arrested 413 people for defying the lockdown. Since it was imposed last week more than 200 people have been hit with heavy fines of 89, 450 Bangladeshi taka (£838).
As England prepares to ease coronavirus restrictions further, the messaging from ministers has changed. We have reached, it seems, a tipping point in the pandemic where rules will be replaced by personal decisions. The mantra now is about living with coronavirus, much as we do with seasonal flu.
The pandemic has invited countless comparisons between coronavirus and influenza and the diseases do have some features in common. Both are contagious, potentially lethal respiratory viruses. They can spread through aerosols, droplets and contaminated surfaces. And they share some of the same symptoms in the form of fever, cough, headaches and fatigue. In the winter ahead, one challenge the NHS faces is separating the Covid patients from the flu cases.
But there are striking differences between coronavirus and flu that matter for public health. Coronavirus spreads faster than influenza and can cause far more serious illness. The symptoms of coronavirus can take longer to show, and people tend to be contagious for longer, making them more prone to passing it on.
Greece could lower the age for vaccinations to 15 after it was recommended by the country’s vaccination committee, Reuters reports.
Government approval is still required to turn the recommendation, which notes parental consent would be necessary, into policy. Currently the lower age for vaccinations is 18.
“This summer is being overshadowed by the Delta variant, which can be highly contagious in a very short exposure time,” Theodoridou said. “We believe (vaccinating teenagers) is a safe step towards normality,” said the committee’s head Maria Theodoridou.
On Monday, health authorities reported 801 cases and six deaths, bringing total infections to 426,963.
As of Monday, 38.2% of Greece’s eligible population was fully vaccinated while 47.7% had had one dose, officials said.
It represents a huge step forward to something like normality in the film industry: the Cannes international film festival is reopening for business on Tuesday after cancellation of its physical edition last year. The ebb and flow of the coronavirus pandemic forced the festival, and its thousands of attendees from both the film business and the media, to change its plans on multiple occasions, and it will finally achieve lift-off with the world premiere of the Sparks musical Annette, Cannes’ first in-person screening since May 2019.
Eve Gabereau, managing director of UK distributor Modern Films, says it is “surreal, crazy and daunting” to return to Cannes, but that “it is important and great to be going – for the industry at large, professionally for my company, and for me personally”.
She adds: “Cannes is so important because of the buzz created around new films and talent, that allows us as an industry to come together and to build the year ahead, both for local markets and on a global scale. There are of course other great festivals that fulfil a similar role but there is something about Cannes – it feels like the starting point of it all.”
Traditionally, with its competition, special screenings and associated events, Cannes has provided a platform for independent and non-English language films, and its awards – led by the Palme d’Or – can propel even the most obscure product of world cinema to international acclaim. At the same time, its high-profile red-carpet premieres provide a dose of paparazzi glamour that rivals the Academy Awards. And operating concurrently to the festival is the perennially busy Cannes Marché du Film, where producers sell their films to distributors all over the world in what amounts to a giant industry trade fair.
England will lift regulations on face masks and social distancing, says British prime minister
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told the public in England that from 19 July they must use their own judgment to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 infections, wiping hundreds of regulations on mask-wearing, social distancing, gatherings and home working and heralding a return to normality.
The prime minister will also announce plans for those who have been double vaccinated to avoid quarantine rules on return from amber-list countries or when contacted by test and trace, with more details later in the week.
There will be no requirement to wear a mask in any setting in England and businesses who chose to enforce mask-wearing would need to take legal advice on their responsibilities under the Equality Act, Downing Street said.
Instead, people will be merely advised to consider wearing a mask in crowded spaces where they mingle with people they would not ordinarily meet. The change has prompted a significant backlash from regional mayors, who have called for their wearing to be retained on transport and retail.
Updated
Record number of cases in Africa over past week
More cases were reported in Africa over the last week than at any other point in the pandemic, according to a count by AFP using official figures.
The continent registered 36,000 new infections between 28 June and 4 July, with most of them coming from South Africa.
WHO warned last week that the Delta variant was fuelling an “aggressive” third wave in Africa, where deaths had climbed 15%.
They warned that the variant was more aggressive and there were signs it was causing serious illness in young adults.
Aside from South Africa, there have been surges in Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
Only 1.2% of the continent’s population has been fully vaccinated, according to WHO.
Covid cases in the UK are rising exponentially, largely in younger age groups who are more likely to be partially or completely unvaccinated. What does this mean for the risk of new variants popping up?
Science correspondent Natalie Grover covers how variants develop, how variants link to case rates and vaccines and whether “living with the virus” could mean more mutations.
Staying in the UK, Downing Street has described a claim by the prime minister’s former chief adviser that Boris Johnson is ignoring scientific advisers over the final stage of the road map out of Covid restrictions as “not accurate”.
Asked if lifting measures on 19 July was the right approach in a question and answer session on his blog, Dominic Cummings wrote:
Obviously not, and No10 has been told by scientific advisers not to do what they’re doing.
However, when asked about the former adviser’s comments, the prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters:
That’s not accurate. Obviously the chief scientific adviser and chief medical officer will be alongside the prime minister later.
The UK has reported 27,334 new cases, according to official data released on Monday, meaning the rise in cases between 29 June and 5 July stood at a little more than 53% compared with the previous seven-day period.
A further nine people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test, Reuters reports. A total of 45.35 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by 4 July and 33.73 million people had received a second dose.
Italy has recorded 31 more deaths on Monday – compared 12 the day before, its health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 480 from 808. Reuters reports:
Italy has registered 127,680 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eight-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.26m cases to date.
The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 1,337 on Monday, down from 1,364 a day earlier.
There were two new admissions to intensive care units, down from seven on Sunday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 191 from a previous 197.
Some 74,649 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 141,640, the health ministry said.
In the UK, the assistant general secretary of the the Unison trade union has warned against lifting too many restrictions too quickly. PA Media quotes Jon Richards as saying:
Now isn’t the time to throw caution to the wind, especially with infections on the rise. The economy is important, but so is public confidence.
People want clarity from the government as restrictions are eased. They don’t need a confusing free-for-all, with ministers absolving themselves of any responsibility for public health.
Face coverings and well-ventilated workspaces provide a level of reassurance and security to staff who deal with the public. Safety laws also require their employers to keep these workers safe.
Many other employees, who’ve spent the past 16 months working from home, will be more reluctant to step on to crowded buses, trains, trams and tubes if masks are no longer compulsory.
Having two vaccine jabs protects individuals and the wider community. Wearing masks is all about protecting others too. The prime minister should be wary about being too hasty with their scrapping.
The pandemic has increased the risk of child marriages and domestic and violence against displaced women, the UN’s refugee agency said.
UNHCR said the data backs up its early warnings that displaced women and girls would suffer some of the worst consequences of the pandemic.
It said various surveys and reports among displaced populations had shown increases in domestic violence and in women feeling vulnerable physical or psychological violence as a result of the pandemic. It said 89% of protection operations under the UNCHR umbrella viewed gender-based violence as a severe or extreme risk.
Disrupted schooling also posed a risk to girls, who potentially faced more pressure for early marriages. It cited research that up to 50% of refugee girls in secondary education might not return to schooling.
Updated
Reuters reports that Russia’s powerful Orthodox Church has warned its followers that avoiding vaccination would make them sinners.
Speaking on state television, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, said those refusing to vaccinate were committing “a sin for which they will have to atone throughout their lives”.
He added: “I see situations every day where people visit a priest in order to confess that they had refused to vaccinate themselves or their close ones and unwillingly caused someone’s death.
“… The sin is thinking of oneself but not of another person.”
Updated
The entire UK may not follow the same path towards lifting their restrictions. Wales has said it will not be rushing to follow England.
Welsh health minister Eluned Morgan said their government will be “following the data rather than following the politics”.
British prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce today that wearing face masks in England will become voluntary in many public settings.
Morgan said the Welsh government would like to move in line with the rest of the UK but would do so only if the conditions were right.
Updated
Save the Children is warning that vaccines are urgently needed in Indonesia to limit the spread of coronavirus to children.
The charity said more than 600 children have died, despite the belief that Covid-19 did not severely affect children.
“The recent spike in cases of Covid-19 among children in Indonesia is extremely concerning, and there’s no sign that rates will go down anytime soon without urgently speeding up Covid-19 -vaccine programme,” said Dino Satria, chief of humanitarian and resilience at Save the Children in Indonesia.
Indonesia is experiencing its worst wave of infections, with hospitals overwhelmed and running out of oxygen. Save the Children said 260,000 cases of coronavirus have been identified in under-18s.
“We desperately need more vaccines – that’s the bottom line. Without help from the international community through Covax, the Covid crisis in Indonesia will quickly spiral out of control,” said Satria.
The charity said the pandemic also affects children by forcing them out of school, which makes them more vulnerable to child labour, early marriage and domestic violence.
Updated
Bangladesh reports record 164 deaths
Bangladesh has reported record increases in both deaths and infections on Monday, as the country extended its lockdown restrictions.
Reuters reports that 164 deaths took the total to 15,229. With 9,964 new infections, the total is now 954,881.
Over the weekend, Bangladesh received 2.5m doses of the Moderna vaccine and 2m of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.
Only 3% of its population, which is 170 million people, have received both doses.
Updated
A positive test in the South African rugby team has forced them into isolation ahead of a test game against Georgia scheduled for Friday.
Lood de Jager’s positive test followed three others last week. The rest of the team have to isolate until they take PCR tests.
The incident will mean more questions about the British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa as it goes through a third wave.
There have been similar questions about other sporting events, including the Copa America football tournament in Brazil and a Euro 2020 quarter-final played in St Petersburg last week despite it hitting its record number of cases.
Updated
Thousands of body bags have been donated to Bangladesh as the government extends its hard lockdown to combat the spreading Delta variant.
Reuters reports that hospitals in areas bordering India have been overwhelmed by cases and the government reported 153 new deaths on Sunday, taking the total to 15,065.
While most internal migrant workers have left the capital for their home villages, garment factories have continued to operate.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had donated 2,500 body bags to Bangladesh to ensure those killed by the virus can be buried properly. It also donated more than 70,000 PPE items.
The lockdown, which is being enforced by armed forces, will last until at least 14 July.
Updated
Indonesia is asking for extra supplies of oxygen after 33 people sick with Covid-19 died when supplies ran out at a public hospital, the AP reports.
“Due to an increase of three to four times in the amount (of oxygen) needed, the distribution has been hampered,” said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister.
The government has said it ran out of guaranteed oxygen supplies for coronavirus patients on 25 June and has asked producers to divert all their supplies to medical uses.
Dozens of people have died since Saturday at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in Yogyakarta city, when it suffered a temporary outage with its central liquid oxygen supply.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadiki said his ministry has started a special task force focused on securing oxygen supplies for hospitals in need.
Indonesia recorded 29,745 new cases with 558 deaths on Monday.
British prime minister Boris Johnson’s expected announcement that face masks will soon become optional in England, including on public transport, has been debated all day.
The powerful Unite union, which represents tens of thousands of transport workers, said it would be “an act of gross negligence” to allow people to choose to wear masks on public transport as infections continue to rise.
“Not only does mask wearing reduce transmissions, it helps provide reassurance to drivers and to passengers who are nervous about using public transport,” said Bobby Morton, the union’s national officer for passenger transport.
Mayors in England have also opposed the change, as Helen Pidd and Jessica Elgot report:
Mayors in some of England’s Covid hotspots want mandatory mask-wearing to continue on public transport after the next stage of unlocking on 19 July.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, also wants shoppers to have to wear face coverings in supermarkets, chemists and other essential retail locations in order to protect vulnerable shoppers.
Polling by Transport for Greater Manchester in May, seen by the Guardian, found 80% of travellers wanted face coverings to remain mandatory on public transport. In London, similar research found 65% of users wanted mask-wearing to remain law.
Boris Johnson is expected to announce in a Downing Street press conference at 5pm that from 19 July face coverings will become optional.
But Burnham said masks should be retained in enclosed public spaces “where people have to go – not in bars or restaurants, where people have a choice”.
Updated
Norway’s prime minister Erna Solberg said the country’s reopening will be delayed, fearing the spread of the Delta variant will cause a fourth wave.
“There is a risk that the Delta variant will cause a fourth wave of infection in the unvaccinated part of the population, among those who have only received one dose or are in vulnerable groups,” Solberg said.
The government fears the variant will be the dominant strain of coronavirus in Norway by the end of the month.
Just over a third of adults are fully vaccinated in Norway.
Sri Lanka today received its first batch of Pfizer vaccines, which were financed through the World Bank.
It is expecting 800,000 doses over coming weeks and is negotiating for more to arrive before the end of the year, according to Faris H. Hadad-Zervos, the World Bank’s director for Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal.
The World Bank has recently been vocal about addressing vaccine inequality and has said it has $12bn in financing available for developing countries to purchase vaccines.
Previously both Maldives and Bangladesh have received Pfizer vaccines through Covax but Sri Lanka’s resident claimed to be the first country in south Asia to purchase them.
Great news this morning as #SriLanka becomes the first country in South Asia to purchase a contingent of #Pfizer vaccines. I am proud of the work that is being done by my government to ensure vaccines for all Sri Lankans. Vaccination continues throughout the country 🇱🇰
— Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) July 5, 2021
Updated
French holidaymakers will have access to Covid vaccines wherever they are in the country this summer, the government has announced.
The move, introduced on Monday, follows a dropping-off in the number of first vaccine jabs and warnings of a fourth wave of coronavirus as the rate of Delta variant infections rises.
In France, people often take the entirety of July or August off work, and there have been reports of people postponing their coronavirus jabs due to previous rules that the second dose should be administered in the same place as the first.
Mobile vaccine units are being introduced in popular tourist spots, including beaches.
The health minister, Olivier Véran, had initially opposed loosening the second dose rules because of the difficulty of changing the distribution of vaccine stocks. He also suggested doctors and paramedics in certain holiday hotspots had “other things to do than vaccinate the entire French population during the summer”.
Today so far …
- Indonesia reported on Monday a record 29,745 new coronavirus infections and 558 deaths, health ministry data showed.
- Parts of Indonesia lack oxygen supplies as the number of critically ill Covid patients who need it increases. At least 63 Covid patients died during treatment at Dr Sardjito general hospital in Yogyakarta city since Saturday – 33 of them during the outage of its central liquid oxygen supply even though the hospital switched to using oxygen cylinders during that period.
- Indonesia will now provide free telemedicine services to coronavirus patients with mild symptoms, its health minister said today, and the country is requiring foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated as one of the entry requirements as the country tries to curb the spread of coronavirus
- There’s a growing controversy in Thailand after a leaked health ministry document has prompted calls for medical staff inoculated against Covid to be given a booster of an mRNA vaccine, because it included a comment that such a move could dent public confidence in Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine. Thailand reported 6,166 new Covid infections today, and 50 new fatalities.
- The Duchess of Cambridge is having to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who later tested positive for coronavirus, Kensington palace said. Kate was due to spend the day with William celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the NHS at two major events but will now have a self-isolation period at home.
- British prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce later today that all legal Covid precautions are to be lifted in England from 19 July. You can follow that live with Andrew Sparrow.
- Infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci says about 99.2% of recent Covid deaths in the US involved unvaccinated people.
- In China the city of Ruili, home to more than 210,000 people, has been locked down again after the discovery of cases imported from neighbouring Myanmar.
-
Ukraine has approved the Covid vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.
- New Zealand has narrowly avoided having to put its Covid vaccination rollout on ice, with the largest shipment yet of Pfizer vaccines arriving two days ahead of schedule.
- In Australia, isolation orders related to an unvaccinated student nurse who worked across two Sydney hospitals while infectious with Covid-19 are continuing to wreak havoc on staffing levels, with more than 600 health professionals deemed as close contacts so far. The race to obtain Covid-19 vaccine supplies has been likened to the Hunger Games as Australia’s rollout continues to lag behind similar nations, with only 7.2% of the population fully vaccinated.
Updated
Duchess of Cambridge self-isolating at home after Covid contact
Andrew Sparrow has the main UK Covid news over on his live blog, but worth noting that this news has just broken: The Duchess of Cambridge is having to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who later tested positive for coronavirus, Kensington palace said.
Kate was due to spend the day with William celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the NHS at two major events but will now have a self-isolation period at home.
Kensington palace said in a statement: “Last week, the Duchess of Cambridge came into contact with someone who has subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.
“Her Royal Highness is not experiencing any symptoms, but is following all relevant government guidelines and is self-isolating at home.”
Kate’s last public event was a visit to Wimbledon on Friday, when she toured the SW19 sporting venue, meeting staff in the museum and Centre Court kitchen and sitting with the former tennis star Tim Henman to watch Jamie Murray play in the doubles.
Read more here: Duchess of Cambridge self-isolating at home after Covid contact
Updated
Row in Thailand over booster shots after leaked health ministry document
There’s a growing controversy in Thailand after a leaked health ministry document has prompted calls for medical staff inoculated against Covid to be given a booster of an mRNA vaccine, because it included a comment that such a move could dent public confidence in Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine.
The internal memo, which included various opinions, was reported by local media and shared widely on social media. Reuters report it was confirmed by Thai health minister Anutin Charnvirakul as being authentic.
It included a comment from an unnamed official who recommended authorities do not give a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine to frontline health workers, because such a move would be “admitting that the Sinovac vaccine is not effective”.
Thailand has administered Sinovac’s inactivated virus vaccine to most health workers and its real-world study showed two doses were 95% effective in reducing mortality and severe symptoms. The study showed it was 71% to 91% effective in stopping infection with the Alpha variant.
The comment in the leaked document prompted calls from prominent Thai health experts, including a top medical council official, to give health workers a Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot. The hashtag “Give Pfizer to medical personnel” was trending on Thai Twitter with more than 624,000 tweets on Monday.
Senior health official Opas Karnkawinpong told reporters the document was not real, however, contradicting health minister Anutin.
Anutin had said the comment on the booster shot was “just an opinion” and there was an expert panel to set vaccine policy. He said two doses of Sinovac’s vaccine were effective and “deliver results beyond the standard”.
Updated
Indonesia sees record 29,745 new coronavirus infections
A quick confirmation from Reuters has just come through that Indonesia reported on Monday a record 29,745 new coronavirus infections and 558 deaths, health ministry data showed.
The figures brought the country’s total number of cases to 2,313,829 and deaths to 61,140.
Madeline Holcombe has been covering the coronavirus for CNN, and this morning she writes of concern over new outbreaks in the southern US:
The holiday weekend highlighted the divide as some regions saw increased Covid-19 infections and others celebrated holiday gatherings with the safety of vaccine protection.
“This is really a day of independence – for folks in the United States who are vaccinated, this is really a holiday that celebrates our independence from the fear and the death and the hardships that so many people in this country have faced,” CNN medical analyst Dr Jonathan Reiner told CNN’s Brian Stelter.
Meanwhile, the south, southwest and parts of the midwest are starting to see surges. Florida, in particular, is being hit hard, Reiner noted, with about 17% of all new US cases being reported in the state.
“People will continue to die until we vaccinate everybody,” Reiner said.
Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi are the furthest behind [the rest of the US], with 35.3% or less of their population fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.
Read more here: CNN – These areas in the US have officials concerned as Covid-19 cases increase
A very quick snap from Reuters here that Ukraine has approved the Covid vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson. Ukraine has already approved several vaccines, including AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
The Russian figures are in for the day and the daily caseload remains at its heightened level. Reuters report that there were 24,353 new Covid cases on Monday, including 6,557 in Moscow. The government coronavirus task force said 654 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours.
If you missed it yesterday, US president Joe Biden, speaking at a White House party marking the Fourth of July, urged Americans to get vaccinated to stave off a rise in cases of the coronavirus Delta variant, describing it as the patriotic thing to do.
“Think back to where this nation was a year ago,” the president said in a speech on the theme of “Independence Day and independence from Covid-19”.
The Biden administration has, nevertheless, missed its aim of having 70% of adult Americans with at least one shot by the holiday weekend
Andrew Sparrow has launched his UK live blog for the day with this opening:
In September last year, announcing his winter economy plan, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, gave a speech saying the country had to start getting back to normal because it could not live with restrictions forever. “We must learn to live with it [coronavirus] and live without fear,” he said. With its implied refusal to defer to the ‘health and safety’ science lobby, its worldly realism about risk and its focus on the interests of the economy, the speech delighted Conservative MPs.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be premature. There were two more lockdowns to come. But this afternoon Boris Johnson is essentially going to resurrect Sunak’s message from last autumn when he explains what the government wants to happen in England from 19 July, the date set for the final lifting of restrictions.
Andrew will be covering UK Covid lines there, I’ll continue to focus on international coronavirus news here:
In the UK, the opposition Labour party is on-board with lifting Covid restrictions in England as soon as possible. In her media appearances, shadow housing secretary Lucy Powell said that lockdown restrictions needed to be lifted in “an irreversible, measured way” that is led by scientific advice.
“Like everybody else in the country, we want those restrictions to come to an end as soon as possible,” the Labour MP told Sky News.
“But what we want to see is that we’re doing that in an irreversible, measured way, in a way that’s well communicated, that’s well understood, that has scientific advice and expert advice at the forefront.
PA media also quote her saying: “That it isn’t just another case, I’m afraid, of ministerial stop-start and saying this is ‘freedom day’, and then at the last minute pulling things back or changing that.”
Masks and PPE likely to still be required in care home settings – UK minister
Social care minister Helen Whately is doing the UK media round this morning, and one question she has faced has been what happens to the rules around care home visiting if England lifts all legal restrictions on 19 July. She said that care home visiting is unlikely to “completely go back to normal”.
“We will be taking some more steps as part of Step 4 of the road map,” she told Sky News earlier .
PA quote her as saying “I don’t think visiting will completely go back to normal. There will still have to be some precautions. It’s step by step, getting things as close to normal as we can, while still protecting people who are at greater risk from Covid.”
She also said to Times Radio: “I’m also really aware that there will be circumstances, I’m expecting to continue in health and social care clearly, where people will need to continue to wear PPE, which includes masks.”
There’s a huge amount of opinions flying around this morning about the potential for England lifting all restrictions in two weeks time, based on the idea that the number of vaccinations will have reached a very high level. Which has raised this question from FT chief feature writer Henry Mance:
The government says two-thirds of the population will be vaccinated by July 19. But isn’t scientific advice that vaccine takes at least two weeks to produce full immunity? In which case the percentage of the population will be the percentage who have received two doses now - 50%
— Henry Mance (@henrymance) July 5, 2021
Australia’s race to secure vaccines likened to Hunger Games
The race to obtain Covid-19 vaccine supplies has been likened to the Hunger Games as Australia’s rollout continues to lag behind similar nations, with only 7.2% of the population fully vaccinated.
As New South Wales confirmed 35 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the state’s health minister offered a frank assessment of the sluggish dynamics of the national rollout. “Until we get enough vaccine and enough GPs actually at the frontline able to provide that vaccine into arms, we will continue to have effectively the Hunger Games going on here in NSW,” Brad Hazzard said.
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, also expressed frustration as she confirmed four new locally acquired cases of the virus, telling reporters on Monday that Queensland would only be getting about 65,000 doses of Pfizer a week, with the bulk of the supply not due until October.
Palaszczuk sheeted home the blame to the Morrison government and urged Queenslanders to be patient. “We’re waiting on the commonwealth supply so we can make sure that you get your dosage,” she said.
The federal health minister, Greg Hunt – who once declared Australia was at “the front of the queue” when it came to Covid-19 vaccination supplies – acknowledged the environment was difficult.
“Look, in relation to vaccines, it is the most competitive global environment imaginable,” Hunt told reporters in Melbourne.
But the federal minister said last week was the biggest week of the Australian vaccination rollout, with 8.25m jabs administered. He said the government continued to “work very constructively with all the states and territories” and the daily inoculation statistics indicated the programme was continuing to ramp up.
Read more of our Australian politic editor Katharine Murphy’s report here: Australia’s race to secure Covid vaccine supply likened to Hunger Games as rollout crawls
Updated
To mask or not to mask looks like it is going to be one of the looming debates of the summer in England. The signals coming out of government today are very much in favour of avoiding using masks except in limited circumstances. Social care minister Helen Whately has just told the BBC that she is keen to stop wearing masks “as much”.
Care Minister Helen Whately says she is “looking forward to not wearing a mask as much….there are real downsides to wearing masks. But she says she “might” carry on wearing a mask on trains #today
— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) July 5, 2021
As a reminder, yesterday, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, British Medical Association council chairman took a very different view, saying:
As case numbers continue to rise at an alarming rate due to the rapid transmission of the Delta variant and an increase in people mixing with one another, it makes no sense to remove restrictions in their entirety in just over two weeks’ time.
A report from AFP here on the situation in China where the city of Ruili, home to more than 210,000 people, has been locked down again after the discovery of cases imported from Myanmar.
Ruili is a major crossing point from Muse in neighbouring Myanmar, which has seen escalating unrest since the 1 February military coup, raising fears that people will try to flood across the border into China to escape the violence. One of the three infected patients was a Myanmar national, according to health authorities in China’s Yunnan province.
Ruili will test all residents for the virus within two days and all “non-essential travel” will be banned until further notice, the local government said Monday.
Only one member of each household can leave to buy daily necessities with permission during the testing period.
Anyone who wants to leave the city must produce a negative virus test conducted within the past 72 hours, the local government said.
Thailand reported 6,166 new Covid infections on Monday, and 50 new fatalities, as the country struggles to contain its most severe outbreak since the start of the pandemic
Thailand’s daily cases have been steadily rising since early April, when its cumulative caseload was less than 30,000. It now stands at almost 290,000.
The rise in cases has placed intense pressure on hospitals, especially in Bangkok, where the outbreak is concentrated. Currently, 2,199 people are being treated in intensive care units.
The authorities have begun asking asymptomatic patients to isolate at home to free up beds for people who need treatment. Previously, anyone who tested positive was required to stay in isolation facilities, to avoid spreading the disease to others in their household.
There is growing anger over the government’s handling of the pandemic this year, including its failure to quickly secure vaccines. The country’s mass vaccination campaign kicked off in June, but many in Bangkok have had their appointments delayed.
Thailand is relying primarily on the AstraZeneca doses made locally by a royal-owned company, but production has been delayed. The company, Siam BioScience, was supposed to provide 10m doses a month, however this has since been revised down to between 5-6m doses.
Prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said last month that Thailand would aim to reopen in mid-October, in the hope of reviving the country’s devastated tourism sector. However, health experts have questioned whether this is feasible, given the country’s sluggish vaccination campaigns and worsening outbreak.
About 10.5% of the population has received one dose, while 4% are fully vaccinated.
Updated
In the UK, Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said people should continue to follow hygienic practices even after coronavirus restrictions had been lifted and use “common sense”.
Asked if he would still voluntarily wear a mask, PA Media reports he told BBC Breakfast: “I’ll be following the guidance as I have throughout.
“There may be occasions in the next few months in a crowded environment where I might choose to wear a mask and I’m sure others will make similar choices. I think people have got very aware of infection control and good hygiene over the last 16 months.
“Some of the habits we’ve developed – washing hands more frequently, not going to work or not going to see people if you are feeling unwell – those are habits that it would be really great to continue because it will keep Covid under control, but also other infections as well.”
He added: “Many people will use common sense and if they want to be cautious, particularly over the next few weeks as infection rates are still high, then wearing a mask would be very appropriate.”
Updated
The complexity of New York’s economic recovery from Covid will take years to unpick. Before the pandemic Americans spent 5% of their working time at home. By spring 2020 the figure was 60%. It’s a seismic shift that has hit office-laden Manhattan particularly hard. The Partnership for New York City predicts that only 62% of office workers will return, mostly three days a week, by September.
Banks, which have mostly ordered a full return to the office, are facing pushback from workers, who point to higher levels of happiness and productivity from working at home. But it is also a way to return production overheads to the labor force. The conflict will take time to resolve and could trigger a crisis in commercial property values if the workers win.
Tourism, which contributes $60bn to the city’s economy annually, remains anemic. The hit to the city’s leisure and hospitality sector, which peaked at 300,000 jobs in December 2019, is severe. A statewide report issued on Friday found that New York had lost 2m jobs during the pandemic and unemployment in May stood at 8.2%, far above the pre-pandemic level and well above the national average of 5.9%.
But others have prospered. The report found personal income in New York had risen 12.8%, hitting $1.6tn in the first quarter of 2021, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and seeing a more than 50% increase from the final quarter of 2020.
At the same time, the movement of people in the city has been profoundly altered. As public transport use dropped, road traffic surged. The New York City area now officially has the worst traffic in the country, according to survey for Texas A&M’s Transportation Institute.
Read more of Edward Helmore’s report from New York here: New York’s patchwork recovery masks vast inequities laid bare by Covid
Updated
Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel remains in hospital with Covid
Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel remains in hospital having been admitted yesterday following a positive Covid-19 test at the end of June, according to local media reports.
Reuters has sent a snap this morning reiterating that he was undergoing additional tests and would continue to remain under observation for 24 hours as a precaution.
Bettel took part in a two-day EU summit in Brussels at the end of June, where participants included Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Mario Draghi and other European leaders.
Reuters state that Luxembourg’s state ministry could not immediately be reached for further comment this morning.
Updated
By the way, worth a reminder that Boris Johnson might be the prime minister of the UK, but that his move today will only apply to England. Politico’s London playbook had a quick round-up of the state of play elsewhere in the UK:
The government in Scotland will carry on urging Scots to wear face masks in shops and on public transport after their own freedom day on 9 August, when all other legal restrictions are set to be dropped. On 19 July, Scotland is currently set to move to level zero in its tiering system, the lowest level where some freedoms are still curbed.
In Wales there is no freedom day date set — much to the Welsh Tories’ displeasure — but another review of the data is set for 15 July where the thinking on masks should become clear. Welsh Counsel General Mick Antoniw signaled yesterday that the country could move to “increased normality” over the next few weeks.
There’s no unlock date set in Northern Ireland either, though the BBC reports the Stormont executive is set to meet this week to discuss further relaxation of the rules as live music resumes today.
Of course, you’ll note that this is all framed very differently when you write “where some freedoms are still curbed” as opposed to “where some pandemic precautions are still in place.”
UK minister: vaccination has 'really weakened the link' between people catching Covid and hospitalisation
Here’s the key quote from social care minister Helen Whatley from her Sky News appearance this morning. She said:
Later today the prime minister and health secretary are going to be setting out our plans for the next stage of the roadmap. We’re on track to take that final fourth step of the roadmap on 19 July giving people back far more of their freedoms, much more back to normal. And this is thanks to both the sacrifices that people have made, and the huge success of the vaccination programme. What we’re seeing is the vaccination programme has really weakened the link between people catching Covid and ending up in the hospital, and then, very sadly, the risk of dying. What we’re seeing is the vaccination really making a difference there. So that’s why the prime minister will be able to set up these plans with the health secretary later today.
“We’re on track to take that final fourth stage of the roadmap.”
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 5, 2021
Health Minister Helen Whately says the 'success of vaccination programme' is what will allow the PM to take the final step of the roadmap plan in England.
Get live #COVID19 updates: https://t.co/V1dn7OzMAB pic.twitter.com/Lcg2jRRpSk
It is one of the UK’s health ministers Helen Whately who is doing the media round this morning. She’ll be out and about attempting to justify why it seems the hawks on reopening have the upper hand in the wake of Matt Hancock’s departure.
As a reminder, we are expecting a press conference from Boris Johnson in Downing Street today where he is expected to announce the end of all legal Covid restrictions in England from 19 July, and also the dropping of any mandatory face mask or social distancing measures.
It has been teased out to PA Media and other media outlets that Johnson is expected to say:
Thanks to the successful rollout of our vaccination programme, we are progressing cautiously through our road map. Today we will set out how we can restore people’s freedoms when we reach step 4.
But I must stress that the pandemic is not over and that cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks. As we begin to learn to live with this virus, we must all continue to carefully manage the risks from Covid and exercise judgment when going about our lives.
It still remains unclear in the coming weeks how you are meant to manage your own risks and exercise a judgment to maintain social distancing from people if they are determined not to socially distance themselves from you.
The latest data on the government’s own dashboard suggests case numbers have risen by nearly 70,000 or 67% in the last seven days. Hospitalisations however, remain at a much lower rate of increase – nevertheless showing a 24% rise in a week.
Alongside the press conference, the government will publish the results of its reviews into the use of so-called vaccine passports and the future of social distancing guidance, Downing Street confirmed. Health secretary Sajid Javid will also address the Commons later to update MPs on any changes.
Updated
Good morning, it is Martin Belam here in London. Indonesia will provide free telemedicine services to coronavirus patients with mild symptoms, its health minister said today, in an effort to reduce pressure on a healthcare sector inundated by record numbers of Covid cases.
With records most days last week and deaths surpassing 500 on several of those, Indonesia is battling one of Asia’s worst Covid epidemics, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant first identified in India. [see 6.43am]
Reuters reports that remote services will be provided from Tuesday by telehealth firms such as Alodokter and Halodoc and will include free consultations and medication delivery, health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a news conference.
“Positive Covid-19 patients can get medical services on time without waiting in line at hospitals, so that hospitals can be prioritised for patients with medium, heavy, and critical symptoms,” he said.
Hospital bed occupancy was at 75% nationwide as of 2 July, the health ministry said, but some hospitals on the most populous island of Java have reported over 90% capacity, including in the capital, Jakarta.
Updated
In Australia, isolation orders related to an unvaccinated student nurse who worked across two Sydney hospitals while infectious with Covid-19 are continuing to wreak havoc on staffing levels, with more than 600 health professionals deemed as close contacts so far.
The Guardian understands that more than 500 staff at Royal North Shore hospital and more than 120 staff at Fairfield hospital are now isolating and unable to work after being identified as a close contact of the 24-year-old student nurse who worked from 24-28 June across the two hospitals while infectious.
Nurses, as well as administration staff and other healthcare workers, are among the isolating workers.
The situation is so severe at Royal North Shore hospital, where five wards are affected, that health authorities are understood to be trying to move nursing staff from nearby hospitals to help fill the shortfall in services.
The number of isolating close contacts related to the student nurse has swelled since Wednesday, when about 100 initial staff and patients were sent into isolation following a positive result being returned late on Tuesday.
Brett Holmes, general secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, said the isolation orders have had “a large burden” on an “already strained” workforce.
New Zealand has narrowly avoided having to put its Covid vaccination rollout on ice, with the largest shipment yet of Pfizer vaccines arriving two days ahead of schedule.
The shipment of 150,000 doses is the first in the batch of 1m doses arriving this month and will allow the health officials to ramp up the programme.
The country had distributed nearly all of its supply of the Pfizer storage and was at risk of running out by Wednesday.
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern told RNZ’s Morning Report the country had been expecting the vaccines to arrive on Tuesday, which would have meant “working very close to the wire”.
“So this means we will be able to keep the rollout cranking along and that we won’t see any change in people’s booked vaccinations,” Ardern said.
The vaccines will be transported to district health boards around the country today.
Updated
Parts of Indonesia lack oxygen supplies as the number of critically ill Covid patients who need it increases, the nation’s pandemic response leader said Monday, after dozens of sick people died at a public hospital that ran out of its central supply, AP reports.
“Due to an increase of three to four times the amount (of oxygen) needed, the distribution has been hampered,” said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister.
The government is asking oxygen producers to dedicate their full supply to medical needs and will import it if needed, Pandjaitan said at the virtual news conference.
This statement comes after Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikit said the government guaranteed oxygen supply for Covid patients on 26 June.
At least 63 Covid patients died during treatment at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in Yogyakarta city since Saturday — 33 of them during the outage of its central liquid oxygen supply even though the hospital switched to using oxygen cylinders during that period, hospital spokesman Banu Hermawan said.
“Their deteriorating condition contributed the most to their deaths,” Hermawan said.
In the UK, Transport for London (TfL) has recorded a £100m plunge in advertising revenue across its network of tube stations, trains and buses after Covid-19 pandemic restrictions kept commuters away from travelling to work.
TfL’s advertising estate – which comprises more than 100,000 billboards, posters and panels throughout the capital’s tube and rail network, in trains and on buses and shelters – is one of the largest and most valuable in the world.
However, with journeys in the city at record low levels at the height of the pandemic, advertisers disappeared, resulting in commercial income plummeting by more than two-thirds to £50m in the year to the end of March. It stands in stark contrast to 2019, when TfL’s advertising income recorded annual growth to £158.3m:
Fauci says 99.2% of recent US deaths were unvaccinated
America’s top infectious disease expert says about 99.2% of recent Covid deaths in the United States involved unvaccinated people. And Dr. Anthony Fauci says “it’s really sad and tragic that most all of these are avoidable and preventable.”
He told NBC’s “Meet the Press” it’s frustrating “where you have a formidable enemy” in the coronavirus and “yet we do have a countermeasure that’s highly, highly effective. And that’s the reason why it’s all the more sad and all the more tragic why it isn’t being completely implemented in this country.”
Fauci cited the reasons for opposition to the vaccine by some Americans, whether it’s “ideological” or whether some “are just fundamentally anti-vax or anti-science.”
He said the country does “have the tools to counter” the pandemic and he’s asking people to “put aside all of those differences and realise that the common enemy is the virus.”
Fauci noted the United States is “very fortunate” that it has “enough vaccines to vaccinate essentially everybody in the country. And there are people throughout the world who would do anything to get vaccines.”
The United States has registered over 605,000 deaths in the pandemic, the highest national toll in the world.
Indonesia says no vaccine, no entry
Indonesia is requiring foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated as one of the entry requirements as the country tries to curb the spread of coronavirus, AP reports.
Ganip Warsito, National Task Force for Covid-19 Mitigation Chief, said Sunday that starting on July 6, both foreigners and Indonesian nationals entering the country have to show digital or physical proof that they have been fully vaccinated.
The obligation to show vaccination cards can be excluded in some cases, including diplomatic visas and service visas, and during official visits at ministerial level.
The government is also extending the quarantine time for foreign travelers from five days to eight days.
Indonesia recorded 27,233 new cases and 555 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours. It brings the total to 2,284,084 cases and 60,582 death tolls as of Sunday.
UK PM to end curbs as cases reach January highs
Boris Johnson is to announce that the lifting of most remaining Covid-19 restrictions in England will go ahead on 19 July amid a backlash from government scientific advisers who have warned that doing so would be like building new “variant factories”.
Despite cases having risen to their highest level since January 2021, the prime minister is set to press ahead with the final stage of unlocking in two weeks.
In a Downing Street press conference on Monday afternoon, he is expected to announce that, with 86% of adults in the UK having had at least a first jab, the government will move from relying on legal curbs to control people’s behaviour to letting individuals make their own decisions.
Changes to be announced include allowing fully vaccinated adults to travel to amber list countries without having to self-isolate when they return; making the wearing of face masks voluntary, apart from in hospitals and other healthcare settings; and no longer requiring fully vaccinated adults to self-isolate if they have come into contact with an infected person.
Aubrey Allegretti and Linda Geddes report:
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to announce that the lifting of most remaining Covid-19 restrictions in England will go ahead on 19 July amid a backlash from government scientific advisers who have warned that doing so would be like building new “variant factories”.
Meanwhile Indonesia is requiring foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated as one of the entry requirements as the country tries to curb the spread of Covid. Both foreigners and Indonesian nationals entering the country will have to show digital or physical proof that they have been fully vaccinated.
More on these stories in a moment. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:
- Coronavirus has killed at least 3,972,934 people around the world since it first emerged in China in December 2019, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker.
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on Monday set to confirm the fourth and last step to lifting lockdown will go ahead on July 19, despite warnings that doing so would be like building “variant factories”.
-
The UK has recorded 24,248 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, according to official figures.There were a further 15 deaths, bringing the overall death toll to 128,222. Meanwhile, 86 % of adults have had their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 63.8% received both doses.
-
The Oakland zoo in northern California has administered an experimental Covid-19 vaccine to animals deemed at highest risk. The two-dose jab has been approved by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and distributed to nearly 70 zoos.
- Brazil has seen recorded 27,783 new Covid-19 cases and 830 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Sunday.The news comes as8tens of thousands took to the streets of the South American country’s biggest cities on Saturday to demand the removal of President Jair Bolsonaro, who they deem responsible for the death of over half a million people.
- Iran announced today it was reimposing coronavirus restrictions on major cities, as the spread of the highly contagious delta variant spurs fears of another devastating surge in the nation, the Associated Press reports.
- Russia has recorded 25,142 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday - the highest number since January 2. The news comes after Covid deaths in the country hit at a record high for five days in a row this week. President Vladimir Putin has for now refrained from calling another lockdown.
- South Africa recorded more than 26,000 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, its highest daily number since the pandemic broke out.
- Bangladesh recorded 153 deaths, its highest daily toll yet, in the 24 hours to this morning, the Dhaka Tribune reports.
- The Luxembourg prime minister, Xavier Bettel, was admitted to hospital on Sunday morning. Bettel tested positive for coronavirus last week.
- Schools in England are “bleeding out” with thousands of teachers having to isolate under a bubble system that is harming the most vulnerable children, ministers have been warned, The Guardian’s Josh Halliday reports.
