That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, for today’s Covid live blog.
Thanks for joining us and in the meantime you can follow along with all the latest Covid headlines here.
Have a wonderful Friday.
Summary of today's key developments
- EU drug regulator lists rare spinal condition as side-effect of Johnson & Johnson Covid shot. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was also assessing reports of a rare blood condition known as capillary leak syndrome (CLS) following inoculation with Moderna’s vaccine.
-
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz has pushed ahead with a plan to phase out a state of national emergency by the end of the month, despite the country recording the highest coronavirus case numbers since the start of the pandemic.
- Australia passes the 90% first dose vaccination milestone for those aged 16 and over.
- Brazil reports 188 Covid deaths in past 24 hours and 15,300 new cases of the coronavirus.
- Sweden has seen a sharp decline in Covid testing this month after its health agency said vaccinated Swedes no longer need to get tested, even if they have symptoms.
- The UK reported another 42,408 Covid cases and a further 195 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
- Morgues are filling up in Romania and Bulgaria as the countries record the EU’s highest daily death rates from Covid-19, after superstition, misinformation and entrenched mistrust in governments and institutions combined to leave them the least vaccinated countries in the bloc.
- The Netherlands on Thursday recorded more than 16,000 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, the highest number since the start of the pandemic. Dutch health experts have called on the government to impose a partial lockdown to fight the increase in cases.
- Austria will place millions of people not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in lockdown in a matter of days, as daily infections are at a record high and intensive-care units are increasingly strained, the chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, said. About 65% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the lowest rate of any western European country apart from Liechtenstein.
- The UK government’s vaccine mandate for care home workers came into effect as about 50,000 care home staff have not been fully vaccinated in England and will not be allowed to work from Thursday.
- The wellness industry may have turned its back on Covid science by promoting vaccine scepticism, conspiracy theories and the myth that ill people have themselves to blame.
EU lists rare spinal condition as side-effect of Johnson & Johnson Covid shot
Europe’s drug regulator on Thursday recommended adding a rare type of spinal inflammation called transverse myelitis as a side-effect of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, Reuters reports.
Reports of this serious neurological illness was also at the heart of trial halts in the early stages of development for both AstraZeneca and J&J’s shots, which are based on similar technology.
Giving updates on the safety of all coronavirus shots, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was assessing reports of a rare blood condition known as capillary leak syndrome (CLS) following inoculation with Moderna’s vaccine.
The EMA said it had recorded six cases of CLS and was assessing all data, but it was not yet clear if there was a causal association between the reports and the vaccine.
In CLS, fluids leak from the smallest blood vessels causing swelling and a drop in blood pressure. The condition has also been studied with vaccines from AstraZeneca and J&J.
The EMA said there was currently not enough evidence of a possible link between rare cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) and mRNA-based vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The regulator is reviewing if approved coronavirus vaccines could cause MIS. The syndrome is a serious but rare condition in which different body parts become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
Germany pushes new measures to tackle rising Covid cases
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz has pushed ahead with a plan to phase out a state of national emergency by the end of the month, despite the country recording the highest coronavirus case numbers since the start of the pandemic.
“The virus is still here and threatening the health of our citizens,” Scholz said in a parliamentary debate on Thursday, as he called on MPs to support a catalogue of new measures to curb the spread of Covid that would replace the state of emergency. “Therefore it is very, very important that we take all measures to ensure we can protect their health.”
The Social Democrat, whose SPD party is in the process of forging a governing coalition with the German Greens and the liberal Free Democratic party, specifically mentioned bringing back free rapid tests for the entire population, compulsory testing for care workers and more financial support for vaccination centres administering booster jabs, on top of keeping in place mandatory mask-wearing rules.
Read the full story here.
It’s Samantha Lock back with you taking over from my colleague Tom Ambrose.
First up some great news out of Australia today as the nation passes the 90% first dose vaccination milestone for those aged 16 and over.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, took credit for Australia’s low fatality and high vaccination rates during the Covid-19 pandemic but also promised the Liberal-National government will seek less “control” over citizens’ lives in future.
Updated
Facing a surge in coronavirus infections that threatens to overwhelm Colorado hospitals, the governor, Jared Polis, defied federal guidance on Covid booster shots on Thursday by issuing an order allowing all state residents 18 and older to get them.
The Associated Press reported:
US Food and Drug Administration rules allow booster shots for those 18 and over who are at high risk of exposure to the virus. The FDA also permits boosters for people 65 and older, and adults with special medical conditions. Polis’ order declares all of Colorado at high risk of infection, significantly expanding the number of residents eligible.
“Because disease spread is so significant across Colorado, all Coloradans who are 18 years of age and older are at high risk and qualify for a booster shot,” the Democratic governor said in his order.
Updated
Brazil reports 188 Covid deaths in past 24 hours
Brazil has had 15,300 new cases of the coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 188 deaths from Covid, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The South American country has now registered 21,924,598 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 610,224, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the US and India and its second-deadliest.
Updated
Germany reported a record-high number of more than 50,000 daily coronavirus cases on Thursday as lawmakers mulled legislation that would pave the way for new coronavirus measures.
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s national disease control center, registered 50,196 new cases, up from 33,949 daily cases a week earlier. Infections have multiplied so quickly in recent days that hospitals in the hardest-hit regions cancelled scheduled surgeries to allow medical personnel to focus on Covid patients.
The institute also reported 237 daily Covid deaths, bringing Germany’s pandemic death toll to 97,198. One of the country’s top virologists, Christian Drosten, warned on Wednesday that another 100,000 people could die in the coming months if the country’s vaccination rate didn’t accelerate quickly.
Unlike some other European countries, Germany has balked at making vaccinations mandatory for certain categories of workers and has struggled to persuade more people to voluntarily get shots.
At least 67% of the population of 83 million is fully vaccinated, according to official figures.
“In Germany, I must say, unfortunately, that our vaccination rate isn’t high enough to prevent the fast spread of the virus,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said late on Wednesday.
Updated
Good evening, I’m Tom Ambrose and will be running the live blog for the rest of the evening.
We start with news that the contagious Delta variant is driving up Covid hospitalisations in the Mountain West of the United States and fuelling disruptive outbreaks in the north.
“We’re going to see a lot of outbreaks in unvaccinated people that will result in serious illness, and it will be tragic,” said Dr. Donald Milton of the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
In recent days, a Vermont college suspended social gatherings after a spike in cases tied to Halloween parties, the Associated Press reports. Boston officials shut down an elementary school to control an outbreak. Hospitals in New Mexico and Colorado are overwhelmed.
In Michigan, the three-county metro Detroit area is again becoming a hot spot for transmissions, with nearly 400 Covid patients in hospitals.
Mask-wearing in Michigan has declined to about 25% of people, according to a combination of surveys tracked by an influential modeling group at the University of Washington.
Germany may be registering record coronavirus infections again but in Cologne, revellers shrugged off any virus fears to return in force on Thursday for their first carnival fair since the pandemic, AFP reports.
“We are completely protected” by the the rules keeping unvaccinated people away from the event, said Marie-Louise, who had travelled in from the Netherlands for the street party.
The Cologne Carnival, which begins at the 11th minute of the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, kicks off a month-long series of merrymaking and events running through to Ash Wednesday the following year.
The street festivities in the western city involving people dressed up in elaborate costumes, partying to big band music and enjoying comedy shows, were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, like elsewhere across Germany.
Early in the health crisis last year, a carnival party had become a super-spreader event, leading to Germany’s first major cluster of infections.
More than a year on, the Covid crisis still casts a shadow over festivities.
Germany registered a record number of new infections in 24 hours, official data showed, and regions are laying on new restrictions, especially targeting the unvaccinated.
Related: Scholz pushes new measures to tackle Germany’s rising Covid cases
Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder, himself an aficionado of dressing up at carnivals, said he found it “a little difficult to imagine carnival” going ahead.
Instead, he warned that restrictions on such events may be needed to halt surging infections.
The Cologne event too had to improvise as the designated “prince” who is meant to lead the festivities tested positive on the eve of the carnival and had to be replaced at the 11th hour.
But the crowd was undeterred.
Gathered without masks in a square in the city’s old town, they turned up in their thousands to the tune of the song “Mir sin widder do” – “we are back”.
Uwe Schoernig, who is the treasurer of an association of carnival participants, said: “It feels great to party again.
“I’m not going to feel bad about having fun,” Schoernig, dressed in a sailor’s uniform, told AFP. “If the politicians think restrictions are necessary, we’ll keep to the rules. But as long as that’s not the case, we will carry on.”
Hanno Puetz, who was the “prince” leading festivities at Bergisch Gladbach city in 2019, agreed.
“We’ve been waiting for so long,” he said, pointing to cancelled carnivals through 2020. “We can’t wait any longer to parade through the streets in our costumes.”
“We have so little normalcy in our lives these days. Here at least we can bring back a bit of joy,” said Puetz.
Martina, 22, who had travelled from Bielefeld with her friend Alina for the party, said: “We feel free again.” She told AFP: “You just need to get vaccinated and then there’s no problem.”
But not all are throwing caution to the wind.
Reveller Stephanie Walbroehl said she planned to “test herself through the weekend” before returning to work.
Updated
Summary
Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today:
- Europe’s drug regulator has recommended two Covid antibody therapies, one from American-Swiss partners Regeneron-Roche and another from South Korea’s Celltrion, as the region builds up its defence against surging cases. Approval by the European Commission would mark the first for any Covid treatment on the continent since Gilead’s remdesivir last year.
- Sweden has seen a sharp decline in Covid testing this month, just as much of Europe contends with surging infection rates, after its health agency said vaccinated Swedes no longer need to get tested, even if they have symptoms of the disease. The stance by the health agency has rekindled criticism that the country has once again broken ranks with its neighbours, and has led to some of Sweden’s regions no longer providing free testing for all.
-
The UK reported another 42,408 Covid cases and a further 195 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
-
Morgues are filling up in Romania and Bulgaria as the countries record the EU’s highest daily death rates from Covid-19, after superstition, misinformation and entrenched mistrust in governments and institutions combined to leave them the least vaccinated countries in the bloc. Despite ample vaccine supplies, the two countries have fully vaccinated the lowest proportion of their populations in the EU: 34.3% of Romania’s inhabitants have received two jabs, and 22.8% of Bulgaria’s. Story here.
- The Netherlands on Thursday recorded more than 16,000 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, as Dutch health experts called on the government to impose a partial lockdown to fight the increase in cases. The caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte’s cabinet is expected to decide on Friday on measures following the recommendation of the Outbreak Management Team, the pandemic advisory panel, for a two-week partial lockdown. It would be western Europe’s first lockdown since vaccines were widely deployed.
- Austria is days away from placing millions of people not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in lockdown, as daily infections are at a record high and intensive-care units are increasingly strained, the chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, said. About 65% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the lowest rate of any western European country apart from Liechtenstein.
- The German chancellor-in-waiting, Olaf Scholz, pushed ahead with a plan to phase out a state of national emergency by the end of the month, despite the country recording the highest coronavirus case numbers since the start of the pandemic. He mentioned bringing back free rapid tests for the entire population, compulsory testing for care workers and more financial support for vaccination centres administering booster jabs, on top of keeping in place mandatory mask-wearing rules. Story here.
-
Deer can catch the coronavirus from people and give it to other deer in overwhelming numbers, a US study has found - the first evidence of animals transmitting the virus in the wild. On third of Iowa deer sampled over nine months had active infections, with a peak of 80% testing positive between November and January, according to a preprint study that has not yet been peer-reviewed or published. Story here.
- Death rates from Covid infections are much higher in patients with diabetes in Africa, where the number of people with diabetes is growing rapidly, the World Health Organization said. A WHO analysis of data from 13 African countries found a 10.2% case fatality rate in patients with Covid and with diabetes, compared with 2.5% for patients with Covid overall. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said: “Covid-19 is delivering a clear message: fighting the diabetes epidemic in Africa is in many ways as critical as the battle against the current pandemic.”
-
Ukraine’s health ministry proposed expanding the list of occupations for which Covid vaccinations will be compulsory to cover medical personnel and municipal employees. Ukraine, which has a vaccination rate among the lowest in Europe, already obliges teachers and employees of state institutions and local governments to receive vaccinations, without which they face being suspended from work. The new list of roles that will require vaccination will include medical staff, municipal workers and employees of municipal companies.
Updated
Europe’s drug regulator has recommended two Covid antibody therapies - one from American-Swiss partners Regeneron-Roche and another from South Korea’s Celltrion, as the region builds up its defence against surging cases.
Approval by the European Commission would mark a first for any Covid-19 treatment on the continent since Gilead’s remdesivir last year.
Reuters reported earlier this week that the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) endorsement of the two drugs was imminent.
Regeneron-Roche’s antibody cocktail, Ronapreve, was backed by the EMA’s human medicines committee for treating adults and children over 12 with Covid who do not require oxygen support and are at high risk of severe disease.
Celltrion’s Regkirona was recommended only for adults with similar conditions.
Ronapreve can also be used for preventing Covid in people over 12 weighing at least 40kg, the EMA said.
The two treatments are based on a class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies that mimic natural antibodies produced by the human body to fight infections.
While the potential approval process is ongoing, the two drugs are already available to some patients in the European Union as the EMA assisted member states on early use in some cases.
Regeneron’s antibody cocktail was granted emergency authorisation in the US last year, and in August received conditional marketing authorisation in the UK.
The EU has secured about 55,000 courses of the therapy, a European Commission spokesperson said in June.
The bloc has no supply deal with Celltrion, whose antibody treatment has so far been approved only in South Korea.
Thursday’s recommendation comes after Eli Lilly last week withdrew its application for EU approval of its antibody-based treatment, citing a lack of demand from EU member states as the bloc focuses on other suppliers.
Updated
As the UK government’s vaccine mandate for care home workers comes into effect, about 50,000 care home staff have not been fully vaccinated in England and will not be allowed to work from Thursday.
On Wednesday, care leaders asked Sajid Javid for a reprieve, urging the health secretary to allow unvaccinated carers to keep working until at least next April when NHS staff face mandatory vaccines. There is concern that staff shortages could prevent thousands of patients leaving hospital.
Three care workers have shared their views with my colleague Jedidajah Otte about how the mandate will affect them:
Sweden again charts novel path with no-test stance for the vaccinated
Sweden has seen a sharp decline in Covid testing this month, just as much of Europe contends with surging infection rates, after its health agency said vaccinated Swedes no longer need to get tested, even if they have symptoms of the disease, Reuters reports.
The stance by the health agency has rekindled criticism that the country has once again broken ranks with its neighbours, and has led to some of Sweden’s regions no longer providing free testing for all.
Covid testing fell by 35% last week compared with a month earlier. That places Sweden in the bottom of the European Union, along with countries like Germany, Spain, Poland and Finland, according to Our World in Data.
The health agency argues the resources for testing could be better used elsewhere and that there is no need to test those who are fully vaccinated as they have a low risk of getting sick and are less likely to spread the disease.
However, the timing of the decision, just as Europe is heading in to the winter season, has baffled some scientists. One recent newspaper column said “Sweden is once again in the dark” about the spread and ability to break disease chains.
“The number of cases is low in Sweden, but considering how the outside world looks like with lots of cases in Europe, I think you should have waited with this decision,” said Anders Sonnerborg, professor in clinical virology and infectious diseases at Karolinska Institutet.
“I have a hard time seeing that waiting a few months would be a major intervention in people’s lives,” he said.
Health Agency official Sara Byfors on Thursday defended the decision, saying testing would still be at a high enough level to catch trends and that testing had never caught all cases.
“If we see that the spread of infection increases and that it becomes a problem then we are prepared to reverse our decision,” she told a news conference.
The number of hospitalisations and patients treated at intensive care units have started to creep up in recent weeks but are still the lowest in the European Union per capita, according to Our World in Data.
Sweden’s handling of the pandemic has stood out, shunning lockdowns throughout the health crisis and instead relying on voluntary measures based on social distancing and good hygiene.
The country’s number of deaths per capita since the start of the pandemic is several times higher than those among Nordic neighbours but also lower than in most European countries that opted for strict lockdowns.
Updated
Fears of overwhelmed morgues, record Covid cases, anti-lockdown protests – the headlines this week in New Zealand might evoke deja-vu for anyone who lived through the pandemic in Europe, Asia or America.
New Zealand has recently generated a series of news stories that could have been a year-old dispatch from the opposite side of the globe. National radio announced that hospitals had been buying portable refrigerators to prepare for the possibility of growing Covid deaths.
In the capital, Wellington, a crowd of thousands of “pro-freedom” anti-vaccination protesters gathered in front of parliament – one of the first organised, medium-scale expressions of dissatisfaction from a country that had held on to extraordinarily high levels of social support for its Covid response.
Over the weekend, the country cracked 200 new daily Covid infections for the first time in the pandemic. New Zealand is preparing to face for the first time what the US, UK, Europe and much of Asia saw almost a year ago.
For a government that has so far protected its population from the worst of Covid, the new era presents new challenges – including pockets of complacency or denial.
Read the full story here:
Updated
UK records further 195 deaths and 42,408 cases
The UK has reported another 42,408 Covid cases and a further 195 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data from the government’s dashboard. That is compared to 214 deaths and 39,329 infections in the 24 hours prior.
In England, a mandatory jab policy for care workers kicked in on Thursday, meaning unless staff are medically exempt they must be fully vaccinated or risk losing their job.
PA reports tens of thousands of care home staff who have not been fully jabbed will now be unable to legally work in care homes.
Figures published by NHS England show that more than 56,000 current staff in care homes for younger and older residents had not been recorded as having received both doses as of 7 November, four days before the deadline.
Several thousands of these are understood to have self-certified as medically exempt or to have applied for formal proof.
Health officials expect the number of double-vaccinated staff to have risen in the three days between Sunday and Thursday. It is unclear how many staff have already quit due to the requirement.
NHS England figures up to the end of October show that the number of staff in care homes in England has fallen by more than 4,000 since just after the first-dose deadline in mid-September.
Updated
Romania and Bulgaria are recording the EU’s highest daily death rates from Covid-19, after superstition, misinformation and entrenched mistrust in governments and institutions combined to leave them the least vaccinated countries in the bloc.
“A village is vanishing every day in Romania,” said Catalin Cirstoiu, the head of the Bucharest university emergency hospital, where the morgue is filled to overflowing with coronavirus victims, this week. “What about in a week or a month? A larger village? Or a city? Where do we stop?”
Cirstoiu told Associated Press the system was near breaking point, “all caused by one thing: the population’s inability to comprehend they need to get vaccinated”.
While new infections have recently started to edge down, Bulgaria this week reported its highest ever total of daily fatalities. Its seven-day rolling average of deaths per million inhabitants reached 22.8, compared with an EU average of 3.1.
In Romania the average daily death rate hit 23.7 per million last week and has since dipped to 21, according to figures from OurWorldInData – still more than 30 times higher than in Portugal, France or Spain.
Despite ample vaccine supplies, the two countries have fully vaccinated the lowest proportion of their populations in the EU: 34.3% of Romania’s inhabitants have received two jabs, and 22.8% of Bulgaria’s.
That compares with an average of 65.2% across the EU, with countries such as France, Finland, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark and Spain all nearing or exceeding 70% and Malta and Portugal surpassing 80%.
Low vaccine take-up has exposed a deep east-west faultline defined by poverty, underdevelopment and low levels of health education – and compounded, in many ex-communist eastern EU states, by very low confidence in government.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Netherlands registers record high daily cases amid calls for lockdown
The Netherlands on Thursday recorded more than 16,000 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, the highest number since the start of the pandemic, data showed.
The rising number of cases is once again putting pressure on hospitals. Health experts on Thursday called on the government to impose a partial lockdown to fight the increase in Covid cases [see 1.11pm.].
Updated
The wellness industry’s gurus increasingly promote vaccine scepticism, conspiracy theories and the myth that ill people have themselves to blame. How did self-care turn so nasty? Sirin Kale investigates:
Updated
Austrian lockdown for the unvaccinated is days away, chancellor says
Austria is days away from placing millions of people not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 on lockdown, as daily infections are at a record high and intensive-care units are increasingly strained, the chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Thursday.
About 65% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the lowest rate of any western European country apart from tiny Liechtenstein, according to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control data.
Many Austrians are sceptical about vaccinations, a view encouraged by the far-right Freedom party, the third-biggest in parliament.
Under an incremental government plan agreed in September, once 30% of intensive-care beds are occupied by patients with Covid, people not vaccinated against the coronavirus will be placed under lockdown, with restrictions on their daily movements. The current level is 20% and rising fast.
“According to the incremental plan we actually have just days until we have to introduce the lockdown for unvaccinated people,” Schallenberg told a news conference in the westernmost province of Vorarlberg, adding that Austria’s vaccination rate is “shamefully low”.
The conservative-led government said on Friday it was banning the unvaccinated from restaurants, theatres, ski lifts and providers of “services close to the body” such as hairdressers.
“A lockdown for the unvaccinated means one cannot leave one’s home unless one is going to work, shopping [for essentials], stretching one’s legs – namely exactly what we all had to suffer through in 2020,” Schallenberg said, referring to three national lockdowns last year.
Centrist opposition parties have accused the government of doing too little for months to boost vaccination levels and keep infections in check. Some conservatives have argued that a lockdown for the unvaccinated would be unenforceable. Schallenberg said the police would conduct spot checks.
The rise in cases in Austria comes at a time when eastern European states, with the continent’s lowest vaccination rates, are experiencing some of the world’s highest daily death tolls per capita.
Experts in the Netherlands on Thursday recommended a two-week partial lockdown, which would be western Europe’s first since vaccines were widely deployed, and other countries are requiring vaccination certificates to enter public spaces [see 1.11pm.].
Updated
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz has defended his plan to phase out a state of national emergency by the end of the month, despite the country recording the highest coronavirus case numbers since the start of the pandemic.
“The virus is still here and threatening the health of our citizens,” Scholz said in a parliamentary debate on Thursday, as he pushed for MPs to support a catalogue of new measures to curb the spread of Covid. “Therefore it is very, very important that we take all measures to ensure we can protect their health.”
The Social Democrat, whose SPD party is in the process of forging a governing coalition with the German Greens and the liberal Free Democratic party, specifically mentioned bringing back free rapid tests for the entire population, compulsory testing for care workers and more financial support for vaccination centres administering booster jabs, on top of keeping in place mandatory mask-wearing rules.
Scholz said he welcomed some German federal states following Austria’s lead by introducing so-called “2G” requirements, meaning only those who have been vaccinated or recently recovered from Covid can visit bars, clubs or restaurants, but shied away from endorsing a nationwide application of such a rule.
Read more on this story here:
Updated
As America’s pandemic – for now – seems to be moving into a new phase with national rates in decline from the September peak and vaccines being given to children, a new worry has appeared on the horizon: wildlife passing on the virus.
A new study shows that deer can catch the coronavirus from people and give it to other deer in overwhelming numbers, the first evidence of animals transmitting the virus in the wild. Similar spillover and transmission could be occurring in certain animal populations around the world, with troubling implications for eradicating the virus and potentially even for the emergence of new variants.
One-third of Iowa deer sampled over nine months had active infections, with a peak of 80% testing positive between November and January, according to a preprint study that has not yet been peer-reviewed or published.
It builds on previous findings that one-third of deer in other US states were exposed to the virus and developed antibodies, but it differs in showing high rates of active infections, which last for a much narrower window of time.
The virus very likely spilled over from humans to deer through several different interactions, and then it probably spread to other deer, according to the analysis.
Nearly everything about their study shocked the scientists. They knew deer could be infected with the coronavirus. But they were stunned by the numbers – four out of five deer tested positive at the highest peak – as well as high viral loads that were “truly gobsmacking”, Suresh Kuchipudi, a clinical professor of virology at Penn State and co-author of the study, told the Guardian.
They were also surprised by the fairly clear links in the genetic analysis connecting human transmission to the animals and then the rapid transmission to other deer.
The full story is here:
Updated
Dutch experts recommend western Europe's first lockdown since summer
A pandemic advisory panel in the Netherlands on Thursday recommended imposing western Europe’s first partial lockdown since the summer, putting pressure on the government to take unpopular action to fight a Covid surge.
The caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte’s cabinet is expected to decide on Friday on measures following the recommendation of the Outbreak Management Team, broadcaster NOS reported.
The government often follows the expert panel’s recommendations.
Steps under consideration include cancelling events, closing theatres and cinemas, and earlier closing times for cafes and restaurants, the NOS report said. Schools would remain open.
After a partial lockdown of around two weeks, entry to public places should be limited to people who have been fully vaccinated or have recently recovered from a coronavirus infection, according to the advice.
Even as infections surge to record levels, many developed countries have taken the view that vaccine programmes mean lockdowns are unnecessary.
The UK is relying on booster shots to increase immunity and to try to avoid overwhelming its healthcare system.
The Netherlands has so far provided booster shots to a small group of people with weaker immune systems. It will start offering them to people aged 80 years and older in December, while extra jabs will eventually be available for anyone older than 60.
Despite an adult vaccination rate nearing 85%, hospitals in parts of the Netherlands have been forced to scale back regular care to treat patients with coronavirus.
Last month, roughly 56% of Dutch patients in hospitals with Covid and 70% of those in intensive care were unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated.
Unvaccinated patients in Dutch hospitals with Covid had a median age of 59, compared to 77 years for vaccinated patients, data provided by the Netherlands’ Institute for Health (RIVM) showed.
Last week, the Netherlands re-introduced masks and expanded the list of venues that require a “corona pass” that demonstrates vaccination or a negative test result, to gain access.
New coronavirus infections in the country of 17.5 million have roughly doubled in the last week to more than 400 per 100,000 inhabitants, and are as high as in the worst weeks of December last year.
Updated
Diabetes problem makes Africa more vulnerable to Covid death, says WHO
Death rates from Covid infections are much higher in patients with diabetes on the African continent, where the number of people with diabetes is growing rapidly, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
A WHO analysis of data from 13 African countries found a 10.2% case fatality rate in patients with Covid and with diabetes, compared with 2.5% for patients with Covid overall.
In a statement, Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said:
Covid-19 is delivering a clear message: fighting the diabetes epidemic in Africa is in many ways as critical as the battle against the current pandemic.
An estimated 70% of people with diabetes on the continent were unaware they had the disease, according to the WHO.
The number of people with diabetes in Africa is expected to surge to 55 million by 2045 from 24 million this year, the International Diabetes Federation forecasts.
The data from Africa on the increased vulnerability of people with diabetes to death from Covid-19 reflects a global trend. A Reuters investigation this year reported that the pandemic has revealed that the United States has been losing its public health battle against diabetes for more than a decade.
As of Thursday, Africa has recorded over 8.6m confirmed Covid cases and 220,0000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
Less than 7% of the African population is fully vaccinated against Covid, compared with about 40% globally, WHO says.
Updated
The Chinese port city of Dalian has ordered all businesses handling imported chilled and frozen foods to suspend operations after a Covid outbreak that began last week.
The city on China’s north-east coast has reported more than 80 cases over the past week, with the first in a warehouse worker in the Zhuanghe area of the city on 4 November.
Local authorities issued the order on Monday, the state-backed newspaper Global Times reported on Thursday.
Unlike other countries, China says frozen foods pose a risk of spreading Covid and authorities reject goods from overseas if the virus is detected on packaging, even though the World Health Organization says neither food nor packaging is a known transmission route.
Dalian is a leading port for seafood shipments as well as fruit and some meats.
The suspension covers third-party cold storage facilities, bonded warehouses, food production companies and cold storage used by the catering sector, according to a notice posted on local industry websites that could not be verified by Reuters.
Dalian’s food sector also faced heavy disruption last year after authorities issued new requirements for cold storage warehouses because of the risk of the coronavirus entering the country on imported foods.
Updated
German parliament debates new Covid measures as cases soar
Germany’s likely new chancellor Olaf Scholz urged more citizens to get vaccinated against Covid on Thursday as the parliament debated new rules to tackle a fourth wave of infections without imposing lockdowns or making shots mandatory for anyone, Reuters reports.
The three parties negotiating to form Germany’s new government have agreed to let a state of emergency in place since the start of the pandemic expire on 25 November, despite record new cases as colder weather and more indoor gatherings turn Europe once more into a coronavirus hotspot.
Some German politicians considered the state of emergency, which allows the government to bypass parliament, was no longer necessary given the vaccination drive and the need to create a new normality in Europe’s largest economy.
Instead the would-be three-way coalition has proposed legislation allowing existing hygiene measures, such as compulsory face masks in indoor public spaces, to be enforced and tightened - without extending to the lockdowns and curfews deployed in previous waves of infection.
The parties also want to re-open vaccination centres and reinstate free Covid tests, Scholz said in a speech opening the debate on the law in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
Free tests had been phased out in a bid to incentivise more citizens to get their Covid jabs, but the vaccination level has flatlined at around 67% in recent weeks and supporters point out that even those who are vaccinated can contract and transmit the virus.
“We must prepare our country for winter,” said Scholz, acting finance minister and chancellor candidate of the centre-left Social Democrats that came first in September’s election.
The outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel, who did not stand for re-election in September’s vote, watched on from the auditorium.
Scholz said workers in care homes should get tested daily to avoid the tragedy of past waves. Vaccines are not mandatory for healthcare and care home workers in Germany, unlike in many other European countries.
The federal government and leaders of Germany’s 16 states would meet next week to discuss further measures to tackle the pandemic, said Scholz, who is expected to be voted in as chancellor in early December if coalition talks are successful.
He said he favoured measures such as requiring workplaces to check that staff be vaccinated, recovered or have tested negative for coronavirus.
Germany’s fourth Covid wave is already stretching capacity in some hospitals, prompting doctors to say they will have to postpone scheduled surgeries and several states to tighten hygiene regulations.
In Saxony, for example, restaurant goers must now provide proof of vaccination or past infection - a negative test is no longer enough - and other German states are set to follow.
Germany’s public health authority Robert Koch Institute reported a record 50,196 new cases of Covid on Thursday [see 7.23am.], the fourth day in a row it has posted a fresh daily high.
Related: German Christmas markets face second year of closures as Covid rates soar
Updated
Ukraine to impose mandatory Covid jab for doctors and municipal workers
Ukraine’s health ministry has proposed expanding the list of occupations for which Covid vaccinations will be compulsory to cover medical personnel and municipal employees, it said on Thursday.
The government already obliges teachers and employees of state institutions and local governments to receive vaccinations, without which they face being suspended from work.
The new list of roles that will require vaccination will include medical staff, municipal workers and employees of municipal companies, the health minister, Viktor Lyashko, said.
Ukraine has registered record coronavirus cases and deaths in recent weeks, and the government has imposed strict lockdowns and promoted vaccination in an attempt to fight back. The ministry has registered 3.16m cases and 74,857 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
But it is one of several countries in eastern Europe with vaccination rates among the continent’s lowest. Only about 8.3 million in a population of 41 million are fully vaccinated.
Updated
The pharmaceutical firm Valneva has asked for an apology and has not ruled out future legal action after the British health secretary told MPs its coronavirus vaccine would not get approval for use in the UK, PA reports.
The French company which has a production facility in Livingston in Scotland, had its previous order of about 100m doses torn up by the UK government, with Sajid Javid saying the product would not get the go-ahead from the regulator.
But the company, visited by Boris Johnson in January, has since been cleared to supply tens of millions of doses across Europe.
David Lawrence, Valneva’s chief financial officer, told BBC Radio Scotland that Javid’s comments in September had caused reputational damage, had financial implications for the company, and “put a question mark next to our vaccine”.
A lot of people had lost confidence in our vaccine following the health secretary’s comments in parliament. We had to do a lot of work to restore confidence.
Lawrence said Javid was “very clearly wrong” to state the vaccine would not secure approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
We would love to hear an apology from him. The damage he did to our company and our commercial discussions was quite significant and we’re still awaiting an apology for those remarks.
Javid originally told MPs the company “would not get approval” by the regulator, but later amended Hansard, the official parliamentary record, to state the vaccine “has not yet gained” clearance.
Lawrence said Valneva was still deciding whether or not to sue the government over the comments. “We haven’t ruled out any of our options yet,” he said.
Asked for its response to Lawrence’s comments, and whether an apology would be forthcoming, the Department of Health and Social Care said:
Clinical trials for the Valneva candidate vaccine have not yet been completed. As such, our independent medicines regulator - the MHRA - has not approved the Valneva candidate vaccine for use in the UK.
Updated
Canada’s coronavirus epicentres are shifting from dense urban zones to more rural or remote areas that have lower vaccination rates and fewer public health resources, Reuters reports.
Some of those areas were spared in earlier waves of the pandemic and are now forced to contend with a widely spreading virulent strain of the coronavirus with fewer options at their disposal to deal with the surge.
The country has high overall vaccination rates but pockets of hesitancy allow the virus to spread.
In Ontario, Canada’s most-populous province, the Sudbury health region about 250 miles (400km) north of Toronto has tightened restrictions. Officials have brought back capacity limits in public spaces, requiring residents to mask and provide proof of vaccination.
Its recent Covid case rate, at 164.7 per 100,000 as of Monday, is by far the highest in the province. It has also seen positivity rates, the percentage of people tested for Covid who test positive, rise to 4.43% as of 24 October. The provincial average that week was 1.56%.
“Less dense, less urban areas were relatively spared in this pandemic but ... I think we’re starting to see the non-urban wave of Covid starting,” said Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario.
Greater Sudbury has more than 160,000 people but less hospital capacity than the Toronto area. “What’s particularly worrisome is the number of cases and the rapid rise of cases combined with the fact that we’re seeing cases kind of all over,” including about a quarter with no identified source, said Penny Sutcliffe, medical officer of health for Public Health Sudbury and Districts.
On Wednesday, Ontario paused plans to raise capacity limits at sites such as sex clubs “out of an abundance of caution”.
Sutcliffe said the increased transmission in her region could be linked to both an easing of restrictions and widespread Covid fatigue:
We’re all tired of the pandemic and tired of having to take precautions.
It is a fatigue felt elsewhere.
Yukon declared a state of emergency this week after announcing 80 Covid cases in three days, bringing the total active cases to 169 in the territory of 43,000 people. About 22.1% of Yukon’s population is indigenous, compared with the national average of about 5%.
In Saskatchewan, the province’s far north-west region, which is home to multiple First Nations communities, had the highest infection rates this week. It also had the lowest vaccination rate as a percentage of the total population, government data showed.
In Alberta, the province’s relatively rural northern region that includes the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray had the highest hospitalisation rate and the highest case rate as of early November.
This past summer, the Delta variant ran through crowded oil sands housing and a young population that did not see itself at risk of Covid, said a Fort McMurray family doctor Raman Kumar. “There’s more a sense of rugged individualism where people don’t necessarily rely as much on the government.”
Now, he said, he and his colleagues are tackling the “three Cs” of vaccine hesitancy: quashing complacency and conspiracies and maximising convenience. “If someone comes in for a prescription refill, it’s always a really good opportunity to mention to someone: ‘Hey, did you get your vaccine?’”
Updated
Good morning from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Today so far
- The World Health Organization reports that coronavirus deaths rose by 10% in Europe over the past week, making it the only world region where both Covid-19 cases and deaths are steadily increasing.
- The Robert Koch Institute has recorded another record daily caseload of Covid-19 in Germany, with 50,196 new cases reported on Thursday, the fourth day in a row it has posted a fresh daily high. The country’s likely future chancellor Olaf Scholz said today vaccination centres should be reopened across the country.
- Slovakia’s number of patients hospitalised with Covid grew to 2,532, the health ministry said, as some hospitals had to limit non-urgent care.
- Russia has reported 1,237 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, that is close to the record one-day toll recorded the previous day.
- The chief of an intensive care unit in Trieste in northern Italy said hospitals are experiencing a “return to the dark days of the pandemic” amid a rise in coronavirus infections and hospitalisations.
- Two patients died and a nurse was injured when a fire broke out in a Covid hospital in Ploiesti in central Romania early today.
-
France is at the beginning of a fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic, the health minister, Olivier Véran, said on Wednesday. “Several neighbouring countries are already in a fifth wave of the Covid epidemic. What we are experiencing in France clearly looks like the beginning of a fifth wave,” Véran said.
- In the UK, the minister for small business, Paul Scully, said he had hoped unvaccinated care workers would “reconsider” their decision not to take up a Covid-19 jab before today’s deadline. Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum, said there was a “human cost” to the UK government’s mandatory jab policy for care home staff.
- The number of people in England waiting to start routine hospital treatment has risen to a new record high. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said a survey of more than 450 leaders across all parts of the health service found nine out of 10 said the situation they now face is “unsustainable”.
- Britain’s recovery from its third Covid-19 lockdown slowed sharply over the summer as the economy’s growth was hit by rising infection rates, the pingdemic and global supply shortages.
-
Moderna has applied for approval from Japan’s health ministry to use its Covid-19 vaccines for booster shots.
- A study in the US has shown a worrying level of Covid transmission among wild deer.
- Australia is set to surpass the 90% first-dose vaccination coverage rate. The health minister, Greg Hunt, said the “extraordinary” achievement is expected to be reached just after midday on Thursday.
- New Zealand also hit a fresh Covid vaccination milestone, with 90% of Kiwis aged 12 and over having received at least one jab. Meanwhile, the popularity of the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has plummeted in two new polls, as the country struggles to contain a Delta outbreak and transitions to a new era of endemic Covid.
That is it from me, Martin Belam. I will be off shortly to host the comments on our Thursday quiz. Andrew Sparrow has UK politics live, Oliver Holmes is covering Cop26 live today, and Lucy Campbell will be along here in a moment to continue bringing you the latest coronavirus news from the UK and around the world.
Updated
Italian hospital chief warns of 'return to the dark days of the pandemic'
The chief of an intensive care unit in the northern Italian city of Trieste said hospitals are experiencing a “return to the dark days of the pandemic” amid a rise in coronavirus infections and hospitalisations.
Umberto Lucangelo said 90% of the Covid-19 patients are unvaccinated while several people in intensive care had joined recent protests against the health pass and vaccinations in the city.
He added that hospital units were “at the limit” with staff having to work double-shifts. “And with the bitterness of witnessing the attitude of those who are not getting vaccinated and who believe in science fiction.”
Trieste has been at the centre of Italy’s anti-health pass and vaccination protests. The protests intensified after the government made the health pass mandatory for all workers, who have to present proof of immunisation, vaccination or a negative test before entering their workplaces.
The rise in infections in recent weeks is partly attributed to the protests but also the low vaccination rate in the city and the strong cross-border commuter flow with neighbouring Slovenia, where the virus has been surging.
Lucangelo said some of the no-vaxxers in hospital are repentant. “But others are irreducible deniers who are still convinced that Covid doesn’t exist.”
Reuters reports Moderna has applied for approval from Japan’s health ministry to use its Covid-19 vaccines for booster shots
Japan plans to start administering booster shots from December this year, and has already approved the use of Pfizer vaccines for a third round of shots. If approved, Moderna’s vaccine would become the second to be approved for booster jabs in Japan.
Updated
The number of people in England waiting to start routine hospital treatment has risen to a new record high
With more than 18 months of Covid disruption to the healthcare service, a total of 5.8 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of September 2021, according to figures from NHS England. This is the highest number since records began in August 2007.
Updated
As America’s pandemic – for now – seems to be moving into a new phase with national rates in decline from the September peak and vaccines rolling out to children, a new worry has appeared on the horizon: wildlife passing on the virus.
A study shows that deer can catch coronavirus from people and give it to other deer in overwhelming numbers, the first evidence of animals transmitting the virus in the wild. Similar spillover and transmission could be occurring in certain animal populations around the world, with troubling implications for eradicating the virus and potentially even for the emergence of new variants.
One-third of Iowa deer sampled over nine months had active infections, with a peak of 80% testing positive between November and January, according to a preprint study that has not yet been peer-reviewed or published.
Nearly everything about their study shocked the scientists. They knew deer could be infected with the coronavirus. But they were stunned by the numbers – four out of five deer tested positive at the highest peak – as well as high viral loads that were “truly gobsmacking”, Suresh Kuchipudi, a clinical professor of virology at Penn State and coauthor of the study, told the Guardian. They were also surprised by the fairly clear links in the genetic analysis connecting human transmission to the animals and the rapid transmission to other deer.
Read more of Melody Schreiber’s report here: As Covid recedes in US a new worry emerges – wildlife passing on the virus
Updated
Germany’s likely future chancellor Olaf Scholz said today vaccination centres should be reopened across the country and more citizens be encouraged to get vaccinated against coronavirus given the worrying rise in infections.
“The virus is still amongst us and threatening citizens’ health,” said Scholz, the finance minister and chancellor candidate for the centre-left Social Democrats which came first in September’s national election.
Reuters reports that German lawmakers are debating a new law providing a bundle of measures to tackle the country’s fourth wave of coronavirus.
Germany today reported a daily record of 50,196 cases.
Updated
Some hospitals in Slovakia limit non-urgent care due to Covid cases
A quick snap from Reuters here – Slovakia’s number of patients hospitalised with Covid grew to 2,532, the health ministry said, as some hospitals had to limit non-urgent care.
The country of 5.5 million reported 6,546 new Covid cases, not far off its record number from the previous day.
Updated
Russia has reported 1,237 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, that is close to the record one-day toll recorded the previous day. Authorities are waiting to see whether the government-enforced paid holiday for non-essential workers has made a dent in the surge currently affecting the country.
This map is a useful reminder of how the Covid situation is worsening across Europe at the moment.
In the UK, the minister for small business, Paul Scully, said he had hoped unvaccinated care workers would “reconsider” their decision not to take up a Covid-19 jab before today’s deadline. PA Media quote his LBC radio appearance saying:
I’d hope that people would, if they haven’t had their vaccination, go back and reconsider and get that vaccination done if they want to continue working with those vulnerable people.
I think there is little point in having people have care off people who may unfortunately help to transmit the disease and send them to hospital.
So it is a slightly circular discussion and we want to make sure that people who are receiving care can be as safe as possible.
Updated
Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum, said there was a “human cost” to the UK government’s mandatory jab policy for care home staff, which became effective from today.
PA Media quotes Rayner on BBC Breakfast saying that about 8% of staff are leaving their jobs, on top of those who have already quit the sector since the policy was announced.
“It’s really challenging for organisations all across the country and I think there’s a very human cost to this policy,” she said, pointing to the cost for the staff leaving, for the people they cared for and the breach of trust between staff and employers asking them to leave.
“What it feels like for the care home sector is that we’ve been sort of guinea pigs around the implementation and rollout of this policy.”
Asked about the impact of the staff losses, Rayner said: “People who need care who aren’t currently in receipt of it are unable to get it. You are also seeing organisations who are saying, unfortunately, they’re no longer able to provide the care for people they have been [caring for].”
Updated
Britain’s recovery from its third Covid-19 lockdown slowed sharply over the summer as the economy’s growth was hit by rising infection rates, the pingdemic and global supply shortages.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that national output expanded by 1.3% in the three months to September, leaving it still more 2.1% below its pre-crisis level in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The third-quarter performance followed expansion of 5.5% in the three months to June – a period when restrictions on activity were being lifted.
Staff shortages and supply constraints blunted the impact of the ending of remaining lockdown restrictions in July, with a poorer trade performance also acting as a brake on growth.
Read more of Larry Elliott’s report here: UK economic recovery slows sharply as GDP grows by 1.3%
A couple of responses in the media coming through to Germany’s new record of 50,196 daily Covid cases. [see 7.23am]
Reinhard Sager, the president of the association of German local authorities (DLT), called on the catering and event industry to more strictly check that customers are tested, vaccinated or recovered from the virus.
“The concern about losing potential customers should be significantly less than the concern about the consequences that threaten if they continue to do too little to fulfil the control obligations,” Sager told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
Reuters reports that Dirk Wiese, the deputy parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, has told ARD television that the parties hoping to form the next coalition government are also considering allowing employers to impose a requirement for their staff to be vaccinated, recovered or tested negative for coronavirus.
Updated
Chief exec of NHS Confederation warns health service in 'unsustainable' situation
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said a survey of more than 450 leaders across all parts of the health service found nine out of 10 said the situation they now face is “unsustainable”.
PA Media quote Taylor as saying on the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme:
We’ve still got thousands of people in hospital with Covid. Hospitalisation rates have started to fall in the last few days, that’s good, but there are still many patients in hospital. Then we’ve got the normal winter pressures, and then you add the huge amount of pent-up demand that has built up during the pandemic. You put those three things together and you’ve got a situation which almost every leader in the health service now says is unsustainable.
Asked what “unsustainable” means, Taylor said it means the quality of care and patient safety is “compromised”, and also means it is very difficult for hospitals to make inroads into the “huge” elective care backlog.
Taylor said people are turning up at emergency departments with quite advanced diseases, adding there is “overwhelming demand”.
The seven-day average number of patients in hospital with Covid, according to the UK government dashboard, was 9,000 on 6 November. This compares to a peak seven-day average in January at the height of the last wave of the pandemic of 38,434.
Updated
In the UK, the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, the current chair of the health and social care committee in parliament, has been asked on Sky News about the rules on vaccination for care home workers which come into force today.
He said that care staff would want to “take the trouble to make sure they’re not spreading the disease asymptomatically”, adding:
That is the first responsibility of every doctor, nurse or carer. And every single one that I know has been jabbed. So I think it is the right thing to do to keep patients safer. But I do recognise there are some practical challenges.
Asked whether daily testing might not be more effective, since vaccines do not provide 100% protection, he said:
Daily testing is not foolproof either. The one thing you can do, that you know will make a big difference, is to get jabbed. And I think that people working in health care do understand that, and they want to put the safety and the protection of the vulnerable people that they are, after all, giving their lives to looking after, they want to put that first. So, look, it’s a really difficult issue. It’s difficult in the care sector. It’s difficult in the NHS. But I do think [the health secretary] Sajid Javid is right to bite the bullet on it.
Updated
Robert Koch Institute reports a record 50,196 daily Covid cases in Germany
The Robert Koch Institute has recorded another record daily caseload of Covid-19 in Germany, with 50,196 new cases reported on Thursday, the fourth day in a row it has posted a fresh daily high.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases is 4.89m and total deaths rose 235 to 97,198, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
The institute reported a rise in the coronavirus seven-day incidence rate - the number of people per 100,000 to be infected over the last week - to 249 from 232 on Wednesday.
Emma Thomasson reports for Reuters that the three German parties in talks to form a coalition government by early December have agreed not to extend a nationwide state of emergency, despite a fourth wave of infections.
Instead, they presented a draft law on Monday that would amend existing legislation to allow for measures such as compulsory face masks and social distancing in public spaces to continue to be enforced until next March.
The draft law is due to be presented to the Bundestag lower house of parliament today and voted on in a special session a week later.
Updated
Two patients killed as fire breaks out in Covid hospital in Romania
Two patients died and a nurse was injured when a fire broke out in a Covid hospital in the central Romanian city of Ploiesti early today, officials have said.
The fire, which was quickly extinguished, broke out at around 2am, and affected one room. Fifteen patients in the wing were moved to another hospital.
Luiza Ilie reports for Reuters that there were more than 17,400 Covid-19 patients, including 310 children, being treated in Romanian hospitals on Thursday, including 1,823 in intensive care units.
Romania has the second lowest vaccination rate in the European Union and one of the highest Covid-19 mortality rates in the world, with record daily infection numbers throughout October stretching its hospitals.
Hello, it is Martin Belam here from London. The morning media round in the UK will be dominated, I expect, by discussion of developments at Cop26. I’ll bring you any Covid lines that emerge. The minister fronting questions for the government today is the minister for small business, Paul Scully. Here’s a reminder of the UK’s latest coronavirus figures.
Updated
Europe Covid deaths rise by 10% over past week
The World Health Organization reports that coronavirus deaths rose by 10% in Europe over the past week, making it the only world region where both Covid-19 cases and deaths are steadily increasing.
It was the sixth consecutive week that the virus has risen across the continent as many nations experience their fourth or fifth waves.
WHO said there were about 3.1 million new cases globally, about a 1% increase from the previous week. Nearly two-thirds of the coronavirus infections - 1.9 million - were in Europe, where cases rose by 7%, according to a weekly report.
The number of weekly Covid-19 deaths fell by about 4% worldwide and declined in every region except Europe. The countries with the highest numbers of new cases worldwide were the United States, Russia, Britain, Turkey and Germany.
Out of the 61 countries WHO includes in its European region, which includes Russia and stretches to Central Asia, 42% reported a jump in cases of at least 10% in the last week.
A very happy Thursday to all and thanks for joining us we go through all the latest Covid developments.
I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be brining you the news from over here in Sydney, Australia.
Europe has emerged as the only region in the world where both Covid cases and deaths steadily increased over the past week, the World Health Organization reports.
Covid deaths rose by 10% and it now the sixth consecutive week that the virus has risen across the continent. Nearly two-thirds of global infections - 1.9 million - were in Europe, where cases rose by 7%, the UN health agency said in its weekly report.
A coalition of 10 Republican US states sued the federal government to try to block a Covid-19 vaccine requirement for healthcare workers on Wednesday.
The lawsuit contends that the vaccine requirement threatens the jobs of millions of healthcare workers and could “exacerbate an alarming shortage” in healthcare fields, particularly in rural areas where some health workers have been hesitant to get the shots.
New Biden administration rules will require federal contractors to ensure their workers are vaccinated and businesses with more than 100 employees require their workers to get vaccinated or wear masks and get tested weekly for the coronavirus. All of the mandates are scheduled to take effect on 4 January.
- Australia is set to surpass the 90% first-dose vaccination coverage rate. Health minister Greg Hunt said the “extraordinary” achievement is expected to be reached just after midday on Thursday.
- France is at the beginning of a fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday. “Several neighbouring countries are already in a fifth wave of the Covid epidemic, what we are experiencing in France clearly looks like the beginning of a fifth wave,” Veran said.
- New Zealand also hit a fresh Covid vaccination milestone, with 90% of Kiwis aged 12 and over having received at least one jab. Meanwhile, prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s popularity has plummeted in two new polls, as the country struggles to contain a Delta outbreak and transitions to a new era of endemic Covid.
- Moderna Covid-19 vaccine patent dispute headed to court after US National Institutes of Health scientists say they played “a major role” in developing the vaccine and intends to defend its claim as co-owner of patents on the shot, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins told Reuters.
- Australia will share a further 7.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses with Indonesia, bringing its total pledge to 10 million doses.
- The first case in the UK of a pet dog catching coronavirus, apparently from its owners, has reportedly been detected.
- A fifth lion at Singapore Zoo has also tested positive for Covid-19, the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) said on Wednesday.
- Israel to hold world’s first drill to test readiness for the possible emergence of a lethal ‘Omega’ variant. The drill, scheduled for Thursday, will take the format of a war games exercise and will test the capabilities of government departments and national agencies to respond to the emergence of the variant.
-
Brazil has had 12,273 new cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 280 deaths, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
-
France is at the beginning of a fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic, health minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday.
- Demand for Covid booster jabs jumped in France after Emmanuel Macron said a top-up dose would be necessary for people to retain their vaccine passes.
- The US has brokered a deal between Johnson & Johnson and the Covax vaccine-sharing program for the delivery of the company’s Covid vaccine to people living in conflict zones.
- The UK reported another 39,329 Covid cases and a further 214 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, official data showed.
- Russia’s coronavirus death toll surpassed 250,000. The country reported a record 1,239 Covid-related fatalities in the previous 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 250,454.
