Summary
Thanks for following along with our live Covid coverage.
Here’s a round-up of all the top stories before we return with the blog a little later today.
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Israel will welcome vaccinated tourists from 1 November.
- Australia destroys thousands of expired AstraZeneca Covid vaccine doses despite near-record production. A total of 31,833 doses were reported to have been binned despite Australian production of the vaccine continuing at near-record rates.
- The CDC says the seven day average of Covid cases in the U.S is down 16% to 765,900 per day.
- The UK recorded 43,941 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday and 207 more people have died within 28 days of a positive test, official figures show.
- Europe was the only region in the world to report an increase in both Covid-19 cases and deaths this week, according to the WHO’s latest epidemiological update.
- Covid-19 infections continue to surge across Eastern Europe in particular, with reported cases rising in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
- Novavax Inc. has filed for authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the UK.
- A landmark licensing deal between Merck and the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool could expand access to the company’s antiviral Covid-19 pill throughout the developing world.
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New Zealand’s South Island records first Covid cases in major city in over a year.
That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, reporting to you from Sydney, Australia.
Keep up with all the latest coronavirus coverage here before I return a little later.
Japan stores millions of unused masks worth $97m at a cost of $5.3m
Tens of millions of masks produced as an anti-coronavirus measure under former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe remain unused and are being kept in a private storage facility at a cost of hundreds of 600 million yen ($5.3 million), according to an official, the Associated Press reports.
About 83 million of the cloth masks are in storage, or nearly one-third of the 280 million procured by the government during a severe shortage of surgical masks last year. The government had planned to distribute two to every household.
Few people actually used the masks. Abe modeled one, which barely covered his nose and mouth. People complained that they were too small and arrived too late, when more effective and comfortable surgical masks were back in stock.
The leftovers currently in storage are worth 11.5 billion yen ($97 million) and their storage cost 600 million yen ($5.3 million) between last August and March this year, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said at a news conference.
Isozaki said about 130 million were distributed to households but those intended for nursing homes and childcare facilities were delivered in response to requests and a big stockpile remained. He insisted that the mask campaign was “appropriate at that time” when there was a shortage of surgical masks.
New Zealand’s South Island records first Covid cases in major city in over a year
Two infections have been detected in Christchurch as Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins says he will not rule out a snap lockdown for the city, the largest in the South Island, if it is needed to contain the spread.
Hipkins said that one of the cases may have been infectious in the community for almost two weeks.
“This is a good reminder to people around the country that cases can pop up and this highlights the importance to get vaccinated,” Hipkins said.
Both of Thursday’s new cases were members of the same household, and one had recently returned from Auckland.
According to the Ministry of Health, 89% of eligible adults in Canterbury, of which Christchurch is the main city, had had at least one dose of the vaccine, and 67% had had both doses. The region would require almost 111,000 people to get both doses before hitting the 90% target set by the government, where most restrictions can be lifted.
Hi there I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be taking over from Nadeem Badshah for the next short while.
I’ll be reporting from Australia to bring you some of the latest news from the Pacific as we’re waking up this morning.
First up, New Zealand’s biggest South Island city has recorded its first Covid case in over a year and Hong Kong answers pleas for easier movement amid harsher rules as it strives for Covid-zero.
The head of the New York City firefighters union said on Wednesday he had instructed unvaccinated members to keep working, even though they feel “insulted” by mayor Bill de Blasio’s order to show proof of a Covid-19 vaccination by Friday or be placed on unpaid leave.
“I have told my members that if they choose to remain unvaccinated they must still report for duty,” Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, told a news conference.
“And if they are told they cannot work, it will be the department and city of New York that sends them home. And it will be the department and the city of New York that has failed to protect the citizens of New York,” Ansbro said.
Last week, de Blasio gave city employees a deadline of 5pm on Friday to submit proof of vaccination against Covid-19. Those who fail to show proof could be sent home without pay, Reuters reports.
Updated
Vaccinated tourists will be allowed into Israel from 1 November, the government said.
Israel was the first country to launch a mass booster campaign, with more than 3.9 million getting a third dose since the summer, AFP reports.
The government said visitors from any country would be able to enter if they can show a vaccine certificate that is less than six months old.
Travellers will also still need to take a virus test before departure and another on arrival.
Updated
Updated
An advisory panel of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet on 2 November to discuss the use of Covid-19 vaccines in children aged between 5 and 11 years, Reuters reports.
Advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration had on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to recommend that the regulator authorise Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine for younger children. The jab has been authorised for ages 12-15 since May and it was cleared for those aged 16 and above in December last year.
Updated
The US administered 416,154,424 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Wednesday morning and distributed 507,637,305 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Those figures are up from the 415,012,026 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by 26 October out of 504,584,715 doses delivered. The agency said 220,936,118 people had received at least one dose while 190,990,750 people are fully vaccinated as of 6.00am ET on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Updated
Here are the latest Covid developments in Australia:
Updated
The CDC says the seven day average of Covid cases in the U.S is down 16% to 765,900 per day, Reuters reports.
Another In-N-Out restaurant in California was forced to close after refusing to enforce Covid-19 vaccination rules.
Health officials in Contra Costa county indefinitely shut the Pleasant Hill location of the popular burger chain on Tuesday after it ignored repeated warnings to verify that customers who wanted to dine indoors had vaccination cards or proof they had tested negative for the virus in the past 72 hours.
Public health authorities see vaccination enforcement requirements as vital tools in slowing Covid-19 at a time when 1,500 or more Americans are dying each day from the virus. However, In-N-Out, based in Irvine, in southern California, has consistently refused to heed the requirements in the Bay Area, which are some of the strictest in the state.
“We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government. It is unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe to force our restaurant associates to segregate customers into those who may be served and those who may not,” In-N-Out said in a statement.
The persistent syndrome of Covid-19 after-effects can develop after “breakthrough” infections in vaccinated people, a study shows.
Researchers at Oxford University in the UK reviewed data on nearly 20,000 US Covid-19 patients, half of whom had been vaccinated.
Compared to unvaccinated patients, people who were fully vaccinated - and in particular those under age 60 - did have lower risks for death and serious complications such as lung failure, need for mechanical ventilation, ICU admission, life-threatening blood clots, seizures, and psychosis.
“On the other hand,” the research team reported on medRxiv ahead of peer review, “previous vaccination does not appear to protect against several previously documented outcomes of Covid-19 such as long Covid features, arrhythmia, joint pain, Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, sleep disorders, and mood and anxiety disorders.”
The absence of protection from long Covid “is concerning given the high incidence and burden” of these lasting problems, they added, Reuters reports.
Updated
To describe the Brazilian senate’s 1,180 page report on Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the Covid pandemic as damning would be inadequate. Formally approved on Tuesday by a cross-party committee, the report chronicles not just bad leadership but wilful, lethal acts of folly, carried out by a Donald Trump mini-me who sacrificed lives on the altar of his own unfounded presumptions. It recommends that President Bolsonaro face criminal indictments for a catalogue of actions and omissions that could have led to as many as 300,000 avoidable deaths.
That is it from me, Hannah Ritchie, this evening. Nadeem Badshah is taking over shortly to bring you more coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world.
Here’s a quick summary of today’s key stories before I go:
- The UK recorded 43,941 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday and 207 more people have died within 28 days of a positive test, official figures show.
- Opposition leader Keir Starmer missed PMQs and his chance to respond to the government’s new budget after testing positive for coronavirus this morning.
- Europe was the only region in the world to report an increase in both Covid-19 cases and deaths this week, according to the WHO’s latest epidemiological update.
- Covid-19 infections continue to surge across Eastern Europe in particular, with reported cases rising in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic today.
- Novavax Inc. has filed for authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the UK.
- A landmark licensing deal between Merck and the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool could expand access to the company’s antiviral Covid-19 pill throughout the developing world.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has posted a video update on Twitter after testing positive for Covid-19 Wednesday and missing his chance to respond to the government’s new budget.
“I’m fine but it is obviously important we all follow the rules. But wasn’t Ed Miliband at PMQs and Rachel Reeves in the Budget response just brilliant?,” he told his followers.
I am self isolating after testing positive for COVID.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) October 27, 2021
Today, @RachelReevesMP and @Ed_Miliband held the Conservatives to account over their failures to tackle the climate crisis and to create an economy fit for the future.
Only Labour stands up for working people. pic.twitter.com/Yt35HF1gQg
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Children and teenagers across the US could receive Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine within the coming weeks, the company’s CEO Stéphane Bancel told Reuters Wednesday.
Bancel said children aged 6 through 11 could get Moderna shots by the end of this year, and that the company plans to apply for US regulatory clearance for that age group “very soon”.
“It’s entirely possible that this side of Christmas, children 6 to 11 years of age would have access to Moderna’s vaccine,” Bancel told Reuters.
In June, Moderna applied for US authorisation of its vaccine for children and teenagers aged 12 to 17, a process which is still ongoing.
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Novavax files for authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine in the UK
Novavax Inc. announced Wednesday it had completed its rolling regulatory submission to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate.
The application is based on clinical data from a phase 3 trial involving 15,000 volunteers in the UK, in which the vaccine “demonstrated efficacy of 96.4% against the original virus strain, 86.3% against the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant and 89.7% efficacy overall.”
The submission also includes supporting data from a 30,000-person clinical trial in the US and Mexico, which demonstrated “100% protection against moderate and severe disease and 90.4% efficacy overall,” according to Novavax.
If approved, Novavax will be the first protein-based vaccine available in the UK.
Updated
Europe was the only region in the world to report an increase in both Covid-19 cases and deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.
Europe reported a rise in cases for the fourth consecutive week, amounting to a 18% increase in infections compared with the previous week. The region also saw a 14% increase in deaths week on week, according to WHO’s weekly epidemiological update.
The figures represent more than 1.6 million new cases across Europe and over 21,000 deaths.
With over 513,000 new cases, the United States reported the highest number of infections last week, the UK was second, followed by Russia.
Singapore has reached a grim milestone, reporting its highest single-day rise in Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began.
The health ministry reported 5,324 new cases Wednesday, and 10 more coronavirus related deaths.
Infections have surged in Singapore following the relaxation of some restrictions earlier this month, prompting the country to pause plans for a full reopening.
Last week, public health officials warned that Singapore’s hospitals are at risk of being “overwhelmed”, after the country reported its highest ever daily death toll.
Of the country’s 366 ICU beds in public hospitals, 306 have occupants and 171 of those patients are being treated for coronavirus, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health Monday.
Over 80% of Singapore’s total population are fully vaccinated against the virus.
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Covid-19 cases and deaths are declining in countries across North, Central and South America, the United Nations Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) told a press briefing Wednesday.
The region recorded its lowest Covid-19 figures in over a year according to PAHO, with only a few outlying countries, such as Paraguay and Belize, bucking the trend.
Downward trends in cases and deaths have taken hold across the large Caribbean islands, including Cuba, which has faced a resurgent outbreak of Covid-19 in recent months.
The overall vaccination rate in Latin America and the Caribbean currently sits around 44% according to PAHO’s data, however at least half a dozen countries in the region are yet to immunise 20% of their populations.
In August, PAHO set up a fund to procure additional vaccine doses on top of the UN-backed Covax initiative, in order to boost coverage throughout the region.
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UK reports 43,941 new cases and 207 further deaths
The UK recorded 43,941 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday and 207 more people have died within 28 days of a positive test, official figures show.
Today’s numbers represent a slight uptick in cases since yesterday, when 40,954 new infections were reported.
Cases, hospitalisations and deaths continue to steadily rise across the UK, but leaked documents from Treasury have warned that enacting the government’s ‘Plan B’ proposal to curb the spread of the virus could cost the economy £18bn.
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Covid-19 case numbers and deaths among meatpacking plant workers across the US were three times higher than previously estimated, a probe by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis revealed Wednesday.
The Select Subcommittee has been investigating surging Covid-19 infections and deaths across the meatpacking industry since February, focusing on the country’s major beef providers, Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill, National Beef, and Smithfield Foods, which control over 80% of the beef market and 60% of the pork market.
Reuters reports that Covid-19 cases were 2.6 times higher, and deaths were 3 times higher at these companies’ plants, than previously estimates by the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN).
A fuller picture of the Subcommittee’s findings will emerge later today, during a remote/in-person hearing entitled “How the Meatpacking Industry Failed the Workers Who Feed America.”
Meatpacking plants - which were filled with essential workers - were identified as Covid-19 hot spots early on in the pandemic.
The Subcommittee’s investigation was launched to examine how America’s largest meat companies failed to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 throughout their facilities or put in place measures to protect workers, despite pulling in record profits during the pandemic.
This week’s hearing will review those missteps and recommend what actions need to be taken in order to better protect essential meatpacking workers in the future.
The nationwide state of emergency in Germany - put in place to deal with the pandemic - will likely expire next month, after the three political parties in talks to form a new coalition government signaled Wednesday they won’t extend it.
The national state of emergency, which has been in place since last year, was the first in Germany’s post-war history. It expands the executive powers of the federal government, and allows it to unilaterally impose restrictions on states without the consent of parliament.
A parliamentary vote is needed to extend the order, but despite a rise in infections, key players in coalition talks - the center-left Social Democrat (SPD), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) - said they will likely let it expire.
“School closures, lockdowns and curfews will no longer happen with us. And these are not necessary at the moment,” SPD parliamentary group vice chairman Dirk Wiese said, according to Deutsche Welle.
Covid-19 infections surging across Eastern Europe
- Covid-19 cases in Poland reached levels not seen since April today, with the government reporting 8,361 new infections and 133 deaths.
- Bulgaria reached a grim milestone when it broke its daily record for new infections by recording 6,813 cases in 24-hours.
- Cases almost doubled within the space of a week in the Czech Republic, as it reported 6,274 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday.
- Hungary is also grappling with a surge, reporting 3,125 new cases, and mirroring Poland by reaching infection levels not seen since April.
- As of October 21, over one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the WHO European Region, however vaccine coverage remains “uneven” and has been labelled the continent’s “biggest enemy”.
- “Dig deeper and you will discover that these one billion doses are unequally shared, leaving many in our region behind,” Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, warned last week.
- According to Reuters: 19% of Bulgaria’s adult population are fully vaccinated, in Poland and the Czech Republic the figure is over 50%, while in Hungary - where non-EMA approved vaccines from Russia and China have been administered - the number sits around 62%.
- Vaccination rates in Eastern European countries continue to lag behind the rest of the EU, where roughly 74% of the adult population are fully immunised.
- Some experts put this down to higher levels of vaccine hesitancy, stemming from decades of Communist rule which undermined public trust in government institutions.
Updated
Covid-19 booster shots will soon be available in Sweden for health care workers and people over 65 the government announced Wednesday.
1.5 million people will be offered booster shots under the expanded program, according to Reuters. Previously, only residents of care homes or those aged 80 and over were eligible.
Nearly 67% of Sweden’s total population have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 according to Our World in Data.
Labour leader Keir Starmer tests positive for Covid
British opposition leader Keir Starmer has tested positive for coronavirus and will miss the opportunity to respond to the government’s budget during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in parliament today, the Labour party has confirmed.
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband is standing in and it is expected that Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, will respond to the budget.
Starmer is fully vaccinated, after receiving both doses of AstraZeneca earlier this year.
Updated
Two Chinese doctors have been sentenced to 15 months in prison for violating the law while treating a patient with a fever who later turned out to be Covid positive, Chinese media has reported.
One doctor from the city of Liu’an in eastern An’hui province was accused of breaking Covid protocols by treating a fever patient in May, without following measures such as first testing his Covid status. The patient was later blamed for causing a local outbreak.
Another licensed doctor was accused of giving private treatment to the same patient without having first obtained permission from a medical institution during the epidemic-control period.
Both doctors have been convicted of violating China’s Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act and sentenced to 15 months in jail.
China has followed a strict “zero tolerance” Covid-19 policy since last year. Dozens of officials have been sacked from their posts for failing to contain the spread of the virus.
On Wednesday, China reported 50 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases from the pervious day, the highest count since 16 September. Beijing said that the pandemic is the biggest challenge to the forthcoming Winter Olympics in February and Winter Paralympics in March.
China’s current handling of the outbreak shows that Beijing is unlikely to relax its “zero tolerance” policy any time soon, even though more Asian countries – including South Korea - are beginning to learn to live with the virus.
Landmark licensing deal could expand access to world's first Covid-19 antiviral pill
A landmark voluntary licensing deal has been signed between pharmaceutical giant Merck and the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool which will enable low-cost access to the company’s Covid-19 antiviral pill in lower income countries.
A voluntary license allows for the royalty-free licensing and generic production of Merck’s antiviral pill. It’s one of the few examples we’ve seen in the pandemic so far of a multinational suspending intellectual property rights in order to share life-saving medical technology.
The pill, known as molnupiravir, was developed by Merck in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
Regulators in the US and Europe are currently conducting rolling reviews of the medicine for emergency use authorisation.
If authorised, molnupiravir could become the world’s first oral antiviral Covid-19 treatment.
Updated
Today so far
- The British Medical Association (BMA) has said the threat that NHS staff could lose their jobs if they do not get a Covid-19 vaccine is “of grave concern”. Healthcare workers have been warned they could face a mandatory requirement to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Any reduction of NHS staff due to vaccination requirements would be a “devastating” blow, leading doctors have said.
- The UK government’s flagship test-and-trace system has failed to achieve “its main objective” to cut infection levels and help Britain return to normal despite being handed an “eye-watering” £37bn in taxpayers’ cash, the Commons spending watchdog has warned. Chair of the committee Dame Meg Hillier said to the media this morning that the Dido Harding-led test and trace programme treated taxpayers as if they were “an ATM”.
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Russia has set another new record for daily Covid deaths, at 1,123. That brings the nation’s official death toll to 233,898, although that number is widely suspected to be under-counted. Russia also reported 36,582 new coronavirus cases. Moscow will be putting in new restrictions from tomorrow, and next week the country will have a week away from work in a bid to halt the domestic transmission of the virus – the government has mandated a week’s paid leave for all non-essential workers.
- Poland’s health ministry said there were 8,361 new cases in the previous 24 hours, a sharp rise on the 6,265 recorded the previous day. The last time Poland was recording more than 8,000 cases per day was back in April 2021.
- Hungary has seen a steady increase in infections over the past weeks - with today’s numbers – 3,125 new cases – jumping from 1,668 daily new cases a week ago.
- The Czech Republic reported 6,274 new Covid-19 cases, almost doubling in a week as the country struggles to contain a new wave of the pandemic. The number of coronavirus infections in Bulgaria rose by 6,813 in the past 24 hours, a new record high daily tally since the start of the pandemic
- China has reported nearly 250 locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 since the start of the current outbreak 10 days ago, with many infections in remote towns along porous international borders in the country’s northwest. China had 50 new local cases for 26 October, the highest daily count since 16 September.
- A Brazilian Senate committee recommended that president Jair Bolsonaro face a series of criminal indictments for actions and omissions related to the world’s second highest Covid-19 death toll. The seven-to-four vote on Tuesday was the culmination of a six-month committee investigation of the government’s handling of the pandemic.
- The world’s biggest economies should create a forum to facilitate global coordination for the next pandemic, as well as a new financing facility to keep up with emerging threats, US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati have said in a letter to their G20 colleagues
- The Covid-19 crisis is far “far from finished”, the World Health Organization’s emergency committee has said. The 19-member committee, which meets every three months to discuss the pandemic and make recommendations, also called for research into next-generation vaccines and long-term action to control the virus.
- Vaccine booster rates are now exceeding first-shot rates across the US, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- In Thailand, businesses are pleading with the government to drop the nation’s current alcohol ban when the country reopens, saying it will deter tourists.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for today. It is a big day in UK politics as it is the Budget, so Andrew Sparrow and Graeme Wearden are live blogging that here. Hannah Ritchie will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day’s coronavirus news from the UK and around the world.
BMA warns of 'grave concern' over making vaccines mandatory for NHS staff
The British Medical Association (BMA) has said the threat that NHS staff could lose their jobs if they do not get a Covid-19 vaccine is “of grave concern”. Healthcare workers have been warned they could face a mandatory requirement to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Any reduction of NHS staff due to vaccination requirements would be a “devastating” blow, leading doctors have said.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said: “The BMA fully supports the Covid vaccination rollout and, given the effectiveness of the vaccine, it’s important that every NHS worker is vaccinated, other than those who can’t for medical reasons.
“There is, however, an important distinction between believing every healthcare worker should be vaccinated and advocating for mandatory vaccinations; this comes with its own legal, ethical and practical implications that must be considered. The threat to staff who refuse the vaccine of losing their jobs is also of grave concern.
“One of the BMA’s main concerns is the impact this decision may have on the workforce. Vaccination coverage among NHS workers is high - latest data shows that in several hospital trusts in England the number of staff who have had both vaccinations is in excess of 90%.
“However, even if a small number of staff were forced out of work because they are not vaccinated, this would have a big impact on a health service that’s already under immense pressure. With severe workforce shortages afflicting the NHS, and 93,000 unfilled vacancies, any reduction in healthcare workers could be devastating for patient services as we face a record backlog of care and winter pressures.”
Health Correspondent Ella Pickover writes for Associated Press that Health secretary Sajid Javid said on Monday he is “leaning towards” making the jabs compulsory for staff in England, with around 100,000 NHS workers not fully vaccinated.
Javid insisted he had not yet made a final decision, but the move would mean the situation for NHS staff in England is broadly in line with the requirement for care home workers. From 11 November, anyone working or volunteering in a care home will need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, unless exempt.
The consultation on mandatory vaccines for health workers closed last week and the Department of Health and Social Care has said it is considering feedback. The BMA said the Government should consider the legal, ethical and practical implications of mandating vaccines.
Russia sets another daily record for Covid deaths
Russia has set another new record for daily Covid deaths, at 1,123. That brings the nation’s official death toll to 233,898, although that number is widely suspected to be under-counted. Independent analysis of Russia’s excess deaths during the course of the pandemic by the Moscow Times puts the total number of deaths at closer to 660,000.
Russia also reported 36,582 new coronavirus cases. Moscow will be putting in new restrictions from tomorrow, and next week the country will have a week away from work in a bid to halt the domestic transmission of the virus – the government has mandated a week’s paid leave for all non-essential workers. Around a third of Russian adults have had at least one dose of the four vaccines available in the country.
A parent writes for us today on the experience of their daughter being bullied at school for having the Covid jab:
We are a pro-vaccination family, although we have friends who aren’t – we have chosen to stay off the topic with them. My daughter is at an age where she seeks out a lot of information online, so I directed her to some websites to read up more widely about it, while emphasising the reasons why it was my strong preference for her to have the vaccine.
On the day S was due to get her vaccine in school, we had a final discussion about it. “Some of the kids are saying they won’t have it because they can’t see how it helps them,” she told me. “But I think that there’s a benefit to me being able to see grandma without worrying about infecting her. And I can’t face school closing again, so I’m a bit stressed, but I’m going to do it.”
Take-up at the school was low, partly because there was an issue with the consent form being difficult for some parents to access. Ultimately, S was the only child in her class to have the vaccine, with about 20% of her entire year group taking it up. She came home with a sore arm and slight headache, but other than that she was fine. She said that the vaccination team talked her through what was going to happen, and double-checked that she was sure before they went ahead.
All was well until the following day, when another child in her class declared that because S had the vaccine, that meant she had now been injected with Covid – so if anyone went near her she would pass Covid on to them. This resulted in several children moving away from her, and refusing to sit beside her during lessons or at lunchtime.
Read more here: My daughter was bullied at school for having the Covid jab. No wonder UK take-up is low
Poland records over 8,000 new cases for first time since April
Poland’s health ministry have issued their new Covid figures for today, which show that there were 8,361 new cases in the previous 24 hours.
Mamy 8 361 nowych i potwierdzonych przypadków zakażenia #koronawirus z województw: mazowieckiego (1687), lubelskiego (1632), podlaskiego (804), śląskiego (517), podkarpackiego (428), dolnośląskiego (417), wielkopolskiego (411), małopolskiego (377), łódzkiego (354),
— Ministerstwo Zdrowia (@MZ_GOV_PL) October 27, 2021
That is a sharp rise on the 6,265 recorded the previous day. The authorities also said that there were 44 death judged to be due to Covid-19, with an additional 89 deaths recorded where Covid-19 was present alongside co-morbidities.
Z powodu COVID-19 zmarły 44 osoby, z powodu współistnienia COVID-19 z innymi schorzeniami zmarło 89 osób.
— Ministerstwo Zdrowia (@MZ_GOV_PL) October 27, 2021
Liczba zakażonych koronawirusem 2 990 509/ 76 672 (wszystkie pozytywne przypadki/w tym osoby zmarłe).
The last time Poland was recording more than 8,000 cases per day was back in April 2021.
It is Budget day today in the UK, so Andrew Sparrow and Graeme Wearden are doing a joint live blog on the politics and the economics of it all. You can find that here.
I’ll be continuing on this live blog with the latest coronavirus developments in the UK and from around the world.
Agence France-Presse have a useful round-up this morning of the state of play with closed borders in Asia, to coincide with the news that Thailand will allow vaccinated travellers from 46 countries and territories to enter the kingdom without quarantining from Monday.
Singapore has started quarantine-free travel for fully vaccinated travellers from 10 countries, including the US and several European countries, and will add more soon.
Indonesia re-opened the resort island of Bali this month to tourists from select countries although, with travellers still required to do a five-day quarantine on arrival, the scheme has had a slow start.
Vietnam plans to allow foreign visitors entry to the holiday island of Phu Quoc from next month and Malaysia has a similar plan for Langkawi island, while Cambodia will reopen beach spots Sihanoukville, Koh Rong and Dara Sakor from 30 November.
Mainland China remains closed to overseas tourists, as is Japan. South Korea has started accepting visitors from 49 countries. A negative coronavirus test is required for all arrivals, with a limited exemption from a 14-day quarantine for those vaccinated in South Korea.
Some of the world’s toughest measures have been implemented in Hong Kong - with a maximum 21-day quarantine for incoming travellers.
India re-opened for foreign tourists on charter flights this month and will allow in visitors on all flights from mid-November. Fully vaccinated travellers no longer have to undergo home quarantine, provided they are arriving from countries with which India has reciprocal arrangements for acceptance of WHO-approved vaccines.
Last month, Nepal started issuing visas on arrival for vaccinated tourists and dropped quarantine requirements. Among the first countries to reopen borders was the popular holiday destination of the Maldives, which started allowing in foreign tourists in July last year.
Sri Lanka opened its international borders for fully vaccinated tourists without any quarantine requirements on 7 October, while Pakistan allows in foreign visitors as long as they have proof of vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test.
The Philippines and Myanmar remain closed to foreign tourists.
Hungary has seen a steady increase in infections over the past weeks - with today’s numbers – 3,125 new cases – jumping from 1,668 daily new cases a week ago. However, daily new infections still remain below the numbers elsewhere in central and eastern Europe.
Reuters note that Hungary, a country of 10 million, has reported 30,647 deaths since the start of the pandemic. More than 5.7 million people have been fully vaccinated against the virus so far, and more than 1.1 million have received a third, booster shot.
In Hungary there are still few restrictions, and mask wearing is not mandatory in closed spaces, only in healthcare facilities. However, Janos Szlavik, the country’s chief epidemiologist, told public television on Tuesday that some measures will become unavoidable if infection numbers worsen.
Here’s some of the key points from the Telegraph’s report last night on the test and trace cost scandal. Laura Donnelly wrote:
The excoriating report details a host of missed targets and a lack of control over spending on consultants.
When it was launched last May, Matt Hancock said it would enable the Government to replace national lockdowns with “individual isolation” for contacts of Covid-19 cases.
The report shows how the performance of the system deteriorated just when it was needed most - despite spare capacity in laboratories. Meanwhile, less than half of the contact tracing staff hired were ever in use at any one time.
While the country was in lockdown in February, just 11 per cent of contact tracers were working.
Read more of our report here: NHS test and trace ‘failed its main objective’, says spending watchdog
A very quick Reuters snap: Hungary reported a jump in daily Covid-19 cases to 3,125 on Wednesday, the highest daily tally since April, the government said.
China has reported nearly 250 locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 since the start of the current outbreak 10 days ago, with many infections in remote towns along porous international borders in the country’s northwest.
China had 50 new local cases for 26 October, the highest daily count since 16 September, Reuters report official data showed.
The overall number is modest compared with more than 1,200 local cases reported during China’s July-August outbreak and the more than 2,000 cases in January during the last winter.
However, the steady increase of cases in the past week and their geographical spread alarmed local authorities and prompted the return of complex sets of restrictions on travel as well as on the tourism and catering sectors.
China has said the Covid-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge to its hosting of the Winter Olympics in February and Winter Paralympics in March. Officials suspected the current flare-up was caused by a virus source from overseas.
Prior to Covid-19, Ejina Banner, a remote administrative division on China’s border with Mongolia, saw 8 million visitors in 2019 thanks to attractions such as a drought-resistant forest that would turn a golden yellow in October.
But the settlement of its 36,000 residents has been hard hit in the latest outbreak. Ejina has gone into a lockdown since last week, rendering nearly 10,000 tourists unable to leave, a local official said. Nearly half of those visitors are aged over 60.
Ruili in the southwestern province of Yunnan, rocked by multiple domestic outbreaks this year, has been served with the toughest curbs ever seen in China.
People who want to leave the city, except for those leaving for a few essential reasons, must be quarantined at centralised facilities for at least seven days before departure
Committee chair: Dido Harding-run test and trace programme treated taxpayers like 'an ATM machine'
Following up on those comments, Dame Meg Hillier has been on the BBC this morning, saying that the Conservative government’s test and trace programme treated taxpayers as if they were an ATM. PA Media quote her saying:
There was a lot of gung-ho confidence from No 10 that we would have a ‘moonshot’ towards mass testing. Those messages kept getting more optimistic. Baroness Harding was also very optimistic about what they achieved.
But in the end it massively over-promised for what it delivered and it was eye-watering sums of money.
That is one of the biggest concerns - it is almost as if the taxpayer was an ATM machine. That lack of regard for taxpayer funding is a real concern for us as a committee.”
Here’s a reminder of the conclusion of the Commons public accounts committee chair Meg Hillier after that report into the money they say has been wasted by the UK government on its test and trace system led by Dido Harding, who was appointed by Matt Hancock. Hillier said:
The national Test & Trace programme was allocated eye watering sums of taxpayers’ money in the midst of a global health and economic crisis. It set out bold ambitions but has failed to achieve them despite the vast sums thrown at it. Only 14% of 691m lateral flow tests sent out had results reported, and who knows how many took the necessary action based on the results they got, or how many were never used. The continued reliance on the over-priced consultants who “delivered” this state of affairs will by itself cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds. For this huge amount of money we need to see a legacy system ready to deliver when needed but it’s just not clear what there will be to show in the long term. This legacy has to be a focus for government if we are to see any value for the money spent.
Czech Republic cases double in one week – set highest daily tally since April
The Czech Republic reported 6,274 new Covid-19 cases, almost doubling in a week as the country struggles to contain a new wave of the pandemic.
The latest number is the highest since 7 April in the country of 10.7 million.
Hospitalisations have risen to 1,146 as of 26 October, up from 249 at the start of the month, with 166 people in intensive care, Reuters report.
Despite the rapid growth, cases and hospitalisations are still well below peak levels of early 2021 and the end of last year.
This chart shows the latest case rates across Europe.
Bulgaria sets new daily record for Covid infections at 6,813
A quick report from Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia for Reuters here: the number of coronavirus infections in Bulgaria rose by 6,813 in the past 24 hours, a new record high daily tally since the start of the pandemic, official data showed.
The virus has killed 124 people in the past 24 hours, according to the figures, bringing the total death toll to 23,440. Yesterday the data showed that 243 people had died, which was a record for Bulgaria.
Over 7,300 people were in Covid-19 wards in the European Union’s least vaccinated country, overwhelming hospitals amid medical staff shortages.
As anticipated, in the UK on Sky News the interview with former minister Robert Jenrick was mostly about Budget speculation. However he was asked briefly about the damning report from the public accounts committee of the Commons which concluded that NHS test and trace “has not achieved its main objective to help break chains of Covid-19 transmission and enable people to return towards a more normal way of life” despite receiving about 20% of the NHS’s entire annual budget – £37 bn – over two years. Jenrick defended it, saying:
It has played an important part in tackling the pandemic. Are there lessons that can or must be learned from it? I think absolutely. And we’re all going to have to pay heed – particularly the government – to what’s said by the public accounts committee.
I should imagine the details of this report are going to very quickly get swamped by news of the Budget today – you can read our health editor Andrew Gregory’s report on it here: NHS test and trace ‘failed its main objective’, says spending watchdog
Arwa Mahdawi has written her latest column for us, and today she says that telling anti-vaxxers to get the jab should not be controversial – even Fox News is doing it:
Telling people to get vaccinated during a pandemic shouldn’t be controversial. Neil Cavuto’s employer Fox News has worked overtime to ensure that it is. A recent analysis by a media watchdog found 60% of Fox News’ summer programming included claims undermining vaccinations. While Fox has been amplifying anti-vaxxer propaganda, however, it has also been quietly enforcing its own strict vaccination and testing policies. Nearly 90% of full-time employees at the Fox Corporation have been vaccinated, it was reported last month. The company has also said it will soon implement daily Covid testing for employees who haven’t had the jab.
It has become depressingly clear that we’re not going to end this pandemic by relying on everyone to do what is best for the greater good. If we want to have any hope of getting back to normal then we need strict vaccine and testing requirements – as Fox, for all its posturing about freedom, clearly realises. There are heated debates across the world about how to implement this. Indonesia has made vaccines mandatory, with big fines for refuseniks. While it seems unlikely that most countries will go that far, vaccine mandates for people such as government employees and care workers have been implemented in countries including the US, Australia, France and – from 11 November – in England. As well they should be. There is nothing controversial about requiring people to get inoculated; vaccination requirements for school and travel have been in place for decades. If you’re marching in the street to protest against the “tyranny” of being forced to consider other people, please get a grip. Even Fox News hosts think you are being an ass.
Read more here: Arwa Mahdawi – Telling anti-vaxxers to get the jab should not be controversial – even Fox News is doing it
Good morning, it is Martin Belam here in London taking over from Samantha Lock. It is Budget day in the UK, and Robert Jenrick is the former minister out doing the media round for the government. I don’t expect Covid will get a second thought in the questioning, but I will bring you any lines that develop out of that shortly.
Brazil senators support criminal charges for Jair Bolsonaro over Covid crisis
A Brazilian Senate committee recommended that president Jair Bolsonaro face a series of criminal indictments for actions and omissions related to the world’s second highest Covid-19 death toll.
The seven-to-four vote on Tuesday was the culmination of a six-month committee investigation of the government’s handling of the pandemic. It formally approved a report calling for prosecutors to try Bolsonaro on charges ranging from charlatanism and inciting crime to misuse of public funds and crimes against humanity, and in doing so hold him responsible for many of Brazil’s more than 600,000 Covid-19 deaths.
The president has denied wrongdoing, and the decision on whether to file most of the charges will be up to prosecutor general Augusto Aras, a Bolsonaro appointee who is widely viewed as protecting him. The allegation of crimes against humanity would need to be pursued by the international criminal court.
Senator Omar Aziz, the chairman of the inquiry, said he would deliver the recommendation to the prosecutor general on Wednesday morning. Aras’ office said the report would be carefully reviewed as soon as it was received.
Ministers call for new G20 forum to prepare for next pandemic
The world’s biggest economies should create a forum to facilitate global coordination for the next pandemic, as well as a new financing facility to keep up with emerging threats, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati have said in a letter to their G20 colleagues
The two finance ministers said the forum would allow health and finance ministers to better cooperate and coordinate prevention, detection, information-sharing, and any needed response.
Yellen and Indrawati said the Covid-19 pandemic revealed a lack of readiness at the country level and a lack of coordination among G20 countries.
“While we are making progress in fighting Covid-19, we also face a stark reality: this will not be the last pandemic,” they wrote ahead of Friday’s joint meeting of G20 health and finance ministers. “We must not lose this opportunity to demonstrate leadership with a decisive commitment to act.”
Welcome back to our Covid blog where we’ll bring you all the latest news surrounding the evolving coronavirus crisis.
I’m Samantha Lock reporting to you from Sydney, Australia. Here’s just a quick guide on what you might have missed earlier.
A damning report to come out of the UK has lambasted the NHS test and trace system, saying it failed to achieve “its main objective” to cut infection levels and aid in returning to life as normal.
The initiative was handed an “eye-watering” £37bn in taxpayers’ cash but ultimately “has not achieved its main objective to help break chains of Covid-19 transmission and enable people to return towards a more normal way of life,” the Commons spending watchdog has said.
At the time of its launch, Boris Johnson claimed the programme would be “world-beating” but the watchdog says its aims had been “overstated or not achieved”. The funding - equal to about 20% of the health service’s entire annual budget - was used to hire more than 2,000 consultants who were employed on rates of more than £1,000 a day, the report by the public accounts committee (PAC) found.
- The Covid-19 crisis is far “far from finished”, the World Health Organization’s emergency committee has said. The 19-member committee, which meets every three months to discuss the pandemic and make recommendations, also called for research into next-generation vaccines and long-term action to control the virus.
- Vaccine booster rates are now exceeding first-shot rates across the US, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- In Thailand, businesses are pleading with the government to drop the nation’s current alcohol ban when the country reopens, saying it will deter tourists.
- China has locked down a city of 4m over 6 Covid cases. Residents in Lanzhou, Gansu, have been told to stay at home as buses, taxis and key rail routes are suspended.
- FDA advisers recommend approval of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children aged 5-11. it will be the first vaccine available for younger children in the US. The nearly unanimous vote clears the way for possible approval for emergency use next month, making nearly 30m children eligible.
- Pregnant women are being turned away from Covid vaccine clinics despite clinical advice, experts have warned as they urged ministers to ramp up efforts to reach unvaccinated groups.
- The UK recorded 40,954 new Covid cases today and 263 more people have died, official figures show.
- A Brazilian Senate committee recommended on Tuesday that president Jair Bolsonaro face a series of criminal indictments for actions and omissions related to the world’s second highest Covid-19 death toll. The 7-to-4 vote was the culmination of a six-month committee investigation of the government’s handling of the pandemic.
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No exemptions are to be given for unvaccinated tennis players travelling from overseas for the Australian Open, the state’s premier has said. Players like Novak Djokovic has repeatedly refused to reveal his vaccination status.
- Fully vaccinated Australians will no longer have to apply for travel exemptions to leave the country, as Australia prepares to ease its international borders from 1 November.
- Australia could hit the 80 per cent full Covid-19 vaccination mark within a week.
- Russia, Bulgaria and the Ukraine all reported a record number of daily deaths on Tuesday. Russia reported 1,106 deaths in 24 hours, the most since the start of the pandemic bringing the total death toll to 232,775, Europe’s highest by far. Sluggish vaccination rates have allowed the virus to spread quickly across Eastern Europe.
- Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has been fined for the third time for refusing to wear mask on House floor.
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