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Summary of the key developments
- New Zealand is investigating two positive cases of Covid-19 after the South African variant of the virus was confirmed in one of the country’s major cities.
- France reports 26,916 new confirmed covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, from 22,086 on Tuesday. The biggest one-day jump since November when the country was in its second lockdown.
- In Lisbon, Portugal, hospitals are packed with Covid-19 patients and is struggling to meet the oxygen demand. The head of the doctors association has said that Germany has sent military medics to the country to see how they can help.
- As the Euros and the Tokyo Olympics were both pushed for summer this year, the International Olympic Committee president is confident that the games will go on but fans may not due to safety reasons.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have said that the US had administered 24,652,634 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Wednesday morning and distributed 47,230,950 doses.
- The Whitehouse coronavirus task force has warned that Americans will have to wait months for a vaccine.
- The singer Engelbert Humperdinck, 84, has tested positive for coronavirus, and asked for “prayers, good energy, love and support” after the virus had “found a way into [his] home.”
- The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has said on Wednesday that over 1 million people have died from Covid-19 in North and South America.
- The Irish deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said in an interview with Virgin Media television that its “very unlikely” that Irish people will be able to travel outside of the country this summer.
- Authorities in Madrid are halting the vaccine roll-out after delays in shipment are threatening supplies in Catalonia, Spanish authorities said.
Authorities in Madrid are halting the vaccine roll-out after delays in shipment are threatening supplies in Catalonia, Spanish authorities said.
The suspension is expected to last for two weeks as the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, said last week that there would be a temporary delay in distribution lines across Europe.
Reuters reports:
Spain’s 14-day incidence of the virus hit a record 900 cases per 100,000 people on Wednesday and the Health Ministry reported 40,285 new infections and 492 deaths.
Officials in Madrid and Catalonia said at the current pace it would be impossible to reach the national target of 70% of Spain’s 47 million population vaccinated by July.
Catalan health secretary Josep Maria Argimon said the region would use up all its stockpile of vaccines in the coming days and will have to administer second shots later than planned due to supply delays, citing an undelivered shipment of the Moderna vaccine scheduled for this week as one example.
The affluent northeastern region will issue a new request for 30,000 vaccine doses that it expects to administer starting on Feb. 4, Argimon told a news briefing.
The Irish deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said in an interview with Virgin Media television that its “very unlikely” that Irish people will be able to travel outside of the country this summer.
“I don’t like to be the one to break the bad news,” he said. “But I think it’s very unlikely that people will be able to go on foreign holidays this summer even if vaccines turn out to be as effective as we hope they can be,”
Varadkar added that even with the current rules in place, it’s against the law to go on a foreign holiday.
Updated
The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has said on Wednesday that over 1 million people have died from Covid-19 in North and South America.
According to a Reuters tally, there have been over 100 million cases and 2.1 million deaths worldwide, with 44 million of those cases coming from the Americas.
PAHO head Carissa Etienne said in a virtual briefing that throughout North America there is growing pressure on hospital capacity where 80% of ICU beds are used for Covid-19 patients.
A similar situation is happening in Brazil, with three-quarters of ICU beds occupied in many Brazilian states.
On Wednesday, Brazil registered 1,283 new Covid-19 related deaths and 63,520 additional new cases, the health ministry said.
Brazil, home to the second-highest number of coronavirus deaths, globally, after the United States, has registered over 220,000 death and nearly 9 million cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Reuters reports:
Only a few cases of the British and South African mutations have been found, mainly on travellers, and they do not appear to be spreading in the region, according to PAHO but the Amazon variant that has emerged in the Brazilian city of Manaus does appear to have a high transmission rate.
PAHO expects the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines made available for poorer countries through the U.N.-led COVAX facility to start in March, with some 164 million doses.
The COVAX facility is expected to deploy 2 billion doses worldwide.
Updated
The singer Engelbert Humperdinck, 84, has tested positive for coronavirus. The singer asked for “prayers, good energy, love and support” after the virus had “found a way into our home.”
The singers’ agent has said that Humperdinck is currently asymptomatic, and, is staying in his home in Los Angeles, US.
The singer posted on his Twitter account informing his fans about his positive test result saying:
#tuesdaymuseday #prayers #COVID19 1-26-21
— Engelbert Humperdinck (@ehumperdinck) January 27, 2021
Dear Friends,
After nearly a year of an abundance of caution and care,
Covid has caught up with us and found a way into our home...
Now we must not let a positive result bring a negative mindset but I must say I could use your help in this department. We are asking for prayers, good energy, love and support to be sent our way.
— Engelbert Humperdinck (@ehumperdinck) January 27, 2021
I usually the start the ball rolling on #tuesdaymuseday but the platform is yours.
Every night we do prayers at 8pm for my wife. Now, I have to FaceTime from my room. Last night my daughter flew in with cases of photographs to reflect upon and keep us strong through our recovery. Our son Scott was on FaceTime prayers, our son Jason is in a separate room...
— Engelbert Humperdinck (@ehumperdinck) January 27, 2021
but on the 8pm call to God, and our son Brad, who is always here and checking up, is on call with supplies... ready, willing and able to do anything.
— Engelbert Humperdinck (@ehumperdinck) January 27, 2021
My biggest “ask” is for my darling wife, Patricia (Popea) She has been through so much and does whatever it takes. She is an unbelievable woman of strength.
— Engelbert Humperdinck (@ehumperdinck) January 27, 2021
Please also keep our wonderful caregivers in your prayers.
Thank you,
Engelbert pic.twitter.com/OATgEabVcJ
Humperdinck also represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 with the song Love Will Set You Free, finishing second-last
Americans will have to wait “months” before everyone who wants a Covid-19 vaccine can get, the White House coronavirus taskforce has warned in its latest briefing, reports David Smith.
Andy Slavitt, the White House senior advisor for Covid told reporters: “Right now, I want to level with the public that we’re facing two constraining factors. The first is getting supply quickly enough and the second is getting the ability to administer the vaccines quickly once they’re produced and sent out to the sites.”
Slavitt added: “We are taking action to increase supply and increase capacity but, even so, it will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have said that the US had administered 24,652,634 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Wednesday morning and distributed 47,230,950 doses.
But President Joe Biden has warned that the pandemic might worsen yet again, after referring to the fight against the virus as a ‘wartime undertaking.’
“Cases will continue to mount,” Biden warned on Tuesday. “It’s going to take months for us to turn things around,” Reuters reports.
As the two biggest sporting events of last year were moved to summer of 2021, International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, has conceded for the first time that fans may have to miss out on the Tokyo games for safety reasons my colleague, Sean Ingle reports.
While the president is confident that the games will take place, whether or not fans will be able to cheer on their favourite athletes, is yet to be decided.
“Everybody would love to have full-capacity stadia and the roaring crowds,” said Bach. “But if that is not possible, we will respect our principles safety is our first priority.”
Summary of the key developments:
- The British home secretary, Priti Patel, has outlined new rules for tighter border controls amid unprecedented pressure on the UK health service and over 100,000 Covid-19 deaths. The home secretary has said that those who want to leave will need to make a written declaration explaining why they need to travel.
- The Czech health ministry has recommended halting new Covid-19 vaccinations for the next two weeks to prioritise giving second doses due to supply delays.
- Pakistan will launch its Covid-19 vaccination programme next week, starting with frontline health workers, a government minister said on Wednesday. In the past 24 hours, the country has reported 1,563 new infections and 74 deaths.
- The German government has said that they expect to grow its economy by 3% this year, less than previously forecast, as the ongoing pandemic slows economic recovery.
- On a popular resort in Thailand, officials arrested 89 foreigners for violating coronavirus regulations at a party in a bar. Thailand has barred nearly all tourists from entering the country since last April.
- The UK recorded a further 1,725 deaths, up from 1,631 the day before, and a further 25,308 cases of the disease. This is the second-highest daily death toll since the pandemic started, with the highest daily number of deaths recorded on 20 January, 1,820.
- As the pandemic swept across Mexico, deaths increased by nearly 37% between January and August. Covid-19 was the second-leading cause of death nationwide during the eight months, after heart disease.
- The French Cannes 2021 film festival will take place between 6 July and 17 July instead of 11-22 May as initially planned, organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.
- Norway is set to close its borders to all but essential visitors from midnight on Friday local time.
- Pfizer’s production plant in Puurs, Belgium have said that their back on schedule to produce the vaccine. Last week and the start of this week, dose production was 8% lower than initially expected, Le Soir reports.
- On holocaust memorial day, nearly 60 survivors received their Covid-19 vaccination in Bratislava, Slovakia.
- South Africa is expecting its first 1m Covid-19 doses to arrive on Monday, February 1, the health ministers Zweli Mkhize has said.
- Vaccinations in Israel will now be available for all citizens aged 35 and up beginning on Thursday, the health ministry said.
In Lisbon, Portugal, hospitals are packed with Covid-19 patients and is struggling to meet the oxygen demand.
The head of the doctors association has said that Germany has sent military medics to the country to see how they can help.
On Wednesday, the country reported 293 Covid related deaths.
Reuters reports:
German military medical experts sent to Portugal “will be exploring the situation on the ground and trying to clarify what kind of support is needed and feasible,” a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday evening, confirming a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine.
The Portuguese newspaper Observador said German medical experts had already visited the Fernando Fonseca Hospital and would visit other health centres during their stay.
Health Secretary Antonio Lacerda Sales said the government was looking into getting more help from European partners.
The problem at Portuguese hospitals is not a lack of oxygen, but the fact that reservoirs cannot provide it at enough pressure to so many patients at once, Order of Doctors head Miguel Guimaraes told Observador radio.
“What is happening in these hospitals, and particularly in Lisbon, is that their capacity has been largely overwhelmed... It’s what we call ‘catastrophe medicine’,” he said.
Luis Pisco, president of Lisbon’s health authority, told broadcaster RTP that hospitals were working to boost reservoir capacity and improve distribution over the next fortnight.
France reports 26,916 new confirmed covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, from 22,086 on Tuesday. The biggest one-day jump since November when the country was in its second lockdown.
France has also reported 350 new Covid related deaths in the past 24 hours, with 3,108 people in the ICU, up from Tuesday’s 3,081 figure.
As the country has now averaged above 20,000 new cases for the fifth day in a row, France 24 has reported that there have been calls from doctors and medics for a new lockdown.
Updated
New Zealand is investigating two positive Covid-19 cases after the South African variant of the virus was confirmed in Auckland.
The two cases were from travellers who had previously returned negative tests following their 14-day isolation, at the same New Zealand hotel.
The health ministry is asking those who have visited a list of locations to get tested and self-isolate, to help with track and trace efforts.
Reuters reports:
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said in a statement late on Wednesday, “While we still can’t categorically rule these out as historical infections, test results so far indicate the two people may have contracted COVID-19 towards the end of their stay in managed isolation, after returning two negative tests each during their stay.”
Hi, I’m Edna Mohamed and I’ll be taking over the live blog for the next few hours. Like my colleagues, if you wanted to flag anything or send over tips you can do so either through Twitter @ednamohamed_ or email me on edna.mohamed.casual@theguardian.com.
Updated
Israel expands vaccinations to those aged 35 and above
Vaccinations in Israel will be available for all citizens aged 35 and up beginning on Thursday after the director general of the health ministry, Hezy Levy, approved lowering the minimum age for eligibility, the ministry said Wednesday, according to the Haaretz newspaper.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would bring the health ministry’s proposal to extend the lockdown for a government vote, and that a decision will be taken according to current infection rates.
Netanyahu also said that Israel will close its overland borders. “We were the first ones in the world to close our skies and not allow any commercial flights inti the country. We’ll add to that the closure of overland borders, including the border with Jordan.”
I’m handing over to my colleague Edna Mohamed shortly.
Updated
South Africa expects a flight carrying its first 1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to arrive on 1 February, health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday.
Mkhize said after their arrival, the vaccine doses would be subject to technical processes including quality assurance over a minimum of 10 days and a maximum of 14 days.
After that, the doses can be distributed to all provinces, he added.
Updated
Nearly 60 survivors received their Covid-19 vaccinations on Holocaust Remembrance Day in Bratislava, Slovakia on Wednesday, completing the inoculation of the city’s entire survivor community.
Reuters reports:
The vaccination was held at the city’s Jewish Community Centre as Slovakia began inoculating people over 75 – an age group that includes those born before the end of the second world war.
“Symbolically on this day, Holocaust survivors received as a reward something that I believe they were not expecting a week ago,” said Tomas Stern, head of Bratislava’s Jewish community.
Stern said there were 128 Holocaust survivors in Bratislava, and 330 in Slovakia in total.
“Every one of them has a human story that is amplified by the war experience, when they and their families were exposed to persecution but also isolation that we, when we are talking about isolation today, cannot imagine.”
Survivor Viera Fischerova, 77, said she was a year and a half old when her family were discovered in hiding – which she only heard about from family members because she was too young to remember.
“Everyone who survived had to be lucky and I was lucky at least three times,” she said.
Coronavirus was nothing by comparison but it was better not to risk it, she said.
Updated
After some delay in the production of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, Pfizer’s plant in Puurs, Belgium, is on schedule again, the company said on Wednesday.
Last week and the start of this week, dose production was 8% lower than initially expected, Le Soir reports.
On 15 January, Pfizer announced that due to adjustments in the production process, the Puurs plant would be able to supply fewer doses of the vaccine than previously anticipated.
This had a limited impact during the week of 18 January and the start of the following week.
By mid-February, more vaccines than expected are due to be produced, allowing the company to deliver the promised number to Europe in the first quarter.
It emerged in November that the production of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has to be stored at -70C (-94F), would pose huge logistical challenges, requiring two vast football-pitch-sized facilities equipped with hundreds of large freezers in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Puurs.
Updated
Norway to close borders for all but essential visitors
Norway will close its borders to all but essential visitors from midnight local time on Friday, the prime minister, Erna Solberg, said on Wednesday, tightening further some of the toughest travel restrictions in Europe.
“In practice, the border will be closed to anyone not living in Norway,” Solberg told a news conference.
While exceptions will apply to a few groups, including health workers from some countries, Solberg said this would mean that most work migrant workers would not be able to enter the country.
She added that infections are declining, and that the measures implemented were working well to contain the virus, including new variants from abroad such as the one first identified in the UK.
Solberg said the new curbs on immigration would be reassessed in two weeks.
Updated
One in 55 people in the UK are currently estimated to have coronavirus and the country remains in a “difficult position”, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has said.
He told a press conference on Wednesday:
Although things have slowed down, and actually we’re at a plateau or possible decreasing across the country, that’s not true everywhere. In some cases, there are still some increases.
So we are at a position where the lockdowns have worked, they’ve slowed this down, they’ve reached a position where it has reached a plateau and is beginning to decline - and we see that in cases, we’re beginning to see that in hospital admissions and we’re beginning to see that in deaths - but it is early days.
This isn’t coming down quickly, we remain at very high levels and it is going to take weeks for this to come down to really low levels.
A total of 2,648 hospital admissions of people with Covid-19 in England were reported for 25 January, NHS England said.
This is down 29% on the equivalent figure a week ago, and is the lowest number since 31 December, the PA Media agency reports.
All regions in England have recorded a week-on-week decrease in daily admissions.
Updated
The Cannes 2021 film festival will take place between 6-17 July instead of 11-22 May as initially planned, organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.
ScreenDaily reports:
“As announced last autumn, the Festival de Cannes reserved the right to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed. Initially scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021, the festival will therefore now take place from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 17 July 2021.”
The decision comes amid continued uncertainty in Europe and North America over when the year-long Covid-19 pandemic will start to ease. Much of Europe is currently living under some sort of lockdown with expectations that restrictions could get tougher in the coming weeks in some territories.
In France, the government is currently examining whether to impose a third national lockdown and a decision is expected in the coming days.
Updated
A suspicious package at an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine plant in the UK has been made safe and production schedules of the shots have not been affected, the company Wockhardt UK said on Wednesday.
The company said:
We can confirm that the investigation on the suspicious package received today has been concluded. Given that staff safety is our main priority manufacturing was temporarily paused whilst this took place safely. We can now confirm that the package was made safe and staff are now being allowed back into the facility.
This temporary suspension of manufacturing has in no way affected our production schedule and we are grateful to the authorities and experts for their swift response and resolution of the incident.
Deaths in Mexico jumped nearly 37% between January and August as the coronavirus pandemic swept the country, with over 184,000 more deaths than during the same period in 2019, Mexico’s statistics institute (INEGI) said on Wednesday.
Covid-19 was the second-leading cause of death nationwide during the eight-month period, after heart disease, it said.
Mexico has officially registered 152,016 deaths from Covid-19 so far, but officials have acknowledged that the number of deaths and infections from the virus may be far higher, according to Reuters.
Updated
The UK recorded a further 1,725 deaths on Wednesday, up from 1,631 the day before, and a further 25,308 cases of the disease, official data showed.
It is the second highest daily death toll since the pandemic started, with the highest daily number of deaths recorded on 20 January, 1,820.
All deaths occurred within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.
The total deaths figure increased to 101,887 having passed the 100,000 mark on Tuesday.
Government data also showed that 7.16 million people have been given the first dose of a vaccine.
Updated
Police raided a party at a bar on a popular resort island in southern Thailand and arrested 89 foreigners for violating coronavirus regulations, officials said Wednesday.
The Tuesday night raid on the Three Sixty Bar on Koh Phangan also caught 22 Thais in violation of rules, including one identified as the bar’s owner and another who sold drinks there.
Police Col Suparerk Pankosol, superintendent of the provincial immigration office said the gathering was illegal under a national state of emergency declared last March to combat coronavirus.
The Associated Press reports:
Those arrested were from more than 10 countries, including the US, Britain, Switzerland and Denmark, Suparerk said. Photos of the raid distributed by police showed a dark, crowded room with casually dressed partygoers, almost all wearing face masks.
Koh Phangan in Surat Thani province is a popular destination for young backpacking travelers and is known especially for its all-night Full Moon beach parties.
However, Thailand has barred virtually all tourists from entering the country since last April.
There have been 29 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Surat Thani out of a national total of 15,465. 11 of the 29 cases have been found in the last month as Thailand experienced a resurgence of the disease.
Updated
The German government said Wednesday it expected Europe’s top economy to grow by 3% this year, less than previously forecast, as longer virus shutdowns slow the pandemic recovery.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Back in October, the economy ministry was still forecasting a gain of 4.4 percent for 2021.
But a second coronavirus wave that took hold late last year and a sluggish start to vaccine rollouts across the European Union have doused hopes of a strong rebound in the early months of 2021.
Presenting the annual economic report in Berlin, economy minister Peter Altmaier said it would take “until the second half” of 2022 for the German economy to return to pre-pandemic levels.
“The recovery is continuing, albeit with less momentum,” he said. “A mixed picture is emerging: while industry continues to prove robust, the services sector is severely affected.”
Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 5.0 percent last year, the biggest decline since the 2009 financial crisis, as the pandemic swept the globe and ravaged economic activity.
Updated
Pakistan will launch its Covid-19 vaccination programme next week, starting with frontline health workers, a government minister said on Wednesday.
“God willing, the vaccination of front-line health workers will start next week,” Asad Umar, who oversees Pakistan’s efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic, said in a tweet.
The system for vaccination is in place. Hundreds of vaccination centres in the country will be administering covid vaccine. Inshallah the vaccination of front line health workers will start next week. https://t.co/aRG07cMKgv
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) January 27, 2021
This from Reuters:
China has pledged to donate 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese firm SinoPharm. Two government sources said the first batch would be flown in on Saturday.
Pakistan has so far approved two vaccines for emergency use, one made by China National Pharmaceutical Group (SinoPharm) and the other by AstraZeneca.
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is also likely to get similar approval, officials say, adding that the authorisations will be reviewed quarterly with regard to safety, efficacy and quality.
Health minister Faisal Sultan has said Pakistan could get “in the range of tens of millions” of vaccine doses under an agreement with China’s Cansino Biologics Inc.
Cansino’s Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate is nearing completion of Phase III clinical trials in Pakistan, and preliminary results may be available by mid-February, Sultan said.
The South Asian nation of 220 million people also expects China to donate a further million vaccine doses.
Dr Ghazna Khalid, a member of the government task force on Covid-19, said Pakistan would procure vaccines from various markets.
“We are the fifth biggest country in the world, and it’s going to be very difficult to immunise.”Pakistan reported 1,563 new coronavirus infections and 74 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, taking the total number of cases to more than 537,477, with 11,450 deaths.
Updated
Czech Republic to halt vaccinations for two weeks to prioritise second doses
The Czech health ministry has recommended to halt new Covid-19 vaccinations for the next two weeks to prioritise giving second doses due to supply delays, a ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Ministry spokeswoman Barbora Peterová said the situation in each specific region must be primarily evaluated by the regional coordinator, the Czech News Agency reports.
“The pause in first-dose vaccinations and reservations for them is recommended by the Health Ministry for the next 14 days,” she added. Both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines that are being used in the Czech Republic require two doses.
Peterová said the decision was made in view of the number of people requiring the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and the reduced supply.
The country, like other European countries, has complained about cuts and delays in deliveries of vaccines made by the United States’ Pfizer in cooperation with Germany’s BioNTech.
The nation of 10.7 million has inoculated more than 222,000 people, and over 17,000 have already received a second dose, health ministry data as of Tuesday showed.
The Czech Republic has recorded 956,155 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic first hit in March, Reuters reports.
It has been one of the worst-hit globally, with a high rate of infections during the second wave, and 15,453 deaths so far, straining hospitals.
Updated
The Sun’s Nick Gutteridge has more on comments made by EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides about the row between the bloc and vaccine-maker AstraZeneca.
She said on Wednesday that the EU’s contract with the company does not mention anywhere that any other country has priority because it has placed orders sooner, adding that AstraZeneca should have proposed including this in a specific clause.
EU health chief Stella Kyriakides: 'In our contract it is not specified any country, or the UK, has priority because it signed earlier. If this was the case AstraZeneca should've proposed a clause...acknowledging that they would prioritise for example deliveries to the UK.'
— Nick Gutteridge (@nickgutteridge) January 27, 2021
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides is asked directly if she expects AstraZeneca to start shifting vaccines from the UK to EU. 'The UK factories are part of our Advanced Purchase Agreements and this is why they have to deliver. We expect the doses...to be delivered to the EU.'
— Nick Gutteridge (@nickgutteridge) January 27, 2021
“The 27 European Union member states are united that AstraZeneca needs to deliver on its commitments in our agreements,” Kyriakides told a Brussels media conference.
In London, British prime minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “We expect contracts to be adhered to. AstraZeneca has committed to two million doses a week here in the UK and we do not expect that to change.”
AstraZeneca said on Wednesday:
Each supply chain was developed with input and investment from specific countries or international organisations based on the supply agreements, including our agreement with the European commission.
As each supply chain has been set up to meet the needs of a specific agreement, the vaccine produced from any supply chain is dedicated to the relevant countries or regions and makes use of local manufacturing wherever possible.
Updated
Hundreds of Bulgarian restaurant and club owners, waiters and bartenders protested on Wednesday in downtown Sofia against the government’s decision to keep bistros, diners and cafes closed while easing other coronavirus restrictions.
Reuters reports:
About 1,500 people, clanging empty pots in freezing temperatures demonstrated in front of government buildings, urging prime minister Boyko Borissov to reconsider the closure of their outlets, to allow them to work and pay them delayed compensation.
Bulgaria, which has seen a fall in the number of coronavirus infections, has opted to reopen secondary schools, shopping malls and gyms from February, but decided to keep restaurants and cafes closed for a month longer.
Nightclubs may be allowed to open from the middle of March, if infection levels remain low, officials have said.
To help the struggling businesses, the government has allowed restaurants to offer take-away food. In late December it allowed diners at hotels to work at 50% of their capacity to help salvage some winter tourism revenues.Many of the country’s food and drink outlets, hard hit by closures since late November, complained about the lack of clarity over the criteria for closure or reopening and accused the government of delaying compensation payments for months.
Updated
This from the PA Media agency on the UK government’s plans for tighter border controls, as outlined in the previous post:
The Welsh government said plans for new UK-wide quarantine restrictions announced by Boris Johnson do not go far enough and that further discussions are needed.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We have agreed on the need for a joint approach between the four nations of the UK and the Republic of Ireland to strengthen border health measures in order to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.
“However, we do not believe the approach as set out by the UK government goes far enough. Further discussions on the details of the proposals will take place as soon as possible.”
Updated
The British home secretary, Priti Patel, has outlined new rules for tighter border controls amid unprecendented pressure on the UK health service and over 100,000 Covid-19 deaths.
Patel said too many people are coming in and out of the country every day, but told MPs on Wednesday more details will be set out by the health department next week.
She said people wanting to leave the UK will have to make a written declaration explaining their need to travel.
Patel said:
Firstly, the police have stepped up checks and are carrying out more physical checks at addresses to ensure that people are complying with the self-isolation rules.
Second, we will continue to refuse entry to non-UK residents from red-list countries which are already subject to the UK travel ban.
Third, as the prime minister has said, we will introduce a new managed isolation process in hotels for those who cannot be refused entry, including those arriving home from countries where we have already imposed international travel bans.
They will be required to isolate for 10 days without exception and the Department for Health and Social Care will set out further details on this approach next week.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and taking back over from my colleague Rachel Hall. If you have anything to flag that you think we should include in our coverage, you can reach me on Twitter @JedySays.
Updated
The European Union health commissioner has said that AstraZeneca has committed to providing the bloc with doses from four plants, including two in Britain, Reuters reports.
Stella Kyriakides told a news conference that the company had legal obligations to comply with the contract.
Updated
A Chinese donation of 500,000 doses of its locally manufactured Sinopharm vaccine will arrive in Pakistan on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The Pakistani government plans to begin rolling out its Covid-19 vaccination drive next week.
Updated
The Chilean health regulator has approved the Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use by unanimous vote, Reuters reports.
Boris Johnson said on Wednesday it would have been a “great pity” if the United Kingdom had followed advice to stay in the European Union’s vaccine programme, Reuters reports.
“I do think that we’ve been able to do things differently, and better, in some ways,” he said in parliament.
“But it is early days, and it is very very important to remember that this is an international venture, these vaccines. We depend on our friends and partners, and we will continue... to work with those friends and partners in the EU and beyond.”
Updated
Updated
The police have confirmed reports by the BBC that a bomb disposal unit has been dispatched to a factory in Wales that produces AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, Reuters reports.
“Upon expert advice we have partially evacuated the site pending a full investigation. The safety of our employees and business continuity remain of paramount importance,” the company that runs the factory, Wockhardt UK, said.
Local police confirmed that a bomb disposal unit was on site and advised the public to avoid the area.
Updated
Tanzania’s president has openly expressed unsubstantiated doubts about Covid-19 vaccines, which he believes are resulting in new infections in the country, Associated Press reports.
“If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, then vaccinations for Aids would have been brought, tuberculosis would be a thing of the past, vaccines for malaria and cancer would have been found,” President John Magufuli said during an event in his hometown of Gieta.
He also warned against Tanzanians being used as “guinea pigs” for the vaccines.
Magufuli, who offered no evidence to support his doubts, has been widely criticised for declaring the coronavirus defeated in Tanzania. The country hasn’t updated its number of confirmed infections since the middle of last year: 509.
But now other authorities in the country, including the Catholic church, appear to be pushing back as parts of the African continent see a strong second surge in virus infections.
Updated
France’s nightly curfew is failing to slow the spread of coronavirus infections and authorities are discussing the possibility of tighter curbs, Reuters reports.
A curfew runs from 6pm until 6am every night but President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure to impose a third national lockdown since the crisis began almost a year ago as data shows another increase in hospitalisations and deaths.
Restaurants, bars, museums and ski resorts are already closed in France but schools are still open. Shops remain open too but with restrictions on the numbers allowed inside.
Macron is likely to wait until Saturday, two weeks after the curfew was lengthened, before deciding on the next step and is concerned that more curbs on public freedoms may trigger acts of civil disobedience, a government official said.
Rachel Hall here taking over from Jedidajah Otte – do share any tips and thoughts at rachel.hall@theguardian.com.
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Thailand is targeting the immunisation of 19 million people against the coronavirus in a first phase of inoculations starting on 14 February, the prime minister said on Wednesday, amid criticism the government has been slow in rolling out vaccines, Reuters reports.
Inoculations will begin with 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha said. He gave no timeline for the first phase.
By May, Thailand will have received 150,000 doses from AstraZeneca.
In a broadcast carried on the government’s website, Prayuth apologised for not solving Covid-19 related problems as fast as the public had demanded.
Of the 19 million to be vaccinated, 11 million would be people aged over 60 and 6.1 million would be those with underlying diseases, he said.
Another 1.7 million would be for medical professionals and 15,000 government workers involved in managing the virus, he said, adding those under 18 and pregnant women would not be vaccinated.
About a fifth of Thailand’s population is under 18.
The timeframe would depend on the capacity of hospitals administering the vaccines and number of doses they receive, head of the government’s vaccine management committee, Sophon Mekthon, told Reuters.
Thailand has altogether secured 26 million doses from AstraZeneca to be produced by local firm Siam Biosience and 2 million doses from China’s Sinovac. It has also reserved 35 million doses from AstraZeneca.
The Thai government moved 24 provinces from “highly controlled” to “controlled” status on Wednesday, signalling a relaxation in restrictions to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, the Thai Enquirer reports.
Four provinces remain in the “highly controlled” red zone, with the province of Samut Sakhon, where cases have spiralled recently, in its own category of “highly and strictly controlled”.
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UK to announce tougher border controls to contain influx of new virus variants
The UK will announce new tougher border measures on Wednesday to stop new variants of Covid-19 getting into the country, prime minister Boris Johnson said.
The government is expected to bring in quarantine hotels for those coming to Britain from high-risk countries such as Brazil and South Africa where new strains of the coronavirus have emerged - so-called red list nations.
“The home secretary will be setting out later today [...] even tougher measures for those red list countries where we are particularly concerned about new variants,” Johnson told parliament.
The move comes as the UK’s death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 100,000, the first European state to reach that figure, leading to further questions about Johnson’s handling of the crisis.
Johnson told MPs on Wednesday that the plan to exit lockdown will depend on the success of the inoculation campaign, the capacity of the NHS and whether death rates would be falling.
He said “it will not be possible to reopen schools immediately after February half-term”, but said he hoped to begin reopening England’s schools from Monday 8 March, with the date to be confirmed next month, my colleague Heather Stewart reports.
Since the start of January, all four nations of the UK implemented lockdowns which have closed schools, pubs and restaurants, with the public told they must stay home as much as possible.
Scientists and advisers are resisting plans by the UK government plans to test the population for Covid-19 to boost efforts to reopen the economy because they have concerns about the widespread use of rapid tests, sources close to its testing programme told Reuters.
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Hospitals in Portugal flooded with Covid-19 patients are at risk of failing to meet soaring demand for oxygen, the head of the doctors’ association said on Wednesday, after a major hospital’s supply system partly failed due to overuse.
A total of 53 patients had to be transferred from Lisbon’s Fernando Fonseca hospital on Tuesday night in order to prevent its oxygen system from collapsing.
The problem is not a lack of oxygen, but the fact that reservoirs are incapable of providing it at enough pressure to so many patients at once, Order of Doctors head Miguel Guimaraes told Observador radio.
“What is happening in these hospitals, and particularly in Lisbon, is that their capacity has been largely overwhelmed ... It’s what we call ‘catastrophe medicine’,” he said.
“We are giving patients the service we can in the circumstances. The only solution is to transfer to other hospitals. The problem is if the other hospitals are also full.”
Portugal, which has reported 653,878 Covid-19 cases and 11,012 deaths, is struggling to handle a post-Christmas surge, with hospitals using two-thirds of their intensive care beds for coronavirus patients and military hospitals converting cafeterias into wards to create more space, Reuters reports.
The Fernando Fonseca hospital said in a statement its oxygen supply system was now stable and being permanently monitored.
Drugs regulator Infarmed said on Tuesday the country had more than enough oxygen production capacity and urged hospitals not to stockpile it to avoid difficulties.
German and Portuguese authorities are evaluating possible German help for Portugal in the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesman for the German foreign ministry said on Wednesday, adding there was no formal request from Lisbon.
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Switzerland will require negative coronavirus tests from people entering the country from high-risk areas as of 8 February, the government said on Wednesday.
The federal government will now pay for all coronavirus tests, including those for people without symptoms, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports:
The broad testing is intended to help identify and contain local outbreaks of infection at an early stage, for example in schools, especially against the background of the more contagious mutations that are circulating.
The Federal Council writes that more than half of Covid-19 transmissions are likely to take place by people without symptoms.
The government also proposed doubling to 5bn Swiss francs ($5.63bn) the fund financed by the federal and cantonal governments to support businesses hit hard by restrictions to curb infections.
Reuters reports:
[The government] extended unemployment benefits by three months, a move that would cost around 500 million francs, and said the federal government would finance around 6 billion francs in extra spending to cover compensation for workers on shortened working hours.
“It’s clear that people without work in this situation hardly have a chance to find a new position,” Swiss president Guy Parmelin said.
“With the decision from today, the federal government is clearing the way for about 8 billion francs for short-time work and hardship cases. Not everything is perfect, but we’re working on it.”
Switzerland this month tightened measures to tackle new variants of the Covid-19 virus spreading across the country while stopping short of the full lockdown neighbouring countries have adopted to choke off the pandemic.
Health authorities have reported more than 515,000 cases and around 8,500 deaths in Switzerland and neighbouring Liechtenstein since the pandemic broke out in February 2020.
A plant in Wales that produces anti-Covid vaccines for AstraZeneca has been partially evacuated after a suspicious package was received, the company that operates it said on Wednesday.
UK police said they are dealing with an ongoing incident.
This from Reuters:
“Wockhardt UK in Wrexham this morning received a suspicious package to site. All relevant authorities were immediately notified and engaged,” the company said, referring to its facility in Wales.
“Upon expert advice we have partially evacuated the site pending a full investigation. The safety of our employees and business continuity remain of paramount importance.”
Earlier, the BBC reported that a police bomb disposal unit has been sent to the plant.
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Sweden, which has spurned a complete lockdown throughout the pandemic, registered 4,183 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, Health Agency statistics showed.
The country of 10 million inhabitants registered 178 new deaths, taking the total to 11,425. The deaths registered have occurred over several days and weeks.
Sweden’s death rate per capita is several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours, but lower than several European countries that opted for lockdowns.
Its neighbour Denmark for instance had, as of 25 January, 2030 deaths, Finland 655, Norway 550 and Iceland 29.
Mikael Damberg, interior minister in Stockholm, said on Sunday that the border to Norway would be closed until mid-February, and that similar bans will be put in place with Denmark and the UK, both due to the new variant, the Financial Times reported.
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Madrid suspends vaccinations for two weeks over supply shortage
Madrid health authorities have suspended vaccination against Covid-19 this week and next as they are running out of doses, Madrid’s deputy regional president Ignacio Aguado said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports:
The region has halted the vaccination of new people, keeping the few doses it still has to give second jab to patients, Aguado said.
The Madrid region has already vaccinated 180,000 people since the campaign started, he said.
“Unfortunately, as we suspected the pace of deliveries was interrupted,” he said.
Spain has administered just over 1.3 million doses to a priority group of care-home residents and front-line medics, some 10% of whom have already received a second jab.
During this first phase, the government plans to inoculate around 2.5 million people by the end of February.
Spain reported 591 deaths on Tuesday, the highest daily fatality figure of the third wave, El pais reports, amid a plateuing rise in new infections.
Tuesday’s number of new cases was 36,435, the same level seen a week ago and far from the 44,357 reported on Thursday, 21 January.
The country’s official death toll now stands at 56,799, but excess death figures suggest the real number may be closer to 80,000.
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Cyprus to ease lockdown amid falling infections
Cyprus announced on Wednesday a staggered easing of lockdown measures following a fall in the number of Covid-19 infections, including the reopening of primary schools and shopping malls on 8 February.
The island has been in a strict lockdown since 10 January after a spike in Covid-19 cases and the detection of a more contagious variant of the virus first identified in the UK.
Bans on large gatherings and the closure of shopping centres and restaurants had already been announced in December, Reuters reports.
“We want to avoid any rash and risky action which might undermine the effort to resume social and economic activity,” health minister Constantinos Ioannou told a news briefing, announcing the cautious easing of lockdown measures.
Authorities will permit the reopening of hairdressers and beauty salons from 1 February, allow up to 50% of staff to return to work at service companies and permit limited family gatherings.
from 8 February malls, large department stores and primary schools will reopen, while churches will reopen for worship with a maximum 50 persons in attendance.
Cyprus’ infections have fallen to below 200 daily for the past week.
As of Tuesday, Cyprus had recorded a total of 30,252 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 190 deaths.
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Bill Gates warns against 'vaccine nationalism'
The Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has warned against “vaccine nationalism” and a “careless approach” towards the pandemic.
In an interview with the liberal German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (paywalled), he said it was time to accept pandemics as a part of normality.
“Pandemics belong to the new normal, just as the world quakes, tornadoes and we have climate change,” he said in a translation from the German version of his interview.
Gates admonished decision makers for the lack of preparation in advance of Covid-19, despite repeated warnings of the likelihood of a pandemic and bemoaned the lack of clear communication over the dangers of the disease.
“It is terrible that we are still having to plead with people to make sacrifices” in order to save lives, he said. “We must learn the lessons.” He warned that the next pandemic could be “ten times as bad as this one,” but that “we are not prepared for it”.
Acknowledging that people were under considerable strain, and that the sense of fatigue was “gigantic”, Gates said he believed it would take “the best part of a year” for life to get back into proper gear.
Gates said the lack of cooperation between countries was a missed chance. “No country can stand alone in its fight against the pandemic,” he said.
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Malta is one of the least strict countries in the EU in terms of restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19, according to a University of Oxford index.
But the country on Wednesday cancelled carnival events and imposed an 11pm closing time on restaurants to contain the spread of the virus, although prime minister Robert Abela said there would be no lockdown or curfew.
Abela has said he would like to see schools postponing the upcoming two-day carnival break in February, the Times of Malta reports.
“If it was up to me alone, that is what I would like to see happen,” he said.
Asked whether the government was looking at cancelling the holidays, especially since it had recently argued keeping children in schools kept the number of new cases down, Abela again said this is his “wish”.
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Eli Lilly and Co is testing its Covid-19 antibody therapy in combination with another treatment by Vir Biotechnology Inc and its partner GlaxoSmithKline, in an effort to combat new variants of the coronavirus.
Reuters reports:
The companies said on Wednesday that the collaboration marks the first time monoclonal antibodies from separate companies will be tested together.
A study based on laboratory tests showed Covid-19 antibody drugs made by Eli Lilly may be less effective against a new coronavirus variant found in South Africa.
“Adding VIR-7831 to our study is an important part of our commitment to develop therapies to treat current and future strains of Covid-19 until vaccines are widely available and utilized,” Eli Lilly’s chief scientific officer Daniel Skovronsky said.
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South Africa has approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use and is reviewing applications by rival manufacturers Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, the medicines regulator said on Wednesday.
South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday announced court action to force president Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to release details of its Covid-19 vaccination plans.
Reuters reports:
The government has been accused by health experts, scientists and political rivals of tardiness in procuring vaccines against the new coronavirus - charges it rejects.
South Africa has suffered a surge in infections driven by a new, more contagious variant of the virus called 501Y.V2, which drove daily new cases to 21,000 in early January, although they have now eased to below 10,000.
“Ramaphosa wants a get-out-of-jail-free card by blaming the West for having ordered in time. We didn’t order in time, and now we’re blaming everyone else,” said Helen Zille, chair of the DA’s Federal Council, announcing the lawsuit.
The African National Congress government is already fighting a slew of court cases, including challenges to a ban on liquor sales to curb the spread of the virus and to a ban on the sale of cigarettes - which the government has lost but intends to appeal.
Lawyers for the DA had written to Ramaphosa, arguing that he had a constitutional obligation to be transparent about vaccine acquisition and distribution, and threatening litigation if he did not release details by 25 January.
The government has said South Africa will get its first 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine from India’s Serum Institute this month and next.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa urged wealthy countries not to hoard surplus vaccines.
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Germany to announce tighter border controls
The German government is expected to announce tighter border controls following warnings from leading virologists that the move is vital to control the spread in the country of more contagious variants.
Angela Merkel, the chancellor, is widely reported to have told a meeting of party colleagues that air travel in particular needs to be restricted “to the extent that you simply can’t get anywhere anymore”.
The interior minister Horst Seehofer said in an interview with the tabloid Bild that the danger posed by the mutations, particularly B117 which was first detected in the UK, “required dramatic measures”.
He said: “The threat posed by coronavirus mutations demands from us that we also examine the more drastic measures and discuss them, including much more thorough border controls particularly in those areas bordering high-risk zones, as well as the reduction of air travel to Germany to more or less zero, just like Israel is doing right now, in order to prevent the introduction of the virus mutations.”
The German government is coming under increasing pressure to act, from the virologists and epidemiologists advising them, with Belgium being looked to as an outrider after it closed its borders to all but essential traffic on Wednesday.
The ban will be in place initially until March 1, and puts an end to all holiday and leisure travel. Law enforcement agencies are to carry out rigorous checks on roads, at airports, ports and railways. Excluded from the ban are goods transports, visits to marital partners or cohabitants, travel for reasons of work or study as well as to attend funerals of close relatives.
Sandra Ciesek, professor of virology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt has led the call for a Europe-wide ruling on borders, insisting: “We must try to delay the spread of the variants in Germany. That can only function if it’s Europe-wide, because we are not living isolated on an island,” she said in a weekly Coronavirus Update podcast on the broadcaster NDR.
Being at the heart of Europe, surrounded by nine countries, Germany is particularly vulnerable to the cross border spread of the virus.
But politically and morally closing the borders has been seen as off the table by decision makers throughout much of the crisis, a stance which has its roots in Germany’s longstanding commitment to an open Europe.
The 506 miles (815km) Czech border is seen as a particular weak point in Germany’s attempts to control the virus.
The Czech Republic’s deaths from coronavirus are now among the highest in the world and almost a tenth of the population is known to have been infected.
The B117 variant of the virus is known to be spreading across the country. Since Monday the 35,000 Czechs who commute to Germany for work on a regular basis, from medical staff to cleaners, will have to present a new negative test every 48 hours before they are allowed to enter Germany.
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Bahrain will suspend dine-in services in restaurants and cafes and will move public and private schools to remote learning for three weeks to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry has detected a new variant of coronavirus, it said, without saying which kind. The decisions will come into effect on Sunday, Reuters reports.
Bahrain approved the use of the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine on 13 December following its earlier approval of a vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
An ongoing vaccination campaign that launched in mid-December is likely to take up to 300 days for a total of 1.5 million people in the country of around 1.7 million, GulfNews reported.
27 medical centres will vaccinate a maximum of 10,000 people a day. The country has registered 370 deaths.
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Germany’s coronavirus lockdown is starting to produce results, the new leader of the ruling Christian Democrats said on Wednesday, noting that the seven-day infection rate had fallen to 97.2 per 100,000 in his state of North Rhine Westphalia.
“The current development is encouraging,” Armin Laschet, who is also state premier, told the regional parliament, adding that chancellor Angela Merkel’s office and regional leaders were working on a “sequence of steps for possible openings” after the current lockdown is due to end on 14 February.
But he said there should be no hasty decisions, Reuters reports.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 13,202 new infections and 982 further deaths on Wednesday. This compares with a daily figure of 15,974 cases a week ago.
Germany’s overall death toll now stands at 53,972.
Baden-Württemberg’s minister of education, Susanne Eisenmann (CDU), has spoken out in favour of prioritising teachers and educators in the vaccination programme.
“For me there is a lot to suggest that teachers will be vaccinated faster than the plans currently provide,” Eisenmann told Die Zeit newspaper.
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A meeting between AstraZeneca and the EU to discuss Covid-19 vaccine supplies scheduled for Wednesday was postponed by the firm by a day, Austria’s health minister has said.
Reuters reports:
“AstraZeneca has postponed today’s round of negotiations until tomorrow. From my point of view that is not a big problem,” Rudolf Anschober told reporters, repeating that the drugmaker should supply the number of vaccine doses originally agreed with the EU.
AstraZeneca had no comment.
An EU official said earlier the company had cancelled Wednesday’s meeting. The official added the EU was asking the company to provide further explanations about its announcement to cut vaccine deliveries to the EU in the first quarter.
But a spokesperson for AstraZeneca denied this.
“We can confirm we have not pulled out and will be attending talks with the EU commission later today,” a spokesman for AstraZeneca said.
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Beijing city will require people arriving from low-risk areas in China between 28 January and 15 March to show negative Covid-19 test results, as it is tightening curbs ahead of the peak travel season around the lunar new year and the annual parliament meeting on 5 March, Reuters reports.
People wanting to enter the capital from those areas will also first need to undergo a 14-day health observation period at home, Xu Hejian, spokesman of the Beijing city government, said on Wednesday.
Covid-19 tests will also be performed on the seventh and 14th day of their arrival, he told reporters.
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This just in from Shona Murray from Euronews, on the escalating standoff between the EU and drugmaker AstraZeneca:
Break: EU source says EU is willing to publish the contract with Astrazeneca if company agrees.
— Shona Murray (@ShonaMurray_) January 27, 2021
Adds that it expects the company to do the maximum possible to produce vaccine dosages as per agreement.
That means using other plants outside the EU to fulfill the order.@euronews
This is significant, as AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said in an interview with Die Welt yesterday that the company’s contract with the EU didn’t include any specific targets.
Soriot said the volumes agreed with the EU were not binding.
“It’s not a commitment we have to Europe, it’s a best effort,” he said.
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The Palestinian Authority plans to buy 100,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 in February, the Interfax news agency cited the Palestinian Authority’s envoy in Moscow as saying on Wednesday.
Abdel Hafiz Nofal, the authority’s ambassador to Russia, said Moscow would provide 10,000 free doses of the vaccine, Reuters reports.
Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip await vaccines, and it could take at least a few more months to inoculate a big enough part of society, Haaretz reports.
Infection rates in both territories, however, are relatively low.
Israel currently has 74,323 active cases and has recorded 4,501 deaths. In the West Bank, there are 4,355 active cases and 1,464 people have died, while Gaza has 4,722 active cases and 513 recorded deaths.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and am taking over for the next few hours. As ever, don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to share comments or tips, I’m on Twitter @JedySays or you can email me.
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Politico has more on the cancelled AstraZeneca-EU meeting, which it characterises as part of an “escalating dispute” between the two parties:
The cancellation follows an explosive interview with AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot on Tuesday night, in which he insisted the company didn’t have a contractual obligation but rather a “best effort” to supply the EU with its vaccine.
Instead of the meeting, the company will respond in writing to Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides’ demand for more information, the Commission official said. AstraZeneca did not immediately confirm this plan.
You can read their full story here. That’s it from me – my colleague Jedidajah Otte will be taking over shortly.
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AstraZeneca pulls out of EU meeting about vaccine supplies
Reuters is reporting that an EU official has said that AstraZeneca has pulled out of a meeting scheduled for Wednesday about Covid-19 vaccine supplies.
Last week AstraZeneca told the EU that it was falling behind on its targets for vaccine supply because of issues in the production process. With similar problems arising with production of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the EU has said that from now on companies making vaccines in the bloc will have to “provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries”.
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Bulgaria started vaccinating care home patients in the capital Sofia against the new coronavirus on Wednesday as the Balkan country seeks to accelerate immunisations and catch up to European Union peers.
The country of 7 million people has inoculated about 29,000 medical workers so far – putting it at the bottom in terms of vaccinated people per capita in the 27-member bloc.
“This is a chance we are given and we have to grab it. There is no other way to fight this virus,” Ulyana Dumova, one of the first 15 patients in the Nadezhda care home to get the vaccine, told Reuters.
The centre-right government has faced criticism it has ordered too few quantities of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines – the first two that have been approved for use in the EU.
An updated delivery schedule showed it will be able to inoculate about 2.2 million people with Pfizer and Moderna doses by the end of the year. Sofia has bet heavily on AstraZeneca’s vaccine, of which it has ordered 4.5 million doses, but reports that the company will fail to meet its obligations to the EU in the first quarter may further delay its vaccination plan.
“The first quarter is quite timid, as you can see there are delays in deliveries, there are all sorts of hurdles that are beyond our control,” Ventsislav Mutafchiyski, head of the national COovid task-force told private BTV channel.
“But we are optimistic that deliveries will be regular in the second and third quarter,” he said.
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Schools to reopen in Thailand
Thailand on Wednesday said it would reopen most schools including those the capital Bangkok from next week, in response to localised declines in new coronavirus infections.
The education ministry ordered schools closed in 28 provinces at the beginning of January, Reuters reported. It will restart classes in all but one of those from Monday, Education Minister Natthapol Teepsuwan told reporters.
The move follows an easing of some curbs last week in Bangkok, including on some sports and leisure activities, but bars and night entertainment venues remain closed. The announcement comes despite the country reporting on Wednesday its second-highest number of new daily coronavirus cases, with 819 infections.
The majority of those came as a result of mass testing in Samut Sakhon province, the epicentre of the most recent outbreak. Its schools will remain closed.
Thailand has reported a total of 15,465 cases, more than two thirds of those since mid-December. It has recorded 76 coronavirus-related fatalities.
The COVAX vaccine sharing platform expects to have 25 million coronavirus vaccine doses for the Eastern Mediterranean region in March, rising to 355 million doses by December, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Wednesday.
The first doses provided for the region through COVAX will arrive in February, WHO official Yvan Hutin told reporters.
The WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region includes Middle Eastern countries as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Djibouti.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga apologised on Wednesday after lawmakers from his ruling coalition visited night clubs despite his government’s call for people to avoid unnecessary outings to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The news is another headache for Suga whose approval rating has tumbled because of dissatisfaction with his handling of the pandemic, which critics have called too slow and inconsistent.
“I’m terribly sorry that this happened when we are asking people not to eat out after 8 p.m. and to avoid non-essential, non-urgent outings,” Suga told parliament, according to Reuters. “Each lawmaker should behave to gain the public’s understanding.”
Japan this month issued a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas to tame a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases. The measure includes a request for restaurants and bars to close by 8 p.m. although there are currently no penalties for non-compliance.
“My behaviour was careless at a time when we are asking people to be patient,” Jun Matsumoto, a senior lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters.
Matsumoto was speaking following a Daily Shincho magazine report that he had visited two night clubs in Tokyo’s Ginza district after dining at an Italian restaurant last Monday.
Kiyohiko Toyama, a lawmaker from the coalition’s junior partner Komeito, also apologised after tabloid Shukan Bunshun reported he had visited a high-end night club in Ginza until late last Friday.
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If you’re feeling squeamish this morning, look away now: China has begun using anal swabs to test those it considers at high risk of contracting Covid-19, state TV reported, with social media users and travellers squirming over the invasive procedure which doctors say can be more effective in detecting the virus.
Officials took the swabs from residents of neighbourhoods with confirmed Covid-19 cases in Beijing last week, AFP reported local media as saying, while those in designated quarantine facilities have also undergone the test.
Small, localized outbreaks in recent weeks have seen multiple cities in northern China sealed off from the rest of the country and prompted mass testing campaigns - which up until now have mostly been conducted using throat and nose swabs.
But the new method “can increase the detection rate of infected people” as traces of the virus linger longer in the anus than in the respiratory tract, Li Tongzeng, a senior doctor from Beijing’s You’an Hospital, told broadcaster CCTV.
CCTV said on Sunday anal swabs would not be used as widely as other methods, as the technique was “not convenient.”
Overnight clashes in northern Lebanon between security forces and demonstrators angered by a coronavirus lockdown injured at least 45 people, the Lebanese Red Cross said on Wednesday.
At least nine of the injured were treated in hospital following rolling scuffles in the main northern city of Tripoli, the Red Cross said.
Protesters lobbed molotov cocktails, fireworks and stones at security forces who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, an AFP correspondent reported.
At least 30 people were injured in similar clashes in Tripoli on Monday night as frustration with tight coronavirus restrictions boiled over.
Tripoli was already one of Lebanon’s poorest areas even before the pandemic piled on new misery to a chronic economic crisis.
Many of its residents have been left without an income since Lebanon imposed a full lockdown earlier this month in a bid to stem a surge in Covid-19 cases and prevent its hospitals being overwhelmed.
“I can’t even bring bread home,” said Abdullah al-Bahr, a 39-year-old demonstrator and father of three. “We’re either going to die of hunger or the coronavirus.”
In other parts of the country on Tuesday night, demonstrators blocked major roads in protest at the coronavirus restrictions.
Last week, authorities extended the lockdown by two weeks, angering day labourers and other vulnerable groups.
A round-the-clock curfew is in force nationwide and grocery shopping is restricted to home deliveries, which are often unavailable in poorer areas.
Lebanon has recorded over 285,000 coronavirus cases and more than 2,470 deaths since the pandemic began.
Poland’s Health Minister Adam Niedzielski will recommend maintaining restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus, he said on Wednesday, despite a recent fall in new infections.
Most shops in shopping malls, hotels, ski resorts and schools in Poland have been closed since the end of December. Only children in the first three years of primary schools attend regular lessons.
As the number of new infections and deaths has fallen, government officials have suggested that some restrictions might be eased at the end of the month. A government announcement is expected this week.
“Maintaining restrictions seems most recommended to me. I am afraid of opening hotels and people travelling for late winter holiday. I absolutely do not recommend further opening of schools,” Niedzielski told private radio station Zet, AP reported.
Poland has reported 1.48 million coronavirus cases and 35,665 related deaths since March. On Tuesday, the country of 38 million reported 4,604 new cases.
Health workers in Myanmar on Wednesday became the first people in the Southeast Asian country to be vaccinated against COVID-19, five days after the first vaccines were delivered from India.
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s leader, announced last week that front-line health workers would get priority for inoculations with the vaccine developed by Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. India, which manufactures the vaccine under license, donated 1.5 million doses to Myanmar, enough to inoculate 750,000 people.
On Wednesday, Suu Kyi observed vaccinations at a hospital in the capital, Naypyitaw, and told reporters that the inoculation campaign must proceed carefully because the government does not have all the supplies it needs. She said people would be monitored for side effects and be issued certificates that they have been vaccinated. Suu Kyi, 75, is expected to be vaccinated Thursday.
Myanmar health authorities on Tuesday announced 411 new coronavirus cases, bringing the confirmed total to 138,368. The death toll increased by 13 to 3,082.
Myo Thet Naing, a health worker, had no complaints after getting vaccinated. “So far I feel nothing. It is all good,” she told AP.
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Moscow relaxes restrictions as case count falls
The coronavirus pandemic is on the decline in Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday as he abolished some COVID-19 restrictions in the Russian capital, allowing bars, restaurants and nightclubs to open overnight.
He made the announcement in a blog post as Russia reported 17,741 new COVID-19 cases, taking its official tally to 3,774,672. Authorities also reported 594 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 71,076.
New COVID-19 cases in Moscow have not exceeded 3,000 in the past week and more than 50% of beds in coronavirus hospitals were vacant for the first time since mid-June, Sobyanin wrote on his personal blog.
Russia, which launched a voluntary vaccination programme with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine in December, has seen cases steadily fall in the last month, since a record daily rise on Dec. 24. It has resisted imposing a strict new lockdown, relying instead on targeted measures.
“The pandemic is on the decline and under the circumstances our duty is to create conditions for the quickest possible recovery of the economy,” said Sobyanin. “My warmest congratulations to you, friends, on our joint victory and one more step to a return to normal life in the beautiful city of Moscow.
The mayor lifted a ban on entertainment venues, including restaurants, bars and nightclubs, serving customers between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., a measure that has been in place since Nov. 13.
He also said that businesses would no longer have to have at least 30% of employees working remotely.
“Please remember that the likelihood of being infected with coronavirus, though reduced, still exists. The fight is not yet over. We still should exercise caution,” Sobyanin said.
Measures requiring state-run universities to operate remotely, with distanced learning for students, would be reviewed on Feb. 6, Sobyanin said. The requirement for citizens to wear masks in shops and on public transport remains.
Updated
Poorer countries face a best-case scenario of a 6-8 month lag behind richer nations in getting access to Covid-19 vaccines to protect their populations against the pandemic disease, the philanthropist Bill Gates said on Wednesday.
In an interview with Reuters, Gates called the rollout of the first Covid-19 shots a “super hard allocation problem” that was putting pressure on global institutions, governments and drugmakers.
“Every politician is under pressure to go bid for their country to get further up in line,” Gates said.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has so far committed some $1.75 billion to the global response to the pandemic, including via funds for the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative co-led by the World Health Organization, and via direct support for some vaccine makers.
Covax, co-led by the GAVI vaccines alliance, says it aims to deliver 2.3bn doses by year-end, including 1.8bn doses to poorer countries at no cost to their governments. It hopes to start some deliveries next month. Gates said supplies of vaccines via Covax would be “modest” at first.
“The total number of doses that GAVI (and Covax) will have in the first half of the year is still very modest. Yes, they will get some doses out, but if you compare when they will reach the same percentage of coverage as the rich countries - that’s where I’d say it’s six to eight months, best case,” he said.
Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI and a co-lead of Covax, warned on Tuesday of “a sense of vaccine panic” with many countries pursuing biliateral deals with drugmakers to secure limited supplies and some threatening legal action against drugmakers who have said supplies could be delayed.
Gates said such pressure was unhelpful, noting that pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, BionTech , AstraZeneca and Moderna all developed COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year.
“If you’re a pharma company that didn’t make a vaccine, you’re not under pressure. But the ones who did make the vaccine – they are the ones being attacked,” he said. “It’s all very zero-sum.”
“It’s the classic situation in global health, where the advocates all of a sudden want it for zero dollars and right away. And I feel like these pharma companies that jumped in, well … they’re the reason we can see the end of the epidemic coming.”
Updated
In the United States, a Wisconsin pharmacist has agreed to plead guilty to purposely trying to spoil hundreds of doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in a bid to render them ineffective, the US justice department said.
Steven Brandenburg, 46, is charged with two counts of attempting to tamper with consumer products and with reckless disregard for the risk that another person will be placed in danger of death or bodily injury, according to the statement by the Justice Department.
It said he believed in various “conspiracy theories” and was skeptical of vaccines in general and specifically the vaccine by Moderna.
The US Food and Drug Administration has deemed Moderna’s vaccine safe and effective.
Brandenburg has signed a plea agreement to plead guilty to the charges, which each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, the statement added.
In late December, he intentionally removed a box of Covid-19 vaccine on two successive night shifts from a refrigerator in Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin, so that he could ruin its effectiveness, according to the statement.
He left them out for several hours before placing them back in the refrigerator to be used by the clinic the next day, the statement said, adding that 57 people had already received doses of the vaccine from those vials before his conduct was discovered.
Updated
In the UK, health inequalities expert Sir Michael Marmot and Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, are on the Today programme discussing possible explanations for the UK’s high death toll, which ticked past 100,000 yesterday.
Marmot says:
We came into the pandemic in a bad state, but then when the pandemic hit what we saw dramatically were inequalities in health that for Covid-19, mortality looked very similar to mortality from all causes.
He lists four key factors in that: “Quality of governance and political culture”, “the big inequalities in society that had been getting bigger”, “the lack of investment, in fact the reduction in investment, in the public sector,” and “fourth, we weren’t very healthy coming into the pandemic.”
Bauld says it is “a system failure... there’s been a lot of focus on the public’s behaviour about this, asking is the public complying, are we misbehaving in a way that’s not the case in other countries, and I really fully reject that.” She says there has been a 25% reduction in spending per person on public health since 2014.
Hi, this is Archie Bland picking up our live coronavirus coverage, and starting in South Korea, where authorities are scrambling to rein in coronavirus outbreaks centred on Christian schools amid a jump in infections and fading hopes of a speedy exit from a third wave of the pandemic.
At least 323 Covid-19 cases had been traced to churches and mission schools run by a Christian organisation in two cities, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) data reported by AP.
More than 100 cases were confirmed overnight among people linked to churches and its mission schools in Gwangju, about 270 kms (168 miles) south of Seoul, officials said. Another 176 cases had been linked to an affiliated school in the city of Daejeon since Jan. 17.
The health authorities said the Daejeon mission school outbreak appeared to have been spreading for some time before it was detected.
The Christian organisation responsible for the facilities, International Mission, was ordered to test everyone linked to 32 of its 40 schools and churches around the country.
The group apologised for not taking steps to prevent the outbreak. The organisation has submitted a list of 841 students and staff in 11 facilities, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the health authorities.
The KDCA reported 559 new cases as of midnight on Tuesday, up from 354 a day before, bringing the national tally to 76,429 infections with 1,378 deaths.
South Korea had managed to keep the virus under control thanks to aggressive testing and contact-tracing, but a third wave that broke out late last year has proven more difficult to contain.
The KDCA has said 45.4% of infections in the country over the past year were caused by cluster infections emerging from specific close-knit groups. Religious facilities were the main source of such clusters.
Updated
In the UK a sharp fall in cash machine usage last year has prompted a warning that more ATMs could end up being closed or imposing fees.
Link, the UK’s largest cash machine network, said its latest data showed there was a 38% decline in ATM transactions in 2020, caused in large part by the coronavirus crisis.
John Howells, Link’s chief executive, said this sharp decline in ATM usage “brings significant problems” and “places enormous strain on the cash infrastructure”.
He told the Guardian: “ATMs are run by commercial operators and as we use less cash, if they aren’t making money on those cash machines, they will either close or become charging. We welcomed the government’s promise of legislation after it was announced in the last budget, and this is now needed urgently.”
The coronavirus outbreak has rapidly accelerated the adoption of contactless payment, and many people prefer not to handle physical money at the moment because of the potential health risks:
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today.
If you’d like to start your morning / end your day (depending on the timezone you’re in at the moment) with something fresh and full of life, I highly recommend this:
Summary
Here are the key coronavirus developments from the last few hours:
- UK Covid hotel quarantine system to target travellers from high-risk areas. A hotel quarantine system targeted at arrivals from high-risk countries will be announced by the home secretary, Priti Patel, on Wednesday, after ministers met to sign off the more targeted approach.
- Australia recorded a 10th straight day of no new local cases on Wednesday, allowing its most populous state of New South Wales to relax coronavirus restrictions after controlling a fast-spreading cluster.
- Two more returnees who stayed at the same New Zealand hotel at the same time as Sunday’s coronavirus case have tested positive after finishing their quarantine. The two people are asymptomatic and had already completed their managed isolation at Auckland’s Pullman hotel and returned two negative tests, the Department of Health said.It is yet to be confirmed if they are recent or historic infections and further testing is urgently being carried out.
- Germany considering stopping most flights to country. The German government is discussing reducing to almost zero the number of flights into Germany in an effort to prevent more virulent mutant Covid variants gaining a foothold in Germany, the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, told Bild newspaper.
- Global coronavirus cases passed 100m. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world on Tuesday passed 100 million since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, at least 2,153,477 people have lost their lives to Covid-19. The official number of cases represents just a fraction of the real number of infections around the world.Many countries were late to implement systematic testing, and some continue to test only the most seriously ill.
- Peru orders total lockdown across 10 states as second wave bites. President Francisco Sagasti of Peru on Tuesday night announced a total lockdown of the capital and nine other regions following a significant increase in Covid cases, which he said had pushed hospitals close to collapse.
- Most poor countries will not achieve mass Covid-19 immunisation until at least 2024 and some may never get there, according to a new forecast, which maps a starkly divided world over the next few years in which a handful of developed countries are fully vaccinated while others race to catch up.
- Let WHO experts meet Wuhan families, says coronavirus victim’s son. A relative of a coronavirus victim in China is demanding to meet a visiting World Health Organization team, saying it should speak to affected families who say their voices are being stifled by the Chinese government.
- Cuba’s death toll from the coronavirus reached 200 on Tuesday, with authorities reporting nearly as many deaths so far in January as in the six previous months combined, due to an unprecedented acceleration in infections.
- Germany considering stopping most flights to country. The German government is discussing reducing to almost zero the number of flights into Germany in an effort to prevent more virulent mutant Covid variants gaining a foothold in Germany, the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, told Bild newspaper.
- Biden vows to vaccinate 300m people in US by end of summer or early fall. The administration’s immediate plan is to accelerate vaccine distribution to deliver roughly 1.4m shots a day and 10m doses a week for the next three weeks, as part of the White House’s earlier-stated ambition to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days.
Private rents in some of the UK’s biggest city centres have fallen by up to 12% in a year but have risen sharply in parts of northern England as some tenants swapped an urban life for the suburbs, smaller towns and villages.
Property website Rightmove’s latest rental trends report said the pandemic had led to falling asking rents and a “flood” of properties coming on to the market in many areas.
Central London has been “hardest hit”, said the website, with average asking rents down by 12.4% on a year ago, followed by Edinburgh city centre, which was down 10%, and Manchester city centre, down 5.3%:
More on the cases in New Zealand now:
Two more returnees who stayed at the same New Zealand hotel at the same time as Sunday’s coronavirus case have tested positive after finishing their quarantine.
The two people are asymptomatic and had already completed their managed isolation at Auckland’s Pullman hotel and returned two negative tests, the Department of Health said.
It is yet to be confirmed if they are recent or historic infections and further testing is urgently being carried out.
The cases are now in isolation at home while investigators track how they contracted the disease – and their activities since their release:
More than half of people with Covid-19 experience the loss of smell or taste and while two-thirds recover within six to eight weeks, many are left without much improvement months down the line. Chrissi Kelly, the founder of UK smell loss charity AbScent, said there are over 200,000 cases of long-term anosmia in the UK, and smell loss had the potential to make people feel isolated and depressed.
With so much still to be learned about coronavirus, the potential lasting effects are yet to be fully realised. For professions that rely heavily on taste and smell, particularly in the hard-hit food and drinks industry, it could spell the end of careers.
Prof Barry Smith, the UK lead for the Global Consortium of Chemosensory Research (GCCR) examining smell loss as a Covid-19 symptom, said many people affected in the food and drinks industry are afraid to publicly discuss what they’re going through for fear for their livelihoods.
Recovery is a waiting game, but smell training can help hasten natural recovery. “It’s known that parosmia that follows complete smell loss is a sign of recovery where olfactory neurons are regenerating,” Smith said. “Finding more and more ‘safe’ food ingredients, without a distorted smell, and repeatedly sniffing them will improve discrimination and may help to reset and regularise one’s sense of smell”:
Two more cases of South African Covid variant in New Zealand
Two more people in New Zealand have tested positive for the South African variant of Covid, Australia’s chief medical officer, Michael Kidd, has just announced.
Both appear to have spent time in hotel quarantine at Auckland’s Pullman Hotel.
Kidd says the government hasn’t yet made a decision on whether to lift the suspension of the travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand.
Updated
Peru orders total lockdown across 10 states as second wave bites
President Francisco Sagasti of Peru on Tuesday night announced a total lockdown of the capital and nine other regions following a significant increase in Covid cases, which he said had pushed hospitals close to collapse, Reuters reports.
Sagasti said the new measures covering central Peru would remain in effect until at least 14 February. They include instructions to work from home, the closure of all non-essential shops, the suspension of interregional land and air travel and the extension of a ban on flights coming from Europe to flights from Brazil in a bid to curb new, more contagious strains of the virus.
On Tuesday, Peru reported 4,444 new cases of the coronavirus, taking its total to 1,107,239, and 40,107 deaths.
Australia records 10th day of no local cases
Australia recorded a 10th straight day of no new local cases on Wednesday, allowing its most populous state of New South Wales to relax coronavirus restrictions after controlling a fast-spreading cluster.
Reuters: NSW has recorded no local cases for 10 days after low single digit numbers earlier in January. Victoria state, which is hosting the Australia Open tennis tournament, has gone three weeks without a local case.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt tweeted Wednesday marked the 10 day of no community transmission of Covid Australia wide, adding the country’s success comes at a time when global coronavirus cases have crossed 100 million with the death toll surpassing 2 million.
Australia has recorded more than 22,000 local cases since the pandemic began and 909 deaths.
The Covid-free run allowed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklien to ease coronavirus restrictions from Friday, including relaxing rules around mask wearing and increasing numbers in house parties, weddings, funerals and places of worship.
It is too early to say whether there will be age limitations placed on who receives the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Australia, the chair of the country’s advisory committee on vaccines has said.
The European Medicines Agency has suggested the vaccine may only be authorised for younger people in Europe but Prof Allen Cheng on Wednesday said Australia’s drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), was still evaluating the AstraZeneca data:
Thailand on Wednesday reported 819 new coronavirus cases, taking its total infections to 15,465.
One additional death was reported, bringing total fatalities to 76. More than 700 of the new infections were in Samut Sakhon province, the epicentre of the most recent outbreak, the Covid taskforce said at a briefing.
Coronavirus vaccination programmes in China and India will stretch until late 2022 due to the sheer size of their population, and more than 85 poor countries will not have widespread access to vaccines before 2023, a study showed on Wednesday.
Reuters: While rapid development of vaccines has raised hopes for an end to the year-long pandemic, concerns over unequal distribution have also mounted due to production problems and large bilateral deals between wealthy countries and drug makers.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the United States aims to secure an additional 200 million doses of coronvirus vaccines from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech and Moderna Inc by summer.
In Europe, the European Commission is setting up a proposal to restrict Covid vaccine exports amid frustration over delays in deliveries of AstraZeneca’s vaccine and other supply problems.
More on Japan’s coronavirus response:
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshide Suga has also been criticised for persisting with a government-subsidised travel scheme until the end of last year even after health experts raised concern that it could fuel transmission of the virus. Go To Travel, launched last July, was suspended in late December amid a surge in cases.
While the government has denied the programme - which was intended to support regional economies during the pandemic - had allowed the virus to spread, a new study said the number of infections associated with domestic tourism had risen nearly seven times since July.
“Although the second epidemic wave in Japan had begun to decline by mid-August, enhanced domestic tourism may have contributed to increasing travel-associated Covid-19 cases,” Hiroshi Nishiura and Asami Anzai, researchers at Kyoto University, said in the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
“It is natural that enhancing human mobility across wider geographic areas would facilitate additional contact” and spread the virus, the study said.
While the state of emergency appears to be slowing new cases, there is concern over increases in the number of patients with serious symptoms and older people who are testing positive.
Kyodo reported that calls were growing inside Suga’s administration for the state of emergency - which encourages bars and restaurants to close early and people to avoid non-essential outings - to be extended in parts of the country until the end of next month. It is currently due to end in Tokyo and 10 other prefectures on 7 February.
Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has conceded that his government failed to relieve the pressure on the country’s health service, amid reports that people with symptoms of Covid-19 had died at home after being turned away by overstretched hospitals.
About 200 people who contracted the virus since March last year have died at home and in places other than hospitals after their condition suddenly worsened, the public broadcaster NHK said. Seventy-five of those deaths came over a three-week period from 1 January, it added, citing the national police agency figures.
Hospitals say they are struggling to admit patients following a surge in Covid cases at the end of last year, although the seven-day average for infections in Tokyo - the worst-hit region in Japan - has started to fall after a state of emergencywas declared in the capital almost three weeks ago.
Japan has reported more than 370,000 casessince the start of the pandemic, and over 5,300 deaths, according to NHK.
Suga, whose approval rating has plummeted over his response to the pandemic, told a parliamentary committee this week that more lives could have been saved had hospitals been better prepared.
Asked by an opposition MP if he felt responsible for the deaths of people who had been refused hospital treatment, he said: “As the person in charge I feel terribly sorry,” according to the Kyodo news agency.
“We have not been able to provide the necessary care, and I recognise that because of this the Japanese people are feeling anxious.”
Podcast: Behind closed doors – Filipina workers trapped by the pandemic
Journalist Corinne Redfern discusses the impact the pandemic has had on the Filipino women trapped overseas, including Mimi (not her real name) who works for a wealthy family in London for just £5 an hour. Mimi was asked to keep working through the first lockdown with the family coaching her on what to say if the police stopped her. In her spare time, Mimi helps other overseas workers escape situations where they are being abused:
Papua New Guinea’s low testing rates for Covid-19 - and flawed testing procedures - are hampering efforts to properly trace and treat the disease.
The country’s pandemic response controller, police commissioner David Manning, said improperly handled swabs were reaching laboratories compromised and unable to be tested.
Fewer than 42,000 tests have been done across the country of nearly nine million people, over the course of the entire pandemic.
“We can only find out the extent of the outbreak in the country if we proactively test people,” Manning said.
There have been 850 confirmed cases in PNG, and nine known deaths. But the real impact of the virus is likely many times greater.
Australia has announced US$111-million in funding for Covid-19 vaccination across PNG over three years.
Manning urged PNG citizens to adopt a ‘Niupela Pasin’ - ‘new normal’ - for living with the risk of Covid-19.
“Please wear a face mask in public places, avoid shaking hands or physical contact, avoid crowds, maintain physical distancing and regularly wash hands or sanitise your hands.
“God has spared us from the wrath of Covid-19 but let us not take this for granted. We must do our part to protect ourselves and our loved ones. More than two million people have died globally from Covid-19 so please be proactive in preventing its spread in PNG.”
In recent nights, rioters have poured on to the streets of 10 Dutch cities in what has been the closest Europe has come to open revolt against the coronavirus restrictions imposed across the continent.
The violence, the worst in four decades, might be put down to the liberty-loving culture of the country but, perhaps not coincidentally, the Netherlands is also the very last EU member state to start vaccinating the public and offer some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The reality is, however, that the Dutch are not standout stragglers among the pack of 27 member states. The EU as a whole has been lethargic in getting the vaccines they have purchased into the arms of the citizens whose taxes have paid for it:
New Zealand hopes for Covid all-clear after no new cases reported
New Zealand’s Northland region has edged closer to containing the latest outbreak of coronavirus after all 16 close contacts of a woman infected with the disease returned negative tests.
Around 10,000 New Zealanders took Covid-19 tests this week, 8,000 of them in Northland, where the infected woman lives, making it one of the highest testing rates in the world
No one else in the community has tested positive.
“We are still investigating but this is an encouraging response and does provide us some reassurance,” , said the Covid response minister, Chris Hipkins.
The infected woman, a 56-year-old New Zealander, remains in self-isolation, as do all her close contacts:
Mexico Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday that emergency use of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine should be authorised within days, after a favourable recommendation by a committee within Mexico’s health regulator, Reuters reports.
The exact arrival of the first shipments of Sputnik V to Mexico had not been confirmed, Lopez-Gatell said, though officials said earlier in the day that 200,000 doses could arrive next week.
Updated
Biden vows to vaccinate 300m people in US by end of summer or early fall
Joe Biden vowed on Tuesday to ramp up vaccination programs so that most of the US population is inoculated by the end of summer or early fall.
“This will be enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 300m Americans by the end of the summer,” the US president said on Tuesday afternoon, later adding “end of summer, beginning of the fall”, in a briefing at the White House.
The new administration will increase vaccine supplies to states, exercise an option to buy a total of 200m more vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna and will give states more lead time on the amount of vaccine it will deliver.
The administration’s immediate plan is to accelerate vaccine distribution to deliver roughly 1.4m shots a day and 10m doses a week for the next three weeks, as part of the White House’s earlier-stated ambition to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days:
Germany considering stopping most flights to country
The German government is discussing reducing to almost zero the number of flights into Germany in an effort to prevent more virulent mutant Covid variants gaining a foothold in Germany, the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, told Bild newspaper.
Other measures being considered included closures of borders to regions where mutant strains were more prevalent, he added.
“The risk posed by these virus mutations demands of us that we consider even drastic measures,” Seehofer told Bild. “They include stricter border controls, especially at frontiers with high-risk regions, but also a reduction of air traffic to Germany to almost zero, as Israel is currently doing.”
Cuba's coronavirus cases, death toll surge
Cuba’s death toll from the coronavirus reached 200 on Tuesday, with authorities reporting nearly as many deaths so far in January as in the six previous months combined, due to an unprecedented acceleration in infections.
While Cuba had just a tenth of the world average of daily infections per capita for much of last year, cases have surged since the government reopened borders in November and loosened restrictions on daily life.
The situation in Cuba is now much worse than at any other point during the pandemic, and edging closer to that world average.
The health ministry has reported 54 deaths in January so far compared with 60 in the previous six months, with daily infection numbers hitting new records on a regular basis - 786 on Tuesday - and cases spread throughout the Caribbean island nation.
Let WHO experts meet Wuhan families, says coronavirus victim's son
A relative of a coronavirus victim in China is demanding to meet a visiting World Health Organization team, saying it should speak to affected families who say their voices are being stifled by the Chinese government, the Associated Press reports.
China approved the visit by researchers under the auspices of the UN agency only after months of negotiations. It has not indicated whether the experts will be allowed to gather evidence or talk to families, saying only that the team can exchange views with Chinese scientists.
“I hope the WHO experts don’t become a tool to spread lies,” said Zhang Hai, whose father died of Covid-19 in February 2020, after travelling to the Chinese city of Wuhan and getting infected. “We’ve been searching for the truth relentlessly. This was a criminal act and I don’t want the WHO to be coming to China to cover up these crimes.”
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wuhan doctor: China authorities stopped me sounding alarm on CovidRead more
The WHO team arrived in Wuhan on 14 January to investigate the origins of the virus, and is expected to begin field work this week after a 14-day quarantine:
The Biden administration is increasing vaccination efforts with a goal of protecting 300 million Americans by early fall, as the administration surges deliveries to states for the next three weeks following complaints of shortages and inconsistent supplies.
“This is enough vaccine to vaccinate 300 million Americans by end of summer, early fall,” Biden said. “This is a wartime effort,” he added, saying more Americans had already died from the coronavirus than during all of the second world war:
Most poor nations 'will take until 2024 to achieve mass Covid-19 immunisation'
Most poor countries will not achieve mass Covid-19 immunisation until at least 2024 and some may never get there, according to a new forecast, which maps a starkly divided world over the next few years in which a handful of developed countries are fully vaccinated while others race to catch up.
Countries such as the UK, US, Israel and those in the EU will probably achieve “widespread vaccination coverage” – meaning priority and vulnerable groups, and almost all of the rest of the population – by late 2021, according to analysis from the Economist Intelligence Unit. They will be followed by a slew of other developed countries by the middle of 2022 and then most middle-income countries by the end of that year:
Global coronavirus cases pass 100m
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world on Tuesday passed 100 million since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The current total stands at 100,164,399.
Worldwide, at least 2,153,477 people have lost their lives to Covid-19.
The official number of cases registered since the pandemic first broke out in China, in late 2019, represents just a fraction of the real number of infections around the world, AFP reports.
Many countries were late to implement systematic testing, and some continue to test only the most seriously ill.
The poorest nations meanwhile only have the capacity for limited testing.
The United States, which passed 25 million confirmed cases last weekend, remains the country with the largest outbreak.
India is second with 10.7 million cases, and Brazil third with 8.9 million cases.
UK Covid hotel quarantine system to target travellers from high-risk areas
A hotel quarantine system targeted at arrivals from high-risk countries will be announced by the home secretary, Priti Patel, on Wednesday, after ministers met to sign off the more targeted approach.
Boris Johnson rejected calls at Tuesday evening’s meeting for a blanket policy in favour of imposing hotel quarantine on British citizens from a limited number of countries such as South Africa and Brazil.
Ministers were presented with a number of options, with some – including Patel and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, in favour of a more blanket approach, a larger number of countries on the list or even a temporary closure of UK borders.
Labour said a country-by-country quarantine policy would be “half-baked” and leave the UK’s vaccination programme vulnerableto as-yet unknown strains of coronavirus.
The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot and Natalie Grover report:
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
In just over a year, 100 million people have been infected with Covid-19. At least 2,153,477 have died.
I’ll be bringing you the latest as the staggering infections milestone is passed.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- AstraZeneca’s chief executive has insisted the UK will come first for vaccines as he rejected calls to divert doses to the European Union following a breakdown in supply.
- US states will get a 17% increase in the amount of vaccines from next week after shortages across the country. The government will supply 10.1 million first and second doses, up from this week’s allocation of 8.6 million.
- Leaders of tribes in the Amazon rainforest have urged governments to ensure vaccine rollouts reach all its communities, according to Reuters. Head of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin (COICA), Jose Gregorio Diaz, said his people faced a “health emergency”.
- The death toll in France rose to more than 74,000 on Tuesday, as its new case figures stayed above 20,000 for the fourth day in a row. President Emmanuel Macron hopes a new 6pm curfew will be enough to contain the surge.
-
Iceland has issued its first vaccine “passports” in an attempt to ease international travel for people who have had the jab, AFP reports.
- Lebanon has hit a new daily record of Covid-19 deaths amid a second day of protests against strict lockdown measures. Another 73 people died in the last 24 hours from the virus, according to Associated Press.
- Brazil has had 61,963 new recorded cases and another 1,214 deaths. The South American country has now had 8,933,356 confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic, while the death toll has risen to 218,878.
- The Gambian health ministry has said it will “name and shame” people refusing to self-isolate, after 40 refused to do so last week or escaped treatment clinics. The west African country has recorded 128 deaths since the pandemic began.
