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Summary
Here are the key developments in today’s Covid news:
- Canadians are voting today in a tight pandemic election that threatens to knock prime minister Justin Trudeau from power, as he gambles that Canadians will reward him for navigating the coronavirus crisis better than most countries did.
- The Dutch government says a vaccine ‘pass’ will be needed to use restaurant toilets.
- The leader of the Scottish Conservative party, Douglas Ross, called on the Scottish government to follow the rest of the UK and relax Covid travel restrictions.
- UK transport secretary Grant Shapps has been telling MPs in parliament that the UK’s successful vaccination programme can be used to “restore lost freedoms”.
- US vet shops have reported a shortage of ivermectin despite warnings against using it to treat Covid.
- Construction sites across the state of Victoria in Australia are to close for at least two weeks following violence at anti-vaccine protests earlier today.
- The UK has recorded 36,100 new cases in the latest 24-hour period, with the number of Covid patients in hospital now at 7,847.
- The British prime minister welcomed the news that the US will lift Covid-19 travel restrictions to allow fully vaccinated passengers from the UK and EU to travel into the country from November.
- Pfizer and BioNTech said trial results showed their Covid vaccine is safe and produces a robust immune response in children aged five to 11, adding that they would seek regulatory approval shortly.
Updated
Here’s a snippet of UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s meeting with Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president.
Updated
Employees in the UK will have the right to request flexible working from the moment they start a job, with companies obliged to explain their reasons if it is then refused, the government will propose in a consultation document this week.
The plan would also oblige employers to respond to such requests more quickly, and is being billed as a major reshaping of the way people work in a post-pandemic world, making flexible work the default.
Boris Johnson has used a meeting with Brazil’s coronavirus-denying president to promote Covid vaccinations – only to undermine his message by failing to wear a face mask, report Peter Walker and Tom Phillips.
The UK prime minister met Jair Bolsonaro – who has been accused of sabotaging Brazilian vaccination efforts and claims not to have been jabbed – at the British consulate general’s residence in New York on Monday, on the eve of the United Nations general assembly.
Johnson, who was joined by the new foreign secretary, Liz Truss, told Bolsonaro he had planned to travel to Brazil before what he called the “bummer” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Updated
The two Australian jurisdictions grappling with the most severe Covid outbreaks, New South Wales and Victoria, have revealed their plans for reopening, providing those living with lockdown with some sense of what the future may hold.
Both states will ease some restrictions once 70% of the eligible population age 16 and above are fully vaccinated, with further easing at 80%. But when will those targets be reached, and how and why do the plans differ?
Updated
New York City will begin conducting weekly, random Covid-19 tests of unvaccinated students in the nation’s largest school district in an attempt to more quickly spot outbreaks in classrooms.
The mayor of the US city, Bill de Blasio, made the announcement on Monday, a day after the city’s teachers’ union sent de Blasio a letter calling for weekly instead of biweekly testing in the district with about a million students, AP reports.
The mayor also announced also a change in quarantine rules for schools, no longer requiring unvaccinated students to quarantine at home if they were masked and at least three feet away from someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.
De Blasio said the changes followed US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and would keep students from missing vital classroom time.
The changes come after the first full week of the school year in which nearly 900 classrooms, including those in charter schools, were fully or partially closed in the city’s 1,876 schools because of reports of positive Covid-19 cases. One school entirely closed for 10 days after a cluster of cases.
The new rules take effect on 27 September.
Updated
A couple in Texas, US were denied service at a restaurant because they were wearing masks.
Natalie Wester spoke to CBS DFW, a local TV station, about her experience with her husband, Jose, and a few friends.
Last week, she said, the Westers went to Hang Time, a bar and restaurant in Rowlett, 20 miles outside Dallas, for a rare outing.
Updated
The US has administered 386,237,881 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Monday morning, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The agency said 212,035,328 people had received at least one dose, while 181,728,072 people are fully vaccinated, as of 6am ET (10am GMT) on Monday.
The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine.
Over 2.2 million people received an additional dose of either Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccine since 13 August, when the US authorised a third dose of the vaccines for people with compromised immune systems who are likely to have weaker protection from the two-dose regimens.
Updated
An interesting piece here from Natasha May in Australia about the Indigenous students at boarding schools who have felt especially isolated from their communities through lockdown.
Updated
Canadians take to the polls in tight pandemic election
Canadians are voting today in a tight pandemic election that threatens to knock Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from power.
Trudeau gambled on an early election in a bid to win a majority of seats in parliament. But the opposition has been relentless in accusing Trudeau of calling an unnecessary early vote during the pandemic – two years before the deadline – for his own personal ambition, AP reports.
Polls indicate Trudeau’s Liberal Party is in a tight race with the rival Conservatives: it will likely win the most seats in parliament, but still fail to get a majority, forcing it to rely on an opposition party to pass legislation.
Trudeau is betting that Canadians will reward him for navigating the coronavirus crisis better than most countries did. Canada is now one of the most vaccinated nations in the world and Trudeau’s government spent hundreds of billions of dollars to prop up the economy amid lockdowns.
Trudeau argues that the Conservatives’ approach, which has been more skeptical of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, would be dangerous and says Canadians need a government that follows science.
O’Toole hasn’t required his party’s candidates to be vaccinated and won’t say how many are unvaccinated. O’Toole describes vaccination as a personal health decision, but a growing number of vaccinated Canadians are becoming increasingly upset with those who refuse to get vaccinated.
Updated
I’m handing over now to my colleague Robyn Vinter for the evening’s Covid news
Here’s a summary of the day’s Covid news
- Dutch government warns vaccine ‘pass’ will be needed to use restaurant toilets.
- The leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Douglas Ross, called on the Scottish government to follow the rest of the UK and relax Covid travel restrictions.
- UK transport secretary Grant Shapps has been telling MPs in parliament that the UK’s successful vaccination programme can be used to “restore lost freedoms”.
- US vet shops report shortage of ivermectin despite warnings against using it to treat Covid.
- Construction sites across the state of Victoria in Australia are to close for at least two weeks following violence at anti-vaccine protests earlier today.
- The UK has recorded 36,100 new cases in the latest 24-hour period, with the number of Covid patients in hospital now at 7,847.
- The British prime minister welcomed the news that the US will lift Covid-19 travel restrictions to allow fully vaccinated passengers from the UK and EU to travel into the country from November.
- Pfizer and BioNTech said trial results showed their Covid vaccine is safe and produces a robust immune response in children aged five to 11, adding that they would seek regulatory approval shortly.
Updated
Only the vaccinated can use restaurant toilets, Dutch minister warns
In the Netherlands, where new rules will require a covid pass to eat inside in restaurants, a minister has stressed there will be no going indoors even to use the toilet without being jabbed.
Measures about to be brought in were hotly debated by MPs who forced an exception to the vaccine passport rule for punters eating or drinking outdoors - saying the infection risk was low.
But today health minister Huge de Jonge was quoted saying ‘if you want to use the restroom you will have to show your QR code.’
QR codes are the machine-readable array of black and white squares on a mobile phone.
If scanned, the pass showed proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus or a negative test and is required for all people aged 13 and older.
Last week, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was unwise to make an exception for patrons sitting outside, as people would inevitably have to enter to pay bills or indeed go to the toilet.
“It could also start raining and then everyone wants to go inside,” Rutte said.
“The government wanted the QR code everywhere in the hospitality sector,” Health ministry spokeswoman Rinske Wieman told AFP.
“This is not to bug people, but because people want more freedom from restrictions. Unfortunately these freedoms are not without boundaries,” she said.
Updated
The leader of the Scottish Conservative Party Douglas Ross has called on the Scottish government to follow the rest of the UK and relax Covid travel restrictions.
Speaking in Parliament Ross said: “What can the Secretary of State do to convince the Scottish Government to follow the lead of the UK Government and ensure these industries are not put at risk?”
Transport secretary Grant Shapps replied: “I do encourage all parts of the UK to come together on this. It is incredibly confusing for passengers... that takes money out of the Scottish economy, it threatens jobs in Scotland and it threatens the airline capacity, and I think the faster we can get this resolved the better.”
‘Freedoms can return’
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been telling MPs in Parliament that the UK’s successful vaccination programme can be used to ‘restore lost freedoms’.
“In 2020 the only weapon we had to fight the spread of COVID was simply to keep people apart,” Shapps said.
But as one “of the world’s most vaccinated countries”, he said that “we must use that to our advantage to restore freedoms that were by necessity lost over the past 18 months”.
Outlining the changes to travel, which were unveiled last Friday and referring to the news that the US travel ban will be lifted later in the autumn, he said: “Vaccines mean that the emphasis can now shift to an individual status.”
Updated
US vet shops report shortage of ivermectin despite warnings against using it to treat Covid
Oliver Milman reports that US horse owners are finding the anti-parasitic ivermectin hard to come by because the medicine is being used as a treatment against Covid - despite warnings that it is unproven and potentially dangerous for humans.
Press in the US including the Washington Post have reported the shortages - quoting QC Supply a livestock supply distributor in Nebraska that is out of stock of ivermectin paste, usually used in treating pinworms and largemouth stomach worms in horses
Construction sites across the state of Victoria in Australia are to close for at least two weeks following violence at anti-vaccine protests earlier today.
From Thursday 23 September construction workers will be required to show proof that they have had at least one vaccine dose in order to continue to work, local media report.
Hundreds of construction workers wearing hi-vis vandalised the Victoria branch of Australia’s Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
The CFMEU condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the attack on its Melbourne office, where members had shown up in support of the government mandate, saying the violence occurred after the protest was “infiltrated” by right-wing groups.
The Master Builders Association of Victoria informed members of the development in a Facebook post, saying the government was concerned about “an increase in Covid-19 transmissions in the building and construction industry, combined with the riots in Melbourne today”.
They said the shutdown would be in place from 11.59pm Monday.
Updated
UK records 36,100 new Covid cases
The UK has recorded 36,100 new cases in the latest 24-hour period, with the number of COVID patients in hospital now at 7,847.
It is the first time since 7 September that the number of patients has been below 8,000.
There have been a further 49 deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus within the past 28 days.
The 7 day average of how many people have tested positive in a week is down by 12 per cent.
Updated
The British prime minister has welcomed the news that the US will lift Covid-19 travel restrictions to allow fully vaccinated passengers from the UK and EU to travel into the country from November.
Boris Johnson said the easing of US travel rules for fully vaccinated travellers was “a fantastic boost for business and trade” adding it was “great that family and friends on both sides of the pond can be reunited once again”.
The move by president Joe Biden will mark the end of a travel ban imposed by Donald Trump more than 18 months ago in the early stages of the pandemic, and comes after intense lobbying from Brussels and London.
In addition to the UK and the 26 Schengen countries in Europe, the move will also apply to Ireland, China, Iran, Brazil, South Africa and India.
Updated
Pfizer and BioNTech said trial results showed their coronavirus vaccine is safe and produces a robust immune response in children aged five to 11, adding that they would seek regulatory approval shortly.
The vaccine would be administered at a lower dosage than for people over 12, they said. “In participants five to 11 years of age, the vaccine was safe, well-tolerated, and showed robust neutralising antibody responses,” US giant Pfizer and its German partner said in a joint statement.
They plan to submit their data to regulatory bodies in the European Union, the United States, and around the world “as soon as possible”.
Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health and a leading Covid expert in the US, called it the “good news” many parents had been waiting for.
A health certificate showing proof of immunity from Covid-19 immunity will be required to enter the Vatican as of 1 October, the city state said.
Residents, workers, and visitors will have to carry the so-called “green pass” that is already widely used in surrounding Italy, the Holy See said in a statement. An exception will be made for those attending mass “for the time strictly necessary for the rite”.
The pass – originally conceived to ease travel among European Union states – shows that someone has been vaccinated, has tested negative, or has recently recovered from the coronavirus.
Updated
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Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Austria will require protective face masks and Covid-19 passes for the use of ski lifts this winter as it tries to attract foreign skiers for the first time in two years and also prevent coronavirus outbreaks.
The conservative-led government outlined the rules for the coming season at a news conference that underlined the importance of reviving tourism, which directly contributes about 5% of economic output in Austria.
The new rules stop short of requiring all skiers to be vaccinated and left many details unclear even though public frustration over confusing coronavirus rules has grown.
“This year there will definitely be winter holidays in Austria,” the tourism minister Elisabeth Koestinger said. “We have developed strict rules for a safe winter.”
Updated
Former British prime minister Gordon Brown has criticised western governments for an “unconscionable” over-purchasing of Covid vaccines.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme today that “because of over-ordering and over-purchasing, we have about 300m vaccines this month that should be available to get to the rest of the world”.
Brown, who is an ambassador for global health financing for the World Health Organization, described the situation as morally wrong, saying: ‘”What’s really unconscionable is that, when we have this surplus of stocks available, the distribution is so inequable.
“We’ve really got a world that is divided between the vaccine-rich and the vaccine-poor.”
Updated
The British government is being urged to help thousands of people who took part in Covid-19 vaccine trials who cannot prove their vaccination status.
About 15,000 Britons took part in the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial. The vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the UK and trial participants have described being “trapped” and “in limbo” because they are unable to get a licensed Covid-19 vaccine. This means they can’t travel abroad.
Retiree Gill Ince, who participated in the trial in September 2020, said she felt like she was “living in limbo”. The 61-year-old, from Oxfordshire said to PA Media: “I stepped forward early in the pandemic to participate in a vaccine trial. I wanted to do my bit to fight Covid but I feel utterly betrayed by the system and I’m trapped without any vaccination status.
“I was given reassurances that I would not be disadvantaged in any way at a later date. We have no idea if, where or when Novavax will be approved so now we are living in limbo.
“It’s incredibly stressful and I feel like a prisoner.”
A petition has been launched on change.org calling for help from the health secretary Sajid Javid.
The petition, launched by the Novavax UK Concerned Participants Group, states that UK volunteers are “significantly disadvantaged” because they face barriers to travel and are unable to get another Covid-19 vaccine.
“We call on the ministers to rectify the situation immediately so that Novavax volunteers can travel as freely as other vaccinated people,” the petition states.
On Sunday the Observer reported that England’s deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam suggested to the government that the UK withhold clinical trial data if vaccine trial participants were not being allowed into European countries.
A government spokesperson said: “Volunteers in formally approved Covid-19 vaccine trials in the UK should not be disadvantaged in relation to vaccine certification policies, and we are committed to taking action on this issue.
Updated
The UK will return to ”the normal world of travel” for those who are fully vaccinated, transport secretary Grant Shapps has said, according to PA Media.
Airlines and airports have been arguing in recent weeks – as well as throughout the pandemic – that the government’s continuing quarantine and testing rules are damaging their industry.
Heathrow has gone from being Europe’s busiest airport in 2019 to 10th, behind cities including Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt.
Asked if the sector would recover, Shapps replied: “It will. Absolutely.”
He added that the UK would “not only get flying again”, but was also “leading on decarbonising aviation as well, which is a huge challenge”.
The cabinet minister said new rules for international travel announced last week would bring the UK towards “the more normal world of travel, which is that when you’re fully vaccinated you will be able to travel”.
Prime minister Boris Johnson and new foreign secretary Liz Truss are meeting US president Joe Biden and will be asking him to lift the ban on travel from the UK to the US.
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We want to get to a situation where Brits are able to travel to one of our closest partners in the world, and the Prime Minister will be making it very, very clear that travel to and from the UK is safe.
He added that “there’ll be no need to bang any tables to get the point across”.
Updated
Vulnerable adults had less benefit from the Covid vaccine and could benefit from a booster jab, Scottish study finds
The study, from Public Health Scotland and the University of Edinburgh found that individuals who were shielding – so were classed as clinically extremely vulnerable – were only 66% protected against severe illness after two vaccine doses, compared with 93% protection in those without any high-risk conditions.
Prof Helen Colhoun, of the University of Edinburgh, said: “It is clear that getting vaccinated with two doses is an effective way of reducing the risk of getting severely ill from Covid-19.
“However, our study did show that people who were previously asked to shield as a result of being clinically extremely vulnerable to Covid-19 did have lower protection after two doses than those without their conditions.
“We found that out of over 3.5 million people who have had two vaccine doses in Scotland up to 2 September 2021, there were just 330 cases of severe Covid-19. Almost half of these are in people designated as extremely vulnerable and most of the remainder have been in people with moderate risk conditions.
“The fact that we see an increase in protection from the first to the second dose gives hope that a third dose might increase protection further.”
Updated
Schoolchildren in England have been talking about how it feels to be first in the 12 to 15 age group to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
Vaccinations begin in that age group today for some of the 3 million eligible young people. Quinn Foakes, 15, was given the Pfizer vaccination at Belfairs Academy secondary school in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on Monday as the programme began.
Quinn said: “I was nervous at first but in the long run it’s going to be good because I can keep safe near my family and with my grandparents.
His mother Janine Lilleker, 44, who is a teacher at the school, said: “Their education has been hindered since Covid and by getting their vaccination done it’s a way of them protecting themselves and also protecting the wider community of the school.
The vaccine is expected to be delivered primarily within schools, and guidance has been issued to headteachers to contact police if they believe protests could be held outside their buildings. Jabs are being delivered by local School Age Immunisation Services, as is the case with the flu and HPV vaccines.
Johan Zweistra, the school’s vice principal, said there had been “significant uptake” by children.
He said the school has put two days aside for vaccinations and that they hope to get the majority of jabs done in that time.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy lead for the NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme, said: “The vaccine is safe and effective and I would urge families to work closely with their schools based vaccination team to get their loved ones vaccinated when they are invited to protect themselves and their families ahead of the winter period.”
The rollout for 12- to 15-year-olds is also beginning in Scotland and Wales this week.
There has been controversy around jabbing this age group, with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation saying they could not on balance recommend the Covid vaccine for young teenagers. They cited the low risk posed by Covid to this group and the tiny risk of adverse reactions.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty then gave the go-ahead, based on the wider protections such as schools staying open that the vaccines would provide to society and young people.
Updated
UK PM defends booster programme as ‘priority’ over vaccine donations
Boris Johnson has been speaking about the UK vaccine programme to reporters in New York where he has arrived for the UN General Assembly.
The Prime Minister said: “If you ask me, should we interrupt the booster programme for elderly and vulnerable people in this country? Well, I’ve looked at the evidence for what boosters can do, I’ve looked at the extra protection it can give people, and I have to say I think that that has to be our priority and we’re going to continue to do that.
He defended the UK’s contribution to global vaccine programmes saying: “That doesn’t mean we’re not making also a massive commitment to the rest of the world, because we fundamentally agree that nobody’s safe until everybody is safe.”
Invitations for vaccine boosters were sent out to 1.5 million people in England this week. They are available for anyone aged 50 and over, people living and working in care homes for the elderly, and frontline health and social care workers.
All those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and anyone aged 16 to 65 in an at-risk group for Covid will also be eligible.
The debate over boosters has focused on whether it would be better practice to try and tackle Covid globally by ensuring poorer countries have access to the vaccine.
Updated
India is to restart exporting Covid vaccines from next month, a government health minister told local journalists today.
India is the world’s biggest producer of vaccines but had stopped exports during a massive surge of Covid across the country while it focused on getting jabs into the arms of its own citizens.
The halt in exports left many developing countries without adequate supplies. India donated or sold 66m vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries before it halted exports.
Prime minister Narendra Modi arrives in the US tomorrow to meet president Joe Biden and the subject of vaccine experts is expected to feature in their talks.
Updated
Trials begin in Manchester for new Covid drug
UK scientists are beginning human trials of a new Covid jab that they hope may work against new variants and offer longer-lasting immunity than the vaccines currently in use.
The new drug – GRT-R910 – will initially be trialled on participants over 60 in Manchester and will be investigated to see if it boosts the immune response created by the first jabs.
The trials are taking place at the National Institute for Health Research Manchester Clinical Research Facility at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Prof Andrew Ustianowski, of Manchester University, one of the clinical leads of the study, said: “We now know the immune response to first-generation vaccines can wane, particularly in older people.
“Coupled with the prevalence of emerging variants, there is a clear need for continued vigilance to keep Covid-19 at bay.
“We think GRT-R910 as a booster vaccination will elicit strong, durable and broad immune responses, which are likely to be critical in maintaining protection of this vulnerable elderly population who are particularly at risk of hospitalisation and death.”
The research is being done through collaboration between US pharmaceutical company Gritstone, The University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
The vaccine GRT-R910 is a self-amplifying mRNA second generation Sars-CoV-2 vaccine – or SAM for short.
Updated
Pfizer vaccine safe for children aged 5-11, drugs company says
Long awaited results from trials of Pfizer Covid vaccines on children aged five to 11 have shown promising results.
This morning, Pfizer and their partner BioNTech SE announced that their Covid vaccine produced strong antibody responses in children aged five to 11 in a large scale trial.
It is one of the first major trials to look at how well the vaccine could work on young children.
In a trial with 2,268 participants, two shots of a 10 microgram dose – one-third the adult shot – produced antibody levels comparable to those seen in a trial of 16- to 25-year-olds who got the adult dose, the companies said, with similar side effects.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they plan to submit the data as part of a near-term request for an emergency-use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration, and to share it with regulators in Europe as well.
Pressure has been mounting to vaccinate children in the US where restrictions exist in many parts of the country for people who are not fully vaccinated.
In an interview with Bloomberg News this summer, top FDA vaccine official Peter Marks said he asked drugmakers to expand their peadiatric trials three or four times in size “to try to have a larger safety dataset” to increase confidence in the shots.
Because children are at lower risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid there has been extra pressure on drug developers to ensure the vaccine risk doesn’t outweigh the threat of Covid.
In rare cases, the messenger RNA vaccines have been linked to heart inflammation and heart-lining inflammation, and the risk appears to be highest in younger males.
Updated
“Uncertainty” over Covid in Germany means restrictions may need to stay over winter.
The German government has said it will not be setting a “freedom day” date for lifting all Covid social distancing regulations.
A spokesman for the government told Reuters that because of the lack of certainty over how the pandemic would develop over winter there could not be a commitment to ending all restrictions.
Local media reported at the weekend that some German health experts have been calling for a “UK-style freedom day”.
Andreas Gassen, the head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), said Germany should take inspiration from England and lift Covid restrictions at the end of October.
“After the experience of Britain, we should also have the courage to do what worked on the island,” Gassen told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. “So what’s needed now is a clear announcement from politicians: in six weeks, it’s Freedom Day here too! On October 30th, all restrictions will be lifted!”
Germany is trying to boost vaccination rates as it goes through what some are saying is a fourth Covid wave. About 67.2% of the total population has received at least one jab in Germany, and 63.1% are fully vaccinated.
Updated
Hello, it’s Harriet Grant now taking over the liveblog.
UK lockdown led to a huge fall in teen pregnancies
The number of girls under 18 becoming pregnant in England and Wales fell by more than a quarter during the first national coronavirus lockdown – to the lowest number of conceptions in a single quarter for 20 years.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that between April and June 2020 there were 2,600 conceptions among under-18s.
Although teen pregnancies have been on a downward trend in recent years these figures are still was a fall of 27.7% on the previous three months, January to March.
The figures cover pregnancies that result in a live birth, stillbirth or an abortion. They do not include miscarriages or pregnancies terminated through illegal abortions.
The date of conception is estimated using the recorded gestation for abortions and stillbirths, and assuming 38 weeks’ gestation for live births.
Updated
Summary
Here is a round-up of all the day’s main Covid news stories from around the world so far:
- Coronavirus vaccines are being rolled out to children aged between 12 and 15, with 3 million youngsters eligible across the UK.
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China reported on Monday 49 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland for 19 September, down from 66 a day earlier, according to National Health Commission data.
- In Australia, riot police have moved in to disperse crowds at the Melbourne headquarters of a construction union, after a protest against mandatory vaccines turned ugly, with the CFMEU blaming “outside extremists” for the violence.
- In the US, a group of disgruntled Republicans has questioned if the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, used political influence to pull a TV ad criticising his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
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India carried out its lowest number of daily coronavirus tests since mid-August on Sunday as its health ministry urged local governments to remain resilient throughout the autumn festival season.
- Workers in Ireland have started returning to offices for the first time since March 2020 after the latest easing of Covid restrictions. The government on Monday also allowed the resumption of indoor group activities such as dance and yoga for up to 100 people who are vaccinated or have recovered from the virus.
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Russia has reported 778 new deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. I am handing over the global Covid blog to my colleague Harriet Grant, who will bring you the latest throughout the afternoon.
Russia has reported 778 new deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, according to the Reuters news agency.
It comes days after president Vladimir Putin said “dozens” of people in his inner circle at the Kremlin have tested positive for Covid, which has affected more than 7 million people in the badly hit country.
Putin said he was self-isolating after announcing an outbreak among members of his entourage.
“Cases of the coronavirus were detected in my inner circle. Not just one or two but several dozen people,” Putin said, speaking via video link at a meeting of a Moscow-led security alliance.
Updated
Workers in Ireland have started returning to offices for the first time since March 2020 after the latest easing of Covid restrictions.
The government on Monday also allowed the resumption of indoor group activities such as dance and yoga for up to 100 people who are vaccinated or have recovered from the virus. Bowling alleys and amusement arcades can also reopen.
The full vaccination of 90% of those aged over 16 had enabled the relaxation, said the taoiseach, Micheál Martin. He added:
If we continue this progress, we can look forward to the further removal of public health restrictions, to be replaced by guidance and advice.
Leo Varadkar, the deputy prime minister, thanked employers and employees for respecting pandemic rules and said remote working should become a permanent fixture of Irish life.
A small group of anti-vaccination protestors picketed Varadkar’s Dublin home on Sunday.
Researchers are collecting samples from bats in northern Cambodia in an attempt to understand the coronavirus pandemic, returning to a region where a very similar virus was found in the animals a decade ago.
Two samples from horseshoe bats were collected in 2010 in Stung Treng province near Laos and kept in freezers at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) in Phnom Penh.
Tests done on them last year revealed a close relative to the coronavirus that has killed more than 4.6 million people worldwide.
Dr Veasna Duong, the head of virology at the IPC, said his institute had made four similar trips in the past two years, hoping for clues about the origin and evolution of the bat-borne virus.
“We want to find out whether the virus is still there and … to know how the virus has evolved,” he told Reuters.
Updated
In the US, a group of disgruntled Republicans has questioned if the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, used political influence to pull a TV ad criticising his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a statement issued on Sunday, the Lincoln Project was told the ad, “Abbott’s Wall”, was being pulled just 10 minutes before it was due to air on ESPN during a nationally televised football game between the University of Texas and Rice University on Saturday night.
The 60-second slot, which the Lincoln Project said cost $25,000 and was approved by ESPN lawyers, blames the Republican governor for more than 60,000 Covid deaths in the state, against a backdrop of images of the US southern border wall.
The message, showing a wall constructed of coffins, says: “If Governor Abbott wants to build a new wall, tell him to stop building this one.”
Wood from caskets of all the Covid-19 victims in Texas would stretch 85 miles, the ad claims. It remains watchable on YouTube.
“We were told it was a ‘university-made decision’” to pull the ad, the Lincoln Project said in a press release. “Did Greg Abbott or his allies assert political influence to ensure the advertisement was not broadcast?”
Updated
Back in Australia, riot police have moved in to disperse crowds at the Melbourne headquarters of a construction union, after a protest against mandatory vaccines turned ugly, with the CFMEU blaming “outside extremists” for the violence.
Police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to move the crowd, which took over the intersection outside the Queen Victoria Market.
Bottles were thrown at the already smashed glass entrance doors to the building in Melbourne’s city centre as those protecting the entry sought refuge indoors just before 4pm local time.
Protesters also seemed to be turning against each other, with a number of small fights breaking out within the crowd of bright orange and yellow.
The union released a statement just after 4pm, saying it has always supported freedom of choice regarding vaccination. It read:
We are not going to be intimidated by outside extremists attempting to intimidate the union, by spreading misinformation and lies about the union’s position.
The CFMEU will always advocate for safety, jobs, and freedom of choice.
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President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has given the go-ahead for face-to-face school classes to resume in areas of the country seen as “low risk”.
Reuters reports that up to 120 schools to join a two-month pilot scheme in areas with low Covid case rates.
The Philippines is among 17 countries globally where schools have been closed for the entirety of the pandemic, according to a report last week by the United Nations children’s agency Unicef, highlighting what it called “18 months of lost learning”.
Previously Duterte has said he would keep schools close until a vaccine was available but his education secretary Leonor Briones confirmed on Monday that lessons, limited to three to four hours per session, will resume with the consent from parents and guardians required.
However, Briones warned in a media briefing:
If there are changes in the risk assessment, then we will stop it.
The pilot, which will begin immediately, will include 100 public schools and 20 private institutions, limiting class size to 12 children in kindergarten, 16 in grades 1-3, and 20 at senior high school level.
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In Australia, Victorians will have access to 300,000 doses of Moderna’s Covid vaccine this month at hundreds of pharmacies across the state, premier Daniel Andrews says.
Andrews announced Moderna will be available at 440 pharmacies across the state this week, and a further 281 next week.
But he urged anyone who had not yet booked to take up any available vaccine available to them now and not wait. It comes as the state pushes to get up to 70% and 80% double-dose vaccination targets as part of its roadmap out of lockdown. He said:
Please don’t defer, please don’t wait, because these things are uncertain. Get the vaccine that is on offer right now.
That’s the most powerful contribution you can make to your safety, your health and of course to us meeting all those national cabinet timelines so we are open the place up.
Anthony Tassone, president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Pharmacy Guild, said people aged 60 and over could still only access AstraZeneca.
He said they should not wait for the other vaccines, noting he already had patients over 60 trying to get Moderna.
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India carried out its lowest number of daily coronavirus tests since mid-August on Sunday as its health ministry urged local governments to remain resilient throughout the autumn festival season.
Only 1.18m tests were carried out in states and federally controlled territories on Sunday, according to government data. That is down from 1.56m on Saturday.
India has the capacity to test more than 2 million but most states have now dropped compulsory testing for fully vaccinated travellers as they attempt to reopen their economies.
The Reuters news agency reported today:
The federal health ministry urged states and federally controlled territories on Saturday to step up testing, warning that the festival season could lead to another spike in infections.
Local governments are responsible for local-level health policies in the country, as per the Indian constitution.
After a meeting with state officials on Saturday, the health ministry said that there was “no room for any complacency” and that local authorities should urgently augment hospital infrastructure, oxygen supply, ambulance services and build up buffer stocks of critical drugs.
New Covid infections have plateaued at around 30,000 a day as vaccinations surged but health experts say this could also been down to reduced testing.
Some 64% of India’s adult population has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and 22% two doses.
On Monday, India reported 30,256 new Covid-19 infections and 295 deaths, taking the total caseload to 33.48 million and death toll to 445,133.
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Covid restrictions in Hanoi, Vietnam, are set to ease this week as new cases continue to decline and the majority of its adult population are at least partially vaccinated.
Its government has announced that most construction projects can resume on Wednesday, according to the Reuters news agency.
While Hanoi has managed to avoid the brunt of the coronavirus wave to hit the country since late April, average daily cases are down to 20.
Authorities have confirmed that 94% of adults in Hanoi have received at least one shot of the Covid jab, with second doses aiming to be completed by the end of November.
The deputy chairman of Hanoi’s ruling People’s Committee, Duong Duc Tuan, said:
We can’t maintain the social distancing measures indefinitely.
Tuan added that the city’s approach will be flexible and scientific, aimed at containing the virus while reviving economic activities.
Vietnam has suffered from Covid throughout spring and summer 2021 but fewer than 50 of more than 17,000 deaths nationwide were recorded in the city, as well as just 4,414 of the country’s total 687,000 cases.
The centre of the outbreak, the business hub Ho Chi Minh City, more than 1,50 km (932 miles) away by road, has been hardest hit, with 49% of the country’s cases and 78% of its fatalities.
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Campaigners have issued fresh calls for a windfall tax on companies that prospered during the pandemic, after research highlighted six firms that increased their profits by a total of £16bn.
The outsourcing firm Serco and online clothes retailer Asos were among the companies whose global profits more than doubled over the last financial year, while one investment trust, Scottish Mortgage, saw its returns grow to nine times the average of preceding years.
The report, from Tax Justice UK, highlights six companies that it says made “excess profits” during the pandemic and argues that they exemplify trends under Covid, where some firms and individuals increased their wealth while others suffered:
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China reports 49 new cases, down from 66 the day before
China reported on Monday 49 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland for 19 September, down from 66 a day earlier, according to National Health Commission data.
Of the new infections, 28 were locally transmitted, all of them in the south-eastern province of Fujian, the health authority said. That compares with 43 local cases a day earlier.
China reported two new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, which it does not classify as confirmed infections, compared with 19 a day earlier. No new deaths were reported.
As of Sunday, mainland China had recorded 95,738 confirmed cases, with the death toll unchanged at 4,636.
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UK starts vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds
Coronavirus vaccines are being rolled out to children aged between 12 and 15, with 3 million youngsters eligible across the UK, PA Media reports.
The programme is expected to be delivered primarily within schools, and guidance has been issued to headteachers to contact police if they believe protests could be held outside their buildings.
Children will be offered jabs at some schools in England from Monday.
The rollout for 12- to 15-year-olds is also beginning in Scotland and Wales this week. Young people in this age bracket in Scotland can go to drop-in clinics or wait for a letter offering them a scheduled appointment.
Jabs for children in Wales will be carried out at mass vaccination centres and some school settings.
In Northern Ireland, the head of the region’s vaccination programme said jabs are likely to be offered to children aged 12 to 15 in schools from October.
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Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coronavirus coverage.
Coronavirus vaccines are being rolled out to children aged between 12 and 15, with three million youngsters eligible across the UK. The programme is expected to be delivered primarily within schools, and guidance has been issued to headteachers to contact police if they believe protests could be held outside their buildings. Children will be offered jabs at some schools in England from Monday. The rollout for 12- to 15-year-olds is also beginning in Scotland and Wales this week.
Meanwhile, China reported 49 new Covid cases on Monday, down from 66 a day earlier, according to National Health Commission data.
Of the new infections, 28 were locally transmitted, all of them in the south-eastern province of Fujian, the health authority said. That compares with 43 local cases a day earlier.
More on these stories shortly.
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