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A doctor specialising in acute medicine in the north of England explains how Omicron is straining his hospital’s capacity. “The numbers of patients we are treating now – both Covid and non-Covid – is quite incredible,” writes Nick Scriven:
Good morning, this is Helen Livingstone bringing you the day’s pandemic news from Sydney.
To start with, this year’s Grammy awards has been postponed as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
A statement confirms that the ceremony has been postponed indefinitely with no new date yet announced.
The awards were set to take place on 31 January at the Crypto.com center in Los Angeles and while sporting events have still been taking place there, sources claim that artists and executives have expressed concern over attending this year’s Grammys ceremony.
“The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority,” the statement read. “Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating music’s biggest night on a future date, which will be announced soon.”
Here’s more from our correspondent Benjamin Lee:
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day:
- Novak Djokovic’s attempts to compete at the Australian Open this month are over after the No 1-ranked male tennis player was told his visa has been rejected. He is due to be flown out of Melbourne on Thursday amid a spiralling outcry over his controversial “medical exemption” agreed by the tournament’s organisers.
- Record rises in daily Covid cases were reported in at least seven countries on Wednesday as the Omicron variant continues to spread. They were: France - 332,252; Portugal - 39,570; Turkey - 66,467; Italy - 189,109; Sweden - 17,320; the Netherlands - 24,000 and Israel - 11,978.
- The government in Italy is set to make Covid vaccination mandatory for the over 50s, according to a draft decree. The obligation will be effective until 15 June 15.
- The French parliament suspended debate on a new Covid law as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
- Germany is considering shortening self-isolation periods over fears that critical services could grind to a halt, according to health ministry plan. Workers in critical sectors, such as hospitals or electricity suppliers, would be able to end their isolation after five days, provided they get a negative PCR test, under the draft proposals.
- The Czech government has shortened the quarantine period for Covid positive people from seven days to five. The government also approved blanket testing in companies, effective from 17 January.
- The president of Poland has tested positive for coronavirus for a second time, after several people around him were infected. Andrzej Duda previously caught Covid in October 2020.
- Mozambique president Filipe Nyusi’s PCR results came back negative for Covid-19 after Nyusi and his wife Isaura tested positive via rapid tests days earlier, the president’s office said on Wednesday.
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Pre-departure tests for people travelling to England are to be been scrapped. Boris Johnson announced that the requirement would be lifted from 4am on Friday, along with the need for travellers to self-isolate on arrival until they receive a negative PCR test result.
- The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has become the first world leader to get a fourth Covid jab. On Monday Israel became the first country in the world to embark on a fourth Covid-19 vaccination campaign starting with those over 60.
I’m handing this blog over to my colleague Helen Livingstone in Australia now. Thanks so much for joining me over the last few hours.
Updated
Millions of patients in England will suffer worsening quality of care unless ministers take immediate action to alleviate the staffing crisis engulfing the NHS, health chiefs have warned.
The NHS Confederation, which represents the whole healthcare system, is tonight calling for a range of new measures to be implemented in the NHS in England to help overstretched hospitals and struggling ambulance, mental health, community, GP and social care services cope with “widespread” shortages of medics and health workers.
Tens of thousands of medical students should be deployed on to wards and other healthcare settings, NHS and social care staff must be granted priority access to lateral flow and PCR tests, and the self-isolation period should be reviewed to see if it can be slashed from 10 days to five, as has happened in the US and France, it said.
The call came as growing numbers of operations are being cancelled, with more than 20 NHS trusts declaring an “internal critical incident” in recent days as they struggle to cope with the intense Covid pressure. It emerged on Wednesday that at least four more NHS trusts have taken that step, the highest form of alert any hospital can issue, as had the entire NHS in Norfolk.
NHS staff absences have now spiralled to double what they normally would be at this time of year, and 17,276 people are in hospital in the UK with Covid – up 58% in a week – as Omicron continues to put “enormous strain” on every part of the health service, the NHS Confederation added.
The absence of tens of thousands of staff is already having a “detrimental” impact on the ability of the NHS to provide healthcare, it warned, and said that, without further measures, the staffing crisis “threatens the quality of patient care”.
Given the worsening situation, there should also be “explicit acknowledgment” from the national regulators that clinical tasks “might need to be allocated in ways which would not normally be recognised as best practice”, the NHS Confederation said.
Read more from my colleagues Andrew Gregory, Denis Campbell, Rowena Mason and Josh Halliday here:
Updated
Novak Djokovic’s attempts to compete at the Australian Open this month are over after the No 1-ranked male tennis player was told his visa has been rejected. He is due to be flown out of Melbourne on Thursday amid a spiralling outcry over his controversial “medical exemption” agreed by the tournament’s organisers.
The reigning Australian Open champion was held up at passport control on Wednesday night at Tullamarine airport in Melbourne, the host city of the tournament, for several hours late at night as he was questioned.
The Australian Border Force confirmed on Thursday morning he would not be allowed to remain in the country.
A statement read:
The ABF will continue to ensure that those who arrive at our border comply with our laws and entry requirements.
The ABF can confirm that Mr Djokovic failed to provide appropriate evidence to meet the entry requirements to Australia, and his visa has been subsequently cancelled.
Non-citizens who do not hold a valid visa on entry or who have had their visa cancelled will be detained and removed from Australia. The ABF can confirm Mr Djokovic had access to his phone.
There are reports Djokovic’s lawyers will challenge the decision.
Djokovic’s father Srdjan said the player was moved to a room alone, separated from his team, and without a mobile phone. More than five hours after they arrived in Melbourne, Goran Ivanisevic, Djokovic’s coach, posted a selfie on Instagram from the airport at 5am captioned “not the most usual trip Down Under”.
Read the full story here:
Two major cruise lines have cancelled sailings amid rising fears of Omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry.
Both Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Norwegian Cruise Line both made the decision as the Omicron variant continues to rise across the globe.
Royal Caribbean called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for 6 January after nine guests on its 2 January trip were identified as close contacts to a local Hong Kong Covid-19 case.
The contacts have tested negative but the cruise ship will return to Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong on 5 January to test all guests and crew who must take a second test on 8 January, the company said.
A similar decision to cancel trips by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd was made against the backdrop of the US reporting the highest daily tally of any country for new coronavirus infections on Monday.
The 17-ship strong cruise operator said:
Due to ongoing travel restrictions, we’ve had to modify a few sailings and unfortunately have had to cancel.
The cruise line, which requires everyone on board to be vaccinated, has also had to cut short a 12-day round trip from Miami on its Norwegian Pearl ship, citing “Covid related circumstances.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had last week advised people to avoid cruise travel after launching investigations into onboard cases on more than 90 ships. The health agency starts a scrutiny if at least 0.1% of the guests test positive.
Norwegian Cruise said guests, who were supposed to embark on the canceled sailings on the eight ships, will receive full refunds and bonus credits for future bookings.
The Omicron-led travel uncertainty is also causing guests on other sailings to cancel their bookings as a few ships have also had to skip ports due to onboard infections.
Holly Bromley, a consulting arborist, who canceled her booking on Norwegian Epic said:
We booked the cruise last March and assumed that things would be getting back to normal... by mid-December, I was mentally prepared for a change of plans.
Meanwhile, bigger rival Carnival Corp said it has not cancelled any upcoming voyages, but its shares fell on Wednesday to close down 2.6%. Royal Caribbean lost 2.1% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings 3.6%.
Mozambique president Filipe Nyusi’s PCR results came back negative for Covid-19 after Nyusi and his wife Isaura tested positive via rapid tests days earlier, the president’s office said on Wednesday.
Nyusi wrote in a post on his official Facebook page that he would continue to isolate in line with national health protocols “until my wife’s health situation stabilises,” but neither the post nor a statement from Nyusi’s office said what Isaura Nyusi’s PCR test results showed.
A spokesman for Nyusi was not immediately available to elaborate.
Mozambique’s coronavirus infections are close to their peak, according to a Reuters tally. The southern African country has recorded over 2,000 coronavirus-related deaths and 196,000 infections during the pandemic.
Two entrepreneurs with no apparent background in healthcare have made £20m – and could make tens of millions more – after landing roles as middlemen between the UK government and a US firm that won £3.7bn of contracts to supply lateral flow tests.
Charles Palmer, whose background is in property, and Kim Thonger, a former shoe retailer, are the co-owners of Disruptive Nanotechnology, a business that had just £85 in the bank and debts of £3,592 at the end of 2019.
Accounts filed at Companies House last month show that the firm’s net assets soared to £20.5m during the year to 31 December 2020, including the first nine months of the coronavirus pandemic.
Disruptive Nanotechnology, trading as Tried&Tested, describes itself as the exclusive UK and EU distributor for rapid antigen and antibody tests made by California-based Innova Medical Group.
Palmer’s wife, Dr Rachel Limbrey, is the chief medical adviser at Tried&Tested, as well as working as a respiratory consultant at University Hospital Southampton.
Innova has won nine contracts worth a combined £3.7bn to provide tests, thanks in part to Operation Moonshot, the plan by Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings to roll out mass daily testing to reduce the need for strict Covid restrictions.
Read the full story here:
France reports record 332,252 new cases
France has more details on its record number of new daily cases.
The final number of new cases stood at 332,252 - slightly below an earlier indication given to the French parliament from Health Minister Olivier Veran.
The number of COVID-19 deaths in hospitals rose by 246 in the last 24 hours, taking the total since the pandemic began to 97,670.
The number of Covid patients in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) stood at 3,695 and there were over 20,000 Covid patients in hospital in total, the highest number since late May.
France is backing on ramping up its Covid-19 vaccination programme to avoid having to take any drastic new restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.
French President Emmanuel Macron had said earlier that he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting jabbed. He was speaking in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper in which he also called unvaccinated people irresponsible and unworthy of being considered citizens.
Summary
- Record rises in daily Covid cases were reported in at least seven countries on Wednesday as the Omicron variant continues to spread. They were: France - 332,252; Portugal - 39,570; Turkey - 66,467; Italy - 189,109; Sweden - 17,320; the Netherlands - 24,000 and Israel - 11,978.
- The government in Italy is set to make Covid vaccination mandatory for the over 50s, according to a draft decree. The obligation will be effective until 15 June 15.
- Novak Djokovic’s attempts to compete at the Australian Open have been thrown into fresh doubt amid a spiralling outcry over his controversial “medical exemption” agreed by the tournament’s organisers. It was reported that the visa with which he attempted to enter Australia does not allow for exemptions for unvaccinated applicants.
- The French parliament suspended debate on a new Covid law as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
- Germany is considering shortening self-isolation periods over fears that critical services could grind to a halt, according to health ministry plan. Workers in critical sectors, such as hospitals or electricity suppliers, would be able to end their isolation after five days, provided they get a negative PCR test, under the draft proposals.
- The Czech government has shortened the quarantine period for Covid positive people from seven days to five. The government also approved blanket testing in companies, effective from 17 January.
- The president of Poland has tested positive for coronavirus for a second time, after several people around him were infected. Andrzej Duda previously caught Covid in October 2020.
-
Pre-departure tests for people travelling to England are to be been scrapped. Boris Johnson announced that the requirement would be lifted from 4am on Friday, along with the need for travellers to self-isolate on arrival until they receive a negative PCR test result.
- The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has become the first world leader to get a fourth Covid jab. On Monday Israel became the first country in the world to embark on a fourth Covid-19 vaccination campaign starting with those over 60.
Updated
Italy set to mandate vaccines for over 50s
The government in Italy is set to make Covid vaccination mandatory for the over 50s, according to a draft decree seen by Reuters.
The obligation will be effective until June 15, the draft decree said as the Italian cabinet discussed the new curbs.
Novak Djokovic’s attempts to compete at the Australian Open this month were thrown into fresh doubt on Wednesday amid a spiralling outcry over his controversial “medical exemption” agreed by the tournament’s organisers.
The whereabouts of the world No 1 and reigning Australian champion were in doubt after he was held up at passport control at Tullamarine airport in Melbourne, the host city of the tournament, for several hours late at night.
The Victoria state government said it had refused to formally support Djokovic’s visa application and it was reported that the visa with which he attempted to enter Australia does not allow for exemptions for unvaccinated applicants.
Read the full story here:
Germany is also considering shortening self-isolation periods over fears that critical services could grind to a halt as Omicron spreads, according to health ministry plan, Reuters reports.
Workers in critical sectors, such as hospitals or electricity suppliers, would be able to end their isolation after five days, provided they get a negative PCR test, under the draft proposals being sent to regional leaders. The current isolation period is 14 days for everyone.
For the general population, the isolation period would be reduced to seven days with a negative PCR test, according to the draft document prepared for the leaders, who will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday to discuss how to respond to the spread of the Omicron variant.
People who show no symptoms after 10 days of isolation will be allowed to leave their homes without a test, under the plan.
Daily infections were declining in December after Germany introduced measures such as demanding proof of vaccination for many indoor activities, but started rising again a week ago.
The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 58,912 new infections on Wednesday, up 47% from the same day a week ago. The country recorded another 346 deaths, taking the pandemic total to 112,925.
The health ministry said the Omicron variant was causing a quarter of all new cases in Germany and was likely to become the dominant variant in a matter of days.
Unvaccinated residents on Italy’s small islands risk being cast into “forced exile” by new coronavirus rules, a representative of the islands has warned, AFP reports.
Measures requiring proof of recent vaccination or recovery to use public transport come into effect on Monday as Italy battles record new infections.
But in a letter to the government, Francesco Del Deo, head of the National Association of Municipalities of Small Islands (ANCIM), pointed out that boats and planes are the only means of getting off and on the islands.
The new rules risk “condemning to forced exile residents who for different reasons are not vaccinated”, he warned.
ANCIM represents 35 municipalities covering 87 small islands with a combined population of around 240,000, Capri and Ischia among them.
It wants an exception to the new rules to allow unvaccinated residents to show a negative Covid test to take public transport if they have to travel for reasons of health, education or work.
The health issue is particularly important as medical facilities are often rudimentary or non-existent, with some islands served only by a doctor who visits for a few hours once or twice a week.
“It’s a complicated situation,” Del Deo, mayor of a municipality on Ischia, off the coast of Naples, said.
While he backed vaccination, “in a democracy, the rights of the minority must be protected”.
One solution could be the creation of special areas in ferries for the unvaccinated who could show a negative test, to avoid potential complaints from other passengers, he suggested.
From Monday, a so-called Super Green Pass requiring proof of recent vaccination or recovery from coronavirus will be required for most indoor public venues and on public transport.
Previously, such venues and services were accessible with the normal Green Pass, which could also be obtained with a recent negative Covid test.
The budget airline, Ryanair has announced a 7% fall in passenger traffic last month as the Omicron variant triggered restrictions that hit the key Christmas travel season, AFP reports.
Ryanair said the number of passengers it flew dropped to 9.5 million in December, down from 10.2 million in November.
It was the lowest level since July.
Ryanair warned last month that Omicron would have a strong impact on its financial performance as it more than doubled the forecast for its annual loss and cut back flights.
But in a boost for the Irish no-frills carrier and its peers, Boris Johnson announced changes to Covid rules for travel to England, scrapping the need for pre-departure tests and quarantine on arrival until the traveller has tested negative.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, welcomed the move.
“Today marks an important step towards learning to live alongside the virus, helping passengers and the travel sector look ahead to what will be an all-important spring and summer season.”
A “vaccination doubt line” set up by doctors in the Netherlands is receiving up to 1,000 calls a day from people who are still unsure whether or not they should get jabbed against the coronavirus.
The helpline, originally launched as a local service in November by Robin Peeters, an endocrinologist at the Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam, and Shakib Sana, a GP, was given a national number last month and has been inundated with inquiries.
Staffed mainly by volunteer medical students from rooms made available in the university hospitals of Utrecht, Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Maastricht and Rotterdam, the service has met “an extraordinary response”, Peeters said.
Read the full story here:
Portugal reports record rise ahead of election
Portugal’s government has said isolation rules may need to ease before the general election on 30 January as it become the latest European country to report a record total of new cases, Reuters reports.
There were 39,570 new infections on Wednesday,
But with one of world’s highest vaccination rates, Portugal hospital admissions and mortality remain well below levels seen in the previous peak of the disease in early 2021.
After a meeting with health experts, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told reporters the government wanted to ensure that everyone, including those having to isolate because of the virus, can exercise their right to vote.
He said the administration, which retains full powers despite the upcoming early election, had requested a legal evaluation by the prosecutors’ office on “whether it is possible to exercise the right to vote in safe conditions despite isolation...That is, suspending isolation for that purpose.”
Some experts have estimated that around 400,000 people could be in isolation by the time of the election in a country where voter turnout has been in decline for years.
The health authority has already reduced the mandatory isolation period for those infected experiencing no or only mild symptoms to seven days from 10.
It registered 14 fatalities from Covid slightly down from Tuesday’s 15, and far lower than the over 300 daily deaths in Portugal’s deadliest wave of the pandemic last January.
The French health minister, Olivier Veran, told parliament that new cases stood at around 335,000, marking a new daily record in France.
France also reported a further 246 Covid deaths in hospitals in the last 24 hours. And a further 3,695 people in intensive care units with the virus.
Record rises in Covid cases have also been reported today in Turkey, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Israel.
Updated
Turkey reports record 66,467 cases
Turkey has become the latest country to report a record rise in daily cases, with 66,467 new infections in the last 24 hours.
It also recorded 143 deaths over the coronavirus in the same period. Cases in Turkey have more than doubled in just over a week as the Omicron variant became dominant in the country.
“Despite the rise in infections due to the Omicron variant, there is no worrying rise in hospitalisation,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
Omicron varyantıyla birlikte vaka sayılarındaki artışa rağmen hastaneye yatışlarda endişe verici bir yükselme söz konusu değil. Öte yandan, hastaneler riskin arttığı ortamlar; kendimiz kadar sağlık çalışanlarını da korumak zorundayız. HASTANEYE GİTTİĞİNİZDE lütfen dikkatli olun. pic.twitter.com/1QBRKgqMtI
— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) January 5, 2022
The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has become the first world leader to get a fourth Covid jab.
Michal and I received our fourth #COVID19 vaccine today at the Hadassah Medical Center. Omicron is spreading and may reach every home in Israel. There is one, clear, scientifically proven, successful solution—get vaccinated! ASAP. Look after yourselves and your loved ones. pic.twitter.com/yiQzAcWAS8
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) January 5, 2022
Earlier this week Israel became the first country in the world to embark on a fourth Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
People over the age of 60 and healthcare workers who received their third shot more than four months ago became eligible for a second booster of Pfizer-BioNTech on Monday.
As Herzog is 61 he became eligible for the jab before the prime minister, Naftali Bennett, who is 49.
Italy reports a record 189,109 new cases
Italy has reported record daily number of new cases for a second day in a row. Its latest total is 189,109 cases compared to Tuesday’s total of 170,844.
The daily tally of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 231 from 259.
Italy has registered 138,276 deaths linked to the virus since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, and has reported 6.76 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid - not including those in intensive care - stood at 13,364 on Wednesday, up from 12,912 a day earlier.
There were 132 new admissions to intensive care units, against 153 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,428 from a previous 1,392.
(This is Matthew Weaver taking over from Damien Gayle, so he can concentrate on the aftermath of the Colston verdict.)
Twenty-two people in Austria are under investigation for allegedly forging vaccine certificates, weeks before vaccines become mandatory in the country.
The arrests came as police swooped on two dozen homes on Wednesday, seizing “numerous vaccine certificates, mobile phones and computers” in an investigation aided by Interpol.
A unit specialising in tracking forged Covid-19 documents was tipped off by the suspects discussing their business on social media, said a police statement.
“Organised trade and use of forged vaccine certificates is no trivial matter, but a criminal offence,” said the interior minister, Gerhard Karner.
In November, Austria became the first – and so far the only – country in Europe to announce that Covid-19 vaccines would become mandatory for all eligible residents.
About 30% of the population remain unvaccinated – among the highest level in western Europe. They are subject to a selective lockdown imposed by authorities, with police checking about 30,000 vaccine passes a day.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets each week to protest against the mandate.
Updated
Nightclub and church capacities are to be restricted in Cyprus as part of a raft of new controls on social gatherings aimed at tackling the world’s worst rate of Covid-19 infections.
As Cypriots prepared to celebrate Epiphany – a key date in the Greek Orthodox church – ministers met at a cabinet meeting to impose the new restrictions. According to Agence France-Presse figures, Cyprus recorded the world’s highest Covid infection rate per 100,000 inhabitants last week.
Home visits will be limited to 10 people – half the number previously permitted – while church attendance will be restricted to a maximum of 200 people. From next week, hospitality venues, nightclubs, weddings and other entertainment facilities will also be restricted to 200 customers.
The new school term will begin next Monday as planned, but under tighter testing rules, and companies will have to ensure that 50% of their staff work remotely, up from 40%.
The new measures come after the Republic of Cyprus registered another record high of 5,457 daily infections and five deaths on Tuesday, from a population of around one million.
“Doctors and scientists alone cannot defeat the pandemic … it can only be defeated by ordinary citizens following the instructions of the scientific and medical community,” the health minister, Michalis Hadjipantelas, said.
Updated
A hospital director in Guadeloupe said he was punched and one of his deputies splashed with urine after anti-vaccine mandate protesters laid siege to their offices.
Police in the French overseas territory had to rescue Gérard Cotellon and his deputies after protesters angry at a mandate for health staff surrounded their hospital administration building.
“I was evacuated after receiving a punch in the ribs and a huge blow to the head. I think I was unconscious for 10 seconds,” Cotellon told AFP. His deputy, Cédric Zolezzi, said his shirt was torn and he was splashed with urine while rushing towards a police vehicle. The experience was “shocking”, he said.
Nobody was arrested during Tuesday’s incident, which looked like a “rugby scrum”, according to a police source.
A health worker union representative, Gaby Clavier, told AFP that the protesters were demanding “the money we are owed”, after the salaries of health workers who refuse to be vaccinated were frozen.
On Wednesday, the French government declared a “state of health emergency” in Guadeloupe and several other overseas territories, because of a rise in coronavirus cases combined with a low vaccination rate there.
Updated
Public health authorities in Sweden have advised restaurants, cultural venues and leisure centres to begin asking customers to show digital proof of vaccination against the coronavirus.
The measure is part of voluntary guidance for businesses from Sweden’s public health agency, rather than a legal requirement. Currently, the passes are used only for public gatherings and indoor events of more than 100 people.
According to the new guidance, locations can introduce certificates as entry requirements “in more activities where the risk of spreading of the infection is great,” said Lena Hallengren, the social affairs minister.
“The spread of Covid-19 is increasing in Sweden. We need to be prepared to quickly introduce more accurate infection-control measures,” Hallengren was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Sweden reported a record-breaking 17,320 new daily cases on Wednesday.
Updated
Ireland’s government has agreed to fund the purchase of Covid antiviral drugs from GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Merck.
Ireland plans to purchase the drugs through the European Union’s procurement process and by dealing directly with the companies, the health ministry said in a statement.
Local media reported that ministers had agreed to set aside €90m for the treatments, which countries around the world are scrambling to secure. The health ministry did not say how many courses it would seek to purchase.
“This will be an additional tool to the range we currently have at our disposal to deal with Covid-19. The primary one of course remains the vaccines,” prime minister Micheal Martin told a news conference.
Updated
Netherlands registers record number of coronavirus cases
The Netherlands on Wednesday registered more than 24,000 new Covid infections in 24 hours, a record high, official data showed.
The figure came as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus became dominant in the country during a strict lockdown.
Covid-19 hospitalizations among children in the US are soaring, fuelled by the Omicron variant and the holidays, and adding pressure to already-strained health systems and schools.
An average of 672 children were being hospitaliaed every day in the US, as of 2 January – more than double the average just a week before. And the rate is rapidly increasing.
Cases are also rising. There were more than 325,000 new cases among kids in the week ending 23 December, a 64% increase from the previous week and nearly double the cases two weeks earlier, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported on Monday.
Experts are urging the use of every possible precaution, including tests, masks, vaccinations and even temporary delays in reopening schools to curb both cases and staff shortages.
Updated
Hundreds of UK care homes are closing their doors to new admissions because of the rapid spread of Omicron, increasing pressure on embattled hospitals that are unable to discharge patients into the community.
Of the homes operated by MHA, one of the largest not-for-profit care providers in the UK, 70% have now shut their doors to new residents because of Covid outbreaks and staff shortages. At Four Seasons Healthcare, one of the largest private operators, 40% of homes it operates have recorded two or more cases, which means, under government guidance, they should not accept new arrivals.
On Wednesday, Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said temporary settings may need to be set up to get people out of hospitals, many of which have declared critical incidents amid a staff absence rate of 10% on average across England.
“This issue of staff absence is not just in the hospitals; it is in primary care and community care and of course in social care,” Taylor said. “If you have people in hospital who don’t need to be there, that adds another pressure to an already challenging situation.”
The Czech government has shortened the quarantine period for Covid positive people from seven days to five as it prepares for Omicron, which experts estimate will be the dominant variant in the country around mid-January.
The government also approved blanket testing in companies, effective from 17 January, in addition to mandatory tests at schools which reopened this week.
The country of 10.7 million people reported its daily count of new infections dropping sharply in recent weeks from a peak recorded in late November, and hospitalisations stand at roughly a third of the record numbers seen last March.
However, Omicron has already been detected in dozens of people and examples from countries like the US or Britain show that the spread is lightning-fast.
Updated
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has tested positive for Covid but has no serious symptoms, an aide said Wednesday.
The aide, Paweł Szrot, said on Twitter that Duda was under medical observation but feels well.
Duda, 49, has been vaccinated against the coronavirus and received a booster shot last month, Szrot said. The president got tested this week because of cases among employees in his office.
Duda previously tested positive in October 2020 and was reported at the time not to have experienced significant illness.
Updated
As reported on this blog earlier today, people who test positive for Covid on rapid lateral flow tests but aren’t displaying symptoms won’t need to confirm their results with a follow-up PCR test, the UK Health Security Agency has confirmed.
Britain is reporting record daily case numbers, and the guidance echoes a move during last winter’s Covid wave, where the requirement for confirmatory PCR tests was suspended until March.
Ireland to drop requirement for vaccinated arrivals to have proof of negative test
Ireland will drop its requirement for vaccinated arrivals to have proof of a negative Covid test and return to seeking a proof of vaccination or recent infection upon entry, local media reported on Wednesday.
Ireland introduced the measure a month ago to slow the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant. Omicron now accounts for all Irish infections, which have rocketed to record levels in the last two weeks.
Updated
Limits could be placed on large gatherings and the sale of alcohol could be banned in Thailand, as the south-east Asian county considers measures to avert a new wave of Covid infections, a public health official has said.
The country reported 3,899 cases on Wednesday, up from an average of 2,600 daily cases towards the end of last year, and the Omicron variant itself has tripled from last month’s holiday period, government data showed.
Responding to the latest data, Sumanee Watcharasin, a spokeswoman for the country’s coronavirus taskforce, said that if measures like wearing masks and regular testing were not followed, infections could reach the “tens of thousands in the next two weeks”.
The government will decide on new curbs on Friday and also review the suspended “Test & Go” scheme that allowed vaccinated arrivals to skip quarantine, Reuters quoted her as saying.
Since the pandemic began, Thailand has had a total of 2.2 million infections and nearly 22,000 coronavirus-related fatalities.
Updated
Nearly 13 million people in Zhengzhou, China, have been ordered to take Covid tests after a handful of cases were detected in the city.
Everyone in Zhengzhou, which has been placed under a partial lockdown, must be tested to “thoroughly uncover infections hidden among the public”, the city’s government said in a statement Wednesday, according to AFP.
China, still pursuing a zero-Covid strategy, is aiming to stamp out any virus clusters ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Eleven cases were detected in Zhengzhou in recent days.
Updated
Poland's president tests positive for Covid
The president of Poland has tested positive for coronavirus for a second time, after several people around him were infected.
Andrzej Duda previously caught Covid in October 2020.
Paweł Szrot, one of Duda’s most senior aides, said in a tweet seen by Reuters: “The president feels good, is not seriously ill and is under constant medical supervision.” Szrot added that the president was in isolation.
Updated
US Supreme Court to rule on vaccine mandates
Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates for large businesses and healthcare workers are to be tested in the US Supreme Court, after challenges were brought by business groups, religious groups and Republican-led states.
Reuters reports that the court will hear in-person arguments on Friday on emergency requests in two separate cases. The challengers maintain that Biden’s administration has overstepped its authority.
The court’s 6-3 conservative majority in the past has shown skepticism toward sweeping actions by federal agencies. Friday’s cases are the first tests of the federal government’s authority to issue its own vaccine mandates.
One mandate, issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), requires workers at businesses with at least 100 employees to be vaccinated or be tested weekly. It affects around 80 million workers.
A second mandate applies to a majority of the estimated 10.3 million Americans who work in clinics and hospitals funded by the federal government’s Medicaid and Medicare programmes.
In both cases, the challengers argued that the federal government overstepped its authority by acting beyond the powers given to it by Congress. Both vaccine mandates are of sufficient economic and political significance to require a “clear statement” from Congress, according to the challengers.
Some legal experts suspect the healthcare worker mandate has a better chance of surviving Supreme Court review because the regulation covers just facilities that decide to accept patients covered by Medicaid and Medicare.
Updated
Weekly registered deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales fell in the week leading up to Christmas, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
In the week ending 24 December, 591 deaths registered mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, the statistics agency said. Following the sixth consecutive weekly fall, it was the lowest number of deaths since the week to 20 August, when the total was 570.
Coronavirus accounted for 4.5% of all deaths registered in England and Wales in the latest week, down from 6.1% a week earlier.
A total of 174,961 deaths have occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.
Deaths have remained at a low level throughout the latest wave of cases, but according to the PA Media news agency it is too early to tell if the surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant is affecting the number of Covid-19 deaths.
This is due to the typical two- to three-week delay between infection, hospital admission and death.
This is Damien Gayle taking the reins of the live blog now. I’ll be with you for most of the afternoon and early evening.
Updated
Summary
Here is a round-up of the day’s top Covid stories so far:
- Israel has recorded its highest-ever number of new coronavirus infections – driven by the ultra-contagious Omicron variant – despite restrictions on travel and required quarantines, the government reported on Wednesday.
- Hong Kong has announced a two-week ban on incoming flights from eight countries and tightened local Covid restrictions as authorities feared a fifth wave of coronavirus in the city.
- In England, millions of people who test positive with lateral flow devices could be told they do not need to take follow-up PCR tests, according to reports.
- The French parliament suspended debate on a new Covid law early on Wednesday as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
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India has reported its first Covid death linked to the fast-spreading Omicron variant in the western state of Rajasthan, a federal health ministry official said.
-
Ukraine is reporting another 4,571 new coronavirus cases and 273 deaths, according to a recently released statement from the ministry of health.
- Germany needs to offer booster shots to an additional 15 million people to slow the spread of Omicron and avoid a rush on intensive care units, its health minister said.
- Three central Chinese cities have imposed varying degrees of curbs after sporadic cases. Xi’an has been in lockdown for two weeks and the city of Yuzhou ordered its 1.1 million residents not to leave town.
- Infections are surging across several Gulf Arab states, with the daily number of cases more than doubling in Saudi Arabia over two days to more than 2,500 and crossing the 1,000-level in Qatar and Kuwait.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, on the global Covid live blog for today. My colleague Damien Gayle will be along shortly so stay tuned for all the latest coronavirus news from around the world. Goodbye.
Updated
In Japan, Tokyo authorities may ask Japan’s government to reinstate emergency measures as a rise in Covid cases spurs concern that the capital is experiencing a sixth wave of infections, the Sankei newspaper reported.
Tokyo metropolitan government officials are preparing to make the request for a declaration of what are known in Japan as quasi-emergency measures, the paper reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.
Such measures, which include restrictions on restaurant and bar opening hours, were lifted across Japan in September.
The French parliament suspended debate on a new Covid law early on Wednesday as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
Macron made the remark in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper published late on Tuesday. He also said unvaccinated people were “irresponsible” and that he planned to make their lives so complicated that they would end up having a vaccine.
The interview was published shortly before lawmakers were to resume a debate over the new legislation, which will make it mandatory for people to show proof of Covid vaccination to enter a restaurant or cinema, or take the train.
The session was rapidly taken over by discussion of his comments.
“A president cannot say such things,” lawmaker Christian Jacob, who chairs the opposition, conservative Les Republicans party, told parliament. “I’m in favour of the vaccine pass but I cannot back a text whose objective is to ‘piss off’ the French.”
“Is that your objective, yes or no? We cannot keep debating without having a clear answer on that.”
Updated
Gen Máximo Gómez, a key figure in Cuba’s 19th-century wars of independence against Spain, once said: “Cubans either don’t meet the mark – or go way past it.”
A century and a half later, the aphorism rings true. This downtrodden island struggles to keep the lights on, but has vaccinated more of its citizens against Covid-19 than any of the world’s major nations.
More than 90% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose of Cuba’s homegrown vaccines, while 83% have been fully inoculated. Of countries with populations of over a million, only the United Arab Emirates has a stronger vaccination record.
“Cuba is a victim of magical realism,” said John Kirk, professor emeritus of Latin American studies at Dalhousie University, Canada. “The idea that Cuba, with only 11 million people, and limited income, could be a biotech power, might be incomprehensible for someone working at Pfizer, but for Cuba it is possible.”
Updated
Philippine authorities have cancelled an annual procession, which normally draws millions of Catholic devotees accompanying a black wooden statue of Jesus Christ through the streets of Manila, for a second year due to coronavirus concerns.
The government’s coronavirus taskforce cancelled the “Black Nazerene” procession, which is one of the country’s largest religious festivals, before celebrations related to the 9 January procession, were due to start on Friday because of rising Covid infections.
Unlike last year, there will be no in-person masses in the church housing the centuries-old statue, and police will discourage people from gathering outside the building, authorities said.
“We understand (the cancellation) for our safety and health reasons,” Father Douglas Badong, Parochial Vicar of Quiapo church, told a news conference. He said physical masses will take place in other provinces and online masses for devotees in the capital.
Updated
A 60-year-old man has been charged following reports of an anti-vaccine protest outside the health secretary’s London home.
A video posted online appears to show a person delivering a letter with an anti-Covid vaccine message to what they claimed was Sajid Javid’s home in Fulham, south-west London.
In the footage, a man stands outside the property and addresses the camera for several minutes, claiming the letter is putting the minister “personally on notice” for “harming” people in Britain with vaccines.
The video then shows the man being restrained in handcuffs by police officers.
The Metropolitan police said Geza Tarjanyi, 60, of Leyland, Lancashire, was arrested in Fulham on Monday.
The force said Tarjanyi was due to appear in custody at Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday charged with having an article with intent to destroy or damage property. He was bailed to appear at Isleworth crown court on 1 February.
The UK travel industry is calling on ministers to remove all remaining Covid testing requirements for international travellers, arguing they are damaging the travel sector and will not affect the spread of the Omicron variant.
Manchester Airports Group (MAG) and the trade body Airlines UK said in a joint statement that research they commissioned into travel restrictions supported the position that the removal of travel testing requirements would not affect overall cases rates and hospitalisations in the UK.
The two organisations said the research showed that domestic rather than international restrictions would be the only way to reduce Omicron’s spread within the country.
Ministers introduced additional testing requirements in late November and early December because of fears about the spread of the newly identified variant.
All passengers arriving in the UK have to take a pre-departure Covid test, taken no more than 48 hours before setting off for the UK. In addition, travellers are required to take a PCR test within the first two days after their arrival.
Hong Kong announces two-week ban on some inbound flights
Hong Kong has announced a two-week ban on incoming flights from eight countries and tightened local Covid restrictions as authorities feared a fifth wave of coronavirus in the city.
The restrictions were announced as health authorities scoured the city for the contacts of a Covid patient, some of whom had been onboard a Royal Caribbean ship that was ordered to cut short its “cruise to nowhere” and return to port.
Incoming flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Britain and the US, including interchanges, would be banned from 8-21 January, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told reporters on Wednesday.
Lam said the government would ban indoor dining after 6pm from Friday, and close swimming pools, sports centres, bars and clubs, museums, and other venues for at least two weeks. Future cruise journeys would be cancelled.
“We’re yet to see a fifth wave yet, but we’re on the verge,” Lam said.
Updated
UK government considers scrapping PCR test requirement after positive LFT
In the UK, millions of people who test positive with lateral flow devices could be told they do not need to take follow-up PCR tests, according to reports.
Sky News is reporting that the change will be announced later on Wednesday.
Anyone who tests positive after using lateral flow tests will still need to isolate for at least seven days, with health minister Gillian Keegan saying people will need to register their positive lateral flow results.
Government sources have described lateral flow tests as “highly effective” and said that testing capacity should be prioritised.
It comes as prime minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that key workers across several industries will be required to take Covid tests every day.
Updated
Hungary reported 5,270 new Covid cases on Wednesday, a sharp rise from the 3,005 recorded a week ago, amid the spread of the Omicron variant.
Omicron accounted for more than 11% of new cases, the government said.
Israel records highest-ever number of new Covid infections
Israel has recorded its highest-ever number of new coronavirus infections — driven by the ultra-contagious Omicron variant — despite restrictions on travel and required quarantines, the government reported on Wednesday.
The record of 11,978 cases diagnosed on Tuesday marks the most new infections reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic. The previous record was set on 2 September with 11,345 new infections logged during the delta variant’s wave.
Omicron, first detected in South Africa, is apparently more contagious but causes less cases of severe illness and death — especially among vaccinated people.
Updated
India reports first death linked to Omicron variant
India has reported its first Covid death linked to the fast-spreading Omicron variant in the western state of Rajasthan, a federal health ministry official said.
Omicron cases in the country have now risen to 2,135, the official told a small group of reporters in New Delhi.
Updated
The UK health minister Gillian Keegan said she has asked NHS England to look into reports that friends or family are being asked to transport potential heart attack or stroke sufferers to hospital by one ambulance trust due to being overstretched.
The advice is said to have been given out at North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, the Health Service Journal reported.
Ms Keegan told Sky News:
That is not what we have put in place at all. We have more ambulance crews in operation than we have ever had, we also gave £55 million extra just for this period to cover staff and make sure we had increases in staff and staffing levels.
I’ve actually asked NHS England to look at that particular case because that doesn’t sound to me like that’s an acceptable approach - people should be able to get an ambulance if they have a heart attack and that’s why we’ve put that extra funding in place, and why we’ve been building up our ambulance service over the last couple of years.
Ms Keegan said critical incidents, which have been triggered by some NHS trusts in response to rising Covid admissions, were “part of the local contingency planning” which “happens every winter, these are tried and tested plans”, adding: “We know this winter, they are going to be under extreme pressure, we know that.”
Hello, I’m Tom Ambrose and will be bringing you all the latest coronavirus news from around the world over the next few hours.
We start with the news that China has reported a major drop in local Covid infections in the northern city of Xi’an, which has been under a tight lockdown for the past two weeks.
With the Beijing Olympics beginning 4 February, China is doubling down on measures to prevent any new outbreak that could affect proceedings, the Associated Press reported.
People are being told to travel in and out of Beijing only if they absolutely need to and hotels have largely stopped taking new reservations. Athletes, officials and journalists are entering an “anti-pandemic” bubble as soon as they arrive and will remain within it until the Winter Games are over.
No fans from outside China are permitted and most of the spectators are expected to be drawn from schools, government offices and the military rather than the general public.
Underscoring the importance of the event, Chinese President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping visited Olympic sites around the capital on Tuesday, including the main media center.
“Staging major international sporting events such as the Winter Olympics will be an opportunity to enhance the influence of Chinese culture, the reach of news reporting and the nation’s soft power,” Xi was cited as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.
The National Health Commission on Wednesday announced just 35 new cases in Xi’an, home to the famed Terracotta Warriors statues along with major industries, down from 95 the day before.
Ukraine is reporting another 4,571 new coronavirus cases and 273 deaths, according to a recently released statement from the ministry of health.
Updated
Summary
If you’ve just joined us, here’s a rundown of all the latest Covid developments from the past day:
Europe:
- Care operators in England are facing acute staffing shortages caused by Omicron with more than 90 declaring a “red” alert, which means staffing ratios have been breached.
- Germany needs to offer booster shots to an additional 15 million people to slow the spread of Omicron and avoid a rush on intensive care units, its health minister said.
- The German government does not want to impose another lockdown even as Covid cases rise again, finance minister Christian Lindner said on Wednesday.
- Greece reported a record 50,126 infections, breaking a previous high of 40,560 registered on 31 December.
- Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia have tested positive for Covid-19, the palace said in a statement on Tuesday.
- France registered 271,686 daily infections on Tuesday, the highest recorded tally, confirming France’s position as Europe’s worst-affecte country.
- French president Emmanuel Macron said his government’s vaccination strategy is to “piss off” people who have not had coronavirus jabs by continuing to make daily life more and more difficult for them.
US:
- The US’s global record of nearly 1 million new infections mark an almost doubling from its previous peak seen a week ago.
- The US doubled its order for Pfizer’s oral Covid-19 antiviral treatment, the company and the White House said on Tuesday.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said people seeking to end their Covid-19 isolation at five days can opt for a rapid antigen test, but stopped short of mandating the test despite pressure by health experts.
Asia:
- Three central Chinese cities have imposed varying degrees of curbs after sporadic cases. Xi’an has been in lockdown for two weeks and the city of Yuzhou ordered its 1.1 million residents not to leave town.
- China says the Covid outbreak in the locked-down northern city of Xi’an is under control but other cities may face restrictions.
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India is in the midst of a Covid third wave, according to officials, as the spread of Omicron has led to a fourfold rise in cases in recent days and curfews are being imposed on cities across the country.
- India reported 58,097 new cases, twice the number seen only four days ago, with authorities in the capital city of Delhi and the technology hub of Bengaluru ordering people to stay home over coming weekends.
- Thousands of passengers were held on a cruise ship in Hong Kong for coronavirus testing on Wednesday after health authorities said nine passengers were linked to a recent Omicron cluster and ordered the ship to turn back.
- Cases on Japan’s Okinawa more than doubled on Wednesday from the previous day, as officials consider imposing emergency steps to contain it.
- Australia’s daily cases hit a record high for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, further straining hospital resources and testing facilities as public anger grows over the handling of the Omicron outbreak.
- The head of Tennis Australia and the acting Victorian sports minister have called on Novak Djokovic to explain why he was given a medical exemption to play in the Australian Open.
Middle East:
- Infections are surging across several Gulf Arab states, with the daily number of cases more than doubling in Saudi Arabia over two days to more than 2,500 and crossing the 1,000-level in Qatar and Kuwait.
Updated
The German government does not want to impose another lockdown even as Covid cases rise again as the Omicron variant takes hold, finance minister Christian Lindner said on Wednesday.
Lindner told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten daily and the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft:
We want to avoid blanket and area-wide closures in the future. Our goal remains to maintain social life as far as possible and to avoid social damage as far as possible.”
Lindner has called for Germany to be in a position to vaccinate the entire population within a month in the event of future waves of the pandemic.
Germany has a relatively low rate of vaccination compared with other western European countries: 71.3% of the population is fully vaccinated and 39.3% have received a booster shot.
An additional 58,912 new infections were reported on Wednesday, a rise of 47% compared with a week ago. The country also recorded a further 346 deaths, taking the total to 112,925.
Updated
Care home operators in England declare red alert over staffing
Care operators in England are facing acute staffing shortages caused by Omicron with more than 90 declaring a “red” alert, which means staffing ratios have been breached.
More than 11,000 care home workers are off for Covid reasons, according to internal health system staffing data seen by the Guardian. One of the UK’s largest private operators, Barchester, is dealing with outbreaks in 105 of its 250 homes. It said that rules meaning homes with Covid cannot accept hospital discharges will cause backlogs in the already struggling NHS.
Across England, 9.4% of care home staff are off work, according to government live data, with close to 3% absent because of Covid. The figures, which may be an underestimate because of the festive break, are drawn from submissions by thousands of care providers.
The worst affected areas appear to be in the north-east, north-west and parts of London, where combined Covid and non-Covid absence rates ranged from 16% to 22%. Experts said care standards could suffer as absences rose and councils were braced to redeploy staff from services such as libraries to help backfill threadbare rotas.
Vic Rayner, the chief executive of the National Care Forum, said:
The spread of Omicron across the country will bring more care homes into outbreak, put huge pressure on the already compromised staff group and mean those who need care do not get it.”
Many care operators said delays in getting PCR test results back were a key frustration, meaning workers who may not be infected were isolating longer than necessary.
Read the full story here.
Updated
India is in the midst of third Covid wave, officials say
India is in the midst of a Covid third wave, according to officials, as the spread of Omicron has led to a fourfold rise in cases in recent days and curfews are being imposed on cities across the country.
Dr N K Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, said that the “galloping increase” of cases seen over the past week was evidence of a third wave hitting India.
India is clearly in the third wave of Covid-19, and the whole thing seems driven by Omicron.”
Officially, India has detected 1,892 omicron cases but Arora said that Omicron likely now accounted for around 50% of the new Covid cases in urban areas, overtaking Delta as the dominant variant. In Delhi, 84% of sequenced cases were found to be the Omicron variant.
The highest concentration of Omicron cases are in Delhi and Mumbai and the mayor of Mumbai, Kishori Pednekar, said the city was preparing for a “tsunami” of cases. So far, the metropolis has registered almost 11,000 new cases and Pednekar warned that if it hit 20,000, they would likely impose a lockdown.
Read the full story here.
Updated
Thailand reported another 3,899 confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to recently uploaded government data.
Another 19 deaths were also reported.
Thousands of passengers were held on a cruise ship in Hong Kong for coronavirus testing on Wednesday after health authorities said nine passengers were linked to a recent Omicron cluster and ordered the ship to turn back.
Authorities forced the Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas ship, which began sailing on Sunday on a “cruise to nowhere,” to return a day early on Wednesday, according to a government statement.
The ship was ordered to return after nine passengers were identified as close contacts of an infected patient who was linked to a new Omicron cluster, Reuters reports.
The ship returned to Hong Kong on Wednesday morning and passengers were being held onboard while they awaited testing.
Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the nine guests were immediately isolated and had all tested negative, and that the company was working closely with authorities to comply with epidemic prevention policies and regulations.
Updated
The head of Tennis Australia and the acting Victorian sports minister have called on Novak Djokovic to explain why he was given a medical exemption to play in the Australian Open.
The tennis player has refused to reveal his vaccination status. Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley said legally they cannot reveal Djokovic’s medical history or the reason behind the exemption.
The state’s acting sports minister Jaala Pulford said the world No.1 men’s player had not been given special treatment and the process to gain an exemption was rigorous.
Watch the video of Craig Tiley speaking to reporters below.
India is reporting 58,097 new Covid cases, twice the number seen only four days ago, according to health ministry data.
Wednesday’s figure takes the cumulative total to more than 35 million.
Deaths also rose by 534, including the southern state of Kerala’s updated death toll of 423, lifting the national total to 482,551.
Updated
South Korea is reporting another 4,444 confirmed coronavirus cases and 57 deaths for the past 24 hours.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 953 people are currently in critical condition while hospitals saw 526 new admissions.
Okinawa, Japan, may declare emergency Covid measures as virus spreads from US base
Japan’s government is poised to declare a quasi-state of emergency on the southern island of Okinawa, media reports say, after a Covid-19 outbreak traced to US military bases spread to the civilian population.
The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, could announce the measures this week, the Mainichi newspaper said, after Okinawa officials reported 225 new cases on Tuesday, including 47 of the Omicron strain. Tokyo, by comparison, registered 151 new infections.
The Okinawa figures do not include 164 new infections discovered at US bases on the island, bringing the total of American military infections in the latest outbreak to more than 1,000.
The governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, has publicly criticised US forces for failing to contain an outbreak at a base last month that quickly spread to other military facilities on the island. The first Omicron case among civilians has been traced to a local man who is employed at a US base.
Read the full story from Guardian reporter Justin McCurry here.
China says Xi’an outbreak 'brought under control'
China says the Covid outbreak in the locked-down northern city of Xi’an is now under control but other cities may face restrictions.
Covid cases in Xi’an fell to their lowest in weeks on Wednesday, as officials said an outbreak there had been largely “brought under control” after two weeks of a stay-at-home order, Agence France-Presse reports.
But other urban hubs where clusters have been detected face restrictions including a new partial lockdown in the city of Zhengzhou which recorded two cases and nine asymptomatic infections in recent days.
Provincial health officials said they were finally getting the spread of the virus under control and have curbed the rapid rise in cases after a strict lockdown and rounds of mass testing for the city’s 13 million inhabitants.
“Although the case number has been high for many days, the rapid rise in Covid spread at community level has been brought under control compared with the early stages of the outbreak,” said Ma Guanghui, deputy director of Shaanxi health commission at a press conference.
On Monday night a million people in Yuzhou city - also in Henan - were put under lockdown after three asymptomatic cases.
Local authorities deemed to have failed in preventing virus outbreaks are often fired or punished, and two senior Communist Party officials in Xi’an have been removed from their posts over their “insufficient rigour in preventing and controlling the outbreak”.
Updated
Germany is reporting another 58,912 new daily coronavirus cases and 346 deaths, according to recently released figures from the Robert Koch Institute.
The numbers are a significant increase on Tuesday’s 30,561 reported cases. Although there was a slight drop in daily recorded deaths from the 356 reported on Tuesday.
Germany recently relaxed restrictions on travel from the UK, South Africa and seven other southern African countries that were imposed following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said Americans seeking to end their Covid-19 isolation at five days can opt for a rapid antigen test, but stopped short of mandating the test despite pressure by health experts.
“If an individual has access to a test and wants to test, the best approach is to use an antigen test towards the end of the 5-day isolation period,” the agency said.
The agency had been pressured by health experts to institute a test requirement after it cut in half its guidance last week for people to isolate after a Covid-19 infection to 5 days from 10. It said the move was based on science around transmission of the virus.
On Tuesday, the CDC added an explanation on its website, saying that a review of 113 studies from 17 countries showed that most transmission occurs early in the course of infection.
It said the average period of infectiousness and risk of transmission was “between 2-3 days before and 8 days after symptom onset.”
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official and President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, in television interviews on Sunday said officials were considering asking people to get tested after a five-day quarantine period.
The isolation period should be followed by strict mask use for an additional five days, the CDC said last week and again on Tuesday. However, if an individual tests positive after 5 days, they should isolate for the full 10 days, it said.
Covid case counts may be losing importance amid Omicron, some experts say.
Though coronavirus case counts are increasing at an explosive rate across the world, they may yield a less useful picture of the pandemic amid the spread of Omicron, which is causing lots of infections but so far does not appear to be as severe in its effects.
Some, such as US Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci, believe the focus should instead be on Covid-19 hospital admissions. Fauci said on Sunday:
It is much more relevant to focus on the hospitalisations as opposed to the total number of cases.”
Daily case counts and their ups and downs have been one of the most closely watched barometers during the outbreak but they have long been considered an imperfect measure, in part because they consist primarily of laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19, not the actual number of infections out there, which is almost certainly many times higher.
Dr Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP, a global health centre at Columbia University, said we should be “shifting our focus, especially in an era of vaccination, to really focus on preventing illness, disability and death, and therefore counting those.”
Case counts have lost relevance, said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine.
Hospitalisations are where the rubber meets the road. It’s a more objective measure. If I had to choose one metric, I would choose the hospitalisation data.”
Still, health experts are not prepared to do away with case counts.
“We should not abandon looking at case numbers,” said Dr Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, “but it is important to acknowledge we’re seeing only a portion of the actual number of cases.”
Macron limits social life for unvaccinated in France
French president Emmanuel Macron has prompted a furore after saying that his government’s vaccination strategy is to “piss off” people who have not had coronavirus jabs by continuing to make daily life more and more difficult for them.
Macron told Le Parisien in an interview on Tuesday:
I am not about pissing off the French people.
But as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And we will continue to do this, to the end. This is the strategy.
In a democracy, the worst enemies are lies and stupidity.
We are putting pressure on the unvaccinated by limiting, as much as possible, their access to activities in social life.”
The remarks come as the French parliament debates new legislation that, if passed, will mean only the fully vaccinated – and no longer those with a negative Covid test – will qualify for the country’s health pass from next month.
The pass, introduced this summer, is required in France for access to indoor public places such as cafes, restaurants, cinemas, museums, concert venues and sports centres, as well as to board long-distance trains and planes.
Read the full story from Guardian reporter Jon Henley here.
Rio de Janeiro cancels Carnival parade
Rio de Janeiro has cancelled its street parades and parties during its world-famous Carnival for a second year due to an increase in Covid cases and the threat from the arrival of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the city’s mayor said on Tuesday.
However, the spectacular parade by Rio’s samba schools, which the public watches from the stands of the city’s Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome, will go ahead, unlike last year, with health precautions to prevent spreading the virus.
Rio mayor Eduardo Paes made the announcement after a meeting with health authorities that the city would call off the event that draws hundreds of thousands of Carnival revellers each year.
“The street carnival, by its very nature, due to the democratic aspect it has, makes it impossible to exercise any kind of inspection,” Paes said in a live internet broadcast.
Other Brazilian capitals are also cancelling their Carnival parades.
Last week, the northeastern city of Salvador announced it would not celebrate the event.
Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state, also decided it will not sponsor or invest in street parades this year, local media reported.
Sao Paulo is planning to transfer its street parade to the city’s Interlagos Formula One race track, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported.
Updated
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog.
French president Emmanuel Macron has prompted a furore after saying that his government’s vaccination strategy is to “piss off” people who have not had coronavirus jabs by continuing to make daily life more and more difficult for them.
“I am not about pissing off the French people,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien on Tuesday. “But as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And we will continue to do this, to the end. This is the strategy.”
The remarks come as the French parliament debates new legislation that, if passed, will mean only the fully vaccinated – and no longer those with a negative Covid test – will qualify for the country’s health pass from next month.
Authorities in India’s capital Delhi on Tuesday ordered people to stay home over coming weekends as Covid cases quadrupled in a week.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told a media briefing that Delhi’s 19 million residents would be required to stay indoors on Saturdays and Sundays.
On weekdays, most offices will need to ensure that half their employees work from home, he added.
Here is a comprehensive rundown of all the latest Covid developments from across the world:
- A fourth dose of Covid vaccine boosts antibodies five-fold a week after the shot is administered, the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, said on Tuesday, citing preliminary findings of an Israeli study.
- More evidence is emerging that the Omicron coronavirus variant is causing milder symptoms than previous variants and resulting in a “decoupling” in some places between soaring case numbers and low death rates, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.
- Confirmed daily Covid cases in the UK have hit another record high, with 218,724 reported in the past 24 hours.
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Italy reported a record 170,844 new Covid cases on Tuesday, compared with 68,052 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of coronavirus-related deaths rose to 259 from 140.
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Greece reported a record 50,126 Covid-related infections on Tuesday, breaking a previous high of 40,560 registered on 31 December.
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France reported a record-breaking 271,686 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, as Omicron infections continue to burden hospital staff and threaten disruption to services across the country.
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Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia have tested positive for Covid, the palace said in a statement on Tuesday.
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Sweden set a new daily record for Covid cases, registering 11,507 cases on 30 December, health agency data showed on Tuesday as a fourth wave of the virus spread across the country.
- Tennis star Novak Djokovic looks set to play in the Australian Open after revealing he is heading to the country under a medical exemption.
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Germany has relaxed restrictions on travel from the UK, South Africa and seven other southern African countries that were imposed following the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
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Reinfections should be included in Covid figures for the UK as soon as possible, scientists have said, amid warnings that up to 15% of Omicron cases could be people who have had coronavirus before.
- Authorities in Greece have introduced new price limits for Covid testing following a surge in demand due to a steep rise in infections blamed on the Omicron variant.
- Students at Spanish schools and universities will return to class in-person when the new term begins on 10 January, the country’s health minister said on Tuesday.
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Puerto Rico has imposed new measures to fight a surge in Covid cases that has overwhelmed medical staff in the US territory and led to temporary shortages of testing kits.
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India’s capital Delhi will impose a weekend curfew to try to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as cases have risen rapidly in the past few days, its deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia told a news conference on Tuesday.
- A South Korean court ordered that private educational facilities, including cram schools, should be temporarily excluded from government Covid vaccine pass mandates, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
- Police in Germany have reported sporadic violence at demonstrations against the country’s pandemic restrictions, with one protester in the eastern town of Lichtenstein biting an officer and another attempting to steal a service weapon.
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Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday urged vigilance against the spread of Covid after the island detected its first cases of the Omicron variant spreading in the community.
- The number of new Covid-19 infections in Japan rose above 1,000 on Tuesday for the first time in three months, the Jiji news agency reported.
- The city of Yuzhou in China’s Henan province entered lockdown Monday night after three asymptomatic Covid cases were detected on Sunday, local media reports.
