This blog is now closed. For up to date coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, head to the link below:
Canada’s federal government has put childcare and Covid-19 relief at the heart of the country’s first pandemic budget, as the governing Liberals announced massive spending plans in an attempt to address growing inequality – and avert a snap election.
Delivering her government’s first budget in more than two years, the finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, on Monday framed the ambitious spending programme as both necessary to combat the disastrous “economic wounds” of the coronavirus pandemic and an opportunity to build a more equitable society.
“We’re all tired, frustrated and even afraid. But we’ll get through this,” said Freeland. “This budget is about finishing the fight against Covid.”
The pandemic forced the government to spend heavily to avoid an economic crisis, and the Liberals have come under increasing pressure to release a financial roadmap for the country’s future:
Ontario’s premier Doug Ford said on Monday the province expects to face a delay in the supply of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, dealing another blow to its efforts to contain a punishing third wave of the pandemic, Reuters reports.
“In addition to the delayed and cut Moderna shipments, the Premier was notified today by our officials to be prepared for delays to two shipments of AstraZeneca expected from the federal government later this month and next,” a statement from Ford’s office said.
Canada’s most-populous province said on Sunday it would lower the minimum age for recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine to 40 from 55.
Ontario announced 4,447 new cases on Monday, with a 10.5% positivity rate and 19 more deaths. The rising caseload - 755 patients in intensive care with Covid-19 on Monday - has pushed the province’s hospitals to the brink.
On Friday, the government announced measures including closing its borders with the provinces of Quebec and Manitoba. But the following day it reversed its decision to close playgrounds and amended its granting of extra powers to police to enforce a stay-at-home order.
Moderna said last week that vaccine shipments to Canada would be cut to 650,000 doses from 1.2 million.
Before Ontario decided to lower the age group for AstraZeneca vaccines, doctors and pharmacists had expressed concern that not enough people were signing up to take the AstraZeneca shot, citing blood clot fears. Two people in Canada have developed clots after receiving the shot and are recovering.
Nadjla Banaei, client care coordinator at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre in Toronto, has had several clients express concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine.
They may have underlying health conditions and worry about what they have read, she said. “We’ve had several people say: ‘No, no thanks, we’ll wait for Pfizer and Moderna,’” Banaei said.
The move to lower the age group expands the pool of potential AstraZeneca recipients but does not necessarily quell fears around it, she said. “Why did they drop the age all of a sudden? What are we supposed to communicate to people? ... Of course, with all these changes, people are going to be hesitant.”
The federal health minister Patty Hajdu said over the weekend that the provinces were free to offer AstraZeneca to anyone over 18.
Alberta and Manitoba have also said they would lower the age.
The US State Department said on Monday it will boost its “Do Not Travel” guidance to about 80% of countries worldwide, citing “unprecedented risk to travelers” from the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reports.
“This update will result in a significant increase in the number of countries at Level 4: Do Not Travel, to approximately 80% of countries worldwide,” the department said in a statement.
The State Department already listed 34 out of about 200 countries as “Level 4: Do Not Travel,” including places like Chad, Kosovo, Kenya, Brazil, Argentina, Haiti, Mozambique, Russia and Tanzania. Getting to 80% would imply adding nearly 130 countries.
Most Americans were already prevented from traveling to much of Europe because of Covid-19 restrictions. Washington has barred nearly all non-US citizens who have recently been in most of Europe, China, Brazil, Iran and South Africa.
The State Department said the move does not imply a reassessment of current health situations in some countries, but rather “reflects an adjustment in the State Department’s Travel Advisory system to rely more on [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s] existing epidemiological assessments.” CDC did not immediately comment.
Earlier this month, the CDC said people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely travel within the United States at “low risk” but CDC Director Rochelle Walensky discouraged Americans from doing so because of high coronavirus cases nationwide.
“We know that right now we have a surging number of cases. I would advocate against general travel overall,” Walensky said. “We are not recommending travel at this time, especially for unvaccinated individuals.”
A collapse in tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic has sent Aruba toward one of the world’s biggest economic contractions, Reuters reports. It has prompted the island to try to diversify beyond its sun and sand image, namely by restarting a long-idled oil refinery.
Assistance from the Netherlands helped the Caribbean island finance a stimulus program, blunting the impact of the economy’s 25.5% contraction on workers and businesses in 2020. That downturn was behind only Libya, Maldives and Venezuela, International Monetary Fund (IMF) data show.
But those subsidies led to an increase in Aruba’s fiscal deficit to 17% of GDP, according to the IMF, prompting some experts and residents to argue the island should diversify its economy to ensure the government can balance its budget without Dutch assistance.
The 67% drop in tourism arrivals was devastating for small businesses like Aruba Bob Snorkeling, which used to run multiple tours a day before the pandemic hit.
“When Covid came around, they just came crashing down to once a day, once or twice a week, and then to nothing at all,” said instructor and part-owner Jesus Maduro, 30, while sipping coffee under the shade of solar panels in the company’s tree-filled backyard.
But the company kept up rent and electricity payments thanks to quarterly 4,000 florin ($2,247.19) subsidies from the government. Such payments helped keep company closures below 2019 levels, said Martijn Balkestein, executive director of Aruba’s Chamber of Commerce.
As a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba is receiving assistance from Amsterdam. The Netherlands has agreed to cover Aruba’s financing needs during the pandemic contingent on economic reforms, such as cuts in public sector salaries implemented last year.
But Dutch officials have said they ultimately expect Aruba, as well as other constituent Caribbean islands Curacao and Sint Maarten - which are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands but have autonomy over domestic affairs - to be self-reliant.
Fitch Ratings rates the island’s debt at BB, below investment grade. Aruba in 2012 issued a $253 million bond with a 4.625% yield maturing in 2023.
After closing its borders in March 2020, the island reopened for tourism last June for visitors who present a negative coronavirus test. The country has reported 10,324 Covid-19 cases and 92 deaths.
But the local business community is not banking on an immediate rebound in tourism to restore government finances. The Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association forecasts hotel occupancy will remain at less than half capacity in 2021.
“The pandemic shows very loud and clear to everybody living in Aruba that we cannot rely on one pillar,” Balkestein said.
To that end, authorities are in talks with a US company seeking to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal on the site of an oil refinery that has been idled since 2012. Another company is seeking to restart the plant itself.
In 2012, the refinery’s former operator, U.S.-based Valero Energy Corp, abandoned it over low profits.
Still, some residents hope its revival could change the fortunes of San Nicolas, the rundown refinery town on Aruba’s southeastern tip a half hour’s drive from the glitzy beachfront hotels and casinos dotting the island’s west coast, whose largely empty mural-flanked streets are lined with shuttered dive bars.
“You can see, it’s a ghost town,” said Kendrick Kock, a cell phone repair shop owner who saw sales drop 50% last year, prompting him to lay off his two employees. “If they don’t open the refinery soon, this would be case closed for San Nicolas.”
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Following four months of lockdown in Slovakia to combat one of the world’s highest per capita Covid death rates, shops re-opened on Monday bringing crowds onto the streets, AFP reports.
Despite the rainy weather, the streets of the capital Bratislava were filled as residents tried to catch up on shopping after the lengthy closures.
Hairdressers were in particularly high demand. Churches, museums, libraries and swimming pools also re-opened on Monday, as well as hotels.
People still have to wear masks inside shops and have to produce a negative antigen test to enter shops but these documents are now rarely checked.
“In the morning we started to control people but afterwards there were too many of them, so now we do it only randomly,” Marta Juriova, a shoe shop manager, told AFP.
The easing of restrictions comes as the country has recently seen a decrease in new coronavirus cases and deaths. On Monday, it reported 93 new infections, bringing the total to 376,067. The daily death toll was 66, bringing the total to 11,172.
Only weeks ago, Slovakia had the world’s highest rate of Covid deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
Reuters reports that Switzerland expanded its capacity to inoculate people against Covid-19 on Monday, opening mass vaccination centres in cities including Geneva and Lausanne.
The number of cases has continued to steadily rise in the country over the past weeks. It increased by 4,905 since Friday, according to figures published on Monday, taking the total to 637,304, with 16 additional deaths.
A large vaccination centre opened at Palexpo in Geneva, a convention centre that normally hosts the annual International Motor Show, cancelled this year and last due to the pandemic.
“The centre opens today with a capacity of 2,000 vaccinations per day and as soon as we’re able to increase that, it can quickly go to 3,000 or 4,000 shots per day, that is huge,” cantonal doctor Nathalie Vernaz told Reuters.
In Lausanne, the largest centre in the canton of Vaud opened at Palais de Beaulieu, which aims to vaccinate 14,000 people a week, a statement said.
Summary of recent events
- Ireland has recorded its first three cases of a coronavirus variant first detected in India, a senior health official said on Monday in a statement.
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Greece has suspended its planned rollout of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine pending review by the European Medicines Agency on 20 April.
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India will let all citizens aged 18 and over get coronavirus vaccinations from 1 May, the government said on Monday, as cases there surge to record highs.
- The UK reported four coronavirus deaths on Monday – the country’s lowest figure since September, government statistics show.
- The University of Oxford has launched a study wherein participants who have previously had Covid-19 are reinfected with the coronavirus.
- The US has expanded its vaccine eligibility to everyone aged 16 years and above, the country’s health agency said on Monday.
- The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the world has the means to bring the global Covid-19 pandemic under control in the coming months provided countries work “consistently and equitably”.
- The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched its vaccine rollout via the Covax scheme after it was delayed for more than a month over concerns about the AstraZeneca jab’s safety.
- Austria will not use Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine until the European Medicines Agency approves it, chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said.
That’s all from me for today – handing over to my colleague Lucy Campbell who will guide you through the remainder of the evening.
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India will scrap its 10% customs duty on imported Covid-19 vaccines, a senior government official told Reuters on Monday, as it tries to bolster stocks amid a staggering surge in infections.
The government has urged Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson to sell their vaccines to India as the it prepares to receive doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
The government is also said to be considering permitting private companies to import approved vaccines for sale on the market, with potential freedom to name their prices, the source told the news agency.
Mexico has registered a further 1,308 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 127 more fatalities, taking the country’s total to 2,306,910 infections and 212,466 deaths, according to Reuters.
The government has said the real number of cases is likely significantly higher, and separate data published recently suggested the actual death toll is at least 60% above the confirmed figure.
The government last month acknowledged that the country’s true death toll from the coronavirus pandemic stood above 321,000.
There is a shortage of testing in the country and many Mexicans have died at home without getting a test.
Ireland registers three Covid-19 cases of Indian variant
Ireland has recorded its first three cases of a coronavirus variant first detected in India, a senior health official said on Monday in a statement reported by Reuters.
Cillian De Gascun, the head of Ireland’s national virus laboratory, told journalists at least two of the cases were related to travel.
He said the variant was still classified as a “variant of interest” rather than a “variant of concern”.
The development comes as the UK adds India to its red list for travel amid the variant’s discovery that has seen cases surge. My colleague Ian Sample runs you through what we know about the variant so far:
The University of Oxford has launched a study wherein participants who have previously had Covid-19 are reinfected with the coronavirus, AFP reports:
The carefully controlled study will look at the kind of immune response mounted by the volunteers.
The scientists will know “exactly when the second infection occurs, and exactly how much virus they got,” Helen McShane, a professor of vaccinology, said in a statement. She said the trial “may help us to design tests that can accurately predict whether people are protected” after a prior infection.
Anyone who suffers symptoms will receive the Regeneron antibody treatment used to treat Covid-19 patients.
The University of Oxford’s “first-of-a-kind” tests are funded by the Wellcome Trust.
At the start of the trial, up to 64 fit and healthy volunteers aged 18 to 30 will be deliberately reinfected with the original Wuhan strain.
They will be quarantined for at least 17 days in a special hospital suite, having lung and heart scans. They will then have follow-up appointments and be monitored for a year.
In the UK, tens of thousands of people did not claim universal credit during the early part of the pandemic because they felt too ashamed to sign on benefits, often despite struggling to pay rent and bills, a study has found.
The perceived stigma around benefits – with some people feeling, for example, that they were for “dole scroungers” and “freeloaders” – meant many refused state help, or put off making a claim until they ran into serious difficulty.
Even more didn’t lodge a claim because they said they didn’t need benefits, thought the online-only benefit was too confusing or too much hassle, or because they believed – wrongly – that they would not be eligible.
The Democratic Republic of Congo began vaccinating priority groups on Monday after the programme’s launch was delayed for more than a month due to concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine’s safety, Reuters reports.
The country had delayed its rollout after several European countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca shot in response to reports of rare blood clots.
The government’s task force last week ruled the jab presented no risk to the population.
“It is an important moment to launch, with complete confidence, the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in our country today,” said health minister Eteni Longondo.
The minister was among the first to be vaccinated in the capital Kinshasa, alongside health workers, diplomats and members of other priority groups.
However, there are concerns that the rollout could be further hindered. A source close to the matter told Reuters that government was considering re-exporting up to 1 million doses if it is not able to administer them before they expire on 27 June.
Longondo said he was confident that all of the doses could be administered in time.
Updated
Italy reported 316 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday, compared with 358 a week ago.
The number of new cases rose by 8,864 – also a fall from last Monday’s 9,780.
The country is due to ease coronavirus measures in many areas from 26 April, the government said last week.
Restrictions on business and movement have been in place for most of 2021 in the country, which has suffered the seventh highest death toll in the world.
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The world has the means to bring the global Covid-19 pandemic under control in the coming months, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) told a daily news briefing on Monday, Reuters reports.
“We have the tools to bring this pandemic under control in a matter of months, if we apply them consistently and equitably,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
However, the WHO head also expressed concern over the “alarming rate” at which the virus is spreading among people aged 25-59 worldwide, potentially due to more transmissible variants.
“It took nine months to reach one million deaths; four months to reach two million, and three months to reach three million,” Ghebreyesus said.
The WHO chief has consistently warned against vaccine nationalism, arguing that worldwide vaccination at scale is hindered by poor cooperation between nations.
Israel has signed a deal to purchase millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer through 2022, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday in a statement reported by Reuters.
The new vaccines will protect people against virus variants, Netanyahu said adding that he hopes to sign a similar agreement with Moderna.
“This means that very soon we will have more than enough vaccines, both for adults and children,” he said.
Around 81% of Israeli residents aged 16 or above have been fully vaccinated.
The UK reported four coronavirus deaths on Monday – the country’s lowest figure since September, government statistics show.
There were 2,963 new infections reported, with 32.93 million people receiving a first Covid-19 vaccine dose. More than 10 million people have now received both doses.
Figures are often lower on Mondays because of reporting delays over the weekend.
Greece suspends rollout of Johnson & Johnson vaccine pending EMA review
Greece has suspended its planned rollout of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine pending review by the European Medicines Agency on 20 April, Reuters reports.
The country received an initial batch of 33,600 doses last week and expects 1.3 million doses by June. It was due to start administering the vaccine on Monday.
The European regulator last week said that it continues to believe the benefits of Johnson & Johnson’s jab outnumber the risks of side effects following reports of very rare blood clots.
An investigation of the cases is underway and will decide if regulatory action is needed.
Updated
India will be added to England’s travel “red list” from 4am on Friday, Matt Hancock has announced, amid the growth of cases in the UK of a variant first discovered in the country.
The health secretary said scientists were working to see if the variant has any “concerning characteristics” such as being more transmissible or resistant to vaccines, but the move had been taken on a “precautionary basis”.
The decision means most travel from India will be banned, with only UK citizens and residents allowed into the country, and all those who do must quarantine in a hotel.
That’s it from me — Rhi Storer — for now. I will now hand over back to my colleague Clea Skopeliti for the rest of the afternoon.
Activists, such as Greta Thunberg, are donating money to support COVAX to ensure a more equitable global COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
COVAX is a global initiative aimed at equal access to COVID-19 vaccines led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization.
About 1 in 4 people in high-income countries have received a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with just 1 in more than 500 in low-income countries.
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 19, 2021
My foundation will donate €100000 to support COVAX to ensure a more equitable global COVID-19 vaccine distribution. #VaccineEquity pic.twitter.com/JKxZC4s8F7
WHO argues coronavirus passports "not be required" for international travel
This just in from Reuters:
The World Health Organisation’s Emergency Committee recommended on Monday that proof of vaccination not be required as a condition of international travel, maintaining its stance on the issue under growing debate.
The independent experts, in a statement issued after meeting last Thursday, cited limited evidence on whether vaccination against COVID-19 reduces people’s ability to transmit the virus and “the persistent inequity in global vaccine distribution”.
States should recognise that requiring proof of vaccination deepens inequities and promotes unequal freedom of movement, the panel said.
Updated
India to open vaccine rollout to over-18s
India will let all citizens aged over 18 get coronavirus vaccinations from May 1, the government said on Monday, as cases there surge to record highs.
Vaccine manufacturers will need to supply 50% of doses to the federal government and the rest to the state and the open market at a pre-declared price, the government said.
It come as new coronavirus cases in India reached more than 273,000 on Monday, a doubling of the peak of new infections during the country’s first wave in September last year, while Boris Johnson was forced to cancel his India trip due to the coronavirus situation.
You can read more on this story below:
Updated
Hi there, this is Rhi Storer taking over from Clea Skopeliti for the next hour. Please send your contributions to rhi.storer@guardian.co.uk, or alternatively, you can message me on Twitter.
The Sputnik V vaccine has been found to be 97.6% effective against Covid-19 in a real-world assessment, a leading scientist in the development of the Russian jab has said in comments reported by Reuters.
During a presentation to the Russian Academy of Sciences, Denis Logunov said the assessment was based on data from 3.8 million people who had received the two-shot vaccine.
The figure is significantly higher than the 91.6% rate found in results from a large-scale trial of Sputnik V and published in The Lancet medical journal earlier this year.
The new effectiveness rate was calculated by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute using a database of people who received both doses of the vaccine, according to Logunov.
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The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched its vaccine rollout via the Covax scheme.
The country received 1,716,000 AstraZeneca doses through the programme last month.
#DRC🇨🇩 has just kicked off #COVID19 vaccination of high priority groups, thanks to #COVAX. Govt officials led the way, receiving the vaccine first.
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) April 19, 2021
The country received 1,716,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses through the COVAX Facility last month. pic.twitter.com/DJSbBcgoI9
US widens vaccine rollout to over-15s
The US has expanded its vaccine eligibility to everyone aged 16 years and above, the country’s health agency said on Monday in a statement reported by Reuters.
People over 15 living with underlying medical conditions should be among those offered the vaccine first, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Most US states have already expanded their rollouts to people in this cohort, with Alaska being the first state to lower statewide eligibility to 16.
More than half of US adults have received at least one shot, according to CDC.
Updated
Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Chile continue to lead the global vaccine rollout per capita, followed by Bahrain and the UK.
Israel has administered 119.32 doses per 100 people, while the UAE stands at 97.37. Chile has given 68.84 doses for every 100 people.
A Hungarian cake shop is selling a range of Covid-19 vaccine-themed sweets as light-hearted antidote to angst over the different types of vaccines being rolled out in the country, Reuters reports.
The Sulyan family’s patisserie in the small town of Veresegyhaz, north-east of Budapest, has created a range of mousses topped with decorative syringes: citrus yellow for AstraZeneca and a slightly darker yellow for Sinopharm, matcha green for Pfizer, orange for Sputnik V and a vivid blue for Moderna.
The pastry shop is selling the dessert range as Hungarians are debating the comparative merits of each jab, although people are not given a choice about which shot they receive.
“Here people have a choice, there is no registration, there are no side-effects,” said confectioner Katalin Benko at the Sulyan patisserie, adding that they did not mean to campaign for or against vaccination or in favour of one shot or another.
“Anyone can try these as the only possible side-effect would be a little smile on their face,” she said.
Updated
In what appears to be a very literal reading of forming a coronavirus bubble, a Belgian artist has been walking around Brussels encased in a “portable oasis” in the form of a mini-greenhouse resting on his shoulders.
Alain Verschueren, who is also a social worker, said he came up with the idea 15 years ago after being inspired by Tunisia’s oases, Reuters reports. With face coverings mandatory in Brussels, the artist decided to take his invention to the streets.
Belgian artist Alain Verschueren wears his “Portable Oasis” while performing in a street, saying he wanted to be in his bubble in the middle of the city. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters
“It was about creating a bubble in which I could lock myself in, to cut myself off a world that I found too dull, too noisy or smelly,” Verschueren, 61, said, adding that he has asthma and finds breathing within his contraption more comfortable than wearing a face mask.
Belgian artist Alain Verschueren wears his “Portable Oasis” while performing in a street, saying he wanted to be in his bubble in the middle of the city. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters
“As time went by, I noticed that people were coming up to me and talking to me. This isolation became much more a way of connecting,” he said.
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Many Indians are blasting prime minister Narendra Modi for holding rallies while coronavirus cases surge, leaving hospital beds and medical oxygen in short supply, AFP reports.
Amid a worsening crisis that has seen bodies pile up in crematoriums, hashtags including #ResignModi and #SuperSpreaderModi have trended on Twitter over the last two days.
India is currently recording more new coronavirus infections than any other country as the pandemic’s second wave batters the world’s second-most populous country.
Despite the worsening situation, Modi and his ministers have been campaigning heavily ahead of state elections in West Bengal.
“You hold rallies as people head to funerals,” Akhilesh Jha, the data head of the federal Department of Science & Technology, wrote in Hindi on LinkedIn.
“People will hold you accountable, you keep doing your rallies.”
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People under 30 were less compliant with Covid rules over the past year, according to survey data from more than 50,000 adults in the UK.
While the still to be peer-reviewed analysis suggests most people followed lockdown and social distancing rules, one in seven – about 15% – reported decreasing levels of compliance over time, particularly during the second wave.
The US drugs regulator has asked Emergent BioSolutions Inc to stop manufacturing vaccines at its plant in Baltimore after the factory produced millions of ruined doses earlier this month, Reuters reports.
The Food and Drug Administration’s request is the latest setback for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the use of which has been suspended while regulators review potential links to rare blood clots.
At the beginning of April, the plant, which produces both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson shots and was run by Emergent BioSolutions, ruined 15 million Johnson & Johnson doses after the two vaccines’ ingredients were mixed.
Following the incident, the government had placed Johnson & Johnson in charge of the facility and stopped AstraZeneca from using the plant.
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Austria will not use Sputnik V without EMA approval
Austria will not use Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine until the European Medicines Agency approves it, chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said in comments reported by Reuters.
The country has been in negotiations with Russia to buy 1m vaccine doses, but an order is yet to be announced.
Kurz had until recently avoided clarifying whether the country would wait for approval from European regulator, or, like Hungary, introduce the jab without the green light from the EMA.
Hungary is the only EU country to have administered the vaccine, though Slovakia has also ordered doses.
“We hope it will quickly be approved by EMA as every extra vaccine dose helps us save lives,” Kurz said in a statement, adding that the government had agreed to make the order.
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Slovakia has started reopening parts of its economy, with hairdressers, pools and zoos among those to welcome their first customers in months on Monday, AFP reports.
Emerging from its worst wave of the pandemic, the nation of 5.5 million also opened churches, libraries, and some shops, although indoor dining remains banned.
Negative Covid-19 tests are required to enter building including shops and churches.
Slovaks are also now permitted to take outdoor trips away from their home districts.
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Greece has removed its quarantine requirement for travellers coming from the European Union, the UK, the USA, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Serbia and Israel, according to media reports.
Instead of quarantining upon arrival, travellers will have to show documentation proving they have been fully vaccinated or proof of a negative PCR test administered 72 hours before landing in Greece.
Travellers were previously required to quarantine for seven days.
It comes despite a surge in infection levels in recent weeks, with dozens of deaths and more than 1,500 new cases each day.
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Portugal began its latest phase of relaxing restrictions on Monday, reopening shopping centres, secondary schools and universities as well as allowing indoor dining, AFP reports.
This is the third of four phases through which the country will exit lockdown. Last month, primary schools were reopened, followed by outdoor hospitality.
The final phase – which will include the resumption of public outdoor events – will begin in two weeks’ time, if the situation improves, the government said on Monday.
Portugal has administered 2.5m vaccine doses, including 650,000 second shots, to its 10 million people. Following the rollout and a two-month lockdown, the number of cases stands at around 500 a day, compared with a peak of nearly 13,000 at the end of January.
Updated
Today so far …
- Thierry Breton, the European commissioner responsible for the bloc’s vaccine supply, has said the EU may not renew its contract with AstraZeneca because of persistent shortfalls in the Anglo-Swedish company’s deliveries.
- India’s capital New Delhi will be under a strict lockdown for six days starting tonight. The announcement has come from the city’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who added that the healthcare system was at a breaking point because of the worsening Covid-19 outbreak.
- Reports say that India is set to accept the Serum Institute of India’s (SII) request for a grant of 30bn rupees ($400m) to boost its capacity to make the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
- British prime minister Boris Johnson has cancelled a planned trip to India next week over Covid concerns.
- Spain’s health ministry is considering delaying second doses of some coronavirus vaccines for under 80-year-olds to maximise the number of people who have received at least one injection.
- A Greek cargo ship sailing from Egypt has been quarantined in Crete after a sailor was found dead and 10 others tested positive for coronavirus.
- Thailand reported 1,390 new coronavirus cases today, slowing slightly after a run of record daily highs. A third of the country’s cases have been recorded this month alone.
- Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund has said today it has agreed with Hualan Biological Bacterin to produce more than 100m doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 in China.
- And after a year of closed borders, Wellington airport in New Zealand was filled with emotional reunions as hundreds of travellers touched down on the first day of quarantine-free travel from Australia.
That’s your lot from me today. I’ll be back tomorrow. Clea Skopeliti will be here shortly to cover global coronavirus news, or you can follow the latest UK covid news with Andrew Sparrow over here.
Updated
India is set to accept the Serum Institute of India’s (SII) request for a grant of 30 billion rupees ($400 million) to boost its capacity to make the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, a government source with knowledge of the matter has told Reuters.
SII, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, had sought the funds to increase its monthly capacity to more than 100 million doses by the end of May, from up to 70 million currently.
“We are clear that we will give whatever support is necessary for development and boosting availability of vaccines in the country,” the source said yesterday.
As coronavirus infections overwhelm the country, the government is struggling to meet demand for vaccine doses. It has now fast-tracked imports and is also trying to expand production of its only domestically developed shot, Covaxin. Another source close to the company told Reuters late last week SII was expecting the money to come through.
Over 1.4 million long-term care residents and employees contracted Covid-19 in the US, and more than 181,000 deaths occurred as a result, according to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. An analysis by the Associated Press estimated another 40,000 excess deaths occurred in these facilities between March 2020 and November 2020 that were not from Covid-19.
Charles Sloan, a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home in Detroit, Michigan, for 10 years, characterized the pandemic’s impact on nursing homes as a “storm”.
“We made a lot of sacrifices,” said Sloan. “There were staff who left, residents who lost their lives, staff members who lost their lives, people who contracted the virus.”
Though he noted things had calmed down due to the rapid vaccine rollout in the US, there needs to be greater recognition of what workers in healthcare went through during the pandemic and greater investment in healthcare.
“We really need to look at the healthcare industry in a completely different way,” added Sloan. “Workers have made sacrifices and tireless efforts to try to get things back on track. We just want people to be remembered and we want to have procedures in place so that we don’t have to go through this again.”
Read more of Michael Sainato’s report here: US workers who risked their lives to care for elderly demand change
Reuters have picked up this story from the Spanish press. They say that Spain’s health ministry is considering delaying second doses of some coronavirus vaccines for under 80-year-olds to maximise the number of people who have received at least one injection. El Mundo newspaper reported it this morning, citing an official document.
Under the proposal, patients would receive a second shot of vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna after eight weeks rather than the current three, El Mundo said.
The ministry has not given any official comment on the story yet.
Updated
Jessica Glenza brings us this from the US today – Fear that Johnson & Johnson pause could heighten vaccine hesitancy in US:
Among authorities in rural, conservative and vaccine-hesitant states, the hope is the Johnson & Johnson pause will be as brief as possible, while also allowing for a thorough investigation and communication of findings.
The White House has argued the pause will not substantially impact national vaccine distribution rate because it represented the minority of doses. Nevertheless, the impact could be marked for the health departments and people who hope to rely on this specific vaccine.
The US will likely move to resume Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine this coming week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some very rare blood clot cases, the government’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.
Dr Anthony Fauci said he expects a decision when advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) meet Friday to discuss the pause in J&J’s single-dose vaccine. “I would be very surprised if we don’t have a resumption in some form by Friday,” he said.
The vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen is the most recently authorized vaccine. Initially, public health officials were concerned people would need convincing to use this latest vaccine. Janssen’s trial results, while not comparable to those from Moderna and Pfizer, at first glance appear to show a lower efficacy rate. All vaccines are highly effective at preventing Covid-19 hospitalization and death.
But to the surprise of many, people asked for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by name. People concerned about safety saw it as more traditional technology. And, unlike Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines, it was also one-and-done, and has a less onerous profile for common flu-like side effects.
For people who worried about the novelty of mRNA vaccines, who would have trouble getting a day off work to get vaccinated or recover, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine held significant advantages.
Read more of Jessica Glenza’s report here: Fear that Johnson & Johnson pause could heighten vaccine hesitancy in US
EU may not renew vaccine contract with AstraZeneca over delivery shortfalls
Thierry Breton, the European commissioner responsible for the bloc’s vaccine supply, has said the EU may not renew its contract with AstraZeneca because of persistent shortfalls in the Anglo-Swedish company’s deliveries.
“We are pragmatic,” Breton told French TV station BFM-TV. “My priority, as the person in charge of vaccine deliveries, is that those we have contracts with deliver the quantities stipulated at the time stipulated.”
Breton said AstraZeneca had committed to supply 120m doses to the EU in the first quarter of 2021 but had delivered just 30m, while the company had already cut its 180m-dose second-quarter commitment to 70m. Its contract with the bloc expires at the end of June.
“Nothing is definitive and we will continue to negotiate,” Breton said, adding that any final decision would “not be related to an epidemiological or medical reason – the data shows the AstraZeneca vaccine’s benefits are huge compared with the illness”.
The commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced last week that the bloc would receive an extra 50m doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the second quarter, partly making up the AstraZeneca shortfall, and confirmed the commission was in talks for a new contract for 1.8bn doses in 2022 and 2023.
“We need to focus on technologies that have proven their worth,” von der Leyen said, adding that Pfizer/BioNTech “has proven to be a reliable partner. It has delivered on its commitments, and it is responsive to our needs.”
Updated
Just a quick note that it has just been announced that British prime minister Boris Johnson has cancelled his planned trip to India over Covid concerns. Andrew Sparrow has the latest:
Greek ship quarantined in Crete after Covid death, infections
A Greek cargo ship sailing from Egypt has been quarantined in Crete after a sailor was found dead and 10 others tested positive for coronavirus.
AFP report that the Heroic arrived in southern Crete from Port Said in Egypt on Sunday.
“A sailor was found dead in his cabin by the captain … and one of the mechanics contaminated by Covid-19 has been hospitalised in Rhodes,” a coastguard official said.
Nine others tested positive for coronavirus. The crew comprises 13 Filipinos and eight Greeks. The ship was carrying cargo to Colombia.
Greece, home to 11 million people, has witnessed dozens of coronavirus deaths daily in recent weeks and over 1,500 infections each day.
Updated
Confirmation from PA Media that the UK’s health secretary Matt Hancock will make a statement in parliament at around 3.30pm today to update MPs on the latest developments in the battle with Covid-19.
Andrew Sparrow has just launched our UK covid and politics news live blog for today, you can find that here:
I’ll be continuing here with global coronavirus news.
Updated
Australian PM flags fast-tracking AstraZeneca vaccinations for over-50s
Sarah Martin and Christopher Knaus with the latest from Australia:
Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has flagged bringing forward Covid vaccinations for over-50s while hosing down hopes of a swift escalation of the vaccine program to allow the reopening of borders.
Ahead of a meeting of the Australian national cabinet on Monday afternoon, Morrison suggested states could implement different quarantining regimes once international travel resumed, but warned it would be “many months” before borders would be relaxed given the pandemic was “raging” overseas.
Amid calls for the government to ramp up the vaccination program, Morrison said national cabinet would consider how it could fast-track the program for groups most at risk in an “orderly way”, flagging the likely inclusion of the over-50s into the 1B priority group.
“There are strong, strong arguments for the bring[ing] forward of over-50s with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is a safe and effective vaccine for those aged over 50 and particularly important for those aged over 70 who are already in that priority,” Morrison said.
“We know if you’re aged over 70 you’re at terrible risk … but the option of bringing forward over-50s is being discussed.”
The government has been forced into a “recalibration” of the vaccine program following health advice of a low risk of blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 50. Following the decision to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for the under-50s, the government ordered an extra 20m doses of the mRNA vaccine, which are expected to arrive in the final quarter of this year.
However, following calls from the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, for a “less rigid” rollout program that allowed for mass vaccination hubs for all age groups – including with the AstraZeneca jabs for those who want it – Morrison pushed back.
He said mass vaccination hubs for the under-50s would be better suited for an anticipated “12-week sprint” in the lead-up to Christmas once supplies of the Pfizer and Novavax vaccine became available.
Read more of Sarah Martin and Christopher Knaus’ report here: Scott Morrison flags fast-tracking AstraZeneca vaccinations for over-50s
A very quick snap from Reuters here that Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund has said today it has agreed with Hualan Biological Bacterin to produce more than 100 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 in China. RDIF said the two sides were committed to a long-term partnership in vaccine production.
It is thought that China has been seeking to diversify its vaccine supplies after a top Beijing official appeared to admit that the efficacy of the country’s domestically produced vaccines is low – although he subsequently rowed back on those comments.
The efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine at preventing symptomatic infections has been found to be as low as 50.4% by researchers in Brazil.
Russia reported 8,589 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 2,279 in the capital Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,710,690. The country also reported another 346 deaths, raising the official toll to 105,928.
Updated
After a year of closed borders, Wellington airport in New Zealand was filled with emotional reunions as hundreds of travellers touched down on the first day of quarantine-free travel from Australia. Share the joy in these video clips.
Pub and restaurant bosses launch legal battle over England's Covid rules
A UK high court judge will this week consider evidence as hospitality bosses try to force the UK government to bring forward the reopening date for pubs and restaurants indoors. The case is being brought by Sacha Lord, night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester and a co-founder of Parklife festival, and Hugh Osmond, the founder of Punch Taverns and a former boss at Pizza Express.
Pubs and restaurants in England were allowed to welcome customers again from 12 April after a national lockdown, but only in outdoor areas. Non-essential shops were allowed to reopen on the same day.
The government has set out a timetable aiming to allow hospitality customers indoors in England no earlier than 17 May, although still with restrictions. Other nations of the UK have varying timetables for reopening.
(March 8, 2021) Step 1, part 1
In effect from 8 March, all pupils and college students returned fully. Care home residents can receive one regular, named visitor.
(March 29, 2021) Step 1, part 2
In effect from 29 March, outdoor gatherings allowed of up to six people, or two households if this is larger, not just in parks but also gardens. Outdoor sport for children and adults allowed. The official stay at home order ends, but people will be encouraged to stay local. People will still be asked to work from home where possible, with no overseas travel allowed beyond the current small number of exceptions.
(April 12, 2021) Step 2
In effect from 12 April, non-essential retail, hair and nail salons, and some public buildings such as libraries and commercial art galleries can reopen. Most outdoor venues can open, including pubs and restaurants, but only for outdoor tables and beer gardens. Customers will have to be seated but there will be no need to have a meal with alcohol.
Also reopening are settings such as zoos and theme parks. However, social contact rules will still apply here, so no indoor mixing between households and limits on outdoor mixing. Indoor leisure facilities such as gyms and pools can also open, but again people can only go alone or with their own household. Reopening of holiday lets with no shared facilities is also allowed, but only for one household. Funerals can have up to 30 attendees, while weddings, receptions and wakes can have 15.
(May 17, 2021) Step 3
Again with the caveat "no earlier than 17 May", depending on data, vaccination levels and current transmission rates.
Step 3 entails that most mixing rules are lifted outdoors, with a limit of 30 people meeting in parks or gardens. Indoor mixing will be allowed, up to six people or, if it is more people, two households. Indoor venues such as the inside of pubs and restaurants, hotels and B&Bs, play centres, cinemas and group exercise classes will reopen. The new indoor and outdoor mixing limits will remain for pubs and other hospitality venues.
For sport, indoor venues can have up to 1,000 spectators or half capacity, whichever is lower; outdoors the limit will be 4,000 people or half capacity, whichever is lower. Very large outdoor seated venues, such as big football stadiums, where crowds can be spread out, will have a limit of 10,000 people, or a quarter full, whichever is fewer. Weddings will be allowed a limit of 30 people, with other events such as christenings and barmitzvahs also permitted.
This will be the earliest date at which international holidays could resume, subject to a separate review.
(June 21, 2021) Step 4
No earlier than 21 June, all legal limits will be removed on mixing, and the last sectors to remain closed, such as nightclubs, will reopen. Large events can take place.
Peter Walker Political correspondent
When announcing England’s reopening, Boris Johnson argued that “we can’t be complacent” in reopening the economy, and that caution was necessary, despite the speed of the UK’s vaccination programme. About 32.8 million British adults had received a first dose of a vaccine by Saturday.
But the hospitality bosses bringing the court challenge argue there is no justification or scientific basis for hospitality to be kept closed for five weeks after non-essential retailers in England were allowed to serve customers indoors from 12 April.
Osmond on Monday said that the government’s data showed that hospitality was “not responsible” for the spread of infections, although he acknowledged that the action would have to beat a “high bar” in proving that the government’s actions were not reasonable.
New Delhi to impose six day lockdown after India's record case rise
Meanwhile, in India itself, Reuters report that the capital New Delhi will be under a strict lockdown for six days starting tonight. The announcement has come from the city’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who added that the healthcare system was at a breaking point because of the worsening Covid-19 outbreak.
The city was also facing acute shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen supplies and key medicines such as the anti-viral Remdesivir, Kejriwal said.
India reported a record rise in coronavirus infections of 273,810 on Monday, taking its overall case load past 15 million.
Updated
Questions about the so-called “India variant” – more properly designated B.1.617 – are dominating the UK media round this morning.
Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, has told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the variant of the virus should be “watched carefully” but it is “probably not at the top tier of mutations that generate the most concern”.
He said “This variant has a couple of mutations that are among those that we think are important that should be watched carefully, but they’re actually probably not at the very kind of top tier of mutations, for example in the B.1.117 – or Kent variant – or the South African variant, that generate the most concern.
“And in terms of spread, clearly this variant has increased in frequency in India around the same time as their very large and tragic recent wave, but I just don’t think we know yet whether there’s a cause and effect relationship – is this variant driving that spread? Or is it happening at the same time perhaps due to a coincidence?”
PA Media notes that on the same programme, Prof Andrew Hayward, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London, said: “The evidence of increased transmissibility and escape from immunity is circumstantial. That said, it’s going to take a number of weeks at least before that evidence gets firmed up and we find out more.
“Certainly some countries and areas have taken the view that that’s enough for them to be quite concerned – so for example, Hong Kong has put on a two-week travel ban, which will allow them to find out a little bit more.”
Asked if he would be in favour of India being put on the travel red list, he passed the buck a little, saying: “It’s a balance of harms and benefits and the challenge with that is that the level of harm is quite high because we’re highly connected with India – there’s a lot of economic interaction as well as family and social interaction.
“And on the other hand, what we have is an unknown level of risk – my own preference in all of this is to err on the side of caution and to act sooner rather than later. But ultimately, that’s going to be a political decision.”
Updated
Thailand reported 1,390 new coronavirus cases today, slowing slightly after a run of record daily highs. A third of the country’s cases have been recorded this month alone.
Reuters report that the new infections were down by a fifth from Sunday’s record 1,767 cases, which the coronavirus taskforce said was due to measures to control the spread and requests for people to avoid travel and gatherings.
“Measures we have introduced for next two weeks will reduce cases, travel and risky activities,” Apisamai Srirangsan, a spokeswoman for the taskforce, told a briefing. Schools, bars and massage parlours have been closed until next month and alcohol sales banned in restaurants.
Three new deaths were reported, taking total fatalities to 104.
Prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is confident the current measures to prevent super-spreading events would contain the rate of infections, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said earlier today.
“The government decided not to implement ‘lockdown’ and ‘curfew’ to avoid larger impact to the public. Nevertheless, everyone is urged to strictly comply with the Covid-19 measures,” he said in a statement.
The government said it would implement additional economic stimulus measures as appropriate.
Updated
Indian variant likely to 'become a variant of concern' in the UK – immunology expert
PA Media has this just now, quoting Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London. He’s been on ITV’s Good Morning Britain show, and said he expects that the Indian variant of the virus which causes Covid-19 will become a “variant of concern”, which would lead to India being placed on the Government’s “red list” of hotel quarantine countries.
He said: “I am concerned about all the variants. I think our road map is going well and at the moment, in this country, we are doing rather well, enjoying unlocking - but out there there is the Indian variant, the South African, Brazilian etc, and they do pose a threat.”
He said that some people in the population are still vulnerable who can “still be caught out by variants like this”.
Altmann added: “At the moment, this particular variant (from India) is called a variant under investigation, not a variant of concern because it hasn’t been escalated to that level yet. My assumption from everything I’ve seen is that it will become a variant of concern. When it becomes a variant of concern, I’d be quite surprised if India wasn’t on the red list.”
At the weekend, opposition party Labour urged prime minister Boris Johnson to “set an example” and cancel his forthcoming trip to India because of the Covid risk. Steve Reed, the shadow communities secretary, said because of the threat posed by new variants of the virus, the prime minister should abandon plans to fly to India later this month.
Updated
Cambodia accused of using Covid to edge towards ‘totalitarian dictatorship’
Cambodians who break Covid rules could face 20 years in prison under a new law that human rights groups say takes the country “a step towards a totalitarian dictatorship”.
Prime minister Hun Sen warned that Cambodia was “on the brink of death” as a two-week lockdown was imposed in Phnom Penh on Thursday to try to control the spread of the virus.
The law means those convicted could face fines of up to $5,000 (£3,627) as well as prison terms, and grants the government the power to ban or restrict any gathering or demonstration indefinitely.
“For the Cambodian people, the Covid-19 pandemic has been not only a public health and economic tragedy, but also a human rights disaster courtesy of a government determined to move the country step by step towards totalitarian dictatorship,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch.
Sopheap Chak, executive director at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the new law, which was introduced last month, lacked transparency, used “vague and broad terminology” and had no oversight.
She said: “The law’s ill-defined offences open the door to subjective interpretation and arbitrary enforcement, and the disproportionate criminal sanctions they carry represent a threat for critical and dissenting voices in Cambodia, against whom the repressive legislative framework has frequently been used as a weapon in recent years.”
Cambodia has among the fewest coronavirus cases in Asia, but an outbreak that started in late February has seen cases rise to 5,480 within two months and 38 fatalities.
Read more of Sarah Johnson’s report: Cambodia accused of using Covid to edge towards ‘totalitarian dictatorship’
Overnight Dan Diamond at the Washington Post has had this report about new scams being identified in the US around vaccination documentation. He writes:
One listing offered eBay customers an “Authentic CDC Vaccination Record Card” for $10.99. Another promised the same but for $9.49. The listings were posted by the same eBay user using an account registered to a man who works as a pharmacist in the Chicago area — and all were illegal, federal regulators say. The account sold more than 100 blank vaccination cards in the past two weeks, according to the Washington Post’s review of purchases linked to it.
The listings are a “perfect example” of burgeoning scams involving coronavirus vaccination cards that could undermine people’s safety, as well as the success of the nation’s largest mass vaccination effort, said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein. Individuals might use them to misrepresent their vaccination status at school, work or in various living and travel situations, potentially exposing others to risk.
Stein, who led a recent effort with 47 colleagues demanding that eBay and other e-commerce platforms crack down on the scams, pointed to the FBI’s warning that anyone who makes or buys a fake vaccine card is breaking the law, and said he would consider prosecution, too.
“This is a concern that is national and bipartisan,” Stein added, saying the spread of fake vaccination cards “will extend the pandemic, resulting in more people sick and more people dead.”
Read more here: Washington Post – ‘Ripe for fraud’: Coronavirus vaccination cards support burgeoning scams
One of the defining aspects of the coronavirus pandemic is that depending on personal circumstances, people have suffered very different impacts from Covid restrictions. Jessica Murray reports for us on those in the UK who are still isolated and shielding:
Sarah Spoor and her two adult sons have spent the past 14 months shielding in a one-bedroom apartment, with no garden, in west London. Her youngest sleeps in the bedroom, his brother has a pull-out bed in the kitchen, while Spoor takes the living room in another fold-out bed.
All three have complex medical conditions that leave them vulnerable to Covid, and despite the strain of living in such close quarters, they don’t feel safe leaving home any time soon.
“If we catch it, we die; it’s that simple. In the 14 months, I have probably been out about four times, and that’s usually in some dire emergency,” said Spoor, who provides round-the-clock care for her sons, 20 and 24, after their medical team decided it was too risky for their usual carers to continue visiting.
“We’re having to sleep in shifts. I’m probably having three to four hours’ broken sleep a day. It’s like a wartime situation. All we’re doing is just surviving and I’m not unique; that’s what other carers are doing.”
Spoor said she has looked on in horror as people have flooded to shops, outdoor bars and restaurants, as part of lockdown easing last week, even while case rates remain high in some parts of the country and surge testing is under way for variants.
“It’s horrific, the pandemic is not over, where did anyone get that idea from? The whole thing is madness. I just look longingly at Taiwan, China, New Zealand, Australia [where cases are low or nonexistent], I wish we could just ship out there for a couple of years.”
The family has yet to be vaccinated as their medical conditions, which include type 1 diabetes, adrenal insufficiency, pernicious anemia and thyroid failure, mean they are likely to experience a severe reaction leading to hospital admission, and they are concerned about the risk of catching Covid in hospital when cases are still prevalent.
Read more of Jessica Murray’s report here: ‘If we catch Covid, we die’: UK shielders reflect on still feeling unsafe
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.
Here is an extremely joyful piece my my colleague Michael McGowan on the start of the Australia-New Zealand travel bubble:
Hong Kong bans flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines for 2 weeks
Hong Kong will suspend flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines from April 20 for two weeks after the N501Y mutant Covid strain was detected in the Asian financial hub for the first time, authorities said in a statement late on Sunday.
The three countries would be classified as “extremely high risk” after there had been multiple imported cases carrying the strain into Hong Kong in the past 14 days, the government said.
The city reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, 29 of which were imported, marking the highest daily toll since March 15. Hong Kong has recorded over 11,600 cases in total and 209 deaths.
Hong Kong authorities have been urging residents to get vaccinated for coronavirus with only around 9% of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents vaccinated so far.
The government last week widened the city’s vaccine scheme to include those aged between 16 to 29 years old for the first time, as they aim to boost lacklustre demand for inoculations amongst residents.
Airlines impacted by Hong Kong’s ban on travellers from India, Pakistan and the Philippines include carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines, Vistara and Cebu Pacific.
UK study to expose young people to virus for second time
The immune response needed to protect people against reinfection with the coronavirus will be explored in a new human challenge trial, researchers have revealed.
Human challenge trials involve deliberately exposing healthy people to a disease-causing organism in a carefully controlled manner, and have proved valuable in understanding and tackling myriad conditions from malaria to tuberculosis and gonorrhoea.
The first human challenge trials for Covid began this year, with the study – a partnership led by researchers at Imperial College London among others – initially looking at the smallest amount of virus needed to cause infection among people who have not had Covid before.
Now researchers at the University of Oxford have announced that they have gained research ethics approval for a new human challenge trial involving people who have previously had coronavirus. Recruitment is expected to start in the next couple of weeks.
“The point of this study is to determine what kind of immune response prevents reinfection,” said Helen McShane, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, and chief investigator on the study.
McShane said the team would measure the levels of various components of participants’ immune response – including T-cells and antibodies – and then track whether participants became reinfected when exposed to the virus:
Updated
India cases top 15m
India reported a record rise in coronavirus infections of 273,810 on Monday, taking its overall case load past 15 million, second only to the United States globally. The country’s deaths from Covid rose by a record 1,619 to reach a total of 178,769, according to health ministry data.
Meanwhile in the UK, healthy, young volunteers who have previously had Covid-19 will be deliberately exposed to the virus for a second time to see how the immune system reacts as part of a new study.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
India reported a record rise in coronavirus infections of 273,810 on Monday, taking its overall case load past 15 million, second only to the United States globally. The country’s deaths from Covid rose by a record 1,619 to reach a total of 178,769, according to health ministry data.
Meanwhile in the UK, healthy, young volunteers who have previously had Covid-19 will be deliberately exposed to the virus for a second time to see how the immune system reacts as part of a new study.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- Half of all adults in the US have received at least one Covid-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, while nearly one third of all adults (32.5%) have been fully vaccinated.
- Dr Anthony Fauci expects the use of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine to be resumed in the US after it was temporarily suspended, he said.
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Turkey recorded a further 318 deaths from Covid-19 in the space of a day, its highest daily total so far, data from the Health Ministry showed on Sunday, as well as 55,802 new infections.
- Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday he would send federal healthcare workers to help Toronto and the province of Ontario battle a third wave of infections that has forced shutdowns of schools and businesses.
- More hospital beds will be freed for Covid-19 patients, India’s health ministry said Sunday, as states appealed for additional supplies of oxygen and treatment drugs amid a worsening wave of infections gripping the country.
- The UK recorded 10 further deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test on Sunday, the lowest death toll since September, as well as 1,882 new infections.
- A “huge” backlog of patients in English hospitals caused by the coronavirus pandemic could take up to five years to clear, NHS Providers has said. Around 4.7 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of February - the highest figure since records began in August 2007 - according to data from NHS England.
- Muslims hoping to perform the Umra pilgrimage to Mecca must be vaccinated against coronavirus, Saudi state TV said on Sunday.
