That’s all from me, Samantha Lock, for today’s blog.
In the meantime you can follow along with all Covid developments here.
Catch you on our next Covid blog shortly.
If you have any suggestions or ideas feel free to contact me via Twitter at @Samantha__Lock or email samantha.lock@theguardian.com
Summary
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France pushes to accelerate update of Covid-19 booster shots for elderly and vulnerable citizens. President Emmanuel Macron said a third injection would be made available to those aged 50-64 from early December. Anyone over 65 who was vaccinated more than six months ago will need to get a booster shot by mid-December for their “health pass” to remain valid, Macron said.
- Covid cases surge in Greece with a record of 8,613 new cases in the last 24 hours - the highest since the pandemic began. Cases have more than doubled in less than a fortnight.
- Virus deaths in Russia hit daily record of 1,211 Covid-19 deaths, the highest daily death toll in the pandemic, and 39,160 new cases. Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered many Russians last month to stay off work between 30 October and 7 November.
- Latvia, one of the least vaccinated countries in the European Union, is facing its most severe outbreak of Covid-19 yet.
- The World Health Organization has warned there could be shortfall of up to two billion syringes in 2022, which threatens to hamper vaccine efforts globally is production does not improve, AFP reports.
- Loved ones reunite at US-Mexico border as Covid travel restrictions lifted.
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UK health secretary says staff must be fully jabbed by April 2022 or risk dismissal raising concerns 32,000 care home staff and tens of thousands of NHS workers could quit.
- Daily Covid-related deaths in the UK rose above 250 again, with 262 reported on Tuesday.
- Covid-19 patients in Singapore who remain unvaccinated by choice will have to pay for their hospitalisation bills from 8 December, the government has ruled.
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Pfizer asks FDA to approve Covid booster shots for all US adults. Older Americans and other vulnerable groups have had access to a third dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine since September but the Food and Drug Administration has said it would move quickly to expand boosters to younger ages if warranted.
- Moderna also applied for European authorisation of its Covid-19 vaccine in children aged 6-11 years, weeks after it delayed a similar filing with US regulators.
- The European Union drugs regulator is set to authorise the use of two monoclonal antibodies to treat Covid-19 patients in coming days, two EU sources told Reuters, in its first approvals of such therapies.
- The US will buy another $1 billion worth of the Covid-19 pill made by Merck & Co Inc and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, the companies said on Tuesday.
- Canada authorised the use of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine as a booster shot for people 18 years of age and older.
Pfizer asks FDA to approve Covid booster shots for all adults
Pfizer asked US regulators to allow boosters of its Covid-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings.
Older Americans and other groups particularly vulnerable to the virus have had access to a third dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine since September. But the Food and Drug Administration has said it would move quickly to expand boosters to younger ages if warranted.
Pfizer is submitting early results of a booster study in 10,000 people to make its case that it’s time to further expand the booster campaign, AP reports.
While all three vaccines used in the US continue to offer strong protection against severe Covid-19 illness and death, the shots’ effectiveness against milder infection can wane over time.
Pfizer’s new study concluded a booster could restore protection against symptomatic infection to about 95%, even as the extra-contagious delta variant was surging. Side effects were similar to those seen with the company’s first two shots.
Covid cases surge in Greece
Daily cases of coronavirus were on Tuesday at their highest since the pandemic began in Greece in February last year, as hospitals started to buckle under the pressure of rising infections.
Greece notched up a record of 8,613 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, the National Organisation of Public Health said, after cases more than doubled in less than a fortnight.
Forty-six people died of the disease on Tuesday, after 65 a day earlier.
The north of the country, where inoculation rates are lower than in other regions, has been worst hit in recent days.
In the second city Thessaloniki, management at a key hospital fighting Covid said it was overwhelmed with patients.
Nikos Kapravelos, head of the emergency department at the Papanikolaou Hospital, at the weekend warned against a new spike similar to during the second wave in November last year.
Health authorities on Friday made Covid passes mandatory for open-air restaurants and cafes, as well as indoor public spaces. Face masks are still mandatory indoors and at large outdoor gatherings.
A very good morning to you all from a rainy start over here in Sydney, Australia.
I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the Covid headlines from around the world for the next short while.
First up, a few numbers out of Australia.
The state of NSW recorded 216 new local cases and three deaths over the past 24 hours.
Victoria has recorded 1,003 new Covid-19 cases today, with 14 people infected with the virus dying in the last reporting period.
Country-wide, 81.09% of the population aged over 16 are fully vaccinated.
Following up from our earlier post (21.09 GMT) on fears tens of thousands of UK medical staff quitting over April 2022’s vaccine mandate, my colleague Clea Skopeliti spoke to three NHS workers on the policy. (Some names have been changed.)
“We should be setting the example to patients”
Tom, a 41-year-old physiotherapist in Leeds, received his booster jab last weekend and believes health workers have a responsibility to set an example for their patients. “When I initially qualified I was expected to be vaccinated against diseases like hepatitis – it seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do, given that we’re regularly seeing vulnerable members of society,” he says. He reasoned that while existing health workers will not have known about a Covid vaccine requirement before they took on the job, the profession requires adaptability “when the healthcare environment changes … [which] obviously Covid has done on a massive level”.
“It’s good to encourage people to protect themselves”
Mary, a 29-year-old junior doctor in a hospital in the East Midlands, is fully vaccinated and, while broadly in favour of compulsory vaccinations, wishes the issue could be approached differently. “I’m of the opinion that it’s good to encourage people to protect themselves,” she says, but as the issue of transmission among vaccinated people still remains, there should be “more clarity for the reasons behind it”.
“We respect patients’ choices, why doesn’t that apply to us?”
Anne, a student nurse in Yorkshire who has not had the vaccine over concerns about potential side effects, is against the mandate. The 20-year-old, who is on placement at a hospital, says she “suffers anxiety every day” in case she’s confronted by vocal staff about her choice. “There will be a large number of people who feel like me but wouldn’t stick their heads over the parapet,” she says.
The New York Times has published an illuminating report on the bitter dispute between Moderna and the US National Institutes of Health over Covid vaccine patent rights.
The NIS, a public biomedical research agency, says three of its scientists co-designed with Moderna scientists the genetic sequence for the Covid vaccine to produce an immune response.
Moderna says they did not.
Talks to resolve the dispute have rumbled on for over a year. The US government may decide to take Moderna to court.
The implications are potentially huge: If the agency scientists are co-named on the patent, “the federal government could have more of a say in which companies manufacture the vaccine, which in turn could influence which countries get access,” The Times reports.
It would also secure a nearly unfettered right to license the technology, which could bring millions into the federal treasury.
The fight comes amid mounting frustration in the US government and elsewhere with Moderna’s limited efforts to get its vaccine to poorer countries. The company, which has not previously brought a product to market, received nearly $10 billion in taxpayer funding to develop the vaccine, test it and provide doses to the federal government. It has already lined up supply deals worth about $35 billion through the end of 2022.
Read the full report here.
Here’s a longer write-up from Angelique Chrisafis in Paris of our earlier live post (19.59 GMT) – on President Emmanuel Macron’s acceleration of France’s Covid booster jab roll-out.
Macron has called for an acceleration of Covid-19 booster shots for elderly and vulnerable people in France and announced that many citizens will need a third vaccination for a valid health pass from next month.
In a televised address, the French president said “the pandemic is not over” and warned of the emergence of a fifth wave of infections in Europe, citing a significant rise in cases in the UK and Germany. He said the incidence rate of Covid infections in France had also recently risen.
In a speech from the Élysée Palace – his ninth televised speech to the nation since the start of the pandemic – Macron said mask-wearing would be maintained in schools, and social distancing and mask-wearing in enclosed public spaces must continue. He said vaccination would be stepped up, adding: “To those not yet vaccinated: get vaccinated. Get vaccinated to protect yourselves. Get vaccinated to live normally.”
Although 75% of French people have received two doses of vaccine, the campaign to administer a third booster shot six months after the first has not been quickly taken up by those who are eligible. A third dose is currently available to those aged over 65 or with medical conditions that make them vulnerable, such as heart or respiratory problems. But only about half of those eligible have booked a third injection.
Updated
In the UK there are fears 32,000 care home staff and tens of thousands of NHS workers could quit after the health secretary said staff must be fully jabbed by April 2022 or risk dismissal.
While 90% of NHS staff have been inoculated with two shots of a Covid vaccine, about 103,000 have not.
Health secretary Sajid Javid appeared to disclose to MPs when making the announcement about the NHS that, with Thursday’s deadline for care home staff imminent, as many as 32,000 of them have still not yet been jabbed.
Other countries including France, Italy and the US have already made vaccination compulsory, he added. Some hospitals in the US have recently fired small numbers of employees after they refused to get immunised.
The union Unison, which represents both NHS and care home staff, said there would be “dire consequences” for care homes from Javid’s “draconian approach”.
Read my colleague Denis Campbell’s full report here.
Updated
A cargo of 793,900 Covid vaccine doses arrived in the Phillipines from the German government today, completing a 1.6 million dose donation through the Covax programme.
The World Health Organisation said over 28.77 million doses had been delivered to the Phillipines via its Covax programme so far.
The Philippines has jabbed at least 64,947,366 shots in arms. “Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 30% of the country’s population,” Reuters’ Covid tracker estimates.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the donation on Twitter.
Thank you, #Germany, for your strong support to @WHO, #COVAX and your contributions to #VaccinEquity in the #Philippines 🇵🇭.https://t.co/doTYpFA0jg
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 9, 2021
Updated
Poland reported 13,644 new Covid cases on Tuesday, reported by local media Polskie Radio.
Infections have ticked upwards for over a month. This time last week, the country has a seven-day average of 7,504 new infections a day.
Poland also recorded 220 new Covid deaths in the last 24 hours. Last Tuesday the seven-day average was 81 deaths a day.
New cases continue to be driven by Mazowieckie province, including the capital Warsaw, which saw 2,823 new positive results.
There are 11,019 people in Polish hospitals with Covid and a further 381,895 people are quarantining.
Updated
France says booster shots will be part of Health Pass
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that from 15 December, a valid Health Pass will require a Covid booster jab for the over-65s and vulnerable groups, in a move that seemed to signal a third shot will be required in future to fulfil vaccine mandates.
Macron said in a televised speech that the rise in Covid cases and hospitalisations was alarming, calling on all citizens to get vaccinated as soon as possible, Reuters reported.
“Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated to protect yourselves. Get vaccinated to live normally,” he said.
Daily Covid-related deaths in the UK rose above 250 again today, with 262 reported. Here’s that rise in context.
As you can see, daily deaths have climbed gradually since July, and have regularly been above 100-a-day since late-August.
Updated
France registered 12,476 new confirmed Covid infections on Tuesday, the highest level since 8 September, health ministry data showed.
The total number of cases now stands at 7.23 million and the sliding seven-day average of new infections rose further to over 8,700.
The closely watched incidence rate - the number of new infections per week per 100,000 people - rose further to 91, the highest since mid-September and now nearly double the official alert level of 50.
The government uses the incidence rate to decide on regional and national lockdown measures. In dozens of French departments, children again have to put on masks in school as the incidence rate in their area is above the national average.
The president Emmanuel Macron is due to address the nation on the coronavirus situation around 7pm GMT (8pm Paris time).
Morocco will end a night curfew aimed at combating the spread Covid that it introduced in March 2020 starting from Wednesday, it said on Tuesday, after a fall in cases from the peak during the summer.
Morocco has administered more coronavirus vaccine doses than any other African country, inoculating 24 million people out of a population of 36 million, and has imposed a vaccine pass for travel and access to public places.
As we mentioned here earlier, AstraZeneca is to create a new vaccines unit as the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker plans for the future of its coronavirus shot beyond the pandemic.
The company said the reorganisation would bring together people who had previously been based in different parts of the business, and will be dedicated to the Covid-19 vaccine and tweaked versions to deal with new variants of Sars-CoV-2.
Here is my colleague Jasper Jolly’s story:
Summary
Here is a recap of some of the main developments from today:
- Canada authorised the use of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine as a booster shot for people 18 years of age and older.
- The UK reported another 33,117 coronavirus cases and a further 262 deaths.
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Northern Ireland’s health minister announced a public consultation on a proposal for compulsory Covid and flu vaccination for new health and social care workers. Robin Swann said requiring existing staff to get jabbed could be counterproductive and could further destabilise a workforce that is already severed depleted.
- AstraZeneca is to create a new vaccines unit as the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker plans for the future of its coronavirus shot beyond the pandemic. The company said the reorganisation would bring together people who had previously been based in different parts of the business, and will be dedicated to the Covid-19 vaccine and tweaked versions to deal with new variants of Sars-CoV-2. Story here.
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Russia said the nationwide workplace shutdown it ended this week had helped turn the tide on a wave of Covid cases, even as officials reported the largest one-day death toll of the pandemic so far. As all but a handful of Russia’s 80-plus regions ended a “non-working” period from 30 October to 7 November that was ordered by the president Vladimir Putin, the government coronavirus taskforce reported a record one-day death toll of 1,211. Many regions that have lifted the workplace shutdown will now require visitors to present a QR code on their mobile phones when visiting cafes, restaurants or shopping centres to prove they have been vaccinated or previously had the virus.
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All 1.4 million NHS staff in England will have to be vaccinated against Covid by next spring if they want to keep their jobs, Sajid Javid confirmed to MPs. The health secretary has decided to press ahead with making jabs compulsory despite health unions and some doctors’ organisations voicing strong opposition. The move means that about 100,000 frontline personnel who have not yet had both doses of Covid vaccine will have to get jabbed or face dismissal. Story here + roundup of countries around the world that have brought in vaccine mandates here.
- More than 75,000 excess deaths have taken place in private homes in England and Wales since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to analysis of Office for National Statistics data by PA. A total of 75,474 excess deaths in homes in England and Wales were registered between 7 March 2020 and 29 October 2021, according to the analysis. Of this number, just 8,824 - or 12% - were deaths that involved Covid-19.
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France’s public health authority recommended people under 30 be given Pfizer’s Covid vaccine when available instead of Moderna’s jab, which carried comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems. The Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS), which does not have legal power to ban or license drugs but acts as an adviser to the French health sector, cited “very rare” risks linked to myocarditis, a heart disease, that had shown up in recent data on the Moderna vaccine and in a French study published on Monday.
- A group of hospitals in the Netherlands called for the government to take new measures to stem rising Covid cases, saying they are “heading straight for a healthcare disaster” with neither space nor staff to handle more patients with coronavirus. In a letter to Mark Rutte’s government, the five hospitals in southern province of Limburg said: “We are heading straight for a healthcare disaster and the whole system is becoming jammed. We’re convinced the rest of the Netherlands will be following us shortly.”
Updated
As we’ve reported today, the UK has become the latest country to introduce Covid vaccine mandates after the government announced all NHS workers would need to be jabbed by next spring.
Here is a useful rundown of the vaccine mandates introduced around the world:
Canada authorises Pfizer Covid vaccine booster for adults
Canada has authorised the use of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid vaccine as a booster shot for people 18 years of age and older, Health Canada said in a statement.
The clearance of the booster shot, which can be taken at least six months after the primary regimen, would help people get additional protection against the coronavirus at a time when the Delta variant has spurred a surge in cases and hospitalisations.
The US Food and Drug Administration has already authorized Covid-19 vaccine booster doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Inc for people aged 65 and older, those at risk of severe disease and those who are exposed to the virus through their work.
Johnson & Johnson’s booster shots have also been cleared in the United States for all individuals 18 years of age and older.
Just 0.1% of the coronavirus tests taken to enter the Cop26 climate summit have resulted in positive results, Scotland’s deputy first minister has said.
In a Covid-19 statement in the Scottish Parliament, John Swinney revealed the level of test positivity among Blue Zone pass holders as of 5 November.
All entrants to the central area of the climate conference must show proof of a negative lateral flow Covid-19 test, unless exempt, on each day they enter the site.
Swinney said the testing measures were part of a “comprehensive and exceptional package of mitigation measures” designed to reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading among the approximately 30,000 people due to attend Cop26 and the wider community.
He added: “However, we are only just past the midpoint of the conference and we continuing to monitor the situation carefully. We will provide a further update following the conclusion of Cop26, unless there is a need to do so at an earlier opportunity.”
The latest figures for the whole of Scotland show a 12% positivity rate, with 2,233 new cases of Covid-19 reported on Tuesday.
You can follow live updates from Cop26 here:
UK reports another 33,117 Covid cases and 262 deaths
The UK has reported another 33,117 coronavirus cases and a further 262 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government’s dashboard.
This compares to 32,332 cases and 57 deaths reported in the 24 hour-period prior.
Updated
Northern Ireland’s health minister has announced a public consultation on a proposal for compulsory Covid-19 and flu vaccination for new health and social care workers.
Robin Swann said requiring existing staff to get jabbed could be counterproductive and could further destabilise a workforce that is already severed depleted.
But he insisted no option was off the table and said he had “great sympathy” for the view that patients should only be treated by fully vaccinated staff.
The minister said making vaccines compulsory for new recruits to the health service would be a “significant development” and needed careful consideration.
He said there was not a predetermined outcome to the public consultation exercise as he urged people to make their views known.
The announcement comes after the UK government announced that frontline NHS staff in England will need to be vaccinated against coronavirus. Workers in England will have until April next year to get both Covid-19 jabs.
Earlier, Stormont’s deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill said making vaccinations compulsory for frontline healthcare workers in Northern Ireland would raise human rights concerns.
O’Neill has said she would consider any proposal for compulsory vaccines for health staff but stressed she would favour a voluntary approach.
The World Health Organization has warned there could be shortfall of up to two billion syringes in 2022, which threatens to hamper vaccine efforts globally is production does not improve, AFP reports.
The shortages are the result of Covid-19 vaccine campaigns, with billions more syringes than normal being used worldwide, badly denting global supplies.
Lisa Hedman, the WHO’s senior advisor on access to medicines and health products, said that as the supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses increases, the supply of syringes needs to keep pace.
“We are raising the real concern that we could have a shortage of immunisation syringes, which would in turn lead to serious problems, such as slowing down immunisation efforts,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
“Depending on how the vaccine uptake goes, it could be a deficit of anywhere from one billion to two billion.”
More than 7.25 billion Covid vaccine doses have been administered globally, according to an AFP tally.
That’s nearly double the number of routine vaccinations given per year - and twice the number of syringes required.
Hedman said one serious result of a shortage could be delays in routine vaccinations, which could have a public health impact “for years to come” if a generation of youngsters miss out on normal childhood vaccinations.
Shortages could also lead to the unsafe practice of reusing syringes and needles.
Hedman said any constraint on syringe supply could only be worsened by export restrictions and transportation problems.
She urged countries to plan syringe needs well in advance to avoid hoarding and panic buying situations.
Hedman added that “efforts are being made to reduce that risk to zero in terms of the actual number that we could be short”.
Updated
Unvaccinated Bayern Munich star Joshua Kimmich is one of five players in Germany’s national football squad having to quarantine after one tested positive for coronavirus, the German federation (DFB) said Tuesday.
Another Covid-positive player, Niklas Suele, is fully vaccinated and currently asymptomatic, added the DFB.
Fellow Bayern teammates Kimmich, Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala as well as Karim Adeyemi of RB Salzburg, have been asked to isolate because they are close contacts of his, even though they have tested negative, DFB chief director Oliver Bierhoff said.
“This news, coming so close before the final World Cup qualifiers, is bitter for the coaching team as well as for Die Mannschaft,” said Bierhoff.
The latest high profile case comes as Germany is fighting a surge in new infections, with its seven-day Covid rate striking a new record on Tuesday.
It also puts the spotlight again on Kimmich, who had sparked a fierce debate in the country last month when he revealed he opted not to get vaccinated, because of “personal concerns”.
It even prompted the interior minister Horst Seehofer to urge him directly to rethink his position as “vaccination is the main weapon in the fight against the pandemic”.
Kimmich appears to be in the minority as more than 90% of footballers and backroom staff in Germany’s top two leagues are vaccinated, according to figures released last month by the German Football League (DFL).
AstraZeneca is creating a separate division for vaccines and antibody therapies to be led by senior executive Iskra Reic, the drugmaker said on Tuesday, as it builds focus on its Covid shot and development of coronavirus treatments.
Reuters in July reported that the Anglo-Swedish company was exploring options for its vaccine business and expected to have greater clarity on the matter by the end of 2021.
Russia says workplace shutdown helped turn tide on new cases
Russia said the nationwide workplace shutdown it ended this week had helped turn the tide on a wave of Covid cases, even as officials on Tuesday reported the largest one-day death toll of the pandemic so far.
All but a handful of Russia’s 80-plus regions on Monday ended a “non-working” period from 30 October to 7 November that was ordered by the president Vladimir Putin, the toughest nationwide restriction since the early months of the pandemic.
The health minister told a televised government meeting on Tuesday that the increase in the number of patients receiving medical care had slowed last week for the first time since the beginning of August, though he said it remained “quite high”.
“Undoubtedly, the fall is due to the … non-working days, the regional measures. These measures have turned the tide, and it is very right that a number of regions – five regions – have decided to extend the regime of days off,” said Mikhail Murashko.
He said there were 1.36 million people under various kinds of medical supervision or treatment for Covid.
The government coronavirus taskforce reported a record one-day death toll of 1,211 and reported 39,160 new cases in the last 24 hours, down from a peak of 41,335 on Saturday.
In Moscow, the mayor Sergei Sobyanin said this coming week would be crucial for the capital and that it would be clear by the end of it what measures needed to be kept on. He said he hoped the situation would be more or less stable.
Many regions that have lifted the workplace shutdown will now require visitors to present a QR code on their mobile phones when visiting cafes, restaurants or shopping centres to prove they have been vaccinated or previously had the virus.
Updated
The UK justice secretary, Dominic Raab, has defended the MP and former attorney general Geoffrey Cox for working for a month in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) during lockdown.
Earlier this year, Cox earned more than £150,000 in his second job as a lawyer advising the Caribbean tax haven in relation to corruption charges brought by the Foreign Office.
Full story here:
And live UK politics updates from my colleague Andrew Sparrow here:
Moderna Inc on Tuesday sought conditional marketing authorisation with the European Medicines Agency for use of its Covid vaccine in children in the age-group of six- to 11 years, Reuters reports.
The vaccine was authorised for use in teens aged 12 to 17 by the European Union in July, but several countries including Sweden have paused its use for people aged 30 and younger due to rare heart-related side-effects.
The drugmaker sought US authorisation of its vaccine for use in teens in June and is awaiting a decision by the US Food and Drug Administration.
“This marks our first submission for the use of our vaccine in this age group,” said Stéphane Bancel, the chief executive of Moderna, adding the company will submit the data to other regulatory agencies around the world.
Updated
The UK’s Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, has tested positive for Covid. He is self-isolating and experiencing mild symptoms, the Great Yarmouth MP wrote on Twitter.
😷 I have tested positive for coronavirus. Thanks to the vaccine I am so far only experiencing mild symptoms. I have been self isolating since I first experienced signs of symptoms and following my positive PCR result I will continue to do so in line with Government regulations.
— Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) November 9, 2021
Within a year since February 2020, the UK’s pandemic response – and Randox’s role in it – became a matter of public scrutiny, not least due to the company being named in a lobbying scandal involving the Conservative MP Owen Paterson.
My colleague Rob Davies examines how the healthcare firm went from a one-man-band operation to winning £500m in government Covid contracts:
The eastern German state of Saxony may have ordered tough curbs on the unvaccinated to push them to get the Covid-19 jab, but shop assistant Sabine Lonnatzsch, 59, is unmoved.
The new rules are “discriminatory” because they are “pushing the unvaccinated further into a corner”, she tells AFP, adding that she won’t change her mind about getting inoculated – she just won’t go to restaurants or events any more.
“I’ve had corona cases in my family and in my eyes it is nothing more than a bad flu,” she says.
With Covid infections rocketing in Germany, Saxony this week became the first to largely exclude unvaccinated people from indoor dining, cinemas and bars.
The rules, likely to be emulated by other states in the coming weeks, are designed not only to reduce the spread of Covid but also to encourage more people to get inoculated.
But Lonnatzsch is not the only one resisting the jab in the town of Radeberg in Bautzen district, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, at 45.7%.
The clothing store No 1 Mode where she works has a sign in the window that lets customers know that all are welcome – regardless of vaccination status.
Across the town square, the co-owner of Cafe Roethig also has no plans to get the vaccine. Like many people in the region, Carola Roethig, 58, is “not convinced” by the jab because “it was developed in such a short space of time”.
The district of Bautzen has one of the highest incidence rates in the country at 645.3 cases per 100,000 people, but Roethig is not worried about catching the virus.
The new rules are “definitely bad for business,” she says at the cafe’s bakery counter, which is lined with untouched fresh cakes, tarts and iced donuts. “Many of our customers are not vaccinated, so we are losing income, because fewer people are coming in,” she says.
The rules are also bad for her personal life. “I’m not allowed to go to a restaurant in the evening and have a nice dinner with my husband. I don’t think it is right.”
Outside the cafe, 40-year-old Susan feels the same. “Nothing would convince me” to get the jab, she says, without giving her last name. “I see no sense in it because [vaccinated people] can still get the disease and infect others.”
The new rules come as new infections surge in Germany, with the national incidence rate reaching 213.7 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days on Tuesday – a record since the pandemic began.
The political parties looking to form a coalition government after September’s election have so far ruled out compulsory vaccinations and general lockdowns to tackle the surge.
With 67% of the population fully jabbed, ministers say encouraging more people to get vaccinated is key to bringing the numbers down.
In neighbouring France, more than 74% are fully vaccinated, and in Spain the figure is more than 77%. German health experts have named a target rate of 85%.
However, in a recent a Forsa survey carried out for the health ministry, 65% of unvaccinated respondents declared there was “no way” they would take a Covid jab and 23% were “reluctant”.
Outside Radeberg town hall, a modest queue of people formed for a vaccination event organised to encourage more people to get the jab.
Kitchen assistant Mirmirza Kabirzada, 36, had previously hesitated but with the numbers rising so dramatically, “now I realised this is very important,” he says.
Intensive care nurse Nicole Wieberneit, 39, is waiting in line to get her booster. She is optimistic that the new rules will encourage more people to get vaccinated.
“When it becomes about the freedom to travel, to go out to eat, I think more people will come forward. Freedom is very important to people in Saxony,” she says.
Updated
Covid vaccine to be mandatory for all NHS England staff by April
All 1.4 million NHS staff in England will have to be vaccinated against Covid by next spring if they want to keep their jobs, Sajid Javid will confirm to MPs on Tuesday.
The health secretary has decided to press ahead with making jabs compulsory despite health unions and some doctors’ organisations voicing strong opposition.
The move means that about 100,000 frontline personnel who have not yet had both doses of Covid vaccine will have to get jabbed or face dismissal. Many of them are women who are or hope to become pregnant or who are from a minority ethnic background.
Javid considered bringing in the new requirement before this winter, but opted to delay it until what is thought likely to be April 2022 after warnings that doing that sooner would exacerbate NHS understaffing by triggering an exodus of key personnel at the time when the health service is under its greatest pressure.
The minister believes that, while some NHS staff may leave, making jabs mandatory will drive up vaccination rates by prompting refuseniks to finally get vaccinated in the same way that has already occurred with care home staff, who have to be immunised by this Friday or risk losing their job.
While some care home workers are quitting rather than getting jabbed, vaccination rates in that sector have risen sharply since Javid announced in June that he was making it compulsory.
He believes the change will enhance patients’ safety by making them less likely to contact Covid in healthcare settings from an NHS worker.
The latest official statistics show that about 90% of NHS staff have already had two doses. In all 1,303,605 of the 1,452,256 NHS staff in England (89.8%) had received both jabs by 24 October, according to the NHS’s electronic staff record.
Read the full story here:
Earlier, we reported that there are between 80,000 and 100,000 NHS workers in England who are unvaccinated against coronavirus, according to Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents England’s NHS trusts.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that as well as the risk of workers infecting colleagues, patients and visitors, there is also a risk to the health service if large numbers of staff leave as a result of mandatory vaccination.
More than 75,000 extra deaths have taken place in private homes in England and Wales since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, new analysis shows.
Extra deaths - known as “excess deaths” - are the number of deaths above the average for the non-pandemic years of 2015-19.
A total of 75,474 excess deaths in homes in England and Wales were registered between March 7 2020 and October 29 2021, according to PA news agency analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Of this number, just 8,824 - or 12% - were deaths that involved Covid-19.
Deaths in private homes have been consistently well above the 2015-19 average since April 2020. Even during recent months, when almost all lockdown restrictions have been eased across the country, the figure has typically been between 700 and 900 a week.
More than 10,000 excess deaths in private homes have been registered in England and Wales since the start of August. This compares with around 5,000 excess deaths in hospitals and 1,400 in care homes over the same period.
The figures show there are still many more people than usual dying in their own homes.
Analysis published earlier this year by the ONS found that, while the majority of deaths due to Covid-19 in England and Wales in 2020 happened in hospitals and care homes, many deaths from other causes, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer, happened in private homes of people who - in a non-pandemic year - may have typically died elsewhere, such as in hospital.
Deaths from diabetes in private homes were 60% higher in 2020 compared with the average for 2015-19, while those from chronic rheumatic heart disease and Parkinson’s disease were both up 66%.
For dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, deaths were up 65%, with increases of 44% and 37% for prostate cancer and breast cancer respectively.
Separate ONS figures published on Tuesday show that a total of 10,987 deaths in all settings were registered in England and Wales in the week to 29 October. This was 1,228 above the five-year average. Covid-19 accounted for 859 (70%) of these excess deaths.
It is also the 17th week in a row that deaths have been above the pre-pandemic average. The number of Covid-19 deaths is still well below levels seen at the peak of the second wave of the virus, however.
In the week to January 29, 8,433 deaths involving coronavirus were registered in England and Wales - around 10 times the number registered in the most recent week.
A nine-day-old baby girl is one of the youngest people in the UK to have died after testing positive for Covid-19.
Ivy-Rose was born 14 weeks prematurely, which her grief-stricken mother, Katie Leeming, is convinced was down to her becoming so sick nine days after contracting Covid while pregnant.
Leeming had not been vaccinated against Covid, and doesn’t want to to tear herself apart by thinking about what might have been if she had done things differently.
A family friend has organised a GoFundMe fundraiser towards funeral costs and expenses for Ivy-Rose.
The i paper has the awful story.
Related: Why pregnant women need clearer messaging on Covid vaccine safety
The story highlights how much more still needs to be done to improve messaging around Covid vaccination for pregnant women.
Guidance from medical organisations, such as the Royal College of Midwives is that women who are pregnant should get vaccinated. The NHS advice is that pregnant women can get vaccinated but that it is preferable for them to have the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines as they have been more widely used during pregnancy in other countries and no safety concerns have been identified.
Related: ‘Get the vaccine’: family of Covid victim’s plea to pregnant women
Updated
Oralia Perez waited nervously and excitedly on the US side of the border from Mexico for the chance to hug her sister and mother for the first time in almost 20 months.
One minute after midnight east coast time, ie the first moments of Monday – which was still Sunday night, 10.01pm local time, in El Paso, west Texas, where she was – the US government lifted pandemic restrictions on non-essential cross-border travel for those who are vaccinated.
As soon as the deadline passed, Oralia’s sister, Guadalupe Perez, and their mother, Lorena Hernandez, were among the first to rush by foot across one of the international bridges linking Mexico and the US, and in the late fall chill and the darkness, they flung themselves into each other’s arms.
The last time the three had been together was February 2020.
“As soon as we found out they were being allowed to pass, we couldn’t wait for today,” Oralia said. “They were very difficult months.”
Hernandez said she had been afraid the authorities would decide yet again it wasn’t time to reopen the border. But having crossed successfully she stroked Oralia’s hair and beamed.
The women repaired for the night and on Monday morning they had a celebratory breakfast together at the American chain staple, International House of Pancakes (Ihop), in El Paso. Then they went shopping, thrilled to be back in each other’s company, Oralia told the Guardian.
The US temporarily limited inbound border crossings from Canada and Mexico to only “essential travel” from 21 March 2020. Restrictions were extended again and again, finally coming to an end at the start of this week.
Read the full story here:
Updated
France’s public health authority has recommended people under 30 be given Pfizer’s Comirnaty Covid vaccine when available instead of Moderna Inc’s Spikevax jab, which carried comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems.
The Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS), which does not have legal power to ban or license drugs but acts as an adviser to the French health sector, cited “very rare” risks linked to myocarditis, a heart disease, that had shown up in recent data on the Moderna vaccine and in a French study published on Monday.
“Within the population aged under 30, this risk appears to be around five times lesser with Pfizer’s Comirnaty jab compared with Moderna’s Spikevax jab,” HAS said in its opinion published on Monday.
The decision in Paris came after regulators in several other countries, including Canada, Finland and Sweden, had also taken a more defensive stance on Spikevax over heart-related safety concerns affecting younger people.
The European Union’s drug regulator last month approved Moderna’s booster vaccine for all age groups over 18, at least six months after the second dose.
The European Medicines Agency earlier this year said that it had found a possible link between the very rare inflammatory heart condition and Covid vaccines from both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines.
However, according to the EMA, the benefits of both mRNA shots in preventing Covid-19 continue to outweigh the risks, the regulator said, echoing similar views expressed by US regulators and the World Health Organization.
France’s HAS said that its recommendation, which would apply regardless of the vaccine’s use as a first, second or third “booster” dose, would be valid until more scientific findings on the matter are known.
For persons aged over 30, however, the authority explicitly recommended the use of the Moderna vaccine, saying its effectiveness was slightly superior.
Updated
More than four in 10 adults in England who were hesitant about getting a coronavirus vaccine have since been vaccinated, figures suggest.
Forty-four per cent of people previously hesitant have since been jabbed, while 55% remained unvaccinated, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
New follow-up analysis from 7 to 16 September shows that of the adults who said they were hesitant to get a vaccine,
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) November 9, 2021
▪️ 44% were now vaccinated
▪️ 55% were still not vaccinated
➡️ https://t.co/W4xs0U95tN
It found hesitancy was highest in younger people, but this group was more likely than hesitant older adults to have since taken up an offered vaccine.
Two-thirds of those now vaccinated said they had been motivated by wanting restrictions to ease and life to return to normal.
More than half of those who remained unvaccinated said they were worried about potential side-effects.
46% of adults aged 18 to 29 who were previously unsure, undecided, or had declined a vaccine have since been vaccinated, showing a large uptick compared with older age groups https://t.co/cgHGNqqU9O pic.twitter.com/Yi6i0uHJPE
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) November 9, 2021
65% of previously hesitant adults who’d since received their #COVID19 vaccine said wanting restrictions to ease and life to return to normal had motivated them to get vaccinated https://t.co/UJsTN3BWqd pic.twitter.com/qIp431RHcu
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) November 9, 2021
Before approval, the vaccines underwent a rigorous testing process to pass standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Reports of serious side-effects, such as allergic reactions, have been rare, and no long-term complications have been reported, the NHS says.
For its Covid-19 Vaccine Opinions Study, the ONS followed up with 2,482 adults who had reported vaccine hesitancy when originally surveyed between 13 January and 8 August.
These are people who had declined a vaccine (25%) or who said they were unlikely (33%) or unsure (42%) about getting a jab. This period saw a decline in vaccine hesitancy, from 10% to 3% of all adults.
Uptake was highest among those who were unsure (60%) and lowest among those who had initially declined a jab (21%).
Forty-six per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds had since been vaccinated, which the ONS said can partially be explained by a higher percentage being “undecided and open to change”.
There were lower rates of hesitancy in older people, but a smaller percentage (19%) of those aged 70 and over had since been vaccinated.
A smaller proportion of clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) adults who had displayed hesitancy were now vaccinated (16%) compared with non-CEV adults (42%).
Among CEV adults and adults aged 70 and over who had shown hesitancy, a large proportion had declined a vaccine (68% and 62% respectively).
Fewer vaccine-hesitant disabled people had since been vaccinated compared with non-disabled adults – 34% versus 46%.
The ONS said this suggests that disabled adults were more likely to have “deep rooted concerns”.
While there were higher rates of hesitancy among black adults compared with white adults, uptake in these groups was similar.
The Black or Black British ethnic group who were previously hesitant towards the #COVID19 vaccine also had an increase in uptake, narrowing the gap between this and the White ethnic group
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) November 9, 2021
▪️ 47% Black or Black British
▪️ 42% White
➡️ https://t.co/UJsTN3BWqd
Overall, out of those who remained unvaccinated, 58% were worried about potential side-effects, long-term effects of the vaccine (54%) and not thinking that the jab was safe (32%). Fifty-five per cent said they thought the vaccine had been developed too quickly.
Of those who were still not vaccinated, top reasons included
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) November 9, 2021
▪️ worry about side effects (58%)
▪️ believing the vaccines were developed too quickly (55%)
▪️ worry about long term health effects
➡️ https://t.co/UJsTN3BWqd pic.twitter.com/MI6LPBKLox
Updated
A group of hospitals in the Netherlands has called for the government to take new measures to stem rising Covid cases, saying they are “heading straight for a healthcare disaster” with neither space nor staff to handle more patients with coronavirus.
Covid infections in the Netherlands, as in other parts of Europe, are approaching all-time highs despite adult vaccination levels around 85%.
Last week, prime minister Mark Rutte’s government announced new measures to slow the spread of the virus, two months after scrapping social distancing rules.
Steps included the reintroduction of face masks in stores and broader use of the country’s proof-of-vaccination “corona pass”.
However, cases have continued to rise and the Netherlands’ Institute for Health (RIVM) is due to release new infection figures later on Tuesday that may pass the previous all-time high of 12,997 cases reported on 20 December.
In a letter to Rutte’s government, the five hospitals in southern province of Limburg said:
We are heading straight for a healthcare disaster and the whole system is becoming jammed.
We’re convinced the rest of the Netherlands will be following us shortly.
They urged fresh measures including beginning immediately with booster vaccination shots for elderly and vulnerable patients.
Rutte’s government has said it will offer booster shots to patients over the age of 60 once six months has passed since they were fully vaccinated.
His government is due to announce whether it will take fresh measures at a news conference scheduled for Friday.
Updated
Leo fled his hometown in southern Mexico after his uncle was murdered by gang members and he received death threats. Earlier this year, he, his wife and their two children headed to the US-Mexico border hoping to claim asylum.
After months of waiting, he hoped he would finally get his chance on Monday. But even as US borders opened, they remained closed to asylum seekers.
When Leo, 23, and his family approached the port of entry in Nogales, Mexico with his and his wife’s vaccination cards in hand, they were told by a border official they could not enter and seek asylum.
“I feel dispirited and sad,” Leo, who asked his last name not be published for fear of reprisals from the gang he fled, told Reuters. President Joe Biden “is just continuing the same policies of Donald Trump”, he said.
Biden has kept in place a controversial US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order, first implemented by his predecessor in March 2020, that allows migrants to be immediately expelled without an opportunity to seek asylum.
The Biden administration has said the CDC’s order, known as Title 42, remains necessary to prevent the spread of Covid-19, as asylum seekers are processed in crowded settings at the border.
Any foreign national attempting to enter the United States without proper documentation will be subject to expulsion regardless of vaccination status, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Advocates have criticised the Biden administration’s continuation of the expulsion policy as borders reopen.
The idea that a vaccinated asylum seeker is more of a risk than a vaccinated tourist is laughable, said Noah Gottschalk, global policy lead with Oxfam America, one of the advocacy groups suing the Biden administration to overturn the Title 42 order.
Gottschalk said the exclusion of vaccinated asylum seekers strengthens the group’s argument that the policy isn’t about public health.
In September, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to stop expelling family units – parents or legal guardians arriving with their children – under the Title 42 order.
The administration appealed, and a higher court put the judge’s ruling on hold as the case moves forward.
Last month, more than 1,300 medical professionals signed letters to the CDC urging it to end the border expulsions order, saying it lacked epidemiological evidence to justify it and put migrants at risk.
New York-based nonprofit Human Rights First has documented more than 7,600 kidnappings and other attacks on migrants stuck in Mexico who were blocked from entering the US since Biden took office in January.
Leo has been working in construction to pay rent in Nogales, but he says his earnings are not enough to support his family. “They abuse you because they know you are not from here, they pay you what they want,” he said.
He is also worried about his children getting hit by a stray bullet when gunshots ring out at night. The US State Department recommends Americans reconsider travel to the Mexican state of Sonora, where Nogales is located, due to crime and kidnapping.
“We were fleeing a place that was dangerous,” said Leo. “And here it is the same.”
Updated
Good morning from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Today so far
- Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said he was expecting a UK government announcement on a deadline for mandatory vaccination for NHS staff today. He said there are between 80,000 and 100,000 NHS workers in England who are unvaccinated against coronavirus. Unison head of health Sara Gorton said it is wrong to “leap to the law” by bringing in mandatory vaccination instead of trying to persuade NHS workers to get jabbed.
- More than four in ten adults in England who were hesitant about getting a coronavirus vaccine have since been vaccinated, figures suggest. Some 44% of people previously hesitant have since been jabbed, while 55% remained unvaccinated, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
- Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, has defended UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s appearance at a hospital yesterday at times without a face mask, which was the subject of much criticism on social media. Raab said “In any clinical setting, you follow the rules that are applied there.” The website of the hospital Johnson visited states that visitors must wear masks at all time.
- In New Zealand an unusually large protest gathered steam in central Wellington today when about 2,000 people, some threatening violence, rallied against vaccine mandates and lockdowns. Protests took place across the country with some participants waving large Trump flags. Attacks on both police and reporters were also documented.
- Ukraine registered a record 833 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours
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Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said today, in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy.
- Covid-19 patients in Singapore who remain unvaccinated by choice will have to pay for their hospitalisation bills from 8 December, the government has ruled.
- India could resume deliveries of Covid-19 shots to global vaccine-sharing platform Covax in a few weeks for the first time since April. It would end a suspension of supplies that has hurt the vaccination efforts of poorer countries.
- Residents of a city in China that borders Russia have been offered major cash rewards for tips on the continuing Delta outbreak, with local officials declaring a “people’s war” on the virus.
- China has broadened its definition of close contact in the latest drive to control the further spread of the virus during winter. The new methodology says that people who happen to be in the same area at the same time as an infected person for a short period of time may be asked to get a test or quarantine
- In the United States, there is a renewed campaign to vaccinate rural Americans due to the stark difference in Covid-19 cases and deaths among those living in less-populated areas compared with towns and cities.
- In Australia a Carlton AFL player is refusing to have his Covid-19 vaccinations before the club’s pre-season training.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, today. Lucy Campbell will be here to pick up the baton shortly.
More than four in 10 adults in England who were hesitant about getting a coronavirus vaccine have since been vaccinated, figures suggest. Some 44% of people previously hesitant have since been jabbed, while 55% remained unvaccinated, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
It found that hesitancy was highest in younger people, but this group was more likely than hesitant older adults to have since taken up an offered vaccine. Two thirds of those now vaccinated said they had been motivated by wanting restrictions to ease and life to return to normal.
Jemma Crew, PA’s social affairs correspondent write that more than half of those who remained unvaccinated said they were worried about potential side effects.
For its Covid-19 Vaccine Opinions Study, the ONS followed up with 2,482 adults who had reported vaccine hesitancy when originally surveyed between 13 January and 8 August.
While there were higher rates of hesitancy among black adults compared with white adults, uptake in these groups was similar.
Overall, out of those who remained unvaccinated, 58% were worried about potential side effects, long-term effects of the vaccine (54%) and not thinking that the jab was safe (32%). Some 55% said they thought the vaccine had been developed too quickly.
Updated
A Carlton Australian Football League player is refusing to have his Covid-19 vaccinations before the club’s pre-season training. It is understood the unnamed player is the only Blue who hasn’t agreed to be vaccinated. He would be the first AFL player to refuse his jabs.
The news comes after Adelaide announced last Friday their dual AFLW premiership defender Deni Varnhagen would go on to their inactive list because she will not have her Covid-19 jabs.
The Blues and the AFL would not comment, with Carlton’s AFL players officially starting their pre-season under new coach Michael Voss later this month.
Read more here: Carlton AFL player refusing to get Covid vaccine ahead of pre-season training
A total of 859 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 29 October mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is up 8% on the previous week and is the highest number since the week to September 24.
PA Media note that a total of 167,367 deaths have occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, according to the ONS. The highest number on a single day was 1,484 on 19 January.
New vaccine campaigns target rural Americans to address disparities
In the United States, there is a renewed campaign to vaccinate rural Americans due to the stark difference in Covid-19 cases and deaths among those living in less-populated areas compared with towns and cities.
Rural residents are now twice as likely to die from Covid-19 as Americans in metropolitan areas. Yet rural areas tend to lag at least 10% behind metropolitan areas when it comes to vaccination – and this hesitancy is exacerbating already existing health issues.
“Rural populations are older, they’re sicker and they’re poorer,” said Fred Ullrich, research analyst at the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis and co-author of a report on Covid’s disproportionate burden on rural communities.
Residents of rural areas also tend to have lower rates of insurance, or the insurance they have doesn’t cover as much, which means they may put off seeking care until it’s too late. And they have worse access to healthcare itself – all of which can lead to worse Covid outcomes.
As of early October, 42.6% of rural residents were fully vaccinated, compared with 54.5% in metropolitan areas, according to an analysis by the rural-news publication the Daily Yonder. In September, rural areas saw their biggest leap in vaccinations since June before declining again in recent weeks. Even as new cases of Covid have begun falling, rural areas still have an infection rate that is 80% higher than metropolitan areas – and the death rate is still twice as high.
Read more of Melody Schreiber’s report here: New vaccine campaigns target rural Americans to address disparities
Andrew Sparrow has just gone live with our UK politics blog for the day. I expect he will have enough on his plate with MP’s second jobs and “Tory sleaze” to keep him busy, so I’ll continue to bring you any major UK Covid lines here, as well as coronavirus developments from around the world.
Dominic Raab has been pressed again during his media appearances in the UK on when the UK government might introduce a vaccine mandate for NHS staff. On ITV’s Good Morning Britain the deputy prime minister said:
Well, we’ve got the contingency plans in place to do that, but you’re right to say it’s a difficult decision. All I’d say is if the consequence of not taking difficult decisions is that more people, particularly more people who are vulnerable either because they’re in hospital, or because they’re in a care home and elderly or with multiple conditions... I think that’s got to be the countervailing and overriding factor, we’ve got to do everything we can to protect those vulnerable, particularly elderly, people or those with multiple conditions.
But I think ultimately that we’ve got to make sure that the lives of those people in those vulnerable settings are safeguarded, and that’s a difficult choice, that’s one of the many difficult choices that we’ve got in Government. But I think we’d be getting a lot of criticism if we weren’t taking those difficult decisions, and we were leaving people more and unnecessarily exposed than before.
Thailand set to reopen borders with Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos to allow migrant labour
Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said today, in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy.
Pairote Chotikasathien, from the Ministry of Labor, said the rules relating to vaccination status for the migrant workers, quarantine procedures and Covid-19 testing will be decided on Wednesday.
Reuters report that Thailand’s big exporting industries such as food and rubber production rely heavily on migrant labour. But strict border controls and quarantine rules have virtually halted all labour migration.
Pairote estimated the country needed 420,000 foreign workers at this time, mostly in the construction, manufacturing and seafood industries. Many workers left the country as it battled its worst Covid-19 outbreak earlier this year and have not returned.
Unison head of health Sara Gorton said it is wrong to “leap to the law” by bringing in mandatory vaccination instead of trying to persuade NHS workers to get jabbed.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve been keen to ensure that what our role is, understanding what people are telling us about the reasons why they have fears, about why they are not convinced by the arguments, and making sure that those people can get access to up-to-date information and access to experts who may be able to help them change their mind.”
PA Media quotes her saying: “And we’ve been really keen to be part of that process. So this isn’t about saying that it’s wrong, the vaccination programme is wrong, it’s saying that it is wrong to leap to the law, rather than stick with persuasion, conversation, peer group support to try and increase those rates beyond what is, let’s face it, a really, really high existing level of vaccination amongst NHS staff.”
She described any move to bring in mandatory vaccinations as “really risky”, saying that it could have “really, really difficult consequences for the NHS in what we know is going to be a really difficult winter”.
Updated
China broadens definition of 'close contact' in Covid cases
China has broadened its definition of close contact in the latest drive to control the further spread of the virus during winter.
The new methodology says that people who happen to be in the same area at the same time as an infected person for a short period of time may be asked to get a test or quarantine, according to notices circulating in Chinese press and on social media in recent years.
Officials call this method of reducing infection “spacial-temporal overlap”, but the exact definition of it appears to be varying among provinces. In recent days, explainers are being produced by local media outlets to inform the public of how it works in practice.
In Chengdu, for example, a “spacial-temporal overlap” contact has to meet two criteria: 1) someone’s phone appeared to be within the same 800-metre spacial-temporal grid as the phone of an infected person for more than 10 minutes; 2) either of the party’s phone has lingered there for over 30 hours in the last 14 days.
Chinese media said that Chengdu police had found 82,000 people at the risk of being identified as “spacial-temporal overlap” having deployed this method. These people have now been alerted by the local CDC, reports said.
On Tuesday, 62 new cases were reported in the country, making the total number of Covid cases to at least 941 since 17 October.
Updated
The seven-day average for new cases in Bulgaria has been trending downwards since the beginning of November, suggesting the country’s wave of Covid infections may have peaked.
Official figures today show Bulgaria recorded 5,286 positive cases in the last 24 hours. That’s up slightly on the seven-day average, and will no doubt have authorities monitoring the next couple of days very closely. The test positivity rate was 11%.
Bulgarian media reported that of 8,516 patients in hospital in total, 723 are in intensive care. Bulgaria, which has a population of 6.9, has the lowest vaccination rate in the EU, with 29.7% of adults having received at least one dose.
Updated
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said he was expecting an announcement on a deadline for mandatory vaccination for NHS staff today.
PA Media quotes him telling BBC Radio 5 Live: “That’s what we’re expecting today – that there will be a mandatory vaccination deadline.”
Hopson continued: “But I suspect that come the deadline, whenever it is set, there will still be some staff who are adamant that they don’t want to get vaccinated and that is a very significant risk for the NHS.”
Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care have said they are not commenting on speculation over the proposals.
Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab refused to be drawn on the issue this morning. He told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t comment on leaked reports about what the government may or may not do, and that’s just not the professional thing for a minister to do.”
Updated
Three out of four transport staff in London have been subjected to violence at work during the Covid crisis, research by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) suggests.
RMT said its study of workers in public-facing roles on London Underground and Transport for London rail networks showed they need more support.
More than half of staff reported being threatened with physical violence, 28% were racially harassed, 14% reported being spat at or targeted with bodily fluids and 7% had been sexually assaulted, said the union.
Three out of five respondents said they believed violence had got worse since the pandemic.
Most of the 1,000 workers surveyed said the government’s “mixed messaging” around the lifting of Covid restrictions had made the situation worse for staff.
PA Media quotes RMT general secretary Mick Lynch saying: “Life on the front line of London’s transport has got harder and more dangerous for the key workers who have kept the capital moving during the Covid crisis.
“I don’t want to hear more condescending ‘thank yous’ from government ministers who are trying to drive down our members’ living conditions while sowing chaos in their shambolic response to the coronavirus.
“We need a total sea-change in attitudes toward staff in which we see them as central to rebuilding passenger confidence and to creating a safer working and travelling environment.”
Updated
Chief exec: Between 80,000 and 100,000 NHS workers in England are unvaccinated
There are between 80,000 and 100,000 NHS workers in England who are unvaccinated against coronavirus, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents England’s NHS trusts, has said this morning.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that as well as the risk of workers infecting colleagues, patients and visitors, there is also a risk to the health service if large numbers of staff leave as a result of mandatory vaccination.
PA Media quotes Hopson saying: “The other risk we need to manage is the fact that there is also a patient safety and a quality of care risk if the NHS does end up as a result of this losing significant numbers of staff.
“And that’s why we’ve said very clearly that we want the government to work very closely with us to maximise the number of people who take up the vaccination voluntarily before we hit the deadline, to think very carefully about the deadline because clearly we’re about to enter what we think is going to be the most difficult winter for the NHS on record.”
He said it is “probably slightly less” than 100,000 staff who remain unvaccinated “because those figures are slightly old and we’ve been working really hard with NHS staff to ensure that they do take up the vaccine”.
Hopson added: “Happy to say somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000.”
Yesterday, in his first intervention into the Covid crisis since leaving government, former UK health secretary Matt Hancock suggested the date for mandatory vaccinations for NHS staff should be far earlier than the currently mooted April.
Updated
Raab defends UK prime minister over hospital pictures without face mask
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, has been on Times Radio this morning defending UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s appearance at a hospital yesterday without wearing a face mask, which was the subject of much criticism on social media.
Raab said: “In any clinical setting, you follow the rules that are applied there.”
The rules of visiting the hospital, as laid out on the homepage of the Hexham General hospital website, state:
When visiting you are reminded to expect:
• To wash your hands at the hospital entrance and wear a mask when you enter the hospital.
• To wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and observe social distancing.
• You should not visit if you feel unwell, have been asked to self-isolate, or believe you may have been in contact with someone who has Covid-19.
To be clear, there were pictures yesterday of the prime minister wearing a face mask at some point during the visit, but he did not wear it at all times.
Updated
India could resume vaccine supplies to Covax programme within weeks – reports
India could resume deliveries of Covid-19 shots to global vaccine-sharing platform Covax in a few weeks for the first time since April, two health industry sources have told Reuters. It would end a suspension of supplies that has hurt the vaccination efforts of poorer countries.
Krishna N Das reports that based on an informal approval from India, Covax officials have started planning allocations of the Covishield shot for various countries. Covishield is a licensed version of the AstraZeneca shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker.
SII has nearly quadrupled its output of Covishield to up to 240m doses a month since April, when India stopped all exports in order to inoculate its own people during a surge of cases.
“There will need to be purchase orders confirmed to SII, labelling and packing, export authorisation granted for each of these shipments,” a source told Reuters. “So the first deliveries, assuming the Indian government grants export authorisation, won’t happen until a few weeks from now.”
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla told Reuters last month that the company could send 20m to 30m doses a month to Covax in November and December, which would increase to “large volumes” from January once India’s own needs were met.
Ukraine records highest daily death toll of the pandemic with 833 fatalities
Ukraine registered a record 833 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said this morning. The previous high of 793 deaths was on 6 November.
Reuters report that the ministry’s data showed 18,988 new infections were reported over the past 24 hours.
Понад 8 мільйонів українців отримали дві дози вакцини проти COVID-19 та завершили повний курс щеплення!
— Ministry of Health of Ukraine (@MoH_Ukraine) November 9, 2021
За добу 08 листопада в Україні:
- зафіксовано 18 988 нових підтверджених випадків COVID-19;
- 240 440 людей вакциновано проти COVID-19.
Докладно: https://t.co/gJC0kZvekI pic.twitter.com/BISyNz13qT
Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London taking over from Samantha Lock in Sydney. I’ll bring you any Covid lines that emerge from the early UK media round interviews. Here is the latest picture of the current Covid outbreaks across Europe.
Chinese city offers cash for clues as Covid outbreak declared a ‘people’s war’
Helen Davidson reports from Taipei for us:
Residents of a Chinese city bordering Russia have been offered major cash rewards for tips on the continuing Delta outbreak, with local officials declaring a “people’s war” on the virus.
Authorities announced the 100,000 yuan ($15,640) rewards for residents in Heihei, in the north-eastern Heilongjiang Province, as its total tally of cases in this outbreak reached 240.
“It is hoped that the general public could actively cooperate with the tracing of the virus and provide clues to the probe,” the declaration said.
According to state media, officials have urged people in the border city to immediately report any instances of illegal hunting, animal smuggling, or people crossing the border to fish. It also warned of severe penalties for people who intentionally conceal relevant information.
China’s health commission reported another 62 locally transmitted symptomatic cases on Monday, and 43 on Tuesday, adding to the more than 940 cases recorded in at least 20 provinces nationally since October, in the country’s worst outbreak since Wuhan in early 2020.
The government is committed to a Covid zero strategy, and is deploying an escalating array of measures in its attempts to eliminate the virus from the community again.
Read more of Helen Davidson’s report: Chinese city offers cash for clues as Covid outbreak declared a ‘people’s war’
Updated
Singapore rules unvaccinated patients to pay for their hospital bills
Covid-19 patients in Singapore who remain unvaccinated by choice will have to pay for their hospitalisation bills from 8 December, the government has ruled.
Medical bills of all Singaporeans, permanent residents (PRs) and long-term pass holders, other than for those who have tested positive soon after returning from overseas travel, are currently covered by the government.
Health minister Ong Ye Kung described the decision not to pay for unvaccinated people infected by Covid-19 an “important signal” to those who are still holding off on getting their jabs.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday the minister urged all those eligible to get vaccinated.
“Currently, unvaccinated persons make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive inpatient care, and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources,” the ministry of health said.
The new billing measure applies only to those who choose not to be vaccinated despite being medically eligible, and who are hospitalised and are on Covid-19 treatment facilities on or after 8 December, the Straits Times reported, citing the minister.
Those who are ineligible for vaccination, such as children under 12 years of age, and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons will continue to have their bills fully covered by the government, the ministry said.
Updated
Hi it’s Samantha Lock here once again bringing you all the Covid headlines from across the world on your Tuesday.
An intriguing story has emerged out of China today where residents in the city of Heihei, in the north-eastern Heilongjiang Province, are being offered major cash rewards for tips on the continuing Delta outbreak.
Authorities announced the 100,000 yuan ($15,640) rewards as an incentive as its total tally of cases in this outbreak reached 240.
“It is hoped that the general public could actively cooperate with the tracing of the virus and provide clues to the probe,” the declaration said.
Meanwhile, in New Zealand an unusually large protest gathered steam in central Wellington today when about 2,000 people, some threatening violence, rallied against vaccine mandates and lockdowns.
Protests took place across the country with some participants waving large Trump flags. Attacks on both police and reporters were also documented.
- Denmark has proposed reinstating the use of a digital “corona pass” to be presented when Danes visit indoor bars and restaurants, as the country is entering a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Bulgaria’s daily Covid deaths rise to record high as the European Union’s least vaccinated country grapples with a fourth wave of the pandemic. A further 334 people died of the virus on Tuesday, the highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic, Reuters reports.
- The US welcomes back travellers after an 18-month non-essential travel ban was lifted on Monday. Travellers from 33 previously banned countries are now allowed in, but they must be vaccinated. The US also reopened its land borders with Canada and Mexico.
- Thousands of anti-vaccination mandate protesters, some threatening violence, gathered in Wellington, New Zealand, on Tuesday.
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UK prime minister Boris Johnson was seen maskless in Hexham hospital in Northumberland as cases among MPs rise.
- The UK will begin rolling out Merck’s molnupiravir Covid-19 antiviral pill through a drug trial later this month.
- UK reports 32,322 Covid cases and 57 deaths.
- NHS workers in England must be legally required to get Covid vaccinations before the winter.
- French Covid hospitalisations see highest daily rise since August. The number of people hospitalised because of Covid went up by 156 over the past 24 hours, the highest daily rise since 23 August, to reach a one-month peak of 6,865.
- New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland will likely end an almost three-month lockdown later this month, prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced.
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Japan recorded no daily deaths from Covid-19 for the first time in 15 months on Sunday, according to national broadcaster NHK.
- Singapore and Malaysia will allow quarantine-free travel between both countries for individuals vaccinated against Covid-19. The two neighbours will launch a vaccinated travel corridor between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport from 29 November.
- It will be “impossible” for Nigeria to meet its target of vaccinating 40% of its population by the end of the year because Covid is not being taken seriously, health experts warn. Fewer than 1.5% of the country’s 206 million population has been fully vaccinated.
