Summary of key developments
Here’s a quick rundown of all the latest headlines:
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Boris Johnson was accused on Monday night of an “utterly outrageous” breach of lockdown rules as a leaked email showed one of his top officials invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party during the first lockdown. The police are now investigating.
- Boris Johnson has ordered officials to examine plans to cut Covid isolation to five days in England as scientists urged caution over the lack of evidence to support a change.
- NHS England has struck a deal with private healthcare providers under which their hospitals will be ready to start treating NHS patients who cannot get the Covid or non-Covid care they need because their local NHS hospital is under too much pressure.
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Pfizer Inc chief executive Albert Bourla said on Monday that moving toward a redesigned Covid-19 vaccine that is specifically targeted to combat the Omicron variant is the “most likely scenario.”
- The small number of people in Italy’s population who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 are largely responsible for the continued health crisis, prime minister Mario Draghi said on Monday.
- In the US, a new record has been set for the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19, with 132,646 currently on wards, according to Reuters. The latest figure, which comes as the highly contagious Omicron strain spreads across the country, surpassed the record of 132,051 set in January last year.
- Moderna has announced it expects record sales of about $18.5bn (£13.6bn) in contracts for its Covid vaccine in 2022.
- Novak Djokovic’s brother reportedly ended a press conference after questions about why the tennis ace appeared in public in Belgrade a day after he had tested positive for Covid-19.
- Emmanuel Macron has condemned protesters on the French overseas territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon who pelted an MP with seaweed and dirt during a protest against vaccine passes.
- Stricter pandemic measures are to be introduced in Sweden in response to a rising number of Covid cases and pressure on hospitals, the prime minister has said.
- The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has called for European officials to consider ditching detailed pandemic tracking for Covid in favour of a flu-like monitoring system. The change would mean treating Covid-19 as an “endemic illness” rather than a pandemic, Sánchez said on Monday. He pointed out that deaths as a proportion of recorded cases has fallen since the pandemic began.
France eases Covid rules for schools as infections soar
France has announced an easing of Covid rules for schools as record-high case numbers shut down thousands of classes and sparked concern among parents and teachers.
Prime minister Jean Castex told France 2 television on Monday that more than 10,000 classes - 2% of the total - had to be cancelled because of coronavirus outbreaks, but that the government would not “shut down the schools or the country”, Agence France-Presse reports.
France on Monday reported more than 125,000 new coronavirus cases as the Omicron variant drives up daily infections to record highs.
Under the first change, from Tuesday, parents will no longer be obliged to pick up their child immediately for Covid testing if he or she is a contact case of a virus sufferer.
Home-testing will be deemed sufficient in such cases rather than testing at an officially approved site, with the parents signing a certificate to confirm the result.
The test kits, available from pharmacies, will be free.
Peru reported an all-time high 70,000 Covid-19 infections in the first week of January, a health official told reporters on Monday.
Dante Cersso, a government health official, said the new weekly case count had exceeded the previous record of 67,107 cases during the second week of April of last year.
At the time, Peru was going through a brutal second wave that left the country with the world’s worst per-capita death rate, according to Johns Hopkins University.
About 0.5% of Peru’s population has died of Covid-19.
Death counts have not spiked with the recent surge in cases, according to data from Peru’s Ministry of Health, Reuters reports.
More than 65% of Peru’s population has received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to Our World in Data. Peru is also offering booster shots to all adults three months after receiving their second shot.
Samantha Lock back with you on the blog reporting to you from Sydney.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across Australia.
Victoria recorded 37,944 new Covid-19 cases and 13 deaths while NSW recorded 25,870 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths.
Novak Djokovic yesterday won an appeal against his visa cancellation after spending four days in an immigration detention centre.
A wild 24 hours saw ecstatic Djokovic’s fans pepper-sprayed by police as they celebrated his release in Melbourne. But the victory comes with the threat that immigration minister Alex Hawke may revoke his entry visa for a second time, using powers granted by Australia’s Migration Act. Djokovic said he was “pleased” and “grateful” for the ruling, and was still determined to stay and compete at the Australian Open.
Meanwhile, Australia passed the grim milestone of 1m active Covid-19 cases yesterday. There have been 250,000 Covid cases since Friday alone.
Brazil reported 34,788 new cases in the past 24 hours and 110 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said on Monday.
Infections are increasing in Brazil, with 32,954 new infections reported on average each day. According to the Reuters Covid-19 Tracker that is 43% of the country’s peak, the highest daily average reported on 23 June 2021.
The South American country has now registered 22,558,695 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 620,091, according to ministry data.
Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid has tested positive for Covid-19, Israel’s Ynet news website reported on Monday.
Lapid was in quarantine at home and was feeling well, the website reported.
In a tweet, the minister said: “I feel great because I’m vaccinated. Go get vaccinated, put on a mask, [and] we’ll get through this together.”
Several Israeli lawmakers have been infected with the virus over the past week, Haaretz reports, as the Omicron variant drives a surge in cases in the country.
Lapid’s deputy, Idal Roll, is also in isolation after having tested positive last week. He was confirmed to have contracted the virus a few days after seen in footage at a New Year’s Eve party without a mask.
From delayed ambulances to police shortages, Canadian public agencies hit hard by Covid-19 worker absences have cut back on service, rearranged staff or warned the public that emergency responses may be disrupted.
Reuters reports:
Over the weekend, paramedics in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, said there were briefly no ambulances available to respond to emergencies.
The city said about 12.8% of its “essential and critical services” staff were off due to Covid-19 as of Monday.
It is not unusual for ambulances to be tied up at any moment, city spokesperson Brad Ross said. But with workers sidelined by Covid-19 and stretched hospitals delaying ambulance offloading, it was becoming more common.
Low-priority calls may be put off and some will go to the fire department, he said.
Like much of the rest of the world, Canada is swamped by the fast-spreading Omicron variant. Earlier this month Canada broke its previous one-day record for the highest number of people hospitalised with Covid-19, at more than 4,100 nationally.
Ontario regional transit operator Metrolinx cut its service by 15% as 20-30% of its staff were off work due to Cocid-19, spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said.
About 9% of Winnipeg Police Service staff were on leave due to Covid-19, and the police service said it had reallocated officers from specialised units such as gang enforcement to street patrol.
The Atlantic city of Halifax cancelled bus and ferry trips due to Covid-19 absences.
Redesigned vaccine specifically targeting Omicron 'most likely scenario', Pfizer chief says
Pfizer Inc chief executive Albert Bourla said on Monday that moving toward a redesigned Covid-19 vaccine that is specifically targeted to combat the Omicron variant is the “most likely scenario.”
Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Bourla said Pfizer and partner BioNTech SE are working on both an Omicron-targeted vaccine variant as well as a shot that would include both the previous vaccine as well as vaccine targeted at the Omicron variant, Reuters reports.
Bourla said the company could be ready to file for approval for a redesigned vaccine and start producing it as soon as March.
People who have recovered from Covid in Germany will in future only be able to prove their status digitally with a QR code, the health ministers of the country’s federal states decided on Monday.
The government’s health minister Karl Lauterbach has promised to implement this promptly, according to Saxony-Anhalt’s health minister and current chairwoman of the conference of health ministers Petra Grimm-Benne.
The federal ministry of health is to create a corresponding legal basis “with which the obligation to exclusively present a digitally readable health record” becomes possible for access controls, for example for events or in restaurants. People would be able to store the relevant evidence in the country’s Covid warning app, the German press agency DPA reports.
At their first regular conference this year, the health ministers also discussed a possible fourth vaccine as is currently being distributed in the Israeli population. Grimm-Benne said further scientific research was necessary before a decision can be made.
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Americans should be able to order free, rapid Covid tests through a federal web site later this month.
The White House is working closely with test manufacturers and expects to have all procurement contracts signed in the next two weeks, Reuters reports.
The White House has pledged to make 500 million rapid, Covid tests available to all Americans in January.
The Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign have described Boris Johnson’s private secretary inviting over 100 Downing Street officials to a gathering in Number 10’s back garden while the UK was still in lockdown as “truly beyond belief”.
Hannah Brady, a spokesperson for the group, said:
My Dad died just four days before this email was sent out; he was only 55 and was a fit and healthy key worker. I’ve missed him every day since. Just like the rest of the country, my family had done everything we could to keep him and others safe during the lockdown.
Those days will stay with me for the rest of my life, just like the families of the 353 people that died that day. My family couldn’t even get a hug from our friends. To think that whilst it was happening Boris Johnson was making the ‘most of the weather’ and throwing a party for 100 people, is truly beyond belief.
Brady was one of five families involved in the campaign who met the prime minister last September.
She added:
At the time, everyone would have known that going to a party was wrong, so how can those running the country have thought it was OK? Could there be a more disgraceful example of ‘one rule for them, and another rule for the rest of us’?
To make matters worse, in September last year I sat in that same garden, looked the prime minister in the eyes and told him how my dad had died. He told me he had ‘done everything he could’ to protect my Dad, knowing that he had partied in that same spot the very day that Dad’s death certificate was signed. It makes me feel sick to think about it.
The small number of people in Italy’s population who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 are largely responsible for the continued health crisis, prime minister Mario Draghi said on Monday.
The government last week made vaccinations mandatory for everyone aged 50 and over, one of very few European countries to take such a step, in an attempt to ease pressure on hospitals as new cases surge, Reuters reports.
Draghi told a news conference:
We must never lose sight of the fact that most of the problems we have today are because there are non-vaccinated people.
For the umpteenth time, I invite all those Italians who are not yet vaccinated to do so, and to get the third shot.
Health minister Roberto Speranza said 89.4% of all those aged 12 and over had received at least one vaccine dose, adding that the unvaccinated accounted for two-thirds of all the Covid patients in intensive care units.
Latest data released on Monday showed there were 1,606 people in intensive care with the virus, while the country reported 101,762 new cases and 227 additional deaths over the past 24 hours.
On Monday, unvaccinated people were banned from entering bars and restaurants and from using public transport, in a further tightening of restrictions for this part of the population.
Only those who have recently recovered from Covid will be exempted from the new rule.
Summary
Latest coronavirus-related headlines and developments from around the world include:
- One of the UK prime minister’s top officials invited staff to “socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden” during May of the first lockdown. The email, from Martin Reynolds, the principal private secretary to Boris Johnson, invited just over 100 employees in No 10 at a time when social mixing was banned.
- A new record has been set for the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the US, with 132,646 currently on wards, according to Reuters. The latest figure, which comes as the highly contagious Omicron strain spreads across the country, surpassed the record of 132,051 set in January last year.
- Pfizer is already manufacturing a Covid vaccine targeting the Omicron variant, which it expects to be ready to distribute by June, its chief executive, Albert Bourla, has said. “This vaccine will be ready in March,” Bourla told CNBC. “We [are] already starting manufacturing some of these quantities at risk.”
- Moderna has announced it expects record sales of about $18.5bn (£13.6bn) in contracts for its Covid vaccine in 2022. The US vaccine maker said it could also make about $3.5bn from potential additional purchases, including booster candidates updated for variants. The company in November said its sales could be in the range of $17bn to $22bn in 2022, according to Reuters.
- Novak Djokovic’s brother reportedly ended a press conference after questions about why the tennis ace appeared in public in Belgrade a day after he had tested positive for Covid-19. Djokovic has said he had Covid in December to justify an exemption allowing him to visit Australia for the Australian Open without taking a Covid vaccine.
- Emmanuel Macron has condemned protesters on the French overseas territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon who pelted an MP with seaweed and dirt during a protest against vaccine passes. Stephane Claireaux, an MP from from Macron’s ruling party, was confronted on Sunday at his home on the windswept territory off the Canadian island of Newfoundland.
- Stricter pandemic measures are to be introduced in Sweden in response to a rising number of Covid cases and pressure on hospitals, the prime minister has said. “The situation has deteriorated, without doubt. The level of infections in Sweden is at a historically high level,” Magdalena Andersson told a news conference, according to Reuters.
- The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has called for European officials to consider ditching detailed pandemic tracking for Covid in favour of a flu-like monitoring system. The change would mean treating Covid-19 as an “endemic illness” rather than a pandemic, Sánchez said on Monday. He pointed out that deaths as a proportion of recorded cases has fallen since the pandemic began.
Interested to read about what happened earlier? Take a look at our last summary of headlines, posted eight hours ago.
That’s it from me, Damien Gayle, for today. Ciao!
One of the UK prime minister’s top officials invited staff to “socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden” during May of the first lockdown, a leaked email shows, writes Rowena Mason, the Guardian’s deputy political editor.
The email, from Martin Reynolds, the principal private secretary to Boris Johnson, invited just over 100 employees in No 10 at a time when social mixing was banned apart from with one other person from another household outdoors.
According to ITV News, it said: “Hi all, after what has been an incredibly busy period it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden this evening. Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze!”
Omicron has become the dominant strain of coronavirus in the Czech Republic, the country’s public health institute has said.
According to the institute, Omicron had accounted for more than 50% of positive tests as of 8 January, with samples from mainly big cities on 9 January showing 79% of Covid-19 cases were the Omicron variant, Reuters reports.
So far the pick-up in Omicron cases has not raised daily infection numbers significantly and the number of hospitalised people continues to decline as the previous wave of infections recedes. There were 2,229 people in hospital on Sunday, down form more than 7,000 in early December.
In an effort to reduce the impact of rising numbers having to self-isolate, the government has been planning to allow people in critical professions, including the emergency services and workers in the health and energy sectors, to continue to work work even after a positive lateral flow test.
It has also cut the length of quarantine and isolation to five days for people without symptoms.
Record numbers of people admitted to US hospitals with Covid
A new record has been set for the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the US, with 132,646 currently on wards, according to a Reuters tally on Monday.
The latest figure, which comes as the highly contagious Omicron strain spreads across the country, surpassed the record of 132,051 set in January last year.
Hospital admissions have increased steadily since late-December, doubling in the last three weeks, as Omicron overtook Delta as the dominant variant in the US.
The analysis found that Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, Virginia, Washington DC, and Wisconsin have reported record levels of Covid-19 patients recently.
Updated
A major UK broadcaster has been warned to take “greater care” after a medical expert falsely claimed on air that 90% of Covid patients in hospital had not been vaccinated.
The claim by Dr Hilary Jones during a discussion on the ITV’s morning magazine programme Lorraine about the number of unvaccinated Covid-19 patients in hospital prompted 3,833 complaints from viewers.
During the segment, broadcast on 6 December, Jones and the programme’s eponymous presenter, Lorraine Kelly, had been encouraging viewers to accept the offer of a coronavirus vaccination. “Those people who haven’t been vaccinated, we’d really love you to think again and be vaccinated because 90% of people in hospital are unvaccinated right now with Covid,” Jones said.
A clarification was broadcast on the show two days later, explaining the statistic related to patients in intensive care units rather than the proportion of unvaccinated Covid-19 patients in hospital.
On Monday, Ofcom, the media watchdog, said it would not be launching a formal investigation but have issued ITV with guidance.
In a statement, Ofcom said: “This programme incorrectly referenced the proportion of unvaccinated Covid-19 patients in hospital. We have told ITV that greater care should be taken by trusted medical experts when presenting facts and figures on public health issues.
“However, given official statistics and research have consistently shown that vaccination against Covid-19 offers greater protection against serious health consequences, we do not consider that the error was sufficient to materially mislead viewers on this main point of discussion.”
Updated
Seventy-seven more people have died within 28 days catching Covid in the UK, as 142,224 more people tested positive for the virus, according to the latest statistics from the government.
The seven-day figure for the number of deaths (1,330) was up 49.8%, but for infections (1,201,563) it was up 1%.
The number of patients admitted to hospital was also on the rise, with the 15,890 over a seven-day period announced on Monday, up 43.3% on previous week.
Just more than nine in 10 people in the country had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the government’s data, with 83% having had a second dose and 62% having a third or booster dose.
• This post was amended on 11 January 2022. The seven-day figure for infections was up 1%, not down 1% as an earlier version said.
Updated
Covid-19 spurred wealthy motorists to buy more Rolls-Royces than ever before because it made them realise life was short, the luxury carmaker has said, writes Rob Davies for the Guardian business desk.
As global cases escalated in 2021, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, based in Goodwood, West Sussex, booked the highest annual sales in its 117-year history, selling 5,586 vehicles.
The company’s chief executive, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, said the pandemic had led to customers, whose average age was 43, responding to the reminder of their own mortality by splashing out on luxury cars.
“Many people witnessed people in their community dying from Covid and that made them think life can be short and you’d better live now rather than postpone until a later date,” said Müller-Ötvös.
“That has helped Rolls-Royce.”
Updated
A million people in India received a third dose of coronavirus vaccine on Monday, as the country rolled out boosters.
Amid an eightfold rise in infections in 10 days, the government sent booster reminders to more than 10 million people who took a second dose of Covaxin or Covishield nine months ago.
Only healthcare personnel, other frontline workers and people over 60 and suffering from other health conditions were eligible for what the government called a “precaution dose”.
India has administered more than 1.5bn vaccine doses in total, among a population of 1.4bn. About 68% of the country’s 939 million adults have had two doses.
There were 146 deaths reported on Monday, bringing the toll to 483,936 since the pandemic began in early 2020. Only the US and Brazil have recorded more deaths.
Updated
Healthcare is a “moral obligation”, the pope has said, as he denounced the “baseless information” on which people are deciding to decline covid vaccines.
In what the Associated Press described as his strongest words yet calling for people to take vaccines, Pope Francis said individuals had a responsibility to care for themselves and that this translated into “respect for the health of those around us”.
“Health care is a moral obligation,” the agency quoted him as saying.
Francis’s comments came during a speech to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, an annual event in which he sets out the Vatican’s foreign policy goals for the year.
Ideological divides were discouraging people from getting vaccinated, the pope said. “Frequently people let themselves be influenced by the ideology of the moment, often bolstered by baseless information or poorly documented facts,” he said, calling for the adoption of a “reality therapy” to correct this distortion.
“Vaccines are not a magical means of healing, yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease,” he added.
Some Catholics, including some conservative US bishops and cardinals, have claimed vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses were immoral, and have refused to take them.
The Vatican’s doctrine office, however, has said it is “morally acceptable” for Catholics to receive Covid-19 vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses.
Pope Francis and Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech shots, according to the Vatican.
Updated
Pfizer already manufacturing Omicron vaccine, says CEO
Pfizer is already manufacturing a Covid vaccine targeting the Omicron variant, which it expects to be ready to distribute by June, its chief executive, Albert Bourla, has said.
“This vaccine will be ready in March,” Bourla told CNBC. “We [are] already starting manufacturing some of these quantities at risk.”
The need for a Omicron-specific coronavirus vaccine has been questioned, not least by Anthony Fauci, the White House medical adviser, who has said booster doses of existing vaccines are sufficient to counter the variant.
Nonetheless, Bourla said there were governments who wanted an updated vaccine as soon as possible.
Bourla said: “The hope is that we will achieve something that will have way, way better protection particularly against infections, because the protection against the hospitalisations and the severe disease – it is reasonable right now, with the current vaccines as long as you are having let’s say the third dose.”
Updated
The president of Mexico has told anyone in the country who has to symptoms to just assume they have Covid, as the number of confirmed cases jumped by 186% last week amid a scarcity of tests.
Noting hospitalisations and deaths had not increased at the same rate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed the Omicron variant was “a little Covid”. He advised Mexicans with symptoms to stay at home, take paracetamol and isolate, rather than going out and trying to find tests.
López Obrador’s administration has not implemented mass testing, saying it a waste of money. He called on companies not to require Covid tests for employees.
Mexico passed 300,000 test-confirmed coronavirus deaths last week, but so little testing is done in the country of 126 million that a government review of death certificates puts the real toll at almost 460,000.
Updated
Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent, has now filed on the pelting of a French MP with seaweed.
Protesters opposed to Covid regulations pelted a French MP with seaweed and stones outside his home on the overseas territory of St-Pierre-et-Miquelon at the weekend, Willsher writes.
Stéphane Claireaux, a member of the governing La République en Marche (LREM), said he had made an official police complaint after the attack, which fellow MPs described as a “lynching”.
Claireaux said he had gone outside to speak to the protesters who were angry about the decision by local authorities to impose the “health pass”. When his wife joined him she was also attacked, he said.
Updated
Novak Djokovic’s brother has reportedly ended a press conference after questions about why the tennis ace appeared in public in Belgrade a day after he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Djokovic has said he had Covid in December to justify an exemption allowing him to visit Australia for the Australian Open without taking a Covid vaccine. He spent several days in immigration detention after his visa was cancelled at the Australian border.
According to documents released on Saturday, as part of a legal challenge, Djokovic’s Covid-19 infection was recorded by the Institute of Public Health of Serbia on 16 December.
It subsequently emerged that also on 16 December, Djokovic attended an event commemorating his own personal stamp in the Serbian capital. Pictures were also posted of Djokovic a day later at the Tennis Association of Belgrade for an award ceremony.
On Monday, a judge quashed the visa cancellation and ordered the Australian government to pay legal costs and release the Serbian from detention within half an hour.
When asked whether Novak was COVID-19 positive while at events in Belgrade, his brother ended the press conference.
— Sally Gyte (@SallyGyte) January 10, 2022
Updated
The UK prime minister has said the government is “looking at the science” of moving to an isolation period of five days instead of seven for a positive Covid case, after calls to ease staffing shortages across the economy.
Guardian Sport has obtained a fascinating transcript of Novak Djokovic’s interview with an official when he was stopped while entering Australia for the Australian Open last week.
The exchanges at the airport when Djokovic landed in Melbourne on 6 January show how the world men’s tennis No 1 contended with the cancellation of his visa.
INTERVIEWER: Are you vaccinated?
DJOKOVIC: I am not vaccinated.
Updated
Emmanuel Macron has condemned protesters on the French overseas territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon who pelted an MP with seaweed and dirt during a protest against vaccine passes.
Video circulating on social media showed Stephane Claireaux, an MP from from Macron’s ruling party, confronted on Sunday at his home on the windswept territory off the Canadian island of Newfoundland.
L'agression de Stéphane Claireaux à son propre domicile lors de la manifestation contre le passe sanitaire est absolument inacceptable. Les images sont profondément choquantes. pic.twitter.com/S4ttQF2WTG
— Annick Girardin (@AnnickGirardin) January 9, 2022
Tensions over health measures have risen in France since Macron last week said he planned to “piss off” the unvaccinated until they accepted shots.
On Monday, during a visit to Nice, in the south of France, he said the “intolerable” and “unacceptable” incident was part of “an intensification of violence” against elected officials, according to the French news agency AFP.
The “passe sanitaire” (health pass) is due to be introduced in Saint Pierre and Miquelon shortly. It requires people to present proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to enter public spaces like bars.
Claireaux had earlier told the broadcaster France Info that he had been waiting for the demonstrators outside his home “so as to talk to them”.
“There was a car loaded with seaweed … and people started chucking it at me. It was like being stoned. My wife came out to join me on the front step. I dodged a rock that missed our faces by fivecm,” he said.
Claireaux added that he would be filing criminal charges against those responsible.
“People are free to think that we’re not making the right decisions. We’re all getting death threats by email. At some point this has to stop,” he said.
Christophe Castaner, leader of Macron’s party in parliament, told France Inter radio there had been 322 threats against MPs in 2021 – two-thirds of them against the ruling party.
Updated
Moderna has announced it expects record sales of about $18.5bn (£13.6bn) in contracts for its Covid vaccine in 2022. The US vaccine maker said it could also make about $3.5bn from potential additional purchases, including booster candidates updated for variants.
The company in November said its sales could be in the range of $17bn to $22bn in 2022, according to Reuters.
Moderna said it was in active discussions for more Covid-19 vaccine contracts this year and that it was developing a booster vaccine candidate, called mRNA-1273.529, to target Omicron variant
Booster doses of the company’s current Covid-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, increased neutralising antibody levels against Omicron using doses at 50 micrograms and 100 micrograms, Moderna said.
Updated
Indian states have reserved more than double the Covid hospital beds for children than recommended by federal experts out of fear of being under-prepared, government data shows.
However, doctors say not many youngsters have needed critical care yet.
The country’s health ministry also said on Monday that only 5% to 10% of all those people infected in India have sought hospitalisation, compared with 20% to 23% during the last major wave.
Authorities say most people have shown no or mild symptoms and have recovered quickly at home.
India reported 179,723 new cases on Monday, taking the total to 35.7 million, the highest in the world after the United States. Deaths rose by 146 to 483,936, only behind the tally of the United States and Brazil.
A Covid spike has disrupted businesses in the Philippines, with banks, malls and airlines reducing operations and some schools suspending online classes due to staff sickness.
The Philippines reported a record 33,169 new coronavirus infections on Monday, bringing its overall tally close to three million as the Omicron variant takes its toll, with the overpopulated capital Manila and surrounding provinces worst hit.
Commercial airlines have cancelled more than a hundred domestic and international flights as cases surge, with airlines reporting infections among staff and lower demand due to uncertainty among travellers.
The Southeast Asian nation was gradually easing restrictions late last year as vaccination rates rose and infection rates fell, but authorities were last week forced to tighten mobility curbs to contain a rapid spread.
Pope Francis has said getting vaccinated against coronavirus is a “moral obligation” and denounced how naysayers had been swayed by “baseless information”.
The Associated Press reported:
Francis used some of his strongest words yet calling for people to get vaccinated in a speech to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, an annual event in which he takes stock of the world and sets out the Vatican’s foreign policy goals for the year.
Francis, 85, has generally shied away from speaking about vaccination as a “moral obligation”, though his Covid advisory body has referred to it as a “moral responsibility”. Rather, Francis has termed vaccination as “an act of love” and that refusing to get inoculated was “suicidal”.
On Monday, he went a step further, saying that individuals had a responsibility to care for themselves “and this translates into respect for the health of those around us. Health care is a moral obligation”, he asserted.
He lamented that, increasingly, ideological divides were discouraging people from getting vaccinated.
Updated
Sweden to introduce stricter restrictions including work from home mandate
Stricter pandemic measures are to be introduced in Sweden in response to a rising number of Covid cases and pressure on hospitals, the prime minister has said.
“The situation has deteriorated, without doubt. The level of infections in Sweden is at a historically high level,” Magdalena Andersson told a news conference, according to Reuters.
The new measures include a work from home mandate where possible and a cap on the number of people allowed at public events. Restaurants will have to close at 11pm and guests will have to be seated and in groups no bigger than eight people. Adults are also being asked to limit social contacts indoors.
The measures will be evaluated after two weeks, but are expected to be in place for at least four weeks.
Updated
The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has called for European officials to consider ditching detailed pandemic tracking for Covid in favour of a flu-like monitoring system.
The change would mean treating Covid-19 as an “endemic illness” rather than a pandemic, Sánchez said on Monday. He pointed out that deaths as a proportion of recorded cases has fallen since the initial onset of the pandemic.
The Associated Press quoted Sánchez telling Spanish radio: “I believe that we have the conditions for, with precaution, slowly, opening the debate at the technical level and at the level of health professionals, but also at the European level, to start evaluating the evolution of this disease with different parameters than we have until now.”
Sánchez also announced that Spain is purchasing this month 344,000 pills of a Covid-19 antiviral drug developed by the US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
Despite one of Europe’s most successful vaccination rollouts, with 81% of the country having received a full course of Covid vaccinations, Spain is grappling with an unprecedented surge of coronavirus infections.
Updated
As schools reopen in one part of the world, they are closing in another. Schools across Nepal will close for nearly three weeks after a spike in coronavirus cases, a government spokesman said on Monday.
Nepal reported 841 new cases on Sunday, the biggest single-day jump since September last year, taking its total to 832,589 since the pandemic began. Its death toll from the coronavirus is 11,604.
Deepak Sharma, spokesperson for the education ministry, said schools would remain closed until 29 January, although a campaign to vaccinate children aged 12 to 17 at their schools would go ahead.
“Schools must notify students about the time and date when they need to go to schools and receive the shots,” Sharma told Reuters.
Nepal has provided two shots of Covid-19 vaccines to 36.7% of its population of 30 million since an inoculation drive began a year ago.
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Children in Uganda have finally begun returning to school, after nearly two years off. On Monday, the country ended 83 weeks of full or partial school closures, the longest anywhere in the world.
Uganda first shut its schools in March 2020, after the first coronavirus case was recorded in Africa. Some classes were reopened to students in February 2021, but a total lockdown was imposed again in June.
The shutdown affected more than 10 million students.
Welcoming the reopening of Uganda’s schools, Save the Children warned that “lost learning may lead to high dropout rates in the coming weeks without urgent action”, including what it described as catch-up clubs.
The aid group warned in a statement Monday of a wave of dropouts “as returning students who have fallen behind in their learning fear they have no chance of catching up”.
According to the Associated Press, the school reopenings on Monday caused traffic congestion in some areas of the capital, Kampala. Students walked through the city’s streets carrying their mattresses on their backs, a back-to-boarding school phenomenon not witnessed here for nearly two years.
But schools may yet close again, and soon, with infection numbers on the rise again in Uganda in recent days. Museveni has warned of a possible new lockdown if intensive care units reach 50% occupancy.
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Summary
Here is a brief round-up of the day’s top Covid news stories so far:
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Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid, said the virus is going to pose a very difficult situation for the next three months “at least” but “we can see the end in sight”.
- High levels of T-cells from common cold coronaviruses can provide protection against Covid, an Imperial College London study published on Monday has found, which could inform approaches for second-generation vaccines.
- The UK government is warning that almost all pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid symptoms were unvaccinated in one analysis over several months last year, as it kicks off an advertising campaign encouraging expectant mothers to get boosted.
- Novak Djokovic has won a battle with the Australian government after a court quashed the decision to cancel his visa – but he may still yet lose the war. No sooner had federal circuit judge Anthony Kelly revealed the home affairs minister had agreed to settle the case, than the Australian government’s counsel warned the immigration minister could still decide to use a personal power to cancel Djokovic’s visa anew.
- In the UK, hospitals will be able to use spare capacity in the private sector under a deal struck with the NHS. Under the three-month agreement, private healthcare staff and facilities will be put on standby to support the NHS should hospital admissions or staff absences due to Covid threaten the provision of urgent care.
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India’s health ministry has said that only between five and 10% of Covid patients have needed hospitalisation this time around compared with 20-23% in the previous wave that peaked in May.
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China is battling to stamp out its first outbreak of the Omicron variant, only weeks before the Chinese new year and the Beijing Winter Olympics, with cases recorded in at least two distant provinces.
- The Spanish government is working on rules to limit the retail price of Covid antigen tests, prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on Monday, after shortages were reported in many pharmacies across the country last month.
- People self-testing for Covid should swab their throat as well as their nose when using rapid antigen kits to increase the chances of detecting the Omicron variant, a top Israeli health official said on Monday.
- Indonesian authorities have granted emergency authorisation to five different Covid vaccines as booster shots that will prioritise vulnerable groups.
- Two of New Zealand’s most prominent Covid-19 experts have warned that the country is unprepared to prevent the health system from being overloaded by an Omicron outbreak.
- US Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she tested positive for Covid-19.
- Hungary’s government is considering the option of a fourth Covid-19 vaccine booster shot, Reuters is reporting.
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Israel could have up to nearly 40% of its population infected by Covid during the current wave, prime minister Naftali Bennett has said.
I am now handing over the global coronavirus blog to my colleague Damien Gayle, who will be along shortly. He will be bringing you the latest Covid news from around the world for the next hour.
Updated
China is battling to stamp out its first outbreak of the Omicron variant, just weeks before the Chinese new year and the Beijing Winter Olympics, with cases recorded in at least two distant provinces.
On Monday, health authorities reported 97 new locally transmitted cases for the preceding 24 hours, across several cities. At least 30 cases were in Henan province, while 21 new cases were reported in the Tianjin district of Jinnan, including 15 children aged five to 15.
At least two of the cases detected in Jinnan were reported as Omicron, the latest variant of Covid-19, which is many times more transmissible and is tearing through other countries around the world. In Anyang, Henan province, two Omicron cases were traced to a student who had arrived from Tianjin more than 300 miles (500km) away, officials said. There were 15 cases reported in Anyang for Monday but the breakdown of variant type was not disclosed.
State media have described the outbreak as China’s “first real battle against Omicron”.
Updated
T-cells from common colds can provide Covid protection
High levels of T-cells from common cold coronaviruses can provide protection against Covid, an Imperial College London study published on Monday has found, which could inform approaches for second-generation vaccines.
Reuters reported:
Immunity against Covid is a complex picture, and while there is evidence of waning antibody levels six months after vaccination, T-cells are also believed to play a vital role in providing protection.
The study, which began in September 2020, looked at levels of cross-reactive T-cells generated by previous common colds in 52 household contacts of positive Covid cases shortly after exposure, to see if they went on to develop infection.
It found that the 26 who did not develop infection had significantly higher levels of those T-cells than people who did get infected. Imperial did not say how long protection from the T-cells would last.
“We found that high levels of pre-existing T-cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against Covid-19 infection,” study author Dr Rhia Kundu said.
The authors of the study, published in Nature Communications, said that the internal proteins of the Sars-CoV-2 virus which are targeted by the T-cells could offer an alternative target for vaccine makers.
Updated
The Spanish government is working on rules to limit the retail price of Covid antigen tests, prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on Monday, after shortages were reported in many pharmacies across the country last month.
“The debate we had before and during the Christmas season was the supply of tests, there was a bottleneck,” Sánchez said in an interview with Cadena SER radio station. “Now, we will get into the control of the prices of tests.”
The higher price of antigen tests in Spain during the surge of the Omicron coronavirus variant and the scarcity of tests in pharmacies have raised protests from opposition politicians and consumer groups, many of whom are calling for their sale to be allowed in supermarkets.
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India’s health ministry has said that only between five and 10% of Covid patients have needed hospitalisation this time around compared with 20-23% in the previous wave that peaked in May.
“The situation is dynamic and evolving, therefore, the need for hospitalisation may also change rapidly,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote in a letter to state authorities asking them to regularly review their requirements of healthcare workers.
Updated
Novak Djokovic has won a battle with the Australian government after a court quashed the decision to cancel his visa – but he may still yet lose the war.
No sooner had federal circuit judge Anthony Kelly revealed the home affairs minister had agreed to settle the case, than the Australian government’s counsel warned the immigration minister could still decide to use a personal power to cancel Djokovic’s visa anew.
That means that Alex Hawke, one of the closest political allies of prime minister Scott Morrison, now has a momentous political decision to make: let Djokovic stay and play for a record 21st grand slam singles title; or deport him, which comes with a hefty three-year ban from re-entering Australia.
The harsh border policies that have allowed Australian governments to detain asylum seekers indefinitely are now being directed at one unvaccinated man, who happens to be the world’s No 1 ranked male tennis player.
Djokovic obtained an exemption on the basis he had recently contracted Covid-19, which the judge noted had satisfied a qualified physician and an independent panel set up by the Victorian government.
But a delegate of the home affairs minister cancelled his visa on the basis the tennis star might pose a risk to public health. The government argues recently having Covid by itself does not justify an exemption, because Djokovic has recovered.
NHS likely to be under 'real pressure' for 'next two or three weeks'
Britain’s NHS is likely to be under real pressure for “the next two or three weeks, perhaps longer”, Michael Gove said.
The cabinet minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Our first responsibility at the moment must be to support the NHS, but you quite rightly legitimately ask if we get through – and at the moment I hope and pray that we will get through this difficult period – then there will be better times ahead.
And I think one of the things that we do need to think about is how we live with Covid, how we live with this particular type of coronavirus. There are other coronaviruses which are endemic and with which we live, viruses tend to develop in a way whereby they become less harmful but more widespread.
So, guided by the science, we can look to the progressive lifting of restrictions, and I think for all of us the sooner the better. But we’ve got to keep the NHS safe.
Gove said the prime minister was right in his decision not to introduce extra restrictions. He said he had been at the “more cautious end” in the discussions.
But he added that Boris Johnson had “argued publicly that we would be able to get through this with the booster campaign, so if more were required then we would be ready to put in additional measures”.
“We always keep that under review but his judgment has been vindicated,” he said.
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People self-testing for Covid should swab their throat as well as their nose when using rapid antigen kits to increase the chances of detecting the Omicron variant, a top Israeli health official said on Monday.
The recommendation goes against the advice of the US Food and Drug Administration, which has said manufacturers’ instructions should still be followed and that any incorrect use of throat swabs could pose a safety risk.
On Israeli Army Radio, Sharon Alroy-Preis, Israel’s public health chief, said antigen tests, used widely in the country, are less sensitive than PCR tests in detecting illness.
“In order to increase their sensitivity we will from now on recommend swabbing the throat and the nose. It’s not what the manufacturer instructs but we are instructing this,” she said.
WHO says end of pandemic is 'in sight, but we’re not there'
Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid, said the virus is going to pose a very difficult situation for the next three months “at least” but “we can see the end in sight”.
He told Sky News:
I’m afraid we are moving through the marathon but there’s no actual way to say that we’re at the end – we can see the end in sight, but we’re not there. And there’s going to be some bumps before we get there.
And I can’t tell you how bad they’re going to be, but I can at least tell you what I’m expecting. First of all, this virus is continuing to evolve – we have Omicron but we’ll get more variants.
Secondly, it really is affecting the whole world. And, whilst health services in western Europe are just about coping, in many other parts of the world, they are completely overwhelmed.
And thirdly, it’s really clear that there’s no scope for major restrictions in any country, particularly poor countries. People have just got to keep working and so there are some very tough choices for politicians right now. It’s going to be difficult for the next three months at least.
Asked about a suggestion that there could be coronavirus surges two or three times a year, he added:
The way this virus is behaving, and has behaved really since we first met it, is that it builds up and then surges quite dramatically, and then it comes down again, and then surges again about every three or four months.
It’s difficult to use past behaviour to predict the future. And I don’t like doing that too much. But I would agree that the pattern, I think, that is going to happen with this virus is continued surges, and living with Covid means being able to prepare for these surges and to react and really quickly when they occur.
Life can go on, we can get the economy going again in many countries, but we just have to be really respectful of the virus and that means having really good plans in place for dealing with the surges.
Updated
While all the focus in Australia has been on whether defending champion Novak Djokovic will compete at the Australian Open next week, another major name in the men’s draw is now in doubt.
Nick Kyrgios is a huge doubt after contracting Covid just a week out from the season-opening major.
Kyrgios pulled out of the Sydney Tennis Classic on Monday hours before his match against the Italian firebrand Fabio Fognini. The 26-year-old withdrew from the Melbourne Summer Set last week with a mystery illness that sparked his asthma.
The world No 114 was cleared of Covid at the time, but on Monday confirmed he had contracted the virus. The Australian Open begins on 17 January, giving him a week to recover and be cleared to return.
Updated
Back in the UK today, Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has been asked whether the Omicron wave is over in London but not elsewhere.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I think that at the moment the testing capacity issues, and Christmas and new year, mean that we can’t really rely on cases to tell us what’s going to happen exactly.
At the moment we are seeing a relatively high number of admissions. How long that continues, whether that goes up or goes down, I think is unknown at the moment.
He said the Omicron virus itself is “less severe” than Delta but it is “just as threatening” due to its transmissibility.
Pressed on whether the nation was moving away from a situation where Covid was an “emergency”, Prof Medley added:
I think that that transition is absolutely true. It can’t be an emergency forever.
So at some point it will have to stop being an emergency but that is likely to be a phase out rather than an active point in time where somebody can declare the epidemic over.
It’s going to fade out and disappear much more slowly than that, I think.
Updated
Indonesian authorities have granted emergency authorisation to five different Covid vaccines as booster shots that will prioritise vulnerable groups.
Penny Lukito, head of Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, said Sinovac, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Zifivax vaccines would be distributed as a third vaccine shot in the country.
Lukito added there are several additional vaccines that are currently in the process of clinical trials to obtain emergency use permits.
“We need to give the booster vaccine to maintain vaccine efficacy against Covid-19 infection,” Lukito said at a news conference on Monday.
The health ministry-run booster programme will begin on Wednesday and prioritise elderly and groups of immunocompromised individuals, according to a ministry statement. The government has distributed booster jabs to medical workers since July last year.
Access to vaccines, masks and tests will help us make the awkward transition from pandemic to endemic, argue scientists Erin Mordecai and Mallory Harris.
Read their full opinion piece here.
The Philippines’ health ministry has reported 33,169 new coronavirus cases, marking the third straight day of record-high infections.
In a bulletin, it said total cases had reached almost 3 million, while deaths were at 52,293, after confirming a further 145 deaths on Monday.
The rising number of infections risked overwhelming the healthcare system, health undersecretary Maria Rosiario Vergeire told the ANC news channel, calling on symptomatic people to immediately isolate and get tested.
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China locks down major port city of Tianjin
The major port of Tianjin may be facing China’s first local outbreak of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, less than a month before the winter Olympics open in nearby Beijing.
State broadcaster CCTV said the government has divided Tianjin and its 14 million residents into three levels of restrictions, starting with lockdown areas where people are not allowed to leave their homes at all.
In control areas, each household is allowed to have one family member leave to buy groceries every other day, while in prevention areas, people must remain inside their immediate neighbourhoods.
Buses and trains from Tianjin to Beijing have been suspended and people are being told not to leave the city unless they have urgent business, the Associated Press reported.
The city began mass testing of all its residents on Sunday after a cluster of 20 children and adults tested positive for Covid, including at least two with the Omicron variant. A further 20 people tested positive on Sunday, bringing the total to 40. Officials said earlier that the virus has been circulating so the number of cases could rise.
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Healthcare and frontline workers, along with people aged 60 and above with health problems, queued today at vaccination centres across India to receive a third Covid jab.
The doses, which India is calling a “precautionary” shot instead of a booster, were given as new confirmed coronavirus infections rocketed to over 179,000 on Monday, nearly an eightfold increase in a week.
Hospitalisations, while still relatively low, are also beginning to rise in large, crowded cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, according to the Associated Press. It reported:
India is better prepared now than it was last year when the delta variant overwhelmed hospitals. When cases spiked in March last year, not even 1% of its population of nearly 1.4 billion was fully vaccinated. India’s creaky medical infrastructure meant millions likely died.
Since then, the government has bolstered healthcare, built oxygen plants and added beds to hospitals. About 47% of the population is now fully vaccinated and many have antibodies from previous infections. This may provide “hybrid immunity” – a combination of immunity from previous infections and vaccines – comparable to boosters, said Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, an Indian epidemiologist.
Although the Omicron variant seems to cause less severe illness than the Delta variant, India’s massive population, crowded cities, and understaffed hospitals mean that health systems may still become strained. Elections may further spread the more infectious variant, allowing it to infect vulnerable people that previous variants didn’t reach.
But the biggest fear is that hospitals will be overwhelmed because of sick medical personnel, said Dr Vineeta Bal, an immunologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in the city of Pune.
“There would be beds [in hospitals] but no people to take care of individuals,” she said.
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Lateral flow tests in England will be free for “as long as we need”, Michael Gove has confirmed.
The levelling up secretary told Sky News it was “impossible to predict” how long that would be. But he said:
But it is the case that in this country lateral flow tests are free, unlike in many other jurisdictions. They’re a vital tool in making sure that we can curb the spread of the infection and also that people who are needed to isolate do so.
We are moving to a situation – we’re not there yet – but we are moving to a situation where it is possible to say that we can live with Covid and that the pressure on the NHS and on vital public services is abating.
But it’s absolutely vital to recognise that we are not there yet and as the health secretary has reminded us, there will be some difficult weeks ahead and that is why we all need to continue to test, continue – if we are positive – to isolate and continue broadly to support the NHS as it goes through a challenging period. But one in which the frontline professionals are doing an amazing job.
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There is still pressure on British hospitals and the country is not yet in a position to say it can live with Covid, senior minister Michael Gove said today.
Asked how long rapid tests would be provided for free, Gove, who is housing minister, that they were a vital tool in curbing a pandemic that was not yet over.
“We are moving to a situation where it is possible to say that we can live with Covid and that the pressure on the NHS and on vital public services is abating,” he told Sky News.
“But it’s absolutely vital to recognise that we are not there yet … there will be some difficult weeks ahead.”
Updated
Hello. Tom Ambrose here and I will be bringing you all the latest Covid news from around the world.
We start with the news that, in the UK, hospitals will be able to use spare capacity in the private sector under a deal struck with the NHS.
Under the three-month agreement, private healthcare staff and facilities will be put on standby to support the NHS should hospital admissions or staff absences due to Covid threaten the provision of urgent care. Patients that can be referred include some of those waiting for cancer surgery.
The NHS has also been asked to look at using spare capacity in gyms and education centres to create “super-surge” wards on top of their usual surge capacity.
Nightingale hubs are already being created in the grounds of some hospitals as part of a move to create up to 4,000 extra beds.
Health and social care secretary Sajid Javid said:
This agreement demonstrates the collaboration across our healthcare services to create an additional safeguard that ensures people can continue to get the care they need from our world-leading NHS, whenever they need it.
Updated
Summary of key developments
- The UK government is warning that almost all pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid symptoms were unvaccinated in one analysis over several months last year, as it kicks off an advertising campaign encouraging expectant mothers to get boosted.
- An Australian court has quashed the decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa last week, meaning the visa he came to Australia on stands, and he will be released from detention and get his passport and other personal effects back.
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China has detected more Omicron cases as cities tighten restrictions.
- Some of Thailand’s tourism hotspots will reopen to fully vaccinated international tourists from Tuesday, as the country tries to balance the risks posed by the Omicron variant with the need to boost the travel sector.
- Two of New Zealand’s most prominent Covid-19 experts have warned that the country is unprepared to prevent the health system from being overloaded by an Omicron outbreak.
- US Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she tested positive for Covid-19.
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Germany will study how reliable rapid antigen tests are in detecting the Omicron variant of Covid-19, health minister Karl Lauterbach said on Sunday.
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Israel could have up to nearly 40% of its population infected by Covid during the current wave, prime minister Naftali Bennett has said.
- Downing Street is facing calls to ensure that Boris Johnson will be personally interviewed by the Sue Gray inquiry about alleged No 10 gatherings during the first lockdown, after it emerged he may have been present at a “bring your own booze” party.
Updated
Hungary’s government is considering the option of a fourth Covid-19 vaccine booster shot, Reuters is reporting.
The country’s daily tally of new Covid-19 infections could exceed 13,000 in the new wave of the pandemic, the minister for human resources reportedly told Inforadio on Monday morning.
Court quashes Novak Djokovic’s visa decision
Judge Anthony Kelly has just read out a minute agreed to by both the government and Djokovic, where he quashes the decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa, orders government to pay costs, and for Djokovic to be released from detention in 30 minutes with his passport and personal effects released to him.
The minute notes Djokovic was allowed until 8.30am when he was originally detained to respond to the notification to cancel his visa, but the decision was made at 7.42am.
It also found if the player had had more time he could have consulted wider and responded further than he was able to.
Follow our live blog on the verdict here.
Updated
Some lively scenes have emerged from Melbourne, Australia where Novak Djokovic is appealing in court against the cancellation of his Australian visa.
Supporters continue to hold placards outside the immigration detention hotel where the tennis star is staying.
Others have rallied outside the federal court of Australia where the athlete is in the midst of a legal battle over his visa to enter the country and play in the Australian Open later this month.
Updated
More on the Novak Djokovic court appeal as the tennis star makes a bid to reinstate his Australian visa.
The hearing is back underway in the federal circuit court after a long adjournment earlier today.
About one hour ago a white van left the Park Hotel after Djokovic was allowed to move to another, unknown address, so he can watch the court proceedings remotely.
Christopher Tran, counsel for the federal government, flagged that the injunction keeping Novak Djokovic in Australia is due to expire on Monday afternoon and Judge Anthony Kelly extended it to 8pm which means the hearing will be hopefully finalised today.
The expedited hearing comes ahead of a looming Tennis Australia deadline of Tuesday for Djokovic to be included in the draw to play the Australian Open.
Here’s a useful rundown of the first half of the hearing below.
China detects more Omicron cases as cities tighten restrictions
China has reported more cases of the Omicron variant on Monday, with authorities on high alert over flare-ups in major cities just weeks ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Authorities are battling several outbreaks - including in Xi’an where 13 million city residents are currently in their third week of lockdown.
Fears have also grown about a cluster of infections in the northern city of Tianjin, which was linked to two Omicron cases reported on Monday in the city of Anyang around 400 kilometres (250 miles) away, Agence France-Press reports.
“The general public should not leave Tianjin unless essential to do so,” city officials said in a statement Sunday.
Those who need to leave must obtain official permission and test negative for the virus within 48 hours of their departure, it added.
Schools and university campuses have been closed, and trains into Beijing from Tianjin have been cancelled.
Road checkpoints have been set up for vehicles entering the capital.
Tianjin - just 150 kilometres from Beijing - has already ordered the testing of all 14 million residents.
Another 21 cases were reported in the city Monday, although the variant of the virus wasn’t confirmed.
Authorities in the city of Anyang in central Henan province also announced the testing of all residents - more than five million people - over the weekend. The city on Monday reported two Omicron cases linked to the Tianjin cluster.
Henan reported 60 new cases Monday but did not break down the tally by variant. The provincial capital Zhengzhou has closed schools and kindergartens, and stopped restaurants from accepting dine-in customers.
India reported 179,723 new Covid-19 infections on Monday, the highest figure since late May, health ministry data showed.
The Asian nation also recorded another 146 deaths taking the death toll to 483,936 although many believe the actual number to be much higher.
Some of Thailand’s tourism hotspots will reopen to fully vaccinated international tourists from Tuesday, as the country tries to balance the risks posed by the Omicron variant with the need to boost the travel sector.
Tourists will be able to enter Krabi, Phang-Nga, Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan and Ko Tao, provided they stay at an approved hotel for at least seven days. Phuket reopened in July last year under a similar arrangement, which also requires tourists to be tested prior to and during their stay.
Thailand’s tourism industry has been devastated by the pandemic. Almost 40 million foreigners arrived in Thailand in 2019, but visitor numbers fell to just 6.7 million in 2020 as Covid-19 halted international travel. The government previously eased entry requirements across the country last year in an attempt to boost the economy, but then suspended arrivals late in December in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant.
To reduce infections, the government has also encouraged people to work from home, and has banned the consumption of alcohol in restaurants after 9pm in high risk areas, including the capital Bangkok.
Thailand has vaccinated roughly 70% of the population. On Monday, 7,926 new cases and 13 deaths were reported.
South Korea is reporting a daily rise of 3,007 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 34 deaths, according to data recently published by the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 86.4 % of the population have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine and 83.9 % have received at least two doses.
An alert reader has also shared their experience of living in South Korea throughout the pandemic.
“We’ve had minimal disruption to our daily lives (bar wanting to travel abroad during vacation) the last two years, and still have low numbers,” English teacher Dominic Evans told the Guardian. “Everybody wears masks in public. Showing proof of vaccination is compulsory now for most places and vaccine uptake is shooting along.
“The Korean situation shows you can diligently ‘live with Covid’, control the numbers, still have a normal daily life, and still have public services and day to day services running smoothly.”
Updated
Germany is reporting a daily rise of 25,255 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 52 deaths, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
New Zealand not prepared for Omicron outbreak, experts warn
Two of New Zealand’s most prominent Covid-19 experts have warned that the country is unprepared to prevent the health system from being overloaded by an Omicron outbreak, with likely fatal consequences.
Otago University’s Dr Nick Wilson and Dr Michael Baker also said it was only a “matter of weeks” before the highly transmissible variant seeped into the community due to border failures.
Wilson said that despite New Zealand’s high vaccination rates, the number of adults who had received a booster dose of the vaccine – essential for minimising the effects of Omicron – remains dangerously low, and noted that the vaccine rollout for children between five and 11 still had not begun.
Read the full story here.
China has reported 157 new confirmed coronavirus cases for 9 January, down slightly from 165 a day earlier, its health authority said on Monday.
Of the new infections, 97 were locally transmitted, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, compared with 92 a day earlier. Most of the new local cases were in Henan, Tianjin and Shaanxi.
According to Bloomberg, China saw its first community spread of the Omicron variant after two cases were detected in the port city of Tianjin and later confirmed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDCP).
The news publication said the cases were known after a local branch of the CCDCP completed genome sequencing, citing a CCTV report.
The infections were reported to be from the same transmission chain but officials have yet to establish if the strain is the same as imported Omicron cases reported earlier in Tianjin, according to the report.
China also reported 42 new asymptomatic cases, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, down from 46 a day earlier.
There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll at 4,636. Mainland China had 103,776 confirmed cases as of 9 January.
Djokovic’s counsel Nicholas Wood has said the delegate for the minister making the decision to cancel his visa has not provided evidence that previous infection from Covid-19 is not a valid reason for medical exemption from being vaccinated against Covid-19 prior to entering Australia.
And in that case, the only evidence that can be relied upon is the Atagi guidelines, which did say vaccination can be deferred for up to six months from infection as a valid reason for a medical exemption.
Djokovic’s visa was cancelled at 7.29am, and the tennis player was informed at 7.42am. He had been asking for until 8.30am to respond to the cancellation notice, and needed to speak to people. The government made the decision on the basis of what he had provided up to that point.
The government suggested “a response” made from Djokovic counts as responding to the notice to cancel the visa, while Djokovic’s counsel argues that reading would change it from someone having a right to a response, to the delegate for the minister having discretion over how much or little of a response from someone counts in responding to the notice.
In submissions, the government argued that to allow such extensions of time would amount to filibustering.
Follow all the live updates here.
Updated
Some more updates from Guardian reporter Josh Taylor who is currently watching Djokovic’s court appeal unfold.
Djokovic’s counsel, Nicholas Wood, went through the process medical practitioners go through to register someone on the Australian Immunisation Register for people who register as not being able to get vaccinated against Covid-19 on medical grounds.
Under “temporary vaccine exemption”, it allows people to tick a box for “acute major medical illness”, and then the guidelines refer to the Atagi advice document on major medical illnesses that mention having a PCR-confirmed Covid-19 infection in the past six months.
“This is the critical Atagi document ... it is an eminently clear expression by Atagi ... that a valid reason for a temporary exemption for an acute major medical condition ... [includes a] PCR confirmed infection,” Wood said.
He says this advice is unremarkable; someone who has recently had Covid-19 has some level of natural immunity from having had Covid-19. He said vaccination “is not advisable” and would have limited utility for someone who has recently had Covid-19, combined with the risk of an adverse effect. Those are his words.
Tennis number one Novak Djokovic is currently appealing in court against the cancellation of his Australian visa ahead of the Australian Open.
The hearing kicked off at 10am AEST in Melbourne, which was 11pm GMT or 6pm EST. The 34-year-old is being held at a quarantine hotel in Melbourne.
Judge Anthony Kelly has noted that the ONLY ground the delegate relied on when deciding to cancel Djokovic’s visa is that: “the presence of its holder in Australia is or may be, or would or might be, a risk to: (i) the health, safety or good order of the Australian community or a segment of the Australian community”.
Djokovic’s counsel Nicholas Wood notes in the request for declaration of vaccination, Djokovic claimed he cannot be vaccinated on medical grounds.
When prompted to provide proof, Djokovic uploaded the medical exemption document from the CMO at Tennis Australia.
Kelly said a “matter that has really preoccupied me” is the status attached to the Tennis Australia document, and questions why it was not accepted by the delegate making the decision on the visa:
Here, a professor and an eminently qualified physician have produced and provided to the applicant a medical exemption. Further to that, that medical exemption and the basis on which it was given was separately given by a further independent expert specialist panel established by the Victorian state government and that document was in the hands of the delegate.
The point I am agitated about is ‘what more could this man have done?’
Wood also accused the Australian government’s delegate of an “utter paucity of evidence” in the section of the notice in which they were required to explain why grounds to cancel the visa exist.
Wood argued it is “manifestly incorrect” that the biosecurity determination requires both a declaration of an exemption and evidence of the exemption - only the former is required, Djokovic’s team argues.
He also said the Department of Home Affairs, before [Djokovic] left, said Djokovic met the requirements for quarantine-free travel.
He’s made the declaration, provided the evidence even though it was not required, and then he received [notice] from the Department of Home Affairs ... saying the application has been assessed and meets the required for quarantine-free travel.”
Wood says any reasonable person would have considered he ticked every box.
Updated
US Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced she tested positive for Covid-19.
In a statement on Sunday evening, the office of the New York progressive said she was “experiencing symptoms and recovering at home”.
“The congresswoman received her booster shot this fall and encourages everyone to get their booster and follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance”.
UK government urges all pregnant women to get immediate Covid jab
The UK government is warning that almost all pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid symptoms were unvaccinated in one analysis over several months last year, as it kicks off an advertising campaign encouraging expectant mothers to get boosted.
The campaign is calling on pregnant women not to wait to get either their first, second or booster jab. It will highlight the risks of Covid-19 to mothers and babies, with testimonies of pregnant women who have had the vaccine to be broadcast on radio and social media.
The government says it has been clear, along with medical experts and institutions, that Covid-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant women and have no impact on fertility.
The Department of Health and Social Care cited statistics from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System which showed 96.3% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid-19 symptoms between May and October were unvaccinated, a third of whom required respiratory support.
About 20% of women admitted to hospital with the virus need to be delivered pre-term to help them recover, and 20% of their babies need care in the neonatal unit, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Read the full story here.
Germany to study rapid antigen-test reliability for Omicron
Germany will study how reliable rapid antigen tests are in detecting the Omicron variant of Covid-19, health minister Karl Lauterbach said on Sunday.
“We do not know exactly how well these tests work for Omicron,” Lauterbach said on public broadcasting channel ARD, adding the results of the assessment would become available within the next few weeks.
It was clear, however, that “the alternative not to test at all ... would be far too dangerous,” said Lauterbach, a scientist and physician.
Omicron now accounts for 44% of coronavirus infections in Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious disease said. On Sunday, RKI registered 36,552 newly reported Covid infections within 24 hours, three times the number a week earlier.
Late last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also released a statement saying rapid antigen tests appear less sensitive to Omicron than previous variants.
“Early data suggests that antigen tests do detect the Omicron variant but may have reduced sensitivity,” the FDA said at the time.
40% of Israel could be infected in current wave, PM says
Israel could see up to nearly 40% of its population infected by Covid during the current wave, prime minister Naftali Bennett has said.
Bennett described the Omicron variant as a “storm that is sweeping the world” in a series of tweets on Sunday:
Information presented at the cabinet meeting indicates that here, in Israel, between two to four million citizens in total will be infected during this current wave.
When standing in line it is difficult to see the successes and evaluation steps we have made, extremely important steps that will save lives. I understand the frustration, but ask you to be aware of that as well.
A country of just 9.4 million, Israel has seen infections nearly quadruple over the past week compared to the previous week. The health ministry reported 17,518 new infections on Saturday.
אזרחים יקרים,
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) January 9, 2022
קודם כל, אני מבין את התסכול וקשוב אליו.
גם לי יש ילדים במערכת החינוך, וגם אנחנו מנסים לתמרן במצב המורכב הזה.
אני רוצה להסביר לכם כמה דברים, שיתנו לכם הבנה טובה יותר על המתרחש.
ראשית, האומיקרון לא דומה לאלפא ולא דומה לדלתא. הוא מדבק בהיקפים שלא הכרנו. >>
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog, ready to take you through all the Covid news this Monday.
Let’s dive right in with the news that Israel could see up to nearly 40% of its population infected by Covid during the current wave, according to the latest data.
“Information presented at the cabinet meeting indicates that here, in Israel, between two to four million citizens in total will be infected during this current wave,” prime minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday in a series of tweets.
A country of just 9.4 million, Israel has seen infections nearly quadruple over the past week compared to the previous week. The health ministry reported 17,518 new infections on Saturday.
Germany has said it will launch a study into how reliable rapid antigen tests are in detecting the Omicron variant, health minister Karl Lauterbach announced on Sunday.
“We do not know exactly how well these tests work for Omicron,” Lauterbach said in an interview with public broadcasting channel ARD, adding the results of the study would become available within the next few weeks.
Late last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also released a statement saying rapid antigen tests appear less sensitive to Omicron than previous variants.
“Early data suggests that antigen tests do detect the Omicron variant but may have reduced sensitivity,” the FDA said at the time.
Here is a recap of some of the main developments so far today.
Europe:
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Greece sets 1 February deadline for booster jabs. Those who have not received their coronavirus booster jabs will be barred from most indoor venues.
- France should not impose mandatory vaccination and would not be the most efficient way to encourage people to get vaccinated, a government spokesperson said. More than 105,000 people took to the streets on Saturday in protest.
- Downing Street is facing calls to ensure that Boris Johnson will be personally interviewed by the Sue Gray inquiry about alleged No 10 gatherings during the first lockdown, after it emerged he may have been present at a “bring your own booze” party that month.
- Boris Johnson has been warned by a Conservative rebel ringleader he faces a massive revolt from his own MPs if he does not end all coronavirus restrictions this month.
- Germany will study how reliable rapid antigen tests are in detecting the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said on Sunday.
- More than 150,000 people have died in the UK from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
- Covid should be treated as an endemic virus similar to flu, and ministers should end mass vaccination after the booster campaign, the former chairman of the UK’s vaccine taskforce has said.
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Lateral flow tests in the UK will remain free, education secretary Nadhim Zahawi insisted amid reports they could be scaled back despite soaring Covid cases.
- London’s public health chief said the Omicron variant “may have passed its peak” in the UK capital.
- The boss of one of London’s busiest hospitals has said he is worried about losing staff when new rules come in requiring them to be vaccinated, BBC News reports.
Asia:
- The US and Japan have reached an agreement to keep American troops within their bases amid concerns over a surge in Covid cases that has been linked to US military bases.
- Three people were arrested for breaking India’s Covid measures after police raided a dog’s lavish birthday party in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city.
- The Philippines reported a record number of daily infections with 28,707 new cases, up from 26,458 cases the previous day.
- Tianjin, a major Chinese port city near the capital Beijing, has begun mass-testing its 14 million residents after a cluster of 20 children and adults tested positive for Covid-19, including at least two with the Omicron variant.
Africa:
- Africa has registered a total of more than 10m cases since the start of the pandemic, according to figures from the Africa Centres for Disease Control.
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South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Libya are among the countries with the highest number of cases on the continent.
Middle East:
- The dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin, 48, died after contracting Covid-19 in a hospital in Tehran after being released on a furlough from prison. Abtin was serving a six-year sentence for “anti-government propaganda” and “actions against national security”.
- Kuwait and Qatar reported record daily Covid cases over the weekend. Kuwait reported 2,999 new cases on Sunday and Qatar on Saturday reported 3,487 new cases.
Americas:
- Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa asked president Jair Bolsonaro to retract statements he made criticising the Covid vaccination for children.
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