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The number of “black fungus” cases in India has shot up to more than 30,000 in the past three weeks.
According to the New York Times, while the federal health ministry has not published figures on fatalities related to the disease, states have brought the death toll to 2,100.
Black fungus cases started emerging last month as India was hit by a third wave of Covid-19.
The fungal disease, called mucormycosis, has a 50% mortality rate.
It affects patients initially in the nose but the fungus can then spread into the brain, and can often only be treated by major surgery removing the eye or part of skull and jaw.
“Mucormycosis will tail off and go back to baseline as the Covid cases subside,” Dr Dileep Mavalankar, an epidemiologist, was quoted saying by the US news outlet.
“But it may come back in the third wave unless we find out why it is happening.”
The rise in black fungus infections, mostly in patients who had severe cases of Covid-19, has been linked to an overuse of steroids in the treatment of the coronavirus, which can acutely compromise the immune system if taken over a prolonged period.
The high incidence of diabetes in India has also been blamed, with high blood sugar levels linked to susceptibility. India has the second-highest rate of diabetes in the world.
It has also been reported in Covid patients who were on ventilators in intensive care units, due to their airways being exposed to humidity and moisture.
But it is also feared that overcrowding in hospitals where oxygen was scarce may have given the fungus a chance to spread.
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France has reported 1,815 new Covid-19 cases on the same day it announced measures to ease lockdown, Reuters reports.
The number remains unchanged from the previous day, while deaths have risen by 14.
The total number of deaths in the country has now reached 110,900, according to latest figures from the John Hopkins university.
It comes as mask-wearing outdoors is being lifted and an eight-month nightly coronavirus curfew comes to an end today.
Le Monde reports, however, that vigilance is still being called for, as health protocols for public places and events will remain in place until 30 June.
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Reports of menstrual disorders following a Covid-19 vaccination are being “closely monitored” by the UK’s vaccines watchdog.
According to figures obtained by The Sunday Times, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) received almost 4,000 reports of period issues linked to the vaccines up to 17 May.
A total of 2,734 reports related to the AstraZeneca vaccine, while 1,158 to the Pfizer jab and 66 to Moderna.
A range of different disorders were reported by women, including heavier or delayed periods and unexpected vaginal bleeding.
The MHRA said in the latest weekly report of Covid vaccine reactions that current evidence “does not suggest an increased risk of either menstrual disorders or unexpected vaginal bleeding following the vaccines”.
It went on to say that the number of reports remains low compared with the number of women who have had the vaccine and how common menstrual disorders are.
“The MHRA will continue to closely monitor reports of menstrual disorders and vaginal bleeding with Covid-19 vaccines,” the report reads.
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The organiser of Download Festival said it is “100% evidence” of how large-scale music events can go ahead amid the pandemic.
Melvin Benn, who is behind the UK’s largest rock show, said this weekend’s 10,000-strong event in Donington Park, Leicestershire, is a “very clear demonstration you can do it”, PA reports.
The festival takes place annually in June and usually hosts up to 80,000 rock and heavy metal fans.
But the three-day festival has been downscaled this year as it runs as part of a government live events pilot, meaning fans do not have to wear masks or socially distance.
Mr Benn said: “It’s extraordinary really. It’s really fantastic. I am very heartwarmed by it all. The level of compliance around the testing and requirements we have is absolutely extraordinary.”
Asked about the idea it remains impossible for such mass events to be Covid-secure, he said: “It is evidence that this is not true. It is 100% evidence that it is not true. This is a very clear demonstration that you can do it.”
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Covid jabs in England rise to 62,415,897
A total of 62,415,897 people in England have had one or two doses of a Covid-19 vaccination, according to NHS England data, a rise of 451,039 on the previous day.
Those receiving a first dose increased by 255,393 since Saturday to 35,959,555, according to PA.
While 26,456,342 people have now had both doses, a rise of 195,646.
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UK records 9,284 new Covid-19 cases
The UK has recorded 9,284 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, compared to 10,321 on Saturday, bringing the total number to 4,630,040.
A further six deaths were recorded, down from 14 on Saturday and bringing the total to 127,976.
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Portuguese authorities have confirmed the Delta variant is behind the spike in new Covid-19 cases recently recorded in the Lisbon region.
Portugal’s National Health Institute said on Sunday that the highly infectious variant accounts for 60% of new cases in the city, the Associated Press reports.
The recent surge in infections prompted the Portuguese government to ban all weekend travel in and out of Lisbon.
The measures for the metropolitan area of the capital, which has about 2.8 million inhabitants, took effect on Friday.
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Summary
- Mandatory mask-wearing outdoors is being lifted and an eight-month nightly coronavirus curfew is ending in France today. The unpopular curfew has been scrapped just in time to coincide with elections in France in which the government faces pressure from a resurgent far right.
- The UK is moving towards a situation where people who have been double-vaccinated could be exempt from quarantine, Public Health England’s chief Covid-19 adviser has said. Dr Susan Hopkins, one of the key government advisers on the response to the pandemic, said a decision would be made after the results of a study that uses daily lateral flow tests as an alternative to isolation for 10 days after coming into contact with a positive case.
- More than half of the new Covid-19 cases being reported in the Lisbon region are of the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant, preliminary data showed on Sunday. Ricardo Jorge, from the national health institute, said the Delta variant represented more than 60% of cases in the Lisbon area though still less than 15% in the northern half of Portugal.
- With Covid vaccination penetration in the US likely to fall short of Joe Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, pandemic analysts are warning that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that “two Americas” may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant US strain.
- A member of Uganda’s Olympic team has tested positive for coronavirus and was barred entry into Japan, in the first detected infection among athletes arriving for the Tokyo Games, due to open in five weeks. The athletes, who arrived on Saturday night at Tokyo’s Narita airport, were all fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca and had negative PCR tests before boarding, the Asahi newspaper reported.
- Thousands of Brazilians returned to the streets on Saturday in protest against the response of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration to a pandemic that has killed close on half a million people in the country – the most after the US. On the second day of demonstrations in less than a month, the anti-Bolsonaro mobilisation is gaining momentum amid an ascendant curve of Covid-19 infections, while only 11% of 212 million Brazilians have been fully vaccinated, according to local media.
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With Covid vaccination penetration in the US likely to fall short of Joe Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, pandemic analysts are warning that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that “two Americas” may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant US strain.
Efforts to boost vaccination rates have come through a variety of incentives, from free hamburgers to free beer, college scholarships and even million-dollar lottery prizes. But many of the efforts to entice people to get their shots have lost their initial impact, or failed to land effectively at all.
“It’s just not working,” Irwin Redlener at the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University, told Politico. “People aren’t buying it. The incentives don’t seem to be working – whether it’s a doughnut, a car or a million dollars.”
In Ohio, a programme offering five adults the chance to win $1m boosted vaccination rates by 40% for more a week. A month later, the rate had dropped to below what it had been before the incentive was introduced, Politico found.
Oregon followed Ohio’s cash-prize lead but reported a less dramatic uptick. Preliminary data from a similar lottery in North Carolina, launched last week, suggests the incentive is also not boosting vaccination rates there.
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Inspired by a group set up in Britain during the pandemic, several of the world’s leading scientists plan to launch an independent expert group this week to advise, warn and criticise global policymakers about the climate and nature crises.
The body has been inspired by Independent Sage – the cluster of British scientists who have held UK ministers and civil servants to account for their lack of transparency and mishandling of the Covid pandemic.
The Climate Crisis Advisory Group, comprising 14 experts from 10 nations and every continent, aims to have more of an international reach and provide the global public with regular analysis about efforts to tackle the global heating and biodiversity crises.
Headed by the former UK chief scientific adviser Sir David King, the group will issue monthly updates about the state of the global environment at meetings that will be open to the media and the public. These online gatherings will be chaired by the BBC presenter Ade Adepitan.
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Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has accused the devolved government of Scotland of “hypocrisy” over its travel ban to the north-west of England.
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced on Friday all non-essential travel to Manchester and Salford would be banned from Monday, but Burnham, a Labour politician, said he or his administration were not contacted before the announcement.
Sturgeon, who leads the Scottish National party (SNP), pinpointed the areas as Covid-19 hotspots, despite figures in the cities matching case rates in parts of Scotland.
“Anyone travelling elsewhere in the Greater Manchester or Lancashire area, I’d ask to think carefully about whether your journey is really necessary, because we do see cases rising across that region,” she said on Friday in a coronavirus briefing.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Burnham said: “I was really disappointed on Friday that the first minister of Scotland just announced out of the blue, as far as we were concerned, a travel ban saying that people couldn’t travel from Scotland to Manchester and Salford and people couldn’t go the other way.
“That is exactly what the SNP always accuse the Westminster government of doing, riding roughshod over people.”
“The SNP are treating the north of England with the same contempt in bringing that in without any consultation with us.”
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More than half of new Covid-19 cases in Lisbon region are Delta variant
Over half the new Covid-19 cases being reported in the Lisbon region are of the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant, preliminary data showed on Sunday as Portuguese authorities scramble to curb a worrying spike in infections.
Ricardo Jorge, the national health institute, said the Delta variant represented more than 60% of cases in the Lisbon area though still less than 15% in the northern half of Portugal.
The Alpha variant, which was previously dominant in Britain, is more prevalent across Portugal’s north, representing 80% of infections there and only 30% in and around Lisbon, according to the institute.
Portugal posted over 1,000 new Covid-19 cases for the fourth straight day on Saturday and the number of people testing newly positive every 24 hours is back to late February levels, when the country was still under lockdown.
However, about 2.5 million of Portugal’s 10 million population has now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. While there has been a slight increase in hospitalisations in recent days, there has been no noticeable rise in deaths given that most older, more vulnerable people have been vaccinated.
The recent jump in infections comes around a month after Portugal opened to visitors from the rest of the EU as well as Britain.
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Sharp rise in UK gaming addiction referrals, stats reveal
The number of children and young adults in the UK entering treatment for gaming addictions and disorders tripled over the last year, with experts believing that the pandemic and lockdowns play a key role in the increase.
The clinic, part of the National Centre for Behavioural Addictions, opened in 2019 as a specialist clinic to treat children and young adults who are addicted to playing video games. The clinic opened a year after the World Health Organization recognised “gaming disorder” as a medical condition.
The figures, obtained by the Guardian via freedom of information requests, show that 17 people entered treatment between January and May 2020, but over the same period in 2021 the number rose to 56.
The Nightingale hospital, a private hospital that specialises in treating mental health disorders, also saw a rise in referrals and individuals seeking treatment for gaming and technology addictions.
The hospital said that between March to June and July to September 2020, the number of inquiries received regarding technology addiction doubled, with the majority of them regarding parents seeking support for their children. In 2021, the hospital has seen a fourfold increase in inquiries.
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French curfew and mandatory mask wearing ending
Mandatory mask-wearing outdoors is being lifted and and an eight-month nightly coronavirus curfew is ending in France today.
Le Monde reports, however, that vigilance is still being called for, as health protocols for public places and event will remain in place until 30 June.
The lifting comes as France is voting in the first round of regional elections that could see Marine Le Pen‘s far-right party make gains and step further into the political mainstream.
The Financial Times cites forecasting by polling group Ipsos that turnout would reach only about 41%.
A low turnout – with polling showing voters are more concerned about crime, immigration and unemployment than Covid-19 is tipped to assist Le Pen.
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Body of soldier who threatened virologist found in Belgium
Police in Belgium say they have found what is believed to be the body of a fugitive far-right soldier who had threatened a top virologist involved in the country’s efforts to counter Covid-19.
Hundreds of security forces scoured a swath of northeast Belgium after the 17 May disappearance of Jurgen Conings, who was the target of a huge manhunt and and was believed to have hoarded heavy weaponry.
A body was found on Sunday by people walking in the woods near the town of Dilsen-Stockem. Initial evidence indicates it is Conings and that he killed himself, but further examination is under way, Belgian federal police said in a statement.
Conings, 46, had hidden anti-tank missile launchers and other heavy arms in an army barracks before disappearing. He had threatened several people in recent months, including the virologist, and landed on the federal anti-terrorism watch list in February.
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Covid vaccines manufactured by the Chinese company Sinovac are being administered to people in Singapore even though the city-state’s authorities have been casting doubt on their effectiveness, reports the New York Times.
Singapore allowed 24 private health clinics to administer the vaccine following authorisation by the World Health Organization for emergency use this month. It has yet to be added to Singapore state-run scheme.
The Times reports that Kenneth Mak, Singapore’s director of medical services, expressed concern about reports from other countries of people becoming sick with Covid-19 despite receiving a Sinovac jab.
He cited the situation in Indonesia, where more than 350 doctors have contracted Covid-19 despite being vaccinated with Sinovac and dozens have been hospitalised.
The BBC has upgraded its security protocols after the targeting of a senior journalist and apparent death threats.
A message from Fran Unsworth, director of news and current affairs, sent to staff on Friday morning, and seen by the Observer, revealed the corporation had set up a working group to examine staff safety online, acknowledging the “abuse of journalists is a growing problem”. She urged staff to complete training on how to react to “an in-person attack”.
It follows the haranguing of Newsnight’s political editor, Nicholas Watt, by demonstrators outside Downing Street on Monday and subsequent online trolling of BBC journalists.
The protesters, a mixture of anti-vaxxers and opponents of lockdown, shouted “traitor” at Watt and accused him of “lying” about lockdowns.
Unsworth wrote: “We know these attacks are more often aimed at women and journalists of colour, so we want to make sure we have particular support for those groups and are looking at what this could be.”
Since the Whitehall incident, the Observer has seen apparent death threats from members of anti-lockdown groups on the messenger app Telegram, some of whom have swapped details of journalists, including their addresses, and have attempted to organise abuse.
Prof Kevin Fenton warned we could be in the “foothills” of another wave of Covid-19 cases.
He told LBC it was unlikely London would have all over-30s double-vaccinated by 19 July when all restrictions are due to relax.
“We’re in the foothills of what could possibly be a third wave, we should be doing the hands, face, space, ventilate, prevention,” Prof Fenton said.
He continued: “Vaccinating now won’t stop the rises we are seeing in the community this week, but they will begin to build the resilience for the city as we get to 19 July.”
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The London director at Public Health England (PHE) said the capital is entering a “summer sprint” to get as many people vaccinated as possible by 19 July.
The rate of uptake in London has been slower than elsewhere, but Prof Kevin Fenton said it had been making “incredible progress” over the past few weeks.
“We’re just about entering into a final summer sprint, where we’re working with local authorities to get the rates up among everybody over age 18, but especially those aged over 40,” he said. “That’s our number one focus in the city now.”
Prof Fenton told LBC that PHE staff in London were dealing with hesitancy over vaccine safety and “working in communities and knocking on doors, making sure we have those outreach persons giving vaccines”.
Russian workers who refuse Covid-19 vaccinations in areas where they are compulsory could be forced to take unpaid leave, the country’s labour minister has warned, as infections rise and inoculation drives slow.
“If the health authorities in a region make vaccination mandatory for some categories of workers, an unvaccinated employee could be suspended,” Anton Kotyakov said in comments posted on Sunday to a state-run channel on the Telegram messaging app.
He added the suspension would last as long as the decree for mandatory vaccination is in effect.
The Russian capital, Moscow, has ordered mandatory vaccination for residents working in the service industry, saying 60% would have to be fully inoculated by 15 August.
Seven other cities and areas, including Russia’s second city of St Petersburg, have imposed similar rules, according to Russian media.
The new wave of infections come as St Petersburg, the country’s worst Covid hotspot after Moscow, is slated to host seven Euro 2020 matches – including a quarter-final on 2 July – expected to draw thousands of European football fans.
Although free jabs have been available to Russians since December, only 19.5 million out of a population of 146 million have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the Gogov website, which tallies Covid figures from the regions and the media.
In Moscow, only 1.5 million of the city’s roughly 12 million people have been fully vaccinated.
A recent independent survey found that 60% of Russians do not intend to get the shot.
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UK chancellor Rishi Sunak should think again about ending furlough as the scheme will be badly missed by businesses in hardest-hit sectors, writes Guardian economics correspondent Richard Partington.
Treasury insiders are quick to point out industry complaints about staff shortages when questions about furlough are raised. Tory MPs are also pressing to bring the scheme to a close, arguing that furloughed workers are bleeding the state dry and preventing the efficient functioning of the jobs market.
There are many reasons why this logic is upside down. After the worst recession for three centuries, severe risks to jobs remain. The Covid-19 pandemic is far from over. Although employers have started hiring again – and many can’t find enough staff – there are still half a million fewer people in work than before the pandemic. The continuing health emergency and restrictions are the main barrier to a functional jobs market, not support measures.
Vietnam has received a shipment of 500,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses donated by China, the health ministry said on Sunday, as the country is ramping up inoculations to battle against a more widespread outbreak.
Authorities in the country of 98 million approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use against Covid-19 in early June.
The vaccines will be used for three groups: Chinese citizens in Vietnam, Vietnamese who have plan to work or study in China and people who live near the borders with China, the health ministry said in a statement.
Vietnam’s domestic inoculation programme, which started in March, has so far relied heavily on around four million shots of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
Nearly 2.4 million people in Vietnam have had one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 115,315 have been fully vaccinated, according to official data.
Canada has secured enough potential coronavirus vaccines to fully protect every resident nearly seven times over, even as a global shortage has forced poorer nations to wait.
After initial hiccups with its vaccination plan, more than 65% of Canadians have now received at least one dose, edging ahead of early leaders Israel and the UK, and on Friday, Justin Trudeau said 68m doses will have arrived in Canada by the end of July.
But a recent pledge by Canada to donate 100m doses to hard-hit countries, has highlighted persistent questions about its commitment to addressing such inequities.
Details of the deliveries, however, remain unclear, and of the 100m pledged, 87m doses reflect previously announced funding commitments – not actual physical doses ready to ship. Only 13m actual new doses will be sent to nations in need.
“This isn’t this isn’t new money, and the vaccines don’t seem to be starting to move immediately, so it feels a little bit too little too late,” said Isha Berry, a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the University of Toronto.
Indonesia reported 13,737 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, the highest in a single day since January 30, bringing the total number of cases in the country to nearly two million, data from the Covid-19 task force showed.
On Sunday, the task force also reported 371 new deaths, the highest number of daily fatalities since early April, taking the total to 54,662.
A permanent switch to more home working following the pandemic will cause rising gender inequality in the workplace, according to experts in the UK, unless employers carefully monitor their new working policies to make sure women aren’t disadvantaged.
Traditionally, more women than men – particularly those with children or caring responsibilities – have requested flexible working. The switch to working from home necessitated by coronavirus lockdowns has, 15 months on, resulted in a permanent change in corporate culture, to the extent that the British government is considering legislating to make home working the “default” option.
During Covid, millions of previously office-based employees enjoyed more family time and tasted life without the commute.
Earlier in the pandemic, there were hopes that the wider adoption of remote working might remove the gender divide, while also reducing the so-called “maternity penalty” and getting rid of a culture of presenteeism.
The UK is moving towards a situation where those who have been double-vaccinated could be exempt from quarantine, a senior health official has said.
Dr Susan Hopkins, one of the key government advisers on the response to the pandemic, said a decision would be made after the results of a major study that uses daily lateral flow tests as an alternative to isolation for 10 days after coming into contact with a positive case.
Public Health England’s chief Covid-19 adviser told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday it would give evidence about whether vaccinated people were less likely to transmit the virus. “Then we have an evidence base to derive government policy,” she said.
She said it was possible it could be used to allow people to travel more freely. I’m not sure when, but a time in the future I can imagine a situation where we will have alternatives to isolation for people who have two doses of vaccine,” she said.
Hopkins said the UK was seeing the impact of vaccination in key infection hotspots but that infections were rising in other areas.
Covid jabs passes one billion mark in China - report
The number of Covid-19 jabs administered in China has passed the one billion mark, health officials said Sunday, more than a third of the doses given worldwide.
The announcement by the National Health Commission comes after the number of shots administered globally surpassed 2.5 billion on Friday, according to a count from official sources who spoke to the AFP news agency.
It is unclear what percentage of China’s population has now been inoculated but its vaccination drive got off to a slow start after a successful fight against the virus left little sense of urgency to get jabbed.
A lack of transparency and previous vaccine scandals have also led to resistance among residents.
Authorities have set an ambitious target of fully vaccinating 40 percent of the country’s nearly 1.4 billion people by the end of this month.
Some provinces are offering vaccines for free to encourage people to roll up their sleeves. Residents in central Anhui province have been given free eggs, while some living in Beijing have received shopping coupons.
A recent outbreak of the more contagious Delta variant of the virus in the southern city of Guangzhou has also served as a wake-up call for many dragging their feet.
China reported 23 new coronavirus cases on Sunday.
Australia’s state of Queensland recorded one locally acquired coronavirus infection on Sunday, the latest streak of small outbreaks that have been plaguing the country in recent months.
The Queensland case comes as a cluster of the highly infectious Delta variant has grown by two cases to nine in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, prompting health officials to expand mask wearing rules.
“We know this strain, which is becoming the dominant strain, is extremely contagious and some people are spreading it more than others, and what we want to avoid at this stage is a super spreading event,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
Vaccinations have been key to keeping levels of the Delta variant of Covid-19 low in Ireland at a time when it has been surging in the UK, according to an Irish expert.
There have been 180 known cases of the Delta variant in Ireland, according to the Journal.ie. That accounts for 5% of sequenced cases in Ireland.
Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick, a consultant and senior lecturer in microbiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), told the online publication: “The vaccination programme has been a game-changer here. We’ve seen that in hospitals in particular where in December and January we had lots of positive cases and suddenly those numbers just fell off a cliff.”
Tighter restrictions and travel measures such as mandatory hotel quarantine and PCR testing, had also played a major role, she added.
“England has a bigger population and also historic links with countries where Delta originated, more so than we have.”
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The Thai island of Phuket is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible in the hope that, if 70% of the population receives a dose before 1 July, the island will become the first Thai destination to reopen to foreign tourists.
If the island can build its immunity, it could soon come back to life again, said infectious disease nurse Bang-orn Rungruang, who is helping to coordinate vaccines at the Angsana Convention and Exhibition Space. The pandemic, she said, had devastated the island’s businesses.
“It was like a domino effect. With no tourists coming into Phuket, the economy just collapsed: no buyers, no sellers.”
The island, famed for its idyllic beaches, drew 10 million visitors a year before the pandemic, and the economic impact of the virus has been felt by almost all residents.
Drivers who once ferried around an endless stream of tourists can now barely afford to lease their vehicles. Street sellers have packed up
It is hoped that Phuket, which is set to ease restrictions from 1 July, could provide a model for the rest of the country, and potentially other tourism destinations in Asia.
“We will be the first country east of Maldives to open up,” said Ravi Chandran, managing director of Laguna Phuket, a resort in the island’s north-west, who described the programme as a stepping stone towards restarting tourism.
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The drive to vaccinate all adults over the age of 18 in the UK could lead to the concentration of Covid-19 cases in schoolchildren, a leading British virologist has warned.
Under-18s would then become reservoirs in which new variants of the virus could arise, said Julian Tang, of Leicester University.
Tang was speaking as Public Health England revealed a 79% rise in one week in cases of the Delta variant of Covid, first identified in India. A race is now on between the vaccination programme and the emergence of a third wave of the virus, say scientists.
Many believe there are grounds for cautious optimism that the vaccine will hold back hospitalisations and deaths in the wake of rising case numbers triggered by last month’s partial release of lockdown measures, as well as the arrival of the Delta variant.
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70% of adults to be double vaccinated by 19 July - England health official
Vaccinations mean there is hope that the latest wave of Covid-19 across the UK won’t look quite the same as previous, more deadly ones, according to a senior health official in England.
It should also be possible for 70% of the adult population to be double vaccinated before the 19 July date, which is pencilled in as the final stage of lockdown lifting, she added.
“We are definitely seeing some signs of slowing down … but there are definitely other parts of country, including some parts of the north-east, some parts of London that are still rising quite fast,” said Dr Susan Hopkins, strategy director for Covid-19 at Public Health England.
“This is not doing the same thing all over the country. We are seeing rises and falls as people really go out and get tested and I think we are seeing the impact of vaccination and that is good news.”
The extra time time to vaccinate and double vaccinate people means that this wave will look quite different to previous ones, she told the BBC in an interview on the Andrew Marr Show.
She was asked what level of double vaccination was needed for people in England to “feel comfortable” about the 19 July date for the final lifting of lockdown restrictions.
Seventy per cent – a figure mentioned by other experts – would be a “good figure” and the UK should be able to hit that before the 19 July date.
She also indicated that if Covid hospital admissions continue to rise but discharges also continue at a steady rate, then the health service will be able to cope without too much extra strain.
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Covid-19 doesn’t dominate the front pages of stories here in the UK in quite the way it has in recent times, but the Sunday Telegraph has an interesting splash concerning the UK government’s Health Secretary.
It claims that Matt Hancock, who has led the Department of Health throughout the pandemic, failed to tell the Prime Minister about a major Public Health England (PHE) study showing the effectiveness of vaccines against a variant, first found in India, during a key meeting called to decide whether to extend Covid restrictions tomorrow.
The Sunday Telegraph says it understand that Hancock had known about the PHE data three days before a keye meeting of four senior ministers last Sunday to decide whether to postpone a planned June 21 reopening until July 19.
But multiple sources familiar with the meeting told the Telegraph it was not raised by Mr Hancock, or discussed at all during the course of the talks.
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Calls to pause after first case among Olympic athletes
In Japan, the first detected positive case among athletes arriving for the Olympic Games – five weeks away – has heightened concerns and calls for caution among those worried that the event will be highly dangerous.
“Let’s all wait a minute,” opposition politician Renho said.
“This time, nine people arrived. For the Olympics, 100,000 people will be arriving. This is no time to be talking about how this will be a moving experience for our children.”
Yasutoshi Nishimura, a minister in charge of economic policy, told NHK TV on Sunday that the government was looking into its border controls. Japan requires a two-week quarantine for overseas arrivals, but Olympic teams aren’t subject to the same border controls.
The Ugandan athlete who tested positive was among athletes who arrived on Saturday night at Tokyo’s Narita airport. The group were all fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca and had negative PCR tests before boarding, the Asahi newspaper reported, quoting an anonymous cabinet secretariat official.
Japan requires a two-week quarantine for overseas arrivals, but Olympic teams aren’t subject to the same border controls.
The Ugandan team was the second, after the Australian women’s softball team, to arrive for the Olympics, which open on 23 July.
Uganda is seeing an alarming rise in Covid-19 variants and has just tightened lockdown measures. About 590 deaths have been reported, which is probably an undercount, given the scarcity of testing.
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Philippines agrees 40m-dose deal
The Philippines has signed a supply agreement for 40m doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech , the head of the government’s Covid-19 vaccine procurement said on Sunday.
Deliveries of the vaccine, among several brands of coronavirus shots allowed for emergency use in the southe-ast Asian country, will begin “after eight weeks starting August”, Carlito Galvez said in a statement.
The deal comes as a delay in vaccine deliveries had earlier this month forced some cities in the capital region to close vaccination sites, complicating Manila’s efforts to ramp up its immunisation drive in an Asian country with one of the biggest numbers of infections and deaths.
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Bookings surge at London stadium vaccination centres
Londoners received tens of thousands of Covid jabs in just a few hours on Saturday as football grounds in the capital were transformed into mass vaccination centres.
Huge jab clinics have been set up at West Ham’s London Stadium, Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Valley, home of Charlton Athletic, and Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park.
Smaller events are taking place in community venues in a drive to vaccinate as many Londoners as possible on what has been dubbed a “super Saturday”.
Young people in the capital had been urged to book vaccination slots as Covid-19 cases are soaring among children and young adults. The number of people infected with the virus is increasing rapidly in England, doubling every 11 days.
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Taiwan has reacted with an outpouring of thanks to the US for shipping 2.5m Covid-19 vaccine doses to the island, more than doubling its arsenal as it deals with a rise in domestic infections.
Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through “vaccine diplomacy”, initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden’s administration advances its pledge to send 80m US-made shots around the world.
“What a sight! What a gesture!” Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, tweeted in thanks late on Saturday, linking to pictures of the vaccines being loaded on to a China Airlines Boeing 777 freighter at Memphis airport.
“The Taiwan-US relationship is rock solid, & we’ll keep cooperating closely in combating Covid-19. Forces for good will prevail!”
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Good morning and welcome to live blog coverage of the latest developments, ranging from the situation in Australia, where measures are being taken to contain a new Covid-19 cluster in Sydney, to Brazil, where the number of deaths related to the virus has now passed 500,000.
It’s also a day when concerns about the Tokyo Olympics – five weeks away – have been brought into sharp focus by the news that a Ugandan athlete has been barred entry into Japan after testing positive for Covid-19. It is the first known infection among arriving athletes.
Rules requiring Sydney residents to wear coverings indoors across large swathes of the city came into force from 4pm on Sunday and cover seven local government areas in inner Sydney.
Anti-government protesters have meanwhile been taking to the streets in more than a score of cities across Brazil this weekend as the nation’s confirmed death toll from Covid-19 soared past half a million
We will bring you coverage of those stories and others from around the world, including here in the UK, where than 700,000 Covid-19 jabs were booked on the day a vaccination programme was opened up to people aged 18 to 20.
People in England made 721,469 appointments through the national booking service on Friday, more than 30,000 an hour or more than eight every second.
You can reach me by email or on Twitter at @BenQuinn75 if there are stories you would like to flag up.
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