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Summary
Here’s a quick recap of some of the main developments from the last few hours:
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The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has proven 94% effective in a study involving 1.2 million people in Israel, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies. The first big real-world study, published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, showed two doses of the shot cut symptomatic Covid-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much. It also showed a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks.
- Brazil recorded a further 1,428 deaths from Covid-19, its highest daily toll since 7 January, the health ministry said. The official death toll has risen to 249,957, according to ministry data, in the world’s second deadliest outbreak.
- The French government ordered a weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area to arrest an “alarming” rise in Covid-19 cases, signalling extra curbs might also be needed elsewhere as daily cases nationwide hit their highest since November.
- Jordan announced stricter measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 after a month-long surge in cases attributed mainly to the rapid transmission of the more infectious UK variant. The cabinet decided to extend the country’s night-time curfew back to 10pm, effective Thursday, after loosening it to midnight last month, and businesses will have to close at 9pm.
The Czech government will debate possible tighter coronavirus measures at a Thursday evening meeting, a government spokesman said after ministers did not reach a decision on new restrictions at an extraordinary sitting on Wednesday.
The prime minister Andrej Babis said earlier on Wednesday that tighter measures were needed to prevent a catastrophe in hospitals in the coming weeks as the country battles one of the world’s highest Covid-19 infection and death rates.
With non-essential shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and most schools already closed, ministers are debating further curbs on people’s movement to combat the spread of the virus.
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Canada’s largest city Toronto has cancelled all large in-person, city-permitted outdoor events throughout July as the country seeks to stave off a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The city announced on Wednesday it was extending an existing cancellation of outdoor events, including the annual Pride Parade, which will be a virtual event, and 1 July Canada Day celebrations, which tend to cap off mid-summer festivities.
The announcement does not include professional sporting events, which need permission from provincial and federal governments in addition to Toronto Public Health.
“I want to thank all of these organisations for understanding the need to avoid large in-person gatherings in the coming months and thank you to those who have worked to offer virtual events to keep the spirit of these celebrations,” the mayor, John Tory, said in a statement.
Many Canadian provinces are gradually reopening businesses and cultural activities after a powerful second wave of Covid infections forced authorities to issue stay-at-home orders.
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Brazil had a further 66,588 new Covid-19 cases reported in the past 24 hours, and another 1,428 deaths from Covid-19, the highest daily toll since 7 January, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The country has now registered 10,324,463 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 249,957, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.
Pfizer vaccine found 94% effective in landmark real-world study
The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing Covid-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies.
Up until now, most data on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables.
The research in Israel – two months into one of the world’s fastest rollouts, providing a rich source of data – showed two doses of the Pfizer shot cut symptomatic Covid-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much.
The study of about 1.2 million people also showed a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks, according to the data published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.
The results of the study for the Clalit Research Institute were close to those in clinical trials last year which found two doses were found to be 95% effective.
“We were surprised because we expected that in the real-world setting, where cold chain is not maintained perfectly and the population is older and sicker, that you will not get as good results as you got in the controlled clinical trials,” senior study author Ran Balicer told Reuters. “But we did and the vaccine worked as well in the real world.”
“We have shown the vaccine to be as effective in very different sub-groups, in the young and in the old in those with no co-morbidities and in those with few co-morbidities,” he added.
The study also suggests the vaccine is effective against the variant first identified in the UK. Researchers said they could not provide a specific level of efficacy, but the variant was the dominant version of the virus in Israel at the time of the study.
The research did not shed light on how the Pfizer shot will fare against another variant, now dominant in South Africa, that has been shown to reduce the efficacy of other vaccines.
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Frontline workers and black, Asian and minority ethnic groups will not be prioritised for vaccination in the next stage of the UK’s Covid jab rollout, the Guardian understands.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) updated its advice on Wednesday to recommended that people with learning disabilities be invited for vaccination to ensure people at higher risk of the disease were protected as soon as possible.
However, a government source confirmed that the JCVI was also poised to reject vaccine prioritisation by occupation or race – and that jabs would proceed down the age bands of adults to 18-year-olds.
“This is ultimately about who is most likely to get seriously ill and die from this disease, and when you put it like that the public do understand that has to be the priority,” the source said.
Jessica Elgot and Ian Sample have the story:
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Senegal kicked off its wider Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, after an official launch ceremony the day before saw dozens of officials vaccinated to demonstrate its safety.
Around 100,000 people are expected to be vaccinated with 200,000 doses purchased from China’s Sinopharm, which arrived in Senegal last week.
At a health centre in Patte d’Oie, a densely populated neighbourhood of Senegal’s capital Dakar, the halls were packed with people, mostly the elderly, wearing colourful clothes, including imams in flowing robes and a pair of Catholic priests in their cassocks.
Ousmane Dieng, an imam, told Reuters he traveled throughout the city ahead of the campaign’s launch, hoping to convince people to put aside fear and take the vaccine for the greater good.
“It was with a feeling of immense joy that we welcomed the vaccine. We are fully confident about it, knowing it won’t kill us,” Dieng said after getting his shot.
The country is one of the first in the region to start vaccinating its population against Covid-19. It has so far recorded 33,242 cases and 832 deaths from the disease.
“We have seen how Covid manifests itself, and so it was with a smile that we can get vaccinated and at last achieve immunity,” said Baye Moussa Samba, a doctor at a health centre in the Sicap neighbourhood, which was previously a Covid testing centre.
Senegal aims to inoculate about 90% of a targeted 3.5 million people, including health workers and high-risk individuals, by the end of 2021.
As a lower-middle income country, Senegal is eligible for about 1.3 million vaccine doses for free through the first wave of the World Health Organization’s Covax programme in early March.
The country is negotiating with Russia for more vaccines and is also eligible to get 3.4 million doses for just under $23 million under an African Union plan.
The French government has ordered a weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area to arrest an “alarming” rise in Covid-19 cases, signalling extra curbs might also be needed elsewhere as daily cases nationwide hit their highest since November.
Unlike some of its neighbours, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious coronavirus variants, hoping a curfew in place since 15 December can contain the pandemic. But it reported 31,519 new infections on Wednesday, up from 25,018 a week ago and the most since mid-November.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the national situation was deteriorating, and “a source of worry in about 10 regional departments”. Some required “rapid and strong” containment measures.
The health minister Olivier Veran said the region around Dunkirk, a port across the English Channel currently recording more than 900 new cases per 100,000 residents per week, would go into lockdown from Friday night to Monday morning for the next two weekends.
Attal reiterated that the government was doing all it could to avoid a new national lockdown, telling reporters after a cabinet meeting:
We have shown in regions such as Moselle and Alpes-Maritimes that, when the situation requires it, we can act quickly.
The Alpes-Maritimes Mediterranean coastal region around Nice announced a partial lockdown over the next two weekends on Monday. In Nice, infection rates surged following an inflow of tourists over the Christmas holiday.
Veran said the lockdown in Dunkirk, which has a population of 92,000 and where the more contagious UK variant has been gaining ground, would be of similar duration. He said he would communicate the list of “high-risk” departments at his weekly news conference on Thursday.
France also reported 277 new coronavirus fatalities on Wednesday, down from 431 on Tuesday. Cumulative cases have risen above 3.6 million, the sixth highest in the world, and fatalities stand at 85,321 - the seventh highest toll globally.
The US vice president Kamala Harris has urged Black Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine, as studies show Blacks and Hispanics are lagging behind in Covid vaccinations.
In excerpts from an MSNBC interview on Wednesday, Harris said:
Let’s not let Covid get us. Let’s get the vaccine instead, right? Let’s not let this thing get us. We know black people are disproportionately likely to contract the virus and die from it. We know when you look at who the frontline workers are, who is the most at risk disproportionately, we are talking about people of colour.
Black and Hispanic Americans have been particularly hard-hit by Covid-19 with a disproportionate number of deaths, and public health officials have broadly called for equity in vaccine distribution.
Harris, the first Black and Asian US vice president, noted that Black small businesses were also being affected, with 40% going out of business. In the interview, to be broadcast in full on Saturday, she went on:
It is disproportionately affecting us and if we want to get control of this virus that is harming us at a disproportionate rate, part of it is to get vaccinated.
Her comments came as Joe Biden’s administration announced the distribution of 25 million masks to vulnerable populations and hard-hit communities.
Early data on US coronavirus vaccinations suggested that Black and Hispanic Americans received a smaller proportion of shots than their representation among healthcare workers and nursing home residents, two priority groups for Covid-19 inoculations.
Enrolment of Black Americans in clinical trials was also a particular challenge. Mistrust runs high, in part because of the nation*s history of unethical practices in medical research on African Americans.
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Jordan announced stricter measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 on Wednesday after a month-long surge in cases attributed mainly to the rapid transmission of the more infectious UK variant.
The health minister Nathir Obeidat said the variant was spreading fast across the country, threatening a deadly new wave unless people adhered to social distancing and mask-wearing in public.
The cabinet decided to extend the country’s night-time curfew back to 10pm, effective Thursday, after loosening it to midnight last month, and businesses would have to close at 9pm, Obeidat said. It was also reimposing a full lockdown on Fridays, he said.
Obeidat told a news conference:
We have seen a wide spread of Covid-19 and the British variant is the one now dominant in the capital and provinces.
The kingdom announced the appearance of the new variants after two travellers arrived from the UK in late December.
The cabinet also stiffened fines on people who fail to wear face masks and on businesses that do not impose social distancing measures, but avoided more drastic measures in an effort to protect the economy, which saw its worst contraction in decades last year.
In the last three days, cases have leapt back to a daily range of 4,000 after dropping to a quarter of that level since the end of November. But average deaths remain around ten, far less than a range of 60-70 in the last wave.
Some health officials said the latest rise in infections was worsened by a government decision earlier this month to allow tens of thousands of students in elementary grades to return to schools.
The kingdom, with a population of around 10 million, has recorded 376,441 cases of Covid-19 and 4,611 deaths.
The actor Gwyneth Paltrow has been urged to stop spreading misinformation by the medical director of NHS England after she suggested long Covid could be treated with “intuitive fasting” , herbal cocktails and regular visits to an “infrared sauna”.
Her unproven advice prompted a stern rebuke from Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, who urged influencers such as Paltrow against spreading misinformation. He said:
In the last few days I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of Covid. We wish her well, but some of the solutions she’s recommending are really not the solutions we’d recommend in the NHS.
We need to take long Covid seriously and apply serious science. All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that.
Like the virus, misinformation carries across borders and it mutates and it evolves. So I think YouTube and other social media platforms have a real responsibility and opportunity here.
More on this story here:
Greece is in “technical” talks with the UK over allowing Britons carrying a vaccine passport to travel to its tourist hotspots from May despite concerns in Brussels and other EU capitals.
Haris Theoharis, the Greek tourism minister, said he hoped to “dovetail” with Boris Johnson’s roadmap for allowing Britons to travel but refused to be drawn on whether Greece would break with Brussels to establish the scheme.
Non-essential travel into the EU is currently largely prohibited. All the leaders of the EU’s 27-member states will say on Thursday that “for the time being” the restrictions need to remain, according to a draft statement.
But Theoharis confirmed that Anglo-Greek technical teams were working on how a certificate system could facilitate the resumption of mass travel and what format it would take.
“We’ll try to dovetail with the plan that has been announced in the UK,” Theoharis told the Guardian. “A date of 17 May has been set and we certainly want to be ready by then. The roadmap was a very, very good move by the UK government … planning is a pre-requisite for the travel industry.”
The EU’s heads of state and government are set to discuss the roll-out of a common vaccination certificate during their meeting on Thursday but officials have described plans to use such documents as a device to facilitate travel as “premature”.
Here is the full story:
France has reported 31,518 new confirmed Covid-19 cases today, from 25,018 this time last week, the biggest daily increase since mid-November. The health ministry also reported 277 new coronavirus deaths in past 24 hours, from 431 yesterday.
Summary
- A Danish study suggests that people infected with a British variant of the coronavirus codenamed B117 may have a 60% higher risk of being hospitalised, health minister Magus Heunicke said (see 5.32pm).
- Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid vaccine protects against is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe forms of the virus, and is safe to use, according to an analysis by US regulators ahead of a final decision on the jab.
- The EU is “catching up” with the UK’s coronavirus vaccination programme, the European commission president has insisted as Hungary’s government started to administer a Chinese vaccine in the face of shortages, with Belgium the latest to warn of “serious delays” to its schedule.
- The Swedish government has said it would reduce opening hours for all restaurants, bars and cafes as well as tighten limits on the number of people allowed in shops as it seeks to ward off a third wave (see 5.03pm).
- Switzerland is to start easing out of its lockdown from 1 March, the government has said, confirming preliminary plans to open shops, museums and libraries and allow outdoor gatherings of up to 15 people (see 2.12pm).
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Denmark is also to ease some shopping restrictions and allow schools in parts of the country to reopen on 1 March, the government said, potentially allowing hospital admissions to triple in the coming month (see 10.36am).
- EU leaders will tomorrow debate the issue of certificates of vaccination for citizens who have been vaccinated against Covid, amid reported disagreements within the bloc – with some firmly in favour and others more reluctant (see 5.13pm).
- Israel’s parliament has passed a law allowing the government to share the identities of people not vaccinated against Covid with other authorities, raising privacy concerns for those opting out of inoculation (see 3.44pm).
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A senior adviser to Democrat Joe Biden in his campaign for president believed “Covid is the best thing that ever happened to him”, a new book reports.
Freshly vaccinated Spanish pensioners have gone to a theatre in central Madrid on their first trip out in nearly a year for a symbolic visit.
AFP reports that the EDP theatre on Gran Via invited 150 vaccinated pensioners from seven Madrid care homes along with 50 carers, who have also been immunised, to see a one-man show by the actor Santi Rodriguez.
The elderly theatre-goers symbolise the return to normality that everyone hopes the vaccine will bring - even if they are still wearing masks and sitting at a distance from each other. “I miss seeing so many people together, there are just so many of us,” says one, Conchita Martinez.
So far, some 1.2 million people have been vaccinated in Spain since the start of the immunisation campaign which began just after Christmas with care home residents first in line along with their carers.
New Covid variants are heightening the risk a third wave of infections in Germany and the country must proceed with great care, chancellor Angela Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Reuters reports that the number of new daily infections has stagnated over the past week with the seven-day incidence rate hovering at around 60 cases per 100,000. Today, Germany reported 8,007 new infections and 422 further deaths.
Merkel said:
Because of [variants], we are entering a new phase of the pandemic, from which a third wave may emerge. So we must proceed wisely and carefully so that a third wave does not necessitate a new complete shutdown throughout Germany.
Merkel and state premiers in Germany, Europe’s most populous country and largest economy, have agreed to extend restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus until 7 March.
Hair salons will be allowed to reopen from 1 March, but the threshold for a gradual reopening of the rest of the economy targets an infection rate of no more than 35 new cases per 100,000 people over seven days.
Vaccines and comprehensive testing could allow for “a more regionally differentiated approach”, Merkel said in the newspaper interview, published online today.
In a district with a stable incidence of 35, for example, it may be possible to open all schools without causing distortions in relation to other districts with a higher incidence and schools that are not yet open.
An intelligent opening strategy is inextricably linked with comprehensive quick tests, as it were as free tests. I cannot say exactly how long it will take to install such a system. But it will be in March.
Merkel described Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine – seemingly much less effective than Pfizer and Moderna’s jabs – which some essential workers have refused, as “a reliable vaccine, effective and safe.”
As long as vaccines are as scarce as they are at the moment, you can’t choose what you want to be vaccinated with.
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Two popular French YouTube comedians have more than 10 million views on YouTube with a song about physical distancing, winning a bet made with president Emmanuel Macron.
Macron challenged dared Mcfly and Carlito, who have over six million subscribers on YouTube, to make a video about the need to wear masks, disinfect hands and keep a safe distance to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
As an incentive, he promised they could film their next project in his Elysee palace if the video hit 10 million views.
With more than 11 million views on Wednesday, the duo easily won the challenge with a ukulele-backed song that mocks people who ignore social distancing rules.
UK variant significantly more dangerous than original Covid strain, study suggests
A Danish study suggests that people infected with a British variant of the coronavirus codenamed B117 may have a 60% higher risk of being hospitalised, health minister Magus Heunicke has said.
A large-scale virus-sequencing campaign has allowed Denmark, population 5.8 million, to track the rise of the new variant more closely than any other country.
Camilla Holten Møller, of the Statens Serum Institute which is modelling the pandemic, said last month: “If we look at our models, this is the calm before the storm.”
There are fears that B.1.1.7 could soon become the dominant variant in the country. Holten Møller’s estimated that the variant spreads 1.55 times faster than previous variants.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson said in January:
In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant - the variant that was first identified in London and the south east - may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.
Early indications have suggested the variant spreads between 30% and 70% faster than others, and there were originally hints it is about 30% more deadly.
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EU states split over vaccine passports, to debate issue
EU leaders will tomorrow debate the issue of certificates of vaccination for EU citizens who have been vaccinated against Covid.
Reuters reports that with the rollout of vaccines now gathering pace, some governments, like those of Greece and Spain, are pushing for a quick adoption of an EU-wide certificate for those already inoculated so that people can travel again.
However, other countries, such as France and Germany, appear more reluctant, as officials there say it could create de facto vaccination obligation and would be discriminatory to those who cannot or would not take a jab.
France, where anti-vaccine sentiment is particularly strong and where the government has pledged not to make them compulsory, considers the idea of vaccine passports as “premature”, a French official said today.
Officials said the EU was working with the International Air Transport Association, which is keen to revive air travel, and with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Health Organization.
But travel with certificates also raised legal questions, officials said, because those last in line for vaccinations could argue their freedom of movement was unjustly restricted by the often months-long queues.
EU officials also point out there is no guidance yet from the WHO and EU agencies whether people who have received two shots of the Covid-19 vaccine can still carry the coronavirus and infect others, even if no longer vulnerable themselves.
It was also not clear if people could be infectious having already fought off the coronavirus themselves, for how long they remained immune and if they too should get certificates.
There is also suspicion that such schemes could provide a way in to greater monitoring of people’s movements and health statuses, a paper published in the Lancet says. However, it added, they could facilitate safer movement and the privacy concerns are neither unique nor insurmountable.
Earlier in February, Greece and Israel signed a deal to ease travel restrictions to Greece for Israelis with proof of vaccination.
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Sweden to limit opening hours and numbers of those inside shops
The Swedish government has said it would reduce opening hours for all restaurants, bars and cafes as well as tighten limits on the number of people allowed in shops as it seeks to ward off a third wave.
Reuters reports that the government said it would propose that restaurants and cafes would have to close at 8:30pm from 1 March. It adds to a previous ban of alcohol sales after 8pm already in place.
It also said the number of people allowed in shops and malls would be further restricted and that it would provide further details about this measure shortly. All sport competitions below elite level, and for children born before 2006, would also be suspended indefinitely.
Prime minister Stefan Lofven told a news conference:
The situation in Sweden is serious, we have a high spread of infection and it is increasing. We can avoid a third wave if we keep distance.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says there’s now a "high risk" of a new spike in coronavirus infections, potentially warranting the country’s first lockdown since the pandemic started https://t.co/Honhq79eFB via @rafaelalindeber pic.twitter.com/o5oDtB4rZs
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) February 24, 2021
Concerns about a possible third wave of the pandemic have been growing in Sweden in recent weeks as the number of new infections has risen, although deaths have come down significantly.
Sweden registered 5,371 new cases today, the highest daily increase since early January. Yesterday, the health agency warned the British variant, thought to be more infectious, was gradually taking over as the dominant one in Sweden.
Several of Sweden’s largest regions have also tightened recommendations for the use of masks in shops, workplaces and public transport. Today, the Swedish parliament urged all people in the building to wear masks, the first time during the pandemic such a recommendation was issued.
This is at odds with the health agency’s past reluctance to broadly endorse such moves because of limited evidence of their efficacy.
The centre-left government has gradually tightened restrictions since late last year after keeping most schools, restaurants and businesses open through the pandemic and relying primarily on voluntary measures.
Sweden, a country of 10 million people, has registered 12,793 deaths from Covid. The death rate per capita is much higher than its Nordic neighbours’ but lower than in most western European countries that opted for lockdowns.
Mainland China reported 12 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, up from 10 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority has said.
The National Health Commission said all of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, remained unchanged from a day earlier at nine.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China, population 1.4 billion, now stands at 89,864, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,636.
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The Biden administration is to deliver more than 25 million masks to community health centres, food hubs and soup kitchens from March through May, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
The White House estimates between 12 and 15 million Americans will have access to the masks.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez has pledged an extra €11 billion to help struggling companies and the self-employed cope with the fallout of the pandemic, AFP reports.
The aid package, which is to be approved “shortly”, would be geared towards the tourism sector, restaurants, bars and other small businesses, Sanchez told parliament.
It’s a significant amount of resources to continue supporting... sectors that were growing and competitive before the pandemic, but which now are logically facing a very difficult situation.
The aim is to “bolster the balance sheets”, the premier said without giving further details.
The tourism sector and other industries hard hit by the pandemic have for months asked the government for direct aid, but Sanchez’s administration has until now rejected that option, offering state-backed loans as well as access to the furlough scheme.
It has so far made €116 billion in credit available since the start of the pandemic and another €40 billion to provide furloughed workers with 70% of their basic salary and to help the self-employed.
Italy should prepare for another month of restrictions due to the threat posed by new Covid strains, health minister Roberto Speranza has said.
AFP reports that the government is expected to adopt a new decree in the coming days, extending a three-tier system of regional restrictions currently set to expire on 5 March.
Speranza indicated that existing curbs would be extended until 6 April:
We are in no epidemiological condition today to relax the measures against the pandemic. Telling the country the truth is an obligation we must all strongly feel, even when this truth is uncomfortable.
He noted that 25 Italian towns or provinces had recently gone into lockdown due to outbreaks of British, South African or Brazilian strains of the coronavirus.
The faster rate of transmission of the new variants “makes it even more essential for the country to raise its guard,” Speranza said.
“It is still possible to contain their spread, as long as very rigorous measures are adopted and quickly enforced,” he added, referring to localised lockdowns.
The situation is particularly critical in the southern Molise region, where the army was due to step in to provide extra intensive care hospital beds.
Names of unvaccinated can be shared by Israeli government after new law passed
Israel’s parliament has passed a law allowing the government to share the identities of people not vaccinated against Covid with other authorities, raising privacy concerns for those opting out of inoculation, AFP reports.
The measure gives local governments, the director general of the education ministry and some in the welfare ministry the right to receive the names, addresses and phone numbers of unvaccinated citizens.
The objective of the measure - valid for three months or until the Covid-19 pandemic is declared over - is “to enable these bodies to encourage people to vaccinate by personally addressing them”, a parliament statement said.
Israel, a country of nine million people, has administered the two recommended jabs of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus to roughly a third of its population.
As it emergences from lockdown, Israel is restricting certain services, including access to gyms and indoor dining, only to the vaccinated, giving a so-called green pass to the fully inoculated. That too has raised concerns about unequal access for those exercising their right to not be vaccinated.
During the debate on the measure, Labor party leader Merav Michaeli accused right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “denying citizens their right to the privacy of their medical information”.
Europe’s drug regulator has announced it has started a real-time review of South Korean drugmaker Celltrion’s experimental Covid-19 antibody-based treatment, regdanvimab.
The European Medicines Agency said its human medicines committee was assessing the first set of data it received from animal studies and human clinical trials, and would continue to study them as more data was submitted.
Updated
Zimbabwe is to buy an additional 1.2 million Covid vaccine doses from China at a preferential price, president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman has said, after Beijing also agreed to provide more free doses to the southern African country.
Reuters reports:
Zimbabwe began Covid-19 vaccinations last week after receiving a donation of 200,000 doses from Sinopharm. The government initially aims to inoculate health workers, security forces and journalists, among others.
China’s ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said in a statement that his country had decided to double its donation of vaccines to 400,000 as part of its “solidarity and action” with Zimbabwe.
Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba said the government, which had already bought 600,000 doses from Sinopharm and is expecting to take delivery of them next week, would increase its purchases from China.
“Zimbabwe is also procuring more vaccines from China at a preferential price. Zimbabwe is set to purchase another 1.2 million doses from China,” Charamba wrote on Twitter. That would bring to 1.8 million the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses being bought from China.
More than two thirds of Zimbabwe’s 35,910 coronavirus infections and 1,448 deaths have been recorded this year, according to a Reuters tally.
Italy should brace for another month of restrictions due to the threat posed by new strains of the coronavirus, its health minister Roberto Speranza said.
The government is expected to adopt a new decree in the coming days, extending a three-tier system of regional restrictions currently set to expire on 5 March.
“We are in no epidemiological condition today to relax the measures against the pandemic,” Speranza said, indicating that curbs would be extended until 6 April.
“Telling the country the truth is an obligation we must all strongly feel, even when this truth is uncomfortable,” the minister said.
He noted that 25 Italian towns or provinces had recently gone into lockdown due to outbreaks of British, South African or Brazilian strains of the coronavirus.
The faster rate of transmission of the new variants “makes it even more essential for the country to raise its guard,” Speranza said.
Polish health minister Adam Niedzielski said that restrictions the government plans to reintroduce in a north-eastern region on Saturday will be put in place initially for two weeks.
Niedzielski announced earlier that shopping malls, hotels and schools in the Warminsko-Mazurskie region would have to close as it has reported a relatively high number of new coronavirus infections.
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The Czech Republic must tighten measures to combat the pandemic and prevent a “catastrophe” in hospitals in the coming weeks as the country faces one of the world’s highest Covid-19 infection and death rates, prime minister Andrej Babis said.
The country reported over 15,000 new Coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the highest daily tally since 6 January, and has the fastest spread rate in Europe, with per capita infections more than six times higher than in neighbouring Germany in the last two weeks.
The number of hospital patients with Covid who are in serious condition has risen to a record 1,389, leaving few spare beds in the country of 10.7 million.
Some hospitals have had to transfer out patients while the health minister has warned hospitals risk being overwhelmed in the coming weeks. The government is looking at asking Germany for help with some patients.
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Hospitals should prepare for a possible second wave of Covid-19 and take steps to prevent the disease from spreading, health authorities in the government-controlled part of Yemen said.
Testing and reporting are limited because of Yemen’s more than six-year war but the number of confirmed new cases has risen in the past 10 days, after levelling off since September to just a couple a day.
Thirty-four new cases were reported on Wednesday by the supreme national emergency committee for the internationally recognised government – the highest daily number since July.
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Portugal will send 5% of its Covid-19 vaccine shots to a group of Portuguese-speaking African countries and to the tiny nation of East Timor in the second half of the year, foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said on Wednesday.
With a population of just over 10 million people, Portugal is entitled to 35m vaccine doses this year under an EU-coordinated purchasing scheme, mostly for double-dose inoculation, leaving it with millions of extra shots. The 5% share would make up 1.75m doses.
The group of countries is comprised of Portugal’s former African colonies of Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, and Sao Tome and Principe.
Santos Silva told reporters the distribution of vaccines among these countries, as well as the former colony of East Timor in south-east Asia, was part of a “bilateral cooperation” effort. Local health workers will be trained to administer the shots.
African nations are struggling to obtain vaccines for their combined 1.3 billion people, and only some of the continent’s nations have begun administering doses.
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Switzerland to allow outdoor gatherings next week as lockdown eases
Switzerland is to start easing out of its lockdown from 1 March, the government has said, confirming preliminary plans to open shops, museums and libraries and allow outdoor gatherings of up to 15 people.
Reuters reports that the cabinet has tried to walk a political tightrope between health experts supporting stricter curbs and struggling businesses calling for reopening the economy as numbers of infections fall.
The next stage of reopening is planned for 22 March, depending on events. The government is due to decide what steps to take next on 19 March.
“With this cautious reopening, the [cabinet] is aiming to achieve a gradual normalisation of social and economic life, even though the epidemiological situation remains precarious because new, more infectious variants of the virus are circulating,” the government said.
The federal government had said last week it would start easing up if cantons agreed under the decentralised Swiss system of governing.
Switzerland had ordered companies to instruct employees to work from home where possible and limited gatherings to five people. Schools and many ski lifts remain open, but restaurants and cultural venues are closed.
Health authorities have reported more than 552,000 cases and more than 9,200 deaths in Switzerland and neighbouring Liechtenstein since the pandemic broke out in February 2020.
The government, conscious of the impact on the restrictions on young people, said it would allow sports and cultural activities for people aged up to 20. Competitions and concerts for young people would be permitted again, albeit without spectators, the government said.
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The Norwegian government is to reassess the national measures introduced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the second half of March, health minister Bent Hoeie has said.
Reuters reports that some of the measures include forbidding the serving of alcohol in bars and restaurants after 10pm local time and a forced stay in a quarantine hotel for at least a week for anyone coming from abroad who cannot have use of a property in Norway.
Norway has the second-lowest rate of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe, after Iceland, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Still, authorities are concerned about a recent rise in cases of potentially more contagious variants in the capital Oslo and the southern region of Agder, after a multi-week decline in cases.
On the vaccine front, some 400,000 vaccine doses have so far been given in the nation of 5.4 million inhabitants, of which some 100,000 are second doses.
Nepal has added 619 deaths – an almost 30% rise – to its coronavirus toll, blaming a numbers discrepancy between different government branches.
AFP reports that the toll jumped to 2,684 dead after the health ministry added 618 fatalities from last year and one new death in its daily report. Ministry spokesman Jageshwor Gautam said the extra dead had all been Covid-19 patients who died outside hospitals before mid-December last year.
Home deaths had not been properly accounted for in the ministry’s data, but the army was disposing of the bodies. We examined the numbers we had with that of the army and the Covid-19 crisis management center and corrected the total.”
Investigations took place because of a mismatch in numbers from the three branches of government. Nepal was the first South Asian country to report a coronavirus case in January last year - a student who had returned from Wuhan in China, the initial epicentre of the pandemic.
The country went into lockdown in March after a second case was confirmed. Infections and deaths surged after the lockdown was lifted in the nation of 29 million people in July, with new daily cases rising above 5,000.
Nepal began a vaccination drive in January after receiving one million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield from India. It has ordered another two million doses.
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Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid vaccine protects against is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe forms of the virus, and is safe to use, according to an analysis by US regulators ahead of a final decision on the jab.
Reuters reports that the Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisers would debate on Friday if the evidence is strong enough to recommend the long-anticipated shot and the FDA would then be expected to make a final decision within days.
J&J tested its single-dose option in 44,000 people in the US, Latin America and South Africa. Because different mutated versions of the virus are circulating in different countries, researchers analysed the results geographically.
The numbers suggest the J&J jab is not as strong as two-dose competitors, made by Pfizer and Moderna – while it is about as effective as AstraZeneca’s, according to these early indications.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines being used in the US and other countries must be kept frozen, while the J&J shot can last three months in the refrigerator, making it easier to handle. AstraZeneca’s vaccine, widely used in Europe, Britain and Israel, is made similarly and also requires refrigeration but takes two doses.
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China’s CanSino Biologics and a unit of Sinopharm have said they have applied for public use of their Covid-19 vaccines, and announced efficacy rates, AFP reports.
Sinopharm affiliate Wuhan Institute Of Biological Products said in a statement its vaccine’s efficacy rate was 72.51 percent, while the overall efficacy for CanSino’s stood at 65.28% after 28 days.
If their applications are successful, it would mean four of China’s domestically developed vaccines are approved for public use.
The published efficacy rates of China’s vaccines, however, remain behind rival jabs by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have 95% and 94% rates respectively.
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A senior adviser to Democrat Joe Biden in his campaign for president believed “Covid is the best thing that ever happened to him”, a new book reports.
It was, the authors add, a necessarily private comment that “campaign officials believed but would never say in public” as the US reeled from the impact of the pandemic amid hospitals stretched to breaking and with deaths mounting and the economy falling off a cliff.
The remark, made to “an associate” by Anita Dunn, a Washington powerbroker who the Atlantic called “The Mastermind Behind Biden’s No-Drama Approach to Trump”, is reported in Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency, by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes.
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India plans to expand its vast but faltering coronavirus vaccination programme from 1 March by offering jabs to the over 60s, the government has announced.
Reuters reports that the country began vaccinating its 1.3 billion population last month and plans to inoculate 300 million people by July, but so far the rollout has been limited to healthcare workers and other frontline staff.
However, from Monday people over 60 and those over 45 with multiple medical conditions can be vaccinated for free at 10,000 government hospitals and nearly 20,000 private clinics for a charge.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said after a cabinet meeting:
Those who want to get vaccinations from private hospitals will have to pay. The amount to be paid will be decided and declared by the health ministry within the next three to four days.
The vaccination programme, one of the world’s largest, has so far seen 12.2 million shots administered, according to the health ministry. But at the current pace it will take several years to inoculate 300 million people.
Pope Francis has appointed a new personal doctor, several weeks after the death from Covid-19 of the previous holder of the post. The 84-year-old pontiff picked Roberto Bernabei, an expert in health care for the elderly, as his physician, the Vatican said in a statement.
Bernabei, 69, leads the geriatrics and rehabilitative medicine department at Rome’s Gemelli, the Catholic hospital where popes are traditionally treated. The last papal doctor, Fabrizio Soccorsi, died aged 78 on 9 January of Covid-19-related pulmonary complications, following a hospitalisation for cancer, AFP reports.
Francis is believed to be in relative good health, despite having had part of his lung removed when he was a young man after developing pleurisy. Last month he cancelled several events due to a bout of sciatica, a chronic nerve condition that causes hip pain and makes him walk with a slight limp.
#PopeFrancis has appointed as his new personal physician Dr. Roberto Bernabei, Professor of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. pic.twitter.com/CqxOxGj28R
— Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) February 24, 2021
Egypt has approved Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine against, becoming the 34th country outside of Russia and third in North Africa to do so, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.
RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad, said Sputnik V had been approved by the Egyptian drug authority using an emergency use authorisation procedure. Tunisia and Algeria have already approved the shot.
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The South African government is to unveil its spending plans today as the continent’s most industrialised economy grapples with the fallout from pandemic repercussions on top of a recession.
“There’s not a lot of money and we need to have a pro-poor and pro-growth balance,” University of Johannesburg business lecturer Daniel Meyer told AFP.
Increased taxes are not expected, however, given recent losses and with local elections due this year. Unemployment in South Africa soared to a record 32.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest since records began in 2008.
Last March, it imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, which has been gradually eased over the past year, but the measures – including a six-month border closure – blocked tourists and put off foreign investment.
Ahead of the budget speech, trade unions called a strike to protest the high level of unemployment and persistent corruption.
At Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg’s Soweto township, about 100 members of the South African Federation of Trade Unions picketed at the hospital’s gate in solidarity with overstretched and underpaid medics.
“Employers have taken advantage of the Covid situation to retrench people … the finance minister must wake to the reality that people are loosing jobs,” said 48-year-old City Bokaba, a coordinator for the union.
In Cape Town – where Mboweni will deliver the budget speech – police fired teargas to disperse protesters, stopping them from marching to parliament.
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EU executive understanding of issues facing AstraZeneca amid further jab delays
European commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has insisted that fresh problems hampering the supply of AstraZeneca’s vaccines can be resolved, after the group admitted it could deliver only half the expected amount to the bloc in the second quarter.
She told the German regional daily Augsburger Allgemeine:
The vaccine manufacturers are our partners in this pandemic and they have also never faced such a challenge. New questions are always arising that we can generally resolve amicably.
Von der Leyen added that she advocated “working together with the companies to ensure global production is improved”.
AFP reports that AstraZeneca said yesterday its EU supply chains would only be able to deliver half of an expected supply of Covid-19 vaccines to the bloc in the second quarter - but that it would look to make up the shortfall from elsewhere.
A spokesman for the British-Swedish drugs group said it was “working to increase productivity in its EU supply chain” and would use its “global capability in order to achieve delivery of 180 million doses to the EU in the second quarter”.
“Approximately half of the expected volume is due to come from the EU supply chain” while the remainder would come from its international supply network, he added.
The company only began shipping it to the EU in early February, after the bloc’s drug regulator took its time over recommending its use.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has suffered a number of other setbacks - it was temporarily excluded from South Africa’s immunisation campaign because of concern it was less effective towards new virus variants there; and Germany’s vaccine commission recommended it only for people aged 18 to 64 years old.
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Ukraine is to begin its coronavirus vaccination programme today, after pushing back the start date in delays that sparked anger towards the government.
Reuters reports:
The ex-Soviet country of 40 million people is one of the poorest in Europe and has struggled to keep up with others in the region to source vaccines and begin inoculating its population.
“Vaccinations against coronavirus are beginning today. The first vaccines were sent to the regions today at 7am (local time),” health minister Maksym Stepanov said.
Ukraine has so far received 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, marketed under the name Covishield and produced at the Serum Institute in India.
The health ministry has set out a five-stage jab rollout beginning with 367,000 people in priority groups who will be administered the vaccine by mobile teams.
The first group includes healthcare workers treating Covid-19 patients and the elderly with chronic illnesses. The ministry said vaccinations will be voluntary.
Ukraine has recorded over 1.3 million cases and more than 25,000 deaths from the virus.
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EU countries must ensure travel and border restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants do not hurt trade in goods and services in the bloc’s single market, a senior official has said.
Belgium - which has a blanket ban on all non-essential travel in and out of its territory - and Germany have come under particular pressure over their latest restrictions on movement, which the EU executive said have gone too far.
Austria and the Czech Republic complained about tighter controls on their normally-open borders with Germany, which Berlin justified with the need to contain outbreaks of more contagious strains of the coronavirus.
“The challenge here is to keep balance between restrictions on non-essential travel and the functioning of single market,” the senior EU official said ahead of talks between the 27 EU leaders tomorrow on Covid, travel and borders.
The 27 will agree to keep in place curbs on leisure travel, according to their draft joint statement seen by Reuters, as France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg were in talks to keep their frontiers open for essential trips and border workers.
Southern EU states are also pushing to introduce vaccination passports to unlock this summer’s tourism season but face scepticism from France and Germany, who are worried that opening travel for those inoculated would be discriminatory.
Greece has delayed lifting lockdown restrictions in the wider Athens area on March 1, as previously planned, following an increase in coronavirus infections, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.
The Athens metropolitan area, where half of Greece’s population lives, has been under strict lockdown restrictions that were set to expire on 28 February.
Yesterday, authorities reported 2,147 new cases, around half of them in the Attica region around Athens, and 22 deaths.
Vietnam has received its first batch of 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine ahead of the country’s immunisation programme beginning next month, Reuters reports.
The vaccines, which arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on a flight from South Korea, will be used to inoculate more than 50,000 people who are seen as high risk, the government said in a statement.
Deputy health minister, Truong Quoc Cuong, was at the airport to meet the consignment of vaccines flown in from Seoul, according to media.
South Korea’s SK Bioscience has a plant that has been approved to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Vietnam aims to obtain 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses this year, including 30 million through the COVAX international vaccine-share scheme, 30 million from AstraZeneca and the rest from negotiations with Pfizer, its health ministry said.
The country has recorded 820 new Covid-19 cases since the latest outbreak started last month, or about a third of its overall caseload of 2,412 infections. It has reported just 35 deaths due to the virus.
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to everyone reading, its Mattha Busby here taking over from my colleague Archie Bland. Do get in touch via Twitter or over email (mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk) with any tips or thoughts.
Hungary cannot yet ease its partial coronavirus lockdown as a third wave of infections has boosted new cases and only a small section of the population has received a vaccine so far, the prime minister said.
Hungary became the first European Union country on Wednesday to start inoculating people with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, following a similar move with Russia’s Sputnik V shot, which have not been granted regulatory approval in the EU.
“The situation is not easy as we have the good news that many vaccines have arrived and the number of people inoculated will increase,” Orban said. “However, the third wave is threatening Hungary.”
As of Wednesday, Hungary had reported 410,129 cases with 14,552 deaths. Some 471,000 people have been vaccinated, representing nearly 5% of Hungary’s population based on a government tally.
“We cannot yet speak of any easing (of restrictions),” Orban said, apparently walking back on a tentative timetable unveiled early this month, which projected decisions about easing as soon as next Monday, with a view to reopening around Easter.
Restrictions in place since November have included a night-time curfew, the closure of pubs and restaurants and a ban on gatherings.
That’s it from me. My colleague Mattha Busby will be taking over shortly.
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EU promises vaccine push as Belgium warns of 'serious delays'
My colleagues Daniel Boffey and Helen Sullivan report on comments from the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who has insisted that the EU is “catching up” with the UK’s coronavirus vaccination programme in response to renewed criticism of the rollout among the 27 member states.
With 6% receiving a first jab so far across the EU against 27% in the UK, their story continues:
Shortages of vaccine doses continue to blight national plans across the bloc, with Belgium the latest to warn of “serious delays” to its plans, with vaccination of people over 65 postponed to the end of March.
There is also mounting evidence of the AstraZeneca vaccine being rejected and left unused in fridges following weeks of bad publicity, including Emmanuel Macron’s unsubstantiated claim that it is “quasi-ineffective” among older groups.
You can read the full story here:
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Denmark will ease some shopping restrictions and allow schools in parts of the country to reopen on March 1, the government said on Wednesday, potentially allowing hospital admissions to triple in the coming month.
Denmark, which has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, has seen general infection numbers drop after it introduced lockdown measures in December in a bid to curb a more contagious coronavirus variant.
Based on recommendations from an expert advisory group, the government said stores under 5,000 square metres will be allowed to reopen, while outdoor leisure activities can resume with an upper limit of 25 people.
“More activity will also mean more infected and thus also more hospitalisations,” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told a press conference.
Heunicke said hospital admissions could briefly peak at some 880 in mid-April, more than triple the current 247. “It will happen as spring sets in and more and more people get vaccinations,” he said in remarks reported by Reuters.
Schools in parts of the country will also be allowed to reopen, but will require students to test themselves twice a week.
Denmark plans to offer everyone a vaccine by June 27, the Irish Times reported on Monday. That puts it well ahead of EU-wide expectations, the Irish Times said, adding: “Its speedy start was helped by using special needles to get bonus doses from vaccine vials, and choosing to administer all available doses instead of holding back supply for second shots.”
There have been 209,000 cases in total and 2,343 deaths, with a spike in cases in December followed by a decline.
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The Czech Republic will need to tighten measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus to prevent a “catastrophe” in hospitals in the coming weeks, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday.
“Hellish days await us,” Babis said at a news conference.
The government is due to hold talks throughout the day on possible further measures.
The Czech Republic has the worst per capita rate of infection in the EU. The death rate is also among the worst in the bloc. Nearly 1.2 cases have been confirmed so far in the country of under 11m, with 15,672 new cases recorded on Tuesday. 19,682 people have died.
Babis has faced opposition criticism for his management of the crisis. “We don’t want [the COVID-19 effort] to be run chaotically as it has been, where the prime minister receives an SMS and then says we have to do this or that,” Ivan Bartoš, chairman of the opposition Czech Pirates, told Politico this week. “It is really chaotic. We want a strategy based on scientific analysis and data.”
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In Australia, a Senate committee investigating the government’s management of the pandemic has excoriated the government for deploying public interest immunity claims to “wilfully obstruct access to information crucial to the committee inquiry”.
Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy writes:
The second interim report by the committee, tabled on Wednesday night, lays out “multiple instances” where important information sought by the committee during the inquiry had been withheld by government on grounds of public interest immunity.
The chair of the committee, Labor senator Katy Gallagher, declared the blocking conduct needed to be called out because the current generation of senators “must stand up for the powers and purpose of the Senate”.
Read the story here:
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Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah said on Wednesday parliament can convene during a state of emergency, a move that could open the door for the opposition to launch a fresh confidence vote to challenge prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Last month, the king declared a nationwide state of emergency that could last till 1 August, as Malaysia struggled to control a jump in coronavirus cases after managing to contain infections for most of last year.
But the opposition accused Muhyiddin of using the emergency to retain control during a power struggle.
In a statement, the national palace said that the king was of the view that parliament can convene on a date that he deems suitable and taking into consideration the premier’s advice.
The emergency ordinance, which supercedes regular laws when in force, requires that parliament be convened, prorogued or dissolved on a date decided by the king and on the advice of the prime minister, the palace said.
“Hence, the view by certain parties that the emergency proclamation stops parliament from convening is not accurate,” the statement read, Reuters reported.
Muhyiddin’s 11 months in office have been beset by infighting in his ruling coalition and a leadership challenge from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Should parliament be allowed to convene, the opposition could seek another confidence vote and if Muhyiddin lost he would either have to resign or seek the king’s assent to dissolve parliament, paving the way for an election.
Malaysia had reported nearly 290,000 coronavirus infections and 1,076 deaths as of Tuesday, the third-highest number of cases in the region behind Indonesia and the Philippines.
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Andrew Sparrow’s UK-focused coronavirus live coverage is now up and running. You can follow it here:
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Germany approved three Covid-19 tests for home use as part of health minister Jens Spahn’s strategy for mass testing to help Europe’s biggest economy emerge from a lockdown that has been in place since mid-December.
The infection rate in Germany fell steadily in the first weeks of the year but has stagnated in recent days, adding to signs that it could be difficult for the country to ease restrictions when the lockdown is due to end on 7 March.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has told lawmakers in her conservative party that making rapid tests more available and boosting testing capacity could make a return to normality more durable, two sources at the meeting told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, Germany’s pharmaceutical regulator, on Wednesday approved antigen tests made by Healgen Scientific, Xiamen Boson Biotech and Hangzhou Laihe Biotech for use by people who are not medical professionals, according to its website.
Spahn told broadcaster ZDF earlier that further home test kits would be approved next week.
Other countries are also banking on home tests to help limit the spread of the virus. In Austria, self-tests are already being used in schools, and they will be available to the public for free at pharmacies from next week.
In England, volunteers and police began knocking on people’s doors this month to hand out Covid-19 testing kits to try to halt the spread of a highly infectious variant that originated in South Africa.
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Spain is likely to receive four times as many vaccine doses in the second quarter than in the first one, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday.
So far, almost 2 million Spaniards have received at least one vaccine dose and the authorities expect to have 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of the summer, Sanchez said on Wednesday in a speech in the lower house of parliament.
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In the UK, education secretary Gavin Williamson said the policy of secondary school pupils in England having to wear masks in classrooms would be reviewed over Easter.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re reviewing that at the Easter holidays to see if that has had a positive impact, and the impact that Public Health England would feel is right, or whether it’s going to continue to be necessary.”
But he did not rule out that the policy could be in place until 21 June, the final date in the plan to ease the lockdown.
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India warned on Wednesday that a breach of guidelines on testing and other measures to contain the coronavirus could worsen a recent spurt in infections in many states, particularly after it detected several variants.
Nearly a month after the health minister declared that Covid-19 had been contained, states such as Maharashtra in the west and Kerala in the south have reported a surge in cases, as reluctance grows over mask-wearing and social distancing norms.
India’s tally of infections stands at 11.03 million, Reuters said, and grew in the past 24 hours by 13,742, while deaths rose by a two-week high of 104 to 156,567.
“Any laxity in implementing stringent measures to curb the spread, especially in view of new strain of virus … could compound the situation,” the health ministry said in a statement that singled out nine states and a federal territory.
India has confirmed the long-time presence of two mutant variants – N440K and E484Q – in addition to those first detected in Brazil, Britain and South Africa.
In the past week, a third of India’s 36 states and union territories have reported an average of more than 100 new cases each day, with Kerala and Maharashtra both reporting more than 4,000, in a trend experts link to the reopening of schools and suburban train services.
The government has also asked states to speed vaccinations for healthcare and frontline workers. About 11 million people have received one or two doses in a campaign that began on 16 January, versus a target of 300 million by August.
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The Philippines health ministry said on Wednesday it will investigate the illegal use of unauthorised Covid-19 vaccines, after a presidential adviser admitted to receiving shots of a Sinopharm vaccine smuggled into the country.
Ramon Tulfo, a celebrity radio and television host and special envoy to China, revealed in his newspaper column on 20 February and again in an interview with One News that he received a dose in October from a batch that was also used by President Rodrigo Duterte’s security detail.
“I got hold of vaccines from a friend who smuggled it into the country,” Tulfo told One News, Reuters reported.
News last month of Duterte’s bodyguard unit taking the vaccine, which it said was without the president’s knowledge, prompted criticism from lawmakers about privileged access and flouting of laws.
Several government officials also received Sinopharm shots, Tulfo said, adding to speculation that vaccines were available on the black market.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved use of the Sinopharm vaccine, making its importation and distribution illegal. Sinopharm has not sought emergency use authorisation in the Philippines.
“We are investigating because it’s not good to learn of these inoculations that did not go through proper procedures,” FDA chief Rolando Enrique Domingo said.
Philippine Health under-secretary Rosario Vergeire said recipients of unauthorised vaccines were also accountable.
Calls to Sinopharm in China were unanswered, and a spokeswoman for its unit developing Covid-19 vaccines has yet to respond to written queries.
Tulfo, 74, said he had wanted to test the vaccine’s efficacy as he was applying to be a distributor. “I don’t feel guilty about it,” he said.
The Philippines has yet to start immunisations or receive any Covid-19 vaccines that it has approved for emergency use, despite having one of highest number of cases and deaths in Asia.
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Russia on Wednesday reported 11,749 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, including 1,417 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,200,902 since the pandemic began.
The government coronavirus taskforce also reported 383 deaths, taking Russia’s official death toll to 84,430.
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Heathrow Airport lost £2bn in 2020
In the UK, Heathrow Airport has revealed it plunged to a £2bn annual loss after passenger numbers fell by 73% as the pandemic battered the air industry.
The group’s hefty pre-tax loss for 2020 compares with profits of £546m in 2019. Heathrow passenger numbers collapsed to 22.1 million last year from 80.9 million in 2019 and said most of those travelled last January and February before the Covid-19 crisis struck.
It called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to deliver measures to support the stricken sector in next week’s budget, making a plea for 100% business rates relief, an extension of the furlough scheme and to revive VAT-free shopping for tourists to the UK.
The airport’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye said that “despite £2bn of losses and shrinking to passenger levels we haven’t seen since the 70s, I am hugely proud of the way that our colleagues have kept our passengers safe and the UK’s hub airport open for vital supplies throughout.”
He said he was “hopeful” of a better picture in 2021.
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Sweden will ease restrictions on elderly residents of care homes who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, the country’s top epidemiologist said on Wednesday, at the same time as rules for the rest of the country are tightened.
Sweden has reported a rise in cases in the last couple of weeks, raising fears of a third wave of infections and leading the Public Health Agency to warn it would introduce tougher controls to halt the spread of the pandemic. Tighter restrictions are expected to be announced on Wednesday.
At the same time, more than 80% of residents of care homes for the elderly have received their first vaccination against Covid-19 and 64% have completed a course of two shots, an article in Dagens Nyheter reported by Reuters said.
“We have discussed how those who have been fully vaccinated can live, and we think it can be a little different from the very restrictive way they have been doing up to now,” chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told the newspaper.
Lighter rules for elderly care home patients who have had both shots will be announced on Thursday, Dagens Nyheter wrote.
When it comes time to ease restrictions in general, Tegnell said Sweden did not need to follow the kind of rigid road-map announced this week by British prime minister Boris Johnson, as the lockdown had not been so hard.
“We do not need to take the kind of strict steps that Britain is doing,” he said. “When we see that the spread of the infection is a little more stable, we can slowly start to ease a number of restrictions.”
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In the UK, education secretary Gavin Williamson said about 40% of university students will be able to return for face-to-face teaching from 8 March.
He told Sky News: “From 8 March you’ll be seeing all practical students being able to return, that’s roughly 40% of all students studying at university. So a very significant increase.
“I equally recognise that there’s many more students that are not covered in that so that’s why as part of the next stage there is a review about when we can bring students back into university at the earliest possible moment. This is the right time to do so.”
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Poland will announce new regional coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, health minister Adam Niedzielski said, as daily infections rise steeply. Some 12,146 new cases were registered in the previous 24 hours, a rise of more than 3,500 in the space of a week, the minister told private radio station TOK FM.
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Ghana gets world's first Covax vaccine shipment
Good morning, this is Archie Bland picking up the live blog from Helen Sullivan. (A groodle is what a goldendoodle is called in Australia, I have just learned.)
First to Ghana, where the World Health Organization’s global vaccine sharing scheme Covax delivered its first Covid-19 shots on Wednesday, as the race to get doses to the world’s poorest people and tame the pandemic accelerates.
A flight carrying 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India landed in the capital Accra, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), said in a joint statement.
The shots will be used to kick-start a vaccination drive that will prioritise frontline health workers and others at high-risk, according to a plan presented by Ghanaian health officials on Friday.
“This is a momentous occasion, as the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines into Ghana is critical in bringing the pandemic to an end,” Anne-Claire Dufay of Unicef Ghana, and WHO country representative, Francis Kasolo, said in a statement reported by Reuters.
“These 600,000 Covax vaccines are part of an initial tranche of deliveries ... which represent part of the first wave of Covid vaccines headed to several low and middle-income countries,” they said.
The roll-out in Ghana is a milestone for the initiative that is trying to narrow a politically sensitive gap between the millions of people being vaccinated in wealthier countries and the comparatively few who have received shots in less-developed parts of the world.
It aims to deliver a total of 2.3bn doses by year-end, including 1.8bn to poorer countries at no cost to their governments, and to cover up to 20% of countries’ populations. But it will not be sufficient for nations to reach herd immunity and effectively contain the spread of the virus.
On Tuesday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged wealthy nations to share vaccine doses with Covax, saying the goal of equitable distribution was “in jeopardy.”
“So far 210 million doses of vaccine have been administered globally but half of those are in just two countries,” Tedros said in Geneva. “More than 200 countries are yet to administer a single dose.”
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. I’m off to walk an impatient but adorable groodle. My infamous colleague Archie Bland will be with you for the next few hours.
More on that study: China brought in what the study describes as “unprecedented nationwide measures” to control the virus in mid-January 2020. “The nationwide lockdown, first implemented in Wuhan on 23 January 2020, coupled with other measures such as widespread testing, contact tracing, and quarantine of infected people at home and subsequently in purpose built temporary hospitals, successfully controlled the epidemic by the end of March. Consequently, the lockdown was lifted in all provinces of China from early or mid-April 2020, including Wuhan city,” says the paper.
China has reported a total of 4,365 deaths from Covid-19, with the last one in January. The declared death toll was disputed last year by President Trump and other critics.
The study analysed data from official Chinese death registries for the period 1 January – 31 March 2020, and compared this with the same period over the previous five years. The researchers performed separate analyses for Wuhan city, the epicentre of the pandemic, and elsewhere in China.
Most of China had no excess deaths during the first three months of last year at the country’s Covid outbreak, according to a new study which shows Wuhan took the brunt alone, with 56% more deaths than would have been expected.
Although there were deaths from Covid-19 in other cities, scientists believe the lockdown measures that were taken, including masks and social distancing, reduced deaths from other causes.
The study, from Oxford University and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the British Medical Journal, found there were around 6,000 excess deaths in Wuhan between January and March 2020. That was a 56% increase over the rate of deaths for the previous five years.
Most of the deaths - 4,573 – were from pneumonia, which was mostly coronavirus-related. Amongst those who died, there were more men than women and a preponderance of people over the age of 70. But there was also a 29% increase in cardiovascular deaths and an 83% increase in deaths from diabetes.
Altogether, around 1,400 of the excess deaths were from such chronic diseases. In those parts of the city where they mostly occurred, there was a drop in hospital deaths and an increase in deaths at home. The authors of the study say that indicates that people either could not get hospital care or they were reluctant to go, because of fear of the virus.
But in other regions of China, no excess deaths are seen. There were fewer non-Covid respiratory and traffic accident deaths. “It would appear that the lockdown and associated behavioural changes – such as wearing facemasks, increased hygiene, social distancing and restricted travel – actually had unintended additional health benefits beyond those of reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2,” said Zhengming Chen, Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford and senior author for the study.
Summary
Here are the key pandemic developments from the last few hours:
- AstraZeneca to deliver less than half promised doses to EU in second quarter – report. AstraZeneca Plc has told the European Union it expects to deliver less than half the Covid vaccines it was contracted to supply in the second quarter, an EU official told Reuters on Tuesday. Contacted by Reuters, AstraZeneca did not deny what the official said, but a statement late in the day said the company was striving to increase productivity to deliver the promised 180 million doses.
- The World Health Organization said global deaths from coronavirus-related complications have declined by 20% in the last week, with cases dropping for the sixth consecutive week worldwide. Deaths have been falling for three consecutive weeks.
- Japan regions are pushing to a end state of emergency as virus infections fall. Regional authorities in Japan have urged that emergency pandemic measures be lifted before a scheduled date of 7 March, as new coronavirus cases trend lower, the economy minister said, adding that the government would consult experts before it agreed.
- An Australian doctor has been stood down after an 88 year-old man and a 94-year-old woman were each given four times the recommended dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
- One of New Zealand’s largest high schools has closed again after another student and t wo siblings tested positive for Covid. Health authorities have been trying to test and contact-trace all 1,500 students, but were unable to find and test a small number of pupils and their families.
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Thailand received its first 200,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, the country’s first batch of coronavirus vaccines, with inoculations set to begin in a few days.
- US to vote on Covid relief bill on Friday. The US House of Representatives will vote on Friday on legislation to provide $1.9 trillion in new coronavirus relief, Representative Steny Hoyer, the chamber’s No 2 Democrat, said.
- Singapore is discussing the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates with other countries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, calling it a necessary step towards resuming global travel.
- French ICU patients with Covid hit a 12-week high. The number of patients treated in intensive care units for Covid-19 in France has reached a 12-week peak of 3,435, as regional officials urge for a ban on public gatherings and consider a partial weekend lockdown.
- Ireland extended its lockdown. Ireland is to start reopening some schools next week but is extending other lockdown restrictions until April to prevent another explosion in Covid-19 cases.
Japan regions push to end state of emergency as virus infections fall
Regional authorities in Japan have urged that emergency pandemic measures be lifted before a scheduled date of 7 March, as new coronavirus cases trend lower, the economy minister said, adding that the government would consult experts before it agreed.
Reuters: A surge in cases prompted Japan to declare a state of emergency last month for 11 prefectures, requesting residents to curtail activities and businesses to shorten operating hours.
The state of emergency will probably be lifted in stages, though businesses will be asked to continue closing early, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Wednesday.
Japan recorded 1,083 new Covid cases on Tuesday, national broadcaster NHK said, but that was well off a peak of almost 8,000 on Jan. 8. New infections in the capital, which stood at 213 on Wednesday, have fallen to levels not seen since November.
Three western prefectures and three more in central and southern regions have requested that the state of emergency be lifted as early as this week, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said late on Tuesday.
Tokyo and neighbouring prefectures will remain under the state of emergency, Nishimura added.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will meet ministers on Wednesday to discuss lifting the emergency in the six regions, with a final decision expected on Friday, Jiji news said, citing unidentified government sources.
As Japan emerges from its third and most deadly wave of the pandemic, it began vaccinations last week, later than most major economies. It has largely avoided the wide testing elsewhere, but is encouraging random tests by local authorities to head off new clusters.
People could use a revamped NHS app to prove their Covid status on entering pubs or theatres in England under plans being considered by ministers, as one major care provider said staff have two months to get jabbed or lose their jobs.
Ministers are expected to give businesses in England the power to check Covid certification – whether people have been vaccinated or the result of recent tests. That will include small-scale venues like restaurants or bars.
However, the equalities watchdog and trade unions have said that any move that relies solely on vaccine certification could be unlawful and that passes must not be used to relax Covid safety measures in workplaces.
The Guardian’s Aubrey Allegretti and Jessica Elgot report:
Thailand receives its first coronavirus vaccines
Thailand received on Wednesday its first 200,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, the country’s first batch of coronavirus vaccines, with inoculations set to begin in a few days, Reuters reports.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is expected to be among the first to receive the vaccine this weekend. Most doses have been reserved for frontline medical workers.
Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul earlier this week said 117,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine would also arrive on Wednesday and that Prayuth would be among the first recipients.
Thailand is expecting to take delivery of a further 1.8 doses of CoronaVac in March and April, to be given mainly to health workers and at-risk groups.
The country has so far been spared of the kind of epidemic seen elsewhere, with just over 25,000 infections overall.
The vaccine’s arrival comes amid some public criticism of the government and accusations it has been too slow to secure the vaccines.
Its mass immunisation campaign, which aims to administer 10 million doses a month, is slated to begin in June, using 26 million shots of AstraZeneca vaccines produced by local firm Siam Bioscience. It has also reserved a further 35 million doses of the vaccine.
The government has said it plans to vaccinate more than half the adult population this year.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 8,007 to 2,402,818, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.
The reported death toll rose by 422 to 68,740, the tally showed.
Singapore says discussing vaccine certification with other countries
Singapore is discussing the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates with other countries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, calling it a necessary step towards resuming global travel, Reuters reports.
Singapore, a regional travel and tourism hub, has been rolling out its Covid-19 vaccination programme over the last two months. It has approved shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Singapore’s economy, which recorded its worst recession in 2020 due to the pandemic, is staging an uneven recovery this year and a return of more business and tourism travel would be a boost for the city state.
Greece, Spain and Britain are among other nations looking into the idea of vaccine certificates or so-called vaccine passports in a bid to revive economies and travel.
South Korea shipped its first doses of a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, transferring AstraZeneca vaccines from a production facility in the country to a warehouse outside the capital of Seoul in preparation for this week’s inoculation drive, Reuters reports.
Healthcare workers are scheduled to receive the first batch of AstraZeneca PLC’s vaccine from Friday, as South Korea looks to protect 10 million high-risk people by July, on its way to reaching herd immunity by November.
AstraZeneca shots enough for about 750,000 people will be distributed from a production facility of SK Chemicals Co Ltd unit SK bioscience to immunisation centres across the country starting on Wednesday.
“We start the first historic vaccination on Friday with the vaccines rolled out today,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a government meeting.
“This is the first step that will lead us to a long-waited return to normal.”
Hong Kong permanent residents are to receive HK$5,000 (US$640) in coupons in an effort to stimulate the economy, the South China Morning Post reports:
#LIVE: Every Hong Kong permanent resident aged 18 or above, will receive HK$5,000 in consumption coupons in instalments. This will benefit 7.2 million people and cost HK$36 billion, Chan says, confirming a Post report https://t.co/LbjZr9flrm
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) February 24, 2021
Podcast: The science behind England’s Covid exit plan
Nicola Davis runs through the science behind the government’s decision to begin lifting lockdown restrictions, a four-stage plan that starts with the reopening of schools and could see the return of nightclubs on 21 June:
US to vote on Covid relief bill on Friday
The US House of Representatives will vote on Friday on legislation to provide $1.9 trillion in new coronavirus relief, Representative Steny Hoyer, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, said.
“The American people strongly support this bill, and we are moving swiftly to see it enacted into law,” Hoyer said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Reuters: The House Budget Committee approved the measure on Monday. Passing more relief to ease the economic effects of the pandemic is a top priority of Democratic President Joe Biden.
Although polls show Americans want more economic support, Democrats - who narrowly control Congress - and Republicans differ sharply over how best to provide it.
The US coronavirus death toll this week surpassed the grim benchmark of 500,000 victims. Millions more have been left jobless by the pandemic.
The sweeping legislation is intended to stimulate the US economy and carry out Biden*s proposals to provide additional money for vaccines and other medical equipment.
Guatemala’s health minister Amelia Flores said on Tuesday that Guatemala hopes to receive the first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus in the coming weeks, Reuters reports.
“They already have the emergency registration to be able to enter the country and we are only waiting for the date, which we believe will be in a few weeks,” Flores said while leaving a meeting at Congress on Tuesday.
Guatemala had expected to receive its first shipment of vaccines through Covax by the end of this month, but that delivery has been delayed.
Flores added that Guatemala is also expecting to receive the first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine in the first week of April.
The Central American nation has recorded 172,000 positive cases of coronavirus and 6,315 deaths.
Updated
Auckland high school closes again after third student tests positive for Covid
One of New Zealand’s largest high schools has closed again after another student and t wo siblings tested positive for Covid-19.
Papatoetoe high school in south Auckland was closed last week after two students and two parents tested positive. It reopened this week but closed again on Wednesday after a third student tested positive on Tuesday. Two siblings of the students also tested positive later on Tuesday.
Health authorities have been trying to test and contact-trace all 1,500 students, but were unable to find and test a small number of pupils and their families:
Here is the full story on AstraZeneca missing its EU vaccine target:
An Australian doctor responsible for delivering doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to residents of a Brisbane nursing home has been stood down after an 88 year-old man and a 94-year-old woman were each given four times the recommended dose.
The federal health minister Greg Hunt said the error occurred at the Holy Spirit Nursing Home in Carseldine and the two residents were being closely monitored:
More on that story now, from Reuters:
Asked about the EU official’s comment, a spokesman for AstraZeneca initially said: “We are hopeful that we will be able to bring our deliveries closer in line with the advance purchase agreement.”
Later in the day a spokesman in a new statement said the company’s “most recent Q2 forecast for the delivery of its Covid vaccine aims to deliver in line with its contract with the European Commission.”
He added: “At this stage AstraZeneca is working to increase productivity in its EU supply chain and to continue to make use of its global capability in order to achieve delivery of 180 million doses to the EU in the second quarter.”
A spokesman for the European Commission, which coordinates talks with vaccine manufacturers, said it could not comment on the discussions as they were confidential.
He said the EU should have more than enough shots to hit its vaccination targets if the expected and agreed deliveries from other suppliers are met, regardless of the situation with AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca to deliver less than half promised doses to EU in second quarter – report
AstraZeneca Plc has told the European Union it expects to deliver less than half the Covid vaccines it was contracted to supply in the second quarter, an EU official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Contacted by Reuters, AstraZeneca did not deny what the official said, but a statement late in the day said the company was striving to increase productivity to deliver the promised 180 million doses.
The expected shortfall, which has not previously been reported, follows a big reduction in supplies in the first quarter and could hit the EU’s ability to meet its target of vaccinating 70% of adults by summer.
The EU official, who is directly involved in talks with the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, said the company had told the bloc during internal meetings that it “would deliver less than 90 million doses in the second quarter.”
AstraZeneca’s contract with the EU, which was leaked last week, showed the company had committed to delivering 180 million doses to the 27-nation bloc in the second quarter.
Updated
The failure of successive governments to enact part of the Equality Act, which would have imposed a duty to address socio-economic disadvantage, has exacerbated inequalities in England during the coronavirus pandemic, a thinktank has claimed.
The Runnymede Trust’s report, Facts Don’t Lie, says that the public sector duty provision would have imposed a legal obligation on education authorities in England to ensure working class children on free school meals were fed properly while schools were shut and had access to laptops for remote learning.
Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 requires authorities, also including local councils, the police and most government departments, to carry out their functions having “due regard to the desirability of exercising them in a way that is designed to reduce the inequalities of outcome which result from socio-economic disadvantage”:
Ireland extends lockdown
Ireland is to start reopening some schools next week but is extending other lockdown restrictions until April to prevent another explosion in Covid-19 cases.
The government has prioritised education and childcare in a cautious new roadmap out of restrictions after a disastrous relaxation before Christmas led to Ireland having the world’s highest rate of infection.
The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, announced the revised Living with Covid plan in a televised address on Tuesday evening.
He praised public compliance with restrictions and said he understood people hoped for relaxations. “The sacrifices you have made have a positive impact – our progress in response to the latest wave is among the best in Europe.”
He said 64% of adults would be vaccinated by May. “We will get through this. I know how hard it is and the toll it is taking on people’s mental health and wellbeing but I also know that the end is now truly in sight.”
The cabinet agreed to extend the maximum level 5 restrictions until 5 April, which means non-essential retail, bars, cafes, construction, gyms and other sectors will remain closed. A 5km travel limit remains in place, as does a ban on household mixing:
French ICU patients with Covid at 12-week high
The number of patients treated in intensive care units for Covid-19 in France has reached a 12-week peak of 3,435, as regional officials urge for a ban on public gatherings and consider a partial weekend lockdown.
Unlike some of its European neighbours, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious variants, hoping a curfew in place since 15 December can contain the pandemic.
The country ended its second national lockdown, which ran from 30 October to 15 December. But one of the conditions for the switch from lockdown to a national curfew was that the ICU figures remained between 2,500 and 3,000.
France reported 20,064 new Covid-19 cases, up from the previous Tuesday’s 19,590. The seven-day moving average of cases remained above 20,000 for the third day in a row, at 20,109, the highest since 20,466 on 5 February.
The northern port city of Dunkirk is urging the government to impose a ban on all public gatherings there until 15 March as a “last chance” move to halt a surge in Covid-19 infections.
Dunkirk’s mayor Patrice Vergriete did not advocate a partial weekend lockdown such as in the Mediterranean city of Nice, but added he would not oppose it if the government imposed such a measure.
The health minister Olivier Veran will head to Dunkirk on Wednesday.
The total cumulative number of cases in France rose to 3.63 million, the sixth highest in the world. The number of people who have died from Covid-19 infections rose by 431 to 85,044 - the seventh highest death toll globally - versus a seven-day moving average of 319, a more than one-and-a half month low.
WHO says global deaths down 20% since last week; cases declining for six straight weeks
The World Health Organization says that global deaths from coronavirus-related complications have declined by 20% in the last week, with cases dropping for the sixth consecutive week worldwide. Deaths have been falling for three consecutive weeks.
In a statement, the WHO said:
The number of global new cases reported continues to fall for the sixth consecutive week, with 2.4 million new cases last week, an 11% decline compared to the previous week.
The number of new deaths also continues to fall for the previous three weeks, with nearly 66 000 new deaths reported last week, a 20% decline as compared to the previous week. This brings the global cumulative numbers to 110.7 million cases and over 2.4 million deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
I’ll be bringing you the latest updates for the next few hours – as always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
The World Health Organization says that global deaths from coronavirus-related complications have declined by 20% in the last week, with cases dropping for the sixth consecutive week worldwide.
We’ll have more on that shortly – here, meanwhile, are the other key developments:
- Scotland is to look to begin a “substantial” easing of coronavirus restrictions from 26 April, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said.
- Ireland is to start reopening some schools next week but is extending other lockdown restrictions until April to prevent another explosion in Covid-19 cases.
- The Netherlands is expected to announce a slight easing of restrictions, allowing schools and hairdressers to reopen (see 3.19pm).
- Israel announced it would send a “token amount” of surplus coronavirus jobs to several countries (see 2.50pm), in the latest move to suggest limited global supplies will lead to a new form of diplomatic currency.
- Spain extends its ban on arrivals from Britain, Brazil and South Africa until 16 March to safeguard against the spread of new coronavirus strains from these countries.
- Greek hospital doctors went on strike and dozens marched in Athens to protest “suffocating” conditions at hospitals during the pandemic.
- Chinese officials did “little” in terms of epidemiological investigations into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan in the first eight months after the outbreak, according to an internal World Health Organization document.
- French investigators probe manslaughter allegations against Italy’s Costa Cruises over its handling of Covid-19 cases onboard one of its ships, which claimed the lives of three passengers.
- Ten orangutans were airlifted back to their natural habitat on Indonesia’s Borneo island, in the first release of the apes into the wild for a year due to the dangers of coronavirus infection.
