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Melbourne has welcomed its first international passenger flight in five months, an arrival that will test the state of Victoria’s revamped hotel quarantine system.
Australia has since March closed its borders to non-citizens, but airports serving Victoria’s capital stopped accepting any arrivals in late June after an outbreak of Covid-19 that began at two hotels where arrivals were quarantining.
More than 20,000 infections were recorded in Victoria when hotel staff contracted the virus from people returning from overseas. The outbreak was chiefly blamed on failures of private contractors to follow protocols.
Under the new quarantine system, arrivals will no longer be allowed to leave their hotel rooms. The system is similar to the model used in Sydney, which has accommodated thousands of people returning without any clusters emerging.
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When website developer Nathalie Alpi heard England was going into another month-long lockdown at the start of November, she was immediately worried for her friends running independent shops around Bristol. “I knew they would be missing all that footfall at one of the most important times of the year – and I just didn’t know how they would survive’,” she told the Guardian.
Instead of wringing her hands, she and her husband took action – creating a virtual high street for independent traders, Shop Here Not There. “It’s a gift to all of the small independent shops of Bristol,” she said. “It’s not a business, it’s really just there to help.”
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against complacency during the upcoming holidays, urging people to follow local guidance and avoid crowds.
We all want to be with our loved ones during the upcoming holidays, but we mustn't be complacent. #COVID19 is changing the way we celebrate, but it doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate. Be safe: follow local guidance, stay with your household & avoid crowds. #InThisTogether pic.twitter.com/lQtsFKmumT
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 6, 2020
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More than 23 million people in Southern California are preparing to face the strictest lockdown in the US as coronavirus cases hit record levels in the state.
The restrictions in California call for bars, hair and nail salons and tattoo shops to close again. They have been ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom to take effect on a region-by-region basis as hospital intensive care unit beds reach capacity.
As of 11:59pm on Sunday, the affected regions, including Southern California, were also required to shut down even outdoor restaurant dining.
Newsom has threatened to withhold funds from local governments that refuse to carry out the restrictions, angering some law enforcement officials. The sheriffs of Los Angeles and Riverside counties have said they won’t help impose them.
“The Riverside County Sheriff’s office will not be blackmailed, bullied or used as muscle against Riverside County residents in the enforcement of the governor’s orders,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a videotaped message posted on the department’s website.
The San Francisco Bay Area will also go into lockdown starting at 10pm on Sunday, under a separate set of orders issued by Mayor London Breed.
The co-owner of a New York City bar that authorities said defied coronavirus restrictions was taken into custody early on Sunday, after running over a deputy.
Danny Presti tried to drive away from the Staten Island bar, Mac’s Public House, as deputies were arresting him for serving patrons in violation of city and state closure orders, Sheriff Joseph Fucito said.
Brazil reported 26,363 further coronavirus cases and 313 deaths in the past 24 hours, its health ministry said on Sunday.
The South American country has now registered 6,603,540 cases since the pandemic began, while its official death toll has risen to 176,941, according to ministry data. Brazil has the world’s third worst outbreak after the United States and India.
Summary
Here’s a summary of recent developments:
- Tunisia has extended a night-time curfew until the end of the year in a bid to tackle rising coronavirus cases, amid growing discontent and anti-government protests in the North African country.
- France has recorded 11,022 new coronavirus infections and 174 deaths over the last 24 hours. The figures compare to 9,784 cases and 198 fatalities announced last Sunday.
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Nottingham’s Christmas market was shut down on Sunday after organisers faced criticism over the lack of social distancing.
- Pfizer Inc has applied for emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine in India, a top government health adviser has said, the first company to do so in the country with the world’s second-highest number of infections.
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Turkey recorded 30,402 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the health ministry has announced. The Covid-19 death toll rose by 195 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 14,900, the ministry data also showed.
- The South African government has urged school students who attended a series of end-of-year “Rage” parties to quarantine for 10 days after identifying four such parties as coronavirus “super-spreader events”.
- There have been a further 17,272 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data. This compares to 12,155 cases registered last Sunday.
- Italy has reported 18,887 new coronavirus cases, compared with 20,646 last Sunday. A total of 1.728 million cases have been registered to date.
- Indonesia has received its first shipment of vaccine from China, its president, Joko Widodo, has said, as the government prepares a mass inoculation programme.
- Bavaria, which has so far recorded the Germany’s highest death toll, has announced it will impose a tougher lockdown from Wednesday until 5 January.
Updated
Sick people in northern France occasionally leave garments in healing trees or “arbres à loques” in the hope of a cure, following a tradition that persists since pre-Roman times.
But recently, this tradition has been updated for the coronavirus age.
“The new development in 2020 is COVID masks,” said Bertrand Bosio, who runs Nord Fantastique, a Facebook page devoted to the region’s ancient sites and lore.
Tied to the branches of the healing tree in Hasnon, southwest of Lille, surgical masks can be clearly seen among items of clothing that range from socks to underwear – often left, Bosio said, by people suffering from fertility problems.
In another departure from ritual, the masks are hung “preventatively”, Bosio believes – or perhaps hopes – rather than by Covid-19 sufferers who ought to be self-isolating.
Known as rag trees in Ireland, one of several other countries where the practice survives, the arbres à loques show pagan and Christian influences.
“What’s interesting about this place is that the ritual is still very much alive in our times,” Bosio added. “People turn to the healing tree when medicine has reached its limits, and when science has let them down.”
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Donald Trump says his lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for coronavirus.
.@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2020
Businesses that made fortunes selling PPE during the UK’s Covid-19 crisis should be taxed to fund a £500 bonus for frontline workers who are facing burnout, a thinktank has said.
“Pandemic profiteers”, including the online retailer Amazon, which saw sales soar in lockdown, should pay a 0.5% sales levy, according to the RSA, which is warning that 49% of frontline staff think they will soon burn out, including 63% of NHS staff.
The thinktank’s suggestion of a “new deal” for key workers, including a £500 thank-you bonus, extended sick pay and paying the real living wage, follows the lead of the US president-elect, Joe Biden, who has promised to give workers at a range of employers – from hospitals to supermarkets – an emergency pay boost. Last week, the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced £500-a-head bonuses for Scotland’s 300,000 health and social care workers.
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Tunisia extends curfew to 2021
Tunisia has extended a night-time curfew until the end of the year in a bid to tackle spiking novel coronavirus cases, amid growing discontent and anti-government protests in the North African country.
Following a meeting of its anti-coronavirus task force, the government decided to “maintain the curfew from 8pm until 5am in all governorates, every day of the week,” the health ministry said in a statement on Facebook.
Under the new measures, which take effect on Monday, masks “remain mandatory in all open spaces”, the statement said, adding that private parties will be allowed with up to 30 people.
Cafes may remain open until 7pm but must remove their chairs from 4pm onwards, while shisha pipes remain banned in all public spaces, it added.
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Infection rates in Greece continued to decline today with the public health organisation, EODY, reporting 904 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number to 115,471.
But with most testing centres also closed at the weekend experts are warning this is not a time for citizens to let down their guard.
Speaking to the Guardian, environmental health engineer professor Denis Sarigiannis said with transmissibility of the virus now facilitated by the colder weather it was clear stricter restrictions should have been initiated earlier.
A surge in cases experienced in Greece during the pandemic’s second wave has proved much harder to rein in than ever envisaged.
“What we should have done was to take measures when the pandemic was still at much lower levels and cases were between 300 to 500 cases per day not when they had exceeded 2,000,” he said this evening. “By that time of growth was exponential and we had already allowed dispersal across the country.”
Based on simulations, Prof Sarigiannis and his team at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have predicted a much slower decline in infections than health officials had hoped for. Opening up the economy before Christmas will, he says, not only be too soon but likely lead to a resurgence that will see cases once again rising to around 2,000 a day by the end of the first week of January.
Greece has been under lockdown for the past month. Last week, the restrictions including a nationwide 9pm to 5am curfew, were extended through to 14 December, but against a backdrop of coronavirus fatigue the government is facing calls to ease the measures.
On Monday, epidemiologists advising the centre right administration will meet to decide whether schools should be opened before Christmas.
“It is premature to open up,” insisted Prof Sarigiannis, adding that while gathering outdoors posed little risk, coalescing indoors was a different matter. “We should have been using the lockdown to arm ourselves better against transmission. We should have taken more proactive measures to control contagion, such as disinfecting indoor spaces like malls, restaurants, hairdressers and super-crowded schools especially at this time of the year. My biggest worry is that if we open up too soon, we might see cases back at 2,000 a day which will require lockdown all over again.”
With December commerce so important to the country’s finances, officials are eager to at least reintroduce retail before the end of the year. The Greek economy, only slowly recovering from years of crisis, is set to contract by around 10.5% because of the pandemic this year.
Updated
France has recorded 11,022 new coronavirus infections and 174 deaths over the last 24 hours.
Today’s figures compare to 9,784 cases and 198 fatalities announced last Sunday.
The country’s toll stands at 55,155.
A total of 26,293 are being hospitalised for Covid-19, including 3,220 patients in intensive care.
The UK government needs to provide “crystal clear” information about how prioritisation for the Covid-19 vaccine will work, a senior doctor has said.
Vaccinations will be administered at dozens of hospital hubs from Tuesday with people aged 80 and over, care home workers and NHS workers who are at higher risk the first to receive the jab.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said there has so far been “mixed messaging” about when higher risk people can expect to be vaccinated.
BMA chair of council Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “We need the government to be crystal clear about how this prioritisation will work; we have already seen mixed messaging about when care homes, high-risk patients in the community and NHS staff can expect to be vaccinated, and many will be disappointed that they will have to wait for several weeks longer than originally indicated by the government.
“In the first phase of the pandemic, significant numbers of healthcare workers became seriously ill and many lost their lives to the virus – and we need to prevent any more unnecessary deaths or enforced absences from work.”
Nottingham’s Christmas market was shut down on Sunday after organisers faced criticism over the lack of social distancing.
Pictures were shared online of the busy market showing large crowds gathered in Old Market Square on Saturday, with some raising concerns over the hundreds of people seemingly breaking the rules.
How on earth is Nottingham Christmas Market allowed to go ahead like this, but hospitality venues still not allowed to open with sensible protocols in place? pic.twitter.com/johIarHpeS
— Melissa Chloe (@MelissaChloe01) December 5, 2020
On Sunday, the Mellors Group, which operates the Christmas market, said it had to temporarily close the attraction due to “unprecedented high footfall”.
Nottinghamshire Police said officers were at the market all day to provide visible presence and to break up large crowds in the area.
The city was placed in tier 3 – the toughest measures – of the new Covid-19 restrictions which came into force in England from Wednesday after the four-week national lockdown ended.
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Pfizer Inc has applied for emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine in India, a top government health adviser has said, the first company to do so in the country with the world’s second-highest number of infections.
The US firm, whose vaccine was recently approved in the UK, approached Indian authorities on Saturday, VK Paul, who is advising the government on Covid-19 matters, said.
India’s drugs regulator usually takes up to 90 days to reach a decision but an verdict may be reacher much faster than that in this case, Paul said.
Updated
Individual US states scrambled on Sunday to impose lockdowns to stem coronavirus spikes amid a lack of national leadership as cases, deaths and hospitalisations hit record levels across the country.
Dr Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, expressed frustration on Sunday over the mixed messages coming from the Trump administration that are reflected in some Americans’ perception about masks, social distancing and super-spreader events.
“Right now, across the Sun Belt, we have governors and mayors who have cases equivalent to what they had in the summertime yet aren’t putting in the same policies and mitigations that they put in the summer, that they know changed the course of this pandemic across the South,” she told NBC.
“So it is frustrating because not only do we know what works, governors and mayors used those tools to stem the tide in the spring and the summer,” Birx said.
Only about half of the 50 US states have enacted new restrictions during the resurgence of the last month. Fourteen states do not mandate masks.
Turkey recorded 30,402 new coronavirus cases, including asymptomatic ones, over the past 24 hours, the health ministry has announced.
Turkey started reporting all cases on 25 November, after four months of only reporting daily symptomatic cases. Historical data for all positive cases and the cumulative total are still not available.
The Covid-19 death toll rose by 195 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 14,900, the ministry data also showed.
The country was in lockdown over the weekend to fight a recent spike in daily deaths, which hit a record of 196 on Saturday, and new infections. On Friday, Turkey had 32,736 new infections – the highest number the country has reported.
The South African government has urged school students who attended a series of end-of-year “Rage” parties to quarantine for 10 days after identifying four such parties as coronavirus “super-spreader events”.
South Africa is experiencing a resurgence of infections in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announcing new restrictions in the Eastern Cape but stopping short of a wider crackdown.
The parties are popular with thousands of school leavers every year and can last several days.
“We confirm that we have now identified a number of Covid-19 confirmed cases arising from these super-spreader events,” Zweli Mkhize, the health minister, said. “We now urge all the Rage attendees to immediately go into a 10-days quarantine ... We also urge that Rage attendees test for Covid-19.”
South Africa has recorded more than 800,000 coronavirus infections and more than 21,000 deaths related to Covid-19, the most in Africa.
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UK reports 17,272 infections, 231 deaths
There have been a further 17,272 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data. This compares to 12,155 cases registered last Sunday.
A total of 1,723,242 people have tested positive.
A further 231 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were also reported, bringing the total to 61,245. There were 215 last Sunday.
Sunday figures are often lower because of reporting delays over the weekend.
Updated
Italy's death toll passes 60,000
Italy has reported 18,887 new coronavirus cases, compared to 20,646 last Sunday. A total of 1.728 million cases have been registered to date.
A further 564 coronavirus-related deaths were also registered, taking the country’s toll to 60,078 – the sixth highest globally.
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Indonesia has received its first shipment of vaccine from China, its president Joko Widodo has said, as the government prepares a mass inoculation programme.
Jokowi, as the president is widely known, said in an online briefing that the Southeast Asian country received 1.2m doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd, a vaccine Indonesia has been testing since August.
He added that the government plans to receive another 1.8m doses in early January.
Late-stage trials of the Sinovac vaccine are also under way in Brazil and Turkey, with interim results on efficiency from Brazil expected by mid-December.
Indonesia is also expected this month to receive shipments of raw materials to produce 15m doses and materials for 30m doses next month, the president said.
The vaccine still needs to be evaluated by the country’s food and drug agency (BPOM) while his administration continues to prepare for distributing the vaccine across the vast archipelago of 270m people, Jokowi said.
We have been preparing for months through simulations in several provinces and I am sure that once it is decided that we can begin the vaccination, everything will be ready.
Indonesia’s daily number of infections have accelerated in recent weeks, with total confirmed cases reaching 575,796 on Sunday with 17,740 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia.
When Edwina FitzPatrick lost the love of her life to coronavirus, she was plunged into such a profound state of grief, full of nightmares and darkness, she thought about ending her own life. But as the days without her husband, Nik Devlin, the 250th person in Britain to die from the disease, turned into weeks and months, her thoughts turned to the collective grief experienced by tens of thousands of people like her and how best to help them.
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A further 195 people who tested positive have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 42,389, NHS England has said.
Patients were aged between 27 and 100. All except two, aged between 84 and 90, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between 30 October and 5 December. Another 16 deaths were reported with no positive test result.
The chief adviser for the US vaccine efforts plans to meet with the president-elect Joe Biden this week to discuss his work, he has said, as jabs are expected to be rolled out to the first Americans later this month.
Moncef Slaoui, the Operation Warp Speed chief adviser, said he has not yet met with Biden, who has criticised the Trump administration’s vaccine distribution plan. In an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation programme, he said:
We really look forward to it because actually things have been really very appropriately planned.
Biden said on Friday his team had not seen a detailed plan from the Trump administration to distribute vaccine to various states. He said:
There is no detailed plan that we’ve seen, anyway, as to how you get the vaccine out of a container, into an injection syringe, into somebody’s arm.
He said the distribution process for the vaccines, which need to be stored at very low temperatures, is difficult and expensive. “There’s a lot more that has to be done.” Slaoui said part of the confusion may be that the government’s plan relies on state health agencies to deliver the vaccine
But there are videos, there are explanations exactly how to go about it. We plan to have all the ancillary materials the syringes, the needles, the swabs.
I think the plans are there and I feel confident that once we will explain it, everything in detail. I hope the new transition team will understand that things are well planned.
Bavaria, which has so far recorded the country’s highest death toll, has announced it will impose a tougher lockdown from Wednesday until 5 January.
People in the southern German state will only be able to leave their homes with good reason, its premier Markus Söder said, adding that there would be some relaxation in the rules for Christmas, but none for New Year celebrations.
While Germany brought its epidemic under control in March and April, it is now dealing with a more deadly second wave and imposed a “lockdown light” at the start of November, closing restaurants and bars and limiting public gatherings.
While daily infections are no longer rising as sharply as before, case numbers have stagnated at a high level, and Germany reported its highest single-day death toll on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the number of confirmed cases rose by 17,767 to 1,171,323, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed, while the reported death toll rose by 255 to 18,772, including 4,289 deaths in Bavaria.
On Wednesday, the chancellor Angel Merkel and state leaders agreed to extend national restrictive measures, which include limiting private gatherings to five people from two households, until 10 January.
Neville, who co-owns Salford City FC, said he is “happy” to see fans back in football stadiums, but questioned the approach.
The end of England’s second national lockdown on Wednesday allowed matches in tier 1 and 2 areas to have limited spectator attendance under the government’s latest guidance, with up to 2,000 people permitted in the latter.
I do think this idea that Salford City, if they were to come into tier 2 in two weeks, could have 2,000, but Manchester United who’ve got a 75,000 stadium could have 2,000 is just madness.
Surely Manchester United could house more than 2,000 people safely and socially distance?
At Salford we might only be able to hold 1,200. So again it’s this blanket approach, this lack of bespoke approach to different situations.
Gary Neville, who has helped form campaign group UnitedCity, which aims to get Manchester “back on its feet” in supporting retail, leisure, culture and sports businesses, said the hospitality sector has been “devastated” by the pandemic.
The footballer turned property developer jointly owns the luxury Stock Exchange hotel in central Manchester with former teammate Ryan Giggs and the pair have plans to build a 40-storey tower elsewhere in the city which will accommodate another luxury hotel, as well as apartments and offices.
Asked how the past few months have been, he told Sky News:
It’s shocking. It’s shocking, and I have to say the whole hospitality sector has been devastated.
Neville said there needs to be more economic support packages put in place for all hospitality while the city is under the current restrictions, and as it comes out of the restrictions too. He said he is worried about the next 12 months, adding:
There’s going to need to be a fair wind with us. We certainly cannot continue to keep moving in and out of tiers the way in which we are or else it’s just a complete devastation on people’s livelihoods.
Neville said he does not have a problem with the restrictions as “health must be the priority”, but said “the lack of support and the lack of planning is the big problem”.
In the UK, tributes have been paid to a “kind-hearted” clinical psychologist who died after contracting Covid-19.
Kalli Mantala-Bozos, 50, died last month. The South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust issued a statement describing her as “genuine, kind-hearted individual who made time to build relationships, bring a smile to others’ faces, and who put her all into her clinical work while being family-oriented and a cornerstone of her community.”
The trust’s chief executive, Rob Webster, said: “She spent her life helping people in their time of need, both in and out of work, and the loss to the communities she lived in and served will be felt deeply.
“Kalli was an inspiration and will be very much missed by us all.”
Mantala-Bozos was married with four children. In a message posted on the Greek Orthodox Community of Leeds’ Facebook page, her family expressed their “warmest thanks” to those who joined their prayers during this difficult time.
At least six Covid-19 patients died after “criminal negligence” resulted in a delayed supply of oxygen to a hospital in north-west Pakistan, officials said Sunday, as the country battles a second wave of the epidemic.
AFP reported that more than 200 patients – including nearly 100 with coronavirus – were left for hours with limited supplies of oxygen at a government-run hospital in Peshawar.
“The sad incident happened due to lack of central oxygen supply in the hospital,” provincial health minister, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, told a press conference, confirming the deaths.
“We will hold an inquiry and get to the bottom of the incident,” he added, promising action against those responsible “for this criminal negligence”.
Hospital spokesman Farhad Khan told AFP a disruption in oxygen supplies affected some 200 people, “including 96 Covid-19 patients”.
He blamed a private supplier, saying the Rawalpindi-based company had “failed to meet the growing demand”.
Pakistan has reported more than 400,000 cases of coronavirus – including over 8,000 deaths - since the virus arrived in late February.
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In the UK, the Observer’s Nosheen Iqbal reports on a survey finding that the public are not convinced by claims that many citydwellers want to flee to the country to lessen their risk of contracting coronavirus.
42% of more than 2000 people polled said they thought claims that “everyone wants to move to the countryside, the city is dying” were either somewhat or completely false, against 38% who thought they were somewhat or completely true.
Among other findings reported:
While 89% of respondents agreed that Britons are more isolated and lonely than ever, many were optimistic about local communities – two-thirds of women said stronger bonds had been formed in their neighbourhoods this year. This perception was highest in the north west (63%) and lowest in eastern England (50%).
It was a similar picture with shopping habits: 72% of respondents believe consumers increasingly want to buy local and support small businesses, which indicates that the health of local high streets is a key factor in people wanting to stay in their neighbourhoods.
You can read the story here:
Neville was critical of the Labour party for ordering its MPs to abstain on last week’s vote about a strengthened tiered system of coronavirus restrictions, after party leader Keir Starmer warned the plans pose a “significant” health risk.
I was critical of the Labour party earlier in the week because they’re there to protect the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. And the restrictions being in place to protect health is fine. But they know that the economic support isn’t in place aligned with those restrictions, which means you’ve got to take a position and be bold and go against it, you cannot abstain.
He said the people of Manchester are “frustrated with the lack of leadership” in protecting the communities that are hardest hit.
So when you’re elected and you’re in that seat in Westminster, you take a position, you don’t abstain, you take part in the match, you’re the opposition.
The opposition – not sitting in the stand. They sat in the stand whilst the whole team had a clear run. Even they didn’t have a clear run because some of their own players got sent off.
The former Premier League footballer Gary Neville has spoken out against “division” as the UK deals with its epidemic, and said:
At this moment in time we aren’t working as one as a nation, we need to work better.
Asked about what this says about the country’s political leaders, the former Manchester United player told Sky News:
They’re out of their depth. The countries who’ve dealt with this really well, they’ve had definite and sure leaders, people who have been in control, composed, clear plans, clear communication strategy, aggressive testing, disciplined tracing, they’ve had maybe border controls in place early, they’ve made decisions that have been unpopular at times, but they’ve really handled the virus well.
We’re still, eight months later, none the wiser as to how our long term looks, how our short term looks, how our medium term looks.
We in Manchester don’t know whether we’re coming out of a lockdown in two weeks. And, if we come out of that lockdown, we don’t know that we’re going back into it again two weeks later.
We’ve got to have a plan that surely works.
Summary
Here’s a summary of the latest developments:
- Russia reported 29,039 new cases – its worst daily total since the pandemic began – taking the cumulative national total to 2,460,770. Authorities confirmed 457 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the official national death toll to 43,141.
- Moscow has begun vaccinating vulnerable groups with the country’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab. Full safety and efficacy trials have not yet been completed.
- Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics. Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine manufactured in Belgium will be flown by military aircraft to avoid delays at ports caused by Brexit.
- The US has seen a record number of coronavirus cases for the third day running. Nearly 230,000 new infections and 2,527 Covid-related deaths were recorded on Saturday alone. Areas across California will be under stay-at-home orders by Sunday night to ease the pressure on hospitals.
- In South Korea, social distancing requirements were tightened in the capital Seoul on Sunday. Health authorities recorded 631 new cases as of midnight Saturday - the largest daily tally since a peak in February and early March.
- The Australian state of Victoria has announced a significant easing of its Covid-19 restrictions, opening up the state in time for summer. Victoria, once the worst hit state in the country, has enjoyed 37 straight days free from Covid-19.
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Portugal will ease coronavirus rules over the Christmas period to allow people to visit friends and family but measures will be reinforced again a few days later to crack down on New Year’s Eve parties, the government said on Saturday.
- In China, provincial governments are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work.
The UK’s environment secretary George Eustice has said it will be a “personal decision” for the Queen whether or not she takes the vaccine, as it has been suggested she is likely to do. Asked on Times Radio if he would like to see the monarch take the vaccine and then announce publicly that she had done so, Eustice said:
It will be a personal decision for the Queen, as it is for everyone. But it is very important that we try to make sure that people are reassured about this vaccine. It has been rigorously tested, it’s been through a very rigorous authorisation process and it is safe.
It is very important that we get those vulnerable groups, some of the older population, those over the age of 80, to take the vaccine early.
And Raine addressed whether or not the MHRA will approve the breaking up of the vaccine packs into smaller batches for care homes.
We have approved how the vaccine can be put into the small packs, but obviously what we’re doing is giving advice and guidance on how well that, carefully, that is done.
Our goal is to ensure that the vaccine reaches people in care homes, the residents there, as safely as possible.
So, everyone is working hard with our colleagues in the NHS, to make sure that happens safely.
Asked when people will get the vaccine, she replied:
As I say, we’re working very hard to make sure that this is done as quickly as possible.
It’s a special vaccine, it does need to be kept very cold. And then, when the larger packs are split into smaller ones to go to where they will be given, that does need to be done very carefully. But I think we’ll be seeing the first person in a matter of days having that really important vaccine.
Raine was also asked how she had coped with becoming a “global figure” and about reports that the queen will have the Pfizer injection within weeks. She told the BBC:
I’m proud, I’m honoured. I think that news that you’ve just given us is humbling and it’s everything that we’re here to do at the MHRA.
We’re a public health organisation, we work as full partners in the public health family, and our goal is totally to protect every member of the population; Her Majesty of course, as well.
It was suggested to Raine that, “by the law of averages, some people will be sick or even die after they’ve had the vaccine”, and she was asked her how closely she is monitoring the rollout to ensure the jab remains safe for everybody. The MHRA chief executive replied:
We’re following up all the safety issues after rollout incredibly carefully. Our job doesn’t end when rollout starts, and we’ve got a very advanced and proactive way of doing this.
The yellow card scheme is there for everyone to use if you suspect there’s an association and, importantly, we use data from our clinical practice research datalink to be sure that what’s happening. What we’re seeing on yellow card is no more than we would be expecting.
The scheme is run by the MHRA for patients and health professionals to voluntarily report any suspected safety concerns or incidents involving medicines and medical devices.
If it is, we’ll be working to look at any signal very thoroughly, including with Public Health England, and with research groups in academia, such as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
It’s continuous, it’s real time, and we’ll be sharing any new information that comes to light, but my overall message is that the safety profile of the Covid-19 vaccine is really no different from any other vaccine – might have a mild symptom, it will probably disappear in a day or two, and nothing at all of a serious nature, so you can be confident there.
It’s as safe as any general vaccine, the kind you might have if you’re going on holiday, or of course the flu jab, and I might just add if you’re still due to have your flu jab, please do have it before you have the Covid vaccine, not at the same time.
Dr June Raine, the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which approved the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, said there “should be no doubt whatever that this is a very safe and highly effective vaccine”. Asked by the BBC how important the public health message is to making sure that people actually take the vaccine, she said:
It’s vitally important and I would really like to emphasise that the highest standards of scrutiny, of safety and of effectiveness and quality have been met, international standards. And so there should be real confidence in the rigour of our approval.
More than that, our Commission on Human Medicines has scrutinised every piece of data too, so there should be no doubt whatever that this is a very safe and highly effective vaccine.
It will help us turn the corner. There’s really not one of us who hasn’t been affected by this pandemic, and our organisation, like every other, has been completely focused on doing our job to be able to help defeat this terrible disease.
Asked whether the vaccine rollout risked being disrupted if the UK and the European Union fail to reach a trade deal before the end of the Brexit transition period, said:
We’ve practised, we are ready, we are fully prepared for any possible outcome.
The UK is expecting to receive up to 4m doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the end of December, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers has said. Saffron Cordery has told Sky News that only hospitals had the infrastructure to store the vaccines.
She said those institutions receiving the first batch were calling people aged 80 and over in their areas to come into hospitals and setting up separate clinics on-site.
Right now, they can only be administered in hospitals but trusts up and down the country are working with the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), who is overseeing this process, to see if they can get them distributed more closely to care homes so that they can go into care homes and sort the vaccines for those residents.
Cordery said frontline workers were moved down the vaccine priority list to focus the first batch of doses to those most at risk of dying.
Although we have 800,000 doses coming into the country, because we need a double dose to vaccinate people that’s really only a distribution to 400,000 people.
What was needed was a way of making sure that those who really needed it most would get it. This initial focus on care home residents and staff as well as the over-80s was really a precautionary principle.
Here’s a little more detail on the news that heightened social distancing rules are being imposed around the South Korean capital Seoul. The health ministry official Park Neung-hoo has said: “We are in a very dangerous situation,” adding that localised clusters have the potential to become a national outbreak.
Concerns have been expressed over the dwindling number of hospital beds. and Park said: “Right now it is exceeding the level that we can control in our hospital system.” New beds are being added and for now there are enough to treat patients, but if the trend continues, the country could face a shortage of beds, he said.
Many of the recent cases have been centred in Seoul, which on Saturday launched unprecedented curfews, shuttering most establishments at 9 p.m. (1200 GMT) for two weeks and cutting back public transportation by 30% in the evenings.
Under the measures announced on Sunday, which go into effect on Tuesday, gatherings of 50 or more people are prohibited, gyms and karaoke bars must close, religious services must be held online or by broadcast, and stricter attendance limits will be placed on school classes, Park said.
While restaurants will still be allowed to provide in-person service, the government is urging people to avoid eating out if possible and not hold non-essential social gatherings, he said.
The curbs will last at least three weeks, until the end of the month, Park said. Other areas of the country will also see heightened restrictions, but at a lower level than the Seoul area.
England’s tour of South Africa lurched back into crisis mode on Sunday after two unnamed members of Eoin Morgan’s touring party tested positive for Covid-19 following the abandonment of the first one-day international in Paarl.
The match had already been called off 30 minutes before the start of play as a result of two members of staff at the Vineyard hotel testing positive, news which led to the England team and staff being tested again on Saturday evening.
And now a tour that has already seen three South African players emerge has positive cases – and forced Friday’s initial series-opener to be called off – is in danger of being ended altogether following this latest development. A joint statement from Cricket South Africa and the England and Wales Cricket Board read:
CSA and the ECB have agreed to cancel today’s One-Day International match, which was due to take place in Paarl.
The decision was taken after two hotel staff members testing positive for Covid-19. As a precaution, the England players and management underwent an additional round of PCR tests on Saturday evening.
Following the test results, two members of the England touring party have returned unconfirmed positive tests for Covid-19. The players and management are now self-isolating in their rooms until further advice from the medical teams.
The medical advice from both CSA and ECB is that the match cannot not take place.
A decision on the remaining matches in the series will be taken once the results of the tests are ratified independently by medical experts.
Russia records most cases in a day
Russia has reported 29,039 new cases on Sunday – its worst daily total since the pandemic began – taking the cumulative national total to 2,460,770. Authorities confirmed 457 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the official national death toll to 43,141.
Updated
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip may “let it be known” once they have received a vaccine, the Times has reported, citing unnamed royal aides.
The 94-year-old monarch and her 99-year-old spouse are likely to be among the first to be offered a jab, with the government prioritising elderly people as it begins the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine that was approved on 2 December.
The Queen could be among those to offer an influential public endorsement to counter anti-vaccination misinformation circulating online.
The pandemic has killed more than 60,000 people in the UK and has infected more than 1.7 million people. The royal family has not been untouched, with both heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his eldest son, Prince William, testing positive earlier in the year.
Under the government’s priority list for the vaccine roll-out, the first doses are intended to be given to elderly care home residents and their carers, followed by people over 80 and health service staff.
The Times said that in 1957 the Queen made public that Charles and his sister Princess Anne, then aged eight and six, had been inoculated against polio; helping to ease concerns about potential side-effects of what was then a new vaccine.
Updated
That’s all from me - I’m now handing over to my colleague in London, Kevin Rawlinson, who will keep you up-to-date with all the latest global pandemic news.
Across England, scotch egg makers are ratcheting up production lines after seeing demand from pubs and the food-service sector rise massively over the past week.
Supermarkets have also experienced a substantial spike in sales, with the Co-op reporting a 26% year-on-year increase in the number of scotch eggs purchased at its stores – and an 11% rise in sales over the past week alone.
Sales began to surge on Monday, when food minister George Eustice said that a scotch egg – typically a boiled egg encased in cooked sausage meat and fried breadcrumbs – did count as a “substantial meal”. Then Michael Gove, who had initially contradicted his cabinet colleague and dismissed the scotch egg as “probably” just a starter, backtracked on Tuesday and declared, once and for all, that a scotch egg “definitely” is a substantial meal.
Hospitality businesses in tier 2 areas welcomed the news: under the government’s new Covid-19 restrictions, which are enforced by local authorities, a “substantial meal” must accompany all alcoholic drinks that they serve – meaning many pubs and bars without kitchens would have struggled to reopen after the national lockdown ended in England on Tuesday.
Now, publicans are hoping they need only supply customers yearning for a freshly drawn pint with a cold scotch egg alongside their tipple of choice, to stay on the right side of a quintessentially British law.
On the front page of today’s Observer: the UK’s plan to bring consignments of the Covid-19 vaccine from Belgium by air, to avoid port delays caused by Brexit.
Tomorrow's front page pic.twitter.com/Oxalp16kC5
— The Observer (@ObserverUK) December 5, 2020
Summary
- Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics. Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine manufactured in Belgium will be flown by military aircraft to avoid delays at ports caused by Brexit.
- The US has seen a record number of coronavirus cases for the third day running. Nearly 230,000 new infections and 2,527 Covid-related deaths were recorded on Saturday alone. Areas across California will be under stay-at-home orders by Sunday night to ease the pressure on hospitals.
- In South Korea, social distancing requirements were tightened in the capital Seoul on Sunday. Health authorities recorded 631 new cases as of midnight Saturday - the largest daily tally since a peak in February and early March.
- The Australian state of Victoria has announced a significant easing of its Covid-19 restrictions, opening up the state in time for summer. Victoria, once the worst hit state in the country, has enjoyed 37 straight days free from Covid-19.
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Portugal will ease coronavirus rules over the Christmas period to allow people to visit friends and family but measures will be reinforced again a few days later to crack down on New Year’s Eve parties, the government said on Saturday.
- In China, provincial governments are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work.
- Russia has begun vaccinating vulnerable groups with the country’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab. Full safety and efficacy trials have not yet been completed.
Updated
US confirms record number of cases for third day running
The US has now seen a record number of coronavirus cases for the third day running.
A tally by Johns Hopkins University showed the world’s worst-hit country - which has seen a dramatic virus resurgence in recent weeks - reached nearly 230,000 new infections and 2,527 Covid-related deaths on Saturday alone.
For two weeks, the US has regularly topped 2,000 deaths per day, as it had in the spring at the height of the first wave of the country’s outbreak.
US health officials warned of a surge after millions of Americans traveled to celebrate last week’s Thanksgiving holiday, despite pleas from authorities to stay home.
Some further detail from Reuters news agency on the new measures being imposed in South Korea.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 631 new cases as of midnight Saturday - the largest daily tally since a peak in February and early March - bringing the country’s total to 37,546, with 545 deaths.
The new wave of infections has brought the number of active cases in South Korea to a record 7,873, according to the KDCA, raising concerns over the dwindling number of hospital beds.
Many of the recent cases have been centred in Seoul, which on Saturday launched unprecedented curfews, shuttering most establishments and shops at 9 p.m. (1200 GMT) for two weeks and cutting back public transportation operations by 30% in the evenings.
Under Sunday’s measures, gatherings of 50 or more people are prohibited and stricter attendance limits will be placed on religious gatherings and school classes, while businesses like gyms and karaoke bars will face new restrictions, Yonhap said.
The heightened curbs will last at least three weeks, until the end of the month, news agency News1 reported.
South Korea imposes new restrictions
South Korea’s government has tightened social distancing requirements in the capital Seoul on Sunday, according to reports by Yonhap news agency.
The country is facing the highest number of coronavirus infections in nine months. It reported 631 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the country’s total tally to 37,546, with 545 deaths, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported.
In the UK, twice the number of people as normal are expecting to spend Christmas alone this year as a result of the pandemic, according to figures that have prompted new concerns about a “silent epidemic of loneliness”.
The issue is particularly acute among those aged 65 and over, with as many as 1.7 million people saying they expected to be alone on Christmas Day. The figures, revealed in a new Opinium poll for the Observer, confirm the extent of the continued disruption that the pandemic has wrought on family get-togethers.
The polling reveals that overall people expecting to spend Christmas on their own has gone up from 4% in a normal year to 8% this year. Among the over-64s, the figure has risen from 7% to 14% – or 1.7 million people. Just 23% of adults say they will spend Christmas with their parents this year, down from 35% in normal times. Fewer than one in six (15%) plan to spend Christmas with siblings, nearly half the 27% who said they normally would.
Thailand reported 14 new confirmed cases on Sunday, including two local infections and 12 imported cases. The total number of infections remains at 4,086 infections, and 60 deaths.
Life in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where Covid-19 first emerged, is gradually returning to normal. There have been no recorded cases of community transmissions in the city since May.
China prepares for Covid vaccine roll out
Provincial governments across China are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work or how they may reach the country’s 1.4 billion people, Reuters has reported.
Developers are speeding up final testing, the Chinese foreign minister said on Thursday during a UN meeting, as Britain issued approval for emergency use of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine candidate and providers scrambled to set up distribution.
China’s fledgling pharmaceutical industry has at least five vaccines from four producers being tested in more than a dozen countries including Russia, Egypt and Mexico. Health experts say even if they are successful, the certification process for the United States, Europe, Japan and other developed countries might be too complex for them to be used there. However, China said it will ensure the products are affordable for developing countries.
One developer, China National Pharmaceutical Group, known as Sinopharm, said in November it applied for final market approval for use of its vaccine in China. Others have been approved for emergency use on health workers and other people deemed at high risk of infection.
Sniffer-dogs being trained to operate in Australian airports may be capable of detecting Covid-19 before a positive reading shows up in tests, Australian Associated Press.
The dogs have been taught to recognise a specific odour in sweat samples and the aim is to use them alongside required PCR testing for international passengers from early next year.
“We’ve done it in training and our next step will be to deploy in airports with incoming international passengers,” Adelaide University researcher Susan Hazel said. “The benefit will be, once we can prove that it is working, that they could be used without the other testing, they could be used for initial screening.”
International examples in the field also show the dogs could be effective in detecting the virus in pre-symptomatic cases.
While results need to be verified, Dr Hazel said dogs had indicated a positive case after an initial PCR test showed a negative.
The project is a collaboration between Adelaide University, Australian Border Force, Biosecurity, emergency services and international partners.
Dr Hazel is working with lead researcher Anne-Lise Chaber from the university’s school of Animal and Veterinary Sciences.
Based on overseas experience, Ms Hazel said the dogs don’t tend to pick up on other viral infections. International teams are trying to isolate the scent the dogs are recognising.
Germany records 17,767 new infections
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 17,767 to 1,171,323, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 255 to 18,772, the tally showed.
Updated
Japan’s government is considering the resumption of inbound tourism on a limited basis from the spring as Tokyo prepares to host a delayed summer Olympics, the Asahi newspaper reported on Sunday.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s administration is leaning toward allowing small tour groups from Asian countries where coronavirus infections are well under control, such as China and Taiwan, the Asahi reported without citing sources.
Japanese government officials did not return calls from Reuters seeking comment.
Suga’s government has launched a subsidy programme to revive domestic tourism, a key driver of economic growth in recent years, but the scheme has been criticised because Japan is struggling with a third wave of coronavirus infections.
Under the new plan, tourists would have to test negative for the coronavirus and submit a detailed travel itinerary before entering, the Asahi said. They would travel only by hired coach and would be separated from other customers at their hotel and sightseeing destinations, it said. Tourists would also be required to use a tracing app and give daily updates on their health, the report said.
A limited number of people are now allowed to travel to Japan for business but are requested to self-isolate for 14 days.
The Tokyo Summer Olympics was scheduled for this year but was pushed back to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The European Central Bank is set to unleash more stimulus for the eurozone at its last meeting of the year on Thursday, as the region’s battered economy grapples with a second coronavirus wave, Agence France-Presse has reported.
ECB chief Christine Lagarde in October all but promised that extra support was on the way, when she said the Frankfurt institution would “recalibrate” its instruments in December.
The ECB will also unveil fresh economic forecasts likely to have been revised downwards after a spike in virus cases forced renewed shutdowns across Europe, although the prospect of mass vaccinations from next year could brighten the longer term outlook.
Analysts widely expect the ECB’s governing council to add another 500 billion euros ($600 billion) to its 1.35-trillion-euro pandemic emergency bond-buying programme (PEPP), and extend it beyond the current deadline of June 2021.
The purchases are aimed at keeping borrowing costs low to encourage spending and investment and bolster economic growth. The ECB could also offer more ultra-cheap credit to banks for longer under a scheme known as TLTROs, whereby banks get loans at highly favourable interest rates in return for lending on to the wider economy.
The central bank is all but certain to keep interest rates at historic lows, but may increase its pre-pandemic asset purchases from the current 20 billion euros a month.
Indonesia minister named suspect in million-dollar bribery case linked to Covid relief
Indonesia’s anti-graft agency on Sunday named social affairs minister Juliari Batubara as a suspect in a million-dollar bribery case linked to the procurement of goods to be distributed as Covid-19 social assistance packages.
Reuters news agency has reported that Juliari is the second Indonesian cabinet minister to be named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in recent few weeks. He and two other officials are suspected of accepting bribes in connection with the procurement of 5.9 trillion rupiah ($420 million) worth of goods. The other two suspects are private citizens.
Juliari was being questioned at KPK headquarters and will be taken into custody. The social affairs ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Some of the suspects were arrested in a sting operation in Jakarta on Saturday, where KPK found the cash, said KPK spokesman Ali Fikri. “The money was stored in seven suitcases, three backpacks, and in envelopes, amounting to around 14.5 billion rupiah,” or$1.03 million, he said. The online briefing displayed suitcases containing cash.
Last month, KPK named Maritime and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo as a suspect in a separate corruption case.
Updated
In Australia, the opposition Labor party says Australians who are stranded overseas due to Covid and want to come home are being quietly reclassified in an attempt to avoid “bad headlines” over Scott Morrison’s failure to return them by Christmas.
Australia has struggled with the number of returning citizens and permanent residents since its national cabinet capped arrivals in July in response to the second coronavirus wave in Victoria and suspension of hotel quarantine in Melbourne.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has warned Australia’s travel cap may breach international law obligations regarding reunifying children with their families and allowing citizens to travel home.
Mainland China reported 18 new confirmed coronavirus cases on 5 December, most of which were imported, according to state-backed Global Times.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 2 from 12 a day earlier. The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China stands at 86,619. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Chinese mainland reports 18 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, 1 domestically transmitted and 17 imported pic.twitter.com/vMKWycIro3
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) December 5, 2020
Updated
Victoria relaxes virus restrictions
Here is some more detail on the easing of restrictions in Australia’s Victoria state, which has recorded 37 days without any new coronavirus infections.
From midnight on Sunday, up to 100 people will be able to attend public gatherings such as weddings, with density rules of one person per two square metres remaining in place, while 50% of office workers will be able to return to workplaces by 11 January, up from 25% now, the state’s premier said.
“Today we can take some big steps, not to normal, but to a Covid-safe summer (but) we all need to remain vigilant and we all need to play our part,” Premier Daniel Andrews told a news conference.
Masks will remain mandatory at indoor venues and on public and ride-share transport, he said.
Public health concerns eased after two travellers who returned from Germany, bypassing quarantine in Sydney to travel straight to Melbourne, returned negative Covid-19 tests.
All passengers on the Saturday afternoon domestic flight between the two cities and some airport staff must remain in self-quarantine until the results from a second test arrive on Monday, a health official said.
Australia recorded seven new cases overnight, all returned travellers. The country has all but stamped out the coronavirus through strict quarantine measures, particularly in Victoria, the second-most populous state, which in early August logged as many as 700 daily infections.
In the UK, singer Rita Ora has apologised after reports emerged that she should have been self-isolating when she celebrated her birthday at a London restaurant last month.
The 30-year-old flew to Egypt in a private jet on 21 November to perform at the five-star W Hotel in Cairo, an appearance for which she was paid a six-figure sum, the Mail on Sunday reported.
She returned to England the next day and was required, as per government quarantine rules, to self-isolate for 14 days.
Instead, Ora attended her own birthday party at the Casa Cruz restaurant in Notting Hill, west London on 28 November – itself a breach of coronavirus restrictions for which she has previously apologised.
Updated
Mexico’s health ministry on Saturday reported 11,625 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and an additional 593 fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,168,395 cases and 109,456 deaths.
The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Britain prepares to roll out vaccine
Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics, Reuters has reported.
The first doses are set to be administered on Tuesday, with the National Health Service (NHS) giving top priority to vaccinating the over-80s, frontline healthcare workers and care home staff and residents.
Britain gave emergency use approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week - jumping ahead in the global race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.
In total, Britain has ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million. About 800,000 doses are expected to be available within the first week.
Initial doses that have arrived from Belgium are being stored in secure locations across the country, where they will be quality checked, the health ministry said.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has onerous storage requirements. It needs to be kept at -70C (-94F) and only lasts five days in a regular fridge. For that reason, the health ministry said the vaccine would first be administered in 50 hospitals. It said it would take a few hours to defrost each vaccine and prepare it for use.
Updated
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.
Here are the latest developments:
- Coronavirus infections across the US continue to rise as the country moves deeper into a holiday season. Swathes of California will be under stay-at-home orders by Sunday night to ease the strains on hospitals.
- The Australian state of Victoria has announced a significant easing of its Covid-19 restrictions, opening up the state in time for summer. Victoria, once the worst hit state in the country, has enjoyed 37 straight days free from Covid-19.
- Argentina has passed a one-time wealth tax in order to raise money to help pay for medical supplies and financial relief packages during the coronavirus pandemic. The “millionaire’s tax” targets people with assets worth more than 200m pesos (£1.8m).
- The British health secretary Matt Hancock said on Saturday that the coronavirus vaccine could bring the loosening of restrictions before the end of March.
Britain reported 15,539 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday and 397 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test result, both falls on the previous day’s figures.
- In London, 2,000 football fans watched the first Premier League game to allow fans into a ground since March.
- Portugal will ease coronavirus rules over the Christmas period to allow people to visit friends and family but measures will be reinforced again a few days later to crack down on New Year’s Eve parties, the government said on Saturday.
- France recorded 12,923 new infections on Saturday, up from Friday’s 11,221 and bucking a general month-long downward trend.
- Iran’s total death toll from coronavirus surpassed 50,000. The worst-hit Middle Eastern country recorded 321 new deaths recorded on Saturday.
- Russia began vaccinating the Moscow’s exposed groups with the country’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab. It marked the country’s first large-scale immunisation against the disease, the city’s coronavirus taskforce said. Full safety and efficacy trials have not yet been completed.
